#How to boost immunity in winter

[perfectlysporadicinternet]

Protect Yourself This Winter: Common Health Issues And How To Prevent Them

As winter approaches, the chilly weather brings not just festive cheer but also several health challenges. From seasonal flu to skin dryness, the cold months demand extra care for your overall well-being. Here’s a comprehensive guide on common winter health issues and effective prevention strategies.

1. Common Winter Health Issues

Cold and Flu: Seasonal illnesses like the common cold and flu peak during winter due to lower immunity and prolonged indoor stays. These conditions are caused by viruses like influenza and rhinovirus, which spread more easily in cold weather.

Dry Skin: The drop in humidity during winter leads to dehydrated and flaky skin, making it one of the most common concerns of the season. Prolonged exposure to indoor heaters exacerbates the issue.

Joint Pain: Arthritis and joint stiffness tend to worsen as temperatures drop, making it harder for those with chronic conditions to stay active.

Vitamin D Deficiency: Reduced sunlight exposure can lead to lower Vitamin D levels, which affects immunity, mood, and bone health.

Heart Health Risks: Cold weather can increase blood pressure and put additional strain on the heart, especially in individuals with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions.

2. How to Boost Immunity in Winter

A strong immune system is your first line of defence against winter illnesses. Here’s how you can fortify it:

Balanced Diet: Include foods rich in Vitamin C (oranges, lemons) and zinc (pumpkin seeds, spinach). These nutrients play a crucial role in immune function.

Hydration: Even in cold weather, staying hydrated is essential to maintain cellular functions.

Probiotics: Add yoghurt or fermented foods like kimchi to your diet to support gut health, a critical component of overall immunity.

Sleep: Aim for 7-8 hours of quality sleep to rejuvenate your immune system.

Incorporating these practices can effectively help in preventing cold and flu in winter.

3. Cold and Flu Prevention Tips

Get Vaccinated: Annual flu shots can significantly reduce your risk of contracting the virus.

Practice Hygiene: Wash your hands regularly with soap and water. Avoid touching your face unnecessarily.

Ventilate Indoor Spaces: Allow fresh air to circulate indoors to minimize the buildup of germs.

Strengthen Your Environment: Use humidifiers to maintain a balanced indoor environment and prevent dryness that can irritate the respiratory tract.

These winter health issues prevention tips are simple yet powerful in minimizing your chances of falling sick.

4. Best Winter Foods for Health

Nutrition is key to staying healthy in winter. Here are the top foods to include in your diet:

Root Vegetables: Sweet potatoes and carrots are rich in beta-carotene, supporting immunity and skin health.

Citrus Fruits: Oranges, grapefruits, and kiwis provide a generous dose of Vitamin C.

Nuts and Seeds: Almonds, walnuts, and flaxseeds offer healthy fats that help keep your skin moisturized and boost heart health.

Spices: Turmeric and ginger are natural anti-inflammatory agents that improve circulation and digestion.

Soups and Broths: Warm, nutrient-rich soups not only comfort but also hydrate your body during dry winter months.

These foods form a winter diet to avoid illnesses while keeping you energetic and warm.

5. Preventing Dry Skin in Winter

To maintain healthy, glowing skin, follow these tips:

Moisturize Regularly: Use a thick, oil-based moisturizer to lock in hydration.

Limit Hot Showers: Hot water can strip your skin of natural oils, so use lukewarm water instead.

Hydrate from Within: Drink plenty of water and consume hydrating foods like cucumbers and oranges.

Protect Your Skin: Wear gloves and scarves to shield your skin from harsh winds and cold air.

Adopting these measures can go a long way in protecting your skin in winter.

6. Tips for Winter Heart Health

Cardiovascular health often takes a hit during winter due to constricted blood vessels from the cold. Here’s how to stay heart-healthy:

Stay Active: Moderate exercise like brisk walking or yoga can improve circulation and strengthen your heart.

Dress Warmly: Layering up helps regulate body temperature and reduces strain on the heart.

Monitor Blood Pressure: Keep track of your BP levels, especially if you’re prone to hypertension.

Consume Omega-3s: Foods like salmon and chia seeds are excellent for heart health.

These tips for winter heart health are crucial for keeping your cardiovascular system in check.

7. Home Remedies for Winter Illnesses

For minor winter ailments, natural remedies can be very effective:

Sore Throat: Gargle with warm salt water or drink ginger tea with honey.

Congestion: Inhale steam infused with eucalyptus oil to clear nasal passages.

Chapped Lips: Apply coconut oil or a beeswax-based balm for instant relief.

Dry Hands: Use aloe vera gel or olive oil for deep hydration.

These home remedies for winter illnesses offer quick relief using readily available ingredients.

Conclusion

Winter can be a challenging time for your health, but with proactive measures, you can stay healthy and enjoy the season. By focusing on a balanced diet, skin care, and immunity-boosting practices, you can prevent common issues like colds, flu, dry skin, and joint pain. Follow these winter health issues prevention tips and make this season a healthy and happy one!

[ronkeslens]

Essential Cold Weather Preparations: Skincare, Clothing, and Health

This September, the cold weather arrived with no warning. One day, I was enjoying a strapless dress, and the next, I found myself in a hoodie, clutching a hot water bottle. If you, too, are caught off guard by the sudden drop in temperature, don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. In this post, I’ll share some effective tips for preparing for the cold weather. From cosy clothing choices to essential…

[help-mona]

Have our cries reached you after a full year of war that it is still ongoing! 🚨🚨

Today, we have completed a full year of the fierce war on Gaza – Palestine – and the world is still waiting for all of us to die. 😔

We know that you are tired of the many messages and appeals that we send to you, but there is no other way, which I have to admit that it is not the ideal one, to conveying our plea and the suffering we are enduring.

To donate, click here 🙏

To donate paypal here

We can barely access the internet, so please try to help us financially or by spreading our story whenever you receive one of our pleas.🛜🛜🛜

Look at the picture, and you will understand how much we need your help and support during these difficult times we are going through.

Will we be able to resist the cold of winter in these clothes? what about our children? ???!! 👧👦😔

Winter is coming now, and we need essential requirements that we miss and lack because they cost money in these harsh conditions and the insane rise in prices.

Starting with:

*** Rehabilitating the tent we live in, which does not protect us from the cold weather at night and has deteriorated under the summer sun.

*** Winter clothes, especially for the children and all family members.

*** Winter blankets to protect against the cold night weather.

*** Medicine, especially for my daughter’s eye treatment and for my mother, who suffers from high blood pressure due to the poor living conditions.

How can you help us during these difficult times?

Even a small amount of support can help us, at least initially, to provide:

*** Winter clothes and blankets for the children.

*** A new tent that can protect us from rain and strong winds.

*** Some food supplies to help boost our immunity.

*** The chance to relocate when the borders open and secure a safe place for the family where medical care is available.

In this critical time, we need your support, even if it’s just a little, as it can provide for our basic needs and help us to at least survive and stay alive

To donate paypal here

Thank you for your generosity and compassionate hearts.❤️❤️🍉🍉

[paper-mario-wiki]

Have our cries reached you after a full year of war that it is still ongoing!

Today, we have completed a full year of the fierce war on Gaza – Palestine – and the world is still waiting for all of us to die.

We know that you are tired of the many messages and appeals that we send to you, but there is no other way, which I have to admit that it is not the ideal one, to conveying our plea and the suffering we are enduring.

We can barely access the internet, so please try to help us financially or by spreading our story whenever you receive one of our pleas.

Look at the picture, and you will understand how much we need your help and support during these difficult times we are going through.

Will we be able to resist the cold of winter in these clothes? what about our children?

Winter is coming now, and we need essential requirements that we miss and lack because they cost money in these harsh conditions and the insane rise in prices.

Starting with:

Rehabilitating the tent we live in, which does not protect us from the cold weather at night and has deteriorated under the summer sun.

Winter clothes, especially for the children and all family members.

Winter blankets to protect against the cold night weather.

