What to Know if You are Gifted the Sight of the Oracle

Whump prompt XIX

Two (more or less) friendly rival whumpers who keep stealing whumpee from each other.

For them, it's little more than a game. Do the whumpers compete in who can make whumpee more afraid? Or do they heal whatever injuries the other inflicted before they have their own go? Both?

And for whumpee...

Whumpee stuffed in a tiny, dark wardrobe, box, or other tight space to hide them. Whumpee tied and gagged in the trunk on yet another bumpy car ride. Whumpee desperately wishing for a reprieve from their current whumper but not like this, not them-

Whumpee marked as each whumper's property over and over and over.

I just saw perhaps the coolest art installation I have ever heard of.

This is a perfectly normal pin. On the head of it are 2.417 quintillion angels, give or take a few billion.

Joe Davis and Sarah Khan, the artist behind Baitul Ma’mur, (House of Angels) encoded the Arabic phrase “Subhan Allah” onto synthesized DNA, and then used that DNA to coat the head of a pin. According to some traditions, any time Subhan Allah is said or written, it creates an angel. With DNA being as dense an information storage medium as it is, this single pin has more created angels on it than have ever been born from human throats across all of human history.

And then in a fucking genius move, the art installation takes the form of a functional vending machine, loaded with an impossibly large quantity of angels. For $25, which goes right to the artists, you can buy a pin. I’m thinking about taking mine out of the test tube sometime and encasing it in resin to turn it into the highest % angel by volume earring ever worn, but that’s a project for the future.

There isn’t much else I can say that isn’t said by the documentation accompanying the exhibit. The photos aren’t the BEST quality but they should hopefully be mostly legible.

As of right now this installation is located at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and if you’re ever in the area you should totally check it out

June of doom, day twenty-eight:

You’ll get used to it: knife // hostage // surrender

CW: blood (mentioned), kidnapped whumpee, unconscious whumpee, gagging (described), gagged whumpee, cruel whumper, hostage situation, trade, self sacrifice Whump, powerless Whumpee’s, multiple Whumpee’s, choking (described), forced submission (described), handcuffs, chains, collar

*~*~*~*~*

Leader arrived like Villain asked, alone, without their team, their hands raised in surrender as they emerged onto the roof. Villain stood at the opposite end of the roof, half sitting on the ledge looking over the city, the wind pulling at his clothes and hair, a lollipop between his lips.

He looked almost innocent like that. Not realising Leader was there yet. Taking in the city he threatened to destroy time after time after time after time again, and everytime Leader stopped him. Leader and their team.

Never quite caught him. Never got that far, he wasn’t the type to be arrested. Far too smart for that. Too smart for Leader, as it turns out.

Leader’s eyes trailed down to Villain’s hands to see a length of chain wrapped around his knuckles, turning the flesh white in his hand. Leader followed the short length of chain to an unconscious Whumpee at Villain’s feet, the chain tied tight around their hands that were drawn behind their back, a cloth gag in their silenced mouth. There was blood on the tip of the cloth, and twin streams of blood dripping down Whumpee’s nostrils and onto the rooftop.

“They wouldn’t shut up,” said Villain without turning his head, taking his lollipop out as he continued, “they weren’t worth the ransom.”

“Got me here, didn’t it?” Leader asked with a self-deprecating smile on their face. Villain finally turned to face Leader then. Cold, intelligent eyes scanning Leader’s casual outfit. It was unusual to see them without their protective gear, but Villain just turned away to look out at the view again.

“Drop the knife, then we’ll talk,” said Villain, almost bored, popping the lollipop back into his mouth.

Leader’s eyebrows knit together in confusion, taking a cautious step forward, their hands still raised in surrender. “I don’t have a knife.”

Villain didn’t answer. Instead he nudged a foot to the unconscious Whumpee’s shoulder. Leader jolted forwards, their hands dropping but stopped when Villain halted them with a cutting, icy stare. Villain leaned down, lower back resting against the roof wall, pulling the gag from Whumpee’s lips and letting it fall under their chin.

Villain poked Whumpee’s cheek, and again harder. Whumpee barely moved. Villain took his lollipop from his mouth and rammed it down Whumpee’s throat. Whumpee jumped to life then, gagging and gasping on the sweet, but Villain kept Whumpee down by a hand on their throat and a gentle ‘shhh.’

