#i was going to extend the scene to the actual whump

[whump-in-the-closet]

The Scarred Among the Mundane.

cw: captivity, elf whumpee, magic whump, finn is terrified and tries to use humour to deflect, situation worsens, etc

previous. masterlist. next

— —

Finn watches as Verne enters the cell, letting it slam shut behind her.

He flinches.

Verne sets down a wooden bowl of food and moves back, waving Finn forward. “Are you hungry?”

He curls up tighter, kneading fingers into his shirt to try and stop his stomach from growling. This does little to help. His stomach only growls louder. With longing, he watches the steam rise up from the bowl in ghost-white strands.

Verne toes the bowl, and some of the soup splashes onto the blood-stained floor.

Finn cries out, extending a frantic hand. “Don’t–”

“Then come and eat.”

He looks from Verne’s impassive expression to the wooden bowl. Up. Down. He uncurls slightly. “Is it poisoned?” Under his breath, he adds, “Necromancer.”

“No.” Her voice is tired.

“I don’t believe you,” snarls Finn. He keeps his eyes on the steaming bowl.

Verne lifts her boot to kick over the bowl. “Then don’t eat.” Her tone matches Finn’s.

“Wait!” Finn folds. He pushes himself up on trembling legs. Every limb is watery– disjointed– might as well belong to another body. He swallows hard. In one swift movement, he lunges for the bowl and retreats.

His eyes burn as he eats the steaming soup.

Not crying, not crying, don’t you cry–

He eats quickly, fingers trembling as he holds the spoon. He would lick the bowl if Verne wasn’t watching. As always, she’s looking at him like he’s a fascinating mathematical problem.

Finn licks the spoon one final time, then wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. His fingers are still shaking.

“Now what?” he snaps.

“You’ll have to be brave for this next part,” says Verne and it’s a hot knife in Finn’s lungs.

“W–what?”

But Verne is already opening the cell door and dragging in a table– a table with wheels– and a flat surface.

Finn freezes. Leather restraints line the table. The smile he forces tastes like iron. “Why didn’t you say you wanted to be tied up? I’m more than happy to help with that.” His pitiful attempt at humour is ignored.

Verne drags in a second table, this one lined with tools that glitter in the shadows.

No, no, no, please, no–

Finn’s smile drops. A void opens up inside him and it’s screaming– all that comes out is a ragged, wheezing gasp.

“Get on the table,” says Verne. She lifts her hand in warning, her fingers shifting into jagged rune-shapes.

Finn takes a slow step forward, the floor tilting beneath his feet.

Verne sighs.

Finn takes another, even slower step.

Verne loses her patience. The rune-shapes solidify into reality and Finn loses control of his body.

He might as well be a puppet, limbs connected to strings, pulled this way and that. He ends up lying flat on the table, limbs falling in line with the restraints.

His breathing picks up, burning the inside of his nose.

Verne tightens the restraints around his wrists. Only then does she drop the spell, moving on to tighten the leather around his ankles.

No–

Finn squeezes his eyes shut.

No, no, no–

Quick fingers adjust the strap around his forehead, pulling it tight. The leather is cold against his skin–

–And he can’t move–

“Necromancer?” His voice cracks.

Verne pauses. “I’m not a necromancer. You’re alive still, aren’t you?” She smiles down at him and with a snap of her fingers, a green-yellow light appears to hover over them. “I need you to hold still for this. Don’t worry too much.”

tagging: @kira-the-whump-enthusiast (lmk if you want to be added)

[whumpshaped]

Been thinking about a mock execution followed by a mock resurrection in a cult setting. Like… Whumpee watched their best friend be ‘killed’ and now the cult demands all this stuff for the ‘ritual’ to bring them back and by the end Whumpee is so brainwashed they’ll play the role of being mock executed to help bring people into the cult. Deception isn’t that big a deal if it’s saving someone’s soul, and they should know- they’ve turned out fine

- @another-whump-sideblog

ok i realise this is different from the prompt because whumpee doesnt actually know theyre participating in deception..... but i think its still pretty good

tw cult setting, religious whump, murder, manipulation, conditioning, noncon drugging

There was nothing they could do. They couldn't stand up and rush over to the priest, they couldn't get their friend off the altar, they couldn't even move. They were surrounded by all their other friends and loved ones who didn't move a muscle either, didn't even bat an eye as the priest raised the ritual knife. If they had stood up and opposed this madness, they would've been shunned.

So they stayed put and watched. They gripped the edge of their seat and tried to blink away their tears, hoping that at the end of all this chanting the priest would do something symbolic instead of literally stabbing their best friend. Maybe it was a test of faith. Maybe if they stayed put, the priest would reward them by not murdering their friend.

When the knife came down, Whumpee almost saw it in slow motion. Their eyes were helplessly locked on the scene as the priest buried the knife hilt-deep inside their friend's abdomen, but they couldn't make a single sound of protest. They couldn't believe it. It just wasn't real. It couldn't be.

They watched as their friend's head lolled to the side, glassy eyes staring into their very soul. They watched as the body went limp and was carried away, and they stayed in their seat, only moving to kneel for prayer once everyone else did so as well.

Their friend was gone. What were they even praying for?

"Whumpee."

They turned towards the source of the voice, finding themself staring at the priest. The church was empty. They were still kneeling. They must've zoned out.

"I'm sorry, I... I'll leave. Sorry. I didn't realise–"

"I would like to talk to you, actually. I know you must be experiencing a lot of emotions regarding today's events."

"I... I have questions."

The priest smiled and extended a hand. "Come. I'll answer them all to the best of my abilities."

-

"They said they would be resurrected," Whumpee said quietly. "I thought... I thought it was a metaphor. I didn't know... I'm sorry, I'm still so new to all of this, I don't understand how– how they could give their life so willingly– they said they'd seen others be resurrected, and they trusted me, and I just... I don't know what they trusted me with."

"Their life, of course."

Whumpee's eyes widened. "But– was I supposed to stop it? They said not to stop it! They said to trust in you like they trusted in me! And I did, I didn't stop it–"

"Calm down, child. Allow me to explain the process behind the sacrifice."

Whumpee took a shaky breath and tried to settle down. They wiped the tears from their eyes and gestured for the priest to go on, putting on their best listening face.

"People volunteer to become sacrificial lambs for those closest to them. Your friend volunteered their life to strengthen your faith, and they trust that you won't run away from the trial. Because if your faith is strong enough, you can bring them back."

"Bring them back..?"

"Of course. They weren't lying about having seen many resurrections. They have even resurrected a friend before themself. They were just as shaken as you are now, but they decided to trust in God, strengthen their faith, and go through with the ritual."

Whumpee felt like they were being lied to. Who could even bring back someone from the dead? If anyone, it certainly wasn't them. But if their friend had also done it... and if they were now counting on them... "I've never seen any resurrections before," they said miserably. "It sounds..."

"Impossible?" Whumpee slowly nodded, and the priest chuckled. "Yes, it does. But that is part of the trial. You see, those who have never gone through resurrecting a friend or loved one aren't allowed to participate in sacrificial sermons, unless it's their very own — which is what you've just taken part in. Once you've seen something happen in front of your very eyes, it's quite easy to believe it could happen again. But believing that even something that sounds entirely impossible, something you have never witnessed before could happen because of your trust and devotion? That is true faith."

True faith... But how were they supposed to believe something so outrageous? "I, I'm not sure I can do that," they stammered. They didn't even attempt to hold back their tears this time. "My friend– my friend trusted me this much? Why? Why, when I can't– I can't imagine how one could believe in such a thing! I wasn't ready! They gave their life for someone like me, and I'm not even– I'm not even faithful enough to, to bring them back!"

"They trusted you because they believed you were ready." The priest reached out and gently took their hand in their own. "They came to consult me about it, and I told them that I shared their sentiment."

"Why would you–"

"Because you are, child. You are ready. And I can help you grow your faith in the coming three days before the resurrection ceremony. I can help you trust. And I will, if you ask me to." They paused for a moment, their determined expression softening into something more understanding. "You can also choose to walk away from the trial, of course. Nobody can stop you. I know your friend would never hold it against you."

"How can you even say that?" they sobbed. "You murdered my friend, and now you're saying I have a chance to undo it, and– and that I can walk away? Of course I can't. I can't. I can't let them die if there's another way!"

"I assumed you would say that. And your friend did too."

-

Whumpee barely slept in those three days. They were advised to fast, read the holy texts, and pray. Nothing else mattered. They told themself over and over that everything was possible for God, that the people who said they'd already witnessed several resurrections weren't lying, that if they believed hard enough their friend would come back and hug them and tell them they'd done well.

On the day of the ceremony, Whumpee was sweating bullets. They were terrified that their faith hadn't grown enough to bring a person back to life. As they walked up to the altar with their dead friend on top of it, they thought they might pass out.

"Let us pray," the priest said loudly, and Whumpee heard the sound of a hundred people all get onto their knees. They lowered themself to the floor as well, clasping their hands together with the desperation of someone who was truly suffering. "Lord, examine the heart of Your humble servant closely. Reward their faith if it pleases You, and give them the gift of life and love. Show them that with faith, everything is possible."

The crowd murmured the word 'amen', and Whumpee took a deep breath. "Amen."

Days without food had weakened their body, and they felt lightheaded as they rose to their feet again. They looked down at their dead friend, then up at the priest and the religious symbols on the wall behind them. In that moment, a wave of complete and utter peace washed over them. They knew that everyone in the room trusted the same God as them, and that they had all seen this happen before. Nothing was impossible.

"I believe," they whispered, and the priest took their hand and gently guided it to their friend's chest.

"Let it happen according to your faith."

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

Whumpee broke down in tears as soon as they felt it, dropping right back to their knees while muttering words of gratutude and worship. Their faith had been enough. Their friend was alive! Their friend was alive again, because they had trusted and believed!

"Praise be," they choked out, and the priest laughed.

