#altered consciousness whump

[teine-mallaichte]

Let's talk hallucinations in whump/general fiction.

So first off full disclosure, I have schizoaffective disorder - think some bits of bipolar and some bits of schizophrenia kind of squished together, and as such hallucinations are a BIG part of my general existence.

Definition: A hallucination is a perception of a sensory experience—such as sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch—that appears real but is created by the mind and lacks an external stimulus.

Now, I see a fair few "hallucinations" type prompts in whump events, and just generally within the whump community, and I see a LOT of auditory hallucinations type prompt fills - mainly in the form of malevolent whispers - and ye that's a thing, but there are so many other hallucinations.

The thing is hallucinations can effect literally any sense, not just hearing - though I will add that auditory is usually regarded as the most common.

this is a long post so I am going to put a cut here... below the cut is exploration of the tyoes of hallucination, the causes and a bit about insight.

So, I thought it could be "fun" to explore a few in a post. Lets explore the 5 "main" senses first:

Auditory Hallucinations

Description: These are the most common type of hallucinations. They involve hearing sounds that are not present. The sounds are hear as if they are coming from somewhere external to the body. So in my case I have a few of these, but my main one is a voice who is with me even when I am in meds (another good point there for anyone who wants to use mental illness in their fics even in meds we can do have symptoms). This voice has a name and most of the time he just sorts off passes comments about things and people around me, like a sarcastic narrator and it sounds like he is standing just behind me.

Common Examples:

Malevolent Whispers: Insidious voices that might threaten, taunt, or belittle you.

Hearing Music: Melodies or songs playing that no one else can hear. For me this kind of sounds like someone is playing a radio in a different room.

Environmental Sounds: Hearing footsteps, doors creaking, or other sounds suggesting someone else is present.

Command Hallucinations: Voices that instruct or suggest (its not always ademand, sometimes more subtle and manipulative) you to do certain things, often with a compelling and distressing sense of urgency.

Less used examples:

Kind/supportive hallucinations: Voices that are encouraging, reassuring and supportive.

Distortion: Rather than sounds with no origin hallucinations that disort or warp actual sounds/voices changing the meaning, making it as if the TV or Radio is addressing you personally, making it sound as if a friend is threatening you.

Fun fact: it actually is possible to have a two way (sort of) conversation with a hallucination - I know I do it relatively often. It will be different for everyone, but fo me its a bit like having a conversation on a bad phoneline, yes the voice will respond but often its almost as if he hasn't fully heard what I said - or is ignoring key points. I can do this both outloud and "in my head".

Visual Hallucinations

Description: Visual hallucinations involve seeing things that are not present. These can range from simple shapes and flashes of light to detailed images or scenes. They often appear as if they are in the physical world and can be very convincing.

Common Examples:

Shadowy Figures: Seeing indistinct, shadowy forms that may move or appear to watch the character.

Distorted Faces: Perceiving familiar faces as grotesque or altered in frightening ways.

Apparitions: Full-bodied figures that may interact with the character or appear menacing.

Lights/sparkles: The whump community seems to very much enjoy lights and sparkles, especially in drugging.

Less Used Examples:

Intrusive Visuals: Images of disturbing or graphic nature that suddenly appear in your line of sight.

Perceptual Distortions: Objects appearing to warp, change shape, or color in unnatural ways.

Double Vision: Seeing multiples of objects or people, creating a confusing and disorienting experience.

Scenery Shifts: The entire environment changes, making you believe they are in a completely different place.

Fun fact: Sleep deprivation can cause some wild visual hallucinations, even relatively "mild" sleep deprivation can start to effect a persons perceptions.

Gustatory Hallucinations

Description: Gustatory hallucinations involve tasting things that are not actually present in the mouth. These can range from pleasant to extremely unpleasant tastes and can be triggered without any external food or drink.

Officially these are considered "rare", but personally (as someone who has done a lot of peer support work in the psychosis/voice hearing community I think they are simply under reported.)

Common Examples:

Bitter or Metallic Taste: A persistent bitter or metallic taste in the mouth, often leading to a sense of unease or concern about poisoning.

Sweet or Sour Taste: Tasting something sweet or sour unexpectedly, which can be confusing if it doesn’t match the current context.

Less Used Examples:

Spoiled Food: Tasting something rancid or spoiled, causing nausea and distress.

Unfamiliar Tastes: Tasting something completely unfamiliar and hard to describe, adding to the character's sense of disorientation.

Mimicking Actual Foods: Tasting specific foods that trigger cravings or aversions, despite not eating anything.

Transforming food: Food tasting like other food - I know someone for whom everything tasted like strawberries for days.

Common Causes: Neurological conditions or can be a side effect of medications.

Olfactory Hallucinations

Description: Olfactory hallucinations involve smelling odors that are not actually present. These can be pleasant or unpleasant and occur without any corresponding external stimulus. They can be particularly disorienting because they may trigger memories or emotions associated with certain scents - extremely complex if the person also has PTSD.

Common Examples:

Burning Smell: Wood, rubber, or food, which can lead to panic and fear of a fire.

Rotting Flesh: An overpowering smell of decay or rotting flesh, causing distress and nausea.

Perfume or Flowers: Smelling strong scents like flowers or perfume - hallucinations don't have to be inherently unpleasant sensations.

Less Used Examples:

Chemical Smells: Smelling chemicals like bleach or petrol.

Unfamiliar Scents: Smelling odors that you cannot identify.

Food Smells: Smelling specific foods that trigger hunger or nausea, despite the absence of any actual food.

Tactile Hallucinations

Description: Tactile hallucinations involve feeling sensations on or under the skin that are not actually there. These can range from mild tingling to severe pain and can be extremely distressing.

Common Examples:

Crawling Sensation: Feeling as though insects or bugs are crawling on or under the skin - often leading to frantic scratching or picking.

Electric Shocks: Experiencing sudden, sharp, electric-like jolts.

Pressure: Feeling pressure or tightness around certain body parts, such as a hand gripping the arm or something heavy on the chest.

Less Used Examples:

Temperature Changes: Feeling extreme cold or heat on the skin without any external cause.

Wetness or Dripping: Feeling as though liquid is dripping or running down the skin, even when dry.

Phantom Touches: Sensations of being touched or grabbed, often when alone. Sometimes its an almost feather like touch, other times its more akin to a grab that if reak would leave a bruise.

Right now let's expand - because there are more than 5 senses.

Proprioceptive Hallucinations

Description: Proprioception is the sense of the relative positioning of one's body parts. Proprioceptive hallucinations involve distorted perceptions of where your body is in space or how it is moving.

Common Examples:

Floating Sensation: Feeling as if the body is levitating or moving without control.

Distorted Body Size: Perceiving limbs or the entire body as being unnaturally large or small.

Less Used Examples:

Misaligned Limbs: Feeling as though limbs are twisted or out of place.

Movement Hallucinations: Sensing movements that aren't occurring, like swaying or rotating.

Common causes: Neurological disorders or the effects of certain drugs, but can by caused by a huge array of things.

Vestibular Hallucinations

Description: Vestibular sensations involve balance and spatial orientation. Vestibular hallucinations affect your sense of balance, making you feel dizzy or as though you're moving when you're stationary.

Common Examples:

Vertigo: A spinning sensation, as if the environment or oneself is rotating.

Imbalance: Feeling as though you're about to fall over or can't maintain your balance.

Less Used Examples:

Motion Sensation: Sensing movement, like rocking or swaying, when you're still.

Gravity Distortions: Feeling as if gravity is stronger or weaker than it actually is.

Common caused: Inner ear issues, migraines, or anxiety.

Temporal Hallucinations

Description: Temporal hallucinations involve distorted perceptions of time. They can make time feel like it's speeding up, slowing down, or standing still.

Common Examples:

Time Dilation: Feeling as though time is passing much slower than it actually is.

Time Compression: Perceiving time as moving rapidly, making events feel like they're passing in a blur.

Less Used Examples:

Frozen Moments: Experiencing time as if it's stopped, with everything around you appearing frozen.

Temporal Displacement: Feeling as though you're living in a different time period.

Temporal Dissonance: Feeling as if time is moving differently for you in comparison to those around you.

Common caused: Extreme fatigue, high stress, or under the influence of certain drugs.

Interoceptive Hallucinations

Description: Interoception refers to the perception of sensations from within the body, such as hunger, thirst, or the feeling of a heartbeat. Hallucinations in this realm involve feeling internal sensations that aren't actually occurring.

Common Examples:

False Hunger: Feeling extremely hungry despite having eaten recently.

Nonexistent Thirst: An intense sense of thirst even when well-hydrated - I have had this one a few times and given myself electrolyte imbalances due tot he amount of water I ended up drinking (not fun).

Less Used Examples:

Phantom Heartbeats: Feeling the heart racing or skipping beats without any physical basis.

Digestive Sensations: Sensations of digestion, such as gurgling or bloating, without any real cause.

Common causes: Panic disorder or certain types of seizures.

Right, now lets quickly review the main "causes" of hallucinations

Mental Illness:

Schizophrenia: Can involve basically anything from this list, but anecdotally auditory and visual appear to be the most common.