Whumpee calmed slightly when Villain stopped shoving the lollipop down their throat, panicked eyes turning hard as they let their breath out through their nose.

“Don’t look at me like that,” said Villain, adding a little pressure to their grip on Whumpee’s throat. Leader stepped forward again, and Whumpee gasped and struggled under Villain’s hands and Leader stepped back again. Villain let up the pressure, and said to Whumpee: “Look who’s here for you, Whumpee.”

Whumpee turned their head to the roof opening and almost gasped, dropping the lollipop but Villain slammed a hand up to Whumpee’s chin, clamping it shut. “If you drop that lollipop I’ll make sure Leader doesn’t get off this roof alive, Whumpee, understand?”

Villain let go of Whumpee’s chin before they could nod, their lips shut tight now, weary eyes going to Leader who stood a few feet away. Alone. Without their combat gear. Whumpee wanted to scream and punch themselves for being so stupid. For ever trusting Villain…

Villain stood up, putting a foot on Whumpee’s sternum. “Leave them alone!” Leader cried, stepping forward again. Villain just kept pressing down until Whumpee was almost crying out, barely holding their lips together to keep the lollipop in. Villain suppressed his grin at the sight of it before letting up on the force on Whumpee’s chest, letting them catch their breath.

“I told Leader to come unarmed, unprotected and alone, Whumpee. That was our arrangement of this little hostage agreement, and what do ya know? Leader comes unprotected and alone, armed with a knife that they think I don’t know they have,” Villain said, leaning down again on Whumpee’s chest, watching Whumpee struggle uselessly against him and fight to keep their mouth shut. “The one they always carry, the one that was a gift from their rotten dead friend, y’know, with the wooden handle and the nice engraving that says—“

Before Villain could continue there was a clatter on the rooftop beside him and he glanced over to see said knife near Whumpee’s leg. Villain took his foot off Whumpee’s chest and Whumpee let out a pained stuttered huff of relief from their nose as they half rolled to face Leader and Villain better.

Villain scooped the knife up from the ground and clicked the button, the blade shooting from the top with a shink. It really was a beautiful knife, Villain had to admit. The blade was a polished slate grey, the edges sharpened daily no doubt, glinting the moonlight back at Villain.

Villain finally looked back at Leader and put the blade in his jacket pocket, folding it before putting it in.

“Good,” said Villain, stepping over Whumpee and leaning back against the railing, folding his arms over his chest, “Now we can speak.”

“It’s a trade, right?” Leader asked, though it sounded more like a demand. “Me for Whumpee.”

“I can be persuaded to that,” said Villain, tilting his head side to side, as if debating it. “With a few conditions.”

“Name them.”

“NMmph!” Whumpee protested, still gagged by the lollipop in their mouth. Villain let a small smile grace his lips at Whumpee’s distress. That’s what they get for not knowing how to shut up.

“I leave Whumpee here, knocked out, you take their chains and you don’t fight me.”

“Ngh!” Whumpee tried again, their useless struggles accompanied by the jangling of the heavy chain tied around their wrists.

Leader didn’t say anything at first, just licked their lips and opened their mouth, then glanced at Whumpee and shut it again.

“You don’t knock them out,” Leader tried and Villain chuckled darkly, shaking his head.

“Nuh-uh Leader, you don’t get to make demands anymore,” Villain sang. Whumpee pushed their hands off the ground, trying to sit up but Villain kicked them back down, planting a boot on Whumpee’s back.

“I— I—“ Leader began, but they gave up before they uttered another sound. Villain could see it. The way their eyes searched the roof for some other thing, some saving grace that wasn’t there because Villain had made sure this hostage negotiation was airtight. Villain waited with baited breath. “Please Villain… you already hit them! Just let them go and I’ll come willingly—“

“How do I know you don’t have your little team waiting downstairs to collect Whumpee? To try and stop me?”

“You told me to come alone so I did,” Leader said hotly.

Villain tilted his head, icy eyes zeroed in on Leader. “I also told you to come unarmed. Then maybe I wouldn’t’ve had to hurt Whumpee more than necessary, hmm?”