"Praise be!" they repeated joyfully, and the people behind them enthusiastically joined in.

-

"I can't believe I'm about to spring this on my friend," Whumpee said with a grin. "Like you did to me! That was the scariest day of my entire life, and I'm about to do it to someone else..."

"But it was followed by the best day of your life, wasn't it?" Their friend was cheery as ever, the scar on their stomach carefully covered up by several layers of clothes. "Your faith would not be as stable as it is if I hadn't done that! And now you get to help your friend like I helped you."

"You're right. Besides, I'm sure they'll do amazingly." Their smile faltered, and they stopped walking. "Were you scared? Before the big day?"

Their friend turned around to be able to look them in the eyes, but there was nothing on their face that indicated that this question was a bad one. They looked compassionate. "Yes, I was. Not because I thought you wouldn't pass the trial, just... I knew it would hurt."

"Does it hurt a lot?"

Their friend nodded a little, and absentmindedly raised a hand to their stomach. "It's over quite quickly, though. Quicker than I'd assumed."

Whumpee nodded as well, but then quickly went back to their joyful attitude from before. "Well, no need to be sad about it! It's for a good cause, and I'm happy to be a part of it!"

Their friend smiled back. "Yes. It's quite the thrilling experience."

-

The priest was quite pleased when Whumpee sought them out to talk about the sacrifice. They were eager to continue the cycle, which was always a good sign. It meant that they didn't suspect a thing.

They talked to Whumpee for a good while, answering all the questions they had with utter nonsense they made up on the spot. There was no truth to any of it, really, but all the idiots in the group ate it up. The real preparation started once Whumpee was out of the room.

They prepared a portion of their special drug cocktail, the one they used to coat the ritual knife. It had some anaesthetics in it to dull the pain, and of course something that would cause the subject to black out quite quickly. It gave the very convincing impression of seeing somebody die on the altar.

They prepared all the IVs and the surgical equipment, making sure everything was clean and in order. They couldn't have the sacrifice actually die, after all. No, they had to be kept in a limbo for three days, not dead but not awake either. The only time the heart needed to be stopped was right before the ceremony, in case someone got overwhelmed and decided to check for a pulse before they gave the go-ahead.

The priest pulled out one of the drawers, grimacing when they realised they would need to cook up a new batch of the other drug as well, the one they used to restart circulation. It was always remarkably easy to inject the sacrifice while all the sheep had their heads bowed in prayer. No one ever looked. No one ever noticed.

For all they knew, they were witnessing one resurrection after the other.

~

general drabbles taglist: @ashh-ed @whumpsday @whump-queen @the-scrapegoat @hidden-dreamland @rosewriteswhump @dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night @whumpkinpie @delicateprincepaper @whumppmuhw @whump-em

[mer-acle]

Alright, since I'm super active on AO3 again recently I thought I might as well do a breakdown of my work :)

My current fandoms are Marvel (MCU) and EPIC the Musical

The characters you are almost certain to meet are Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), Clint Barton (Hawkeye) and Athena (Goddess of Wisdom)

Okay let's have a breakdown (epic people you'll have to scroll)

The Spy and the Assassin

This is a series about the backstory of Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton, starting from childhood and catching up directly to Iron Man 2.

This is the most "inspired by visual media" of my works. Parts of it is written in Script form and the chapters are meant to be 25 minute episodes of a TV show that would run for three seasons.

It's MCU phase one compliant and takes some inspiration from the Avengers Assemble TV show canon (mainly for Clint's backstory)

Good for: People who like Phase 1 best, and who wished for a more comprehensive Black Widow origin (this is 500k words type comprehensive)

Coming back for you

What about another Black Widow origin, but Phase 2 compliant this time?

When writing The Spy and the Assassin, I did my best to adhere to the superhero genre, so you could feasibly believe this was a true prequel

For this one, I took more liberties, and focused more on hurt/comfort.

Laura and Cooper are in this, and so is a Budapest scene bc how couldn't I?

Again, technically Phase 2 compliant if you tweak the timeline just a little, but still no Black Widow (2021) to be found.

Good for: People who enjoy hurt and comfort with a focus on recovery and healing. People who like Laura Barton XD

One I will break, the others I will tear apart

Technically a sequel to The Spy and the Assassin, but stands on its own.

In about 2014, Steve, Tony, Clint and Natasha are kidnapped and imprisoned by a smug and sadistic asshole named Victor.

His plan: Torture one of them, watch the others break apart from guilt and anguish. And he chooses the one who has already endured more pain than anyone ever should to be his sacrificial lamb.

This is unapologetic Nat Whump. Like, there is intense physical and psychological torture in this. Nobody except Victor is having a good time.

(This is my favorite fic I've ever written)

Good for: People who like their whump and like it brutal. People who agree with me that Nat is the best avenger

The time they broke me

A retelling from Natasha to the team of what happened in The Spy and the Assassin. That's it. People enjoyed it for some reason lol.

Good for: People who want a Natasha backstory but want to know how the Avengers would react.

The Avengers Scenes

A series of deleted/extended scenes for the MCU. (Yes Natasha is in all of them)

Okay Epic friends, now for you

All of my epic fanfic is gathered in the Warriors of the Mind series, but I'll introduce you to the episodes.

In general, I know what you are like, those of you who liked the Wisdom saga will probably read anything with Athena in it atm

The Reunion Trilogy

(Work 1-3)

After the Events of God Games, Athena's first meetings with Odysseus, Telemachus and Penelope respectively.

Light h/c and lots of cute moments

Hermes presents: God Games

(Work 4)

Hermes explains our favorite wet man Odysseus what went down during God Games, things are appropriately chaotic.

Later, Athena receives a prayer

You can go home now

(Work 5)

Athena goes to free Odysseus instead of Hermes. H/C ensues cos guess what she's injured actually

Has two separate endings, one with Hermes and one with Apollo.

The one who makes her kingdom fall

(Work 6)

What happened on Olympus after God Games. How did the players treat their injured sister afterward.

Apollo, who always wanted a relationship with her

Hephaestus, who has known her the longest

Aphrodite, who has seen a different side to her

Ares, who deep down knows he never hated her

And Hera, who starts to believe she's done wrong by her

And all concludes with a crazy divine council meeting.

Goddess and Man

(Work 7)

A reflection by Athena on the times Odysseus called her "Thea"... And how she starts to think he didn't mean "goddess", but something more endearing.

Athena deals with feels. In the end she gets to confront them in person.

Ichor is not meant to fall like rain

(Work 8)

Athena meets her father for the first time after God Games. It's... Complicated.

Note: Winged Athena

------------

Upcoming:

I've got two more fics already planned, one of them is about a thunderstorm over Ithaca after Ody comes home, the other is Athena whump with wings. I'll update this post when they release :)

[starry-mist]

S6e12 thoughts:

The brief flashback…okay we didn’t get the Charah and Rex meet cute, but I have conceded that aging Charlie down would be far more challenging than it was to just throw a wig on Mayko to bring back Sarah’s s1/2 hair.

The “hostage” situation somehow took even less time than I thought it would.

Holy crap. That nonverbal communication between Charlie, Sarah, Jesse, and Rex in the first scene. Just, wow. But in particular I loved Charlie’s quick thinking, the way he indicated to Sarah where Rex was with just a glance, her barely-perceptible nod, and the takedown. The takedown was a thing of beauty.

I love the subtle reassurances between Charlie and Sarah, again mostly with their eyes, but also with the tiniest hint of physical contact, and the brief moment when Charlie’s mask slips with the “you didn’t know that…I didn’t know that” lines when Sarah is talking about how she was never in actual danger.

A house scene! Yay! They were so cute and flirty. I will extend it with fic. (I’m also developing a headcanon based on all of two scenes as to why Sarah didn’t like working with Det. Porter, which might make it in.)

I picked out the killer right away, but my suspicion as to motive was incorrect (I figured it would have something to do with Gabriel being trans, so the “actually I kidnapped my daughter and he found out” kind of came out of left field.)

Sarah working to exonerate the guy who held a knife to her throat, because of course she would, because she’s Sarah. Ugh I love her so much.

Charlie…not that I’m complaining, but is there no dress code for him anymore? Because the number of undone buttons just to expose that extra little bit of chest hair…again, not complaining, but he’s gone totally feral.

And Charah once again with the workplace PDA. I am forever here for it. (I would be especially here for it leading to a baddie targeting one or both of them thanks to knowing their weakness but I am a complicated light whump/heavy angst-loving being.)

Next week’s promo:

I want to be excited for the travel to Toronto (which might actually be filmed more in Hamilton, IDK) but it looks like Charlie and Sarah will likely spend a lot of it separated and I don’t know how into that I am. I’m doubting the wife is really the “bad guy” (my money is on Stuart from Letterkenny who we saw in the promo.) I’ll be happy if they end the episode with Charah in the big city together for a scene or two but I’m not going to get my hopes up.

Also, honestly, how many best friends does Sarah have now? Because it’s starting to feel like a lot…

[joyburble]

Chrysalis Gown

I think this first appears in Episode 14. It's in-between some scenes with the Honey-coloured gown, during the early process of transformation. This one seems to be for more formal, business occasions.

We get a well-lit view of the absolute bunfight of colours and patterns going on here. The shirt is particoloured, in red and green, both woven with gold in identical patterns, and cut and pieced together in this high, tight, stiff collar.

It bothered me that the patterns don't fit together at the neck at all well. I felt like something this magnificent should be pattern-matched more harmoniously than it is, with that seam between red and green in such a prominent place at least trying to look more symmetrical. The outer gown looks green here, with a sort of damask needlecord texture. In most shots it looks black.

The outfit returns in Episode 26, by which time we know that the consequences of the transformation have hit. We get a nice view of the structure here. The visible parts are the undershirt or tunic (actually two different ones), a very full pleated skirt, a splendidly gold-patterned wrap-around robe that's very tightly fitted to the waist and emphasised with a belt, and then this spectacular gown that might be green or black, with the giant explosions of gold embroidery. And an asymmetrical gold crown.

