Sometimes it whispers, hides, or slips out in the smallest gestures. If your character canât or wonât admit what terrifies them, here are 20 ways to show it between the lines.
Laughing at the wrong moment because they donât know what else to do.
Holding their breath without realising it.
Asking the same question two, three or even four times needing reassurance.
Keeping their back to the wall in crowded rooms.
Jumping at sounds theyâd usually ignore.
Avoiding eye contact so no one sees the truth.
Touching an object or necklace like itâs grounding them.
Speaking in short, clipped sentences.
Checking exits as soon as they enter a room.
Fidgeting until they physically force their hands still.
Acting overly calm: too still, too controlled, to the point that one wrong movement will send them flying.
Freezing before they react, even for just a heartbeat.
Walking faster without being fully aware of it.
Laughing something off but their eyes stay wide.
Flinching when someone raises a hand too quickly.
Asking someone to stay "just in case."
Avoiding certain places without giving a real reason.
Rehearsing what theyâre going to say before speaking.
Keeping their phone in hand like a lifeline.
Inability to sleep; waking at the slightest noise.
Your characters don't need to own up being afraid, but fear can be shown as a powerful driving force for each action your character takes.
Just think, what do YOU do when you're faced with crippling uncertainty and fears?
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characters who freeze during a traumatic moment. characters who wish they'd fought back, that they'd done something. maybe someone else died, and they should have saved them, so that they could still be around. characters who blame themself for not fighting back, for being unable to fight back. characters whose first instinct during danger is to shut down, to dissociate from the trauma. characters that don't fight back.
[ID: Reply from @.starfreak: â"What am i" type shit. "What have you done" type shit. (caps) "What did you do to me" (end caps) type shitâ. End ID.]
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Got a potential new OC rattling around in my brain so I'm gonna ramble about this character who is Sun coded in all the worst possible ways for them personally
They're running from something, something they desperately want to escape, but no matter what they do, something about them simply shines too brightly for them to be able to hide. They do everything they can to douse that Light, keep themself starved, exhausted, and always moving, but it still shines through, and they're always terrified it'll lead the things they're running from right to them. They're scared of ever being happy or healthy, of ever taking care of themself, because if they shine any brighter they'll be putting themself, and potentially other people in danger.
(putting the rest under a cut, I've got a lot of thoughts here)
They're incredibly powerful, but have no understanding of how to use their power. So they get used by everyone around them who does know how to make use of that strength they didn't even want. Sometimes that's okay, sometimes it's allies teaching them something they can use as an outlet which also just happens to help out their friends. Win win scenario. But a lot of the time it's dangerous. Someone using their light for things they'd never approve of, draining them almost to empty because they bounce back so quickly. Excusing it by saying they're making the Sun coded character less dangerous.
"Face it, sunspot, you need me. Without me, you're nothing but a ticking time bomb."
They burn when they try to keep their light repressed or even just go without using it for too long, and that scares them. It's a constant, building, growing, aching heat and pressure that makes their bones feel like they're being pumped full of bubbling liquid metal, and their head feel like it's full of hot helium ready to expand and explode. Even as exhausted as they keep themself, it's a careful dance, to not shine too brightly as to get caught and give themself away, but not go so long that their light burns them up from the inside.
They want to be able to do so many things. There are so many nice, kind, gentle things that their light could be used for. They want to be the sun that makes flowers grow and makes warm sunny spots for taking naps in and having picnics in, and clears clouds away. They want to heal people and give life and light.
But they can't. They were never taught how, all their effort went into just keeping all of that light and heat contained, into stopping themself from hurting anyone, into letting it out only as directed until they realized that they were being used for something awful, then all of the effort was just in keeping themself shut down so they'd never burn anyone again. Their healing is effective and fast but incredibly painful, they give energy in the same way getting struck by lightning 'wakes you up a bit', trying to keep something warm might accidentally set it on fire, and trying to brighten up the dark leaves people blind.
