Whumper who makes Whumpee pretend to be their deceased partner.
Whumper was once madly in love. They were a perfect, genuinely happy couple. When their Partner passed away, possibly unexpectedly, Whumper couldn't bear the grief. They couldn't face a world without their beloved.
And then they saw Whumpee. Whumpee, with so many similarities to their beloved, same hair, same eyes, similar features, similar mannerisms and personality - it's not perfect, but it's close enough. Whumper becomes obsessed, this is their chance to put their life back together, this is their chance to regain what they'd lost.
Whumper modifying whumpee's looks, cutting their hair or growing it out, dressing them in their beloveds old clothes, doing their makeup just as they liked it before. Not before their death, no, they didn't die. They're right here.
it's good enrichment for The Character(s) when one of their friends gets possessed and they have to find some way to bring them back. great friendgroup bonding activity. especially if they have to do some exorcism bullshit and it's traumatizing for everyone involved and there's collapsing and sobbing afterward. great thing for The Character(s) to do. highly recommend.
One of the best things about being a writer is thinking of something small you can add to your work that’s just. Devastating. Like you’re sitting there going. Oh. That would be diabolical. People would get really riled up about that. Exquisite. Let’s do it.
dehumanized characters who reject their dehumanization, who scream that they're a person, they're human, they're just like you!! vs dehumanized characters who embrace their inhuman status, who don't care if they're perceived as dangerous as long as they're not perceived as lesser, who say 'fuck humanity, I'm something different but I'm still worth the same as you'
Caretaker and Whumpee are in a relationship. It's not going well. Whumpee lies constantly, keeps secrets, is doing a lot of 'overtime' at work, coming home later and later. And then they get snappy at Caretaker whenever Caretaker tries to bring any of this up.
Caretaker doesn't want to break up with Whumpee, but they know things also aren't working between them, so they get a therapist. Privately, without Whumpee knowing. They vent their frustrations about how Whumpee's attitude and behaviour is hurting them. About how they think Whumpee might be cheating because they're being too secretive around their phone, and, no matter what lengths Whumpee goes to to hide them, Caretaker has seen those fucking hickeys.
It sounds like a classic case of cheating. Whumpee's fallen in love with a co-worker, or is maybe having a secret affair with their boss. The usual dramas. But Caretaker still loves Whumpee despite all of this, and they want to try to make it work. So they work with their therapist to come up with a way to have an actual conversation with Whumpee. Non-confrontational, open, "I just want to hear you out."
And it works. A little too well.
It starts out hostile. Whumpee is defensive as usual, and then they just... break down. The truth comes tumbling out. Whumper has been abusing them for months, threatening them to keep quiet, hurting them so badly they've had to miss shifts at work to go to the hospital then make up the lost hours with overtime. And Caretaker listens with increasing horror as Whumpee gets more and more upset because fuck they have misjudged this terribly.
They comfort Whumpee the best they can, then immediately text their therapist.
"We had the conversation. It's... a little more complicated than I thought."
the realization that the unhealthy trait you’ve given your favorite oc for funsies is actually something you unintentionally do is like watching a five year old innocently and perfectly mimic your bad habits
Wrote my first whump fic featuring a team, and... it was so... FIST CLENCHINGLY FUN //unholy screeching
Things that are so much fun because a team is being featured:
Having the team members break down in completely different ways. The physically strong one goes into a trauma freeze, the smart leader spirals into self-flagellation, the cheerfully stupid one is just... out for the count because of his injuries.
I found myself in a flow-state of writing because when I got stuck with one character, I simply asked myself, what are the other two up to right now? And BOOM. Cut to team members freaking out, or figuring things out, or Having Opinions.
Personality differences create friction. Or alliances. And then they can shift all over the place as things change around them.
Team members can trigger each other in both good or bad ways. One can look at the other and go, ooh, reminds me of my best friend. Or at another and think, ugh, this one's just like my former boss.
Best if the character doesn't KNOW they have these biases. They trust or distrust team members with no proper basis simply because they're referencing past events in their lives.
Watching a team figure things out together in real time. Whether it's coming up with a solution to a problem under pressure, or gently comforting each other in the aftermath of an intense event... there's something quite wonderful about watching a team's moving parts produce a result. Like opening up a machine and watching the cogs and gears turn.
Adversely, an unhealthy team can be JUST AS FASCINATING to watch. UUGH I need to write this.
Team members can INTERRUPT each other. I cannot emphasise how useful this is!! They can interrupt not just speeches or monologues or dialogues, they can interrupt trauma spirals, and situations that are going out of control. A scene can be building to something, and someone can do something to de-escalate. OR ESCALATE.
INTERRUPTIONS ARE SO FUN. Done right they inject energy and dynamism to a scene.
And it's not just about what's happening in the moment of the Whump Event. People process intense situations in completely different timelines. So the person who holds it together during the event can fall apart weeks later.
Emotions can affect one another and ripple through the team. It could rip through a team, or heal and stabilise. SO MANY POSSIBILITIES HERE.
Having the team members find things out at the same time as the reader is so awesome. Like, seeing the seemingly dumb character surprise their team when they KNOW how to navigate a particularly complex social/political situation. Or the newbie displays some physical prowess that wows the entire team. It gives a sort of real-time disclosure that feels very immediate when the team is right there to react to it with the reader.
Gah, it seems I now have a blorbo team. I think I'm going to be writing more team whump. YASSSS.
(The team fic that inspired this yap post. I wrote it in a 7-hour sitting because INSPIRATION ✨)
freak of nature @carrierlady - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
