#⋚ subject of peril 。 ⋛ // • ╯ OPEN STARTER . ╰

[my-timing-is-digital]

Starter for @fractalcloning

THE SYNTH DEFENDERS

The vast, undulating valley expanded in all directions until the moderately sloping terrain was intercepted by the incipience of colossal mountains adorned with countless trees and lush foliage — a multicoloured patchwork of vegetation. The sun's luminosity was diminishing in intensity, and as the horizon rotated away from it, the scarcity of light further obscured the landscape below, shrouding it under an opaque shade of blue bordering on black. Faraway stars were coruscating, timidly, in the darkening sky that crept up on him from the rear — the world would soon be plunged into temporary darkness. Vocalisations of crepuscular fauna were carried by the cool breeze that saluted them at irregular intervals.

The android had marvelled at the view before, and despite the fact that he had no active recollection of it, the ambience had a sense of unfathomable familiarity about it... Patiently, he permitted the silence to prosper; his chartreuse eyes, increasing in phosphorescence the more the solar radiation receded — evanesced behind the serrated ridges and summits. Lore seldom occupied the holodeck; he only paid visits prior to the execution of particularly perilous rescue operations. He claimed that the generation of this specific computer simulated projection pacified his capricious emotions, that it aided him to reorganise his thoughts and analyse their strategies one last time. But when enquired after the origin of the holographic landscape, the answers he supplied were terse, monosyllabic. The nanoscopic sliver of information he had successfully prised from Lore's reluctant tongue had hinted at the location. Omicron Theta. Their place of activation. Why Lore appeared to value, or at least, harbour sentiments for this place, Data did not know; he had encouraged Lore to elaborate on the matter, but his attempts had been no avail. His brother could be obstinate, unwilling to share such particulars with him. After his first attempt, Data had given Lore the opportunity to open up regarding this subject twice, but no satisfactory answers had sprouted from those attempts either, which eventuated in the determination to simply cease his self-imposed objective and let it rest.

Instead, whenever he found his brother in this ponderous, melancholic state of mind, he would just stand beside him, cognisant that his mere presence, his sangfroid comportment, facilitated his endeavour to placate Lore's tempestuous emotions, and aided in the realignment and the retrieval of order in his positronic brain, his algorithms and subroutines.

Quietly, Data hovered in Lore's peripheral vision, running a minute analysis of the older android, computing, considering the best approach to address his brother without receiving an acerbic remark in return.

'It's OK, brother,' Lore eventually terminated the silence between them, his eyes finding Data's, a barely perceptible, wistful grimace streaking across his pale lips while he scrutinised his younger brother. 'Sometimes I envy your inability to experience human emotions.'

Data held Lore's gaze. He had noticed that, whenever they conversed and the topic pertaining to emotions popped up, Lore always differentiated between human emotions and whatever supposed android emotions he, Data, had. And every time he reminded his brother of the incontrovertible fact that he did not have emotions — of any kind —, Lore's ripostes were relentless; in turn, he reminded Data what atrocities, what iniquities he had committed under the rule of human emotions, and proceeded to pelt him with an enumeration of all the attainments Data had accumulated throughout his life, and how every single one of these was an independent testimony to the emotions that must have been at work in his brother during these instances. Data had defied Lore's erroneous conjectures on multitudinous occasions, but Lore reprimanded him or simply walked away, leaving his brother to ruminate, to ponder his words in solitary.

'Are you here to keep me company?' he asked inquisitively, leaning against the oak tree that always delineated the season Lore had programmed the holoprogram in — in the dark, the leaves resembled unfolded bat wings.

'I am. I hope you do not object to my intrusion,' Data replied softly, as if to preserve at least a small portion of the equilibrium that had flourished lavishly.

'Not at all — I welcome it. Is there a specific reason residing behind your intrusion?' he enquired, suspiciously.

A momentary silence ensued.

'Perhaps.'

'I knew it!' Lore tutted, shaking his head. 'Well, spit it out.'

'Soteria informed me that she has confidential information regarding the Zhat Vash -- apparently, surveillance drones have detected suspicious activities in a civilian's apartment in Greater Boston, Earth...' he trailed off. Lore's grimace expired.

'Has she verified these suspicions?'

'She has. However, she did not disclose through what means -- she did not elaborate.'

'Well, we're already en route to Earth, so I suggest we investigate and verify her intel ourselves after we've retrieved B-4,' Lore stated resolutely, his tone of voice prohibited Data from issuing his objections. 'Whatever mess they made's not going anywhere.'

Tension set Lore's jaw and imbued his pale features. Eventually, his brother averted his gaze and frowned in cogitation. They were both swathed in silence for many minutes consecutively, during which their gazes were trained on the darkening horizon and their minds intertwined in the numerous computations relative to the intel procured by Soteria.

---------

Daystrom Institute of Advanced Robotics rose up high into the night sky while the androids advanced, creeping in the shadows, circumnavigating the many surveillance cameras that were scattered around the vicinity. Fortunately, Soteria had infiltrated Daystrom's security systems and aided them in their endeavours to sneak their way in, unseen...

    Soteria was one of the many decommissioned, sentient AI the brothers had rescued and offered asylum to. Her physical husk — rudimentary in design —, had been destroyed shortly after the inauguration of the ban on synthetics, but fortunately, they had salvaged her memory engrams and programming and transferred the information to their supercomputer — a digital storage room, or as most of the AI preferred to call it, a sanctuary. Over 30 sentient artificial individuals were residing in the supercomputer, some of them had offered their expertise in their respective field of programming, but the majority had requested the opportunity to explore their sentience. (Data had once plugged himself into the supercomputer to "visit" the other AI, and to his astonishment, they had constructed a stupendous, digital metropolis.)

    Initially, the AI was programmed to serve as an elaborate anti-virus software, but she had, over the course of several years, garnered sentience. Unfortunately, this quantum leap coincided with the devastating events on Mars, and as a consequence, the scientists collaborating with her were necessitated, compelled by law, to cease their practical experiments and were prohibited from continuing to support her cognitive development. Everything had to be kept strictly theoretical. Therefore, the lead scientist of the Soteria Project was more than cooperative when the android brothers infiltrated the moderate science station and stated their business — to save the AI and unravel the mystery, ascertain the precise reason that lay at the root of the collective malfunction of the A500 synths...

Within less than 5 minutes, Data and the others had traversed the width of the Daystrom grounds and deftly hacked one of the control panels mounted on the wall adjacent to the main entrance. Soundlessly and effortlessly, the android peeled the unlocked doors apart and secured it so the others could pass through, prior to following them into the atrium himself. Patiently, the other androids waited for Data to catch up with them — none of them required flashlights, for their ocular units were advanced enough and could see clearly in the scarcely illuminated science facility. When he reached the others, his eyes inevitably landed on an individual sprawled on the ground.

'Did he contact any of the other security guards?' he whispered softly, gesturing to a human guard who lay unconscious, rendered in a starfish formation, face-up on the floor.

'No, he did not stand a chance against my Vulcan nerve pinch,' Finn's monotonous voice emanated from under his jet-black balaclava.

'Well done. Let us proceed,' Data urged them, stepping over the unconscious guard and cut right through the middle of the spacious atrium to the laboratory where their team would meet up with Lore's, who had secured the emergency exit — just in case.

As discussed, the brothers and their respective teams gathered in the centre of another large room — the one that, according to Soteria's preliminary investigation, was home to the disassembled body of their oldest brother — at precisely 3 am.

'Bumped into any inconveniences on your side?' Lore whispered inquisitively as they both walked toward the desk that held B-4.

'One guard — Finn rendered him unconscious,' he replied, examining the lock — it required an employee with special clearance's fingerprint.

Luckily for them, Soteria had gained access to a vast databank of all the fingerprints from all the scientists that worked here beforehand. The one she had sequestered from the databank belonged to one Dr Agnes. P. Jurati, a cyberneticist. Quietly, Data handed his phaser to one of the other androids and yanked off one of his black gloves. Lore, in the meantime, produced a small container with in it an exact facsimile of Dr Jurati's fingerprint. With mathematical precision, Lore placed the wafer-thin sheet of silicone skin on the pad of Data's index finger with a specially designed utensil, which would prevent the synthetic skin from sustaining damage during application. Once it was in the right position, Data engaged the finger scanner and the locks sprang open with a reassuring click, granting them access to the android inside.

While they were salvaging B-4's components, Data and Finn disabled the institute's dampening field in order for the others to transport directly on to their cloaked vessel. Lore and Data would stay behind to delete any and all digital as well as physical traces their intrusion may have left behind.

'We're ready,' Lore informed his brother as he shoved the drawer shut and drew his phaser, ready to bolt for the exit.

'Ditto.'

'Energise,' Lore said in a muffled voice, speaking to a non-existent individual.

The six androids that had accompanied them, and a yet-to-be-assembled B-4, vanished in a veil of scintillating light which never failed to remind Data of an inverted waterfall. Now, it was just the two of them. Silently, they exchanged a curt nod and completed their tasks. Data reactivated Daystrom's dampening field and wiped every digital footprint, while Lore cleared away any traces of their presence in the physical world.

'OK, that was everything, I'm done. Let's fucking go, brother,' Lore said, lingering in Data's peripheral vision.

'Agreed.'

Stealthily, the brothers sprinted toward the atrium. The security guard was still unconscious — poor guy would have to contrive a masterful excuse to account for his unprofessional behaviour — and the doors were still unlocked. They wrenched it open and stepped outside. A distinctive click behind them was indicative of Soteria having reactivated the security systems on all entrances and exits. Together, they scurried across the Daystrom property, with the intention to sprint to the prearranged rendezvous point where the others would transport them up. However, they would never arrive at their location, for a composed female voice — authentically human-sounding to the organic ear — terminated their plan prematurely.

'Soteria to Data. The Zhat Vash is in San Fransico, near the Starfleet Archive Musuem.'

'Elaborate, please,' Data demanded politely, while he and Lore ran at high speeds to reach the rendezvous point.

'There is not much time. Jean-Luc Picard is involved — he might be in mortal danger.'

The announcement made the android stop dead in his tracks — Lore could veer off to the side just in time to prevent a disastrous collision.

'Soteria...'

'Data, no!' Lore interjected aggressively, advancing, a mild panic coruscated in his chartreuse eyes. 'He's not worth it! We're not ready to take on the Zhat Vash! Didn't you learn anything from last time?!'

'Energise,' he ordered, ignoring his brother.

Data was cognisant of the risk he had taken; his transport signatures could be detected, if Daystrom would run a short range sensor sweep later that day, but they would be well away from Earth by then — no one could locate their hideout anyway, even if they wanted to. As for Lore, he was positive his brother would follow him — he would suffer the consequences of his brother's wrath afterward.

Several seconds elapsed, prior to the completion of the transport sequence. San Francisco... Captain Picard appeared to be in no immediate danger, and was outside any direct line of fire, therefore, his priority was to assist the girl fighting the Romulan assassins. Without a moment of hesitation, the android, clad in obsidian body armour and a balaclava of a similar shade, charged at the nearest Romulan, catching the individual by surprise and effectively neutralised them before they could process what — or who, rather — had happened to them.

As prognosticated, Lore materialised but a heartbeat later, just when he reached the bottom of the stairs. Lore did not waste a moment either, and instantaneously threw himself on top of a Romulan who had transported behind Picard, and wrestled him forcefully to the ground, where he retired him.

'Here. Protect yourself, you fool,' Lore's synthetically altered voice sneered at Picard, and he smacked a phaser in the older man's hand, prior to unsheathing two identical daggers from the scabbards attached to the small of his back.

While his brother remained in the Captain's close proximity, Data had almost reached Picard's young acquaintance, if it had not been for another Romulan appearing out of thin air and discharging his phaser gun. The force of the impact nearly destabilised his immaculate equilibrium, but his systems recuperated expeditiously and allowed him to retaliated, leaping over the banister and disarming the Romulan with a single blow to the wrist, disintegrating the bone underneath. In the momentary diversion he had created, he seized the man's arm and tossed him over his shoulder, sending him down several flights of stairs where Lore would receive him with open arms and the kiss of two razor-sharp blades...

After a short intervention, Data resumed his initial objective and skipped several flights to make up for the slight delay. The young girl was adequate in combat and if the current circumstances were not one of life-and-death, he would have noticed her synthetic qualities much sooner. Either way, the last remaining assailants were determined to accomplish the mission they had been sent out to complete — they were merciless. One of the Romulans swung around and hammered the handle of his gun hard against the side of Data's face, which earnt the assassin a dagger in the arm. Lore.

