Knife Slash: Arm & Grabbed Blade

The blade goes through the forearm to the bone and severs the flexor tendons, you watch your fingers fall open and stay open. The doctor stitches skin and muscle beautifully, but 1899 has no needle fine enough for tendon; that hand will never make a full fist again.

• That hand cannot grip, no gun, no rope, no reins in it, ever
• Arm splinted and slung for 7 days while the wound closes
• Fingers curl halfway and no further, a claw that catches on pockets
• /me flexes their scarred forearm and watches the fingers barely stir

Recovery The wound heals in 3 weeks under a doctor's care; the grip never comes back.·Doctor, urgently

The slash lays your forearm open to the pale gleam of bone, tendons nicked but holding. The doctor floods it with carbolic, stitches it in layers, and splints the arm so you can't undo his work.

• Arm splinted and slung, no use of it at all for 5 days
• No shooting, no roping, no lifting with that arm for 7 days
• Fingers stiff and slow to answer while the tendons mend
• /me carries one arm slung tight against their chest, fingers half-curled

Recovery 3 weeks with a doctor and daily dressings; untreated it festers, and festering this deep means the bonesaw conversation.·Doctor, urgently

You seized the blade with your naked hand and it paid you back, the palm sliced open to the tendons, fingers slick and useless. The doctor cleans out the ruin, stitches what he can, and bandages the hand into a club.

• That hand bandaged into a mitt, no use of it for 7 days
• Cannot hold a gun, cards, or a fork in it
• A deep crease-scar straight across the palm, your new lifeline

Recovery 2 weeks to open the hand, 3 before it's trustworthy; untreated the cuts stiffen and the fingers heal half-curled.·Doctor required

The slash crosses the inside of your wrist and misses the artery by the width of a fiddle string, the doctor goes quiet when he sees how close. Deep, ugly, and stitched with his very best silk while you both pretend your pulse isn't right there.

• Wrist bound stiff, no gun hand, no writing for 4 days
• No lifting anything heavier than a coffee cup with it for 7 days
• A crosswise scar at the wrist that makes doctors raise an eyebrow forever

Recovery 2 weeks with care; untreated, one hard knock reopens it somewhere far from help.·Doctor required

A proper bleeder down the forearm, your sleeve goes heavy and dark before you even feel it. A dozen silk stitches and a carbolic burn that hurts worse than the knife did.

• Forearm bandaged wrist to elbow for 4 days
• Grip weakens fast, drop anything you hold too long for 3 days
• /me rolls back a stiff, rust-stained sleeve to check a line of stitches

Recovery 6 days stitched and swabbed, 10 if you let it crust dirty.·Doctor required

You got half a grip on the blade before sense caught up, a slice across the meat of the palm, deep enough to gape when you spread your fingers. The doctor picks thread lint out of it and stitches it while you look away.

• Palm stitched and padded, no firm grip for 4 days
• Shaking hands hurts like a bad joke
• Reopens if you grab a saddle horn too hard this week

Recovery A week treated, 12 days if it keeps splitting along the crease.·Doctor required

The edge digs into the upper arm, deep into the meat of the bicep. Every lift, every reach, every draw pulls at the stitches like a debt collector.

• No lifting above the shoulder with that arm for 5 days
• Arm aches deep when the weather turns
• /me rubs at a bandaged upper arm, testing the muscle with a grimace

Recovery 8 days with stitches and a sling, two weeks toughed out and twitching.·Doctor required

The blade runs the back of your hand from knuckles to wrist, opening skin and nicking a vein that bleeds out of all proportion. Thin skin over bone there, it hurts sharp and heals slow.

• Back of the hand stitched, making a fist cracks it open for 4 days
• Wear a glove over the bandage or answer questions all day
• A ropey scar across the back of the hand, hard to miss at cards

Recovery A week with care; toughed out, every fist you make sets it back a day.·Doctor required

The classic parry wound, you threw the forearm up and took the slash across it, clean and shallow-deep. Washed with whiskey and stitched at the kitchen table, it's the mark of somebody who kept their throat.