Leader licked their lips. Villain smiled. “Okay,” said Leader softly, shoulders sagging in defeat. “Okay. Just, fuck… okay. Me for Whumpee. No tricks.”

Villain pushed off the wall with a grin. “Good. I know you’re not used to taking orders Leader, but don’t worry… you’ll get used to it. Like Whumpee did. Isn’t that right Whumpee?”

He stepped over Whumpee again, and bent low, his back to Leader, covering his conversation with Whumpee. “Well done for keeping your mouth shut for five seconds, Whumpee, I’m proud.”

Whumpee moved the smaller lolly to the side of their mouth before pleading: “Villain please. Please, don’t take them. It’s my fault—“

“Come on Whumpee,” Villain tsked, not unkindly. “Give me some credit here. I was just very convincing. It’s not your fault. It’s your team’s little weakness. I’m just shocked it took me this long to realise how pathetic you all were.”

“Leader—“ Villain jammed their hand under Whumpee’s chin again, silencing them with a huff.

“I prefer you better when you don’t speak, Whumpee.”

Whumpee wrestled their head free, as Villain grabbed the stick of the lollipop and dragged it out between Whumpee’s clenched teeth. “Villain—“

“Is the lollipop all gone?” Villain asked. Whumpee wanted to protest, but instead they bit the small nugget left of the cherry lollipop and swallowed. Then they stuck their tongue out.

“Happy?”

“Ecstatic,” Villain said. Without hesitation, Villain grabbed Whumpee’s shoulder and turned them over onto their stomach. Whumpee opened their mouth again and Villain took that as an opportunity to drag the gag between their teeth again and tied it tight behind Whumpee’s head. Whumpee groaned into the gag, struggling again. “Shhh,” Villain said, putting his index finger and thumb on either side of Whumpee’s neck.

Whumpee struggles lessened, they rested their forehead on the ground with a strangled protest. Villain grinned, then looked over his shoulder at Leader.

“Hey, Leader. Come here.”

Leader didn’t move for a second, and that was a second too long. Villain pressed down hard on Whumpee’s neck and Whumpee’s whimpers of pain were accompanied by rushing footsteps and Leader was beside Villain now. A test.

“I want you to do it,” said Villain, sitting back on their arse against the roof.

Leader glanced over at Villain with narrowed eyes. “No.”

“Yes,” said Villain and Whumpee grunted behind the gag.

Leader shook their head, fingers curling into fists at their sides. “No. I won’t.”

“Oh come on, Leader,” Villain chastised softly. “I’ve seen you do it to other villains and petty criminals.”

“That’s different,” Leader ground out through clenched teeth. Barely containing their anger. “They’ve hurt someone, or did something wrong. Whumpee didn’t.”

“No?” Villain asked and Leader knew it was a trap before they replied. “No.”

Villain leaned forward, looking up with cruel, smiling eyes at Leader. “If it wasn’t for Whumpee, you wouldn’t be here. In this mess. The city wouldn’t have to lose their number one Hero. Isn’t that right, Whumpee?”

Leader’s fists were shaking and Villain clicked their tongue. “Nothing to be done then I guess. Whumpee, I’ll just slam your head into the ground and hope it doesn’t kill you.”

As Villain leaned over, hand fisting Whumpee’s hair Leader’s hand shot out and clamped down hard over Villain’s wrist. Villain clicked their tongue again.

“Take your hand off me, or I’ll chop Whumpee’s off just to prove my point.”

Leader yanked their hand back as if it burned, and said: “okay… okay. I’ll do it.”

Whumpee whimpered behind the gag and struggled in their chains. “Relax, Whumpee. Leader’s here to save you. Again. Just Co-operate.”

Whumpee screamed against the gag, thrashing wildly. Leader surprised Villain who thought they’d take a less violent approach. A punch to the temple and Whumpee went still. Villain whistled, long and loud as he took the key out of his pocket and unlocked the cuffs around Whumpee’s wrists.

“Didn’t think you’d do that,” said Villain, feeling Leader’s glare on him as he worked on the second cuff. Individually locked, Leader noted, an excuse to not focus on what they just did to Whumpee of all people.

Villain stood, grinning at Leader as he pulled another lollipop from his jacket pocket. He pulled the plastic wrapper off it and popped it into his mouth. He lifted his hand and drew a circle in the air with his finger.

