the-whumping-hour

[the-whumping-hour]

Day 3 - "Bite down on this"

@febuwhump DAY 3!

CW: Field surgery without anesthesia, moderate blood and guts descriptions, mild emeto, shock from near-fatal gunshot wound, mention of medication allergy

Notes: Some of this may be bullshit but this is whump not science class. I am not a doctor, and technically none of the characters in this scene are either, lmfao! Enjoy!!!

***

The world goes still as the bullet makes impact. For a moment, nothing but a punch and a stagger, and then comes the heat. And the heat is relentless.

“Jayla, they’re on the roof! They’re on the…” Marcelo’s eyes lock with Gabriel’s, which are already beginning to be swallowed up by stunned pain. He can feel the blood soaking into his sweatshirt, hot and hungry, but the shout of panic out of Marcy is still enough to jolt him as his hand finds the wound.

A second later, he hits the ground.

“Gabriel!” Someone’s voice, someone’s hands, and the noise of recognition that starts to leave Gabe’s mouth turns to a gurgle of pain as Marcy’s hands find his gut. It burns, so bad, and the burning gets worse every second that Marcy shifts his weight and yells words that echo and warble and ring like the sounds of gunfire still drilling into Gabriel’s head. More hands find him, pick him up gently, larger and steadier than those of the man still pressing into him as the world starts to spin with movement. “Get him to the van, get him to the van, this is not gonna be good—” and then Marcy’s voice leaves completely, and it’s just Gabriel in the arms of who he’s figured now is Dominic Grace. The sound of a door slamming open, then darkness, broken only by the terrified eyes of Seiah suddenly appearing over him as fabric begins to tear. The sinking guilt in his stomach is more than just copper at this point.

Words filter in and out of his ears, muffled by a numb depersonalization that he realizes, somewhere, definitely isn’t ideal. Every nerve buzzes as his skin is exposed to cold air, soothed only by the rising tide of blood down his side. 

If death is so cold, why is it welcomed in so warmly?

“...the anesthetic makes him seize, I am not...”

“So what, you’re…”

“...Jayla gets back, she’ll drive us fast, but…”

“...stomach acid…”

“...fatal…”

“GABE!” Blond hair and blue eyes and fear. Gabriel’s eyes loll open slowly to the sight of a scalpel hovering over his skin. “Gabe, Gabey, this is gonna hurt. Please just hold on. Please.” The van’s moving, when did the van start moving? When did he get in the van? “Bite down on this, if you can, okay? It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay, Gabey.”

A folded belt finds its way between his teeth. It reminds him of dried fruit, of snacks scavenged from the back of the pantries after school, lonely nights doing homework in the—

It all explodes into darkness.

By the time the fire clears, the blue of Seiah’s gloves is entirely coated in red. By the time the fire clears, his body is open, something pulsing and everything torn with Dominic holding everything sharp in his hands and Teana humming a lullaby over a handful of gauze and towels.

He gags.

“Nonono, shh, you’re okay. You’re okay.” It’s Teana talking, now; Seiah seems too lost in a mess of organs to register Gabriel’s movement at all. Everything’s lonely now, distant, cold. Stabbing like ice. “Don’t look. Don’t look at any of it. We’re almost at the clinic, they’ll have something to help you, okay? They’ll have something that works.”

Something pinches, squeezes, aches. He swears he can see his muscles flex as he jerks from the pain. Next to him, on the van floor, is a tupperware container with bullet shards and viscera. He wonders if he’ll ever forget it.

“Grace, hold that closed for me.”

His hands find Gabriel’s guts, and something lurches. This is beyond nausea, beyond disgust. He feels like a vessel, like a dying nest, like something damp and splattering on a cave floor.

His organs seem to nod in agreement.

“This should be the last piece? Make sure I don’t open that again when I do. Just…”

God, he thinks he’s dying. 

It burns.

“Gabe? Gabe, Gabe, you’re okay, you’re okay…”

More blood.

“Just keep— fuck, just keep breathing—”

More heat.

“Almost there, almost there, just—”

Relief. Closure. Pain coming to a head.

He blacks out again.

