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#I've never really done this before
sundrownsthehouse · 1 year
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Take This Pain And Give It A Name, Prologue
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Posted to AO3
Prologue
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Summary: George breaks his shoulder. Matty looks after him. It gets complicated.
Warnings: None.
Words: 1.5k
THUMP.
The jolt of the tour bus as it lurched over a pothole in the road startled Matty awake, his heart pounding erratically in his chest. Starting up at the darkness of his bunk he sighed and ran a hand over his face. A wave of pure exhaustion fell over him. Without glancing at his phone, he knew by some internal clock that it had to be mid-morning, and he’d only slept for a few hours. He rolled over, huffing, and curled tightly into his duvet.
The bus shuddered noisily again. A low, muffled groan floated up from the bunk below, capturing his attention:
George.
Bleary-eyed and yawning, Matty pulled himself out of his bunk, stumbling a little as his feet touched the floor. He could faintly hear Ross and Adam talking in the front lounge over the thrum of the bus. In the semidarkness, he noticed that all of the bunks were empty apart from George’s, which still had the blackout curtain drawn. Matty hesitated. Though their friendship was defined by a startling lack of boundaries, the four of them were normally respectful of each other’s privacy whilst in their actual beds; in no uncertain terms, a closed curtain means do not disturb. But the events of the past night were playing on his mind. That sound… he’d never heard another person make a sound like that… and the look on his face—
Another soft groan filled the room. Fuck it. He carefully peeled the curtain to George’s bunk open, peering inside.
George’s face was twisted in pain. He was asleep, but restless, his breath coming in short, shallow pants. A light sheen of sweat coated his skin, making the ink on his body stand out starkly. The blankets were tangled around his legs, revealing the black sling that strapped his right arm tight to his bare chest, courtesy of the Kansas City A&E.
“George?” Matty whispered.
George whimpered. His eyelids fluttered, but he didn’t wake. Matty gingerly placed a hand on his upper arm.
George flinched hard, jerking his head from the pillow to meet Matty’s eyes as he was ripped from sleep. The sudden movement sent a fresh wave of pain through his broken shoulder, and he gasped despite himself. Matty’s chest tightened as he registered the startled look of panic etched on his best friend’s face.
“Sorry! M'sorry,” he murmured fretfully, soothing his hand along George’s arm. “It's okay... just think you need more meds. Have you taken anything since we got back?”
George blinked, looking momentarily confused. He laid back against the pillow, squeezing his eyes shut against the onslaught of pain radiating from his shoulder. After a moment, he gave a tight shake of his head, as if he didn't trust himself to speak. He'd never seemed so small.
“Right, I’ve got it. Hold on.”
Perching on the edge of the bed, Matty carefully reached over George to retrieve the little orange container of pills that had sat untouched on the shelf since they’d returned from the hospital earlier that morning. With his good arm, George fished around the bed until he found a water bottle. He necked the two pills Matty offered and fell back against the pillow once more, staring at the ceiling with an unsettling intensity.
The bus shook. George’s whole body tensed. He made a strange choking sound as tears pricked at the corners of his eyes.
“Fuck, why did you wait so long?” Matty admonished, sliding his hands through his hair. He instantly regretted how harsh the words sounded. He was still rattled by George’s accident, much more than he cared to admit. George wouldn’t meet his gaze, but his eyes were glassy in the dark. When Matty leaned in to place a hand on his cheek, he could feel the tension held in his jaw.
All at once, George’s face crumpled.
“Geor—” Matty stuttered, alarmed, “shhhhh… it’s alright… it’s alright. I know.” George squeezed his eyes shut, his breath coming in shaky little gasps, tears falling in earnest. Matty’s thumbs swiped the gathering drops away, his heart aching: “I know it hurts, love. The pills will start to kick in soon, I promise.” There was an edge of fear to his own voice that he tried and failed to suppress.
George shook his head, swallowing hard around a lump in his throat: “S'not that,” he said wetly. His voice was strained. “I can’t play. I can’t play for weeks. The tour— I can't believe… how could I have—”
“Stop that,” Matty interrupted. “We’ve already got it sorted. Freddy's told me he’ll rehearse all day if that’s what it takes. We’re not canceling." George let out a sob from deep within his chest, and hid his face in the crook of his elbow. “And it’s not your fault, alright? It was an accident. No one blames you for anything,” he insisted.
