Frank Castle + Blood

Whumptober Day 18: Alt. Promt #3: Fever

Moonlight S01E04

hi merlin fandom i'm back I have more tallies for you, I only have one spreadsheet for this so it won't be nearly as huge as my spell tally, but I am doing all the seasons in one go so who knows

BBC Merlin Whump Tallies

After rewatching the entirety of the show, some episodes more than once, and taking notes the whole time, I present to you a summary of data categorising the injuries and illnesses sustained by all named, recurring characters (2-pt-ers not withstanding) from 2008-2012's BBC Merlin.

Season 1

Season 1 contained a total of 27 incidents to its various characters. The character with the most incidents was Merlin, with 6 (22%). In earlier counts, he was the only character this season to endure at least one in every category: Small, 'Somewhere in-between', Life-threatening, Poison/Venom/Drugged, Magical Affliction, and Thrown/Unhorsed.

The runner up was Arthur, who had 5 incidents (19%).

Arthur and Merlin tied for character who was rendered unconscious most often, with Arthur passing out 3 times and being knocked out once, and Merlin being knocked out 3 times and passing out once.

Smallest injury: Merlin - graze on his shoulder blade from getting hit by the handle of a broomstick wielded by Arthur in Episode 1. I know in scar reveal fics people like to use the supposed mace wound from the fight with Arthur as 'Merlin's first scar', but unfortunately that has no actual basis in canon. Arthur does not hit Merlin with a mace (there aren't even maces in that fight, the weapon they use is called a flail). Merlin causes the chain to get tangled earlier in the fight, after which Arthur grabs a broomstick to use as a weapon instead.

Dumbest injury: Not sure about "dumb" but easily the most inconsequential is in Episode 7-- one of the times Merlin gets put in the stocks he comes back sore, complaining "they were throwing potatoes!"

Things Merlin should not have survived: His heart stopping in Episode 4 (antidote wouldn't be absorbed that fast, + can't circulate if no circulation), getting struck by Sidhe lightning in Episodes 7 and 12 (insta-kills everyone else, including the Sidhe themselves who explode. Only exception to this is Grunhilda in Season 3, a pixie, who does also explode it just takes more than one shot), and getting struck by a fireball in Episode 13 (self-explanatory I think).

Season 2

Season 2 contained a total of 22 incidents, an 18.52% decrease from Season 1 and the lowest of any season. The greatest number of these were made up by Arthur, who was injured or poisoned/drugged 10 times (45%). The runner up was Merlin, who was injured 5 times (23%).

The character rendered unconscious the greatest amount of times was Arthur, who passed out or was knocked out 2 times each.

Smallest injury: Arthur gets elbowed in the stomach by the troll in the confrontation at the end of Episode 6, it's ok though he almost immediately gets launched across the room into a wall so they made up for it (and he had been on the brink of death mere moments before due to willingly drinking poison).

Dumbest injury: Sorry Gwen, but it's probably when she fell and hurt her ankle for plot purposes in Episode 4. It doesn't even continue to bother her at any later point in the episode.

Things Merlin should not have survived: Nothing! He was pretty physically safe this season. Ish.

Season 3

Season 3 contained a total of 32 incidents, an increase of 45.45% from Season 2, led in number by Merlin who had 9 incidents (28%) all to himself. 3 of these were small injuries however, so he was not quite as damaged by the end of the season as Arthur, who had 8 incidents (25%).

The character rendered unconscious the greatest amount of times was Arthur, who passed out 5 times and was knocked out once.

Smallest injury: When Merlin was hit in the stomach by the pommel of Morgana's sword in the crypt in Episode 2, but honourable mention to when Merlin and Arthur were shot with tranquilliser darts and fell from their horses in Episode 12. TBF falling from a horse is incredibly dangerous, but neither of them had any residual effects or pain, and it's hilarious to me that they got shot with tranquilliser darts. Like rabid animals. The scene also is just really funny.

Dumbest injury: When Merlin was being dumb and demonstrating his lack of understanding of a) what a sword is and b) blade safety by messing around with "Sir Ethan" and "Sir Oswald"'s swords, and dropping one on his finger, getting a decent little cut.

Things Merlin should not have survived: Getting stung by an adult serket in Episode 1, not to mention the fact that he had already been knocked out for hours earlier that day (not normal to be out for that long, sign of brain injury), that he was bound in chains that made it difficult to breathe and impossible to move also for several hours, and the fact that Kilgharrah also took multiple hours to get to him (if you're not sure about this, rewatch the sequence and pay attention to the amount of daylight in each shot). Unbelievable. (Did receive external treatment so take it with a grain of salt.) Honourable mention to when he was thrown all the way across the council chambers in Episode 13 and was literally writhing in pain before having to get back up and finish dealing with the cup of life. Oh my god I hope he got treatment for that.

