whump sideblog

Most importantly, make sure they feel so ashamed they refuse to rest or tell anyone. This ensures that eventually, they'll crash and burn so hard everyone will realize how bad it's gotten, maximizing hurt/comfort potential.

Whumpee casually talking to their team about their time with Medic where they dug into their wounds to see what really was the issue and told them that they didn't have pain killers before trailing off and realizing how absolutely messed up that sounds

The team talking about all their training methods and then Whumpee goes and talks about how their mentor used to make them train until they passed out. The team goes very quiet at this

Reminiscing on memories and fondly recounting them before realizing that Whumper was not giving them advice on their methods and instead just brutally beating them down

Whumpee on a new team talking about how their old team and how they shunned them from most things and had them do most of the work. New team is appalled by the old team's behavior and is now demanding Whumpee to give names

-not allowed on furniture. remain standing or kneel on the floor, no sitting

-not allowed to make eye contact 

-being silenced immediately every time they try to speak 

-casual manhandling, being dragged alone because they’re not trusted to move by themselves 

-casual, nonconsensual touch. randomly pulling them closer, absently playing with hair, manually adjusting their posture

-giving orders without explanation 

-giving orders they know are arbitrary, just to exercise power

-talking about them like they aren’t even in the room 

-authorizing other people to monitor and control them

-being kept in restraints 24/7, with movement restricted even further in their downtime 

-degrading their natural behaviors and reflexes. stare is creepy, smile is ugly, flinching is disrespectful, etc…

-putting down their hobbies/interests

Big scary living weapon whumpee following around their little old lady caretaker ready to defend her with his life on her trips to the grocery store after she saw him sitting in the rain and brought him in for tea.

He’s at least two feet taller than her and built like a tank, meant to fight and destroy and kill but she just politely asks if he’ll carry the big bag of cat food to the car as she’s “not as young as she once was”. He carries the cat food and doesn’t feel sick to his stomach following orders any more.

She retired years ago but still keeps up her errands, writing letters and playing cards with her other lady friends, all of whom coo and fawn over him (after their initial concern) and he becomes the recipient of many a homemade craft. His closet overflows with grandma sweaters and his bed is layered with quilts, and it’s the first time he’s been surrounded by such softness and warmth. And they never have to worry about having some big strong man to help get their Christmas decorations out of the attic.

He calls her Miss and ma’am, as if he was afraid of her name, while she calls him honey like it was his name. He likes it better. There were no bad memories tied to “honey”, only those of tea and cookies in her mismatched kitchen chairs and walks down to the park when the weather was nice.

Trust is built slowly over time. It's rarely given immediately and instead is revealed in the smallest vulnerabilities, the quietest choices, the moments where a character lets their guard down without realising it.

I've outlined some ways you can prove to your reader the trust your characters build together.

Sharing secrets they don’t tell anyone else.

Letting someone see their vulnerable side: emotional, disheveled, or undone.

Falling asleep around them without worry.

Admitting confusion instead of pretending to know everything.

Asking for help, especially when they never do.

Walking beside them instead of behind or ahead.

Allowing silence without trying to fill it.

Letting them read unfinished drafts, art, or work-in-progress ideas.

Showing up at their door in a moment of panic.

Not hiding their flaws or insecurities.

Giving them the spare key without overthinking it.

Delegating an important task without hesitation.

Relaxing their shoulders when that person arrives.

Sharing food straight from the same plate or drink.

Telling the truth, even when it’s messy or uncomfortable.

Revealing old scars: physical or emotional.

Accepting advice they’d reject from anyone else.

Allowing touch without stiffening.

Letting that character enter their space.

Looking at them like they’re a place, not a person. A safe place.

They lose a lot of weight, and their muscle mass diminishes. Old injuries that were originally nothing have started to ache tremendously, muscles never ending their whining. Then, Whumpee starts getting sick all the time, too, and spends a concerning amount of time bed-ridden. Even weapons have their limits, and they went past those a long time ago.

