Shout-out to the intimidating alters. Shout-out to Protectors who are often rude or aggressive as part of their function. Shout-out to Gatekeepers who are often cold or uncaring as part of their function. Shout-out to the Caretakers who are often overly bearing or demanding as part of their function. Shout-out to the Persecutors who are often hostile or distrustful of others as part of their function.
My Franken!Kyle speech headcanons (as a caretaker of stroke survivors and vulnerable/disabled adults)
Disclaimer: I am not a professional speech therapist but I have 2 years working with dementia patients, stroke survivors, and vulnerable adults with disabilities. During my time as a caretaker, I have helped people with their physical, occupational, and speech therapy skills and have seen serious improvement with them— it’s a beautiful thing I’ve been able to witness in my line of work and it gives me an in-depth look at how I believe Kyle most likely functions given his sexual, physical, and psychological trauma. A lot of these headcanons are based on actual traits and experiences I’ve seen during my work and I write all of them for Kyle with the utmost respect and dignity for the people I’ve worked with and other real life survivors.
“Yeah” and “yup” are easy-to-say words and comes out instinctively in response to things. Kyle say them a lot when he’s trying to soothe Reader, animals, or others. He’ll say ‘yeah’ with a sassy air when he gets an attitude, and favors ‘yeah’ in a bad mood, ‘yup’ in a good mood. If he’s saying ‘yup’ or it usually means he’s comfortable speaking right then. Does not always work for the sentence, they are just easy, go-to words for him.
Ex. “Hey, Kyle, how are you?” “Yup, yup!” or “Kyle, what did you want for dinner?” “Mm… yeah…”
He stutters a lot. Relearning to speak is a huge task and not every word comes easy. Soft sounds and especially ‘M’ sounds come easiest and will often come out accidentally instead of the intended sound/word.
Ex. *trying to say ‘hungry’* “Kyle mm—n…no. M-Mug. Mug.. g-gree.”
He says words wrong and Reader interprets best she can. I’ve written this into my fics before but Kyle almost always knows exactly what he wants to say— it’s just a matter of getting it out. He mixes up words but Reader can usually make sense of what he means. Ex. Saying “not” instead of “no” in response, but the negative connotation and tone make up for the incorrect word.
Ex. “Kyle, did you want this?” “Not. NOT!”
Repeats words when excited, frustrated, or confused. Repeating a word doesn’t always help, sometimes it happens out of frustration and Kyle cannot get his point across, and while not knowing another way to do so in the moment, will simply repeat the word he knows he can say over and over, or louder and louder, hoping to be understood. When he’s in a good mood, and hears a new word or word he likes, he’ll repeat it until it comes easy. Especially if it comes easy already.
Ex. *playing legos— happy* “Block. Block! Block, block, yup, yup…” or *struggling with zipper— frustrated* “Mm! Zip, zip! ZIP! Zip zip.”
Breaking up words into smaller pieces. It makes his speech sound choppy, but can actually make more sense if he does this, and it’s usually for his own comfort. Kyle often breaks longer (or even short) words into pieces to try and say each half correctly.
Ex. *trying to say ‘basket’* “Sket. Ba…ket— Bass…ket.”
This one is sad but he says “mom” on accident a lot. Again, ‘m’ sounds come very easy to him and he will say ‘mom’ as a sort of vocal stim when he’s tired/sleepy, upset/crying, or frustrated/struggling to speak. This is because it comes very easy to him, it doesn’t take effort to say the word, and usually accompanies vulnerability (whether he’s in a good mood or not) due to his past.
Ex. *tired/upset* “Kyle which one do you want?” “Mm…mom. N-no… mmm…momm….?”