Season 4

Season 4 contained a total of 78 incidents, an 143.75% increase from Season 3 (yikes), headed up by Merlin who goes through 21 incidents (27%). That's right, almost as high as the total of all incidents sustained by all recurring characters in Season 2. Leave that kid alone!! 5 of them were counted as small injuries, but that still leaves him significantly ahead of the runner up- Arthur who had 11 incidents (14%) (with 4 of them considered small, leaving him barely more injured than 3rd place, which is tied between Leon and Morgana, both on 7 [9%]).

The character rendered unconscious the greatest amount of times was (you guessed it!) Merlin, who passed out 5 times and was knocked out a further 6 times. 6 of those collective 11 instances were in a single episode. Episode 6: A Servant of Two Masters was awful for his nervous system. (Interesting note: Runner up for this season is actually not Arthur, who's only unconscious twice this season! Rather it's shared between Elyan and Gwaine, who each pass out and are knocked out twice apiece, for a total of 4 instances each.)

Smallest injury: Arthur elbows the shade of Lancelot in the stomach in their confrontation in Episode 9.

Dumbest injury: PERCIVAL. IN EPISODE 2. All caps because THIS IS SO PREVENTABLE. Ok so we're all extremely aware of this man's constant lack of sleeves, including on his armour. Now, studio execs, I get it, really I do. As Bradley James says: 'Guns haven't been invented in Camelot but he brings two of them.' He's a beautiful man. On another note, we all are aware what type of attack chainmail is meant to prevent, yes? It's slashing. And where, might I ask, does Percival get his only injury from a slashing attack? Bingo! On his goddamn arms. In Episode 2. No other knight has that problem in this episode because all of them have sleeves. Percival. (That being said it was a wyvern attack so it may have tore through the armour anyway but I'm ignoring that.)

Things Merlin should not have survived: Getting struck by the Dorocha in Episode 1 (insta-kill for literally everyone else, but Merlin survives long enough for magical treatment). The other injury I had marked as life-threatening was the flail wound from Episode 6, not only because of the internal damage it would have done but also because of how fast and how seriously it became infected, but that received external magical healing so it's fair that he survived it. If Morgana hadn't treated it, then he should have died.

Honourable mentions to Gwaine, Gaius, and Elyan who were kept in a cell and starved for 7 days in Episodes 12 and 13. This didn't make it onto the spreadsheet because I didn't know how to count it, but it's in the tallies. During this time, Elyan was also "tortured to the limit of human endurance" (direct quote from Gaius), and Gwaine was taken out of the cell multiple times to fight for his food, meaning he was both malnourished and getting beaten up at the same time! Plus Gaius literally thought he was going to die in that cell and had a whole speech about it.

Season 5

Season 5 contained a total of 64 incidents, a 17.95% decrease from Season 4. The character who endured the most issues was Merlin, who had 11 incidents (17%). The runner-up was very close behind, being Arthur on 10 incidents (16%).

The character rendered unconscious the greatest amount of times was Merlin, who passed out 7 times and was knocked out 4 times.

Smallest injury: Gwaine got slapped by one of Morgana's henchmen in Episode 1 after back-talking her.

Dumbest injury: Audrey, the cook, confronted Merlin in his Dragoon form in Episode 7. She threatened him with a triple-pronged fire poker, accused him of conspiracy to steal her pies, and in response he insulted her and knocked her out with a pot. Iconic.

Things Merlin should not have survived: There are a few things Merlin only survives with external treatment this season, which kind of disqualifies them from the purpose of this section (see the disclaimers at the bottom of this post) but I'll list the worst of them anyway. In Episode 8, he is knocked out, poisoned, and kicked off a cliff. The poison largely immobilises him, and he is left alone in the forest for at least ~27 hours, unable even to turn his head in order to vomit safely. He also has a seizure after treatment is administered, then falls unconscious after. In Episode 10, he is shot in the side with an arrow. The arrow is pulled out, no first aid or pressure or anything AT ALL are applied, and then he is forced to run from assailants for some hours. He passes out before he is found and healed.

Honourable mention to Episode 12, which had absolutely bonkers amount of external magical intervention to save his life (magic had been stolen, causing him to pass out when it initially happens, and later he loses consciousness three separate times in that cave). Honourable mention also to Episode 13, which I'm not sure he really survived at all.

Overall

BBC Merlin subjects its recurring characters to a total of 223 whump incidents throughout its 65 episodes.

