Saltwater Day

It is saltwater day (brought to you by @brutal-nemesis), and I am finally done with this fic. I would like to thank Nemi for forcing me to create content once again.

Trigger Warnings – also tagged: blood

WC: 966

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There was no scream, but Kai could tell that something was wrong. A young man seemed to be dragging his leg through the ocean. Kai looked around for the beach’s lifeguard, who gave no response to Kai’s cries for help. He’d have to do it himself.

As Kai neared the man, he noticed a trail of red following the obviously injured leg. Kai held his hand out for the man, hoping to get a response. “My name is Kai. You look like you could use some help.”

The man, wearing a blue swim shirt that matched his floral swim trunks, shook his head. “I’m fine, man.”

“I don’t think you are.” Kai pointed to the man’s leg, which was being followed by an ever-growing red blotch.

“I said I’m fine,” the man insisted. He continued to drag his leg until he reached the shore. Before he could get both feet out of the water, he collapsed onto the wet sand.

Kai rushed over to the man, whose face was now being covered with salty ocean water every time the waves crashed against the shore. He picked the man’s head up and gently stroked it. “Hey, man, can you hear me?” The man’s eyes fluttered open, but Kai got no response. “What’s your name?”

“Roman,” the man managed.

“Okay, Roman, I am Kai, and I am a paramedic. I’m going to take a look at that leg.” Kai pulled Roman up the beach to get his leg out of the water.

On Roman’s left leg, bright red blood clashed against the tanned skin of his ankle. Sand filled the gash that ran from the arch of his foot to the center of his shin about two inches above the ankle. Roman took a peek at his foot and winced, slowly becoming aware of the pain he was in.

“What happened?” Kai asked.

“I don’t know,” Roman responded, a tinge of pain in his voice.

Kai paused, analyzing the injury. “You are going to need to go to the hospital.”

“I can’t drive right now? Should I call an Uber?”

“I know, but no. I can take you. More importantly, I’m going to need to get the sand out of your wound and put some bandage on it before we go.”

“Oh. Okay.” Roman sighed and peered down at his leg.

“I will be right back,” Kai told Roman. He ran up the beach to his stuff. He shook out his purple beach towel and placed it into his black mesh bag, which he then slung over his shoulder. On his way back to Roman, he stopped at the blanket of a family with two young children, both making sandcastles. After a short conference with the parents, Kai approached a young girl. “A man at the shore needs my help, and I need a bucket to do that. Would I be able to borrow yours? I will give it right back when I am done?”

The little girl looked up at Kai and smiled. “Yes!” she cried out, leading Kai over to her family’s pile of beach toys. After studying the pile, she handed Kai a medium-sized purple bucket. “I help,” she said.

“Yes. Thank you,” Kai said to the little girl. After accepting the bucket, he took off running toward Roman. He set his bag down on the sand. Kai shifted his attention to Roman. “Here’s the plan: I am going to get as much sand as I can out of that wound. Then I am going to wrap it in my beach towel. I will then carry you to my car and we will go to the hospital. I can grab your stuff. You ready?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Is this really necessary?”

Kai looked Roman in the eyes. “I need to put pressure on that wound to slow the bleeding and help it be stable until we get to the hospital. It’s not healthy for that much debris to be pressed into the wound.” He grabbed Roman’s hand. “I know it’ll sting, but it’s better to get it done now than needing a huge debriding job at the hospital.”

Roman nodded. “Just get it done,” he said.

“Okay.” Kai grabbed the bucket and scooped up some water from the incoming tide, being careful not to get any sand in. He placed the bucket next to Roman’s leg and quickly applied some hand sanitizer from the bottle he kept in his bag. He used his left hand to brace Roman’s leg just above the cut. With his right hand, Kai slowly poured the salt water over the wound. He moved his left hand to brush out some of the sand. He continued pouring until Roman lurched forward in pain.

“Ow. Ow. Please stop. It hurts.” Roman tried to grab at his foot, but Kai held a firm grip on Roman’s leg.

“I am almost done.” Kai scooped up another bucket of water. “How about you lie back for this?” Kai placed the bucket on the ground again and used his right arm to coax Roman into lying back. Kai picked up the bucket once more and restarted the slow pour.

Roman grimaced in pain and whimpered. Finally, Kai was satisfied with the amount of sand he had cleared. Without warning, he dumped the rest of the water on Roman’s leg, causing him to bolt back up.

“I’m done,” Kai assured him. Kai grabbed his beach towel from his bag and tightly wrapped it around Roman’s leg. He tied a knot and tucked the ends into the wrap. “Ready to head out?”

Roman nodded.

As Kai scooped Roman up, he noticed the beginnings of blood stains forming on his towel. At least he had brought his towel, and not the one Juliet had bought him for his birthday.

Managed to catch a Needlefish by hand! Tore up my hand a bit from the super sharp teeth but it was so worth it. Look how shiny this beautiful fish is! ✨

I added coral to my first saltwater tank a few days ago, came home from the art market and all my fish and shrimps were dead :(

I blame the art market :((

This mushroom spans over a third of the tank when it opens all the way

OH HO

Finally getting coralline growth after two years

Chiquita amongst some of the leathers. Also, my pair of anthias.

Sonny and Cher.

Maui the yellow tang, Ember the flame angel, and Chiquita the Midas blenny.

Not the best quality photo, but I wanted to show one of the new heads on my Duncan coral.

Both mushroom colonies have been putting out lots of babies.

This leather has been going through a growth spurt.

Lil urchin.

April 25 2019. Day 329.

The tank is coming up on a year old! I have not gotten any new fish/ corals for the past few months as I will more than likely be moving later this summer. I don’t want to get any new inhabitants until that is done and settled.

I recently got a new skimmer (a reef octopus HOB) that I am obsessed with. I previously had a coralife 125 and it crapped out on me. This one is much quieter and more efficient. I also got a new wave maker/ pump that I love. It’s doing a great job of creating natural turbulence and flow in the tank. With the old pump I had the coral were mostly getting hit from the same direction 24/7. This new wave maker ( Jebao 40) has a lot more setting for flow and direction.

Corals and fish are doing fantastic. My clowns are gaining a lot of size. I’m going to up my spot feeding of the corals a bit to see if I can get a little bit faster growth. But overall, I’m very happy.

Full tank shot 2/20/19.

The Australian frogspawn is enjoying its new placement.

Green star polyp.

Green trumpet still splitting.

1 of 3 torches.

Female anthias begging the cleaner shrimp for a cleaning.

Emerald crab enjoying some algae.