#pneumo

[brinaarcadia]

They've cut the power on ya – you're stuck 'till the back-ups kick in. I'll help you hold 'em back! Check the pneumo!

[dionysus-complex]

.

[shogunish]

📣 PSA 📣

I GOT A NEW JOB AND CAN NOW QUIT BEING A NURSE, EVERYBODY SAY YAAAY 🥳✨

[juuheizou]

OHHHH MY GOD. So I’m watching ATLA and suzumutsu r soooo Kataang coded

Not even gonna lie I have a whole Firebender!Mutsu x Airbender!Suzu AU in the back burner of my mind and combing through my lost childhood memories of the show ultimately brought me to the conclusion that Zukaang is where it's at, but I do also see what you're saying.

[ladylazarusphd]

“Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow”

We get it Andrew, you like sweaty men. Please have ONE person proofread your new introduction tape before sending it out

[brittababbles]

Pneumonia (puh-nu-mo-nee-ah) and chihuahua (chee-hu-ah-hu-ah)

girls who learned all their vocab from books and are now constantly embarrassing themselves by pronouncing words slightly wrong in conversation

[abysskeeper]

"You're asking us to improperly aerosolize bacteria but sure, the paper towels stabilizing the culture is wrong"

[whumpypepsigal]

Chicago Med s09e10: “Probably not a tension pneumothorax.” — “Hemo pneumo. You're bleeding into your chest.”

[ereardon]

Golden Hour || Ch. 6

[Bob Floyd x Bradley Bradshaw x OC]

A Bob Floyd & Bradley Bradshaw AU [Hart of Dixie inspired]

Synopsis: Willow, Georgia. Barely even a town, just a speck on a map that you tried to wipe off, mistaking it for a crumb. You’re the outsider: a fancy New York doctor, fresh out of a failed engagement, with zero primary care experience. You’re also the new town doctor, taking over for a recent retiree who was beloved. His son, Bob Floyd, is the other physician at the practice, and takes an immediate dislike to you. But you were looking for a fresh start, and Willow doesn’t seem all that bad if you can get past the fact that there's only one restaurant in town. It helps that you've caught the eye of Bradley Bradshaw, the town attorney, despite the fact that you vowed to take a break from dating. How long until you start to make friends in a town where social circles have been set in stone since elementary school? And what will it take to make Bob Floyd see you’re not as bad as he wants to believe you are?

Pairing: Bob Floyd x OC; Bradley Bradshaw x OC

Tropes: Love triangle, enemies to lovers

Warnings: Alcohol, medical procedure/blood, hospitals

Chapter summary: Bob and Olive work together on a medical emergency; Olive wakes up in Bradley's bed; Bob's jealousy shines through

WC: 2.6K

Masterlist here; previous chapter here; next chapter here

The crowd parted like the red sea. You could feel the heat of their gazes as you and Bob rushed through the hallway into a conservatory, the glass ceiling soaring. In any other situation you would have marveled at it. 

But the man lying with his tie pulled loose on the floor was your main concern. 

You and Bob rushed to where he laid on the wood ground, one on each side. You leaned in, listening to his breaths as Bob asked, “What happened?” 

“He fell down those stairs.” An older woman pointed to the set of stairs along one side of the wall. “And we heard the crash and he was gripping his chest.” 

You looked at Bob. “Decreased breath sounds.” You took his limp wrist in your hand and felt for a pulse. It was buzzing. “Increased heart rate.” 

Bob’s eyebrows furrowed. “Mr. Flannery, it’s Bob. Can you tell us what you’re feeling?” 

On the ground, Mr. Flannery’s eyes fluttered open. His lips, a pale gray, parted, but no words came out. Just a raspy breath. You shook your head. “This isn’t a heart attack.” 

“Where did you say he fell?” 

Charlotte frowned. “Does it matter?” 

“Yes, Char, it does,” Bob snapped. “Did he fall on his chest or onto his back?” 

“His chest.” A boy in the back piped up. “I saw it but I was too late.” 

You and Bob looked at each other at the same time. “Pneumo,” you whispered. Bob nodded. “We need a knife, a sharp one, like a steak knife. And a bottle of vodka. And a straw.”

“What are you doing?” Mrs. Flannery asked, eyes wide 

“Ma’am, your husband has a collapsed lung.” You tied your hair up into a ponytail and pulled out a bottle of hand sanitizer from your purse, squirting it on your hands before passing it to Bob. “We have to drain the fluid from his chest to re-inflate the lung.” 

“You can’t be serious.” 

“It can’t wait.” Bob pulled off Mr. Flannery’s shirt buttons, exposing his bloated chest. “Here.” You handed him the bottle of vodka that someone had placed to your left. 

Bob shook his head. “I haven’t done surgery since med school rotations,” he said quietly. “This one is on you.” 

You sucked in a breath. “Call an ambulance, tell them we have a pneumothorax coming in and to prep for a chest tube.” Quickly, you dribbled the vodka over his chest, and over the steak knife before counting down from his collarbone. The room was quiet as the knife dug into flesh, blood pooling onto the skin as you pressed deeper before reaching for the thin cocktail straw, shoving it down into the space, the hiss of air re-entering the lung filling the room. You leaned back as Bob looked over at you from across Mr. Flannery’s body, a smile on his delicate face. You smiled back, looking up at Mr. Flannery’s wife. “He’s going to be fine.” 

“Thank Jesus,” she whispered, tears dotting her lash line. Outside, you saw the bright colors of the ambulance. “Oh my, that’s the paramedics.” 

You and Bob tended to Mr. Flannery as the paramedics got him cleaned up and on the stretcher. One of them frowned at you. “Did you do this?” 

“Yes.”

“Pretty advanced for a nurse.” 

You looked down at your white nurses outfit, now more realistically splattered with dark red blood. “Nurses are more capable than you think.” 

He shrugged, loading the stretcher and closing the back doors. You sagged against the wall, breath finally easing. Bob appeared at your side, holding out a wet towel. “Here.” 

“Thanks.”

“That was amazing.” 

You snorted. “No it wasn’t.” 

“Seriously, it was,” he replied. “You were so calm and deliberate. I couldn’t have done it.” 

“You could have and you would have.” 

Bob shook his head. “No. I haven’t cut in years. All I do is fill prescriptions, talk to people. Check for high blood pressure.” 

“That stuff is important.” 

“Not as important as surgery.” 

“You know just as well as I do that surgeons get a big head,” you said. “And it’s almost always for no good reason. They’re not better than anyone else. They just know how to do more with thread.” 

“Thank you. For stepping in and helping.” 

“That’s the job, right?” you asked. “Fix people. Even if we’re not fixable ourselves.” 

“Olive.” There was something sad in his voice. An inflection that caught you off guard. 

“I should go find Bradley,” you said quietly. 

Bob nodded. “Yeah, sure.” 

“I’ll see you later.” 

You could feel the heat of Bob’s eyes on you as you walked away. Inside, the party had mostly gone back to normal. You found Bradley in the main living room, a beer in one hand. His chocolate eyes lit up when he spotted you. “Doc! Heard about the save. You’re a small town hero.” 

You blushed. “This hero wants a drink.” 

“Wine coming right up.” 

“Make it tequila,” you said and Bradley raised an eyebrow. Across the room, Bob leaned across the door frame, eyes quietly watching. “The night is just getting started.” 

***

The light strained your eyelids as you opened them and winced. “Fuck,” you muttered. The pounding in your head was a thousand drum solos mixed over each other. 

You felt around for your phone and paused. The material beneath your fingertips felt different. Eyes opening, you looked around. You weren’t in the guest house. 

“What the hell?” you whispered, surveying the empty room. It was classically appointed: cream linen curtains, a lovely dark wood canopy bed, a cane dresser topped with a vase of flowers. You squinted. Where the hell were you? 

The door swung open and Bradley strutted in with a glass of water and a croissant. “Morning Doc.” 

You stared at him. He had on a pair of running shorts and a t-shirt. Bradley sat the items down on the nightstand to your right. 

“How are you feeling?” 

“Like death personified.” 