Bipolar Disorder: Can include hallucinations, especially during manic or depressive episodes.

Schizoaffective Disorder: A combination of symptoms from both schizophrenia and mood disorders, often leading to a variety of hallucinations.

EUPD/BPD: Auditory hallucinations are relatively common.

In all of these the hallucinations will rarely (if ever) exist in isolation. If you do not have primary or secondary experience of mental illness then I would recommend doing a LOT of research - and talking to people who do (on this note my asks are open if anyone has any schizoaffective based questions).

Neurological Conditions:

Epilepsy: Particularly temporal lobe epilepsy, can cause a range of sensory hallucinations.

Parkinson's Disease: Can lead to visual and auditory hallucinations.

Migraine: Migraine auras can include visual and auditory hallucinations.

Once again the hallucinations will not be in isolatation so same advice as with mental illness.

Substance Use and Withdrawal:

Psychedelics: Drugs like LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline are known for causing vivid visual and auditory hallucinations.

Stimulants: Methamphetamine and cocaine can cause tactile and visual hallucinations.

Alcohol Withdrawal: Can lead to visual, auditory, and tactile hallucinations.

You know what I am going to say that my "if you do not have experience of this then go talk to someone who does" advice may just stand for every potential cause.

Sleep Disorders:

Sleep Deprivation: Can cause a variety of hallucinations across different senses.

Narcolepsy: Often includes hypnagogic (while falling asleep) and hypnopompic (while waking up) hallucinations.

Medical Conditions:

Delirium: Acute confusion and hallucinations often seen in severe infections, fever, or after surgery.

Dementia: Especially Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer's disease, can cause hallucinations.

Medications:

Anticholinergics: Can cause hallucinations as a side effect.

Steroids: High doses can sometimes lead to hallucinations.

Certain Antidepressants and Antipsychotics: Occasionally, these medications can cause hallucinations.

Psychological Stress and Trauma:

PTSD: Flashbacks and hallucinations related to traumatic events.

Extreme Stress: Can sometimes trigger hallucinations.

Metabolic and Endocrine Disorders:

Thyroid Disorders: Hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism can sometimes cause hallucinations.

Electrolyte Imbalances: Severe imbalances can lead to hallucinations.

Deprivation:

Sensory Deprivation: Go google the ganzfeld effect, it's facinating.

Isolation: Extended periods of isolation can lead to hallucinations, known as sensory deprivation hallucinations.

Autoimmune Disorders:

Lupus: Can cause neurological symptoms including hallucinations.

Tumors:

Brain Tumors: Depending on their location, they can cause hallucinations affecting different senses.

Ok, finally point for this post. Let's discuss insight, because it is not as black/white or binary as people seem to assume.

Definition: Insight, in this context, refers to the awareness and understanding that one's hallucinations are not real but are a product of their mind. Insight can be partial or complete, and it often fluctuates.

Complete Insight:

Description: The individual fully understands that their hallucinations are not real and are caused by an underlying condition.

Impact: This can help the person manage their symptoms more effectively and seek appropriate treatment. However, it doesn't necessarily lessen the distress caused by the hallucinations.

Partial Insight:

Description: The individual has some awareness that their hallucinations might not be real but can still struggle with differentiating them from reality.

Impact: This can lead to confusion and anxiety, as the person oscillates between believing and doubting their experiences.

Lack of Insight:

Description: The individual firmly believes that their hallucinations are real and external.

Impact: This can lead to significant distress and functional impairment, as the person might respond to these hallucinations as if they were real.

Now imagine these three points on a scale from 0 (complete insight) to 10 (lack of insight) a person can be anywhere on this scale, and can slide back and fourth along it.

Factors such as stress, fatigue, medication changes, or daily fluctuations in mental state can cause insight to vary. A person might have high insight at one moment and low insight the next.

Basically Insight Is Not Static.

Also sometimes insight is just FREAKING RANDOM fluctuation for no discernible reason - honestly at times there is zero logic.

so ye, halluncinations… the brain is freaking wild.

Disclaimer - this is by no means an exhaustive list and like with many things every individual will experience these things slightly differently.

A similar post about delirium A similar post about fever

[tropetember]

Friends To Lovers - Two characters have been friends for years and value their friendship above everything. Unfortunately, they’ve both also secretly fallen in love with each other - but are both too scared to confess because it feels like a betrayal of their friendship.

Secret Identity - Characters A & B have secret alter egos- they’re both in love with the wrong identity.

Whump - A character is comforted/cared for in the aftermath of torture, but the mental wounds take longer to heal than the physical damage.

Coffee Shop/Restaurant AU - Character A is waiting for a blind date and is stood up. Character B is just finishing up their shift at the establishment and, seeing the looks that A is getting, offers to stay and eat with them despite their own exhaustion.

Famous AU - Character A meets Character B for the first time and recognizes their voice as A’s favourite podcaster/radio host/voice actor.

Teacher AU - Character A is a single parent and Character B is their child’s teacher.

Historical AU - The characters are living through a historical war (WWI, WWII, etc). Their main means of communication is through letter-writing. (Epistolary fic with optional in-person scenes between/after letters.)

Time Loop/Coma - Character A is in a coma and keeps reliving the last day before they lost consciousness. There’s something they have to realise before they can wake up.

5 + 1 - 5 times Character A’s kid calls Character B Mom/Dad + 1 time Character B acknowledges they’re their kid.

Drunk Dial - Character A is obsessed with Character B and gets black-out drunk to deal with it. Someone should definitely have taken away their phone.

Business Partners To Friends To Lovers - Character A and Character B meet by chance and, realising they have compatible skills, decide to embark on a business venture together. However, they are not prepared for all the ramifications that come with working alongside each other.

Touch Starvation - A character has spent years building up a tough, strong, untouchable persona. What happens when someone finally touches them gently? (Can be romantic or platonic.)

Slice Of Life - The story of two characters written through scenes only happening in one room of their house. (A number of scenes of domestic life happening in the same room of the house).

Human/Monster Romance - Character A is a human and Character B is a sapient sea creature, and a storm washes them both up and leaves them stranded on a tiny, remote, uninhabited island.

Dating App - Character A’s friends sign them up for a no-faces dating app. Reluctantly, Character A meets someone. Character B is a bit worried about them meeting strangers so they tell their own dating-app friend all about it.  (Or: the Bantr app fic)

Reunions - Two characters reunite many years after a traumatic parting, but new information is revealed that puts everything into a different light.

Love Confession - Character A has been in love with Character B for a long time, and they’ve been trying to confess ever since, but Character B is oblivious to their attempts (or doesn’t believe they are serious). This leads to Character A making increasingly more elaborate and even ridiculous plans to prove their feelings.

Mind Reading - Character A is involved in an incident and can suddenly hear the thoughts of people around them - but only when those people are thinking about Character A. That’s unfortunately bad news for Character B.

Disaster AU - Character(s) get trapped under a collapsing building and have to wait for help without knowing if it’s coming.

Horror - Characters A & B reunite, but slowly Character B realises that Character A’s body is being controlled by… something else.

Age Changes/Future Fic - Characters A & B are old together. Some things change but some things always stay the same.

Major Character Death (maybe!) - Character A is dead. Everything reminds Character B of them. (Character death doesn’t need to be permanent.)

Mythology - Character A is an immortal being/god and Character B is the only mortal who’s interacted with them in centuries.

Accidental Baby Acquisition - Character A rescues a baby/kid, and is then made responsible for the child. Character B is unprepared when they bring them home.

Not Actually Unrequited Love - Character A is trying to move on from Character B by setting B up on a date. Unfortunately, Character B takes this as confirmation that their own feelings for A are not returned.

Fake Dating - Character B pretends to be Character A’s partner so they can stay together while A is sick/injured. The charade goes on far longer than either of them expect. Finally being apart should be a relief, so why does it feel more like a real breakup?

Sexuality Crisis - A repressed character in a homophobic society finds themselves thrust into a city’s underground gay scene, where they meet someone they never expected.

Holidays - Character A’s family is expecting them to bring a date to the annual holiday family reunion. They choose to bring Character B (dating optional).

Regency Style Romance - ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single person in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a spouse.’ (Feel free to change gender as needed.)

Optional:

Hanahaki Disease - Character A is not good at expressing their emotions - this time it might just kill them.

Cowboy/Wild West AU - Character A wants to leave the city. They answer to a newspaper ad for a spouse/farm hand to live on a remote homestead owned by Character B.

Free Space - write the wildest thing you can think of!

Link to main Prompt List

Link to Rules & FAQ

[stardustvacuum]

STOP DOING THIS IN INJURY FICS!!

Bleeding:

Blood is warm. if blood is cold, you’re really fucking feverish or the person is dead. it’s only sticky after it coagulates.

It smells! like iron, obv, but very metallic. heavy blood loss has a really potent smell, someone will notice.