As soon as George had regained consciousness after tripping out of the bus, all he did was apologize. He’d been disoriented, entirely incapacitated by pain, strapped down to a stretcher and placed in a cervical collar by paramedics, and still, all he could talk about was how devastated he was that he’d ruined the tour. Matty rode in the ambulance, stayed by his side when they arrived at the A&E, and spent all of it trying to console George, which was increasingly difficult as he became less coherent and more emotional once the IV narcotics took effect.
To Matty’s annoyance, George didn’t seem the slightest bit concerned for himself, even when they were told that his x-rays needed to be reviewed by the orthopedic surgeon. No matter how many times Matty reassured him not to worry, that they would sort everything out, George persistently rambled on about canceled shows and lost money and disappointed fans. Eventually, after hours of listening to George slur pitifully, Matty had finally snapped: “Shut the fuck up already, would you?”
In retrospect, it wasn’t his finest moment. Jamie had given him a withering look from across the room; he was up to his eyes in paperwork, and was trying to juggle phone calls with Freddy, Ross and Adam, and George’s parents. George went quiet. Guiltily, Matty wondered whether he should have let Ross or Adam come instead— God help him, he couldn’t get the visual of George sprawled on the concrete out of his fucking head.
But George reached for his hand then and squeezed, somehow still offering comfort to Matty, even in his injured state. It was a simple gesture, but the familiar tactility was grounding while they waited for more information.
Some time later, the doctor returned and confirmed that surgery would not be necessary. Matty’s heart broke for George when she told them that he would be in a sling for a minimum of three weeks, and wouldn’t make a full recovery for at least eight. They were discharged in the early morning with a script for dilaudid and strict instructions for rest and immobilization.
“Listen to me,” Matty pleaded, pulled from the memory by the sound of George’s quiet sniffling, “all you need to worry about right now is yourself, yeah?”
George lowered his eyes and nodded. He wiped his wet face with the back of his hand, sighing with the bone-deep weariness of a man twice his age: “The set list—”
“It’ll stay the same.”
“And Freddy’s going to play back-to-back? That’s what, three hours? Four?”
“He says he’s good for it. You know he’s sound.”
“I know.”
They sat in comfortable silence for a moment as George’s breathing settled. Matty had never felt so useless.
“What can I do?” he asked gently. George’s eyes were heavy; he seemed to be fighting to stay awake. Distantly, Matty realized that the painkillers were taking effect.
“I... think I might fall asleep,” George murmured.
Matty smiled wryly and pulled the blankets up, careful not to jostle George’s immobilized arm: “Yeah man, get some rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
George hummed softly as Matty tucked him in, giving in to the sedation of the narcotics. Matty held vigil at the side of the bed, watching the tension bleed from George's body until his breathing slowed and he started to snore. With a sudden burst of tenderness, he found himself sort of struck by how young George looked, bundled up like that.
His face fell as his thoughts drifted. Matty couldn’t help but feel that his world had somehow been inexplicably altered. Throughout their decade of friendship, George had always been this rock for Matty, a steady, reliable presence. When he was a teenager and his family fell apart with his parent’s divorce, George was a lifeline to cling to. When he partied too hard and took things too far, George was always there to clean him up and dust him off. He was grounded, steadfast, and strong, and Matty had never before considered that George wasn’t invincible.
He’d always believed that meeting George was the single most pivotal moment of his life— it had changed everything. The mere thought of losing him made Matty sick with nausea. He flicked his eyes back to George’s sleeping form, as if to reassure himself that he was still there. Still safe.
By the time he got up and made his way out of the bunk hall, he was besieged by a swirling mix of conflicting emotions. Beneath it all, there was a hint of something else that he purposely tried not to linger on.
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lazylittledragon · 7 days
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blueberry cinnamon rolls with the recipe because people on the bird app wanted it <33
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amelia-yap · 4 months
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AUEGH
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localkryptid-art · 1 month
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💐~𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕲𝖔𝖉𝖘 𝖔𝖋 𝕯𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍 𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖜𝖊𝖉 𝖎𝖓 𝕾𝖕𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖊~🌾
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bluespiritshonour · 19 days
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here's 18-19 year old aang sketches. been hearing aang is ugly discourse—no he ain't. he was just 12.