He chuckled. “Tequila will do that to you.” 

You looked around at the rumpled bed and then back at Bradley. “Did we, um?” Your hands flailed around and Bradley’s eyes went wide with recognition. 

He shook his head. “No ma’am.” 

“Thank God.” He laughed. “No offense,” you added quickly.

“None taken.” God, his voice was smooth and rough at the same time. Deep and luscious. “I don’t make a habit of sleeping with women who are entirely not in their right mind.” 

“How bad was I?” 

“Before or after you danced on the table?” 

“No I didn’t.” 

Bradley chuckled. “You did. Quite a show, Doc. I’m impressed.” 

You buried your head in your hands. “Oh my God, I have to move. Again. I’ll never live this down.” 

“You weren’t the only one,” Bradley added, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Bob also got quite hammered.”

“Really?” That piqued your interest. 

“Yup. Saw him going upstairs with Charlotte.” 

You grimaced. There was something about that girl, you couldn’t put your finger on it but you didn’t like her. “Good for them.” 

Bradley’s eyes searched yours for a moment, sensing your tone. But then he thought better of it and dropped it. He opened his mouth to say something as the doorbell rang. “I’ll be right back.” 

A few moments later, you heard the door open and voices in the front of the house. Curious, you slipped out of bed, head pounding, tiptoeing around the corner. Bob stood in the doorway. “Mr. Flannery is at Atlanta General,” he said. “I’m going later today, but the medical team there has let me know he’s stable.” 

You let out a sigh and both Bob and Bradley’s eyes turned to you. You froze as Bob’s blue eyes roamed over you: oversized t-shirt that you didn’t remember changing into, hair a mess, bare legs and feet. 

His face hardened. “Dr. James.” 

You stepped in closer. “So he’s doing fine?” 

Bob nodded. “Yes, no complications.” 

“I should go with you,” you said. “To the hospital to check on him.” 

“You look like you’ve got your hands full,” he said. There was a tightness to his words. 

You frowned. “He’s my patient, I’d like to check on him.” 

“Fine.” Bob stepped back. “I’ll see you there.” 

“You don’t want to drive together?” 

“I’m leaving now,” Bob said. “And you’re underdressed. Goodbye, Bradshaw.” He stepped off of the porch and was gone before you could respond. Bradley shut the door and you crossed your arms over your chest. 

“What’s his deal?” you asked. 

“Bob?” 

“He’s so hot and cold,” you replied. “Last night he was so nice to me after the procedure. And now he’s like this. I don’t get it.”

“He’s got a lot going on in his life,” Bradley said. “Don’t take it personally.” 

“I don’t see how I can’t,” you muttered. “Considering it’s me he’s being mean to.” 

“Come on Doc,” Bradley said gently. “Let’s have some coffee and maybe you’ll forget about Floyd.” 

“Doubtful,” you groaned, but allowing Bradley to steer you back into the bedroom. You settled into the bed and lifted the cup of coffee to your lips, sighing as you took a sip. “Fuck, that’s good.” 

He grinned. “Blue Bottle grounds. I order them from California.” 

“Maybe I need to start drinking my coffee here every day instead of Breakers.” 

“I’d like that.” You turned to Bradley, eyebrows raised. He shrugged. “Hey, you’re the one in my bed.” 

“You put me here!” 

He laughed. “You crawled in voluntarily. I know you didn’t ask but I’ll just let you know that I slept on the couch.” 

“Good to know.” You set the coffee cup down. “And the t-shirt I’m wearing?” 

Bradley held up his hands. “I set it out for you but you changed all by yourself.” 

“So what you’re telling me is you’re a real gentleman.” 

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all along, Doc.” 

You leaned back against the pillows. “Never did I think this is where my life would be.” 

“Enjoy it,” Bradley said. “Life is slow down here. It’s nice.” 

“Yeah,” you whispered. “It is nice.” 

***

“Dr. Olive James,” you said at the nurses station. “From Willow. I just wanted to check on a patient, Mr. Flannery?” 

“One moment, please.” You turned around, tapping your heel, waiting for the nurse on the phone while a group of EMTs rushed to the desk. “Dr. James? He’s in room 504.”

“Thank you.” You slung your purse higher over your shoulder. 

One of the EMTs squinted. “Hey, aren’t you that nurse from the party last night? The one who put in a temp chest tube?” 

You smirked. “Yes, I am. But that was a costume.” 

“What?” 

“I’m a double board certified surgeon and obstetrician,” you replied and the EMT’s eyes went wide. 

“Why’d you let me believe you were a nurse?” 

“Nothing wrong with being a nurse,” you replied. “I couldn’t do my job without nurses.” 

Upstairs, you exited the elevator and turned left. The astringent smell of the antiseptic and the flickering overhead lights brought you back to the hospital in New York. It felt wrong to be strutting down the hallway in pumps and a dress instead of scrubs and Hokas. 

“Hello?” You knocked on the open door. “May I come in?”

“Come in, sweetheart.” 

You rounded the corner. Mr. Flannery laid on the bed and his wife stood at his bedside. They smiled as you entered the room. “Hi. How are you feeling?” 

“Like a new man,” he said with a smile. 

“Dr. James.” Mrs. Flannery rushed to your side and grabbed your hands in her ice cold ones. “Thank you so much for saving my husband.” 

“No need to thank me,” you said. “It was nothing. Dr. Floyd helped as well.” 

“It was all you,” Bob said. You turned, eyes wide. Bob was sitting on a chair in the corner, one leg crossed over his opposite knee. 

You flushed. “Thank you. But I just wanted to drop by and check on how you’re doing.” 

“Doctor says I’m no longer at risk for an infection, and should be clear to leave tomorrow.” 

“Any complications?” you asked. “Difficulty breathing, racing heart rate. Feeling like you’re swimming underwater?” 

Mr. Flannery shook his head. “No, ma’am. Nothing like that.” 

You smiled. “Well, everything sounds good in that case. I’ll let you rest.” 

Just as you turned, Charlotte entered the room. Her tiny nose puckered up when she spotted you. “Dr. James.” It came out thin and judgy, just like she was. 

“Charlotte,” you replied. 

“Bobby.” She turned to Bob, voice raised a half an octave. “Do you want to get some coffee?” 

“I should be going,” he said, standing up. “I’ll see Dr. James out.” 

“Thank you again,” Mr. Flannery said. 

“Any time.” 

You and Bob headed for the door as Charlotte narrowed her eyes in the background. Even though he was two feet away you could almost feel the heat of his hand on your back the way it had been the night before at the party as he steered you through the crowd. A shiver slipped down your back. 

It was a silent walk down the hallway. Hospitals had a certain smell, feel. You could practically hear codes calling, beepers buzzing. A part of you longed for it. The rush. The adrenaline. The sleepless nights. The sound of a newborn baby’s cries. The steady beep as a ventilator was shut off before silence eclipsed a room. 

Bob stopped at his car parked in the front row. “So are you and Bradley a thing?” he asked. 

You frowned. “What? No, we’re just friends.” 

Bob snorted. “Friends, sure. I also have friends who sleep at my house wearing only a t-shirt.” 

“I heard you slept with Charlotte last night.” It slipped out of your mouth, hot like fire. 

Bob looked taken aback. “What? No, I didn’t.” 

“Oh really? Because I heard you went upstairs together.” 

“Only because she was distraught,” he said. “And I had to put her to bed.” 

“Yeah, sure.” 

“Do you care?” Bob asked. Those three words made your throat close up. 

“No,” you said after a moment. “Why would I?” 

“I don’t know,” he said, head tilted to one side. “Seemed like you do.” 

“You’re the one who asked about me and Bradshaw first.” 

“He’s my friend,” Bob replied. 

“Mine too.” 

Bob’s eyes narrowed. He unlocked his car. “I’ll see you at the office, Dr. James.” 

“Dr. Floyd,” you replied as he opened the door. 

Walking away, you felt a gnawing at your stomach. The trip to the hospital had reminded you of everything you had left behind in New York. There was a bustle to Atlanta General. An air of anxiety that you thrived on. 

