#forced to kill trope

[thewhumpcaretaker]

i hope u dont mind i go to you for whump ideas !! do u have any ideas/prompts for a living weapon/forced soldier(?) type thing👀

I certainly do not mind! I do love making prompts.

This is basically a whole genre of whump, so this will be long and I'm just getting started honestly.

💥 Living Weapon Whump 💥

Whumpee is forced to kill - this is kind of the heart of the trauma. How do they deal with it? Do they blame themself? Do they hate the ones who did this to them? One way or another, they have to live with terrible memories of what their own two hands have done.

...Or maybe they don't live with the memories. Whumpee dissociates heavily and perhaps even deals with amnesia from things they can't bear to face.

Dissociation overall is important. To act violently and efficiently in a fight, when you don't want to act, requires separating emotions from actions and becoming distant. When whumpee gets hurt, or sees something horrifying, they don't respond. They're calm. Too calm.

Self-hatred. Viewing themself as a weapon, only good for killing and incapable of love or kindness. Unworthy of having basic human needs met.

If the training started young, whumpee was raised in isolation, so they struggle to understand basic social cues, pop culture references, and just how to act normal. They're very nervous around people.

This can also have other effects on how they socialize and on their personality. Maybe it wasn't safe to have empathy for others if everyone around them was getting hurt and killed regularly, so they lost touch with empathy. Maybe any mistake or sign of weakness would lead to punishment, so honor became crucial.

They're probably going to have an unusual relationship to physical touch. They've mostly only been touched in violent ways, so they'll either be touch starved or touch averse. They flinch when someone moves suddenly. It takes a while to learn that touch can be positive. Maybe sparring and playfighting is one of the only ways they feel comfortable touching other people - or maybe it's something they never want to do with people they love, because it's connected to too many bad memories.

Whumpee expects to be hurt and thinks it's normal. They get into bad relationships, difficult jobs, etc. They don't take care of their health. Why? Because their suffering "doesn't matter." They're just a tool.

Maybe whumpee is conditioned to respond to a code word. When they hear that word or phrase, they start killing anyone around them indiscriminately until another code word (or passing out, or something else) snaps them out of it.

If they can't control when they'll become dangerous (either because of a code word like that, or because they get violent during PTSD triggers, or just because they don't trust themself), maybe they try to incapacitate themself or lock themself up. Maybe they get thrown into prison or an institution on purpose, to protect their loved ones. Maybe they run away.

Maybe whumpee has permanent physical alterations because of their training. Maybe they were branded or tattooed. Maybe they have cryogenic implants or embedded tracking devices. Maybe they've sustained injuries that now result in chronic pain.

Whumpee faces trial for things they were forced to do, things beyond their control. But maybe they blame themself completely. Or maybe they don't, and they're enraged to be in this situation.

I could continue this list for days honestly haha, this is one of my favorite tropes. Now I want to do a separate one focused on living weapon comfort...

[starry-bi-sky]

pouring one out for luo binghe in my disciple SQQ fic, poor guy has taken a backseat here. we're nearly 30k words deep and he hasn't even shown his face once. it'll be much longer before he even actually talks to Shen Qingqiu.

(i say im pouring one out but in reality im sitting in my director's chair chewing on a cigar and wearing a beret as he tearily and unsuccessfully pleads with me for more scenes with Shen Qingqiu)

[dearmyloveleys]

May I present something I find heart wrenching to the fandom: Li Lun’s rattle never used to be a full fledged weapon. Somewhere along the way, he replaced the branch head with a spear/dagger tip

[invisible-pink-toast]

girls in love triangles | she's all i wanna be

[leupagus]

Say what you will about Martin's writing style (and I've said plenty) but I do think he's got the White Walkers' mythos worked out for a future book and IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SO NICE IF THE SHOWRUNNERS HAD DONE 1/100TH OF THAT WORK SETTING THEM UP

Gus: I am mad all over again that there was absolutely zero explanation given as to why/how the Night King operates or how his powers work or why he chose now to attack or ANYTHING ELSE

Gus: on the plus side it means I get to make up a whole subplot that, not to brag, I'm comfortable saying is at least as good as anything D&D could've made up IF THEY HAD EVER EVEN BOTHERED

Gus: but like - okay so craster's infant sons get sacrificed to the Night King, who them magics them into White Walkers as babies

Mardia: Yep yep

Gus: so does that mean there's a white walker nursery

Mardia: Omg

Gus: do they have to change diapers

Mardia: LOOOOOOOL

Gus: is there a white walker daycare center

Gus: how does the night king TEACH his lil adopted monster babies

Gus: is there like storytime around the - well not fire

Gus: does the Night King remember what it was like to sit around a fire?

Gus: does he miss being a human and all his rage at the spell the Children of the Forest put on him to kill the First Men has curdled his brain?

Gus: what was he DOING for like 8 millennia, just hanging out?

Gus: did he get really good at ice fishing?

Gus: DO THEY EAT?

Gus: where the fuck do they get their snazzy outfits from

Gus: are there white walker tailors

Gus: what's the currency situation

Mardia: Lololololololol

Gus: I'M JUST SAYING

[amandamadeathing]

This.