The characters who was whumped on the most was Merlin, who endured 52 incidents (23%, or once every 1.25 episodes).

The runner up is Arthur, who underwent 44 incidents throughout the show (20%, or once every 1.48 episodes).

Merlin also fell unconscious the most of any character, passing out 17 times and getting knocked out 15 times for a total of 32 instances rendered unconscious.

Arthur was also the runner up for amount of times rendered unconscious, with a total of 22 -- knocked out 9 times and passed out 13.

This was, obviously, very predictable, so I'll give you third and fourth places as well.

For total whump incidents:

3rd Place - Morgana - 23 incidents (10%)

4th Place - Leon - 16 incidents (7%)

For being rendered unconscious:

3rd Place - Morgana - 11 incidents (4 passing out, 7 knocked out, + the time she was in a coma in S1, which was more 'not waking up' than either of the options listed but you may count it if you wish.)

4th Place - Gwaine - 10 incidents (5 passing out, 5 knocked out)

Because there were so few examples of it, I did do unconscious counts for non-recurring named characters as well.

Named characters were rendered unconscious a collective of 113 times in 65 episodes. That means someone known to the audience became unconscious once every 0.57 of an episode, or almost twice per episode.

This was split between passing out - 59 total incidents (once every 1.10 episodes) and getting knocked out - 54 total incidents (once every 1.20 episodes).

Characters frequently unconscious previously stated. Characters not listed in the spreadsheet who became unconscious were:

Sir Ewan - Passed out when bitted by an enchanted snake - 1x02

Jonas - Knocked out when Merlin smashes a piece of pottery over his head- 2x05

Princess Elena - Passed out when Merlin sedated her - 3x06

King Cenred - Knocked out when the ceiling of the throneroom in the Castle of Fyrien collapsed - 3x07

Julius Borden - Knocked out when Merlin threw him against a wall in the Tomb of Ashkanar - 4x04

Princess Mithian - Passed out after riding through the night to Camelot after Nemeth is conquered - 5x04

Audrey, the cook - Knocked out when Merlin gets annoyed with her and whacks her over the head with a pot - 5x07

While my spreadsheets do not reflect this, the compiled dataset actually takes every named character into account, including non-recurring ones, like guest characters and villains-of-the-week. This even includes characters without any screentime, as long as we know their name. Therefore, without further ado--

Every knight of Camelot who is canonically dead in the BBC Merlin universe (members of the BBCM round table italicised):

Sir Ewan (1x02)

Sir Owain (1x09)

Sir Pellinor (1x09)

Sir Bedivere - no screentime (1x13)

Sir Alynor (2x02)

Sir Ethan (3x04)

Sir Oswald (3x04)

Sir Edric - no screentime (3x12)

Sir Alduuf - no screentime (3x12)

Sir Osric - no screentime (3x12)

Sir Lancelot

Sir Ranulf - no screentime (5x05)

Sir Elyan

Sir Gwaine

King Arthur

Also, not that you're asking, but Sir Pellinor was killed in the episode Excalibur and Sir Bedivere was killed in the episode Le Morte d'Arthur by the Questing Beast. It would make literally no difference and would be so much more in touch with the Arthurian mythos this entire show stems from if they just switched the names. It makes no sense to me that they kill Pellinor before the Questing Beast plotline when they literally do the Questing Beast IN THE SAME SEASON.

And last but not least, I made some graphs if you'd like them (open the image for higher quality) (sorry the first one's so ugly, it had such low readability as a line graph so I switched it to an area chart):

Figure 1: A stepped area chart showing the frequency of whump incidents for prominent recurring character by season.

Figure 2: An area chart showing the frequency of total whump incidents by season.

Figure 3: A line graph showing the frequency of passing out for some characters (round table -Gaius +Morgana) by season.

Figure 4: A line graph showing the frequency of getting knocked out for some characters (round table -Gaius +Morgana) by season.

Disclaimers and Data

Big one first: Merlin is my favourite character, which means I have bestowed on him the role of whump victim (<3). Because of this I was biased towards recording his misfortunes more than other characters. I tried to be fair and sympathetic to the plights of other characters just as much, but it's important you're aware of that anyway.

The reason I included "Things Merlin should not have survived" as a category was because of his immortality. I am very aware that other characters went through life-threatening things -- at times more than Merlin did -- but I personally headcanon that Merlin actually did die at some points and was revived by his magic (particularly in Season 1). Even if you don't have that headcanon as well, you have to admit his magic had to play a role in saving his life sometimes, and I wanted to have a list of those occasions.

