#it isn’t talked about often in the whump community

[whumpy-gems]

Whumperflies | (h)wəmpərflīz |

Noun

—(of a thing/character related to Whump) pleasant feeling that an individual gets ~similar to butterflies metaphor but with Whump~

*I get Whumperflies every time they get hurt.*

*That fic gave me such great Whumperflies I’m going to have to read it again.*

reblog for a bigger sample size!! 💜💜

@whumplovers-collaborate

[meaculpameahugeculpa]

Whump Community, can we think about something together?

Listen, I know this is going to be controversial, and I’ll be clear: this is not a judgment, it’s not an attack, it’s an invitation to think about the dynamics in the Whump Community and in Whump as a genre. In no way, the ideas I am going to express are meant to shame you or invalidate your experience, I am talking about MYSELF too in this post.

Now.

Could we think about the fact that, maybe, we prefer male/masc-aligned whumpees over female/fem-aligned whumpees because we do have a huge amount of internalized misogyny?

Women are considered a subcategory of human beings, because socially a human being is a male. Women are able to consume and interact with movies, series, books, and stories that are often considered based on “the male experience”, but the same thing isn’t done by men.

Women’s emotions have always been policed, just think about the idea of “hysteria”, or lobotomy, which was often executed on women. If men can’t cry, women can’t be show rage, cry, be happy (Everyone hates fangirls and teenage girls), be horny, they can’t feel anything.

With that being said, isn’t Whump about empathy? Isn’t Whump about seeing a character that you care for, getting through extremely distressing situations, and being able to recover, and be loved?

So isn’t the justification of: “Women have too much on their plate already, so I’m not going to make them suffer” a bit weak? If we all get extremely angry when screenwriters or authors whump the “wrong character”, because “we have to whump the fav one”, why is the whumpee never a woman? Why is the blorbo who deserves to be whumped never a woman?

Is it because we all, cis women, trans women, AFAB people, have internalized the idea that men’s emotions are deeper, are more consistent, are more human? That in a way, the male experience is going to fulfill us in a much greater way than what a woman’s experience could ever possibly do?

[vexingwoman]

I’m loving hearing everyone’s thoughts on whump. Many such cases of ostensibly straight or bisexual women consuming nothing but torture porn (with a tasteful side of woobie coddling or “caretaking”) for gay male pairings almost exclusively. Extreme rambling below because I’ve been thinking about this forever and I’ve never seen anyone else talk about it in a meaningful way.

The non-sexual elements of whump are actually even more interesting to me, especially since even that is still reserved for gay male characters (or straight male characters being written as gay for fic). The whole caretaking part, the way so many whump writers often deride canon material for failing to properly explore the sort of pain they think their fandom faves ought to feel (more accurately: exhibit). Many whump fics are non-sexual but the voyeuristic attention to the suffering of its gay male protagonists feels sexual, in a fetishistic way. There is no similar equivalent to people paying this much precious, mawkish attention to the traumas experienced by female characters. Even if it mirrors or exceeds the actual amount of canon emotional catharsis experienced by their male counterparts.

And I really don’t think these women are a 1:1 equivalent to men who can only get off watching extremely violent porn about women. I don’t even think it comes close to the level of harm those men cause. But I would like to ask the people who consume and produce this content: Why is it only ever about gay men? Why is suffering, crying, rape, terminal illness, torture, etc. such a heavy erotic fixation for them?

And unfortunately I cannot picture any response that isn’t either 1) pornsick or 2) violently defensive.

Very eloquently said. In my experience, aside from admitting that it’s a fetish or misogynistically claiming that male characters are more complex and easier to empathize with, the most common answer I’ve received to the question of why this community focuses almost exclusively on male characters is that it’s an “unexpected and intriguing reversal of gendered expectations.” And while this may be true for some, I’m not convinced this is the main reason.

Because obviously, having a female character abuse and torture the male character would also constitute as an unexpected reversal of gendered expectations, but this community isn’t fascinated by that. Both the character executing the abuse, and the character receiving the abuse, are virtually always male—and the character who plays the role of the caretaker, of course. Coincidentally, I just ran into some stats which really emphasize the point, not that they were needed:

Also, have you noticed a strange upsurge in ridiculously abusive and shockingly violent homo-erotic media? I’m referring to stories like Killing Stalking or Hannibal here. Of course, these kinds of stories have always existed, but I feel like the fascination in them has recently spiked. I recall that even ten years ago the most popular media on gay male relationships was mawkishly adorable—what some would call “fluffy.”

You have to wonder how much of a role that plays in all this. I know for many girls, these vicious homo-erotic stories were their first real exposure to whump content. Maybe they prefer gay male whump content because it’s all they know? But again, that seems too convenient an answer.

In conclusion, I think this is just a mixture of fetishization and internalized misogyny, as I’ve said. In another post, I’ll go further into why I think it’s actually false to argue that male characters are more complexly written and easier to empathize with, and how the real culprit is not the writing, but gendered stereotyping and unconscious misogyny.

If anyone wants to chime in and give their perspective on this, please do.

[generic-whumperz]

First Intro Post!

(Okay I feel like I’ll do a couple of these intro posts since I’m kinda all over the place atm and very frazzled- just got back from a three-week vacation.💀 I’ll do a proper intro post later, but rn I just wanna talk about my new oc!)

So I just learned of Picrew a couple days ago and have been messing around on it since. I found this character editor by @elena-illustration this and am obsessed! This is the closest I have gotten to what I think my oc actually looks like. His vibe is sad Greek statue (downturned features, olive skin, curly dark brown hair, strong jawline, with a Grecian nose) with central heterochromia (green-to-gray) and sanpaku eyes).

Can I start a list/chain/share (whatever it’s called?) of your oc’s/Whumpee’s?! I’d love to see what other people’s whumpees look like!

Greek God glory

After a fight, under the ownership of Whumper 1 (Frederik Finnegan, Fred for short).

OC overview: SX-B2217 (Seventeen/Seven for short) is a mysterious human/alien hybrid genetic experiment sold off to a WRU-type facility for a heafty price tag. Seven’s batch was created in The Lab™️ and grown in artificial wombs, then transferred to maturation chambers which accelerated their natural grown rates. These subjects were used for top secret experimentation and were not intended to ever be seen (or used) by the public.

But, (there’s always a ‘but’ isn’t there?) one of The Lab™️ workers made a backdoor deal with a WRU-adjacent facility since The Lab™️ needed funding and the facility was willing to dish out a substantial amount of money for these experimentations called “drones” (may change this name later on?) Drones were created and altered to be quiet, tolerant, docile, and malleable- an accidental perfect pet, but an intentional ideal lab rat. Drones listen to higher authority figures and have little to no sense of bodily autonomy. They are considered to be property though-and-though because they were never a “person beforehand,” do not have friends or families, were created from raw material for specific purposes in a laboratory, and don’t even have names other than their identification codes.

Additional to being a drone, SX-B2217 possesses some strange, mostly invisible abilities that he keeps hidden from Lab™️ and facility workers. However, when shopping for his first pet, Whumper 1 (Fred) picks Seven out of a line-up of freshly shipped in drones because he can sense a great power within Seven that Fred believes he can use to his advantage. Seven is a spooky boi and often seems to be in some sort of trance and can sleep with his eyes open. He’s mute, but seems to be able to subtly communicate non-verbally and react to things before they happen. Over their years together, Fred notices many unusual things about Seven that he can’t quite explain but keeps to himself. Fred is both intrigued and scared of Seven, but they develop a mutual understanding.

Inspired by his family’s famed prize-winning race horses and his love for boxing, Fred buys Seven to use for fighting as he starts an underground pet-fighting ring where people place bets on fights for outrageous sums of money. After several months of training, Seven becomes the best fighter, is ultimately unbeatable, and quickly becomes Fred’s pride and joy and his #1 cash cow. Because of this, Fred does not treat Seven like a “normal pet” which causes issues with other owners/Whumpers. Fred and Seven have a very strange dynamic that will be explored in flashbacks as I begin writing this series because it actually takes place when Caretaker rescued Seven from Whumper 2!

*This was just a background snippet, I will be sharing more down the road, I just wanted to give a little backstory to Seven’s portrait!

P.S. I’m brand new to whump and sharing this was terrifying!

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

hey i know this isn’t whump, but since you’re used to critiquing unusual things in writing i thought I’d come here. my oc “merite” is a shapeshifter, kind of similar to a werewolf. she’s been shunned from her community and even almost put to death for her abilities. she sees herself as a monster and thinks she might accidentally hurt other people, because it’s been drilled into her for her whole life. Her girlfriend “leda” thinks her big teeth and claws are sexy - basically leda is a monsterfucker. There’s something there about merite feeling better about her abilities and like it’s ok that she’s this way because leda thinks it’s hot but im scared to mull this over with my friends because im scared they’ll think it’s weird and gross.. we do talk and joke about stuff like this, and often share our characters with each other even when the lore gets dark but I don’t know…

TL;DR: is it ok to write my oc learn to love her shapeshifting powers because her gf is a monsterfucker

(If you’re not ok with answering this that’s ok sorry to bother you)

hi, firstly, thank you for trusting my silly little blog enough to let it be a comfort place for you to ask for an advice. secondly, in my humble opinion, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be okay for you to write your story however you wish.

from what you’ve mentioned here, I assume you mean you’re also not certain if you should talk about your oc with your friend because you’re concerned they might judge you? — my other advice, though, is that you gently remind yourself you don’t have to talk to anyone about anything you’re not comfortable talking about.

you can write your story without talking to them about it. and I’d say, go for it. for what it’s worth, I genuinely don’t see anything “weird or gross” about the plot you provided. if anything, I think it’s fascinating, and both cute and passionate at the same time, in the sense that it’s wholesome that leda truly loves merite for who she is, and her being passionate about merite’s teeth and claws and finding them sexy is actually pretty hot. so no, I don’t think it’s “gross” at all. but even if it were “gross”, I still see nothing wrong with writing weird and gross stuff for the sake of the horror (and I mean hey, they’re also a form of art!). only that, in my opinion, your story is not one of those weird and gross ones. it’s rather one of those romantic and passionate ones.

my point is, don’t let the fear of what others might think about you hold you back from creating the art you want to create. I understand that not everybody will appreciate the same art, but I also know that there will always be people out there who love and appreciate your art — and even then, I still believe the priority of creating a piece of art is that you, the artist, is always the main audience of your own creation.

make whatever you want to make. write whatever you want to write. and if that friend of yours chose to distant themself from you because of your art, then maybe it’s a sign that you deserved someone better, respectfully.

rooting for you. I know this story of yours will be amazing!

