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Post by barbt on Aug 27, 2014 22:12:11 GMT -5
Colm and Emmet chose that moment to come flying back through the door, as if one had pushed the other and then gotten pulled and dragged along. They were laughing like idiots, but stopped and came running over when they saw Keith kneeling in front of Ryan with his hands on Ryan's shoulders. "You all right, Ry?" Emmet asked in concern. "Yeah, what's going on?" Colm said. "I'm fine, guys," Ryan said. "I just needed a little pep talk, that's all." "Aye," said George. "He's all right, and we'd better get up to the rehearsal room, or David will be after us!" So far, Ryan had had no trouble with rehearsals as they were primarily working on solo pieces, which meant everybody got a lot of down time. But today they'd been working on ensembles all morning and were now going back to it after lunch. They were trying to nail down the rapid changes in singers and styles for "Voices", which was easily one of the most complicated pieces they'd ever done, and it was finally starting to come together before they took their lunch break. Now they were going back to it again. It all went well for a while, but then Ryan started making mistakes. It didn't worry anyone at first, since they'd all been struggling with it, but he didn't seem to be able to shake it off. Finally David cut them off as they realized that Ryan's voice had been missing, and all looked to see him staring straight ahead again, overwhelmed and unable to keep up with it. Colm started to say something, but David motioned him to silence. Finally, minutes later, Ryan shook his head a little and said,
"Sorry, I got lost for a second." Nobody said anything, and David kept staring at him. "What?" Ryan finally said. David looked sternly at him. "I'm waiting for you to ask for the break you clearly need." "I'm fine!" Ryan said. "I don't need a break!" "Yes, you do," David said. "You spent 15 of the last 20 minutes messing everything up, and then you disappeared for nearly 5 minutes. You knew you were messing up, I could see you making faces about it. Why didn't you ask for a break?" "Because I should be able to do this!" Ryan said angrily. "And soon you will," David said. "But right now you can't, and I'm sending you out. Neil, go with him and make sure he rests. I'll work with these other guys on their parts for 'Turning Away'". Ryan got up and stalked out the door, Neil hurrying after him. Ryan was muttering the whole way to the lounge and threw himself onto the sofa there, glaring at nothing. Neil sat down across from him, watching him. "You don't need to keep an eye on me, Neil," Ryan said, still angry. "I'm not a child." "No, you're not," Neil said steadily. "But you're acting like one." "What the heck are you talking about? I'm trying to do my job!" "And not resting when you need to - like a kid refusing to nap. Which is what you really need." "Oh, come on. This is a waste of time, we've got a lot of work to do!" Ryan started to get up, but Neil was quicker and pushed him back down on the sofa. "You are staying there." Neil's voice was incredibly serious and quite firm. "This isn't a waste of time. You trying to push yourself when you can't keep your music straight, pushing yourself into an overload, is a waste of time for you and for the rest of us. How does it help to try to practice something you can't remember right because you've pushed yourself too far?" Ryan's face paled as he took in what Neil had said. "Crap," he muttered. "You're right, it is stupid." The anger returned suddenly. "God, I hate this!" He grabbed a pillow that was lying on the sofa and threw it across the room. "Why did this happen to me? Why now, when I need to be able to get this right?" "That's not the question you should be asking yourself," Neil said calmly, sitting down again now that it seemed that Ryan was going to stay on the sofa - not that he was resting in any sense of the word. "The question you should be asking yourself is why you aren't handling this like an adult and taking a break when you need one, when you know that break will let you get back to work. Why are you letting your pride get in the way of your better judgment? You don't need to prove anything to us." Ryan put his head into his hands. "No," he said quietly. "I'm trying to prove to myself that I'm OK. But I'm not yet, am I?" "Not yet," Neil said gently. "You will be, but you'll get there quicker if you stop trying to overdo it. Now you're going to need to sleep for at least an hour to be able to get back to work. If you'd asked for a break when you started messing up, 15 minutes of quiet would probably have been enough." He got up and walked over to his duffle bag at the side of the room and pulled something out, tossing it to Ryan. It was Ryan's favorite pillow that he always travelled with, which the fans had named Jen. "What?" Ryan said, catching the pillow reflexively. "How'd you manage to sneak Jen here?" Neil grinned "Remember when I said I had to go back to the room for something I forgot? I grabbed her then. I figured you'd end up needing a rest at some point today with what was scheduled, and I knew you'd be able to rest better with Jen than with that lumpy old thing you threw across the room." "Thanks, Neil," Ryan said, settling himself down on the couch. "I'm fine, you can go back to the rehearsal room." "Are you kidding?" Neil laughed. "Give up an hour break that I was basically ordered to take? Heck, no. I'm hanging out here and letting the others slave."