Whumpee through tears, "I don't know how to get it to stop..."

Ways That Fear Can Show Up (Without Saying “Fear”)

When it creeps: • Foreboding — the air feels wrong before anything actually happens. • Ominousness — silence that feels almost... purposeful. • Misgiving — your instincts tugging at your sleeve, whispering, "Don't."

When it hits fast: • Shock — your brain blanks • Startled— your heart slams, you inhale • Panic — thoughts fracture; your instincts beg for escape

When it lingers: • Tension — jaw locked, shoulders up near your ears. • Anxiety — background noise that lingers in every thought • Dread — knowing something bad is coming and having to wait for it.

When it turns physical: • Shivers — cold crawling up the spine. • Sweat, dilated pupils, skin gone pale — your own body betrays you. • Weakness — knees like jelly, grip unreliable.

When it overwhelms: • Terror — too big to think around. • Horror — something has gone wrong. • Paralysis — body refusing orders.

When it distorts reality: • Paranoia — patterns where there are none. • Suspicion — every sound feels intentional. • Unease — the sense of being watched without proof.

chatty characters pale-faced and silent

quiet and reserved characters rambling deliriously

character who always resorts to humour clearly trying to think of a quip but coming up empty

no-nonsense character so loopy that they can’t stop giggling

a stoic character’s hands trembling in panic

an easily frightened character so far out of it that they aren’t aware of what’s happening to them, much less afraid

intelligent characters who can’t think straight

protective (self-sacrificial) characters letting someone else take the fall for them because they’re too weak to object

patient characters snapping at whoever comes near

affectionate character who wants to be alone

a crushing weight - absolutely suffocating. every breath feels controlled, eked out in desperation to survive. the burden of memory is unavoidable and colors everything they do.

An endless rolling wave - knocking them down over and over and over again. just when they think they've found their footing, it envelopes them again, everything swirling and chaotic and completely, violently tumultuous.

A low simmer - not bubbling up, not overwhelming, but constantly there. not enough to scald, but enough to burn and unsettle. A lingering sensation in the back of their mind, in the crawl of their skin, unseen to others but undeniably present.

an insidious shadow - sometimes they don't even know it's there. there's a confusing, unsettling feeling of darkness, of something looming, and they look over their shoulder to finally spot it with a familiar sinking feeling.

A familiar companion - no longer scary or overwhelming, but predictable, even manageable. it doesn't mean they like having it hang around - but they're getting used to it. they can expect to see it hanging around in certain situations, and that's okay.

fumbling tasks that they normally perform without second thought, maybe dropping items in the process or having to pause and try to make their hands stop shaking

stumbling unexpectedly, catching themselves on a wall or a piece of furniture and perhaps blinking dazedly as they try to clear the sudden fog from their brain

having to stop for rest, strangely out of breath even though they haven't been working all that hard at anything

leaving their food mostly untouched, claiming they're not hungry or that they already ate

taking a bit longer than they should to register what other people are saying to them and to formulate a response

coughing occasionally and brushing off anyone who mentions it; "it's just a cold"

being unusually quiet and withdrawn, especially if they're normally talking everyone else's ears off, making stupid jokes, pestering others, etc.

keeping their coat on even though everyone else has shed theirs because it's too warm to be wearing one (or the opposite: unzipping their coat and shedding their scarf and gloves even though it's certainly cold enough to be wearing them)

sitting or lying around instead of getting up and helping with whatever work is at hand, especially if this is very unusual behavior for them

spacing out, with others having to practically shout their name in their ear to get them to snap out of it and respond

losing time—one minute, they're in their house; the next, they're at work, and a whole hour has passed without them noticing

squeezing their eyes shut/grimacing/wincing in pain

subtly keeping their hand pressed against their side or their arm wrapped around themselves

falling behind the others since they're moving slower than usual

having others comment on how they look pale or unwell