His head’s a confusing place to be, right now. It’s doing all sorts of strange things.
Marlow can still feel hands on him, throwing him about, making him hurt. It shouldn’t haunt him, he’s had worse before, but… he got so used to the word safe. Staying with Valerie, learning how to cope with his new freedom, being given things and treated like a person… a couple beatings and he’s back to hiding away. Just a passing moment with Sir and he can’t think anymore.
He’s asked for space, not with words but with silence. With leaving the room, or failing to smile, or not being able to meet his friend’s eyes. But he doesn’t want space, he doesn’t - he needs something else, and he doesn’t know what. His skin feels all wrong and he feels like he’s been bad and he needs… oh, he doesn’t know.
He’s cooped in his room, sitting on the bed, staring out the window with little interest. He holds his wrist tight in one scarred, still-aching palm just so it’s his hand he feels, not the grip of those brutes that dragged him to the floor, that laughed at him for being afraid. He’s not afraid, now. He doesn’t feel much of anything.
Do you have any favourite or underrated whump drabbles/series? Either of yours or someone else’s?
this is the cohesive willow and grackle story on ao3 by @malfunction-whump, a gorgeous well-paced story that i highly recommend, it will absolutely wring your heart with angst and then soothe it
this is @wildfaewhump‘s masterpost of the drabbles on iesin and talvos, who are kind of an obsession of mine - the writing in these works is just beyond excellent, it’s art - there is a real arc here from raw, ragged terror and agony to thoughtful, gentle recovery and found trust
i’m going through my fucc tag to find the really good stuff - that’s where all my top tier recs go - and here’s a really good drabble by @whump-sprite with anders draped over the hunter’s lap, being punished for thinking - gives me whumperflies every time.
out of mine, i must say i am particularly proud of the unreality series, as well as this (cole waking lux up - lux is in great pain), this (lux is temporarily deaf and blind, terrified when anders rescues him), and this (the hunter is in lux’s mind for days and breaks him badly).
Little, delicate glass sculptures. Usually, they’re made by fire, but Nadeem doesn’t have to do that, he can mold them with his magic. He can flick his fingers in small movements and make the glass twirl in the air, morphing and bending as bid. He adds colors as easily as he thinks of them, and little ends on the bottom of the finished sculptures so they can stand on their own, each the size of a finger, or just big enough to be nestled in his palm.
A little flower, pale pink glass petals splayed out and almost swaying. They could move, if he added a little magic. But he likes the ageless, preserved image, calm and still.
A tiny sky-blue drop of water, linked to another by a thin strand of glass, splashing into a little glass puddle that fits in his hand. It looks like a blink-of-the-eye movement caught and frozen.
A small, clear-gold crystal star, a sun, the points rounded enough not to be sharp, some kind of magic light glowing inside to make the deep amber glass glow a sunny yellow, not warm but smooth, and lovely.
“These are wonderful, Nadeem!” Phoebe says cheerfully, taking each creation carefully in her hands to inspect it as he invited her to. “Was it difficult to use your magic for such little things? It must’ve taken focus at least.”
“It was easy with my magic, to bend the glass, but yes, it took focus. And time.”
Phoebe sets down the last one she admired, and notices how many more there are. “There’s a lot of them - you didn’t make them all, did you? When did you have time?”
“At night, when -” He realizes what he’s said, too late. He may as well finish his sentence. “...when I can’t sleep.”
“And how often is that?”
The djinn picks up the glass sun, holds it like he might hold his vessel for comfort. “It’s... it’s not easy, as you know, to... to manage to sleep. Most nights I find myself unable to.”
Phoebe nods slowly, sympathetically. “When’s the last time you slept?”
His fingertips press into the not-sharp points of the star idly. “It’s been a few days. With my powers, I can take more than when I was... when I didn’t have them. But I do find myself... not feeling well. Making these small objects, putting my time into that, it keeps my mind from difficult things. I cannot sleep, so I work on them.” That way, I don’t have the nightmares. That way I’m not scared when I wake up. That way I don’t spend all night remembering.
“I know I should try to sleep. I can try harder. I just have to be tired enough to manage it.”
His best friend moves closer, and holds out a hand. He nods and she accepts the invitation for her to lay a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t you think you’re tired enough by now to really try?”
Nadeem can’t find any words that will suffice to argue, so he concedes. “Yes, I am tired enough.” The touch of her sun-warmed hand by his arm adds a bit of comfort to his exhaustion. His shoulders hunch inward slightly and his head tips down.
“Do you want a hug, Nadeem?” Phoebe asks kindly, and the djinn answers by gently pulling her closer, initiating the contact with her offer. Nothing makes a djinn more sleepy than feeling safe, and feeling warm. Phoebe is the epitome of both.
“We have a few hours before we should move to the next town, would you like a nap?”
Nadeem hums in answer. “You will nap too, Phoebe?”
“Sure, a little sleep never hurt anyone.” She shifts so that they’re lying down on the bed they’ve been sitting on, and pulls a blanket up so it’s between them - her Paladin’s warmth is pleasant but can get too toasty sometimes, and she doesn’t want to make him feel stifled. “Rest well, Nadeem.”
“And you, Phoebe,” Nadeem mumbles, snuggled into the blanket and glad for her presence. Surely no nightmares would dare visit him with a Paladin so closeby to protect his sleep.
whump oc valentines! in order:
the hunter (my oc, art by me)
lux (my oc, art by @clockworknightmares )
anders ( @whump-sprite ‘s oc, art by @clockworknightmares )
jamie ( @clockworknightmares ‘s oc, art by them too)
kristoff ( @malfunction-whump ‘s oc)
eos ( @malfunction-whump ‘s oc, art by me)
kristoff ( @malfunction-whump ‘s oc)
nadeem (my oc)
grackle ( @malfunction-whump ‘s oc).
Do you have any robot whump? In my story, my character has his panels/"skin" pried off, but I want to do worse than just toying with circuits. Their power pump that functions as their heart is in their chest, if that gives you any ideas
you should ask @malfunction-whump for some good robowhump ideas!
what kind of character are your favourite type to break
my favorite kind of whumpee is the skinny, flinchy, stuttery, obedient kind - BUT my favorite to break? i like the strong, proud ones, the ones with attitude, who kind of succumb to the horror of captivity and torture and become afraid or kind of gruff and traumatized - for this type of character i’m thinking of daryl from the walking dead, eliot from leverage, @whump-sprite ‘s oc anders, and @malfunction-whump ‘s oc brant!
He has plenty of magical artifacts stored in his house. Most of them locked away, kept for future use. Valuable. Powerful. Useful.
None of them are out of place.
The Hunter has the thief by the wrists, looking down as him in intrigue. The struggling young man didn't take a gem, didn't swipe an amulet, didn't pilfer a thing from his collections. All he had tried to take was an apple. A single, simple apple. Poor boy was hungry.
How cute.
He'll look so sweet starving in the Hunter's cellar.