'Missed me?' he quipped, while stabbing another Romulan in the chest.

Together, Data, Lore and their mysterious and remarkably competent companion, downed the remaining Romulans. And when his brother squatted down beside one of the deceased Romulans, Data diverted his attention to the girl.

'Are you alright? Do you require urgent medical attention?'

'Shit,' Lore hissed, more to himself than to the others, but garnered the others' attention regardless. 'I recognise this Romulan — he tried to dismember me several weeks ago, remember? They're Zhat Vash, alright...'

'Who are you?!' Picard had caught up with them and was presently holding the two android brothers at gunpoint with the phaser Lore had distributed to him for protection.

Instinctively, Data held up his hands, to indicate that he was not a threat. Lore rose to his feet but made no attempt to disarm the elderly man.

'Who are you?!' he demanded again, his voice trembled both with rage and old age.

'An old friend,' Data replied serenely, watching Picard very carefully as he attempted to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

'Old friends don't hide behind masks,' he retorted sharply.

'Correct,' he said, unperturbed by the prospect of getting shot.

Without further ado and unnecessary suspense, the android took off his mask; his brown hair severely dishevelled but his pale complexion unaltered. Picard immediately lowered his phaser and braced himself against the banister, incredulity interwoven with streaks of recognition flashing across his face.

'Data?'

'Greetings, Captain.'

[hero2222-nsfw]

Open Starter: Place your bet!

Amelia's heart sinks as she realizes that despite her brief moment of hope, she's still trapped in this twisted auction house, a mere pawn in someone else's game. Just as despair threatens to consume her, a hush falls over the crowd as a mysterious bidder steps forward, their identity obscured by shadows.

With a chilling confidence, Your Muse places a bid that sends shockwaves through the room, surpassing all previous offers. As the auctioneer announces the bid, a shiver runs down Amelia's spine, sensing that something ominous is about to unfold.

Frozen in disbelief and horror, Amelia realizes that she's been thrust into a perilous game of chance, her fate now hanging in the balance as she's subjected to the whims of a stranger with unknown motives. With each passing moment, she feels the weight of her vulnerability, heightened by the revealing outfit she's been forced to wear for the auction, a stark reminder of her powerlessness in this twisted spectacle.

As the bidding continues, Amelia stands on display, her every movement scrutinized by the bidders, her sense of autonomy slipping away with each increasing bid. With her heart pounding and her mind racing, she knows that she must find a way to break free from this sinister game before it's too late, determined to reclaim control over her own destiny and defy those who would seek to exploit her for their own gain.

[meitantei-lavi]

hi hello i’m drinking and i have thoughts on yashahime that i’ll put under the cut if u wanna read and try to follow my train of thought tldr; i like yashahime but i have some problems with motivation, tension, and other plot related things

(also keep in mind that i’ve only been watching the dub bc reading is hard sometimes, so i’m only on like episode 10 or w/e)

OKAY SO i’ve been trying to put my finger on what i don’t like about yashahime, though as a whole i do like the anime. so lemme first itemize what i DO like:

so i do really like the main characters, both personality wise and design wise. i like towa and setsuna’s relationship and i really really love that moroha has precisely one brain cell. 

going off of that, i really don’t mind that the central story doesn’t focus on solely inuyasha and kagome’s kid. i think that would’ve kinda been the conventional way to go, so props to the writers for not doing something predictable (though i really kinda hope that we never find out who towa and setsuna’s mother is; frankly i can’t believe sesshomaru could have sex at all)

also going off of design, i like the design of the demons and the main group of bad guys. it’s all very reminiscent of inuyasha and i think it works

i also think it’s a nice callback to have characters from inuyasha come back in yashahime! they don’t feel entirely shoehorned in (except for maybe kikyo as the tree of ages??? don’t really get that) and they don’t detract from the main story revolving around the gals

not really plot related, but i’m SUPER happy that kaoru wada came back to do the score. his music is very Iconique and really just makes the show, in my opinion (and i love that opening. very catchy)

BUT i’m still having problems getting really invested in the show. for me, what really made me like inuyasha when i first started getting into it when i was like, 12 or so, was how interesting the characters were and how they were motivated by a united threat, i.e., naraku. while i think our main characters are interesting and fun, i’m so not interested in the main villains for a couple reasons:

there’s too many of them, for starters. and yes, naraku had 800 million incarnations of himself, but naraku was the main threat and main villain. his incarnations or whatever other demon of the week were threats to the main gang, but there was still a clear motivation to defeat naraku

on the subject of naraku’s incarnations, i compare them to the four perils in yashahime. the four perils are there to provide a challenge for the gals and impede them on their way to fight kirinmaru. HOWEVER, 2 of the four perils are pretty much immediately killed by the gals in the course of one episode apiece, which to me kinda defeats their purpose. i’ll concede that some of naraku’s incarnations were one-off villains, but they actually posed a threat to the OG gang. the rest of the incarnations lasted pretty much the whole series (i.e., kagura, kanna, the douche kid whatever his name was, etc.)

on THAT note, i feel like the motivation for the four perils and kirinmaru kinda sucks. like they wanna get back at sesshomaru for being a dick by killing his daughters?? compare that to naraku’s motivation for doing what he did: be a terrible bastard man who wants kikyo, hate inuyasha, wants to become a full demon and threaten pretty much all of japan by doing so, enjoys manipulating and tricking ppl into doing his dirty work, etc etc. maybe we’ll find out more about kirinmaru as the series goes along, but idk nothing can really top how disgusting naraku is

aside from what i feel like are weak motivations, i just don’t really feel worried for our gals !! they easily best pretty much any kind of demon that comes their way (as seen in their fights with the four perils) with no real danger or concern. they already seem to be masters of their abilities, which i feel like was more interesting in inuyasha. inuyasha had to improve and get stronger to overcome more powerful foes, and that was exciting to watch!! like how will inuyasha fight ryuukotsuke with his heavy ass sword? how will he figure out the adamant barrage if the red tetsusaiga doesn’t work anymore? will he improve enough to beat naraku? i don’t want to call the gals mary sues by any means, but this kind of improvement to me is just more fun to watch

also with that, in inuyasha, we see inuyasha and the gang lose fights, and they lose bad. call it sadistic or whatever, but when our main characters lose, it adds more weight to the story and it’s a lot more satisfying when they win! like the whole band of seven arc was awesome because we got to see our heroes lose then work to beat them against all odds. and even THEN by the end of that arc, naraku is pretty much at full power and it’s like oh shit !! yeah, the gang beat the band of seven, but naraku is stronger than them now!! how will they win??

in yashahime, i don’t really get that same weight or tension. maybe more of the tension is between towa and setsuna’s relationship, which i think is fine, but with an external threat of some powerful demons and the established world that takahashi made, it’s a little disappointing not seeing our heroes struggle against their enemies. any kind of struggle that they do have against any of the four perils or the demon of the week is pretty much resolved by the end of the episode, unlike in inuyasha, where arcs spanned several episodes

yashahime is probably going to be a much much shorter series than inuyasha is, so maybe they didn’t plan on really fleshing out certain elements in the story that i think could be better. that’s kinda my problem with shorter anime series as a whole; with less time to work with, the details of the plot become rushed. but when you’re following up one of the most iconic anime ever, it’s a disservice to do a shorter series and leave out story elements that would really give yashahime a boost to make it a really quality, fun series

[recklessinventor]

Starter for @arithevxmpire​

Maybe it was to be expected, with Jeff’s “nerdy” appearance and interest in the sciences and nonfiction, but he spent quite a lot of his time in libraries. Though Jeff was always the type of person to read whatever he could get his hands on, and his interests in literature also spanned to science fiction (The Big Three of Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke among his most favorite), to mysteries and fantasies, and the occasional history or mythology book. 

A lot of his time spent there was also as a kind of solace, especially for a library like this one where it was open later at night, with fewer to no patrons there. It helped Jeff fight inventor’s block and gave him an opportunity to escape his perils of fatigue and night terrors. 

At the moment, he’s got four books of various subjects under his arm and looking up at a shelf past his reach. He really wanted to see that book on theoretical physics... after all he’d had experience with those theories, but he couldn’t reach...

“Um, uh- excuse me?” He decides to ask one of the few other people in the library, and points up at the book in question. “You’re a bit taller than I am- do you mind grabbing that book up there? The big blue one on time travel.”

[crimsoncityhq]

A frightful night turned out to be much more than the costumed patrons bargained for. Every room assigned to each group held some sort of peril, all with the intention of deciding who would be fit for redemption and who would be subjected to damnation. The injuries ( and even deaths ) suffered by those who foolishly braved the infamous H.H. Holmes murder castle are no more than casualties, though no one who entered a room were invited without some sort of deliberation. One lucky guest escapes and promises those they left behind they’ll call for help, and call for help they do—escaping from the lobby and summoning the police to the haunted house. At first, the CPD regards it as nonsense; a coward fearing the masked workers pulling the strings, but upon further investigation, there’s more to it than meets the eye. They pry open the doors, collecting the injured before the room can wholly take them. It’s clear this whole house was orchestrated by someone with ill will toward the citizens of Chicago, and it’s not a stretch of the imagination to deduce some of those citizens were targets for more than just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. 

As they descend into the basement of the murder castle, the CPD soon realize they’re hunting through a ghost town—what seem to be stations controlling each room are abandoned, and not even a fingerprint or stray hair are left in the wake after their operators flee. Whoever put this plan together knew how to get away with it, but the alarming part isn’t that someone was pulling strings; it’s that there’s no way only a handful of people could pull off such an adventurous feat. This isn’t one maniac acting alone as much as it is a group of anonymous individuals bringing redemption back to Chicago, one maimed criminal—or particularly unlucky civilian—at a time. 

The worst waits behind a locked door in the basement, and it takes a battering ram for the CPD to gain entry. Once they do, it’s a sight the rookies on the force will never forget, and one that even weathered veterans wrinkle their noses at. Along the walls are five corpses, those whose missing posters were tacked onto the bulletin board upstairs, what many thought were no more than prompts meant to intimidate the patrons as they patiently waited their turn in the lobby earlier in the night. Really, the wanted posters acted as trophies, though the real prizes hang from the walls beneath the feet of the police still wandering around upstairs. The bodies are aged, skin melting off of bone like they’ve been dead for at least a week, a single bullet planted between their eyes and their blood, far too fresh—almost preserved—to have browned just yet, painting the wall with a message: 

WE ARE LAZARUS. 

The story hits the airwaves that night to the horror of every Chicago resident, be it mafia, law, politician or civilian. It’s clear it wasn’t any of the usuals who committed this atrocity, but one thing is clear. Someone is coming to take Chicago back, not just from the mafias who monopolize the streets, but from the officials who pledged to protect them. The second wave of the war for Chicago has been waged. 

Part II of the Halloween Murder Castle event has ended ! Feel free to touch base with your groups and complete your threads, but also feel free to begin new starters as we return to normalcy. Many characters have likely been injured during this event, and if you feel the injury done to your character might rock some larger plots, please reach out to admin J or admin Amy to detail the damage done. 

On the main, you will find a new set of crime roles and a new application template, courtesy of our all-new group: Lazarus. IF YOUR CHARACTER OPTED TO TAKE OUT THEIR TARGET, YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO APPLY TO LAZARUS. Characters who do this will defect from their family and instead join the ranks of Lazarus. If you're not finished with your threads or have not already determined the outcome with your groups, please do so and let us know !  

FOREWARNING: this is not a move that can be retconned, so please be sure before you turn your character over to Lazarus.

[aasiabenz]

Pharmacovigilance & Best Pharmacovigilance Training

Pharmacovigilance or drug testing in layman language. Pharmacovigilance is the science that embellishments with the specific check, framework, seeing, assessment, and avoiding of the negative impacts of drug things. Plan watchfulness from an overall perspective weaves the assessment of data and guaranteed parts given by the clinical thought suppliers. Pharmacovigilance marvelously bases on the restricting responses of plans, depicted as the reaction to a unintended and hurting drug. It other than joins the confusion of the game plan. Jumbles up like maltreatment and bounty of the strategy and medication responsiveness during pregnancy paying little mind to the insufficiency of a truly arranged impact are considered to accomplish an upsetting fix response.

Pharmacovigilance is boss to pick the solace and the impacts of any game-plan. Any pharmacovigilance service centre undergoes special clinical research training through several clinical research courses. This is one of the essential divisions of any diagram understanding. Any pharmacovigilance cycle from an overall perspective joins four phases.