Leader turned around, putting his hands behind his back like Whumpee. “No, no, no,” Villain said, putting a hand on Leader’s shoulder. “I changed my mind. Turn around again.”

Leader did, rolling their eyes. Villain put the metal cuffs on and tightened them as far as they could go, Leader drawing their arm up when it started to pinch, but Villain didn’t let them go far.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Villain cooed reassuringly as he cuffed Leader’s other hand in front of them. Villain then wrapped the chain around Leader’s neck and Leader recoiled but Villain yanked them forward again. “If you think I’m not going to enjoy this exactly how I want to Leader, you are not as smart as you look. Do you want me to take Whumpee with us on our little road trip?”

The fight went out of Leader at the mention of Whumpee, guilt washing over their face before they reached acceptance. Villain said: “good. Quick learner. It’ll help you… adjust.”

Villain tightened the chain until Leader squirmed a little then padlocked it shut, wrapping the free length around his knuckles and palm, before yanking Leader forward.

Leader jolted, putting a steadying foot out in front of them to stop themselves from falling. Then levelled Villain with a harsh glare. Villain just smiled. “Oh I can already tell…. This is gonna be fun.”

btw Jewish charity organizations in the USA don’t exist to convert you like Christian charity organizations, they are specifically Jewish because they were likely founded by Jews who were being turned away from other organizations. several Jewish hospitals exist in the US because many Jewish immigrants had degrees but were turned away from other hospitals for being Jewish. so we made our own, lmao. these days most of these organizations are no longer specifically Jewish because job and care discrimination is not as common for us as it used to be. i’m saying this just in case anybody is wary of accepting aid (many Jewish charities set up free food kitchens, for example) from a Jewish charity because of mistreatment by Christian ones, and i think it’s important to understand the difference

The bulk of the work HIAS does these days is in aiding non-Jews.

Your local Jewish Community Center? Anyone can join.

Jewish Family and Children’s Society? They’ll still help you if you reach out for their services and aren’t Jewish.

Ask the Hebrew Free Loan Association for a loan and have no connection to Judaism? Yup, they’ll work with you.

A Jewish food bank? Will feed you, no matter who you are.

And HIAS? My synagogue is working with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to support a refugee family that is new to our area (we furnished their house, do social stuff with them, and make the phone calls that are hard for ESL folks). The father in the family is literally a pastor.

no this is legitimately very sweet thank you

and to make it even more explicit: Jewish organizations will never try to convert you, because Jews don't proselytize. we aren't recruiting. if you want to become Jewish, you have to seek us out and it's a lot of work. if you don't actively express interest in becoming Jewish, you will not be asked to

Jewish Family Services has branches all over the country, very likely one near you if you’re in the US! They help anyone of any background with things like food, rent, emergency funds, job placements, housing placements, therapy access, and more! And if you don’t need their help, donating to them is a great way to directly help your community

Check if your area has a Hatzalah (Jewish volunteer EMS) branch, especially if you live in the US where an ambulance can be expensive enough that you'd hesitate to call one even if you needed it.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE JEWISH, literally anyone who has a Hatzalah branch in their area can and should have the number handy in case of emergency.

They’re mostly on the east coast and California, but check your area.

I know a lot of people who’ve been in dire situations and didn’t call an ambulance because it’s so expensive, so please check out whether there are mutual aid options in your area (a lot of mosques have free medical stuff so they might have ambulance services too).

there's a hatzalah (also called hatzoloh) branch in toronto!

and one in montréal

fake relationship but its a king and his concubine that was once an amazing soldier but he couldn’t go up the ranks for whatever reason so the king was like listen. hear me out. you can be my strategy dude. u just gotta be okay w walking around shirtless a lot. and soldier dude is like man that’s an UPSIDE and yknow they end up falling in love

some idiot advisor: I can’t believe his majesty lets his boytoy attend these council meetings, it’s an insult to the noble institutions that uphold our nation, it’s an outrage—

a somewhat smarter advisor: you’re just mad bc he pointed out how dumb your naval attack strategy and no one laughed when you made a mean joke about him

Boytoy has gone from a top fighter who was well respected but in constant danger to wearing silks and eating grapes on daises. That fucked up rotator cuff was the best thing to ever happen to him

