Just thinking about a whumpee at a formal event, injured, bleeding. And for whatever reason, needing to hide that fact behind an upright posture and hoping it doesn’t show up through their formal attire
Wrapping a scarf or shawl around their shoulders, a dark suit jacket concealing blooming blood patterns, long robes covering up a limp, a masquerade mask over black eyes
Blood dripping slowly down the inside of their arm to a clenched fist, just hoping it won’t drip onto the pristine marble floors
A normally stoic and stubborn character (A) painfully pushes the words out past their dry lips. The words themselves are wounded, barely unable to reach the other’s (B’s) ear. But they’re heard and the admission of weakness tightens B’s chest more than the sight of A writhing in a pool of their own blood. Their history doesn’t matter, really, when one is the picture of health and the other is closer to hell.
Help me - the phrase is so simple but it carries so much weight. Help you? For what in return? At what cost of my own? What if I can’t.. B’s eyes are widened as thoughts fill their mind. Yet they cannot waste time.
'Fuck it’
It’s a decisive thought, one to end all thoughts.
B bends down to staunch the wound and ties it up haphazardly. And when A starts to fade, they call their name. It’s almost casual at first but it grows in panic. And while they carry A to safety, they’re exhausted and panting but still, they call their name.
Why? Because they care. And seeing A hurt to the point they asked for help, wrenches them.
[The vulnerability trope is not just about a strong character succumbing to injury but also about the character who puts aside their coldness and finally admits that they’d seriously grieve if they lost the other]
What I’m actually thinking about 90% of the time is
The magic trope where character A uses some of their life source to heal character B’s otherwise fatal injury but as a result, B can now sense A’s energy level. When A is tired, the magic fades in proportion - the wound would throb if it was a small tired but grows more intense the more the magic dissipates.
Anyway the particular scene I love goes like:
A and B are separated in battle with A facing the big bad while B handles things on the ground, fighting off minions and evacuating civilians. B is running through the battlefield and they double over in pain as if someone is stabbing them over and over. They’re bleeding heavily, but there’s no one around them. B’s heart drops - the magic, the tether.. is just gone. Screaming A’s name, they stand, gripping their wound and leaning on their sword, and stagger towards the centre of conflict to find them.
Little things in the hidden injury trope that give me life more than water does
Tying something between their teeth to stop their cries from being heard while they treat themselves in the dark
Bloodied bandages stuffed into the gap between the wall and the bed
Whumpee wearing long sleeves/pants but their bandages still finding a way to peek out
Blood running down their limb from inside their clothes and dripping onto the ground
Bloody footprints
Bloody handprints
Faint bloodstains on the floor that whumpee can’t get off no matter how hard they scrub
Whumpee limping as soon as the other person turns their back
Dark undereyes from obv no sleep
Those sexy beads of sweat and pale skin
Leaning against wall/ furniture whenever they get the chance
When a normally talkative character is quiet
Controlling their breath while they try to complete normal tasks but then doubling over and gasping for air behind closed doors
When they peel back the bandages to check their injury and it’s gotten worse
Whumpee trying to bring it up with someone but then deciding against it when the other person starts talking about future plans
Someone in the team feeling like there’s something wrong with whumpee but not knowing what so they don’t bring it up and then the GUILTthey feel afterwards holy
Whumpee FINALLY fainting - behind closed doors and being found by someone later or just dropping to the ground while they’re with someone else
I mean just imagine character A talking and thinking whumpee is beside them and whumpee just drops out of frame with a sigh and a thud
Whumpee trying to tell the others that they’re fine and that they can handle it while they’re literally bleeding out on the ground
Bonus! The scene afterwards when whumpee wakes up and their wounds are bound in those crisp white bandages instead of the bloodied, dirtied torn pieces of clothing they’d used before
NOTE: I’D LOVE TO BE TAGGED IF YOU WRITE OR CREATE ANYTHING INSPIRED BY THIS LIST
Why do you always insist you’ve got it covered when you so clearly don’t?
Get your head out of your ass. You’re not strong enough to save us all on your own
And where did that get you?
I was going to have you punished for disobeying me but looks like they got to you first
You were stupid enough to get hurt in the first place so you’re damn well not allowed to pass out now
Quit your whining or I’ll shove the blade in further
(yelling) Afraid I’d yell at you? Your punk-ass would rather die than get yelled at?
Hey actually I do want your opinion on one thing- does it hurt more getting the blade shoved in (pulls blade out much to the painful surprise of whumpee) or out?
(Upon seeing whumpee’s bandages drenched in blood) *Sighs. This wound is almost as stubborn as you are.
Hero is on the run from a traumatic event and is looking for Villain, their last hope. Hero experiences more trauma and accumulates serious injuries along their journey yet they don’t lose hope. The characters’ history makes Hero nervous, given that they parted on less than amicable terms but they’ve come too far to be ashamed - Villain was right all along.
Hero nervously approaches Villain’s camp in the woods, emerging from the dark like a wounded animal. They’re starved, dehydrated, unwashed and bloody. Villain recognises Hero immediately and rushes to them.
‘Hero, what are you doing-’
Hero’s gaze meet’s Villain’s and their eyes immediately well up in tears. Their throat chokes up with sob and they begin to cry heavily.
Villain stares at them for a second before wrapping their arms around Hero, stroking the back of their head.
