to me the appeal of pathetic vampires is similar to the appeal of stupid cats. you have the teeth and claws to rip through flesh to your heart's content, but here you are. paw stuck to a quilt. staring woefully with eyes the size of saucers to get someone to help. same goes for a vampire failing miserably to use a touchscreen because his fingers are too cold.
“An interesting facet of the hurt/comfort syndrome is that it is actually anti-violent. Unlike many violent escapist stories, such as the Ian Fleming novels, these tales tend to examine the unpleasant consequences of violence in some detail. They portray violence realistically and dramatize its full consequences. In these stories, the main character is hurt purely as a deus ex machina to permit the ”comfort” portion of the story to take place. Emphasis is placed on the love lavished by the comforter on the friend/lover who’s been hurt.”
— Connie Faddis and Becca Orokin on hurt/comfort as a subgenre that takes violence seriously, To Slay or Not To Slay, Interphase #3, 1976.
Have you ever thought/ written about what would have happened if Max had met Carlo when he was younger?
Love all your stories btw!
When who was younger? Or both of them? :))
yes I have because I know Carlo has thought of it a lot. Especially in the context of the original story (so not Erik’s journals version/verse.)
Carlo imagines it it in kind of a dreamy self soothing way at times… imagining what his life might have been like with an entirely different kind of master had he never belonged to Erik at all. In his mind Max is of course younger too at this time, just out of college. He tells this to Max and Max finds it very sweet and flattering but also humbly pokes at it for being a bit unrealistic. He mentions that his life looked different when he was 21-22. He says he wouldn’t have known what to do with him or how to take care of him, and that he hadn’t inherited his parent’s house yet or even started at his job.
But Carlo knows Max at any given point in time would have been preferable to his actual life, which is the point, and revisits this fantasy often when he can’t fall asleep. I cannot remember what piece or chapter or drabble this is in at ALL but if I do I’ll reblog it, sorry!!
Another thing I did that’s less on the nose but still younger Max is in some of the Max as Erik’s nephew AU pieces. In this one Max is supposed to be in his early 20s.
I kinda like pet whumpees who have more freedom. They’re just so loyal that they wouldn’t ever try to run away, they don’t need a cage or a leash, just a look or gesture from their master to tell that what to do or remind them of their place, ready to obey.
Stockholm Syndrome is [chef's kiss] in the whump community but we need more of it's reverse: Lima Syndrome
And I'm not talking about a whumper who's creepy/intimate/yandere right off the bat. I mean I want a Whumper who was 100% all for brutalizing the fuck out of Whumpee, yet somehow, despite it all, Whumper feels themself...falling for Whumpee a little more each time they cut into their skin.
Whumper doesn't know when they started caring about using better quality gauze or letting Whumpee have a proper bath instead of a bucket of cold water thrown on them. They've never paid attention to how gorgeous Whumpee's eyes when they're no longer hidden behind tears until now, or how many cute little freckles they have on their body underneath all those bruises, or how nicely they still try to talk to Whumper even after all the pain they've inflicted. And, oh, is Whumpee so sweet and polite whether they're screaming or not -- Whumper has never experienced this kind of treatment before.
It's such a gradual feeling that they hardly even notice it until Whumpee escapes/is rescued, suddenly hitting them with the awful force of heartbreak and longing and that they need Whumpee back. They promise they'll be nice, they'll be good to them, they'll be anything they want, they'll be everything they need.
No one is going to stand in their way of bringing their one and only back home, where they belong.
oh but android whumpees though. rough maintenance, conflicting orders, the difference between feeling and programming. is it grief or did you fail your mission? is it pain or have you malfunctioned? error codes across your vision. system diagnostics on the exact amount of danger you're in. commands and disobedience and ownership and devotion and the thick substance that's not quite blood on synthetic, torn, inhuman skin. robot whumpees.
The whumpee had been conditioned to believe that any mistake would land them in severe punishment, that any wrong step would result in their torture- and this mentality stayed with them even after rescue. The whumpee would freeze when they broke something on accident, hide when they lost something else. They knew they were free now, but a part of them didn’t believe it.
