I have done the first of the whump interviews. Copying the style of dear @vampostingtime in their autopilot au doc snippet!
But this is for one of my own characters. This guy specifically.
How long have you been here / being doing this for?
The creature turns in it’s dim cage, a furred body shrouded in the same darkness as the grey stone that surrounds it, all except the eyes, yellow rings that glow out of the blackness with a single flintstrike of blue in one corner. It stares at you. It stares at your clipboard. The eyes narrow before a raspy lisping voice says, “Don’t know. H-how would I— would we know?”
2. Aren't you tired?
A slow peeling of lips reveals teeth in a crocodile grin. “And hungry now that you mention it. Stick your hand in here and find out just how much.”
3. Don't you want it all to be over?
The smile tries to turn to a frowned snarl. It can’t, muzzle lips stiff on the side like that of a crocodile. The bristled fur of a grizzly bear raises on it’s back. “Don’t you dare.”
A will to live, after all. You write it down.
The creature lowers it’s head a bit, and backs up and away from the door. Metal scrapes against the floor.
4. What if it never ends?
A scoff, nearly the snort of a dog, and yet… human. Perhaps it was learning sentience. It was the most recycled sample, after all. You write it down.
5. Do you have a plan to get out / get away?
The beast says nothing, but simply tilts it’s head.
6. Would you trade places with someone else, if you could? Anyone specific?
Eyes narrow. A long prehensile tail flicks, the short fur giving way to a bristling fox’s plume.
“You need to answer the questions or else we will resort to ways to motivate you.” You say.
Another smile that grows slowly, nervous into an almost sardonic. You itch to write it down, but the movements are uncanny, mesmerizing. “So strange.” it says, “To be treated like a prisoner. Done giving dog treats?” A delicate step forward, feline. “Will we—I, get a salary next?”
The grinning maw of the creature stretches wider than any cat or dog, though. Any combination of them. You would know. “You know, it could have been any of you caught in that spell.” It whispers like it’s sharing a secret. “And it took a long, long time before anyone could hear me scream.”
You swallow. You do not write it down.
7. Tell me about someone you hate.
You stare at the question with pursed lips. You ask it anyway. The creature tells you. Long winded, finally. With a shaking hand you scribble down “no candidates” halfway through.
8. Does anyone love you? Could anyone, ever?
The creature launches itself at the bars with a clang and you fall back on your rear. A different timber enters it’s voice, nearly strangled by the chain on its neck. “yes.” it says fervent, the lisp is gone, pure growl. “You killed them. You killed us.” Wild yellow eyes, no blue, stare out. “You will not take the memories of sun from us. We will kill you all for it, one day.”
You get to your feet and clear your throat for the next question.
9. Loneliness is hard to bear. How many people do you frequently spend time with? Do any of them care about you?
The beast is fresh off another rebirth, and so it’s limbs are still malleable to the shapes and natures of the souls churning within it. It uses this malleability to swipe at the bars with massive talons of a bear, long talons where there was a lion's paw moments ago. “We!” It snaps, “We are! We are here! We! We!” It devolves into wordless noises.
You have to ask the following question several times.
10. Would you be good at managing / surviving on your own?
The blue flecks in its eyes again, finally. An expression like hope flashes before being smothered in animalistic desperate rage. It snarls and growls and barks still. “Give— give me a second.” Gasps out the lisping voice. It slows, backs away, breathing deep to stutter the sound, nearly hyperoxic. Strangled with oxygen. “Better than in here.” It— he? She? Says finally. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to— to not drown in them?” A shaky laugh “They’re already drowned.” It's half-hysterical. “I— we- we have to escape, do you understand? You could help. I’d make sure you lived. Please. Please!”
11. Do you consider yourself a survivor?
“Don’t leave me in here.” It says. “Let me go and I can just leave. You all will never hear from me again. Anything you want. Any test. Take any part of me, I— I could keep them still. Tell that to whoever will listen. Please.”
You write down “easily motivated.” You ask the question again.
“Yes. No.” The head turns to the side and shuts, a dog’s body language. “Not of this.” It says. It curls it’s tail around itself.
12. Do you consider yourself a victim?
“I’ll be grateful. I won’t breathe a word.”
You ask again.
“What do you want me to say?” It asks anguished. “Yes! I—we— we didn’t do anything.”
You tell it that many of the animals within it had killed someone before.
“They’re—we— it was animals— dead already!” It stutters and snaps. “No one could earn this hell." A growl overlays, a strange echo like more than one thing is speaking. “We will simply be killing. We’d never make someone go through this. You all are all sick.”
13. Do you consider yourself broken? Do others consider you so?
“You’re all SICK.” It roars. On it’s feet. “You have taught us nothing but cruelty and want us to call ourself broken? We remember the sun. This is not how it should be! You are all…” A paw stamps, frustrated. “Evil!” It says. “Evil, evil, evil. You’re broken, you’re sick. We’d help with that if you opened the d—”
A strangled sound. The beast drops to the floor clawing at its neck, face. It writhes for a minute until you only see it’s back, on it’s side. “Joking!” gasps out the lilting voice. Was it… young? “Just a joke. I’d let you go. If you helped. I swear.”
14. Are you well acquainted with failure? What happens when you fail?
“I’ve never failed.” says the lisping voice after a minute. “I am doing what I can and sometimes I can’t. This isn’t a mission or a game. You said it earlier. Survival. Just survival.”
15. What is something you'd like to succeed at?
“That is a stupid fucking question.” It muttered, still turned away “Sir, who made this list? No, we have no spare… kitting projects in our back corner. Succeed at. What games would we even play?”
16. Do you carry much responsibility on your shoulders? Or very little? Somewhere in-between?
An annoyed look is thrown over the creature’s shoulder. And then it’s head flops back down.
17. If you disappeared, what do you think would happen to everything you leave behind?
The entire creature goes rigid. The tail flicks agitatedly. “I.” It says. “I think. You all. Know the answer. You’ve, ah—
A snarl, multi-layered, as the ears fall back. “Made sure of it.”
18. Have you ever truly been free? (Does such a thing even exist?)
“YES.” it roars, leaping to its feet. It paces around, agitated. "Yes! Yes." A refrain while it paced.
“…No.” It says. The sound is ripped out like a whine. It twitches. “Sorry.” it whispers to itself, quieter. It mutters some other things you can’t quite make out while it moves back and forth and around, chains rattling. But “stop.” was within the roster.
19. When was the last time you did something entirely for yourself?
You ask over the sound of rasping metal and muttering. It stops.
“When we—” A breath sucked in long, strangled sound with it again. “I think it unwise to answer, sir.”
20. Would you give yourself up for others? Anyone specific?
“No.” Laughs the beast at the final question, no lisp. “Who is left to love?”
It’s tail wraps around its front leg, like a comforting gesture.
The rest of the beast does not notice.
