introduction #2, I suppose; focusing on the hurt/comfort / whump stuff.
(short summary of the “about me” introduction: Laurel/Guardy, they/them or he/him, 24, been here for a long time but never said anything because, while my love fort hurt/comfort is not exactly a secret, there’s a difference between whumpy writings and full-on whump community and I’m not sure my watchers would appreciate the latter)
What do I like about whump in general? Mostly the idea that, no matter how broken the whumpee thinks they are and how inferior they feel, they’re still worth saving and things may turn out alright-ish after all. Also, vulnerability.
Some favorite tropes:
Hidden injuries: especially when they’re hidden for the sake of somebody else. “No, you go on ahead and I’ll be right behind you” and all that. Also excellent: when the whumpee hides the injuries because they’re deeply uncomfortable with being cared for and/or think they’re not worthy of the attention. ESPECIALLY if the future caretaker accidentally said something that got them into that mindspace not too long before they’re injured.
whumped authority figures: Always doubly fun when it’s the mentor/leader/boss/”generally character others tend to put on a pedestal” who goes down, especially when they REALLY can’t afford it at that moment.
accidental emotional h/c: the whumpee overhears something that wrecks them emotionally, despite that thing not having been what it seems. Basically, the good old “friends fight and then one overhears a random ‘he could go die in a ditch for all I care’ and thinks that’s about him and pretty much goes ‘ah well’ and refuses to get help when he DOES almost die in a ditch by coincidence”.
comfort/recovery: more emotional than physical, really.
embarrassingly minor injuries that are life-threatening (and painful as hell) due to circumstance. Sprained ankle? shit happens. Sprained ankle you have to walk on for miles or freeze to death during the night? nyehehehe.
generally minor things turning serious because the whumpee doesn’t take care of themselves. Whump that starts subtly and develops from there is just... *chef kiss*
sel-destructiveness, especially when the whumpee isn’t aware that THAT’s what it is. Basically, love it when whump starts by pure bad luck and then the whumpee makes it that much worse and their avoidance of getting help initally is the thing that REALLY gets them into trouble later.
(and them eventually getting some sense talked into them)
generally whumpees having to get emotionally patched up to help with the physical side of things.
Characters not knowing that the whumpee is whumped yet and being jerks in some way / getting ready to shout at them for being late or something
Getting creative with magic or nonhuman attributes: on the whumper’s and the whumpee’s AND the caretaker’s side.
eternal fave: magical healing that REALLY SUCKS for everyone involved.
Some tropes I don’t usually enjoy: (though most of those have plenty of exceptions)
Anything TOO graphic or grimdark. I’m not really here for guts and gore and extreme torture, I guess.
Heavily medical-themed whump. I don’t care terribly much about the technical details; I’m more focused the whumpee’s emotions. Also not a huge fan of hospital settings. Makes it Too Real, I guess?
Genuinely malicious/abusive caretakers. Caretakers who fail to grasp the seriousness of a situation and are jackasses about it at first can be super fun, but when it’s deliberately abusive and that’s the best the whumpees will ever get, it mostly just makes me sadder than I want to be.
The character being too broken, especially mentally - don’t ask me where the line there is, though, because I don’t know
fem!whump, usually - unless it’s one of a few choice characters I already loved as a kid (when I was apparently less squeamish), or, in a tiny handful of instances, from 2D animation. And even then, my tolerance level there is a LOT lower than usual.
Permanent severe disabilities (and brain damage) - something career-ending as opposed to a mere inconvenience. Once again, just too much realism for me.
TL;DR - the whump here’s Lighter and Fluffier than usual (and, frequently enough, pure cheese), frequently nobody’s fault, and I’m a pretty straightforward writer... although I have a fair bit of gleefull insidiousness up my sleeve for my poor darlings, believe me :)))
Also, for me whump’s in the details, so if you ever need somebody to go over an old favorite whump scene and point out every pained twitch in glorious detail, I’m your... human?
(also I like to talk a lot, apparently. hahaha... ha...)