It's his most magnficent outfit, far more visually intimidating than the black-and-gold fighting gown he wore in Episode 9, and he wears this repeatedly when he knows his actual power is severely weakened.

The gold edges of the gown seem to be made of thousands of tiny sequins, and they're not just gold, there are hints of green to give it depth - and the gold extends beyond the pattern, like dust.

There are actually two different shirts. The red-and-green one in Episodes 14 and 27, and this black-and-gold one in Episode 26 which is a different colour of the same pattern, with no red-and-green pieces, less tightly fitted to the neck, and pieced differently. You can see almost all of the V shape and the little plant shape in the lower part of the pattern, which you can't in the red-and-green.

I think this is an error, because the next scene is supposed to be a direct continuation of the scene above, but we go back to red-and-green. You have to look hard to notice it though.

The texture of the gold on the gown is amazing. The effect in a shot like this is to make the hands look incredibly delicate and insubstantial.

He wears this outfit, with the red-and-green, for the qin duet with absolute madlad Changheng in Episode 27. And to fidget huffily and keep quiet while XLH dumps Changheng immediately after.

This is the scene where I reflected that if he was going to kill anyone, he'd be wearing the Hunting Dress. So this is what he wears when he wants to intimidate, and would probably prefer deadly violence if it were up to him, but can't or won't actually do anything but glare.

What a wonderful look for going on a date and being horribly, horribly embarrassed about it. Look at the gold on the inside of the sleeves! The sleeves of the outer gown seem to be lined with gold.

And the confession to Xunfeng.

At the end of Episode 28, he wears this to experiment with stubborn self-destruction:

And it stays with us through the whump scene, during which the crown symbolically falls off, and we get a good look at the texture. Like all his crowns and armour, it looks like something that grew on a tree, possibly as a result of insect attack. It's much prettier than the ones the fairy tribe wear. I'd like to know how this was made.

then the triumph:

And the disaster. Where we glimpse how heavily patterned the train is. The pattern makes it look as though it belongs to the robe underneath, but it's hanging straight from the shoulders, and we saw the robe has a belt, so I don't quite understand the structure here.

I call this this Chrysalis gown because it reminds me of the splendid protective costumes that certain butterflies and moths put on while they are tearing themselves apart and remaking themselves into a totally different shape.

Which seems to be the point, so perhaps the rather eye-watering pattern bunfight and the way none of the patterns fit together at the neck, are exactly as they should be.

The DFQC costumes master post is here.

[itsdappleagain]

Get toasty for The African Ice Caper!

Late again. Whoops. I swear I have good reasons. Anyway, super excited for this!!!

Lets-a go! Notes under the cut as always :)

First off, since I forgot the title last week, let's take a stab at it! I super love this title. It's a play on words in some ways; it refers to the literal "ice" meaning the diamonds they find in Botswana. But using "ice" also refers to the aftermath of Stockholm and how Carmen is dealing with the consequences! Cool shit!

Overall beginning thoughts- I LOVE this caper. It extends that whump/angst from Stockholm ever so much and ACTUALLY DEALS WITH CONSEQUENCES!!! I love when shows carry over serious events!!! Even with S1 finale -> S2 opener there wasn't much aftermath of Carmen's fight against Brunt (two weeks? really? she healed from that in two weeks?) but they DELIVERED here

This caper is just all aftermath, consequence, and effect. Carmen makes the decisions she does in Botswana to call in ACME because of their rescue in Sweden. They've proven themselves to be trustworthy (for now) and as Chief said a valuable ally. However, without Carmen calling in the cops, Roundy would never have been alerted and the mines would never have been blown up. It's all so delicate and interesting, and opens, for the briefest of moments, so many pathways for options- good and bad. I'll get to more stuff later but let me actually start commenting on the episode now

it's a terrifying moment but I can't help but laugh about Zack and Ivy's cover story being that Carmen is a shitty driver and they are right

while I also understand that it's the fastest way to convey information why did the nurses just let them seize the gurney and start sprinting back into the hospital with her without even knowing what happened

but okay. man. carmen's eyes just barely being able to open and see what's happening before she slips into unconsciousness again is so damn good

why does she have an oxygen mask on btw she was freezing not suffocating can anyone inform me on that

he's family 😭 happy day after father's day yall he's dadowsan official now

AUGH. her face kills me every time she just looks so vulnerable. but like she's trying to tell him that she's okay

i love found family but the nurse must have been confused when this 20 year old argentinian lady's family turned out to be two white american teenagers and a forty year old japanese man

not to mention that 16 year old canadian kid on the phone

poor carmen has an iv and a heart monitor she was not doing so hot

actually cannot tell if they stole an ambulance or painted their van to look like one i think they painted the van??

wait no it has lights on top DID YOU STEAL AN AMBULANCE???

that quick shot of ivy ducking down and checking carmen kills me every time augh

i love this quick, rough but getting smoother dynamic player and shadow-san get with taking the capers while red is down. i also LOVE that they took this opportunity to move into and decorate the warehouse further. it becomes home while carmen recovers

also the way carmen is barely ever awake is just so. augh

OOOH CARMEN'S DREAM i love this scene. there are so many little tiny things to pick up on before the brunt reveal that it's not real: ivy's voice waking her but ivy being nowhere in sight, chief not having a pen to beam from, chief not being able to activate pens from her end, etc. the first time i saw this, though, I was totally fooled. i was like ohhhh shit chief??????

btw have i ever talked about the sound design on chief's voice? her real voice intertwined with mechanical/digital noises that sometimes even blot out parts of words that just sell the illusion that she's coming from a speaker

god the way carmen jumps as soon as she hears brunt's voice ugah

the dutch angle on brunt to sell the fact that this is WRONGWRONGWRONGWRONG MM its so good

and carmen's pupils contracting when she wakes up mm

LOOK HOW HARD DEVINEAUX HAS BEEN WORKING GO SIR DO THAT PAPERWORK

that little side glance devineaux gives to see if he sold it thats so funny

and the sad sick face dropping off his face for an evil little grin he's literally so funny

"roll of red yarn" has become another one of the phrases I just repeat over and over it lives rent free in my brain for some reason

he's crocheting a little carmen hat and coat for his pet cat

the music going really sinister and lowkey a little concerned as soon as it reveals that devineaux's got this crazy ass conspiracy board

the callback to the very first capers devineaux/julia reeled off in the pilot!!! (plus boston tea party of course)

the shot of devineaux tacking up papers on the "camera" is one of my favorites, so fun

carmen has so many kettlebells what the fuck

man i love how you can see the wave of exhaustion hit her like a truck. she's not even close to a hundred percent still, but she's "relaxing makes me fidgety" carmen sandiego so of course she's up using the punching bag

oh hey also one thing about this episode is i dont think i've ever realized but it spans over a TON of time. like, maybe a month?? more?? girlie doesn't trip and slam her face on death's door and then get up and go work out in a week

ALSO WAS THIS THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF CARMEN'S WORKOUT OUTFIT?? SO GAY ABOUT IT THANK GOD THEY BROUGHT IT BACK MORE TIMES

augh also you can hear the frustration in carmen's...not exactly voice because she's just kind of panting but she does this little scoff/growl/ugh that just shows how annoyed she is that she can't do this like she used to and that it still hurts

carmen say thank you challenge CARMEN SAY THANK YOU CHALLENGE CARMEN IM GOING TO MURDER YOU even when "chief" showed up the closest carmen got to "thanks for saving my life" was "you look better" "thanks to you" girl its okay you can say thank you

the way carmen bounces down on the couch itches my brain

also obsessed with how carmen's first workout session was pummeling that boxing bag because like if player was surprised she was up and still calling her the patient THAT WAS HER FIRST SESSION UP. CARMEN INSISTS ON GOING ON A CAPER THE INSTANT SHE CAN THROW A PUNCH AGAIN HJDSGJSD

the way ivy lays on that damn couch im in love with her

ZACK'S FACE

boys got trauma from last time and it shows hard this episode

i love how everyone is just like

because she is fighting tooth and claw to get out of that warehouse who's going to tell her no when dadowsan isn't around

guess you caught me lion

also. i guess carmen did have to watch out for tigers who slam her into chainlink fences

team red got the safari of all time damn they were just driving and they saw all that??

also HEY zack is driving on the correct side for their location that's really cool

ivy's trying to help you girl you do not need to make her feel bad about trying to give you water in the middle of a gigantic. well the kalahari isn't a desert but "semi-arid sandy savannah" doesn't quite roll off the tongue in the same way i guess

"he is a rockstar" i miss you elvis episode with shadowsan that could have been

everyone: gains complete trust in shadowsan brunt: im about to end this mans whole career

shadowsan just standing on the other side of the gondolas is so funny he must have gone the entire rode around up to the top of the mountain for that dramatic ass shot

he's so funny honestly

also the gondola shaking as they fight is a great detail

top ten anime moments before disaster. number 1: le chevre and fraulein blushcheeks

shadowsan just SNATCHES that case

also I love how fraulein (i know thats a term like miss but i dont have anything else to go on) is just sitting there mad about it

the friction burns on shadowsan's hand and that belt are going to be nasty

the sound design on le chevre going down the line on the belt sounds like a horse screaming in minecraft

