One thing I aaabsolutely love is the beginnings of recovery after a difficult illness (or injury or starvation or whatever that's taken a heavy toll on the whumpee's body), where they're no longer really sick as such, but they're still just absolutely out of strength to the point that they're hardly even able to walk across the room and still have to spend most of their time in bed, probably still sleeping a lot. Just that part where they're come out on the other side of the worst of it, but now it's a slow road to regaining the strength they've lost
SAME ANON
when the simplest task, like holding a cup of water to their lips, is so taxing that someone else has to help them do it
because theyâre so thin/worn down, theyâre constantly cold to the bone, too weak to keep themselves warm even when dressed in warm clothing or covered in blankets
consequently, they spend most of their time in bed trying to get warm enough
they desperately need nourishment but they can only manage a few bites of dinner or sips of soup at a time
old clothes that used to fit perfectly now hanging loosely on their gaunt frame
losing focus during the simplest conversations
falling asleep mid-conversation
dropping very small objects because their hands are so unsteady
even a gentle breeze sends goosebumps skittering across their skin
their body constantly aches, even when laying in a comfortable bed
being covered in multiple soft blankets which they clutch to their chin
caretaker gently massages the rest of their body to try and get the blood flowing and get them healing faster
give that character who is usually so stoic a fever. make them softly beg for contact. Make them whimper and sob and plead for someone, anyone to stay. Stay with themâ they donât⌠Everything feels weird, and itâs safer with you, pleaseâ
Whumpee who only cares about making sure Caretaker is okay.
Caretaker isnât even with Whumper, but Whumper knows how much they care about them so thatâs the threat they use to get Whumpee to talk or submit to them.
Or Caretaker is there too, Whumpee just makes sure they take all of the beatings to Caretaker never gets touched.
Whumpee clinging to Caretaker when theyâre finally able to.
Caretaker trying to reassure Whumpee that theyâre not hurt while also trying to get Whumpee off of them so they can bandage their wounds.
Whumpee who basically has separation anxiety now, waking up in a panic in the hospital because Caretaker is gone and theyâre worried something happened to them.
Whumpee not even realizing theyâre injured because theyâre so focused on making sure Caretaker is okay.
I love the idea of Caretaker being the only thing that can bring Whumpee comfort, but itâs just because Whumpee basically is playing doctor to them.
big fan of when a character is dead and the narrative frames them in a very angelic, soft, gentle manner but then it turns out not only are they still alive (plot twist) but theyre alive in the most gruesome and horrific way. your loving kind mentor who motivates you to fight in their memory came back wrong and theres blood and dirt under their fingernails from clawing they way out of the grave.
As much as I love (love love love love love) rescue scenes in whump where Caretaker finds their Whumpee and saves them, I really love it when thereâs a gap in the timeline between then being under Whumperâs care and them being under Caretakerâs care.
Whumpee got out alone, patched themself up, and just kept to themself. And while, sure, theyâre alive and definitely better off than they were during the whump, without anyone there to help them recover, their methods are far from industry standards.
What canât be repressed ends up leading to every unhealthy coping mechanism in the book. Whumpee is barely eating, barely sleeping, and not to mention theyâve been surviving off of crappy motels and other similarly shitty resting points, after all they never learnt to settle or calm their nerves after Whumper.
When Caretaker crosses their path, there are two main routes it can go down. In situation A, Caretaker knows what Whumpee went through before. Maybe theyâre tracking down Whumper, or at least trying to help everyone they hurt. When the two finally meet face to face, Caretaker is horrified that Whumpee has gone from one horrific lifestyle to the next, and worries how permanently detrimental this could be to the recovery.
In situation B, however, Caretaker doesnât know the full story. They saw Whumpee, clearly having a hard time in life, and swept in to try and help them. When Whumpee is slowly starting to recover, making the first basic steps, Caretaker tries to gently get more information on how they got here in the first place, hoping to find what works best based on Whumpeeâs situation. They quickly find out theyâre in deeper water than their caretaking expertise will allow them to swim through, but after hearing everything Whumpee went through, they canât just abandom them and let them go back to that life.
They escaped from Whumper by themself. They healed by themself. They came to terms with everything by themself. Alone.
