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letstalkwhump · 1 year

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Let's Talk Whump! No. 18

Welcome to Let’s Talk Whump, a series of interviews that spotlight the amazing people in our whump community! I’m Malice and I’ll be your host today.

Today I’m talking whump with the amazing @crash-bump-bring-the-whump!

Great to have you here, @crash-bump-bring-the-whump! Before we begin, do you mind sharing a little bit about yourself?

Hi! I’m Ruin, I’m a graphic designer and I love horror, drawing, and playing video games!

Alrighty, let’s get started! What does whump mean to you?

Whump is the juicy bits of a story! It’s the conflict, the agony, the struggle! The good stuff that we’re all here for.

How did you find the whump community?

I found it because I was poking around for more hurt/comfort things to read! @friendlylocalwhumper and @sweetwhumpandhellacomf were actually the first blogs I followed! Lux and the Hunter, and Valerie and Eos were what inspired me to make my own blog.

Do you feel like your view on whump has changed since you joined?

Ohhh man all that’s super changed is that I’ve found more tropes that I like! I knew fevers and environmental and self-sacrifice whump were favs, like who doesn’t love a good sickfic or someone taking a bullet for their loved one, but I also really really discovered my love of gore and lab whump, which are just amazing.

Everyone’s favourite topic: whump tropes! Which are your favourites?

Oh man, so many right now! I love a good drowning, and bouts of hypothermia are fantastic. Those tend to go hand-in-hand though so I usually feel blessed when I find stuff with those. I also love a good fever, “Stay with me”, kidnapping, and self-sacrifice though I’m not as big a fan of death, so this usually also includes intensive caretaking and probably a lot of worry from the other characters which is also amazing.

And your favourite piece you've written?

Oh this is hard, I have a few favorites!

If I can cheat a little bit and name two, the first is MO-1620, which is my current fav OC Mariano’s prison psych transcript! It was super experimental for me, and I had a blast getting to explore his feelings about his imprisonment and how he sees himself versus the reality of his actions and behavior and circumstances. And the second is my first BTHB 2023 fill, for Possession ! I’d gotten House of Leaves for Christmas one year and the formatting just really grabbed me, so I wanted to try playing with that! Plus I love a good human AU, and my OC Will was too perfect for this prompt.

I love the style and formatting of MO-1620! That’s such a unique idea! Do you have a writing routine?

I usually write during the night! I usually have some flavored water, probably a little snack, and I definitely write best if I can just get a big chunk out at once. I try to write regularly while not putting pressure on myself, so it winds up being every few days at least, unless I’m just super grabbed by something and it won’t let go of my brain.

Is there an easy thing for you to write or anything you struggle with?

Oh I love writing horror. If I can incorporate horror into something, or explore what I think is scary about a situation, then it flows SUPER well. Or if I’m getting to do something with a lot of dialogue. Or lately, smut, because consensual NSFW writing has really been going well too.

I also tend to struggle with delving more into environmental, in-depth descriptions. Or diving hardcore into tactics with my military whump stuff because I…am not a clever man sometimes. Also patiently staying on a linear timeline is the worst. I can never do it. Which sucks, because it puts me in a situation like now, where I KNOW how a bunch of characters WILL be and I want to write about it publicly NOW but first I have to REINTRODUCE them AND get them through the initial “I want to kill you here and now” conflict.

Is there anything you're working on at the moment?

I’m working on so much right now! I do written roleplays, my drafts are 15 posts deep, and that’s not even counting my random google docs. Uh I’m working on introducing Mariano’s war buddies again, a bunch of smut, I have a grim reaper fighting a losing battle against a demon, a prompt game request for a friend, a response piece for my co writer, more therapy vignettes for said war buddies, and– you get the picture!

Sounds like you’re pretty swamped! Do you have any advice you’d like to share?

Write what makes you excited! If you don’t want to read what you’re writing, change it! Make it self indulgent! Make more OCs that are specifically catered to you and what you love and want to see! That’s more fun to read anyway, honestly, I love seeing passion!

Shout out to your favourite writing/whump blogs, bffs or people who've inspired you. We're hyping everyone up here!!!

YEAH HERE WE GO! I’ll shout out my co writer @brinkofdiscovery, my bestie @friendlylocalwhumper, my accomplices @comfy-whumpee , @that-one-thespian, and @painful-pooch, uh god there are so many more people. So many people are so sweet! @actress4him, and @inscrutable-shadow, and like everyone in the various servers I’m in, I can’t name everyone or this post would get so obscenely long so quickly…

Anything you'd like to add?

Thank you for this!! It’s super fun to see this happening, and I like getting to see everyone talking about stuff.

Thanks so much for joining us today!

And to all you folks at home, have a whumpder-ful day!

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ashintheairlikesnow · 1 year

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BBU Community Days

@bbu-on-the-side * {Day 6: Inspiration} How did you find the BBU, and how did you go down the rabbit hole? Are there any particular writers, characters or stories that inspired your journey?

So, I was around when the original sort of shit post meme about a whumpee in a box was making the rounds! (The person who did that original post asked to stop being credited because BBU is not their jam and they didn't like the constant tags, but it was sweetwhumpandhellacomf).

Then shameless-whumper, who has since deleted, began writing a story about a Box Boy named Colton who belonged to a YouTuber who had a serious streak of cruelty beneath their bouncy happy exterior. And I kinda wanted to get involved in the idea, too. And I swore to myself, I swore that I would just do a single one-off post.