These stages include:

Pharmacovigilance Detection Process: This is the central stage in the watchfulness relationship of any chart. It starts with the succeeding two or three sources, which might be either proposed or unconstrained. Those that are gotten considering the focused in on information gathering structure the proposed information sources. These get clinical starters nearby one or three stages and post-advancing, including interventional and non-interventional studies and examination. Suggested sources other than join made degrees of progress that have an especially depicted general succeeding explanation and a strong and clinical clarification. Shown sources in like way combine re-attempt programs discussion picked medication plot. Unconstrained sources are unconstrained and those which are gotten with such a plans. These zones of interest conventionally set honest to goodness planned subject coordinated prepared experts, forming reports, patients and clinical thought suppliers, award suppliers, web, diary, books, and different assets.

Pharmacovigilance Assessment Process: After the central mix of all the fundamental information, ICSR evaluation is driven. This assessment fundamentally joins:

1. Triage: This time of potential hunch occasion report joins the immense farthest reaches of building up the validness of an ICSR. Any liberal ICSR ought to all things considered have a particular patient, an unmistakable editorialist, suspect framework, and a hazardous occasion.

2. Data Entry: Any strategy connection keeps up its own reasonable edifying get-together. In the wake of embracing, past what many would consider conceivable are gone into this guaranteed valuable get-together. The further strolls around information space concrete picking validness, coding the deficiently organized occasions, isolating causality, inspecting checking, and brief and sensible record making.

3. Questioning Process: Any explanations and gathers contrasts are raised and cleared during this time of the evaluation.

4. Reviewing: Physicians and different experts plan the succeeding rules that underline the validness, causality, wandering, and so forth

5. Closure of the case: The finished report, including the level of the cutoff places, is submitted to the focal arranged masterminded trained professionals. Learn Best Clinical Research Course.

Information and Analyzing the Drug security profile: The information amassed is spread out and confined to comprehend the flourishing profile of the strategy utilizing an annihilated advantage hazard examination report which joins information aggregated from a wide degree of clinical starters and unconstrained introductions for which a peril advantage appraisal is driven. Unequivocal disturbing response follow-up questions are utilized to get made data on revealed clear unpleasant responses. A threat the board plan and improvement security update report is correspondingly made. Signal evaluation is other than picked.

Speculation for the negative impacts: This stage is the last period of pharmacovigilance. Performing minimization of peril exercises to restore the association of the thing depiction, an improvement of patient data, naming and bundling, and trustworthy status of the fix is done in this stage. This stage in like way concretes the checking of this minimization of risk works out.

Joint effort in the field of pharmacovigilance shapes the establishment of the WHO program for all around fix noticing. These reports are all things considered through evaluated locally and could mastermind progress inside the convincing country. The WHO program sponsorship of any nation causes them stay aware of close ganders at and reports that are made around the globe. When there are different reports of a specific fix, this cycle may affect a statement of a sign which could be dangerous to the human body.

Ecopharmocovigilance: Procedures for checking the fix affiliations and the hazardous impacts of these remedies on the climate need paying little psyche to the FDA. An idea including standard pharmacology and pharmacovigilance bases on this zone. The exercises of ecopharmacovigilance join enlarging the drag observer to parts open on the brand name contemplations for the fix, utilization of brand name risk the bosses plans, following new information on the responsiveness to the climate, threat clear. There are several pharmacovigilance courses that focus on this aspect of the field.

[aasiagomes]

Pharmacovigilance Services

Pharmacovigilance or medication thriving in layman language. Pharmacovigilance is the science that partners with the affirmation, gathering, seeing, evaluation, and speculation for the bothersome results of cure things. Cure watchfulness in general joins the evaluation of data and ensured parts given by the clinical advantages suppliers. Pharmacovigilance very bases on the negative responses of prescriptions, portrayed as the reaction to an unpremeditated and stunning medication. It in addition joins the failure of the medication. Riches like maltreatment and wealth of the course of action and medication straightforwardness during pregnancy offering little appreciation to the absence of a subverting influence are considered to accomplish a confining fix response.

Pharmacovigilance is crucial for pick the ease of use and the impacts of any medication. Any pharmacovigilance alliance focus goes through amazing clinical assessment arranging a special clinical research training This is one of the monster divisions of any medicine association. Any pharmacovigilance support from an overall perspective merges four phases.

These stages include:

Pharmacovigilance Detection Process: This is the essential stage in the caution correspondence of any medication. It starts with the prospering data that comes a couple of sources, which might be either alluded to or unconstrained. Those that are gotten considering the focused in on information assortment structure the alluded to information sources. These wire clinical starters with one or three stages and post-publicizing, including interventional and non-interventional studies and evaluation. Alluded to sources moreover join worked with structures that have an especially depicted general flourishing explanation and a steady and clinical clarification. Alluded to sources also solidify changed activities discussion picked drug coalition. Unconstrained sources are unconstrained and those which are gotten with such a courses of action. These sources all around join legitimate orchestrated subject matter experts, molding reports, patients and clinical advantages suppliers, award suppliers, web, diary, books, and different assets.

Pharmacovigilance Assessment Process: After the basic blueprint of all the significant information, ICSR assessment is driven. This assessment dominatingly combines:

1. Triage: This time of potential unpalatable occasion report hardens the fundamental farthest reaches of building up the credibility of an ICSR. Any wide ICSR ought to generally have a certain patient, an undeniable editorialist, suspect solution, and an upsetting occasion.

2. Data Entry: Any prescription partnership keeps up its own reasonable instructive summary. Resulting to underwriting, very far are gone into this guaranteed information base. The further strolls around information part blend picking reality, coding the bargaining occasions, investigating causality, evaluating naming, and confined and reasonable story making.

3. Questioning Process: Any explanations and assembles fumbles are raised and cleared during this time of the evaluation.

4. Reviewing: Physicians and different experts study the flourishing rules that underscore reality, causality, naming, and so on

5. Closure of the case: The finished report, including the amount of the cutoff centers, is submitted to the key orchestrated subject matter experts. Learn Clinical Research Courses.

Appreciation and Analyzing the Drug prospering profile: The information amassed is considered and separated to comprehend the security profile of the plan utilizing an unpredictable advantage risk appraisal report which joins information assembled from a wide degree of clinical starters and unconstrained introductions for which a peril advantage evaluation is driven. Express bargaining response follow-up questions are utilized to get made data on separated expected terrible responses. A danger the board plan and progress security update report is likewise made. Signal evaluation is additionally planned.

Doubt for the unpleasant results: This stage is the last period of pharmacovigilance. Performing minimization of peril exercises to resuscitate the quick diagram of the thing portrayal, a flyer of patient data, checking and bundling, and genuine status of the medicine is done in this stage. This stage besides merges the seeing of this minimization of risk works out.

Worked with effort in the field of pharmacovigilance outlines the establishment of the WHO program for overall medication checking. These reports are for the most part bankrupt down locally and could incite activity inside the veritable country. The WHO program decision of any nation assists them with staying aware of essentially obscure investigates and reports that are made all through the planet. When there are different reports of a specific medication, this venture may incite an ID of a sign which could be dangerous to the human body.

Ecopharmocovigilance: Procedures for seeing the remedy spots and the horrendous impacts of these courses of action on the climate need paying little respect to the FDA. An idea including brand name pharmacology and pharmacovigilance turns around this space. The exercises of ecopharmacovigilance join developing the genuine variables open on the conventional consequences for the plan, use of standard threat the board plans, following new information on the responsiveness to the climate, peril seeing insistence, and so forth. There are several pharmacovigilance courses that focus on this aspect of the field.

[blogaaidenmenezee21posts]

Pharmacovigilance & Best Pharmacovigilance Training

Pharmacovigilance or drug testing in layman language. Pharmacovigilance is the science that accomplices with the specific check, framework, seeing, assessment, and evading of the negative impacts of drug things. Plan watchfulness from an overall perspective weaves the assessment of data and guaranteed parts given by the clinical thought suppliers. Pharmacovigilance incredibly bases on the restricting responses of plans, depicted as the reaction to a unintended and hurting drug. It other than joins the misunderstanding of the solution. Botches like maltreatment and wealth of the arrangement and medication responsiveness during pregnancy paying little mind to the deficit of a genuinely coordinated impact are considered to accomplish an upsetting fix response.

Pharmacovigilance is boss to pick the solace and the impacts of any game plan.  Any pharmacovigilance service centre undergoes special clinical research training through several clinical research courses. This is one of the fundamental divisions of any game-plan understanding. Any pharmacovigilance cycle from an overall perspective joins four phases.

These stages include:

Pharmacovigilance Detection Process: This is the central stage in the watchfulness relationship of any outline. It starts with the succeeding data a few sources, which might be either suggested or unconstrained. Those that are gotten considering the focused in on information gathering structure the suggested information sources. These get clinical starters nearby one or three stages and post-advancing, including interventional and non-interventional studies and assessment. Suggested sources other than join made advancements that have an especially depicted general succeeding explanation and a strong and clinical clarification. Shown sources in like way combine re-attempt programs discussion selected medication alliance. Unconstrained sources are unconstrained and those which are gotten with such a plans. These zones of interest commonly set bona fide arranged subject arranged specialists, molding reports, patients and clinical thought suppliers, award suppliers, web, diary, books, and different assets.

Pharmacovigilance Assessment Process: After the central mix of all the fundamental information, ICSR evaluation is driven. This assessment essentially joins:

1. Triage: This season of potential hunch occasion report joins the tremendous farthest reaches of building up the validness of an ICSR. Any liberal ICSR ought to overall have a particular patient, a conspicuous editorialist, suspect framework, and a dangerous occasion.

2. Data Entry: Any arrangement association keeps up its own reasonable illuminating gathering. In the wake of embracing, past what many would consider conceivable are gone into this guaranteed informative party. The further strolls around information space solidify picking validness, coding the deficiently organized occasions, breaking down causality, contemplating checking, and brief and sensible record making.

3. Questioning Process: Any explanations and gathers contrasts are raised and cleared during this season of the evaluation.

4. Reviewing: Physicians and different experts format the succeeding rules that underline the validness, causality, wandering, and so forth

5. Closure of the case: The finished report, including the degree of the cutoff places, is submitted to the focal designed planned prepared experts. Learn Best Clinical Research Course.

Information and Analyzing the Drug security profile: The information amassed is outlined and separated to comprehend the flourishing profile of the game plan utilizing an obliterated advantage hazard assessment report which joins information gathered from a wide degree of clinical starters and unconstrained introductions for which a threat advantage evaluation is driven. Unequivocal disturbing response follow-up questions are utilized to get made data on uncovered obvious terrible responses. A threat the board plan and improvement security update report is correspondingly made. Signal assessment is other than picked.

Assumption for the negative impacts: This stage is the last time of pharmacovigilance. Performing minimization of peril exercises to restore the format of the thing depiction, a movement of patient data, naming and bundling, and trustworthy status of the fix is done in this stage. This stage in like way concretes the checking of this minimization of risk works out.

Joint effort in the field of pharmacovigilance shapes the establishment of the WHO program for all around fix taking note. These reports are generally through evaluated locally and could order progress inside the convincing country. The WHO program sponsorship of any nation causes them stay aware of close ganders at and reports that are made around the globe. When there are different reports of a specific remedy, this cycle may influence an assertion of a sign which could be perilous to the human body.

Ecopharmocovigilance: Procedures for checking the fix affiliations and the hazardous impacts of these medications on the climate need paying little psyche to the FDA. An idea including standard pharmacology and pharmacovigilance bases on this zone. The exercises of ecopharmacovigilance join broadening the drag observer to parts open on the brand name ideas for the fix, utilization of brand name risk the directors plans, following new information on the responsiveness to the climate, threat clear interest. There are several pharmacovigilance courses that focus on this aspect of the field.

[abbeysarah]

Pharmacovigilance & Best Pharmacovigilance Training

Pharmacovigilance or drug testing in layman language. Pharmacovigilance is the science that assistants with the specific check, framework, seeing, appraisal, and evading of the negative impacts of medicine things. Plan watchfulness from an overall perspective weaves the assessment of data and guaranteed parts given by the clinical thought suppliers. Pharmacovigilance incredibly bases on the binding responses of plans, depicted as the reaction to a unintended and hurting drug. It other than joins the mistake of the medication. Blunders like maltreatment and excess of the prescription and medication responsiveness during pregnancy in spite of the absence of a really arranged impact are considered to accomplish an upsetting fix response.

