Hi, I'm Alight (Al, not ai). Does anyone remember that one episode where Prime fights Eon and it,s revealed that Eon's foot soldiers are a bunch of energy-sword-wielding versions of Ben? How the heck did that happen?
Hm.. Looking at some of these as possible referencesā¦.. Does anyone know what Double Troubleās species is? I havenāt watched the show, but the species seemingly fits a niche I was trying to fill.
Oh hey, I found you out in the wild. I like your Ben 10 fic wherein he gets hospitalized over a stab wound, (and found you while perusing the whump tags).
I should probably ask a fun question, huh?
Let me thinkā¦ You seem to partake in whump a fair bit, and are a fellow Ben 10 fan, so what kinds of tropes or prompts do you think best suits him? I favour ones involving tiredness, but Iām also a chronic hypersomnic, so Iām nothing if not biased.
hey! sorry this took me *checks date* like two and a half months to answer. I have no excuse
thank you! I'm always delighted when my fellow whump-lovers enjoy my works. "while perusing the whump tags" is possibly the best way anyone's ever found me, lol
that's a very fun question! I'm gonna answer in two versions ā what do I think is most realistic to his character, and what do I think is most interesting for his character?
So, one of the reasons I love Ben's character so much is because he really is just... Like That. I'm far from the first person to say it, but so many superheroes have some sort of massively tragic backstory or a destiny they have to fulfill, and while Ben technically is destined to become who he becomes due to the multiverse-level time loop nonsense, that time loop wouldn't have happened in the first place if not for Ben being who he is.
So basically, you've got a character who is 100% on board with being a hero, threats to his life and all, and considers near-lethal battles fun. He's an thrill-seeker with a heart of gold and no sense of self-preservation. In other words, he's a somewhat atypical character, and definitely atypical for a whumpee.
That said, there are definitely some episodes that give us a glimpse of what he would be like as a whumpee, so...
Realistic-to-his-character whump tropes:
for the record I had extensive receipts on these but it got a little long. I will explain myself if asked but I figured I'd try to condense it
Defiant whumpee
See: almost always. but in particular the Techadon Weapon Master episode and those times he was hunted for sport
Tries to hide it and often succeeds
See: his whole confident act, literally stated to be an act he puts on to cope with the pressure
Complains about a paper cut; ignores a stab wound
See: the secret of chromastone episode, in which he's miserable about a common cold and mildly irritated about being broken into pieces
Witnessing others' suffering is worse
See: all the time. but especially anytime Gwen gets hurt
Irrational fear is worse than rational
See: everything with Zombozo, versus how chill he is when being shot at
Accidental self-sabotage (bad at listening to his body)
See: consecutive all-nighters
but on the flip-side, there are tropes that don't fit his (usual) character as well, which you see when he's at his complete frickin' breaking point
Begging
See: "Azmuth, help me. Please, just so I can help them."
Breaking down in front of others
See: the above
Apathetic/lacking compassion
See: the Ultimate Kevin arc
Understandably ā but uncharacteristically ā reacting to a genuine threat
See: reverting to full panic mode whenever Elena is suffocating him
Now, as for what I find interesting for him, but which doesn't necessarily show up in canon...
Making it through a battle on adrenaline, then collapsing from an injury no one else knew he had
I think this one is pretty realistic for his character, except that it's hard for him to get majorly injured in a way that sticks, considering most of his aliens' regenerative capabilities.
Begging for death
Definitely a trope I enjoy, just in general, especially for characters that have something keeping them alive. I can imagine a particularly messed up universe where Ben goes to Azmuth and begs him to take the Omnitrix so it stops reviving him. and Azmuth would probably point out that Ben didn't let him suicidally doom the universe, so turnabout's fair play. But while we're on the topic of the Omnitrix bringing Ben back to life...
Dying, coming back, and not telling anyone
It's not even that he'd hide it; he just wouldn't bother mentioning it because, like... he almost dies all the time. So what if he remembers the feeling of his heart going still and his lungs freezing and his blood starting to pool? So what if he has phantom pains where the wounds to his vital organ/artery/half his skin/entire body were before they just vanished? No big deal, right?