Box Boy Kauri: Introduction is my first BBU post! And people really loved this gorgeous nervous man, and I decided to write just one more and just one more after that...

Three separate masterlists and a dozen OCs later...

@shameless-whumper was a huge initial inspiration and I am genuinely so sad that they deleted because Jay's work was incredible! Colton was such an amazing OC.

Other inspirations definitely include @hackles-up who did some amazing stuff with her OC B, and writes my Connor Manning in ways that just. Delight me. Also @comfy-whumpee, who originally wasn't writing in the BBU but who I think does some of the all-time best captivity whump and pet whump, provided a lot of inspiration on whump tropes I wanted to dig into. @deluxewhump's Z remains one of the best BBU OCs of all time.

There are honestly so many, we could be here all day. This collaborative universe has been so much fun to watch develop and be a part of, and I'm so glad I was here to see it happen!

#bbu community days #bbucommunity #bbu #box boy universe #box boy

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erdarielthewhumper · 1 year

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Related to this post, since y'all asked (@sweetwhumpandhellacomf @autophagay @whump-queen) and i don't feel like answering each of you separately; I was talking about the Dragonlance Legends trilogy by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman (mainly the first book of the trilogy, The Time of the Twins)

Allow me to quickly introduce the central characters of the story :D

First of all, we have the dark mage Raistlin Majere, who has a very bad case of being an edgy D&D pc. He plans to enter the Abyss to destroy Takhisis, the goddess of evil, and ascend into godhood in her stead, and is willing to do anything to achieve that goal, no matter the cost to other people or the world or even to himself. But to gain sufficient power to challenge Takhisis he needs to get his hands on spellbooks written by an ancient dark mage that were destroyed in the Cataclysm over three hundred years ago. And opening the gates of the Abyss may only be done by a black-robed mage of evil and a cleric of Paladine, the god of good, working together - this supposedly impossible condition having been devised long ago to protect the world from the devastating consequences of doing so.

Then we have Crysania of Tarinius; cold, strong-willed, and proud, but somewhat naive, she grew up as the sheltered daughter of a noble family, but traded riches and title for a life of a priestess, a Revered Daughter of Paladine. She is one of the true clerics who have been granted the ability to use divine magic. When Paladine sends her in a dream a warning of Raistlin's evil plans, she goes to confront him, and comes to believe that Raistlin can be redeemed and brought back to the light. Which is exactly what she sets out to attempt.

Then there's Caramon Majere, Raistlin's twin brother. Where Raistlin's power is in his intelligence and his skill with magic, Caramon's is in the strength of his body and his skill with a sword. Where Raistlin, as a child, was ostracized and bullied, Caramon was the popular one. And Caramon is endlessly loyal to Raistlin, and at least half his sense of self is built on being Raistlin's brother, and he wants nothing more than to have the Raistlin he used to know (or thinks he used to know) back. In the past two years, Caramon has tried settling down to live an ordinary life with his wife, but it hasn't really worked out for him.

And then there's also Tasslehoff Burrfoot, Raistlin and Caramon's former adventuring companion, of the "cheerful and well-meaning but doesn't usually think things through, has cleptomaniac tendencies, and is very good at getting himself into trouble and getting into places he definitely wasn't supposed to go" flavor of rogue. (He's a more static character than the three i mentioned above, but he's around so much that I feel I had to mention him by name.) Plus of course there's a number of various side characters.

In the first book of the Legends trilogy, "The Time of the Twins", Raistlin journeys back in time to find the lost spellbooks he needs, and other mages, in an attempt to stop him, send Crysania and Caramon back in time, to the city of Istar ruled by the priests of Paladine, to a time just before the disastrous Cataclysm that will wipe the city off the map. And Tas tags along with the two, despite really not being supposed to.

In the name of fairness, though, I do need to warn you that this is american high fantasy written in the 80s. Which means that it contains to varying degrees a number of the problematic and iffy tropes that are unfortunately typical to the genre and the time period. Crysania is... almost surprisingly well-written and complex, for a female character in 80s fantasy, and generally speaking I find her an interesting character, but she does still get a few misogynistic tropes sent her way and is nearly raped (only nearly, it doesn't actually happen, but if it's a particularly squicky topic for you, you might wanna tread carefully there) at one point in the second book. Plus then you have the "certain sentient races are fundamentally evil and/or stupid while others are neutral and elves for the most part tend towards good but are snobby assholes about it" trope which is always a bit questionable, and some other nonsense like that. I would say that for the most part the iffy stuff is either "that aged poorly/is a product of its time" or "the authors have some probably unconscious biases/didn't think the implications of this thing through" etc. rather than the result of active and malicious bigotry, and personally i approach these things mostly with the attitude of "there's no such thing as a morally pure book anyway and fantasy as a genre has traditionally had a huge problem with racist/sexist/homophobic/in some other way bigoted tropes so it's better to just try and be conscious about those while reading than swear off reading any over 10 years old fantasy books altogether", but your tolerance for these things may vary and it's up to you.

