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Published: 2014-05-14 01:48:01 +0000 UTC; Views: 18235; Favourites: 116; Downloads: 480
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The next page is here: faile35.deviantart.com/art/Boo… . For more information on the entire series, read the "'Demon's Due' Defined" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… or the "'Demon's Due' Plus" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… .***********************************************
Madame Zirena turned out to be a goldmine of information, but getting the woman to share it proved to be more difficult than it had with the others. As the rat-man subjected her to one sorcerous stimulus after another, the Seeress descended into a series of trances during which no compulsion Jervil brought to bear could force her to respond to his directed questions. She almost seemed to turn over her control to some other possessing force, and Jervil would have wanted to learn what that force might be, but he knew he didn't have the time. After hours of subjecting Zirena to all the promptings he could muster, the rat-man relented and waited until the Seeress' trance subsided. Then he questioned her plainly.
"I'm not the one you want," Zirena offered. "The one you want will not be brought here in your power, she will come for you herself."
"Which one?" Jervil inquired. "Of whom do you speak? The woman for whom the mural is created, or the Harbinger herself?"
Zirena's eyes pierced the rat-man's possessed soul. "They are one and the same. She will come and make an end to you and all you do. There will be little or nothing left."
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Madame Zirena was drawn using the reference images of perditax31 . Thanks, Adeline!
Enjoy!
Note: Bookbinding and Demon's Due are a work of fantasy and fiction. The artist/creator in no way condones real mistreatment of this kind toward any woman or man, by living person, gremlin, plant, assassin, ratman, viscous fluid, programmed device, animated home furnishings, or otherworldly spiritual beings. Furthermore, the artist opposes the marginalizing and restriction of women in general by any institution, political and/or religious, including those which have individual women amongst their membership touting/promoting their own happiness within that institution as evidence that ALL women should feel the same way. This includes the religion I was raised in and which I have utterly discarded from my life over this and other issues.
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Comments: 44
Jervil has obviously failed to learn one crucial lesson: NEVER try to get a straight answer out of an oracle. Even if she doesn't hate you, she's still going to be cryptic about everything....
I love that we get a facial close-up here, since for me it is the eyes and expression that most build the tension and convey mood in terms of visual story-telling, especially in a character-interaction moment like this...
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As fascinating and hypnotic as this image is, the hook of this page for me is in the narrative. Jervil has already been warned by Avora that his efforts to borrow Anjerome's likeness would fail utterly. Hearing from Zirena, who has no reason to back up anything Avora says, that she who will come of her own free will, meaning Drea (or does it?) will destroy him, obviously obliges Jervil to come up with a contingency plan that will operate even if he is not around to oversee it. The question becomes, what part of the events of Bare Necessities, Catcall, Coils of Fate, and the first part of Bookbinding are happening according to Jervil's original plan, what part is an ad hoc adaptation, born of necessity, and what part is just crap hitting the fan? This page opens up a huge area for speculation.
It is worthwhile to recall that Zirena's predictions accuracy is not a complete given. The title of her chapter, after all, is Impaired Vision. While she certainly has been in close proximity to Jervil for the last few hours, I don't know that she's had the kind of contact or access that would permit her to make the kind of prediction she might under other circumstances. It is also possible that her personal antipathy to Jervil might cause her to misinterpret what she sees. This weakness might cause Jervil to downplay the import of what she says, but I don't think he's that dense.
Extremely interesting page. It's caused me to go back and re-read the chapters I mentioned with a whole different perspective, which is a good thing. I can't wait to see how this particular story arc plays out. After all, Zirena's is the only Fading that seems to retain some sentience, which raises interesting possibilities....
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"Zirena's predictions' accuracy is not a complete given" = very worthwhile indeed. It'll get a fellow by and move the story along, certainly, but to trust it 100% and literally is asking for trouble.
Thank you for that wonderful assessment of the paths available for pursuit at this point. Jervil's original plan, ad hoc adaptation, and 
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I was recalling her fading being somewhat responsive as well, and thinking this might have to do with her ability to put herself into that trance. One scene that we've not yet seen, though I wonder if we might soon, is one of our heroines actually facing the mirror. I wonder how that might look, and what they'd see ... I'm thinking maybe soon we'll know. Or maybe not.
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Page145 is Zirena getting the treatment at the runing altar. Page146 is the mirror scene with all four captives. If I'm right, it will look sufficiently mystical, disturbingly Hitchcockian, and alarmingly familiar to anyone who's seen the Spear of Retribution at work previously in the storyline... 
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If my memory serves me well, Jeff has alluded to the likelihood of images of some of those captured women being sent through, appearing at the beginning of the next chapter, Web of Betrayal. The one reference I was able to find was in the comments on page 133 of Book Binding, Whether or not there are other references, and if these images are of specific heroines, or of the nameless fallen, I can't recall offhand.