Suddenly Whumpee shows up, having gone through the exact same thing with the exact same Whumper as Caretaker.
Caretaker refuses to let someone else have to go through it alone and tries to help Whumpee heal in all the ways they wished someone had done for them. They're harsh in their delivery but it helps to drive home the idea that maybe there is another side for Whumpee...
But it all brings back memories for Caretaker that they thought they had moved on from. The more they help Whumpee through, the worse their own mind gets.
As they spiral they start to think about how they're alone. How they've going to have to get better all on their own again and how no one cares or will be there for them and that they-
But Whumpee was just taught to not leave someone alone when they're struggling. Whumpee won't leave them alone.
content: past trauma, hospital setting, rocky recovery, recovery fic, comfort
"Oh, come on. I can't look that bad."
Caretaker stood there, hand over their mouth, eyes quickly filling with tears at the sight. Whumpee, their poor Whumpee, was covered in bruises and lacerations. Their clothes, tattered and torn, hung on their emaciated body like a tent. And yet, there was a smile on their face. A smile, no doubt, trying to reassure Caretaker. "Oh my god," they breathed.
"Caretakerâ"
They didn't let them say any more. Caretaker rushed over and enveloped them in a hug, careful not to squeeze their battered body. Whumpee's warm blood clung to their clean clothes. "You do look that bad," they whispered. "You look awful. You look half-dead."
"Okay, okay, I get the point." Whumpee slowly raised their arms to return the hug. Caretaker thought they would never feel this again, yet here they were. "LookâŚ" They trailed off, and Caretaker had no idea where they were going with it. "I⌠I don't⌠I didn't mean to scare you. I just didn't want to go to a hospital, this was closer, andâ"
"I understand," they said. "I'm glad you came. I'm so glad you came. I'll drive you to the hospital. I'll wait there with you until they patch you up. Iâ I'm so glad you're alive, even if just barely. You don't have to say anything about where you were if you're not ready yet."
"Okay," they said softly. "Thank you."
The drive to the hospital was spent in silence. Whumpee wasn't ready to talk yet, and Caretaker wasn't going to force them. The doctors would do all the forcing anyway. Caretaker wasn't going to eavesdrop, though. Whumpee could come to them whenever they felt like it was time.
"Will you really stay here?" Whumpee asked once they were in the waiting room of the ER. "The whole time?"
"Of course. There's nowhere I'd rather be. I want to be there for you. I couldn't be there when you disappeared. I beat myself up over it every single day. There's no way I'm leaving you alone again."
"Whumpee," a nurse called, and Whumpee stood on shaky legs to go into the room. They looked back at Caretaker one last time before they disappeared behind the door. Caretaker stayed there, fidgeting with the hem of their shirt and bouncing their leg. They wished they could've gone inside, but they wanted to give Whumpee their privacy.
It felt like hours before Whumpee reemerged. They were now in a wheelchair, and the same nurse was pushing them towards the regular side of the hospital. Caretaker jumped up to go with them. "What'd they say?" they asked Whumpee.
"They want to keep me because I'm at risk of refeeding syndrome," Whumpee muttered, and Caretaker got the sense they felt embarrassed about it.
"Okay. That'sâ That's not good, but I'm glad they're keeping you. I mean, I'm not glad, it's awful, and I'm sure you'd rather be at home, but I'm glad they're keeping an eye on you."
"Friend?" the nurse asked.
"Yeah, best friend."
"You'll need to pack a bag for Whumpee with their essentials. Shampoo, bodywash, a change of clothes, pyjamasâŚ"
"Yeah, of course."
"You said you'd stay," Whumpee said immediately, eyes wide and afraid.
"I will stay. I will throw together a bag for you, then come right back. I won't move from beside your bed."
"I don't need any of that stuff," they said, panic levels rising. "I don't need any of it. I just need you here. Please. Don't go."
"WhumpeeâŚ" the nurse said with a sigh. "You do need the essentials. I'll stay with you until your friend gets back."
"I won't fucking stay in the hospital unless Caretaker is with me!" they snapped.
"Whumpee." Caretaker stood in front of the wheelchair, dropping to a crouch to talk to Whumpee like they were a frightened child. They held their bony hand in theirs, gently massaging the back of it. "I will be here with you. I just need about a half hour to get your bag ready. I will be here, okay? I will be here for you. Just allow me this half hour."