The amount of physical injury whump in the books is relatively limited (although if you're into magically-induced... i dunno, chronic illness, for lack of a better word, you're in for a treat with Raistlin), but the amount of angst, and the amount of manipulative and fucked up character dynamics are fun, and there's the occasional case where someone gets hurt physically as well. But do also keep in mind that healing magic is a Thing in the setting and Crysania is a cleric, and adjust your expectations accordingly (although near the end of the second book Caramon does get hurt a little bit at a point where Crysania has her hands full of other stuff and he ends up spending like half of his appearance in the third book limping around bc of that, so that was fun)

I'd also say that out of the three main characters, the one whose story the books are most concerned with telling is Caramon. (The Russian musical adaptation shifts the focus around more to Raistlin.) Like all of them are important and get time devoted to their perspectives and their stories, but ultimately I think the question the books are the most concerned with answering is whether Caramon is able to find his own legs to stand on and his own path to walk, whether he's able to find something better to build his identity on than being Raistlin's brother.

Also, the Legends trilogy technically is a sequel to Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning). Raist, Caramon, and Tas were all central characters in the Chronicles as well, and you'll also meet some other characters who were introduced in Chronicles, and there will be references to events that took place in that trilogy. Don't stress about it too much, I guarantee you that the Legends trilogy stands perfectly well on its own as a story even if you haven't read the Chronicles, I haven't read the Chronicles either (or, I started it, but never got further than the first book bc the pacing was sorta awkward and it wasn't very good at obfuscating the game mechanics so there were places where it was painfully clear that something was a game mechanic or that some moment was a dice roll with a certain result, and I just found it pretty distracting. The Legends is a lot better about it, idk if that's because it's not directly based on a playable commercial campaign or because the authors had just gotten better since starting Chronicles or what)

#erdariel rambles #long post #sorry abt that it got a lot longer than i thought it would

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friendlylocalwhumper · 4 years

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Hi Scott, How are you? Hope to see more of your amazing stories soon I've been searching for a Lux prompt that had a "house elf" I think called Alphonse but I can't find it anywhere :(

(ask cont.) As a continuation it was when the hunter brought Alphonse home for the first time and he met Lux

hi! sorry for taking a month to respond, i didn’t get the notif that i had stuff in my inbox. let’s see, a lu drabble with alphonse?

oh! i finally found it! it was an rp on my rp sideblog, not a full drabble or a prompt! an rp between me and @sweetwhumpandhellacomf, featuring lux, the hunter, and alphonse the domovoi.

here’s the link to the google doc of that rp compiled into one cohesive story. i hope you enjoy!

#answered #links #rp #other people's ocs #alphonse #sweetwhumpandhellacomf #meta #friendlyanonymousghost

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comfy-whumpee · 4 years

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You needn’t be brave any more, not tonight.

My writing juice has been at 0% for the last few days, but I have lots of moodboards! Here is one for @sweetwhumpandhellacomf‘s beautiful man, Eos!

Read about this travelling paladin rescuer and his many leagues of comf.

#moodboard #sweetwhumpandhellacomf

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heartlesslywhumping · 5 years

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Rook

This is the mysterious major whumper, Rook by @sweetwhumpandhellacomf

I feel like this is probably the most self-explanatory of all the moodboards I’ve picked.

The nighttime, the color black, the knives are all nods to Rook’s assassins. The feathers and the top right picture represent the Blackbirds that Rook controls. The hand around the bird’s neck and the birdcage represent the control Rook has and their particular brand of torture that’s unique to them.

I think the two pictures that are potentially the most confusing are the tentacles and the cloak:

In the initial Willow and Grackle story there is a purple lump with tendrils coming out of it that’s a major part of the story and the whump. I 100% misread that as tentacles the first time I read it and now that’s stuck in my head 😅

The Blackbirds are mentioned as having short black capes, I don’t exactly remember the canonical say on whether or not Rook has a cape, and even if they did it wouldn’t likely be this long for practicality’s sake BUT this shot represents those capes and the length is for superiority.

Finally, the color purple is for the aforementioned purple lump and in a less artistic sense, I don’t want all of my moodboards for whumpers to be blacks, reds, and other colors traditionally assoicated with darkness and violence.

#willow and grackle #rook #otherpeoples ocs #sweetwhumpandhellacomf #my moodboards #my edits

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serickswrites · 1 year

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Recording III

Part 1 Part 2 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

Warnings: captivity, torture, unconsciousness, blood, wounds, knives, video recording

Lily couldn’t quite breathe a sigh of relief. Not just yet. Not until she had James. Not until he was safe.

Kyle had let out a crow of delight half an hour ago when he finally cracked the location on where Dexter was holding James. On wherever this mysterious stranger who was sending them videos was too. Max was skeptical of that person’s intentions.

“Doesn’t matter. Main thing is to get James.” Lily clutched her phone tightly in case another video came through.

“And stop Dexter,” Kyle added.

“And stop Dexter,” Max echoed.

Lily was about to open her mouth when their phone vibrated. Another video link came through. With a dry mouth, Lily clicked the link.

She wished she hadn’t.

Dexter was back with James. But James was still unconscious, still slumped over in the ropes. The blood had begun to dry a little on his face and Lily didn’t see any new wounds. But that didn’t mean Dexter wasn’t going to hurt him again.

“Oh, James, what am I ever going to do with you?” Dexter growled as he circled James. He twirled a knife in his hand. “You just don’t seem to be getting the gravity of the situation you’re in.”

“What’s happening? What is--”

Lily shushed Kyle. She needed to hear. Needed to see.

