#ricin antidote

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Ricin: The Deadly Toxin from the Castor Oil Plant

What is Ricin? Ricin is a highly toxic protein derived from the seeds of the castor oil plant, scientifically known as Ricinus communis. The castor bean plant is native to parts of Africa and has spread to various regions around the world. Ricin is considered one of the most potent natural toxins known to man. The castor oil plant produces seeds that contain ricin, which can be extracted…

[hayatheauthor]

Ink And Venom: A Writer’s Guide To Poisonous Prose

Within the realm of storytelling, poison holds a certain allure—a dark, mysterious substance that can both captivate and terrify readers. In this guide, I will delve into the world of writing with poison, exploring its various facets, techniques, and implications. Whether you seek to add a touch of danger, heighten suspense, or create memorable villains, this guide will equip you with the knowledge you need to master the art of poisonous prose.

When to Use Poison in Your Story

When should you use poison in your story? Poison can be a powerful tool for creating suspense and intrigue. By introducing poison into your narrative, you can build tension and keep readers on the edge of their seats. Consider incorporating poison in the following situations:

A Murder Mystery: Poison adds an element of mystery, as the true cause of death may not be immediately apparent. It allows you to create a web of suspects, each with their own motives and opportunities.

Political Intrigue: Poison has a rich history in political assassinations and power struggles. It can heighten the stakes and create an atmosphere of paranoia and treachery.

Betrayal and Revenge: Poison can be a weapon of choice for characters seeking revenge or harboring deep-seated grudges. It symbolizes a hidden threat, striking when least expected.

Psychological Thrillers: Poison can serve as a metaphorical representation of internal conflicts or toxic relationships, adding psychological depth to your characters and their journeys.

By strategically incorporating poison into your story, you can create unforgettable moments that will keep your readers engaged and guessing.

Types of Poisons for Writers to Consider

As a writer, it's important to familiarize yourself with the various types of poisons available to your storytelling arsenal. Here are some common types of poisons to consider when crafting your narrative:

Plant-Based Poisons: Derived from various plants, these poisons can range from deadly nightshade (belladonna) to oleander. Research the properties and effects of different botanical poisons to create realistic and intriguing scenarios. In Agatha Christie's "Five Little Pigs," the deadly poison coniine from hemlock plays a crucial role in the murder mystery.

Toxic Metals: Poisons such as arsenic, mercury, and lead fall under this category. Their presence in the story can be subtle or overt, depending on the desired effect. These poisons often have accumulative effects, making them useful for long-term poisoning plots. In Alexandre Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo," the antagonist, Fernand Mondego, uses a slow-acting poison containing arsenic to bring about the demise of his enemies.

Chemical Compounds: This broad category encompasses a wide range of synthetic poisons, including cyanide, ricin, and strychnine. These substances can be potent, swift-acting, and offer opportunities for creative storytelling twists. In Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot," a poisoned powder containing the deadly plant toxin ricin plays a central role in Sherlock Holmes' investigation.

Venomous Creatures: Poisons derived from venomous creatures such as snakes, spiders, or exotic marine life introduce an element of danger and natural lethality into your narrative. Understanding the effects and characteristics of different venoms adds authenticity to your writing. In J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the venom of a basilisk becomes a crucial ingredient in creating antidotes and battling the Dark Arts.

Remember to research each poison thoroughly, ensuring accuracy in both their effects and potential antidotes, as this will lend credibility to your storytelling.

Common Side Effects and Symptoms of Poison

When writing about poison, it's important to understand the common side effects and symptoms associated with different toxins. This knowledge will help you craft realistic and believable scenarios. Here are some common side effects and symptoms of poisoning to consider:

Gastrointestinal Distress: Many poisons, especially those ingested orally, initially affect the digestive system. Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and cramping.

Neurological Effects: Certain poisons can target the central nervous system, leading to a range of neurological symptoms. These may include dizziness, confusion, seizures, tremors, paralysis, or even loss of consciousness.

Cardiovascular Effects: Some poisons interfere with the heart and circulatory system, causing abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias), increased or decreased heart rate, high blood pressure, or a sudden drop in blood pressure.

Respiratory Distress: Certain poisons can affect breathing and lung function. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, coughing, or wheezing.

Organ Damage: Prolonged exposure to certain toxins can cause damage to specific organs such as the liver, kidneys, or lungs. This damage may manifest as organ failure, jaundice, or difficulty with normal bodily functions.

Skin and Eye Effects: Some poisons can have immediate effects on the skin or eyes upon contact. This may include irritation, redness, blistering, or even vision impairment.

Remember that the severity and timeline of symptoms can vary depending on the poison, dose, and individual characteristics. Conduct thorough research to ensure accuracy and realism in portraying the effects of poisoning in your writing.

Famous Poisons Through the Ages and How They Work

Throughout history, numerous poisons have gained infamy for their use in real-life incidents and their portrayal in literature. Understanding the famous poisons of the past can provide inspiration and context for your writing. Here are some notable examples:

Socrates' Hemlock: Hemlock, derived from the plant Conium maculatum, was famously used to execute the Greek philosopher Socrates. It acts as a neurotoxin, paralyzing the central nervous system and causing respiratory failure.

Arsenic: Arsenic, a toxic metalloid, has a dark history and was commonly used in poisoning cases. It was virtually tasteless and odourless, making it a popular choice for covert murders. Arsenic interferes with cellular respiration, leading to organ failure.

Curare: Curare is a plant-based poison used by indigenous peoples of South America for hunting. It works by blocking neuromuscular transmission, leading to muscle paralysis and respiratory arrest.

Cyanide: Cyanide compounds, such as potassium cyanide, are highly lethal and act rapidly. They disrupt cellular respiration by binding to enzymes crucial for energy production, causing cells to suffocate.

Ricin: Ricin is a potent toxin derived from castor beans. It inhibits protein synthesis within cells, leading to organ failure. It gained notoriety due to its use in real-life assassination attempts and its portrayal in literature.

Tetrodotoxin: Tetrodotoxin is a deadly poison found in certain marine creatures, such as pufferfish. It blocks sodium channels in nerve cells, leading to paralysis, respiratory failure, and potentially death.

By researching and understanding the mechanisms of these famous poisons, you can add authenticity and depth to your storytelling. Remember to weave their effects and characteristics into your narrative in a plausible and engaging manner.

How to Kill a Character with Poison

When it comes to killing a character with poison, careful planning and attention to detail are crucial. Here are some key considerations for crafting the perfect crime:

Motivation and Intent: Establish a compelling motive for the character administering the poison. This could be driven by revenge, jealousy, power, or other deep-seated emotions. The intent behind the act will shape the overall narrative and character development.

Research and Accuracy: Thoroughly research the chosen poison to understand its properties, effects, and dosages. Accuracy is essential for maintaining reader engagement and suspension of disbelief. Ensure that the chosen poison aligns with the character's access and knowledge.

Method of Administration: Determine how the poison will be administered. Common methods include lacing food or drink, injecting a solution, applying a poisonous substance to an object, or even using a poisoned weapon. Consider the character's opportunities, resources, and the desired level of subtlety or overt confrontation.

Timing and Dose: Consider the timing and dose of the poison. A well-timed dose can create suspense and unexpected twists. The dose should be lethal but plausible, taking into account factors such as body weight, individual tolerance, and potential mitigating factors (e.g., antidotes).

Covering Tracks: Craft a plan to cover the tracks of the poisoner. This may involve creating alibis, tampering with evidence, or diverting suspicion toward other characters. A well-executed cover-up adds layers of complexity and intrigue to the narrative.

Consequences and Repercussions: Explore the aftermath of the poisoning. How does the death impact other characters and the overall plot? Consider the emotional and psychological toll on those involved, as well as potential investigations or consequences faced by the poisoner.

Remember that portraying a realistic poisoning scenario requires a delicate balance between creativity and accuracy. Strive to captivate readers while maintaining plausibility within the world you have crafted.

Considering the Implications of Writing with Poison

While writing with poison can add intrigue and suspense to your story, it's essential to consider the ethical implications involved. Here are some key points to ponder:

Responsible Storytelling: As a writer, you have a responsibility to handle sensitive topics with care. Poisoning, especially when depicted in a realistic and detailed manner, can be distressing for some readers. Consider the potential impact on your audience and approach the subject matter responsibly.

Glorification vs. Realism: Strike a balance between creating an engaging narrative and avoiding the glorification of harmful acts. Portray the consequences and repercussions of poisonings to illustrate the gravity of such actions. Show the emotional toll on characters and explore the moral dilemmas they face.

Reader Sensibilities: Readers have varying thresholds for violence, graphic content, and triggering material. Be mindful of potential triggers related to poisoning, such as discussions of self-harm, suicide, or traumatic experiences. Offer appropriate content warnings or handle such themes with sensitivity.

Research and Accuracy: Thorough research is essential for accurate portrayal. Misinformation or sensationalized descriptions can perpetuate myths or misconceptions about poisons. Ensure that your writing is grounded in scientific understanding and consult reputable sources.

Character Empathy: Develop well-rounded characters with motivations that extend beyond their use of poison. By humanizing them and exploring their complexities, readers can empathize with their struggles, even if they engage in morally objectionable acts.

Raising Awareness and Education: Take the opportunity to raise awareness about the dangers of real-life poisonings. Provide information on prevention, identification, and response to actual poisoning incidents. Offer resources or references for readers seeking more information.

By navigating the ethical dimensions of writing with poison, you can create a compelling narrative while remaining sensitive to your readership and the broader impact of your work.

End Note 

From understanding when to use poison in your story to explore the various types of poisons and their effects, you now possess the knowledge to craft gripping tales of intrigue and suspense. 

(Note: This blog post is intended for informational purposes only and does not promote or condone harmful actions. Always prioritize the well-being and safety of others in your writing and real-life endeavours.)

I hope this blog on a writer’s guide to poisonous prose will help you in your writing journey. Be sure to comment any tips of your own to help your fellow authors prosper, and follow my blog for new blog updates every Monday and Thursday.  

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks? 

Are you an author looking for writing tips and tricks to better your manuscript? Or do you want to learn about how to get a literary agent, get published and properly market your book? Consider checking out the rest of Haya’s book blog where I post writing and publishing tips for authors every Monday and Thursday! And don’t forget to head over to my TikTok and Instagram profiles @hayatheauthor to learn more about my WIP and writing journey! 

[void-writing]

really enjoying episode 4 of Scarlet Hollow and i want to put together some miscellaneous thoughts about my experiences so far

Spoilers to follow, so I’ll put it under a cut :)

Sybil and the Cat

As much as it pains me, I do not trust Sybil. She was setting off so many alarms for me this chapter during the tea meeting. Like, she has fucking castor beans in her tea room--which if you picked the Book Smart trait are revealed to be full of ricin aka: one of the deadliest poisons ever that was used by KGB to carry out stealth assassinations because you only need a tiny dose for it to be lethal and there is no antidote. And when we see it again in the clinic’s medicine room, we recognize it but somehow we can’t remember where we saw it even though we were just at Sybil’s tea room and when we ask Dr. Kelly how she settled on using ricin to subdue Reese’s...condition...we mysteriously don’t hear who Dr. Kelly went to for it. I 100% believe that Kelly got it from Sybil because she claimed she had an “errand” to run on Main Street (aka, where the General Store is) when Reese distracted her.