HE'S SO EFFICENT ABOUT IT ITS HILARIOUS he's like alright damn if you say so

carmen making jokes about the situation she almost died in is a trait fanfiction writers have been gnawing on for years

player guilt tripping her is so funny like girl please don't die again

red drone <3

its roundedbitch hello sir

he pronounces the "r" in "le chevre"

carmen's decision to call in the police/ACME here directly results in roundabout becoming faculty which is cool

i remember when this season dropped and everyone was making theories about roundy. long live the "he's julia's dad theory" i loved ye while i knew ye

coach brunt is EN ROUTE? she got there FAST DAMN?? canary islands to botswana is like an 8 hour flight

the siblings being overprotective i love it so much

ungh you can see the fear at just SEEING brunt she's got so much trauma about it

player continuing to try to get carm out of there and her continuing to shut him down carmen please girl

add another fursona for carmen to have. panther sheep wolf

man you can just SEE how out of it carmen is. tigress takes her down EASY

also that slam into the fence and how she just. collapses. she can't get up from it for a solid few seconds it hurts that bad and player desperately trying to know what's happening because last time he didn't check in she ended up in a ravine

tigress just waits for her to come and then takes her out with one really really effective uppercut to the jaw

she really is off her game she didn't protect the face

i adore how expressive they let her be here. it DOES hurt. it hurts BAD. and she can't do anything to prevent what tigress is about to do

the way all three of them go "OUGH" when they hit the floor

zack just sitting on tigress

carmen looks really unimpressed about that cat in the bag pun

also idk if its just carmen never expressing anything in her life or if she's just processing what the fuck just happened (and how she couldn't really do anything without collapsing in pain from something she would have bounced back from in a second at any other time and how that almost lead to what she believes would be her death at the hands of brunt) but the way she just stares at them

they CHAINED her up

tigress has gotten a cat joke from every single person she's told her codename to

i also love how tigress always corrects people on tiger vs. tigress when she responds to them. big trans energy dont fucking misgender her fursona

LITERALLY CRYING LAUGHING ITS SO FUNNY SHE JUST DOES IT TO BE AN ASSHOLE JHFSGHFKSAD

dont you know im still standing better than i ever did lookin like a true survivor feelin like a little kid

but anyway another place cs suffers from its rating. chief is the reason she's not DEAD and the script having to skirt around that with flowery language lessens the impact

oh wait a minute my bad. i take it back. he does get to say that she nearly froze to death thank god yes player go off king

looking at lettuce? the ancient greek sex symbol? julia you are so scandalous devineaux's having a dream about conspiracy theories and he accidently walked into julia's wet dream about carmen

thats a joke sjhdgjs okay getting back to what the dream is actually about i love that devineaux's perception of julia in his head is that she just shushes him and reminds him about the rules all the time

"a hat? in a corner grocery?" sir you're buying YARN in a corner grocery

look at that gay little julia devineaux's subconscious knows julia as only rule following and down bad for carmen

yeah chase is actually kind of. breaking the fourth wall a little in this dream? he's calling back to the lucky cat caper, which he was there for. but he's referencing the cat with the stamp in it, which had a coin slot in its head while the others didnt. he never saw those cats- he's heralding back to something CARMEN did. this is for the audience to connect and emulate how chase's thought process is working!

arent the canary islands on...the other side of africa?

i love how red drone flinches at the same time player does she's like a little guy she's part of the team she's real to me

we both know thats not why player

isnt the pen supposed to be the most secure method of communication ever or something

also can you imagine being shadowsan right then and realizing that. fuck. the person who carmen now owes somewhat of a debt to for saving her life and who is now an ally is the person who MURDERED CARMEN'S FATHER

"i'll be the one wearing red" okay how about directions

roundy using the birtish government liking to have control in africa as an excuse is the most realistic thing in this show

HAHA I JUST REALIZED THE QUEEN IS DEAD S3 FINALE IS GOING TO BE SOOO AWKWARD

i love how his glasses reflect green to show the change of sides its top tier classic cs color theory

chase should be able to get some sick days he does like 10 times the work of the poor old farts in there

DID I JUST HEAR A SEAGULL

CHASE'S SEAGULL SNEEZE IS SO FUNNY

he's literally so funny he could have done this call from anywhere else but im willing to bet that he completely forgot about work until he'd already rented the thing and was in it (and also had flown?? from france to the coast of africa???)

loving the smooth transition from the boat motor to the car motor

maam we have a car door for a reason you dont need to vault over the windshield

HAHAHA THE BACKUP IS FOUR COPS

the zoom on the timer as it counts down is fantastic

thats the second time zack has been knocked off the bed dskjfshfdsw

autistic zack agenda

brunt doesn't fit in the car lmfaooo

OH FUCK I FORGOT brunt didn't fly from the canary islands that's why she could get there so fast. my bad

chase is doing SO well just. a lITTLE too late

studies show that carmen will be attacked on trains 100% of the time

autistic zack agenda

what is chief sitting on im curious does she have a chair in her. hologram room or whatever

chief how scandy (im aware thats not what is usually means i think its funny though)

yeah you could see jules evvvvery dayyyyyyy

au where she enlists in acme and then gets shunted onto a treasures of knowledge timeline

man i love this part. she gets JUMPED

also how her eyes snap open as soon as she realizes brunt is there with her. she's ready to fight her, but as soon as brunt gets anywhere near her she is TERRIFIED

she flinches back, she stops struggling, all she can probably think about is last time. she doesn't go back to angry once brunt backs off a little. she's still fucking terrified. she knows she's not in the right state to fight TIGRESS- much less brunt. and brunt nearly killed her easily last time. if she decided to hurt her now, tied up and with like ten broken ribs, she'd be done for.

HERE WE GO SHITS GOING DOWN

who? its such a fucking. good question it takes her a second to realize. she's been told all her life by this woman that she's never had any family but vile, that she was abandoned. now brunt tells her that not only did she have a father but vile sent her new dad to kill him? and then he apparently stole her and brought her back and everyone lied to her for twenty years?? thats literally so fucked up she's so justified in going absolutely feral for the rest of the season

the anger in her voice as she starts to confront brunt about it and then the return of fear when brunt gets close to her again to gag her

"NO. DON'T LEAVE. NOT YET"

oh my god and then the episode closing on her writhing and screaming on the floor with her world turned upside down its so fucking good

the music btw also helps a TON its so sinister it gets your heart pumping ungh

okay i love this episode im so excited for the finale of the season!!!! how are we there already???

i cant believe zack and ivy didnt put carmen on lockdown after they checked on her and found her tied up and gagged screaming in the dark that had to suck

i wonder if there are any missing scene fics of that. them taking out the gag and the first words out of carmen's mouth are "shadowsan killed my father" can you fucking imagine what the fuck that sounds like a great read. give me fic recs if there are any like that out there

alright anyway what a top tier episode. in spirit stockholm, african ice, and deep dive are a three parter and the next episode is just the payoff to EVERYTHING im so excited. they seriously went so hard on s1 and s2 and by producing them basically together they are so fucking solid man i love it

alright- until (probably late) next week. bye yall!

[fogsrollingin]

Repossession by DreamsOfSpike. Mature, 190k words, Aziracrow. Summary: Crowley and Aziraphale's clandestine love affair has spanned the past fourteen years, with Heaven and Hell none the wiser. Or so they thought. Angel and demon alike quickly learn that Heaven can be far crueler than Hell. https://archiveofourown.org/works/19710115 Holy shit this fic took turns destroying me and healing me with all the batshit graphic and horrifying Crowley whump and comfort. I deeply appreciated how the author mixed flashbacks of torture and sexual abuse with 'current day' scenes that were a lot of comforting!Aziraphale. I adored the happy ending. Also the author posted instances of fanart inspired by the fic and it's been awesome (and gut-wrenching evocative, just like the fic) to see.

Constitution of an Ox by Bazzpop. Teen+, Aziracrow, 5k words. Summary: What if Crowley hadn’t been summoned back down to hell at the end of The Resurrectionists minisode? Aziraphale would have taken care of an off his head on laudanum demon, that’s what. https://archiveofourown.org/works/49752175 Oh my gosh I loved all the cuddling in this fic. Especially the encore in the morning, I was so happy they didn't immediately split apart out of automatic "our sides wouldn't like it" fear, which is a common thing in GO fic I've noticed (great for angst but sometimes you just want them to sink into each other's arms and stay there)

Echoes of Luke 10:34 by ChummyGeekery. Teen+, Aziracrow, 8k words. Summary: These days, the humans are calling it "Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome." Crowley just thinks of it as the way his body's been ever since the Fall. He's never really had to talk about it- until now. https://archiveofourown.org/works/21045344 Adored this fic. I loved the way Crowley's problems emerged over time in this story and how Aziraphale slowly learned what was going on and extended so much love comfort and compassion towards him.

Migraines Are A Bitch by obsidian_boi. Teen+, 5k words, Aziracrow. Summary: It's the night of the End of the World and Crowley feels a migraine starting. It's been a terribly long day and he no longer has the energy to fight it off. Aziraphale is there though, and Crowley leans heavily on the angel as they head back to his place. The pain only gets worse, but will Crowley actually allow himself to take Aziraphale's help? https://archiveofourown.org/works/20209423 I *loved* this! Oh my gosh the *second* time poor Crowley's head smacked the bus window I was howling inside hoping Aziraphale would do exactly what the author described because it's so compassionate and protective and then the rest of Aziraphale taking care of him 😭 I really loved this.

Palliative Practices by VerdantVulpus. Mature, 19k words, Aziracrow. Summary: Based on the following prompt. What if every time Crowley does a good deed, he suffers pain after because it goes against his demonic nature (and the greater the good, the more intense the pain)? Then Aziraphale finds out that Crowley has been living with that pain ever since the Arrangement. or 5 times Crowley masked his pain and 1 time he accepted help. https://archiveofourown.org/works/26601871 Oh my gosh the angst in this fic was absolutely the best. Fantastic angst writing. I would love more more fics with this kind of angst and every conceivable variation of comforting!Aziraphale

Visit my neocities page for the other GO fics I've rec'd!

[trifoliate-undergrowth]

Hey what are the top five westerns you would recommend to a person who doesn’t watch very many?

oh god I actually haven't seen that many different ones, I just get very fixated on the ones I have seen. I'll open this up to anyone else with recommendations but with that caveat also these are my top 5 (to be fair I haven't seen that many more than 5):

*I'll try to throw in specific trigger warnings beyond the basic Violence, which you should assume for any of these

-The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. A classic, you may have already seen it, but it's also a sort of a revisionist western (antihero protagonists, dark humor, deconstruction of some of the popular western tropes.) It's also just very good. And very homoerotic in an "insane frenemies with chemistry that cannot be easily defined" fun chaotic way. warnings for war imprisonment and torture.