And as always, my counting is imperfect and at times generated discrepancies. Here are some of the measures I took to minimise them:

Merlin and Arthur's unconscious stats (# times they passed out/were knocked out) were retallied.

All characters' unconscious stats were retallied and categorised by season.

Characters that showed discrepancies between the two counts were retallied again (Merlin, Arthur, Morgana, Leon, Gwen, Percival)

Character injury data was inputted episode-by-episode. When the final episodes' data was bulk uploaded, all characters were retallied. Characters whose numbers lowered in the retally were retallied again (Morgause, Percival, and Hunith -- who was since removed from the spreadsheet).

Characters whose whump totals differed between the tallies and the spreadsheet were retotaled (Merlin, Arthur, Morgana, Gwaine, Gaius) until the discrepancy was eliminated (in Merlin and Arthur's case, retallied entirely).

Merlin's numbers specifically were retallied, retotaled, or recounted more than 10. Times. So trust me, all known discrepancies have been eliminated.

That being said, if you happen to look through the original document and find I missed an injury or illness, it won't be in the numbers or the spreadsheet, so let me know!!

You can find those details here:

Original Dataset A list, with descriptions, of every incidence of whump that occurred to a named character by episode.

Spreadsheet The numerical data with accompanying graphs.

I hope these may be useful to you, especially all my fellow whump writers out there <3 keep doing what you're doing, and feel free to get in touch if you notice an error, want further clarification, or just want to chat! I'm always happy to chat.

Personal note: I'm such a sucker for medical accuracy. I'm currently studying to go into the medical field, so if we're both still around in a couple years, expect me to come back and bring you some scientifically-informed analyses of how truly not-ok these guys are.

And thank you so much for reading!! <3

Black Sails | XIV.

What you did and where you’re coming from I don’t care, as long as you love me, baby. - for @glycerineclown​

Sep-Oct 2024 Whump Events

autumn is approaching! 🍂 here's a long one, since october is the big month for creation events, and september has a lot going on this year too! so much to choose from!

i've also made a post detailing upcoming g/t events here on my g/t blog. you can check that out if you wanna do something for that community!

September events starting this month:

🔤 Alphabet of Whump (@alphabetofwhump), prompts here, a 26-day whump event

🧸 Sicktember (@sicktember), prompts here, a 30-day sickfic event (this is its last year)

💀 Whumptember (@whumptember), prompts here, a 30-day whump event

🎶Seven Songs of Suffering (@snakebites-and-ink), prompts here, a 1-week whump event taking place the second week of September

🐉 HTTYD Whump Week (@httyd-whump-week), prompts here, a 1-week HTTYD fandom whump event

😱 Horrortember (@horrortember), prompts here, a 30-day horror event

Single-day September celebrations:

🎊 International Whump Day is September 12th. Celebrate however you like!

💬 Comment Day is September 15th, info here: @comment-day. Leave some nice comments on your favorite creations! (Not whump specific)

October events starting next month:

🎃 Whumptober (@whumptober), prompts here, a 31-day whump event. this is also the most-participated-in whump event of the year, often attracting people outside the whump community.

🌩️ Voltober (@voltober), prompts coming soon, a 31-day whump event

💧 Angstober (@angstober), prompts here, a 31-day angst event

🔮 31 Days of Horror (@31-daysofhorror), prompts potentially coming soon, a 31-day horror event

📼 Halloween Horror Bingo (@halloweenhorrorbingo), signups coming soon, a horror bingo-prompt event

🫀Goretober is a flexible gore event where people traditionally create their own prompt lists. If you don't want to make your own, there are many floating around in the Goretober tag already. Here's a few: one / two / three / four

📵 AI-less* Whumptober (@aiIesswhumptober), prompts here, a 31-day whump event

*Note to clear up any confusion brought on by the name: Neither Whumptober event includes or promotes the use of AI-generated works, the latter event is just more intense about it. Whumptober's AI policy is "We will not reblog or promote any works we know to be generative AI-created" and AILWT's AI policy is "No AI content of any kind is allowed". False claims spread last year about Whumptober allowing AI, but this is not and has never been the case, and I want to make sure no misinformation is spread from my post.

Merry Whump of May - Day 5

“Do unto others as you would bla bla bla…”

Bow and Arrow

Stalking

Cavern

(BBC Merlin)

@themerrywhumpofmay

“Quick, it went this way!” Prince Arthur hissed, leading the way into the cave.

Merlin furrowed his brow, panting, and shifted his pack further up on his shoulder. He stopped at the threshold of the cave entrance and looked up at the rocky ceiling and darkness within. Arthur was rapidly disappearing, his quiver of arrows on his back the last thing to vanish.