As to Zirena's responsiveness, I am inclined to seek the cause not in her trances, but in what might lie behind them. It appears to me as though there was something extra in Zirena's psychic make-up that was left behind when she went through the mirror. One potential explanation might be that Annalae is not the only one of the heroines with a personal connection to Other. Perhaps Annalae, too, would have retained some increased responsiveness if she had been able to reestablish her connection to the Catshade, but that didn't happen.
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Why, you perceptive little commenter, you!
Regarding the visual of the mirror-transfer, check out my response to Erick288's comment above at this link: comments.deviantart.com/1/4539… . Plus, you're right that we will see a more thorough treatment of what happened to Drea and Annalae after Coils of Fate in an upcoming flashback in Web of Betrayal. We'll see a snippet of it a few pages from now, though, from Jervil's recollection, so folks will at least know what to expect in the future...
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Then again, as a Seeress, maybe she doesn't have to.
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Well, he can't really die. But he'll be horrible, and he'll go through horrible things...
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Put him in a situation where they're constantly slashing at delicate parts of his body.
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I think you might hate rats more than Annalae!
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I wanna kill Jervis for all his rapey stuff he's been doing.
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I think he even has no less than four outstanding parking tickets! 
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Plus it's already been well-documented that he doesn't have proper building permits for any of the renovations that were made to the property.
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I think this is another exceptional image - Zirena is looking suitably inscrutible and Jervil's expression (while holding what I assume is Zirena's gag) is wonderful. I admit, that being base, I'd have liked you to pull back a little and reveal more of the lovely seeress... but I really can't complain, this is beautiful.
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You're base because you wanted to see more of a beautiful body tied up like that? Well, you're not alone. Perhaps "All her base are belong to you..." or something like that. 
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Thanks a ton! The reference photo was perfect for it.
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It's a shame Anjerome's Bookbinding dictation didn't include intricate details of the horrors Jervil subjected these women to. I'd have liked to see more of what such "experiments" involve. It would really help put all of this loose-end tying exposition in an excellent context...
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Well, if there's room in this enormonolithigantic chapter for a few more pages like these two, I will certainly add some more images to the future publication, because I think it'd be cool as well, and there'd be much more to it than just a bit of flogging... 
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I suppose we could conduct a poll to see how many people would be in favor of more of these sorts of pages ... after careful consideration I'd vote'yes.' And I'd vote frequently!
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I did notice that only two of the images involved Jervil's actual conditioning. It was starting to feel like one of those films where all of the yummy rewarding action takes place off-screen.
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That's music to this deviant's ears, boy howdy!
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Mr. Speaker, I move that we make the motion unanimous.
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Jervils gonna die! Jervils gonna die! Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah.
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quite the look you've captured in her eyes... as defiant as she is helpless
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A fun pairing, indeed. Thank you!
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I'm glad you approve. Or, at least, I'm glad you make approving sounds...
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Jervil employed his most tried and true methods of stimulus, but to no avail. The whip failed to impress her, and she merely looked bored during the electro-torture session; it turned out his latest acquisition was far kinkier than he had dared anticipate; to an intimidating degree. He tried sodium pentothal, but the only effect that had was to make his prisoner list her favorite Hungarian goulash recipes, and incessantly quote lines from True Lies. As his frustration mushroomed into desperation, he found himself reduced to employing the little-known magical incantations of "Come onnnnn!", and "Pretty please??"
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Which, all in all, turns out to be a fairly accurate prediction. I like these close-up images when you do them; it's amazing the way you manage to capture their personalities and feelings ... in this one I'm getting pure defiance, which seems in keeping with what all of your heroines are bringing. Zirena seems very much like Avora ... utterly unafraid. The story is ten times better because of it.
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Thanks! I'd think that, given her "gift" ("curse"?), she'd be quite jaded by now at seeing something horrific and dreading its arrival. I'd think, too, that her human tendency to make a coming problem seem so much larger and more drastic than it really would be because she knows it's coming--I think that tendency would be mostly eradicated given her experiences. Therefore, just because she sees some bad stuff on the horizon, she tends to not get too over-excited about all of it all the time to the point of coming undone. I'm glad you are enjoying it. These pages have been a lot of fun to put together.
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I've kinda been getting the sense you're having fun with these ... it's probably a bit of a break of sorts to switch from person to person and fill in vignettes and ideas that've been floating around a while, at least that's what I'd think. Plus hey, it's a great story, it'll put Jervil safely to 'bed,' and after that, the worst is certainly over ... I mean what else could possibly go wrong, after all?
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