• Forearm bandaged for 3 days
• Stings every time you roll a sleeve or a cigarette
• A straight defensive scar folk who've fought will recognize

Recovery 5 days stitched, 8 with just a whiskey wash and a rag.·Doctor advised

The tip catches the point of your elbow, right where the skin has no padding and no mercy. It cracks itself open every single time you bend the arm, which is always.

• Keep the arm straighter than feels natural for 3 days
• The scab splits and weeps with every careless bend
• /me hisses and cradles their elbow after reaching too fast

Recovery 5 days if you baby it, 9 because you won't.·Doctor advised

The web between thumb and finger splits under the edge, a small cut in the worst spot on the hand. Everything you do all day turns out to need exactly that piece of you.

• No hammering, no fanning, no tight grip with that hand for 3 days
• Bandage wound through the thumb like a promise
• Reopens if you draw too fast

Recovery 4 days rested, 7 used.·Doctor advised

Another slash across the forearm, laid neat beside the marks of older trouble. Shallow enough to close with a tight wrap, deep enough to remind you your parry needs work.

• Forearm wrapped for 2 days
• A new line in the collection, the arm is starting to tell a story
• /me traces the fresh cut lined up beside the old scars

Recovery 4 days, 6 without a proper wrap.·Doctor advised

The blade skims across the round of your shoulder, parting shirt and skin in one shallow stroke. More burn than wound, but it finds you every time you shrug.

• Stings under every coat seam for 3 days
• Sleeping on that side is a mistake you'll make twice
• A faint curved line over the shoulder cap

Recovery 4 days either way.·Doctor advised

A shallow nick on the forearm that bled three drops and quit. You've done worse to yourself skinning rabbits.

• A small scab you'll pick at by Thursday
• Stings under a rolled sleeve for a day

Recovery 2 days, forgotten in 3.·No doctor needed

The blade goes through your cuff and leaves only a thin line beneath. The leather took the worst of the argument on your behalf.

• A sliced cuff that needs restitching
• A shallow red line under it, gone in days
• /me pokes a finger through the fresh slice in their cuff, whistling low

Recovery 2 days; the cuff takes longer.·No doctor needed

The edge takes a shaving off one fingertip, small, bloody, and absurdly loud in its complaints. Every button, every match strike, every coin will remind you.

• One finger wrapped for 2 days
• Fumble small things, buttons, matches, cartridges

Recovery 3 days and it's a callus story.·No doctor needed

A thin line right around the wrist where the tip caught you pulling away, dramatic as all get-out, shallow as a creek in August. It looks like you escaped shackles made of knives.

• A thin scabbed ring at the wrist for 3 days
• Cuff chafes it just enough to keep you honest

Recovery 3 days to a faint line.·No doctor needed

The slash opens your coat sleeve elbow to cuff and barely pinks the skin beneath. Your tailor loses; you win.

• A ruined sleeve flapping like a flag of victory
• A scratch that's gone before the mending's done

Recovery A day for you; the coat needs a needle you don't own.·No doctor needed

The blade meets your leather cuff square and slides off, spending its anger on cowhide. A white scuff in the leather and a bruise under it, that's the whole bill.

• A scored leather cuff you'll never replace now
• A faint bruise beneath, tender for a day

Recovery Overnight.·No doctor needed

You catch the blade flat between palm and fingers like a preacher catching a lie, a trick that fails ninety-nine times of a hundred, and wrench it straight out of their grip. A red pressure line across your palm, their knife in your belt, and a saloon full of witnesses.

• A red line across the palm, faded by morning
• Their knife, which is yours now
• /me flexes an unmarked hand, then taps the newly acquired knife on their belt

Recovery By sunup. The story never heals, it just grows.·No doctor needed