Notes from Canna's Fortress

Story and whump sideblog for c-zira. There will occasionally be gore and nsfwhump. Filtering by "my prompts" is suggested if you just want whump ideas. Asks are open. (The picture shows Canna and Sev, my beloved whumper and whumpee.)

[for-the-ouchies]

Greetings

Things you are likely to find here: Torture, desensitised whumpees (often of the stoic and compliant variety), captive whump, carewhumpers and carewhumpees, noncon whump, creepy comfort, resignation, close and/or intimate whumper and whumpee, humiliation whump, multiple whumpees (usually with a defiant newcomer), complications in recovery, clever and pragmatic whumpees, occasional gore, and groups of prompts being posted after each other because I never do use the queue here.

Often also found in The Tale of the Traitor: Medieval whump, mutilation and dismemberment, multiple whumpers. (And one case of royalty whump, starting here.)

Things you generally won't find here: Sickness or overwork whump (occasionally shows up combined with other things), bad caretakers (unless they are outright carewhumpers), institutionalised whump, or loud/angry whumpers. There's usually also no living weapons or BBU (though I sometimes reblog some or will include them in a post with multiple scenarios/interpretations).

OCs in The Tale of the Traitor: The main characters are Canna (protagonist, whumper/carewhumper, she/her, introduction here) and Severin / the traitor / doll (deuteragonist, compliant whumpee, he/it, backstory summary here, Part One summary here, an answered ask with a long answer here). They both have tags you can filter by if you're curious.

Other characters include High Inquisitor Elm, Emperor Xiloscantun, Sev's siblings including Leonia, rebels such as Rill, Linra, and Fen, and a trophy named Driftwood.

Canna's underlings / other whumpers are Delslit, Eshha, Jiri, Telnu, and Norin (who technically doesn't work for her anymore but still enjoys helping out).

Other OCs: The most frequently mentioned is Iolite (the one getting stabbed in this lovely art), originally one of my SWTOR characters. He's just a silly guy with semi-immortality and an absurdly high pain tolerance. Then there's Lumen (inspired by a Minecraft skin of mine), a soul cursed to darkness/hell but bearing light, but they don't have a character tag yet. In the process of being developed are Ru and Hanu, an ex-captive whumpee duo, and Vilya (sort-of pet sort-of whumpee) with her still unnamed monster (vampire whumper) from a dream I had.

Ask games: I welcome asks from meowsikbox's whumpy ask game, hypopetwhump's pet whump ask game, rabbit-flaying's nsfwhump ask game, and my own, with prompts for Sev specifically at seasaltandcopper's humiliation prompts and asks for Vilya from my vampire victim ask game, plus any random questions or character-related prompts. I can only send asks from my other blog, @c-zira.

I also often treat ask games as interviews: one from inhurtandcomfort, one from paingoes, one from dresden-syndrome (see unanswered here), from whumpawaydarling, and from sowhumpshaped.

Me: Zira, nocturnal autistic adult with low support needs, mild chronic pain that used to be a lot worse, an unceasing hunger for stories, a fascination with character death, a not insignificant amount of (non-sexual) sadomasochism, and he/she/they/it pronouns. Likes some of its own prompts more than others.

[for-the-ouchies]

You can pull whumpee around on a meat hook by the way.

[for-the-ouchies]

Whumpee with a less than ideal upbringing becoming incredibly loyal to a carewhumper who takes their pain seriously, and even acknowledges when they're the one to have inflicted it.

[for-the-ouchies]

Forced to hurt where whumpee A really wants to scream / cry / beg whumpee B to stop, but they know they mustn't. Because B actually would stop, and be punished for it, and A can't have that on their conscience.

[for-the-ouchies]

“See, they say they'll stop once you admit the truth, but that's not how it works. They can't tell what the truth is, so they just keep hurting you until they're satisfied you seem desperate enough. What you actually say doesn't matter- it's all in the delivery.”