Comforting someone else while he's hurt
He understands the pain of watching someone you love suffer or die, so he'd want to mitigate that in any way he could. Smiling through reflex tears, biting back a scream, coughing up blood after every word, barely able to lift his hand but still holding theirs, saying it's okay. It's gonna be okay. It's not your fault. He knows it's bad but it doesn't matter. He needs to make them feel better. That's all he knows how to do.
Whump reveal entirely against his will
There are so many ways for this to happen, and whether it's a canon occurrence of whump or not, I love reading stories where other people are very suddenly confronted with a reality he did not want them to know about.
...
okay, and a couple of sleep-related ones, since that's such a fun subcategory of whump
Canonically pulls all-nighters? Well, how about him getting knocked down during a battle, and it looks like he's dazed/injured, but really he's just so tired he doesn't want to get back up? How about him hearing his mom call his name three times before realizing it's not an auditory hallucination from sleep depravation?
(...I've had the kind of auditory hallucinations you have as you wake up and as you fall asleep, and it's always someone calling my name. Which can make it hard to know whether or not my name is actually being called when it is, if I'm near sleep. For the record, sleep-related hallucinations are pretty common; upwards of ten percent of the population, iirc, will have them at some point in their life. So Ben definitely would <3)
Canonically has nightmares that keep him up? How about he wakes up shivering in a cold sweat, and he can't get warm? How about he curls up on his side because he doesn't have the energy to get up, but he's too riled up to sleep, so he just lays there and tries to doze for the three hours before morning?
Sometimes, he goes home and passes out without even taking his shoes off, so exhausted from a battle or a stakeout that he barely makes it to his bed. Sometimes, he stares at the ceiling for hours, on edge for no reason or replaying a moment where something went wrong in his head, and the sun is rising before he manages to drift off.
(Iām the asker, Iām reblogging here for organizational purposes.)
You had more notes? More? Hidden receipts? Being unshared? I beseech you, kindly fellow, and assure that your rambles and plotting shall all be read. /silly
I find it interesting to sort the response by order of āLikelyā and āInterestingā, and thank you for the thorough response. A lot of the stuff you said had been side-eyeing the amnesia fic I was working on today and yesterday (As it Ebbs Away), which- if I actually write it out in its completion- is about who Ben might become if the foundations of his perspective on the world was a bit different. The current amount published is just Ben smacking into the ground after getting darted in the air.
(Also, as unrelated tangent, you hypnogogic hallucies are very specific. You need not explain yourself, fair fellow, you are among a peer.. And I offer my sympathies that your hallucies lead towards frequent false awakenings, that sounds sucky. Mine are more visual and varied, but also tend to involve auditory (and, if Iām off my meds for enough days or have been very busy for a bit too long, touch, smell, and taste. Needles are the worst, chocolate treats are the best.)
One thing Iām playing with in As It Ebbs Away is the view that othersā suffering is more severe or worse, but Ben views the version of himself before the memory loss as āthe other personā and so has very strong opinions on it all, even though heād probably accept it had it happened to āhimselfā.
Something Iām having trouble with is coming up with illustrations for the fic for chapter two, since whatever it is ought to emphasize how amnesiac-Ben is taking in every little detail around himself while bypassing the āhimā as a given (ignores a stab wound: heās figured out that he doesnāt remember anything before waking up, knows itās a problem, and just decides itās irrelevant to the moment).
I kinda want to make an illustration for your fic, too, honestly, but have no ideas! Anything I think up is beyound my capacities! Iād probably do the scene where Ben gets his wounds burned shut, honestlyā¦ might be coolā¦ Donāt tempt me.
Hmā¦ I want to do a drawing of that last note, where Ben false asleep immediately on return home. I know an artist whoās done something similar (not Ben related) which could make for handy inspirationā¦
Iām getting off track. Watch me wander further:
This was the illustration for chapter one and it is visually nice, narratively passable, ā¦but not wholly helpful storytelling-wise aside from indicating his injuries and implicating the rural setting.