Bonus points: at least half the other concubines are experts in assorted fields, the monarch brings them to relevant meetings to both play up a reputation for frivolity, and make sure at least one person there doesn’t have an outside agenda.

my harem? 

did you mean: my chief strategic advisors

The kingdom is an absolute monarchy but the harem has become a secret meritocracy. The nobles and official advisors kind of side-eye His Majesty because wow some of these consorts must have like…really good personalities. Kings of the past have had their own specific tastes of course; size, shape, age, color, et cetera. More than one ruler has interviewed consorts feet first and Ardwin the Adventurous’s obsession - God rest him - with snuffling armpits like a sow rooting for mushrooms is well known despite never being alluded to in polite company.

The worst part of it is that the new king takes at least part of his harem with him everywhere and it’s so embarrassing. The Counselors of War have never once met with His Divine Majesty without that hulking battle-scarred consort interrupting with muttered growls or scornful snorts. And the Ministers of Finance all flinch at the sight of that fox-faced one, rumored to have been rescued from the gallows because His Augustness took a fancy to his eyes or some such nonsense. General petition days are even worse, with practically the entire harem drifting in and out of the Grand Hall in turns, insouciant and smug like granary cats who know they’ve been given full run of the courtyards and barns.

It’s absolutely infuriating that the kingdom has never before known such a period of peace and prosperity under this ridiculous monarch.

Tag to this - the biggest secret is the Queen who runs the Kingdom’s spy network. It’s the envy of all the other Kingdoms around, and not a few nobles! Not ALL of the Kingdom’s Diplomats are spies. But many of their servants are. The Queen grew up as a neglected child, and she learned how servants are ignored, but who always know everything that goes on. Many of the spies are like the Queen - beautiful and seemingly vacuous. The sp[ies tend to have great fun, and also work closely with the Concubines

#everyone is furious when the king picks his bride #a minor princess! of a minor ally! she’s not even that pretty or smart or anything! #but at least when the king marries her he’ll have to get rid of his harem #or at the VERY LEAST stop FLAUNTING them everywhere #if nothing else her family will object to this insult to her honor

#BUT THEN

#somehow she’s befrIENDED THE CONCUBINES

#sometimes they follow HER around!! in public!! 

#the king and queen are  s h a r i n g  t h e  h a r e m

#never has the court been so furious and scandalized all at once #it’s a genuine shock to all of them when ten years later no one has even once tried to overthrow the royal family #(they’re wrong there have been no less than thirty attempted coups twelve of which nearly succeeded) #(but the harem and the spy network are VERY good at their jobs)

labs that are also churches. to me

(1. annie dillard, teaching a stone to talk 2. the deep underground neutrino experiment, a.k.a. DUNE 3. the large hadron collider 4. the sudbury neutrino observatory)

librarian who used to be an assassin and retired but sometimes he uses his skills to hunt down late books bc he needs some adventure

tracks a missing college student bc he has an overdue copy of the amber spyglass where he got lost on a hike

literally finds him half-dead in a ditch, ankle broken, but hey, the book in his pack seems fine, so he carries the student back to the nearest visitors centre and to an ambulance, takes the book with him as he goes

college student comes into the library weeks later like "hey i just wanted to thank you for saving my life!" and the librarian is like. uh huh. you owe like £6 quid

"for saving my life???"

"late fees. for the book."

"what book? oh. wait. i forgot abt that"

"i know"

an injured whumpee who is scared of hospitals / doctors / nurses, anything medical related, because before they were rescued, they were used by whumper as a test subject, so they were kept at a lab where they were experimented on, the bad doctors and nurses at the lab always drawing their blood and cutting them open and basically torturing, dehumanizing them to the point they broke down. even after they were rescued, the sight of men in white coats and masks alone was enough for them to have a full blown panic attack.

but whumpee need to be hospitalized. thus caretaker and the team of (good) doctors have to do anything to make whumpee’s medical ward look ‘nothing like a hospital’, and the doctors and nurses also have to dress in casual clothing that’s not their standard uniform in order for them to be able to get close to whumpee and treat them without whumpee having a panic attack; anything to trick whumpee into thinking they’re not in a hospital and these are not medical professionals. it’s all for whumpee’s own good.