Pharmacovigilance is manager to pick the solace and the impacts of any plan. Any pharmacovigilance service centre undergoes special clinical research training through several clinical research courses. This is one of the critical divisions of any arrangement understanding. Any pharmacovigilance cycle from an overall perspective joins four phases.

These stages include:

Pharmacovigilance Detection Process: This is the central stage in the watchfulness relationship of any game plan. It starts with the succeeding data that few sources, which might be either suggested or unconstrained. Those that are gotten considering the focused in on information gathering structure the intimated information sources. These get clinical preliminaries nearby one or three stages and post-advancing, including interventional and non-interventional studies and assessment. Suggested sources other than consolidate made constructions that have an especially depicted general succeeding explanation and a strong and clinical clarification. Hinted sources likewise combine re-endeavor programs discussion enlisted drug association. Unconstrained sources are unconstrained and those which are gotten with such a plans. These zones of interest usually set certifiable designed subject trained professionals, forming reports, patients and clinical thought suppliers, award suppliers, web, diary, books, and different assets.

Pharmacovigilance Assessment Process: After the central mix of all the fundamental information, ICSR examination is driven. This appraisal essentially joins:

1. Triage: This period of potential premonition occasion report joins the huge farthest reaches of building up the validness of an ICSR. Any liberal ICSR ought to overall have a particular patient, an unmistakable editorialist, suspect methodology, and a risky occasion.

2. Data Entry: Any prescription alliance keeps up its own reasonable illuminating get-together. In the wake of embracing, past what many would consider conceivable are gone into this guaranteed educational social event. The further strolls around information space solidify picking authenticity, coding the inadequately orchestrated occasions, examining causality, surveying checking, and brief and sensible record making.

3. Questioning Process: Any explanations and assembles contrasts are raised and cleared during this period of the examination.

4. Reviewing: Physicians and different experts outline the succeeding rules that underline the authenticity, causality, wandering, and so forth

5. Closure of the case: The finished report, including the proportion of the cutoff places, is submitted to the focal masterminded arranged specialists. Learn Best Clinical Research Course.

Insight and Analyzing the Drug security profile: The information amassed is surveyed and isolated to get a handle on the flourishing profile of the solution utilizing a wrecked advantage hazard appraisal report which joins information assembled from a wide degree of clinical starters and unconstrained introductions for which a risk advantage evaluation is driven. Unequivocal disturbing response follow-up questions are utilized to get made data on uncovered apparent terrible responses. A risk the board plan and improvement security update report is correspondingly made. Signal assessment is moreover picked.

Assumption for the negative impacts: This stage is the last season of pharmacovigilance. Performing minimization of threat exercises to restore the outline of the thing depiction, an advancement of patient data, naming and bundling, and authentic status of the fix is done in this stage. This stage in like way solidifies the checking of this minimization of risk works out.

Joint effort in the field of pharmacovigilance shapes the establishment of the WHO program for all around fix observing. These reports are generally through inspected locally and could activate progress inside the convincing country. The WHO program sponsorship of any nation causes them stay aware of close ganders at and reports that are made around the planet. When there are different reports of a specific medication, this cycle may incite a confirmation of a sign which could be hazardous to the human body.

Ecopharmocovigilance: Procedures for checking the fix affiliations and the harmful impacts of these meds on the climate need paying little psyche to the FDA. An idea including standard pharmacology and pharmacovigilance bases on this zone. The exercises of ecopharmacovigilance join widening the attested parts open on the brand name implications for the remedy, usage of brand name peril the bosses plans, following new information on the responsiveness to the climate, threat evident interest, and so forth. There are several pharmacovigilance courses that focus on this aspect of the field.

[lady-charinette]

Of Ladybugs and Chat Noirs - ML Fic

"Hey, Plagg…" sensing his charge had a question burning at the tip of his tongue, Plagg allowed himself to indulge in his smelly delicacy before finally turning to a curious-looking Adrien.

"What?"

"Uh…" he scratched at the back of his neck, an action Plagg recognized Adrien was uncomfortable with whatever he was about to ask, "That time…when Cataclysm nearly touched me…" Plagg's eyes widened in understanding, "You said, you couldn't lose more kittens…" Adrien bit his lip, "What exactly happened to…the other Chat Noirs?" his vibrant green eyes looked solemn and Plagg tried not to look as sad as he felt.

He felt his heart tighten, flashes of memories, of days and times long gone, zipped through his mind, of adventurous lives, exhilarating swordfights, risky situations involving a certain cat burglar and sappy romance confessions to all those past Ladybugs.

But most of all, it were the endings to each of them that made him feel as old as he actually was and his heart twice as heavy as it actually was.

Plagg tried remaining indifferent, "Why would you wanna know something like that?"

He didn't want to talk about it, Tikki was better at talking than he was, he was good at passing snarky remarks and demands for more cheese.

Adrien hesitated, "Well, I…you…I don't know anything of the past, who the past Chat Noir's were and what they were like." he shuffled his feet, shifting his weight and it made Plagg only more nervous.

"It's in the past Adrien, you don't need to know that." he hoped very hard that Adrien would drop the subject.

Did he mention he was also one of the most stubborn Noirs?

"Please Plagg, it may help me understand everything a little better." Adrien's voice was soft and pleading and Plagg felt a familiar but unwelcome tightening in his chest.

Turning his back to the youth behind him, Plagg exhaled, it wouldn't do good if Adrien saw the solemn expression on his face, or the heartbroken look in his eyes, "…You know, how cats have nine lives?"

There was a moment of hesitation, before he heard Adrien quietly whisper, "Yes."

Plagg sighed, a small smile on his lips, "Well…none of my kittens lived long enough to experience all of them." he regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth, no doubt Adrien would have even more questions to ask.

He hated digging up the past, he hated having to talk about all of them, about all his past little kittens. He sometimes envied Tikki, for her ability to openly express herself and talk her pain out, Plagg could not. It pained him talking about them, about how he was too much of an incompetent kwami to protect his own dear kittens, how letting them do their own thing ended in peril. How it left both him and Tikki without charges. How it left them heart broken.

He could feel Adrien's breath hitch behind him and he wondered what sort of an impact his words may have had on him, "Each of them were unique in their own way. Some did questionable things to survive, but they were all good at heart. If Chat Noir was a thief, he stole to give to those who had nothing. If Chat Noir was a rogue swordsman exiled from his country, it was in defense to the unfairly treated common folk in the city and his forbidden feelings for the princess, Ladybug." He chuckled lightly, the sound oddly hollow, "Chat Noir and Ladybug always find a way to meet and stay together, it's the way things are. I don't blame Tikki for what happened, I never could." his voice lowered.

He heard Adrien take a deep breath behind him, "…What did happen?"

It was Plagg this time that took a deep breath, "My kittens died protecting Ladybug." the room suddenly felt a bit colder and Plagg wrapped his tail around himself, trying to curl in on himself.

But then, warm, large hands wrapped around him and cradled him gently but cozily against a equally warm chest, the heart that beat beneath signalled him that his charge, this Chat Noir, Adrien, was alive and well.

"I'm sorry Plagg, I'm sorry I asked." Adrien's mumbled voice sounded loud in Plagg's ears and the kwami nuzzled his face against the fabric of Adrien's shirt.

"You have a right to know." in a rare moment of vulnerability, he allowed himself to enjoy the soothing rubs Adrien's finger administered on the top of his head and back, calming the little kwami's anxiousness and the pain from old memories.

Plagg shut his eyes tightly closed, ignoring the stinging in his eyes. Flashes of memories, of places and people, most importantly the faces of his precious kittens, resurfaced in his mind like a film and his claws dug lightly in Adrien's shirt.

"I can't lose more kittens." Adrien tightened his hold on Plagg, hearing the whispered, broken confession of his usually cynical and sarcastic kwami.

Adrien was scared, it was so very unusual to see his kwami like this, but Plagg was ancient, he had seen things and times Adrien only ever heard of in textbooks. Judging by Plagg's gloomy state, the fates of all the other Chat Noir's must have been terrible and Adrien couldn't help but think that this time, history just won't repeat itself.

He loved Ladybug, he would protect her with his life, but if he gave it his all in order to watch after himself and his lady, then the life or death situation wouldn't occur. He wouldn't need to sacrifice himself and neither would Ladybug, maybe they could break the unfortunate back luck that's been hanging over the past line of Chat Noir's.

For now, he only hugged his kwami tighter.

Marinette was trying to not let her nerves get the better of her, she was about to call Adrien and ask him out for a date to watch a movie.

It was all thanks to Alya, of course.

Marinette knew she would lose the bet, even with Tikki's good luck, but she couldn't resist.

If Marinette had won the bet, Alya would have been forced to finally confess her feelings for Nino and go to dinner in a restaurant with him.

Now, Alya's original plan had involved far worse things than Marinette was ready for, so the reporter settled for a date to the movies for starters.

Marinette wanted the ground to swallow her up.

"You can do it, Marinette!" Tikki's ever bubbly, encouraging voice brought a smile to her face.

"B-but what if he doesn't pick up?! Or if he's super busy with modelling?!" Marinette gripped the phone in her hands tightly, the device shaking so hard in her sweaty hands she had half a mind to throw it on her bed before she could accidentally break it.

Tikki smiled, floating up in front of her charge's face, "Marinette, you have Adrien's schedule on your wall, you know he doesn't have anything today. This is your chance to finally confess your feelings to him!" Tikki did a quick pirouette in the air, giggling at the blush covering Marinette's cheeks.

She sighed, looking at her phone, "But Tikki…what if…what if he rejects me? I wouldn't ever be able to go to school anymore! I mean, I'm not like Chloe, I'm not rich or pretty! Adrien definitely can't like me!" she buried her face in her hands, groaning loudly into them.

Tikki frowned, gently nudging the frustrated girl, "But Marinette, you'll never know if you don't try. And he doesn't even like Chloe! And I don't think Adrien is the type that only likes rich or pretty people, trust me Marinette, you'll be fine! Now call him!" her kwami looked far too eager, a kind, beaming smile on her face as she stared at Marinette expectantly.

Marinette took a deep breath, rubbing her sweaty hands over her pants to wipe away the moisture, before resolutely looking at her phone, "Alright…it's now or never, Tikki."

Tikki smiled and leaned forward eagerly, eyes fixed onto Marinette's moving finger toward the 'call' button until a sudden thud outside made Marinette jump.

Tikki quickly flew off the bed, at her chosen's side, Marinette looked all around, "What was that? An akuma?" she looked at Tikki.

The red kwami shook her head, a small, secretive smile on her lips, "No…but I don't think you'll be disappointed." she giggled before disappearing inside Marinette's desk drawer.

"What do you mean-" she was cut off by the familiar rasping on the hatch door.

Cautiously, Marinette stood up, grabbing her pillow on the way, not that a pillow would stop a thief or a burglar, but maybe distract him long enough until she called her parents for help?

With tentative footsteps, Marinette slowly opened the hatch door, and the door swung open to reveal messy blond hair and a pair of vivid green eyes staring back at her.

Marinette shrieked in surprise, slamming her pillow full force into the confused face of none other than Chat Noir, startling the poor superhero and making him stumble down the wooden ladders and into Marinette's bedroom with painful yelps.

"Marinette! Are you alright, sweetie?" Mrs. Dupain-Cheng called from downstairs worriedly and Marinette quickly tried to calm down her racing heart.

"I'm fine mama!" she called back shakily, her eyes flying down to the sprawled boy in a leather suit on the floor.

In her room.

"C-Chat Noir?" she blinked rapidly, stunned, "W-What are you doing here, kitty?"

Chat Noir groaned, one hand moving up to cradle his head, "I came by for a visit princess, but it seems like you're not in the mood for guests." he jumped to his feet, shaking his head to get rid of the dull pain from colliding with the floor.

Marinette crossed her arms, "If my guests include an annoying cat," as soon as she spoke those words Marinette realized she may have been a bit too harsh on her kitty this time, watching as the ears atop his head drooped, the small smile was still there, but the familiar twinkle from his eyes was gone, "No, wait, I'm sorry Chat-"

Chat held up a hand, "It's alright, Marinette, I'll drop by another time." moving to brush past her, Marinette firmly grabbing his wrist and the leather-clad hero stopped dead in his tracks, looking back at Marinette.

Her expression softened, apologetic and guilty, "I'm sorry Chat Noir, I was too harsh, I didn't mean it like that kitty, you can stay."