Medicine, especially for my daughter’s eye treatment and for my mother, who suffers from high blood pressure due to the poor living conditions.

How can you help us during these difficult times?

Even a small amount of support can help us, at least initially, to provide:

Winter clothes and blankets for the children.

A new tent that can protect us from rain and strong winds.

Some food supplies to help boost our immunity.

The chance to relocate when the borders open and secure a safe place for the family where medical care is available.

In this critical time, we need your support, even if it’s just a little, as it can provide for our basic needs and help us to at least survive and stay alive

Thank you for your generosity and compassionate hearts.

I need not add anything, as Mohammed has summarized his situation and circumstances succinctly and directly.

Please, if you have anything to spare, consider donating and sharing.

[teshadraws]

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 69]

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AO3 Link

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Team Scarlet climbs the Silenfroar Mountains.

-

Team Scarlet wakes at dawn the next morning, just as the sky is starting to lighten to a soft blue-gray. Tobias takes charge of making sure they have everything packed, with Samir as his second pair of eyes since Nia’s only half-awake at this hour. He double-checks their bags twice while Junie yanks Nia from their bed, then distributes everyone’s cloaks and winter gear, along with the immunity-boosting herbs Maggie gave them the day before.

Once they’re all bundled up and ready to go, they meet Fidel on the flight floor, where the zoroark is similarly dressed for the cold in a maroon cloak and navy scarf and hat. He has a much larger bag than theirs on his back, and Tobias imagines Fidel likely checked it multiple times to be sure that Asher hadn’t stowed away inside.

Fidel is talking to one of the flight ‘mon hired to take them as high as possible up the mountainside: a mandibuzz. She laughs at something the zoroark says, clearly at ease with a fellow dark type. At her side, a togekiss and a pidgeot—a different pidgeot than Auretta—are having their own discussion, fluffing out their feathers against the cold.

Fidel smiles when he sees them. “Good morning! Are you all ready to head out?”

Samir, dressed in a deep green cloak and maroon scarf, nods.

“Ready is a strong word,” Junie yawns, huddled close to the warmth of Nia’s neck. The rookidee looks like a grepa berry in her bright yellow cloak and vest.

Nia makes a sleepy grunt of agreement from inside her cream coat. She’s clearly not happy about flying, the cold, or the early hour, and Tobias has to hold back a laugh at how much she resembles a grumpy little snorunt.

“We’re ready,” Tobias confirms.

“Good. Then we’d best get a move on. It’s going to be a long journey.”

Fidel climbs atop the mandibuzz’s back without another word. He doesn’t introduce their party to the flight ‘mon, but the flying types don’t offer up their own names, either. Tobias is fine with that, and Nia is apparently too disgruntled to ask about it herself.

The remaining two flight ‘mon glance over their party, clearly deciding who to place where. Finally, the togekiss crouches and beckons Samir closer with a sweet smile. Samir seems hesitant about boarding, stepping forward and then back like they don’t quite know how to climb on.

Oh. Tobias hadn’t even thought about Samir being uncomfortable with flying. Not only is the skiddo a grass type, probably most comfortable on the ground like Nia, but they also have hooves, meaning they can’t even hold on properly. No wonder they look so uneasy, no matter how much they try to hide it.

Tobias hesitates, glancing between Nia and Samir as the togekiss gently coaches the skiddo’s wobbly hooves onto her back. Tobias knows Nia hates flying too, but maybe he should fly with Samir today to make sure they’re secure?

Nia is just awake enough to pick up on the problem. For a moment, her brow furrows, and then lifts in understanding. “Samir, have you flown before?”

Samir finally settles into the soft feathers of the togekiss’ back. They give a singular shake of their head, eyes averted like they’re embarrassed to admit it.

Tobias opens his mouth, but Junie beats him to it.

“Oh, I could ride with you!” Junie offers. “It’s hard to think about how high up you are when I’m blabbing your ear off.”

Samir huffs a laugh, but doesn’t outright reject the idea.

“I’ll keep us steady,” the togekiss assures, her voice soft.

“Amani is the smoothest flyer we have,” the mandibuzz agrees. “You don’t have to worry about any rough patches with her.”

Tobias’ mouth twists as he glances again at Nia. He doesn’t want to leave her on her own when he knows how terrified she gets while flying, but Samir falling off would be a much worse outcome.

“I’ll keep you company!” Junie decides. She flutters from Nia’s shoulder to settle under Samir’s front hooves, right under their chin. For a moment, Samir recoils from the sudden proximity, before slowly leaning back into it.

“And what’re you gonna do if Samir falls?” Tobias can’t help teasing. Junie is maybe a fifth of the skiddo’s size.

“Slow our landing and scream my head off!” Junie answers brightly.

Tobias rolls his eyes, but he does feel better knowing that Junie will be with Samir for the duration of the flight. From the way Samir’s stiff posture has eased, they must agree. The whistle they give a moment later—signaling the okay to move—decides it.

Tobias takes Samir at their word and climbs atop the pidgeot’s back. Once he’s sat, he pulls Nia up behind him. “Just yank on Junie’s feathers if there’s a problem, all right? Trust me, I know from experience that she’s loud enough to be heard over the wind.”

Samir snorts. Junie sticks her tongue out at Tobias.

“It should be a short flight,” Fidel assures, patiently waiting for them all to get settled.

Tobias nods, taking firm handfuls of the pidgeot’s feathers to hold on. Nia silently wraps her arms around his waist and buries her head into his cloak, and Tobias wills his face not to flush.

“Ready,” Nia says, voice muffled.

She doesn’t sound ready at all, but they have mountains to climb and answers to find. Tobias nods at the mandibuzz, since she seems like the leader here. Sure enough, she takes point without any hesitation, running a few clunky steps towards the open port before leaping off the flight dock and dropping out of sight. The togekiss follows her in a much more graceful, gentle arc, like a leaf on the wind. Then it’s their turn, the pidgeot beneath them diving after the others. Nia’s arms tighten around Tobias waist as cold, whistling wind rushes past them.

Despite the chill, the sight from so high up is as beautiful as ever. Everything is sleepy and dim so early in the morning, and the sun is just peeking out over the horizon as a bright wash of pink. It’s hard to believe that the world is so close to ruin when it looks so peaceful.

Even Junie, already chattering away to Samir, is a bit more hushed than usual, as if she doesn’t want to break the stillness either. Samir has their jaw clenched and their eyes squinted shut against the wind, but they do seem secure on the togekiss’ back, so Tobias relaxes and decides to enjoy the ride.

Luckily, the flight to the mountain range goes as smoothly as Fidel had predicted. The wind is biting cold and the gravity of the task ahead is heavy when no one is talking, but they don’t have any scares as they travel over brown, mostly-bare forest and towards the faint blue mass of the mountains in the distance.

The Silenfroar Mountains.

Tobias keeps his eyes locked onto them as they get closer and closer, fuzzy silhouettes slowly gaining detail. They’re somehow taller than he imagined. Tobias can’t even see the tops of them, cloaked as they are in swathes of clouds, and the wind chills even more as they approach. Ugh. Tobias doesn’t need a reminder of how cold they’ll soon be.

Still, there’s no postponing it. Even if the flying types can’t go directly to the village at the peak, they at least know which mountain it rests on and can drop them off as closely as possible. Tobias is grateful for that. He imagines it would take days if not weeks to make the trek from the guild entirely on foot. Days they don’t have.

The flyers gather into a tight formation once they approach the base of the mountains, blocking errant winds. Below them, the scenery changes from the usual forest to pine trees, and then even those start to thin out and become sparse. The land itself rises up at an incline, less and less vegetation and more dappling gray stone and large chunks of rock.

All the while, the mountains loom overhead, an impossibly massive presence that makes it hard to breathe. Especially the mountain they’re heading towards—the tallest of them all.