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son1c · 1 year
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i sketched a boscage maze shadow to complete my set. this version of shadow takes several... creative liberties... with boscage maze, but i think it works? maybe? let me explain.
so, i like the idea that boscage maze is the result of a science experiment catastrophe. the fallout of the accident mutated all life on earth, creating mega fauna (such as thorn rose’s giant flicky), and killer plants. i’m talking humongous venus flytraps that capture and consume people, vines with minds of their own, etc. obviously, this made earth extremely hostile to regular humans... so they left.
the survivors of the catastrophe boarded the ark and left for space. they had plans to return-- but at the current time, it was simply too dangerous to do so. and they needed to make something that would be able to combat the violent mega fauna. enter... shadow. aka halcyon, as he’s called in this au. halcyon has the ability to drain shard energy, thus un-mutating the corrupted plants and animals, and returning them to their natural state.
unfortunately, the people on the ark thought that the world was still too dangerous for him to return to shortly after his creation, so they put him on ice, waiting for a better time to start their restoration project. before that, though, halcyon grew up hearing all kinds of stories about the way earth used to be... a beautiful paradise, a safe haven in a vast, uncaring universe. his best friend on the ark, maria, also instilled in him one wish: save earth. so that’s what he intends to do.
his bitter enemy is thorn rose, whose goal is to protect the horrible mega fauna. but she just doesn’t understand the harm it’s doing to what was once a peaceful planet. and how could she? she never knew what it used to be.
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6vaguebook · 4 months
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After watching this first two episodes of the Percy Jackson Disney+ show, my main takeaway (outside of Percy taking on THREE Ares kids with no training and not even being wet) is that Luke was done so, so well.
The actor EMBODIES him. Even before I saw him acting, one picture was enough to convince me that this man WAS Luke, despite looking nothing like him. His friendship with Percy feels so much stronger. I'm already feeling the devastation from the inevitable betrayal. Just. He's so well done.
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mystery-pixels · 3 months
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random shots from my pleasantview gameplay with Dustin and Dirk
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#galarian slowpoke#picture this. this was the first pokémon revealed from the new DLCs for pokémon sword and shield. the pokémon company#up until this point‚ has never done DLC for a pokémon game before. you‚ having been jaded by shitty DLCs for other games in the past#now have a distaste for the phrase‚ and imagine this can't be good. then‚ in their teaser for the new DLC‚ they add a little event#into the game where they reveal one of the new pokémon that is going to be added in the DLC#and it is a galarian form. that is identical to the original pokémon. but with a yellow head#are you imagining it. now how fucking disappointed are you. how little faith do you have in that DLC that it's going to be as good as it wa#for the most part‚ the pokémon company has demonstrated that they do absolutely excellent DLCs. proper expansions#basically an entire other game on top of the game you already have. and they typically take up the release cycle of a full game#scarlet/violet's especially. WONDERFUL dlc. i never really properly finished the crown tundra just because i was so late to the party#because i avoided buying the dlc for so long because of this experience that i've just described to you#that by the time i bought it and played it‚ it was just because SV had been announced and i wanted more pokémon to tide me over#and i never finished it. one of these days‚ i'd like to go back and finish it‚ but i'm playing through pokémon xd gale of darkness right no#and i prefer to play. one game at a time. and i don't know when i'll ever really get back to it#or if i'll ever get back to it! 'cause without resetting my save file all the way i'll just have to Remember what it is that already happen#which i'm. notoriously bad at when it comes to coming back to games that i haven't played in a while#plus i know sv is like shitty performance or whatever but the movement in that game is so much better#it feels so much more freeing than going back to gen 8 where you can still just. run. and that's it#i know nobody likes scarlet/violet but i still. like it. performance aside. like yes the performance is terrible but i still had a great#time with it. i just praised its DLC for fuck's sake! its DLC was fuckin wonderful! it has kieran in it so it like can't be bad
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j-ellyfish · 2 months
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People who engage in the Hetalia fandom while openly disliking the source material and even Himaruya himself sound kinda like hypocrites to me. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but please stay away from me, this kind of mindset truly annoys me and makes me uncomfortable. Am I gatekeeping? No, not really, I just believe that being a fan of something should mean, you know, being a fan and liking the source material at the very least. It should be like, the lowest the bar can get. Below that, there's not being a fan.