Suddenly Dexter was on James, fisting his hair once more, lifting his head roughly. Dexter ran the tip of the knife down James’ bloodied cheek. “I could just end it all now. Right now and be done with you.”

Please. Please. God. Don’t do that. Lily begged the universe to protect James.

“But then I wouldn’t get the satisfaction of watching your eyes. Of watching your team fail.” Dexter dropped James’ head roughly. “So I’ll wait.”

He stabbed the knife through James’ thigh. James woke with a raw scream, suddenly jolting up and away from Dexter.

Dexter chuckled. “Doesn’t mean I can’t have my fun, though.”

As the camera panned down and away, James’ screams of pain grew louder. The voice came in a sharp whisper once more, “I’d hurry if I were you.” And the screen went black.

“Hurry,” Lily said as she stared at the darkened screen. “We don’t have much time.”

Tags: @scarletfern @whumperfultime @kim-poce @whumpwillow @damnitiscrewedupagain @extemporary-whump @st0rmm @pigeonwhumps @dontworrycomics @magziemakeswhatever @enteredin2eternity @mefattortoise @i-cant-think-of-a-new-username @paininmyheart-imalive @parad0xical2 @whumpitywhumpwhump @ohwhumpydays @painsthegame @sweetwhumpandhellacomf @off-brand-likes @averydistinctivewhump @justwhumpythings @kim-poce @bookworm7543 @steelandblood

#serickswrites #whump #whumpblr #whump writing #whump community #tw captivity #tw torture #tw unconsciousness #tw blood #tw wounds #tw knives #tw video recording #queue #team whump

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gritpyre · 2 years

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I posted 218 times in 2022

That's 218 more posts than 2021!

143 posts created (66%)

75 posts reblogged (34%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@for-the-love-of-angst

@sweetwhumpandhellacomf

@clockworkgalaxies

@badasserywomen

@spearxwind

I tagged 214 of my posts in 2022

Only 2% of my posts had no tags

#my art - 107 posts

#my ocs - 90 posts

#digital art - 82 posts

#alma guerrero - 80 posts

#monster oc - 74 posts

#art - 69 posts

#original art - 68 posts

#oc art - 60 posts

#artists on tumblr - 59 posts

#original character - 59 posts

Longest Tag: 78 characters

#that’s what i call compelling storytelling based on platonic love!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Top Posts in 2022:

May I offer you a werejaguar lass on this fine day <3

191 notes - Posted July 19, 2022

slowly making my way through c1 and i’m at the point were they’re in the feywild and percy is blinded and has a panic attack, good times

325 notes - Posted March 11, 2022

may i interest you in a morally reprehensible werewolf mom

591 notes - Posted November 6, 2022

BABYGIRL WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU

625 notes - Posted September 16, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

they did not draw my wife buff enough i had to draw her buff enough

1,844 notes - Posted November 19, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #Ayyyyyy nice!!

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actress4him · 3 years

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12 Days of Whumpmas - Day 12

Fandom/universe: Generic Whumpee

Warnings: homeless whumpee, hypothermia, mild frostbite

Notes: Continued from Day 7! This one is dedicated to the “save da baby” squad…y’all know who you are. 😉 Also thank you to @sweetwhumpandhellacomf for the initial idea for this.

It’s been a good Christmas morning so far. The kids had woken them up at the first sign of daylight, bouncing up and down on the bed until they were forced to get up and follow them downstairs to see what Santa brought. After tearing through stockings and a breakfast of cinnamon rolls, Teammate gets a sudden whim to go for a walk. The kids are all hyped about the snow that fell during the night, might as well get out and see it before the cars and pedestrians mess it up.

They’re all bundled up in coats and hats and scarves and gloves and boots, noses turning red in the frigid air and steam puffing from their lips, but everyone is smiling. Someone suggests they walk a block over to the park to see what the city tree looks like in the snow. A snowball fight breaks out somewhere along the way, of course. But eventually they make it into the park, snow squeaking beneath their feet, and everyone stills a bit, taking in the beauty of the undisturbed blanket of white amidst the trees and wrought iron benches.

It’s when they’re all standing side by side in front of the towering Christmas tree, silently admiring the dusting of flakes across the red and gold ornaments, that Teammate notices something off in the idyllic scenery. On the closest bench to the tree, there’s a person. At least, they’re pretty sure it’s a person. It’s a lump of clothing, at least, covered in a thin layer of snow.

That realization is what sets their feet into motion. Snow settling on top of a person means that their body heat is no longer melting it off. Dropping to their knees next to the bench, Teammate quickly brushes off what they can with their gloved hands, noticing with concern that the person isn’t wearing a coat. Or gloves. Or a hat. Only a pair of jeans, sneakers, and a thin long-sleeved shirt.

And then Teammate leans in closer, taking in the closed eyes, the too-pale face, and their heart stops beating.

It’s…it’s Whumpee.

“No,” they whisper, suddenly frantic to get rid of the rest of the snow. “No no no no, Whumpee. Whumpee! Can you hear me? Come on, please, don’t do this to me.”

What happened? Why are they out here? What reason could Whumpee have possibly had for being out here in these freezing temperatures, not even dressed for the weather?

Spouse has joined them now, leaning over their shoulder and reaching out to touch Whumpee’s arm. “We need to get them inside and warmed up. Now.”

