Elrin Plant wip (Patreon)

Here's the first half of the next part of Elrin's plant pregnancy! I'm still working on it, but here's what I've done so far

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"Go fish."

"Ugh, can't you even pretend to lose?" Elrin wheezes, "I'm dying y'know."

"You're not dying, I won't let you" Shappi without looking up from her hand, "now go fish."

Elrin tries to huff but it sticks in his chest as a rumbling cough that makes his shoulders shake. He pulls a new card into his hand anyway and continues to play. Bed rest gets boring real fast when there's nothing exciting to do besides watch the news and sleep, so Shappi always tries to bring new things to entertain them throughout the day. Today had been a pack of cards, which were rare to find outside of the poorer colonies, but were still enjoyed as a fun way to pass the time. Even if Elrin had to teach Shappi how to play most of the card games.

Elrin had been hospitalized for almost two weeks now, but it felt like an eternity. He was on a constant drip of painkillers and herbicides which only served to make him feel awful. Deep, dark bags had formed under his eyes and his body ached ceaselessly, spiking with cramps and sharp pains as the plant inside him slowly died. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, he was still hacking up chunks of plants every so often. Dr Sana explained that the incubations remains would have to come out somehow, he just hadn’t expected to be throwing it up over the course of several weeks. Especially not when his throat was already so raw and irritated as it was. He was surprised he even still had a voice to speak with, though it was clearly worn from the strain. He could barely manage more than a few scratchy sentences at a time before he wound up in another coughing fit.

Shappi had just made another pair in her hand when Elrin felt strange. His stomach cramped again, but that wasn’t what was strange. He shifted under the covers, trying to feel the strange dampness between his thighs. He didn’t know why he felt like that, but it didn’t seem life threatening either, so he ignored it to take his turn. His stomach cramped again, stronger this time, but not unbearable. He was far too used to stomach pains for some cramping to phase him that bad. 

He carried on with the card game until Shappi inevitably won and she packed the cards away. The cramps had seemingly gotten worse throughout the game, so he lay back against his pillow and shut his eyes with a groan, hoping to sleep off the worst of them. 

“You alright?” Shappi asked.

“Mm, just cramping again” Elrin nodded, eyes still shut. The painkillers only helped so much, and Elrin has unfortunately developed a high tolerance for them after so long.

“Want me to warm up a heat pack?” 

“No, thanks. I think I’m just gunna try sleep for a bit” Elrin said, trying to roll over in bed. Which is when he felt it again. The strange wetness between his legs.

It felt thick, sticky. He’d had his water broken too many times to think that somehow that’s what was happening, but it was still unpleasant. It was only when the sudden urge to push ran up his spine that his eyes flew open. He tugged himself higher in bed, with some great effort, and pulled the sheets back from his hips. 

There was a small damp spot on his gown, which wasn't surprising but was confusing. He tugged himself more forward, as much as his still bloated stomach would allow him without hurting himself, and pulled his gown back to see that the damp spot soaked into the sheets as well, tinged pink. 

"Elrin, what's wrong?"

"Something's wrong" he croaks, "can you look?"

Shappi does so without any further prompting, she's helped him give birth and clean up so many times this is hardly anything new to them. There's a frown on her face as she leans over the bed to check him. 

A sharp cramp hits Elrin again, making him flinch, and he feels something wet and slick slide out of him. Shappi had to have seen it too because she's standing up instantly and pressing the nurse call button.

"W-what was it?" 

"It looked like plant chunks, the same you've been throwing up" she says, frown still on her face, “but I don’t like the looks of this. I think there might be blood.”

Elrin simply sighed, resting back against the pillow with his arms draped over his face. 

“Seriously can this get any worse…”

Dr. Sana shows up quickly, and it’s times like this Elrin is glad she’s the one in charge of his incubations. She enters the room with a nurse trailing behind her and quickly makes her way to Elrin’s bedside.

“Are you alright, Elrin?” She asks simply, eyes moving around to assess the room, quickly finding his splayed legs and the dampness between them. “How long has this been happening?” she says as she leans in to inspect.

“N-not long” Elrin coughs, “a few hours maybe?”

Dr. Sana hums to herself before speaking quickly to the nurse who begins moving around the room. She drops the end of the bed down and adjusts the bed until stirrups are at either end. Elrin sighs inwardly at the sight of them, far too used this to be embarrassed, just annoyed with the effort.

He moves into them wordlessly, lifting his legs up into the stirrups and not bothering to adjust his gown as it rides up over his stomach. He catches the nurse staring momentarily at the mass of stretch marks that litter his skin, but she quickly tears her eyes away as she assists the doctor. Elrin doesn’t blame her, her face is unfamiliar so she’s probably new to the incubation ward. 

He can feel Dr. Sana as she starts to probe around and inspect him and he tries not to flinch when her touch is more painful than he anticipated it being.

“Describe your symptoms to me please” Dr. Sana states from between his legs, and Elrin starts to list off what he’s felt for the past few hours. He can hear the curious hum she makes when he mentions the urge to push. “Can you try pushing for me, please.”

Elrin does so and feels another slide of thick fluid push out at first, until something more solid is there. There’s a simple ‘keep going’ from below, so he does until he feels himself opening up around something small and round. It quickly pops out of him with little effort, but it somehow doesn’t feel completely detached.

Dr. Sana leans back in her seat and hold up what looks like a petal bulb between her fingers. It’s a sickly green colour with tinges of browning spots on it where it’s clearly wilting, and at the end of it there seems to be a vine of some kind that moves down to where Elrin can only guess it’s still attached to him.

“Seems like your body is trying to expel the specimen more than just orally. This will probably continue until the whole creature is removed, if it makes you uncomfortable I can bring you some postpartum pads to help with the discharge and leaking” She looks over the bulb before moving to place it in a tray beside her. 

Elrin can feel her tugging at the stem of the flower bud, it slides out of him in the strangest sensation that sends a shiver down his spine before it finally stops. He can see Dr. Sana placing the last of it in the tray before she starts to press some gauze against his skin. 

“What about the colour? It looks like he might be bleeding” Shappi says, always ready to ask questions on Elrin’s behalf, even if it’s just to ease her concerns.

“Probably just a result of the specimen detaching from his organs. There may be some small bleeding as a result, but I doubt it’s anything serious. If there’s a noticeable spike in pain or an increase of blood, please notify staff immediately. Otherwise I’ll check for tissue damage in the next scan” Dr. Sana says as she sits back and removes her gloves. “I’ll have some supplies brought up to help, and call me again if you feel like you’re about to pass another large piece of the specimen, but other than that this is just another grisly part of miscarrying. I can put you on a higher dose of painkillers for a while if you think it might help.”

Elrin shakes his head as he pulls his legs down from the stirrups and waits as the nurse returns the bed back to normal. “No, it’s fine. I’m drugged up enough as it is.”

“Understandable” She nods as she checks her watch and adjusts it, “I’ll come back in a few hours when they change your IV to see how you’re doing, alright?”

“Yeah” Elrin sighs, Allowing the nurse to go through the motions of getting new sheets and fixing up the room. Dr. Sana leaves after that, not waiting for any further replies. When the nurse comes over to change the sheets Elrin allows Shappi to help him stand, supporting his arms as he climbs out of the bed. His legs wobble as he stands and he leans heavily against her to keep his balance. He felt like he’d been sapped of all his strength, and without the support he’d probably have collapsed already.

It doesn’t take him long to fall asleep once he’s back in bed. His body too exhausted to do anything other than rest now.

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