ysande-jin:

Grand whump is wonderful, of course, but what takes my breath are those subtle moments that show the whumped character is really not ok:

– taking a moment to close his eyes because he’s light headed/exhausted/has such a bad headache

– pressing the heel of his hand against his temple, because his head hurts or he can feel his temperature rising

– spacing out a bit during a conversation – especially when he’s the one speaking, so that he kind of trails off and has to shake himself and apologise and get back on track

– pressing a cold bottle of beer/coke against his forehead and just taking a moment to savour the relief

– especially a normally diligent/stoic character – falling asleep on the job or somewhere he shouldn’t, even if it’s just for a moment, and he’s startled awake by someone/something and there’s just that moment of being lost in his eyes as he tries to figure out where he is and what’s happened

– his hands are shaking and he accidentally meets someone’s eyes who’s seen it happen so he shoves his hands into his pockets or armpits and stalks off

– a little stagger as he walks, or kind of drunkenly reeling off-course a tiny bit before he self-corrects

– that helpless expression just before he collapses

– moving wrong in a way that aggravates the pain, and the sudden seizing of his body

– breathing through the pain

– leaning against objects so he can stay upright, especially if he’s doing it as nonchalantly as possible

– a pause as he first notices that something isn’t right

– that white knuckled grip

– a hitch in his voice as he talks

– half-lidded eyes that are becoming unfocussed

– the way his head lolls

– where he can’t even spare the energy/strength to turn his head and he kind of just accepts things/carries on looking straight ahead

– trying to carry on speaking a command or direction or explanation even though he can only voice a few words at a time, either because of pain, or weakness, or confusion/disorientation

– someone passes him something but his hands are clumsy and he fumbles with it rather than just taking it normally

– reaching under a jacket and coming out with a blood-stained hand (always this <3)

– apologising for being about to pass out just before he does (afhflksdkkjfgg)