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ailendolin · 2 years

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Whumptober 2022 - Day 13 - Yonderland

Title: ThemThere Whumptober 2022 [AO3: Part 1]

Prompt: Dislocation

Characters: Choop, Pressley & the Elders

A/N: Inspired by this ask I once got.

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Day 13 - Dislocation

“Hey, old chap. Are you all right?”

Choop turned to Vex and forced himself to smile. “Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Ho-Tan stepped up next to Vex and bit her lip. “You keep holding your arm, Choop.”

Choop looked down at his left arm that he was, in fact, holding. He let go and tried not to wince when the slight movement sent sparks of pain through his shoulder. “It’s nothing.”

“Doesn’t look like nothing, brother,” Flowers said quietly.

Choop sighed in defeat. “All right. I think it might be broken.”

“Let me see,” Pressley said and reached for his arm.

“Oh no,” Choop said, turning away from him and cradling his arm protectively against his chest. “You’ll make it worse.”

Pressley heaved a patient sigh. “I promise to be careful. You know we can’t leave it like that if it’s really broken.”

Very reluctantly and clearly not happy about it, Choop let him touch his arm. As promised, Pressley’s touch was gentle as he probed the skin all the way up to the shoulder joint.

“So?” Choop asked through clenched teeth when Pressley’s prolonged silence began to unnerve him.

Pressley smiled. “The good news is: nothing’s broken.”

“What’s the bad news?” Ho-Tan asked anxiously.

Without warning, Pressley grabbed Choop’s shoulder and pulled. Choop howled and twisted away from him as pain as he’d never felt it before ran through his body like liquid fire. “What the – what did you go and do that for?”

“Your shoulder was dislocated,” Pressley said with an apologetic shrug as if that made it better. “The joint’s now back in its place but you’ll have to wear a sling for the next few days.”

“Already on it,” Flowers piped up behind them. None of them was surprised when they found him tearing stripes of fabric off his robes to make a makeshift sling.

Choop huffed, once again holding his arm protectively. “Well, next time, a little warning would be nice.”

Pressley gave him a look. “Would you have let me do it if I’d warned you?”

“Probably not,” Choop admitted. And then, a little more quietly, “Thank you, Pressley.”

Pressley smiled. “You’re welcome, my friend.”

#whumptober2022 #no.13 #dislocation #yonderland #fic #chief elder choop #lord elder pressley #the elders #my fic

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viola-halogen · 1 year

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12 Days of Thanktival — Day 9: Hurt-Comfort/Elders/Snow Day

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[AO3 link]

Relationships: Scribe Elder Ho-Tan/Wise Elder Vex, Scribe Elder Ho-Tan & Wise Elder Vex

Characters: Scribe Elder Ho-Tan, Wise Elder Vex, Chief Elder Choop, Vice Elder Flowers, Lord Elder Pressley

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Summary: When Ho-Tan gets hurt sledding, Vex takes care of her.

A/N: Me and my family usually go sledding whenever we get a lot of snow so it was really fun incorporating that into this fic as something the Elders and Youngers would do together.

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Better

A ten minute walk from the Elders’ Chamber there was a steep hill that sloped downwards into a narrow dip before coming up again on the other side, and sometimes on days when it snowed properly the Elders and Youngers would go sledding there.

It was a popular destination on snow days, and they would usually be joined by families from the local villages, which meant that they had to get there first thing in the morning to be sure of the best spot. They’d done well this year, getting up at the crack of dawn and dragging their sleds through the woods by the light of the moons, so that it was still mostly dark by the time they set up their camping chairs at the top of the hill. They were all wrapped up warm in coats, scarves and gloves—even a begrudging Flowers—and Ho-Tan had made hot chocolate for all of them. While they waited for it to get light enough to start sledding, they huddled together for warmth and talked excitedly about the day ahead of them. Before long other groups started to show up, and when the hilltop was starting to get crowded, Choop leapt to his feet.

“Raise you to the bottom!” he announced gleefully, positioning his sled to get the best takeoff and sitting down.

“You’re on, old boy!” Vex said, struggling to get into his sled. Irk sat on his lap and took the reins of the sled, as everyone else got into position. Only when they were all ready did Choop push off, flying down the hill and gaining speed as he went. Vex gave a push with his legs and then they were racing off after Choop. The sled was slightly too small for both of them and rocked from side to side, so that they both had to fight to keep their balance.

“You remember how to steer this thing, right?” Vex yelled in Irk’s ear as they swerved dangerously around Pressley and almost went flying.

“What?” Irk turned around to shout, and at that moment the sled spun out of control, flipping over and dumping them both in the snow. Luckily Irk was still holding onto the reins, and the sled didn’t continue to slide down the hill.

“Are you alright?” Vex asked his son as he dusted snow from himself.

“That was awesome!” Irk cried. “Let’s do it again!”

Vex grinned and got to his feet, taking the sled from Irk and beginning the trek back to the top. Unfortunately going up the hill was a lot harder than going down, and by the time they made it he was out of breath and feeling rather warm in all his layers.

“Here’s an idea,” Vex said, gesturing to a sled that lay on its side, currently not in use. It belonged to Ho-Tan, he was pretty sure, and was a lot bigger than the one he and Irk had been sharing. “You take ours, I’ll take this one, and we’ll race to the bottom.”

“Deal,” Irk said.

They sledded for hours as the sun gradually made its way across the sky. At one point it clouded over and began to snow again, and the kids made a game of trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues. They were beginning to carve out tracks in the snow where it had been compressed under their sleds, which only seemed to make them go faster. A steady stream of people had been arriving all morning now, and the sledders were becoming increasingly packed together.