[hurtthemgently]

Watched

Masterlist

Cw: meta aware whumpee, paranoia, begging, existential crisis, emotional whump.

Gonna go ahead and also warn for (referenced animal death), since Cato is a fish butcher, and works at the docks. This won’t be referenced very often, but the docks, various boats, and the harbor are common places for him to be.

——

Cato deftly cut and descaled the chunk of fish, before putting the meat into a cooler. As he snapped the lid closed he noticed that feeling again. The one he got when the audience was watching.

All was conveniently quiet down by the docks. It was very early in the morning, so the swell of tourists and vendors weren’t out yet. A few of the other boats were busy, the last stragglers ready to depart for a day of fishing. They were already late getting out, as the sun was rising, turning the sky a soft blue gray.

“Please not now.” He muttered, going over to the pile of fresh catch, hoping to ignore them. This lasted all of thirty seconds, while he worked on another.

Sighing, he rinsed and sheathed his skinning knife, washed his hands, and hung up his apron.

“What? Did someone request a workplace injury? Am I going to get cut by my own knife? Fall into the water and stung by jellyfish?” He was almost shouting by the end, leaning on his palms flat on the table, still careful to avoid the damp puddles.

He sat and put his head in his hands. “Writer? Are you even there? Or is it just them?”

No answer came. Could the story even be taking place without writer? Maybe they were just staying quiet to mess with him. Did he get it right that time? Writer? Nothing. He still had no idea what they meant when they corrected him.

“Okay well.. I know I haven’t talked to you that much but audience? I don’t know if you can communicate to me… but please, stop. I don’t know what’s happening. I just know that I’m- that I don’t want to be watched constantly.”

He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. This had the opposite effect. He couldn’t contain a sob, though he did manage to blink away tears.

“Please stop.” He closed his eyes tightly. “What do you want! Tell me! All this can’t just be to torment me, there has to be a purpose!”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about that, there’s a purpose to all this I promise. Also, you did get it wrong a minute ago.”

Cato gave a frustrated sigh, leaning against the wall. “Just tell me what you want and get it over with!”

“I wanted to show you being good at your job, but you seem to be neglecting that at the moment.”

“Really? Is that it? You wanted them to watch me gut fish all morning?” He glared in the direction he thought writer was in.

“Cato, I won’t ever directly say something that isn’t true unless I’m joking.”

“And you aren’t joking right now I presume? You literally just wanted to make the audience watch me at me job?”

“Yep! I think it’s a lot more fun when you get some time to be seen as a regular person. You have your adorable little goals and aspirations, your everyday activities, your secrets. All of it is so much fun! More flavour to the dish.”

“What dish? What are you talking about?”

“Aww, you haven’t even realized yet. Well, I don’t want to tell you. I want for you to figure it out on your own. Now, you should get back to work. Wouldn’t want this order running behind.”

He scowled as the presence left him.

——

Taglist: @whumpsday

Ask to be tagged if you want!

[m0tel6mxzzy]

here’s how euphoria s3 can still work:

ngl if euphoria has an s3 i just wanna see all the girls happy in therapy and developing healthy repaired relationships and nate suffering. they need some succession writers pulling cousin greg succession whump levels of pathetic. make that man a loser as kat knew. not bc he isn’t living up to his expectations but bc he feels no shame about the harm he’s caused others. also, more interaction w elliot and nate just awkwardly in college altho i hope elliot meets a nice guy like a jock similar to who derek was and despite their differences, they grow to find happiness. maybe someone straight lace like lexi but social anxiety-ridden like rue and struggles to communicate, but in times of stress blurts out the truth and elliot just laughs bc he knows and is deeply intuitive.

like so far even when i’m in college nate is not relatable, and in fact the moment u get here you’re surrounded by ppl who are sometimes more advanced than u and i wanna see him crushed under that while refusing to improve and it killing him in this graphic, gory manner with intense greek mythological creature horror effects while the girls are motivated in whatever their choose to do w their lives but also make efforts to repair their relationships to one another.

the aesthetics revert to this glittery s1 while cassie adopts a darker, more effy stonem look but simply “darker and messy” but not fully emo like kat was, while dressing how she truly wants to dress w/o influence of maddy, but also in more complex mixed layers and patterns. lots of dark blues, maroon reds, blacks, greys, and silvers. some vivienne westwood archive looks that sounds cute and lexi wore a miu miu dress lol and bc cassie is now embracing her body but for her own sake and not anyone elses w/o feeling like she has to compensate to just exist. for once, she lets herself exist and dress as she wants even if others make fun of her or find it over the top, but it’s her.

and i’m assuming cassie finds friends who don’t give a shit abt her past w the leaks and in fact affirm she was a victim in that situation by those who manipulated her. the context of this is connected to kat, and rue narrates the negatives of what lat went thru similarly and closes the gap w her by acknowledging her presence (which levinson sounds scared to do) now that barbie is no longer present in the show.

also jules and rue seem to have mended things but i hope they talk bc a lot was left unsaid when they didn’t speak. cassie also needs to apologize to maddy bc it’s clear a part of her regrets her actions (ex: flaunting maddy’s abuser in her face) altho cassie is now part of nate’s abusive cycle and some of it is out of her control and she feels lonely, and knew inside that maddy and her family held that support nate and his disaffected parents could never replace. she does need to find friends outside of maddy tho bc part of her feels like she can’t always admit the truth to her, and college is the perfect atmosphere for new friends who acknowledge but don’t hate the old you.

it’s clear cassie never liked nate and liked the idea of someone who disregarded her past (even if she doesn’t know he was in on the reason the entire school demeans her) and i’d also like rue and lexi being roommates. lexi might be a writer but consider something else more “practical” like a stem field, and rue is undecided but considers becoming a child psychologist. i see jules as an artist that often brings awareness to childhood psychiatric abuses in her art as she grows popular, and moves to ny w maddy eventually

maddy and jules remain friends, and maddy decides to leave in east highland but adapt to college there first, as all she needed was a transition from her traumas associated w high school, and majors in fashion design, marketing, and fashion sustainability while also acing math bc surprise suprise this girl remembers everything. cassie i’m not so sure of, i think she’d be an excellent public speaker (obviously lmao) but i’m not sure what career she’d map out

***also nate’s secret brother, tyler, and anna are addressed

[whumpacabra]

[personal kvetching below from a person frustrated that they’re a flawed human being and not immune to systemic societal bigotry - do not patronize me or act like this is some pity-me cry baby schtick I’m just talking myself through my own bullshit like I’m a fucking toddler]

This is a personal vent post that I’d normally keep to my main but it’s too entrenched in the whump community and how we specifically treat characters of color and white characters to post there so. Here it is.

Recently (within the last year?) I had it pointed out to me that a) a lot of whumpee’s are ‘innocent white boys’ and b) a lot of caretakers are patient and protective POC. There’s a lot of meta I’ve read around this and it’s important as a community to address and grow from these racist and (and often times sexist) stereotypes.

But jfc it makes me so frustrated with myself for not noticing it in my own writing before like. idk I guess I thought I was better than that?* It’s part of the reason why TBK hasn’t really been updated in so long - the plan was to introduce a caretaker of color for the sad broken white whumpee. And I had it justified to myself in ‘oh well he’s the white Black Knight and Bors is the Black White Knight’ but realizing that this is a symptom of a greater pattern in my writing and whump writing at large throws that bullshit in the bin.

Like. I want to fix it but I don’t know how/the only way I could think to fix it feels tokenizing - rewriting BK to also be a POC character OR erasing Bors and Percy’s race and how it impacts their characterization both feel like putting a bandaid on a bullet hole.

And I know that stereotypes aren’t inherently a bad thing and they can be handled with respect and such in writing - but the greater patterns around those stereotypes are still enforced by writing them. You can kill off your queer character in a way that serves the narrative and their thematic role in it but you’re still burying your gay and need to remember that your work does not exist in a vacuum.

And I know that I need to get over myself and I will and I’ll keep trying to unlearn the systemic bigotry we’ve been marinated in our whole lives but like. Fucking hell man I know there isn’t a quick fix for two decades on this bitch of an Americanized earth but I wish there was. Being progressive and anti-racist and a dozen other labels doesn’t mean shit when your behaviors are still informed by the very systems you profess the desire to dismantle.

All I can do is move forward and try to be better in my future writing and try to fix what I can in my current writing but that doesn’t stop me from being annoyed with my past self for things they didn’t even realize were a pattern until it was pointed out to them.

Anyways if you’re still reading and I’ve pissed you off be normal about it and like. Put gore or a good ole KYS in my inbox. If you can feel free to find me irl and we can have a fistfight behind the Walgreens (don’t worry you can beat me I’ve got a bum leg and poor eyesight). Or you can be extra quirky and pop into my DMs so we can hash this out and discuss how I can be a better person like adults.

[genuinehc]

from a whumper, about your post:

(sorry in advance if this comes off as aggressive, i really dont mean it that way, just bad at talking)

i am aware of the fact that, for some people, whump is a sexual thing, but the idea that its like that for a lot of people is a bit..odd? (at least thats how i read your post, sorry if thats not what u meant)

whether anyone likes it or not, 'kink' is automatically associated with sexual content. one of the things i see most often from whumpers is that whump isnt a sexual thing for them (often stated when explaining to non-whumpers)

yes we get whumperflies but for me at least its akin to the feeling i get at other things i really enjoy. its just a really excited/satisfied stomach feeling, something id also get when playing a high-energy board game or even seeing a non-whump trope i really love in film/tv! for me id say its sorted under the umbrella is excitement, but its not the same at all as sexual excitement like kinks are thought to be. and saying that it has specific feelings (stomach butterflies, twitching fingers, etc.) is kind of.. obvious i suppose. every emotion has that; we pace and bounce our legs when nervous or bored, we get tense and our hearts race when scared or angry.

for me, intimacy has nothing to do with whump. (in fact thats one of the reasons i usually dislike intimate whumpers because they usually venture too close to romantic or sexual content for my tastes)

like someone else said, i think the main reason that whump blogs dont like interactions from kink blogs is that it shifts the idea of it being nonsexual whump to sexual whump (which, given how many people ive seen with rape/noncon as squicks, could be unsettling) (and even for whump blogs have post/reblog sexual whump, the whump community heavily confines whump to fiction rather than reality in a way that isnt followed or obvious that its followed by kink blogs. which may also make people uncomfortable)

sorry for the long ask, just had a lot i wanted to say

You’re totally fine. :)

I do feel like I want to give further context to my frame of reference, though, because I feel like it’s central to why I’m asking:

I am 1000% a neurospicy internet old who is returning to fandom and fandom adjacent spaces after almost 20 years away from being an active participant in them. An entire subculture of a subculture grew up while I was pursuing other nerdy interests and I am equally delighted and curious about what the standards are and how they came to be.