But it wasn’t just that. It was watching Bob drive away. Something he had said sat heavy on your chest. 

Do you care? 

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[macgyvermedical]

Wilderness / low-resource medicine question: What can be done about misaligned/displaced broken ribs when surgery is not going to be available for a while (if at all)?

It takes a LOT of force to cause a rib fracture to become displaced, if only because there is a lot of muscle and other ribs that naturally form a nice splint. The presence of displaced rib fractures indicate that so much force was applied to the chest that there is probably significant damage below the surface.

This damage includes severely bruised or even punctured lung, pneumo- or hemothorax (blood or air building up in the chest cavity), pericardial effusion (buildup of fluid around the heart that puts pressure on it so it can't beat well), and depending on where the impact occurred, damage to the big bleedy organs (liver or spleen).

For this reason, the presence of multiple displaced rib fractures would be a "go fast" situation (usually a helicopter evacuation if one was available).

There's not a ton you can do about internal injuries in a wilderness setting. If you happen to have a 14g IV catheter and someone trained at the paramedic level they might be able to do a "chest dart" for a pneumothorax, but other than that, everything else needs surgery or something that's impossible to do without at least an EKG available.

The only thing you really can do at a lower level of training is to tape a bulky dressing snugly over the ribs. This can be a pillow or folded blanket taped just over the area of injury (not all the way around the chest). This helps decrease pain and makes breathing easier.

After this, treatment would be using any pain medication that is available (except aspirin, due to bleeding risk), encouraging the person to breathe as deeply as possible, and getting them out of the wilderness.

[shadowphoenixrider]

Skin Deep (2/2)

(Continuation to this. I hope you like dialogue because, erm, there's a lot of it here! Also forgive me for my first attempt are writing...most of the X-Men here! I'm doing my best! Medical descriptions continue, but with less blood this time.)

"So, Hank, tell us what you've discovered of our new friend's mutant powers." Professor Xavier said, gesturing for the doctor to speak.

"Shadow's power are utterly fascinating!" Beast replied excitedly, glancing briefly to the young woman sitting on the medical cot, before addressing the others that had gathered in equal curiosity; Wolverine and Rogue stood either side of the professor, whilst Gambit leaned up against the wall, shuffling his cards to keep his hands busy.

"She has the gift of cellular communication and manipulation; not to the extent of being able to shapeshift, but it seems she is able to perform manipulations on the micro-level to command cells to move, divide and perform all their specialised functions as they have evolved to do. Indeed, she is so in tune with them, she can process information from them as if they were her own; sometimes even more efficiently than normal."

"How so?" Xavier asked, steepling his fingers.

"Cells in our bodies communicate by the use of biochemical signalling." It was Shadow who spoke this time. "With the exception of nerve cells, which use the changes in their membrane potential - a form of electrical charge - to transmit electrical signals, usually by the use of voltage gated ion channels."

"Fucking hell, now there's two of them." Wolverine groaned, and Gambit had to suppress a smirk.

"I can control these signals myself, but I also seem to be able to...streamline them? I can make things happen much more quickly than what a human or mutant's body could do alone." Shadow nodded to Gambit. "A pneumothorax-"

"A pneumo-what?" Rogue frowned. "English please, sugah."

"Pneumothorax - 'air in chest'." Shadow explained. "It's when air becomes trapped in the pleural sac that wraps around the lungs to keep them lubricated, and avoid friction from rubbing against the ribs as they inflate and deflate. Usually those of the size I found in Gambit's require a drain, but I managed to eliminate it just by speeding the process of the reabsorption of air into the surrounding tissues."

"Not only that, but the wound you repaired." Beast gestured. "Gambit, if you'd be so kind to show the rest of us your right palm."

Gambit tugged his glove off, opening his hand up to the others as they leaned over.

"There's nothing there, sugah." Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Sure you're not jokin' with us?"

"Non, there definitely were something here, mon amie." Gambit said. "Made a mistake wit one of my cards durin' de scuffle, cut my hand open pretty bad. Couldn't move my fingers dat well after. Like they be caught on something."

"It was a deep laceration with an injury to a palmar digital vein and a seventy-five percent division of the extensor tendons." Shadow added. "A repair that would have certainly required surgery and several months of hand therapy to heal properly."

Wolverine uttered a low whistle. Gambit found himself flexing his fingers. No wonder she was so intent on healing me. That fils de putain nearly disabled me for months!

"And yet there's not a mark to be seen." Xavier commented, rubbing his chin. "How does it feel, Gambit?"

"Like before it were hurt." He replied, spinning a card expertly through his fingers to demonstrate. "Wouldn't have believed it myself if Gambit didn't see it happen wit his own eyes." He looked to Shadow, offering her a smile. She returned it with a shy one of her own, ducking her head.

"I've told you how the scene looked when Wolverine and I got there, Professor." Heads turned to see Cyclops walking into the medbay. "Yet Gambit was completely fine. Shadow's power seems to be like Wolverine's healing on tap."

"Glad you could join us, Cyclops." Xavier smiled. Gambit noticed movement out of the corner of his eye; Shadow had tilted her head in the very same motion she had when they'd first met. "Yes, I remember your description of the scene. It is very fortunate Gambit crossed paths with someone with such gifts."

"Petite?" The Cajun asked, shifting attention once again. Shadow's blue eyes flicked back and forth a moment, thinking.

"You've got a cut, Cyclops," she said. "I think it's...your left hand?"

Everyone's gaze swung back to said mutant, who looked taken aback.

"I...I do. I got a papercut a couple of minutes ago. How did you-"

"Ya hearin' something," Gambit's eyes fixed on Shadow, realization dawning, "aren't you?"

She blushed, looking away and scratching at the back of her neck.

"Yeah." Her gaze returned, although now she was looking at her feet dangling off the edge of the cot, her hand playing with her hair. "It's...a part of my power. When hurt or damaged, cells release a chemical signal to call for assistance. For some reason, I can hear it. The stronger the sound, the more the person is hurt."

"Extraordinary!" Beast breathed.

"Lotta people hurt in lotta differn' ways. Bein' able to hear all that, all the time? That sounds a pretty noisy life, sugah." Rogue said gently.

"Yes and no." Shadow admitted. "It seems to be just for recent traumatic injuries than anything chronic like cancer. But..." She wrapped her arms around herself. "You're right. I've had to learn to tune it out sometimes. Especially in crowded places, but also..." Her fingers curled into her hoodie. "People get weird sometimes when you offer to help. You know?"

No-one had to say anything, or even nod to understand. Even the mutants who could pass knew the tightrope you had to walk, not to hint or suggest you were something else, an 'other'. Regardless of the comfort in your own skin, the danger remained in the back of your head.

"I am sorry your gifts have brought you sorrow." Xavier spoke kindly.

"Thank you, but I'm one of the lucky ones." Shadow replied, smiling sadly. "It's easy enough to hide, and it doesn't give me too many problems."

"Now hold on a second." Wolverine spoke up. "If it's easy to hide, why'd you get attacked in the first place?"

"The sound I hear when someone's in pain is like tinnitus - a ringing tone." Shadow explained. "But I heard a completely different noise, like the signal was going in and out." She sighed, running a hand through her curly hair. "I got curious, followed it to the source, which was the guy with a gun welded to his arm." A wry smile. "I asked if he was doing ok, and he took offence. You know the rest."

"The cybernetics were extremely crude." Beast mused, scratching his chin. "You were likely hearing his body under stress, reacting to the foreign matter forcibly bonded to it."

"Den you were in the wrong place at the wrong time." Gambit shook his head, twirling a card over his fingers. "Lucky I were dere, petite."

"Yes." Cyclops folded his arms. "Though it sounds like he would have attacked anyone, mutant or otherwise. He just got 'lucky'."

"That's not exactly comforting, Slim." Was Wolverine's gruff response.

"At least this escalation appears restricted to a single person." Xavier spoke calmly. "A dangerous extremist that we managed to stop before he could cause any damage."

"Gambit beg to differ." The Cajun grumbled.

