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The files are uploading. The clock is running. And not everyone is who they said they were.

Part 36 pulls back the curtain on Morosini's true intentions - and what Janelle finds in the north wing changes everything we thought we knew about who the good guys are (maybe).

I have 26 fairly tense panels for you this time. We're really in the final stretch of Phase 9 now! The transfer is running. The competition is underway. Holly has said what may be her last honest words to the person she loves most on this island. And now the minutes are ticking down toward something none of our characters are fully prepared for. Buckle up. 💕

Thank you so much for riding this out with me. Your support means everything and I REALLY can't wait for your comments on this one...

P.S. At the beginning of this episode, I included the "character cards" for Morosini and Janelle is case you need to be reminded of who they are!

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Comments

Zoe Storm

Okay, with that said: excellent chapter as always, Emory :) I'd kinda guessed that's where Morosini was going, but it makes the reveal no less impactful. Now we only have to see how the ones who're not in the loop (Josie, mainly) will react when they DO get in the loop.

Tim

Did Bella just get revealed as working for Morosini? I love the plot twists introduced here... makes for an awful lot of interesting and creative possibilities for Phase 10 (and beyond, maybe).

Maggie Heels

I am afraid Davis will slap off more things than only his smile when Jill's Dad will finish with him... and about Josie... hmmm currently what she said to Brooke matches perfectly what Morosini said... BUT... she's intelligent woman... same as Janelle... I think Janelle understood that the only way is Morosini way... at least for now... and I am not so sure if Josie would have something against gender justice hmmm, I mean first Davis and then... "Dorley Hall washout" material...

Maggie Heels

While we're talking inside the range of fictional universes... Emory Universe (J and J, Homecoming, Half Sisters), Alyson Universe (Dorley Hall). I think Josie has some potential to re-evaluate her ideals that not necessarily everyone needs to be saved from forced feminization... for example mentioned by me on another post "Dorley Hall washout" material... in short (for people who didn't read Alyson's books yet) "[very] bad men"...

Tim

As I recall, wasn't Mason pretty high on Josie's list of who she thought deserved to be feminized? So much so that she's the one who gave him his first dose of estrogen.

Gemma

This story flies close to the sun in the way it encapsulates current issues threatening to be more fully exposed the real world. Fact and fiction are not worlds apart. Morosini makes a very persuasive argument and you can see the rationale behind his actions and the justices he seeks. All of these elements in this story you have created Emory make it so real. The visuals, are amazing. The facial expressions in all the characters really capture their feelings of anger, despair, hurt, anger, shame and confusion. The close up images of Jill’s face and body really capture her beauty. I love the final images in which Jill’s dad love and protectiveness of his new daughter is highlighted. I, like so many others, look forward to him wiping the smile off Davis’s face.

Tiki D

This an interesting ideaology in terms of perspectives between Janelle, Morosini, and Xu. Janelle is looking at this from a black and white point of view, while Morosini is looking at this from a broader view. He knows how men simular to Xu operations, in terms of how ideology and influence of the Second Dawn spread beyond the organization itself. It's interesting take of "Keep you friends closer and your enemies closer."

Kris Greg

We finally learn the true motivations behind Morosini, & what he hopes will happen after the fall of Second Dawn. Nice! This is such an epic story that I've enjoyed for a while. I guess that we'll see what's coming next month! As always, you create some awsome stories. Thanks!

ender8343

Who chooses the "bad men"?

Helena Grace

The new logo looks incredible.

Jade Diaz

That’s certainly how I interpreted the comment

ckarya

I need to catch up!!!

Jade Diaz

We still don’t know what Janelle decides to do here, wrt Morosini. Maybe she kills him off or severely wounds him. Anyway, feeding “bad men” into the wood chipper is the same old bullshit repackaged with a new label. No, no, the leopards won’t eat *your* faces, just people who deserve it. I’ve seen this movie before.