"You said you'd never leave me alone again," they sobbed. "You promised."
Caretaker squeezed their hand a little. "And I meant it. Okay. I won't grab a bag for you. I'll stay right here."
"I'm sorry, but you absolutely need to pack a bagâ" the nurse tried, but Caretaker raised a hand to silence them.
"I won't leave my friend alone if they think they can't bear it," they said decisively. "We'll figure something out."
Darkened hair that always looks dirty and limp draping over their face
Hollow, dead-looking eyes, except they dilate hugely when they're remembering.
A body shaped like bony rectangles, sagging in places where it shouldn't.
Pale lips
mouth always sagging open from feeling short of breath
Always exhausted
Remembering how they used to look--vibrant, plump even, energetic, and feeling like they'll never have that again
Deadened hunger feelings
Feeling intense pain or nausea instead of just regular hunger
Looking in the mirror and not seeing themselves
Feeling see-through, dissociating, feeling too thin (because they are) like a piece of cardboard
Always cold in the winter, like the wind can just blow straight through them
Cycles of holding onto weight even when they're not eating enough, going back to normal due to healthy eating, then gaining or losing uncontrollably because of severe appetite swings
Fragile nails that keep breaking and bones that are prone to micro-fractures
An educational post for writers: the effects of malnutrition/starvation:
Malnutrition/starvation has a bunch of really fucky effects, and I see whump people use malnutrition/starvation from time to time, (i am utilizing it now, hence the post) but rarely do they depict the horrific suffering. I have actually starved before, so here's my medically accurate advice on what that looks like:
Among the most prominent of effects of lack of food/lack of nutritious food ironically not depicted, for it is the most common nutritional deficit on earth, is anemia - lack of iron means your body doesnt produce blood like it used to, which at a point makes you cold all the time! It also messes with your bodily sense of blood pressure, making you more likely to notice tiny changes, which in turn can trigger dizziness, severe anxiety, heart palpitations, fainting, and vascillations between cognitive clarity and a foggy feeling. Lack of iron causes lack of red blood cells, which means you can't distribute oxygen as efficiently. This causes fatigue, a general sense of unwellness, called "malaise", and causes you to breathe and your heart to beat faster than they normally should. This, in turn, can trigger more anxiety! Anemia is a very anxiety inducing deficiency on its own because your body knows it's in trouble and it definitely wants to tell you about it!
It only takes about 3-4 days without food to develop anemia to this degree, though it can take as little as 2 if you already have deficits. If you are eating food but it's lacking in iron this transition can take 2-3 weeks, as your body uses up its iron reserves located in your liver, spleen and bone marrow (where red blood cells are produced).
Malnutrition and especially starvation also screws with your electrolytes, making you prone to dizzy spells and vertigo, and can seriously affect the myelin sheathes around your nerves and the delicate proteins in your brain, which combined with electrolyte imbalance and probable anemia can cause anything from blurred vision, headaches, fatigue and cognitive impairment (pervasive brain fog), at best, all the way up to the moderate landing of muscle spasms and ataxia (loss of coordination) and functional loss of senses like sight and hearing, to the severe landing of seizures and total organ failure. Also, malnourished muscles hurt!!! They hurt to touch, they hurt to move, it hurts to exist!
I once went 8 full days with little to no food, so I know this stuff from experience. Let me tell you, hunger pains are God fucking awful and paradoxically make you feel very nauseous and can cause vomiting, (your body wants to get rid of the concentrated stomach acid) and are truly indescribable in their instinctual ability to instill desperation, depression and terror. You would eat a lot of things you never thought you would after just three days without food. At 8, I was very strongly considering eating my pet birds. I had already begun eating their seeds. The only thing that saved them was one measly bag of potato chips, the very last thing resembling human food in the pantry (the vending machine size chips) on day 6, which gave me just enough salt and fat to rethink that idea.