When they try to force their light to be gentle and warm instead of blinding and burning, it's a struggle. It's holding back a tidal wave with your bare hands, and using the water that slips past your fingers to water delicate flowers. It hurts. It's exhausting. There's so much that they're trying to keep a lid on, and the minute they let even just a tiny bit of it free, all of it wants to escape. Trying to keep a tight enough grip on pandora's box while opening it just enough to let Hope free. They're happy to do it, happy to be gentle like that, be kind like that, be more than the nuclear weapon or living battery or ticking time bomb they've been told over and over again that they are, happy to feel useful and good for once in their goddamn life. But it's still exhausting.
Any time someone slaps a form of power suppressor on them (inhibitor cuffs in a superhero type setting, something that blocks magic in a magical setting), it's terrifying to them. Their power, such that it is, is constantly building. It's a self regenerating source of energy with no upper limit, and the suppressor doesn't turn it off, it just contains it. Controls it. Traps it inside their body, at singular points in their head and their chest.
The longer they spend with their light being trapped, the more that power builds. The more it hurts and the more terrified they are of the block being removed. If it stays too long it'll kill them, the repressed power burning them up from the inside. But if the block gets taken away, they're less and less confident they'd be able to control the resultant outpouring of their Light, bursting out once it's no longer being trapped in their body. They might beg someone rescuing them to leave the suppressor on, just until they're somewhere where that outburst of magic won't hurt anyone. Taking that pain, that risk of death, until they're sure no one's going to get caught in the crossfire.
For better and worse they physically cannot hide who and what they are. They're the sun, they shine too bright, burn too hot, and you can't hide the literal sun under a black blanket and beg for it to go away.
Might do something with this character, might not, I think they're fun to think about.
Tonight we're thinkin' about the fun range of whump potential to be found in Inexperience.
Characters who've never broken a bone before having to sit still while their ally or their tormentor re-set a broken limb. Or worse, having to do it themself, with only the vaguest idea of how it's done and very limited pain tolerance.
Characters who've never been cut or stabbed trying to clean and cauterize or stitch shut their own wounds because they saw how it was done on the telly, so it should be fairly easy, right? Cut to a week later, and they're collapsing halfway on death's doorstep because they actually had no idea how to do that, and the injury got infected.
Characters who've never had hypothermia before immediately trying to get themself as warm as possible as quickly as possible and messing themself up worse in the process by sending themself into shock or messing up their heart.
Characters screwing up when trying to treat a burn, trying to cool off the injury with ice, or using butter because their grandma told them that's what to do, or using an ointment that says it's supposed to help with burns too early.
Your average person doesn't exactly have an encyclopedic knowledge of medicine, but a lot of people know the basics in theory. Having a character get hurt and try to take care of themself, and doing it wrong because they just didn't know how to do it right is So fun.
They've never had to use this information before. Bonus points if they thought they wouldn't ever need this information. If they thought they were safe, or untouchable, or simply too strong, too inconspicuous, too free and innocent to ever need to know how to put themself back together after someone tore them apart.
And for extra fun, pair this character with a caretaker or whumper who is experienced.
A whumper who knows exactly where to push and cut and break to cause as much pain as possible, to make the victim think they're going to die, to make them panic and start trying to take care of themself with that complete lack of experience, only making themself worse in the process. All the while their tormentor knows exactly how much danger they're in. Mocks them for messing it up worse. Taunts them with the information that they would have been okay if they just hadn't panicked.
A caretaker who snaps at the victim for being so reckless, for botching their own care this badly, for not just asking for help. Who has to restrain themself from bapping them on the head with a newspaper when they say "It wasn't that bad, was it?" only to catch the look in their eyes and realize they're not minimizing, they just really... really didn't know. Or asking them how the hell they messed up treatment that should've been so simple, only for the whumpee to crack a bit and snap back that they didn't know, they were just scared and trying not to die and doing their best, okay?!