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Post by HburgEagle44 on Aug 28, 2014 0:18:30 GMT -5
Haha yay Neil!!! Glad David made him rest. Poor Ryan
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Post by celticbear on Aug 28, 2014 18:36:41 GMT -5
Poor Ryan! But I'm glad Neil was there to make Ryan see that overloading is not the way to go. Also happy that Neil remembered Jen! The best part was the last line! That is so classic Neil Byrne! Barbt! It amazes me how well you have each of the lads characteristics down pat!
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Post by barbt on Aug 30, 2014 16:53:39 GMT -5
As Neil had known he would, Ryan had drifted off to sleep within a few minutes. Neil smiled. They knew each other so well that the other guys could see Ryan's exhaustion even when he was trying to hide it. He and Ryan were sharing a hotel room, and Neil had watched the tiredness creep over Ryan at the end of each day. So far it had hit after they were done rehearsal, but today they'd seen signs of it starting in the morning. He was sure that some of the emotional things that Ryan had gone through today were part of being tired as well. He was usually much more even-tempered. The smile turned to a frown. Soon they'd be working on choreography as well, and that was going to make things even more difficult. Not to mention the extra filming for the bonus DVD. Neil was firmly in favor of David's strategy of making Ryan responsible for asking for breaks, but at the same time, he knew that Ryan would feel he was inconveniencing the other guys by asking for them. Not that any of them would mind - once they really got into rehearsing a new show, everyone was exhausted, and it wasn't unusual for any of them to fall asleep when they did have down time. A few extra breaks would be welcome. Neil heard footsteps coming down the hall and looked up. Sharon appeared and looked concerned when she saw Ryan sleeping, motioning Neil over to her. "Is he OK?" she whispered as Neil approached. "He'll be fine," Neil assured her. "He pushed himself into an overload while we were working on 'Voices', and David sent him out to rest after he refused to admit that he needed a break. It's the same thing he's done all along, trying to prove to himself that he's better than he really is." "Maybe I should just build some breaks into his schedule anyway," Sharon mused. " He'd been doing fine up until today, so I didn't see the need for it." "David's made it clear that he considers it Ryan's responsibility to tell us when he needs a break," Neil said. "He got a hard lesson today when he didn't. We...talked after we came out here, and he admitted himself that what he did was stupid." Sharon smiled. "I'm assuming you mean Ryan had a bit of a temper tantrum and you set him straight," she said knowingly. "Something like that," Neil agreed. "You know he hates to inconvenience anybody. He's just going to have to deal with it." "All the same, " Sharon said, "I'm going to talk to David and to Belinda as well about mixing up ensemble stuff with solo pieces rather than trying to do all the ensemble work at the same time. It'll probably be better for all of you. And we've got such a mix of solo, duet, quartet and so on with this show that it should be easy to use their time wisely and still allow you all some down time during the day." "You know none