I just read the a-z whump prompt and open the comment to see Hemophilia and I can't help but think of Cale yknow. Like, let's say it's on a more severe case he's prone to bruising and bleeding. He might have episodes of bleeding internally (into his joints or muscles) or from external injury (after the wound occurred), he may bleed longer and take a longer time to heal. He could also experience joint pain and swelling!
Imagine how chaotic it is! How the limitation of treatment in that era damned him! The resulting whumpy afterwards! The devilish cycle! XD (Don't forget the severe headache, blurred/doubled vision, and excessive sleepiness too— and and, the nosebleeds—) this excited me so much I think I should feel guilty
CHEFS KISSSSSS CHEFS KISSSSSS!!!! i just wanted to write da whump .. no end... i got no brain for an end rn ghskdjh i hope you like it :>
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It’s not all too obvious in the beginning.
With how Cale had divvied up the work between the swordsman and the kittens in their late night outing, there weren't many chances for him to figure it out. The black dragon joined them soon after, and suddenly Cale was surrounded by people who were all too eager to work. Not that Cale had any issue with that. He was slowly getting surrounded by stupidly strong people who left him with no need to step in. Maybe that was why he never questioned the green that mottled his skin at the slightest bump. Cale doesn’t question the ache that would shift into his mind like a slow moving fog either, schooling his face to keep even the slightest wince from escaping. It’s not an unfamiliar feeling to him – the low simmering ache that settled at the base of his skull, but he hoped that it wouldn’t become a frequent thing like how it had in his previous life thanks to record.
(Ron gives him an oddly stiff smile at the sight of the blues that marred his knees. He’d crawled through the stupidly cramped hole to make it to the ancient power the night before. Honestly, he was hoping that the cry baby of a power would have been able to wipe his skin clean of these bruises. Maybe it wasn’t considered too dire of an injury or something, he supposed.
Either way, the tight smile that Ron gives sends chills racing down Cale’s spine).
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Thinking back, maybe the plaza bombing should have been when the incident to flag that something was wrong. He should have seen it in the awful burning that settled in his lungs, building and building until it burst from his mouth with a choked cough. It was all too warm across his stinging palms, but the sweet relief that followed suit was too good. The Vitality of the Heart was like a cool balm spread across his feverish skin, a quick relief that only he could feel.
Looking up from his stained hands, Cale was met with a frenzy. Hysteria dyed the hues of his peers’ eyes, their hands landing on his shoulders to push him down to the ground. His head is cushioned in someone’s lap, but it’s a little too hard to focus on who it was. Cale’s pupils trembled, his brows furrowing as he tried to focus on steadying the shifting world in his eyes. He didn’t need to lie down, damn it, but when he’d try to sit up, he’d just be pushed back down. It invited the disgustingly slick copper to pool in the back of his throat, its iron taste flooding his mouth until he had to roll to his side to spit it out.
The headache that comes marching in with the dragon’s threats make him feel more as though he’d just had his head bashed in with a hammer, than a headache. It was a cruel thing, really, creeping out until the pain encompassed his skull wholly. The pain from using the shield was nothing in comparison, in fact, he was feeling even better than before in terms of that “injury.” He could do without the sticky slide of blood trickling down his chin, dripping and dripping without a single sign of stopping. Cale chalked it all up to being a side effect of the ancient power. But more importantly, he desperately wished for the ancient power to whisk away the pain in his head, too.
-
There’s a time when a brief concern flits across the young noble’s mind.
Cale was splayed across his bed, comfortably sunken into the sheets as he basked in the warmth of the afternoon sun. It was the perfect time to enjoy a midday nap and it seemed that the silver kitten, Ohn, thought the same. Her fur was silky to the touch now thanks to the hard work of Hans. It’s warm where she’s loafed next to his thigh, her paws neatly tucked away underneath her. The little dragon and the red kitten weren’t too keen on sleeping their day away like the two of them, but that was their choice, not his.
Lightly, Cale feels the squishy pads of the boy’s paws press against the skin of his forearm. One poke and then another, whatever the boy was doing, it seemed to intrigue him.
“Cale-nya,” Hong whispered, not wanting to wake his sister, “How come you’re always all beat up? Like.. like a dropped apple!”