[for-the-ouchies]

Whumpee is worried.

Caretaker has been endlessly gentle and patient as whumpee recovers, but now whumpee is almost well again, and what then? Whumper only wanted whumpee to hurt, so naturally caretaker only wants whumpee to take care of. That's what they do, right? If whumpee doesn't need looking after, the relationship will fall apart.

But whumpee has a plan, one that will satisfy everyone. All they need to do is go back to whumper. Whumper will hurt them again, and then they can return to caretaker, who will look after them, and once they're well again they'll repeat it, and both of them will be happy to do that they do best, and whumpee will get to keep both of them in their life. It's perfect.

[for-the-ouchies]

Sometimes, whumpee secretly resents being rescued. They'd finally adapted, come to terms with everything and gotten good at living within the constraints whumper set. Now they have to do it all over again, with everyone insisting that this is better for them. And this time, they're expected to be grateful for it.

[for-the-ouchies]

(Putting a little warning here for a less than ideal attitude to the idea of getting better / prioritising one's own needs / being a “burden”.)

Whumpee's been told they need to recover, but they're not sure that's actually a good idea?

They know about recovery. Recovery is messy and complicated and hurtful. It means taking up space and making people upset. It means backslides and breakdowns. It means mourning.

Isn't it better for whumpee to just stay as they are? Sure, they're not really a person right now, let alone a well-adjusted one, but they're functioning. Maybe they're unobtrusive and obedient, and aren't those good traits? Maybe they're stoic and efficient, and aren't those qualities widely praised?

Surely no one actually wants them to be emotional, be upset, take up space, demand thinks they want, set boundaries? Surely they're much easier to look after the way they are? People say “you need to recover” but whumpee thinks those people would probably like them less if they tried to.

[for-the-ouchies]

I'd guess that most rescued/escaped whumpees, having had very little of their own, cling on to what they do have, but what about whumpee who doesn't form strong attachments to anything they're given?

One character gives them a gift and another accidentally breaks it? Oh, that's alright, it happens. Someone borrows something and never gives it back? Oh well, whumpee can just get another.

They're not scared of losing anything, but they're scared of caring, because they've learned that nothing is for them to keep.

[for-the-ouchies]

Whumpee finally coming to terms with their imminent death only for whumper to realise this and keep them alive for precisely that reason.

[for-the-ouchies]

“I hear you've been through this before. Good. Should be easy for you then.”

[for-the-ouchies]

“I'm sorry,” whumper says, and: “It won't happen again, I swear.”

And whumpee knows it will, it always does, again and again and again, but they can't crush whumper's hopes like that, so they say nothing, and pretend to believe whumper can get better.

[for-the-ouchies]

Whumpee is kneeling? Good. Now kick their knees apart.

[cepheusgalaxy]

About that post you made earlier about black whumpees, often times the POC whumpees/caregivers are the same race as the writer which is cool and all but I genuinely believe there would be a treasure trove of whump fics on this site if writers were comfortable with writing whumpees of multiple races/outside their own race, and it’s a little bit easier in bbu universes because the author doesn’t need to write about whumpee’s childhood growing up in that culture because most of the time they either don’t remember growing up at all or they were born into the whump thing, whatever the author chooses to do, there’s also no shame in writing your race only, I love exploring cultures through whump fics where the characters are POC

Yesss that's true. Sometimes we as writers fall into the 'write only what you know' advice and it can limit the stories we're willing to tell & although that's not exactly what you're talking about, people in privileged positions in relation to others in particular tend to Not Have To Think about marginalized groups and that ends up shoving their issues under the rug.