Right. Right, of course. A plan. They can fix this, they can help them. Teammate stands, readying to pick Whumpee up, then stops and stoops down again. They slide their gloves off their own hands and tug them over Whumpee’s white-tipped fingers, then repeat the process with their hat, making sure it’s pulled down snugly over their ears.

Then they scoop them up off the bench, and immediately wonder if Whumpee has always been this…small.

“Call the team,” Teammate calls to Spouse. “Tell them to meet us at home.” Everyone’s Christmas is going to have to wait. They’re going to want to be here.

The walk home passes in a blur of white and worry. Whumpee never stirs the whole way, remaining limp and far too cold in Teammate’s arms.

Spouse beats them to the door, unlocking it and racing inside to start gathering supplies. The children stand back, silent and stunned, watching as Teammate carefully deposits Whumpee onto the couch and drapes a throw blanket over them. A moment later Spouse arrives with another armload of them, then disappears again to get a bowl of warm water.

“It looked like their fingers had some frostbite,” they explain, and Teammate quickly pulls off the gloves. They’re right, the tips of their fingers are unnaturally colored, cold and hard. They tug up the edges of the hat and find their ears look much the same.

“I’ll get a warm washcloth,” Spouse murmurs.

There’s a frantic knock on the front door. “And that’ll be the team.” Teammate forces a smile toward the oldest child. “Will you get that, sweetie?”

Both children scurry off as they gently lower Whumpee’s fingers into the bowl of water. Spouse returns with the washcloth just as Leader flies into the room, a storm of cold air, huffed breaths, and panicked movements.

“What happened?” they demand, hovering over the couch, obviously wanting to reach out but unsure if they should.

Teammate shakes their head. “I don’t know. I found them like this on a park bench, covered in snow.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Leader finally settles for starting in on the pile of blankets and comforters, laying them one by one over Whumpee until they can barely be seen anymore. “Why would they have been outside? They texted us last night, remember? If something was wrong they should have said. You don’t think they were out there all night, do you?”

The constant stream of questions just agitates Teammate further but they know exactly how Leader feels. “I don’t know. I just…I don’t know.” They brush a strand of hair back from Whumpee’s face, careful not to bump the warm cloth that Spouse set on their ear. “They’ll be okay, though. They…they’ve got to.”

The rest of the team arrives soon. They hang back with the children, who are happy to be surrounded by their honorary aunts and uncles, staying out of the way. All of the same questions are asked over again, and the answer still remains that no one knows. They won’t know until Whumpee wakes up and tells them themself.

Which is going to happen. They have to keep believing that.

It’s a quiet Christmas morning, nothing like any of them had imagined when they had woken up to a world of sparkling white. The remainder of the presents sit underneath the tree, forgotten, while the team and Spouse keep vigil, changing out water and cloths and waiting.

Just waiting.

And no one asks the other pressing question on everyone’s mind - “Who was Whumpee supposed to be spending Christmas with?”

Maybe because they’re all too ashamed to admit that they have no idea.

Finally, there’s a change. Subtle, at first. Whumpee’s eyebrows scrunch, and their lips press together, and Teammate freezes, watching. Then the blankets shift a little.

“Guys!” they whisper, heart pounding. “I think they’re waking up!”

The whole team is gathered by the couch in an instant, holding their collective breath. Whumpee shifts again, and ever so slowly their eyes pry open. For a moment no one speaks, allowing them to take in their surroundings with glazed vision.

“Hey,” Leader says softly. “Are you with us?”

Whumpee’s eyes flick up to them. “Wha-…what happ’n’d?” Their voice is raspy, small, not like the confident cheer everyone is used to from them, but it’s incredibly relieving just to hear them speak.

“We were hoping you could tell us,” Teammate replies gently, removing the washcloth from their ear and checking to see that their ears have turned from white to pink. “We found you half-frozen in the park.”

Their eyes widen and they start trying to sit up. “Must’ve…must’ve fallen ‘sleep.”

“Whoa, whoa, don’t do that. You need to stay down.” Leader places a hand on their shoulder and that’s all it takes to keep them from rising.

Teammate nods, brushing their knuckles against Whumpee’s red cheek. “You’re still way colder than you should be.” A frown creases their features. “What do you mean, you fell asleep? How did you fall asleep in the park in the snow?”

Whumpee cuts their gaze away, silent for a moment. “Wanted to see th’ tree. Started snowing. Guess I got tired.”

Teammate glances up at Leader and sees their concern reflected there. Something’s not adding up. Does Whumpee really expect them to believe that they just…fell asleep on a hard iron bench that easily? That they somehow weren’t bothered by the cold and the snow? Not to mention there’s still no explanation for why they weren’t wearing a coat. They’ve always joked coming into headquarters on cold days without one that they’re warmblooded, but wandering through the snow at night should have been different.

They’re smart. They should know how to take care of themself.

Before anyone can press farther, Whumpee suddenly starts struggling to sit up again. “Wait, is it…is it Christmas?”

“Yeah, it is.” Leader presses them back into the couch cushions again. “Is there someone we should be calling for you, to let them know why you’re not there?”

Confusion shadows Whumpee’s face, but quickly morphs into concern. “No, no there’s…there’s no one. But none of you should be here! You’re supposed to be with your families!”

“We are.” Teammate takes Whumpee’s face in their hands so they’re forced to make eye contact. “You are our family, Whumpee. We’re all right where we want to be.”