Also, Sybil is definitely doing something to Kaneeka. There is something in that tea that makes her more subjective to Sybil’s influence because when we came into the General Store, Kaneeka went to her room way too easily, and there’s a scene where we manage to get Kaneeka out of her room to come with us to the clinic, but Sybil stops us and insists Kaneeka isn’t well despite her momentary insistence to the contrary. And then...she just changes her mind and we have to go alone. And if you picked the Mystical trait, you specifically note that something is encroaching on your mind and trying to make you agree with Sybil that Kaneeka should rest.

And I haven’t even touched on the tea reading itself because something I find highly suspicious is the notion of the “cat” figure, the “hidden enemy.” There’s an option to pose the question that Sybil is the cat but it’s immediately shot down. You don’t even voice it. It just tells you “there’s no way Sybil is the cat. She’s helping you. Why would she warn you about the cat if she’s the cat. Pick someone else.” Also, the time I picked Tabitha as my suspect, Sybil was strangely insistent on encouraging that conjecture. It’s like she’s trying to subtly drive a wedge between us and Tabitha, which makes me concerned because Tabitha at least seems to value Sybil’s council and got some mysterious “tea” from her in episode 3 (which I think is either for the Scarlet’s mysterious prisoner or for us, and I’m fairly sure that it’s meant to subdue whoever drinks it somehow). Plus, I think it would be a classic fake out if Sybil is this hidden enemy because even without the tea forcing us to not suspect Sybil, it’s a lot like how in murder mystery shows, sometimes the one who reports the crime is the one who committed it in order to throw suspicion off them. Because why would they raise the alarm if they were the culprit?

And honestly, her tea reading itself is kind of sus too. If you have Mystical as a trait, you can ask to see the tea leaves yourself and...it’s just kind of a mess of leaf shreds. Sybil claims that tea reading is something that takes years to learn, but I’d think that with the Mystical trait, we’d be able to pick up something. But nothing flags and we hand it back. Plus, the reading doesn’t...tell us anything new aside from this “hidden enemy.” It’s supposedly just a mess of omens of ill fortune and doom. Which we already know from the Ditchlings. And it doesn’t point us to any useful direction. Other than the clinic and seeking out more of the carvings. She says it’s to arm yourself with knowledge (and honestly, I do find that to be a kernel of sound advice) but we don’t know much about the carvings aside from 1) only Scarlets feel the pull and see visions from them, usually of some dark secret truth, 2) people keep dying near or even on them, 3) a Witch told Charles Shaw Junior to seek them out for currently unknown reasons, only to get whammied by Eddie--who seemingly was in some kind of involuntary trance--as soon as he finds it, 4) we keep passing out and having seizures when we see them for the first time, and 5) something bad happens whenever we see them the first time (the mine collapsed, Charles Junior’s whole puppet show, Reese...). It feels like we’re being...primed for something. Prepared. And it feels like we’re being prepared as a sacrificial offering somehow to strengthen whatever curse/mystic whatever that has its hold on the town.

We get some backstory from Sybil about both herself and our mother, but Sybil was vague about herself. She only mentioned that her family has been in the Holler for as long--if not longer--than the Scarlets. So, maybe she’s a descendant of The Witch from Charlie’s haunting. The one that likely has “ulterior motives” according to the Mystic Trait. Sybil also seems quite insistent on downplaying the extent of her power and knowledge and denying being a witch when asked. All in all, Sybil seems very insistent on pushing the “innocent old lady” image. She also dropped some Scarlet lore too. Apparently our maternal grandmother died in childbirth due to being too young to be giving birth, let alone birthing twins. All the husbands after Edwardine’s time are still unknown, Sybil writing them off as flings or just not being terribly remarkable. I’ll talk more on my thoughts about this later.

In summary, Sybil is sus. I think she knows more than she’s letting on. She’s doing something to Kaneeka (Miles also looked pissed for some reason during the scene where Sybil stops us from taking Kaneeka with us to the clinic. Whether his rage is on Kaneeka’s behalf or directed at Kaneeka, I don’t know) and was almost certainly the one supplying Dr. Kelly with castor beans. There was something in that tea that we drank that makes us less suspicious of Sybil (maybe it’s part of the “preparation” I’m theorizing is going on. After all, we were given the same tea when we first arrived in Scarlet Hollow...). I think she’s trying to throw suspicion off of herself by warning us about the “hidden enemy” herself. Tabitha trusts her but tried to subtly drive us to suspect Tabitha of being an enemy.

Reese and Doctor Kelly

First of all, Dr. Kelly definitely likes kids better than...most people. If you don’t have the Keen Eye trait, Rosalina loses a leg and when we go to visit Oscar to check in and see if he’s seen Stella, Dr. Kelly is there giving Rosalina shots and checking up on her. During this, Dr. Kelly is downright kind and gentle until she notices us and she turns into the Ice Queen Doc that we saw last episode. Oscar told Dr. Kelly everything that happened the night before and she...seems to believe him, but if we try to warn her about the carving in the clinic and ask to see it, she gets defensive rather than dismissive.

Reese might be an Anti-Christ. I mean...the biggest reason I think that is that Dr. Kelly was having “romantic” sleep paralysis dreams for months and suddenly got pregnant despite not seeing anyone romantically. There’s also the fact that Reese has a downright supernatural healing factor, which is definitely how he’s survived consuming regular doses of one of the most deadly poisons on Earth (and also getting shot by Tabitha if you call her) and why he seems...strangely fixated and enthused by the idea of human suffering and cosmic horror. Like...those on their own are fine. I get it. It’s fascinating to explore in art and media, but...Reese seemed to be talking about people experiencing it in real life during the build up to his transformation. Idk. During that, it didn’t feel like he was talking about the horror movie that was on.

Reese has encountered Wayne before. He didn’t know his name, so he didn’t make the connection to Wayne as our stalker until we name him. Wayne knows that Reese is something other and dangerous, but didn’t know what until the fight broke out. I want to talk more about Wayne, but I’ll leave that for later. Also, Reese was absolutely convinced that Wayne hated him and meant to hurt him (I mean...I don’t think he was necessarily wrong in that tbh).

Dr. Kelly has been prepping for the eventuality that Reese will no longer listen to her and take his “medicine.” There’s an outcome where Reese gets locked away in Dr. Kelly’s safe room (which is the outcome I favored most since I don’t want to kill Reese but I also don’t want to let him kill Dr. Kelly). And the ricin was actually Dr. Kelly’s second option. She switched to it when she had to stop ordering official meds because what she was ordering was poisonous and people would get suspicious. Also, what she was giving Reese wasn’t working anymore anyway. His body adapted. So I think the poison was meant to keep Reese’s powers busy. If they’re focused on healing the damage the ricin does, then he won’t have enough to spare to Hulk out. And even the ricin seemed to be losing effect too because it only took a couple hours for Reese’s powers to rebound (he did carry us from the carving, up and down several flights of stairs despite being a walking skeleton, which is sus on its own but extra sus if you have the Powerful Build trait, which makes you even heavier. I think).

Reese can turn his paintings into minions. With the Mystical Trait, you’re able to sense in episode 3 that something dark lingers in those paintings in a much more literal sense and Reese talks about feelings building up within him that he releaves by putting them into the paintings. Guess it was a lot more literal than we thought.

Reese also got...strangely defensive of us when Wayne shows up. I haven’t done anything to support or oppose him yet, but I do find it a bit odd. I mean, he’d only met us for like an hour tops the day before. Maybe it was just because we were there and depending on how the medicine room goes (and what traits you picked), we alerted him to the Doc’s “true” intentions with him and his “medicine.” But he doesn’t seem to exhibit the same feelings towards his life-long friends. Not that they came up during the whole *gestures vaguely* but I’d think that if he was feeling so under threat that he’d mention, even off-handedly, staying with Kaneeka or Stella. I don’t quite know what to make of it yet, but it felt odd to me.

Dr. Kelly was also looking over death records of Scarlets in her office. We have the option to snoop at them (which I’ve always taken so far because I love me some lore) and we get some...interesting bits of info. That, I’ll talk more on later, but I find it interesting that she’s looking at those especially since in episode 3, Dr. Kelly mentioned that Scarlets seem to be...averse to hospital and doctor visits. I wonder what she was looking for in those.

The Carvings

There’s a chance of being able to examine the second carving (which I will be calling the Goat carving for simplicity’s sake) if Rosalina didn’t lose a leg and we placate Charlie’s spirit. If you have Book Smart, you notice that the carving’s style is Greeco-Roman, the weathering points to it being from a temple, and that the carving from the mine (which will henceforth be called the Chain carving) were made by the same artist and likely came from the same place.

They seem to lose their magnetism on us after we encounter them the first time.

The carvings also seem to be in sites of death. The Chain carving was in the depths of the condemned Shaw Mine where miner’s died due to rotted beams (and if you have the Mystic trait, you get extra scenes from these carvings. In the Chain carving, you see an argument between Charles Shaw Senior and Enoch Scarlet, where Charles Senior confronts Enoch about using subpar wood in the mines and Enoch writes him off. I don’t remember if you get an extra scene in the Goat carving, but the third one also gives us a vision of Enoch doing something dubious. So it seems that whatever’s going on in the Holler might have started with him). Charles Shaw Junior freaking died on one, murdered by a Scarlet. And the third one was in a “clean air” clinic that was turned into a proper doctor’s office after the mine collapse to treat the survivors. And I doubt all of them survived.

And the third one...I’m calling it the Chimera carving because there was...a lot going on visually in that one, we see an injured man in a hospital bed, presumably Theodore Scarlet, Enoch’s brother and our great uncle who supposedly died in the Shaw mine collapse. Enoch assures Theodore(?), who says the doctors told him he’ll never walk again, that he’s sorted this out by talking to The Witch. Theodore doesn’t seem to know who Enoch is talking about, responding with “A...witch?” rather than “The Witch” like Enoch. I’m guessing she’s the same Witch from Charles Junior’s memories, but Enoch claims that Theodore doesn’t have to worry about his legs or anything again and that he’ll be taking him home by the end of the week. If you have the Mystic trait, you get an extra scene of Enoch in the doctor’s office, telling the doctor that the man claiming to be Theodore isn’t his brother and insisting that he died in the mine collapse. I’m not sure who Enoch was lying to, but I think it was most likely that Enoch lied to the doctor and declared Theodore dead when he wasn’t and then hiding him in the estate. Though, I think it would have been just as likely that Enoch killed this guy.

