cw: hospital/medical stuff mentions, unspecified illness or injury
“You wanna pick up some food on the way?” Caretaker asked, steering her car out of the parking garage and to the intersection.
Whumpee, sitting under a blanket on the passenger seat, watched the hospital disappear as they drove away on the mostly empty highway. He rubbed the pit of his elbow where a small bandage remained to stop the slight bleeding from a cannula.
It had been a long day. New bottles of medicine rattled in the pockets of his jacket when he shifted into a more comfortable position and leaned their head against the headrest. They had sat in the waiting room the whole evening before finally being admitted, and discharged only a couple of hours after. Caretaker hadn’t even tried to argue with the staff anymore. It always ended like this. Not enough beds and not enough people to take care of the ones lying on them.
Whumpee knew he was lucky. He knew he’d be safe going home with Caretaker. But it didn’t mean he didn’t keep dreaming about the day he’d be taken seriously. He’d receive proper care. Otherwise he’d just have to keep going back, over and over again. More pills, more bills, more wasted hours.
“Hello?”
“Oh, uh,” Whumpee blinked, realizing he hadn’t actually given Caretaker a response. “No, I… we should just head home. You’ve got work in the morning, and it’s already way past midnight.”
His stomach let out a loud rumbling sound just then, and Caretaker gave him a quiet look, which Whumpee pretended to not see. He could fix himself a bowl of yogurt at home. Caretaker needed sleep. She deserved it, after putting aside her own responsibilities just to stay with him again.
“What if I told you I already took tomorrow off?”
"What?" Whumpee turned to her, shaking his head. “Caretaker, no. You shouldn’t have.”
Caretaker shrugged. “It’s Friday, we get to have a head start for the weekend. Won’t that be fun?” Her smile faltered slightly and her voice shifted lower, to more serious. “The nurse said someone should keep an eye on you — and I wouldn’t want to leave you, anyway. You still need help.”
Whumpee knew that. He looked down, fidgeting with the hospital wristband. If he’d kept every one of those he’d got even during the past year, he could probably sew them together to make full sleeves for both arms. Money was already tight, as Caretaker worked to support the both of them, and Caretaker missing work because of Whumpee’s various appointments and frequent trips to the ER had had their effect on their income.
“Yes, but…” he said, the familiar tearing feeling of shame finding its place. “I thought we would call Friend or Sibling to stay with me while you’re at work. We have before.”
“Now we don’t have to.” Caretaker glanced at him, frowning. “Do you not… want me to stay?”
“Didn’t they say you can’t keep doing this anymore if you plan to keep your position?” Whumpee asked. “You like your job. I don’t want you to risk losing it because of me.”
“They will understand. I told them it is a family matter.”
Whumpee’s cheeks got hot and he moved his focus away from Caretaker again, watching out of the window instead. They were passing by shops, parks, and pubs, taking many turns in the little streets of their labyrinth of a hometown. Whumpee hadn’t even noticed they had left the main road, but he definitely recognised where Caretaker was heading.
“You didn’t have to lie because of me,” he mumbled, as Caretaker pulled into the parking lot of a local, 24-hour barbeque restaurant they both loved. “About it being a… a family thing.”
Caretaker turned to Whumpee, finally being able to give him her undivided attention as she turned off the engine, smiling softly.
“I didn’t.”
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Bi-Weekly Update - 3/28/31
hello and happy spring!
This update was supposed to be last week, but I got my weeks backwards (I blame the combination of daylight savings time and spring break) so I'll do it this week instead 😅
Progress has been a little disjointed and uneven this month, but it's still going! I'm finishing up testing what I managed to get done so I can get it out onto Patreon in the next day or two, and then back to coding, coding, coding.
The good news is that I've made it through the crucible of March in an altogether better state than I was in this time last month, both mentally and physically. Only time will tell how much of a change that means, but I feel so much better now.
In personal news: Saturday, April 1st is A) the 2 year anniversary of Speaker's release on itch.io, and B) my 10 year wedding anniversary 💙
I think that's all I've got for this time. Back to work 😉 I hope the weather where you are has figured out what season it wants to feel like, and that you enjoy the rest of your week. Happy anniversary! And I'll see you all in April 💙💙💙
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The little German boy went into the weed cave 😔
Text translation and content under cut
STUTTGART NEWS
Little German Boy Fucks Shit Up
This Friday at 2AM, a little German boy in the name of Johann Ludwig entered the premises of a weed cave despite the warnings to not from many others. Once entered, Johann suddenly decided to smoke all 90 kilograms of the weed inside the cave and went in a weed induced murder spree. Over 15 innocent people were killed that night. Witnesses claim that he was "high off his ass", and several of his family members told us how they never coukd have imagined a sweet young upstanding boy like Johann to rip a bong like that.
Professional drug scientists have said that this particular incident may or may not have done permanent damage to the little German boy's brain. They have stated that "he might become like, a totally maniacal hot mercenary DILF in the future, like, he's gonna be fucking crazy dude".
The little boy's intentions from going into that cave are yet to be know, but police investigations are still ongoing and officers are saying that they will soon get answers out of the boy as soon as they find a police officer that isn't scared to death of the boy.
The little boy's family, the Ludwigs, have chose to make no further comment on the boy's unusually violent behavior, finding the topic too upsetting. However, according to the family's neighbour's, the Smidtts, little Johann had a distant Uncle whom he visited often without his family's permission or knowledge. Dr. Hans Ludwig, a dentist with a clinic not far from the boy's home, had several things to say on the subject when our reporters asked him his opinions. "Let the boys have some damn fun. He's not doing any harm!" He had said. "What's wrong with a few casualties in the name of science. Besides, who doesn't smoke weed every once in a while. You people and your silly 'laws' are inhibiting the true potential and creativity of our future children!
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Mad Rat Dead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ❤🐀☠
gif one: 3 speakers bumping to the beat of an unknown song
gif two: two pale hands showing off a set of antique surgical tools
gif three: a plus sized person in red plaid pants and black tank top dancing
gif four: the bottom of a bright green frog. its belly is transparent and uts heart is beating quickly
gif five: Mad Rat from Mad Rat dead doing 2 peace signs excitedly
gif six: an x-ray of someones chest, their heart is beating
gif seven: a person with very long, dark hair in a black and white checkered tube top and pink and yellow booty shorts dancing out in public
gif eight: someone using a magnetic stick to attach the blade of a scalpel to the handle
gif nine: a single speaker bumping to unknown music.
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If I could press rewind, and talk to my 19 year old self:
You are capable of greatness.
I don't care what the odds are.
At the end of the day,
Your chances are better at succeeding
If you believe in yourself, above all else.
So put the past behind you.
Yesterday's failures don't belong here, now.
Turn the page.
Begin again.
You can accomplish anything.
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I lowkey want to see what would happen if you tried to write a romance scene while hearing Elmo yell about whatever in the background. No, but on a serious note, I started reading/playing(?) Speaker just before you got sick, and I'm glad you're feeling better. The writing and story are really compelling!
it's still summer vacation for a couple more weeks, so I've been writing romantic scenes lately with quite an eclectic soundtrack of children's shows. pretty much the whole rewrite had a background of either A) Sesame Street, B) Over the Garden Wall, C) Gravity Falls (that's what's on right now, in fact), or D) Rachel Maksy's videos
Thank you for sticking around while I recovered 💙 I genuinely appreciate all the support and encouragement
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