Unless in a state of shock or fight-flight mode, a character will know they’re bleeding. stop with the ‘i didn’t even feel it’ yeah you did. drowsiness, confusion, pale complexion, nausea, clumsiness, and memory loss are symptoms to include.

blood flow ebbs. sometimes it’s really gushin’, other times it’s a trickle. could be the same wound at different points.

it’s slow. use this to your advantage! more sad writer times hehehe.

Stab wounds:

I have been mildly impaled with rebar on an occasion, so let me explain from experience. being stabbed is bizarre af. your body is soft. you can squish it, feel it jiggle when you move. whatever just stabbed you? not jiggly. it feels stiff and numb after the pain fades. often, stab wounds lead to nerve damage. hands, arms, feet, neck, all have more motor nerve clusters than the torso. fingers may go numb or useless if a tendon is nicked.

also, bleeding takes FOREVER to stop, as mentioned above.

if the wound has an exit wound, like a bullet clean through or a spear through the whole limb, DONT REMOVE THE OBJECT. character will die. leave it, bandage around it. could be a good opportunity for some touchy touchy :)

whump writers - good opportunity for caretaker angst and fluff w/ trying to manhandle whumpee into a good position to access both sites

Concussion:

despite the amnesia and confusion, people ain’t that articulate. even if they’re mumbling about how much they love (person) - if that’s ur trope - or a secret, it’s gonna make no sense. garbled nonsense, no full sentences, just a coupla words here and there.

if the concussion is mild, they’re gonna feel fine. until….bam! out like a light. kinda funny to witness, but also a good time for some caretaking fluff.

Fever:

you die at 110F. no 'oh no his fever is 120F!! ahhh!“ no his fever is 0F because he’s fucking dead. you lose consciousness around 103, sometimes less if it’s a child. brain damage occurs at over 104.

ACTUAL SYMPTOMS:

sluggishness

seizures (severe)

inability to speak clearly

feeling chilly/shivering

nausea

pain

delirium

symptoms increase as fever rises. slow build that secret sickness! feverish people can be irritable, maybe a bit of sass followed by some hurt/comfort. never hurt anybody.

ALSO about fevers - they absolutely can cause hallucinations. Sometimes these alter memory and future memory processing. they're scary shit guys.

fevers are a big deal! bad shit can happen! milk that till its dry (chill out) and get some good hurt/comfort whumpee shit.

keep writing u sadistic nerds xox love you

[4ster-bl4ster]

A Comprehensive Guide to Tera Sickness and Poisoning

[[Ooc: Pinglist: @adrien-vomit , @time-travel-trio , @alolaveralabs ]]

// CONTENT WARNING: This post will contain graphic descriptions of a sickness created for the lore of the Stellardex pokemon universe. As such there is a huge warning for illness, body horror, altered mental states, and death. //

// If you read beyond this point and get upset it is entirely your fault, I warned you :| //

[[ Important note: A lot of this comes from my headcanon that Dynamax is like a fire-aligned energy and Tera is like ice, and they cancel each other out. ]]

□

What is "Tera Sickness+Poisoning"

Tera Sickness is caused by the human body's inability to process Tera Energy from the environment well. This is most often caused by an individual being within Area Zero for an extended period without the proper protective gear (At least an oxygen mask and filtered air so the lungs do not breathe in too much crystal debris)

□

How is Tera Sickness Contracted

As mentioned above, this sickness is contracted by overexposure to Tera energy, and as such is not contagious and cannot be spread to other individuals or Pokemon. Pokemon can contract the illness, but it is nowhere near as dangerous for them as it is for humans, as Pokemon can get the excess energy out through battle. However, this sickness can also be contracted by overuse of the Tera Orb, and as such it is recommended that an individual not overuse the feature in battle (this heavily applies for participants in the Paldea League)

□

What are the Symptoms

Mild Symptoms: • Headaches • Fatigue • Crystal flecks on the skin • Chills

Moderate symptoms: • Nausea • Foggy/crystalline vision • Lack of Appetite • Numbness in the fingers and toes similar to hypothermia

Should someone begin experiencing mild symptoms, it is recommended that they cease all battling and exposure to Tera Energy at once and seek medical assistance from a doctor.

Severe symptoms: • Loss of consciousness • Altered mental state • Crystallization of limbs (how Aster lost his leg) • Crystallization around the affected individual • Loss of sensation in the limbs (arms+legs)

Should a person be exposed to energy more and not seek treatment, tera crystals will begin to grow inside the body, which can result in organ failure and death.

□

Treatment

Treatment is mostly being around tera energy-free places, or being around Dynamax energy for long enough that it cancels out, but not for too long as Dynamax energy is bad in abundance too and can result in fever and other complications. Dynamax Bands are often used in hospitals to give patients gentle and stable exposure to Dynamax Energy over time.

Oftentimes should symptoms become severe enough, surgical intervention will be required, but that is a very rare outcome (unless you like whump, then I doubt I'll stop you). Limb loss can occur from the sickness, as well as skin grafts and scarring.

It is recommended that should someone begin exhibiting symptoms of Tera Sickness to seek out a doctor, especially if the symptoms are moderate and (or) crystal flecks appear on the skin.

□

//ooc: This is the intro post I made for Tera Sickness, and anyone can use it in their writing!! I don't mind, just link this post if you use it so others can read this :)

//ooc: Yeah, that's it for now— byebye!! Enjoy :3

[oliversrarebooks]

Hey, I’d just like to say that I absolutely ADORE your writing… it’s so vivid and visceral, and generally some of the best whump I’ve found! I was wondering if you had any tips for writing altered states and different/lowered levels of consciousness. I’ve found I really struggle with that as a writer, but I love it whenever your writing delves into this kind of thing!

Ahhh thank you so much! That's very kind of you.

As for writing altered states and lowered consciousness... mostly I just write what appeals to me! I think having a strict third person limited perspective helps because you can then express the person's diminishing capacity through their altered thoughts and sensations. Sensory description is really important to whump, I think, and it's something I'm always trying to improve on.

[bloodsweatandpotato]

Whump ASMR videos because I’m cringe and have insomnia

Key (theme): ⚔️wartime, 🔮fantasy, 🐂cowboy/western, 🌊pirate/sailor, 🛸sci-fi, 🧟zombie/apocayptic, ✨other, 🕶spy/secret agent, 🚥cyberpunk

Key (wounds): 😵‍💫dazed/dizzy, 🤕head wound, 🥴altered consciousness, 🤒fever, 🩸blood loss, 🔪stab wound, 🔫gunshot wound, 🧠amnesia, 👀altered vision, 🦴blunt trauma, 🦠sickness

Key (actions):💉anesthetic, 🩹bandages, 💊medicine, 🪡stitches, 🧺wound washing, 🥃 alcohol as anesthetic, ✂️surgery, 🤤drugged, 👄 hypnotism, 🧪poisoned , 👁wake up

Key (speaker): 🍄 masc speaker, 🌱fem speaker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOXOPjfS19E On a spaceship, found wounded and unconscious after a distress signal was sent out. Superficial head injury, mild neck injury, in shock, unable to speak. Vitals taken, bandaging, shot of anesthetic, pupils checked, sound of spaceship in background. 🛸😵‍💫🤕🦴🥴💉🩹🌱

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbfbHgfRL3o&list=PLn7u5acSPTWBFsG_1cR3TRLAbdK88Bmti&index=122 Waking up after being unconscious from head injury, taken care of by best friend in post apocalyptic world. Dazed/disoriented, total amnesia, fading in and out of consciousness, talking about life story. Sweetness and worry. Amazing camera effects that blur and sway according to your level of consciousness. 🧟😵‍💫🦴🤕🧠🥴👀🧺👁🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hLP9wSty2o&t=101s Sequel to ⬆️. Talking, soothing, regaining spotty memories. less whump and more just relaxed h/c. 🧟🤕🧠🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMk5iFpreE0&list=PLn7u5acSPTWBFsG_1cR3TRLAbdK88Bmti&index=46 Taken care of by medic after being bitten by a zombie. Given cure, diseased flesh cut away, pupil response and heart rate checked, eyes fluttery. Cure doesn’t work at first and the listener starts to show signs of slipping. 🧟😵‍💫🥴👀🩸💉💊🩹👁✂️🧺🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98vDgwQtQLk Stumbles into house injured and looking for medical supplies and found by helpful stranger. Held at gunpoint (until realizing listener means no harm), gash on side, blood loss, stitched up. Strangers to friends to… more? 🧟🔪🩸🪡🩹🌱

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6tsI78KVAY Being operated on after being shot in the neck in shootout. Anesthetic (well, time period accurate), surgery while awake, bullet removal, cleaned and stitched up. 🐂🩸🔫😵‍💫🥃🧺💊🩹🪡✂️🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S05drJHvqFs&t=169s Being operated on after found shot in the shoulder by railroad tracks after train robbery. Disoriented and slipping in and out of consciousness, anesthetic (time period accurate), surgery while awake, bullet removal, cleaned and stitched up. 🐂🩸🔫😵‍💫🥴👀🩹🧺🪡👁✂️🥃🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy5DC9illbY&list=PL9G1xkhTgaUByXjCatUpoBT-ioIFayQBT&index=2 Tended to by soldier after being caught in grenade explosion. Dazed and disoriented, hearing damaged and mild concussion, given morphine, friendly talk and chat while being patched up best he can, shared chocolate and overall very friendly. ⚔️😵‍💫🤕🦴🩹🧺💉🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Dwyhqb5OV0&t=2402s Experimented on by mad scientist/doctor. Heavily drugged, with the effects being tested. Visual and auditory disturbances (including seeing rainbow colored multiples of the scientist). Torture video ig. ✨😵‍💫🥴👀💉🤤🌱