The symbolism of the carvings to me points to the themes of cycles and sacrifice. The arms circled in chains, each swinging some kind of improvised chain flail(?). The goat’s head, surrounded by three wolves (and the fact that the Shaws had a lot of goat symbolism during Charlie’s haunting. Possibly pointing to how the Shaws were scapegoats for the Scarlets and potentially a sacrificial goat as well). The Chimera carving involves seven (mostly) alternating figures or humanoids and animals, all bound together by a long, tangled snake. The animals are a lion, a goat, a sheep, and possibly either a cow or a pig (I can’t tell). The humanoids all have something fantastical about them. One man has a crown and long ears (kind of gives me Midas vibes with his scepter and almost donkey-like ears), the man opposite to him has horns and similarly pointed ears, and the last figure is fairly ambiguous gender-wise and has no visible ears (they actually look fairly normal, but something about their appearance feels fae-like to me for some reason) but the snake’s head is hovering over their shoulder, its tongue flicking out. The goat and pig or cow remind me of a Roman suovetaurila, a very important type of sacrifice, usually made to Mars (one of their gods of war) to bless and purify land. There’s two types, but the biggest and most important involves a goat, which we’ve seen three times in the story so far, so I’m more keen on referencing that one (...though now that I think of it, “ram” also could mean a male sheep, which is more likely considering the word “suovetaurilia is literally the Latin words for pig, sheep, and bull smushed together). I don’t know, this one is less clear symbolically, but we might not have enough info yet.

Scarlet Lore

So, we get a fairly hefty amount of Scarlet lore this chapter. And Alexandra’s doll moves! Of course, if you picked Keen Eye, you pick up on a bloody, pussy residue that we’ve come to associate with Wayne, so someone’s been rooting through the closet in our absence. Creepy.

Tabitha brought a goat into the greenhouse for some reason. Again, I’m thinking for sacrificial purposes, but even with Talk with Animals, the goat (creatively named “Goat”) doesn’t know much either. So, a mystery for another day, I guess.

Our mother, Vivian apparently was terrified over being pregnant according to Sybil (who I am still sus of and will be taking everything see says with a Dead Sea’s worth of salt from now on). Understandable fear given that we were apparently conceived out of wedlock with a still unknown father and Vivian’s mother--our grandmother--died in childbirth. But I don’t know. There’s definitely more to this. Maybe Vivian knew that we’d be destined for something horrible and left the Holler with us to try and prevent it? Not enough info yet, but I’m definitely keeping that in the back of my mind. God. What if Vivian got pregnant the same way Dr. Kelly did? I mean, we have the option to have some legit magic powers (the Talk with Animals and Mystic traits), and since Edwardine, the paternal lineage of the Scarlets has been strangely obscured and surprisingly matriarchal. If I’m remembering right, every descendant of the Scarlets since Edwardine--Enoch’s daughter--has been female, which is an interesting coincidence that--for me, at least--would be quite innocent in any other setting. Fuck. What if this is a Hell Bride situation? Like, Enoch promised a female Scarlet to some otherworldly force through the Witch in exchange for bettering Theodore’s condition (if Enoch actually cared for his brother) or to ensure that the Scarlet family continues to hold power over the Holler and everyone in it (and maybe that’s why no one seems to be able to leave. At least...not for long anyway).

We have an opportunity during our journey into the clinic’s morgue to see Pearlanne herself and...uh...she’s definitely a dead body. Though, I don’t think she’s been embalmed. I’m not an expert in funerary practices and I know embalming isn’t everyone’s preference but it does seem to be the standard and I find it...odd that it doesn’t seem like her body’s been embalmed at all with her funeral in three days. I don’t know. I’m just highly suspicious of literally everything right now.

We get to see some death records and they have some interesting tidbits in them.

Enoch and Alexandra (Edwardine’s first daughter) both died on the exact same day. Well. Enoch died for sure. Due to a supposed “hiking accident” where he fell off a cliff. Alexandra, meanwhile, just straight up vanished and was declared dead by Edwardine. While I have no idea what could have been up with Alexandra disappearing, I definitely think Edwardine murdered Enoch as retribution for whatever mystic forces he tampered with that compelled her to murder Charlie. After all, Charlie did specifically mention that whatever was going on with those carvings, Enoch was responsible.

Edwardine’s child with Charlie was supposedly stillborn. A boy, named Andrew Charles (kind of sweet of Edwardine to give the boy his father’s name for a middle name). There was no doctor and it was a home birth, so we only have Edwardine’s word to go on. I definitely think there was more to this. What, I don’t know yet.

Theodore, our great uncle who died in the Shaw mine (supposedly), was declared dead by Enoch, his younger brother, who fully took over the mines after he died. Supposedly. Is it possible Enoch murdered his brother to take the mine and estate and town for himself? I wouldn’t rule it out yet, but Enoch is hella sus.

Edwardine had two brothers who died in Normandy during WWII, each within a day of each other. We kind of already knew that from episode 3, but the confirmation of death records is interesting.

Edwardine is probably the longest living Scarlet in...a long time, and possibly ever. She lived to be almost 90. Pearlanne was second longest-living and both seem to have passed from old people illnesses (sleep apnea and heart disease).

Edwardine raised Pearlanne and Vivian in place of her daughter, Mary-Belle (the woman who’s portrait hangs in our room. Actually, I think we’re in her room, so she has her missing, probably dead sister’s doll in her closet...). And according to Sybil, our mother was something of an emotional punching bag for the rest of the family.

As far as I remember right now, only Edwardine and Pearlanne lived past thirty.

Enoch made some kind of deal, either for his own benefit or for the sake of his brother. Don’t know which yet, if these are even the only two options. Enoch seems like a very two-faced, self-serving bastard to me so far, but we’ll see.

Wayne

Oh boy...if I didn’t think he was something supernatural before, I do now. Not even counting that Wayne knew Reese was something eldritch and other, he fought Reese and managed to repeatedly find his way into places taken over by entities trying to keep him out. Also, there’s something about his yellow pus-goo that harmed Reese on contact. I want to know so badly what Wayne is. My current tentative theory is that if Reese is something demonic, what if Wayne is something angelic? If Wayne’s the one that pulls everyone out of Charlie’s haunting, Sybil hints that us bending to Charlie’s demands would “go against everything he is.” A curious phrase, for sure. Sybil seems to be convinced that Wayne is harmless, though again, I’m suspicious of Sybil, but Wayne seems to be acting as like...a musty, spooky guardian angel. So far, he’s been nothing but helpful to us, if not blatantly protective.

We actually saw quite a bit of Wayne this episode. He followed us to the Church and I saw him lurking by the clinic as we approached it. To my knowledge, this is the first time we see Wayne watching us from afar since episode 2 if we stayed at the Estate following the events of episode 1.

Most importantly, if we don’t decide to pursue the romantic subplot with Stella, Wayne walks us back to the estate and we get the opportunity to ask him some questions. Naturally, he’s vague about a lot of things, but he’s following us specifically because “[we’re] special” and when we ask why he answers “you just are.” Annoying, but mildly informative in the sense that there is something inherent to us specifically that is unique, even amongst our kin, limited though they are. Wayne also says that we’re bonded to him in some way. He doesn’t elaborate, but he does imply that he will stand by us for...whatever’s coming.

This mysterious “bond” is a bit suspect to me and I’m curious about what that exactly means (personally, I hope it’s not romantic...).

He also encourages us to snoop around the estate when Tabitha is out and busy with the strike. He might want us to find something there. Perhaps the mysterious imprisoned entity? Perhaps something else.

[sparatus]

Late to the party but whoops, for the dragon asks: Ice and/or Breath!!

well now im even later cause im answering this like a month and a half late oops

dragon asks

putting under a cut for length

Ice: share a snippet where a character is taking a risk.

hmm lots of good options but let's do this bit from broken mirror ch55:

--

“Here.” Viktoriya tossed Shepard the bag, and they caught it automatically, brows popping up in surprise. “The big box is a complete clone of Hislop’s terminal. Everything he knew about or had a hand in. Do not let it connect to the extranet. Cerberus codes all their high-ups’ stuff with bio-keys that run a self-deletion protocol if anything happens to them. As soon as those files get the signal he’s dead, you’re right back to where you started. There’s an OSD in the front pocket with a virus to scrub the keys off it, just put them together in an isolated server and let the virus do its work. Don’t let it touch your stuff.”

Shepard and Nihlus shared a look, and Shepard hastily started patting the bag down to check for anything else. After a moment, they pulled a small data drive out of a mesh pouch on the side, and Viktoriya pursed her lips. “That’s the formula for the antidote to the poison in that knife,” she said, gesturing to the hilt still sticking out of Saren’s knee. “I wanted to steal some of the actual stuff, but that’s a bit harder to swipe than some data.”

Shepard’s eyes nearly bugged out of their head. “It’s poisoned?” they yelped, practically choking on their tongue from the sound of it.

“Ricin mixed with something from Tuchanka,” Viktoriya confirmed. “I don’t know all the details, but it’s slow-acting. They like their subtle, slow methods so they can get away before you realize what they’ve done. Fucking cowards. You have a week, ten days if you’re lucky. I’d send that ahead if I were you.” She looked between them, and there must have been doubt somewhere in the picture, because she scowled. “For fuck’s sake, I’m not going to booby-trap an antidote, no matter what you think of me. Scan it for viruses if you want, I don’t care. It’s a terrible fucking way to die.”

Shepard swallowed and stuffed the drive back into the pouch. “Thank you,” they said, slinging the bag over one shoulder. “Really.”

Viktoriya snorted and rolled her shoulders. “You want to thank me? You’ve only taken out one of three. Eva Coré and Jack Harper are the other two. Find them and put them down like the fucking dogs they’ve stylized themselves as. I’ll take care of the rest.” She jammed her helmet back onto her head and adjusted it until she was comfortable, then shook herself and nodded to Saren’s body in Nihlus’s arms. “Get him home. I don’t know what the beef is with his brother, and frankly, I don’t give a shit, but nobody deserves to die like that.”

Nihlus had, quite honestly, been starting to wonder if anyone was going to remember Saren’s desperate need for medical help, and didn’t need to be told twice to gather the bundle of albino twigs close as he rose to his feet. “Come on, Saren,” he urged, running one hand over his crest. “Come on, we’re going home.”

He chose to take the faint pressure against his palm as a good sign.

Shepard adjusted the bag and made to follow, only to pause and look back at Viktoriya. “What about you?”

To Nihlus’s surprise, she actually gave a frustrated groan. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, would you go already? I can take care of myself. I have to remove all traces of me being here, or I’ll be in a hell of a lot more danger than you are.”

