Let's chat about h/c today!

[frith_in_thorns]

To go with naye's lovely post about comfort tropes, tell me your favourite kinds of hurt for your fictional characters! Do you have ones you like to read but not write, or vice versa? Are there some you will read endlessly in any fandom you're in? Are there some h/c tropes you can bash out a 2k oneshot for at the drop of a hat?

Also, do you find you're equal-opportunity with your hurt, or do you hoard it all for one particular character or character archetype?

I'll start, and say that I'm really into hurt resulting in altered-state, as provided by many things but especially concussion/drugged/fever etc. It's something I find endlessly enjoyable to write -- the vulnerability caused by the skewed perspective, and how that plays out in character interactions, but also I... just like... the hurt bit itself *gg* And currently I have a definite Thing for Shen Wei magically exhausting himself and coughing blood and stumbling in a floppy way and having to be supported by Zhao Yunlan. (I don't suppose this is a revelation to anyone. But I'm so glad to know that I'm not alone!)

Anyway, please share your own likes! And recs!

(This is a positivity-only post. Very uninterested in hearing how h/c is OOC or a moral failing or how some people write it badly or whatever, thanks.)

Comments

[xparrot]

Altered state stuff (i.e. the person is hallucinating but won't admit it/tries to act normal. In general, trying to act normal works for me)

Ahhh, the "trying to act normal" is really bulletproof h/c for me in any context -- altered states especially but also concealing a serious injury (they're bleeding out but no one knows until they keel over and their jacket is soaked with blood)!

[no_detective]

omg THIS!!!

(notable exception: zombie bites, where trying to act normal/hiding the injury puts everyone else in danger. i don't even like the zombie, uh, subgenre? and yet i have this very specific quirk. go figure.)

[xparrot]

--Oh yeah, huh, I haven't read enough zombie stuff myself to really think of that, but it's true. I think because it flips the intent around, rather than "I don't want anyone to worry unnecessarily so I won't tell anyone" it feels more like a "I don't want to be ostracized/killed so I won't tell anyone." Which is kind of selfish but totally understandable, but it doesn't hit the h/c chords the way self-sacrifice does.

--actually, because of that, the exception to the exception for me would be if the char temporarily conceals a zombie bite because they already have a contingency plan to go kill themselves and fear their friends would try to stop them and risk their own lives...

[sheron]

OMG, not into the zombie stuff, but the whole bit where the character thinks they are going to die as a result of the whatever (whether it's illness or just their plan to save everyone) and they just keep going like nothing's wrong, smiling a slighly shaky smile and saying they're fine... Urk. ♥ :D

[xparrot]

...I know you're not looking for a new fandom now and I totally get that, but someday, when you are more fannishly available, you really do need to see Guardian <3

[frith_in_thorns]

YES. I love this. Especially when there's a good reason for them to be concealing their hurt, like they feel they need to hold things together for the benefit of everyone else, until they just can't hide it anymore.

(Alternatively, they don't have a good reason but... they're Shen Wei.)

[xparrot]

(Alternatively, they don't have a good reason but... they're Shen Wei.)

IT'S FUNNY CUZ IT'S TRUE!

[frith_in_thorns]

*sobs*

[naye]

What do you mean Shen Wei doesn't conceal anything! Look at his innocent eyes!!