#i am attempting medwhumpmay

[whumpinthepot]

Im drawing Clarence getting mind wiped “on the drip” I guess is proper boxboy terms and they look so little in the chair 😭 baby

[aswallowimprisoned]

Restless far from a Wine Dark sea - Oxygen mask

3 vignettes of Nurse Ivan Brunel putting oxygen masks on the merman.

@medwhumpmay

Tw Panic attack, PTSD recovery, captivity, drugged behaviour, attempted violence, biting

masterlist

≪ °❈° ≫ Vignette 1 ≪ °❈° ≫

The drugged merman was leaning forwards, hanging at the extent on his shoulder restraints, swinging gently from side to side and humming tunelessly under his breath.

“Propofanol has hit pretty hard, but he seems happy enough, don’t you Nathaniel?” Ivan asked.

The merman looked up at the mention of his name, a string of drool hanging from his lip.

“Let me just clean your face off for you…”Ivan wadded up a towelette to wipe the saliva away. Nathaniel opened his mouth and sank his teeth into the fabric.

“Bitey,” Ivan commented, leaving the towel to hang from the sea monster’s mouth. He got bored of it quickly, and dropped the salivary serviette onto his lap.

“Going to put an O2 mask on to prevent any good natured biting, and respiratory support is never amiss…”

Fogal let out a soft coo of surprise as Ivan took a gentle grip of his hair with one hand and placed the plastic mask over his face with the other, before threading the elastic straps over each ear.

“There you are Nathaniel, ready for our trip to the CT room…”

≪ °❈° ≫ Vignette 2 ≪ °❈° ≫

“It’s…hard…to breathe…” Nathaniel gasped out, clinging to the side of the swimming pool.

“It’s ok Nathaniel, we will get you sorted out… Can you put this on for me?” Ivan tossed the O2 mask the short distance to the sea monster, unwilling to get any closer while the merman was unrestrained and panicked.

Nathaniel flailed for the plastic mask, before slapping it over his face and hauling in some deep breaths. Ivan stood over him and watched him carefully. No cyanosis in the fingers, no peculiarities in movement, no recent red-flags in his blood work that could account for illness.

The merman had his eyes closed, hands clasped around the O2 mask.

-Panic attack- Ivan used ASL to the nearest camera.

“Looks like it.” Nathaniel’s therapist, Elias, agreed over the comms, “I am just coming through the medical entrance anyway…”

“Just take your time Nathaniel, take some deep breaths…”

“How we doing?” Elias emerged from the medical entrance behind him.

“It’s hard to breathe right.” Nathaniel told him.

“Can you tell me what you were doing before you started having problems breathing?” Elias asked.

“I was drawing.”

“What were you drawing?” Elias tried to draw Nathaniel’s attention away from his panic.

“Lots of cats…”

“Cats are nice… were you thinking nice thoughts about the cats? Or maybe were you thinking about some other things that maybe make you feel less happy?”

“I… it started out as nice thoughts, but then it was kind of” -melancholy- Nathaniel admitted, then his face fell in a realisation, “Oh… Do you think this is just a panic attack?”

“I think it probably is Nathaniel, well identified. Panic attacks do have lots of physical sensations that can make them feel like a physical illness. I think we will just calm ourselves down for a while.”

“But, I was calm when I was drawing,” The sea monster said in a small voice, “I didn’t do anything to deserve getting scared…”

“It’s not about deserving fear Nathaniel. Do you remember that we talked about how sometimes when we are relaxed and feel safe, our brains can start processing some of the traumatic memories that it didn’t feel able to cope with before?”

Nathaniel just sank a little into the water.

“You did the right thing though. You asked Nurse Brunel for help, and now you are doing breathing exercises. I am very proud.”

Nathaniel’s eyes shifted self consciously. 

“Can I just keep this for a little while?” he looked up to Ivan, tapping the oxygen mask with the pad of a finger.

“Sure Nathaniel. If it helps you to feel better.”

≪ °❈° ≫ Vignette 3 ≪ °❈° ≫

“Waking from thiobarbiturates has reduced awareness and increased aggression in mer #3,” Dr Rana’s voice was flat and disapproving. “And an early waking. We are done here though, and I would prefer not to sedate again…”

“I’ll be there in a moment, I will try settle him…” Elias clattered about on the other side of the comms.

Fogal was writhing violently, shouting indecipherable noises of threat and distress. He thrashed, and the oxygen mask he was wearing was knocked askew, clattering to the floor.

Damn. Ivan was going to have to wrangle that back on him. Not only for the respiratory support - the O2 mask doubled as a facial restraint, preventing the aggressive sea monster from biting or spitting. 

“Nurse, get the oxygen mask back on. Guard, restrain his head.”