[the-whumping-hour]

Day 2 - Solitary Confinement

@febuwhump DAY TWO ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

CW: Lab whump, isolation, vague depressive thoughts, it as a dehumanizing pronoun, threat of forced medical coma, implied revenge murder, mention of electrowhump, mention of execution, mention of starvation as a torture tactic

Notes: Welcome to the AMF! This one honestly made me insanely fucking sad. Ayeli uses she/they pronouns. Dr. Haley Chavis-Sakye is Ayeli’s personal researcher, essentially, and “Dr. Garcia”... well, let’s just say he’s a pretty important guy.

***

Really, right now, all Ayeli wants is a watch.

It’s been five days now, she thinks, if she’s been counting the meals right. It’s hard to when it’s all the same: instant mashed potatoes and cold scrambled eggs and applesauce with a new single set of plastic silverware each time. Maybe that’s a small mercy, if anything is; if not, she would’ve had to melt her restraints again to grab the spoon from the floor every time she dropped it, and who knows how many volts that would’ve cost her.

But they think they’ve had twelve meals so far, and they know they’ve eaten all but two of them– like hell were they eating without that spoon– and if the timing’s right their restraints should be opening any minute to let them go to their tiny bathroom and change their robe and kick at the walls for a few minutes and throw things at the one ceiling tile above their cot that looks a bit more fake than all the others. They know they’re being watched. They should at least get to put on a show. 

She doesn’t even know what she did. She really doesn’t. At least not anything that she hadn’t done before, with the refusal to speak and the energy surges that broke their intercom for several weeks last time. One too many times, apparently. And now she’s here.

If they stare at the light long enough, they start seeing Marcy in the afterimage. 

Three minutes later, as expected, the restraints pop open, and as expected another white robe is on the bathroom hook. She doesn’t know who’s coming in, or from where. At least they have the decency to knock her out on semi-routine intervals. In her usual room, they never have that courtesy; the moment the lights start flickering, everyone’s out with their tranqs and she’s out cold for as long as they feel the need for her to be. Here, she can’t hurt anyone. Here, the walls don’t yield when she kicks at them. She does it once, twice. It doesn’t change much.

Or, wait. There’s a hum coming from the ceiling.

It’s very faint, barely perceptible, and Ayeli realizes it must’ve started during their kicking, or before it, because nothing they ever do prompts a response anymore. Not when they tried to break the faucet off the wall yesterday, or when they screamed at the top of their lungs for ten minutes straight two days before that. No, this is a change. 

Rarely a good thing with the esteemed Alexus Metanatural Foundation.

“Ayeli Astian,” the voice is a familiar one crackling over the intercom, soaring and terrifying and every emotion at once as her leg freezes before another kick. Dr. Haley never bothers to come when she’s done something wrong. “I’ve been making your plea deal. They’ll get you out of here by Sunday.”

They can’t help it, they laugh. Alone in a white sterile room with nothing but the off-putting fake ceiling tile above them. “When the fuck is Sunday?”

There’s no answer. As expected. “There is a condition, though.” Fuck. There’s something serious here, something bad. Haley always sounds hesitant when it’s something bad.

 “They’re putting you out for three weeks.”

“...what?” 

“I'm sure this is hard for you, it’s just… Dr. Garcia needs an unconscious subject for several trials, and I… the team agreed to do this. I hope you understand. At least you’re not… aware of it. It’ll be nothing, Ayeli.”

Nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Everything is nothing at this point.

The intercom clicks off, and Ayeli sees red. There’s no reason to scream. And they all think there’s no reason for her to do anything. Nothing but be a fake dead body.

And they think it’s bullshit.

And that’s the last thing she thinks, in fact, before something cracks, and the walls splinter with heat as the lights go out, and the ceiling tiles pop into ash.

—

“Sir, please, if I could just explain–”

“Your project just killed five people, Chavis. I’m not sure what there is to explain.”

“Listen, it’s… it’s got issues, I know, it gets scared when it’s alone, it gets scared to go to sleep–”

“Chavis, we are talking about the largest institutional threat in years. This is not a sales pitch.”

“If we could just up the power control, anything, I know you still want them as a subject…”

“No, Chavis, you know who wants it? Copán wants it. Herrets wants it. Best case, we put them on a boat and never see them again.”

