#include his apostrophe cowards

[stxrry-dxys]

The Lurkers Family Hc's

thimkin about,,, the lurkers and their honorary children,,

yuu who always adored children but worries she won’t have time for any of her own

shinji who just naturally takes on a paternal role for anyone young he comes across (it’s part of his charm as a hero)

and shin’ya who doesn’t really understand how kids work but is still somehow adored by everyone 13+

so when they take on four hero course kids for a work study?? oh they’re all over that

factor in that two of those kids have estranged home lives? it’s a recipe for a new family

SHIOZAKI

ibara’s the first one taken under their wing.

her dad is,, not present in her life. and her mom is a pro-hero. so while they get along, she’s never really home.

it’s not much of a problem it just,,, left the girl feeling lonely. she never really learned how to interact with other people.

honestly i don’t think she had much of a drive to be a hero when she was younger. mostly cuz she saw how tired it made her mom, and she wanted to be able to take care of her

plus she wasn’t sure how useful her quirk would be.

but one day there was a villain attack at her school, and who saved her?

none other than our very own kamui woods

she saw how calm he made everyone feel. and how well he used his quirk even though he was a relatively new hero at the time.

he quickly became her idol.

so when she gets the chance to work with him, she has a little more trust in him than the rest of the work study kids. not that he minds

he can tell she’s nervous around him at first so he works to calm her down and keep her loose.

shinji tries his best to remember as many hero incidents as he can, especially ones involving kids so when she tells him that he inspired her to be a hero when he saved her,,,,

instant bonding moment, of course he remembers!

the longer they work together the more he becomes a trusted confidant for her, and the more he focuses on helping her grow.

he gladly takes on a father figure role for her, willing to help her with things outside of hero work as well.

shinji just wants the best for her, and he’s going to help guide her there.

he’s not the only one she gets along with of course!

she’s very much shocked by yuu’s energy. but she’s even more shocked by how hard she tries to keep her emotions in check.

iba always tried to remain rational but moving to ua had caused some,,, anxiety and temper issues. she didn’t want to be spiteful but she just felt overshadowed by her peers. it was scary.

yuu felt much the same coming onto the hero scene, and she too had to learn to control her jealousy and anxiety.

so when she picks up on ibara’s struggle she sits her down for some good old fashioned advice.

and yuu keeps an eye on her in the field, pulls her aside when she needs to calm down and regroup. always makes sure to tell her when she did a good job on something. points out how she’s improved.

it helps a lot.

shin’ya also helps iba out.

ibara has a lot of issues grappling between her morals and what is “required” of a hero.

she doesn’t like hurting people. she just doesn’t want to. she believes there’s more peaceful ways to subdue villains. that adding fire to fire only creates more fire.

shin’ya would get that best i feel.

while i don’t think he’s above throwing some punches, i think he also understands that often the best thing to do is to take as peaceful a route as you can. just so long as you’re prepared to defend yourself.

he helps iba come to terms with the fact that she doesn’t have to beat someone to a pulp to be a hero. but she is also well within her right to fight back if the villain starts to hurt her.

of course he shows this to her by doing fight practice with her and pushing the girl to her limit.

like i said,,, he doesn’t know how kids work

however it does actually help. the longer they go the more ibara learns tricks to avoid fighting, how far she can go without punching back, and how to do minimal damage when she eventually does.

by the end of the work study she goes from reserved and hiding behind the loud boys she came with, to joking and having normal conversations about her day with people who truly feel like they want to be involved in her life.

SERO

hanta is the next one snatched into the family.

honestly he never really meant to get as close with the lurkers as he did, but the man was having a bad day and it showed.

some context on him: he’s another one who was never super close with his parents

they travelled a lot for work so they were never home very often. and when they were home they,,, didn’t really get along.

unlike ibara tho he did have someone in the same situation as him: his older brother.

he had four years on hanta and always tried his best to take care of him. but there’s only so much the kid can do

so yeah he never really had the most positive feelings towards his parents. he loved them!! but he couldn’t help but be upset at how little they were there

this gets about a million times worse when he moves to ua and is hit with the news of their divorce

he’s not upset about the fact that they’re leaving each other- he’s honestly grateful it finally happened. he’s more pissed about why they’re separating, and what happens as a result

yuu is actually the one to pick up on his bad mood. he came into work just a little too quiet, a little too slow for it to be normal, so she pulled him aside.