If Iād been characterizing him through the perspective of his daredevil, adrenaline junky-ness, Iād probably have made this the crash scene; if the image was meant to showcase how analytic he is (a little out of character but roll with it as a given in the fic) then I should have included the darts, the people rushing over to check on him, kept in details of his surrounding, etcetera. What should have been kept in was a more explicit representation of his memories melting away (the swirls making up the dirt were originally going to be coloured and made ephemeral). At best, I could claim the backview helps to establish his absence, given the fact that heās about to lose himself? But thatās pushing it because I have been drawing backview drawings a lot more often this year.
(Ben in this story has no non-human traits and that is weird to me. I did it so as to make certain interactions more cohesive- but itās odd.)
Anyways.
Iāve wandered well away enough.
To return to your story, Person With A Cool Fic, I think I should take notes on the characterization of Gwen and Kevin, as I tend to have some trouble writing those two. Gwen has a lot of traits I admire but sheās also romance-focused and little ace me has a bone to pick about it. I love your Rook, too, he feels so corporal.
I find myself repeatedly drawn to amnesia as a story trope, and while this is far from a new development, Iām realizing that my reasoning has changed throughout the years. (Note: I have memory issues, but not the kind that would cause me to forget events.)
Originally, it was fascination with the topic as a matter of psychological horror; you forget things and have happened and are, thus, vulnerable and unprepared for the things you know to be wary of.
Then it became a matter of frustration in my late teens and early adulthood, because forgetting allows for plausible deniability of offenders and for the one who remembers, or at least who doesnāt decide to not know, is the one stuck dealing with the aftermath.
Currently, I have a curious relationship with the concept of forgettingā I have some siblings who have told me that they donāt remember nearly any of our shared childhoods and mostly just have vague impressions of it all. That is fascinating to me, but it is also very very strange.
Not in terms of mechanics, I get that (mostly, Iām still researching), but with how it impacts a person while engaging with their past to present?
Concept: A character forgets their past and is free to rebuild their future. Consequence: Lack of preparedness for when past events resurface; alienation of those who remember (hiiiii); potential mystery for their life before; a need to rebuild a sense of self.
Hm.. I canāt say that itās for the best, or that accepting it and pressing on wonāt be detrimental down the line, but she seems to be doing fine for now.
Anyways. I still use amnesia as a concept of disablement/disempowerment, but am also wanting to write a quick fic about its main character losing their memories, rebuilding a life, and then having to decide if the life theyāve left is worth reclaiming.
I did this one yesterday, this is functionally me trying to figure out how to conceptualize Omniverseās style. For a while, I was having trouble drawing characters without completely overhauling their designs, buuuut I think I like the idea of turning the designs as being more literal.
Omniverse humans (or āBrightsā) have been gradually modified across a handful of generations to be more aesthetically pleasing for certain political powers (namely Galvans) and to be more resilient in space-faring.
I decided to make Benās workaholism more sustainable by reducing his need for things like sleep, hygiene, eating, etcetera. (Showering matters less, or is easier to get away with not doing, if you donāt have the odor glands we adult humans do).
It also helps make feral/organic humans (like you and I, dear reader) more fun because weāre the ones with pointy teeth and weird, daily rituals.
I finally got around to making a quick little reference sheet.
Iāve been thinking of late about how certain species in Ben 10 are seen commonly around Earth-based alien settlements, and how other species arenāt.
Like- have you ever noticed that the main sophonts we see populating the Undertown are either unrecognizable aliens or Kinecelerans? And how most of the Plumber characters happen to be species from the Omnitrix?
What species even are the Vreedle brothers??? I have questions.
So, yeah, Iāve decided that Kinecelerans (along with a few others from the Omnitrix) are common space-fairing species. Kinets are specifically common along Plumber facilities for basic grunt work, as theyāre fast and decently small.
I dreamt that I got a handful of comments on one of my Benbozo drawings criticizing me for my characterization choices. How 'everyone in the fandom knows that you can't make Ben's hair red, red symbolizes love, which he struggles with!' Like, I dreamt there were Ben 10 fan character gatekeepers.
I dreamt that I got a handful of comments on one of my Benbozo drawings criticizing me for my characterization choices. How 'everyone in the fandom knows that you can't make Ben's hair red, red symbolizes love, which he struggles with!' Like, I dreamt there were Ben 10 fan character gatekeepers.