of us will argue about that," Neil grinned. "Not that any of us minds pushing through it when we have to, but if we can manage a little bit of break time, it'll help all of us." Sharon went on about her business. About half an hour later, the rest of the guys came as quietly down the hall as they could, looking into the lounge as they passed and giving Neil thumbs-ups and smiles when they saw Ryan sleeping. Within a few minutes, Ryan started to wake up - "as quietly as they could", where the guys were concerned, wasn't really all that quiet even when they were trying hard. Ryan sat up and stretched, yawning. "Still here?" he asked Neil. "How long was I out?" "Just about an hour, like I said," Neil grinned. Ryan chucked Jen at him, laughing. "OK, so you know everything," he said. "Was I still dreaming, or did I hear the thundering herd go past a few minutes ago?" "They tried to be quiet, but you know us," Neil laughed. "Yeah, David must have given them a break a few minutes ago. You ready to go find them?" "Sure. They're probably outside since the weather's nice." He was right. The guys were lounging in the sun outside. George spotted them first. "Feeling better, brother?" he asked, coming over to clap Ryan on the shoulder. Ryan smiled up at him. "Much," he agreed. Looking at all of them, he said "I'm sorry for wasting your time in there." "You didn't..." Emmet started, but Ryan cut him off. "Yes, I did. Neil pointed out to me that it doesn't do any of us any good for me to try to keep practicing when I'm too tired to keep my music straight. It just holds all of us back. I promise I'll try to do a better job of taking care of myself as stuff gets more intense. I think I forgot how tough it can get." "We all forget it," Keith groaned. "Otherwise why would we keep coming back to it? Poor Colm's just finding out how tough it can be; even with having to jump into AC as fast as he did." He grinned at their new member, who was leaning against the sun-warmed wall looking like he was about to doze off himself. "I'm all right," Colm said sleepily, and then nearly fell as his body went limp on him suddenly. Emmet grabbed him and sat him down on the sidewalk, then sat down next to him. Scrubbing his face with his hands, Emmet yawned and then said, "Now I understand the Starbucks addiction. It's the only way to get through this." Since they'd filmed "Voyage" on the road, they hadn't done all the extra stuff that needed to be done at the same time like this. Even then, pre-tour rehearsals had been tough. "How much longer are we going tonight?" "Dinner break soon," Keith said. "Then a few more hours, I think." He yawned hugely. "I'm glad we've got hotel beds and not bunks," he groaned. "Ah, quit griping," Ryan said. "At least we've got bunks." "That bounce around," Keith groaned dramatically. Which led to the others cuffing him around the head and shoulders, as they'd all (other than Colm) heard it more times than they could count. They knew Keith loved touring, but he would never shut up about how much he hated the bunks on the bus.
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Post by celticbear on Aug 30, 2014 18:31:38 GMT -5
Nice update! i'm glad Sharon is going to work in more breaks. Poor Colm! And yep Keith will always hate the tour bus bunks! I do believe if Keith ever has a tour bus of his own he will not be sleeping in a bunk!