“But-”

“Look, I appreciate how many fucks you give about me, but I don’t need a knight in shining N7 armor, got it? The only hero in my story is me.” She barked a short laugh. “Hell, maybe I’ll make the carnage worse, hammer in why nobody came out to help. Don’t feel bad about making Earl’s cat an orphan, he stole the poor thing from his ex anyway. Being headless is a fucking improvement, you should’ve seen the stupid fucking mullet they made him shave off.” She shook her head, apparently realizing she’d gotten onto a tangent, and flapped her hands at them. “I can handle myself. Now, go!”

--

like. she's literally giving away vital information on her ruthless employers who've already been shown to remove body parts and enforce obedience so aggressively she's basically only a step or two above being classed as a slave, but she wants to be free and see her family again so badly she's willing to trust shepard despite knowing what will happen if she's caught, and we see in the post-script she is caught and we're gonna find out pretty soon in itlog what the consequences are but god that show of desperation and wanting to believe in something is just :justright:

Breath: share a snippet that makes you laugh.

well last time i shared the ol' "saren gets lifted bodily off the ground because nihlus fears neither god nor death" from rabbit so let's revisit this bad boy from itlog ch12 shall we:

--

“Agent Kryik, if this is some elaborate ruse to announce your intent to retire, I'm not amused.”

Shepard suppressed a snort. Nihlus hadn't even particularly wanted to tell the councilor what they were about to do, and had only reluctantly made the call so Sparatus could let Saren know if things went belly-up. They'd put it off to the last possible minute – they were currently loitering in the system maybe half an hour's flight from Purgatory, and were waiting on the ship to confirm permission to dock.

Nihlus at least had the courtesy to fight his mandibles back down his face before his smirk was too obvious on camera. "Ierian, believe me, when I retire, I'll tell you so from the comfort of my own bed, already holding Saren like a stuffed toy. There's no Saren in this picture, so I'm afraid I'm entirely serious."

Sparatus took a moment to stare into his hovering camera. Shepard couldn't decide if the look in his eyes was annoyance or resignation, but either way, there was definitely a healthy dose of I can't wait until you aren't my problem anymore. Then he looked down again, back to rubbing his face with a washcloth. Nihlus had texted them an explanation that it was soaked in an oil that kept his scars from getting too stiff and was applied every night; they had apparently caught him just before bed. 

There was something surreal about it, even moreso than talking to him in his own living room the week or so before. That had at least still had a level of separation to it; everyone was clothed and prepared to talk business, takeout boxes aside. That version of Ierian Sparatus had still felt like Shepard's boss, a dignified old prosecutor grouchy about being disturbed but willing to do his job. On the other hand, there was something... intimate about seeing the old man at such a simple point in time. He wasn't even wearing a shirt, the sprawling cultural tattoos across his arms and torso (xepoa'väch, Nihlus explained in another text, very Tiirti and very closed to outsiders) on full display. His vincorit glittered cheerfully in the light as it clinked around his old-man-bony wrist. He'd set his camera against the mirror so he could have his hands free, and Aediteia occasionally wandered past behind him as she went about her own routine. Peaceful and domestic, quiet and normal. No pressing matters except whether or not he'd taken the meds waiting for him on the counter. There was no councilor here, only an elderly turian getting ready for bed.

And then there was Nihlus, feet kicked up on the dash and grinning like the hoodlum Sparatus almost definitely thought he was. Shepard actually pitied the old man.

Sparatus grumbled as he pulled the washcloth from his face. "I'm going to impose a moratorium on calling me outside office hours. Call Valern. I have to be up early for a doctor's appointment, you know."

"Valern would just tell us to call you, and you know it." Nihlus uncrossed and recrossed his legs. "Besides, would you rather know ahead of time so you can give extra orders, or find out afterwards and complain about what we didn't think to do while we were there?"

"I have so few pleasures in my day-to-day, Nihlus, you would really take complaining away from me?" Sparatus tossed the cloth off to the side and picked up his toothbrush from its holder. "I suppose you have a very good reason for this very bad idea?"

--

rabbit/exdiff nihlus is really just. a menace. i love him so much

[consult-sherlockholmes]

I am aware of this fact, however rat poison is flavoured very bitterly then and now, you may of been a moron but you had tastebuds. If you so wish to hear inform Mycroft that you asked, Cyanide once, rat poison once, mercury twice, salmonella once (that was pretty mild), Maitotoxin once, VX once, Ricin twice, BX twice. You reacted very quickly, helped me figure out which was best, I always delivered you an antidote.

That is impossible, ricin does not have an antidote, and with the multitude of the other poisons I should be dead if you ever really did that. But as I am not, you are lying. Moreover how were you supposed to access VX, a military grade poison, or any of the other toxins as a child before you were locked away? As that was the only time you ever had the possibility to poison me. And salmonella is a bacterial infection and not a poison, so no antidote again. Are you hallucinating something again or just lying to throw me off?

[reindeer-spotting]

Can I learn abt the other terrorist oc, if you don’t mind :3 ?!

omg 4sure!!

his name is Incitatus Fairchild, and his whole thing is that he uses ricin to poison people. he's very opinionated about ricin and it's perception, and initially didnt want to use it because of the breaking bad stuff and he thinks that everyone acts super cringe about ricin, but ultimately the accessibility of it and the lack of an antidote made it his poison of choice. incy is like 16/17 and very, very 'woe is me'. he gets a hard time from most everyone around him and has a lot of resentment for those people, especially those who hold power over him like his youth group leader and his dad (he reeallly hates his dad. very very much. he thinks he's a pussy bitch and is also mad he gave him such a stupid name). the group leader especially gives him a hard time, chastising him for 'not trying hard enough' to 'reach his full potential'. incitatus has that audhd instinct and takes it fully personally, including any joking around he does. he steals his dad's phone and starts to plan things out using only that phone. he writes down all of his ideas pertaining to what he will do in this phone, and orders things to the house using his dad's money and accounts. When he has his ricin distilled to the poison and everything else he needs, he puts the poison in people's medicine- mostly liquid medicine and two-part capsules. he's pretty sneaky, and doesn't get caught. he kills ~20 people, including the youth group leader. he plants the phone back on his dad and frames his for the entire thing. his dad goes to jail and incy commits suicide at 21.

[perpetual-stories]

Deadly Poisons to Use in Your Next Story: Part One

Hey, everyone. So I’m taking a bit of a break from grammar tips. Instead, I decided to research some deadly poisons. The use of poison has been a method of centuries-old murder tactics. If you feel like writing a period piece and think murder would be an excellent addition to your story, then sit down kiddos, and let's explore some of the deadliest poisons.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any decisions or action you decide to take regarding this information. This is for all in good fun for writing. I am in no shape or form teaching anyone how to commit murder.

1. Strychnine: also known as nux vomica, poison nut, semen strychos, and quaker buttons. This plant can grow seeds the produce dramatic and painful symptoms of any known toxic reaction. It's poisoning can cause violent muscular convulsions, rise in blood pleasure and death through asphyxia. Convulsions occur after inhalation or injection very quickly. While ingesting the poison takes about 15 minutes to occur. If taken in a high dose death can occur in 15 minutes to 30 minutes. If strychnine is ingested in smaller doses, other symptoms can occur: seizures, cramping, hyper vigilance, agitation, and stiffness. Potential seizures can occur as early as 15 minutes and last for 12-24 hours! These seizures themselves, can cause other symptoms: overheating, kidney failure, metabolic and respiratory acidosis, and the seizures can be triggered by light, sound, or touch. Some seizure characteristics are protrusion of the eyes, involuntary eye movement, and abnormal eye dilation. It has no antidote. If used properly however, it can alleviate indigestion, increase appetite, and treat constpation.

Toxicity: 97

Medicinial Use: 49

Mortality Rate: 88

Temptation to Use: 20

2. Hemlock: A very famous and well known poison. It is a very dirty and unattractive plant with a bunch of white small flowers, and is known to smell like urine. Symptoms for hemlock include paralysis, collapse of respiratory muscles, and death. Although hemlock is not used to medicinal purposes, there was a time where it was used to treat for rabies, and was used as an antidote for strychnine, but was quickly removed as a possible antidote due to the fine line of beneficial and lethal use.

Toxicity: 95

Medicinial Use: 10

Mortality Rate: 90

Temptation to Use: 5

3. Belladonna: It is scientifically called atropa belladonna, also known as deadly nightshade, and its literal translation means 'pretty woman.' The purple trumpet-shaped flowers, and dark berries peaks the interest to digest and touch the flower, which is actually the more poisonous part of the plant. It's symptoms are dilated pupils, sensitivity to light, blurred vision, tachycardia, loss of balance, staggering, headache, rash, flushing, severely dry mouth, and throat, slurred speech, urinary retention, constipation, confusion, hallucinations, delirium, and convulsions (a long list, I know). Digesting any part of the plant can be fatal if left untreated. Known to be very deadly, but remains harmless to cattle and rabbits. It was also used to relieve Parkinson's at some point.

Toxicity: 80

Medicinial Use: 78

Mortality Rate: 93

Tempation to Use: 100

4. Ricin: Known as the deadliest poison in the world due to its unknown antidote. The highly potent toxin is produced in the seeds of the castor oil plant (no, I use castor oil in my hair!). Any small dose of purified ricin from its seeds can be very fatal, (when used with the right dosage) and easily kills. Symptoms for this inhaling or ingesting this poison includes difficulty breathing, fever, nausea, dehydration, hallucinations, and seizures, followed by death. It can also be use to cure digestive problems and to treat various skin conditions.

Toxicity: 100

Medicinial Use: 64

Mortality Rate: 92

Temptation to Use: 92

5. Mandrake: Is part of the nightshade family, and has been anesthetic in the past for certain civilizations. It was a very sought after plant. The entire plant is deadly and can produce symptoms such as hallucinations, and madness, and hypnotic effects. Ingesting mandrake can have adverse effects such as diarrhea, and vomiting. Legend says that when the root is dug up, the screams of the plan kills all who hear it.

Toxicity: 45

Medicinial Use: 36

Mortality Rate: 53

Temptation to Use: 14

Okay, and that concludes this lesson on Deadly Poisons. I'll make a follow up post very soon about the rest of the poisons. If you find this post useful make sure to reblog or tag me on Instagram if you choose to share it there! My instagram is perpetualstories.

I'll make sure to past Part Two soon, so keep an eye out for that!

Please make sure to follow me on Tumblr and Instagram for more writing, and grammar tips!

[weirdnaturalscience]

Well-Known and Obscure Toxins: How They Work

Well this is a morbid subject but HEY it’s almost Halloween baby!! I was super curious about what toxins actually do on a molecular level after reading about cone snails. Obviously toxins can kill you, but how?? I wanted to know the grisly details. This is not an exhaustive list, just some types of poison, venom, and other toxic substances I was curious about, so let’s get to it.

Deadly Nightshade

Where is it found? Atropa belladonna grows in Europe, North Africa and Western Asia.