she asked what was wrong and when he hesitates to tell her she just reminds him that no matter what it is, she’s not going to judge. she just wants to make sure he’s taking care of himself.

someone?? checking in on hanta??? this is completely unheard of

so he jumps into a rant

tells her all about how his mom cheated on his dad and now the man is depressed and hanta had to stay up on the phone all of last night calming him down and trying to assure him that his sons DONT hate him and that his life ISNT falling apart, and apparently now that he’s away from hanta’s mother he was finally able to transfer to a department that keeps him local which really pisses hanta off because he COULD have done that years ago and actually spent some time with his kids but he couldn’t say that because he was worried about setting his father off-

yuu just sits there and listens to him ramble about everything. he somehow drifts the conversation from his family to school to his friends and he’s about halfway through his kirishima rant before he realizes how much he is dumping on someone who is supposed to be his boss

she doesn’t mind tho, she can tell he’s been needing to say all that.

she steals him for patrol that day and they walk to places in their segment that can give the kid a break. she takes him to get ice cream to “energize him”, leads him through an outdoor vendor area to “keep in touch with the community”, and takes him to a park so they can “properly survey the area”

it’s not much different from her normal path but he can tell she’s going a little slower for him

she tells him he can always come to her if somethings wrong, that keeping things bottled up doesnt do anyone any good. and she’ll always find a way to take his mind off his troubles.

and he does! she makes sure to check in on him more often from that day forward and she’s the first person he goes to in a crisis. eventually it evolves from telling her about what’s wrong to just telling strange stories that happened since he last saw her, gossiping, etc.

of course yuu isn’t the only one taking care of him.

shinji is constantly having to keep hanta and denki in check from doing something completely reckless

has to remind them theres a time and a place for it which is,,, strange for hanta

no one ever really stopped him for doing anything growing up so it’s odd having someone watch over him

shin’ya on the other hand is actively causing trouble with this man

as soon as he finds out hanta has a smart mouth it is just constant sass wars, the two of them do not stop

shin’ya is the uncle of the group can you all tell yet

KAMINARI AND MINETA (+sibling roles)

these two actually don’t view the lurkers as parental figures but i can’t just not mention them

they have no need for smo to fill the role of their parents but they still lean on the adults as their mentors

however with hanta and iba? different story

the longer the four of them work together the closer they get.

after the initial “get denki and min to realize ibara is not interested” phase they do actually get along pretty well

i think ibara would be a really good influence on the three little pervs cuz let’s be honest, they need it.

she is the kick off to the minoru character arc we so desperately need.

she is very loud about her contempt for his actions, much louder than anyone else ever has been.

yuu helps with that too, she is more than willing to help stomp out that behavior.

i think the two of them would accidentally get through to denki first. he already was slightly better than min but he definitely starts to tone it down more thanks to them

minoru doesnt completely get it right away but he definitely starts trying to learn.

anyways hanta and iba get along best

hanta is actually like,,, a functioning human being who is smart enough to know when to bite back sexual comments so she just,,, gravitates to him a little more

they’re both science and nature people in my mind so i feel like their starting point is some conversations about plants

the longer they work together the more they poke into each other’s school lives and friendships and eventually they get along well enough he’s able to convince her to give the other two a chance

they’re more careful now about what they say to her. and hanta ever the good boy is sure to keep them in check

iba is actually able to have a conversation with them about why their behavior is bad and together the four of them work on improving, cuz iba sure isnt perfect either just in very different ways

they have a gc

they should not have a gc

min and iba will be up at 2 am having a very thoughtful conversation about the state of the world and hanta and denki will interject with some stupid meme they just made

oh god and the minute they find out iba has a crush on smo?? immediately the boys enter wingman mode

keep in mind none of these children are good at flirting, let alone giving advice on flirting

the adults are definitely watching them with much amusement

iba actually listens to them which is a terrible decision on her part really

she actually ends up using the boys advice to get denki and hanta together instead cuz she may not be great at relationships but they’re so obvious it hurts her

if the other two were to ever end up dating anyone oh my god the other three are jumping on that person

they’re immediately entering protective sibling mode and they’re all surprisingly scary

basically iba is the boys’ younger sister and they’re all dedicated to teasing each other