This line of inquiry is an attempt to bridge something that feels very intuitive to me with my observations of the whump community. There is a gap in understanding or terminology or both, and that gap is with me: I’m the one misunderstanding the culture. After nosing around the edges for a couple of years, rather than try to understand through observation alone, I’m finally just asking: what is up with this?

What I’m learning from the lovely people who have been kind enough to take the time to share their opinions and experience is that there isn’t a single answer (and tbh, I wasn’t expecting that there was and would have been disappointed if there had been). The last 30ish hours have had a lot of really good discussion and I’m enjoying getting more insight, especially from thoughtful people with more experience in this community.

Thank you for taking the time to respond!

[phantomato]

On the genre binary

This month, I’ve done something unusual with respect to my own writing: I wrote a fic that I categorize as purely fluff, and a fic I categorize as purely angst.

Anyone with the misfortune of having talked to me about my feelings on genre knows that I tend to dislike the dominance of these labels. I won’t shy away from applying them, if they fit, but it’s a rarity that I am comfortable sorting a story into one category or the other. However, I think it’s undeniable: Galleons, a miserable short about Voldemort’s complete lack of respect for himself, is angst. Uber, a sweet portrait of a happy relationship, is fluff. They are pure distillations of the terms.

But my issue with these genres is not that they are useless labels, it’s that they are often treated as a strict binary within fandom. Which is your fic, fluff or angst? You’ll see polls on the fanfiction subreddit asking for users’ preferences, as though those two options are the only possible moods a story might have. And what happens when we have a binary?

We start forcing membership in a category where it doesn’t fit.

Angst is generally understood to mean a story which is intended to make the reader feel uncomfortable emotions, usually through the dramatic arc. Fluff denotes a story meant to make a reader feel pleasant emotions, and often, though not always, comes with the assumption that there may not be a plot or the plot may be of tertiary importance.

Clear-cut so far, I suppose. What’s the issue? Well, if stories are largely either fluff or angst, how do you categorize a fic wherein the main character endures terrible torture for the bulk of the word count, but is given romantic fulfillment and a hopeful ending in the last couple of chapters? How do you categorize a story about a happy relationship, wherein one character struggles with feelings of self-worth as part of their emotional arc?

How do I categorize my stories, wherein characters are mostly just people living through the range of typical human experiences?

What fandom has done is to double-down on the damn binary. “Angst with a Happy Ending,” we tag, so that a reader knows that no matter the depth of their discomfort, the characters make it out okay by the end. “Light Angst,” or “Heavy Angst,” we might qualify, to try and communicate the intended brutality of the emotional impact. Because in a world where “Angst” is so broad as to encompass both torture porn and adolescent romantic woes, the binary fails us.

Fluff isn’t immune, either. “Flangst,” or “Fluff and Angst,” dominate the space of maybe-Fluff fics, authors trying to have it both ways in a system that wants you to choose, because they desperately need to convey to anyone looking for easy, feel-good reading that this story will have difficult moments, and they need to warn off the whump fans who will be disappointed at finding a happy ending.

And there are value judgments on these terms, of course. We cannot escape that. Fluff is frequently derided, “that story was just a bit of meaningless fluff,” because the genre is associated with plotlessness and happiness at the cost of characterization. Angst, for all that it is sometimes mocked as the domain of melodrama, at least has the potential for seriousness. Authors end up worrying, wondering whether they’re allowed to cover serious topics in fluff, or whether they’re allowed to have sweetly-affirming character interactions in angst. When you dig into these worries, engage the author in a discussion, what it nearly always comes down to is: I want to tell a complex story, and I have no model for where this fits in fandom.

Which brings me back to that dreaded binary. Labels, categories, are helpful when they do not restrict us. If you can joyfully claim fluff to help tag your story, wonderful. If you are happy to call something angst, go forth and do so. But as someone who primarily writes stories that feel inappropriate under either label, I find the dominance of the binary, and the attempts at expansion which only reinforce that dominance, totally worthless.

If someone calls Made of Clay fluff, because there is a high degree of focus on domestic interactions due to the nature of the setting, they’re missing out on the central conflict of Tom affirming his choice to move past his years as Voldemort. If someone calls Waterlogged angst because Hermione and Tom have a deeply unhappy relationship, they’re missing out on the loving, supportive relationships he builds with friends and family. What even is Ganymede, a story that encompasses rape recovery and parental love wound together inseperably?

Porn with plot, perhaps. There is quite a good deal of masturbation.

These are stories that deal with the myriad challenges of human relationships, both the unusual and the mundane, and attempt to give depth to every character they feature. Why is the primacy of the “Fluff” and “Angst” genre labels still governing fandom? It can’t hope to give proper due to the true range of stories that we can tell.

I could rant, here, about my frustration with fandom’s preference for high-stakes, high-emotion stories. I could complain, cite the beauty of genres like mumblecore from the independent film scene, and show that there’s merit in storytelling outside of this polarity. But that’s not helpful, either—a person’s reading preferences are valid, no matter how well they mesh with my tastes. It is productive to combat my dissatisfaction with fanfiction genres by writing or recommending fic that I like; it is not constructive to rail against the very existence of a genre simply because I am uninterested in most of it.

I’ll leave off by saying that I’m very glad to have written the stories I wrote this month. I enjoyed how uncomplicated it was to sink into the angst of Voldemort’s deep self-hatred in Galleons. I was happy to unwind with the humor and smuttiness of Uber. I hope that the genre tags help readers find those stories, if they are in the mood for either “Angst” or “Fluff,” and to avoid those stories, if they are not.

But I’ll also leave a call to action, to consider approaching fics, whether reading or writing them, not as necessarily fitting into either category or at some point along the implicit line between them, but as possibly existing elsewhere in the universe of genre and emotion that might govern a fic. If a story is tagged with neither, try accepting that the author did not intend it to be either. If parts of something read as either, resist the temptation to mentally categorize it according to that impression. Recommend, read, and write beyond the binary.

[ironwoman359]

Completely agree on nagas being underutilized and having a ton of potential. Both as the whumpee and the whumper….

So now I have to know. Which do you prefer…(and maybe why…talk whumpy to me lol)

Naga whumper? Or naga whumpee…

cw: whump, captivity, dehumanization, possessiveness, abuse, torture, angst with little to no comfort

Oh, I am delighted you asked, friend...it's not like I just did a bunch of research on snake health for a bad things happen bingo fic* with a naga whumpee....it's not like doing so gave me MANY more ideas than I was able to fit into that one story...and its not like I have many thoughts on how nagas could fit into the traditional creature whump tropes (that I also was reading and rereading for 'research' while writing We Blankly Stare). This is going under a cut, because, like all my fics, it got longer than I meant it to. (also, to my regular followers who aren't into heavy whump, don't mind me as I go off on a tangent into a totally different fic community; you can skip this one if you need to; at the very least mind the content warnings <3)

SO, nagas. Beautiful creatures. Like centaurs, 'human' on the top and snake on the bottom. SO much lovely whump potential, either as whumpers or whumpees, but lets focus on the whumpee side for now. In no particular order...

Pet Whump:

Decorative collars set with jewels that compliment the pattern of their highly polished scales and delicate gold chains weaving their way along their body, equal parts jewelry and restraint. They are highly prized, beautiful things, and what is the point of owning one if not to show it off?

Inviting a crowd to come and watch them feed, demonstrating their dislocating jaws and sharp fangs as they toss rodents to them whole. Bonus angst points if raw meat actually makes your naga whumpee sick, or they can eat raw meat but cooked is better. Just because they look like a snake doesn't mean they eat like one

Is your naga whumpee poisonous? Have their owner remove their fangs or poison glands, leaving them utterly dependent on them for food (and utterly helpless if they do ever manage to escape)

Nagas bred in captivity, so the only life they've ever known is one of imprisonment. Do they even consider freedom as something attainable? Or do their owners have them convinced that they're better off like this?

Lab Whump:

Nagas that are actually human/snake hybrids created in laboratory experiments just to see if it was possible.

Nagas who are kept in order to produce venom, what the venom is for could be anything!

Nagas 'enhanced' with mind and/or body altering drugs or magic to serve in the military as the perfect warrior

Nags used for experiments and drug tests because they are seen as less than human

Torture Whump:

As is the case with most torture whump, the 'why' the whumpee is being tortured isn't really important here. Maybe they have information the whumper wants, maybe the whumper is trying to get revenge or hurt whumpee's team, maybe they're just cruel. This isn't really about the 'why' so much as it is the specific 'hows' that having a whumpee who is part snake provides.

Pulling/cutting off scales, pulling out or filing down fangs, clipping or tearing off claws (a creature whump classic)

Naga specific (this is more of a lizard thing than a snake thing, but nagas aren’t real, we make the rules here!) body part removal: cutting off the tail! It doesn’t matter that it grows back, it still hurts every time. (or maybe the tail doesn’t grow back, and the naga is left unable to ‘walk’ properly)

Rough iron collars around their neck attached to a ball and chain, bonus points if the length of the chain prevents them from rising to their usual 'standing' height.

Hang them from the ceiling with cuffs and chains by their tails; upside down, right-side up, however you choose!

My those snake bodies are long...I wonder how long they can stretch?

I have one word for you: thermoregulation. Reptiles cannot regulate their own body heat, they are dependent on their environment. This gives us a whole HOST of reptile-specific torture techniques:

temperature shock: dump them in freezing water or spray them with a high-pressure hose. Unpleasant for any kind of whumpee, for the naga whumpee this has the added bonus of being fatal very quickly if they aren't warmed up.

It's not good for a snake to be too HOT either, they need to cool their bodies off just as often as they need to warm them up (don't quote me precisely on that, snake tumblr). A whumper who keeps their naga under bright, hot lights nearly constantly so they're dehydrated, covered in blisters, and/or always feverish (can a naga get a fever? idk, up to you. snakes don't, but snakes don't have human torsos. we can be wishy washy with health issues)

So extreme heat and extreme cold are bad, but did you know that (while it's breed specific) most snakes lose its ability to thermoregulate at around 70 degrees Fahrenheit? When their body temperature drops below this (but not so low that we're in hypothermia territory), their movements are sluggish, they cannot/will not eat, and it is very easy for them to develop infections, scale rot, all sorts of problems. Does the whumper keep them in low temperatures to make them weak and pliable in their hands, easy to control? Does the whumper use these conditions as a punishment for bad behavior? Or give reprieve from them as a reward for good behavior? There’s just SO much that can be done with temperature alone! It’s one of the things that sets nagas apart from other creatures and THAT is one of the most criminally underused aspects, in my oh so humble opinion!