If you're able-bodied going out of your way to listen to physically disabled people and portray them in your stories is a good thing & if you're American/white going out of your way to learn about different cultures hear what their members have to say and try to respectfully portray them is a good thing & if you're cis or neurotypical or thin or perisex etc., that also applies and if you're white I think that trying to include nonwhite narratives in your writing is going to not only enrich your craft but also expand your vision of the world and being willing to recognize the complexities of poc as people that are worth being written about is also an important step in becoming a little better of an ally everyday. It's not like you're jair bolsonaro himself if all of your whumpees are white but I do think it's worth questioning why is that and stepping out of your comfort zone to diversify the amount of demographics you're willing to portray. Back to your point, even as someone who isn't white myself (Black + latin-american) I will still benefit from including other nonwhite perspectives (ie. Indigenous! Asian!) in my writing and it can help in making me a better ally for other non-Black poc!

I do think that BBU wouldn't be as effective as a 'cop-out' on its own though, because regardless of not remembering about one's childhood their race/ethnicity would still impact how they navigate the world ie. if we're talking about Black whumpees, how to stereotypes about Black people spread over to the Boxie scene? are Black boxies said to have 'a higher pain tolerance'? are they viewed as more noncompliant and treated more harshly during training? are Black boxies more present in designations like Romantics and Guard Dogs due to the hypersexualization of Black folks and the way we're seen as more aggressive or dangerous? Are they given proper care for their hair? Do certain owners avoid Black boxies because they don't want the 'extra work' that comes with it or because Black boxies are seen as less desirable and more difficult? BUT that doesn't mean you have to address anti-Black racism in the text if you don't feel like you can do it properly. In my opinion. Like:

Yknow how some royalty whump stories occur in settings where homosexuality is fully fine and normalized but the gay main character still gets put through the gutter and abused to hell and back? I think Black folks also deserve that kind of escapist fantasy where racism isn't a factor but they still get the same stories and tasty scenarios we usually give white whumpees so I see a lot of merit in not taking racial dynamics into the picture any further than recognizing how it may shape your own biases during the planning proccess (<- "racism doesnt exist in my story but it does exist in real life and it shapes my patterns of thinking so what are some ways in which i can deconstruct those patterns and not perpetuate stereotypes/harmful pitfalls in my narrative") and just have their Blackness be a non-issue. If people don't feel like they're capable of addressing it in their stories just weaving a Gay Princes Are Normalized is pretty nice already. You don't need to have BBU for that! Is my point. I think.

But I keep going on tangents. Back to your point again anon, writing other cultures is not just about writing their struggles it's also about the cultural differences themselves so it may seem daunting to someone who's never done that and it's easier to just take baby steps. If just dipping your toes in the water is what it takes to working yourself up to taking a full swim then by all means do that! But eventually I think we'll all benefit from being willing to portray other cultures we're not a part of and that includes doing the things that seem more trickier too. It's not only fun and interesting but it can help you unlearn your own biases, some of them which you might not even be aware that you have! So yeah ty for your input anon!

[for-the-ouchies]

Of course whumpee doesn't like being whumper's captive, but it's been a very long time and they're really not distressed about it anymore. The situation may not be great but it is what it is, and whumpee has adapted well.

When a new whumpee joins them, constantly afraid, reacting with confusion and panic to things they don't yet understand, horrified by things the old whumpee doesn't bat an eye at, the old whumpee finds themselves disturbed, reminded too much of memories from when they were the new one.

Do they try to help the new whumpee through this time? Or do they keep their distance, too disturbed by this echo of their past self?

[for-the-ouchies]

The constant fear, the exhaustion of it, is taking its toll, and eventually, it simply becomes too much for whumpee. They demand- or beg -that whumper finally get whatever it is they're going to do over with.

Maybe whumper grins, was just waiting for them to ask. Maybe they say whumpee beter not complain... “after all, you wanted this.”

Or maybe whumper is disappointed, says they thought whumpee was better.

Maybe they claim they don't know what whumpee's talking about.

...Maybe they don't know what whumpee's talking about. Maybe they're not a whumper at all.

[for-the-ouchies]

Whumpee talking an inexperienced or emotional caretaker through treating their injuries, forcing their tone to remain calm and reassuring despite the immense pain.