“Sir, please,”

“Would you like the worst case instead?”

“Dr. Garcia, I…”

“No. Right now, it gets no energy, nothing for a week. And then we discuss action going forward.”

[the-whumping-hour]

Happy Black History Month to me and all the other whumpers and writers of color that are a part of this community. It would be nice to see some more characters of color.

[the-whumping-hour]

Oh I gave a great idea! *breaks character's psyche into a million unsalvageable pieces with a baseball bat*

[the-whumping-hour]

Day 1 - Helpless

@febuwhump day 1!!!

CW: Mean caretaker (who is caretaking against his will), said caretaker making whumpee cry, multiple mentions of drug abuse, one mention of broken glass, one mention of broken bones, little hints of classism and ableism, annoyance at whumpee's fidgeting. 

Notes: Top ten men who break the Hippocratic oath by being fucking losers. Happy Febuwhump Day 1!!!! As this challenge continues, I may link related stories together. For those who are new, welcome to the hellscape! 

***

They’re still awake. Of course they’re still awake.

And sure, Seiah may be a medic, clinically certified and all, but hell if it means he can’t be pissed off at Felic Fucking DiMaggio.

“You got percs?” That idiot, the little whiny rat quietly digging a hole into the sofa cushion, hadn’t talked in almost fifteen minutes, which Seiah had hoped meant they’d be falling back into half-sleep soon enough. No such luck.

“No,” he snaps, hazel eyes tinged with streaks of insomnia roll up at them over his laptop. “Forty minutes and you can have more meds. I’m trying to study.”

Back to silence. Or almost— he swear he can hear threads ripping with every quiet tap of Felic’s fingernails against the seam. Just because it’s an old couch doesn’t mean anything. Just because they’re a 'friend' doesn’t mean anything. 

“Do you need a stress ball or something?” He’s trying to be nice. He really is. 

“You got one?” They still sound seconds from crying, or maybe that’s just the city drawl, thick in the back of their nose like they’ll hack it up with a hairball. They sound sick, look sick, they always look sick. Sick when they’re tweaking in meetings and sick now, bits of glass and two fractures in their leg and still they’re acting like they’re using every little scheming wrinkle in their brain to act normal. Not normal; something worse. Someone competent, or well-off, or anything other than a leech tagging along with the Rift Guard to seem like a savior.

And they reek like burning plastic.

He digs through his desk drawer. “Best I’ve got is a box of paperclips.” It leaves his hand with a rattle, a tinny sound that makes Felic twitch their head with a grimace, as the box hits their leg and falls into the cushion divot. They seem to paw it like a cat. “I can check the bedroom, but I need Gabe to rest…” he trails off.

“Nah, ‘s fine, ‘s fine.” They’ve maneuvered into some other horribly contorted position, leg still dangling off the couch like something dead. He hopes they’re content. He swears, if they’re not… but no, now it’s back to his pediatrics assignment, back to… reading this same section, again, and...

Holy fucking shit.

They’re using the paperclips. To pick at the fucking couch.

“No. No, you know what? Screw this.” Maybe it’s that stupid ugly couch, or his own lack of sleep, or how disgustingly pitiful they look in an oversized hoodie and bandages down an entire pale, skinny leg. “Done studying. Not even gonna try. Is that what you wanted? You want my attention? Gonna keep me up another three fucking hours because your tummy hurts when I don’t let you take every pill in this city?”

Maybe he should’ve thought that through more. Maybe, but it’s too late. Sue him. If this bitch wakes up Gabe, if they disrupt the final second of peace anywhere in this world at all—

They’re crying. No, no, no.

Shit, they’re crying.

“Felic.” His whisper-yells get more frantic. “Felic. Felic. Felic, hey, no, Felic, I’m sorry, I didn’t, I’m just tired, we’re all tired, Felic please,” out of his chair and onto the ground in front of them, they’re shaking like a leaf, no sounds but little sob-hiccups as their hands twist and wring themselves in their sleeves. They really are some helpless little thing, a pigeon stuck in a storm drain. “Look at me, look, I’m not mad at you. I’m not mad at you. Calm down, calm down, just, I didn’t even do anything Felic, please just do this for me please…”

A knock at the door. Gabe.