Other Fun Concepts:

Nagas with their tails trapped under rubble, unable to pull themselves free.

Nagas kept in a cage that's far too small for them, their body wrapped up so tightly they can barely move.

Did you know that when a snake's body temperature is too low, it can't digest its food? And that if it does eat something and then doesn't have the energy to digest it properly, it will either instinctually regurgitate that food back up or run the risk of the food literally rotting in its stomach? Take this knowledge into literally any of the pet or torture scenarios and you have some A+ snake specific whump

Tiny nagas! Like the western hognose snake or the ringneck snake, these little guys can fit in the palm of your hand! Apply literally any previously listed scenario to your tiny naga for instant fantasy g/t whump! also vore...that's not my scene but it was one of like, two things i found while looking for naga whump on tumblr earlier, so I feel obligated to mention it.

Giant nagas, YOU can fit in THEIR hands. Does that make them the whumper, or still the whumpee? You decide!

Water nagas! combine mer whump with naga whump and you’ve got a water snake to hurt!

Nagas with scale rot, respiratory infections, kinks in their spine, or other snake health issues, either from mistreatment from a whumper or natural causes.

As you can tell, I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, lol. I hope you enjoyed, and if anyone writes anything based off these, I’d love to see it! Also, HAVE I been considering making a whump sideblog for awhile? yes. Did writing this post convince me to finally do it? Also yes. So I'll be over at @ironwhumper359 if you'd like to talk more whump with me, I’d be delighted to have you :)

*if you would like to read said bad things happen bingo fic, know that while it is labelled Sanders Sides, because that’s the fandom I mainly write it, the first chapter only has one character from the series in it and is honestly much more of an original whump piece than it is a fanfic. The second and third chapters are more fandom specific (though you’re of course still welcome to read them even if you’re not a sanders sides fan), but that first one can be read as stand-alone whump!

[giggles-and-freckles]

my fic masterlist

decided to do this for my own sake more than anyone else’s because sometimes I have to make sure the idea I get at 3am isn’t one I’ve already written hehe. anyway, a lot of these are on my ao3, but I’m also going to try and track down some of my TuMbLr-eXcLuSiVe fics, too. I’ll update this as often as I remember (so, uhhh–)

In-Progress: Not On A Consistent Updating Schedule Bc Abi is a Mess ™

midst of the mind – Anakin has always had a pretty good understanding of his feelings, even if he's not particularly disciplined in acting on them. But things surrounding the Chancellor seem to be off and Anakin's determined to get to the bottom of it. With a little help from his friends.(or: fix-it ROTS fic where Ani, Obi, and Padmé take down the Chancellor one fake smile and late-night tea party at a time)

evermore – "dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found" within the lives of our favourite space fam. (or: TAYLOR SWIFT LITERALLY OWNS MY SOUL, OKAY?) (unrelated one-shots based on taylor swift songs ha)

filling the gaps – after the horror of Naboo, Obi-Wan has flipped from Padawan to having a Padawan in a matter of hours and he's not sure how much longer he can pretend like he's okay. thankfully, this one spunky youngling who keeps popping up in the corners of his life seems to know what to do. (or: baby!Soka unknowingly helps new Knight!Kenobi figure things out and braids his hair along the way)

Obi-Wan & Ahsoka: Best Father-Daughter Duo In The Galaxy According To Me (because let’s be honest...that’s why I’m here) (tagged: #obi & soka)

filling the gaps – *in-progress multi-chapter* after the horror of Naboo, Obi-Wan has flipped from Padawan to having a Padawan in a matter of hours and he's not sure how much longer he can pretend like he's okay. thankfully, this one spunky youngling who keeps popping up in the corners of his life seems to know what to do. (or: baby!Soka unknowingly helps new Knight!Kenobi figure things out and braids his hair along the way)

playing catch – Ahsoka finds an old friend on Tatooine and has lots of questions. they cry a lot. obi-wan tells some white lies. they get the hugs they need. (Obi-Wan & Ahsoka reunite on Tatooine)

all too young – during a bout of insomnia while on Onderon, Ahsoka gets some advice and insight about her Master. (or Obi-Wan hears Ahsoka laugh for the first time and they get to have a snuggle and he absolutely spends the entire next day training the rebels trying not to cry thinking about it every dang time he sees her.)

hologram heart-to-hearts – we see Obi-Wan and Ahsoka have a conversation via hologram in the final season of tcw, but what if there had been...more?(three-parter) (basically Obi and Soka keep in touch after she leaves the Order and there’s...a lot of emotions involved)

little love – a sort of follow-up to hologram heart-to hearts; Ahsoka sticks her nose into the wrong Alliance meeting and discovers a certain Jedi is alive and on Tatooine of all places, so she places a long-distance call.

bad days – Ahsoka tries to squeeze out of her Grand Master exactly what happened on Mortis. and, as always, Obi-Wan is powerless to deny her anything, no matter how painful that truth may be.

sleeping with monsters – Ahsoka is having a hard time sleeping after her time on Felucia, so Obi-Wan offers a solution.

chance meeting – Obi-Wan is up late researching for his Master in the archives when a certain sneeze–and pair of big blue eyes–catch his attention.

‘drooping eyelids’ prompt fill – Ahsoka and Obi-Wan have a conversation about attachment while Anakin’s missing. they (plus Anakin) get some platonic cuddles.

‘dancing’ prompt fill – they attend a senatorial gala without Anakin because he’s feeling grumpy grump after deception arc fall-out. Obi realises that there are still things to be thankful for. 

sorrow – Ahsoka feels the full weight of loss as she clutches her Grand Master’s dead body. (deception arc FEELS!!!!)

‘I do not pretend to set people right, but I do see they are often wrong’ prompt fill – *trigger warning: death of children; Obi comforts Ahsoka after they witness an atrocity of the highest order.

the silence between — Ahsoka gets assigned to the 212th as her Master recovers. Unwanted quality time with her Grand Master doesn’t go as planned.

untitled ‘Obi & Ani role reversal au’ ficlet — Padawan Obi-Wan pays a visit to his best pal Ahsoka in the crèche.

‘falling asleep on each other’s shoulder’ prompt fill – the summary says it all. fluff!

'I don’t wanna die’ – Obi-Wan comforts Ahsoka in her pain. *tw: implied major character death

‘I made tea’ – Anakin is off-world so it’s up to Obi-Wan to take care of his sick grand-padawan.

sorry for the soup – post-deception arc. Ahsoka stops by Obi-Wan’s quarters to check-in.

Obi-Wan & Anakin: The Early Years (tagged: #obi & ani)

figuring it out – Anakin learns waking Obi-Wan up can sometimes be a good thing and Obi-Wan learns that maybe everything's going to be okay. (padawan!ani & new dad knight!kenobi)

if I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more – Anakin overhears a conversation he wasn’t meant to hear and lashes out in response. lots of hurt is uncovered and Obi-Wan hears some hard truths from his Padawan. angst, angst, angst...but with a hug.

reading lessons – the team takes a trip to the archives to find some reading material. Anakin is adorably insecure.

cold – Obi-Wan and Anakin have their first solo mission, but in typical Kenobi & Skywalker fashion, it does not go as planned. Exasperated Obi-Wan and Won't-Shut-Up Anakin are put to the test by deep space and a completely out-of-fuel ship. (or some more fluff where padawan!ani and new knight!kenobi get to try and figure out how the heck this master-padawan thing WORKS. hint: it's not easy!)

playing hooky – angel baby Anakin breaks Obi-Wan's heart and it's not for the last time...womp wooooomp.

like you – sweet, angel baby Ani gives himself a haircut and Obi-Wan deals with the aftermath. (I’m copying and pasting most of these summaries directly from ao3 and cracking up because I called Anakin a sweet angel baby in two in a ROW hahah)

fun? – the Jedi Council gives Obi-Wan his newest orders as a young Jedi Knight and he struggles to understand them. he was instructed to take his new Padawan and...have...fun?

go away/please stay – Obi-Wan has been disappearing for solo missions more and more often and Anakin's starting to wonder if it's more than just on request of the Council. (or: can you say TEEN ANGST!)

‘forehead kisses’ prompt fill – Anakin stumbles upon his Master having quite the nightmare, so he handles it the way his mom always handled his own nightmares. with patience and affection.

unnamed NAP TIME fic – Obi-Wan gets home from a solo mission early to find his bed occupied.

‘sweets’ prompt fill – Anakin gets a little ambitious with his choco-ball indulgence.

‘fuzzy socks’ prompt fill – years after arriving at the Temple, Anakin still hasn’t quite adjusted to the cold. Obi-Wan gets him a gift to help. (really just an excuse for some obi ani banter)

‘snowball fight’ prompt fill – Anakin takes his boredom to the next level, much to his Master’s chagrin.

untitled Anakin sickfic bc I’m not feeling very creative right now – the team goes on a mission but Anakin gets sick. Obi-Wan is ultimate mother hen and Anakin makes an observation.

got germs – sickficlet where both of our best boys are sick.

you’re okay – just some classic protective parent!Obi-Wan and teenaged son!Anakin post disaster.

‘you lied to me’ – angstpril day 13. Anakin really wants to go to Ilum and make his lightsaber...but is met with disappointment.

random sickfic – because we all know Anakin is the most annoying sick person in the world.

don’t struggle – the ship is crashing, as usual. but this time, Anakin’s seatbelt is stuck. *tw: implied major character deaths

relic – sith!Obi au. *tw: major character death

aspectabund – Anakin’s eyes betray him and his Master.

Obi-Wan & Anakin: Brotp But Also Idiots Who Don’t Know How To Communicate (still tagged #obi & ani)

define ‘attachment’ – while the dads esteemed Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker wait for Ahsoka to wake up, they talk about attachment, worry, and that time Ani caused an accidental security breech at the Temple.

favourites – Obi-Wan has been tasked with telling Anakin of his special assignment to keep an eye on the Chancellor, but he gets sappy and sentimental in the process because these conversations are hard.

after all these years – Obi-Wan tries to talk to Anakin, but it doesn't go well. does this sound familiar OR WHAT? (post-decpetion arc angst)

brilliant – Anakin is having a difficult time adjusting to his new mechno-arm for one very specific reason. (the boys communicate properly in this one and even get a hug as a treat!)

sober words said aloud – Anakin's meeting with the Council is interrupted by his highly intoxicated–and wildly affectionate–Master. (crack fic turned fluff)

‘you’ve been crying, I can tell’ prompt fill – Anakin makes the mistake of checking in on his Master after a particularly grueling mission. it doesn’t go well. (or: Obi-Wan loses his sh!t)

going somewhere? – Obi-Wan catches Anakin on his way out for a midnight rendezvous with a certain Senator. Anakin makes a quick decision and chooses Obi-Wan. sweet words are exchanged on a sentimental walk.

shaking hands – in the immediate wake of Ahsoka’s departure form the order, Anakin...isn’t okay. Obi-Wan tries to do something about it. (post S5 angst)

untitled platonic tired cuddles/back scratching fic – Anakin resorts to an old tactic to make his Master rest.

sun shine on – Obi-Wan and Anakin take a little trip to Tatooine to visit Shmi’s grave. (post-ROTS fix-it au of sorts)

pushing it too far — Obi-Wan calls Anakin for some help when he takes ‘intel’ too seriously and ends up drunk on a street in lower-level Coruscant.

whump prompt fill – Obi-Wan looks after Anakin after a near-miss. They talk.