[01.26.2022] Treat your inventor with imposter syndrome with care. Sometimes compliments are as hurtful as insults. But it is a fact that his skills are good enough to turn him into a captive of an interplanetary trillionaire.

hey you, a defiant whumpee can cry. I know you don’t want your writing to be out of character for them and you’re worried that having them cry or break down might be out of character, but believe me, it’s not out of character for someone who’s been pushed beyond their limits to eventually break down. I know they’re supposed to be prideful and defiant, but thing is: eventually we all have a breaking point.

actually, having your defiant whumpee break down when they can no longer take it does make your work a dozen times more angsty and realistic. because yeah, no matter how strong or invincible someone is, they can only take so much before it becomes too much.

so yes, you can have your readers at the edge of their seats by spicing up your chapter this way. character A, who had never showed a hint of emotion, curling up into a ball on the floor and crying after they can no longer take the pain? OH MY GOD I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. YOU GOT ME HOOKED AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

prettied up my blorbo poems for yall. this is what minecraft rp does to a mf 😔😩

In honor of world poetry day im shoving my scarian poem and watcher!grian poem back in yalls faces

an incomplete collection of tweets i consider to be short poems

Surprise Sparring Match

Wildefire Masterlist

original @lolrpop

decided to put it in a separate post in the end

tw torture, captivity, humiliation, dehumanisation, homesickness, multiple whumpers, defiant whumpee

Whumpee knew it was most likely futile. Trying to hold onto their dignity while being mercilessly tortured, trying to preserve some semblance of their sanity... what did it matter, if there was no one coming to save them? And there was no one, according to Whumper. If there had been, they would've been saved already.

Still, Whumpee had nothing but hope left, and they refused to give it up. At night, (or whenever they happened to be left alone,) they fantasised about the sounds of bombs going off, blowing up the entrance, and hopefully Whumper's stupid henchmen and guards along with it. The sounds of footsteps growing closer and closer, rushing to finally rescue them. The sight of Caretaker's face, the sight of all their friends' and family's faces. The kind touch of loved ones they hadn't felt in so, so long.

That was all they had. Distant memories of the past, and the false promises of the future, both becoming more elusive by the second.

It was clear that Whumper was getting more and more riled up. They tried to hide it, but Whumpee had learned to read them over their time spent together. Under the mask of thinly veiled anger, they were ashamed. Every single new day on which Whumpee still went to sleep with hope in their heart and determination in their soul made the wounds on their pride deeper, and the bruises on their ego darker.

At one point, Whumpee would have to give in. They didn't know how far Whumper was willing to go if they kept pushing back, and increasingly, they were beginning to think that they would do anything if it meant they'd finally crumble. The tortures became worse, and more importantly, the times between those sessions became more and more stressful. Interrupted sleep, no sleep at all, no water, no food, stress positions... Whumpee had no chance to recover anymore. No time to think about anything other then please, please, make it stop, make it stop already.

When Whumper entered that day, they couldn't contain their desperation. "Stop! Stop! Leave me alone!" they cried when the group of monsters stepped into their cell. "Get out! Get away from me! Just leave me alone!" They couldn't stop the words. They couldn't stop the tears. There was no point, none, no one was coming for them, there was no one they had to keep themself together for, they just wanted a break.

"What's wrong? You've never-"

"Stop! Shut up! Just get away from me!" They screamed until their throat was hoarse, eventually breaking down even more, sobbing like they hadn't done in decades. They curled up, trying their best to disappear, wishing the earth would swallow them whole. They could've been anywhere else, and they would've been thankful. "Get away from me, g-get away..."

There was a pause, long enough for Whumpee to foolishly start hoping again. Maybe they would leave. Maybe they would see just how far they'd already been pushed, and maybe that'd be enough for them.

"Get them on the hook," Whumper said after a while, and Whumpee felt like they could scream forever. They didn't even hear the rest of what they said. They just cried, making sounds humans should've never been forced to make, wondering just how much they were supposed to take. How much before their body gave out? How much until Whumper was satisfied? How much until they couldn't anymore?

As the relentless torture continued, going further than they'd ever thought it could, so much further than the limits they'd assumed were their last, they wondered if it would simply never, ever stop.

Old-timey Prim and Proper Whump Dialogue