Random whumpy thought time! Pragmatic whumpees!
A whumpee who knows exactly what needs to happen, and understands the costs of how to get there. They regularly get labeled as heartless or unfeeling, but they aren't. They're just making the most practical choice.
Some of my thoughts and scenarios:
There is a real danger of Whumper winning, and the consequences of that will be unfathomable. The only way to stop them involves letting Whumpee be captured again. Some of the team tries to protest. Whumpee themself readily agrees. Maybe they even suggested it.
A forced to watch scenario, where Whumper is torturing a teammate to try and get Whumpee to tell them information that will hurt a whole lot of people. No matter how much Teammate begs and screams, Whumpee stays silent.
Maybe after they're rescued, they can't understand why Teammate hates them so much. Whumpee didn't want Teammate to be hurt, but they couldn't give Whumper the information or hundreds of innocents would have died. Caretaker ends up having to sit both Whumpee and Teammate down and talk them through each other's mindset.
On the other side, when Whumpee is the one being tortured to get Teammate to give up valuable information. They scream and they cry, but they never once ask Teammate to give the information to Whumper. Afterwards, when Teammate asks if they hate them, they're genuinely confused.
"Why would I hate you? I would have done the same thing in that position. Whumper couldn't have the information."
The team's medic never knows if they can trust Whumpee to give them an accurate report of their injuries or not. If Whumpee's injuries are too severe to function, as decided by Whumpee, they'll go straight to Medic and report everything. However, if Whumpee judges their injuries as not being debilitating enough to get in the way of the mission, they will lie through their teeth about them.
If Whumpee is the team's leader, most other teams don't trust them. Everyone's heard the rumors about how Whumpee will sacrifice anything and anyone for the greater good. You never know if you're the one on the chopping block.
Whumpee's team trusts them with their lives. Just because Whumpee is unerringly pragmatic doesn't mean they enjoy making those calls. And besides, they will always choose to sacrifice themselves before any of their teammates.
It's especially fun when Whumpee has a weak point. That one person that they can't bring themselves to sacrifice, no matter what. If it was anyone else they had to put in this position, they'd do it without question. But for this one singular person, they can't make the call.
Maybe it's Whumpee's lover. Maybe it's a family member, blood or found. Maybe it's just that one person they trust more than anyone else.
How does Whumper feel about it? Does it amuse them, watching Whumpee sacrifice themselves and their teammates just to stop Whumper? Does it make Whumper angry that Whumpee won't do what they want? Do they make it their goal to break Whumpee until they compromise their beliefs?
And what if their team hates them? As far as the team can tell, Whumpee views them as chess pieces. Sacrificial pawns. Meanwhile Whumpee would die for any of them without a thought.
I love whumpees who don't necessarily fit in the basic whumpee template, and intensely pragmatic whumpees are one of my favorites. It's just so tasty.