It's so fun. Love this kind of stuff. And that's just playing with it in the space of semi-realistic whump, I have so many thoughts about how this can be applied in settings with magic and superpowers and stuff, but that'd have to be it's own post.
Yknow. As fun as characters who have always been Awful(tm) are, let's get some love in here for the characters who are Awful, but it's worse because they weren't always like that.
Like. Try this on for size:
They weren't always so cruel. Once upon a time they were kind. Once upon a time, back when they'd been young and hopeful and surrounded by friends. People who loved them enough to reign in their worst qualities and encourage their best. They were good, they were kind, they believed in a better world.
But it didn't last. One by one their friends got picked off. Their support fell away. The world took Everything from them and still demanded more, and maybe their old friends could have held up under this pressure but...
They can't. They're the last one standing, and they don't care about doing good anymore. All they care about is bringing hell to the doorstep of whoever they blame for the loss of their happiness. And there's no one to hold them back anymore.
"My friends would've councilled mercy. How unlucky for you then, that you killed them."
"Stop crying. What right do you have to tears? This is all your own fault."
"Hurting you won't bring them back, I know that. But I want you to suffer. I want to take from you even a little of what you've taken from me."
"No one is going to come and save you. No one cares how much I hurt you. Everyone knows you deserve all of it."
"You keep saying that! You keep saying 'I'm Sorry' as though you expect that to fix it! As though you think that'll make me stop! I want you to be sorry. And quite frankly I don't think you'll ever be sorry enough."
Just. Love a tormentor who's bitter and angry. Love a character whose cruelty stings worse because they used to be kind before they lost everything. Love a character who sleeps at night just fine with all the hurt they caused, because they did it to someone they felt deserves it. Love a character who always had some darkness but only lets it spill once they no longer have their guiding lights around them.
Villain Whumpee being hospitalized and subject to the mercy of doctors and nurses who know all too well what their patient did.
A nurse inconveniently missing the vein for the IV multiple times.
âRate your pain.â ââŚEight.â âTwo? Iâll let the doctor know to lower your dose.â
Being sedated whenever Whumpee gets too âaggressiveâ even though theyâre trying to communicate that theyâre in pain.
Whumpee asking to talk to the doctor, but getting âTheyâre busy helping people who deserve it.â
Meal trays being left on the table, just out of Whumpeeâs reach.
The room is set cold, lights left on. They donât bother giving Whumpee a blanket.
Once Whumpee is walking, the humiliation and dread of asking to be uncuffed from the bedrail just to use the bathroom.
Pressing the call button, but no one comes for hours.
And then that one heart-of-gold nurse, or even Hero, finally comes to check in on them.
Finding Whumpee with bruises all over their arms, shivering on the bed with their wrist attached awkwardly to the bedrail.
Even though theyâre usually stoic about pain, Whumpee is writhing on the bed, desperately trying not to make too much noise for fear of being sedated again.
Seeing the cold food on the tray, hearing Whumpeeâs stomach growling.
And then the caretaking.
âOh dear. What have they done to you?â
Nurse immediately putting in a request for pain meds, even though itâs the middle of the night and the doctor on shift is a pain to work with.
Bringing Whumpee a couple of warmed-up blankets and tucking it around them. Patting their back, âThere. Thatâs better.â
Nurse sneaking Whumpee their own sandwich because the cafeteria is closed and âYou need more than jello.â
Scrolling the computer, âThey sedated you twice today?!â
Or Hero seeing it all and deciding that Villain Whumpee would recover better at their own house. Donât ask how they get the painkillers.