Something curdled in Merlin’s gut. They should not be going into this cave.

Besides, why would a startled deer run into a cave for safety?

A moment later, Merlin ducked into the cool dim shadows of the rock. He followed Arthur as best as he could, stumbling over loose stones. 

“Torch!” Arthur whispered from somewhere up ahead. “Now, Merlin!”

Merlin swung the bag off his shoulder and grabbed one of the torches, fumbling with his flint. 

When he raised the lit torch, hissing with fire, Arthur sighed. The Prince turned back.

“Finally.”

“Sorry.” Merlin grumbled. 

Arthur continued into the cave.

“Do you-” Merlin started, but Arthur shushed him. 

Merlin lowered his voice to a whisper. “Do you really think the deer ran in here?”

“Where else would it go?”

They had lost sight of the doe several times in the chase. Merlin speculated that it was probably anywhere in the forest but here.

“I suppose.” He sighed, following the Prince. 

As they walked, Merlin noticed something dark on the cave walls. He paused. Then moved over to it and raised the torch. The cave wall was covered in paintings. Very old paintings. In colors of dark brown, black, and reddish clay. And it looked like they were all paintings of the same thing. 

Merlin swung the torch around. The entire cave was covered in paintings of bears. 

Very large bears.

“Uhh, Arthur?” Merlin took a few steps back, back towards the entrance of the cave. “Arthur, I think we should go.”

Arthur turned back to Merlin, face illuminated in the torchlight. “Really, Merlin? It’s just a cave!”

The torchlight also illuminated a pair of yellow reflective eyes in the darkness behind Arthur. They blinked once.

“Arthur, run!” Merlin cried, and ran towards him.

Arthur faced the eyes and a low growl echoed around them, so loud that it bounced and seemed to come from all sides at once. Arthur raised his bow and nocked arrow, letting it fly towards the beast in the darkness. 

An earsplitting roar shook the cave.

They ran together. Stumbling and falling towards the distant daylight. The torch went out. Darkness fell suddenly. Merlin lost track of Arthur. The beast’s snorting and rumbling growls coming from all sides at once.

He was blind.

Merlin fell to the ground. His head bounced off a rock. Something wet and hot trickled down the side of his face. 

He peered into the darkness, using his gift to part the gloom for his eyes.

He saw Arthur on the ground.

He saw a massive bear over him. 

Merlin scrambled over. He jumped between the Prince and the bear. 

He had to stop it. So they could escape. 

Merlin extended a hand to the cave ceiling and reached with magic. Reached, and twisted, and tore a rock from the cave.

A fiery pain erupted into his back. Merlin screamed. 

He could not breathe. 

Did a falling rock hit him? He did not stop and pulled the rock from the ceiling so that it fell between them and the bear. A small barrier, but enough to give them a chance to outrun the beast. 

“Come on!” Arthur was still blind in the dark so Merlin grabbed him by the collar and pulled him towards the daylight. Towards the entrance. They ran and ran.

The full light of the outside hit them and they were surrounded by the green forest again, a cacophony of colors. And they kept running. 

Merlin fell behind. Every breath was an agony. He saw Arthur disappear over a small hill. He was gone. Oh well.

Merlin felt his knees hit the mossy ground. He was dizzy. And he could not breathe.

Oh well.

The next thing he knew, his cheek was pressed against damp, earthy-smelling moss. Someone was calling his name. Merlin cracked his eyes open and the daylight hurt. His head throbbed. His back, around his left shoulder-blade, burned and raged. Every breath an effort.

He was turned onto his side, the movement jostling the wound in his back. Merlin cried out, wheezing.

He looked up. 

His head was in Arthur’s lap. Prince Arthur’s eyes were wide and he was pale.

“I shot you.”

“What?” Merlin rasped.

“There’s an arrow in your back, Merlin. I shot you.”

“Oh.” Merlin closed his eyes.

So that’s why it hurt so much.

“Wake up!”

Arthur’s voice hurts too. But Merlin opens his eyes.

Arthur’s face is closer. “I’m taking you back right now. But not if you’re going to die on the way. I’m not going to the trouble of carrying a corpse all the way back, alright?” Arthur’s voice trembles and there are tears in his eyes.

Merlin nodded a little. “I would carry your body back, you idiot.”

“Yes, well.” Arthur wiped his eyes. “Do unto others as you would, you know, blah blah. Right?”

“I wouldn’t shoot anyone in the back either.” Merlin whispered.

Arthur hiccuped out a laugh. “Would you be willing to tell everyone you shot yourself in the back?”

“Idiot.” Merlin sighed, and closed his eyes.