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsWDCHijJII&list=PL_GoLu4945hMfdjaS7Yoowo5nhM066d7J&index=5 Experimented on by mad scientist/doctor. Heavily drugged and sedated to the point of hallucinating/seeing multiples. Gassed and arm removed, with listener being completely helpless and euphoric throughout. Lots of talk about how the listener must “feel like they’re flying” and “your head is so up up up in the clouds you can’t even say a thing”. ✨😵‍💫🥴👀💉🤤✂️🩹🪡🌱

Privated. Wayback machine link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220310172328/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jsoSJ9g6Ic Saved by friend/medic (friends to lovers hehe) after being trapped in rubble. Superhero listener, banter and comfort eeeeee. Maybe halfway through listener almost passes out from blood loss and friend gets really worried. Repeatedly begged to stay awake. Called “boss” o-o. Dies and then is magically brought back at the end (spoiler alert: your friend/love has hidden superpowers that emerged from his grief owo) So many whumperflies first time I watched.🔮😵‍💫🥴🦴🩸🔪🧺🪡🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6gLUFIxz0Y Found and tended to by acquaintance and his dog after you were in an accident/fight. Dazed and slipping in and out of consciousness, bad concussion, demonstrates why alcohol and concussions don’t mix lol. 🐂😵‍💫🥴🤕🦴👀🥃🪡✂️👁🩹🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMoqwEifB9A&list=PLn7u5acSPTWBFsG_1cR3TRLAbdK88Bmti&index=108 Hero listener taken care of and talked to by Villain. Worry and chatting. Blurs the lines of morality. Enemies to friends to… more? Called “my dear hero” and “little hero” o-o.🔮🤕😵‍💫🦴🩹🌱

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De5ZTGdzQJk Captured by enemy officer. Interrogation and negotiation including physical and psychological torture. Cut with saltpeter packed into the wounds, as well as being choked to the point of unconsciousness In the end the situation is reversed and the listener takes the officer hostage while other patriots storm the camp. ⚔️🔪🩸👀🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nVjQDE8eo0 Drugged and coerced into illegal organ ‘donation’. Drugged listener is completely out of it and doesn’t really understand what’s going on as they ‘consent’ to the surgery. Lots of talk about how you “shouldn’t worry” and how “fuzzy” the listener must feel, as well as nice counting backwards for anesthesia (with the listener fighting it). ✨😵‍💫🥴🤤💉✂️🌱

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH7aelZFk7M Goes to interrogate elf prisoner, and oh how the turntables. The elf uses a combination of magic and hypnotism to compel the viewer to release the shackles and order the elf to be released. Soothing voice, dropping in and out of consciousness, ordered around. 🔮😵‍💫🥴👄🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSPjlZcDtvE&list=PLM9r0ZYucPouScRuCAB4irBh_NSRzkkDY&index=5 Rescued by Gabriel (part of the occult mystery series) and in the backseat of a car. Major blood loss, drifting in and out of consciousness, worried/frantic Gabe, told repeatedly to stay awake. Called “Angel” o-o (that is the name of the character the listener is but still…). ✨😵‍💫🥴🩸🔪👀🩹🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqRsy5s0fFg Taken care of after being knocked out and concussed by a grenade. Very out of it with some amnesia and a bad concussion. Slipping in and out of consciousness and not knowing where you are. Talked to and evaluated (with the listener initially not doing well, leaving speaker worried), head wound cleaned and re-bandaged, given morphine. ⚔️😵‍💫🥴🤕🦴🧠👀🩹👁🧺💉🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddf76NWBU7M Evaluated and taken care of after being knocked out/ cut open by shrapnel in an explosion. Very out of it and slipping in and out of consciousness, with speaker doing his best to keep the listener awake. Concussed listener, blood loss, wrapped in blankets because it’s cold. Worry and talking, with listener’s consciousness checked multiple times (apparently he isn’t comfortable with listener sleeping, especially with it being so cold). ⚔️😵‍💫🥴🤕🧠🩸🔪🦴👀👁💉🩹🧺🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbM2eKZRNNs&t=56s General talk and patched up/taken care of by friend while recovering from having arm amputated (due to zombie bite). Worry and rambling, shell shocked friend still horrified at having to amputate, fever, forehead gently wiped with wet rag, bandages changed. 🧟🤒🔪🧺🩹🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGBP0in3xdE Mission goes wrong (the listener and Quinn are spies) and listener gets shot. Quinn does her best to keep the listener awake but it’s a close call. Worry, panic, love confessions, passing out and waking up in medical. 🕶😵‍💫🥴🩸🔫🌱

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zie8c2PZOY&list=PLn7u5acSPTWBFsG_1cR3TRLAbdK88Bmti&index=83 On a beach after ship was shot down. Concussed and completely out of it. Patched up, (gently) interrogated about code. Slight amnesia. ✨😵‍💫🥴🤕🧠🦴👁🩹🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqTPQNYFyMA&t=223s Taken care of and worried over after being found passed out on floor by bodyguard. Feverish and dazed/lightheaded, with bodyguard and listener trying to figure out what happened (spoiler alert: the pizza was poisoned/drugged). Worried phone calls to try and figure out what happened, eventually decided listener needs to get to the clinic. Called “boss” o-o.✨😵‍💫🥴🤒🧪🤤🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yhbz_NRNh0&list=PLn7u5acSPTWBFsG_1cR3TRLAbdK88Bmti&index=76 Pirate captain listener tempted by siren, saved by first mate. Male siren, female first mate. Worry and banter. 🌊😵‍💫🥴👄🌱🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo9gTO97Xko&t=921s Patched up by stranger after being found unconscious in abandoned police station. Police officer listener is only survivor of zombie attack. Bitten by zombie, wound cleaned, calms down panicked civilian stranger. Trying to make sense of initial zombie outbreak. 🧟😵‍💫🥴🦠🩸👁🩹🧺🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hblOIQV-oM Found injured in a scrapyard by friend after deal went bad. Taken back to friend’s place and fixed up. Basic medical exam, gunshot wounds stitched, put in/taken out of cryro. 🚥😵‍💫🔫🩸💉🩹🪡🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZc0Ie2OYv4 Vampire hunter listener is tricked by a vampire and hypnotised/mind controlled. Fed on, under vampire’s control, weak from blood loss. 🔮🥴🩸🔪👄🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eehezlPgsfw&t=566shttps:// Listener is a spy undercover on the enemy side of a war. After things go south and listener ends up injured and captured, fellow soldier/spy goes on a rescue mission. No serious injury, but nice worry/vibes. Dehydrated, bruised, talking and friendly conversation. 🕶🦴🩹🧺👁🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXl_v6gDbaQ Secret agent listener rescued after being captured and tortured/interrogated. Stab wounds, head injury, altered consciousness, and double vision, as well as heavily implied drugging. Wounds stitched up, repeatedly worried over and told to pull (your)self together so listener and rescuer can shoot a path out. 🕶😵‍💫🥴🤕👀🩸🔪🤤🪡🍄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whIZIxNkt6c Ripperdoc friend fusses over/patches up listener after listener stumbles into their place. Temporary amnesia (and the friend being worried about it), altered consciousness, talking and comfort, put under anesthesia by friend and apparently was unconscious for five days. Medically innacurate but whumpy. 🚥🥴😵‍💫🧠💉✂️👁🍄

General channels to check out:

Jim ASMR: Totally check this out. His channel is really… interesting. Very niche things, dark and gritty atmosphere, amazing cosplays. Whumpy stuff a lot of times. Also please support queer creators. My man (gender neutral) is legit a shapeshifter with how well they embody characters.

Tinglesmith ASMR: Interesting channel again. Dark and gritty atmosphere. A lot of times whumpy.

Quill ASMR: Check this out. Not as “unique” as far as ASMR channels go, but still very nice!

The Cozy Hospital ASMR: Super unique! Extremely accurate medical/hospital roleplays (a lot of the time with minimal talking) and real(istic) props.

[reve-de-whump]

Embracing Scifi-Fantasy tropes : Body swap whump

I feel like this trope has a lot of potential for pain, confusion, frustration, discomfort, alienation, body horror, and much more. Might the swap be permanent or temporary.