BONUS KAMISERO + NISHIYAMA (for the soul)

small hc that denki and hanta’s relationship kind of mimics yuu’s and shinji’s

we’ve already established that hanta never had a good model for relationships growing up so i think he’d really try and take after yuu and shinji,,, he’s a sucker for love and they’re the epitome of it to him

especially when it comes to denki, because he wants to preserve their friendship above all else. and yuu and shinji are very open about being best friends first and partners second

denki doesn’t really try to emulate their relationship he just,,, kind of does

he’s very similar to yuu i think so its no wonder he falls into a similar dynamic with sero who resembles shinji

this is just a ramble but i just really think they’d prioritize their friendship above their romantic relationship and it really keeps their dynamic healthy and they entirely got the idea from yuu and shinji

which btw yuu and shinji adore denki, yuu especially because she just really wants her boy to have smo to help him take care of himself. and no one does a better job of taking care of hanta than denki

i love they <3

[dwellordream]

“…When the two lovers meet after Parliament's decision, Criseyde offers Troilus the opportunity to "ravish her" as her uncle has suggested. She begs for his aid, crying "Help, Troilus!" (IV, 1150) and falling into a dead faint. For once, she wishes that another would take control and make decisions for her. Not realizing that Troilus has relapsed into an impotent, emasculated state, Criseyde expects him to interpret successfully her intent and to act boldly in order to rescue her from her terrible plight. Troilus, however, is no longer the valiant, empathetic young man transformed by Criseyde's love; consequently, he fails to play the role of the manly hero. He does not seize this moment to carry the maiden off; instead, he convinces himself that she has died and poetically beseeches the heavens to hasten his own demise (IV, 1191-1211).

His behavior contrasts greatly with Criseyde's when he had fainted. She roused herself to action, doing all in her power to revive her lover, who, like Criseyde in this later scene, seemed at the precipice of death. Criseyde begins to argue eloquently upon the advantages of biding her time behind enemy lines only after she awakes to discover that Troilus has not heeded her cry for help. A careful reader would recognize, how ever, that she still yearns for her lover to prevent the exchange, for she interrupts her own argument to assure Troilus "what so ye me comaunde,/ That wol I don, for that is no demaunde" (IV, 1294-95). In arguing in favor of removing to the Greek camp, Criseyde tests the extent of Troilus's affection. …Criseyde thought that surely a man willing to slay himself for her would be willing to risk ruining his reputation for her love, but Troilus finds himself incapable of performing such a heroic feat.

When Troilus fails to make even the slightest attempt to rescue his ill fated lover, Criseyde realizes that she must bring about her own salvation. As she spins out her plan, she gains more confidence in her abilities to effect her own rescue. Sheltered within the walls of Troy, Criseyde knows little of the true horrors of war, only what she has gleaned from gossip and from the books that she has read in her cloistered garden. Her overconfidence stems both from her ignorance concerning the actual situation facing her nation and from her earlier successes in effecting her will.

In contrast, Troilus has been out in the trenches, and he should recognize the implausibility of Criseyde's plan of action. His attempts to dissuade her, however, seem half-hearted at best. Indeed, he feels relieved that she seems to exonerate him from taking any rash action, for such a view accords with his own and enables him to rationalize his impotence as simply a chivalric attempt to uphold his lady's desire: This Troilus, with herte and erys spradde,/Herde al this thyng devysen to and fro,/And verrayliche him semed that he hadde The selve wit. . . (IV, 1422-25) Although Troilus finally does argue with Criseyde that they should elope (IV, 1503), he does so only to determine the extent of her loyalty, for he beseeches her "That of hire heste he myghte her trewe fynde" (IV, 1439).

For nine stanzas he dwells on his potential desolation should Criseyde forsake him and displays little concern as to whether she might suffer from the trade as well (IV, 1436-98). He does not want Criseyde to abandon her plans but only to assure him that she will remain stead fast in her love for the Trojan prince. Troilus now behaves like Percival's maid, arguing against his lover's bold plan only to make her more resolved to carry it out. He succeeds, for Criseyde dismisses his worries, assuring him that she can achieve all that she has set out to accomplish. Thinking of the state of her city that "hath now swich nede / Of help" (IV, 1558-59), she chides Troilus for wanting to abandon his home, reminding him that he plays a vital role in his city's defense.