Nearby campmates reach for their weapons and slink away into the shadows where they’ll have a clear shot of hero nonetheless.
Hero’s sobs weaken to whimpers and their eyes roll back. Hero collapses suddenly but Villain lifts them and runs toward their tent. Villain yells to the others to bring water, medicines and other resources. The other campmates look wary but obey, hurriedly grabbing what they can and following Villain into the tent to collectively heal Hero.
I dare you to write your favourite oddly specific whump tropes
These are mine:
Hidden injury
A stubborn whumpee and a caretaker who’s angry at them for constantly risking their life
Exhausted due to excessive use of magic (and fainting afterward)
Trying to get up, then being immediately hit by dizziness and collapsing
Limping or staggering (this ain’t even a trope but I’m obsessed with how whumpees are depicted as so vulnerable when they can barely keep themselves upright)
Tag a friend or five so they can add theirs!
Some accounts I absolutely adore and would love to hear from (hope you don’t mind):
A character helps others get to safety before falling to their knees. Now that they’re alone, exhaustion grips them and pulls them to the ground. They fall heavily and lay unmoving. There’s no energy left for the way back.
When they whisper ‘Catch me’ before fainting and the other person doesn’t understand what they said but instinctively reaches out anyway. The dead weight dropping into their arms. The sharp realisation that the other person is really very not okay.
Fantasy prompt on Immortals - Whump, H/C are always a given :)
Characters A and B are a couple that used to love to travel. One day, they’re deep in the forest and come across a cave. Inside, sleeps a minor God who is chained there as punishment for mischief. The couple accidentally wake them. The God is bitter for being woken and reminded of their imprisonment. They lash out on the two humans giving them immortality and no mortal weakness except one.
Each other.
If any other person tries to harm them, weapons will just pass through. No blade can cut them. No poison can kill them. But the catch is, as soon as they are near each other, they are more susceptible to injury. Normal blades can’t cut them but an enchanted one might. And not to leave out the most important part but any weapon or means of killing will work if done directly by the other person. They are completely at each other’s mercy.
The couple feel the ground shake as soon as the curse is given. The cave begins to collapse around them. They just manage to make it out. Adrenaline fading, they look at each other. Both are sceptical but something innate tells them it’s true. They decide to call truce, no longer able to stomach the fact that the other person is how they will die, and separate for centuries.
Until..
A walks out of their house into the crisp morning air. It’s a humble abode they’ve built for themselves in seclusion. The morning is silent save for the crunch of their footsteps.. and the explosive sound of a gun. It’s hits them in the thigh and pain explodes in their leg. They fall, blood immediately pooling on the ground.
Panic sets through A.
‘No, there’s no way.. Impossible,’ they mutter.
It cannot be B, they have always kept tabs on each other’s whereabouts and made sure it was always at least the diameter of the Earth away.
'B!’ A calls. Silence resumes.
Overwhelmed by pain which they have not felt for centuries, A maneuvers themself back inside. They haphazardly stitch themselves up and bandage their thigh. They couldn’t find a bullet so they figure it was a graze. Unable to get up, they lay there. Feeling cold and faint, they stay unmoving and pass out.
A wakes hours later to banging at their door. Grimacing, they pull themselves up using nearby furniture. They move from object to object, limping heavily until they reach the door. Delirious, they open it. Their half lidded eyes open wide in shock. It’s B.
A lunges for them. 'You bastard, you..’ A slurs curse words ancient and new. B grabs them by the shoulders, fingers digging in.
'I should be the one saying that..’ But their words falter when they see the state of A, feverish and bathed in their own blood. B lets them fall into their arms.
'Oof’ B groans at the sudden weight, hand reaching for their side.
When they look down at A, the latter is barely awake. Their face is drained of blood, their body is only held upright by B’s arm.
'Let me go’ A says coldly.
And honestly, B would love to. Holding A’s weight to their abdomen presses on their wound. Yet, they hold A up, helping them limp to a seat before collapsing into one themselves. Unbuttoning their shirt, B bares the bandages that bind an injury to their side. Blood has bloomed through. Face set in a wince, A stares at B’s wound.
'I didn’t..’ They start.
'You give me no reason to doubt that’
'How did you get here so fast?’
'It took me a whole day. That’s not fast.. When did you get hurt?’
'A couple hours ago, I don’t know, this morning’
'No I wasn’t close enough. It couldn’t be someone using the loophole’
'Then who?’
B’s fingers pinch the space between their eyes. They groan.
'The God’
'The God? But..’
'A, we were both shot but there is no bullet. Nothing’
Looking at their wound now, its placement on A’s thigh, they realise it couldn’t have been a graze. There should be a bullet in their thigh. But there wasn’t.
'So what now? We go hunting for a GOD?’ A’s voice is raspy. They’re fading and exhausted.
B nods and stands slowly, hissing in pain. They place a blanket over A’s bloody form as they watch as A’s eyes close.
'But the truce holds, darling. Now that we’re together, I cannot let you out of my sight’
Just saw a trope I didn’t know I needed in Ever After of all places when the prince kisses Daniella not knowing she has been whipped and wraps his arms around her to pull her in and she gasps in to the kiss?? Hello I would like to see a cute boy do this IMMEDIATELY. Preferably followed by him collapsing and some, “are you okay?/what’s wrong?” and “who did this to you?!” You know what? Maybe I’ll just write it myself.