The temperature drops a degree at a time as the flying types climb higher with strained wingbeats and try to catch updrafts to help. Below them, white snow and frost starts to trickle into the environment, coating large chunks of the steep, sloped landscape. The flyers have to tear through low-hanging clouds heavy with condensation, and Tobias shivers as some of the moisture coats his exposed skin, cold as ice. His head feels light, almost dizzy.

Below them, the landscape becomes bright with snow, until it’s covering most of the ground in a stark blanket of white. Ridges and hills are steep here, more of a climb than a walk.

“We’ll have to drop you off up ahead!” Mandibuzz calls. “Too quick of an ascent and you’ll risk altitude sickness, and we’ll be reaching our own limits soon.”

Fidel calls back an affirmative, and Tobias glances at the pidgeot’s wings on either side of them. Condensation is gathering on the feathers there and frosting over, weighing them down and making each wingbeat noticeably slower. Heavier. The pidgeot’s muscles must be stiffening with the cold.

No wonder most flying types can’t make the full ascent to the village.

It’s a matter of minutes before the mandibuzz leads the group in a gentle descent, spiraling down to the snow for a light landing. The pidgeot and togekiss follow, until they’ve all settled onto solid ground.

“This is as far as we can take you,” the mandibuzz says, crouching. White clouds billow from her beak as she speaks.

“This will do,” Fidel assures, tying snowshoes to his hind paws. The zoroark slides off and lands in the snow with a quite crunch, only sinking a couple inches thanks to the light, wooden accessories underfoot. “Thank you.”

Tobias and Nia take a moment to pull their own snowshoes out of their pack and strap them onto their feet. It’s a strange feeling for Tobias, but Nia looks as delighted as usual about wearing anything resembling “clothes.”

Tobias slides off the pidgeot’s back first and grimaces as he lands in the snow. Thankfully, between the snowshoes and how light he is, he manages to stay on the top layer of the stuff, only sinking in slightly. Nia stumbles into the snow next to him.

Samir drops a bit deeper a few feet away, their face scrunching up as their hooves pierce through the top layer of ice.

Junie lands on Nia’s shoulder, tilting her head at Samir. “You grabbed some snowshoes too, right?”

Samir nods, expertly loosening the tie on their own pack with their teeth and reaching in to pull out similar-looking snowshoes—four of them—and tossing them out. One shoe tries to skate away on the ice, and Samir stomps down on it with a panicked expression.

“How do these work on hooves?” Nia asks, approaching the skiddo and crouching to get a better look. “Do you need help with them?”

Samir seems a bit embarrassed, but nods. They flip one shoe over to show how it has two straps overlaid in a square instead of just one, in order to tighten around the hoof and box it in. Nia immediately gets to work, holding out the first one for Samir to step into before tightening the straps around them and asking if it’s good.

“Thank you again,” Fidel says to the flyers with a smile. “You’ve made our journey much easier.”

“Of course,” the mandibuzz says. “Just be careful, all right? The hardest part’s ahead of you, and the snow isn’t always stable here.”

Fidel nods. The mandibuzz flaps hard at the ground, kicking up a gust of powdery snow, and slowly rises into the air. The pidgeot and togekiss offer their own quiet wishes of good luck before doing the same, and soon all three of them are soaring away, quickly vanishing into the clouds.

Tobias watches them go, something nervous curling in his gut. They’re really on their own now.

“Done!” Nia says.

Tobias looks over to see that Samir has been securely strapped into their snowshoes and can now stand on the top layer of snow with Nia and Tobias.

“All right,” Fidel says, giving them all a onceover. “We’d best get moving, then. Even with that head-start, it’ll take us the rest of the day to reach the summit.”

Samir nods. Nia takes a bracing breath and bounces in place, either trying to psyche herself up or stay warm. Junie, on her shoulder, giggles as she bounces with the motion.

Fidel takes the lead, a beacon of maroon as he trudges up the nearest slope. Tobias gestures Nia and Samir forward next, deciding to take the rear to keep an eye on everyone.

And they start moving.

It’s obvious right away that it’s going to be slow going. The snowshoes help with traction and keep them from sliding or sinking, but they can still only move so fast on the incline. Additionally, it’s not just a straight shot up the snowy hillside. The mountain is made up of rock under all that snow, meaning they have to detour through and around large chunks of stone and ice to traverse it safely.

It only takes a matter of minutes for Tobias to start feeling the burn in his legs and chest, sharp air sliding down his throat with a bite. He imagines it’s the same for Nia and Samir, the two of them staying silent and moving with slow, determined steps ahead of him.

It’s quiet, aside from the howl of the wind and the crunch of their steps. All around them, the other mountains in the range loom, half-obscured by clouds and casting long, blue shadows. It makes Tobias feel boxed in.

Junie is the first one to speak up, of course, from her spot on Nia’s shoulder. “Hey, Fidel?”

“Yes?”

“How do people usually travel to the village? Are there, like…guides or something that you can hire to escort you up the mountain?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Fidel says, stopping to allow them to catch up. “I asked August a similar question, and he made it clear that the residents of the village aren’t willing to risk their own safety for outsiders. At least not without gaining something in return greater than money.”

“Rude.”

"Perhaps. Or perhaps it'd be better to describe them as...fiercely private. Apparently, they are so against outside interference that they don't even share the name of the village itself freely. At least until you've earned their trust."

No wonder Tobias hasn't heard an actual name for the place yet. A baffled scowl crosses his face. "Why? Wouldn't that make everything super difficult for no reason?"

"Yeah!" Junie chirps. "Like, what if they have to send mail or order supplies or something? How do they tell people where to go?"

Fidel sounds amused when he answers, "Well, I suppose they do what we've been doing and just call it the Silenfroar settlement."

"That's dumb," Junie huffs.

"I don't know, I think it's kind of neat!" Nia says, looking thoughtful. "I mean, it's probably like a tradition at this point, right? Or...a rite of passage. You earn the trust of the people living there, so you earn the trust of the village itself. It's a really interesting way of thinking about names, actually."

Tobias rolls his eyes, more fond than annoyed. Of course Nia finds the whole complicated ordeal fascinating. She's such a nerd.

"And to be fair," Fidel adds, "It’s a big ask for them to risk injury and even death for Pokemon they don't know or particularly want to know. Especially outsiders who don’t know how to handle the environment and its dangers.”

“I guess that part makes sense,” Junie admits. “Couldn’t August have sent more Pokemon with us, then? I know most of the Lexym Guild are grass and bug types, but couldn’t he have, like, hired some ice types or something?”

Fidel makes a thoughtful noise, pausing again for them to catch up. Nia looks like she’s trying to step in the zoroark’s footfalls to make it easier on herself, but his stride is much longer than hers.

“I asked about that as well,” Fidel says. The poof of his mane—or at least the bits of it spilling out between his cloak and scarf—are already stiffening with ice. “Unfortunately, with the disasters and dungeons growing more frequent, August said they’re spread too thin to spare anyone who can take the cold. And he can’t very well request assistance from other overworked guilds for a mission like this, since most would see it as an attempt to outrun a ninjask.”

Tobias’ mouth twists. He supposes that makes sense. The other guilds wouldn’t be able to spare Seekers without reasonable cause, and saying, “Hey, two of my C-rank Seekers talked to Giratina and said the world is about to end, so we have to track down a long-lost legend to save it” probably wouldn’t go over well, even if they did call Giratina to make an appearance.

Still. It’d be nice.

Ahead of them, the path is blocked by a giant, icy boulder. Fidel stations himself to the side of it, crouching and holding out his forepaws with clear intent to give them a boost. Nia takes the offer with a word of thanks, allowing the zoroark to launch her into the air so she can scrabble up and over the obstacle. Samir clearly wishes they could do this on their own, but they accept the help as well, and barely manage to clear the boulder with Nia pulling them over the top. Tobias accepts the boost with his own nod of thanks, digging his claws in as best he can at the top as Nia pulls him over the edge using the satchel looped around his shoulder.

Fidel puts them all to shame by leaping onto the stone with ease, then hopping lightly to the snow on the other side to help them down.