Concern for his city, however, does not motivate Troilus in his insistence that he and Criseyde run off; rather, his hesitancy to allow her to leave stems from his hitherto unwarranted fear that Criseyde will prove untrue. After Criseyde's eloquent argument, which included an impassioned declaration that she would remain constant in her love (IV, 1527-54), Troilus still asks her to leave with him: "But for the love of God, if it be may,/So late us stelen priveliche away;/For evere in oon, as for to lyve in reste,/Myn herte seyth that it wol be the beste." (IV, 1600-1604)

After listening to this plea, Criseyde finally experiences an awakening, realizing that her lover does not hold the values that she herself cherishes. She recognizes his plea stems only from jealousy and not from any noble concern for her or for their country's grave situation. Sighing with exasperation, she once again defends herself against the charge of infidelity: "I se wel now that ye mystrusten me, For by youre wordes it is wel yseene./Now for the love of Cinthia the sheene, Mistrust me nought thus ca?seles, for routhe,/Syn to be trewe I have yow plight my trouthe." (IV, 1606-10)

Criseyde now recognizes that Troilus, who had shunned jealousy during his earlier blissful state (III, 1805-6), has relapsed into a suspicious suitor, one who holds little faith in his love's sincerity. He has forgotten that the last time he questioned Criseyde's trustworthiness he nearly lost her favor (III, 1054-85). Troilus's hypocrisy at Criseyde's departure serves only to alienate her further and to make her resolve to return to Troy begin to evaporate. The Trojan prince not only refuses to heed Pandarus's advice and openly declare his love; he also feigns joy at the arrival of Antenor (V, 77). Even if he believed that openly expressing his love for Criseyde would imperil her, he need not seem joyous concerning the exchange. Criseyde does not mask her emotions so easily but instead weeps piteously as Diomede leads her away (V, 82). She feels distraught not only because she must leave Troilus and Troy but also because she now recognizes that she has misread her lover's nature.

Troilus's behavior undercuts the narrator's contention that the young prince refuses to act only because he fears some harm may befall Criseyde: But why he nolde don so fel a dede,/That shal I seyn, and whi hym liste it spare:/He hadde in herte alweyes a manere drede/Lest that Criseyde, in rumour of this fare,/Sholde han ben slayn; lo, this was al his care./And ellis, certeyn, as I seyde yore,/He hadde it don, wi thou ten wordes more.(V, 50-56) These assurances concerning Troilus's desire to behave valiantly seem to reflect anxiety on the part of the narrator, who suspects, perhaps, that he recounts not the tale of a hero but of a coward.

W. A. Davenport believes Troilus's poetic apostrophes to his lost love as he waits for her in Troy indicate that the young prince's despair is primarily a pose. Troilus's letters also reveal that he continues to play a role. These solipsistic missives to Criseyde seal his fate, for they leave no question that Troilus remains a courtly lover. He does not consider the needs of his auditor, for instead of tender, solicitous queries concerning the hardships she must have endured, he stresses his own affliction. Cox comments that "Troilus sings of his woe with little regard for Criseyde, . . . and his letter, . . . full of fin’amors platitudes, blames her for going to the Greeks."

As in Book I, where he allowed his misery to paralyze him, Troilus has succeeded in making himself overwrought. It is as if the communion he experienced with Criseyde in Book III never occurred, for the Trojan prince once again acts like the lovelorn suitor of a lady he scarcely knows, whom he can address only in the most artificial, contrived manner. Troilus pens his letter ostensibly to convince Criseyde to return to Troy. Such a demand, however, is absurd, and he knows it. He, who remained completely passive while the Trojans forced his love to leave, now expects Criseyde to risk her life by rushing across the battlefield to return to him. Even if she succeeded in reaching Troy, Troilus knows his father would send her back to the Greeks.

Troilus does not really expect Criseyde to reunite with him; rather, he expects her to behave like a proper lady and die for her love. One can speculate that he wants her to act like the nondescript tragic heroines in the Legend of Good Women, to pine away like Ariadne or to commit suicide like Dido. Such behavior would prove a fitting end for the object of Troilus's desire, enabling him to compose tragic lays about the death of his beautiful, beloved dame. Criseyde sees through Troilus's importunate letter, and, instead of playing the expected role of the bereft lady, she assumes the role of a courtly lover herself. As Davis notes, "when his [Troilus's] thou becomes an it, it rightly opts out." Criseyde might have risked her life or wasted away for the valiant Troilus of Book III, but she deems this poseur unworthy of such deep, abiding affection.