‘was it another premonition?’ – Obi-Wan dreams of Luke. He wakes up to Anakin.

post-mortis angst – Anakin remembers. *tw: implied suicidal thoughts

angstpril: ‘you have to let me go’ – Anakin and Obi-Wan are stuck in a pit. only one of them can make it out alive. *tw: implied major character death

role model – post-deception angst. Obi and Ani talk. it doesn’t go well.

here either way – conversations about mental health. *tw: panic attack

hiraeth – Obi-Wan walks alone. *post ROTS

Anakin & Ahsoka: Dream Team Sharing One Single Brain Cell (tagged: #snips & skyguy or (for the really angsty) #its crying about snips & skyguy hours)

that one person – (my first fic!) Anakin gets assigned to lecture a class of younglings, but he's not the only one who doesn't want to be there.or Ahsoka Tano is done with Jedi sh!t and tries to leave, but this time it's just a classroom and not the entire Order and there's a lot less tears and pain.

define ‘attachment’ – while the dads esteemed Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker wait for Ahsoka to wake up, they talk about attachment, worry, and that time Ani caused an accidental security breech at the Temple.

here and now – the Force has tried to swallow Ahsoka Tano three times. it's hard to be the last one standing. (or Ahsoka feels the death of three important men in her life and is tired of being left behind) *tw: major character deaths (canon compliant and not depicted, only mentioned)

whumptober: crying – Anakin comforts a distraught Ahsoka after her disaster mission over Ryloth.

reaching out – Anakin is always there...until he’s not. Ahsoka reflects on how different it is fighting and living without Anakin at her side. (angst)

help would come  – Anakin and Ahsoka get stuck on an ice planet and things get dire. I chalked this full of parallels to the final conversation between Ani and Luke bc I love pain, I guess?

whump: ‘i’ve got you’ –  Anakin pulls Ahsoka from a nightmare.

zen!Anakin ficlet — Ahsoka visits Anakin in his new job as Galaxy’s #1 Dad (well Plo Koon still exists so maybe #1.5?).

right as rain – Ahsoka insists she is fine when she is distinctly not.

snoozeville – Anakin and a few boys of the 501st find their Commander catching some extra z’s.

stitching up – Ahsoka performs some in-the-moment surgery for Anakin and he tries not to scream. *tw: field surgery

‘platonic spooning’ prompt fill – do I need a summary after that?

sad hours: dancing – Anakin and Ahsoka dance in the aftermath of tragedy.

rainy ending given to a perfect day – Anakin and Ahsoka take a trip into downtown Coruscant. 

Anakin and Padmé: Abi Tries and fails To Write Romance (tagged: #anidala)

not enough – Anakin has a hard time with the Mortis fall-out. Padmé doesn’t know how to help someone who doesn’t want it. some painful connections between Ahsoka and Shmi are made. (angst, no happy ending, trouble in paradise)

I will not have this baby in a jail cell – some fluff, some crack, some Anakin-being-so-proud-of-his-badass-wife.

marcid – domestic fluff in which Padmé almost shoots him. ha. oops!

rubatosis – angsty anidala hours. Anakin can’t go to sleep. 

Obi-Wan and Satine: Abi Tries and fails some more To Write Romance (tagged #obitine)

don’t go – Obi-Wan makes a choice. *year on the run timeline

that’s mine – some happiness AU obitine. waking up next to each other. laughing. all the sappy stuff.

accidental keldabe kiss – all the ridiculous tropes I love with our favourite pining idiots. it’s the ‘kiss me so they don’t see us!’ trope!!!! *year on the run timeline

you’re shaking – Satine knows Obi-Wan more than he’d like. *year on the run

Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Rex, Padmé: Space Found Family In Whatever Form It Comes

here and now – the Force has tried to swallow Ahsoka Tano three times. it's hard to be the last one standing. (or Ahsoka feels the death of three important men in her life and is tired of being left behind) *tw: major character deaths (canon compliant and not depicted, only mentioned)

i want your midnights – the gang attends a New Year's banquet (read: party) and Padmé surprises them all with her midnight kiss.

evermore – "dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found" within the lives of our favourite space fam. (or: TAYLOR SWIFT LITERALLY OWNS MY SOUL, OKAY?) (unrelated one-shots based on taylor swift songs ha)

flair for dramatics – when the gang gets their ship stranded on a desert planet, Anakin and Ahsoka get creative as they try to keep spirits up and minds off the sweltering heat. Obi-Wan questions his sanity. (crack fic turned fluff)

nothing a cup of tea can’t fix – when Anakin shows up to Obi-Wan's quarters in the middle of the night, the Jedi Master knows something has gone awry. answering Anakin's desperate cry for help, Obi-Wan is reminded of how very, very prone to dramatics his former Padawan and Grand Padawan are. (or: Ahsoka gets sick and Anakin flips his shit.) (sickfic)

in the sandstorm – when Tatooine's weather takes a turn for the worst, Ben Kenobi finds a young boy in need of shelter and some lessons on how wonderful his dad had been. (luke and obi-wan hurt/comfort)

remembering hurts – Rex and Ahsoka strive to survive on the snowy moon in the days after Order 66. tensions are high and emotions are volatile.

balter – disaster trio dances at a senatorial ball.

reunion – au where Anakin doesn’t completely turn to the dark side but everything up to and including Mustafar (except for the last like...five minutes) happens. Padmé has the twins, Obi-Wan is overwhelmed, Anakin is a mess. they’re happy...or at least, they will be soon.

‘cookies’ prompt fill – disaster trio makes cookies for the crechelings for Life Day. (just fluff and banter)

first ever codywan! – Cody does some bedside vigil for a hurt Obi-Wan. :’)

transponster – disaster trio is tired and delusional. Rex and Cody want Jedi to have some kriffing self-preservation.

one final salute — Obi-Wan and Cody get trapped. Obi-Wan’s luck is running out. (angst? angst.)

codywan whump – Cody saves Obi-Wan’s life. again. (more fluff than whump)

girls’ night – Ahsoka hangs out with her mom pal Padmé.

driving lessons – Obi-Wan and Anakin teach Ahsoka to drive. ha.

affectionate obi – the kids get Obi-Wan a puppy. fluff!

sorry I don’t speak idiot – Rex and Fives deal with a drunk Echo :’)

post deception disaster trio sadness – Ahsoka tries to keep Obi-Wan company in the aftermath of Rako Hardeen...but Anakin isn’t playing nice.

verklempt – Ahsoka and Yoda talk about being chosen. and Ahsoka finds out maybe she hasn’t been left behind afterall. *pre-TCW

apricity – disaster trio have a picnic at the temple! just pure fluff.

pyrrhic – codywan but make it angsty. some battles are won at too great a cost.

disaster trio sickfic – two Jedi dads and their (sick) daughter :’)

‘you’ve been here this whole time?’ – newlyweds anidala (but shh, Obi-Wan doesn’t know that! yes he does, everyone does.) are there when Obi-Wan wakes up and he ownders just what he did to get so lucky.

Febuwhump 2021: A Foray into Hurting the Characters I Love the Most 

mind control – Anakin’s narrative as he fights Ahsoka on Mortis. sad boy hours. a lot of insecurity happening here.

‘I can’t take this anymore’ – during the Obitine (plus third-wheel Qui-Gon) year on the run, Satine gets tired of Obi-Wan trying to die for her. a bit hurt/comfort, a lot sappy.

imprisonment – on their first mission together, Obi & Ani get captured. Anakin learns how Obi-Wan feels about tight spaces.

coma – post deception arc. Obi-Wan goes into a coma after a particularly intense conversation with Anakin. Anakin tells Obi’s unconscious body how he’s feeling. angst, angst, angst. there’s your warning.

‘take me instead’ – Anakin escorts Padmé on a diplomatic mission but things get dicey and quick decisions must be made. Anakin isn’t the only one in this relationship willing to be an idiot for the sake of *love.* (or: another attempt to write Anidala in a convincing way because they give me a tough! time! so this time make it...dangerous)

insomnia – Anakin overhears a late night holo-call and learns that his Master has a...friend that is a girl???? and is pretty???? but also that his Master may need some fixing and he thinks he may just be the nine-year-old for the job.

poisoning – Ahsoka gets drugged and Anakin gets...er...angry. (read: dark)

‘hey, hey, this is no time to sleep’ – as Ahsoka and Anakin wait for help, Anakin tells a story. an ancient monster in the heart of Tatooine...waiting for it's day of reckoning. (or: Ahsoka gets dehydrated and Anakin can't deny his hurting sister/padawan anything so he talks a little bit about home.)

buried alive – Anakin reflects on some things as his Padawan tries to rescue him from the rubble. angst!!!!!!!!!

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t know’ – the Council loses a planet and Obi & Ani get tasked with finding it, but after nine hyperspace jumps and a painful discovery, Obi-Wan teaches his former Padawan one more lesson. (or: the boys talk about failure and feelings when Obi-Wan finds out Anakin's mechno-arm has been causing pain for a couple years)

hallucinations – Ahsoka tries to fix things. it doesn’t work. (post-order 66) angst 

‘who are you?’ – Anakin and Ahsoka rescue Obi-Wan, but things aren’t okay and Obi-Wan doesn’t recognise Anakin. (or: Obi is tortured for information about the fall of the Republic before it happens and goes a bit mad bc of it)

‘I didn’t mean it’ – Obi-Wan learns how cold and unfeeling his young Padawan thinks he is and has a rough day. angst

burned – Anakin mourns the loss of his Padawan in a tactile way. Obi-Wan watches. (or: Anakin throws Ahsoka’s Padawan beads into a fire)

‘I wish I have never given you a chance’ – Obi-Wan is reminded of his own incompetence through a vision form his old master.

you have to let me go – Ahsoka has one heirloom: a hologram of her old master as a padawan. but it’s time to let the past go and step into the future, with help from an old friend.