Anyway, muscles! Hurt!!! Especially if you don't eat a lot of protein to start out. Muscular degeneration or "digestion" (ketosis) can happen surprisingly fast if you arent eating anything at all. 5-7 days usually if you are healthy, though 3 is not unheard of, especially if you are expending a lot of calories and have very little fat. It's quirky hallmark? A strangely sweet and metallic taste in your mouth. Like a penny coated in sugar water. The ache is hard to describe, but it is constantly there, and honestly wore me down psychologically more than the hunger pains, which curiously went away after day 4, only coming back with a vengeance when I tried to eat anything. It hurt to move, it hurt to think about moving, and the constant low level pain was absolute torture. The fatigue didn't help. I normally slept about 6-9 hours. During that time after day 3 or so, I started sleeping 15 or more, in bursts, and had very little energy to do anything but rest. Every now and then I'd get a burst of restlessness, my body pushing me to find food or drink water. It was unpleasant. The headaches were pretty bad too, at first.
Malnutrition, and specifically a lack of protein, also causes pervasive muscle aches and all the neurologic issues mentioned above.
My experience led me to the development of ataxia that has never completely gone away. I remember the panic of nearly blacking out while trying to stand too, and not being able to cognitively focus on anything, much less visually focus. (Started about day 5). Mind you, I was 15 years old and weighed only 89 lbs prior to this period, with a fast metabolism and very little fat. After it I weighed 81 lbs. 8lbs in 8 days is a lot of weight to lose, and boy did my body hate me for some time after that. But my insomnia was cured for a while!
Anyway, i hope this proves insightful for all your whumping and torturous needs. I didn't plan on making it so personal, but hey, I've lived through that, so it seemed relevant to add that here.
âLack of iron causes lack of red blood cells, which means you can't distribute oxygen as efficiently. This causes fatigue, a general sense of unwellness, called "malaise", and causes you to breathe and your heart to beat faster than they normally should. This, in turn, can trigger more anxiety!â
This is fascinating. But how do you recover from such a starvation experience? What does it take, and how does one get better? Is recovery pretty fast, or is it slow?
I recovered my mental faculties first. As soon as I had carbs in me I immediately felt better, and all I wanted to do was eat and eat and eat. I wasn't even "hungry" exactly, there was just this overwhelming urge to stuff my face.
But I knew that was a bad idea.
When you don't eat for a while, your digestion goes out of whack. You can't process food the same way, cause you've starved the bacteria that digests your food for you in your gut and stomach. Plus your stomach acid isn't being produced as much, and the smooth muscle loses its flexibility somewhat and "shrinks" (contracts). It means you feel full quickly, but are not satisfied at all by it. You just want to keep eating, and a kind of war begins between the impulse to keep eating and the feeling of a full belly. Many people vomit because they lose out to the impulse and their stomach, not having the enzymes or acid to digest much, and being cramped up so it can't move things, can't take it. That's why you start with starches. Carbs. They digest easiest, and restore your electrolyte imbalance.
After eating enough bread to just fill me up, I noticed almost immediately that I felt more alert and springy. But I still ached terribly. In fact it felt worse as the sugars entered my system 20 minutes later and my body shifted out of crisis conservation mode and into damage control mode, sending help to damaged muscles and nerves. Healing those creates inflammation, which increases the pain.
I kept on a diet of pretty much nothing but simple carbs like bread and potatoes, for three days, spending most the time sleeping off the fever that sprung from the inflammation. (101F). I then ate some turkey the landlord had brought us (more on that below the cut) in small bits. I was surprised to find it tasted disgusting, since I normally like turkey, and took that as a sign my body wasn't ready for that yet. It was probably a wise choice. I craved fat, and salt, so ate mashed potatoes like they were going out of style. My body sang and I felt so elated at even the smell of them that I literally ate nothing but that for another three days. I had more energy and the fever was receding, though I had headaches daily and BOY was my gut unhappy, but luckily I only had diarrhea. Long enough, (2 weeks or so) and you lose the ability to digest much at all, leaving you with a gut paralyzed by gas.
So I ate mashed potato until the turkey caught my nose. It smelled good, so taking my bodily cues, I ate some. Slowly. My headache almost immediately lessened, and i got a jolt of feel-good all over me, so I stated mixing it into the potatoes and transitioning slowly over 4 days onto eating the turkey on its own. I didn't want to shock my system in its fragile state, since there was no way to a hospital except by medi-evac by helicopter. (More context below the cut), assuming the weather allowed. If something went wrong I had no real help. People often died in this town due to medical emergencies.
