Jack & Jill - Phase 9, Part 10
Added 2024-10-21 09:45:44 +0000 UTCMr. Larson tries to resist Soledad's big charm...
Woo! 35 new pages of Jack & Jill for this episode. For the Dramatis Personae you may want to read up on Brooke if you forgot who she is in the story!
I can't wait to read your thoughts! 😊
Comments
No worries. Great stuff
DJ
2024-11-10 20:45:54 +0000 UTCAntici............................. PATION. 💕
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 19:50:41 +0000 UTCFor sure Davis is the kind of person to root for the monster in horror movies!
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 19:50:02 +0000 UTCThanks, Tim! I think Davis's delusions of grandeur have finally overtaken his sense of self-preservation. And I'm having a lot of fun with Mr. Larson, and the difference between who Jack said he was, and who he might actually be!
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 19:49:26 +0000 UTCHow to be an awful person for sure, lol
Helena Grace
2024-11-09 19:36:24 +0000 UTCSorry, Phoebe! I couldn't resist putting Brooke in danger again - Davis's obsession with her has been building since he first realized Paul was "compatible" with womanhood. I love the wrap dress, too! I feel like it reflects her personality perfectly: practical yet feminine.
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 19:36:09 +0000 UTCDavis definitely knows some things.
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 19:34:21 +0000 UTCMust be a better world without COVID, then - plus super HRT! 😉 Truth is, I started writing the comic in 2017 and definitely didn't want to relive the pandemic once the story caught up to 2020!
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 19:33:34 +0000 UTCThanks, Gemma! Honestly, I kind of love writing Davis because he's such an unrepentant monster - no tragic backstory, no redemption arc, just darkness all the way down. On the other hand, I wanted to challenge assumptions about Mr. Larson. We see him through Jack's eyes as this tyrannical father figure, but the reality is more nuanced. The death of his wife broke something in him, and he responded by becoming rigid and controlling, especially with Jack. He thought he was protecting his son, but he was actually pushing him away.
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 19:31:44 +0000 UTCI'm nothing if not a little bit of a tease when it comes to things like this! 😉
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 19:27:23 +0000 UTCYeah, Holly's survival instinct is basically her emotional exoskeleton at this point. She learned very early that Second Dawn rewards self-preservation above all else, so (most) every kindness she shows is calculated, every relationship strategic. But I believe under that exterior there is actually profound grief, hate for what Second Dawn has made her become, and hate for herself for letting it happen.
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 19:26:46 +0000 UTCShit has never stopped hitting the fan! LOL
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 19:23:39 +0000 UTCWe had scenes of them outside of the island too, but no masks...
Strangest
2024-11-09 19:23:13 +0000 UTCThe island must test everyone before they arrive. 😉
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 19:21:57 +0000 UTCThank you, Singular! Davis has been such a predatory force throughout the story, manipulating and destroying lives with this twisted sense of superiority. But the fun part about writing villains like him is creating a downfall that feels both surprising and inevitable. He's been so confident in his power, but power structures like Second Dawn are ultimately fragile. One crack, and the whole system can start to crumble!
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 19:14:39 +0000 UTCThank you, Robert! Yes, my actual writing space looks like something out of a detective's investigation room - post-its everywhere and notecards, too! Davis definitely has guards who subscribe to his cruelty. I mean, you'd have to be pretty twisted to work security at a place that kidnaps and feminizes men against their will, right? I wanted to show through Mike that some of the guards are conflicted about what they're doing, but others... well, they're exactly the kind of people Davis would want on his side during a power grab. Honestly, I'm fascinated by how institutions like Second Dawn create their own internal politics and power structures. Davis has been cultivating relationships with the more sadistic elements of the security force for years, positioning himself as the "true" voice of what Second Dawn should be. As for John Larson, I think he's in for the shock of his life!
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 19:13:14 +0000 UTCThank you, Robert! To clarify: Josie only said Connor isn't "here" but that could be referring to PL-0. Emily wants to save Connor - even if she isn't particularly interested in remaining married to him - but Jill is definitely priority #1!
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 18:46:17 +0000 UTCThank you, DJ! Sorry I'm only catching up on comments now, but I'm glad you liked the Halloween costumes!
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 18:43:16 +0000 UTCWhat's funny is that when I started writing the story, it was set in present day - but that was back in 2017! Time has flown by more quickly 'outside' the comic than inside the story. 😊 We may get an epilogue if it seems like I have something more to add!
Emory Ahlberg
2024-11-09 18:42:44 +0000 UTC2020 coming out party not 2024 so… are we going to eventually get a present day epilogue? I did not realize and missed that this whole story was all in the past
animalmusic
2024-10-31 13:05:33 +0000 UTCShe had no one to tell her otherwise. Davis, Xu, Hutch and Kaschak are hardly exemplars of morality. My very own Summer Chastity Crowe has her uncles; Their Eminences Cardinal Royce Roland Crowe and Archbishop Ralph Rory Crowe; Holly had NOTHING.