"What've you gotta worry 'bout?" Rogue grinned at him, thumping him on the shoulder almost hard enough to knock him to the side. "She fixed you right up!"

"Dat don't mean it didn't hurt de whole time!" He retorted, shooting her a look. She just replied with a raised eyebrow, amused. "'Sides, dat fight be harder den Gambit expecting." He frowned, looking back to the professor. "If dey start figurin' out how to wire dose blasters up, we're gon' be in a lotta trouble."

"Indeed." Xavier nodded. "However, we are getting off subject." He turned back to Shadow and Beast. "You clearly have some control over your powers, but I am curious of the limits of your potential. I presume you've never used them in anger?"

"No." Shadow shook her head. Gambit raised an eyebrow, watching her carefully.

Lying...? He wondered.

"I can't manipulate cells beyond one or two in a pteri dish without having direct skin-to-skin contact with them, and it takes a while to establish the connection with another's body." Shadow continued. "And that's not easy to do when they are other things going on - people throwing hands at you tends to disrupt your concentration."

The Cajun's dark gaze flicked to Xavier, wondering if he sensed the same thing he had. The Professor may have the clarity of a telepath, but Gambit had read more than enough people to sense something was off. His gut told him there was something she wasn't telling them. But what, he had no idea.

"I get the impression that our friend has learned to control her mutation, yet little more." Beast suggested. "Do you practice your powers at all, Shadow?"

"On myself, yeah. I use them when no-one's looking, to heal bumps and scrapes." She folded her arms. "Hard to practice on others though, without revealing myself."

"I can imagine it's not an easy thing to ask someone." Cyclops said. Gambit traced the edge of the card he was holding, recalling the strange feeling of someone under his skin.

"No. Nor easy to explain." Shadow sighed, her hands fidgeting with her sleeves. "I was lucky I had an understanding partner for a while, who let me practice on him."

Gambit saw Rogue cross her arms from the corner of his eye, sadness flashing across her face for a moment.

"What happened to him?" She asked softly. Shadow's shoulders slumped.

"Things fell apart. He loved me for who I was...but he wanted that part of me to stay a neat party trick, something to put on the shelf that only the two of us could use as an asset." She scowled. "There were other problems, that of two high school sweethearts growing up and away from one another, but it was my powers that broke us in the end. Because they can be safely ignored, he wanted me to just put them aside and concentrate on marrying, settling down and having babies together. As if my powers aren't a part of me like my eyes or lungs or hair!"

Her lips curled into a furious snarl, eyes flashing with boiling resentment.

"I have a power that doctors could only dream of having, something that could help, and instead he just...wanted me to forget about it, pretend to be normal!" The anger soon broke however, and a thickness entered her voice. "I'll never be normal. And after everything we'd both been through, I thought he'd understand that better than anyone."

Shadow chuckled bitterly.

"Not that it really matters now, though. Even if they'd let me practice as a mutant, I never could pass the tests needed to qualify as a proper clinician." She glanced up at Beast, who offered her a sympathetic smile. "Had to go for a lab tech job instead. I figured maybe my ability could still help with diagnostics if I was careful and could back my reports up with evidence. Tilt the needle more in the patient's favour, you know?"

"I sense a 'but' coming." Cyclops said what Gambit was thinking. Shadow blew a sigh out of her nose.

"Everything was fine for a while. Then, I'm three days into my annual leave and I get a call saying they're tacking three months of administrative leave onto the end of it." She ran a hand through her hair. "One of the techs got his thumb up his ass about me 'potentially' being a mutant. Overheard me talking to myself and thought it was good grounds to start shit."

"I presume this had nothing to do with your ability, since you can communicate with cells silently." Beast spoke, a claw tapping his chin in thought.

"No, nothing to do with my power. Sometimes I just talk to myself to help me think through a problem. Or just inanimate objects in general. It's just a thing I've always done since I was a child, nothing to do with being a mutant." She lifted a shoulder. "Maybe something I said in my ramblings could have been suspicious? But at the same time, how do you prove that I'm actually speaking to something to communicate, over just plain eccentricity?"

"People like those see mutants in every corner." Wolverine grunted. "Woulda only been a matter of time."

"Yeah, I guess so." Shadow agreed, briefly pulling her lips into a thin line. "So, yeah. Signed off work 'cos of some asshole, and now I potentially have a hate group gunning for me too." She rested her elbows on her knees, her forehead on her knuckles. "Deep joy."

"You have my deepest sympathies, Miss Shadow." Beast spoke, resting a massive hand delicately onto her shoulder. "But, if we may return to the subject of your current power and limitations?" She looked back up, nodding. "Thank you. I have reason to believe that whilst you have a good grasp on your powers right now, their greater depths are as of yet untapped. You should be able to refine them in multiple ways; offensively, defensively and as a general utility, both for yourself and others."

"I figured as much myself." Shadow said. "I've been able to exceed my body's normal limits temporarily by some subtle manipulations, but it's difficult to maintain due to the damage it causes. Such as lifting the control limts on my muscles - I could use them to their full potential to lift a car, but it requires focus first to lift the limits and keep them off, and then to endure and heal the damage suffered from such an act."

"That could improve with time and training." Beast replied. "As you well know, you wouldn't be able to heal as you do without practice, or be able to tune the sounds of hurt from others out."

"I am curious as to your current limitations of your healing." Xavier spoke, and Gambit felt the telepath's gaze on him. "You said you can only use it with skin-to-skin contact?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I need it to be able to commune with another person's cells and form the connection into their body. It's like I have to move my consciousness into the person, and that's what takes the time. Of course, if the injury is in just one area, like the arm, it's quicker for me to connect with that area than it is to fully 'move' into another's body."

Gambit paused his card shuffling, interest piqued fully.

"Interesting. From what Gambit told me of what happens, it seems as if your body enters a trance - still alive and functioning, but your mind elsewhere."

"Yeah. I kinda...'lose' connection with my own body temporarily, especially if I fully 'move' into another's. But it's more a case that I don't notice what my body's feeling - not that I've actually moved inside the person."

"So if your body was to be hurt or the connection broken..." Beast mused.

"I'd be ripped back into myself." Shadow said, winding one of the drawstrings of her hoodie around her finger. "Had it happen a couple of times by accident, and it's always unpleasant. It takes me a couple of seconds to adapt to a person's body when I enter and then readapt to my own when I return - you can imagine that a jarring re-entry doesn't exactly make me feel very good."

"No, it doesn't." Xavier agreed. Gambit lifted an eyebrow. Getting forced out of someone's head must feel the same way for the Professor and Jean.

"What's it like, bein' under someone's skin?" It was Rogue who spoke this time.

"Loud." Shadow chuckled. "Bodies are a riot of noise, both from cells talking to one another to just the general sounds like the heart beating, breathing, all that." Her eyes became far away, flicking back and forth in thought. "It...is hard to explain. It's like I become someone else, but I'm not them. I'm...I'm like a house guest. I can listen to their music, move their furniture around and stuff like that, but it's not my house."

"Sounds 'bout right." Gambit chimed in. "Feels like dere someone under your skin wit you."

"Brrr," Rogue shivered. "Don't like the sound of that, sugah."

"Yeah, it a weird feelin' at first. But after a while you get used to it. It don't hurt, it just...uncomfortable. Least to begin with."

"That's pretty much how my ex described it." Shadow nodded. "Uncomfortable and weird, but not painful. I can understand why people wouldn't enjoy the experience, nor the thought of having someone with near free reign over the most precious thing to them."

"Near free reign?" Xavier asked, his brows furrowing. "You don't have full control?"

"No." Shadow shook her head. "Like I said, I'm a guest. I've not yet been forcibly evicted by someone on purpose, but they still have full control of their body whilst I'm inside them. Anything I do, the person could fight back against me."

"Did dat when Gambit felt his fingers move without him." The Cajun added. "Her grip strong, but not complete."

"With enough strength and contrary directions, a person can overpower me." Shadow said. "I mean, all it would take is for someone to sock me in the jaw and I'm flung straight out." She turned her head slightly, looking thoughtful. "I also...have rules."