“What’s going on?” His voice is rough with sleep, hair falling in curls over his eyes. And Seiah loves him, he loves him so much, but the look on his face when he sees Felic. As if they deserve it. As if the rat deserves any of this. “Did they have a nightmare?”

“They were never asleep at all, actually, which is—“

The glare Gabe gives him shuts him up quick.

“You need to give them space.” He motions Seiah away, impatient yet calm, locking eyes with the hairball having a breakdown on the couch. 

“No, listen, everything’s fine.”

“Clearly it’s not,” he retorts, still as calm as ever. “Go get some rest, Seiah, I’ve got this.” 

“We need to talk about this later.”

“Yes. Later. Shh,” he motions, and now he’s back to Felic, and it’s like Seiah isn’t here at all. Is this what his fucking job at the Rift Guard is? Keeping the rats on a leash?

Well, there’s no reason to stay here anyways. Seiah rises to his feet, computer abandoned, boyfriend preoccupied with a little bitch. 

Whatever. It’s not even a nice couch anyways.

He shuts the door. 

[the-whumping-hour]

@lektricwhump our boys... from so long ago...

addicted to relationships where one person is a ghost but it's unclear who's haunting who

[the-whumping-hour]

When whumpee was rescued, caretaker was the one who had nightmares and panic attacks.

Waking up in the middle of the night in a cold-sweat thinking whumpee's been taken again; running to their room to make sure they were still safe and asleep in their bed for the third time that night.

[the-whumping-hour]

YESSSSS YESSSSS this is so Haley @ Ayeli, and she doesn't understand why they hate it so much because like... she's being so nice, she's being so humane, she could be doing so much worse but she's NOT and this isn't even about their feelings so they shouldn't be complaining...

This has probably been done before, but I love the idea of a lab Whumper who is trying so so hard to be ethical. They would absolutely subject themself to any of the procedures they’re subjecting Whumpee to, but they don’t have [whatever trait whumper is studying].

They gave Whumpee the chance to join the study voluntarily, but when they refused, Whumper had to take matters into their own hands. This research will benefit the whole world, Whumpee’s consent and freedom aren’t more important than that… right? Right. They’re doing the right thing.

Whumper puts so much work into making their conditions as good as possible. Spends time with them to make sure their social needs are being fulfilled, lets them get an hour or more of sunlight almost every day, lets them choose what kinds of clothes they want to wear and what kinds of foods they want to eat. What brand of soap is in the bathroom connected to their cell room.

They’ll turn themself in once all of this is over. They’ve been keeping very detailed records of everything they’ve been doing, including all the crimes. They fully plan on losing their freedom permanently, and it’s a price they’re willing to pay. Their freedom is not worth more than the world, either.

Whumper always explains what’s going to happen in each procedure unless Whumpee asks them not to. They offer pain-killers and sedatives anytime a procedure might be uncomfortable or painful, unless they absolutely need Whumpee to feel it.

They plan out little wins for Whumpee. Ways for them to feel closer to escape, to feel in control. Little hidey-holes in their cell and ‘accidentally’ leaving things where Whumpee can grab them so they feel like they have some things that are theirs. Whumper ‘lets things slip’ about where they are. Whumper ‘decides against’ certain procedures when Whumpee begs or does something clever, and though they never actually planned on doing the procedures in the first place, it keeps Whumpee contented.

They give Whumpee updates on their family when asked. They push down the urge to distance themself, day after day. It’s tempting, to see Whumpee as less than human. It would make this easier on their conscience. But their conscience shouldn’t be eased, and if they’re going to abduct someone the very least they could do is remember always that they are a person and they don’t deserve any of this.

Unfortunately, it’s not about ‘deserve.’ It’s about ‘need,’ and the world needs this research.

[the-whumping-hour]

Some tips for using a few words to describe voices:

1. Tone Words: Use tone words to convey the emotional quality of a voice. For example, you can describe a voice as "melodic," "soothing," "sharp," "gentle," or "commanding" to give readers a sense of the tone.

2. Pitch and Range: Mention the pitch and range of the voice. Is it "deep," "high-pitched," "raspy," or "full-bodied"? This can provide insight into the character's age, gender, or emotional state.