Whumpay - Day 2

Main Challenge - Mad Science - Paralytic Drug Mini Challenge 2 - Torture - Whipping Original Work - Doorway in the Sky

“It’s going to hurt.”

“Can’t be that bad, right?”

Ash frowned at Mel and sighed loudly out of his nose. “You ready then?”

Mel nodded.

Ash jumped, slammed his hands down on the table, and swept their food trays off. The hard plastic clattered loudly on the tile and the food painted the jumpsuits of the nearby people.

Mel’s wide eyes goaded Ash on.

“The fuck did you say?” Ash shouted.

Then he threw himself across the table and tackled Mel to the ground. One punch to the nose got Mel’s blood flowing. Several guards jogged over and tried to pull him off her. Soon enough, Ash felt a prick on the back of his neck, and then nothing.

He stopped wrestling Mel and reached back. There was a dart sticking out of his neck. He yanked it out and saw the yellow band about the metal casing. His lips went numb. His fingers tingled. His hands fell to his sides.

And Ash slumped to the tile floor, hitting it cheek first. It hurt like a bitch.

Mel lay beside him and met his eyes. She grinned through blood-stained teeth.

Ash would have smiled if he could. But he could not. He had been hit with the yellow banded dart. The paralytic. Oh good.

Ash’s eyes slipped mostly closed as he was hauled from the floor. He could still hear and feel everything. Plastic restraints were tightened around his wrists and ankles. Which didn’t make much sense since he was paralyzed.

Ash watched the floor flash by beneath him. His head, hanging limp, bobbed with every step the two orderlies holding him up took. Their grip on his arms hurt. But there was nothing he could do.

They were buzzed through several doors. The hallways became quieter. The floors became cleaner. Whispers all around him.

Finally, Ash was brought into an office and propped up in a soft chair. With his chin resting on his chest, all Ash could see was the plush, patterned carpet and a pair of shiny, black shoes.

Drool dripped from the side of his mouth.

“Lift her head.”

A pair of sweaty hands clamped onto Ash’s cheeks and propped his head against the back of the chair. When the orderly stepped away, Ash was looking up into the face of Dr. Palmer.

Dr. Palmer gave Ash a small smile then held up his penlight. “You know what to do, look into the light.”

He shone the light into Ash’s eyes and leaned in close.

Ash could smell coffee and disinfectant on him.

“Mmhmm, pupillary response is good.” Dr. Palmer leaned back. “Good, good. Now I’m going to ask you some yes or no questions, would you please blink once for ‘Yes’ and twice for ‘No’? Demonstrate by blinking once for ‘Yes, I understand the instructions.’”

Ash rolled his eyes towards the ceiling.

“This will go much quicker and easier if you cooperate.”

Ash blinked once.

“Thank you.” Dr. Palmer made a note on his clipboard. “Now, is your name Ashley Durham?”

Ash blinked once.

“Is your birthday the twenty-second of June?”

Ash blinked once.

“Do you know why you’ve been brought to my office today?”

Ash blinked twice.

Dr. Palmer chuckled and set down his clipboard, taking off his glasses to polish them a little with a handkerchief. “Ms. Durham, Ashley, I think you know why you’ve been brought to my office today. You were fighting. Again.”

Ash looked around the office as Dr. Palmer talked. He spotted the curtains on one wall almost immediately.

Dr. Palmer’s eyes flicked up and focused on something behind Ash’s left shoulder. He nodded. The pair of orderlies picked up Ash by the shoulders again, holding him upright in a standing position. Ash’s head fell back and he was able to see Dr. Palmer’s faint smile.

Dr. Palmer turned around, walked away, and took a cane from a stand across the room.

“Ashley, why would you want to hurt your best friend?”

Ash would have shrugged if he could. He just couldn’t move any part of his body right now, other than his eyes. And he could not help but look at the curtains again.

Dr. Palmer returned to Ash and the orderlies, brushing against the curtains as he went.

There was a flash of sunlight as the curtains rippled.

Ash drew in a quick breath and felt tears form in his eyes.

“Seeing you hurt your friend has hurt me.” Dr. Palmer stopped in front of Ash, blocking his view of the curtains.

This was Ash’s first glimpse of sunlight in months.

Months that had stretched on and on, feeling like decades. Or centuries. It has been so long since Ash had felt the warmth of sun on his skin. So long without daylight.

Dr. Palmer had a window. The only window Ash had seen in the Institute.

Ash hungered for sunlight. He felt something feral and innate rise within his belly and chest.

Dr. Palmer was still speaking.

Ash ignored him until Dr. Palmer took Ash’s chin in his hand. Warm, soft fingers stroked Ash’s cheek.