He plays with words. Like repeating them to adjust to the sounds, Kyle will hum, mumble, and talk to himself, figuring out his speech and new words to try and get comfortable speaking again. If he’s in a good mood, he’ll repeat words that he likes (if he’s eating, ‘yum’ is a very easy word that he can say over and over in between bites), or if you say a new word and he tries it out and it actually comes easy, he’ll just keep saying it because he can and it doesn’t take too much effort to say. 🤷♀️ he’s silly like that
Ex. *after learning the word tree* “Mm.. t…tree! Tree, tree… tee. Tee, tee, ree… Ree, ree!”
He’ll shout words he’s confident with (or think he is confident with). For example, if he knows a word and is prompted by either that word or something that he can respond to with that word, he’ll blurt it (usually loudly). But he’s not always accurate with his pronunciation, or even the word he means to say, so he may accidentally shout random nonsense and ends up embarrassing himself, but the reader is always supportive of him trying.
Ex. “Do you want a bath, Kyle?” “MAT! Mm…no. Math?” “Bath.” “BATH!”
If he gets too frustrated with a word, he’ll give up. This usually happens after several failed attempts to say a word and he will usually exhale sharply and hide his face, embarrassment and frustration being the most prominent emotions when he struggles to speak.
He’s grown less embarrassed of his flubs and is more easy to laugh at them when you point them out. This is good but he still does get embarrassed when he fails to say things— Reader is usually careful to be encouraging rather than punishing when Kyle messes up in his speech and communication.
I will probably end up adding to this list! Totally feel free to adopt any of these as your own if you find them interesting and remember these are just my opinions, no need to agree with any of them! Thanks for reading 🩷🖤
The group deciding to make one big, get-well-soon card for them.
-“You know I can’t draw!”
“C’mon, do it for them!”
-“What should I write?”
“Get well soon?”
“Nah, that’s already been written on here, like, four times…”
“Maybe a fifth will do the trick?”
-“My handwriting is ass! Do you think they’ll even be able to read this?!”
-“Hmm… should we use glitter…?”
“So they can choke on that, too? No.”
-“Put more effort into it, dammit! They’re always doing kind stuff for us!”
Eventually, when it’s finished, one “brave soul” quietly slips it in the crack of sickie’s door and scurries away, a bit embarrassed, but truly hoping it brightens their day.
I’ve been thinking a lot about group dynamics so I’ll probably have more, similar prompts in the near future!
Do you have any instances of the caretaker not actually liking the whumpee? Like they aren’t friends at all, not just them being strangers or people they kinda sorta know. Enemies works, or adversaries, or just people on opposite sides of a conflict. Thank you if you do! And thank you even if you don’t!
Oooooh love this. Let me think.
Buffy and Spike.
(Gif credit: whumpty-dumpty)
I feel like Katara&Zuko and Aang&Zuko works too. But much more in fanfics than in canon. Here's a good fic for that:
Not Your Enemy By: FireLordFrowny
After a battle gone wrong, Prince Zuko finds himself stranded, hideously and helplessly injured, and the only person around or willing to help him is the Avatar. This is a story of conflict, compassion, and understanding, as the two boys each learn to appreciate the other's motives.
Breathe by Gasmeros
When his ship explodes, Zuko isn't so lucky to get away unscathed. No amount of firebending can protect him from the solid steel the explosion launches everywhere. His ship is lodged in his chest, and he can't breathe. He must rely on the Avatar to do it for him.
The Hunger Games can be like that between the tributes.
Game of Thrones. Jaime and Brienne in Game of Thrones. Fuck I love them so much.
I think we spare our Caretakers too much from bystander trauma✨
If you capture your Caretakers alongside your Whumpees don‘t be shy. Give them the trauma from watching Whumpee get whumped! Make them suffer!!
Think of the possibilities!!
Guilt! Imposter Syndrome/pushing their own suffering down (how do they have the right to feel this bad after all they weren‘t hurt)! Do they become overly clingy toward Whumpee?! Paranoid?! Overprotective! Does Whumpee get what‘s going on!? Or do they get mad?! Confused?! Guilty?!