[whimperwoods]

Part 9 of Gozukk and Anna

Anna has a doctor’s appointment. Gozukk turns down an offer to join the church. Jak helps out.

[Note: One of the d&d canon things I particularly don’t like is that the ‘evil races’ have their own separate evil gods particular to their race. I’m aware that there are halfling and elf and dwarf pantheons also, but the thing is that those generally have deities of multiple alignments (rather than only evil ones) and those communities seem to be allowed to serve any gods they want, in practice. In my d&d world, orcs can too, and this particular tribe, to the extent to which they’re religious, is affiliated with Kelemvor. Not everyone worships him, and there are some individuals with other faiths, but he’s the god they have a shrine and a cleric for/from. (I’m not sure it matters that much from a worldbuilding standpoint, but I’ve taken an overall position of “no-race-specific deities,” which does also throw Moradin and the like out with the bathwater, but that’s probably alright.)]

The masterpost is here and includes a cheat sheet with character names, since the list of people she’s met in the community just keeps getting bigger.

tw: slavery (past), tw: PTSD, tw: past rape/noncon (barely referenced), tw: past abuse, tw: fantasy religion (no religious trauma), tw: panic attack, tw: drug reference (past), tw: date rape drug (past)

Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!

Tag list: @redwingedwhump, @nine-tailed-whump, @thehurtsandthecomfurts @kixngiggles, @bluebadgerwhump, @dragonheart905, @carolinethedragon, @whumpzone, @newbornwhumperfly, @cupcakes-and-pain, @much-ado-about-whumping

****

Anna’s legs shook faintly as the healer shouted for her and her master to enter, but she tried to keep her face steady as she ducked under Gozukk’s arm and in through the flap of the tent.

The space was small but comfortable, the furnishings generally not quite as nice as Gozukk’s, with the exception of a smallish but very fine altar, richly carved from solid wood. A set of heavy brass scales sat on it, held up by a skeletal hand, the same image that was carved along its sides, and that she recognized from the box in Gozukk’s room, and a small collection of candles sat around it.

Gozukk knelt briefly in front of the altar, going down on one knee with a quick bow and then rising to his feet again before turning to the healer, Mukzod. “I’m sure you’ve heard plenty about our newest guest,” he said calmly, as if he hadn’t paused at all. Anna felt certain she should kneel, too, but somehow she found herself frozen, unable to move farther into the tent, or to do anything at all.

Mukzod was dressed in dark grey robes, well-made and clean, with the same skeleton-arm scales embroidered carefully across his chest, but looked fresh-faced, too young for such serious, formal vestments. He was a half head shorter than Gozukk but just as wide, with dark messy hair that flopped into his eyes as he nodded toward her and made her shudder and freeze up. He looked almost nothing like Master Kir, but that hair, the length of it, the little flick of his head to get it out of his eyes - her chest tightened with fear, her breath shortening.

The healer’s smile was warm, but she couldn’t slow her racing heart.

“Hello, guest. Anna, is it? Did I hear correctly?”

Her mouth was dry and she couldn’t answer. Gozukk reached a hand halfway toward her, but then stopped and she suddenly, desperately wished he hadn’t, wished she could bury her face in his chest and not see this new stranger, with his new hair, and his new tent. But that was a foolish thing to wish, wasn’t it?

“Yes,” Gozukk answered, his voice softer now, as if to put her at ease even though he was talking to the healer. “You’ve heard right. I already know she’s wounded, but I want to make sure she isn’t also cursed or marked or being tracked.”

“You know, if you just gave a little bit more of yourself to Kelemvor, you could do it yourself,” Mukzod said jovially. “We all know your piety is genuine.”

Gozukk laughed. “For the last time, cleric, a paladin oath is out of the question. The tribe has to come first. You know that. A holy life is not in my cards.”

Mukzod held his hands up, “I know, I know! I only ask because I know you’d be good at it.”

Anna watched the exchange, trying to follow. Kelemvor was - was a god of - of something. Scales. Justice? But no, that was Tyr, everybody knew that. The skeleton, though - the skeleton - her eyes widened, and her body began to shake.

“I - I didn’t realize you worshipped - umm -” Her voice was thin, tense, and surely one of them would bark at her to speak up. She tensed, awaiting a slap for interrupting, or for doing it poorly, or both. Instead, both men turned slowly to look at her, their posture open, hands away from her.

“It’s alright, Anna,” Gozukk said, “He’s not a god of death. He’s a god of the dead, which is something else.”

Mukzod had his hands up, the palms out toward her. “The chief is right. We don’t kill, not unless we have to. Not unless we’re fighting undead things. I’m more about healing. And curing diseases. And burying bodies we find unattended in the desert, which happens a little more often than one would hope.”

She shivered. She’d seen a body like that, had watched the men in the caravan dragging another man’s corpse away from the hooves and wheels that had crushed him to death, only to leave him lying in a heap alongside their caravan route and keep moving at Master Kir’s orders.

She opened her mouth to ask if they’d found the man from the caravan, if they’d buried him properly, but then she couldn’t. What if they thought she’d had something to do with it? She still remembered the beating she’d gotten after they stopped that night, how unsure she’d been whether her master thought she’d done something to distract the dead man, or whether he was just frustrated. She’d known her place. She hadn’t needed to be reminded. She didn’t need to be reminded now.

She sank onto her knees and felt both safer and less safe, in over her head and drowning in uncertainty.

Gozukk knelt beside her again, taking her hands gently in his own, so gently she could have pulled away, but she knew her place, and maybe soon he would realize she knew it and she wouldn’t have to be so scared.

“It’s alright, Anna,” he said, running his thumb gently over her knuckles. “You don’t have to worship him. Plenty of folks don’t. But I do, and Mukzod does, and he’s got some magic that can help you, if that man did anything that’s lingering.” He scowled, but over her shoulder, not at her. “Anything magical, anyway.”

The cleric placed one hand on her shoulder and the other on Gozukk’s and she flinched heavily before she could stop herself.

“Is it alright if I do a quick magic detection spell? If all is well, I’ll won’t see anything, and we’ll know the human doesn’t have any magical hooks into you. If there is something, I’ll have to do some tests, but we can fix that, too.”

His voice was soothing, but she couldn’t look at him, couldn’t look at the hair falling into his eyes, scraping his shoulders around the back of his neck. She was shaking, and she couldn’t stop. She gripped Gozukk’s hands tighter, hoping he would allow her nearer. He squeezed back gently and she scooted forward on her knees until she was close enough to whisper into his ear.

“Please, Sir -” she flinched, but decided not to correct herself and maybe he wouldn’t notice, “I - can I -” He let go of one of her hands and then reached up and brushed her hair behind her ear, a gesture that was increasingly becoming a familiar one. She steeled herself and caught her breath. “May I put my head on your shoulder again, please? Like yesterday, when I was -” she didn’t have a word for what she was, “Please, Gozukk, I’m sorry I’m weak, I just - I can - I can do this. I can be good, please, I just - I need - please.” Her breath gave out, her body shaking even harder.

Yesterday, she’d leaned into him with both of their hands between them, his pressing hers to his chest. Now, he wrapped one arm around her carefully, keeping hold of her hand with his other one and drawing her just slightly closer. “Is this alright?” he whispered into the space between them, “Does this help?”

She shook, and wasn’t sure how to answer, but she knew what she’d wanted at first, knew what she’d wanted, and thought she still wanted it. She leaned her forehead against his shoulder, her breath coming in deep gasps, and he removed his arm from the small of her back as she kept fighting for air, tracing his fingers through her hair at the temple instead.

“It’s alright,” he said, “I’m here to help.”

After a moment of his arm hovering beside her, he let it fall to his side, not touching her as she knelt up against him, watching him breathe and trying to time her breaths to his.

“Are you ready for the spell?” he asked.

She nodded against his shoulder.

“We’re ready, Mukzod.”

Nothing happened. The cleric said a few words in a language she didn’t understand, and then he fell silent, the air in the room unchanged.

“Nope, all clear,” he said after a moment. “Your pendant’s lighting up like a candle, Chief, and the altar, and some of my stuff, so the spell’s working, but she’s not got any magic on her. Not that lingers, anyway. I can try a dispulsion anyway, but as far as I can tell, there’s nothing there to dispel.”

Gozukk leaned his cheek against her temple, sighing in relief. “There we go. You’re safe. Now we know it for sure.”

“I -” Mukzod cleared his throat. “Can I be of any other service? I’d thought you might have come for healing. Or perhaps a calming spell?”

A calming spell? Anna had never heard of that, but as soon as she thought too hard about it, she found herself remembering the times Master Kir had - what had that been - he’d put something in the wine, she’d known there was something in the wine, but he’d made her drink it anyway, made her drink it, made her choke trying to swallow as he forced it down her throat and then he’d - and then he’d -”

She sobbed, her head suddenly spinning, her entire body tingling like there were bees buzzing just inside her skin, and her head on Gozukk’s shoulder wasn’t enough to keep it at bay, wasn’t enough to keep anything at bay, wasn’t - wasn’t -

She grabbed desperately for the front of his shirt, closing her hand into a fist around the fabric and forcing herself to keep breathing. His free hand came up alongside her head, but he didn’t quite touch her, just kept it hovering there, like he was shielding her from the sun. As another wrenching sob tore itself from her throat, she pulled herself closer to him, into that protection, and everything else be damned.

“We’re done for the day,” Gozukk said, his voice rough-edged with anger, like it never was when he talked to her, and she flinched but didn’t dare pull away, couldn’t afford it when he was the only thing steadying her spinning head, couldn’t afford it when it might make him angry, couldn’t - couldn’t - she couldn’t breathe. She gasped for air.

"She’s allowed to feel what she feels,” he snapped at the cleric, “She’s doing fine.”

His own breathing wasn’t quite as steady as she knew it could be, deepening as if he were holding himself together, holding back the snarl she could hear at the edge of his voice.

But then the snarl was gone, and his voice was velvet-gentle again, his hand stroking carefully through her hair. “It’s alright, Anna. You did well. It’s been a stressful day. You don’t have to do anything more. Mukzod just wants you safe, same as me.”

The gentleness was for her. It was just for her, and she was a fool, and she believed it, and she knew she was a fool, but she could feel herself starting to shake apart, could feel the way the buzz under her skin threatened to become the way she felt in the dark, at night, like a fire burning itself out, like she was dying a piece at a time, reducing herself to ash as she went, and she couldn’t. She couldn’t die now, not while she was in a place she was fool enough to half-believe might be better.

