Wan; Unnaturally pale, as from physical or emotional distress.

Margaret hadn't realised how pale she'd become

That everyone had, really

It was the war, damn thing slowly sucking the life out of them

Those late night shifts in OR that bled into late mornings

The food that only just kept them alive, in a cocktail with black coffee and every kind of booze

Because sometimes 98.5 survival rate just wasn't good enough

Then you had to sleep afterwards, to scrape together your last dusting of strength.

Just like she was doing with her pot of rouge

Some colour to hide the strain, to keep soldering on

No use complaining