Female-Bosmer-Always
2024-10-25 23:09:06 +0000 UTCI’m still at the very least ambivalent about Holly. Yes, she’s had a horrific time at the hands of Second Dawn as the guinea pig for a lot of their traumatic experiments, both physical and psychological, and she is the ultimate survivor, but she’s achieved that by ruthlessly putting herself first and last, and to hell with any other boy or girl who gets in her way. It’s that ruthlessness that sticks in my craw every time. She’s just not a nice person at all.
Robertlouis
2024-10-25 18:20:40 +0000 UTCGood for you. It certainly keeps you fit and exercises all the essential muscle areas. I focused on rugby at university and ended up representing Scottish universities and then played senior club rugby till a serious spinal injury put a premature end to it all. I’ve had Long Covid for nearly five years so my fitness is pretty well shot these days.
Robertlouis
2024-10-24 05:20:46 +0000 UTCIf Emory is reading these replies, maybe she could create a character who rows in a future story. Actually as I was typing it came to me. Title IX in the U.S. has forced a lot of colleges to cut certain men's sports teams in order to expand women's teams to meet certain statute based equality quotas. No school is going to cut money making programs like men's football and basketball. And women's rowing has been one of the sports that has seen a growth in the size and number of college programs as well as the number of scholarships awarded. The down side is to do this several schools have cut their men's rowing programs in order to fully fund their women's rowing program. Or they have down graded the men's program from a fully funded NCAA Div I program to an unfunded club program. Maybe her character could be a male rower who is somehow forced or encouraged to transition in order to be eligible. And on top of that because of all the blow back over transgender athletes competing in women's sports it has to be a a full GRS or maybe get a little techie and attribute the change to some experimental nanobot DNA level re-sequencing. Emory, with her amazing writing can create the human interest, drama and such, as well as the plot twists and turns that keep us addicted and craving more after each episode.
Diana O'Neil
2024-10-24 03:18:08 +0000 UTCOh wow, that is impressive. I rowed in college and with clubs after. Mostly on the US east coast. Though I did get to row at Trinity College, Dublin, while an exchange student there. I also got to row on the Isis doing a summer certificate program at Oxford. Not quite the same as being a full time matriculating student in a degree program and earning a boat spot on the Blues and rowing against Cambridge, but I loved the experience all the same.
Diana O'Neil
2024-10-24 03:00:58 +0000 UTCthis was another great episode. although i'm super excited for Halloween to see some sexy Nikki costumes. Got to hold me over until the next half sisters update!
DJ
2024-10-24 01:27:42 +0000 UTCI remember watching sculls and shells on the Charles when I visited Boston on business. I rowed on the Clyde at school and then in the holidays I’d do river and coastal rowing at Whitby on the Yorkshire coast. Coastal rowing there was hard work because we used traditional fishing cobles which were ungainly and heavy.
Robertlouis
2024-10-23 22:35:08 +0000 UTC@Jade You go girl! Did you row in school? I absolutely love rowing. Just did Head of the Charles last weekend.
Diana O'Neil
2024-10-23 21:47:05 +0000 UTC60 minutes a day on the rowing machine
Jade Diaz
2024-10-22 19:11:08 +0000 UTCHaving done a recap of the previous four chapters, does Josie and Emily’s stolen kiss and the knowledge that Connor/Connie has left the island suggest that Emily has given up on him/her? Her convo with Josie explicitly states that rescuing Jill is her immediate priority.
Robertlouis
2024-10-22 16:20:26 +0000 UTCNah. Two seconds.
Robertlouis
2024-10-22 16:15:13 +0000 UTCHave you noticed that the last three episodes of J&J have all started with someone running hell for leather down a corridor? And often in heels! Just as long as Tom Cruise doesn’t make a guest appearance…
Robertlouis
2024-10-22 16:14:13 +0000 UTCEveryone at Second Dawn is so incredibly fit that I have been known to think of them while I do my cardio. “Brooke could do another two miles,” I tell myself, while I noisily expire.
Alyson Greaves
2024-10-22 16:10:43 +0000 UTCPhew! That was breathless, Emory. I had to go back and reread everything from Episode 5 to get my bearings and to be sure I’d got the timelines in synch. You must have a large whiteboard covered in post-its and connecting lines, as the plot is becoming even more convoluted. So, in brief, Brooke is running, but we’re not quite sure from whom or what, but she’s running. In this Phase, everyone is running. They must be fit. And Davis is either totally deranged or there must be some minions amongst the guards who are loyal to him, or at least have some mercenary respect towards him, hedging their bets that he might win the power struggle against Xu or his designated successor. He certainly can’t do it alone and he must know that. Let’s see what, if anything, Mr Larson can get out of him. And from the final frame, Larson either doesn’t know at all what’s happened to his son or isn’t yet prepared to accept it. Great chapter, and as I said, breathless. I’m going to be dreaming about those badly lit corridors….
