febuwhump day 15: "test subject"
First Evangeline drabble :D Nothing huge but I'm happy
-> Evangeline's masterlist
[CWs: Immortal whumpee (comes back from the dead type), lab whump, medical inaccuracy, probably, child whumpee, compliant whumpee, not graphic but explicit gore I think? + some slighttt dissociaton, needles and hospital setting and blood and vivisection the like, lmk if I missed anything.]
The blood gushed, sucked into the needle and pooling into the bag. Vivid, dense, and, despite what the one assistant to the back seemed to be hoping for, still red.
Ev swayed a little when they felt the sting of it going out, a little bead of blood poking out of the puncture, trying to leave as well. She felt dizzy. Dr. Var put the bag away, heavy and soft with all the liquid inside, noting down something on his clipboard. Reports to review later, maybe. She hadn’t tried to peek at them since she was little.
“Second load of genetic material,” a woman called. She wasn’t new. Which didn’t exactly mean that Evangeline remembered her name. In response, gloved hands approached and held their arms still, as if waiting for them to try and writhe away. They weren’t a kid.
Their gown—the new one, after Dr. Kevin ruined the last on Saturday—had its sleeves rolled up (something they could do on their own, but okay) to reveal the pale flesh underneath. Dr. Var was still on the back, unclipping a pen and labelling the blood pack they’d drawn. Evangeline’s legs dangled from the ground as they felt the sting.
She didn’t close her eyes. The pain, as always, just washed over them, retreating to the back of her mind. It wasn’t nothing she’d have to be restrained for. The one holding the scalpel halted, maybe in surprise. Which was kinda silly. Dr. Var had warned them, prior.
She’s used to it. Don’t worry.
As the guy got himself together and started peeling a couple centimeters of skin from their arm, revealing the warm, throbbing flesh underneath, she couldn’t help but feel a chill. The sterile air of the room always felt weird against that. The dizziness faded into nausea. Ev just stared at the ceiling.
Third load.
Hair didn’t really hurt. She tried to keep still and restrain herself to only send a glare towards Var to remind him to not mess it up. Last time, Eliah had let her off and just told them to gather the strays from the hairdresser, but even she couldn’t put it off forever. If it was Dr. Marcus, he’d give her a lollipop for the trouble. Oliver Varish wasn’t Dr. Marcus, and that was precisely why Ev did not like him very much.
They did not say that, because they were polite.
At some point, they’d tried strapping her down, which was a little rude. Dr. Var had the grace to just remind them it was unnecessary and ask her to lay down for a bit. She did, because she wasn’t rude, but her opinion of his new team wasn’t really going very well. To her luck, it wasn’t often he was in charge of her. So she tried not to mind.
Fourth load.
They breathed in. Let their mind wander for that, for the fifth. Not long, she reminded herself. Huy was coming tonight. The cook said she’d make pizza.
Sixth. Seventh. It was a little uncomfortable to have the bone meeting the chilly air—everything meeting the chilly air—and when it happened, it stung. Ev had gotten good at not screaming. Her breath only hitched when she felt hands around—
“Dr. Var,” they called. “The gag. Please.”
Someone startled at her voice. They didn’t roll their eyes. The doctor perked up at her request, and he gestured at someone. Thankfully, there wasn’t a lot of time left. She would’ve played with the hem of her gown to wait, but movement made everything light up a little bit worse, so she kept her hands to her sides. They would probably have made a fuss if she did, anyways.
They bit their lip. He wouldn’t get mad if they made noise. They just really, really, really didn’t want to. It was going to get harder. She could tell.
The unpleasant, familiar feeling of the antiseptic-tasting leather settled itself between her teeth, and Ev adjusted its grip on her mouth. There. They relaxed a bit. The reaction sent a painful signal through the poor nerve endings on her exposed belly, but that was now taken care of. So.
They settled themself and allowed the deep, piercing agony to make its way through every inch of their flesh. It was damp and warm, not so damp and warm now that it didn’t have the skin to protect it. Another bit of tissue was collected. They twitched. It was involuntary, and something they wished they hadn’t done. Something choked came out of her throat—which was currently in one piece—but the gag did its job. Another pang came. The next gloves were stained with red.