“Ashley, would you please listen to me? I want to help you.”

Dr. Palmer angled Ash’s face away from the window and towards him.

“Blink once for yes, twice for no.” Dr. Palmer’s voice dropped down to a murmur.

Ash could feel his breath on his cheek.

“Are you listening to me, Ashley?”

Ashley blinked twice.

Dr. Palmer sighed and removed his hand from Ash’s chin and wiped the drool off his fingers on the front of Ash’s jumpsuit.

“You’ve let me down. And what’s worse is that you’ve let yourself down.” Dr. Palmer stepped back and nodded at the two orderlies holding Ash.

Their grips tightened.

Dr. Palmer disappeared. Then his voice came from behind.

“This hurts me more than it hurts you.”

Ash focused on the curtain. The tiniest sliver of sunlight was poking, needle-like, through a gap.

The blow came down upon Ash’s shoulders. He heard it before he felt it.

Ash gasped and choked on the drool dribbling from the corner of his mouth.

The cane landed again on his back, a swift stinging blow. Loud as a gunshot in Ash’s ears. Bruising. The cane felt as though it were made of fire.

Another blow.

Ash heard himself groan, low and guttural.

Another blow.

Ash panted. Felt tears rolling down his cheeks.

That little finger of sunlight. Through a window. From the outside.

The last blow.

Dr. Palmer reappeared. He was saying something again to Ash but Ash had long ago tuned him out. Ash was dragged out of the office, back down the clean hallways, out of the quiet, and back into madness.

Hours later, Mel returned to their cell. The door buzzed shut and the lights out warning was given.

“Ash.” Mel whispered close to his ear.

Ash, laying belly-down on his cot, turned his head.

In the harsh fluorescent lights from above, Mel’s nose was purple and gray with bruising. One eye was blackened and swollen.

“Tell me.” Mel murmured.

Ash looked into her eyes. “I saw sunlight.”

Mel’s face crumpled into a watery smile and she kissed Ash’s forehead. “Thank you.”

“When we go,” Ash spoke so quietly he could barely hear himself.

“We go through there.”

“I’ll go with you anywhere.”

Ash turned his head away and faced the wall again. He stared at the hundreds of tally marks he had made. One for every day he had been in the Institute. “One more thing.” He whispered.

Mel’s fingers brushed gently through his hair. “What?”

The lights went out.

“Before we go, I’m killing him.”

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Whumpay - Day 1

Main Challenge - Mad Science - Strapped To An Operating Table Mini Challenge 1 - Torture - Tortured For Information Fandom - The Man from UNCLE (2015)

When the two telephone calls came, one after another with a twelve second pause in between them, Solo shrugged into his coat. Then sat back down in the armchair and looked up to the clock. Three o’clock. He would have to wait until nightfall, roughly three more hours.

Coat on, knee bouncing, and barely reading his paperback book, Solo waited the three requisite hours.

When the distant cathedral bell began to ring out six o’clock, Solo was out of his chair at the first toll, and out of the front door by the third toll.

When he stepped out into the chilly night air he forced himself to slow down, lit a cigarette, and begin a slow and circuitous route towards the dead drop.

Finally, he wandered into the abandoned brickyard. The city was quiet around him.

Ears pricked, Solo flicked his cigarette away, and crouched by a low, crumbling wall. He pulled out the specific brick. It grated pleasantly against its brothers. Solo retrieved the small package from the hollow and replaced the brick.

It was done. He straightened up.

Then the world exploded.

Bright light.

A blow to his nose. Another to a kidney.

Solo found his face pressed into the gravel of the ground. He could taste the brick dust. And the blood gushing from his nose and down his throat.

“Tie his hands.” Someone hissed.

Solo was grabbed and pulled to his feet.

The searing light was shone into his eyes again and Solo groaned. He panted around a mouthful of blood. His hands were roughly tied. Then, with a firm grip on each arm, he was frog-marched to a nearby car and shoved into the trunk.

The door was slammed shut. Complete darkness.

Moments later, the engine roared to life.

Solo caught his breath. He only had a few minutes to puzzle through this. The first order of business was to untie his hands. This was easy enough. They had made the mistake in tying them in front instead of behind his back.

As soon as his hands were free, he blindly reached out and explored the trunk’s locking mechanism as best as he could. The back of his head throbbed in time with his racing heart. The jolting car ride caused wave after wave of nausea and dizziness.

He vomited. His skull rang out, hot with agony.

Solo spat, groaned, and with shaky hands got back to work on the lock. They must have hit him pretty hard.

