We are seeing a flashback right now. The dinner party where Marina introduces James to Nikos and 'Elena' happens the next night. And at the dinner party, it's strongly implied that Marina is putting on an act, and Nikos, Eva, and Sofia are just playing along. They know James isn't really her husband.
Don't forget about horny. We laugh a lot about some of these feminization stories where the guy starts the path out of thinking they can get into some woman's pants. But frankly: I've known plenty of dumb guys that have done incredibly stupid things just because they think they'd have a shot at getting their dick wet. If all James knows is "Hot girl wants me to pretend to be her Husband because she's being harassed", I think horniness is more than a sufficient motivation. Hell, the whole "pretend to be her husband" angle might make it so that he thinks sex is even more possibly on the table.
I'm not sure the sole explanation for Andrew/Elena jumping to the "do you love him" question is that there are deeper problems in their marriage. It could be as simple as insecurity on Andrews part. We don't know Marina truly is in love with James. All we know is that ElenAndrew thinks she's in love with James.
I remember, at the time of reading, assuming it was just an old acquaintance and with what we know now, and ex that maybe Marina talked about often or something when Elena and her first started dating etc... James just happens to be sliding back in at the right time and taking advantage of the situation to get back with her. Maybe James knows something they both don't.
Insecurities, and also overall paranoia as to what's "real". I mean at this point, it wouldn't be unreasonable for a person in Andrew's situation to be questioning everything they thought they knew. Consider (besides being dressed up as part of this weird imitation scheme) you think you're a normal guy. One day, you wake up with breasts, vocal surgery, and have been undergone srs. You're missing parts of your memory, and you're told that dangerous people are after your family, and are told in seeming definitive terms that your wife is apparently married to another man, and despite these factions looking into this whole situation, apparently no one knows who you really are...
That's what I mean. The insecurity is the indication that there are deeper problems in their marriage. If they had a strong marriage, Andrew shouldn't be worried that his wife is going to fall in love with someone else in a matter of days. Plus Dream Aphrodite already hinted that this isn't a happy marriage, at least in Andrew's mind.
Perhaps you missed it- we already know the answer to this question. Seferi told Elena about James just a few pages ago. Hours ago in the comic's timeline. Seferi had just visited Elena in the hospital prior to Marina visiting. Seferi had an associate tailing Marina while she was on Crete, and this person observed the interaction between Marina, James, and Gjoka. Seferi relayed all this to Elena just prior to Marina's visit.
As far as I am aware, Elena has not undergone SRS, but was just "implanted" with a realistic prosthetic.
Correct. At least, according to the doctor. Or rather, according to Andrew's memories of what the doctor said. He already knows what he needs to do to find out the truth. The fact that he asked Nikos for anal and hasn't investigated on his own seems to indicate that he's avoiding the truth, either consciously or subconsciously.
I forgot about that! Thanks!
You guys are right, although I feel a bit like it's a technicality...? Page 752, the doctor confirms that they've performed a orchiectomy (removal of the testicles). And that the new prosthetic can't be removed without surgery. Page 519 confirms that it's advanced enough of a prosthetic that it translates sensation and maybe even pleasure? And it can take 10cms of penetration. Honestly, if this was possible in real life, I feel like this would be the predominant form of transitioning surgery as opposed to current methods. Just seems weird for them to claim it's not gender reassignment surgery when they've gone so far as to widen the hips, remove his testes, and apparently nullified any "unwanted" erections to maintain the new genitalia. At that point, what else would you call it
?
This is why I was disappointed that the sex scene went straight to anal. I mean, maybe there are reasons, but it just seemed odd Niko didn't pay attention to Elena's vagina at all.You guys are right, although I feel a bit like it's a technicality...? Page 752, the doctor confirms that they've performed a orchiectomy (removal of the testicles). And that the new prosthetic can't be removed without surgery. Page 519 confirms that it's advanced enough of a prosthetic that it translates sensation and maybe even pleasure? And it can take 10cms of penetration. Honestly, if this was possible in real life, I feel like this would be the predominant form of transitioning surgery as opposed to current methods. Just seems weird for them to claim it's not gender reassignment surgery when they've gone so far as to widen the hips, remove his testes, and apparently nullified any "unwanted" erections to maintain the new genitalia. At that point, what else would you call it
But the main point is, you wake up and your dick's gone, you have a pussy tucked between your legs. You've been told by the doctor that you've been castrated... Point is that it's a lot to take in and a lot that reasonable would screw with your mind, lol!
This is probably tinfoil hat conspiracy thinking, but now that I'm thinking back...
I'd say that if Elena is destined to end up with Nikos, which all signs point to right now, then she's probably not done transitioning. Nikos has a monster dong and 10cm ain't gonna cut it. The doctor also didn't say anything about what kind of girth the prosthetic can handle.
I'd go with #2 - it provides a reason for there to be a more (sorry) climatic scene later on. It's kind of explained by the Dr:I'd say that if Elena is destined to end up with Nikos, which all signs point to right now, then she's probably not done transitioning. Nikos has a monster dong and 10cm ain't gonna cut it. The doctor also didn't say anything about what kind of girth the prosthetic can handle.
I think there are two reasons for the ludicrously-realistic prosthetic vs. actual SRS:
- To give Andrew and Marina a speck of hope that they might return to their old lives after this is all over, which greatly affects their motivations. Yes, the orchiectomy is extreme, as are many of the other procedures, but if they're able to undo the breast implants, skin treatment, etc., then there's a slight chance they could return to man and wife. They could still have an active and "traditional" sex life without testicles. This also keeps the reader guessing as to how the story is going to turn out in the end.
- To give the story room to grow. We're only at the approximate halfway point, I believe is what Melissa said, and giving Elena a real vagina would give a sense of finality to the transformation. Elena getting a real vagina will likely coincide with her accepting herself as a woman permanently.
While we do know that in real life, binge drinking can result in memory loss, this doesn't really fit the pattern established in the comic so far. Andrew has never lost memories just from drinking alone, as evidenced when he wakes up with a hangover after his first night dining with the Samaras family:Was thinking more about Andrew forgetting all this stuff. Here is when Elena awakens:
Sounds like she was drunk, or I suppose possibly drugged. And he brings up having the same hangover feeling before when Marina got angry with him. It seems to imply that something after the salon visit happens - Andrew is so horrified at his appearance after the salon visit he goes to a bar, gets plastered, and something bad happens?
Joanna will probably be the cause of his memory thing , that has been the pattern - Joanna only seems to show up when the family is not around and we have heard that the sisters were not at the salon when Elena guess there, so it seems the perfect time for Joanna to appear.
I told you on 8muss , if you remember, merina is not that innocent, and Andrew knew it , maybe andrw knew that jems is merina's friend or colugue or whatever, and Andrew may dought on himself that he can't satisfy merina , so maybe one day it will happen but maybe andrw don't expect that will happen like that .... I personally feel , on the first place, merina agree to make andrw as Elina because of she want to spend some bed time with jems while Andrew will busy as Elina
I dunno: That'd be a red flag to me that something's wrong in Andrew's head. It's the same issue I had with "A High-Heeled Journey". If someone came up to you and basically said: "hey, let me be your wife". No matter how hot they were, that would be an insane amount of red flags.