Jenny S

Now I'm imagining a world post-Second Dawn where forced feminization becomes the latest fad among speculators and venture capitalists, treated in the same moronic fashion as NFTs and AI. Charisma void Mark Zuckerberg standing in front of the shareholders, introducing "Beta: Turning Ex-Boyfriends Into Babes" without a workable business plan. The Paul Brothers advertising Stealth E on Tiktok. Paris Hilton bringing on her formerly male assistant in a tacky dress on Jimmy Fallon. Nightmare stuff. Great as always, Emory! The tension is just killing me. I'm dead. I am deceased. <3

Pet Jeffery

It sounds as though Morosini is recruiting Bella for Second Dawn. (Lucky that I've now caught up with Homecoming!) I'm not sure how that would work. Bella's recruitment policy seems incompatible with the Dorley-like one Morosini's proposing. (The most recent episode of Homecoming makes it abundantly clear that they're not recruiting bad guys.) But how will things go if Janelle decides to pull the trigger? It's not a foregone conclusion that she's not going to blow Morosini's head off. Actually, Morosini's cynical views seem to fit with the real world a lot better than the idealism of those trying take down Second Dawn. And the idea of Second Dawn as an exercise of power for the sake of power makes perfect sense. It's what the super-rich do. Right now, in reality, they're torturing the world. (The results are the basis for Emory's Echoes of Eve.) The story is compelling and the visuals are brilliant. Visually, it's easy to focus on the big stuff, such as the facial expressions, but what takes the pictures above and beyond is the wealth of little details, for example Janelle's bra straps visible through her T-shirt. It's the small things that make everything look so real.

Pet Jeffery

I know what AI is but what, please, are NFTs?

Jade Diaz

That's actually a brilliant story premise! You should write it!

Jade Diaz

It stands for "non-fungible token" - like cash is "fungible" there's no distinguishing it from other bank notes of the same value (ok, they have serial numbers but...). But a "non-fungible token" means it is distinguished in some way. It is unique. One of a kind.

Crewchick

@Ender, Bingo! And there lays the problem. Too often hero and villain are subjective. As the old saying goes, "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". George Washington is both a treasonist rebel to the British Crown, and the father of the World's most powerful democratic nation depending on which side of the Atlantic you reside. During his campaign Trump accused Biden of weaponizing government agencies to attack conservative organizations. But now that Trump is in power we have seen him weaponize almost all government agencies in ways far more personal and malign than anything he accused Biden of while he was in office. The current DOJ case tracker is an unapologetic Trump vendetta list. By most accounts Robert Mueller was a patriot, a decorated war hero and a dedicated selfless civil servant his entire career. But because Trump took an investigation Mueller was tasked to conduct personally, Trump chose to malign him on the announcement of Mueller's death and verbally dance on his grave. And now Trump's echo chambers repeat the narrative that Mueller was evil and corrupt for simply investigating Trump. So we can see how easily "truth" can be changed simply by changing the narrator. Morosini's argument is a seductive one. Justice needs to be done, but the institutions responsible for upholding justice refuse to act, so we must seek justice ourselves. Simple, reasonable even in the right light. And in Morosini's Italian accept possibly even quite elegant sounding. But in our society justice is not an individual right. It is a collective one, for the benefit of society as a whole. When an individual sees the system failing, their job is not to become a vigilante and carry out "justice" themselves, but to act to fix the system that is failing at enforcing justice. It is the only way to ensure that justice remains impartial and professional. Because once we detach justice from the responsibility of a publicly accountable government, anyone can then take up retribution by any means they choose for personal grievances and call it justice.

Ellen Mellor

That was a hell of an episode. More twists thrown into the story and more confusion added into the mix. Absolutely fantastic. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Pet Jeffery

So, if someone buys one of Second Dawn's toys with (say) an original oil painting, that would be a non-fungible token?

Thomas Tolliver

I can't recall if we saw maid Janelle or if she was just referenced. Also, want to see Davis get slapped, and punched, and... other things...