-For a Few Dollars More. The "prequel" to the above, but not really (the dollars "trilogy" is grouped together and Clint plays similar character types in the reused famous Poncho Costume but none of the stories are connected and it doesn't make sense if the characters are literally the same). CLASSIC rivals-to-friends, delightful to see some emotionally constipated loner types accidentally becoming friends. Has a really fun epic showdown scene that I feel is less well known than the one in the end of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly but just as good. Has some uncomfortable extended flashbacks to a rape scene that shows up multiple times, and torture.

-Death Rides a Horse. Not as polished as some of the others, idk if I'd say it's "A Good Movie(TM)", but it's very very dear to my heart as you have probably noticed from my constantly posting about it. Features my favorite Lee Van Cleef character (I have become obsessed with Lee Van Cleef, Mortimer in For a Few Dollars More is my second favorite.) Bill's actor is a little bit bad but in a fun way I just headcanon he's a bit autistic. This one in addition to the usual violence features rape, rape of a minor, and torture/imprisonment (there's a lot of torture in these. good for whump.)

-The Quick and the Dead. The first one on here that's not a spaghetti western, and that has a female protagonist. From 1995, very much a revisionist western and a complete fever dream. I'm having a hard type describing it but it's very... visceral. Like the trauma feels very immediate and real in a way it doesn't in some older movies. I really like how characters are emotionally fleshed out here and how apparent the PTSD is. Yet again implied rape of a minor and I'm warning again for violence because this isn't like... the regular violence, it's focused on it in a way that really makes it hit home. Very good, very unsettling, completely insane movie. I feel like it fully realizes a lot of the implications of the violence in western movies in a way that I respect a lot and haven't seen in quite that way in other movies.

-The Great Silence. This was recently recommended by fullborn on dreamwidth for yuletide and so I'm passing it on! This one is a tragedy I'm just warning you going in. Very melancholic, set in a frozen, bitter wasteland. I love the characters and yet again the deconstruction of western tropes. Basically all of these are revisionist westerns in some way. Christ and almost all of them have some kind of rape going on. In this one it's only an attempted rape. There's also racism, torture and mutilation and just... a real downer ending, but it fits the overall vibe of the movie. It's generally about an institutional miscarriage of justice. The main character is a hired killer and has the strongest moral backbone of anyone, he's killing state-sanctioned killers (unscrupulous bounty hunters.) Fucking love a silent protagonist. His name is Silence.

[whumpsick]

I haven't written an intro post because I don't feel like I have much to introduce, but I would like to find more blogs whose whump interests intersect with mine, so to hell with it here we go:

I'm Kat, my main blog is @bringinghometherain. That is also my Ao3 username, and I've posted some (not-quite-shameless) Our Flag Means Death self-insert fic over yonder with whumpy elements.

My favorite whumpers are physics and mother nature. I do play around with some captivity/beating stuff but I'm not actually into, like, gratuitous interpersonal violence (idk if that makes me an oddball here, it's just how I feel man). Extended/repeat torture scenes just kinda tire me out, emotionally. But extreme temps, big storms, heavy objects falling about, the inherently uncaring forces of the universe wreaking havoc on a person who is utterly helpless to put a stop to it? I'm all in on that shit.

I'm also very much into the comfort side of hurt/comfort. A person who hates to be vulnerable in a scenario where they have no choice but to let themselves be cared for? Oh baby let's go. A caretaker who is just as uncomfortable with vulnerability? Hell yeah let's do this.

So! If you're a whump blog who's also into The Large and Indifferent Forces of Nature and/or some good emotionally-charged aftercare, please let me know you're there so I can give you a follow.

[transboysokka]

First of all, I'm soooo excited for that finished Zukki drawing. I am feral over it!! Also, could you maybe give a summary of each of your wips? I'm curious about all of them!

Thank you so much!!

Sure, I'd love to give some summaries! Then maybe y'all can PLEASE tell me what u are most interested in reading to help me figure out what I should prioritize?

The current priority is the one going by "Zuko Sees Sokka Fucked Up" lol bc @witchering10123 wrote the most beautifully painful Whumptober series about Hakoda and Sokka just Going Through It and I wanted to write the last two entries from Zuko's perspective when Sokka gets found because I think that would be so good and I love pain and suffering!!

Let's see... Modern Taiwan AU is the one I'm most excited about! This will be a long one and I've never written a modern AU before but basically it's based on SKAM (particularly season 3 of Druck) so it's like a cute trans love story BUT it is also going to have a LOT to do with Taiwan's ghost month and is going to be kind of inspired my Marry My Dead Body hehehehehe

Toxic Jetko I just posted about but basically it's my take on if Zuko and Jet had tried to make things work but it really just wouldn't have. It IS based kind of note for note on a real relationship I've had in the past because the dynamic was way too Jetko and I was like wow wouldn't that be a great fanfic actually

(how terrible it is) to love something death can(‘t) touch is a FUCKING. VAMPIRE AU!!! and it's so so so far from being ready but it's uhhhhh basically like if IWTV was about Zukka and Izumi. So there is some Divorced Zukka in there and also references to asshole Zhao in flashbacks... It's going to be angsty and exciting, but probably also pretty long

i will not be great, but I’m grateful to get through is a very niche sequel to if i fade away (the awful things we do to make the head go quiet) because that is a Dead Dove fic with a cliffhanger ending and I'm excited for the healing that we will see in the sequel but it does deal with heavy shit so I haven't been super quick at writing it. It does fix the Big Problem we saw in the first one though.

ZAtD Katara Arc - So when I wrote Zuko Amongst the Dragons I rushed it a bit too much and I love the universe that has been created for it so I want to go back and revisit some stuff. I skipped over the Puppetmaster and the Southern Raiders episodes in the plot and I thought it would be cool to write something with that like a deleted scene where Dragon Zuko is with Katara dealing with these terrible things

ZAtD Izumi Epilogue - I couldn't fit this into the main story BUT I want to write like a 5-10 years later snapshot of Zukka so happy with Druk and Izumi and kind of revisit how Zuko is dealing with his humanness, and is he the Fire Lord or nah?

ZAtD Divorce Epilogue - This would be way later but I'm obsessed with the idea of Divorced Zukka BUT with their psychic connection from their Dragon Bond and like what would happen any time they get into a room together hehe

ZAtD Extended Torture Scene - This is just because I had so many ideas for when Azula interrogates Sokka at the Boiling Rock that I left out of the original fic bc it kind of disrupted the tone but I DO like whump and angst so I WOULD like to finish what I had kind of wanted for that scene muahahaha

So yeah anyway, any opinions on what I should try to finish and publish first???

[sergeantsporks]

Feel free to ignore this, but I am currently trying to write some whump and my current vision involves an extended scene where a character receives medical treatment by a bunch of semi-amateurs after being wounded grievously in the chapter before that, and it‘s… not going well. I am making decent progress but the scene is a) a pain to write and b) dragging endlessly to the point where i am actually just like… waiting for it to end when rereading my own writing. Like it‘s around 1k and they‘ve only just started cleaning the wound... i am debating cutting it entirely, just because i fucking hate that fucking scene, but also i still want a sense of tension before moving on to the next scene, which will be a bit more lighthearted. I am. Lost on what to do and I kind of want to ask if you have any advice. Again, no pressure to answer this - I‘d completely understand. /gen

I mean, if you genuinely hate just everything about it, then I'd say to cut it, because if you write something you hate, your audience will probably be able to tell. If you still want the scene, but you don't like what you've got, then copy paste what you've got somewhere else and start over. If you're hating it and it's dragging, just starting over with a fresh approach might be helpful. 1k words for the beginning of medical treatment is a lot for something that's just there for tension, and your problem might be that you're trying to make it into an extended scene instead of something that's efficient with tension, but short. So it might need to be trimmed, even if not cut entirely. I'd suggest planning out actions without writing language. Like, just make a list like

Everyone freaks out

Cleaning the wound

Stitches

Bandaging

It'll give you a plan at least. And then just build all of those. Each of those actions only really needs maybe a paragraph or two, plus any dialogue, unless you're really really dedicated to the idea of an extended scene, but it doesn't seem like that's something you're happy with, so making it shorter might work out better for you.

Hope this helps!

[alpaca-clouds]

A World Without Love [Isaac One Shot]

Just a little story I just had to write.

Fandom: Castlevania (Netflix)

Genre: Whump, Extended Scene

Characters: Isaac

Length: 1151 words

[Ao3 Link]

The adrenalin ebbed away rather quickly, leaving Isaac to feel the pain once more. He was standing there in front of a body. A body. Was the man dead?

Isaac was panting, his mind racing. The fear took hold. The fear of what might happen now. What had he done? He… He… The other monks, the other knights. One of them might come down sooner or later. Right now, they were in the chapel, praying, but they would not be forever. And he…

He staggered backwards his eyes still glued to the body lying there. Isaac had not thought. He had not thought about it. He had acted on instincts. Nothing but instinct.

He had killed him, hadn't he? He had killed his master.

They would kill him for it.

They would hang him.

But maybe the man was not dead. Maybe…

The blood had stopped pushing out of the wound on the man's head. No, he was dead. He was dead for certain. And even if he wasn't, they would kill Isaac for taking his eyes. Even now the mix of blood and goo was sticking to Isaac's thumbs, as his mind tried to fight down the panic.

He was dead. The man was dead.

Isaac had killed him.

He had killed the only father he had ever known.

He was dead.

Isaac was going to die.

But he did not want to die.

He did not want to die.

Panting he looked around in the workspace. Blood was running down his arm, from where the belt had ripped open his skin. Blood was running down his back as well. Blood covered the floor from the relentless whipping the man had given him.

