Blood spurted out from under Caretaker’s fingers as they pushed the curved needle through red and dirt-stained skin. They cursed under their breath and pressed into the fresh wound, squinting to make sure they were pressing in the right place through the blanketing darkness. Whumpee’s fliched and their head shot up.
“What, uh… what’s wrong?” they lulled with dull eyes.
“Shh, Whumpee, quiet please…” Caretaker whispered, wishing they could tear their gaze away from their work to look Whumpee in the eyes. “It’s nothing, just lay back down, keep your heart rate low.”
Whumpee blinked. “Caretaker… We ah, we gotta go. They’ll gonna… They’re gonna catch us.”
Shouting in the distance. A beam of light arked over their heads.
“I know, Whumpee, I know. Just gotta get you patched up first, okay? Then we can run.”
Whumpee nodded and slumped back down, satisfied with Caretaker’s nonsensical plan. As if Caretaker could fix the deep slash running across their calf with needle and string and hope. They’d need an extra dose of prescription-strength miracle for that… Caretaker busied themself with their sewing again as the shouting of their hunters grew louder, and they had to duck down further into the brush.
"Ow!"
"Shh… It's okay Whumpee, it's okay, quiet..." Caretaker stuck another suture through the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but they only had basic training. The blood continued to gush down, down, down. Whumpee whimpered and tried to pull their leg away, a fruitless venture considering their current state. They barely even got a twitch in before they stilled again.
"What're… What's happening…"
Caretaker cringed. "Some bad people are looking for us.” They whispered, intentionally dodging the real intent of the inquiry. “They'll find us if you don't shush, so please…"
A small hum sounded from Whumpee's throat as they finally laid their head back down and closed their eyes.
Another stitch. Another. Whumpee twitched and pulled under Caretaker's grasp, but they held their ward still. Blood gushed faster from the wound.
“Caretaker…”
Only the ruffle of the foliage and the light sounds of wildlife rustling about. Boots crunched leaves in the distance.
"Caretaker!"
"Shh!" Caretaker hissed. "Whumpee, it's so important that we're quiet right now, please!"
"What're you doing to me?" Whumpee's voice was suddenly so small. Caretaker froze.
"I'm, uh…" Caretaker stared down again at their blood-soaked hands, the maroon liquid dripping down and soaking into the forest floor. "You have a bit of a cut. We can leave until I make it better. So I'm making it all better."
Whumpeesuddenly shot up stock straight, and Caretaker nearly toppled backward.
"I'm hurt?!"
"No, no, shh, Whumpee, it's okay, you're okay, you’re fine, lay back down!"
Whumpee clawed forward and grasped at Caretaker as the far away crunches of leaves started to close in, shouts ringing throughout the forest that they thought they may have heard something this way.
"Caretaker, I can't, I can't, not again, please don't let them–"
Whumpee's face blanched suddenly as they caught sight of their half-stitched together and gored up leg, thick sticky liquid gushing out between threads spreading tendrils down their entire leg and dyeing the pine straw surrounding them a deep crimson. Caretaker went to reach for Whumpee until they remembered their hands were too covered in the same gore.
Whumpee's breath shuddered. "Is that… is that blood."
Caretaker sat frozen, torn between demanding Whumpee shut up and freezing from all the sudden noises. The beams of light swinging above them were multiplying, slowly but surely lighting up the forest around them. Whumpee's breathing started to become shallow.
"...my blood?"
Caretaker lunged over to Whumpee’s and tucked their arms under their charge’s back to support them as their breathing started to get heavy and fast and loud, chest puffing in and out sporadically as all their muscles seemed to go tense at once and they kicked out as if they could shake the wound off entirely if they swung hard enough
"Shhhh, shh, shh, shh, Whumpee, Whumpee, look at me, look at me, everything's okay, it's okay, you're fine, you’re fine, I promise, you’re okay."
"Not fine. Blood. So much–. Blood! I'm dying! Help! Help me–! Caretaker! Ple-ease I can't– I can't– I ca-a-an't– can't die– I can't die– please don’t–!" Whumpee barely managed to get out the onslaught of words through their ever-increasing shallow breaths, their eyes darting around trying to find safety, only finding Caretaker for a brief moment before panicking away again. Their body trembled violently as they grasped to hold onto anything that they could, littering burning red scratches across Caretaker's arms and back as they pinned Whumpee down.
"Shhh! Shhh, Whumpee you'll be fine but I need you to calm down–"
"Caretaker! Caretaker– I don– I don't – can't– I can't–... don't– Wanna die– die-e-e-e-e please–... please let– lemme go–... please… ple-e-e-ease, please… Ca-aretak…"
Whumpee's eyes started to flutter shut as they stopped dancing around and struggled to focus on anything in particular. Their body fell limp in Caretaker's grasp before violently tensing wholly again, then relaxing again, over and over until Whumpee's body fell fully lax in their arms.
Footsteps crunched barely a rock-skip away, trailing a searchlight methodically raking the ground and waiting patiently for its moment to betray the duo's meager hiding spot. Caretaker gently slapped at Whumpee's face, barely earning a flutter from their eyes as their breathing started evening out.
They cursed softly once again and held Whumpee close to their chest, pushing back as far as they could into the perceived safety of the brush. The boots stomped at the ground just outside where Caretaker and Whumpee had first crashed down.
They set Whumpee back down onto the ground and softly slapped at their face again. No response. So they checked their pulse, their own heartbeat pounding loudly in their ears. The vein pulsed erratically under their fore- and middle-fingers. Caretaker heaved an unsteady sigh of relief.
They very carefully moved back to Whumpee's leg, eyes never leaving the methodical boots as they moved ever closer.
Whumpee lives in the middle of nowhere and has disguised beartraps set up around their home to keep the bears out. One day when half-asleep they go outside and accidently get caught in one of their traps.
Finally, the last, and my personal favourite, support character, Myriad. Myriad is an ancient seer in the forest. Her shawl is made up of feathers, scales, teeth, and hide. Yes, there is a theme of Japansese letters and words. That's because... well, that's secret. Lots of eyes uwu
When the whumpee is really good at something but can't do that thing
- Whumpee who's strong, a skilled fighter, but is now badly sick or injured and can barely stand
- Rich or famous whumpee isolated from society, maybe lost in a forest, where they could get attacked by animals or freeze or starve and their prestige is useless
- Whumpee who has to leave behind heavy armor and weapons to keep going, but now has nothing to help with self-defense
- Superpowered whumpee whose powers go haywire or stop working, or they get hooked up to something that blocks their powers
- When whumpee is normally so good with words and sure of themself, always inspires their teammates, but now they're sick and can only really mumble and whimper
- Forest survivalist gets lost in a city, or big city professional gets lost in a forest
- Rich whumpee lost, far away from their bodyguards and any help they could normally access easily, and has to rely on a stranger to help them (*cough* The Emperor's New Groove)
- Intimidating whumpee who doesn't look so scary now, they look scared and hurt ):
Here's the third, and final protagonist in Forest Whump! Her name is Daylily Lotusplume. She's a seelie noble, 21, and a fucking legend of magic and runes. Don't mind the notes on the side ;) Next is the supporting characters!
