#maracujawrites

(loved the new piece! I love how vivid your descriptions are, your writing is always so good!!)

I know! He is moving forward, but she’s being left behind…

Thank you! ❤️ I love descriptions! I think it is fun to write them, I love how experiencing a place can reflect the character’s moods. I personally love old books and how people used to write descriptions before. I am a huge fan of Tolkien, and so on. 😄

I do try to keep the balance with not being too purple prose-y, because I can agree that that is annoying, but I think writing on Tumblr is really freeing like that. It is really nice with the fairly short posts being mostly self-contained scenes. I think of it as giving you guys a shimmering soap bubble of Cory in the forest, and that that can contain more descriptions of a place and carry it without being bogged down. If it was a chapter in a book and it had that amount of detail everywhere, it would probably be too heavy and difficult to read.

I’m glad you like it, Anon! Thank you for taking the time to let me know! ❤️

Here, have some Calcifer! ❤️

I love having a fish, you guys!

He is so smart, and curious, and responsive. This morning he was sleeping under some leaves and I had time to get a bit worried that he wasn’t out and about, and then he noticed me being by the aquarium and you could really see him going like: ”Oh. OH! Sorry, I didn’t see you there.” And just rush out to have a look at me.

I am target training him to swim after a stick and he has got it so fast! If I put it in the water he swims right up to it as quickly as possible.

I show him things outside of the aquarium, like holding up random objects, and he comes over to have a look. If I put my hand into the aquarium, he swims around it. I really expected to have to spend a lot of time training him to not be afraid, but he is very curious and brave and not afraid at all.

He also has the cutest little fins. Like a bumblebee.

100 % recommend. So much more fun than expected.

It definitely has to be the healing…

The way boxies slowly relearn how to be human again, how to acknowledge their own needs and desires, that they themselves matter. Not only the role that they fulfil for someone else, or the usefulness that they can bring to the table, but them, as people.

I like how physical and mental healing go hand in hand. Sure, in fits and starts, and with some steps forward followed by several steps back, but that boxies having their physical needs met usually also helps with their mental healing.

@bbu-on-the-side

CW: institutionalised slavery, dehumanisation, box boy universe

Visit to the vet

Forced medical treatment is one of my absolutely favourite whump tropes.

Is it Caretaker, finally making sure that Whumpee’s wounds are being seen to? Is it Whumper, patching up their toy after their last session?

How does Whumpee react? Are they obedient and submissive, resigned to whatever is being done to them? Do they try to resist and fight to an inch of their lives? Are they terrified, or relieved, or angry? Are they lucid enough to understand what is happening, or does the whole episode seem like just another fever dream?

How does this affect their relationship? Is it strengthened “Whumper must still care for me, since they go through all this trouble.” or weakened “If Caretaker can do this horrible thing to me, I cannot trust them at all”?

I am here for all of it!

Peeking through the curtain

Even if WRU is trying the very best that money, science and illegal drugs can do to turn their merchandise into blank slates who only want to please their owners, we all know that that is impossible to do. Traces of the original person still remains.

Let us peek behind the curtain and see glimpses of the pet’s past. It could be anything. A disjointed memory, a snatch of a song, a favourite flavour. A personality quirk or a still strongly held opinion. Something that hints at the person they used to be before they became a pet. The person that maybe, deep inside, they still are.

Embodied conditioning

I really like when the training that the boxies have been through is visible in the way they move through the world, even if they themselves no longer think about it.

Is it in the way they walk, with a dancer’s elegance or with heavy, threatening strides? Is it in the way they tilt their heads, the smile that is just so, or how they coyly look up through thick eyelashes?

Is it the way they always fold their hands behind their back when they stand? They way their whole body goes soft and pliant if you grab them by the arm? The way they stack the dishes after washing up, or in the way they kneel?

And who is seeing this? Is it their owner, taking pride in a tool fulfilling their function? Is it caretaker, concerned with the way their ward never seems to heal? Is it their friends or new partner, not knowing that anything is amiss at all?

Show us their embodied conditioning.

*

Day 1: Introduction

@bbu-on-the-side

* {Day 1: Introduction} Introduce yourself and give a little overview about your BBU writing / creations. If you want, this is the moment to advertise yourself!

Hi! 👋

My very first post in the BBU (and on Tumblr) was on the 7th of July 2021.

