Saint James Infirmary 83: Back to the Lab

[T5Medici]

I guess I missed that entirely. I thought the text box was supposed to be ineligible to represent Laura zoning out and not paying attention to it. The next box then sort of indicated that she was day dreaming about sex. You mean it was supposed to represent an accent I couldn't understand? Maybe if it had been larger I might have been able to understand it. (Unless, of course, you're trying to represent that he is speaking softly as well as having a hard to understand accent.

[jmundt29]

He was sarcastically accentuating his parents' accents (native Hindi speakers speaking English).  Rather like a Russel Peters routine.  But yeah, if you can't read the thing it looks like he's saying something under his breath that could be a Hidden Knowledge-style trigger.  The quotation marks in his speech bubble look a lot like the asterisk that indicates the musk of the perfume having an effect on Laura at the end of the entry.  Without the context of his response it could even look like he's experimenting with pheremones designed to put her in a hypnotic or submissive state and isn't suprpised, but merely verifying her response.  That speech changes the entire tone of this week's little episode.

[elbenton]

It almost looks like the discovery of the mind-blanking powers of the perfume will be accidental, because it appears that, from the earlier panel, Laura was originally holding the cotton ball containing the scent.  Then Vikram took it from her, smelled it and held it under her nose. 

[jmundt29]

Laura took the cotton ball out and put it on the slide, but I can't see if she treated it with the mixture.  She must have because Vikram doesn't modify it.  I don't know why she put the cotton ball on a slide, it's not like a cotton ball would be easy to examine under a microscope.*shrugs*

Now, is Vikram's girlfriend, Amy, the Amy from the Tit Twins, or a different Amy?  If that's the same Amy, he's in for another surprise this evening (if it even gets that far).

[OctaviaMoon]

I do so love to read all the speculation...I, of course, am sworn to secrecy, and you will all just have to wait and see...frustrating, I know! but just know I find some really interesting theories are posted here in the SJI threads and it's really fun to read them all

If there was a smirky emoticon I might post a line or two of them

[T5Medici]

If there was a smirky emoticon I might post a line or two of them

I would too. Aren't we overdue for a splash page? 

[elbenton]

Somebody on the interweb claims that this is a smirk emoticon   ;J

[OctaviaMoon]

Definitely looks nothing like MY smirk

[Garg22]

And now it looks like we're getting into pheremones/chemicals.  It looks like just about every form of mind control seems to exist in the SJI world so I'm glad that we won't be stuck on the same indocternation theme for the entire comic.

[Daphne]

I don't know why she put the cotton ball on a slide, it's not like a cotton ball would be easy to examine under a microscope.*shrugs*

Prevents contamination if she puts it down.

[jmundt29]

Okay...well, if Vik is an accidental inventor and not a nefarious tinkerer, what was the purpose of the project that he and Laura were working on when they discovered this...side effect?  What was the goal of the experiment?

[Daphne]

It looks like just about every form of mind control seems to exist in the SJI world [...]

You have hit upon a deeper point than you may realize.

[jmundt29]

Does that mean there's magic and the possibility of supernatural entities in SJI as well?  Oh boy!   That sounds absolutely thrilling!   Hmm, might Adrian not actually been b.s.ing about the hypnocock?   Well, obviously he was making it up to get out of the situation, but might he actually have some latent mesmeric or magical abilities that he unknowingly tapped into to override Derek's programming in that moment?  Hmm.

Actually, I think this brings me back to the watch.  Is the watch more than a prop?  Is it actually a combination of magic and machine?

Oh, and--what about Danielle's red book, the 3-ring with that mesmeric Rorshach swirl on the cover that was in her shoebox with those polaroids and the watch.  Is it a diary of her experiences, instructions or observations on the watch, or...*drumroll* a spellbook?  I think the odds are quite long on it being a spellbook, but maybe that's where the elusive directions are.

Note--I totally forgot that book even existed until I scrolled back to look at the shifting designs on the watchback and ask about them.

In stasis, the watchback appears to be blank gold.  It stays that way from introduction in Issue #30 to through Mallory's treatment at the end of Issue #36 (we see Dani guiding Mallory into the bathroom propelling her forward with a hand over her rump, while Mallory stares at the watch and listens; presumably that's Mallory's induction).

Mallory's flashback/recap in Issue 37, still has the watchback plain.

However, when the girls corner Marliese with it in Issue 42 (Ghost Ship, Part 2), there's a woman's face on the watchback (similar to, but distinct from Danielle's).

In two panels of issue 43, the watchback looks like it has a single closed eye on it (the woman from the previous issue).

There are two panels in issue 44 where the watch is visible.  In one, the back is blank.  In the other, we could be looking at the watch face, or at a hypnotic swirl design on the back, I can't tell.

In issue 45's splash page, the watch is plain gold again.

The last time the watch looks like anything other than a plain gold (or possibly brass) watch is in issues 53, 54, and 56 where Dani is programming Jacqui, but that's the watch face, not the watch back.

So how does this work, the gal shows up to change sexual preference, but the watch face emits swirling flame to break the will of resistors (like Jacqui)?

[jmundt29]

In earlier long post, I forgot to add an important question.

In a contest between different types of programming and triggers, which wins.  Say, watch vs. scent pheremones?  Of course, this may end up being a central question of this particular adventure.

[master]

"Magic & supernatural?" (groaning sigh) Please, no succubi...they seem to show up everywhere. And apropos of nothing, add me to the list who had no trouble reading the "Indian" font...and i was on vacation looking at it on a tiny smartphone screen.

But once I got home, I did have to go to the "cast of characters" member's bonus to figure out who we were watching. This expanded harem makes for some interesting activity!