How it works: speeds up your heart and generally fucks with your nervous system. Deadly nightshade contains tropane alkaloids atropine, hyoscine (scopolamine), and hyoscyamine which disrupt the nervous system’s ability to regulate activities such as heart rate, breathing and sweating. It can cause narcosis, paralysis and heart failure as a result. Yikes. But an antidote exists that can reverse these affects if administered in time.

Toxicity: the entire plant is toxic, with roots having the highest toxicity but berries posing the greatest threat to humans because of their appearance. 10-20 berries can kill an adult, and 2-4 can kill a child. Symptoms of mild poisoning include dilated pupils, sensitivity to light, loss of balance, confusion, hallucinations (wild) and convulsions. Doesn’t sound like a good time.

Do not eat the shiny attractive berries!!! (Cows and rabbits and other animals can eat it but humans, dogs and cats...NOT SO MUCH) You can also get toxins on your skin just by touching the plant but this will not kill you.

Totally fun and not morbid fact: during the Renaissance, belladonna was used by women in small quantities to dilate pupils and give a seductive appearance, and this is how it gets its name belladonna, or beautiful woman. Atropa comes from the Greek Fate Atropos who cuts the threads of mortal lives with her shears. Snip snip!

Hemlock

Where is it found? Conium maculatum grows naturally in Europe and North Africa, and has spread to North and South America, Australia and Western Asia.

How it works: stops your breathing. The flowers contain an alkaloid called coniine, which directly affects the nervous system and causes paralysis of respiratory muscles, leading to death from oxygen deprivation. Hemlock poisoning is treated by artificial ventilation for 48-72 hours until the effects wear off.

Toxicity: about 100 milligrams of coniine is fatal to an adult. That’s about 6-8 hemlock leaves, or a smaller dose of the seeds or root. Animals can also be poisoned and killed by hemlock, but luckily dangerous substances cannot be passed into the human food chain from milk or fowl. Similar to nightshade, you can get a non-lethal amount of the toxin on your skin simply from touching this plant.

Basically you’re only gonna get poisoned by this if someone puts it in your tea, because I assume you’re not gonna just go around just like...chomping on pretty flowers. Right? Right?? ok good.

Arsenic

Where is it found? arsenic is a metalloid that occurs often with sulfurs and metals. It can be present in volcanic ash and groundwater, and as a result can be found in low (acceptable) levels in plants and seafood. Good news: it is rare to find arsenic occurring at dangerous levels in nature.

How it works: in high levels, arsenic disrupts ATP production and causes organ failure due to necrotic cell death. This process can last between 2 hours to multiple days. It can also be fatal in lower doses administered over a period of time, and as such, was a popular murder weapon when it was readily available during the 1800s in England. Symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea don’t immediately alert someone that there has been an attempted murder unless maybe you’re Sherlock Holmes.

Toxicity: google probably thinks I’m a murderer and won’t tell me just how much arsenic will kill a person. COME ON, google!!! it’s for SCIENCE!

Arsenic is no longer readily available for people to just get in large quantities, so that’s a RELIEF.

Cyanide

Where is it found? cyanide is a chemical compound produced by certain algae, bacteria and fungi. It is also found in plants such as peaches, apples, apricots and bitter almonds. A type of bamboo that grows in Madagascar is so rich in cyanide that it would kill humans, but not the golden bamboo lemur for whom this bamboo is a primary source of food!!! You go girl, eat that cyanide bamboo.

How it works: for everyone who’s not a golden bamboo lemur, cyanide disrupts ATP production, affects the central nervous system and heart, and causes histotoxic hypoxia: the inability of cells to take up oxygen from the bloodstream. Antidotes can work if administered in time for lower doses of cyanide.

Toxicity: 200 milligrams of solid cyanide or a cyanide solution, or exposure to airborne cyanide of 270 parts per million is sufficient to cause death within minutes. Um, YIKES. Really, cyanide was already scary enough as a solid before nature went and made it into a gas that kills upon inhalation. DEEPLY uncool.

Murder mystery writers: slip belladona or arsenic into your literary victim’s tea. Belladonna is sweet, arsenic is tasteless, but cyanide has an acrid and bitter taste.

Fun (well, not fun) fact: if you eat 200 apple seeds (about 40 apple cores) you will receive a fatal dose of cyanide. So like, don’t do that. An apple a day keeps the doctor away and is completely safe, but 40 apples apple cores a day WILL KILL YOU

Vampire Bat Saliva

Where is it found? Vampire bats are found in the Americas.

How it works: a toxic substance called Draculin (I’m serious) in the saliva of vampire bats acts as an anticoagulant by inhibiting an enzyme involved in the coagulation pathway.

Toxicity: vampire bats are indeed venomous and toxic, but they are not at all lethal. It just sorta sucks if you’re being bitten by a vampire bat, but you’ll live. Unless that bat has rabies. Vampire bat saliva also contains an analgesic, meaning the bites are almost completely painless. SO THAT’S SOMETHING

Cobra Venom

“hello do you have a moment to hear about cell death?”

Where is it found? Many species of cobra are found throughout Africa, Southwest and Southeast Asia.

How it works: most cobra venom includes neurotoxins that cause paralysis as well as cytotoxins that cause necrosis and blood coagulation. blood coagulation can happen in minutes.

Toxicity: many types of cobra venom are treatable, but may leave disfigurement from necrosis. If this isn’t scary enough for you, just know that spitting cobras can reach 2.7 m (8.9 ft) in length and like to aim for the eyes.

But you’d still rather be bitten by a cobra than THIS deadly mofo:

Venom of the Inland Taipan

Where is it found? the inland taipan is the most venomous snake in the world and lives, YOU GUESSED IT, in Australia, ie the place where everything is designed to kill you. Evolution decided it can reach 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) with a maximum length of 2.5 meters (8.2 feet), which I think everyone can agree is a dick move on evolution’s part. Take it back, TAKE IT BACK!!!!!

How it works: the venom contains neurotoxins, hemotoxins, and myotoxins AND an enzyme to increase absorption of the venom. Basically it causes paralysis, blood coagulation and muscle damage, because one of these things wasn’t enough apparently. Antivenoms against Australian venomous snakes exist but are least effective against the venom of the inland taipan.

Toxicity: the inland taipan’s venom has a murine LD50 value of 0.025m/kg. This means there is a 50% chance that .025 milligrams per kilogram of weight will cause death. It’s bite contains enough venom to kill at least 100 adult humans. But GOOD NEWS! the inland taipan lives in such remote places that it rarely comes in contact with people. Other slightly less venomous snakes are therefore responsible for more deaths. ....So that’s...still terrifying. just don’t go into the woods in Australia FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

What’s deadlier than the deadliest snake in the world, you ask?

Tetrodotoxin

Where is it found? tetrodotoxin is found in several animals such as pufferfish, moon snails and the small but deadly Australian blue ringed octopus (DAMMIT Australia)

How it works: blocks sodium channels. This prevents normal transmission of signals between the body and brain, causing loss of sensation, paralysis and inability to breathe. Fun!!! Don’t pick up the frickin evil little octopus

Toxicity: more powerful than cyanide, that’s for sure, about a thousand times more powerful in fact. the oral median lethal dose (LD50) for mice as 334 micrograms per kilogram. Fatal pufferfish poisoning result in death in about 17 minutes. The blue-ringed octopus, however, carries enough venom to kill 26 adult humans within just a few minutes. There is no anti-venom.

What’s worse than that, you ask? Ah, you shouldn't have asked.

Conotoxin

Where is it found? Cone snails are found in the Indo-Pacific, the Cape of South Africa, the Mediterranean, and even southern California. Smaller species are not that dangerous. Larger species, however...

How it works: paralysis within minutes. cone snails have multiple harpoons to administer venom to prey (or unsuspecting humans). the harpoons deliver a venom that has HUNDREDS of different types of toxins, each targeting different nerve channels or receptors. Some cone snail venom even includes pain-reducing toxins. These pain reducing toxins can be 100 to 1,000 times more powerful than morphine. How THOUGHTFUL.

Toxicity: vastly more potent than tetrodotoxin. the oral median lethal dose (LD50) for mice is is 10 to 100 micrograms/kilogram. So like, GOOD LUCK WITH THAT LOL

Ricin

Where is it found? Ricin is obtained from the beans of the castor oil plant.

How it works: inhibits protein production and results in organ failure, respiratory failure and circulatory shock.

Toxicity: The median lethal dose (LD50) of ricin is around 22 micrograms per kilogram of body weight. If that sounds bad just wait till you hear about poison dart frogs 😭

VX

Where is it found? Nowhere in nature. VX is synthetic. It is an oily amber colored liquid in its natural form, was first developed as a pesticide and later for chemical warfare. It is considered a weapon of mass destruction and is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.

How it works: causes stimulation and fatigue of muscarinic and nicotinic ACh receptors, resulting in violent contractions followed by paralysis and death by asphyxiation.

Toxicity: 7 micrograms/kilogram. this is one of the most toxic synthetic substances on earth. Humans have got nothing on mother nature though...

Batrachotoxin

(This guy is called phyllobates TERRIBILIS. but is his cute little face terrible? noooo.)

Where is it found? in certain types of beetles, birds and poison dart frogs found in Central and South America.

How it works: similar to conotoxin, batrachotoxin interrupts sodium channels. The resulting migration of Na+ ions causes heart failure and paralysis.

Toxicity: The LD50 is around 2 micrograms per kilogram, meaning that an amount the size of two grains of table salt will kill you, and that this is even worse than a cone snail, Ricin, or VX. Batrachotoxin is one of the deadliest alkaloids known. No antidote exists.

Fun frog fact: this was the poison commonly used by the Embera-Wounaan for poison darts, and that’s where poison dart frogs get their name! How...cute.

Botulinum, most toxic substance in the world

Where is it found? made by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum and related species.

How it works: causes Botulism, which if untreated can result in paralysis and respiratory failure by preventing the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Botulinum is used in very very very VEEEEEEERY small amounts in Botox, in case you ever needed reasons NOT to do Botox lol.

Toxicity: the lethal dose of 1.3–2.1 nanograms per kilogram in humans. of any toxin natural or synthetic, this is the deadliest known. However!! Actual good news this time: treatments involving antitoxin therapy and intubation are very successful and mortality from Botulism is extremely low. Yay! 

More good news: toxins have been instrumental in medicinal breakthroughs throughout history and continue to be vital to modern medicine. A drug for diabetes was recently synthesized from Gila monster venom: it increases the production of insulin when blood sugar levels are high. A painkiller has been developed for chronic pain patients that is derived from a component of the venom of our friend, you guessed it, the cone snail! These are just two examples of toxins being used in medicine, and a lot of research is still being done because face it: we still don’t know a lot about how our bodies work. Paralyzing agents are extremely important to our understanding of the body and the development of non-opiate non-addictive painkillers because of how they disrupt signals between nerves and the brain.