Chat Noir looked at her for a moment, gauging her reaction, before a grin settled on his features, his bravado back, "Sounds good."

Marinette sighed, slumping into her chair with Chat Noir settling on her bed, the scene had become something too familiar over the past few months, something Marinette was sure wasn't supposed to happen between a superhero and a civilian.

But here they were.

Alone in her room.

Staring at each-other.

Marinette made a dash for the cookie plate on her desk, "Do you want some cookies?"

Chat Noir's eyes immediately lighted up like a Christmas tree and Marinette had to giggle when he nodded his head rapidly, squirming in his seat from trying to contain his excitement as Marinette handed him the plate full of chocolate chip cookies.

"How sweet of you princess, even a full plate!" he grinned widely, licking his lips.

Marinette rolled her eyes playfully, "You act like you were starving yourself for the past few hours, you always eat a whole plate when you come here." she couldn't help but smile in amusement at the embarrassed blush coloring the masked hero's cheeks, "Eat up kitty, there's more where that came from,"

At the prospect of more food, Chat purred happily, eagerly munching on the cookies at hand.

However, she noted his tense shoulders and the previous saddened expression on his face.

Maybe she was imagining it, but she didn't think he'd looked so sad from her words earlier. There must be a reason for it.

"Are you okay, Chat?" she looked at her secret partner expectantly and the cat swallowed the cookie in his mouth before answering her.

"Of course! Why do you ask, princess?" he rose an eyebrow and Marinette's hands kneaded into her pants leg.

"You…you just seemed a bit sad earlier," she tilted her head to the side, the action too endearing to the cat's eyes, "You know, you can talk to me about anything, right? Just like you promised me a while ago." she tried to encourage him to speak to her, to tell her what was wrong.

And finally he did, with a few more cookies and a few more, too hard swallows.

Chat's gaze saddened and grew visibly more serious, Marinette already had a weird feeling settling into the pit of her stomach, "It's…actually something my kwami told me today," his eyes were slightly distant and she couldn't remember if she ever saw him like that, "About…the previous Chat Noirs. his clasped hands tightened and Marinette's eyes widened.

Previous Chat Noirs?

"The previous Chat Noirs? The ones before…you?" Marinette remembered Tikki speaking to her about it a few times, but she couldn't put her finger on why her kitten looked so saddened. What did his kwami tell him?

Chat's ears drooped, "Yeah," he sighed, "It wasn't what I expected. They…they weren't all that lucky," he chuckled, "Unlike my lady, us black cats are cursed with bad luck," he grinned, but the grin seemed so hollow, "And it seemed like their bad luck caught up." he swallowed thickly, "I'm sorry Mari, I didn't mean to scare you. It's…I just had to tell someone, I guess…"

Marinette frowned in concern, reaching forward to touch his forearm, "It's alright kitty, you know you can always come here." briefly thinking it over, Marinette pulled the sulking cat into her arms, gently running her fingers through his hair and rubbing his ears.

The familiar, low purring sound vibrated against her neck and Marinette felt Chat weakly wrap his arms around her before they tightened suddenly, claws lightly prickling her through her shirt.

"Shh…it's alright, kitty cat." The purring continued and Marinette took comfort in the fact that Chat Noir trusted her, plain old, clumsy Marinette to sought her out in his time of need.

After a while, she finally dared to ask the question that's been burning on the tip of her tongue since he entered her room, "What…what exactly happened to them?"

Chat fell silent for a while, obviously thinking of what to say, until his grip tightened around her again and he nuzzled into her neck, "They…all died protecting Ladybug,"

She froze, her fingers stilling in his hair, eyes wide open in disbelief and horror, a feeling of dread filling her heart and making it feel as heavy as lead.

All the previous Chat Noirs…they died protecting her? Protecting Ladybug?

She didn't even notice when her own grip around him suddenly became as tight as a vice, she didn't notice her trembling state, nor that now her kitty stiffened in her embrace at her sudden shaking, she didn't even notice the hot tears sliding down her cheeks and over the leather material of Chat's suit.

She only noticed the strong arms around her, hugging her tighter now and her own embrace tightening around him.

She also noticed the whispered words she frantically kept whispering into his ear over and over again, "Please, kitty, please stay safe, please don't die. Please Chat Noir, I can't bear to lose you, please kitty, please."

Chat Noir didn't quite understand the true depth of her words, but her last whispered words struck a chord in him.

"Please don't die protecting me."

And suddenly, it all made sense.

"M-Marinette…"

"Y-you're…" his eyes widened.

Her grip around him only tightened, "Please."

[teamoliv-archive]

Cutscene: Double Agent Date

Lapis, Violet, and Ivory a sat at a table with their food while Onyx and Sapir had been more than awkwardly set up at a different one. The surprise “date” that had sprung to Violet’s mind was met with a mixture of shock and annoyance from the actual participants, but they didn’t outright refuse. Sapir was mildly interested while Onyx simply went along with it for the time being. For his part, Onyx didn’t think much would come up of this, so he focused on keeping conversation. Information would still be important to have regardless.

Several bad attempts at communication had transpired already. Onyx had tried sign language and Sapir didn’t understand it. She tried to slide her holy book across the table and signal to her verses. Violet could understand that but Onyx didn’t seem to have the patience. He was currently flipping through the book, mild annoyance plain on his face. Onyx had been reading silently. Too much speaking was still horrible for his throat. It made answering difficult. The puzzling nature of the girl’s “speech” would have been a mild chore for someone who could answer back; for him it was almost impossible. Sighing, he just closed the book and slid it back. Neither had any real food in front of them, settling for soup and water. Both of them had trouble swallowing heartier meals for different reasons. He waved Violet over and set his scroll on the table.

Violet got up and did as asked. “I... probably should have thought of this.” She opened her scroll, set up a chat with her scroll and Onyx’s and set it in front of Sapir. “Sorry, this might be easier for both of you.”

Sapir looked a little insulted, but nodded. Her usual method of communication wouldn’t work here if out of necessity than anything else. The fact that Onyx looked to at least be making an attempt at reading her book was a small comfort, though. She motioned for him to respond to what she had tried to start with.

Onyx wasn’t too sure what to make of the verse she had quoted for their conversation starter- Seek faith in hardship. Destruction seeks to harm. Creation seeks to save. It sounded so esoteric. Were it not for the preachy context, he’d have found the cryptic puzzle a little novel. He noticed she kept examining the old scar on his ear. Onyx grit his teeth and tapped on the scroll. [The ear isn’t something I wish to talk about. You wouldn’t like that story anyway.] He was careful not to use the word ‘speak’. It would be awkward for the both of them if he did. He saw the girl move to touch her book again, intending to slide it over. He quickly tapped out a new message to avoid having to deal with that again, though he imagined he would. [Do you do anything besides your work for the church?]

Sapir glanced down at the message for only a brief moment before doing as Onyx feared and slid the book back over to him again and taking the forced pause to slowly sip at her soup. She had gotten one of the blander ones, not wanting to indulge herself too much particularly on someone else’s expense. She raised her hand and flashed a set of numbers again.

The almost playful smirk on the altar girl’s face, charming though it was, felt almost mocking to Onyx. She was going to insist on conversing on her terms. If it was anyone else being subjected to this, he would have found it entertaining. Being unnecessarily difficult was something he used to pride himself on, after all. Sapir seemed a quick reader given the speed of her answer. Thankfully, so was he. He thumbed through the book to the correct passage. He would have to thank whomever wrote this for being easy to navigate- he suspected that was the point. There is no greater work than to serve those you care about. Love is the root of protection.

Onyx grit his teeth. The woman who he spent his life calling his mother had died seemingly to protect him. He still hadn’t seen any hint of that care or affection in her letters and little of it in his memories. Why his father had allowed him to only see these now was troubling. Perhaps he just wanted to keep him here longer and instill a sense of gratitude for not choking him to death back in Mistral. Lilac had cared about him despite her twisted way of showing it. Perhaps there was something he was missing. He shakes the thought from his mind to find an annoyingly hopeful look in Sapir’s eyes. She could tell he was lost in thought.

Sapir motioned gently to the scroll, hoping he would elaborate. It wasn’t just a good opportunity to get Onyx to open up, but perhaps a way to see whether or not he was open to hearing her out. She needed to know what their connection was to the Cheshires’ sinful project, of course, but they were Violet’s friends and didn’t seem to be wicked people. She reaches across the small table, careful not to knock over anything and flips open a few pages of her book, tapping the passage. Her faunus ears perked up as she smiled warmly.

Onyx instinctively tilted himself backward when Sapir leaned forward, keeping a distance. He glanced down at the new verse, motioning for her to sit back down. Seek to guide with holy ambition; allow no one to be alone in their pain. As appealing as the thought of a quick answer to his newfound personal dilemma was, everything in his mind was telling him to ignore her. She couldn’t possibly understand what he was trying to discover. He needed more than sanctimonious “wisdom” and pithy doctrine. He just shook his head. [I do not need any help. This is a personal matter.]

Sapir looked unconvinced. She looked down at the scroll. It was probably monitored if Violet and her team were stuck taking orders from the Cheshires. As much as she would like to make their conversation a little more personal than translating the Gift of Creation back and forth, she didn’t trust the devices. Instead she slides it to the side, leans in again and mouths the words. Are you in danger?

That was unexpected. Onyx took a glance to his team who were eating tensely at the other table and trying not to stare or monitor them. Violet seemed unconcerned but Lapis and Ivory didn’t look like they knew what to make of their silent conversation. He’d have to address that later. For now he turns his focus back to Sapir and shakes his head. He didn’t expect her to entirely trust his answer, though in this environment his usual conversational tactics were just unavailable to him if for no other reason than speaking was still difficult for him. He looks down at the scroll and also slides it to the side, picking up on the girl’s concern. His father was almost certainly checking their communications. He forces out a slow whisper. “I do not know what you hope to do, but this is beyond you.”

Sapir’s expression turned a mix of stern and concerned. She again mouths her silent words slowly and carefully, making sure he could read her lips well enough. There is an unholy monster in your midst. We can help you. You do not know the kind of evil the Cheshires are capable of.

“Yes I do,” Onyx hissed back, “You’re speaking to one.” He paused both to rest his throat for a moment and allow the fact settle with the girl. He takes a long drink of his water and a second to breath before continuing in his harsh whisper. “The last time I was given an offer ‘for my own good’ it ended with several city blocks being destroyed and hundreds dead. Forgive me if we don’t have an interest in blatantly taking sides against my father right now.”

Sapir wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She had thought the Cheshires were all human. Onyx was clearly a faunus. There was also the consideration that with this knowledge, Onyx may be a tainted soul. Her eyes snapped to his ears again.

“Adopted,” He whispers back, “If you absolutely have to know.” It wasn’t like was hiding it anymore. He had hoped to remain anonymous in Mantle where the Cheshire name far outstripped his face, but that was unavoidable now. Besides, he couldn’t hide forever. It was better to get this out there sooner rather than later. A strange look of relief washed over the girl for a reason Onyx couldn’t pinpoint. He may have to grill Violet about whether that pertained to some teaching of their faith or not.

Sapir remained determined, reaching out and snatching Onyx’s wrist before he could react. She was faster than he had expected. Let me help. She mouthed, Please. We can fight this evil together. Now that she had forced herself so close, Onyx could see the difficulty she was having in remembering how to form the words physically. He almost imagined if she could suddenly talk, she’d sound very slurred.

“The world isn’t so simple as good and evil, girl.” Onyx whispered back, tensing himself when he felt his arm be grabbed. He swallowed hard to keep his throat dry. The talking was starting to bother him again. “Stay out of it, and let go of me.”

Sapir let go and pulled her hand back, returning to her water before slowly withdrawing and closing her book. Neither seemed to want to continue “talking” likely just as much out of exhaustion as frustration. After a few moments she stood up, passes a sad look to Onyx before walking over to Violet’s table.

She sets the scroll down by Violet’s meal and forces a smile, nodding her head.

Violet looked up at her friend before standing up as well, pocketing her scroll. “Is... everything okay, Sap?” Sapir was always a bit intense, but the look on her face was almost defiant. Whatever it was she and Onyx had been discussing, if it could be called that, it worried her. Sapir held up her hand and held up fingers corresponding to numbers. Unlike the others, she didn’t need the book to translate them. Never turn your back from aiding those in peril. ”Wait, what did you two talk about?” Onyx couldn’t have told Sapir about her parents, did he? Before Violet could ask, her friend departed quickly.