It can also be used to bring characters closer on the principle of walking a mile in the other’s shoes, for anyone wanting more comfort at the end

-Swapping into an injured body: An injured comrade? An enemy they have just wounded? Some victim being used as a voodoo doll by a whumper? Suddenly the whumpee gets overwhelmed by unexpected pains hitting all at once as they become aware of being into an injured body. Bonus for being able to have the whumpee experience serious injuries or near-death experiences without it being fatal to their original body

-Swapping into a body with a medical condition: Someone with chronic pains, a health issue, or recovering from a health issue? Swapped with someone who is hospitalised? The whumpee comes to realise quickly how much they took their more or less able body for granted, as they experience realities, limitations, and hurt they were not prepared for

-Swapping into a different biology: an alien or fantastic species with a way different biology? What it is like to suddenly be allergic to the sun, or unable to breath oxygen, or have more sensitive senses? New magical weaknesses? Different size or physical capacities? The body heal faster so the whumpee coincidentally can get hurt more? Having to adapt to wild differences making the experience more disorienting and frustrating.

-Swapping into a different biology, the body horror version: what if the other body is so extremely different? A rock monster with no sense of touch? An insect alien with no human-like mouth? Claws they keep accidentally hurting themselves with? Their allies are afraid or disgusted with them and it hurts to realise? Extra legs or oozing things or uncontrollable hungers that scares the whumpee, The Metamorphosis from Kafka and all

-Swapping into a body with altered/different consciousness: Swapped into a body drugged or concussed or with other altered consciousness and the whumpee have to try and focus through the brain fog? Into a body and suddenly the whumpee can only speak an unknown alien/fantasy language or cannot understand his usual language?

-Swapped into a body fighting back: they wake up in a body rejecting them? They are overwhelmed by the body’s memories in disorienting or painful episodes of migraines of flashbacks? They feel their personality vanishing? The rejection makes them physically sick? They were swapped into an animal and the whumpee feels their sentience and intelligence slowly ebbing away? They fear vanishing if they get fully rejected or erased?

-Swapping into the body of the enemy: now everyone thinks whumpee is the bad guy. Whumpee can be hunted down, hurt, insulted, arrested, disregarded, and much more. No one believes them, their allies distrust them or want them dead. The usual caretaker can even become a whumper without knowing it for extra angst

And possibly many other opportunities!

[deviant-doughnut]

Augusnippets: Day Twenty-Seven

Chosen Prompt: Phantom Pains

CW: Hand whump; previous violence; mention of massacre

Elliott’s hand should not hurt. The seasons play his body like an instrument these days and he’s growing reluctantly used to that. His scar tissue itched under the hot breath of summer; his reset bones creaked as fall snatched the humidity from the air. Now he wakes to ice on his windows, to snow falling like ash from the sky, and when he climbs out of bed his left kneecap aches badly and he spends his day masking a limp. On days like that, it’s as though all the physical remnants of what happened to him in April have crawled deep inside his body, burrowing into his joints for their warmth, scraping away damaged cartridge with their teeth. It makes a miserable sort of sense, he supposes. It’s something with which he can’t argue.

But his hand.

The cut was neither clean nor sudden. The cut was deliberate, a knife meant for vegetables set deliberately at the midpoint of his forearm, pressure applied as he screamed on the ground. These are the points where his memory fades, dashed to ashen grey at the edges. He discovered this in his sessions with Dr. Dubois, before he gave up on them in a fit of frustration one afternoon — that his own mind had blinded him to the worst of the shock. He remembers screaming, his throat gone so raw there was blood in his vomit afterwards. He remembers his colleagues begging them to stop, a group of hostages pleading uselessly for mercy. He remembers a voice, sometimes, low and sly. Something about setting an example, about teaching the organisation a lesson. He doesn’t recall losing consciousness, but woke up among their bodies in the depths of the night, the quiet so thick it was wrong, sickening. He remembers having to call 911 with his non-dominant hand, remembers staring down at the bloodied remains of his arm, a ravaged stump where his right hand should have been.

Today his right hand stings and aches. He remembers a boot stamping down on it that night, the terrible crack of his metacarpal bones. He cannot remember what he was reaching for. Consciously, he can’t even remember the shock of the pain now. He knows it hurt badly, but that it was nothing compared to what came for him next, one memory engulfed by another. He wonders if it felt like this, like his fingers are curled and unable to extend, like the pain in the middle of his hand is cacophonous.

He dresses — pre-tied ties slung on hangers in his closet, courtesy of Denny before he walked out at last — and he shrugs on his winter coat.

He keeps the arm of his right shirt rolled up, no attempt here to hide his altered anatomy. He carries frustration more easily than shame, injustice rather than embarrassment. His colleagues, the ones who were not there for the massacre, eye his residual limb sometimes as though it purports a second reckoning, something they will be altered by as well. He generally looks away from those stares, but today he glares through his pain. He grinds his teeth through his meetings and swallows pain relief down in the bathroom. He takes deep breaths while he sits at his desk, and wills that night in April to finally release its tether to him, to let go of his hand at long last.

If Elliott could cut off his phantom limb, if it would ease the suffocating weight of the pain that should not be there, he’d do it. He watches his new boss slice tomatoes on their lunch break, sleek metal of a vegetable knife that couldn’t do anything for him now.

-

Thank you to @augusnippets for this event!

[snakebites-and-ink]

Whumpmas in July Day 1: Reintroduce Yourself

Hi all! I’m @snakebites-and-ink. I’ve been on whumpblr about a year and a half (tho for the first several months of that I was mainly lurking). I like many different kinds of whump—some of my favorites are pet whump, living weapons, slavery, and almost anything involving heavy conditioning or altered mindset. I can also get quite a kick out of whumper-turned-whumpee and revenge whump. I’m always looking for new series that scratch the right itch, so if you write something that features a fave trope of mine feel free to hit me up. (I am a shameless-self-promotion-positive reader lol.)

I’m a little socially awkward so I might sound a bit weird when I talk to people, but I promise I don’t bite, and I welcome interaction! I rarely initiate because of my social anxiety, but I really am happy to talk with anyone who drops into my ask box or dms.

If you want to see my writing, you can check it out on my masterlist! I have both OC and generic whump in series, miniseries, and standalone drabbles. I am an amateur, but so are many of the other people in this community so I am trying to beat back the self-consciousness. ^^'

I think that covers all the basics, but if you want to know more you can check out the info posts linked on my main masterlist (or just ask, if that’s what you prefer.)

[pouringoutmythoyghtsbefore1drown]

what does human weapon mean in the whump genre? Because at first i was like “ah yes… sentient weapon? like a sword with consciousness?” but i think upon seeing further posts i’m incorrect.

I tried to look it up but still i am confused. Does the human weapon need to be physically altered to be a weapon (in the sense of having a gun arm or something)?

[teine-mallaichte]

Hey, thought it was probably worth making an intro post.

So... I'm a wannabe writer who only started sharing my work in 2023, so I'm still kind of figuring out the world of online fandoms.

Writing Master List

Fandom wise I mainly write One Piece and Dragon Age stuff. Mainly ZoSan and Fenders to be honest. Which as a point are two wildly different fandom experiences 🤣

However, I am also currently branching out into original characters/fiction - mainly living weapon type stuff to be honest.

What I Like to Write About:

Character Studies and Internal Monologues: I enjoy attempting to delve into a character's mind, having them wrestle with their own demons or dilemmas.

World Building: I love world building, in fact I think I may prefer world building to writing actual narratives... But I can't exactly just share world building - at least I don't think I can...

Canon Divergence and "What If" Scenarios: I think these may be my favourite "tropes" to write, though I am getting into AUs recently.

Types of whump/angst I enjoy:

Living weapon

Hiding injury/illness

Altered consciousness

Environmental whump

Manipulation

Guilded Cage

Psychological whump

Whmperless whump

What I don't write:

I don't really write smut, I've tried and I just can't do it... I might try occasionally but, well don't hold your breath.

I hate writing fluff and comfort, but I do try to do so.

About Me:

Day Job: I'm a personal trainer & run coach, who specialises with marathon runners.

Peer Support Worker: I also work in peer support working with people who have experiences of self-harm and eating disorders. (I’m recovered from self-harm and bulimia myself.) I have also done a lot of work with people who have experience of abuse, and have my own history of PTSD.

Hobbies: I have done kendo for 16 years, akiedo for 6 months, and HEMA for a year. I also run.

Mental Health: I have schizoaffective disorder, which means I experience periods of psychosis, mania, and depression. Even when I'm stable, I have auditory hallucinations, my main voice is called Nigel and is essentially my constant irritating companion.

I am very open about my mental health, I've written several blogs under a pen name for charities in the past and often give talks locally about my experiences. So if anyone has questions go for it, if any writers want any info about what it's like to experience hallucinations or mania or whatever also just ask, seriously I'm basically impossible to offend.

I often incorporate elements of my own mental health experiences into my writing. It's the whole "write what you know" thing. After having to drop out of studying post-grad medicine at 22 (after fortunately at least completing my bio-med degree) due to my mental illness, sometimes it does feel like mental illness is "all the know" 😅

I'm back at uni now as a mature student, but studying psychology... So in a way this is still "all I know."

So that's a bit about me!

I take part in DADWC each Friday taking prompts from here.

I'm good with taking prompts at any time, from prompt lists (include the full prmpt and list in the ask) or just whatever prompt you feel like sending.

Most of my longer pieces are on AO3 here.