Prompt: Could I get a werepup absolutely CONVINCED they're going to be collared/muzzled/sent to the pound? Or perhaps they've run into a strange alpha were's territory and are panicking that the alpha is going to respond Poorly™
437 words (I couldn't get 500 without messing up the story, sorry, but it's close)
CWs: non-human whumpee (werewolf), non-human caretaker (werewolf), fear of being caught, fear of being hurt, ambiguous bleeding leg injury
The werepup backs into a corner of the alley.
He hadn't meant to come so far, he really hadn't, but he was so hungry. His stomach is so empty, the pangs are becoming normal. He was so hungry he hadn't stopped to pay attention to where he was going. And now he's in a stranger's territory, in a city no less, where there's hunters and traps and muzzles and pounds. And humans saw him and now he's down this alley, hoping they won't see him, won't come at him with nets and ropes and collars.
He yelps as his sore paw brushes against the wall, sending a shudder of pain up his leg. He's trapped.
He's not hard to find. All anyone has to do is follow the blood and it'll lead them straight to him.
A large, looming, wolf-shaped shadow appears at the end of the alley and starts stalking towards him. He can't back away any further and he snarls, hunkering down. He's small. He's small but not harmless, because no matter how harmless he is the alpha isn't going to just forgive him for encroaching on his territory.
The alpha stalks closer and closer and the pup whines, all bravado vanishing as he rolls onto his back, surrendering, trying to make it apparent really was an accident, being here. The alpha ignores this, circling him, sniffing the air.
He stops at the pup's injured leg and the pup tenses. Is he going to... what's he going to do to the pup's leg? Break it more thoroughly? That would teach the pup a lesson. But all he does... all he does, is sniff it thoroughly. And then he sniffs the pup's bottom too.
Huh?
Is he... is he being friendly?
The alpha comes round in front of the pup, and he doesn't look aggressive. Maybe curious. The pup, in a sudden (possibly foolish) bout of boldness, gets to his feet and licks the alpha on the nose.
The alpha stops, surprised, then nuzzles him. He mewls happily, disbelievingly. The strange wolf's not going to hurt him? He's... accepting him, even, possibly. Accepting the pup who has no-one to turn to.
His stomach shivers with nerves when the alpha opens his mouth, and he tenses, staying very still as the older wolf picks him up by the scruff of his neck and bounds out of the alley. Every step sends a sharp pain up his leg but he still feels lighter, no longer trapped.
Maybe he's found acceptance, maybe he hasn't. But somehow, he doesn't think that whatever happens now will be as bad as what he's leaving behind.
Whumpee whose love language is touch. As in, they need to hug or be hugged pretty often just to stay sane. Whumpee who's so touch-starved and desperate that they crawl up to Whumper after being torture and cling to their leg, begging for a hug, to hold hands, something
I can see this going four ways, with one 'good ending'. First there are the smug options. Creepy Intimate Whumper who'ss smug because they know Whumpee won't fight them about crossing boundaries anymore. Whumpee's just too desperate. Regular Whumper who's smug because Whumpee just majorly overstepped,and now they have an excuse to punish them. (not that they need one, but it's nice to have evidence that Whumpee "deserves it") Who remarks every time there's a pause in Whumpee's screaming that they brought this on themselves. Then there are the shocked options. Whumper who's shocked and angry that Whumpee would ask for such a thing, and punishes them. (spur-of-the-moment as opposed to planned) Who is genuinely disgusted by Whumpee's whining and is willing to torture Whumpee into never doing that again. Finally, Whumper who is shocked, confused, and the slightest bit sympathetic. They hadn't realized how much Whumpee needed (benevolent) physical contact. Maybe they're whumping for a job and their heart isn't in it, maybe they don't really understand how much they're actually hurting Whumpee, but they're just the tiniest bit guilty and they hold Whumpee's hand. (While muttering about how high-maintenance Whumpee is, of course) Maybe they turn into a Caretaker, or a Carewhumper at the least.
A little fascinated by the way vampires are almost always the sexiest most powerful thing on earth or the most pathetic creature you can imagine. there doesn’t seem to be much of middle ground here.
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