Saint James Infirmary 285: Off-Label.

[Daphne]

Tuesday, April 8th!

[mns_95125]

With a title like that, I can only assume that Q's formula is going to have an unanticipated but useful side-effect.

[Haight]

I'm surprised that Hayley has significant revelations from this - we've seen her onscreen for pretty much the entire time she was subjected to pink clouds, right?

Unless her expression of shock is more at re-evaluating her own reaction to what her sister and Adrian are up to.

[Werdna]

Two possible explanations I came up with:
1) The antidote to pink clouds causes an enormous aphrodisiac reaction, which is just setting in with Hayley in the final panel; or
2) Hayley now realizes how much she was under control every time Adrian told her to do something since she was dosed, which (if memory serves) was every time she raised an issue with the weirdness of what was going on.  This realization has clarified for her the nature of the situation, and she is understandably freaked out.

[Haight]

1) The antidote to pink clouds causes an enormous aphrodisiac reaction, which is just setting in with Hayley in the final panel

Didn't think of that.  Good idea!

[mns_95125]

I'm going with option one, myself.

A more remote possibility is that Formula Q undid the bell tower effect too, and Hayley is reacting to having seduced her sister.  Pink Clouds and the bell tower effect are both associated with headaches, so it's possible they have similar neurological underpinnings and could be undone by the same treatment.

The aphrodisiac effect is a simpler and more likely explanation for Hayley's reaction.  Here's hoping it isn't also a love potion.

[jmundt29]

I looked specifically at Hayley's depiction in the final panel.  I didn't see panic or revulsion.  I'm leaning toward option 1.  However, if that's the case there's something very important to note here.  The aphrodisiac side effect (if that's what it is) has a wider range on a cotton ball than Pink Clouds seemed to (though we don't know for sure because Kanti used it in the parking lot outside the pool hall and not in the establishment.  If Vik's spin on PC had had that range, and had been used inside the hall, we'd have seen several women react to it.  So, it's possible that the cure can be more dangerous than the product it's designed to combat.

[mns_95125]

The one counterargument I see to option 1 is timing.  In Amy's case she had time to sit down and comment on her experience with Vik before the lust effect kicked in.  If Hayley's "oh fuck" is in response to the lust effect it kicked in faster on her.

Perhaps the response time has a genetic component.  Oh, wait...

[GodWilling]

I definitely read it as scenario 1. We don't see how much of a time difference there is between Amy's dose and Hayley's. But in any case Amy has no lead to follow: she is, erm, overcome with horniness to the point where she can't hold back. Hayley sees that effect and realizes that the same thing is happening to her, even if she isn't at the same point yet.

Perhaps.

There's a nice similarity between this page and the previous one.

[Werdna]

Other factors that may differ between Amy and Hayley's exposure to Pink Clouds:  length of exposure (for Hayley it can't have been for more than a couple of seconds); what level of "change" the controller tried to accomplish (i.e., for Amy, marry Vik; for Hayley, go with Adrian); number of exposures; indoor/outdoor exposure (Hayley's was definitely outdoors, and though Amy's was as well, that may have been just her first).

[Haight]

There's a nice similarity between this page and the previous one.

That's why I guessed it was an 'Aha!' moment and not a 'damnimsohorny' one.