A guard took a hold of Fogal’s hair in one hand, and steadied his head with the other. Fogal tried to turn his head to bite at his steel-wrapped fingers.

Sorry buddy Ivan thought internally, as the frightened man stared at him with unseeing eyes. He lowered the oxygen mask as carefully as he could. Fogal lunged up suddenly, taking the guard by surprise, and his teeth met the mask with a thunk. Ivan held onto the mask as the merman attacked the plastic, too afraid that if he let go of the mask those teeth would snap around his own fingers that were protected only by thin vinyl gloves. 

Finally the merman disengaged to let out a holler of anger. Ivan took the opportunity to clamp down the mask on his face, smothering the scream. 

“Ssshhshsssshhhssshhh” Ivan hushed softly, holding the mask against his face. 

“Lachego?” Fogal asked him in a devastated tone.

“It’ll be ok Fogal…” Ivan told him.

a/n why did I write 3 things for one prompt? who fuckin knows.

Dlaczego? is Polish for Why? Because I like throwing random languages in.

[aswallowimprisoned]

Restless far from a Wine Dark sea - No reponse

Logan has to pursuade a mer to comply

snippet for @medwhumpmay

Tw unethical medication, captivity, threat, Dead Dove Jewish vampiric whumpee, religious whumpee,

masterlist

≪ °❈° ≫

“This is fucked up.” Elias ran a hand through his hair.

“Indeed.” Logan’s tone was cool, “That is why I am asking for your guidance on how to brooch the subject.” Logan fiddled slightly with his notebook. “It will be useful for other Mer. We will be careful with him. Dr Rana can assess success and risk with physical responses alone.”

“I know, I know.” Elias stood to start pacing, “I also know that this kind of thing is the fastest way to lose a patient’s trust.”

“But, his behaviour has been more unpredictable recently, making interrogations difficult. We don’t fully understand why, but, in the meantime, we can extract useful information. Information that can lead to the capture of more mer, and may benefit Fogal himself.”

“It might kill him though. Even semi-cooperative, I do believe that Fogal is a moral person in a difficult position who does not deserve this. No sentient creature does.”

“I know that.” Logan cut in, “But it is not up to me to decide if this happens. It is up to me to make sure it goes as smoothly as it can.” Resignation sloped off his shoulders. Elias would notice, but Logan didn't want to mask his body language right now.

“I’ll help.” The therapist finally agreed, “we’ll get us all through this.” 

–88888–

“...When you first came to us, you were very ill, and while we had medication that would have helped a human in the same position, we had no way to tell if your mer body would react in the same way. Indeed, there have been cases elsewhere where medical staff attempted to help mer, but human medications have made them worse. Take your own sensitivity to amphetamines for example.” Logan kept his voice full of sound reasoning, and did not give Fogal the chance to ask any questions. “We would like to avoid that situation in the future. Both for your safety and the health of the mer that are likely to come to this facility in the future.” Logan took a final deep breath, bracing himself for Fogal’s reaction. “...Therefore, it has been decided that you will be given small dosages of vital emergency medications to test your reaction to them. You will be monitored carefully. It is not anticipated that any of the medications will cause you pain.”

Fogal had dropped his face to his shoulder early into Logan’s speech. His body language was that of calm acceptance.

It had gone… well?

“The tests will take around an hour each time. If you cooperate, you will be allowed to draw or do your puzzles during that time.”

At this, the seamonster finally had a reaction.

“I can draw? For an hour?” 

That was… not what Logan was expecting.

“If you cooperate and inform us immediately in the event you do experience side effects.”

The seamonster nodded, eyes downcast.

“Will it hurt?” 

“It might. It shouldn’t - the medications we will give you are intended to help and to heal. But there are risks. That is the reason we feel we must test the medicine; so we don’t discover the risks at a time where you, or another mer, are already very sick.”

The seamonster nodded again silently. Logan pushed down the shred of revulsion that came from his acceptance to Logan’s proposal. It had gone perfectly in Logan’s favour afterall

“Will Dr Rana be there?”

“He will only be present when the medicine is initially administered, or if you need medical help. Which we are hoping will not be necessary.” Logan knew the merman hated his colleague.

Fogal wrinkled his face against his shoulder.

“So, you agree to cooperate?” Logan asked, keeping his own scepticism out of his voice. Both Logan and Elias had anticipated far more wariness and bargaining on the merman’s side, particularly given his displeasure at medical interventions previously.

Fogal considered a moment longer.

"If you try to hurt me, I will spit at you."

“There is no need for threats, Fogal,” Logan spoke firmly, “but I can assure you that we will not try to hurt you.  Now, if you don’t have any more questions, we shall move on…”