The only father Isaac had ever known.

And yet he felt… nothing. No regret. Wasn't it silly?

Once more he stared at the body, before his survival instincts kicked in. The rope binding his wrists. He needed to get rid of it.

His master. His master had always carried a knife. And while a part of Isaac wanted nothing but to run, he knelt down once more, pushing the man's robes aside to find the knife on his belt. His wrists bound, it took him a moment to free the blade, but then he did. His hands trembling, he tried to cut through his bounds, his wrists bloodied from the rough hem rope as well.

He breathed a bit freer, when the rope fell down.

Love. What he had told the man had not been a lie, had it? He loved this man. The only father he had ever known. He had loved him. Right? He had been with him for, what, two years now. Two years in which he had been fed, in which he had been given a place to sleep. He had been tought as well. The language of their God, Latin. Their language as well. Italian. It was a good thing. Right? It was a good thing.

Lord, why had he done it? Why had he killed the man? How could he have done it?

But the feeling of regret, of sadness. It would not set in.

He looked down at his lower arms, bits of skin ripped off the inner sides of it. He did not even know what his back looked like. He only knew that it took will to stand upright, to move.

It was not the first beating he had ever received. He had been beaten a lot. It was the way of the world. Beating. They would do it for his own good, they had said.

It was just that this beating had been especially hard.

“You will never use the word love ever again,” the man had said before he had died.

Love.

His vision was blurring, as he looked at his arms. Was this love? Was this what love actually felt like?

He did not know. Isaac did not know. Because if this was love, he did not like it. His mother had once loved him, had she not? Only that the memory of her was so blurry. He remembered how she had cradled him during the attack, but he did not remember her face.

Love.

The man he had loved in the only way he knew how, was dead. Isaac had killed him. Because he had not been loved. He had been beaten.

He did not want to be beaten again. He did not want to feel this powerless ever again. He…

The bell in the tower was ringing. Loud and heavy. Isaac knew what this meant. It meant he would have to go. He would have to flee. But how? How was he even to survive? How…

He picked up the belt, still red with his own blood. Wiping his hands clean on the robes of his master, he took the knife, too. He had to cover himself, because otherwise everyone would know what he was. A runaway slave. They would just capture him. Because these people did not know love.

That was right, wasn't it? Those people did not know love. They only knew violence and hatred. Violence, like they had rained down on his home.

He pried himself away from the dead body, leaving the workplace. He was not entirely certain what he was going to do with the belt and the knife. But he knew what he would not do: He would not allow himself to be captured again.

***

Isaac cowered in a small alleyway in Verona. That was what they called the city, that had been closest to the monastery. His hand was wrapped around the single apple he had stolen, as he leaned against the house wall next to him.

His stomach was growling, was asking him to just eat the thing, but he had learned to slow down. A hungry stomach was not good at eating - he had always known this fact. So he took it slow, as he bit into the apple, chewing cautiously, while the hunger was almost making him feel nauseous.

He had stolen some robes, but they were already dirtied and ripped at the bottom. It had only been two weeks.

Though Isaac knew what he wanted to do - he wanted to return to his home, but he had found rather quickly, that it was not that easily done. He did not even know where to travel - or how to prepare for such a journey.

But what else was there for him to do?

He bit into the apple once more, chewing carefully, as a breathless voice called out: “There you are, you little thieving shit.”

Isaac just stared at the man. Just a simple merchant. He did not argue with him, did not defend himself with words. He just stared at the man and got out his knife. Because he knew one thing: He would not be beaten by any man ever again.

[16woodsequ]

For your latest ask-game 2, 13 and 18 please! (Really interested in what’ll you’ll answer 👀)

Thanks for the ask! I'm looking for a boost today so I think this will be fun.

From this ask post

2. Favorite piece overall?

This is a really hard question! There's so many different fics that I love for different reasons. But when I think about it, one of my fics I really like is Infallible (or not). That's because I got to write about a headcanon of mine that I'd really baked into a lot of my Steves—him having trauma from being captured by Hydra and being triggered by medical procedures. And I felt I really got to lean into the Steve whump for that fic, which was really fun.

13. Are there any things that might have happened in any of your stories, but you changed them at the last minute? (So-and-so dies, they don't actually kiss, main character has long extended ballet-based dream sequence, etc.)

By the time I get to writing my fics I usually have most of it pretty solid. But even still, my ideas evolve and change so that the original idea isn't always what makes it onto paper.

An example I thought of is for my Forest of Apple Trees I had this scene in my head set while Steve and Bucky are in their hotel room. Steve is asleep, nesting or scenting Bucky's jacket to help him recover from the Howard ordeal when Dugan unexpectedly comes into the room without knocking, looking for them.

He sees Steve asleep and nesting and Bucky very quickly users him out into the hall. And that scene gets Dugan's brain thinking, especially since they've all noticed how tense and protective Bucky is around Steve. So he asks,

"Is he a beta?" Because it's still pretty unimaginable for an omega to get into the army, but being a beta would explain Steve's scent more.

And Bucky just folds his arms and goes, "Does it matter?" with a glare.

And Dugan shakes his head and lets it drop. And that incident is part of the reason Bucky chose to ask Dugan to look after Steve in case he died.

I just couldn't find a good place to fit that scene in the fic, so it never made it.

18. If you could go back and revise one of your older stories, which would it be?

Sometimes I want to go revise my fic Never Again. I still really like that fic, but I think if I revised it I could go into more detail of what Steve is feeling. I left a lot of details unsaid because I was new to writing mcu fanfic and was sort of assuming that all the readers had the same detailed picture of Steve's internal dialogue that I did. Which obviously isn't true lol. So I think I could flesh out that fic a bit. But people seem to like it as it is, so it's okay.

[kellykadesperate]

>:3c hello!

Judd is never there lmao … He has strong friendships but he goes home to his wife. ooooh, damn, that is so true! the contrast of judd versus the others makes complete sense indeed, that judd's first choice will always be his wife and kid, and then maybe friends his age that he's known for many years, e.g. tommy and his poker buddies. he's been living and having a fulfilling life in texas before the new team was formed, and it's nice that this is visible in these choices. it makes things clear without downplaying his friendships with the team. also re tommy, she is another good example of more realistic freedom: she did choose her family over her job because it made sense back then until she eventually returned. i liked that – life is long, and people temporarily leave their jobs, go on sabbaticals, etc. this isn't a death sentence to solid friendships.

we don't see them close in that sense despite being very involved in each other's personal life. this!! there is this weird disconnect happening between what i actually feel when i watch canon versus what i know i am supposed to feel (what the shows tries to make me feel) when i watch canon. i get what the show tries to convey but they suck at believably executing it, so i just. do not really feel it lol. i mean, you cannot be amatonormative (all of them have separate families; not being each other's top priority in comparison to their actual partners; being single is equaled to living an unfulfilled life/ romance seems to be regarded as vital) and anti-amatonormative (all the scenes that emphasize that family can come in many forms and that friendships are meaningful too) at the same time. these puzzle pieces do not fit together at all, and whenever one of them is shoved into my face, i just like ??? why is this show just contradicting itself repeatedly? one episode ago, you said something else! either you tell me that a life can be fulfilling and incredibly happy without a romantic partner or nah, but you can't do both.

He's poor little has no clue what he wants Buck in a way that feels like they're almost laughing at him lmao. djdjdjdjdj THAT is so real. they use buck a lot for those purposes, and it's not doing his character nor the other characters a favor lmfao. at best, he's relatable for having those struggles while the others seem supportive. at worst, he seems like the laughing stock because he is young and does not have a romantic partner/children yet, which means his life must be empty and he lacks life experience, while the others seem condescending. "judd with the younger members" feels better than "bobby, hen, chim with buck". i exclude eddie bc he's apparently buck's age but never got the baby treatment.

If it wants to be dramatic, give me drama with lifelong consequences. i agree! i like silly, i like drama... balancing them can be tough tho, and then they just water each other down until you do not really get to enjoy either of them to their full extent. love the funny episode but the entire premise of this show is sooo wonderful for whump that i cannot help being a big sad that they don't manage to build proper suspense :'(

It just feels weird when they really hammer home how close the crew are and important they are but really don't show them all hanging out for extended periods of time. In fact they make a point of showing them hanging out separately. i am taking a megaphone to shout this so loudly that the 911 makers can hear me <3 exactly. it really is a Choice™.

I was fully convinced Kameron was going to try and kiss Buck or something, I still kinda think they'll go there because ... why not! OHH, interesting! i personally did not think that would happen, but it's an intriguing idea to me. i really loved that the only reason this entire donor sl even happened is because an old friend remembered buck to be such a good person that he decided "his [buck's] babies will definitely all turn out great" lmaoooo. and that kameron felt comfy enough to seek out buck's support even though they've only known each other for a few months! <3 cute! ngl i would not even hate them getting together. what a story to tell the child someday LMAO. no but jokes aside, pls omg give these characters something to do that isn't their next love interest for once <3

The whole destined to be alone, unloved, I'll never find someone who knows me is just ... I'm sick of it and makes both characters feel like they actually don't know what they want. absolutely this! i am okay with some romance and drama, that is all a-okay with me, but we've reached a point where it's really just chipping away at the characters. the others have the advantage of being in clearly endgame-coded commitments already, so buck and eddie drive most of the "unsure single life" perspective in the show, which is very very very unfortunate for them because the show sucks at that LOL. i enjoyed natalia and the scenes she had with buck, but i am only "tentatively hopeful" at best at this point sksksksk. we've already covered the whole issue with 911 and side characters in general – i cannot imagine that the show will suddenly improve the writing in this regard, so i expect the worst treatment for all these poor side characters. plus, season 6b felt incredibly rushed and dropped a lot of balls; the buck and natalia romance definitely needed much more room to feel more organic and authentic. it felt like a choice made because the s7 renewal was not certain, so ig we'll see what they'll do with it now that they do get a s7.

