angstingantlers

[angstingantlers]

For me it's about the unflinching look at the most uncomfortable and tragic experiences that can happen to a person and what comes after.

The human condition is beautiful and complex, and trauma and pain and illness and survival are just as important as any other element of it. Whump is a stark and brutal exploration of that whilst also being more honestly hopeful than any other subgenre I've seen. It doesn't see the world as an ideal place where things just work out even in the most dire circumstances. Characters often don't come out of the story the same as they went in. But much of the time, they do make it through. They endure. They survive. And many do get to the other side, and they have an After -- a Future -- despite everything they had to fight through to get there. It's not easy and the pain might never go way, but they're here. They survived and now they can start to live again.

So many people see things like this, in fiction AND real life, and they turn away and hide it as far back in the shadows as they can. At the very least they sanitise it and simplify it to make themselves more comfortable and pretend people just get over the pain they endure and go back to 'normal' again. But pretending wounds never scar, both physical and mental, makes me frustrated -- honestly, sometimes straight-up mad. So I appreciate whump for showing the darkest corners of life, of pain and anguish, without shying away from it. The whump community embraces and honors the violence and the gross and the complicated, and it treats imperfect people as just that: people. Sometimes the people improve, sometimes they don't, but they're still people no matter what and they're still given the same empathy and care.

There are other aspects as well that further enhance my enjoyment of whump -- horror is one of my Main 3 Special Interests, I have a fascination with injuries and blood and gore and such, I'm a Crim & Forensic Psychology graduate and the psychology of people who harm and people who are harmed and the effects of trauma and loss and such in those contexts is extremely compelling to me -- but first and foremost, I like whump for saying the quiet parts out loud. Shit hurts. Things change people. Sometimes you can't change them back. But just because they're different now, doesn't mean they're broken or wrong -- and doesn't mean they can't forge a new way forward.

Reblog/reply with your reason! I'd be super interested to see what others do it for!

[angstingantlers]

Big fan of characters realizing they don't get to die. They have to live. And grow. And be a person. And deal with shit they thought they'd never have to. And be fucked up about it. I would like more of this. Enough dying for honor or as redemption. It ain't. You're just a corpse. There is no moral value in dirt time.

[angstingantlers]

As much as I love Whumpee x Caretaker...

Rb if you think Caretaker can be a brother, a friend, or just some guy who found Whumpee at the right place, right time and stay that way

[angstingantlers]

Mad Max Fury Road (2015)

[angstingantlers]

OKAY BUT

Whumper ruffling whumpee's hair. Pinching their cheeks. Patting their heads. Holding whumpee's shoulders to keep them from falling over. Grabbing whumpee's face with one hand and squeezing their cheeks so they're forced to pout. Grabbing whumpee's head with both hands and forcing them to look at them. Poking whumpee's nose or cheeks almost playfully.

GOOD STUFF.

[angstingantlers]

Whumper was expressionless as they opened the front door, but that slowly turned into a fond smirk as they looked over Whumpee, whose own eyes were on the floor and filled with shame.

"You realized you couldn't live on your own, didn't you?"

Whumpee gave a single nod in response.

Whumper reached out and cupped Whumpee's cheek, they were gentle as they stroked it with their thumb.

"Good. Maybe this time around you'll behave."

[angstingantlers]

“How…how am I….?

“Alive? You were on the brink of death, so I possessed you for long enough for the healers to find you. I still wouldn’t move though, your body’s still in rough shape.”

[angstingantlers]

🎉 Write characters that you find interesting and compelling.

🎉 Don't worry about making characters too over the top, or 'too much'.

🎉 Write characters who want big things.

🎉 Write characters with conflict between what they want and what they need.

🎉 Write characters who don't realize they are doing harm.

🎉 Write characters who don't know how to communicate well.

🎉 Write characters with people they love in the way of what they want.

🎉 Write characters with amazing abilities who use them in ways that unintentionally fuck them over.

🎉 Write messy characters!

[angstingantlers]

Whumper slams whumpee against the wall hard by their neck, digging their nails into the flesh of their throat. Whumpee struggles and scrambles for purchase, scratching and scrabbling and tugging at whumper's hand, trying to get air.

[angstingantlers]

Whumper looked over the person standing before them.

"Are you scared, dear?"

The person shook their head, keeping their face expressionless and their eyes straight ahead.

"I know you're scared," Whumper continued, grabbing the other's wrists and raising them in front of their face. "Just look at the way your hands tremble."

[angstingantlers]

Halt and Catch Fire 1.04 episode “Close to the Metal” (with some aftermath into 1.05).

Character: Joe Macmillan, performed by Lee Pace.

Type of whumps: beadly beaten up, arrested and handcuffed in pain, hurt and sore, gingerly walking.

[angstingantlers]

Monster whumpee.

Nobody is coming to save them. After all, whumper is just trying to turn them human again. It doesn’t matter how much pain their in, or if they eat out of a dog bowl, or if their limbs are ripped off and tested, or if their forced to be in bright lights, or if their blood is being taken to see if it can cure people of disease.

After all, it’s just a monster. It can’t feel things.

[angstingantlers]

I think there’s something about a hero seeking out a villain’s help. You’d think a hero would have plenty of people they could rely on for help. Other heroes, medical workers, concerned citizens etc. Villains, sure, they backstab each other all the time. A villain has no social support or system in place to help them. If a hero seeks out the villain, it explicitly means they can’t trust the system they’ve been upholding. That the status quo has betrayed them. Something to that, I dunno..

[angstingantlers]

How many of your co-workers did you just eject into space to get rid of me, huh?

[angstingantlers]

I would like to remind you that I was just bait for Mr. Fire-Fingers.

Jaskier + burns on his fingers

[angstingantlers]

THE WALKING DEAD 2.03

[angstingantlers]

character who is muzzled as a way to humiliate and dehumanize them v.s. character who is muzzled because they’re deranged, feral and dangerous