After a few minutes, and with the help of a lockpick he had in the lining of his coat, Solo popped open the trunk. He was careful not to open the trunk fully and eyed his surroundings. They were bouncing down an old dirt road with only trees on either side. Lovely. The middle of nowhere.

Well, no time like the present.

Solo thrust the trunk door open fully and jumped.

The guidance of 'tuck and roll' felt more like wishful thinking at that moment.

It was a whirlwind of pain.

Finally he found himself flat on his back, looking at the night sky. So many stars.

Solo rolled over and retched again but nothing came up. His head, obviously, was still very painful. He gasped for air, keening with every inhale.

The sound of screeching brakes and slamming care doors.

Shit.

The sound of boots pounding the dirt road. Towards him.

Solo tried to get his legs under him but fell, pain lancing up his left leg. He hit the ground, hard. As rough hands grabbed him again, he saw that his foot stuck out at an odd angle. Broken.

Time dilated. Solo could only focus on breathing. At one moment, he found himself in the backseat of a car, held upright between two men. The next, he was being pulled from the car, foot dragging on the ground. He screamed. And retched. His skull felt as though it would explode. Solo blacked out.

It was the grating agony of his ankle and foot that woke him. Blackness. Until Solo cracked his eyes. A dim room. He could not move.

A moment later he was a little more awake.

He was bound tightly to a table, the ceiling and it’s lone light-bulb looming over him.

The door at the far end of the room opened and two men stepped through; one was older with gray hair and rolled up shirt sleeves and the other was younger, fair-haired, and tall.

And then the questions began.

The haze of his broken ankle and throbbing skull covered Solo like a pall. He could not keep up. As soon as he understood what they were asking him, they were on to the next question. And when they did not get answers quick enough, they cut off his clothes and resorted to other methods of persuasion.

Why were you at that brickyard after dark?

They pulled a cloth over his head and drowned him in cold water.

Who planted the information you retrieved?

They put out their cigarettes on his bare skin.

Who do you work for?

They pressed hard upon his broken ankle and made him scream. They ground the bones against each other. His left lower leg was swollen and almost black with bruises.

Solo did not talk.

He fell into a stupor and woke only to pain. He wished for death. Anything but this.

Hours passed. Maybe even days. He lost track. He did not care. It was eternity either way.

So when he felt the shackles around his wrists removed and someone beginning to work on the shackles about his ankles, he lay there quietly and let them do as they wished.

He gasped when the band about his broken ankle fell off and the blood began to flow again under the bruised flesh.

A warm hand was pressed to his cheek. Gently. That was odd.

“You are awake?” A soft voice.

Maybe he had gone insane. Or maybe this was a new way to torture him.

Solo opened his eyes and saw the blurry face of Illya hovering there.

He certainly hadn’t expected that.

Solo licked his cracked, dry lips. “It’s difficult to tell.” He rasped. In the harsh light from above, Solo could see the lines about Illya’s mouth tighten.

“Come.” Illya began the process of helping Solo off the operating table. “We must go. Where are your clothes?”

Solo had begun to violently shake, his muscles cramping hard, as he tried to stand. He could not speak through the shivering and only shook his head.

Another frown from Illya.

Solo became afraid. The shivering made him ache. The room spun about him. If he was not helpful, would Illya leave him behind? If he was too slow, would Illya decide he was just too much trouble to rescue?

Solo swallowed hard against a dry throat.

Then he straightened up. He tried to still his shaking. And he only leaned on Illya for a little support. Finally, he was able to speak. “They cut them off me. They’re gone.”

Solo felt rather than saw Illya nod. “I have a blanket in the car.”

“Let’s go.” Solo hissed.

Solo had one arm across Illya’s shoulders, while Illya held Solo close to him with a warm grip on his waist. Illya’s hand on his bare, bruised skin was so warm. And gentle. Together, they limped slowly out.

Solo stared only at the floor was they went, focusing on keeping his balance and moving as fast as he could.

He didn’t want to be left behind.

The cold night air hit him and Solo suppressed another bout of violent shivers, groaning with the effort to stay upright.

“Nearly there.” Illya murmured softy, his voice rumbling against Solo’s bruised chest.

Illya sounded almost like he was trying to comfort him.

Solo heard a car door open and he was lifted inside, laid across the backseat. The door closed. Then the other back door opened, another gust of cold wind, and Illya slipped in beside Solo.

“The blanket.” Illya whispered as he laid something warm over Solo’s bare limbs.

Maybe Illya said something else. Solo wasn’t sure. His ears were ringing. And he was sinking. He was falling. He felt the warm hand on his face again. Then nothing.

Dean with a hoddie in 1x12 “Faith”