Whumpril 2024 - Day 6 - Dizziness
Look I think Mariano just thinks that being dizzy is fun, that's my one explanation for how he gets when he's drunk or oxygen deprived
TWs: suffocation, oxygen deprivation in a controlled environment, lab-whump adjacent but it's the military, a mage gets flustered about oxygen dep (but it's safe for work, he's just blushy)
Luis tapped his fingers against his arm, watching through the window of the testing room. They didn’t need to be sequestered away for this one–all advanced soldiers going to specialized branches would go through it eventually. Laredo sat at a school desk, leaned over the worksheet he’d been given. He tapped the mechanical pencil against his lips, pausing before circling another answer.
Luis’ eyes flicked to the monitor in Manuel’s hands. His oxygen saturation was still respectable. He was halfway done with the sheet.
“Thoughts?” He asked, looking to Manuel.
Manuel hummed, glancing back to where Izan and Dimitri were sitting in the hallway, oxygen masks strapped to their faces. Their lips were still paler than either Luis or Manuel would’ve preferred, but they were recovering nicely. “I think he’s doing fine so far. He seems calmer than Dimitri was, and he’s matching my pace, at least.”
“I agree.” Luis said. “And none of you have anything else to do today or tomorrow, as discussed. Just recovery.”
Manuel smiled, bright and quick. “Thank you for readjusting the schedule. Especially with how Laredo’s heart gets sometimes, I just don’t think it’d be wise for anyone to be doing a ton of cardio for a little while.”
“Of course. Thank you for staying on top of things.”
The numbers on the monitor flashed yellow, cutting Manuel off from what he was going to say. He squinted at Laredo, whose writing had slowed down. He was starting to tilt to one side. “Ah, there it is.” Manuel said, marking down the time. “I wonder if he’ll be as coherent after this point?”
Dimitri spoke up, pulling the oxygen mask away for a moment. “If he’s more coherent than me on the third essay question I’ll fry his controller.”
“Keep breathing, Dimitri.” Luis scolded, shaking his head.
They watched the seconds tick by, melting into minutes. Laredo tipped further and further, before eventually falling completely to the floor on his side, pencil dropping beside him. “Time! Releasing the seal.” Luis announced, unlatching the door and letting oxygen rush back in.
He watched as Manuel hurried inside with the third of four oxygen tanks, kneeling and pressing the mask to Laredo’s face. He leaned down and spoke to him, patting his face to help him wake up. Just as Luis was starting to worry, Laredo jolted up with a groan and scrambled to his elbows, drawing a sincere laugh from Manuel and a gentle pat of his shoulder. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Izan felt the same way. Nice and slow, now, your brain is still restarting.”
When Laredo could stand he let Manuel help him from the classroom, face red and unable to look Luis in the eye. “Alright Mariano,” Luis said, pointedly ignoring the way Izan elbowed Laredo’s bicep. “Your turn, then we can go back.”
Mariano nodded, stepping inside the room and taking the last fresh worksheet. He picked up the pencil, sat down, and watched the window for his signal. When Luis resealed the door and the air began to drain from the room, Manuel waved a hand and gave Mariano a thumbs-up. The timer began to count.
The first few minutes were entirely uneventful, with Mariano steadily working his way down the page. He didn’t seem to stumble on anything in the first half, but when the oxygen reached its lowest point and his breathing started to get strained, Luis watched the youngest member seem to shift.
Always so stoic and almost-uptight, he’d expected Mariano to get frustrated like Dimitri did. He expected agitated fingers running through dark hair, brows furrowed as his brain stopped being able to process things as easily. He expected a deep frown, or a scowl.
Instead, tension began to fall away from Mariano’s shoulders. He leaned against the top of the desk more, tilting his head almost lazily as he reread the last question on that side and underlined a part of it. He tapped the pencil against the paper, drawing a looping, repeating shape in the margin as he thought. When he finally seemed to have an answer, he just drew the line to the beginning of his sentence without picking up his pencil.
Luis watched him flip the worksheet over to the math portion–Mariano loved math, Luis realized, because he beamed. His elevated mood seemed to be more than just subject-related though, because as he wrote in the section where his name went and drew another set of circles next to it, he started shaking and covering his mouth.
Laughing, Luis realized. Something about this tickled Mariano to his very core, even as he started filling in the math questions. Every time it seemed like the giggle fit was over, it would rear its head again and he’d double over, head against the desk, and his shoulders would just shake.
“How are his levels?” Luis asked, grinning himself.
It seemed like it wasn’t just Luis who found it contagious, since Manuel was fighting to keep his expression even. “In the yellow, and dropping, but at least he’s still in a good mood.” Mariano had just decided to keep his head on the desk as he wrote, glasses tilted from the pressure against the hard surface.
As his hypoxia continued, Mariano tried to pick himself up. He’d almost finished both sides, on par with the others. He glanced back up at the top of the paper though, and that seemed to fully do him in. He started laughing again, a faint, wheezy thing where every inhale was a desperate struggle.
He just couldn’t get any more air, though, and with his eyes fluttering he slumped into unconsciousness against the desk, pencil rolling to the floor.
“Alright, time. Releasing the seal.” Luis repeated the process from earlier, and as oxygen rushed back in, Luis accompanied Manuel inside. He had to see what had gotten Mariano so giggly. As he helped Mariano to the floor and Manuel got the mask on his face, Luis got a peek at the paper.
Instead of his name, in not-cursive lettering that gradually dipped beneath the line, he’d accidentally written “Marimo”, then drew a wobbly circle nearby, with tinier circles coming up from it, and a little simple smiling face. As Mariano groaned and started to wake up again, Luis folded up the paper and pocketed it. That had been the happiest he’d ever seen Mariano, especially since joining the war mage program.
He almost wondered if a moss ball in a tiny aquarium would be a decent birthday gift for the teenager.
@cyberwhumper @whumperofworlds @inscrutable-shadow @honeybees-125 @bxtterflystxtches @lektricwhump (SORRY LEKTRIC-WHUMP I'M SURE YOU'RE SUPER COOL)
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La Mode nationale, no. 45, 6 novembre 1909, Paris. Costumes de fillettes haute nouveauté. Modèles de la Grande Maison. Photo Manuel. Bibliothèque nationale de France
Fig. 1. — Robe de cachemire pour jeune fille de 14 à 15 ans. Un large pli rond se forme au milieu devant sur le corsage et la jupe. Sur les côtés une haute ceinture drapée, en liberty, sépare le corsage de la jupe plissée.
Les côtés du corsage et le dessus de la manche sont plissés en travers. De la soutache borde le décolleté. Guimpe et poignets de mousseline et entre-deux.
Fig. 1. — Cashmere dress for girls aged 14 to 15. A large round pleat is formed in the center front on the bodice and skirt. On the sides, a high draped liberty belt separates the bodice from the pleated skirt.
The sides of the bodice and the top of the sleeve are pleated crosswise. Soutache borders the neckline. Muslin wimple and cuffs and in-betweens.
Métrage: 5 mètres tissu en 120.
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Fig. 2. — Robe de drap souple. Le tablier de la jupe monte sur le corsage et l'arrête sous l'empiècement bordé d'un galon. La ceinture est fixée au tablier par des boutons. Guimpe et poignets de lingerie. Manche boutonnée sur le dessus.
Fig. 2. — Soft cloth dress. The apron of the skirt rises over the bodice and stops under the yoke edged with braid. The belt is attached to the apron with buttons. Lingerie wimple and cuffs. Sleeve buttoned on top.
Métrage: 4 mètres tissu en 120.
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