Whumpee: âThis is why I said, âNo hospitals.ââ
Pspsps this is your sign to get real self-indulgent and design a fictional drug or illness that only does your favorite things, bc it's super fun and you don't have to do any research
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Weapons. Trained, tested, forged in steel and fire. Failure is an inevitability that ends in death. Pain should not be felt--it should be recognized, familiar, and inconsequential
Martyrs. In the form of servants and princes, of leaders and underdogs. If blood is necessary, the martyr will lift their hands and offer it all
Shields. Like tempering a sword, but only to bear and not to lash out. Wounds are medals--not symbols of pride, but symbols of worth. A pretty shield is useless; scars mean a job well done
Experiments. Raised on the cold comfort of a lab table. Restraints are only necessary when they're not in their right mind. Is it honorable, to be twisted beyond recognition? Or is it just a necessary evil?
Monsters. Cruelty, caution, and regarding one as a creature beyond reasonable thought is tempering in its own right. But if you keep a leash at the right length, perhaps the massecre won't reach you. One can hope.
Idols. Pretty face, pretty name, pretty hands around their shoulders and throat. There to seduce, manipulate, force any feeling to come to the surface and twist it to their favor. Any genuinity stays locked behind the guilded cage that surrounds their pretty little heart
Trophies. Status and wealth and the traditions that keep someone at their heels, on their knees, to display and serve and decorate one's ballroom.
Sacrifices. Drenched in honorable clothes, prepared and adored and cleansed. The gift of hope at the cost of one's life. Is it taken with no fight? How can you escape the ropes you were born in?
Highly highly underrated character dynamic: Keeping Eachother Sane In The Pit of Despair.
I love character duos where they meet in, or are both trapped in, the same nightmarish situation - classic torture basements, prisons, interrogation scenarios, death games, gladiatory arenas, fucked up scifi labs, government training facilities, whatever - and it sucks so bad for both of them, because of course it does, but they have eachother, and stars help and forgive them, that is just barely enough to keep them both on this side of alive and sane.
Like. This is hell on earth, this is awful, this is killing both of them slowly, but at the end of the day they stay alive for eachother.Â
Holding up through all manner of torture to be able to collapse next to their friend at the end of the day, and say âSo, howâs your day been?â before passing out from pain and bloodloss.Â
Nursing eachother through illness and infections, with muttered repetitions of âYouâre not allowed to die, you hear me? Youâre not allowed to just leave me here.â and when the fever finally breaks the one who got sick shakily takes the hand of the one who was taking care of them and mumbles âWouldnât dream of it.â
The both of them being fully willing to throw themself on the blade for eachother. Taking extra punishment to protect the one who canât withstand another injury right now. Giving up shares of their food and water to make sure the one who got sick has enough in their system to help them recover. Pleading with their tormentor âHurt me, not them!âÂ
They both chide eachother for it. Both try to tell eachother to âknock that off and take care of yourself for once.â And of course they both know itâs a losing battle. Taking care of eachother and protecting eachother is all they have.Â
And of course, when your bond is forged in the fires of hell it doesnât exactly crack when you get out. Of course these two are going to be a little weirdly entangled. A little close in ways that no one else fully gets. How could they ever get it? They werenât there. They donât understand the inside jokes born of pained and fevered delirium, the little triggers that the duo protect eachother from, the way they both know immediately what to do or say to soothe one another or re-ground them in reality.
They donât understand why the boundaries are different for just the two of them. Why one is the only person in the world who can touch the other when theyâre panicked. Why theyâll hide an injury for hours only to finally ask for help when their other half enters the room. Why regardless of their relationship they sleep best squished into a small space and puzzle-pieced together like cats.Â
Stars help the bastard who tries to hurt one of them once theyâve gotten out of course. Because now neither of them are helpless. So youâre either getting the person youâre trying to hurt fighting back because like hell are they gonna leave their other half to worry about them and not know what happened. Or youâre getting their other half coming after you like an avenging fury and youâre dead before you have the opportunity to regret it.Â
Genuinely, I love this character dynamic. One of my favourites, in any manifestation. Friends, found family, romantic partners, whatever, I will always love this kind of character duo.Â