Tim

Janelle is one of J&J's earliest "regulars" and has appeared in a couple dozen episodes, snapshots and polls—initially as Jason, Holly's first love interest, and later as Janelle, Holly's continuing love interest (until their relationship blew up). You can locate all of her appearances at a glance by just reading down her column (column L) in the Xu-niverse tab of Emory's site map Google sheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YvbRyqmW7gi8SEH-P7naOsFPRIpzAaemherILMXjv4M/edit?gid=700497364#gid=700497364)

Emory Ahlberg

Zoe: 🤣Thank you! And yeah I always enjoy seeing the collective hatred for Davis. I have a lot of fun writing him because he lacks that hypocritical philosophical veneer the rest of the Second Dawn brass hides behind. He just sucks and he owns it. Maggie: I definitely see the appeal of that trope, but Morosini's plan is fundamentally different from a Dorley-style rehabilitation academy. He isn't trying to fix bad men or make society safer. He is simply taking over a brutal human trafficking and sex slavery ring and swapping out the inventory to satisfy his own vengeance. He still plans to subject these people to horrific abuse and sell them to billionaires. Ender: Yeah, that's the flaw in the entire vigilante setup. Morosini acts like he'll be an impartial judge, but he's completely driven by his grief over Thomas Monroe. Basically, he's just appointing himself the supreme arbiter. Diana: I love this breakdown. I was trying to make Morosini's argument seductive to someone like Janelle who has seen the legal system fail firsthand. I think that for her it feels VERY satisfying to imagine untouchable abusers finally facing the exact horror they funded. But I think we all know that it's possible... maybe even LIKELY... that the subjectivity of his targets means he'll eventually just start punishing whoever threatens his control.

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you, Tiki! Janelle sees the victims first because she was one. Meanwhile, Morosini treats the entire global elite as a chessboard. He understands that simply destroying Clinic 12 leaves a vacuum that worse players will fill. He views the institution of Second Dawn as a weapon that can be repurposed, whereas Janelle sees it as an inherently evil machine that only produces suffering. Which do you believe?

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you, Gemma! While I was writing Morosini's monologue, I wanted to make him convincing. That meant giving him an undeniable core of truth about how the world protects powerful abusers. And Davis has no idea the kind of parental wrath coming his way!

Emory Ahlberg

Yeah, you've both seen her contradiction. She feels justified punishing Mason because he was her handler. He administered the injections. He brought her to have bottom surgery. Mason was her Davis. But I think she would draw a sharp line between getting personal revenge and endorsing Morosini's plan to institutionalize that violence on a global scale.

Emory Ahlberg

LOL - Love this vision of a post-Second Dawn world, Jenny! 💖 That may be the exact, horrifying endpoint of the technology in the story I've created. The tech-bros would absolutely rebrand forced feminization as "bio-hacking" or "identity optimization."

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you, Jade! 💖 Since the transfer download has started, either Janelle agreed or SHE has been disabled. And, yep... there may be a bit of the "new boss, same as the old boss" feeling. But is Morosini wrong? Unfortunately... although I wrote this monologue literally YEARS ago... recent events seem to suggest otherwise. 😔

Tiki D

Im between the two.

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you, Kris! 💕 I've been building to that twist for a while, obviously. And I wrote Morosini's dialogue years ago. But yeah... I wanted to pull the rug out from under the simple "rescue mission" and show that the real battle isn't just about taking down Xu. Now Janelle and the others have to face the terrifying possibility that they may have just traded one monster for another... ...or maybe not. Do you think he has a point?

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you, Hel! 💖 Figured it was time for a glow-up there lol

Emory Ahlberg

Tim really is the ultimate archivist for my messy brain! We saw Janelle a good deal, but that was years ago now. The last time was in Phase 8 when she and Holly finally reunited - but Janelle was disgusted and felt betrayed that Holly had become part of Second Dawn. She begged Holly to leave with her, without the $10 million Xu promised. Holly did not. Afterward, Janelle was contacted by Morosini's agents and brought to Venice where she met up with Emily, Josie, and Dr. Mason. Also... Yes, I'm fully manifesting everyone's desire to see Davis suffer lol

Emory Ahlberg

💕 Thank you, Ellen! Mwahaha... I love weaving these massive webs of betrayal and conflicting agendas. Keeping track of who knows what and who is backstabbing whom has required an embarrassing amount of emails to myself!

