Saint James Infirmary #896: “Duality”

[Daphne]

Script: Daphne • Inks: Plutonian Knight • Colors and Lettering: Octavia Moon

[grimtidings]

Calling back to mns's prognostication: Zenon wins.  He finishes reprogramming Erin and Mallory and leaves with them.  Adrian, Julian and Cherry are left standing in an empty hotel to pick up the pieces.  The plot shifts to search and rescue.

Because I want this (hearkening to trilby else's Amateur Night - to have either of these two become like Tabitha /shiver delight) I figure there's any one of many foilers waiting in the wings. She's going to pick option 3 - something unspeakably terrible happens to Zenon.

[mns_95125]

At this point I'm not sure Zenon actually has the power he wants others to think he has.  I've been wondering for a while why he was so intent on showing Erin the whole 'mindless' thing, harping on "is this what you want".  If he really has the power of the Watch he can just do what he wants.  Her preferences wouldn't matter.

Instead he seems to be putting a lot of effort into getting Erin to give some kind of consent, which suggests to me that he can't actually enslave her without her agreement.  And that, if true, makes it less likely that he'll win.  All that needs to happen is for Erin to notice Adrian coming back to life and it's over.

Although there would be some drama in Adrian coming back just in time to see Erin agree to being enslaved by someone else.  I'm still hoping we'll see some kind of resolution by #900.

[Haight]

Instead he seems to be putting a lot of effort into getting Erin to give some kind of consent, which suggests to me that he can't actually enslave her without her agreement.

We have no reason to believe that. We still have no idea really what's going on. Very little of this is explained so it's hard to get invested.

[laguna85]

OK let get the four more post done and move on. (900) mind drain now sex slave boring I love sex slave 

[grimtidings]

The suspense of knowing there's a "happy" ending coming but hoping for something darker has me invested in these goings-on. But I'm a weirdo, to be sure.

While reading mns's thoughts above, I also recall a scene from Svengali where he has Trilby fully under his control (as evidenced by her walking away from her old primary romantic interest) but he yearns for something more than just gratitude and obedience. I'd prefer to think that Zenon CAN make his promise real but PREFERS to have Erin for more than just a puppet. That would require some kind of consent from the "real" her.

Different from how Decker in Amateur Night played a deeper game and completely subverted Tabitha to his cause (science) - but he wasn't in a dream world or using pink tentacles (magic).

Looking forward to (or dreading) 900 if that's the plan.