It also makes the idea of them invested in each other's lives seem a little truer, more authentic rather than them hearing about snippets of things on the way to calls. hell yeah!! i remember the nancy thing, that was so adorable and relatable! building meaningful relationships takes time and effort and mutual liking and intention! yes, even if those relationships are platonic! it's a little bit like the crucial difference between "what you say" versus "what you do". calling somebody a "friend" but never hanging out with them one-on-one or not seeming to share any interests with them is... weird. saying things to the audience (e.g. mentioning snippets on calls) but not showing things to the audience just doesn't feel as authentic, yes yes yes. i'd rather verify things with my own two eyes if only 911 allowed me to actually see some of those alleged friendships it attempted to establish as canon lmfao.

IDK I just think it's a lot easier to let your audience see a group of friends grow into a family than start by showing them THIS IS THE FIREFAM FAMILY. very true! it's funny because og 911 kinda started out in a similar way? both bobby and buck were quite new to the 118, and none of them were friends except hen and chim. they could have build friendships from there, and they did, in a way, but the approach was so different (and i personally think worse) from how 911 ls did it. they started out with the heavy shit, which isn't bad per se but... they then neglected to do the normal friendship stuff on the way? e.g. they mentioned buck and bobby going to a concert in season 1 and even now, after 6 seasons of development, that seems absolutely unlikely to me. because... do they even like music? do they share the same music taste? what does music mean to them? we simply do not know!!! i cannot emphasize enough how empty all these dynamics feel because the characters lack interests and passions and a life outside of their job sksksksksks. another example, we saw buck being very interested in fitness in season 1, but that was then completely dropped. we see he's fit, but it's not portrayed as a hobby or interest or big part of his life anymore, even thought we know that realistically it must be.

and they all have to go their separate ways and it just shows a nice way of moving these characters along but not damaging ties they still have. oh yeah, i have seen the end of s2 and ik from tumblr that they had to go separate ways – and i LOVED the balls of the show to externalized the reason for such a big change in the show and showcase how the job is not the be-all and end-all for the team. characters trying to constantly fix themselves and that being the entire topic of a show is simply boring to me after a while. i'd much rather watch characters having to work together to fix some big external problem while their self-improvement occurs on the journey. another thing that i miss in 911.

ooooohohoho i watchedAE (it's fantastic!) and severance and succession are both on my to-watch list! i heard fantastic things about them. mostly i am scared of succession being all business talk LMAO i am absolutely no economist asdfghj. might be a nice break from yellowjackets tho hehe (i started it impulsively and really have fun so far)

hey hey!

this isn't a death sentence to solid friendships - And that's it. I think they did such a good job of showing Tommy's influence on the whole group so quickly. The fact that she replaced Michelle was such a good thing for the show. Michelle was outrageously isolated from the group and maybe they would have paired her with Owen but then the stuff with Gwyn might not have happened and that again was a real step up for the show I think.

i exclude eddie bc he's apparently buck's age but never got the baby treatment - Which is so interesting to me. It's like they realised they wanted to make a different/mysterious/he's gone through so much type of character for Eddie so ran with it and they have genuninly unpacked a lot about him which is great. At the same time, Buck is seen as like you say a bit more of a dumbass and they play on that. YET they have given him the most devastating backstory and show him being competent and caring and mature all the way back to season 1 with Abbey so it's ... it's weird. They want a baby of the group and that was fine in s1 but now it's s6, that baby has rightfully grown up and doesn't fit the mould they tend to shove him in for the sake of it. I really hope that stops soon!

The whole donor sl is really an interesting one. I wasn't mad about it but would love to know what the general vibe was a little more because it did seem to come out of nowhere. It seems like another 'give it to Buck!' type of sl where everyone else is so settled, Buck seems to be the character they can try stuff out on without thinking long term. Idk if the sl is going to continue or just be dropped but it's something I think they did give a lot of airtime too in terms of him making his decision.

the buck and natalia romance definitely needed much more room to feel more organic and authentic - It definitely did feel like a choice. Natalia seems a bit more grown up, and settled and that's about it! We literally no nothing else lol. I think they'll probably have her in the next season and I hope they want to build something settled and nice for Buck because it would be nice to see that side of him rather than just being ridiculously unsure of the relationship he's in. It needed a lot more time, you're right. When Buck was like she sees me/it's different, I really didn't know whether we were supposed to laugh or agree with him which is obviously not ideal.

i'd rather verify things with my own two eyes if only 911 allowed me to actually see some of those alleged friendships it attempted to establish as canon lmfao - YES. I remember when Hen and Maddie had that talk about getting engaged I was like dear God have these two ever had a scene together? Have Chimney and Hen and their families ever had a scene together? Hanging out? They're best buds? Maybe they have and I've forgotten but again it was just quite jarring to see. The only relationships I'm sure do exist are: Buck/Eddie, Hen/Chim, Hen/Athena, slightly Hen/Buck but aside from that ... nothing really and usually these parings are at the expense of seeing them all in an environment together.

e.g. they mentioned buck and bobby going to a concert in season 1 - LMAO WHAT! I have no memory of that whatsoever but that seems hilarious. I do have a lovely soft spot for Bobby and Buck, I think their relationship is super sweet but they need to develop it so much more. I get the whole dad/son dynamic but !! I'd love to see more. It's like they can't decide whether to go all in, have Buck be seen as Bobby's family OR they're colleagues. The middle ground sometimes feels ... unresolved or lacking.

i'd much rather watch characters having to work together to fix some big external problem while their self-improvement occurs on the journey. - Yeah exactly. Because the stakes are high. It feels really important and you see them changing as characters and it's meaningful! They're not stuck in their ways. They're developing as people. With some 911 characters, I don't think they're done developing but I think the writers are done with showing any true development.

AE is amazing! I watched it from the first two episodes and was hooked. I'm a secondary school teacher myself so I just die at the accuracy and OMG you need to watch severance, it's one of the best things I've ever watched.

mostly i am scared of succession being all business talk LMAO i am absolutely no economist asdfghj - MOOD. That's how I felt but honestly it's not tooooo jargon-y at all. There's talk that you might not fully get but then other characters explain it well. I had the same time with watching Suits and talks of merges and stuff lol

[emcscared-whumps]

WiJ 2022 - 01: (Re)introduce Yourself

WiJ 2022 Navigation Post

Intro!!

Hi, I'm emc, and I write whump of original characters in original settings! I've had this blog since some time in August last year (2021), and in these short few months, I've come a long way in the whump community. Everyone I've met here is wonderful and friendly and I've enjoyed every second of whumpblr and whump discord.

I've had at least a vague awareness about my taste for (fictional) blood since I was a kid around 5 or 6, but I first remember seeking the whumperflies in my teens (I'll get more into that in tomorrow's post :3c), and later still, I discovered Whumpblr posts through Pintrest, and joined a whump discord server a few years later, and then made this blog a year after that ^-^' . Getting into whump is the best thing I've ever done tbh, it's the gift that keeps on giving.

(I can now run off whump derived dopamine instead of trying to be happy!! /j/j/j/j)

Some fun facts are... I'm Australian, I do karate, I'm in the Danny Phantom fandom, I have an interest in cutting gems and other semiprecious stones, I have three cats, I love plants and gardening, and my favourite colour is unironically a deep, cool red. I also draw!

Project Updates!

Since joining the community, I have made tremendous progress on my nearest and dearest project Shifting Phases! Not only do I now have a rough idea of how to get everyone to the end scenes, I've actually started writing it!!! I'm super excited! I want to get it beta read in its entirety before I post it though, so it's a long way off yet. (As a byproduct, this means that I'll never post the fic unfinished lmao)

This story has spawned an AU that somehow manages to be darker. It's still in the ideation phases (brainrot spam to all of my whump friends on discord, rip them), so it'll be a little while before you see much posted about this one :3

My friend I recently made a lot of progress on Satanus Magus! We have basically the whole plot figured out, it just needs to be beefed up with some scenes. I look forward to writing that all out in the word doc void :)

My friend and I actually hope to publish this irl one day, so, That's A Thing!

It's an older idea of mine, it spawned in around 2018... But getting out of school and into this community has really boosted my creativity (bouncing ideas around is a powerful tool). It's like an action movie, but instead of guns and explosions, it's elemental magic and explosions!! It's not an outright whumpy fic, but ofc bc I'm involved, there are definitely a lot of whump themes.

Lastly, I have a new fic idea kicking around in my head involving a vampire and a human. It's still veeeerrryyy early days for it, but I'm already in love with the concept, and I have been sorely lacking in vampire whump for many years. I look forward to working with Malté and Corwin >:3c though I'm sure the same eagerness is not extended back -rubs my evil little handses together-

My Favourite Whump Tropes! Oh man...

Collapse

Especially when they try and fail to get up again

A whumpee getting tangled and/or ensnared in something they can't get out of

A painful mobility impairment as a result of a traumatic injury

Delirium and panic where they don’t recognise their friend/caretaker, maybe they’re waking up from a nightmare, and they lash out at their friend/caretaker-- most fun with nightmares/night terrors ;DD

I'm recently getting into fucked up mental health shit >:)

Ab00se (but like, not romantic relationships)

Nonhuman whumpees (mer and vampire/demon whumpees are where it's at tbh)

Painful transformation (and the aftermath, especially if the whumpee ends up Different than they were Before)

Bonus points for terrified, horrified, and very uncoordinated bb getting used to their new body and having an awful time

Secret based whump where bad things happen if anyone ever finds out whumpee's secret

An injury jeopardising the secret-- the secret needs to be revealed it to treat the injury

A whumpee going stupidly far to hide a secret, leading to a dramatic collapse and injury/scar reveal :D

A secret reveal gone badly never fails to give me whumperflies <3

I love it when circumstances are what leads to the whump. Not all of my whumpees have whumpers at all times, and where the whump comes from often fluctuates, but a common theme of my works is that the whump is primarily a product of circumstance that enables my characters to be whumped, whether by another person (whumper), or otherwise.

