Saint James Infirmary #1378: “Safety Second”

[Daphne]

Script: Daphne • Line Art: Plutonian Knight • Colors and Lettering: Octavia Moon

[Sharque]

And just like that, turnabout is fair play.

Lends more credence to this being a long game by Jakob… though it also seems like he’d have to be Nostradamus at this point to have planned this out.

It also begs the question: how do you undo the soul-suck if Miriam loses the capability to do it?

[lancehunter]

Very curious to see how deep all this will go.

[mns_95125]

I think this might be Erin's doing.  She said she had a girlfriend candidate in mind, and now it looks like Miriam has been pulled into the doctor's hands.  This could just be Miriam screwing up.

[mns_95125]

There are definitely parallels between Erin's soul programming and what's happening here.  The first comic of Erin's doctor visit was titled "Safety First"; this comic of Miriam is called "Safety Second".  Miriam is getting slotted into a role in the scenario she created for Erin.

I'm inclined to think this is an accident - Miriam has been playing with fire and now she's getting burned.

[Sharque]

Well, the image itself has 1377: “Spaced Repetition,” but that may just be an error

[mns_95125]

I think that's supposed to be the title for the next comic, which would parallel the title of the second comic in Erin's brainwashing sequence ("On Repeat").

[GodWilling]

I'm going to assume those are just levers on some kind of console over to the right.

I'd definitely prefer this not to be Erin's doing. And it would be entirely in keeping with the role assigned to her by the doctor for Erin to tell her husband that she might have someone in mind. 1376 supports the idea that she doesn't know who it will be but that the doctor does. Indeed, it was the doctor saying, "The arrangements have been made" that made me think that perhaps Miriam could be the other woman when her nap suddenly began in the next page.

Assuming that the similarity between Erin's dream and Miriam's does mean that those are about to merge, it does suggest that there's still a fair amount of Erin's dream to come, which is good news for me - unless she is going to somehow come out of this the victor. And if her dream is going to continue, that does suggest that Miriam isn't driving the dream. So who is?

One other thought I keep having around all of this soul-sucking and brainwashing is: has this happened before? And I don't really know how that would work. But maybe it could somehow be connected to the madness of last year's April Fool's Day short excursion.

[mns_95125]

I'd definitely prefer this not to be Erin's doing.

I don't think this is Erin resisting, laying a trap or taking some other kind of conscious action.  Rather, I'm speculating that there is something about Erin - perhaps her ability to do magic - that makes her soul different, and that this difference led to Miriam's being pulled into her own brainwashing scenario.  So Erin is the cause, but not the agent.

[Sharque]

I'm going to assume those are just levers on some kind of console over to the right.

Very peculiar levers

[lancehunter]

I do think it's interesting that the control scenario Miriam finds herself in is being gassed. This all started with everyone getting dosed with the perfume. While it may seem that the perfume was some accidental creation, perhaps there is some kind of greater controller working behind the scenes (we still don't know who dosed Kanti with pink clouds back in 1127, and it was her texting Laura in 1145 that resulted in the creation of the perfume).

[lifmcs]

I'm going to assume those are just levers on some kind of console over to the right.

Levers for prying out mind-shattering pleasure, no doubt.

[mns_95125]

I'm going to assume those are just levers on some kind of console over to the right.

Very peculiar levers

Lever?  I barely know 'er!

[GodWilling]

I don't think this is Erin resisting, laying a trap or taking some other kind of conscious action.  Rather, I'm speculating that there is something about Erin - perhaps her ability to do magic - that makes her soul different, and that this difference led to Miriam's being pulled into her own brainwashing scenario.  So Erin is the cause, but not the agent.

I suppose that would be a better scenario for me but... I don't know. I want someone's plan to come properly to fruition, you know?

In any case I'm still inclined to think that this is what was always meant to happen. I think we probably know now that Miriam is not the doctor. I've a feeling that when she talked approvingly of Erin being "under the good doctor's mental domination", she was not just peeking into Erin's dream and making an observation; I think Miriam has already been under the doctor, so to speak. She's just being pulled back under again now, now that she has served her purpose.

I wonder if Miriam has a soul.

I do think it's interesting that the control scenario Miriam finds herself in is being gassed...

It might not be the only reason, but the use of gas did make the previous page work very well. For what it's worth, I still think Kanti's programming is part of the same plan. And I think some of the samples that were left with Kanti were the ones Laura delivered to the SJI. It's pure speculation (what isn't?) but I think that Laura only thinks that she created the perfume. And after all, why wouldn't she decide to take those particular samples immediately to the SJI, with no other reason for going?