"Rules?" Gambit's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Technically I have control over every cell in the body. That includes brain cells." A sudden tension tightened the air. "I don't think you need me to tell you what that means, even over the fact I can already technically puppeteer a person if I wanted to." Shadow slowly raised her gaze to the others, meeting their eyes and holding them firmly.

"I don't know what I can do in that regard, I don't want to know, and I never will know." She spoke firmly, with conviction. "It is my one unwritten master rule I follow above all others - I will never touch or interfere with another's cognition or will or anything to do with the brain. Partially because it is wrong, and partially because I'm shit scared about how badly I could fuck someone up if I make a mistake. Help someone suffering a stroke, sure - that's just a blood vessels, I know how they work. But I will never, never touch the brain tissue itself."

Gambit considered her, impressed both with the heated force behind her words, and the fact she'd shown her hand in this way. It would have been easy to lie by omission, and yet here she was, highlighting how much trust he'd laid into her hands. He'd essentially given himself to her like a patient gave themselves to a surgeon, and like that surgeon, she'd repaid his trust only by taking care of him. No more, no less.

"An admirable code to live by." Beast said softly. "Your own Hippocratic Oath."

"I try to follow that too." Shadow said. "'Do no harm'."

The doctor gave her a wry smile.

"The Hippocratic Oath is a little more lengthy than that, but the colloquial version will be more than enough for your needs, I think."

"Words don't give me much comfort, sweetheart." Wolverine growled. "We just have to trust that you won't mess with our heads?"

"You wouldn't need Shadow's help anyway." Gambit countered. "You heal jus' fine on ya own."

"That may be Cajun, but what about the others who need her help? What about you?"

"She looked after me well enough."

"You don't have to trust me." Shadow retorted, pulling herself up to her full height. "Like I said, I wouldn't be able to heal you anyway if the contact wasn't fully consensual. Besides," she gestured broadly. "the fuck am I gonna do? I'm useless unless my hands are on someone's skin! I don't even know how to fight! I have nothing to gain except a grave."

"We are getting ahead of ourselves." Xavier spoke with steely firmness, fixing Wolverine with a glare. "You are assuming that Shadow will even stay with us."

Wolverine grunted, folding his arms but offering no further objection.

"But Professor, that is your preference, isn't it?" Cyclops piped up. "For Shadow to stay whilst we investigate the Friends of Humanity member that attacked her?"

"It is my recommendation, yes." Xavier agreed, turning to the young woman. "If you stay, you can train and refine your powers, and perhaps learn some techniques to help keep yourself safe when you leave us in the future. This will not be a permanent placement, unless you wish it to be." His ice blue eyes shot another glare at Wolverine. "Regardless of current opinion."

"Still don't like it." Said mutant grumbled.

"Why is her powers differen' to what the Professor an' Jean can do?" Rogue asked, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow. "They could do much worse, but we're fine with them! Ah, no offence, Professor."

"None taken, Rogue."

Wolverine growled in frustration, scowling.

"Fine. But if she stays, I'm keeping an eye on her."

"That's fair." Shadow nodded. "So long as you'll at least grant me that chance for a scrap with you if I do screw up, and you don't just off me whilst I'm sleeping."

"Thought you said you couldn't fight?"

"I can't." She smiled, holding her hands out. "I just prefer to be stabbed in the front, not the back."

Despite himself, a smile tugged on the corner of Wolverine's mouth, and also on Gambit's.

"Does that mean you've made a decision, Shadow?" Xavier asked.

"Yeah." She nodded. "I'll stay for a little while. Least 'til the heat dies down from those guys, and my job lets me back in."

"A fair agreement." Xavier smiled slightly. "There are some spare dorms for you to stay in, and we can help make arrangements to move some of your personal belongings here, if you wish."

"I'll go and sort that, Professor." Cyclops spoke, taking his leave.

"I'll let the others know we got a new guest." Rogue added, offering a smile to Shadow. "Welcome to the family, sugah."

"Now, to more prudent matters," Xavier began, "whilst you are our guest here, you will be expected to pick up your side of the tasks here, as well as train. This is a school, not a hotel."

"Wasn't expecting a free hand-out." Shadow replied, looking to Beast. "I'm happy to help as best I can, and I'll try to keep out from under your feet otherwise."

"I am certainly grateful for another pair of hands." The doctor grinned at her.

"Good." Xavier said, becoming thoughtful. "Did you say you were expecting to be on leave for three months?"

"Round about, yeah. I have one week of annual leave, then the admin leave starts." Shadow snorted. "Least I should be grateful they let me keep the holiday..."

"Alright. Then we will make the necessary arrangements to accommodate you." Xavier turned. "Please come with me, Shadow. We'll sort out the details in my office."

The young woman nodded, hopping off the medical cot to follow closely behind. Gambit watched her go, sharing a quick smile with her before his gaze became a little more intent than he expected; whilst Shadow's hoodie was baggy and hid much of her form, her jeans absolutely did not. He found his gaze wandering down her back to her hips and legs, lingering to watch her thighs flex under the denim-

Wolverine elbowed him in the ribs.

"Put your tongue back in your mouth, Cajun." He grunted, a smirk playing on his gruff features. "She's not on the menu."

"Gambit can appreciate fine art without havin' to touch it, mon ami." He retorted, glaring. "'Sides, thought ya didn't like her."

"Hmph. Maybe she's not a threat. But still gonna keep an eye on her, just in case." Gambit folded his arms, raising an eyebrow. "Don't give me that look. You shouldn't be getting ideas either way; she'll be gone after those three months, anyway."

It turned out that Shadow would stay for much, much longer than that...

[darknessawaits28]

Escape From Rapture {Bioshock Series} Part 1

Hello my lovies! Hope you are having a wonderful day! I wanted to give yall another different story that was requested. It will be based on the Bioshock universe with a little bit of a twist. It will be split into two to three parts, so stay tuned for Part 2 and Part 3 in the upcoming days! Hopefully you enjoy my lovies! Thank you all for your love and support! Stay awesome! :3 :3

The storyline was provided by @tim-ribbert-56, make sure to give them a follow! :3

Storyline:

So I got an interesting multi part story in the bioshock universe set two years before the events of the first bioshock

So set in 1958, the multi part story focuses on a woman called Susan who's been hiding ever sense raptured had fallen its been difficult for her especially trying to avoid splicers she hides in the luxury swimming area where she's been using it has a sort of make shift hide out

One day, she comes across a plasmid that she has never even heard of before the shrink plasmid it allows the user to shrink at will to any size they choose from the size of a doll to the size of a child or mouse. She's a little unsure if she wants to use it as she knows the effect plasmids have on humans, but she hasn't had her food supply, which has been low, and she's very hungry has her stomach growls so reluctantly she jabs the plasmid into herself as her body feels strange at first nothing happens but then she begins to shrink in a spurts as her swimsuit feels until she's the size of a doll buried under her swimsuit

She's amazed that the plasmid even worked and eats the now large food around her she tests to see if she can be returned to normal size, which works but the process takes time as she's now the size of a little sister still she's happy with the results

Over the next few days, she uses her shrinking abilities to her heart content as she uses it to sleep on a large pillow, wear children's clothes, and grow back if she ever has back pain however she notices she's been having nose bleeds which starts to worry her so when she reads the label sayings "warning this product has not been tested yet" which horrifies her as she just realised she inadvertently poisoned herself the label reads "Made by Dr Carol" she then heads off to find this Dr Carol and hopefully find a cure however things will gey very scary and complicated for her

Part 1: The Plan To Escape

Somewhere, beyond the sea…..somewhere….waiting….f-f-f-for m-m-meeee; The sound of music could be heard playing across the dilapidated halls, a beautiful woman with greenish hair and a bloody stained dress slowly walking forward with the utmost caution she could muster.  

“Well, well, well, look who we have here….a girly trying to get all my Adam!” A manic woman laughed as she pulled out her hooks.

“Shit!” the other woman spoke as she grabbed her pistol and began to fire at the deformed woman. Using some of her reflexes, she dodged the hooks that were being thrown at her, trying not to get hit with those ridiculously sharp things. Within minutes, she was able to take down the woman, panting heavily as a result.