I had accidentally stumbled upon some BBU stories perhaps a week or so ahead and devoured them. I was really fascinated with the concept of a shared but open world for writers to play around in and I also really liked the writing format: write short posts, string them together into a necklace of a story.

That first post has by now blossomed into a masterlist of Lydia and Coriander’s first time together and a long (and ambitious, if I may say so myself) collaboration with @whumpzone. In my writing, I like to explore the consequences of WRU and boxies in the world. I noticed that many stories portrayed lonely caretakers, so I wanted to write a gregarious caretaker with lots of friends who also get involved. There’s a strong focus on comfort and recovery. The heart of my story is the evolving relationship between Lydia the caretaker and Coriander the boxie.

I love being part of this community. Internet and social media seems too often like a hellhole that brings out the worst in everyone in ways that reverberate out into the real world. Here, I feel like I have rediscovered internet in the way it was supposed to be, as an international community where people share their best.

@bbu-on-the-side

* {Day 2: Questions} What's an open question you've always asked yourself about the BBU? Ask it, and see if other writers have found answers to it!

I’m thinking about different categories of boxies… We have seen a wide variety of different designations, platonic companions, romantics, domestics, guard dogs, fighting dogs, pets that function as health aides (or service dogs?) and @squishablesunbeam’s memorable introduction of objects.

@bbu-on-the-side

* {Day 7: Details} What's a detail of BBU worldbuilding you always wanted to dive into? (Newly emerging professions, legal aspects, pet fashion, economic side effects, societal aspects, facility workplace ethic, history, safehouse organisation, deconditioning…) Do it now, and ramble a bit!

There are so many interesting things in the BBU that it was very difficult to choose. I’m thinking about how the BBU handles end-of-life-responsibilities for the people who sign up. Since they no longer are people, it is virtually as if they have died.

What happens to their property? Is a legally binding will one of the documents someone has to sign before becoming a pet? (I don’t think that WRU would cheat and make them sign over their property to the company, since that might make family and friends angry and suspicious. People who sign up to become pets are typically not wealthy, so it wouldn’t be worth it.)

Many stories describe people signing up to become a pet as a spur-of-the-moment decision or a kidnapping, but I also think many people choose this as a carefully considered option. They see few other options in their own life and believe in the promises of the company. I’m thinking that WRU wants to make it as easy as possible for them. Perhaps there is a guide?

What to do before you become a pet?

1. Put your affairs in order. Fill in the will that WRU has provided, our in-house legal team are happy to confirm it for you. Make sure that any animals or minors in your care are provided for. (Contact WRU staff if you need any help in that regard.) Cancel your mobil phone contract, apartment lease and any subscriptions.

2. If applicable, hold a farewell party. Your family and friends will feel better about your decision if you celebrate it with a party. Reiterate your reasons for becoming a pet, tell them you love them and that you are entering a new, exciting stage of your life by becoming accepted into the program.

3. What to bring when you enter the facility? You only have to bring yourself, nothing else. WRU will henceforth provide for your every need. From toothbrushes to medications to shoes and clothes, we’ve got you covered.

*

@bbu-on-the-side

* {Day 6: Inspiration} How did you find the BBU, and how did you go down the rabbit hole? Are there any particular writers, characters or stories that inspired your journey?

I just stumbled upon the BBU on the internet. It was actually my introduction to Tumblr as a website and whump as a concept, too. I have written in collaborative worlds before and absolutely loved it, so that immediately piqued my interest.

I was also really fascinated to see that this was a whole genre with its own tropes and conventions (such as the first bath, the first meal, the boxie thinks caretaker is new master, and so) and I really wanted to try my hand at writing a few of those.

I can’t remember which were the very first stories that I read and in which order, but I know that I read and really enjoyed the following stories:

@whumpzone’s two amazing recovery stories. (Not BBU, but fairly close.)

@deluxewhump’s great frat house box boy story.

@ashintheairlikesnow’s impressive BBU epos.

Also a shout-out to @cupcakes-and-pain who has written several very interesting pet whump stories (non-BBU, I think) and who was the first one to ask to be tagged in my writing. ❤️

I read also The Host and Colton’s stories, who sadly is not active anymore, and grazed my way through a masterlist of other people’s BBU stories that they had made and that also doesn’t seem to exist anymore.