Robertlouis
2024-10-22 10:46:00 +0000 UTCMy apologies, Jade. I was so concentrated lately in I.R.L and my own "Xuniverse" characters that I forgot about Brooke. Of course I want her to survive and I want them ALL to survive, as I have said before in our Discord chat. YES, I do hope Jill's dad kills Davis...slowly. Davis, his equally disgusting brother, Kaschak and Hutchison are utterly loathsome and disgusting and it makes me want to smash the computer monitor just looking at them...a testament to muse Emory's skills at creating both loving and loathsome characters. Also, I hope forgive me if I assume Brooke's room in panel 4/6 of her transformation is less than Privilege 4.
Female-Bosmer-Always
2024-10-22 06:15:10 +0000 UTCOh my, Daddy has/will have quite the the surprise!! Good to see Davis on the receiving end for once. Now, do I want to see Davis go to hell, or suffer a fate worse than that? Who am I kidding, I want that man to suffer. Davis for a fate worse than death, 2024.
SingularCurve
2024-10-22 02:41:43 +0000 UTCWere are all the masks? It was Corona time?
Strangest
2024-10-21 21:30:35 +0000 UTCI can't wait to see what happens when Larson, Emily and Jill all collide at last. Knowing Emory, it'll be exactly 60 seconds before the shit hits the fan...
Jade Diaz
2024-10-21 16:27:55 +0000 UTCMy money is on Jill. But Emory is playing her cards very close to her vest.
Jade Diaz
2024-10-21 16:26:52 +0000 UTCDidn't you like Larson's murder face when he was holding Davis? Also where is your sympathy for Brooke???? Holly's a survivor, no matter what happens, she's going to find a way to survive.
Jade Diaz
2024-10-21 16:26:22 +0000 UTCDavis...don't you touch Holly, you monstrous utterly insane piece of human garbage. DAVIS...what have you done to Holly? DAVIS!!! DAVIS!!!!
Female-Bosmer-Always
2024-10-21 15:58:07 +0000 UTCDavis is a few months early for in universe Halloween but he is playing the slasher role well
Helena Grace
2024-10-21 15:38:53 +0000 UTCWow I love the ambiguity of him asking “where is my daughter” Because he could be Jill or Emily. So either he’s accepted Jill as his daughter or Emily is missing. And he knows she is there.
Emily Morgan
2024-10-21 15:34:51 +0000 UTCWhat an action filled chapter and yet leaving so many unanswered questions and so much conjecture around what has happened? Davis - I think if you look up the word evil in the dictionary there would be a picture of him next to it. Does that guy have any redeeming character traits? Mr Larson is the surprise, he seems to be such an honourable, grounded, informed and caring man. The epitome if how a Dad should be. It makes me wonder how Jack lost his way so much prior to becoming Jill. This must have been an all nighter for you Emory to complete this exciting episode. You certainly are the queen of cliff hangers, keeping us all guessing what will happen next. Lastly, a call out to Brooke who looks so beautiful in these scenes.
Gemma
2024-10-21 12:09:22 +0000 UTCBrooke! What an episode. Wow. Mr Larson mvp, did not expect that at all, and poor Solidad. Girl needs some hugs. Rest in hell, holly? Really Davis. Do you know something we don't?
Helena Grace
2024-10-21 12:09:15 +0000 UTCHow many times are you going to make us panic about poor Brooke?! Great payoff in the end, though, so far! Now, the biggest question is... which daughter is Mr. Larson referring to? 44 hours is plenty of time for Emily to get caught, OR for him to find out what happened to Jack. Also, that dress was a nice visual touch for Brooke. Gives her a nice modest-but-cute vibe, almost like a young housewife or something, as opposed to the more sexualized way the girls are often presented. And all while Davis is intent on breaking her and turning her into the next trophy Mrs. Davis...
Phoebe Nocturne
2024-10-21 11:49:52 +0000 UTCDavis really has gone off the deep end — as best I can tell, he doesn't have one single ally, much less the small army he would need to take and maintain control. ... And then there's Holly — "May she rot in hell" — what has befallen her? ... And John Larsen — he's certainly looking like the supportive father that his daughter, Jill, truly needs. ... And Brooke — does she have what it takes to pull the trigger (your audience is praying that you do, Brooke) ... But we will have to wait 44 more hours to find out. At least that will give us a lot more time to get to know the charming Soledad a bit better.
Tim
2024-10-21 10:33:51 +0000 UTCOMFG GEEEEEEEEZZZZ with every next update time is slowing down... 34 pages but it feels like it past 34 seconds of time only... ohhh ❣️❣️❣️
Maggie Heels
2024-10-21 10:27:57 +0000 UTCyeah this was amazing I may die of anticipation hopefully I will finish this chapter of the catch first
Alyson Greaves
2024-10-21 09:54:47 +0000 UTC
