Hey

Hi do you have a second to think about a whumpee on the ground in seriously heavy rain? And (wait!) they’re bleeding heavily from a wound in their stomach but it’s raining so hard, their blood runs rivers away from them. The whumpee drags themselves painfully forward with one arm - the other holds their wound. Their legs drag behind them, one broken and the other is too weak to hold weight at all. Raindrops piercing into them like icicles, the whumpee groans with every effort but each end up in a fit of coughs from the cold. The ground, though roughly paved, turns muddy. Whumpee grimaces at the pain but also at the sound of their useless body dragging heavily across the coarse ground, rain pelting onto them like bullets. They slow, unable to pull themselves much further and black out completely. The rain eventually stops and whumpee stays unmoving, barely breathing and cold as ice in a wide, slick puddle of their own blood.

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.

A character’s POV where a teammate offers a hand to help them up and they take it, grimacing and grumbling but relieved that everything is over. Yet when they are upright, the world tilts dramatically onto a sharp downward plane. They don’t feel themselves falling, but the teammate’s shocked face is moving further away. The sudden impact of the ground jolts their bones in their weakened body. Dizziness consumes them, the world spinning on a different plane to them. And pain creeps in - biting their brain, pinching their nerves, seizing their body to move awkwardly and pull at torn muscles.

There are snatches of voices - their name, reassurances, and they wish they could speak and tell them not to worry. But they are no longer in control. There is only dizziness and pain and soon, nothing.

A character who is suddenly mortally wounded drops to the ground writhing and screaming in excruciating agony. Their body quivers but they guard their injury rigidly as they scream and scream and scream. Team members rush to them, trying to pry their hands away so they can transport them to a healer. Their voice is pitchy and breaking with strain but their screams are relentless, begging them to stop moving them.

A character who stays in the room while the other teammates file out to tend to their own wounds. They grit their teeth at the sounds of their friend’s unrelenting screams - voice now hoarse and grated. The doctor seems unfazed, working swiftly and binding their injury with confident hands. All while the character’s own hands are gripped by their sides, unable to control their shaking. They stay even after the doctor leaves, till the hoarse screams die down to whimpers.

They stand against the wall, keeping distance between them and their friend. A distance they should have crossed before it was too late. They should have protected them, saved them. Instead they had stood helplessly and listened to their friend scream in pain for hours till they lost their voice. A friend who may not be okay again while they were perfectly fine.

[Everything is different now]

Scars. Just a post on scars.

• Little white scars. Ones that accumulate on the hands and forearms from a lifetime of sparring.
• Giant, jagged scars. They’re breathtaking if they cross the face or go through an eye, leaving permanent damage to sight or the movement of facial muscles. Or even on the leg, giving them a limp. Strong characters who are proud of their scars. But I melt at the mention of these scars being hidden by a character who is ashamed of them. A large scar that constantly hurts them and people they’ve known for years who have no clue of trauma that they carry.
• Angry red scars. Well, glorified cuts that won’t heal. I’d give this to a character who’s always getting a blade shoved beneath their jaw and refuses to get it looked at because ‘the other bastard was just trying to send a message’. Also to characters who are still inexperienced at combat and always get run across with the end of a blade. Blood wells up beneath the surface but the cut isn’t deep enough to break skin.
• Surgical scars. Typically quite neat and discrete so are a good segue to a backstory of traumatic injury. Most noticeable (and badass) on the scalp as the white, hairless scar stands out from darker hair. These are so good for giving backstory for frequent serious headaches or migraines and even for slightly odd whumpy behaviour such as fainting, feeling dizzy, nausea, memory loss, drowsiness, spacing out, mood swings, changes to personality
• Branding scars. Very few things are more traumatising to me in whump fics than branding and branding scars. The dehumanisation, the shame and the excruciating pain of the burning metal itself. And the symbol being a constant reminder of it all? It’s serotonin in the most sadistic way. But I’m all about putting a character through the worst of times then splurging on the comfort chapter before repeating it over again.
• Emotional scars. I know everyone has these, okay, I know. But a whumpee who needs a LOT of convincing that they are safe with caretaker to even talk about the smallest details about themselves is peak character design. I don’t make the rules.

Kidnapping prompt

Whumpee is kidnapped and tortured for caretaker’s identity. Every time they’re asked ‘What is their name?’, Whumpee always answers the same.

'They never told me. They never told me’

But the punches and the stabs keep on coming. Till Whumpee is on the ground, terribly wounded and barely conscious. They still painfully mutter the same thing.

Till Caretaker shows up after realising that Whumpee is missing. They beat up the kidnappers and untie Whumpee. Caretaker supports Whumpee’s weight, trying to keep them upright. But Whumpee whispers their name, Caretaker’s realname, before collapsing into their arms.

Caretaker had never told them their name yet somehow Whumpee had figured it out themselves. They told half-truths to their kidnappers to protectcaretaker and almost died in the process.

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):

@teheranb@the-baby-storyteller@silverthedreamergirl@secretlysheikah@s1utspeare@itsleighlove@misselko

It’s all fun and games till I imagine my caretaker character throwing themselves over the severely injured whumpee, begging the whumper to hurt them instead.

Then I’m a wreck.

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.

You know good whump is coming up when a magic character’s nose starts bleeding.

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.