for the WIP word game: gasp, grimace, strain
thank you so much for the ask! 🥰😁
gasp - from “It’s called sacrifice for a reason” a WIP wherein Scott becomes increasingly uncertain about reality after dying and coming back to life in s5. Feat a strong possibility of Nemeton fuckery :)
Scott remembers gasping himself awake in the basin, the feeling of water rushing into his lungs, frigid and unforgiving as it swallowed up any oxygen. The burn of trace wolfsbane from the water, the panic from the abrupt fullness of his lungs.
When the asthma attacks started up again, it was like his chest was filling up, so pressurized he felt it might simply burst open. Like whatever was causing it would overflow. But there was nothing there to burst, his chest so constricted he couldn’t get any air in.
Asthma attacks, panic attacks—they robbed him of air in a different way, but...they felt an awful lot like drowning, too.
grimace - from an on-hold Sceo WIP in which Wcott is severely injured & theo cleans him up
Scott collapses the moment he reaches the bed’s edge. It’s nice to finally be off his feet—he isn’t sure how much longer he could have kept upright before passing out. It’s almost worse sitting down with the way his body bends, the movement pushing fresh blood past the coagulated mess binding flesh to polyester. He grimaces at the feeling, sickeningly warm.
Several moments pass; Scott completely still, barely breathing, eyes closed tightly with one hand pressed to his middle, willing the blood to stop flowing. Waiting to welcome numbness in pain’s stead.
When he opens his eyes Theo hasn’t moved a muscle, still standing halfway between the open door and the foot of the bed. His eyes are trained on Scott’s chest.
He looks hunted. Not quite a deer in headlights, more like the wounded strays Scott handles at the clinic. Tense, uneasy.
Like if scott makes one wrong move he’ll run.
strain - from my big Sceo WIP “now I see you in my nightmares” with Theo facing his guilt over murdering Scott, and digging his own claws in his chest in his sleep, and pathetically pining. And Scott struggling with grief/trauma over dying, and feeling conflicted but wanting to help theo, and maybe also pining in his own way. :))
The heart is no different than any other muscle—designed to be damaged and to build itself back stronger. And, like any other muscle, it can only take so much strain before the tears stop mending.
Before it breaks for good.
(Send me 🔍 + a word/phrase & if I find it in a WIP I'll post a snippet!)