John McKinnell contrasts the structure of Criseyde's letter to Troilus's, noting that her epistle flows eloquently and follows the rules of artes dictamen. Criseyde's controlled prose reflects her nature; she will determine her own actions and certainly will not be dictated to by a man whose own convoluted letter displays an utter lack of composure or self-discipline. The time for impulsive behavior on the part of Troilus has passed. He should have displayed such passion when Criseyde was taken from him; he should have acted rashly when such behavior would have proved effective. Now his raving falls on deaf ears, and his former lover tersely retorts "Nor other thyng nys in youre remembraunce, / As thynketh me, but only youre plesaunce" (V, 1607-8).

In abandoning Troilus and accepting Diomede's suit, Criseyde behaves like a male lover jilting a woman with whom he has grown weary. Criseyde knows that men behave in this manner, for prior to accepting Troilus's advances, she complains about the faithlessness of men: "ek men ben so un trewe,/That right anon as cessed is hire lest,/So cesseth love, and forth to love a newe./But harm ydoon is doon, whoso it rewe:,For though thise men for love hem first torende,/Ful sharp bygynnyng breketh ofte at ende."(II, 786-91) Criseyde follows the consummate courtly lover's, Pandarus's, advice to Troilus, an act that leaves both uncle and lover astounded. Her behavior provokes Pandarus's violent exclamation "I hate, ywis, Cryseyde; / And, God woot, I wol hate hire evermore!" (V, 1732-33), as well as his wish that she will die soon, a desire to which Troilus, by not gainsaying, seems to give his silent assent.

Criseyde's unconventional behavior confounds the narrator as well. He cannot quite grasp why she gives Diomede Troilus's brooch, for instance, despairing that there "was litel nede" for such a deed (V, 1040). The narrator cannot admit that Troilus deserves to be abandoned by Criseyde, for to do so would be to recognize that he has recounted the story of a dithering, self-consumed man. By giving Diomede her brooch, Criseyde sends Troilus a clear message that no matter how much he rants and raves she no longer will accommodate his desires. She lets him know that not only does she refuse to return to Troy; she also refuses to waste away for love of him. Criseyde never wanted to involve herself in an affair constrained by the rules of courtly love, and she takes up with a new lover, who, like her, eschews such conventions.

Diomede's desire for Criseyde does not emasculate him, and he never complains of her cruel heart or hints that she causes him great pain. Instead, he treats her as his equal, engaging her in an intellectual conversation concerning the siege and seeking her opinion about the war: He gan first fallen of the werre in speche Bitwixe hem and the folk of Troie town;/And of th'assege he gan hire ek biseche To telle hym what was hire opynyoun. (V, 855-58) Diomede understands Criseyde's nature, for he recognizes that she is a woman interested in much more than silly love games. Instead of harping about himself, as Troilus tends to do, Diomede at least feigns empathy for Criseyde's plight, telling her he has noticed her sorrow and wondering if she laments a lost love (V, 871-82).

His concern indeed may be motivated merely by lust, but compared to Troilus's self pitying posturing, it strikes the Trojan beauty as a welcome change. In Criseyde's estimation, Diomede now seems much closer to the ideal she seeks than the Trojan prince, for Diomede pretends at least to admire both her beauty and her intellect. Indeed, Chaucer hints that Diomede may prove a much better match for feisty Criseyde than the young, oversensitive prince. The poet reveals that the Greek warrior and the Trojan beauty share the same pragmatic philosophy. Determined to court Criseyde, Diomede reminds himself that "he that naught n'asaieth naught n'acheveth" (V, 784). His words echo Criseyde's own, who, while contemplating Troilus's suit, mused that "'He which that nothing undertaketh, / Nothyng n'acheveth, be hym looth or deere'" (II, 807-8). Troilus, significantly, does not subscribe to this self-sufficient view.