“This isn’t the worst situation, though,” Fidel says once they’re all on the ground and moving again. “I talked with your archivists to make sure we were prepared, and apparently the less paws on the mountain at a time, the better. The biggest danger to watch out for is an avalanche, and those are most often caused by unaware ‘mon treading on unstable snow. The less weight we have walking around, the safer we are.”

“It was smart to do research on the mountains beforehand,” Nia says, looking irritated with herself. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.”

“You’ve been busy,” Fidel chuckles. “I haven’t been doing much aside from making sure Asher doesn’t cause trouble in the nursery.”

He goes quiet after that, and Tobias can guess why.

“Asher will be fine, Fidel,” Nia assures, speeding up to reach the zoroark’s side. “He’s already found a kindred spirit in Luca and the others! They love him.”

Fidel chuckles, giving Nia a fond look. “I know. I just worry when I’m away from him, with…how we can be perceived.”

“I don’t get why illusion powers make people so upset. There are plenty of Pokemon with even more dangerous abilities out there, right?”

“I would say so,” Fidel agrees. “But Pokemon aren’t always rational creatures.”

Fidel leaves it at that. The group falls quiet again, save for their harsh clouds of breath.

Time passes. Hours, if Tobias is tracking the light of the sun correctly through the layers of fog-like clouds that grow thicker as they climb.

After a while, Fidel takes to bounding ahead of them with agile steps and seemingly endless energy, until he’s a distant speck of color against the white and gray of the mountainside. It’s clear from the zoroark’s pricked ears and sharp eyes that he’s scouting out the safest path for them. Tobias appreciates it. It’s an endless slog up the mountainside, and Tobias feels too fatigued just trying to walk to keep a proper eye on their surroundings.

The others must feel the same. Nia slips and falls to her knees at one point, and Junie quickly abandons her perch on the riolu’s shoulder to take turns hitching a ride with each of them. The rookidee spends the most time perched on Fidel’s much larger, heavier frame, but she looks unhappy about that arrangement as well. Tobias catches her lifting out a wing more than once as if wondering if she really couldn’t just fly herself. Fidel shakes his head at her each time, as if to discourage the thought. After seeing how quickly the much larger flying types’ wings frosted over, Tobias agrees that it would be far too dangerous.

Fidel quickly falls into a pattern of having them stop for a break every hour or so. Tobias would feel guilty about the zoroark being so clearly held back by Team Scarlet’s slow progress if he wasn’t just so relieved to rest.

Each time they stop to catch their breath, Tobias clears away the snow with his fire so they can flop down, rest, and rehydrate their bodies. It becomes increasingly difficult for Tobias to ignore the burning in his muscles and the sharp pain in his throat and chest from the frigid air. He’s been ducking his head as they walk to breath through the filter of his scarf, but even that much isn’t enough to protect his airway.

It's nearly noon by now, and Tobias’ heart is still beating hard against his chest even though they stopped minutes ago. He bites into another hydration berry, greedily swallowing the burst of juice inside. One of their packed snacks, a nut and berry bar, sits half-eaten next to an aspear berry in the bowl of his lap.

At Tobias’ side, Fidel looks out over the mountains, then up towards the summit. Tobias has no idea how close they are to the village, but the zoroark sniffs the air as if that could help him figure it out.

Nia is watching the zoroark too, taking a bite of yache berry and scrunching her nose at the sour taste. “Hey, Fidel? Why do you keep smelling the air?”

Fidel looks surprised to have been noticed. He smiles. “There isn’t much to smell up here, but I like to stay alert with all my senses. You never know what you might notice.”

Nia hums, looking thoughtful, and takes a sniff of the air herself.

“S-Smell the village yet?” Junie asks hopefully. She’s currently half-buried in Nia’s scarf, her beak chattering with the cold.

Fidel gives the rookidee a sympathetic look. “I’m afraid it’ll be a while yet.”

Junie groans, clearly feeling the cold the most between her type disadvantage and how small she is.

For a long moment, Fidel continues to watch Junie. He seems…conflicted. Then he says, “If you’re comfortable doing so, Junie, you’re more than welcome to nest in my mane. Asher’s always going on about how warm it is.”

Tobias is surprised by the offer. Fidel has never been unkind to them, but he has always kept a polite distance between himself and Team Scarlet. An edge of…professionalism, maybe. As if to purposefully keep their relationship to strictly business partners.

Even Junie looks astonished. “You w-wouldn’t mind?”

“I actually kind of miss the little mite rustling around,” Fidel admits, chuckling.

Junie hesitates, but apparently decides she’d rather be warm than polite. She flutters over to Fidel and buries herself in the red mane of fur around his neck. She pokes her head out again a moment later, sighing with contentment.

“Asher wasn’t wrong. You’re like a heated blanket!”

Fidel smiles. “It certainly helps in weather like this. Feel free to stay in there when we get moving again.”

“Dude. I owe you my life.”

Tobias snorts, slipping a hand under his own scarf and team bandana to scratch lightly at his skin. Ugh. He doesn’t like to pay much attention to his neck, perpetually hidden beneath his scarf, but it’s starting to itch.

They get moving again, packing up and setting out with an air of weary determination. Tobias makes a face as soon as they step back into the snow, and Junie peers at him from Fidel’s mane.

“Toby, you’re sure making a lot of faces for a fire type. Shouldn’t you be, like, immune to the cold?”

Tobias glares at her. “I have scales.” And thin ones, at that. “I’m not protected against the cold like a fire type with a thick coat or a shell would be.” If anything, he’s probably a bit more vulnerable to the elements than Nia or Fidel.

“I don’t think anyone’s safe when it’s this cold,” Nia huffs. Her cream coat is nearly lost in the environment, just a shade warmer than the snow. “I’m ready to warm up as soon as possible.”

“I thought snow was your favorite weather?” Tobias asks, voice dry.

“It is when I can go inside to warm up!” Nia whines. “I’d kill for some thick, fuzzy socks and a mug of hot chocolate right now.”

“Oh, don’t say that!” Junie groans. “That’d be so nice.”

Chocolate. Tobias thinks he’s heard Nia mention that before. He can see his own curiosity on Samir’s face, from where the skiddo is plodding along in front of him, glancing between Nia and Junie.

Fine, he’ll bite.

“What’s chocolate?” Tobias asks.

“You haven’t had chocolate?!” Junie shouts.

“Shh!” Nia hisses, surprising both Tobias and Samir. The riolu glances up the mountainside, ears pinned nervously as she whispers, “Don’t yell! That can cause an avalanche!”

Junie shrinks back into Fidel’s mane, wide-eyed.

Tobias’ stomach turns. It can?

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that,” Fidel says calmly. “The ribombee in the archives told me that was nothing more than a rumor. Sound doesn’t trigger avalanches. Changing temperatures and poor layering of snow and ice sets up the conditions, but it’s typically shifting weight or wind that does it.”

“Oh.” Nia relaxes. “Oh, good. Sorry, Junie.”

“Nah, you’re good. I remembered that after you said it, too. Must’ve been a cartoon thing.”

“So we can yell all we like, and we just need to make sure not to step wrong and pray the weather doesn’t cause any problems,” Tobias grumbles. “Great.”

Samir huffs, apparently sharing Tobias’ bleak outlook.

“I’m keeping an ear out for any danger,” Fidel assures. “I’ll do my best to make sure we make it to the top safely.”

After that, everyone falls silent again, saving their breath for the harsh climb. It quickly becomes an exhausting but mind-numbing task. Tobias takes sharp, painful breaths of freezing air. He puts one heavy foot in front of the other, and tries to ignore the straps of the showshoes digging into his skin. His neck itches and burns, and his eyes water. It doesn’t take long for the exposed parts of his body to lose sensation.

But they have to keep moving.

They continue to climb, carefully navigating steep, slippery slopes. At one point, they have to carefully skirt around a crevice in the ice to avoid falling into pitch black nothingness.

It feels like they’ll never reach the top.