“Do you want me to carry you back home?” he asked, his voice still soft, rumbling through his chest and under her cheek, and when had she twisted her head sideways like this, resting more fully on his shoulder? “Or do you want to wait it out here and then we can walk back together? I think you need some quiet for a little bit. You can take another nap, like yesterday. You’re still healing.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, letting go of the front of his shirt, and he took it as an answer, rearranging immediately to gather her up in his arms and cradle her against his chest.

When he rose to his feet still holding her, she didn’t shudder this time, but she wondered if that was only because to shake any more than she was already shaking might be to shake herself to pieces.

The softness in his voice was gone as he looked up at the cleric and ordered, “Open the flap for me,” all of a sudden in control again, the chief whose feet she had been thrown down in front of. But then he was bending his neck to speak softly in her ear again, the gentleness returned to his voice. “Squeeze my neck when you’re ready for me to walk, and we’ll go. Just tell me when you’re steady.”

She squeezed his neck, desperate to be away from here, as if the bees in her skin would leave her alone out in the sun.

They didn’t, but Gozukk let her bury her face in the side of his neck and kept holding her, his arms solid around her and his breath steady, now, soothing.

Halfway back to the tent, small footsteps joined them, a voice she didn’t recognize piping up from below. “Whoa, Uncle Gozukk, is something wrong?”

“Get the flap when we get to my tent, Jak,” he said, the imperiousness gone again, as if it had never been, his voice warm and normal, but without the particular softness he seemed to save for her, and what did that mean? She sobbed in spite of herself, about nothing, or maybe about everything, but her head was full of bees and her skin was full of bees and she couldn’t think.

“She’ll be alright once she has a little peace and quiet,” Gozukk explained, tone patient, “She’s just a little overwhelmed.”

A small hand patted her dangling ankle and she pulled away instinctively before she realized the boy was no threat.

“Oh,” he said, “That makes sense. Does she need a calm down cloth?”

She could feel Gozukk’s chuckle, deep in his chest. “Yeah, that might not be a bad idea. Why don’t you go get one after you help me inside? And then you can go back to whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing.”

“Got it!” The footsteps sped up, then stopped again, waiting for them to catch up.

Anna clung to Gozukk the rest of the way to the tent, relieved when Jak’s footsteps pattered away as soon as she and Gozukk were inside.

The fine chair he’d been seated in to meet the caravan was inside, now, set behind the table in the front room, and Gozukk settled her into it. She grabbed at its arms, surprised, and squeezed them tighter when Gozukk squatted down in front of her to look in her eyes. She couldn’t get out of the chair and down to his level. He didn’t want that. She had to stay. She had to stay.

Her breathing was still ragged, too fast, and she knew it, but she couldn’t do anything about it.

“Anna, can you hear me?”

Everything was still too much, his words clear enough to make sense, but then immediately gone to her, as if they had never been. She nodded, trying to keep hold of the question.

“Alright. You did a good job this morning. I want to make sure you know that. It’s alright if you need to stay in here the rest of the day. I’ll try to come check on you when it’s time for lunch, but if you get hungry before I come back, you can go find Djaana or one of the twins, and they’ll look after you.”

She was breathing. That, she was sure of. His voice was soothing, reassuring, and the things he was saying were reassuring, and she couldn’t make them mean anything. She nodded. Reassuring. He was being reassuring. She could be reassured. She kept breathing.

Gozukk nodded back. Her breathing eased a little. Good. He was pleased.

Jak came running in, and she got a good look at him for the first time. He had the same dark hair as Djaana and Gozukk, but his eyes were a lighter color, a green she hadn’t expected, and even with some lingering baby roundness to his face, she could tell there was something about his cheekbones that must be like his father. Gozukk stuck a hand out to slow the boy before he could run all the way to her, and he blushed, looking bashful.

“Oh. Sorry. I forgot about the quiet.” He held out a damp, white cloth, in her direction, and she wasn’t sure what to do but take it.

The boy’s green eyes stared at her, his arm drifting behind his back so he could wrap his hand around his elbow, still staring. “Thank you,” she said quietly, aware that her breathing was loud and her voice wasn’t.

“Why don’t you explain to Anna how it works, just in case her mama and grandmother didn’t teach her?” Gozukk asked, something of the softness he always aimed at her in his voice as he addressed the boy.

“Yeah!” Jak said, his face brightening! “It’s easy, Miss Anna! You just put it on the back of your neck, and it’s nice and cool so it feels good, and then you just breathe real steady and think about cooling down and noticing that it feels good, and then when it gets dry, you can go back outside and play or try what you were doing again. Or I guess you can - I dunno. What do you like doing?”

She had no answer, but there wasn’t enough time for it to become awkward. Gozukk laid a hand on Jak’s shoulder. “Why don’t you wait and ask her that in a couple of days? You wouldn’t like it if somebody asked you a bunch of questions while you were trying to calm down, would you?”

“Oh! No!” He mimed locking his mouth closed with a key and tucking it into his pocket, and Anna found herself smiling in spite of everything. She put the cloth against the back of her neck to prove she’d been trying to listen, though there was a lot he said that she hadn’t been able to keep ahold of, the words slipping through her fingers as half of her kept getting wrapped up in her own breath.

He was right. It felt lovely, cool and soft. She closed her eyes, half instinctively, and managed a deeper breath.

She could hear a smile in Gozukk’s voice as he said, “Take all the time you need. We’ll be back to check on you at lunch time.”

Then both sets of footsteps walked away, out the door, and she was alone.

She slid out of the chair and onto her knees, where she felt more herself, but kept the cloth where it was, steadying her breathing as much as she could and thinking about the coolness, the dry air pulling water from the cloth, the dampness sitting against her skin, and nobody touching her.

When the cloth dried, she wasn’t calm, but she was close.

[macgyvermedical]

So the hero in my fanfic just stuck a metal objec in a power socket in a hospital, but was immediately found unconscious by a doctor. Doctor starts CPR, and to spruce up the whump I want to add a shot of adrenaline in the thigh to help start his heart. But when I'm researching if this is an accurate way to resuscitate someone, I see a lot of "Yes, BUT..." and now I'm uncertain if this is big no-no... Is it okay to use adrenaline in order to get an unconscious person's heart to start up again?

The short answer is yes, but it’s definitely more complicated than that.

Let’s start with those electrical injuries. Electricity can harm a human in three main ways. The first is that electrical energy becomes thermal energy in the person’s tissues, causing burns. The second is that muscles rely on very measured electrical impulses to function and if these impulses are overwhelmed by a lot of electricity all at once, they can contract so strongly they break bones or prevent someone from letting go of what is electrocuting them. The third is that the heart’s rhythm is also controlled via small electrical impulses. If a lot of electricity goes through the heart at the wrong part of one of those impulses, it can throw the person into an ineffective heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation. Ventricular fibrillation does not effectively push blood through the blood vessels (a condition called cardiac arrest), which can quickly cause death.

The kind of electricity your character would have encountered is called Alternating Current (AC). AC is generated by moving electrons back and forth through a circuit quickly- about 60 back-forth cycles per second in the US. This is the kind of current that exists in power outlets (vs Direct Current (DC) which exists in batteries and lightning and moves only in one direction through a circuit).

Alternating current is particularly dangerous for a few reasons:

The first is that it is more likely to cause that strong contraction of muscle (vs DC which is more likely to throw people away from its source). While the voltage coming out of a standard outlet will not often be enough to break bones due to strong muscle contractions, it will make it impossible to let go if a person accidentally grabs hold of an object with AC running through it. It also means the person will be stuck there with electricity pumping through them until the breaker or fuse trips, whether they pass out or not.

The second is that, since AC cycles 60 times per second, it is pretty likely that one of those cycles will fall at a bad time during a heartbeat, causing that ventricular fibrillation/cardiac arrest I talked about earlier. Unfortunately (or fortunately for your story), it often takes longer to trip a breaker than it does to cause cardiac arrest (though if the breaker trips, the person coming to rescue your character will be safe from getting electrocuted themselves).

So, essentially, it is perfectly reasonable that your character would suffer burns to their hands, maybe some minor musculoskeletal injuries from the muscle contractions, and be unconscious and in cardiac arrest when found by the doc.

Now let’s talk about how medical professionals would approach this situation in a hospital.

Not all people who are unconscious are in cardiac arrest. A doctor (or really anyone who works in a hospital from a nursing assistant or dietary aide to a nurse or doc) who walks into a hospital room and sees a patient on the floor will first do a really quick assessment to determine if the person needs CPR- they’ll first try to wake the patient up by shouting at them and, if that doesn’t work, by pushing their knuckles into the person’s chest (called a sternal rub). If this doesn’t work, they’ll tip the patient’s head back and check for a patent airway (can air move in and out of the person’s nose/mouth?), check if the person is breathing (are they actually moving air into and out of their lungs?), and check for circulation (does the patient have a pulse in their neck?). If no breathing or pulse, the doc would call a Code Blue (by either pressing a button on the wall or yelling out the door) and start CPR.

Almost everyone in a hospital has taken a class called BLS, or Basic Life Support. This is essentially CPR designed for a hospital environment. It’s 30 compressions to 2 breaths just like it is everywhere else, but the breaths are usually given with a bag-valve-mask device (BVM) and BLS assumes there are more trained people in the room than your typical CPR-in-the-community scenario. BLS also allows anyone with training to operate a defibrillator on automatic (AED) mode. 

Often, as soon as another person enters the room (usually a nurse or nursing assistant- though a lot of people will come running when a code blue is called), that person will take over compressions and another will sit at the patient’s head and give them breaths with a bag-valve-mask device. This frees the doc, as the highest-ranking medical professional in the room, to run the “code”.

Doctors, paramedics, respiratory therapists, and many nurses have a higher level of training for cardiac arrests called ACLS, or Advanced Cardiac Life Support. In ACLS, it is assumed that the equipment is available to intubate a person (put a tube down their throat to deliver breaths more effectively), give drugs and fluids through an IV, and manually set a defibrillator to the best needs of the patient.

We use the term “cardiac arrest” to describe any time the heart is not beating in a way that can support life. This can either be that it is not beating at all and has no measurable electrical activity (asystole), beating too fast to fill with blood between beats (ventricular tachycardia), quivering and not moving blood (ventricular fibrillation), or the electrical activity is normal but the heart itself is under too much pressure to pump blood (pulseless electrical activity).

[Ventricular Fibrillation (top) vs normal sinus rhythm (bottom) on an EKG strip]

Your doc isn’t necessarily going to be able to tell which one of these is going on from feeling for a pulse. Fortunately, the first thing to do for any of these is to start CPR. While CPR is happening, someone (often a nurse, nursing assistant, or EKG tech) will get an EKG on the patient, someone (often a respiratory therapist) will be intubating them, someone (often a nurse) will be prepping medications and starting IVs if necessary, someone (often a nurse) will be setting up the defibrillator and putting pads on the patient’s chest, someone (often the patient’s  nurse) will be giving report on the patient to the person running the code, and someone else will be writing down everything that’s going on including when each thing was ordered and done.