[fanficrocks]

Cardinal points

Lewis (TV) fic written for @chrumblr-whumblr May whump prompt list - Day 29 Infection.

Chapter 1 of 3 (next chapters to come soon); also available on AO3.

Chapter 1: Absence

Robbie surfaced briefly from what felt like a sea of agony and tried to find his bearings. His brain felt hazy and uncooperative, and the only sensation he could truly feel was pain - wave after wave of it with every breath he took. With a despairing sigh, he felt himself sink back into oblivion, merciful or otherwise, just as a frantic beeping seemed to take over the world.

The passage of time seemed to make no sense whatsoever. He was vaguely conscious of people around him, some of them doing things he wanted no part of, and others exhorting him to make an effort - to do what he was not sure. But he knew he could not deny them, for he loved them. And at one moment, he was acutely aware of a tiny hand wrapped around his little finger… he knew he should lift the owner of that hand and cuddle them close, but his body would not obey his mind. And then he must have lost awareness yet again, for there was nothing.

It was later, much later - hours or days, he was not certain - when he suddenly had an outburst of clarity. He was not certain whether he was truly conscious or awake… it felt like he was floating in some other plane, at once separated from yet tethered to the real world, with only his mental faculties intact. He was not sure what exactly to call the senses driving him, for they were not sight or sound or speech as he knew them. But after some cogitation, he decided that the familiar words were as good as any to describe this unfamiliar awareness. And so he let go of fruitless thoughts and took stock of what he could.

Looking down from where he was floating (for he could not find any other word to describe his position), he saw the not necessarily familiar, but easily recognisable features of a hospital room… one bristling with tubes and wires snaking out of the figure on the bed, all hooked up to monitors with flashing colours and numbers. And the figure on the bed was… his own? Looking a little beyond, he saw Laura and Lyn seated on either side, each holding the lax fingers of one hand of that figure. And they both looked desperate, their faces showing the tracks of dried tears despite the fierce determination overlaying everything - that was not right! He could not have them feeling so; he had to fix this. But how?

Even as he thought that, the door to the room opened and another familiar figure entered - Jean Innocent. And she looked sadder and more defeated than he had ever seen her in the seven years she had been his CS. Straining his ears (or whatever passed for them in this altered plane), he managed to catch the words that passed between her and Laura.

“No change?”

“No. For a bit, we thought there was some improvement - his temperature seemed to drop a touch. But there is no consciousness, no response.”

Now, that hurt! Of course he was conscious - he could not be aware of all that was happening if he was unconscious. And Laura should know that, for all her gallows humour about patients who cannot answer back. But even as he tried to show his displeasure, he realised that while he could see and hear in some way, he could not speak. And nor could that body lying on the bed. But Jean had more to say, and he had to concentrate hard to hear it.

“We got the perp who did this. He was an old con Robbie had put away years ago… one of his first cases as DI. He was released from prison recently and swore vengeance on the cops who put him away. Kershaw, Robbie’s first DS, was able to identify him after Gurdip dug through the old files to find some leads.”

“That’s a relief, I suppose. But just what was the guy learning in prison to have concocted that infected knife he used for stabbing Robbie with?”

“Believe it or not, that was pure mischance. He stole a knife from the closest butcher’s. And it was one that a careless assistant had left on the bench after using on a dodgy carcass instead of dropping it into the pail of disinfectant.”

“You mean this awful infection, sepsis really, that Robbie got from that shallow stab was pure accident?”

“Seems that way. I know that is cold comfort now. Did the doctor say any more?”

“Just that they have thrown everything they have at it from a treatment perspective. So it is now down to whether Robbie has the reserves to fight it long enough for some antibiotic to do the trick.”

“For what it is worth, the ME has contacted his doctor with the information about the knife. Perhaps that might help to figure out the right treatment. Has Hathaway been here yet? Or called you?” 

As he saw Laura shake her head, he knew there was something significant in that seemingly innocuous question and answer. But before he could ponder it further, he felt a draught (how could he feel that in this altered state, he wondered) as the door opened again to admit Tim carrying little Andy, and closely followed by a trio of medical staff who proceeded to chivvy the family out of the room. 

Despite promises that Laura and Lyn could return first thing in the morning, their reluctance to leave was palpable. And as Lyn held Andy and stooped to let the tyke kiss the unresponsive figure’s forehead, he could practically read her lips “You can’t do this, dad! You need to stay around - for us, and for Andy, if not for any other reason. We cannot do without you.” He reached out to her then, to hold her and convince her that he was going nowhere… but no action essayed by this altered version of himself could get through, and the figure on the bed remained unmoving.

As the medical staff bustled around adjusting monitors and adding new medication to the IV, the memories came rushing back to him. Was it 4 days ago now, or 5? Waiting in the beer garden at The Trout until last orders, hoping James would join him for a pint. Finally giving up and leaving as the pub closed, feeling not just disappointed but in some way defeated… and as though he had let the lad down without quite knowing how. The flash of moonlight on something silvery as he walked across the car park, then the sharp lancing pain in his side. The lifelong training that had him dialling 999 for help automatically. The ambulance, the call to Laura, then the scenes in A&E - signing a consent form for what had then seemed a minor operation to manage the stab wound; the comfortable haze of the recovery room; then the mounting fever and pain.The consultant’s measured tones, explaining that the stab wound, while minor in itself, had resulted in a major infection from whatever was on the knife. Followed by a state of semi-consciousness, or perhaps it was delirium, which obliterated everything for hours on end.

Further flashes of memory - Laura by his side every time he surfaced, however briefly; Lyn rushing in, along with Tim and Andy… setting up camp on his other side. Little Andy clutching his finger so very tightly, him wanting to hug the lad but not being able to. Mark on the phone, begging him to fight, to get better… and threatening to fly back just to fight with him all over again if he didn’t listen. Even Innocent, glaring at him fiercely with unshed tears in her eyes, promising to drag him to yet another civic reception unless he shaped up right now! And as though in a dream, Val wagging her finger at him admonishingly, and Morse - tut-tutting at him the way he had done when Lewis failed to appreciate one of his flights of fancy. Finally, a void, an absence that he could not explain… for in his brief intervals of lucidity, he did what he could to respond to his family gathered around - and kept looking past, seeking someone, he wasn’t sure who.

Robbie stayed where he was, continuing to watch the still figure in the bed, and wondered …. Who was the real him? The figure lying there, or this spirit or whatever that was hovering above and noting every little detail. And then he felt it - a tug at the edge of his awareness, like a silent voice telling him he needed to make a choice. A choice to stay or to go. If he stayed, there would be days of agony to be weathered, but the rewards were great - friends and family to love - Laura, Lyn, Andy, Mark, and the hope of James. If he went - maybe he would have Val again? And Morse? But even as he thought that, Robbie realised that he needed one final meeting, one final goodbye perhaps, before he could make that decision.

And so, he stilled that voice, or that tug, whatever it was. For as long as it could be stilled. And waited….

[vulnerabilityvendor]

Slipping in and out

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

[anguishmacgyver]

[willadisatercrywrites]

Head injuries & passing out!!!

Some realistic aspects of whump you’re probably glossing over/conveying incorrectly Part 2

just some realistic medical accuracies that will bolster your whump writing, and the category is...

the dazed and confused:

a person can experience a lapse in consciousness or lucidity when they receive a traumatic head injury or their bodies are put under severe stress by something like an extreme condition or nasty illness. both symptoms can occur from many different injuries/ailments ranging from blunt force head trauma, drug use, inadequate sleep, malnourishment, physical exhaustion... the option are really endless and not much is out of the realm of possibility in regards to being medically accurate.

a rapid increase in blood pressure is the nervous system’s vasovagal syncope response, also commonly referred to as passing tf out. fainting itself isn’t inherently harmful or dangerous if whumpee gets themselves to the ground before its lights out. pretty much unless the whumpee is in a hostile environment where they don’t have access to food, water, or medical supplies to care for their wounds or sickness, they will be ok and should come to rather quickly!

if the whumpee is exhausted, whether it is because they have physically exhausted themselves by working too hard, not taking the time to properly recover after a fight, disregarding healthy sleeping and eating habits, ignoring a cold or viral bug because they think they can just tough it out etc. they can function in a haze for a pretty solid amount of time before their blood pressure will eventually plummet where the blood vessels relax to reduce resistance in the flow and all of the blood in their body races to their head at once to try and quell whatever is wrong. this will probably come at a breaking point or at the mention of exerting themselves intensely once more. they might be faced with a flight of stairs, or the alarms are going off for another mission, or their superior won’t end the meeting and they didn’t succeed in grabbing a seat before they were all taken. before this they would’ve been sluggish in their movements and sick or tired-looking. they would probably have to ask someone to repeat themselves because their brain is lagging and they can’t grasp whatever’s been said on the first go. they also would experience moments of lightheadedness that would stop them in their tracks and have them searching for purchase on a nearby wall or table as they ride out the blood rush in their ears that is similar to what you might get from standing up too quickly, except this would happen randomly. they might not have a large appetite that day and be uncharacteristically thirsty. there will be moments the whumpee or caregiver finds them swaying unsteadily where they’d be urged to sit down before they collapse. the whumpee would be grumpy about this but they’d listen because at this point they are aware they could very well pass out. too many moments like these and they actually do.

