Saint James Infirmary 90: A Clean Break

[Daphne]

Coming Friday!

[elbenton]

Well, the word "Break" probably has something to do with the game of pool going on between Adrian and Erin, or is that too obvious?

[jmundt29]

That was one of two thoughts I had.  Either Erin makes the nine on the break, or this is about the tail end of the conversation between Jacqui and Pearl/Miri.  It might also have something to do with that sample Laura was working on shattering during a break-in at the lab.  The pool seems most germane.  Do we have a location on this particular pool table yet?  None of the establishments we've been in so far seem like a pool table sort of place--unless Sawyer's bar has a few in addition to the stage (of course, we haven't been there yet...that we know of).

[laguna85]

I'm just thinking 10 more post put it some time in Aug. Your 100 page
anything good comming?


add on
tomorrow for Clean break
yes who is going to break up

[jmundt29]

Oh, good point Laguna.  I totally forgot about Vikram and...it was Amy.  I posed the question back before Pearl was revealed--is Vik's Amy the Amy from the SJI group?  We could be seeing Amy for the first time since denoument giving Vik the "it's not you, it's me," speech.  Ooh, that might be rough.  However, if she breaks the news on the double date, it might give us a chance to meet Kanti.*shrug*  Is her loser boyfriend the new adversary or will Vik snap when he realizes his lab partner and girlfriend started "dating" the same guy over the holidays?

[HarryManBack]

Looks like someone at SJI needs to call Kenny Loggins...

[jmundt29]

Oh sure he's incidental to the plot.   Ominous black sweater, black dress slacks, shined designer shoes, vintage Rock Hudson haircut, and eyes that remind one of Pearl/Miri (with a "dangerous" scar through one eyebrow).  He's not gonna be a problem at ALL.  Of course not.  Who'd ever think that?  Dude's good looking enough to be Lawyer X.*grumbles*  Even if this turns out to be the elusive Sawyer (this is one guy who, if he were Sawyer, could ask Jacqui to perform at his establishment every so often, and she wouldn't retaliate by giving him a Derek treatment), and, therefore, essentially nonthreatening, it still feels like a letdown.

The entire point of this week's issue was to introduce him, but none of the other plots were truly advanced yet.  We don't even know if Erin's throwing the games yet, since every indication is that this is the first Kanefsky comedy scene she's caused at the pooltable (I invite those unfamiliar with that reference to investigate Rolfe Kanefsky's film "Pretty Cool").

Unless it means he should'a cut "Footloose" to avoid the flying cueball, I'm afraid I don't get your reference HMB.

I apologize for the tone of my initial reaction (since I brought up new adversaries before this issue was posted and TA-DA here is one), but we haven't had a chance to see any of the post "Night of the Watch" fun yet and this guy seems inherently more dangerous than Derek.  Shouldn't we have a chance to enjoy the new paradigm and the effects of the watch before folks at the Infirmary and on campus face a real threat?

Oh, and he has an excuse to visit the actual infirmary and get treated by Marliese now--so even if he doesn't stay at this location, no WAY is he going away.

[jmundt29]

Nice to see that Erin's finger nail polish now matches her hair (so she's now very different from both Raven and Miri/Pearl).  Incidentally, now that I'm less annoyed by "The Most Interesting Man in the World" (even if he does say so himself), I have another question that maybe you can anwer without being spoilery.  Where are Erin and Adrian at this point?  Brick walls, glass brick windows, and a hanging "Open" sign suggest a bar, but I don't see a labeled napkin or a sign or anything that actually indicates the name of the place.  Also, I don't see tables or an actual bar in this unnamed seems-like-a-bar place, but the space with the pooltables has street access and that seems like it's supposed to be the front door since the "Open" sign is on it.  So if this is a bar or a restaraunt-bar, where are the tables, chairs, and actual bar?  Also, this doesn't seem like it would be Sawyer's place since Sawyer's place would need stage space.  However, the setting is unfamiliar, so I think Heavy Odds was the first time we've ventured here.  Is this our first visit, or were we introduced to it earlier and I just can't remember it?

So, is this a bar?  If not, what is it?  If it is a bar

A. What's the name of the place? and

B. Where are the rest of the fixtures and furniture a bar would need?  Tall Dark and Dangerous is too well-dressed to be a bartender or a bouncer, but he's not holding a drink in his other hand (that we can see yet).  I'm hoping against hope the guy's a red herring, but all the visual alarm cues are being accentuated.

As always the art is excellent, and I'm intrigued with the threads of the story, but this is...a frustrating installment.

[robbie73_]

Looks like we MAY have a person who just may be a threat to Adrain's harem of hypnotised slave girls, you know the old saying, "Tall, Dark and Handsome" usually means TROUBLE for someone, maybe Adrain!!!

[Vidor]

It seems pretty obvious that they are at a bar.

I do have my own questions.

1. The girls were all enslaved by the watch, right?  Even Derek's girls?
2. Adrian does not realize this, and believes they were freed?
3. Erin remains the only one of the girls that Adrian has fucked?

[jmundt29]

I can actually answer those

In order--

1. Yes.  Marliese at Mallory's direction hypnotized Jacqui with an assist from Erin.  They altered the programming so they could appear to be their normal selves and either concocted a story that Marliese turned it off or had her actually figure out how to bring it in and out of stasis.  Adrian and Erin went upstairs to celebrate and he thought Marliese was going to erase the programming of Eric's thralls (with Dani's help).  Instead, Mal directed Marliese to program all the new rescues with an enslavement protocol but one that was masked by normal behavior so that they all believed that Adrian was their boyfriend (and other things), and that they would behave normally (they wouldn't call him Master, for instance), but would remain his harem.  Dani also got a dose of this programming, but it's unclear how many times she's been programmed, by whom, for what.

2. Yes, the charade has worked so far.

3. Very much NO!   Adrian coupled with Erin, Mallory, and Marliese on The Night of the Watch.  He enjoyed Jacqui in the storeroom on the current day (but we didn't get to see *grumbles*).  There's no indication he's coupled with any of Derek's former thralls yet, but we don't know for sure what happened at the end of The Night of The Watch.

And yes, it seems like it's a bar, but what bar and whose bar and where's the--y'know bar part of the bar?

[Daphne]

I'll establish that the pool hall is in old town Kearsarge (same part of town that Deep Black is in), and that it is not Sawyer's place.

[laguna85]

so we have passer by and get hit in the foot by a Cue ball?
do have face to the doctor?
club owner
we have to wait next friday.

[jmundt29]

He looks too slick to be the owner of a pool hall, but given how violent that shot was, I wouldn't be surprised if he stopped by the clinic and ended up getting treated by Marliese.

[Daphne]

I'm just thinking 10 more post put it some time in Aug. Your 100 page
anything good comming?

Yes.