And so it went with everything. I focused on carbs and protein, since that's what I craved, and just took it as slow as I could. It took a week of damn near eating half a turkey before my muscles improved, and the headaches went away entirely. Then we had beef in the form of hamburger, which I HATE, but never in my life had I loved it more. It was iron, fat, protein and salt. Combined with fried potatoes I was in bliss, and began to recover much more quickly. I was still weak and fatigued for another week or so, and still had bad dizzy spells, but those improved by weeks end.
All in all it took about a month to recover to where I had been before, body and mind, though I was functional after 2 weeks.
Context below the cut, for the curious:
We lived in a small mountain town in Northern CA with passes at both ends, which was the only way in or out of town. Those passes closed from November to May, no one in, no one out. That meant that from November to May, there were zero supply or food trucks coming in. There were exactly two places in town you could buy food at all - a CVS and the tiniest Wal-Mart ever, which was only the grocery. We had to travel north to Ashland or Medford, OR, regularly, to bulk buy food and sneak it back over the CA border. Everyone in town did this. We knew the passes would close, but we severely underestimated the severity of winter weather on the eastern slope of the cascades, at 4.5k feet elevation. We expected the passes to open at least periodically, and stocked food accordingly. They did not.
We had just used up most of our food supply by early November, and thought we would have time for another trip north to restock. We did not. A freak weather system came in November 3rd, and stayed into Thanksgiving. I was ok until Thanksgiving break, because I was eating at school. But by that time we had used up nearly every edible thing in the house already. My mother is stubborn and proud and insisted we could make it until the storm passed and the passes would re open. They never did.
She got by being fed by her coworkers, and bringing home scraps, for that's all you could call them. A few mouthfuls does not ease the hunger at all, and actually makes it feel more torturous, so after a few days I just stopped eating them. It was too much. It wasn't until day 6 or so that i ate the scraps again after the chips spurred my hunger back.
My mother finally caved to our landlord on day 8 that we were unprepared for the "starving time" as they called it, which we thought was a joke since it was our first winter living there and we didn't really know anyone, since we were "outsiders" and thus not really received warmly by the 3k people living there.
The landlord was suitably appalled and would probably have contacted authorities if there was any that could have helped. Instead his wife spent two full weeks bringing food to our house, including a whole turkey. She stayed around with me while my mom was at work, making sure I ate and was doing better since my mom had mentioned I was sleeping all the time and she wasn't sure what was wrong. (DUH?)
There was no hospital. A urgent care was next to the jail, but it had two doctors and was only open three days a week for a few hours. They had three nurses between them. All they could do was stabilize, in the event of a rattlesnake bite (not uncommon) and prescribe meds. If you needed help, a helicopter had to come and get you from Redding, which was a 4 hour drive in good weather.
So yes. Lesson learned kids - listen to the locals! They're not usually half as crazy as they sound!
Iâve been really enjoying whump and hurt comfort stuff lately so just wanted to share something I like: whumpee with just BAD exhaustion and muscle strain
Theyâre on a team of some kind (be it sports, combat, defense, etc) and they overwork their body for too many days without enough sleep due to something stressful going on, or they push themself WAY too hard during a single big fight or game or what have you. After all the stress comes to a head or the big showdown is over all their energy is just GONE, their teammates are still processing all thatâs happened or reveling in their victory and itâs all whumpee can do to stay upright. They pass out as soon as theyâre alone, the last of their strength leaving them. The next day they feel even more achy and stiff. Their legs and/or back hurt too much to get out of bed so they just lie there, unable to fall back asleep due to the sheer level of discomfort, until a teammate and/or family member enters their room and finds them groaning in pain. Their teammates get to see just how hard whumpee has been pushing themself; their shoulders, legs, and back all feel hot to the touch, maybe they have some minor sprains or bruises as well that they managed to hide before but are swollen and obvious now. Theyâre not sick, thereâs no infection or broken bones or bleeding, theyâve just totally run themself into the ground and itâs all they can do to mumble âMâfineâ into the mattress as their teammates stand over them, worried and guilty and wondering if they couldâve prevented this. Whoever is the most inclined to caretaking in the group brings them pain meds and ice packs to lay across their limbs and cool water to drink. Or maybe whumpee is usually the one to care for the others so now theyâre all clumsily pitching in with whatever they think will help, which touches whumpee even if not all of it is helpful. Theyâre pretty exhausted and sore for the next few days, but theyâre never alone; at least one of their teammates is always by their side, keeping them company, updating them on news, massaging their muscles and bringing them sources of heat to help with circulation after the initial pain has subsided, eventually helping them to gingerly stretch and walk around as their body begins to recover.
