Saint James Infirmary 369: The Universal Constant.

[Daphne]

[GodWilling]

SJI's annual Baywatch tribute episode? Those are definitely sharks in the background.

But... sharks in Dani's bedroom? Probably doesn't compute. So... I don't know. Is it a cupboard? Is that a lovely pair of pillows? Hold that thought.

[jmundt29]

Isn't that a headboard behind her, so the outline we're seeing is of two light purple...you're not going to get me to say it.

Is she making the bed, or throwing a sheet over Ein to hide her?  What the?

[GodWilling]

Ah yes, headboard is right, I think. In which case she's facing towards that cupboard unit - if that is Dani's bedroom (actually Mallory has a headboard like that too). I did think it was probably a sheet she was holding, but perhaps it's the bottom of something she's hiding the pendant in? Alternatively perhaps a bit of girlish horseplay in the bedroom (fill these brackets yourself) could cover any strange behaviour on the part of some of the participants. And is that Dani, or has Erin healed Einfríður?

[GodWilling]

Lift and separated at birth?

[jmundt29]

Okay, hold on a second.  This is Dani's room.  Presumably, before she was invited to stay, she was going to give the room up to Ms. Unspellable.  So, where was she going?

And we skipped the two very important intervals here.  I hope we get a chance to backtrack very, very soon.  At least it seems that Dani, Erin, and Mallory are getting better at camouflaging their programming practices.  That could be crucial.

[Haight]

And we skipped the two very important intervals here.  I hope we get a chance to backtrack very, very soon.

I do too =/.

[mns_95125]

This is Dani's room.  Presumably, before she was invited to stay, she was going to give the room up to Ms. Unspellable.  So, where was she going?

In an earlier comic, Adrian indicated that Danielle could sleep with him if she wanted.  This being Danielle, I assume she did so want.

[jmundt29]

So, if Pearl and Ein had left or Ein had just chilled for the night, it would have been Adrian, Jacqui and Dani in Adrian's room?  Wow, this is a very interesting opportunity cost.

[GodWilling]

In 365 Adrian said he should work out where everyone was sleeping and Dani told him that Caitlyn could sleep with her - unless he wanted to. We don't know how that conversation ended but it was at that point that Dani started giving Einfríður her makeover.

As far as we know, no offer had been made to Johannes and Einfríður about staying at that point. But it looks like maybe Dani was expecting it - regardless of what she said to Adrian. And it was Erin who actually suggested the idea to Johannes in 366. (Which is odd because Adrian was drifting off into the living room in 365 - presumably to ask people - and 366 is clearly later than that, yet he doesn't reveal his presence there, and the question apparently hasn't been asked. He's such a slacker.)

I'm perfectly happy not to see the shenanigans in the bedroom, just as I'm happy not to know what the nature of the mind-changing has been. Mystery is the point of SJI. And it's always kind of hot to have people walking around not knowing that something has been done to them - which appears to be the case here. Anyway, we've seen that the women have been subjected to mind control. The ultimate aim of that mind control presumably wasn't the things that happened in the bedroom; it's when that control comes to the fore at the intended time that the goods will really be delivered. Unfortunately it's not clear that that's what we're seeing with Einfríður here because we don't know whether she might have wound up kissing Dani anyway. But I'm imagining it is, because it's much hotter that way. And it'll be interesting to see what, if anything, arises when Adrian walks Miriam home.

Incidentally, what's the significance of the title? I was thinking that maybe it's a play on words with everything being apparently the same as it was before, even though we know it isn't. But maybe I'm missing something more obvious?

[jmundt29]

Well, no.  We have these gaps and questions to set up the nature of more fun shrouded in mystery.  When the situation changes, like The Night of the Watch being safely past, then we get flashbacks (like we originally heard with Pearl her mother's...um, exclamations in the storeroom).  Dozens of episodes later, we got a flashback to what actually happened in the storeroom which was simultaneously sexier and more restrained than what we were led to believe.  In the first cohort, we see actual individual induction scenes.  The second cohort has a group induction scene.  One would think we'll have the opportunity to revisit what happened to Her Unspellableness and Pearl at some future date, I'm just lobbying for...early March instead of late October or later.

ETA--Maybe the universal constant is the drive to expand the harem?   I don't get that either.

[grommile]

I figure the universal constant in this page is "He doesn't mind if it is with other women." "They never do, do they?"

[Daphne]

I figure the universal constant in this page is "He doesn't mind if it is with other women." "They never do, do they?"

We have a winner.

[Haight]

One would think we'll have the opportunity to revisit what happened to Her Unspellableness and Pearl at some future date, I'm just lobbying for...early March instead of late October or later.

Ditto on this.

[GodWilling]

We have a winner.

Weirdly that thought did occur to me as a possibility when I read it first thing this morning and I'd forgotten about it, and it didn't re-occur to me, when I re-read it this evening. Which makes me the biggest loser. But we all knew that.

Well, no.  We have these gaps and questions to set up the nature of more fun shrouded in mystery...

I don't know. I've seen all these people naked before. To a greater or lesser extent I've seen each of them having sex. I could bear seeing such things again (which is just as well, I'm sure), but it's the mind control I'm here for. In that regard, you can argue we've missed the inductions, and that's fair enough. But we have seen two women who've fallen under the spell of the crystal. And we've possibly seen Erin acting under its influence, or possibly not - I know which I prefer to imagine.

And imagining is surely the point. If the crystal is responsible for Einfríður kissing Dani, then the end of this page is much hotter for me than if it would have happened anyway. Unfortunately we don't know that that's the case. Her words suggest it might not be. But equally we don't know that it isn't. That ambiguity leaves me free to imagine whatever I like.

Dani was using the crystal for a reason. At this point I'm not certain that anyone has just been inducted into Adrian's harem. If they have... well, I've seen that happening already too, to be honest. Maybe if it were someone with a long standing antipathy to Adrian, that might be a bit different. But actually I'm kind of hoping that that isn't what Dani was doing anyway.

Us not knowing is good for the story. And as I say, if they genuinely don't know that anything has been done to them then that's pretty hot too. For me, seeing them unwittingly doing things they wouldn't otherwise have done serves the same purpose as a flashback - except it's actually likely to be hotter. Certainly it's hotter than watching Dani say, "When X happens, you will do Y," and having the woman respond, "When X happens, I will do Y." And then when X happens, she does Y.