Long story short: don’t eat nightshade and stay OFF AUSTRALIAN BEACHES and you should be just fine. 

Oh and your tea is getting cold ;)

[hexpea]

Ch. 21 - Split

You continued moping around for a few days after the fallout with Choso, hoping to hear from him in one form or another. It was an empty hope. Your heart continued to break as Choso's image started to blur in your mind with the continuation of time. It was almost as if he hadn't existed to begin with.  Akira and Utahime tried their best to keep your spirits up, but you knew there was only one way to get over him - or at least try to. You began applying to master's programs on the other side of the country in Hokkaido. With it being an eighteen hour drive, you decided that come first semester you would take the hour and half long flight.

Time quickly dragged on through the rest of the semester. You didn't really visit your mother all that much. The house only brought about negative emotions. Truly, you felt bad for Eso who was stuck there alone. You hadn't even seen Choso at the family celebration for Labor Thanksgiving Day. He was completely estranged from the family at that point. Even your graduation wasn't a happy occasion, just something in everyone's schedules that they had to attend. You did, however, have contact with Toshi who had gone back to his school in Kyoto. He shared that he knew very well that he was the favorite son - something he didn't even care about seeing as he used Kyoto as a way to stay away, but informed you that it could be a potential motive in getting rid of his brothers. He figured that his father didn't want his other sons to have any sort of inheritance and that each son was a terrible embarrassment, a stain on his reputation that he wanted removed. It wasn't a good motive, but really any selfish motive wouldn't be good enough for killing your own family.

You could feel Noritoshi's negative presence any time you set foot in the house. You worried for your mother and Eso every day. When you did visit, you sensed some sort of tension between your mother and her husband. It was as if she could sense something wasn't right. His eyes would pierce yours and fabricated images of him poisoning his sons invaded your thoughts. Ricin...like the stuff people use to poison government workers through the mail... You began doing extensive research on the subject, curious to see if there were any details that could help in getting him to be held accountable besides stealing the medical records from the bribed doctor. There was more than one way to use it and it was hard to detect. There truly was no antidote and it could kill in just as little as thirty-six hours just as it did with Kechizu. Death was usually caused by some kind of organ failure thanks to the body's cells being unable to make necessary proteins. Ricin itself came from castor beans used to make castor oil so it was obvious that Kechizu's poisoning was a deliberate act, the powder likely put in his meal during dinner that one night. Hearing about it was frustrating. Knowing that you couldn't do anything to bring justice to Kechizu and the other lost brothers was infuriating.  The bean is openly sold so there was one way...if you were bold enough. But you wouldn't dare dirty your pristine, innocent reputation that was already slightly dirty thanks to Choso. You still ordered a small pack, keeping them safe in one of your desk drawers just in case.

"Hey, Mom," you sweetly answered the unexpected phone call. You were happy to hear from her when you did seeing as you were now a full year into your master's program - a full year and then some without seeing or hearing from Choso. You knew he was still alive somewhere knowing, or at least hoping, that your mother would tell you anything that was going on back home.

"Hi, sweetheart," your mother's soft voice trembled. You could hear small hints of sniffles and right away you knew she had been crying. Your heart began to flutter in a panicked state. It felt as if dozens of tiny bugs were crawling all over the strained muscle.

"What's going on?" You asked quickly, barely any time passing between her greeting. "Is Choso okay?" You winced at your specific question and changed it up. "And Eso?"

"Y-yes," your mother's voice stuttered weakly, "I just wanted to call and see when you were coming home. Noritoshi and I...we...we're getting a divorce." The news was almost a huge relief, your heart now fluttering with excitement. "I'm going to need some help packing up. I've already found a place."

"Oh...uh...my flight leaves in two days," you tried to hide the happy tone in your voice, "I'm really sorry."

"Thank you," she sighed deeply, using that as a way to regain composure. "It was bound to happen, I guess. Nothing's been the same since Kechizu passed."

"And that was just one," you reminded her solemnly.

"Yes...I just can't believe the misfortune," she sighed again, "I hate leaving poor Eso, but I can't stay in this marriage for my mental health."

"That's understandable," you consoled her, "Eso will be okay." You didn't know that for sure, but you couldn't just spurt out your ideas of murderer Noritoshi at random.

Inspired by Habits (Tove Lo cover) - Our Last Night I always imagined Choso singing this one with his band as a huge part of the inspiration for this story overall. c:

Two days later, just as planned, your flight arrived and you made your way back to the large home that caused you so much trouble. Your mom's car was packed to the brim with things in cardboard boxes.

"Hi, honey!" Your mom seemed to be in good spirits despite. She was holding what appeared to be a heavy box headed to you who stood in the doorway. "Just start putting stuff in boxes, there's some empty ones that need folded on the sofa. You know what's mine!" She scooted carefully by you, your body moving slightly out of the way as you looked up at the home for what might have been the final time.

"Okay," you answered her at the same time.

"Choso and Eso are upstairs helping. Noritoshi's not here," you could barely hear her as she made her way outside to her car.

"Ch...oso and Eso," you gulped and that familiar pounding in your chest returned. It had been a whole year and a few months since you last laid eyes on his face. That's when he appeared at the top of the stairs, the two of you keeping eye frozen, wide-eyed contact until your mother returned for more.

"Been a while since you two have seen each other, huh?" She giggled, marching up the stairs and squeezing past her former step-son. Choso stepped out of the way to let her complete her ascension but quickly brought his gaze back to yours.

He looked just as he did a year ago. Maybe a bit skinnier and more fatigued. So many wonderings entered your head as he began to descend, keeping his eyes trained on you. The continuous contact made your heart jump into your throat. You swallowed hard to try and keep it down, feeling your body tremble with excitement.

"Hi," he asked in his usual low tone, blinking slowly through heavy eyelids just as he always had.

"Hi," you responded in the same tone, eyes falling to break contact. It was so overwhelming being so close to him again, that familiar scent taking over your head as if a fog had rolled in. Memories of when you first met flooded as images in your brain.

"How have you been? Your mom told me that you moved to Hokkaido," Choso tried to spark up a conversation, your eyes slowly lifting to his again to answer.

"Yeah...it's been alright. School's...hard," you tried to keep your answer short so you could hide the very obvious trembling. "You?" Choso took a deep breath in and chuckled.

"I've been better," his chuckles came to a rest in the form of a smirk, the classic expression, "I'm still at Satoru's. I've just been playing shows to make money and he takes a larger percentage as my rent," he laughed slightly again.

"I'd do the same thing," you agreed in a light-hearted tone.

"Yeah..." he awkwardly began scratching the back of his head, biting at the skin of his lower lip nervously as his hand came back down. "I also reenrolled at the university...I graduated last semester."

"Really?" You asked excitedly, a little too excitedly.

"Yeah," he answered, cheeks slightly blushing at your encouragement, "I haven't done anything with it, but I've at least got the degree."

"I'm proud of you," you said softly. "I've...missed you." You were hesitant to say this, remembering where you had left off - so distant and upset.

"I missed you, too," he said quickly and confidently. His sudden answer startled you a bit, causing a tiny gasp to leave your lips.

"Are you still..." your voice trailed off, not knowing how to correctly ask.

"On drugs?" He finished the sentence for you, lifting an eyebrow as if to ask if that was the correct way to finish. You nodded. "Yeah." You slowly nodded, digesting the information. There was a prolonged awkward silence. "We should help pack."

"Yeah," you agreed, the two of you turning up the stairs.

Your mother showed you what needed packed and she mentioned that she was going to drop off what was packed in her car with Eso and come back for more. That meant you and Choso would be alone together to continue packing.

Choso sat down on the end of the large California King that took up only a small portion of the master bedroom. Your mother was certainly living the good life, at least in materialistic terms. You began folding some of her clothing that was in one of the large dressers that sat in front of the bed. You tossed them into a nearby box each time you properly folded something.

"I don't want to do this alone," you playfully scoffed, turning to look at Choso who suddenly had his head in his hands. His knees were together to accommodate his elbows. "What's wrong?" You nearly rushed to his side, sitting beside him with a gentle hand on his back.

He fell back on the mattress and you pulled your hand away. His face was pale and eyes were red. Some of the makeup across his nose had smudged with his touch. The expression he now had was dead, completely gone.

"Are you still with Mahito?" He asked quietly, tone bored. You furrowed your brow at the odd question especially since you had told him you had already broken up with him to see his reaction before it had actually happened. It was as if Choso could read right through you.

"N-no," you stuttered, "we broke up before I moved. We felt it would be better instead of doing long distance." Choso gave a small laugh that slowly turned into something more hearty. The sound echoing through the nearly empty room. "What's so funny?" You asked, slightly offended but refraining from punching him.

"He just wanted to fuck other girls," his voice crackled, "but I'm glad."

"Well, gee, thanks," you rolled your eyes and began to stand. Choso quickly grabbed your wrist before you could stand all the way up. His force drew you back down as he sat up.

The two of you made glistening eye contact for a moment before he pressed his lips to yours. His cheeks were still somewhat wet from his brief sob session. His lips were moist and warm, so incredibly inviting and familiar. You had no idea where it came from, but you barely protested when his grip on your wrist faded away. There was nothing else to do but melt.

"Sorry," he apologized huskily when he pulled away. He looked down at his lap, body still angled in your direction.

"It's...okay," you cleared your throat. "I thought you hated me." Choso squeezed his eyes shut at your words, suddenly remembering how he had left you.

"I...fuck...okay..." he struggled to find the words.

"I don't understand," your voice was weak as you examined his expression with your worried one. The divide between you both had never felt bigger in that short span of silence before he answered.

"I'm a fucking mess," he finally answered, "that's what it is."

"I still don't-" you paused your sentence as the pill bottle came out of his jacket pocket. You took a deep, annoyed breath and watched as he tilted his head back to take in what was obviously more than one pill. It was an image you hadn't missed since leaving.

You stood and continued packing while the high set in for Choso. His body eventually began to sway and you tried to ignore his presence. It was difficult seeing as you could hear his deep breaths that he struggled to regulate.

"You know, I've been fucking almost everyone I know," he stuttered out through a laugh. The phrasing disgusted you. "Men...women...doesn't matter, but none have been able to live up to how you made me feel." The last part had you frozen. You dropped the garment you had been folding and stormed out of the room, feeling hot tears pool at the bottom of your eyelids. It'd been a year but you already couldn't take it. "Y/N," he called out.

"What's the matter?" Your mom asked as she and Eso arrived at the front door.

"I'm sorry, Mom, but I can't stay and pack. I've done some, but I just can't be around him." You shook your head and continued out the door. "Call me if you need me and he's not here." You added before shutting the door.

You began marching down the sidewalk, clutching your body as you hadn't dressed for the usually mild winter weather of Tokyo.

"Y/N," Choso's voice called out to you. You could hear his footsteps drawing closer. "Please talk to me."

