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Can't stop thinking about unconscious whumpee waking up in the middle of being cared for.

The initial realization from carer (or carers) that whumpee is gaining consciousness. "They're coming around" (maybe said with relief, or with quietly uttered curses because whumpee being awake will only make things more complicated at this moment) and "Hey, Whumpee, you with me?" and "You're safe, I've got you."

Whumpee coming to, confused and hurting, while carer struggles to keep them calm so they don't injure themself further. Maybe whumpee is too out of it to remember anything after the fact, but their screams, the pleas and begging, are something carer won't soon forget. Or maybe whumpee remembers every second of it, and afterwards has to face carer knowing that carer has seen them at their most vulnerable.

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ohhhfhhhhhhhhh my god i just love the expressiveness of eyes in whump……..

-teary and shiny desperately affixed to someone telling them it’s going to be okay

-squeezed tightly and painfully shut up while they bite their tongue or cover their ears

-glassy and distant as they disassociate

-half-lidded and drooping and tired as they fall asleep in someone’s arms or with their head in someone’s lap

-bloodshot and twitching from madness and sleep deprivation

LIKE UGH IT’S SO GOOD

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when character a is barely conscious and being princess carried by character b and when b goes to put them down a whimpers and fists their hand into the fabric of their shirt and b goes shhh shh shh and takes their hand in theirs while gently cradling their head oughhhhhh oughhhhh………….

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“Keep your head down. I won’t let them get anywhere near you.”

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drifting in and out of consciousness throughout a journey, blinking eyes open and shut to fragmented sights of familiar scenery, wincing at bumps in the road or starts and stops as they go. someone's steadying them, maybe, putting a guarding hand to hold them upright ahead of them on a horse or next to them in a wagon or car seat. sun glinting in their eyes, perhaps, or streetlamps flickering past, faint beyond their closed eyelids. almost home now.

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WQA Post Master Lists

> > > Click on a topic below to get the master list of posts for that topic… *** NOTE: if you are using the tumblr app, links may not appear correctly for you. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about that.

About WQA Antagonists Author & Writer Stuff Character Development Character Portrayals Copyright, Plagiarism, and Other Concerns Description Dialogue Editing & Revision Fan-Fiction General Writing Genre Specific Grammar & Punctuation Guides Motivation Names/Naming Master List Plot & Story Structure POV & Tense Publishing Recommended Blogs Research Relationships: Family & Friends Relationships: Romance Short Stories World Building

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Please consider giving your whumpees the hottest, most mind-melting, intestine-boiling, miserable fever, leaving her with barely functional lungs/glazed and distant eyes/an inability to keep anything down/constant dehydration/sweat soaking everything, and with her team/caretakers completely stressed out and unsure what to do. Bonus points if it's from an infected wound. Okay thanks for considering <3

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Pushed to the limits

Character vomiting from dehydration or lack of food—for mundane reasons or not. Maybe they’ve just been too busy running around that day to drink or eat much, and the nausea hits them like a truck. Or maybe they’re in a much worse situation. Stranded, or away from home, injured and unable to get help, vomiting from dehydration after they exert themselves even a little.

Character pushed to the brink of the sheer pain they can handle. Maybe they have a high pain tolerance, and this is so blinding that they roll over and puke before being forced to carry on. Maybe they don’t have such a high pain tolerance—more average—and they say, shaky and sweaty, “I think I’m about to puke.”

Character puking from a fight, punched in the guts one more time then they can handle.

Iron stomach, but pushed past a limit they confidently thought they didn’t have.

Pushed past a medical limit—too much anesthetic, and they wake up vomiting. Swallowing too much blood from a nosebleed, or an injury much worse. Hit way too hard on the head. Given too much of a drug.

Limits are fun.

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Could you give me tips about writing about the description of breathing and how someone breaths when they're nervous or worked up?

Here is what happens when someone is nervous or in the “fight or flight” response.

Here are some words to describe breathing:

Labored - this is when someone is breathing heavily with difficulty.

Heavy - heavy breathing is usually slow and loud.

Panting - panting is heavy breathing that is quick.

Deeply - a short, heavy breath that is usually sigh.

Shallow - taking in little air, quiet.

Sharp - a quick intake of breath, often because someone is surprised.

Wheezy - a whistling sound made when breathing, often through the nose.

Gasping - gasping is when someone has several short intakes of breath, usually when they are not getting enough air.

Shaky - quick breaths that have an auditory “shake” or nervousness to them.

Steady - opposite of shaky.

When a person is nervous, their breathing becomes quick and shaky. It might start out as slow and shaky. For nervousness in general, go through the anxiety tag on the tags page.

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blossoming romance writing prompts:

accidental hand touching

eye contact across a crowded room

exchanging secret smiles

first conversations alone

admiring them from afar

asking them about their family

visiting them at their place of work

discovering common interests

exchanging gifts for the first time

a surprise encounter

picking a leaf/flower petal out of their hair, or brushing dirt off of their face

nervous embarrassment around them (blushing, fidgeting etc)

complimenting their appearance

looking at their lips as they talk

finding excuses to be alone with each other

naturally gravitating closer together

noticing their individual quirks

hello/goodbye hugs that linger

talking late into the night

clumsy attempts at flirting

sharing long term dreams, goals and aspirations with one another

playful teasing

being unable to keep their eyes off of them

attempting to find out if they are single/available

finding comfort in their scent

creating art inspired by them

sharing an umbrella in the rain, or a coat/blanket in the cold

surprising them with their favourite treat

visiting their home for the first time

confiding in them

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Friends-to-More Starters

“You’re my best friend. I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone else.”

“I’m glad I have you here. Being like this is easy with you.”

“At first, having feelings for you was awkward— but now I can’t fathom anything else.”