A happy, or at the very least, a bittersweet ending

#These are a few of my favourite things#

Also, Tumblr just fucking ate this draft when I was 99% done, and I was a fool who did not frequently save, and now I'm starting from nothing but a (shit) memory so... I'm not angy, I'm just sad and tired lol, apologies if there're any dumb phrasing/grammatical errors lol I can't even think straight anymore gkjdhfg

(The beta post editor may be easier on my poor eyes, but It has a habit of eating things on occasion...)

@whumpmasinjuly

[luckgods]

Why all the white guys in whump?

I got Inspired by a post asking that question, and here we are. Warning: long post ahead.

I think it’s due to a combination of factors, as things frequently are.

The preference for / prevalence of white male characters in fandom is well-known and has been examined pretty thoroughly by people already.

What’s worth noting for discussing this tendency in whump in particular is that the ‘whump fandom’ itself is not a ‘fandom’ in the traditional sense of being made of fans of one single source narrative (or source setting, like a particular comics fandom, or the Star Wars extended universe) with pre-existing characters. Although subsets of traditional fandoms certainly exist within the larger whump fandom, a lot of whump is based on original, ‘fan’-created characters.

So, given the tendency of ‘traditional’ fandoms to create stories disproportionately centered on white male characters due to the source material itself being centered on white male characters (and giving more narrative weight to them, characterizing them better, etc), if we say hypothetically that the whump fandom is split say 50/50 between ‘traditional’ fandom works and original whump works, you’d expect to see a higher number of works focused on white men than the demographics of the ‘traditional’ fandom’s source work would predict, but not as extreme of a divergence between the source material & the fanworks as the one you’d see if whump fandom were 100% based on popular media.

However, that doesn’t quite seem to be the case. Whump stories and art remain focused on overwhelmingly male and frequently white characters, which means that the tendency of the fandom to create stories disproportionately centered on white male characters cannot be ONLY explained by the source material itself being centered on white male characters (and giving more narrative weight to them, characterizing them better, etc).

And, having established the fact that whump writers & artists presumably have MORE control over the design of their characters than writers & artists in ‘traditional’ fandoms, we have to wonder why the proportions remain biased towards men, & white men in particular.

—

The race thing is pretty simple in my opinion. Mostly, it’s just another extension of the fanbase’s tendency to reflect the (predominantly US-American, on tumblr) culture it exists in, which means that, in a white-centric culture, people make artworks featuring white people.

There’s also the issue of artists being hesitant to write works that dwell heavily on violence towards people of color due to the (US-American) history of people of color being violently mistreated. I’ve actually seen a couple of posts arguing that white people SHOULDN’T write whump of nonwhite characters (particularly Black characters) because of the history of actual violence against Black bodies being used as entertainment, which means that fictional violence against Black people, written by white people, for a (presumed) white audience, still feels exploitative and demeaning.

I'm not going to get into all my thoughts on this discussion here but suffice to say that there's probably an impact on the demographics of whump works from authors of color who simply... don't want to see violence against people of color, even non-explicitly-racialized violence, and then another impact from white authors who choose not to write non-white characters either due to the reasons stated above, or simply due to their personal discomfort with how to go about writing non-white characters in a genre that is heavily focused on interpersonal violence.

Interestingly enough, there’s also a decent proportion of Japanese manga & anime being used as source material for whump, and manga-styled original works being created. The particular relationship between US-American and Japanese pop culture could take up a whole essay just by itself so I’ll just say, there’s a long history of US-Japanese cultural exchange which means that this tendency is also not all that surprising.

—

GENDER though. If someone had the time and the energy they could make a fucking CAREER out of examining gender in whump, gender dynamics in whump, and why there seems to be a fandom-wide preference for male whumpees that cannot be fully explained by the emphasis on male characters in the source text.

I have several different theories about factors which impact gender preference in whump, and anyone who has other theories (or disagrees with mine) is free to jump in and add on.

THEORY 1: AUTHOR GENDER AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
 Fandom in general is predominantly female, although these days it might be more accurate to say that fandom is predominantly composed of cis women and trans people of all genders. However, pretty much everyone who isn't a cis man has had to contend with the specter of gendered violence in their real personal life. Thus, if we posit whump (and fandom more generally) as a sort of escapist setup, it's not hard to see why whump authors & artists might willfully eschew writing female whumpees (especially in the case of inflicted whump), because (as in the discussion of people of color in whump above), even violence towards women that is explicitly non-gender-based may still hit too close to home for people whose lives have been saturated with the awareness of gender-based violence.

THEORY 2: SICK OF SEXY SUFFERING.
 Something of an addendum to theory 1, it's worth noting that depictions of female suffering in popular media are extremely gendered (in that they specifically reflect real-life gender-based violence, and that said real-life violence is almost exclusively referenced in relation to female characters) and frequently sexualized as well. There's only so many times you can see female characters having their clothes Strategically Ripped while they're held captive, being sexually menaced (overtly or implicitly) to demonstrate How Evil the villain is, or just getting outright sexually assaulted for the Drama of it all before it gets exhausting, especially when the narratives typically either brush any consequences under the rug, or dwell on them in a way that feels more voyeuristic and gratuitous than realistic and meaningful. All this may result in authors who, given the chance to write their own depictions of suffering, may decide simply to remove the possibility of gendered violence by removing the female gender.

THEORY 3: AUTHOR ATTRACTION. 
I'll admit that this one is more a matter of conjecture, as I haven't seen any good demographic breakdowns of attraction in general fandom or whump fandom. That said, my own experience talking to fellow whump fans does indicate that attraction to the characters (whether whumpers, or whumpees) is part of the draw of whump for some people. This one partially ties into theory 1 as well, in that people who are attracted to multiple genders may not derive the same enjoyment out of seeing a female character in a whumpy situation as they might seeing a male character in that situation, simply because of the experience of gendered violence in their lives.

THEORY 4: ACCEPTABLE TARGETS.
 The female history of fandom means that there's been a lot more discussion of the impacts of depicting pain & suffering (especially female suffering) for personal amusement. Thus, in some ways, you could say that there is a mild taboo on putting female characters through suffering if you can't "justify" it as meaningful to the narrative, not just titillating, which whump fandom rarely tries or requires anyone to do. This fan-cultural 'rule' may impact whump writers' and artists' decisions in choosing the gender of their characters.

THEORY 5: AN ALTERNATIVE TO MAINSTREAM MASCULINITY.
 Whump fandom may like whumping men because by and large, mainstream/pop culture doesn't let men be vulnerable, doesn't let them cry, doesn't let them have long-term health issues due to constantly getting beat up even when they really SHOULD, doesn't let them have mental health issues period. Female characters, as discussed in theory 2, get to ("get to") go through suffering and be affected by it (however poorly written those effects are), but typically, male characters' suffering is treated as a temporary problem, minimized, and sublimated into anger if at all possible. (For an example, see: every scene in a movie where something terrible happens and the male lead character screams instead of crying). So, as nature abhors a vacuum, whump fandom "over-produces" whump of men so as to fill in that gap in content.

THEORY 6: AMPLIFIED BIAS.
 While it's true that whump fandom doesn't have a source text, it's also true that whump fans frequently find their way into the fandom via other 'traditional' fandoms, and continue participating in 'traditional' fandoms as part of their whump fandom activity. Bias begets bias; fandom as a whole has a massive problem with focusing on white male characters, and fans who are used to the bias towards certain types of characters in derivative works absolutely reproduce that bias in their own original whump works.

—

I honestly think that there is greater bias in the whump fandom than anyone would like to admit. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems as though whump fans avoid introspection and discussion of the issue by bringing up the points I talked about in my previous theories, particularly discomfort with depictions of female suffering for amusement.

However, I think that, as artists, we owe it to ourselves and one another to engage in at least a small amount of self-interrogation over our preferences, and see what unconscious or unacknowledged biases we possess. It's a little absurd to argue that depictions of women as whumpees are universally too distressing to even discuss when a male character in the exact same position would be fine and even gratifying to the person making that argument; while obviously, people have a right to their own boundaries, those boundaries should not be used to shut down discussion of any topics, even sensitive ones.

Furthermore, engaging in personal reflection allows artists to make more deliberate (and meaningful) art. For people whose goal is simply to have fun, that may not seem all that appealing, but having greater understanding of one's own preferences can be very helpful towards deciding what works to create, what to focus on when creating, and what works to seek out.

—

GENDER ADDENDUM: NONBINARY CHARACTERS, NONBINARY AUTHORS. 
Of course, this whole discussion so far has been exclusively based on a male-female binary, which is reductive. (I will note, though, that many binary people do effectively sort all nonbinary people they know of into 'female-aligned' and 'male-aligned' categories and then proceed to treat the nonbinary people and characters they have categorized a 'female-aligned' the same way as they treat people & characters who are actually female, and ditto for 'male-aligned'. That tendency is very frustrating for me, as a nonbinary person whose gender has NOTHING to do with any part of the binary, and reveals that even 'progressive' fandom culture has quite a ways to go in its understanding of gender.)

Anyways, nonbinary characters in whump are still VERY rare and typically written by nonbinary authors. (I have no clue whether nonbinary whump fans have, as a demographic group, different gender preferences than binary fans, but I'd be interested in seeing that data.)

As noted above with female characters, it's similarly difficult to have a discussion about representation and treatment of nonbinary characters in whump fandom, and frankly in fandom in general. Frequently, people regard attempts to open discussions on difficult topics as a call for conflict. This defensive stance once again reveals the distaste for requests of meaningful self-examination that is so frequent in fandom spaces, and online more generally.

—

TL;DR: Whump is not immune to the same gender & racial biases that are prevalent in fandom and (US-American) culture. If you enjoy whump: ask yourself why you dislike the things you dislike— the answer may surprise you. If you create whump: ask yourself whose stories you tell, and what stories you refuse to tell— then ask yourself why.