Up ahead, Fidel suddenly stops, looking off to the side as if he noticed something. Then he diverts from their path, crouching beside…a shallow shelf of rock. It looks like a dark, gaping wound in the mountainside, stark against the snow.

“Let’s stop for the night,” Fidel says when the rest of them catch up.

Nia blinks, exchanging a confused look with Tobias and Samir. Her teeth chatter when she asks, “U-Um. Where?”

“We’ll freeze to death out here,” Tobias agrees.

“We won’t make it to the summit by nightfall,” Fidel explains. “So we need to make camp.”

Tobias blinks, looking up. It happened so gradually—and the environment is still so bright due to the white of the snow—that Tobias hadn’t even realized it, but it’s much darker than the last time they stopped for a break. Probably nearing dusk. He could hardly even tell, without the usual golden light of a sunset. Everything just sort of…dimmed.

Fidel’s right. They won’t make it to the summit today. Panic socks him in the gut.

“Can we even survive a night out here?”

Fidel jerks his head towards the rocky outcropping he’d been looking at before. “We can use this as our base.”

The zoroark moves closer to the rocky shelf, ducking to peer beneath it. It isn’t a cave, per se, just a shallow overhang of stone, but it does create a small divot underneath that’s mostly free of snow and sheltered from the worst of the wind.

“We’re gonna sleep here?” Junie asks, aghast.

“It’s the best option we have,” Fidel says, poking around the space. There’s barely enough room for him. “We’ll have to squeeze, but that’ll help us stay warm. And the overhang should protect us from any minor avalanches that might happen overnight.”

Nia and Samir glance at Tobias, then each other, nervous and doubtful. But Tobias can see the same exhaustion that he feels in his very bones reflected in their tired faces and slumped shoulders. The idea of stopping to rest sounds wonderful, even if that means sleeping here.

“Maybe we can pack the snow like an igloo,” Nia muses, trying to sound optimistic. She kneels near the edge of the shallow cave, and tries piling the snow into a mound. Luckily, it’s wet enough to stick. She makes a pleased sound and starts packing on more, slowly building up a wall to help block the wind.

“Good idea,” Fidel praises. He starts helping, his much larger paws scooping up snow with ease to get started on the other side. Samir uses their snowshoes to push more snow in Nia’s direction, and Tobias sighs and moves to help Fidel.

Tobias’ fingers are somehow both numb and stinging with pain by time they’re done, but they’ve built up an impressive dome of snow around the little divot. Tobias uses his flames to melt the outermost layer of snow and harden it into ice to make sure it won’t crumble, and they leave a gap open on top of the structure so they can breathe.

Finally, all that’s left is to crowd inside through the small opening they’d left untouched.

Fidel crawls in first and pulls a blanket from his pack to lie on the ground. Then he curls up on top, coaxing the rest of them into the circle of his body. Junie wastes no time fluttering into the shelter and burrowing into Fidel’s fur and mane, even as damp as it is. Nia follows, kicking off her snowshoes and curling atop Fidel with a sigh of relief.

Samir looks embarrassed to be treated like a child, but they relent after nudging off their own snowshoes and flopping onto Fidel’s soft pelt. It looks like it’s hitting them all at once how exhausted they are.

Finally, Tobias follows, so that they’re a heap of bodies drying around the meager heat of his  tail flame. His fire is their only light source as night falls, but the space is small and cramped enough that it illuminates everything inside, glistening off the icy walls.

The whole arrangement is a bit closer than Tobias is comfortable with, and the smell of damp, sweaty Pokemon isn’t great, but he doesn’t complain. Between the blocked wind and their shared body heat, some semblance of feeling is finally coming back to his frigid extremities. The temperature change is so great that it actually burns.

His neck in particular is on fire, and he irritably rubs icy fingers against the skin of his throat. Ugh. It’s never been this bad, not since it was first healing all those years ago, but he supposes he’s also never been this cold before. He usually doesn’t think about it very much.

“We probably should’ve heated up some food and boiled water to drink,” Fidel says quietly, frowning. “We’ll need the energy tomorrow.”

“Can’t we just eat snow?” Junie asks from where she’s smushed between Nia and Samir, already half-asleep.

“Best not to, if possible. It takes energy to melt snow in your body, and that will just make you colder.”

“We can eat in the morning,” Tobias yawns. Past the stinging pain of his skin warming up again, he feels the exhaustion hitting in full. The gentle rise and fall of Fidel’s breathing beneath him doesn’t help.

“I suppose,” Fidel says, resting his head back atop his cloak. He has to be the coldest of all of them, with only his cloak and fur shielding him from the chill of the rocky mountain, but he doesn’t complain. Vaguely, Tobias wonders if the zoroark can’t help feeling a little parental over them in this kind of situation, with how much younger and smaller they are. He’s clearly a father, through and through. A good one.

Something about that thought pains Tobias, bringing to mind his own dad. He can’t help remembering his papa’s wings enfolding him and Vivi to keep them warm in cool mountain air.

He pushes the memory away, too tired to deal with the emotions it carries.

As they all warm up and start to drift off to sleep, Tobias hears Nia speak up. Her hushed voice is loud in the close quarters.

“Hey, Fidel?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for helping us with this. I know you’re just doing it to help save the world and keep Asher and Will and everyone safe, but…I feel safer, too. Knowing you’re here and have our backs.”

Maybe Nia felt the same protective vibe that Tobias did.

Fidel is quiet for a long, heavy moment. Then he murmurs, “You’re welcome. I would do anything for Asher and Will, but…I’m happy that I can help relieve your burden as well.”

There’s not much conversation after that. If they were home, Nia would be complaining about how cold it was, but compared to the howling wind outside, this is paradise.

Sleep comes quickly for Tobias.

_____________________________________________________________

The next morning, Tobias wakes feeling like he hasn’t slept a wink, and his muscles are sore and heavy when he stretches atop Fidel’s fluffy fur. He has to work to pull on his snow gear and drag himself back into the cold, wincing as the frigid temperature slaps him in the face.

He’s really starting to hate the cold.

Everyone else slips outside into the cool blue morning, shivering and muttering complaints, though the protests quiet as they use Tobias’ tail flame to slowly heat up some snow and hydration berries for drinking water. While Fidel handles that, Tobias gnaws at a near-frozen breakfast of yache and aspear berries meant to, ironically, help them resist the cold.

It's a quiet, tired breakfast, and then it’s right back to it.

“We should be able to reach the summit today before it gets dark,” Fidel says encouragingly, staring up the mountainside where clouds blot everything out of sight. “It can’t be much farther.”

Before it gets dark? The thought that they have another full day of climbing ahead of them kind of makes Tobias want to cry.

Nia and Junie look like they feel the same. The riolu blinks back literal tears with a sniff. Samir just seems exhausted.

But they push on regardless, somehow even slower and quieter than the day before. Even Fidel seems sluggish as he scouts ahead, though Tobias isn’t sure whether that’s the zoroark’s own exhaustion making itself known or if Fidel is slowing down for their sake.

Tobias fights the urge to scratch at the tight skin around his neck and focuses instead on putting one foot in front of the other and making sure that he keeps everyone else in sight ahead of him.

One foot.

Then the other.

Don’t think about how cold it is. Don’t think about how he already can’t feel his toes or nose. Don’t think about heavy limbs and a sore throat. Don’t think about how much farther they have to go.

Just keep moving. Second after second and minute after minute, until the hours add up.

They climb.

Hours pass. The gray, sleepy light of morning sharpens to a blinding white with crisp blue shadows.

It’s not until Junie asks, “Uh. Is it normal that I’m getting a little lightheaded?” from Fidel’s mane that Tobias realizes he is, too.

“Altitude changes taking their toll, I’m guessing,” Fidel says with a frown. “The mandibuzz warned me about that. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do aside from taking it slow and staying hydrated. Does anyone need to stop?”

No one wants to stop. Not when it’ll only feel like hindering their progress. So, slowly, one by one, they shake their heads. Fidel looks conflicted, glancing over them with sympathy in his eyes, but he takes them at their word and keeps moving.