Vex had just made it back up to the top of the hill and was pausing to get his breath back when it happened. One minute he was watching Choop and Ho-Tan sledding along next to each other, and the next Ho-Tan’s sled ran over a rock, diverted violently from its path and crashed straight into Choop’s. They went tumbling down the hill together, coming to a stop in a small ditch near the bottom, and Vex was horrified to hear a cry of pain from one of them. He didn’t hesitate, abandoning his sled and stumbling down the hill, using his hands for grip on the ground, his boots ploughing the snow as he half-ran, half-slid to where they had landed. When he got there both Choop and Ho-Tan were sitting up, their sleds cast to one side. Ho-Tan was clutching at her head and wincing, while Choop held her other arm and turned it this way and that, examining her wrist. He gave it a small twist, and Ho-Tan cried out in pain, biting down on her lip.

“Alfie! Are you okay?” Vex cried, and they both looked up at him.

“I think her wrist is broken,” Choop said. “The sled ran over her arm on the way down. She hit her head on the ground as well.”

“Let’s get back up to the top,” Vex said. “We can come back for the sleds.”

Ho-Tan nodded somewhat dazedly and leant on Vex to stand up, and the three of them began the trek up the hill. When they got there Vex sat with Ho-Tan, while Choop went to get the sleds.

“You need to go home and get that seen to,” Vex told her. “I’ve got a potion to fix broken bones somewhere. I’ll come back with you.”

Ho-Tan shook her head. “No—I don’t want to ruin your day,” she said. “You stay here and have fun. I’ll be alright on my own.”

“Nonsense,” Vex said. “I can’t leave you to go off on your own when you’re hurt, what kind of a jerk would do that? And I’m sure Flowers won’t mind keeping an eye on Alvin and Irk while we’re gone, will you?”

“Of course not,” Flowers chimed in. “No brother—or sister—should be left to suffer alone.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Ho-Tan said. “Okay, let’s go.”

Vex and Ho-Tan headed away from the group and began to walk back towards the Elders’ Chamber. The walk seemed considerably longer with Ho-Tan shivering by his side and desperately trying to conceal the miserable look of pain on her face from him.

“How badly does it hurt?” he asked her gently.

“My head feels worse,” she said. “My wrist just feels sort of… funny. But it hurts when I try to move it.”

Vex reached out and put an arm around her shoulders. “We’re nearly there now,” he said. “Just a bit further.”

Ho-Tan nodded, but said nothing. When at last they rounded the corner and found themselves outside the front door to the Chamber, Vex pulled out his keys and let them in. He took Ho-Tan straight to the kitchen, where there was a fire still blazing in the hearth, and sat her down in front of it.

“Stay here and get warm,” he told her. “I’ll be right back.”

He made his way to his room and started rummaging around for the healing potion he knew he had somewhere—he’d bought it on a whim from Wizard Bradley a while ago and since forgotten about it. Finally he found it, stuffed at the bottom of his emergency supply kit (it was mostly spare buttons and a bag of dried fruit) and rushed back downstairs to Ho-Tan. He found her cradling her broken wrist in her lap and wincing in pain. It was already swollen and bruised, and the sight of it made Vex’s heart pang with sympathy.

“I found it,” he said, dropping into the chair next to her and uncorking the small glass bottle. “Here, drink this.”

Ho-Tan took the bottle with her good hand and necked it, grimacing at its foul taste. Then she put it down and turned to face Vex. “That was really disgusting,” she said. “What’s it made of, fish guts?”

Vex laughed. “I’ll make us hot chocolate in a minute, that’ll take the taste away.”

“Aah!” Ho-Tan cried suddenly, clutching at her wrist in pain. Vex had only taken that kind of healing potion once before, but he remembered exactly how painful it could be as your bones magically underwent the months-long process of repairing themselves in a matter of minutes. He reached out and wrapped his arms around Ho-Tan, stroking her shoulder.

“It… it hurts…” she said.

“That means it’s working,” Vex said. “I know it’s horrible… just hold on, it fades pretty quickly.”

Ho-Tan nodded and buried her face in Vex’s chest. He could tell how much effort it was taking her not to cry out in pain, and he felt a rush of admiration for her strength and perseverance. A few minutes passed like that, but eventually the pain seemed to abate, because she sat up and managed a watery smile.

“How do you feel now?” Vex asked her.

“A lot better,” she said. “It’s still kind of numb, but I can move it again.” She bent her wrist gently to demonstrate. Vex took her hand and felt it gently, to confirm that the break had been fully fixed. Then he examined her forehead as well—it was going to bruise spectacularly, but there was no serious damage done. The best thing to do would most likely be to let it heal on its own.

“That’s good,” he said. “You might want to be careful with it for the next few days, but other than that you should be completely fine.”

Ho-Tan smiled weakly at him. “Thank you for taking care of me,” she said. “It was very sweet of you. I’m just sorry I ruined your day—I know how much you love it when it snows.”

“Don’t be silly,” he said. “Nothing is more important to me than making sure you’re okay. There’ll be other snow days. All that matters now is looking after you.”

A warm pink colour spread across Ho-Tan’s cheeks, and she leant her head on his shoulder again.

“You’re the best,” she told him. “Thank you.”

He wrapped his arms around her, and leant down to kiss the top of her head. “No problem,” he said. “I’ll always take care of you.”

#yonderland #yonderland fanfic #elder ho tan #elder vex #vextan #12 days of thanktival

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