They would’ve made themself keep breathing for it, but then they reached it. Evangeline held itself still. It hit her. Stronger, constant, and someone went to remove the gag so they wouldn’t choke on their own blood, but they shooed her off. It was already ending anyway. She didn’t like choking, yes, but the alternative wasn’t really that much different.
As it always did, it took a painfully long amount of time.
The vitals she had been ignoring faded out of her hearing, and the familiar cold settled in. The heaviness. Everything went away.
Everything but the hard table her back still met, the chill air making her skin and everything else tingle. And the pain. When she was little, it scared her. Not so much now. Not at all. You just had to remember that there was no moving now, remember to not panic. You just had to wait, swimming in the sea of unwavering pain, until you were dropped into nothing and released. You just had to remember that there was no breathing now, and no light. That it was gonna get over soon. You just just had to wait. And wait.
And wait.
They’d counted, once. A couple times, just to make sure. But not anymore. It lasted only a quarter of a minute. Not however long your failing mind tried to convince you it lasted. They had counted. They could tell. A quarter of a minute in this limbo, where she couldn’t quite speak nor move nor hear, only feel and feel and feel, and then, blissful, it came.
If Ev’s lungs had been working at that moment, she would’ve let out a sigh of relief.
When she came back, her body was in one piece. She sucked in a breath, winced. Okay, that was loud. Maybe not that much in one piece. There was a very nauseating churning around her middle that told her not all the organs had gotten around to it yet. But it was fine. They could already move.
And—the light assaulted her—see, too. The silence itched. Then they realized there was no hearing. Moving? That was all right. Evangeline rolled to their side.
The resting room. She didn’t name the relief at the realization that they were doing just one round, today.
It was only a little disorientating, dulled by the familiar environment. They must’ve poked around her brain, maybe. She usually recovered senses before moving. This was gonna be weird.
They hoped their sense of taste wouldn’t get fucked for too long.
The sun was already setting from the open window. Well. Not open. Evangeline had gotten their right to open windows revoked a few years ago. But the glass was clear. When she was steady enough to sit up, she stared at the sky head-on.
Orange. Soft.
Her cognition was a bit muddy, maybe.
The pain choked her, then. Evangeline was good at navigating it—it always, always was there when they came back, ready to greet them—but at times, they slipped. She tried drawing a breath, but it was ravishing. Burning, piercing and sharp and dull all at the same time. Metal sinking into the organs inside. Tissue being grabbed and pulled. Not all of it was memories. Evangeline expelled a load of air. Air. Right. Her lungs were working by now. The lump constructing her throat was just a ghost. As everything was.
Though it was not like it mattered.
The orange had nearly faded into night when the door opened. Or maybe her vision wasn’t really that great yet. The bracelet around her wrist, as always, alerted them to her waking up, but her ears weren’t working to alert her of their presence. Heri, one of the nurses. He was moving his mouth, and their vision was just a bit blurry. That was less the ongoing healing and more the after-effect. They had quit moving. It was too overwhelming, right now. No sign of being able to listen to anything, Ev tried to gesture. He interrupted himself. If they tried to speak, they could feel the vibrations of their own voice in their skull, but couldn’t really witness if the words would come as intended. Oh well. It should get the memo.
When she opened her eyes again, she was in the car. Somebody had dressed her. Ev’s head slowly started pounding from the roar of the tires meeting street asphalt. Ah. So that was back.
“You passed out,” a voice said from the seat just beside. Evangeline blinked, still battling the army of phantom pains for dominance and trying not to lose. She fell a little forward. The seatbelt had been strapped to her chest. Ev turned their head to look to the side.
Eli.
“Oh,” they said. Her hair was tied up. They held their breath for a while. Slowly pushed it out. Not better, but it’d have to do. “‘Kay.”
“Huy is waiting,” she informed, not looking up from her tablet. Still working on something, always working on something. Ev didn’t mind. She’d been across the state for the entire week. They missed looking at her face. “I heard your hearing hadn’t come back? It seems to be working.”
They just mumbled something in way of yes. Eliah hummed, smiling. It was as if it took the pain away for a bit.
“Good.”
———
febuwhump taglist: @mxrr0rball @aromanticsky @oros-ash3s @painwithoutplot @warmfuzz-ies @catnykit
possible ev taglist? iirc? god i need to keep track of them better i'm gonna do a document or something: @yet-another-heathen (lmk if im mistaken XD)