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Post by HburgEagle44 on Aug 31, 2014 17:19:31 GMT -5
This story is very calming. glad Neil taught Ryan the error of his ways
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Post by barbt on Sept 1, 2014 20:31:31 GMT -5
Short one tonight - but I think you'll enjoy it :-)
Sharon's idea for switching up the schedule worked well, and Ryan was doing better about asking for breaks - although someone would still occasionally need to catch his eye and mouth "Break time" at him when he was doggedly trying to keep up. He'd grin sheepishly and nod, then ask for the break and rest for a while. He was getting the music down; it was only when he was tired that he couldn't hold onto it. Soon they started choreography rehearsals, working this time in a large sports center. This turned out to work very well. As in the rehab hospital, Ryan found working out relaxing rather than stressful, so during his breaks he would often go down to the gym or to the basketball court, where he could let his brain rest but keep working on regaining his strength. As always, someone was always with him, but he found he didn't mind. He'd missed everyone so much while they were in AC that just having them there, even if they weren't talking, was welcome. The hardest part was, actually, hauling Keith out of the pool when he needed to rehearse. If they couldn't find him, he was always there. One day he was 10 minutes late and Ryan, Emmet and Colm went in search of him. Just as they stepped into the pool area, they heard a slight splash. Looking around, it looked like the pool was empty, but the lifeguard saw them searching, and grinning, pointed down at the deep end. "I think he saw you coming," the lifeguard said, having been there several times before when they'd come to retrieve their errant friend. Walking up to the edge of the pool, they saw Keith lounging easily on the bottom, looking and waving up at them with a huge grin. Colm's eyes bugged out. "How the heck is he doing that?" he said, surprised. The others just laughed, having seen Keith pull all manner of underwater tricks in various pools, lakes, and oceans during their travels. "What is he, part fish?" "Dolphin, I think," said the lifeguard. "Seal is my guess," Ryan said. "Nah, sea otter," Emmet put in. "Regardless," Colm said, "How are we supposed to get him out?" "That'll take care of itself," Ryan grinned. "He can't hold his breath forever." He was proven right almost immediately. Keith suddenly shifted so both feet were on the bottom of the pool and gave a huge push, rocketing himself up out of the water. He caught the edge of the pool as he came up and turned to sit on it neatly - bringing a wave of water with him that engulfed the guys' feet. "Hey," they all yelled, jumping to try to keep their feet dry, but to no avail. He'd managed to soak all of their shoes at once. They all made a move to grab him and drag him to the locker room, but the lifeguard stopped them. "No horseplay on my pool deck," he warned them, grinning. "Find another way to get him out of here." "How about I go get Sharon?" Colm suggested. "Better idea," said Emmet, who knew perfectly well that Keith could easily turn off Sharon's anger by charming her unless he'd done something really horrendous. "Keith," he said, "Belinda told us to tell you that the later you are, the longer you'll have to stay back and work with her while the rest of us get our lunch break." Keith was out of the pool and heading to the locker room like a shot. He was dressed and back out almost before the other 4 (including the lifeguard) had stopped laughing. As they headed out the door, Colm gave Emmet a high 5 behind Keith's back.
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Post by HburgEagle44 on Sept 1, 2014 21:56:23 GMT -5
You're right. I loved it. oh Keith. I love how they're all just back in the swing of things.
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Post by celticbear on Sept 2, 2014 18:10:45 GMT -5
This update was a breath of fresh air! And yes barbs there are those of us who believe Keith is part seal. Can't remember the Irish word for a human who is both human and seal. Love how Keith got everybody's shoes wet and the way Emmet got Keith out of the water and dressed so fast. Also happy that Ryan is doing better about asking and taking his breaks.
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Post by barbt on Sept 2, 2014 18:30:52 GMT -5
This update was a breath of fresh air! And yes barbs there are those of us who believe Keith is part seal. Can't remember the Irish word for a human who is both human and seal. Love how Keith got everybody's shoes wet and the way Emmet got Keith out of the water and dressed so fast. Also happy that Ryan is doing better about asking and taking his breaks. I know, CB, I'm the one who told you that!
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Post by barbt on Nov 29, 2014 1:57:25 GMT -5
Well, I've finally finished this one. I don't think I'm very good at endings, and this seems kind of anti-climactic to me, but here it is. I've had my own medical mess going on since July; I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy in September. Thankfully it was Stage 0, which means I didn't need any chemo or radiation. But between that, my husband tearing cartilage in his shoulder and having his own surgery right after I went back to full-time work at the beginnign of November, things have been a bit too hectic for me to even think about writing. It's good to be back.