3. Accent and Diction: Describe the character's accent or diction briefly to give a sense of their background or cultural influences. For instance, "British-accented," "Southern drawl," or "formal."

4. Volume: Mention the volume of the voice, whether it's "whispering," "booming," "murmuring," or "hushed."

5. Quality: Use terms like "velvet," "silken," "gravelly," "honeyed," or "crisp" to convey the texture or quality of the voice.

6. Rate of Speech: Describe how fast or slow the character speaks, using words like "rapid," "slurred," "measured," or "rambling."

7. Mood or Emotion: Indicate the mood or emotion carried by the voice. For example, a "quivering" voice may convey fear or anxiety, while a "warm" voice may express comfort and reassurance.

8. Resonance: Describe the resonance of the voice, such as "echoing," "nasal," "booming," or "tinny."

9. Timbre: Mention the timbre of the voice, using words like "rich," "thin," "clear," or "smoky."

10. Cadence: Highlight the rhythm or cadence of speech with descriptors like "staccato," "lilting," "rhythmic," or "halting."

11. Intonation: Convey the character's intonation by saying their voice is "sarcastic," "apologetic," "confident," or "questioning."

12. Vocal Characteristics: If applicable, mention unique vocal characteristics, like a "lisp," "stutter," "drawl," or "accented 'r'."

[the-whumping-hour]

Attention Whump Community!

Clogging disability tags is a massive problem that we need to address. Many tags, especially those surrounding permanent injuries, paralysis, vision loss and certain illnesses have become unusable due to being flooded with unrelated things. Yes, that includes your writing. Those tags are not for you. It's isolating, frustrating and depressing to try finding a community and other people who share your issues but all that comes up is whump, fandom shit, gifs, headcanons, etc.

I'm newly paralyzed. I have looked at many tags surrounding paralysis, trying to find support, a community, anything of people struggling with the same thing. Nothing. There's barely anything for us in the general disabilty tags. I am BEGGING you to understand and recognize how AWFUL it is.

So, I have a proposition. A tag you can and should use exclusively for disability content in whump writing. Not any other tag surrounding disability, lest you'll clog it up.

#disabled whumpee

It's tempting to use more specific tags, I get it. Due to being in the whump community myself I know #medical whump is already a tag. You have those tags. Use them. Don't use the disability tags. Don't clog up the few spaces us disabled people have.

[the-whumping-hour]

Whump Reference Post for First, Second, and Third Degree Burns

Hi whump writers of Tumblr! Sorry it's been a hot minute; turns out grad school is hard. Anyways, I'm back with another reference post!

There is one image in this post, but there are no graphic images. It's a screenshot of text.

However, I do get a little bit graphic with my descriptions, as I'm trying to provide material that will help with writing, so read with care.

There are six categorizations of burns. They range from first degree (sunburn level) to sixth degree (exposed and/or charred bone).

In the interest of brevity (and also my limited knowledge), I'm going to only address the first, second, and third degree categories of burns. I have various information about each type of burn in each of their sections, and then I go more in depth on the pain associated with each type at the end of the post.

First Degree

Definition:

First degree burns are superficial, and affect only the outer layer of skin (epidermis).

Possible causes:

Mild sunburn, hot water.

Appearance:

First degree burns will be red, dry, and have no blisters.

Pain:

First degree burns are minimally painful in the moment, and negligibly painful afterwards. The skin becomes itchy as it heals, which may come any time from hours to a day or so after the initial burn.

Ideal treatment:

Run the burn under cold water, or apply cold compresses. (You’ll see some people writing about putting cold mud or dirt on these. That not decrease the pain. The tiny particles of dirt will rub all against the sensitive burned skin like sandpaper.)

Apply normal antibiotic ointment and bandage if desired, but honestly it’s not really necessary as long as the skin isn’t broken.

This can be treated at home.

Healing time:

Generally takes less than a week to heal.

Second Degree

Definition:

Second degree burns involve the epidermis and part of the dermis (the thicker layer of skin under the epidermis).