"I don't want to," you allowed yourself to pause the large strides you were taking to turn and look at him. "I want to get back to my hotel room and schedule my flight back." Those words hurt him for sure, his worried expression breaking even more.

"I didn't mean for it to come out that way...I'm...high," he looked away in shame and you crossed your arms as if you were a parent preparing to scold him.

"Yeah, I know. You're not you when you're like this," you rolled your eyes and leaned on one leg.

"That's the point," he gave a small laugh, "I...want to stop."

"You've said that before," you said flatly, not believing a word. He gulped hard.

"It's different this time," he tried to assure you but your unchanged expression clearly showed how you felt. "I only feel okay if you're here." That sentence softened you pretty quickly. "I feel like I can do it when I'm around you, but you've been gone...and it's gotten worse."

"You can't blame me," you shook your head before you were interrupted.

"I'm not...I'm just trying to explain how you make me feel. It's not your fault at all how much I take or how often." He tried to correct himself. "And...now that your mom's leaving I know I won't see you again after this and...I don't know if I can handle that."

"Choso..." you sighed, "I'm going to be there for you whether I want to be or not. You'll always be on my mind." Choso gave a worriedly confused look. "I thought leaving for school would help me keep my mind off of you, but it didn't. It seems like we're both in the same ocean on different boats." The edges of his mouth twitched at your words as if he wanted to smile at them. His face showed an expression of thought that then turned into a tight frown. "But that doesn't mean that I'm ready to stay. Or if I'll ever be ready to stay."

"You shouldn't stay. You should use this divorce as an opportunity to stay away," he looked a bit panicked with those words. It was very clear that it was something he didn't want but was trying to look out for your well-being. "I...missed my moment to love you in the right way the first time."

[crimefighter-bae-b]

I have nowhere to vent except here so here I am and be prepared.

I was looking at a product on Sephora, it’s from a brand called Briogeo, and it is 100% cold pressed castor oil. The brand has this listed as Fairtrade. Keep that in mind.

My beef is not with the brand, it’s with everyone in the comments saying the oil is too expensive. For reference, the oil is about $30 (CAD) which imo sounds about right for oil? Oils tend to be expensive for a number of reasons. But so many people in the comments kept saying ‘But I can get a bottle of castor oil from amazon for 14 dollars!’.

Let me say right now, that if you are paying $14 (CAD) for a bottle of castor oil, I am like 99% certain the person on the other end of that transaction- the person making the castor oil- is getting screwed over. And not just in terms of wages!

Castor beans contain a horrifically awful toxin called ricin. Ricin is one of the most toxic substances to humans, and the people who make castor oil who are often people in poorer countries, predominantly women, are being exposed to this toxin every single day they go into work.

I can’t speak for the brand, I can’t speak for the working conditions in the factory that makes this oil, but what I do feel confident saying is this: I think because of the use of slave labour all of us have a very misconstrued idea about what things should or should not cost. I think that purchasing a Fairtrade item and then complaining about the cost of it is very ignorant when said item still falls within the cost I would expect for a comparable item. I also find it incredibly frustrating how quick people are to complain about it when they don’t know the first thing about the process to manufacture said item.

One reviewer said ‘They’re just castor beans, no reason for it to cost so much!’.

Just castor beans. Literally an incredibly dangerous, toxic item to handle that requires good facilities and a whole bunch of PPE for the people who handle it so that they don’t fall victim to a very horrible death. There is no antidote to ricin poisoning btw, and you are likely to die within 36 to 72 hours after you are poisoned.

Yeah, what a fun job.

I can’t say for sure where the money Briogeo is making goes, obviously. But maybe before people fucking start complaining about the cost of things maybe they should realize they live in the real fucking world where things don’t just magically exist. There are real people, putting in real effort, and exposing themselves to very real danger. And they aren’t doing it for you. These people are not making it because they fuckin love making castor oil! They are doing it to feed, clothe, and house themselves and to try to find some kind of stability and security in their lives.

If anyone knows more about the Fairtrade process let me know. But yeah, god, I just needed to get this off my chest somewhere.

[thelastyetfabolousmidwestmadman]

Detective Conan Deconstruction/Plot Twists/Subversion's

Howdy!

I've been thinking a lot because I haven't slept or been made sensible enough to see reality through rational means of comprehension.

For a black and white series of tales such as Gosho Aoyama's DCMKverse I can sure think of a multitude of ways to turn it grey. So many dark, bloody possibilities, such a endless plethora of grief, angst, and schadenfreude, of voided bowels and lost innocence, so many terrifying ideas yet so little time...

Anyway, to summarize the contents of all that verbal diarrhea, my mind has created a vast orchestra of sinister ideas that I can't put them all in one or more stories. Some of them I'll use later, some of them I will not. I guess my main inspiration for this stream of consciousness that shouts madly into the abyss of the World Wide Web, is the idea that some intrepid, curious wanderer may come across my inane rantings and be inspired to write their own atrocities.

Or maybe it will the stoke the wondrous imagination of a writer who is more of a sick fuck then I am, (:

There are five areas that can be twisted into something cruel. They contain the following:

Cases

Heists

Romance

Character Flaws

Black Organization

Get it on!

Case’s

Suspect Gets The Last Laugh- Killer is revealed but manages to poison the victim with Ricin or something more subtle allowing the target to die a couple days later. Simple enough.

More Then One Killer- The killer is caught! However a quick look back at the scene reveals he wasn’t alone and he ain’t spilling the beans.

Hannibal Lector Wannabe- A killer decides to fuck with our beloved Teen Detectives by playing a game of manipulation and horror while he threatens their loved ones into continuing.

Escaping Through Statute Of Limitations- When Our Teen Detectives decide to give their customary breaking speech,

Killer Gets Out Of It, Now After Detectives- The killer proves much too clever and sees through our casts tricks. Maybe he begin’s to notice Conan’s con and swears revenge out of his ego.

Loved Ones Hurt In The Crossfire- They were too quick for Conan’s soccer ball, Heiji’s sword, Kogoro’s Judo, or Division One’s reflexes. The bullets, blades, bludgeons. and Pelvic Thrusts couldn’t be avoided and the innocent were hurt before they could be saved.

It’s Too Much All At Once- When the cast see a suspect state his intention to kill himself, especially in the early episodes, the cast would dare them to do it, thinking it is a bluff. It isn’t.

All For Naught- Going down a dark rabbit hole isn’t worth it, if a killer turns out to have escaped or has been dead for a long time.

Big Troll- There was no murder or kidnapping, they just wanted to humiliate them.

Green Mistake- Not all detectives succeed at once. Sometimes they make mistakes... Okay just here me out here. I sincerely doubt that all those amateur detectives despite their talent have a perfect track record in solving cases or even not getting a innocent person hurt. Just look at Heiji’s, Kogoro’s, and Sera’s early (or in Kogoro’s case many) mistakes. It’s statistically impossible to get it right all the time.

Victim Is Worse- Conan and the gang successfully prevent a client from being murdered. The criminal screams at them, telling them how evil he was, and how this was mistake. When they learn of the clients sick actions, they understand why.

Romance

Waiting For Someone Who Is No Longer There- Lets think about the situation between Shinichi and Ran for a sec. if your like me you come to a unfortunate realization that was also in the OVA “Stranger In 10 Years.” Shinichi may never get back to the way he was. Maybe there is no antidote. What if he disappears in that time? And I don’t mean move on, I mean dies without anyone knowing. Ran now has to deal with both a missing Shinichi and a vanished Conan. Yet, throughout her whole life Ran holds out hope, waiting for them. Waiting for Shinichi to call. She refuses to fall in love with someone else and becomes obsessed with finding them... Until in her old age, she dies.

The Sleeping Sleuth Sleeps Around- Okay just listen to my reasoning here for a sec. I know many of you are probably sharpening their knives in the comments but let’s really think about this for a sec. This is the same Kogoro who smacked the butt of one of the Black Bunnies, and repeatedly motorboats whatever young woman he comes across. I doubt if Eri is okay with that. Plus, alcoholism and nymphomania is not a winning combination. He could easily make a mistake while in his delirium.

Shinichi’s Toxic Jealousy- Once again bear with me on this. I don’t think either Shinichi (or Kogoro for that matter) are evil. They have flaws just like any other person. However, Shinichi can be sort of a dick with it comes to how territorial he is with Ran. Just look at Eisuke. Unlike most of the perverts who are after her, Eisuke is a genuinely nice guy and Shinichi treats him like garbage. That got me thinking... Maybe Shinichi’s claims about wanting Ran to be happy aren’t entirely true. A part of him knows what he’s doing is wrong but a selfish side can’t. What if Shinichi’s jealousy starts to hurt Ran severely? Again it have to be written well so Shinichi doesn’t come off like a unrepentant dick but I think there’s something there.

Character Flaws

Hot Headedness Get You Or Others Killed- This idea concerns Heiji mostly. A rather temperamental fellow isn’t he? Always rushing into danger without thinking or having trouble with guile... Ain’t that a losing combination innit? I wonder how many criminals can take advantage of that eh? How easy it would be to trick Heiji to go into a trap if Kazuha is threatened, how simple it would be to switch a blunted blade with a sharpened one, how effortless it would be to get important information, how utterly painless it would be to manipulate him... Well I’ll leave you lovely sick bastards to come up with more.

Dysfunction Junction- Let’s talk about the Mouri’s. They’re... Not healthy to say the least. With Kogoro’s gambling/drinking/man-whoring problem barely touched upon, as well as his abuse of Conan along with Eri’s absenteeism I can say that’s a huge target for blackmailers, debt collectors, and Count Of Monte Crisco wannabes.

Conan The Gremlin- Y’know for such a seemingly innocent little boy, he sure gets into a lot of trouble don’t he? Murders keep happening around him like a curse, and that animal tranquilizer can’t be healthy for Sonoko and Kogoro... Plus people could find out who he truly is and... Well it would probably be really messy wouldn’t it?

Incompetence From The Police- In all seriousness, let’s think about this for a second. You have a overburdened police dealing with a intense rise in the murder rate, illicit narcotic consumption, and terrorism... But before we can get any further let’s talk about real life Japanese criminal procedure. In Japan you can be held for 21 days in a tiny dark cell without due process or access to a lawyer. Your are also being interrogated with the police officers using abusive tactics such as telling you how ashamed your family would be, something that can’t happen in a culture based on Confucian values. You confess but take it back only to find that you’re basically fucked since Japan has a 99% conviction rate regardless of innocence. If your a drug addict, you are literally considered nonhuman by the public at large and due to the Reaganite standards treatment isn’t a option. If your on death row, you are never told when your going to die and even if innocent is unlikely to get out. Stressed at the rising crime rate, the police refuse to investigate any suspicious death and just like in Osaka (yes this actually happened) will simply not add to the police statistics. If your a police officer what are you to do? Just a few years ago there was so little crime and now your stressed to the bone. You’re largely conservative and full of pride so you won’t admit that you must change tactics. This quick jump to conclusions and borderline incompetence can be seen in so many episodes of Detective Conan that’s it’s a wonder that more people haven’t been wrongfully convicted or got away with it... Or perhaps they have.