“I’ve known you for years, (insert name). Can we please drop the pretenses and be honest with each other, for once?”

“I know you don’t feel the same, but I need to get this off my chest.”

“Can you believe how far we’ve come?”

“You’ve been pouting ever since I went on that date. What’s going on?”

“I’m totally not jealous, but this time is for us— please don’t share it with other people.”

“But— you said you’d go there with me. Was that just something you said to make me feel better?”

“Come lie with me, please. I’ve had a bad day— I don’t want to be alone right now.”

“I told her we weren’t dating, but she didn’t believe me.”

“Wait— when did you get so beautiful/handsome/hot?”

“Are you sure you wanna leave the house in that? It’s awfully— revealing.”

“Okay— so maybe this is a date. Is that so bad?”

“Are you— trying to turn me on?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to call you my girlfriend/boyfriend— it just slipped out.”

“I didn’t mean to kiss you. It just sorta— happened.”

“I had this dream that we were married.”

“I had this dream that we kissed— and a sorta want to try it now.”

“Okay— so maybe I am a little jealous. So what? I can’t help it.”

“Just remember, I’m the one who taught you how to (insert intimate activity).”

“I know this sounds lame— but they’re not good enough for you.”

“Are you saying you want to kiss me?”

“Why are you blushing so hard?”

“I’m actually really offended that you didn’t ask me to go with you.”

“Friends can make-out every now and then— right? That’s not weird or anything.”

“I know we’re not together— but I want you to be my first.”

“I want my first kiss to be special—and you’re the most important person in my life right now. Will you kiss me, if I ask, or would that be too weird?”

“Whoa— umm— will you excuse me? I need to run to the bathroom really quick.”

“Look, I know we’re not together. But— we’re both in good places in our lives, and neither of us have any prospects. Do you think there’s a chance we might — well, we already act like an old, married couple, so—”

“Is it weird if I tell you I could see you as the mother/father of my children?”

“I know we said this was a ‘pretend relationship’— but what if we tried ‘for real’?”

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“you’re safe now.”

“you can rest now.”

“you’ve fought so hard.”

“you don’t have to fight anymore.”

“just sleep, okay?”

“i won’t let anything hurt you.”

“it’s over. it’s all over.”

“you don’t have to worry about anything right now.”

“shh, shh, i’ve got you. you’re safe here.”

“i know it was scary.”

“i know it hurts.”

“you’re all done hurting. there’s no more pain.”

“just focus on resting, okay?”

“you need to save your strength.”

“your job right now is to heal.”

“i’m getting you out of here.”

“i’m taking you home. we’re going home.”

“you’re safe in my arms. the hard part is over.”

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The trope of a character being totally incapacitated/overwhelmed by pain is living rent free in my mind rn.

Like all they can do is scream or cry, it hurts so bad they can’t even form words. They might be shaking or hyperventilating, breath hitching if another wave of pain hits them. They can’t stop the tears flowing down their face. Caretaker/team tries to soothe them but nothing works—they don’t even respond.

Or, maybe they do, but its a quiet, pleading “please, make it stop,” between cries. Maybe they beg. “Just shoot me.”

Caretaker/team probably wouldn’t know how to respond. “We’re trying,” they say. Or, “No. I won’t do that.”

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i would like to see more permanent brain damage in whump please and thank you.

and not just traumatic head injuries, though they are fun, but also shit like hypoxia. you know how much fun you can have with that? like, maybe your whumpee drowns and is fully dead for a hot second, and there’s just. no air inside them for a while. they come to after someone saves their life and they’re just hacking and coughing and spluttering and desperately trying to suck down air, you know the drill. or maybe they get shot, in the liver or something, and they just won’t stop bleeding. when they eventually do, they’ve lost so much blood that they’re on death’s door, and there’s a race to get them a blood transfusion before it’s too late. the team manages, but only just, and whumpee’s brain has been deprived of oxygen for so long that when they eventually wake up, they’re so confused, and weak, and scared. fun stuff, right?

and then you have the brain damage. there is so much fucking potential here for whumpy recovery shit. maybe they can’t talk anymore, maybe they can’t understand people anymore, maybe they can’t move properly anymore, maybe they become a different person entirely, a la phineas gage. and they don’t know what to do. their entire life has just been permanently altered, their fucking brain is different now. they lash out more, they wished they didn’t but they can’t help it. or maybe they just become apathetic, and they can’t feel any emotions strongly so they’re just left with this dull, droning sense of guilt for being such a dick. maybe they start crying every now and then, and they don’t really know why, they just feel so fucking sad. maybe they get consumed by this dreadful feeling of isolation, unable to communicate with their friends like they used to.

and then the team has to try and rehabilitate them.

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thinking about a whumpee apologizing, between gasps, through clenched teeth against the pain. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

sorry for making the others have to take care of them, for slowing them down, for not being perfectly strong and endlessly dependable. for being weak, and breakable, and the shame they feel is what they hold onto with their last scraps of consciousness.

and their friends and teammates assuring them over and over, patiently, that they're not a burden, and that even if they are, everyone gets a chance to be a burden sometimes. holding them close, helping them stand, feeding and dressing them, quietly watching over them until they're well again.

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There's just something about tender head and shoulders touches from a caretaker.

Cradling the whumpee's face in their hands

Thumbing their cheekbone

Tipping their chin up

Carding a hand through their hair

Palm against a pulse point

Cupping the back of their neck

Supporting the back of their head

Honestly just resting a hand on the crown of their head

Squeezing/massaging their shoulders

I just. 💖

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“keep breathing”

“take a deep breath”

“you’re holding your breath”

“don’t hold your breath”

“breathe. that’s it. breathe.”

there’s something SO whumpy about these phrases