It seems to take a few seconds for the words to process, but then Whumpee’s eyes fill with tears. “I didn’t…didn’t want to be a burden. Wanted you all to have a good…good Christmas.”

Leader’s hand strokes up and down the blanket-covered arm. “You’re never a burden. We’re worried about you, though. You have to talk to us, so we can help you.”

The other team members press in closer as Whumpee sniffles, making their presence known in little touches and soft words. Tears streak down Whumpee’s cheeks and they cling tightly to Teammate’s hand.

“‘s good to…to have a family,” they whisper finally, and Teammate’s heart breaks. “Love you guys.”

“We love you, too, Whumpee,” Leader returns.

Exhausted, Whumpee shuts their eyes and drifts back to sleep. Part of Teammate wants to keep them awake, to keep pressing for answers, but rest and healing is more important right now. They’ll find out for sure what happened eventually. A glance around at the other faces tells them that no one is going to give up on that soon. Whatever is going on with Whumpee, they’re going to make it right, like a family should.

Using the hand not trapped in Whumpee’s grip, Teammate swipes away the remaining tears from their cheeks. “Don’t worry. We’ll all be right here.”

#amow twelve days of whumpmas #found family #homelessness tw #hypothermia tw #frostbite #generic whumpee #team whump #found family feels #whump blog #fluff and angst

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ashintheairlikesnow · 5 years

Text

Box Boy: Kauri

Credit for the whole concept here to @sweetwhumpandhellacomf, plus thanks to @shameless-whumper for being cool with me utilizing their ideas and characters for this!

And of course my thanks to you, you filthy enablers, for always being here to tell me to write the new worst thing I’ve thought of that day. Thanks to @dr-dendritic-trees and @iaminamoodymoodtoday for name choices!

I’ll just tag people who have been asked to be tagged in other things: @bleeding-demon-teeth, @spiffythespook, @special-spicy-chicken, @finder-of-rings, @whumpywhumper

P.S. I’m working on the dubcon Danny drabble too so I may get that up within the next couple of days!

CW: Implied noncon, intimate whumper,

“Shit, I think that’s a new water bottle. Kauri, hold up, do you think this is a new one?”

Kauri drops into a crouch, tilting his head to look at the laptop set up on Owen’s coffee table. “I’m not sure, Mr. Owen.” Owen’s mouth widens a little further into a smile - he likes when Kauri calls him Mr. Owen, like a term of respect. Kauri had known when he left the box that it could be anything - you call them whatever they want to be called - and it could have been different, harder to say out loud, than something as easy as Mr. Owen. “It looks the same as the one you already have?”

He’d been warned his new owner would not want him to talk, but Owen doesn’t seem to care. He lives by himself in this whole big place - a condo, Kauri thinks, but the word doesn’t always stick, it bounces around and dances out and falls right out one ear if he tries to focus on it for too long. Owen lives alone, and that’s why he got Kauri, for companionship.

For company.

Jesus Christ, like my very own combination Martha Stewart and blow-up doll. Except that’d be the grossest fucking blow-up doll in the world. You’re really pretty, though. Are they all pretty?

I d-don’t know, Mr. Owen. I can’t remember-

I bet they are. I wonder how they get so many pretty people to sign up for this.

“No, this one is definitely new. See? I think he changed the logo, since he got his boy.”

Kauri might hesitate - even tense a little - but Owen doesn’t notice. “Right. So you’ll want to get it, then.” He still has the dustrag in one hand, and he nearly moves to stand, but Owen’s hand slides across the back of his neck to hold him, and Kauri instead shifts easily onto his knees on the floor, sitting on his heels. Position Two.

“I might. I don’t know. Do you think it’s worth it? I mean, I know they’re stainless steel, but he’s charging $24 a bottle.”

“You don’t care about money. Plus, you like watching him, Mr. Owen,” Kauri says, voice quiet. Owen’s hand slides up into his hair, catching in the black curls. When they told him he was going to leave, that he had been selected, he’d been told he was a custom order.

Curly black hair, blue eyes, thin build, not tall enough to be intimidating but tall enough to look good if Owen wanted to take him out. He was lucky he’d fit exactly what the customer was searching for.

He’s lucky.

The Roomba is hard at work across the room, and Kauri kind of likes the little thing - it’s like having a pet of his own - a pet with a pet - especially considering he routinely has to fish it out from under the entertainment center when it gets stuck and starts screaming for help.

Man, when they put the active learning language chip in Roombas, that was a game changer for sure, Owen had said when he introduced Kauri to it. The day he got his name. He’d had a number, before…

645898, wake up.

645898 needs more time.

645898, Position Twenty-Three.

645898, lights out.

Was there a name before the number, even? There’s something on the sheet of paper they’d given to Owen - the contract he’d signed. Kauri wasn’t allowed to see it, it was too distressing for Box Boys to see their contracts. Kauri can’t grip a pen super well - he gets shaky.

It’s considered bad form to let a Box Boy see their old handwriting, because they’ll just get upset about how it doesn’t look the same any longer. But it’s not like Kauri even remembers what it looked like before.

Things must have been really bad, for him to sign himself over, so really he’s grateful he has this opportunity. It’s like a fresh start, and all he has to do is whatever Owen tells him to do - and Owen’s one of the good ones, he thinks. Not that he has a comparison… but Owen is really, really nice compared to what Kauri, as 645898, had worried he’d get.