“Susan, come in susan” A voice spoke through a radio that Susan had in her pouch.

“Yeah, Sam I’m here.”

“Phew, I thought you were a goner, I didn’t hear back from ya and thought that one of those bastard splicers took ya down.”

“Heh, I’m not that easy to take down Sam” She chuckled, reloading her pistol and then turning towards the direction she was previously headed.

“That’s good to know, are you headed back to your hideout?” 

“Yeah, I need to rest up and eat, I haven’t had anything to eat for hours and my stomach is growling.” 

“You know I can send you food through the pneumo if you want, but I can only send a few things, otherwise I’m going to starve.” 

“Sure, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course not, I’ll send it to you right away, talk to you soon” Sam spoke softly through the radio before hanging it up to send her some food. 

The minute that Sam hung up, she entered the swimming pool area and headed towards the lounge area, a million thoughts running through her head on how she was going to escape this nightmare. She was thankful however that she managed to make the lounge area into a cozy little home for herself, something to keep her safe and secure for the time being. The swimming pool was her life and blood, when the city was booming and filled with life, she would always come here to do laps (still does), but now it was in ruin. Andrew Ryan screwed up everything the minute he asked the scientists to create Adam to rewrite our genetic code, giving us the ability to become gods in a sense. As Susan shook her head at the thought, she walked over to the round booth that was her ‘bed’ in a sense, grabbing a snack on the way there. “I guess time to hit the sack, get some rest before I go out again to find more food and see if I can get the hell out of this damn city” she yawned, slowly laying down and curling up close to the curtains, using them as blankets. 

I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? 'No!' says the man in Washington, 'It belongs to the poor.' 'No!' says the man in the Vatican, 'It belongs to God.' 'No!' says the man in Moscow, 'It belongs to everyone.' I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture. A city where the artist would not fear the censor. Where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality. Where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well. A man chooses……..a slave obeys……

Susan gasped as she quickly woke up, panting heavily, touching her face to feel it wet. Slowly glancing up, she saw that there was water leaking directly from above her, a low grumble escaping her lips. “Of course, everything in this city is going to shit” she sighed, rubbing her eyes gently. She then glanced over to the swimsuit she had laying on the table. “Let me go for a swim to clear my head from that….nightmare.”

Within a few minutes, Susan had slipped on her swimsuit and began to do a few laps in the pool. ‘A man chooses….a slave obeys…’ those words kept repeating inside her mind, as if it was an indication of a memory that she had forgotten. “What does that mean?” She sighed, finally finishing her laps, and getting out of the pool, using her clean towel to dry herself off until she heard scattering of feet and little laughs coming from the door that led to the swimming pool. 

With quick movements she ran into the lounge area, drying herself as fast as possible, slipping on her clothing, and then grabbing her pistol, readying herself to fight the intruders. 

“I heard some splashes, I know someone was here” The male splicer told his two other companions who nodded, trying to scan for any movement.

“Maybe they got some food, we gotta kill them!” the other male splicer growled as he began to trash the place a bit more than it already was.

“I’m going to the lounge, I need to go to the ladies room” The woman splicer laughed arrogantly as she walked towards the door and waited for it to slide up, once it did, she entered the lounge, finding it quite ‘clean.’ “Hmm, hello” she called, looking in all directions for any sign of life and movement.

Susan, hiding behind a corner, heard the woman splicer calling out for anyone who was around. Giving a quick glance, she saw the woman splicer walking towards the ladies room, a smirk appearing across Susan’s lips as she rushed towards the room. Once she entered, she snuck up behind the splicer, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

“Hmm, I am the most beautiful” The woman splicer chuckled, walking over to the mirror and checking her mutated face. 

“Gotcha!” Susan chuckled quietly, wrapping her arm around the splicer’s neck and began to choke her out.

Sounds of gagging and heavy breathing came from the woman splicer as she struggled against Susan’s strength. “Arghh!”

“Shhh that’s it, don’t worry, you’re going to a nice place now” Susan whispered, slowly going down to her knees as she set the woman splicer down. “Now to check the swimming pool.”

“Where’s Delia, she said she was going to the ladies room to freshen up and she hasn’t come back yet?”

“Well go find her and stop lollygagging!” The male splicer growled as he walked over to a bunch of old cans, trying to see if there were any unopened ones that he could possibly eat.

“Psh, fucking asshole” The other splicer growled as he turned around and headed towards the lounge but was surprised with a bullet to the head. 

“What the hell!?” the male splicer that had been looking at the cans said in shock as he straightened his posture and turned around to find a green haired woman standing by the lounge door. “You bitch!” he shouted as he grabbed his gun and began to fire at her.

Susan, quickly dodging the bullets, went behind a pillar by the swimming pool, reloading her gun once again and then moving around from cover, shooting back at him.

“Come onnnn!” the male splicer yelled as he decided to grab a rusted pipe and charged towards Susan.

“Oh my gosh!” Susan gasped as she began to run out of the swimming pool area and headed outside, finding a good spot and then shot the splicer right through the head. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she approached the downed splicer, kicking his body to make sure he was dead. “Damn…that’s just great…..my hideout is compromised” she growled angrily, putting her pistol away in her pouch and then glanced over at the pneumo, seeing that it had a package. 

Grabbing her radio, she contacted Sam, “Hello, Susan, you okay?”

“Yeah, hey Sam, wanted to send my thanks for the food you sent over in the pneumo ” she chuckled, grabbing the package and seeing the enormous amount of food he had given her.

“Oh of course, hope you enjoy it, gave you some nice delicacies in there.”

“Also uh another thing…”. 

“Uh oh, what happened?”

“My hideout has been compromised and….I know there is no other place left in this city that is safe.” “So….I am going to ask the same question I asked a million times before….did you find a functional bathysphere?”

“Damn I’m sorry about that…but um….yeah…so the….you’re uh….well…”. 

“Spit it out Sam!” Susan nearly shouted, her body already becoming tense because who knows if she was going to be able to leave the city unharmed. 

“Hey, hey, hey, take it easy.” “I’m just….trying to keep you safe….the only functional one left in this part of the city is behind rubble and water, the only way that you are going to be able to fit inside of it is to have a big daddy suit and to have a shrinking plasmid.” “As of now, both locations of those things are unknown to me.”

“Shit…” Susan pushed her back against the wall in disbelief. “Wait, wait, wait, I can ask Diana fox in the medical district, I know she goes all across the city trying to find cures for Adam poisoning, she must know where that shrinking plasmid is.” “And who knows, maybe she can lead me in the direction of the big daddy suit I can wear too.”

“I would be cautious in talking with Diana, Susan, I heard she had a few screws loosened in her brain a while back.”

“Oh Sam you’re just exaggerating, Diana and I go way back, we used to be friends.”

“Okay, whatever you say, just be careful, I’m sending you a shotgun through the pneumo, you’re going to be entering the garden district, I am sure that Diana loves to hang out there, growing who knows what.” “Good luck and stay safe Susna, signing off.” 

“Thanks Sam” she spoke back to him, putting her radio back in her pouch and then grabbed the shotgun from the pneumo. “Wow, this is nice” She chuckled, examining the beautiful craftsmanship of the weapon. “Okay, to Diana.” 

After a few runs, she finally made it to the garden district, inhaling the sweet smells that came from all directions. “Hmm Diana should be…oh wait here is an audio diary, maybe it's from her” she shrugged, grabbing it and began to play it. 

“These fucking splicers….always having to ruin my creations and…argh!” “I know that soon I will be able to grow these reverse adam plants that will stop the spread of adam poisoning.” “I come here once in a while to check on my creations. If anyone is left or sane enough to hear this diary, come find me in the growing lab; I’m just glad that Langford lended me this small lab to continue this work.” 

Once the audio diary finished, she glanced up to see the list of the areas here with arrows pointed in their correct direction. “Okay, so it should be this way” she spoke to herself, beginning to follow the arrows. 