Black Organization

Government Corruption- Given how much sway the BO has, it got me thinking. What if everything wrong with the Japanese Government is because the BO IS the government. Something sorta akin to how the Russian Mob are basically government officials. So many possibilities other then the usual blackmail, assassinations, and bombings. Electoral fraud, jury tampering, manufacturing consent, subtle revisions of the law to encroach on democratic rights such as those the Third Way, and Neoconservatives did in the west. So many more subtle yet intriguing ways to go about this! Perhaps the BO serves as a lobbying for other more savory companies that proudly align with them such as legalizing gambling or deregulating protections.

Caught!- The BO discovers Conan’s true identity. Hell follows.

Heists

Heist Bombing- Some madman or maybe the MK organization decides to bomb the Kid Heist. Lots of people die, are traumatized and have to deal with the aftermath. I’ll leave the rest up to you guys.

Crazy Fans- Self explanatory until you really think about it. If Kaito Kid is real in this universe, how toxic is the fandom? How many of them have pedophilic undertones with the beloved Kid Killer? What if a stalker discovers Kaito’s real identity and goes psychotic? Riots could happen! So many possibilities! Doesn’t have to dark like in my sick mind, can be played for laughs.

One last thing, because of how long this took to write, a certain beloved detective’s birthday is here.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHIN-CHAN!!!

[pathologising]

THERES NO FUCKING ANTIDOTE FOR RICIN?

[heartlesslywhumping]

do you have any recs for poisons to use in a whump? like not to instantly kill the whumpee/victim, but to make them hurt for a long and copious amount of time before they die? there would be a window in which someone could try and save them (and potentially succeed) as well. I'm writing a whump right now and am in some desperate need of help because I can't find any suitable... thanks! I know it's a lot to ask, but if you have any sources to go to or any ideas that'd be great!

I have many! Here are the top 5 that come to mind and are potentially recognizable to your audience. 

Remember that anything I say here can be affected by magic, sci-fi, or really anything you want :)

Ricin is a great one! It’s often been sent to government officials so there’s some fairly easy to find info on it, people got curious as to what exactly it was and how it worked. What I know about it is as follows

It can be inhaled, eaten, or injected but is most potent when inhaled or injected.

It takes a deliberate act to be exposed to ricin. There is no natural way to expose someone to it or be exposed to it. Exposure is a deliberate action.

It is a protein in a castor oil plant.

If heated, it is no longer toxic

It can take up to a day for symptoms to show up but it can kill you within three days. If the victim survives more than five days, survival is likely

There is no known antidote to ricin

Victims who ingest the protein get severe nausea and diarrhea. If it is inhaled, the patient will also have difficulty breathing and fluid will build up in the lungs. They end up with an irregular heartbeat, low blood pressure, and seizures. This can last for up to a week. The patient can die of shock and multiple organ failure.If you ingest the protein, treatment can usually reverse the symptoms and patients will survive, though they may suffer long-term organ damage. A man was poisoned with ricin in Las Vegas in February of 2008 and fell in to a coma for more than a month. The Bulgarian writer Markov first showed a fever, was admitted to the hospital, and died three days later.

Another awesome one is Fugu Poison (Tetrodotoxin) This one is most commonly found in marine animals and fish! It is found in the Japanese delicacy Fugu. People still die from improperly prepared or sold fugu. Here is what I know

You only need a little bit to die. I believe roughly 25 milligrams can kill a 75kg human.

Most commonly it’s been ingested, I don’t know if there is another way to take it or be exposed to it.

There is no known antidote save for stomach pumping and forced vomiting, although some people have made a lucky recovery 

It is believe to be 1,200 more potent than cyanide 

It can take anywhere from 20 minutes to twenty-four hours to kill you

Symptoms begin approximately 3-45 minutes after ingestion.

Symptoms include: lightheadedness, vomiting, dizziness and weakness, muscle twitching, aphonia, pleuretic chest pain and convulsions, hypotension, depressed corneal reflexes and fixated diagonal pupils, headaches, difficulty breathing, paralysis, respiratory paralysis and asphyxiation.

 A dramatic poison is strychnine. This one isn’t as toxic but I enjoy the style of it. It’s actually fairly common and is found in many pesticides, all those google searches for “Strychnine for sale” aren’t by psychopaths by probably by people needing pest control. Probably. 

You can ingest it, inhale it, or have it injected. 

It is a white, odorless, colorless powder. (Some say it tastes bitter)

It kills through dramatic and excruciating muscle spasms that continue until your body dies from exhaustion and you also can’t breathe anymore

Initially, a victim might just seem excitable (though they would also be in pain)

Symptoms occur after 15-60 minutes

Symptoms include: Agitation, apprehension or fear, ability to be easily startled, restlessness, painful muscle spasms possibly leading to fever and to kidney and liver injury, uncontrollable arching of the neck and back, rigid arms and legs, jaw tightness, muscle pain and soreness, difficulty breathing, dark urine, initial consciousness and awareness of symptoms, respiratory failure (inability to breathe), possibly leading to death, brain death, shortness of breath, unbearable feelings of anxiety, restlessness, twitching and spasms gradually develop and lead to violent tetanic seizures in which the head is bent right back to the buttocks, so that the spine may be broken. Breathing may cease for intervals of one to two minutes at a time; in this event the seizures may also stop, only to recommence at the least excitation - a loud noise or a gentle touch - until death from exhaustion finally supervenes.

There is no known antidote 

If a victim survives past 24 hours, recovery is likely

Want to poison by making them eat it? Feed them amatoxin. It is found most commonly in Death Cap Mushrooms, which look like other mushrooms so cook up something tasty and kill a whole dinner party.

Apparently it tastes very good

I believe it must be ingested

It remains toxic whether raw or cooked

After 6-12 hours nausea, abdominal cramps, profuse watery diarrhea, and signs of dehydration show up

After that, the victim seems to recover but their liver will continue fail

Death occurs after 3-7 days although death may occur within the first 24 hours from massive fluid loss.

Symptoms include: espiratory tract, headache, dizziness, nausea, shortness of breath, coughing, insomnia, diarrhea, gastrointestinal disturbances, back pain, urinary frequency, liver and kidney damage, or death if ingested or inhaled

Symptoms potentially include: irritation, burns, redness, severe pain, and could be absorbed through the skin, irritation, corneal burns, and eye damage if absorbed via eyes.

Besides liver transplants and some penicillins, there are little treatments or antidotes.

I read somewhere that victims often slip into a coma and die, but I can’t find the source so that’s debatable. This is the internet after all.

You could go for some significance, foreshadowing, or easter eggs by using Hemlock. It was famously used by Socrates as his death penalty.

Drinking it’s tea can make you feel initially drunk

Ingestion is the most common and effective way to suffer but prolonged contact can also lead to poisoning.

Some mythology says that the plant didn’t turn toxic until after the blood of Jesus fell on it after his crucifixion

Poisons last on the plant even up to three years after death

Goats seem unaffected 

Symptoms show up as quickly as 30 minutes after exposure 

Symptoms include:trembling, burning in the digestive tract, increased salivation, dilated pupils, muscle pain, muscle weakness or muscle paralysis, rapid heart rate followed by a decreased heart rate, loss of speech, convulsions, unconsciousness or coma, central nervous system depression, respiratory failure, acute rhabdomyolysis, or breakdown of damaged skeletal muscle, acute renal failure, death, seizures, rapid heart rate, frothing at the mouth, and respiratory distress, nervous trembling, salivation, lack of coordination, rapid, weak pulse, respiratory paralysis, occasionally bloody feces and gastrointestinal irritation

Death occurs 48-72 after 48-72

There is no antidote although doctors will likely try to assist in breathing, secure your airway, and remove the hemlock from your digestion track, 

I hope that was helpful! I would recommend doing further research on your poison of choice to really get the details right but make sure not to bog down your writing with too much explanation, most people far prefer angst to hyper-accuracy. 

If you would like, I would love to be tagged when you finish your work! I’m always on the lookout for new fan fiction and whump 👀

Good luck with your writing!

[clearedpaths]

Organic, All Natural and deadly

Just cause these beans are "all natural" and "organic," doesn't mean that they are good for you! The beans of the castor plant, Ricinus comunis, contain one of the most famous toxins, ricin. Ricin is a protoplasmic poison, meaning that it devastates most of the body's systems because it acts at a cellular level by inhibiting protein synthesis. Because its effects come from inhibition of protein synthesis, the toxicity has a delayed presentation.

Nonspecific GI symptoms usually manifest first, hours after exposure, and start with pain, nausea, vomiting, and eventually GI bleeding. About 48 hours, but potentially up to 5 days later, multisystem organ failure develops leading to shock, coma, and eventually death. There is no available antidote and treatment options are significantly limited. Castor oil is nontoxic and contains no ricin.

OP Toxtasgram

[mcatmemoranda]

This patient ingested ricin, a poison derived from the plant Ricinus communis, also referred to as the castor oil plant. Castor oil plants grow in tropical regions worldwide, but can also be found in the southwestern region of the United States (southern California). The beans or seeds of the plant contain the most concentrated amount of ricin and are most commonly used to make castor oil, a brake and hydraulic fluid constituent. Ricin acts as a poison in animals (including humans) by inhibiting protein synthesis causing cell death. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classifies it as a category B agent of bioterrorism because it is moderately easy to disseminate (can be ingested, inhaled, or injected), results in moderate morbidity rates and low mortality rates, and requires enhanced diagnostic capacity. Clinical manifestations of ricin toxicity vary depending on route of exposure. Symptoms of ricin ingestion usually present within 6 hours and may include perioral/oral burning, abdominal pain, vomiting or hematemesis, and bloody diarrhea. Inhalational ricin poisoning may cause respiratory distress, fever, cough and pulmonary edema. If medical attention is delayed, patients usually develop severe dehydration, shock, and multi-organ failure. Death occurs within 3-5 days. There is no antidote available for ricin. Treatment is supportive with intravenous fluids, airway support, and decontamination. Gastric lavage and activated charcoal may be considered depending on time of ingestion. Prognosis is usually good with prompt initiation of supportive care.

[absylphe]

a8rasive replied to your post “I Just Have A Tab About Ricin Poisoning Open And I Forgot Why”

Teach us what you know a8out it.

Ricin Is The Waste Product Of Castor Oil (Made From Castor Beans)

Ricin Causes Cells To Cease To Produce Protein Which Kills Them

If You Get Ricin Poisoning It Is Pretty Much Guaranteed That Someone Poisoned You On Purpose So Definitely File A Police Report If You Aren’t Dead Already

There Is No Antidote For Ricin Poisoning So Good Luck