When they do finallystop for a break an eternity later, it’s atop a ridge with a clear view of the mountains surrounding them. Somehow, they almost look small from way up here, despite the fact that they’re adorned with low-hanging clouds that say otherwise. It feels like they’re in the sky itself.

“Wow,” Nia breathes, looking at the view with more energy than he’s seen from her all day. “Climbing this is awful, but the view is beautiful.”

Tobias supposes it is kind of breathtaking, when he looks out and thinks of where they are. How high up. He just wishes he wasn’t so exhausted and cold while looking at it.

It’s mid-afternoon when the group gets moving again. Tobias hefts their satchel over his shoulder—it’s his turn to carry it—before following the others on their endless trudge through the snow. He doesn’t think he wants to see snow ever again after this adventure, which is unfortunate considering it’s nearly winter back home. At least it’s warmer in the Haven, though, and they won’t have to be out for days at a time like this.

Tobias is pulled from his thoughts by Fidel stopping ahead of them, the movement more abrupt than usual. The zoroark is nearly a speck in the distance, but Tobias can see how he rises to his hind legs, stock-still and ears pricked as he stares up the mountainside.

The wind blows loudly around them, whipping Tobias’ cloak away from his legs. His stomach clenches with a bad feeling.

After a few long seconds, Nia calls, “Fidel?”

Another moment of cautious stillness. Tobias takes a few steps forward, passing Nia and Samir to get closer to Fidel and ask what’s wrong.

Suddenly, the zoroark drops and bolts back towards them, kicking up snow. He shouts something, but it’s lost to a quiet…rumbling sound. For a moment, Tobias thinks it’s just the blood rushing in his ears, until he realizes it’s growing exponentially louder with each ticking second. Slowly, it becomes more defined—a sound like rushing water and snapping ice.

Then, Tobias sees it: what looks like a cloud bursting from the mountainside, exploding over the lip of the nearest ridge and chasing Fidel with terrifying speed. It almost looks like smoke, but lumpier. More solid. It moves like the froth of raging water, sliding and crashing and quickly gaining speed on the zoroark, more and more pouring and tumbling down the mountainside and shaking the ground beneath Tobias’ feet.

Fidel is dwarfed by the avalanche at his heels.

Panic shoots through Tobias.

The zoroark is still shouting something, probably telling them to move, but Tobias doesn’t see how they could simply sidestep an avalanche that feels as wide as the horizon. It barrels towards them with all the speed of the train they saw at Ghatha.

No. Faster than that.

As Tobias watches, it catches Fidel, yanking his paws out from under him. The zoroark tumbles beneath snow and ice, covered in an instant and surfacing only as an occasional flash of red.

Tobias casts a frantic look to the left and right, but sees nothing that could protect them. Junie is saying something behind him, her voice frantic and rising with panic.

“Run!” Tobias yells, turning to stumble back the way they came. He doesn’t know what else to do.

Ahead of him, Tobias sees Nia yelling something at Junie. The riolu flings her arm up, and Junie’s bright yellow shoots into the air with it, her dark wings snapping out to flap wildly and keep her afloat. Nia reaches over and yanks Samir into her side, and the skiddo stumbles, legs buckling in the snow. Tobias has just enough time to feel relieved that the two of them are together.

Then, the avalanche hits him like a wave.

The ground slides out from under Tobias’ feet. He tumbles head over heels with a gasp that sends a chunk of snow searing down his throat. Then he’s caught in the riptide of the avalanche, snow tumbling over his head and carrying him along like a current. Chunks of ice—or the ground, maybe—slam into him, planting bruises that’ll surely bloom later as long as he survives this. He feels like he’s an instant away from the current snapping off a limb, his head dizzy and unable to determine which way is up in the chaos.

Then his head surfaces and he manages to gasp in air as he latches onto a chunk of ice as big as a donphan and rides it down the current. He can’t see a thing with snow and ice flickering over his vision and stinging his eyes, churned up by the force of the avalanche. Everything is deafening noise and stinging cold.

For a brief moment, the ice he’s atop catches on something—the ridge they climbed over earlier, maybe?—though he can feel it shifting, about to tumble over and continue its momentum.

Wait, a ridge? When they were setting up camp last night, didn’t Fidel say something about the overhang protecting them from avalanches?

Tobias feels the ice chunk drop and he goes tumbling with it, trying in vain to turn and fight against the current, to the safety of the ridge, only to be swept away again.

Snow and light and dark and cold and—

And then he’s being grabbed by the arm and yanked to the side. Ice and snow suck at his legs and try to pull him back into the flow of the avalanche, but then he’s free of the current and collapsing onto semi-solid, icy ground. He pants hard, body too exhausted to move and see what in Entei’s name just happened.

Around him, the roar of the avalanche continues beyond his heavy breathing and pounding heart, but it’s muted compared to before. A distant thing.

Slowly, Tobias becomes aware enough to register a nose prodding at his face. Then, a familiar whistle-pause-whistle in his ear, again and again. Are you okay? Are you okay?

Tobias groans, lifting his head and blinking hard. It can’t be, but…

Sure enough, Samir is crouched in front of him, brown eyes fluttering closed with a relieved sigh. And behind the skiddo, around them is—

Nia’s aura, a blue forcefield encircling them like glass. It’s not fully enclosed, not the bubble that Tobias has seen her make before, but instead a concentrated shield against the force of the avalanche. It’s curved, sending snow and ice diverting around them, like a rock in a stream. The avalanche pounds against it, seemingly endless.

Nia is holding up the shield with both hands, her stance wide and teeth gritted. Aura glows in her eyes and around her snowshoes, as if staking her to the ground. Their group isn’t entirely stationary, though. The chunk of ice they’ve found refuge on is small and still riding downhill with everything else, just at a slightly slower, more controlled pace. Like a raft in a hurricane.

Before Tobias can say anything, Nia’s head lifts with a gasp. “Fidel!”

Tobias’ brain is still trying to catch up, but he squints in the direction Nia’s faced towards, trying to see anything past the snow and ice.

Samir stumbles to their feet—holding one foreleg off the ground—and whistles a single, sharp word.

 No.

Tobias slowly sits up, wincing.

“But—Fidel!” Nia gasps. “H-He’s right there. If I—”

For an instant, the shield flickers, letting in a burst of snow and a few rattling chunks of ice that spatter over them. Tobias’ heart jumps into his throat.

Samir limps the two steps needed to glare directly at Nia, their eyes fierce. Again, the skiddo whistles, No.

Oh. Tobias understands now, even if he doesn’t like it. Nia must’ve sensed Fidel. Must want to help him, because of course she does, she’s Nia. But��

If that shield goes down, they’ll be lost to the avalanche again, and that could spell disaster.

For a moment, looking at Samir’s fierce expression, Tobias feels like he’s back at the guild, being scolded by the skiddo for their recklessness. Except this time, he knows he has to side with them.

“Nia,” Tobias whispers. “You can’t. You know you can’t.”

Nia whimpers, but hangs her head and doesn’t move. The shield holds.

They continue down the mountainside, undoing all the progress they’d made over the past day of hiking. And eventually, the avalanche calms. Slowly at first, then more noticeably. The impenetrable cloud of snow thins, until light and sky finally show through. The rumble softens, then dies off entirely.

And their little raft of safety drifts to a gentle stop.

Nia gasps, knees buckling as the shield disappears. Snow and ice pours in over her arms and around Tobias and Samir’s ankles as she takes harsh gulps of air.

For a long moment, it’s unnervingly silent without the sound of the avalanche. It almost feels wrong, leaving a ringing in Tobias’ ears.

Tobias blinks as he stumbles to his feet, looking around and trying to understand what just happened. Low-hanging clouds and a glimpse of sky sit overhead. Snow and ice paint the landscape, with the imposing blue mass of the mountains as a backdrop. Everything is still and peaceful, as if nothing had even happened.

He can’t see Fidel anywhere.

“Guys!”