Owen was really concerned about the ethics, had asked Whumpees-R-Us to provide proof that Kauri - whoever he was, once upon a time - had signed himself over willingly and legally. Kauri was kind of proud that his owner cared so much about it being humane and ethical, because even in just the couple of months he’d been here, he’d seen Owen angrily typing posts out on message boards to owners that weren’t very good to their boys, telling them that you can’t buy real loyalty, real affection, you have to treat the pets right.

Other owners, Owen tells him all the time, are cruel.

He could have been sold to someone vicious or violent, but instead, the worst thing Owen does is make him watch the youtube channel for what must the loudest, most annoying human being on earth.

Not that Kauri knows any other human beings. He only knows Owen.

“Hey.” Kauri blinks, looking up at Owen, who is smiling down at him, the hand still in his hair, fingers running again and again through the curls. “You listening, Kauri?”

“I-I’m sorry, Mr. Owen, I got, um, distracted.”

“By what?”

Kauri’s not supposed to think about anything but now, and he feels himself tense, just a little. Even with Owen, who is nicer than he had any right to hope for, he couldn’t admit that he’d been trying to think again.

You’re an investment. You aren’t made to think. That’s not what I got you for, all right? I don’t mind the talking, I want you to talk. I need someone around me, here, I get pretty fucking lonely. But I don’t want you to think.

“The, um, I was thinking about the way your… the Host got a new boy. That’s all. It’s, um, it’s nice to see other ones.”

It really had been. Owen had watched the videos with Kauri as they uploaded, excited that his favorite, absolute favorite YouTuber had picked one up, too.

Lucky bastard got one for free and I had to pay for mine - but fuck it, that’s what the residuals for all that child acting I got pushed into are for, right? Millionaire before sixteen, cover of magazines, all that bullshit.

Had Kauri ever read a magazine? He couldn’t remember.

“Oh, cool. I was just thinking about that, too. You never watched the collar video with me, did you?”

“Um… n-no, Mr. Owen. Remember, we talked about how the, um, the shock collars make me uncomfortable-”

We have a situation with 645898.

645898, you will get in Position Twenty-Six, now, or you will regret it.

Get someone in here, 645898 threw up again.

“Right, right. But I want you to watch it with me, this time. I don’t like that you haven’t, I really want you to be a completionist on this with me.” Owen smiles at him, and Kauri smiles back, automatically. Owen’s smile is warm and wide, and Kauri’s is small and not quite forced, but it’s there.

It could be much worse. Sometimes Owen rants about how the people with pets hurt them, or burn them, in ways they can’t come back from. All Kauri has to do is take care of Owen, every way he wants taken care of. He’s always kind.

It could be so much worse.

Kauri is so grateful to him for being so kind, for caring so, so much about being principled.

He signed himself over to be what he is now - he can’t remember it, but he knows it happened - and part of the risk you take is that you might get one of the owners who needs more than standard care.

Owen pulls Kauri up by one arm, and he moves quickly, unfolding himself and then climbing up onto the couch, sitting with his legs across Owen’s lap and his arms around his shoulders, head tucked into the crook of his neck and turned to look down at the laptop, just the way Owen likes.

Across the room, the Roomba gets briefly trapped underneath a rocking chair, and screams three times - HELP, KAURI HELP, KAURI HELP, KAURI - before it gets itself back out and goes back to work.

There’s a part of Kauri that remembers screaming for help, but he’s not sure when he did it, or why.

Owen finds the video he wants and presses play, sliding his arm around behind Kauri’s back.

Sometimes he thinks he hates that Owen touches him so much, but he can’t think of why he’d hate it, and he puts that hatred away in the dark somewhere else until he can’t find it again. It could be worse. Owen only hurt him sometimes, and then mostly only in ways you couldn’t see.

It could be so much worse.

Kauri watches the Host’s boy, with a hint of familiarity making him feel restless and uncertain. He knows the expressions too well - he probably has a few of them himself. The slight smile and tilt of the head things you don’t have on your own, they’re given to you, trained in. Like the positions, only your owners don’t get to know what the expressions are called.

“Now, see, you already have that one,” Owen says, his voice a low rumble against the side of Kauri’s ear, as he points at the Host’s boy trying on a plain brown leather collar. Kauri swallows hard as he watches the host tighten, and tighten and tighten it.

Then complain that it doesn’t tighten enough.

“Yeah, I didn’t like that one, either,” Owen murmurs, as though he hasn’t watched this video a thousand times already. “Here, look, look at this one - the chain link one.”

Kauri looks, obediently, and tries not to think about the heavy metal weight around his own throat. His didn’t come from the same place - Owen had custom-ordered his collar from a jewelry store and it cost nearly as much as he did, a heavy weighted white gold chain set with dark blue stones that matched the color of his eyes, with his name on a little tag that hung off a small gold ring on the front, Owen’s contact details on the other side.

Look, I’m never letting you out of my sight, you’re a big investment piece and I’m not going to lose all this money. But still. Just in case you get lost, buddy, this will help the cops know how to bring you back home to me.

It unlocks with some kind of key, but Kauri’s never seen the key - he only felt the lock click into place when Owen put it on him, and it’s never come off again.

Kauri’s muscles lock when the Host and his boy try the shock collar - he remembers those, he thinks, the training for those went on and on and blurs together in his mind. 645898, you signed up for this, this was your decision. You legally consented to everything that happens in this building, and you know it.

645898, you are being very disappointing today.