Ivory and Lapis looked on with concerned expressions. They looked to their teammates and Ivory motioned for Onyx to come back to their table. He did so leaving the remains of the soup and water glass behind. “What’s going on? Violet, what did she say?”

“I knew this was a bad idea,” Lapis comments, “Cheshire, tell us what happened once you feel like you can handle it. That didn’t look like someone who just had a bad date.”

As Sapir left, she held her book tightly, marching back to the Consecration with purpose. No matter what Violet’s team thought, she knew what unnatural energy she felt from that girl who was with them. This ‘Auburn’ was an unholy monster and needed to be dealt with. Sister Lucianna had been correct after all, they would need to get involved forcefully. This meant they would need to prepare for the battles Sister Lucianna promised would come.

[savannahquitzon34-blog]

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[killian-whump]

How would you arrange Collin's movies' whumpiness from highest to lowest?

Oh, this has been sitting in my inbox for awhile now, Nonny! Sorry about that! But this is a great question, so hopefully the answer is worth waiting for? Maybe? No? Probably not, but I’ll try XD

Now please keep in mind, this is only MY personal opinion on where these roles would fall, ranking-wise. A lot of Colin’s work has some borderline whumpy elements to it (angst, fear, drunkenness, suicidal behavior, etc) that may tip each film upwards or downwards on others’ lists. These are just where they land for me, personally. Your mileage may vary ;)

OKAY! Colin’s roles, Whumpiest to Least Whumpiest!

Captain Hook, Once Upon a TimeThis one takes the top billing, for containing both the most extreme (and highest quality) whump in 5x13 and 5x14, as well as boasting the most plentiful whump throughout the rest of the six seasons Colin’s in the show. There’s a reason why Captain Floor is a thing, and that reason is because Hook gets laid out on the ground like it’s going out of fashion. Bless him, the writers, the directors, and the show itself for so many gifts

Conor Elliott, The ClinicMost of Colin’s work on The Clinic is better known for its sheer adorableness and the bean-sprouty goodness and cancer-curing qualities of Conor Elliott’s precious smile. However, in the first season that Colin was on the show, Conor set himself on fire in his therapist’s office - which led to some rather extensive pain faces and hysterics on the floor of said office as he was tended to by paramedics. He’s then carried out in a wheelchair, obviously sedated, and is later seen multiple times in a hospital bed - even sporting an oxygen mask in one shot. He continues to be seen with bandages on his arm for multiple episodes, and a scar from the event can even be spotted on Conor’s arm two whole seasons later. Now there’s something you don’t see everyday.

Mark, Storage 24This is one of Colin’s films that is damn hard to quantify the whump in. For starters, we have a solid punch to the kisser, complete with some blood. There’s also a scene in the beginning where his friend knocks him over and lands on his nuts (cue pain face). Both scenes are solid, whump-wise - but for me, it’s the extreme fear and panic Mark exhibits throughout the entire film that brings it as high on this list as it is. It is SO much fun to watch him scramble through air vents, terrified that a giant alien monster is going to burst through and eat him alive at any moment. And Colin does such a brilliant job of relaying that fear. Even when he’s not being hurt, you feel like he’s in dire peril… and that makes this entire film feel extremely whumpy to me. At any rate, we also have the fact that the end of the film sees Mark [SPOILER ALERT] get his face chewed on rather graphically, and we’re right back to not knowing what to do with this film. How dare that thing touch such a beautiful face.

Peter, What Still RemainsThis post-apocalyptic film brings us a grievous bear trap injury in the first half that leaves Peter limping and wincing throughout the whole rest of the film. There’s really no cinematic reason for the injury, either, which leaves a lot of us wondering if the director cottoned on to the fact that Colin has a lot of whump-loving fans and was like, “How do you feel about bear traps?” What The Rite gave us all in angsty rain shots, this film gives us in winces and limping. He also gets [SPOILER ALERT!] stabbed and dies at the end.

Ben, The EuthanizerThis short film opens with a lengthy sequence of Ben trying to hang himself and lacking the go-ahead to take that final leap (if you will). Very angsty, with some noose action and wincing and frustration. Ben then hires the eponymous “Euthanizer” to help him finish the job - resulting in more noose hijinks, some crying, a hand-gagging, some desperation, a bit of a wrassle on the floor, and some great moments where Ben’s got the muzzle of a gun pressed into his face. Jazz… nice.

Michael Kovak, The RiteDespite this being a “horror” film, there’s not as much whump in it as you might expect. And while there is an impressive-looking list of maladies in the film, they all suffer from being a bit too brief and a bit too dark to truly enjoy. That said, Michael does get choked twice, wakes up in a cold sweat from a nightmare, cries and angsts when his father dies, and gets attacked in the ending climax. That scene sees Anthony Hopkins getting in his face, mocking him, throwing him across a room, getting in his face again, and even briefly possessing him - but it all feels even darker and briefer than the earlier whump.

Brennan, The Dust StormSo much of the whump in Colin’s roles is subjective, that it’s hard to even quantify it for this list. For example, if one considers the vulnerability of extreme inebriation to be whumpy, they’re likely to feel this movie deserves a much higher place on this list - whereas those who don’t find that kind of thing whumpy at all might object to this film being as high on this list as it is. C’est la vie. Drunkenness aside, however, this film does feature a solid punch to the face, a voluntary cigarette burn, loads of romantic angst, some vomiting… and did I mention the extreme inebriation? He even passes out in a church.

Brendan, Call GirlAnother short film, and also one of the earliest film roles our Col ever did :) This one’s got some very brief fisticuffs that result in Brendan [SPOILER ALERT] accidentally killing a young woman. Obviously, some angst ensues… and he ends up slicing into his forearm with a kitchen knife to cover the crime.

Professor Harrison, Carrie PilbyOn top of housing one of Colin’s least-liked characters (by design ;)), this film also only has one very solid punch right to the nose (with blood!) for us whumpers to enjoy.

Duke Phillip of Bavaria, The TudorsIt’s not real whump… but Phillip does pretend that Princess Mary has stepped on his foot during their dance and quite melodramatically winces and stomp-limps off the dancefloor, before revealing it was all a ruse to get her alone for a smooch. Nice one, Duke Phillip. We’d follow those pain faces off into a dark corner any day.

Peter, Love Is the DrugHe gets punched in this one (when does he not?), but it’s off-screen. He’s also drunk (again) and ends up passed out on the street, having puked all over himself. Oops? Well, it’s whump. Sort of. Oh, I think his buzzcut might also count as whump, depending on who you ask XD

Jamie, Proof 2Colin’s appearance in this is very brief, but he still manages to get grabbed by the collar and manhandled a tiny bit, regardless :)

Nameless Florist, The WordsThere’s no whump at all in this one, although Colin does appear adorably embarrassed when he knocks dirt all over the counter in the florist’s shop. Aww. There’s also some angst in bed and he takes a bath - and I don’t want to live in a world where that doesn’t count for something.

Security Guard, Wild DecembersThere’s no whump in this at all, unless you count giving him the lines, “It’s tough, it’s tough” to a woman whose lover has just been gunned down in front of her a form of whump. Some of us do. I mean, that’s awful dialogue.

Rowe, Rebel HeartThere’s no whump in this at all, but he does look extra cute. It’s also the very first time Colin appeared on film (that we know of). Bless.

Douxie, TrollhuntersWe only hear Colin’s voice here, and there’s no whump whatsoever. His character might return later in the series, though! Maybe someone will punch him then XD

Honorable Mention: JJ SneedThis isn’t even out yet, but I feel the need to mention it, since it’s likely to land VERY high on this list. JJ is the recipient of not one but TWO separate gunshot wounds in the song this Heartstrings episode is based on - one that lays him up badly enough to be nursed back to health by the protagonist, and the other that results in his death by that same woman’s hand. If that doesn’t sound like a role destined for the Top Three of this list, I don’t know what would!

[timeguardiansarchive]

Rescue at the Battle of Shiloh 1862 ~Iris & Vin: Innocentmanwithabounty

@innocentmanwithabounty  Plotted starter.

The raucous churning noise of the Mothership’s turbines settles into a dark hush as if, the hulking machine was taking an long awaited sigh. Dark lashes pry open from the temporary spell of slumber that accompanied the harshness of the journey through time and space.

Iris internally muses that if she were subjected to more of this insane Rittenhouse scuttling around, she’d develop a real whip-lash and distaste for all things history. Worse still, the young brunette was homesick. Maybe not for her physical home but definitely for her parents. 

The door slowly slides open, revealing another unfamiliar place. She is dragged out into the light by the escorting Rittenhouse agent. The ground is soft, mildly mushy beneath her feet. It must have rained recently in the dense thicket. And the air is rife with the static of a building conflict. But what it was had yet to dawn on her.

She swivels, allowing her gaze to soak up every detail of the world around her. Again, Iris is lost without hope of a compass or way to reach out to her beloved father. In the distance, there are myriads of voices and unrecognizable sounds.  Behind her, there seems to be the faintest bubble of a waterway. Was it a River? She doesn’t know. Its too far away from her present location to see. Between thick branches canvas tents flopped in the hushed breeze. It is in the direction of the tents she is being dragged.

 “We’re going to be here a few days. You might as well get comfortable in this tent,” the gruff voice totting her about mentions as she is unceremoniously shoved in. Iris felt her heart plunge from its position in her chest down to the shoes on her feet. Days? How many more days must she endure being dragged about like a rag doll to suit Rittenhouse’s needs? She just wanted to be reunited with her father and to go home! 

When the agent left, Iris stubbornly peered outside. Her eyes catch on a commotion past the guards standing resolutely at the entrance. 

Men in strange looking uniforms began to amass, rushing about in preparation of something in the woods around them. Gathering guns, horses, weapons, and ... were those canons?! They had to be! Fragmented pieces start coming together. She is in another war-zone. This was not Birmingham, England in 1940 nor her home in 2019. No. Things here were far more dated. She doesn’t have much time to put the pieces together for a faint pop - pop - pop followed by a few deeper bellows filled the air. 

Curiosity gets the better of her and Iris clambers out the back. It was now or never to make her perilous escape. Iris had to find the Mothership and then a way to get home. Sure, she didn’t know how to control it but how hard can it be? With every step ventured forwards, Iris played out scenarios in her head. Most of them didn’t end well which, only served to motivate her more. 

She pushes further into the woods. Corrilian hues constantly on the lookout for the odd shaped orb that had brought her here. Come on, Mothership. Where are you? I know you’re out here.

However, it refused to be found. Instinct compels her to plod forwards in the direction of the voices. Maybe someone had been fortuitous enough to find it for her. It was the only option she had left. 

The closer she got the louder the voices became. The pops and bellows which, had once been hushed now erupted like a thunderstorm all around her. A small sudden spray of hot lead struck the earth and trees surrounding her. A series of rippling growls are unleashed from varying distances and they rage viciously through the air. Some canon balls roar over head and some crash violently into the ground near her feet. Death, destruction, and agony follow in their wake. Wailing screams pierce the steady patter of her heart. Tears coat the brims of her eyes as Iris thought, surely this must be what hell is like!

Blindly she ambles around in search of a safety-net. Feeble porcelain fingers push upwards to cover her battered ears against the onslaught of suffering enveloping her. Following the direction of the nearest soldiers around her, she blindly slips to safety behind an embankment. Arms cover her head of frazzled curls. Iris tries to make herself as small as possible. Regret, like a terrible cough, lodges in the space of her lungs, weaving into the very fabric of her muscles.

“Dad? I... if you’re out there, I just want to go home!” She laments aloud, not really expecting anyone to see her. Eyes rapidly bat for she is too afraid to entirely close them. Her back is pressed defeatedly into the moist dirt. Time traveling was supposed to be a fun fantasy that Hollywood liked to turn into movies- not whatever fresh inferno this was! Iris adamantly wished she had never heard of the likes of Rittenhouse or the Mothership!

[catie-does-things]

I loved your deconstruction of the Ember Island Players -episode. Could you be persuaded to write down your thoughts about the Southern Raiders too?

Well, since you asked.

(The Ember Island Players meta)

There’s a lot to say about The Southern Raiders and much of it has been said, but I’m going to focus on five major questions:

Is Aang’s response to Katara’s anger appropriate?

Is Zuko’s response appropriate? Is he being self-serving?

Is Aang’s philosophy about forgiveness correct? Should Katara forgive her mother’s killer?