Cale peels open his eyes at this and true to the boy’s words, his arm was painted in fading blotches of yellow. He doesn’t remember exactly what had caused it, but if anything, it just looked worse because of how pale his complexion was. The cons of being surrounded by stupidly strong people, he supposed, but if he thought about it even more… it wasn’t like any of them were manhandling him. Cale wasn’t entirely sure where these bruises had come from.
“I just bruise easily,” Cale says after a moment of thought.
It seems that this, too, wasn’t the right answer because the black dragon was now clambering across the pillows to shove his snout into Cale’s face. Those azure eyes of his were dyed with worry.
“You’re too weak!” He said and Cale nodded. It was true, he was weaker than the rest of their group. If anything, they could all kill him if they wanted to.
They don’t seem to like how accepting he is of this weakness, but the dragon slumps beside him with a harrumph and a promise to protect him. Cale doesn’t pay too much attention to it after that, giving in to the siren call of fatigue. He drifts off in the comfort of the pooling sunlight and the cushiony bed beneath it. Somewhere along the way, the boys must’ve fallen asleep, too, tucked close against his sides.
-
Whatever it was, it all comes back to bite him in the ass when they’re fighting alongside the elves.
Rose gold flickered across the gathering plumes of dark grey. Cale stood with an outstretched hand, the hairs on the back of his neck rising as the scent of ozone filled the area. It was almost as though the lightning hidden in the clouds could match the rising thrum of his heart – faster and faster, the time between flashes and the beats of his heart grew shorter.
There’s no way to fully describe it really, be it the innate tempo of the battle rising to its crescendo or the way his heart skipped a beat at the breathlessness that festered in his lungs. Of course, he’d been watching his allies zip in and out of the throes of battle, but there was just something else.
Blindingly bright and deafeningly loud, the thunderbolt rattles the world around them. As quick as it comes, it sears its colors into the retinas of their eyes, haunting their visions even behind closed lids. Silence mars the world around them just as scorch marks marred the grounds. One beat, a second, and another after that – the world is silent with its shock. Then came the incessant ringing.
Cale’s head throbbed with each cough that broke past his lips, the ground feeling as though it were shifting beneath his feet. Each coughing fit felt as though his lungs had been charred by the lightning bolt instead, the strain settling in his chest like a massive, tender bruise. Cale’s heart was a drum and the Vitality of the Heart beat heavily upon it, but before its relief, it brought waves of blood to seep between his lips. The darkened blood pooled at his feet in an ugly splatter. It grew and grew with each heaving cough.
The damned cheapskate hadn’t mentioned such effects as these, but he couldn’t even bring himself to curse. He didn’t have the breath to.
Squeezing his eyes shut, Cale tried to force his vision to focus, his feet stumbling over one another in an attempt to stay upright. Soon, he could feel Raon’s small, nubby horns pressing into the small of his back. The dragon’s the only reason he’s able to remain standing now, and the fabric of his shirt is quickly growing damp. The taste of iron is thick on his tongue as Cale choked out another weak cough. The pain is all too much for him to focus on anything more around him, and as the last whisps of his consciousness slipped away, he could distantly make out the feeling of hands steadying him.
-
The young voice of the dragon counting is the first thing that greets Cale when he wakes up again. Teary eyed, yet overjoyed, Raon all but threw himself into the young noble’s arms.
---- cutting myself off here because I'm getting carried away... but i think that after this, maybe he'd be diagnosed by one of the elves.. maybe pendrick... but then like, for treatment.. hmmm i'd like to think that maybe there's a weaker version of a medicine that helps iron deficient people, but it doesn't really do much to help cale because he loses insane amts of blood at a time... and it's mostly smth to try to help increase his cell count again after he loses too much blood... hmm not a good treatment for the long run, but not much he could do..
i'd like to think that maybe it becomes a new thing for rosalyn to work on... i wonder if there's a way to control blood cells w the use of mana.. like an agent to help control the clotting factor production? i just wanna see researcher rosalyn hehe... but for the time being, i'd think that cale's meals would change a bit to include more foods that are richer in iron!! maybe one of those iron fish that seep into the water when you boil it... I imagine that even if he's healed right away, he's gonna suffer from anemia issues ehhee... i wanna see him stand up and crumple LOLOL
thank you again for the ask!!! i get excited w cale whump too heheehe... (jailed)
