Saint James Infirmary 280: Opening Time.

[Daphne]

Friday, March 21st!

[jmundt29]

Well, that could mean anything.  It could be Dani caving.  It could be Mallory arriving to wreak holy hell upon Cherry (let it be that).  It could be Adrian's continuing odyssey through the Wilmot health care system or him deciding (rather bizarrely) to put his and The Twins' fate in Q-ball's hands (which seems just stupid enough to be Adrian's next move, I suppose).  Perhaps it will work out.

[Haight]

Only Jacqui makes an entrance like that.

Also can I mention I really like this cover.

Also that boob squeeze would be really hot under other circumstances.

[mns_95125]

Interesting.  I call Claudia.  We haven't seen her in some time and that looks like the kind of boot she'd wear.

[Werdna]

At first I thought "Mallory"; a second later I thought the boots didn't look right and thought it had to be Jacqui.

Then I went back and looked.  The last we saw Jacqui was in #250, when she reveals that Pink Clouds never worked on her.  We don't even see her in the background in any of the past 30 episodes.  We see Adrian and Laura leave; Erin runs upstairs; Marliese and Caitlyn are in the background in a few episodes before coming to the foreground again (and Marliese was one of the first people Cherry spoke to; also, she calls someone to get there asap); Dani has been Cherry's focus all along, and Cherry only diverts her attention from Dani to guilt Erin into leaving.

So, what IS Jacqui doing this whole time?  If it is her, why does she go outside instead of staying in the kitchen.  (The dramatic value of a door-kicking entrance notwithstanding, it's a cold night.)

At the rate we're going, we'll be in episode 439 by the time the sun comes up, what with the characters moving around and interacting as they are.  By my assessment, we've got

-the events at the SJI, with Cherry, Dani, Caitlyn, Marliese and Jacqui (earlier, Adrian and Laura too; also, Erin is upstairs feeling guilty)
-Vik and his two controlled women under the influence of Pink Clouds (earlier, Amy too, taken away by Adrian and Hayley to ...)
- ... the medical clinic, with Amy, Adrian, and Hayley
-Princess Pink, with Yves, Quentin, and Kanti, with Adrian, Amy and Hayley on their way (and presumably Laura has arrived by "now")
-Mallory, doing voodoo
-Julian, monitoring Adrian (and serving as sniper backup)

Others who may or may not be doing anything:
Rain
Pearl

Sorry for the sum-up if it's too obvious -- I'm just trying to get everything straight.  Anyone see any errors in what I've got?

[jmundt29]

And Hitomi and her pal giving Yates what's either the best or most exhausting week of his life (or possibly both).

Frankly, that shoe looked like something Erin has worn.  I thought I was seeing a bang and then Erin collapsing.  The equivalent of warp speed toward that ugly Second Roll of the Dice of Fate.  If it is Jacqui, great! (I hope).  Someone needs to break...well, shatter Cherry's ugly momentum.

[GodWilling]

My first thought was Mallory. I'm not sure we've any evidence she didn't walk out wearing boots like that. It doesn't sound like Rain's manner of speaking, but I suppose we don't have that much to go on there. Marliese called for someone to come and they're the two most likely candidates. I didn't consider Claudia but it's hard to understand how this would constitute her leaving it to Zenon. I'd figured Jacqui was still sitting in the kitchen, waiting for her ability to resist Pink Clouds to come in useful. The only two other options I could think of were Miriam and Raven, but neither of them seem likely. Is there a splash page to follow?


The chronology has been a little confusing since the events of Saturday night. As far as I can see, today is Sunday and it started in 227. So there's: Erin's rehearsal, Adrian's guitar lesson with Rain, the arrival of Cherry, Erin's guilt trip, Dani and Caitlyn and Alex and Katie, the abduction of Amy, then Amy going to work, Marliese's "date" with Adrian, Mallory's excursion, the big harem party - crashed by Cherry (although it seems Erin was expecting her), Adrian's excursion, the Q/Kanti/Yves meeting - presumably leading to Laura's exit.

On the calendar, Monday was "Buy more beer!", which makes me think the harem party was/is supposed to be happening then. And Dani's been wearing what look like her work clothes all day. And it looked like Amy was heading into work before she was abducted, and before she knew what Zenon wanted (in an episode called Bad Commute). People do work on Sundays obviously, but would Amy? I can't unpick the narrative in these events that would allow them to be divided into two days. Unless, of course, we just skipped Sunday altogether. But then in 202 Erin flagged up her rehearsal on Saturday night as being the next day.

Not that it matters of course...

[Werdna]

re: Amy going to work after the first application of Pink Clouds

Not sure it's "going to work" so much as "being called into the office after a break-in to assess what's missing".  I think it's quite possible for Vik to have sprayed Amy, she gets a call and Vik tells her to come to his place after she goes to the office (it would look suspicious if she didn't, perhaps?), and then returns.  As far as Amy was concerned, she wasn't abducted; her fiancé just picked her up and wanted her to come to the engagement party.

[elbenton]

I confess that I do not obsess over details and analyze the smallest inferences of real or perceived "clues" the way that some people do, so maybe I missed something somewhere. 
In any case, I got the impression that Pink Clouds was a "hands on" (no pun intended) kind of MC product, where the "master" had to constantly instruct the "slave" in real-time, from moment-to-moment.  It does not seem to me like it creates a situation where a "slave" could be given instructions to go off and perform some action or actions remotely without constant supervision, nor could they be programmed to always behave in a way that would always promote some abstract objective or point-of-view.
Just my $0.02-worth.

[GodWilling]

I don't know. The way it was presented, Amy got her call from Zenon on Saturday morning, just as she and Hayley were getting intimate in 175. We can place that chronologically because Laura had just found out about Vik's Pink Clouds and rang Amy to ask her about headaches just before it happened.

But it would appear that Amy didn't ring Zenon back until Sunday morning in 240. So we really have no choice but to imagine that Amy and Hayley spent the whole day and night in bed together. (Really - no choice at all.) It's called Bad Commute, which suggests Amy was making her way into work. But she rings Zenon on the way in response to his message and it's only then that she finds out about the break-in. And then she gets the department store perfume counter treatment. Yes, the message may simply have asked her to come in to work, but, you know, if it was the next day when she finally responded then it was a bit odd that the police were still there when she arrived.

I confess that I do not obsess over details and analyze the smallest inferences of real or perceived "clues" the way that some people do,

It's OK, the important thing is that you mustn't feel you're being judged for this failure on your part.

In any case, I got the impression that Pink Clouds was a "hands on" (no pun intended) kind of MC product...

"How long does it last?"

"The suggestibility? One to four minutes. The suggestions fade eventually."

"'Eventually'?"

"Depends on the suggestions and the person. Some people shake them faster than others. Hours, days, weeks."

(221)

[Haight]

So we really have no choice but to imagine that Amy and Hayley spent the whole day and night in bed together. (Really - no choice at all.)

That's okay, because I'm pretty sure that if we did have a choice we'd choose to imagine that anyway.