trope-appreciation-tuesdays

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

My dearest Tumblr Friends,

I’ve been putting this off for far too long, so here goes.

I’m not sure how many of you may know this, but TAT has been around since 2017. 2017! Can you believe it? That’s five years. Five years, 260 weeks, and over 13,000 posts, to be exact, and I’ve been around for every single one of those 5 years, 260 weeks, and 13,000 posts.

I know the issues I went away for a bit to ponder are polarizing with many a strong opinion on all sides, but I think we can all agree that 5 years is a very long time. A lot can change in five years: a community, for one, and a blogger for sure. I am certainly not the same person I was 5 years ago, and I think that fact is starting to show. My personal squicks and triggers were beginning to interfere with my ability to run this event as the open and honest space it deserves to be.

That being said, it is with a heavy and yet relieved heart that I am announcing my retirement as the custodian/moderator of TAT.

I do want to make one thing perfectly clear to anyone who may feel this is not the right decision to make. Stepping down as moderator of TAT isn’t about me cowing to anon hate or the discourse in the community previous events generated. This is about me, the person who runs this blog, who is ready to hand the reins over to someone else after 5 years at the helm of an incredible project that was imagined up by a fellow whumper. An event that was entrusted to me 5 years ago and transformed into one of the longest running and, if I may be so bold, one of the most popular events in the community.

What it all boils down to is that I am ready to move on. I’m ready to focus on other things like my writing (I want to try my hand at writing a novel!) and gifmaking. I want to take a step back, hang up my spurs, tuck up beside the fire and enjoy the fruits of the community I’ve helped build. I want to retire.

One thing has become very clear to me over the course of the last year or so, and friends have even pointed this out to me on more than one occasion. I haven’t been happy running TAT for a while now. In the words of Marie Condo, it no longer sparks joy. I was canceling the event more and more and you guys deserve better. TAT deserves better. It deserves a moderator who is excited about tropes and who isn’t on the verge of a burn out. (And I am dangerously close to that precipice.) I want to be able to enjoy tropes again. I want to write them and read them for fun and comment on them, not because I have to, but because I want to. And so, I think my tenure as moderator has come to a natural close. I want to step aside on a high note, and 13,000 posts seems like a pretty good high note to me, don’t you think?

I think TAT has a lot of life in her yet and I don’t think it should go away just because I have made the decision to step down. I was thinking I could possibly rename the blog to archive the previous posts so that the TAT name could be reused and someone new could take over. I would only ask that it be made clear that I am no longer affiliated or providing input for the blog and the owner would be free to do with it what they will. If anyone is interested, please contact me over DM to discuss. The askbox will remain closed.

I know I said above that I’m dangerously close to a burn out, but that does not mean I haven’t enjoyed every single moment of running this blog. Or of interacting with the amazing members of this incredible community. I am going to miss seeing those 100+ asks in my askbox every week. I’m going to miss getting that first glimpse at the limitless creativity and infectious enthusiasm you all have for whump. This has been an incredible 5 years and I can’t thank you all enough for all the support, love, and understanding you’ve shown me over the years.

I will forever be grateful to you all for making TAT so incredibly special.

Yours in whump,

Marie

#blog announcement

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

Was TAT always whump-themed or did the whump community kinda eat it? 😂

I ain't complaining tho 😏

Great question! TAT was actually started by @love-me-a-lotta-whump a looooooong time ago before she graciously let me take it over. And it was always whump themed :) Emrys started it all :)

Thanks for the ask!

#asks answered

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

TAT: You know, I really love those rescues that happen in the middle of a torture session, throwing the full horror of what's happened in the rescuers' face. The blood splatters, the semi-conscious whumpee strapped or bound or chained to a table or a wall... hands quickly pulling those straps open or picking the locks while others keep the torturers busy, the whispered assurances of "you're okay, we've got you, you're safe now, it'll be alright" that are as much for the rescuer's comfort as the whumpee's... the unsteady staggering of the whumpee, leaning on a friend if they're able to walk at all, the way they lie in the friend's arms as they're carried out if they can't walk. The hurried attempts at medical attention, the way the noise and haste dies down into silent, breathless relief as they're finally out of that horrible place and on whichever vehicle the team uses to get back to their base...

- Erdarielthewhumper

There is nothing about this scenario that I don’t adore

#rescue #aftermath #all of it #omg #so good #torture

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

Yo I hear you like aftermath of torture 👀

..........................................................

Sunlight slanted golden through the window when I awoke more fully. Late morning? Afternoon? This was my room. That window faced west. Late afternoon then. Odd what the waking mind fixes upon.

I tried to sit up, winced and cried out as pain lanced my body. Song Lan was immediately there, making his small worried sounds and resting a hand on my shoulder until it was clear I would not try again. I turned toward him and- my vision remained slightly clouded, but I could see. He broke into that beautiful sunshine smile when my eyes found his.

You are recovering?

"It's much better." He looked nice in soft-focus, I thought idly. A pang of concern went through me."Are you well? How badly were you hurt?"

He waved one hand dismissively. I am a difficult man to damage. Nothing permanent. How do you feel? They left me medicine, if you are in pain.

I remembered the flute, his raw cry of fear as his body ceased to move entirely under his control. There was damage and there was damage. He would speak of it when he wanted to. "It's better when I'm lying still." My head throbbed. I winced. "Well. Perhaps yes."

He slipped an arm under my shoulders to help me sit up enough to swallow the medicine and some water, then eased me back down and started to tuck the coverlet around my shoulders. I smiled and lifted one hand to tug it into place. The movement pulled uncomfortably at the wound beneath my ribs. Ah. Still no internal healing. How long had it been? I felt my smile falter and made the effort to restore it. "I can do that, you know."