The time was rapidly approaching for filming. They'd been doing the "Making of" and "My Land" filming in bits and pieces, which was easy for Ryan as they could do it in small takes. After watching the first day of film, though, they'd gone back and done those bits with Ryan wearing a blazer - his arms were still so thin that they were afraid they'd scare the fans. They'd started running through the whole show from start to finish. Ryan was holding down his full expected number of pieces, and doing well with it. They'd set up a quiet area backstage where he could go between numbers if he needed to, and finally, he was using it regularly without needing to be reminded. There were always one or two things that would throw him off, so they were all still concerned about the actual filming. Especially when Colm caught him off guard with a question, pretending to interview the other guys as they were getting made up, goofing for the backstage camera. Ryan froze for a split second and Colm held his breath, hoping he hadn't created a problem - but then Ryan was able to get the answer out and everyone relaxed again. Then again, it was normal for them to have to do multiple takes of the same song when filming; either somebody would mess up or somebody would do something silly. Even the roadies got into it; they had to redo one of Keith's songs because his roadie had gotten hold of a mic and was out in the audience saying Keith's name over and over into Keith's in-ears, drowning out his music.
But overall, the filming shows went well. All of the staff who had worked with Ryan from the Belfast hospital and the rehab hospital had been able to come on the same night, and they had spent a lot of time before the show filling each other in on their respective experiences with the guys, as well as catching up with Ryan's parents. When they were all in their seats and the lights went down, there was a collective murmur of anticipation. The cheers when the singers came out startled some of the staff, but when the lights came up and they saw all the guys, including Ryan, standing strong and confident, singing enthusiastically, they broke into smiles of amazed pride - especially as "Voices" got more and more complex and Ryan kept right up with it. None of them had anticipated anything this complicated. The cognitive therapist from the rehab hospital was shaking his head as the song ended. "What?" Shivaun said in his ear, grinning. "I'd have never thought he's be able to keep up with something like that," the man said. "I know," Shivaun agreed. Dr. Reilly, sitting next to her, was staring open-mouthed at the guys as they left the stage. "My goodness," he said. "I've heard every one of those men singing and I never anticipated something like that out of them. You know they used to sing to him in the ICU all the time, but that was nothing compared to this." "I've heard," Shivaun said. "Did they really sing to him for 2 weeks?" "Almost every minute of it," Fiona, Tim and Nadine assured her from the row behind them. Fiona added, "I heard Neil and Keith harmonizing once, but all of them together is so far beyond that that it's hard to imagine it was the same guys in our ICU." Every time Ryan came on stage, they held their collective breaths until he was done - but they needn't have worried. As the sheer number of his pieces started adding up, they were even more amazed. It was clear he was taking his full part in the show and handling it very well. "House of the Rising Sun", somehow, seemed to be the song that all of his joy and triumph concentrated into. By the time he flung his head back and sang to the rafters at the end of the song, there wasn't a dry eye amongst the staff that had worked with him. They all agreed, afterwards, that his recovery was little short of a miracle. Normally it was only family and friends that were invited to the after party, but all of the hospital staff were invited as well. It was a joyous reunion, on all sides. Ryan's friend Michael had wanted to come, but it was much too far a trip for him out of the hospital yet. He had, however, sent a video of himself with Shivaun - talking to Ryan himself, telling him how his therapy was going. That required all the guys to take Ryan off into a corner for a few minutes to get him back together - and then he sent Michael a video back, promising him a copy of all the filming they'd done as soon as possible. Once the filming was done and the tour started, things gradually got more and more back to normal. Ryan still had a few overloads, but they gradually disappeared, the last one happening on Halloween morning when they were awakened by Emmet's calls for help when Keith had cut his wrist on broken glass. When the tour was done, Neil and Ryan took off on their own to do eleven more Acoustic By Candlelight shows before they headed home for Christmas. It was a much happier holiday than anyone in the Moy, CT, or the fan family had been able to imagine 6 months before.
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Post by celticbear on Dec 5, 2014 23:04:38 GMT -5
Well done! This was the perfect way to end the story! Love how shocked the entire staff was at how the Lads perform on stage! The video from Michael was a sweet touch!
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Post by HburgEagle44 on Dec 18, 2014 17:38:31 GMT -5
Whoa. Such a touching ending. <3 loved the whole story and I'm sad to see it over!!
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