“You okay, Kauri?” Owen murmurs, turning to press a kiss into the top of his head, tightening the arm that goes around his back. Kauri tries to curl himself up on Owen’s lap even further, because that is what he wants him to do, and if he doesn’t have to be commanded sometimes he can sort of fool himself that he wants it, too.

On the screen, the Host’s boy is wearing a collar with small metal prongs that press hard into his neck. “It hurts,” The Host’s boy says, in a stiff voice, every inch of his posture rigid with pain.

Someone get 687371 out of here, he’s causing a scene

Shit, someone get 645898 out of the way, 687371 is having a moment again

687371, lights fucking out for you

The Host pulled on a chain attached to the pronged collar, on the screen, and the boy’s hands snapped up to grab the leash. “Don’t-”

Don’t-… let go of me! Let go! Get your fucking hands off me!

The scene cut to something else.

Kauri froze, staring sightlessly, until Owen finally noticed the tension in him and shifted forward to turn off the video. “Hey, was that too much?” His voice was low, and compassionate.

“I know him,” Kauri whispered, lips barely moving.

“What? Yeah, you’ve seen the other videos with Colton in them, remember?” Owen reached up to take Kauri by the chin, tilting it up to look right at him, to look into his eyes. “What do you mean, you know him?”

“I saw him in training. We were in training together,” Kauri says softly, and it never occurs to him to lie. There are things he lies to Owen about - what he’s thinking, the way he hates how Owen eats spaghetti with about a pound of grated parmesan on it, that he drinks terrible coffee and someone with so much money should at least have better taste than that - but now, in this moment, he doesn’t lie.

He doesn’t have to.

“Shit, really?” Owen’s eyes light up, and he pushes Kauri roughly off of him, nearly knocking him to the ground until he catches himself on the coffee table. “Fuck, that’s great! That’s really great, Kauri! That’s awesome!”

“It… it is?” Kauri stands, warily, but Owen doesn’t tell him not to or order him into any positions.

“Sure! Yes! It gives me an in, Kor-bore, I’ve wanted an in since I started watching this guy. Look, he’s got contact info linked in the video description, maybe I can just… you said you know his boy?”

“I don’t… I’m sorry, I meant that I recognized-”

“No, I get it, you’re not supposed to say you knew each other.”

“We didn’t.” Kauri hesitates, shifting from foot to foot, glancing down at the screen where Owen has paused the video, opened up his email, begun rapidly typing. “We didn’t know each other. There were… faces.”

Let go of me! Please!

“Right, right.” Owen waves one hand. “Here, I’m going to ask if he’d be up for playdates or some shit. I’ll just… I’ll just add in here that I was an actor, that I was in… do you think he’ll remember Swing for the Stars or Toast better? Those were my two really big blockbusters.”

“I, um… Mr. Owen, I don’t-”

“Oh, right, because you don’t remember movies anymore. Got it. I’ll just list ‘em both. Oh, and add Dimmer Switch, that kind of horror didn’t play so well here but it’s kind of a cult movie now and it did fucknuts well overseas… Let’s see what he says.” Owen shoots a smile at him, truly pleased, and Kauri’s shoulders relax, instinctively, automatically.

There’s a pause while Owen finishes his email and sends it.

“Hey, Kor-Bore.”

“Yes, Mr. Owen?” Kauri, already heading back to the bookshelves full of movies to dust, pauses, and looks back. Owen watches him with a look Kauri knows too well, and he swallows against the instinctive sickness that settles into the pit of his stomach, the thing he can’t quite get rid of. The collar sits heavy around his neck, and he thinks, once again, that he’s not sure when he signed that paper that he knew he was signing up for this.

“I know you’re busy cleaning, but let’s take a break, yeah?”

Kauri swallows, and slowly nods, setting the dustrag down on the bookshelf. He turns around, fingertips going to the buttons on his shirt, and waits, his blue eyes settling on Owen’s, thoughtful and empty.

“Position Twenty-Six.”

Kauri’s hands drop from his shirt. “T-Twenty-Six, Mr. Owen?”

“You heard me. You don’t have to deal with the buttons, Kauri, I can handle that.”

“Yes, Mr. Owen.” Kauri shifts onto his knees on the floor, in the middle of Owen’s living room, and slides his arms behind his back, knees spread apart digging into the fibers of the carpet beneath him, and tilts his head back so he’s looking up at the cool brown wood of the ceiling fan, neck exposed.

He doesn’t tense up when Owen’s fingers start undoing the buttons on his shirt.

Owen told him all the time - some owners really hurt their Box Boys. And whatever he had come from - whatever life he’d been living that led him to sign himself over - must have been really, really terrible.

He’s really very lucky.

There won’t even be bruises when Owen is done.

645898, do you know how fortunate you are?

It could have been so much worse for you.

In the corner, the Roomba starts screaming again. Owen throws a shoe at it to shut it up as he gets to his feet but his shoe thumps into the wall instead, and Kauri keeps his eyes focused on the ceiling until the clockwork motion of the ceiling fan is all that he can see.

HELP, KAURI

HELP

KAURI

#whump #box boy #conditioned #youtuber whump #universe #whumpees-r-us universe #shameless-whumper #sweetwhumpandhellacomf #brainwashed #intimate whumper #creepy whumper #brainwashed whumpee #dehumanization #tw: implied noncon #implied noncon #erase to control

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