Tobias looks up, relieved to spot a flash of yellow swooping down from the sky. Junie. Good, she’s safe. She lands with clumsy wingbeats on the snow beside them, seemingly unscathed save for the frost already coating her wings.

“Is everyone okay?” Junie gasps, looking between the three of them between clouds of heavy breathing. “Did you lose Fidel?”

“We did,” Nia says, voice strained. She pushes herself to her feet, staggering for a moment. She’s clearly drained from using her aura to hold back so much force. “I-I saw him, for a moment, after we grabbed Tobias. But…”

Junie wilts as Nia speaks. The rookidee looks farther down the mountainside. “S-Should we go look for him?”

Nia turns to stumble past Junie and Tobias, avoiding their eyes. Then, voice breaking, she lifts her paws to her mouth to shout, “Fidel!”

For a long moment they’re all silent, save for the echo of Nia’s call and the howl of the wind. Around them, the snow snaps and settles.

No answer.

“Fidel!” Nia calls again, voice pitching up an octave.

Before he can worry about Fidel, Tobias needs to make sure everyone else is okay. Junie seems fine, if extra cold after her bout in the air. She’s shaking, icy wings tucked away to warm up. Samir seems fine, save for the brooding expression on their face and the way they have a front hoof held gingerly above the ground. As Tobias watches, the skiddo tries to put weight on it, and immediately winces, lifting it again. Great. Tobias hopes that’s just a sprain, and not broken.

“Fidel!” Nia yells again, sounding like she’s on the brink of tears. She’s clearly upset, but she’s standing and doesn’t seem physically hurt.

Finally, Tobias takes stock of himself. He feels aches and bruises blooming under his skin, and a glance at his body shows some new scrapes have dripped red into the snow. But as he stands and moves his arms, he doesn’t think any serious damage was done. Definitely not as much as could’ve been done if he’d gone the full length down the mountainside.

However, he feels dread unfurl in his stomach when he registers the lightness of his cloak against his back. Praying that he’s wrong, he reaches behind himself and pats his spine, confirming yet another problem.

Their satchel is gone, ripped away by the avalanche. Along with their badges, the letter from August, and all their supplies. Their food. Their healing items.

Tobias forcibly turns his mind away from that problem for now.

“Fidel!” Nia’s voice cracks. She’s staring down the mountainside, shoulders hitching.

“Nia,” Tobias sighs, reaching for her.

“Why did you stop me?!” Nia snarls, spinning around. There are tears in her eyes as she moves past Tobias to glare at Samir. Her fists shake. “I-I could’ve saved him! I…”

Samir just looks back at Nia with tired eyes.

“Nia,” Tobias warns, stepping between them and putting his hands on her shoulders. “I know you’re upset, but I couldn’t even see Fidel. He would’ve been too far to reach safely. You know that.”

For a moment, Nia glares at Tobias too, before her anger tips over into grief. She sniffles as the tears overflow, and wipes at her face. “I know. I-I just…”

She trails off. Tobias rubs her arms while he looks down the mountainside at what used to be a pristine blanket of snow. Now it looks like a mess, churned-up chunks of ice and snow as far as Tobias can see.

No Fidel.

How do they even begin searching for someone in a situation like this? Should they? What if they trigger a second avalanche? It’d probably be safer not to risk it. But what if Fidel is hurt, or buried beneath the snow?

“I’ll take a look,” Junie says. Her voice is nervous, but she unfolds her wings from beneath her cloak and crouches.

“Are you good to fly?” Tobias asks, frowning. He saw the way she landed. Even if she’s uninjured, she’s clearly struggling in the cold and wind.

“I’ll come back when I’m a popsicle,” Junie jokes, giving Tobias a reassuring half-smile. Then she pushes off, flapping clumsily into the air as wind currents bat her to the side. She pushes through, though, gliding down the mountainside in jerky starts and stops.

“We should look, too,” Nia says, quiet but determined. “I-I can use my aura to search.”

The riolu stumbles and falls on her first step, and Tobias realizes she lost one of her snowshoes in addition to what is surely a case of aura exhaustion.

“Don’t push yourself,” Tobias says quietly, helping her to her feet.

Nia barks a laugh. “We’ve been pushing ourselves for the past two days. What’s a little more?”

Tobias can’t really argue with that. Still— “Here. Take this, at least.” Tobias slips off one of his snowshoes and hands it to her. “We’re about the same size. You’ll need it if you want a chance of walking down the mountainside instead of tripping.”

“Oh.” Nia blinks and looks down at her shoeless paw, as if only now realizing it was bare. Then, she hesitantly takes the snowshoe and slips it on. “Thank you. I didn’t…won’t you need it?”

“I’m gonna hang back with Samir until you find something,” Tobias says, ignoring Samir’s head whipping over to scowl at Tobias. “They can’t walk down that and I won’t be much help unless you need another pair of hands. Just be careful.”

Nia’s eyes widen as she looks at Samir and spots their injured hoof. Her ears go back and her expression pinches with concern, but she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she nods with a quiet thanks and turns to tromp through the snow, holding a paw out in front of her to channel her aura into a radar and hunt for signs of Fidel. As Nia descends, Junie circles lower so the two can work in tandem.

Tobias turns back to Samir. He lifts a brow when Samir meets his gaze with a strained expression and all four hooves planted on the snow.

“I know you’re injured, Samir,” Tobias groans, pinching the skin between his eyes. “Don’t make it worse by being a stubborn idiot.”

The skiddo scoffs, but dutifully lifts their injured hoof from the snow. Their eyes are averted, an ashamed expression on their face.

“Thank you,” Tobias murmurs, crouching to take hold of the skiddo’s injured leg. Unfortunately, he’s really not great with internal injuries, so it’s hard to tell if it’s broken or just sprained. Either way, the grass type won’t be walking on it any time soon. Not up the mountain, at least.

Another stab of fear in Tobias’ gut. He swallows to keep it down, standing back up. “No walking on that. Keep it raised for now.”

Samir’s brow furrows. The skiddo looks down the mountainside towards Nia and Junie, then back at Tobias with a somber expression.

“I know,” Tobias croaks, watching Nia stumble through the snow. Junie falters in the air and drops for a moment before catching herself. “The situation is…bad.”

Samir doesn’t answer.

Tobias opens his mouth to say something else—to ask Samir what they think they should do, maybe—when Nia cries out.

“I found him! Tobias, come help me dig! Hurry!”

Her voice is shrill with urgency. Tobias jolts and starts tripping down the slope towards her, cursing his single snowshoe before deciding to ditch it altogether. He immediately sinks deeper than before, up to his knees, ice cutting at his feet and snow burning at his skin.

Tobias calls over his shoulder, “Samir, stay put!”

The skiddo, who had been hobbling after him, scowls and plunks back down into the snow.

It feels like hours by time Tobias finally reaches Nia’s side, panting. Junie is already at her side, scraping at the snow with her tiny feet. Nia is making more progress, digging with hurried scoops of her paws.

“Tobias!” Nia says, glancing up at him. “Dig here. He needs to be able to breathe.”

Tobias’ heart jumps, and he immediately kneels to start digging as well. “Is he alive?”

“He is. But I don’t think he’s getting enough air. I-I think people can die by suffocation when they get buried like this.”

Tobias stuffs down the fear that inspires and nods, resuming his digging. He tries to ignore the way his fingers go numb with raw, stinging pain.

It feels endless. How deep is Fidel? And if Nia’s right, how long can someone survive under the snow without air?

Finally, Nia removes a chunk of ice, revealing Fidel’s long, dark muzzle. His eyes are closed, framed by a snow-clumped mane of red fur.

“Oh, thank God,” Nia whispers. She brushes snow away from the zoroark’s face with gentle, shaking paws. “Fidel?”

Fidel doesn’t answer, but when Tobias hovers fingers over the zoroark’s mouth, he feels puffs of warm breath against his skin.

“He’s breathing,” Tobias sighs, letting his head tip forward to rest onto the snow. He feels more than sees the other two collapse with relief next to him.