Possible causes:

Brief contact with boiling water, 1-2 seconds contact with hot metal (hot like a pan on a mid-heat stove, not hot like white-hot), some mid-level sunburn, etc. They're the most common type of burn.

Appearance:

Second degree burns will have shiny skin and the skin will be visibly discolored.

There may also be blisters that form within the first 24 hours. The blisters will be a very thin layer of skin that will fill up with fluid like a bubble. If you gently push on a part of this bubble, you can see the fluid move to the other side. Depending on the area of the body in which this burn occurs, the skin of this blister can be very delicate, and a lot of care needs to be taken in order to keep it unbroken (recommended for healing to protect against infection). If the blister breaks or comes off, the skin beneath will be red, wet, and slimy to the touch.

Pain:

These burns are very painful.

Immediately after the initial burn, it will be a strong and consistent pain. Ice can be applied or the burn can be submerged in cold water. If this is not done for long enough however, removal of the ice / cold water will bring back the pain in one or two minutes.

If the blister breaks, there is a significant increase in pain. Ideally, you shouldn't touch the exposed gooey skin because of the risk of contaminating it with the bacteria on your fingers. However, if you want to cause a lot of low-cost mid-to-high-level pain for a brief moment, your whumper can jam their finger right on that exposed wound. Salt and other granular substances are also extremely effective here; the nerves are primed for more pain. After a while however, this will have lesser and lesser of an effect, as the place becomes almost numb.

The blisterless open wound is a highway for bacteria. If you want to reduce infection risk, you need to clean it out thoroughly after the salt situation (which is also painful!) and then bandage it.

Keeping the burn bandaged will reduce the pain. Some doctors recommend temporarily covering a new burn with cling wrap until the burned person can get to a medical professional or treat the wound themselves. Oddly, regular cling-wrap does actually reduce the pain significantly.

Ideal treatment:

If the object that caused the burn wasn't clean, the burned area should be gently cleaned with soap and water.

One should then run the burned area under cold water for at least five and up to thirty minutes.

If the skin is broken, an antibiotic ointment and bandage should be applied. If the skin is unbroken, bandage anyways, but antibiotic ointment isn’t as necessary.

The burn should be kept covered for at least the first few days. If skin was broken, the area should be covered until new skin grows over.

This can be treated at home.

Healing time:

Depending on the size, depth, and complications, this can take anywhere from a week (for small burns) to several months to heal.

Third Degree

Definition:

Third degree burns go all the way through both the epidermis and the dermis and may go into the hypodermis (the subcutaneous layer of skin that has the fat).

Possible causes:

Prolonged contact with stovetop-level-hot metal, prolonged exposure to flames from a fire, prolonged contact with or submersion in boiling water, acidic or basic chemicals, dry ice.

Appearance:

The burned part itself may be white or black. This is because the skin level that contains the blood vessels (the dermis) has been burned through.

The outer edges of the burned area may only be second degree, depending on how the burn was administered, and blisters may form here.

After a day or two, the very outer edge of the burned area will form a surrounding line of red. This is granulated tissue, and is a sign of the body trying to heal itself.

The area within an inch or two of the burn may become slightly red, swollen, and hot to the touch. As long as this is slight, this is normal, and not infection. The area of the body is just traumatized and working overtime.

Scarring will definitely occur. If the burned area is large, skin grafts may minimize the scarring.

Pain:

These types of burns aren’t really painful. There is of course the initial piercing pain shock when the hot object comes into contact with the skin, but after the skin layers that contain the nerves have been burned through, the pain is negligible (if there at all). This burn looks terrifying, and like it should be absolutely agonizing, but it’s not even close to that. There may be some slight pain around the outsides of the burn, where the skin is minimally affected, but most of the area will be nearly numb.

Ideal Treatment:

The area should be cleaned thoroughly, and I mean thoroughly. The outside layer of dead skin should be scraped off when cleaning with soap and water. Leaving the dead skin there may impede healing, and as long as the wound is covered with something, risk of infection isn’t too significant.

Antibiotic ointment and a bandage and gauze should be applied to absorb everything that leaks out (if the skin is broken, pus will leak out).

If the burn encompasses more than a small area (or a narrow area) skin grafts are recommended.

This can technically be treated at home, as long as there’s no infection.