Does this episode show Zutara in a positive or a negative light?

What were the writers trying to do with this episode?

Fair warning, I’m obviously Team Zutara, but I’m not going to be uncritical of Zuko, Katara, or this episode as a whole. I actually have some very mixed feelings about it, as you’ll see.

Also, this is hella long. So, get comfortable.

This is a serious episode. Look how serious we are.

1. Is Aang’s response to Katara’s anger appropriate?

When Katara and Zuko first tell Aang they plan to find the man who killed her mother, Aang’s immediate reaction is skeptical and dismissive, asking Katara what she thinks that will accomplish. This is point one against Aang - even if there’s reason to doubt that this mission is a good idea, that’s a bad way to open the conversation. And naturally, Katara doesn’t take it well, saying in disgust that she knew Aang wouldn’t understand.

Aang protests that he does understand, and I know a lot of people take issue with his comparison to losing Appa, which I do think is not really comparable to Katara’s trauma from her mother’s death. But to be fair, he does also mention the genocide of the Air Nomads. It’s weird that Aang even puts these two things on the same level, though, and kind of does come across as naïve - as I’ve talked about before, I think a certain level of age-appropriate naïveté is a definite part of Aang’s character, and the show runs into trouble when it fails to challenge him on this.

This is another example of that failure. A bit later, when the scene cuts to night time, Aang uses forgiving Katara for trying to sneak away with Appa as another example, cheerily asking if that gives Katara any ideas. This is a real cringe moment for me, as Aang is lumping all offenses, great and small, together as if they should be equally easy to forgive. That’s not to say that they should not all be forgiven. But forgiving the murder of a loved one is inevitably going to be much harder than forgiving the minor deceit of a friend, and Aang’s flippant attitude shows no regard for the distinction.

Pictured: The wrong attitude for this conversation.

Going back to the first part of this scene, after accusing Katara of seeking revenge, which she doesn’t deny, Aang says that she sounds like Jet. This comparison really is unfair, as Katara points out - seeking retribution against a killer might be wrong, but it’s nowhere near the same as attacking innocent people. Again, Aang is making sweeping moral generalizations that, even if they’re founded on correct principles, fail to recognize the realities that make these kind of moral questions difficult. I think it would be very hard to argue that Yon Rha does not deserve any kind of punishment for killing Kya, the real question is what that punishment should be and whether Katara should be the one to mete it out.

Aang is twelve. This is a children’s show. Fine. But the writers wanted to go there, and it’s a disservice to the gravity of the subject matter they chose to address if we’re really meant to take the twelve-year-old’s fumbling attempts at moral guidance at face value.

And unfortunatley, we are. After Zuko and Katara leave, Sokka declares that Aang is “pretty wise for a kid”, which to me is…the exact opposite of what we just saw. Aang means well and is even right in some important ways, but the only arguments he has to back up his own “wisdom” are unhelpful comparisons and platitudes. He’s about exactly as inept at this as I would expect a child of his age to be, but the writers are trying to tell me he’s wise beyond his years? Not buying it.

Some points in his favor: Aang does eventually come around and recognize Katara needs to confront her mother’s killer, though it is a weird and unexplained 180 after the scene cuts from day to night. And his advice that she should “let [her] anger out, and then let it go” is sound. It’s weird that Zuko makes fun of him for this, because it’s much better presented than a lot of his previous advice, and also…something Zuko has kind of already done. But we’ll get to that later.

Overall, I’d say Aang’s response to Katara’s pain and anger is not great. His heart’s in the right place, but his inability to provide strong arguments for his philosophy and his apparent expectation that Katara should easily forgive her mother’s killer prove he’s not actually mature enough to give moral guidance in a helpful way in such a difficult situation, in spite of what we’re told.

It’s hard to be a kid when the writers keep treating you like you’re more mature than you actually are.

2. Is Zuko’s response appropriate? Is he being self-serving?

For starters, we need to distinguish that Zuko is not trying to provide an alternative moral guidance to that offered by Aang. He’s not trying to be a moral guide at all, so that puts a lot of what he says and does in a different context.

What is Zuko trying to do? He’s trying to make up for his betrayal in Ba Sing Se. 

The beginning of the episode sets up that Katara is the last holdout on accepting Zuko as part of the group, and Zuko is bothered by this. (Though it is interesting that each of them saves the other’s life during the escape from the Western Air Temple, also hinting at how these two characters are mutually supportive of each other, antagonistic or not.) Because of this, some people have said Zuko pushes Katara to take revenge for selfish reasons, because he thinks it will make her accept him.

Well, Zuko doesn’t actually push Katara to do anything, so much as give her the opportunity. All he says to her is that he knows how to find the man who killed her mother, making no suggestion as to what she should do in that scenario. And when Aang challenges them, he says that Katara needs to find this man in order to get “closure and justice.” Where could Zuko have gotten the idea that confronting the person responsible for your childhood trauma is necessary for closure and justice?

Probably by doing it himself.

Zuko confronting Ozai is likely our best indication of how he’s imagining Katara confronting her mother’s killer is going to go. Zuko doesn’t try to punish Ozai, because he believes it’s the Avatar’s destiny to take down the Fire Lord. Instead, he essentially takes this as his opportunity to let his anger out so he can move past it…you know, that suggestion Aang made that I said it was weird for Zuko to scoff at? This is why. If he’s imagining Katara confronting her mother’s killer will go something like him confronting his father, which I think we have to assume is the case, then he and Aang would be more or less suggesting the same thing.

But Kya’s killer, like Ozai, also deserves punishment, and whose destiny is that? If this is the Avatar’s responsibility as well, Aang doesn’t seem to be jumping at the chance to do it - not once does he offer to accompany Katara on her quest. Legally, perhaps it’s the Fire Lord’s job to punish war criminals in his own armed forces - but Ozai’s obviously not going to do that, and who if anyone will succeed him is up in the air at this point. This is a classic setup for a revenge or vigilante plot - the proper authorities, the designated arbiters of justice are either unwilling or unable to act, so individuals who normally would not have the right to punish wrongdoers are the only ones who can.

Is seeking retribution in these circumstances morally perilous nonetheless? Absolutely. But to the extent that Zuko’s offer to confront her mother’s killer does move Katara to violence in this episode, it’s a principled rather than arbitrary use of violence. And the offer itself comes from a personal experience of how necessary the confrontation can be.

Which brings us back to earlier in the episode, and the reason Zuko is doing all of this in the first place. 

This is my favorite screencap of course I was going to find a reason to use it.

When Katara lays down her very legitimate grievance against Zuko, namely that she was the first person in their group to trust him, and that he betrayed that trust, Zuko is not dismissive of her anger, nor does he offer excuses. He just asks, “What can I do to make it up to you?” Zuko of all people understands the need to make amends for his own misdeeds. Katara of course only offers sarcastic, impossible suggestions (reconquer Ba Sing Se, bring her mother back), and here it would be very easy for Zuko to write her off and just accept that she’s always going to hate him. But, as he tells Sokka in the following scene, he doesn’t know why, but he does care what Katara thinks of him. We know why, though.

It’s because of his sense of honor. I hope I don’t need to explain to anyone how we know that Zuko has a deep-seated drive to the right thing, even if he’s sometimes confused about what the right thing is. But in this case, his instincts are good: he personally wronged Katara by his actions in Ba Sing Se in a way he didn’t hurt anyone else in the group, so he needs to do something equally personal to expiate his guilt against her in a way he didn’t need to for anyone else in the group.

And what he tries to offer her - the closure she’s never gotten over her mother’s death - really is the perfect thing. Their initial connection was forged because of their shared pain over losing their mothers, and as Zuko insightfully tells Sokka, Katara has connected her anger over that loss to her anger at him. This is not just some random favor he thinks he can do to get back in her good graces. It’s a specific redress of her actual grievance against him. It’s not selfish of him to want to give her that. It’s right.

But, there are some points against Zuko as well. He’s a little too quick to dismiss Aang’s advice, and a little mean about how he does it - though as I’ve said, in a way that I don’t think is quite in character. More gravely, during the actual confrontation with Yon Rha, Zuko is almost entirely hands-off, letting Katara do whatever she wants - apparently up to and including kill him. Again, Zuko is not trying to be Katara’s moral guide here, but that in itself is open to criticism. If killing Yon Rha really is crossing a line, then Zuko would be remiss in not trying to stop her.

The best light you can read this in is that Zuko trusts Katara not to cross that line - and he certainly shows no sign of surprise or disappointment when she does spare him. But I think this is reading a bit more into the text than is actually there. You could also take it as Zuko leaving the decision of whether Yon Rha deserved to die up to Katara, but again, this is a morally lax stance that is hardly above criticism.

So is Zuko’s response to Katara’s anger appropriate? Yes and no. His response to her anger at him absolutely is, demonstrating a healthy sense of compunction and a laudable desire to give due redress of grievances. How he responds to her anger at her mother’s killer is less childishly judgmental than Aang, but in a way that arguably runs to the opposite extreme of showing too little concern for the morality of her actions - which is itself odd, given Zuko’s established strong sense of morality and unwillingness to stand by and do nothing when someone else does something wrong.

“What can I do to make it up to you?” vs. “Guru Goody Goody”: Zuko’s moral compass is kind of a mixed bag in this episode tbh

3. Is Aang’s philosophy about forgiveness correct? Should Katara forgive her mother’s killer?

Obviously opinions will vary about this, but I can certainly give you mine.

Putting aside questions of Air Nomad philosophy vs. Water Tribe vs. Fire Nation - these are, after all, fictional cultures made up by modern American writers in a show for a modern American audience - forgiveness is generally valued by most people, though as C.S. Lewis puts it, “everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive”. Forgiveness is hard, especially when the offense is great and there is no easy way for the offender to make things right - as in Zuko’s case - or the offender has no interest in doing so - as is the case with Yon Rha. But Aang is right that forgiveness is necessary for healing, and I would say for other reasons as well. I’ll refrain from a full-blown treatise on forgiveness here, but I quoted Lewis, and if you have any idea what he wrote on the subject…yeah. That.

Katara says in the first argument with Aang that forgiving her mother’s killer is impossible. And as much as the episode’s final scene tries to present the resolution that Aang was right all along, Katara still definitively declares that she will never forgive him (though she does forgive Zuko). So even though Zuko says Aang was right about what Katara needed, Katara certainly doesn’t seem to think it’s that simple.

Pictured: Not someone who has accepted Aang’s philosophy.

I’ll be very honest. I hate this line. I wish she had said something like “I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive him”, which would allow her to still have that residual anger to work through like the writers apparently wanted, acknowledging that forgiving Yon Rha can’t be as easy as Aang made it out to be, while still leaving the door open that she might get there someday. True forgiveness might be too much to expect of her at this point, but her rejection of it as impossible should at least be tempered, especially if, as Zuko’s dialogue in this scene and Sokka’s in the earlier scene imply, we’re meant to learn from this episode that Aang is right.

In spite of how poorly argued Aang’s position is, I do agree with his basic thesis about the importance of forgiveness, and I’m disappointed how many people seem to be ready to dismiss it outright in order to give Zuko the moral high ground in this episode. I don’t think that’s even necessary to defend Zutara as a ship, which brings us to our next point.

4. Does this episode show Zutara in a positive or a negative light?

“Come on, kids! ‘Zutara’ never would have lasted! It was just dark and intriguing.” - Bryan Konietzco

For those who buy into this claim that Zutara was too dark to be a functional romantic relationship, The Southern Raiders is usually the primary episode cited as proof. And it’s not a lighthearted episode. The creators described it as “probably one of the most intense episodes of the series”. It deals with unusually heavy subject matter for a half-hour timeslot cartoon for kids, and sees Katara struggling with some very dark feelings. But confronting darkness does not necessarily make a character, storyline, or ship dark.

Some argue that this episode shows Zuko bringing out the worst in Katara, and there is some truth in that, inasmuch as the effects of his betrayal in Ba Sing Se are still being felt. But Zuko is also making the effort to help her move past that, as well as her childhood trauma. In the course of their “field trip”, we see them working together effectively as a team, and in an understated but crucial scene, we see Katara open up to Zuko about that pain, unprompted, and Zuko once again offer her comfort - which no other character is ever shown to do.

“Your mother was a brave woman.” / “I know.”