the textbook first aid response is to raise their feet above their heart by either lifting them or elevating them on a higher surface, this gets blood flowing on a path of least resistance to the brian and will help them recover quicker. they should stay on the ground or move into the recovery position on their side until they feel better, then they should move into a sitting position and acclimate to that before trying to stand. they will probably be weak and shakey after this and should go rest and eat something before turning in for the night.

if the whumpee has a head injury, passing out is very dangerous and a type of triage would be to keep them awake until they are evaluated properly. concussions occur when the brain quite literally rattles around in the head a tad too aggressively. this can be caused by violent shaking or what might even be considered a minor blow. think two football players clonking helmets and how when their bodies are thrown back by the force, their brains would be jolted forward in their skulls. this can result in pretty sever concussions that impede cognitive functions without drawing a drop of blood, occurring even within the confines of reinforced protective gear. confusion and disorientation as well as an unpleasant or throbbing pressure would be the first symptoms to present themselves with this type of blunt head injury. memory loss and an overall altered perception of reality could be documented for the first stage of recovery, short term events would be lost on the whumpee and they might find themselves suddenly having no clue what day it is or where they are. they would be sensitive to light and noise and any sort of intense movement depending on the severity of the concussion. and any increase in such would make them dizzy, nauseated, or even lightheaded.

the window of danger for falling asleep or fainting after getting concussed usually passes after the 24 hour mark post injury. the caregiver would likely have to wait up all night shaking awake a lethargic and possibly incoherent whumpee, maybe even taking shifts with others until they don’t think the whumpee would be at risk of not waking up. this type of injury might take months to fully heal from and is very inconvenient and uncomfortable for the whumpee leaving space for a lot of additional hurt and beautiful moments of fussing over/comforting.

head injuries that result in wounds will bleed a horrifying amount for even the tiniest of cuts, the same goes for facial wounds. this is because they are like a million blood vessels up there to get more blood to the brain. so if you have a heavily bleeding head wound... the blood flowing there will be leaving a lot quicker than the body can replenish it and can delve into a dangerous amount of blood loss pretty quickly. any blow to the head will jar you temporarily and leave you virtually incapacitated even if you don’t fall down or lose consciousness. think being paralyzed in sudden and excruciating pain after hitting your funny bone, it passes quickly, but for a solid minute you’re definitely seeing red. a whumpee that gets their head split open can keep fighting on adrenaline as long as they aren’t rendered unconscious right off the bat, but the longer they rely on energy reserves, the more blood they are going to have lost and the harder they’ll crash once they’re safe or the fight is over. the whumpee along with whoever is around them after they receive this hit might think they are relatively okay since they didn’t collapse on impact, but crashing will look like stumbling back to the mode of transport, not being able to stand up after they finish the bad guy off, staring off at nothing while a wave of malaise washes over them once they look at the blood that comes away from the wet spot on the side of their head, etc.

shock is also a silent killer and plays large part in the dazed and confused bit of a flesh wound like this. any type of wound that bleeds for more than a minute will be accompanied by an assortment of shock symptoms like trembling, becoming cold, sudden weakness, incoherence, all to varying severities that coincide with the amount of blood loss sustained, so once again the longer the whumpee pushes or avoids treatment the worse it will be. immediate triage would be to have the whumpee sit and keep them warm with body heat or a blanket as well as keep steady pressure on the wound, additionally it would be ideal to get a bit of sugar in them and have them sip water to calm them down and keep their mind level. remaining clam and warm is really the most important aspects of staving off the worse symptoms of shock like slowed heart rate and shallowed breathing, which isn’t passing out exactly, more like their body slowly shutting down. a whumpee with this type of injury also wouldn’t really pass out in the dramatic way you think of if they didn’t on initial impact, it’d look more like their legs giving out in the middle of their stride, their weight slowly increasing in a friend’s arms during a congratulatory hug, or rushing for the nearest seat after getting a head rush and suddenly very woozy.

[bounce-a-coin-off-your-witcher]

This is the Beat of My Heart

happy very early birthday to @jaskierswolf​! have some soulmates.

new soulmate mechanic: you can hear your beloved’s heartbeat whenever you feel frightened

art by the always-talented @mawbwehownets​

tw: mentions of the Trials, canon typical violence but it’s just the cave scene from Posada/Four Marks, minor emotional Geralt whump (self loathing witcher feelings), hurt/comfort with a very fluffy ending

---

Geralt’s fingers curl painfully into the tops of his legs. He’s trying to hold himself down against the rough-hewn seat of the tavern bench with all his mighty strength; there’s an irritating sound filling the small room that has activated his fight or flight response, and he can’t do either without drawing suspicion from the already antsy villagers. The haunting rhythm echoes through him, a soft but insistent thud thud thud that floods his senses and soothes his aching head. The sound is more familiar to the witcher than his own gruff voice. More familiar than his brothers’ voices, or Vesemir’s. This staccato beat has marked out every terrifying moment in the witcher’s long life.

The sound that pounds against Geralt’s ears is his soulmate’s heartbeat.

The poor, ignorant fool he’s meant to match in every way is wandering around this shit-hole tavern in Posada, totally unaware of the sad, unsavory fate that Destiny has bestowed upon them. Geralt never thought this day would come, really. Being bound to a witcher was bad enough but being in the same room with one, feeling the subtle pull of forces far beyond your control meddling with your life… drawing you towards danger and death...

It will be better for both of us if I leave as soon as possible, Geralt thinks to himself. He takes a quick inventory of his purse and swords and finds them all accounted for. At least I can spare them the tragic end they’d no doubt meet at a witcher’s side. They would likely hate me if I ever sought them out.

They must be terrified of him, whichever one of these people Destiny has saddled with the other half of Geralt’s soul. They’ve heard his heartbeat, too, in their moments of fear. As well as Geralt knows his soulmate’s giddy, fluttering pulse pattern, they have lived with his slow mutant heartbeat in return. Were they even more frightened when they heard how slow it was? Did the connection serve its purpose, calming them down and reassuring them of his presence, or had it made things worse, elevated their level of terror? How cruel it was for Destiny to chain this person to a living firebrand, to create them to be the perfect other half for someone who’s no more than a monster.

That heartbeat, vibrant and steadfast, is what had kept Geralt alive and fighting for survival during the worst of his Trials. When the poisons and tinctures and potions had crawled through his veins, turning them from black to red to black again and twisting his body into something other, that glorious beating had been there for him. The sound of his soulmate’s fragile mortal heart had measured out the seconds, giving him something to cling onto. That heartbeat had given Geralt something to love. To hope for in his worst moments. When they had dragged him back into those dark, musty rooms, seventeen and screaming with what little was left of his voice, all Geralt could do was pray for his future soulmate’s heartbeat to return to him. To comfort him.

In the relentless pain and terror of those added experiments, Geralt had kept that sound buried deep within his very being, like a candle in the center of a pitch-black room. Even when they said the Trials would take his emotions from him, that the additional testing would obliterate his humanity entirely, the sound of a stranger’s heartbeat never failed to stir the strongest feelings of love and safety he’d ever known.

Can ever know, perhaps.

Regardless of what might have been in another lifetime, Geralt keeps his fingers clenched and his muscles taut. He focuses all his energy on keeping himself sitting. He would have been content to stay there in the corner, his eyes trained on the grain of the worn wooden table before him, ignoring Destiny’s desires entirely… except…

Except for the damned bard. The novice bard swans his way over to the witcher’s corner table, lashes fluttering and face flushed. Geralt catches a faint whiff of arousal and writes it off as a boyish reaction to the rush of performing. The young brunette opens his mouth and the sweetest voice Geralt has ever heard playfully says: “I love the way you just… sit in the corner and brood.”

“I’m here to drink alone,” the witcher grunts. He can practically feel his fingernails biting through the leather of his gloves. The heartbeat is louder now, closer, and it’s driving Geralt mad.

“Good,” the bard nods, still leaning against a support beam. “Yeah, good. Nobody else hesitated to comment on the quality of my performance except-” he takes a slow step forward “-for you.”

The bard is probably barely old enough to order his own vodka, and the bright, sparkling blue of his eyes makes the deeper blue of his doublet look incredibly washed out. Geralt tries to keep his face impassive, rolling his eyes and remaining silent. He’s still thinking about his soulmate… trying to block out the rapid thrumming of their all-too-human heart.

“C’mon,” the brunette urges. “You don’t want to keep a man with… bread in his pants waiting. You must have some review for me; three words or less!”

Geralt hears his soulmate’s heartbeat growing louder, more irregular and more excited, regardless of his efforts to ignore the hurried drumming. The scent of happiness grows thick and hazy in the air as the bard continues to grin and Geralt realizes, with a tiny jolt of horror, that the origin of the life-altering sound is sitting directly across from him. Geralt matches the rabbit-quick jumps at the junctures of the bard’s wrists to the soft rhythm thumping at the back of his head and finds them to be a perfect match.