“Argh, get away from my plants you fucking splicers!” A loud voice shouted from behind a lab door. 

“Diana!?” Susan shouted as she pulled out her shotgun and entered the lab, shocked to see her fighting a bunch of splicers who were trying to grab her Adam samples.

Diana, hiding behind her lab desk gasped at the sight of Susan, “Susan, help me fight these uglies and we can talk after, okay?”

Susan nodded to her request, quickly ducking down and then began to unload on the splicers, hitting a few of them.

Diana, doing the same with her pistol, shooting one that almost got close to her Adam sample in the head. 

Within a few minutes, the splicers were eliminated, the smell of rotting flesh beginning to waft into the air. “Fucking bastards” Diana spit on the ground by the dead splicers and then walked over to Susan.

Quickly catching her breathe, Susan stood from the ground, putting her shotgun onto her back and then smiled happily, “It’s so good to see you Diana I-”

“No, don't you start with it’s good to see you.” “You don’t send me a note, no radio call, nothing and all of a sudden you just happen to pop up in my lab?” “No, I know you want something, so what is it?” Diana crossed her arms, waiting for her to spill the beans.

“Uh….well…it is good to see you…b-but I….wanted to ask for a favor?” Susan spoke charmingly but with slight worry in her voice.

“A favor, wow, Susan B. Watson, asking for a favor after not showing her face for years” Diana chuckled, shaking her head as she walked over to her samples to check to see if they were still functional. 

“Listen you know why I had to go out Diana, I didn't mean to leave you behind.” “I just want to get out of this goddamn city!” “I can’t keep living like this, with no food, no clean water, and trying not to get killed by those damn splicers.” 

“Hmphm, just use the hypno plasmid on a Big Daddy, and they’ll protect you straight away.” 

“You know I don’t like using plasmids, those things….can really change you.”

“Trust me I know, I could have easily left in a heartbeat but I chose to stay to save what’s left of the innocents poisoned by Adam.” 

“Look I just need help in locating a shrinking plasmid and a big daddy suit.”

Diana slowly turned around ominously, not believing her ears for what Susan was asking for. “Repeat that back to me again Susan.”

“A shrinking plasmid and a big daddy suit?” 

As the lab fell silent, Diana bursted out in laughter, causing Susan to frown. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh you are full of surprises Susan, asking me for all that!” “HA!” Diana continued to laugh, slowly walking over to the fume hood she had with all of her completed samples. “Ah, well, since you have named your price, I am going to name mine.”

“Oh Diana, come on!” Susan groaned in annoyance.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, nothing is free Susan.” “So, what I need you to do is to bring these samples to four people poisoned with Adam, and then once you complete that, I need you to turn on the water supply so that my plants here can receive their water, sounds easy enough?”

“No it doesn’t.” “I’m going to have to go through a bunch of splicers, possibly big daddy’s, and who knows what else.” 

“Yes I know sweetie, but I will be able to tell you the locations of both of those items you listed, maybe even give you a bonus.” 

“Just hand me the samples Diana” Susan extended out her hand, waiting for her to give her the samples needed to be given to the four individuals.

“One second, I can’t move too fast, I don’t want to drop these samples that took me weeks to complete” She spoke slowly, making sure that she gently put the four samples in four hypos. 

“Is this eve?” Susan questioned as she grabbed the hypo’s and put them in her pouch.

“No, I just emptied out the eve and poured my own samples in for easier transport and easier intake.” 

“Not bad,” Susan nodded as she prepared to head out. “Where are these four individuals and where can I find that water valve?”

“Let me get you the list” Diana smiled, walking over to her desk drawer and opening it, pulling out a small list with the individuals names. “So the first is Mark Hambil, he is located in Devil’s Den, you’ll see him clear as day.” “The second is Samantha Loveless, she is located in the honey alcoves, she usually is getting hopped up on honey, try her there.” “The third is Katherine Palvo, she is kind of hard to get too after all the Adam poisoning that she has been through, so you can find her wandering about the garden district here, so maybe start with her first.” “And finally, Jonathan Law, a very difficult man to find, so I would start by Minvera’s Alley, then head up past the Gatherer’s Garden, and maybe he might pop out.”

“Wait, so you’ve never found Jonathan?” Susan asked, confused.

“No I did, he was wandering around like Katherine, but after the Adam poisoning, he seems a bit….well….you could say….he can disappear in front of your eyes.”

“Did he take an invisible plasmid?” 

“Yes, I just didn’t want to alarm you that he may be potentially invisible and may touch you in places that….may….seem inappropriate, so I would steer clear and make sure that you watch all of your angles.” 

“That’s great, now I see why you didn’t want to go out and find these individuals!” 

“Don’t be like that darling Susan, you doing this is a great help for me and besides, I can continue working on more of my samples while you are away.” 

Susan shook her head in disgust, quickly stomping her way out of the lab and looked down at the list that she had forcefully ripped out of Diana’s hand out of pure anger. “Okay, let’s start with Katherine then.”

Within a couple of minutes, Susan fully entered the garden district, seeing the various wandering splicers, security cameras, one big daddy with a small little girl, and no Katherine in sight. “Jesus, this is going to be harder than I thought” she sighed deeply, grabbing her pistol at the ready and then began to push past the area, glancing in all directions to see if she could find her.

“Come on, Mr. B, time to find some angels!” The little girl spoke happily as she walked ahead of the big brute. Although some splicers had some guts to approach the little girl, trying to get her so he could fill his body up with Adam. This brought the attention of the Big daddy who growled in anger, using his drill to pierce the splicers abdomen, blood and guts going everywhere, the little girl clapping and cheering for her knight in shining armor. 

“Bleh” Susan whispered to herself as she saw what had transpired and then her ears pricked up at the sound of singing. 

“My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold, There is nothing can console me, But my jolly sailor bold” the beautiful voice sang, alluring various male splicers to the voice. 

“Boys come and check this broad out!” One of the male splicers said, rushing into this small garden with a fountain spewing clear water. 

Susan, quickly rushing towards the entryway, gasped at the sight of Katherine in the fountain, dancing and singing, her face seeming all discolored and not normal.

“Damn she’s hot” another male splicer chuckled as they listened to her singing, giving such a beautiful performance.

Although, when Katherine caught notice of all the male splicers watching her, she laughed wickedly, the whole fountain turning to ice and then she pointed out her hands in their direction, freezing them as well. “So naive~” 

When they all froze, Susan quickly entered, looking up at her in worry, “Katherine, Diana sent me, she finally found the cure to the poisoning, come on down and I’ll give you a shot.”

Katherine could only smirk at Susan, “Why should I?” “I feel so entwined with this power that I don’t want to go back to my little old self” she chuckled, stepping out of the frozen water and then stood in front of Susan.

“Katherine please, you’re making my job even harder.”

“Well then, let’s make it even harder than that then!” Katherine laughed darkly as she extended out her hand, preparing to fight Susan.

“No, no, no!” Susan gasped as she ducked out of the way of her freezing hands and hid behind a brick pillar. “Diana dammit, Katherine has gone crazy!” 

“What is she doing now?!” Diana spoke over the radio when Susan called her.

“She’s freezing everything in sight!” Susan spoke worriedly, firing her pistol at her but obviously Katherine froze the bullet before it could even reach her. 

“Oh no, the winter blast infected her rapidly, where is she now?” 

“Argh, she’s in this small garden with a fountain in the middle” Susan screamed when she felt ice coming towards her direction, so she moved to another pillar. 

“Okay, so there are three valves in that room that control the level of sun that enters that room.” “Turn all of them to the maximum level and she’ll be docile enough for you to inject her.”

“Okay on it!” Susan said through the radio, hanging up and then quickly rushing to the first valve.

“My heart is pierced by cupid” Katherine began to sing, slowly walking towards Susan as she began to turn the valve. 

Suddenly, the heat in the garden began to rise, causing Katherine to scream in pain. 

“That’s one down” Susan breathed out, quickly rushing towards the next valve in the room, trying to dodge the icicles that were being thrown in her direction. 

