Every time I see Erin making an odd face this arc I’ve thought, “maybe she’s breaking free, she seems bothered by something.”
I keep wondering if there was anything significant in Erin touching Dani in 1188
just before she submitted to Miriam.
Caitlyn and the twins’ machinations are wrong from the outside perspective, but pretty standard for SJI at this point and likely harmless overall. Miriam’s actions have been continually framed with a sinister light since the boobs mess started ... Jakob would likely approve of Miriam’s lobotomizing of Reka and Jacqui. Adrian would not
Caitlyn's actions upon noticing the effects of the perfume seemed a little random. And I am conscious, as this day draws on, of a sense that some of the pages relating to Caitlyn's bolthole and Amy and Hayley's place exist solely to allow the main event to skip forward in time. But Caitlyn is C.Hess, the mistress of chess. So my current best guess is that she identified the perfume in the air of the SJI as an attack on the harem and, realizing she was suggestible, retreated to a safe place. I don't think anyone knows about Caitlyn and her professor, so she's unlikely to be looked for there. She used Pink Clouds on both Hitomi and the professor to ensure their co-operation and avoid being influenced by them. Indeed, Hitomi probably doesn't even
know where she is to be able to tell anyone. So while Caitlyn may appear to be indulging in perfume-fuelled sexual domination, she may simply be having fun to while away this time when she's holed up. Pages 1251 and 1252 invite a comparison between Caitlyn at the professor's place and Miriam at Jacqui's place.
I'm not strongly arguing that Miriam isn't up to no good (I think I got the negative count right there); I'm inclined to think that she is. But Réka may be safe from the watch, say, in her current state. She may be safe from the perfume too - who knows? (On the other hand, who knows from which watch wielder Miriam might be providing such protection?) But the fact remains, Miriam may not be evil even though she's undoubtedly being drawn that way. Miriam is - we've been led to believe - a victim of mind control. Her thinking will have been affected by Jakob's influence. Her idea of having fun with mind control will differ from Caitlyn's. Her relationship with Jacqui is complicated.
And for all her talk of draining Dani's mind and mind fucking Mallory, both women
appear to be fine now.
was the perfume used on Reka? Miriam seemed poised to do that in the last panel starring them, and yet in this one whatever process she was doing seems complete and Reka looks pretty much the same.
I'm even more inclined to think now that the container seen at the end of 1314 is where Réka's "soul" is currently housed. I think Erin is holding/closing it in the first panel of this page. I could be wrong though.
Caitlyn and Hitomi entered the SJI, were affected by the perfume, and left without (I think) entering the kitchen and taking any of the samples. Caitlyn used her own ordinary Pink Clouds sample on Hitomi. They went to the professor's place and Caitlyn used her sample again on her. The professor's breasts still grew. And Hayley's and Amy's breasts grew apparently just from sharing space with Laura.
So on the face of it, being in the room with Erin and Miriam should have been enough for both Jacqui's and Réka's breasts to grow. If Réka's don't then maybe there's some soul-related element to the process (stop me if I get too technical). I did wonder though if they were showing a little growth when she stood up here. It can be hard to tell - it took a long time for it to be clearly established that Miriam's breasts had grown.