Readers should not scorn Criseyde for turning toward Diomede. After being so bitterly disappointed in Troilus, who proved himself incapable of transcending the conventional, Criseyde continues to believe in the possibility of attaining the ideal in love. She may not remain loyal to a man who has failed her, but she does remain loyal to the notion of a healthy, wholesome love, a love based on mutual desire and a meeting of minds. Her passion for Troilus has changed her; she does not revert back to the cynical young widow of Book II, who regarded love as little more than a trap set by men. For one fleeting moment, Criseyde found her affair with Troilus liberating, because it enabled her to express and to sate finally her own desires. She embarks on a relationship with Diomede yearning to recapture the bliss that she once felt with her Trojan prince. Diomede, she hopes, will prove a more worthy recipient of her stalwart heart.

Troilus also finds himself altered by his love affair with Criseyde, but his transformation occurs only after his death. His demise releases him from the courtly love conventions that he found impossible to escape while on earth. In Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi describes the metamorphosis that occurs when her female students remove their mandatory black robes in the sanctuary of their professor's apartment. Freed from these black garbs, symbols of the repressive Iranian regime, they indulge in the luxury of laughter. Upon his death, Troilus finds himself similarly released from the strictures of his society. He can now shed his pose as a courtly lover, and, looking at the world from his heavenly perch, he too can laugh, both at his weakness in constantly allowing the values of the majority to dictate his actions and at the temerity of the woman he once loved, who refused to do so.”

- Mary Behrman, “Heroic Criseyde.”

[icasttourniquet]

Operation Eve, Part II: Secondary Assessment

Scenario

In Part I, Elyssa determined that her patient Babak, who fell off a cliff, isn’t about to die before her eyes, so now she begins her secondary assessment. First, she palpates his skull; checks behind his ears, under his eyes, and his pupils; and looks up his nose for secretions. Then, she gently presses against every part of his body, squeezing limbs with two hands and rolling a flat palm along all four quadrants of his abdomen.

Next, she takes and writes down his pulse. She checks that he has a radial pulse, which he does, and assumes that means his blood pressure is more or less okay. Finally, she counts how many times he breathes in a minute and writes that down as well.

She guides the friend on top of the cliff down to safety and asks for a SAMPLE history of her patient. When she gets to P, she strikes gold–she knows how she needs to help her patient.

Secondary Assessment

The secondary assessment is composed of three parts: 1) head-to-toe exam, 2) vitals, and 3) SAMPLE history.

Head-to-Toe Exam

During the head-to-toe exam, the responder tries to touch / look at every part of the patient. Your character doesn’t need to be an expert to perform one. They’re looking for some pretty obvious stuff, like, say, a bone sticking out of the body, a limb that’s bent wrong, or the patient yelling “ow ow ow!” when they touch that spot. Your character should also note any crepitus, which is a crunchy feeling when they press on a spot—in the words of Mod N’s instructor: “you’ll know it when you feel it.”

We don’t solve any problems during this stage—we’re not making a splint or anything until we’re finished, although I suppose if you found an arterial bleed at this stage, you’d treat that, but really, you should’ve noticed the growing pool of blood before now. There’s two exceptions to the No Problem Solving rule. One, if something feels weird or hurts, the responder should expose it to skin level. That’s how they can spot things like the bones sticking out or open wounds. Two, if a patient says “ow ow ow!” when you touch a spot, you should—shocker—stop touching that spot. (Spoiler: this includes when reducing dislocations! If your patient doesn’t want you jamming their shoulder around like that, you should stop! I’m looking at you, every movie with a shoulder dislocation in it).

If your character is a little more ~advanced~ they can look for Battle’s sign. Yes, that apostrophe is in the correct spot—some guy had the great fortune of being named Battle and he noticed that people with traumatic brain injuries often show characteristic bruising behind the ears. Not only does your character look like a real pro checking behind the ears, they will sound like a total badass if they start throwing around the phrase “Battle’s sign.” (Indeed, there’s nothing wrong with a character who just talks about Battle’s sign all day long—wait, I’m hearing that apparently there might be something wrong with a character like that… if you’re a coward). Have your responder take a gander at the bags underneath their patient’s eyes too—raccoon eyes can also indicate brain injury.

Since we’re already looking at the eyes, why not check out those pupils—here at ICT we try to support all types of pupils, but if they are differently sized, don’t respond to light, or not round, this is a cause for alarm. Why not have your character throw in a peek into the ears, just to check for any secretions too? Ears, you may have noticed, are generally dry. Seeing any liquid, of any color, leaking out of the ear is what we call a Bad Sign. The two most common ear secretions are blood (not ideal) and cerebrospinal fluid (very bad). If your character sees only red, they cannot breathe a sigh of relief because CSF has no color and almost always comes with blood. So, if you see blood, assume bad.