People frequently come back in this universe "somehow." It's even more insulting to a week later watch someone else get impaled by a lightsaber and live. Again.

Obscure death (I still don't buy that a body was covered metal and no less than 16 leather pouches and the only salvageable thing was GLASSes, and coincidentally his most distinguishing feature)

No proper, "No, this is for real. We are going to pause the plot to sit with how real this is." Just let it be an awkward bantha in room for conversations where the guilt is all about "I feel bad for myself. I allowed this to happen because of my bad choices! I regret it!" It is the difference between Black Widow and Iron Man's deaths.

Lots of unresolved arcs. This story about being "More than a squad; a family" and redemption. Having all these open-ended things like spending a lot of screen time on a character to have him be, "Nobody from nowhere" is a letdown. Rex and Echonare trying to humanely rehabilitate Clones, but don't even get to try with him.

Yes, conspiracy theories abounded. But they were not unfounded.

I put a lot of the blame on Disney and their business practices. Based on how little merch there is, or how I can meet Hera and Ahsoka, but not Hunter and Wrecker in Galaxy's Edge, The Bad Batch is "just whatever; good for a few bucks from the diehard TCW holdouts."

Their strict 3-and-done policy so they don't have pay their talent more truncated a season and a finale that needed more breathing room. Possibly the writers' and actors' strike limiting what could be created...because Disney didn't want to pay more money. Or cost-cutting measures to keep the last season of episodes shorter than before...because of Disney's money issues.

[mbat]

i kinda love and hate something about the new expansion, and its anduins story

disclaimer that my knowledge of world of warcraft in general is very... tangled. like, if youve ever pulled out a bunch of necklaces and theyre tangled together and youre like 'what the fuck how do i even fix this'. thats my knowledge of world of warcraft. ive learned everything out of order and theres a lot i dont even know yet blah blah

but anyway

what i understand is that during shadowlands, anduin basically got ?posessed? and was forced to be fully aware as he watched his own body do horrible things that couldnt be undone, and that part of him enjoyed it.

and then it ended and he was so fucked up by that (rightfully) that he went and hid from the world for a while, isolating himself and only furthering these horrible feelings because he couldnt find a way to not feel horrible about what happened

and then hes found and told that hes needed again, but hes still beating himself up

and the worst part is, he cant find it in himself to reconnect with this thing thats important to him, the light, because he thinks hes unworthy. the light is seen as such a good thing in this world, and he thinks himself no longer good. (i could say how this feels weirdly christian but that is NOT the point here)

he goes on this journey anyway, how could he not? their world is in trouble.

and in this journey, they find a land hiding away thats pretty much made to help him LMAO. theres a few things, but mostly... theres the light. a gem rock star thingy of some kind as bright as the sun sticking out of the ceiling of an underground world, and it is the light. the light he feels he lost

and he meets someone whos so devoted to it, so hopeful despite everything thats happened to her, and she sees in him what he thinks he doesnt have for anyone to see

she lets him know that the light is still there, he still has it, he will be okay. he doesnt believe it, but he starts to

its through this journey that he learns that what happened doesnt define who he is, not forever, not even now, and he finds the light again

especially in such a pivotal moment where he does something thats the opposite of what he was forced to do before

where he was forced to hurt and kill people

he finds his ability to heal again, and revives someone

and i guess i said i love it and hate it because like... i hate that this isnt in a form i can easily re-consume like a book or a show or a movie, or even a linear video game. and once i go through it on a character, i cant do it again unless its on another character, and i only have so many high level characters. i could probably just watch videos or something about it but idk it just doesnt work the same

i also hate that i know im not gonna find many people talking about it, at least, not even in the way i want

but what i love is that this type of story was done at all. i feel like its underdone, where a character, especially a character whos 'the good one', does something(s) thats horrible, maybe even 'unforgivable' depending who you ask, and they have to deal with realizing that it doesnt define them, and they can still be good, still be worth loving and having a good life. learning to forgive themself.

i feel like its a story that a lot of people need to hear, even if they dont even realize it. i know ive done things in the past i still feel like i will never make up for, and i still dont know how to feel about it all.

i think its actually wild that something like world of warcraft did it at all, and honestly, i think they did it well. i guess i cant speak much on the shadowlands part of it because i have yet to see all of that, only really the cutscenes and cinematics, but ive seen the war within part of it.

and idk i feel like i have so much to say but i cant think of more, but i really enjoyed it.

[k1ttygam3r]

Just watched the new Helluva Boss episode out of curiosity (via a reaction, I’m not giving Vivienne a cent) and I don’t know what I expected but I’ve never been more fucking disappointed in my entire life

[seaweedstarshine]

RIP Krakoa 🌹 I can’t lie I’ve been kinda behind since midway through Fall of X I’m gonna catch up before my first SDCC this summer but I hear Vulcan didn’t see much action anyway. Anyway my hand slipped and I found myself looking into the eyes of my canonically psychotic son the best Summers brother who’s never done anything wrong in his entire life, (he’s done lotsa wrong things but I love him more for it)

[kaurwreck]

There are little things that I forget aren't canon to bsd because they're in my beloved's fic sskk wip that I've read several times over + they simply make sense, including that Gin would love Your Turn to Kill (jpn: Anata no Ban desu).