a character absolutely not persisting despite the horrors, hanging on by a thread, the dark circles under their eyes so pronounced they look like shiners
and someone inevitably very concerned asks, whoa you good?
they raise the worldâs shakiest thumbs up, give a smile that looks like a wince and try not to zone out long enough to make eye contact. really sell it. of course theyâre totally 100% good fine and dandy. of course they donât wake up screaming every night. no stress isnât slowly killing them. yep, totally good here
later, theyâre also totally fine when they finally flicker out like a bad lightbulb, list to the side and crumple to the floor
Whumpee who is just so tired. Theyâve been rescued but they donât realise theyâre with Caretaker now. They sob and whimper in their arms, because they feel themselves getting tired. Theyâre not safe, they canât sleep here. Maybe they do realise, but they still donât think itâs safe. Itâs never safe. Their laboured, hitching breaths as they quietly try and plead. âNo, pleaseâ please, n-not⌠i canât. justâ go, get off⌠get⌠IâŚâ Their sobs turn into weak, pathetic sniffles and incoherent mumbles as exhaustion slowly wins, despite Whumpee fighting every single moment of it.
Strong whumpee who's used to keep it up no matter what and will painstakingly work their way through any tricky situation to still come out on the other side ready for more, until they come home from a nasty day or are picked up by a loved one and all of a sudden they are limp and weak and dazed and exhausted because their brain has picked up a rare "safe space to rest" and it's decided it doesn't need to push down all of the strain anymore. Whumpee who sleeps like a rock for the first time in years because this place/these people is the only place they feel secure enough in to let their guard down.
Whumper is still on the hunt for Whumpee, so even though theyâre rescued, they arenât safe just yet. They have to keep pushing through, keep up that mask of stoicism and help the team completely throw Whumper off their trail or finish them for good.
Caretaker has been anticipating Whumpeeâs crash this entire time. In fact, they expected them to collapse the moment they were saved, and then the recovery would start from there. But Whumpee has kept pushing themself further and further, burying their head in the missions and not allowing themself a rest until Whumper is gone.
So, one night, Caretaker takes them out on a trip somewhere secluded and almost serene. Tells them itâs part of the mission, so they follow willingly.
Whumper is out there looking for Whumpee. The fight is nowhere near over yet. But Caretaker wants to grant Whumpee just one brief moment of respite from it all and allow them to relax and let everything out even just for the day.
(I know I already did a head cannon about this butâŚ)
Stoic whumpee needing help doing basic stuff, like showering, eating, dressing, changing bandages. Especially when they would rather die than ask for help but theyâre finally forced to by whatever theyâre dealing with. Oh the shame, the blushing, the awkwardness. And the Caretaker is kinda happy they finally asked but definitely sad for them because they canât imagine how ashamed Whumpee must feel. Like SERIOUSLY, being too proud to ask for help and then HAVING TO ASK FOR HELP is whump in and of itself. I need to see more of this.
I think I have like a usefulness-breaking kink or something. taking someone who's so desperate to be useful and taking it all away from them, softly, sweetly, gently, until they can't even try to help at all... Forcibly relaxing them until they don't even protest about what they "should" be doing....
Awwwww, somebody went and ripped out all that usefulness you hold so dear but guess who's still loved? that's right, it's you!! No, silly, there's nothing you can do for me, but I can do some things for you! here, why don't you just put your head in my lap and let me tell you what a good job you're doing by relaxing for me~
character whos very willing to self sacrifice themselves works best if they never get a chance to. guy who is so ready to die for her friends but her friends want nothing more than for her to live. guy who didnt think she would survive the end of the story and has to learn to be a real person again. thats the good shit.