Vitals

There are three vitals that WFRs care about: pulse, breathing, and brain. Wise readers will see that these line up with our three critical systems from the last post, because for the most part, in the wilderness, we only care about three organ systems: the circulatory system, respiratory system, and nervous system. A doctor can mess around with livers and kidneys later.

Vital signs are the closest thing we have to x-ray vision in the wilderness. We want to know what your three (important) organs are doing and this is the best way to find out.

A normal pulse range is 60 – 90, higher for kids or people who just exercised. In general, we care about trends over time, so if the pulse started at 105 but stayed there for five hours, this isn’t too worrying. At the very least, your patient isn’t getting worse. If the pulse starts at a healthy 60 and then skyrockets to 105 and then plummets to to 20, this indicates the patient is probably dying.

A normal breathing range is 12 – 20 breaths per minute. Regardless of the number of breaths per minute, turning blue is not normal. A top secret trick your character might know if they have some training is to take breaths while keeping your finger on your patient’s pulse. As humans, if we think someone is paying attention to our breathing, we naturally start breathing weird. So, it’s better to let the patient think we’re still getting the pulse while we count breaths.

And for brain, your character can just check in on AVPU every so often to see if the patient is getting worse.

If you are a ~fancy~ WFR, you might also take blood pressure in the field.

Remember: normal is relative. If your character’s pulse is 40, but they say that’s totally normal for them, your responder would probably not be that worried.

SAMPLE History

Most medical problems cannot simply be solved by looking at the body. We need to ask the patient. Information like “I have crushing chest pain and, hey look, my doctor prescribed me nitro for just this eventuality,” or “I have terrible stomach and arm pain and also I am pregnant,” or “I have had many seizures before and this is what I need you to do to feel better” is game-changing, and the patient is the gate-keeper.

Let’s start with the S: Symptoms. This one’s easy: what hurts most? When did that start? Does anything make it better or worse? How would you describe this pain? (Mod N’s favorite question: If you had to make feel the same pain you are, what would you have to to do to me?) Anything else bothering you? Your character might remember what to ask by running through the acronym OPQRST, or they might just go with the flow in the moment.

Allergies. Another easy one: are you allergic to anything? What happens if you come into with that allergen? Is there any chance you came into contact with it recently?

Medication. While it is not the job of the EMT or WFR to keep track of medication interactions or prescribe anything, it’s important to know if your patient has medication that is useful in this situation or recently started or stopped medication. In one particularly embarrassing exercise, I spent about 10 minutes doing what was, in my defense, excellent PROP with someone having an asthma attack without once asking her if, perchance, she had an inhaler nearby. Don’t be like Mod E, folks—always ask if there’s an inhaler nearby.

Past Pertinent History. Has this every happened before? If your patient says yes, boom! We’ve suddenly got a subject matter expert on scene. We also want to hit on the DASH here: Diabetes, Asthma, Seizures or Stroke, and Heart Conditions. It never hurts to know your patient has diabetes. Indeed, if your character is travelling into the wilderness with someone, they may ask about the DASH before setting out.

Last ins and outs. When did you last eat and drink? How much and what? When did you last poop and pee? Was it… pretty normal for you? (Note: there is no non-awkward way to ask a stranger you found in the woods what their last bowel movement looked like).

If you think it’s relevant, when did you last menstruate? And let’s all remember, we don’t have x-ray vision, so the only way to rule out pregnancy is to ask. (Yes, even the guy with the big bushy beard—you can’t see his organs, so you don’t know if he has a uterus. If you can see his organs, what the heck are you taking a SAMPLE history for? You should be on the phone calling in a helicopter stat).

Events leading up to injury. What happened? With follow-up questions as necessary.

Scenario

“He has diabetes?” Elyssa asks Babak’s friend.

“Yeah, and he said he was feeling dizzy and light-headed before he fell.”

Elyssa, a seasoned professional, carries packets of sugar with her for just such a situation. She gently rubs them into Babak’s lips, monitoring his airway to make sure he doesn’t choke. 15 minutes later, Babak is sitting up and talking, and Elyssa can work with him and his friend on an evacuation plan.