[thewhumpcaretaker]

i yearn to see johns backstory some day. to see the pain and hurt as it happens where he hasn’t yet built up his walls. maybe i just love to torture these men but god damn. i love the idea of young john wick and his complexity.

Overall, I think he started off very innocent and desperate to please his guardian, as children usually are. He tried to follow orders and to earn as much of the Ruska Roma's respect as possible.

As a teenager and young man, he lost that innocence and wasn't so different from Iosef - only much more disciplined. He started to enjoy killing and to enjoy being the best at his trade, or at least he told himself that he did. In reality, he was taking out his anger about his stolen childhood.

It wasn't long before that left him feeling empty and his innocence re-emerged as strong remorse.

Below the cut, there's a snippet about child Jardani from my abandoned fic, The Broken Veil. I had a lot of flashbacks in mind, to various points in his upbringing. Maybe I'll write more of them at some point.

TW: animal death, physical and verbal child abuse

“Choke him, Jardani. Until he’s dead.”

The little boy refused to let his voice break. “I don’t want to.” He was about ten, though he doesn’t remember exactly now.

The Director repeated his words, tutting. “You don’t want to. Tsk.” She had placed a viper in the cage with his pet pigeon. He grabbed him quickly enough, and clutched him just below the base of the skull between his fingers. But he was being trained as an assassin, and assassins do not just grab their prey to hold it firmly by the base of the skull. “Then let him go back in the cage.”

“I would like…to put him outside.”

She laughed uproariously. “That’s not one of the options I’m giving you. Sometimes, life doesn’t give you any options you like, boy. Kill him, or let him go back in the cage and eat his fill.”

He could feel the snake’s strangely malleable throat thrumming against his flesh as he turned his head and flicked his tongue, desperate to escape. Jardani hesitated.

���Too late.” The Director smacked his wrist, hard, forcing his fingers to splay open. The viper fell back to the floor of the birdcage, momentarily stunned. She closed it and dragged him away, his arms twisted together behind his back in a single one of her hands. “Stand still and watch.” He let his body go slack and she released him. The viper, rapidly recovering its strength, sprung forward and sunk fangs into the fluffy white breast that Jardani had so often cradled to his cheek. Red, seeping from the wound. Her body, thrashing as if in seizure. And The Director, standing above him.

In a moment of blind rage, he lunged at her throat. He was already well trained enough to make contact with her collarbone before she flipped him to the ground. Panting above him, she praised his outburst. “Good. You’ll do so well in this world.”

“I loved that bird,” he grunted from underneath her shoulder, seething. “She was my friend.”

“Love? I’ll tell you what love is. Love is a stranger’s body hitting the floor. We kill strangers so we don’t have to kill the ones we love. If you love anything in this world, kill the first thing that tries to take it from you. An enemy, a bystander, even someone you are sworn to. It doesn’t matter. Kill, without hesitation. That is love. If you loved her, that’s what you would have done.”

[whumpdaydreamerx]

An assassin Whumpee leaning against their car door after completing a job. Replaying what unfolded just moments before, having been ordered, threatened, to kill a family of five.

All at once, their resolve fractures as a thunderstorm breaks. Gun still in their gloved hand, they bring their palms up to rest on their eyes as they begin to sob. Whumpee slides down the car as they weep over what they’ve done. As they sit there huddled into themselves, soaked to their skin with rain, a switch flips.

Once they regain composure, they make a promise to themselves. From this moment forward, they vowed to do everything in their power to take down the organization they worked for. Save their threatened family, redeem themselves, and protect future targets.

[lecliss]

Sakura gets a second point for being the first to complete the tree climbing at being better at chakra control, but at the same time it just feels like she was made good at it so no extra training segment time would have to be put into her getting good at it and it can be all about Sauce and Nart. Idk that feels too pessimistic but also could totally be true.

[ravenffxiv]

MiqoMarch Day Three-Free Day

A moment of respite

[bottomschlatt]

stp voice of the opportunist is the kinda guy to request someone perform a mormon ‘baptism for the dead’ for him in his will just on the slightest off chance they’re actually right. this makes him a bit of a slimy weasely shithead and also it makes me want him so fucking badly

[paimonial-rage]

What trope you will NEVER write ?

While there are tropes that I really don't care for (Enemies to Lovers, Childhood Friends to Lovers), I don't really think there is a trope that I wouldn't write? I think the only thing that would come close is Fake Dating. Not because I have anything against it, I just don't see how it would ever take a part in any of the fics I would want to write. And there also may be a bit of a skill issue with that one too. LOL

But as a whole, I don't really write according to tropes. I don't really care for tropes as a whole. Some of my fics may contain tropes, but it's not purposeful. I just want to tell a story in the way I see fit. If it contains a trope, that's because it fit in with the story I wanted to tell. I always have goals when I write things? I want the fic to achieve certain things. But like fulfilling a trope is never one of them. Idk. I don't read for the trope. I read to read a good story. And that's how I write.