“I disdain all glittering gold” Katherine smirked as she extended out her hand, making a large icicle grow from the very ground, nearly piercing Susan.

“Oh my god!” Susan shouted, glad that she was able to dodge the icicle and then quickly grabbed a hold of the valve, turning it as fast as she could.

“Ahhhh!” Katherine screamed once again, feeling a blast of heat, her left hand completely losing the ability to create ice. “You’ll pay for that you bitch!” she shouted angrily, using her right hand to freeze the other valve. 

Susan, arriving at the third valve, gasped at the sight of the ice that was covered on it, “What am I going to do now!” 

“There is nothing can console me, But my jolly sailor bold~” Katherine breathed out as she watched the girl struggle to break the ice that covered the valve. “It’s okay darling, you can not stop me.” 

“Not quite” Susan chuckled as she threw a smoke bomb in her direction, grabbed a conveniently placed crow bar and hacked away at the ice. Once it was completely cleared, she finally was able to turn the valve, the room completely heating up to the point where all the ice began to melt rapidly.

“No!” Katherine shouted in anguish, completely falling onto the floor unconscious. 

Susan breathed a sigh of relief as she put the crowbar alongside her shotgun, grabbing the syringe from her pouch and approaching Katherine. “You’ll be okay now” she whispered, kneeling down beside her to inject her arm, the discoloration of her face returning to normal. 

“Oh my, what happened?” Katherine groaned as she slowly sat up.

“You were poisoned by Adam and attacked me viciously with ice.” “But I was thankfully able to subdue you enough to inject Diana’s cure into you.”

“Oh dear, please forgive me then for my actions, I never meant to hurt anyone.”

“No need to worry, I know you were under the influence of the poison.” “Are you able to stand?”

“Yes thank you Miss?” 

“Susan.”

“Miss Susan, well I truly am thankful that Diana was able to find a cure and that you were able to inject me before I went bat crazy” She chuckled, adjusting her dress and then looked around curiously. 

“Are you able to go to Diana on your own?”

“Yes I am, thank you again Susan.”

“Any time Katherine, be wary of the splicers lurking around.”

With that completed, Susan walked out of the small garden, looking at the sign beside her that read Honey Alcoves is through here. “Let’s go see Samantha then, hopefully she isn’t hopped up on honey and tries to murder me like Katherine just did.”

[twig-gy]

damn that person named pneumo- (not typing all that) is gonna have a real tough time tokiponizing their name

[remidavs]

Wat een vertrouwd beeld…en wat een fijn bezoek ☺️ al had ik me gisteren mijn nacht en weekend anders voorgesteld.

Gisteren nog de onzekerheid of de chemotherapie zou kunnen doorgaan om dan ‘‘s avonds met lichte koorts naar het ziekenhuis te moeten voor grondig onderzoek… toen vonden ze niet meteen iets, maar oncologie wou me toch graag hier houden om zeker te zijn dat ze niets over het hoofd zien. Mijn bloedwaarden zijn over de nacht gezakt en de ontstekingswaarde minimaal gestegen dus genoeg om nog verder op te volgen en er snel bij te zijn… echte koorts heb ik niet, wel lichte verhoging met af en toe kou…

Ik heb wel het geluk dat ik onverwacht op de fantastische pneumo-afdeling opgenomen werd. Iedereen is hier zo lief! Ik werd vannacht supergoed onthaald en kan alleen maar blij zijn dat ik hier ben. De nacht was kort en zoals gewoonlijk niet top na de chemokuur maar ik heb toch wat kunnen slapen. 😴 en ik zal dat de komende dagen nog veel moeten doen voel ik.

Jan stond voor een grotere uitdaging… ik mocht gewoon proberen slapen en me laten verzorgen, maar Jan moest thuis wachten tot er iets van nieuws kwam en deze ochtend de kinderen vertellen dat ik naar het ziekenhuis ben moeten gaan. Remi schrok maar reageerde begripvol en was superflink. Ida had het lastig, zocht constant nabijheid en ‘kon met zichzelf geen weg’.

Het was super om ze alledrie op bezoek te hebben! Maar ook best pittig. (Vooral Ida dus) we speelden wat, knuffelden en gingen samen naar de cafetaria. Ze mochten opnieuw de verpleegkundige helpen en namen afscheid… Remi vond het niet fijn maar begrijpt dat ik nog even hier moet blijven. Ida vond het verschrikkelijk. Ze huilde tranen met tuiten, echt verdriet omdat ze mama hier moest achterlaten en ik niet kon beloven wanneer ik terug thuis zou komen.

Dus chapeau voor Jan! En ik ben zo dankbaar voor hem en voor iedereen rond ons. Alle steun en hulp doet zoveel deugd op een moment als deze.

Ikzelf voel me ook niet ziek, gewoon heeeeel erg moe. Maar ik ben me bewust van dat mijn immuunsysteem op dit moment niet zo fantastisch is en ik best gewoon rust neem en hier blijf zolang de dienst oncologie dit nodig acht. Oja, en ik ga ervan uit dat volgende vrijdag een chemoloze vrijdag kan worden…

It has begun…

Chemo en alles wat erbij komt, maar ik blijf ervoor gaan en vechten, dat stopt nooit en lukt door alle steun van rondom! 🤗

[torturing-characters-101]

Can you tell me what happens when a patient has a collapsed lung? Do they need to be in ICU? How long does healing take? Do they have to be on a ventilator? Thanks!

It depends.

A pneumothorax occurs when air enters the chest cavity either from outside the chest (a hole in the chest wall) or a hole in the lung. As air builds up in the chest it compresses one or both lungs, which means less lung space available for breathing.

First, there are 3 main types of pneumothorax:

The first type is a spontaneous pneumo, where the patient just suddenly gets a pneumo. This is common in people who are tall and thin, or who have connective tissue disorders.

With a spontaneous pneumo, most of the time it's going to come on as chest pain and shortness of breath due to a small hole in the lung, and may only require monitoring, maybe some oxygen, and a night or two in a hospital on a regular or even observation floor. They'd do serial chest x-rays and monitor pulse, respirations, level of consciousness, and oxygen saturation, and basically wait around to see if it gets better on it's own.

If a spontaneous pneumo gets bad enough that the person is having trouble breathing more than just some oxygen can fix, or is getting worse, they'd probably put in a chest tube.

A chest tube is a tube placed into the chest cavity into the part of the chest cavity that is full of air. The other end goes to a 1-way valve (called a water seal or dry seal) and may be hooked up to suction. This allows air to get out of the chest cavity but not back in, which allows the lung to re-inflate.

The second type is a tension pneumo, where there is a hole in the lung (usually from an injury like a severely broken rib) but no hole in the chest wall. Air leaks out into the chest cavity and can't escape, which puts pressure on the lungs, heart, major vessels, and other structures in the chest.

These may be an emergency initially, but once a chest tube is in (which could happen in the emergency department), the patient can be managed on a regular hospital floor and would not generally need to be in the ICU.

Nurses would then monitor the output from the chest tube. If there was a lot of air or fluid coming out for multiple days, the patient might need surgery to fix the leak.

The last type is an open pneumo. This is when there is a hole in the chest cavity, and every time the person breathes in, the air goes into the hole instead of through the nose and mouth into the lung.

This requires emergency surgery to fix the hole, a chest tube, and potentially a temporary ventilator if the patient was unable to breathe well on their own due to the extent of the chest injury. If they were on a vent, they would definitely be in the ICU.

[snaillamp]

Ok so I’ve been thinking right, when I started my degree, they were quizzing us on some medical terms. Basic things like crepitus, cardio, pneumo, etc. all I remeber about that class is I knew what several of the terms were, such as emeto, because of whump and not reading my textbook…

And that’s when I knew I was spending too much time on tumblr 😂 soo what do it do?

SPEND EVEN MORE TIME READING WHUMP SO I LEARN EVEN MORE WORDS :D

But genuinely I am gonna be using Cody a lot as a way to force myself to learn about all the conditions I have to learn about on a cellular level cause the textbooks are so fucking dry man.

Seriously, I use my whump to practise treatment all the time :D