It’s you, the witcher thinks, eyes widening slightly against his will. He takes a moment to tamp down his more obvious emotions, trying desperately keeping his expression neutral and under control. The bard is the one whose heartbeat kept me breathing in my very worst moments. Kept me fighting. Kept me…

Geralt suddenly remembers that he needs to answer a question: “They don’t exist.”

“What don’t exist?” the bard asks, eyebrows furrowing. The expression is halfway between a pout and an offended grimace, which infuriatingly verges on being adorable. Geralt’s heart lurches traitorously in his chest. He has never known such horrible yearning in all his many decades on the Path.

“The creatures in your song.”

“Why would you know?” the bard scoffs. Geralt prepares to stand, finally releasing his death-grip on his own legs. His fingers and palms are cramped and tight from holding himself still for so long; the bard is really testing his patience. The witcher is less than two seconds away from revealing the big secret and ruining both of their lives when the young man continues, eyes shining, “Ooooh, fun! White hair, big old loner, two very very scary looking swords…”

Geralt stands from the table and collects his purse.

The bard glances up at him, blue eyes wondrously wide and cheeks flushed pink.

“I know who you are,” he practically breathes. He stands, following Geralt halfway out the door. “You’re the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia!”

Geralt’s fists clench again. The retraction of his muscles keeps him from grabbing the foolish human by the collar and dragging him from the room for a proper chat about manners and soulmates. Thankfully. As the disoriented witcher hurries from the tavern’s main room, he hears the bard shouting after him: “Called it!”

---

Geralt snaps back into consciousness with a grunt. As frustration and fear weave themselves into a web of anxiety at the center of his chest, that soft thud thud thudding fills his ears. It soothes him and helps him focus; he is in a cave, it is midday or a little past, and the bard, Jaskier apparently, has been bound against him, back-to-back. He tugs at the ropes that bind their wrists again but it does no good. Behind him, the bard says quietly: “This is the part where we escape.”

Geralt fears for his soulmate’s wellbeing more than his own. He’s technically responsible for this stupid, fragile person who refused to stay behind despite his warnings. He lowers his voice, “This is the part where they kill us.”

“Unfortunate,” the bard sighs. The witcher listens, confused and a bit shocked, as Jaskier slowly starts to even out his breathing by matching his inhales and exhales to Geralt’s slow, methodical heartbeat.

“How can you hear it?” he asks without thinking.

“Hear what?” Jaskier replies, whispering.

“Your breathing,” Geralt says, as if it’s obvious. “You’re matching it to my… to my heartbeat. You don’t have a witcher’s enhanced hearing so how are you matching the rhythm so perfectly?”

“I was matching it to-”

Their conversation ends abruptly as an angry elven woman storms into the cave. She kicks at them furiously, spitting in the Elder tongue, “Beast!”

“Quick, Geralt!” the bard urges, “Do your witchering!”

“Shut up!”

“No!”

The woman doles out more swift kicks to the chest. One for Geralt and one for Jaskier. More muttering in Elder, insults that even the bard manages to understand and toss around. Geralt grimaces as he’s beaten by Toruviel and hears the thudding even louder than before. The witcher smiles when he notices that he can feel Jaskier’s heartbeat against his back, pulsing through the thin material of the bard’s light woolen doublet. It’s so much more intense, close up like this.

“Leave off! He’s just a bard.”

He’s so much more than that, Geralt’s own thoughts remind him. He’s everything to you.

A wave of urgent protectiveness swells within him and Geralt diverts the attention of the Elf King away from the foolish human, whose mouth has run away with him. Eventually Filavandrel tires of their chatter and pulls his short blade. The Silvan rushes forward, arms outstretched to stop his sovereign, “Wait!”

“Torque! Stand aside!”

“The witcher could have killed me,” Torque rushes to explain. “But he didn’t. He’s different, like us!”

Geralt watches with mild trepidation as the battle-hardened King pushes his subject aside, fury blazing in his clear blue eyes. He understands that this may be his final day alive. He wishes that Jaskier would have listened before and stayed at the tavern below. He wishes, with what may be his final moments alive, that Jaskier were safe and not bound to him this way. Literally and figuratively.

“If you must kill me, I am ready,” Geralt intones. “But the Sylvan is right… don’t call me human.”

The witcher tilts his head back, eyes open but unseeing, his entire being focused on the feeling of Jaskier’s racing heartbeat thudding against the back of his leather armor. The killing blow never comes. Instead, Filavandrel cuts the ropes that bind their wrists; Geralt ignores his initial instinct to check Jaskier for injuries and instead ushers the bard onto his feet and towards the mouth of the cave. “Wait!”

The witcher freezes in his tracks and glances back over his shoulder. Filavandrel holds out a gorgeously crafted lute with a beautiful gold design painted across the front. “My apologies for the loss of your instrument.”

“Your Majesty,” Jaskier gasps. “I couldn’t. You’ve already lost so much.”

“Then promise me to do right by him,” the elf nods at Geralt. “And consider it payment.”

“I swear it,” Jaskier nods, tone serious and face grim. Filavandrel lets his eyes flicker between the two unlikely companions and Geralt prays that the Elf won’t say anything out loud, if he indeed understands the bond between them.

“Be on your way, then, before I change my mind.”

Filavandrel winks conspiratorially and disappears back into the shadow of the caves. Jaskier pulls the lute strap over his shoulder and beckons for Geralt to follow him. “Your horse is probably worried.”

---

It takes nearly six months for Geralt to break down and tell Jaskier the truth about their seemingly uncanny partnership. If it weren’t for the rapid approach of harsher winter weather, he probably never would have said anything at all.

But on one particularly frosty evening, two weeks after Samhain, the witcher sits Jaskier down beside their fire and tries to remember how to speak from his heart. The bard is patient, warming his hands over the flames and waiting for Geralt to gather his words. Jaskier has never rushed him, and for that Geralt is eternally grateful. Taking a hint from his companion’s hunched shoulders, Jaskier speaks first. “What’s on your mind, my dearest White Wolf?”

“I… I have to tell you something and I don’t want you to be angry.”

“Did you spill ink on my new doublet?” Jaskier teases. “Because if you have, I promise to be very cross with you.”

“Hmm,” Geralt half-smiles. He’s terrified, and he can hear Jaskier’s heartbeat surrounding him from all sides. “No, I’m afraid it’s more complicated than replacing a doublet.”

“Oh, is this about us being soulmates?”

Geralt’s eyes snap up to meet Jaskier’s and his mouth drops open. “Wha-? When did you- When di-”

“You said it in your sleep maybe two weeks after we first met,” Jaskier explains quietly, like he’s the one who’s been holding back a secret all this time. He blushes furiously as he tries to apologize and extrapolate all at once, “I thought you were just muttering to yourself, really, or I would have woken you up! I swear! You were just…”

Now it’s Geralt’s turn to wait as Jaskier fumbles to speak.

“You hadn’t been resting well and I didn’t want to wake you up. You looked so happy and content that night, with your hair all loose and the moon so bright…” he shakes his head and giggles nervously, “Anyway, not important. You rolled over and reached for me. You chuckled a little between snores and said A bard for a soulmate, how lovely. It sounded happy, when you said it like that.”

“Was that… the only time?”

“No,” Jaskier smiles. He pulls his knees against his chest and rests his chin atop them, “You reach for me all the time in your dreams. Sometimes you say my name or call me soulmate or beloved. It’s rather sweet and I-” tears brim in his eyes and Geralt’s heart skips a beat “-I know that witchers don’t feel things the same way humans do. I didn’t want to get my hopes up and then-”

“I love you,” Geralt says. He takes Jaskier by the hands before he can stop himself and pulls the pale knuckles against his lips for a soft kiss. “You… You have saved my life so many times.”

“Geralt!”

“I mean it,” the witcher nods. “I know that the Path is treacherous, and I wouldn’t ask you to join me on it and risk your life, but I do love you and care about you. Ever since I was young I have marked my steps by the beat of your heart. I would be happy continuing to do so, whether or not you accept me in return.”

“Oh, Geralt,” Jaskier sob-laughs, flinging himself into the witcher’s embrace. Geralt falls backward, shocked, his arms full of emotional bard. His face is peppered with kisses between hurried words: “I love you, too! I thought you didn’t want me that way. I thought it was just… a witcher mutation thing.”

“Come with me to Kaer Morhen for the winter, Julek. You can learn more about my kind; you can meet my brothers and the old swordmaster for the Wolf School, my adopted father of sorts. We’ll protect you and I-” Geralt clears his throat. “I will hold you every night in my arms, if you so desire.”

“I would like it very much if you were to hold me,” Jaskier grins. “And of course I'll come with you to your witchery keep for the cold months, dear heart. I’ll never part from your side again.”

Geralt presses a firm kiss to Jaskier's forehead, their heartbeats echoing faintly in the witcher's trained ears. Something in his chest settles into place, contented at last. He presses another, even gentler kiss to the bard's chapped lips and feels his heart swell when Jaskier smiles into it. He breathes out his promise as they pull apart, "Never."