When the EKG is done, the doc would be able to identify that the cause of the cardiac arrest is the ventricular fibrillation. The ACLS-level treatment for ventricular fibrillation (as of 2016) is to do CPR, intubate, and provide oxygen and breaths through the ET tube, shock with the defibrillator as soon as possible (and if the first one doesn’t work, every 2 minutes thereafter), give 1mg of epinephrine (adrenaline) through the IV or 2mg through the ET tube every 3-5 minutes, and give another drug called amiodarone (or lidocaine based on the doc’s clinical judgement) after 2 shock cycles.

During this, the doc is trying to figure out what caused the rhythm and reverse it, though with electrical injury like this, there’s not a whole lot more they could do besides keep doing this until either the person’s heart goes back into a working rhythm, the heart goes into another rhythm warranting different treatment, or the doc decides it has been too long and there is little chance of the person surviving and calls time of death.

So it’s reasonable to give your character CPR and epinephrine, but the epi would be given through an IV during a fairly extensive and deliberate series of events. The good news is that since someone found them immediately and ventricular fibrillation is a shockable rhythm, they have a relatively very good chance of surviving this cardiac arrest.  

[straight-to-the-pain]

I'm not the anon about your inaccurate whump but I just want to comment that I think it's super shitty and hypocritical that you admit in your answer that you don't write realistic whump and then in asks literally say "I'm genuinely curious as to what exactly I write that you would consider inaccurate though"...But also, in answer to that. I don't think it's so much about your fiction being inaccurate as the fact that you can tell in your meta that you're woefully ill informed and ignorant(1/2)

(2/2) on so much of the psychology of torture and torture methods themselves. And you absolutely do talk over people, all the time. I've seen it in several discord servers many times over the last year that I've been lurking in the community. You seriously lack the ability to hear that you're wrong and you're terrible at taking criticism and typically respond with what feels like sticking your fingers in your ears and yelling over someone that you can't hear them.

-

Alright okay, I will respond to this so that at least you can’t accuse me of not taking criticism and ignoring you but I won’t be responding to any further anons in the same vein because it feels rather like being sent a personal and scathing letter and being forced to reply to it on the front page of a magazine. I’m sure you can see how that isn’t a very fair dynamic and if you would like to metaphorically challenge me to a bar fight, it’s polite to do so showing your face (aka off anon).

I would argue that there’s a difference between writing something that’s unrealistic and something that’s inaccurate but accuracy is also a pretty vague word when it comes to subjective situations and feelings. You can’t really write pain accurately because pain is something that is felt differently by so many people. I write things that are often unrealistic simply because the plot is a little contrived or they’re set in an entirely fictional country or y’know someone happens to have fire powers but that doesn’t mean that the way my characters respond to and deal with these situations can’t be realistic.

If you’d like to inform me better on torture methods and the psychology of torture, I welcome you to do so, but you’re going to have to have a polite and open conversation with me about it, which I can see you aren’t here to do.

I’ll admit that I’m not always the best at social interaction. I try very hard to not talk over people and I try to be a good listener and genuinely take on board feedback, but I don’t always realise if people are hurt by what I consider to be polite and friendly interactions. I can’t read tone very well in real life let alone when people are metaphorically speaking in a monotone voice, blindfolded (which is basically what online interaction is to an extent).

If anyone has issues with how I handle a specific interaction or a discussion or anything specific I say or do, I would encourage you to tell me about it at the time so we can deal with the issue and move on, instead of letting it fester and announcing your resentment in response to a polite post I made, hoping to spark genuine respectful discussions. Thank you!

[c-c-cherry]

Mista Whump headcanons? I loved his chapter in the dadbacchio fic!

Hi! I’m glad you’re liking Communication Breakdown so far, the new chapter should be out once I’m done with my Halloween stuff! <3

//content warning for whump-related shit (sickness, major injury, etc..)

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I feel like I should just shove in my pre-established headcanons that I always have for Mista before I start like what I did for my man Jonathan:

-Oldest in the family and (ironically) has four younger sisters! 

-His parents worked a LOT growing up so he was often treated as the third parent growing up, doing almost everything for them in search of their approval

-It made him very responsible, but it also made him feel like he had to be responsible for everything and everyone

-That mindset followed him to where he is now; no matter how relaxed he seems to be, there’s always a feeling in the back of his head that he has to manage everything and be responsible for everyone’s safety and health

-Loves physical affection but would rather die than be an “active burden” on anyone

-Not in any form of contact with his family since he went to prison (and misses them a lot) ;(

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Pain Tolerance

-Getting shot? Been there, done that. Kidnapped and interrogated? He can hold off for a surprisingly long amount of time. Drugged? Barely even phases him.

-We all know he probably has the highest pain tolerance in the entire team

-Partially because it seems like he always gets hurt no matter what he’s doing

-I headcanon him as the oldest in his family so he was always brought up to have really thick skin and was always thought to be the most responsible growing up

-His parents were working all the time, so that meant he had to take care of his siblings whenever they were hurt

-But meant when he was injured as a kid, he had to deal with it himself :/

-When he first joined the gang, it was:

1) weird not being the oldest, and

2) really weird having people actually worried about you when you got hurt

-Even with Giorno having Gold to help them out all the time and Giorno insisting that its literally his stand’s purpose, he still feels this weighted guilt every time he needs someone else’s help

-Our man acts all whiny about it but truthfully, if he was given the option, he would much rather ride it out on his own or deal with things himself :(

Injury

-In all honesty, he’s probably one of the only members of the team that wouldn’t be opposed to going to a hospital

-Whereas Bruno or Narancia would be fucking terrified of stepping foot in one again for obvious reasons, the rest of the gang are just pretty stubborn about it

...

-He tends to be overdramatic most of the time when he gets hurt, but you can tell when something is really hurting him when he’s absolutely silent

-It’s almost the opposite of his other team members; most of them get uncharacteristically loud and panicky when they’re in serious serious pain but it's almost like his brain just completely shuts down

-He gets so quiet that he’s basically unresponsive and his body keeps trying to numb itself as the pain gets worse and worse

-It always bites him in the ass later when his state starts wearing off and all the pain his body was blocking out comes back tenfold and it's just OUCH

...

-Mista’s a pretty touchy guy. He practically lives off human contact

-Except when he’s hurt.

-His body kicks into this weird overdrive where he wants no one to touch him and he’s just supposed to deal with it himself

-Idk how accurate this actually is in canon but I headcanon that Gold Experience’s healing methods don’t actually hurt that much, it's actually pretty soothing for most people

-The reason Mista always freaks out whenever Gold is healing him is because of his weird defense mechanism that kicks in when he’s hurt

Sickness

-His chapter in Comm Break was pretty much just a sickfic because I decided to give him appendicitis, but I have other headcanons hehehe…

-I was actually going to make him lactose intolerant in the first draft and the chapter being about him having no fucking idea why he was sick and Abbacchio just being like “...dude...”

-I eventually dropped it for something with similar elements but more of a dramatic plot, but I still like the headcanon that he’s too dumb to know that getting sick all the time after eating dairy just isn’t normal

...

-He loves taking care of other people because it reminds him of taking care of his sisters; like he’ll be willing to do anything and he’s a master at making people feel better :)

-But him?

-Oho,,,he fuckin hates being sick >:)

-Maybe not Giorno in The Unknown levels of hatred, but the fact that everyone does nothing but makes sure he’s okay the entire day gives him this warm, fluffy feeling in his chest that MAKES HIM EMOTIONALLY CONFUSED because no one ever gave a shit about him pre-passione

-Is he the type of person to completely deny any feeling of ailment until it’s definitely too late? YES. DEFINITELY.

-Usually it's one of the bucci gang who will figure out he’s under the weather before he does.

“You’re looking a bit pale...”

“Nope.”

“Are you feeling alright? You don’t look so good.”

“Totally fine!”

-He’ll refuse to rest until he passes out, is pressed up against the tiles on the bathroom floor, or someone (usually Bruno) shoves a thermometer in his mouth and proves that he absolutely HAS to

-Give him some medicine and he’ll pass out for HOURS. All he’ll do is sleep because he wants to get over it as soon as possible

Emotional Stress

-Mista’s like an open book when it comes to most emotions

-You might not know when he’s hurt, but you’ll sure as well know when he’s sad or stressed

-He’s not afraid to cry, and even though he probably won’t tell anyone why he’s sad, bottling up his emotions was just something that he was never prone to doing

-Bruno’s gotten used to finding him in the kitchen at 3am waiting for his bread to toast and there’s just tears and Bruno’s like “...Meesta ;-;”

-but then there’s hugs so it's ok :,)

-Also Mista is definitely the type of person to just kind of slink into a room and have someone be like “what’s up?” and he’s like “I’m feeling fucking terrible!! :))))” and before they can even reply BOOM WATERWORKS-

-He’s ultimately not ashamed of it because it helps keep him regulated in the long run (and the homies are always willing to provide him with that good comfort) :)

This sad shit is the exception though…

-When he’s with the bucci gang, he’s not afraid to let his emotions run wild sometimes because he knows it’s always little things to keep him chill

-Not about this, though. Because he actually considers this big

...

-Mista has eternal homesickness for his family.

-His parents, his sisters, his uncles and aunts and cousins.. they all cut contact when he went to prison

-It wasn’t a huge fight, but a slow burn of distancing from each other.

-He misses them so damn much. He misses his childhood home, and the way his Madre would cook, and the stupid shit his sisters used to do...

-It comes and goes in waves; most days the feelings don’t hit him but sometimes, especially on holidays, birthdays of his family members, and even his own birthday, it hits hard.

-Normally when something’s bothering him he doesn’t see a problem in just talking or venting to someone

-But with this it's different because he knows if he starts talking about it, it’ll just be uncontrollable and he’ll be a fucking mess if he even tries

-Mista, despite his demeanour, is extremely good at hiding his feelings when he has to ;-;

-He’s too embarrassed to tell anyone, so he spends a lot of those days curled up in his room, sobbing into his pillow

-Even on holidays, when it’s hard to celebrate at all, he manages to hold it in until celebrating is over

-He knows they all suspect something is up, but he also knows that they won’t push him to say anything

-They can all tell he gets fragile certain times of the year, so they try their best to be extra soft with him when he does decide to come out and spend time with them <3

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I really do love writing for Mista. I should do it more sometimes!!

Got a headcanon you want fulfilled? Askbox is open!! <3