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Are you still active on tumblr?
YES I am!! Sorry friends for dropping off the face of the earth, I got a job and I had to move and it was a lot. But I am less stressed now and I hope I can get back to posting more regularly!! I really missed it (ノ^ヮ^)ノ*:・゚✧
I will never leave tumblr because there is no other place on the internet where I can tell people that 80% of the time when I try to introduce myself to someone in the office that I haven’t met yet I get so focused on smiling and holding eye contact that I forget the part where I actually have to introduce myself (°□°)
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#HELLO FRIENDS#how are you!! I missed you! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ#I hope you all had a good summer!!#mine was very nice even though there was a lot of stress and new things happening#suddenly there were so many adult things in my life that at the end of the day I just sat on the couch and watched decorating shows#I love decorating shows but today they showed this decorating competition and one woman had to decorate her whole bedroom coral#and then I knew it was time to go back#friends I've done so many new things the past few weeks!! I've really underestimated what this new chapter of my life would be like#it's very nice and I'm glad but I've never thought about things like insurance and taxes and parallel parking before#and I'm in a new apartment and everything!! ✧⁺⸜(●′▾‵●)⸝⁺✧#it is a very good apartment but the landlord left us so many of their chairs#this does not sound like a problem but we also owned chairs before#so our chair number is doubled now#the kitchen is full of chairs the balcony is full of chairs#I've hidden two chairs behind the TV but I can still see their chair heads and then I feel bad because they do not deserve this#they should be roaming free#also rode a BIKE#they say you never forget how to ride a bike#but my secret is that I never really knew how to ride one#in Germany all students have to do a bicyle test in fourth grade and I was so bad that my teacher asked me#afterwards if I had tried to confuse the other students#I just said 'uh yes' and then he said ok and I passed with the worst bicyle grade of the whole school#I hade made 8 bicyle mistakes#I hope you're doing well friends!! see you soon!!#have a nice day :)
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dragongyrlwren · 4 months
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So I made these
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If the codes are hard to read, here's text versions
Creator code: MA-2770-8864-1568
Vash Coat: MO-C5P3-H4HR-VXTH
Vash Coat DM (Dark Mode): MO-SH26-N2JY-4SJK
.... Enjoy?
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somegrumpynerd · 6 months
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My go at @shadowy-suitcase-herring-neck's DTIYS with their adorable pygmy Sanses :D I'm so happy I finally got to draw them I love these little guys so much
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leucisticpuffin · 3 months
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coirë | a stirring
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“Thou callest this season beautiful,” he said one morning, watching shadows shift through the canvas as an attendant cleared the doorway of snow. “Forgive me, but I cannot see it.” “But thou hast seen it not,” protested Findekáno, setting aside his mortar and pestle. (The skill of preparing medicines he had picked up in the fearful days of the last winter, needing desperately to be useful, and yet unable to look at the wound wrought by his own hand.) “Not everywhere is so grey! Come, Russandol; I shall show thee why we name it so.”
Read the whole story on AO3
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franky-y · 3 months
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The Golden Boy ✨
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sandsstorms · 1 year
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Straud, the oldest registered family name on the Forgotten Hollow Valley; the pale skins, the peculiarly perennial looking siblings, the cold-eyed and over-dominant older brother, the never confirmed stories about his responsibility on the first war against Transylvania, the so many rumors surrounding the second sister's marriage, the runaway son and his bride, the ever silent daughter, the creepy doll looking baby
and who was Lady Ecaterina? ...well, that's a story for another day.
previous looks after the cut and some fun facts
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the Strauds have been a work over the years of my sister and I. and we have so much lore about them. we created the family in different moments and with different stories and then ended up joining them together making something so much better and then enriched the story we already had, and made some touch-ups along the way to some of them... that's why originally they all look so different from one another (there's a big mix of mm makeovers with original vanillas and ancient 2017 us sim styles. lol) it's been a ride, it's still a ride, it's just so fun to keep adding things to their lore. we're still creating their history books (⁠◡⁠ ⁠ω⁠ ⁠◡⁠)
fun fact is I think we've never actually played with them. lol. and we've had them for so long!! but we just made them and made their stories in our heads and that's it. that's our favorite way of playing apparently... using the game to create ocs, imagine their lifes while doing it and closing the game after that. lol. well ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯
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