Healing time:

Smaller burns generally take at least three weeks to heal. Larger burns can take years.

More In Depth On The Pain

First degree burns tend to feel "just the wrong side of warm" when they first occur, and shortly afterwards tend to feel kind of prickly. A longer time afterwards, it will be overly sensitive and warm to the touch, and will be uncomfortable to put clothing over. As the burn heals, the sensitivity will turn into mild itchiness.

Second degree burns are a sharp pain. If it's a quick cause (boiling water that quickly falls off, hot metal quickly removed), it's likely that the brain won't initially register the heat, just the sharp sting. Within a minute or so, that sting will increase significantly. As said before: running the area under cold water, or covering it with ice will reduce the pain, but it'll come back quite quickly once you remove the cold source. If you can suffer through the initial 5-10 minutes of the increased stinging, it'll fade enough that you can think rationally again. Longer term: the blister itself is not necessarily painful, but if the skin covering it breaks, the stinging pain from before will resurface (at a lower level, but longer-lasting).

Third degree burns start out with the same sharp pain as second degree, but that pain fades as the nerves in the skin are burnt out and killed. Depending on the vector of heat, this can be extremely quick (very hot metal will cause the sharp second degree pain to fade within the minute) or much slower (slowly heating water in which someone's body part lies will have a much longer period of the sharp second degree pain, and will be much more agonizing than the metal). Once the nerves are burned through, there comes a kind of numbness. The nerves at the very edge of the burn are still alive and somewhat functioning, and there will likely be a bit of sharpness there, but the majority of the affected area will be free from any sensation. The worst part of this type of burn isn't the pain, but the intrinsic horror that it's such a significant deformity that there is no pain. The numbness will continue after the initial burn and into the healing stage, to the point where the affected person might not even remember they're injured until they feel the liquid from the burn trickle down over their skin. As the healing progresses, the itchiness will be absolutely maddening. The area must be covered by something because the affected person will likely unconsciously scratch at it to try to get some relief. Any scratching will set back the healing process a significant amount.

Taglist: @blood-and-regrets

[the-whumping-hour]

I think the big umbrella term is "angst", and under angst falls "hurt/comfort" which is in a Venn Diagram with "whump". Things can definitely be whump without being hurt/comfort and depending on personal perception, certain things can be H/C without being whump.

Talked to a few non-whump peeps about whump, and there's something I want to ask the whump community.

What is the distinct difference between whump and hurt/comfort? Is whump actually hurt/comfort, or is there a difference?

Asking for science reasons! I would like to hear everyone's thoughts!

[the-whumping-hour]

Sorry, sorry, but manipulative hurt/comfort is fucking cocaine to me. The predatory aspect of it. The vulnerability—500% better if the hurt party knows they're being manipulated and is past the point of caring. The juxtaposition of sweet and sharp flavours. Barkbarkbark

[the-whumping-hour]

Thinking about the potential for whump / sickfic with musicians

- losing their voice right before their biggest gig

- getting sick / hurt on stage

- WEIRD STALKER FANS and all the possibilities that holds

- An artist rivalry escalating to the point of sabotage either physical or mental

- FALLING PROPS! MALFUNCTIONING INSTRUMENTS! STAGE HAZARDS!

- Stranded tour buses

- Flashing lights / camera flashes on an already growing migraine

- Having to keep up appearances during a meet and greet /press event

- "The show must go on" mentality leading to awful consequences

- TERRIBLE MANAGERS

[the-whumping-hour]

HEHEHHEHE FELIC

I desperately need more whumpees falling into alcoholism and addiction as part of their recovery and post-rescue story.

[the-whumping-hour]

Whumpee laying in Caretaker's lap, writhing in pain and whimpering.

Caretaker playing with Whumpee's hair in an attempt to keep them calm and comfortable, a pained expression on their face. It hurts to see Whumpee suffering like this, and there is nothing they could do to help them.

[the-whumping-hour]

Daily affirmations. Blond men are the devil's emissaries. Blond men will not enter the kingdom of heaven at their deaths nor will they sing with the rest of god's creatures in his choir. Blond men are a scourge upon this earth and all who consider themselves righteous and holy are bound by honor to hunt them to extinction