You can, he acknowledged. Or you could rest. Accept help. Recover faster.

"Has anyone ever told you you are stubborn?"

He grinned. You have. His expression became serious. You were very badly hurt. Please don't push yourself.

That… that was perfect

#aftermath #recovery #comfort #pain #fic snippet

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

TAT: a bit from a fanfic I never finished, but I felt like this was relevant to today's theme :D

He tried to keep track of the lashes, but lost count somewhere after ten. A good half or more of them broke the skin. The blood flowed warm and sticky down his back, gluing his already filthy and torn shirt to the wounds.

His legs failed him long before the whipping ended. He spent the rest of it hanging from his wrists, his forehead pressed against the cool stone wall. Tears streamed down his face, as warm as the blood on his back. He screamed his voice raw, alternately praying to and cursing all the gods he could name, and then he just screamed until his voice was entirely gone.

The guards left him there, suspended only by his shackled wrists, for a long time even after they got bored of whipping him. At first he didn’t even realize it, so all-consuming was the white-hot pain in his back. All he knew was the pain, the pressure on his wrists, and the coolness of the stone against his forehead. He could do nothing but draw one ragged breath after another.

- Erdarielthewhumper

And who, pray tell, I’d this whumpee? Inquiring minds want to know.

#this is amazing #whipped #screaming #restrained #captivity

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

saw someone say brainwashed caretaker torturing whumpee and I just wanted to add : whumpee completely giving up after this because they have nothing to look forward to or live for after whumper (because caretaker was their everything) so they just let caretaker do whatever they want / have been told to do. they're not broken, they're just apathetic to whatever happens from now on

Hurts the heart a bit, but it’s so good!

#apathetic #giving up #brainwashed

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

whumpee qnd caretaker who are captive together - caretaker knows what’s happening because they’ve been captured before, but whumpee hasn’t. whumpee hears the whumpers vaguely describing what they’ll do next to the whumpee, and they don’t know what they mean but they do know that caretaker looks terrified and is begging the whumpers to do something else

Whumpy foreshadowing… I like it

#torture #begging #captivity

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

Caretaker tending to Whumpee's back after they've been whipped, having to remind them to stay still every time they take stiffen in pain.

Is there anything better??

#comfort #aftermath #torture #whipping

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

Whumpee tied up with their hands over their head, body exposed for whumper to press the knife into their skin, just enough to draw blood. And slice them until they talk, one cut for each minute they refuse. Dozens of cuts like ribbons across their skin and blood dripping down, forming a small puddle at their feet. If that's not enough, they bring in a loved one and threaten to do the same to them.

Yes please

#torture #knives tw #cuts #blood

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

A classic: Grabbing whumpee by the hair and holding them under water

👌👌👌👌

#drowning tw #torture #hair pulling

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

Picture if you will: a character kneeling on the ground, knees apart for stability, leaning forward, one hand supporting himself while the other holds another person close, keeping them tucked underneath their body and shielding them from a savage series of whipstrokes that are coming down quick and angry. The whumper had started out whipping the person being shielded, but they're angry enough at both of them that when their friend got there and put themselves between the whip and its victim they just kept going, more interested in causing pain than in the exact distribution. The protector's eyes are screwed shut, he's biting his lip, determined not to cry out or show pain, but maybe tears streak down his face as he forces himself to endure it in silence, protecting his friend as best he can from both the whip and the guilt of him taking a punishment aimed at them. Bonus points if the beating is bad enough that eventually he collapses on top of his friend, still protecting them as best he can even when he can't hold himself up anymore.

Oh, I'm picturing

#whipping #self sacrifice #protective #collapse

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

Playing the whumpee recordings of their loved ones screaming or calling out their name in distress on repeat

Talk about brutal

#torture

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

The whumpee is just a normal scientist who happened to discover some really important information. They have no training for this- they have a low pain tolerance and they have no idea how to cope with being tortured. They do their best- they really do. But it's all too much and they give in after only two days, and the guilt they feel, knowing what the villains will do with this information, but also the relief at finally being left alone...

And to think seasoned soldiers can break just as easily, and whumpee is still feeling guilty :(

#torture #tortured for information #guilt #relief

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

Torture TAT: oddly-specific but I’m very much a fan of the subtle kind that isn’t directly coming from a malicious whumper? Stuff that slowly drives a whumpee to the edge but isn’t life immediate life threatening like chronic medical conditions such as pain, allergies, hives, etc.

I think we forget just how torturous pain can be without there ever being a whumper! Yes!

#torture #pain #medical conditions #chronic illness mention #chronic pain mention

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

Caretaker knows whumpee's had it rough, but didn't realize just how bad it really was until whumpee takes off their shirt and exposes their heavily scarred chest and torso.

Words cannot express my love for this trope

#scars

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

Haven't submitted in a while, so here's an oldie but a goodie. I am always going to be down for a good whipping and will always be ready for a good whipping scene. :D

Welcome back, my friend. I'm so happy you submitted!

#whipping #torture #frens

[trope-appreciation-tuesdays]

TAT: Torture

When the team were forced to watch a stoic character get hurt by the villain, but the whumpee tried so so hard to not show a reaction or make a sound. Using all their willpower to stay strong in front of the others and not give the satisfaction of the villain seeing them in pain.

The moment the others were out of earshot as they were led back to their cells, the whumpee couldn't hold it back anymore and just screamed.

YAS! I'll take 10. I love it when the whumper lets them talk for just a moment and they yell at their teammates to not give the bad guy anything. I love this trope so much.

#torture #forced to watch #public torture #screaming #stoic whumpees