I’m such a sucker for whumpees reuniting with people who knew them from before the whump whilst in the midst of recovery. Might be one of my favourite tropes tbh.
- Whumpees who changed their name after escaping visably recoiling when they hear someone call them that.
- Maybe they don’t want anything to do with their old friends. They left that life behind for a reason. All they’ll do is remind Whumpee of the past, something they’ve been trying to leave behind.
- It’s worse if Whumper was a mutual ‘friend’. Especially if these old friends didn’t even know something had happened to Whumpee. Whumper had made up some poor excuse, saying they left for a job, or had gone missing under unknown circumstances.
- Their old friends are extremely emotional, having seen Whumpee for the first time in so long, only for the previously cheerful and expressionate Whumpee to just stare blankly in response.
- They try to have a conversation with Whumpee but they’re horrified at how much Whumpee has changed. The old Whumpee was sweet, and always polite, yet now they cuss every other word and hardly have anything nice to say.
- Or, maybe Whumpee used to be rebellious and freespirited. Now, they’re mild and obedient, a literal shell of their old self.
- Whumpee’s old friends jump in to protect them from some threat, believing their usually fragile friend would still need help, only for Whumpee to jump in and defend themself, since they had to learn how to.
- Someone who knew the old Whumpee breaking down after seeing how much their dear friend changed, asking them what happened, though Whumpee can’t bring themself to answer.
- That person feeling like somehow, deep down, they truly failed Whumpee. If they had just been there, they could have done something. They should have done something.
- Caretaker noticing how uncomfortable Whumpee is and trying to remove them from the situation. Their old friends are furious, they’ve been kept away from Whumpee for so long, and now they just have to leave, without any answers?
- Bonus points if Whumpee and the old friends weren’t on good terms before they disappeared. Friends who had one final falling out, siblings with a strained relatiomship, lovers who had broken up, etc etc.