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you, Pet! 💕Phase 9 takes place in late summer of 2020, and Homecoming takes place in spring of 2021... So, Bella is already "established" in her own right in Chicago. Chris / Kris are currently still in Bella's hell while Phase 9 is happening. But it's easy to imagine that Morosini is reaching out to skilled surgeons who are interested in this sort of "work." 😉 I must gently push back on the idea that Morosini's plan is Dorley-like. Bella claims to target abusers (specifically those who "use" sex-workers), but she's ultimately a self-described sadist using vigilante justice as a convenient excuse to inflict pain. Morosini's proposal operates on that same wavelength of pure vengeance. Neither of them cares about redemption. Dorley Hall is a completely different beast because their entire foundation relies on rehabilitation. They strictly take young men they genuinely believe can be saved, can adapt to being women, and can be reformed. But Morosini just wants to build a new torture chamber for people he hates. That said... Maybe those people (rapists, true abusers, murderers) deserve this fate. That's for you to decide! Can the machine be stopped? Or can you only choose WHO will get fed into it as grist for the mill? But yeah... I firmly believe billionaires operate on a completely different moral plane, treating human lives like disposable assets, which is the horror I wanted to capture with Second Dawn. I actually wrote Morosini's dialogue years ago. It's scary how accurate it ended up being.

Kris Greg

Morosini has a point about many other groups rising from the ashes of Xu's fall. However "good" his intentions are in the beginning, it seems inevitable that he would become another Xu.

Pet Jeffery

I think the difference between Dorley Hall and Second Dawn is, at root, whether the feminisers see feminisation as an upgrade or a downgrade, the difference between philogyny and misogyny.

Gemma

It is truly mind boggling all the work you must have put in to create this incredible spread sheet of Emory’s creative works and characters

wolfdragon

Can you put those in words that a redneck can understand

Crystal Peaches

I’d love to see Davie’s given the treatment that Jill has received and come to realise that all his aggression and hatred is not because he’s evil but because he is desperately unhappy and in denial

Pet Jeffery

Crumbs! I've never met a redneck and have only a vague idea as to what a redneck is. (I've never travelled further west than Ireland.) But I'll have a go. Philogyny is liking or admiring women, misogyny is the opposite, hating women. Dorley Hall is an establishment in Alyson Greaves' fiction in which men are forcibly feminised. The people who run Dorley Hall see themselves as improving those whom they feminise. Those who run Second Dawn seem to regard their forcible feminisations differently. It seems to me that those in power at Second Dawn, from the platinum star billionaires to such lowly functionaries as Davies, are misogynists. By contrast, those in power at Dorley Hall are philogynists.

Tim

Thanks, Gemma, but I'm quite certain that it doesn't come close to even one-tenth of one percent of the work Emory has put into her Patreon site. Her's is the work that is truly mind boggling.

wolfdragon

Thanks for trying but I still fully get it if you're from Ireland just imagine trying to explain it to someone who's really drunk

Pet Jeffery

I said that Ireland was the furthest west I'd been, not that I'm Irish. In fact, I am not only English, but possibly the most English person that I know (if that makes any sense). Of my 79 years, I've spent all but 8 weeks (at most) in England. (I've been to Scotland once, Wales twice, Ireland twice and continental Europe twice.) You are evidently not the only American person with whom I've had difficulty communicating. Someone from the USA said this in an Amazon review of one of my books: "I think the English diction may have been a bit much for a concrete cowboy from Arizona." I'm not sure what a concrete cowboy is, perhaps a subset of redneck.

wolfdragon

In my opinion a concrete cowboy is probably someone who is a redneck from the city or lives in a city

Pet Jeffery

That makes sense. More sense, I think, than another possibility to occur to me, that he's as tough as concrete.

Emory Ahlberg

Yeah, you completely nailed it, Pet! Guys like Davis are 100% just awful creeps who get off on humiliating people. To them, turning a guy into a girl is the ultimate downgrade. And it ties perfectly into what Morosini is planning. Hewants to use feminization as the ultimate revenge against the guys who run Second Dawn. He knows it's the absolute worst punishment you could hand to those hyper-macho billionaires, lol. Xu thinks he's doing some noble "upgrade" thing (like making Jill his beautiful little masterpiece), but really it’s just about sick power and control for him too.

Emory Ahlberg

With Morosini dropping that massive bombshell to Janelle about wanting to take over and feminize the guys who run Second Dawn... well, Davis might just get exactly what's coming to him, lol!