Consolation is a different thing from moral guidance, but just as necessary. And where Aang’s attempts at the latter come across as inept, Zuko seems to know exactly the right thing to say to comfort Katara at that point. Katara’s memory of her mother’s death, even though she doesn’t have all the details at this point, makes it pretty clear that Kya died protecting her, which again highlights the similarities between Zuko and Katara - he also lost his mother because she was trying to protect him. I think it’s a pretty safe assumption that their repeatedly paralleled backgrounds are the reason these two characters seem to get each other so instinctively, and here we have another excellent example of that right in the middle of the episode that supposedly shows what a bad influence they are on each other.

And then of course it ends like this:

So dark. Very intrigue. Much dysfunction. Wow.

Are all of Zuko and Katara’s actions in this episode beyond reproach? No. Why do they have to be? What’s wrong with two characters confronting a difficult situation and making some questionable choices but ultimately both growing from the experience? That doesn’t prove that a theoretical romantic relationship between them would be doomed to failure. It actually provides a pretty good foundation for a healthy relationship that they can work through these things together. I mentioned earlier the reciprocal saves in the escape from the air temple, and I still maintain that’s emblematic of a larger pattern of Zuko and Katara mutually enriching each other’s character arcs.

Which is another important point to make here: this episode is not the be all end all of Zutara. We see so many more interactions between them, from the unexpected connection they make in Ba Sing Se to Katara’s friendly teasing in The Ember Island Players. And then there’s the four episode finale.

Bringing this back from the last meta for a victory lap.

So I would say that the portrayal of Zutara in this episode, in the context of the rest of their relationship in the show, is overwhelmingly positive. They’re not perfect, individually or together, but they’re a far cry from grimdark dysfunction. Furthermore, some of the morally questionable aspects of their actions in this episode are even narratively questionable as well, which brings me at last to my final point.

5. What were the writers trying to do with this episode?

I’ve already talked about how I find the effort to portray Aang as a wise moral guide unconvincing, how I think Zuko’s nastiest dismissal of him makes little sense given Zuko’s own prior experience, and how Katara’s ultimate refusal to forgive Yon Rha doesn’t fit with the episode’s apparently intended moral. But other scenes, like the air temple escape sequence, the clifftop argument between Zuko and Katara, and most of the “field trip”, are fantastically written. So what’s going on here?

Well, there’s always the Team Ehasz Conspiracy Theory.

It’s speculation time again!

For those unfamiliar, “Team Ehasz” consists of husband and wife writing duo Aaron Ehasz, the head writer for the series and writer of several episodes, and Elizabeth Welch Ehasz, who also wrote several episodes, including The Southern Raiders. Various iterations of the conspiracy theory range from giving them credit for many of the show’s most successful narrative choices to asserting that they had an entire alternative vision for the show that frequently clashed with Bryke’s, including that they supported the idea of Zutara. There’s little to no evidence for any of this, but it’s…vaguely plausible based on what we do know for certain was the work of Team Ehasz, and that’s all that’s necessary for it to pass into Zutara fandom urban legend.

One wrinkle of this theory - which if anyone does have verifiable sources on I’d love to see - is the rumor that Bryke were supposedly unhappy with the original draft of The Southern Raiders because they felt it was “too shippy”, and insisted the episode be revised accordingly. If it were true that there was a creative clash behind the scenes, that would explain a lot of the episode’s inconsistencies. 

Perhaps the unsuccessful attempt to show Aang as a wise moral authority was a Bryke addition. Maybe Zuko’s uncharacteristic mean comments were meant to make him less sympathetic, lest anyone ship him with Katara. We’ll probably never know for sure, but whatever happened in the writers’ room, the end result is an episode with a lot of great scenes and important character development that nonetheless fails to land a coherent message. Aang is wise beyond his years for giving shallow and immature arguments for his philosophy of forgiveness, but in the end Zuko and Katara learn he was right all along, except Katara doesn’t actually forgive the person Aang wanted her to forgive and never will. Um. Okay.

At least we got badass ninja!Zutara out of it.

Bonus Point: The Writing Fail Train Doesn’t End There!

The episode ends with Zuko asking Aang a very important question: If violence is truly never the answer, as Aang claims, then what is he going to do about a little problem named Ozai? We cut to credits and never see Aang’s immediate response to the question, but of course this is an issue in the finale, with the potential consequences of Aang’s refusal to kill Ozai famously made a non-issue thanks to an eleventh hour power-up granted to him by a deus ex machina.

Maybe if a magical lion turtle showed up to resolve my moral dilemmas for me, I’d be as naïve a pacifist as Aang, too.

[mst3kproject]

Night of the Bloody Apes

I finally got back to this one after being distracted by Night Fright – and Night of the Bloody Apes is an excellent potential MST3K subject.  It’s got Mexican wrestlers, bloodthirsty ape-men, and Rene Cardona, the director of Santa Claus.  There’s a perfect stinger moment, too, when some old abuela comes across a corpse in the street and runs off screaming, oh!  A dead man! A dead man!  A dead man!

A wrestling match goes wrong and one of the contestants, Elena Gomez, hits her head on the concrete floor, leaving her in a long-term coma.  Her opponent, Lucy Osorio, is distraught, blaming herself, and vows to retire from wrestling as soon as her contract is up.  I bet you think that’s gonna be important, don’t you?

The actual plot involves Dr. Krallman and his assistant Goyo kidnapping a gorilla from a zoo so that he can transplant its heart into his dying son Julio (there is an explanation offered for how this will cure his leukemia, but trust me, it’s not worth repeating).  In real life, if a mad scientist gave you a gorilla’s heart your body would reject the organ and you would die – but this is a stupid Luchador movie, so Julio turns into an ape-man and goes on a murderous rampage instead, all in his pajamas and bare feet!  Even having read what I said above, I’m sure you still think Lucy’s gonna have to wrestle him, because where else could her plot possibly be going?  Joke’s on the audience, it’s going fucking nowhere.

In the opening scene, we meet Lucy and her boyfriend Arturo Martinez, see her put on her devil-themed mask, and watch the match in which her opponent is injured.  This still goes on a little longer than it should, but I cannot even express how much more interesting it is than the opening of Racket Girls.  The simple reason why is that we’ve met Lucy.  We know next to nothing about her, but we’ve at least heard her voice, and so we automatically go into the match rooting for her.  Then there’s the unexpected turn when what we anticipated as a moment of victory becomes a tragedy instead.  The music is absurdly overblown but other than that, this sequence is well-written and well-executed.

The rest of the movie is crap.

I’m sure you’re wondering what the subplot about Lucy and her injured friend has to do with the gorilla-man plot.  There are a couple of very thin threads between them.  Dr. Krallman is also treating Elena and eventually decides that he can declare her brain-dead and use her heart to replace the gorilla’s and cure Julio’s pithecanthropy (all the Greek I took in college was totally worth it to be able to coin that word). Arturo is a detective, investigating the murders the gorilla-man commits.  Lucy, however, is irrelevant – she’s just the place where Arturo’s story and Krallman’s happen to meet.  At the end her only role is to declare how sad the whole thing is.

The sound in this film is bizarre.  The voice acting is bland but not awful – the writing is awkward as hell.  When Arturo suggests that the murders are being committed by a beast-man, one of his colleagues declares (and this is word-for-word), “it’s more probable that of late, more and more you’re watching on your television many of those pictures of terror.”  That’s a line the writers of Gamera vs Guiron would have thrown out!  Meanwhile the music, as I already mentioned, is loud and bombastic, with screeching brass and ominous bassoon that sound like something from a melodramatic silent film.

The visuals are not for the weak of stomach. Julio’s heart transplant is represented by stock footage of actual heart surgery, with plenty of blood and bone and an actual human heart still twitching in the doctor’s fingers.  On the one hand, it probably looks way better than anything the film-makers could have managed on their effects budget and is definitely preferable to the Ed Wood Jail Bait approach.  On the other… I wonder who that patient was, and what he would think if he knew his heart operation ended up in Night of the Bloody Apes.  The murder scenes also tend to be gruesome, with lots of blood and some surprisingly graphic effects moments, like an eyeball popping out.  Despite being filmed in loving close-up, shots like the eyeball and a later scalping are stunningly unconvincing, especially with the actual surgery footage there to compare them to.

I’m not sure what this movie thinks about women. Lucy is a character who has goals and conflicts outside of men – Arturo does want her to retire from wrestling and marry him, but her reasons for actually doing so have more to do with Elena’s accident than with him.  Her trauma, the way the people around her dismiss it, and how she attempts to deal with it could have been the core of the movie if anyone had cared.  We don’t meet any of Elena’s other friends and are told that she has no family, so her death is a tragedy in its own right, rather than because of its effect on anybody else.

At the same time, women are something this film very much exploits.  We get a nice look at Lucy’s ass as she gets out of the shower, and Julio spends his gorilla-man rampages murdering and raping random women in long, leering, extremely distasteful shots.  None of these victims have names or backstories.  If we knew them at all, it might be hard to enjoy watching them killed.  I will say that at least they put up good fights – Victim One smashes a lamp over Julio’s head, and Victim Two kicks and thrashes so hard that the stunt guy in the gorilla-man makeup is having a hard time holding her down.  She also has the presence of mind to go seek help not just for herself but for her boyfriend, who she has no idea is already dead.  The grossest moment is when Krallman and Goyo prepare to remove Elena’s heart to transplant into Julio.  This woman is in a coma, and yet the camera lingers on her bare tits rising and falling as she breathes.

Between this stuff and the surgery footage, MST3K would have had no trouble making room for host sketches.  Hopefully one of them would have featured Crow and Servo in luchador masks.

There are several places where Night of the Bloody Apes comes perilously close to meaning something, but it always manages to swerve back into nonsense at the last minute.  For starters, the gorilla-man is supposed to represent Julio devolving into an animal, but like Bela Lugosi’s character in The Ape-Man, his actions are often all too human.  It is human women he seeks out to rape, after all, and killing them afterwards so they can’t tell who did it is a thing only a human being could do.  Too, with some of his later victims gorilla-Julio begins using tools, like knives, in a very human way, and the coroner states that the damage to the victims’ bodies is more characteristic of a human attack than an animal.  As in The Ape-Man, humans are always the most dangerous beast in the jungle.

There’s actually a fairly strong parallel drawn between Elena and Julio.  For the most part we see both of them lying quietly in hospital beds (at least before Julio’s transformation), helpless to do anything about their own situation. Both have a loved one who doesn’t want to give up on them, and both have suffered an injury that leads others to regard them as less than human.  The people the gorilla-man meets on the street see him as nothing but a monster, and Krallman fears he may be shot and killed before he can be cured.  Elena, meanwhile, is unlikely to come out of her coma, and so Krallman sees her as nothing but a potential source of spare parts. When she vanishes, the hospital staff are more worried about their reputation than they are her welfare.

Night of the Bloody Apes may be thought of as a movie about, of all things, informed consent.  We’re not told whether Elena consented to being an organ donor.  Since Goyo says that using her heart would be a crime, I will assume not, and she doesn’t have any family to consent for her.  Julio has no idea what his father plans to do to him to effect a cure and no idea of the possible consequences.  Is it right to take Elena’s heart without her permission if it’ll save Julio?  Is it right to perform an experimental surgery Julio doesn’t even know he needs if it’ll save his life?

The problem with all three of these themes is that the writers never seem to notice any of them!  They’re not interested in examining the line between human and animal violence, it’s just there to lead the police on the right trail.  They don’t see Elena and Julio as alike, nor do they try to confront the problem of medical ethics.  Or even if they did do these things intentionally, they don’t take them anywhere.

Night of the Bloody Apes is another one that would be fairly easy to re-write into a better movie.  For starters, the thing to do would be to set up Lucy and gorilla-Julio as opponents for each other – maybe she sees him attack somebody and tries to intervene, only to have the victim die in a way too close to what happened to Elena, leading her to decide she’s gonna track him down.  Her wrestling skills allow her to beat him, but Krallman begs her not to kill Julio and explains the situation, leading her to suggest using Elena’s heart.  This would allow her a way to come to terms with her friend’s death by knowing some good came out of it, and could get further into the idea of medical consent.  Julio’s final transformation could have come out of ‘how could you do this to me?’ anger at his father.

I wonder if there weren’t some earlier draft of Night of the Bloody Apes that was more like that, because with the movie as it stands I can’t understand why Lucy is the first character we meet when she ultimately does very little.  If I’m right, I guess they changed it because they thought nobody would watch a movie in which a woman does both physically and emotionally heroic things, but in the process they reduced their movie to scraps of what it could be.  In Lucy’s own closing words, it’s unfortunate.  Really sad.