introduction #2, I suppose; focusing on the hurt/comfort / whump stuff.
(short summary of the āabout meā introduction: Laurel/Guardy, they/them or he/him, 24, been here for a long time but never said anything because, while my love fort hurt/comfort is not exactly a secret, thereās a difference between whumpy writings and full-on whump community and Iām not sure my watchers would appreciate the latter)
What do I like about whump in general? Mostly the idea that, no matter how broken the whumpee thinks they are and how inferior they feel, theyāre still worth saving and things may turn out alright-ish after all. Also, vulnerability.
Some favorite tropes:
Hidden injuries: especially when theyāre hidden for the sake of somebody else. āNo, you go on ahead and Iāll be right behind youā and all that. Also excellent: when the whumpee hides the injuries because theyāre deeply uncomfortable with being cared for and/or think theyāre not worthy of the attention. ESPECIALLY if the future caretaker accidentally said something that got them into that mindspace not too long before theyāre injured.
whumped authority figures: Always doubly fun when itās the mentor/leader/boss/āgenerally character others tend to put on a pedestalā who goes down, especially when they REALLY canāt afford it at that moment.
accidental emotional h/c: the whumpee overhears something that wrecks them emotionally, despite that thing not having been what it seems. Basically, the good old āfriends fight and then one overhears a random āhe could go die in a ditch for all I careā and thinks thatās about him and pretty much goes āah wellā and refuses to get help when he DOES almost die in a ditch by coincidenceā.
comfort/recovery: more emotional than physical, really.
embarrassingly minor injuries that are life-threatening (and painful as hell) due to circumstance. Sprained ankle? shit happens. Sprained ankle you have to walk on for miles or freeze to death during the night? nyehehehe.
generally minor things turning serious because the whumpee doesnāt take care of themselves. Whump that starts subtly and develops from there is just... *chef kiss*
sel-destructiveness, especially when the whumpee isnāt aware that THATās what it is. Basically, love it when whump starts by pure bad luck and then the whumpee makes it that much worse and their avoidance of getting help initally is the thing that REALLY gets them into trouble later.
(and them eventually getting some sense talked into them) Ā
generally whumpees having to get emotionally patched up to help with the physical side of things.
Characters not knowing that the whumpee is whumped yet and being jerks in some way / getting ready to shout at them for being late or something
Getting creative with magic or nonhuman attributes: on the whumperās and the whumpeeās AND the caretakerās side.
eternal fave: magical healing that REALLY SUCKS for everyone involved.
Some tropes I donāt usually enjoy: (though most of those have plenty of exceptions)
Anything TOO graphic or grimdark. Iām not really here for guts and gore and extreme torture, I guess.
Heavily medical-themed whump. I donāt care terribly much about the technical details; Iām more focused the whumpeeās emotions. Also not a huge fan of hospital settings. Makes it Too Real, I guess?
Genuinely malicious/abusive caretakers. Caretakers who fail to grasp the seriousness of a situation and are jackasses about it at first can be super fun, but when itās deliberately abusive and thatās the best the whumpees will ever get, it mostly just makes me sadder than I want to be.
The character being too broken, especially mentally - donāt ask me where the line there is, though, because I donāt know
fem!whump, usually - unless itās one of a few choice characters I already loved as a kid (when I was apparently less squeamish), or, in a tiny handful of instances, from 2D animation. And even then, my tolerance level there is a LOT lower than usual.
Permanent severe disabilities (and brain damage) - something career-ending as opposed to a mere inconvenience. Once again, just too much realism for me.
TL;DR - the whump hereās Lighter and Fluffier than usual (and, frequently enough, pure cheese), frequently nobodyās fault, and Iām a pretty straightforward writer... although I have a fair bit of gleefull insidiousness up my sleeve for my poor darlings, believe me :)))
Also, for me whumpās in the details, so if you ever need somebody to go over an old favorite whump scene and point out every pained twitch in glorious detail, Iām your... human?
(also I like to talk a lot, apparently. hahaha... ha...)