It takes longer than Tobias would like, but they get Fidel unburied enough to gently pull him free of the snow entirely. Bits of his dark fur are clumped black with blood, but Tobias doesn’t see any serious injuries, thankfully. All they can do is pray that Fidel doesn’t have internal bleeding.

With that done, their momentum slows. Suddenly, Tobias realizes it’s getting dark. The afternoon sky is rapidly growing dimmer with dusk.

“What now?” Junie asks, voice small.

The answering silence is heavy. Fidel is unconscious, Samir’s hoof is injured, and they’ve lost almost all of their supplies. They have no way up the mountain or even back down to safety. They’re stuck, and night will fall in a matter of an hour. Maybe two.

Panic wells in Tobias’ chest, and he struggles to take deep breaths. They won’t die here. They can’t.

“I-I could try flying to the village?” Junie suggests. “Or back down to get help?”

“No,” Tobias says, sharp. “You can’t make it in this weather. And I’m not risking splitting us up.”

For a moment, Junie looks like she wants to argue, before she deflates again, looking down at her semi-extended wing. Her feathers are thick with ice. Tobias would be surprised if she could even take flight.

Nia’s ear twitches and swivels, and she looks behind her. “Samir! What’re you doing? You’re hurt!”

Oh, that skiddo better not be—

They are. Samir is picking their way carefully down the mountainside, despite their injured hoof.

Tobias gives the skiddo a scathing look as they approach. Samir rolls their eyes and gestures to Fidel, as if to say, What, you were going to lug him up to me?

…Fair point.

“Let’s set up here for the night,” Tobias decides once Samir reaches them. He looks around for a ridge like they sheltered in last night, but can’t even spot the one he tumbled over during the avalanche. They’ll have to make do out in the open.

“Here?” Junie asks.

“You have a tent stashed under that coat of yours?”

“I wish.”

“Another snow fort, then?” Nia murmurs.

“We don’t exactly have a lot of options,” Tobias says.

After a moment of tired hesitation, the group starts building another makeshift igloo, keeping Fidel where he is and building the structure around him. Tobias is worried about the fact that they won’t have a rock wall to protect them from any other avalanches, but he can’t see any shelter close enough to drag Fidel to. He’s also worried about them lying directly on the cold, wet ground, but Fidel seems to have lost his own supply bag as well, so no blanket.

It’s nearly dark by time their sloppy shelter is built, lumpy and misshapen but blocking the worst of the wind. They’ve long since stopped talking, each of them fighting against the oppressive, quietly terrified air that’s fallen over them.

As soon as the shelter is finished, all of them pile inside, packing close together in a shivering lump around Fidel. Tobias doesn’t think he’ll be able to sleep, as scared and cold as he is. Instead, he listens to the chattering teeth of his companions. Listens to the little whimpers Junie tries to stifle, and the wet sniffles from Nia. The way Samir is turned away from them all as if to hide their face. Tobias’ tail flame is dangerously low, but he refuses to think about one or all of them never waking up again.

He is so, so scared.

Still, Tobias must drift off at some point, because he wakes up to Nia’s sharp inhale as she bolts upright.

“Nia?” Tobias slurs, picking up his head with a squint. “What—”

Nia looks intense, her eyes distant as if she’s listening to some far-off call. Her paw drifts to her chest. “I thought I felt…”

Nia closes her eyes, and the appendages on either side of her face lift with a blue glow, lighting the interior of their shelter.

Samir and Junie lift their own heads, blinking sleep out of their eyes with questioning noises.

Nia’s eyes snap open. She pushes past Tobias to start digging at the wall, bringing it down in clumps.

“Hey!” Tobias snaps, recoiling from the wave of frigid air. “What’re you—”

Nia’s already gone, slipping out into the night.

“Hey! Over here!” Nia yells, muted through the layers of snow.

Tobias’ breath catches in his lungs, his anger evaporating. He scrambles after her, pulling himself into the howling wind of the mountainside. Nia is standing right outside, looking up the mountain and waving her arms.

Tobias follows her gaze, and feels a desperate, painful hope surge in his chest.

A pack of Pokemon are leaping and skidding down the slope with practiced ease. For a moment, Tobias thinks he’s seeing things when faint flashes of color shine amongst the dark shapes, until they get close enough to see under the moonlight.

No wonder Nia was the first to notice them. They must be using aura.

It’s a pack of lucario, their forms a strange echo of Nia’s silhouette, except twice as tall and more lithe, all lanky muscle and sharp edges. There’s one, two, three, four…five of them, coming their way fast. Tobias blinks hard, trying to convince himself he’s not seeing things.

“Hey, what—” Junie hops out of their shelter, cutting herself off. “Oh. Oh! Are they—?”

“They thought they heard yells when the avalanche struck,” Nia breathes, looking back at them with bright, teary eyes. “They’re here to help.”

All the tension in Tobias’ body leaves at once, almost sending him to his knees. Normally, he’d be more suspicious of a powerful pack of strangers coming their way in the dead of night, especially when they’re exhausted and injured, but this time he’ll take his chances.

They’re saved. Oh, thank Arceus.

Within minutes, the lucario reach their side, slowing to a stop with steps that barely shift the snow beneath their paws.

“A riolu?” one of the lucario says, her quiet voice surprised as she locks eyes with Nia. “But she’s…”

The rest of the lucario don’t comment, but Tobias doesn’t miss the way they all home in on Nia with something like shock flickering across their stoic faces.

“Thank you so much for coming to help us,” Nia says, ignoring the looks to stumble forward in the snow. Her words are fast, running together with exhaustion and relief. “W-We’re from the Lexym Guild. August sent us. We need to get to the village on top of the mountain, but the avalanche…”

The lead lucario’s stiff expression doesn’t soften, but he does nod. “We heard. Come. We’ll take you the rest of the way.” His eyes, a piercing blue, glance over the pitiful shelter they’d built. “You have injured among you.”

“We do,” Tobias admits.

The lead lucario nods.

Without a word, three of the lucario peel away from the pack and dig out a chunk of the shelter’s roof. One lucario reaches in and plucks out an alarmed-looking Samir, though the skiddo calms when they see Nia, Tobias, and Junie. The two other lucario silently heft Fidel’s larger form between them.

A third lucario pads over to crouch and offer Nia a spot on his back.

“O-Oh!” Nia seems surprised. “Thank you.”

She climbs on, and Junie hops up to nestle into the crook of the riolu's shoulder.

Another lucario steps over to Tobias, and he forces himself not to bristle as he too is offered a ride. On the one hand, it’s a bit embarrassing to have to be carried into the village. On the other hand, he is fartoo exhausted to protest. So, after a moment of hesitation, Tobias climbs onto the lucario’s back and wraps his arms around their neck, marveling at the strange familiarity of the Pokemon’s collar of fur. It’s not as soft as Nia’s fur, but very little is.

The lead lucario is the only one without someone to carry. He glances once more over their pathetic shelter, as if to make sure they aren’t forgetting anything. Then, without a word, he turns and bounds up the mountainside. The other lucario follow as if on command, leaping after him.

Tobias is amazed by how quickly the lucario move. They don’t have snowshoes, but a glance down at their paws shows they’re instead using quick flashes of aura to keep traction and spread out their weight across the snow. The lucario holding Tobias has orange aura, bold against the blue tones of the night.

Using their aura and the powerful muscles that Tobias can feel bunching and stretching beneath him, the lucario launch themselves up the mountainside in impressive leaps, arcing fearlessly through the air to land on bounders and ridges that lie invisible beneath the snow, at least to Tobias’ eyes.

Could they be using aura to map out their route? Tobias is too tired to think about it for long. He’s sure Nia will ask about it later anyways.

For now, Tobias allows his head to tip forward and rest against the lucario’s shoulder as he closes his eyes. Now that they’re out of immediate danger, he’s starting to feel the toll his body has taken. Bruises and scrapes and water damage on his skin. Aching, heavy limbs. A fire on the skin of his throat, hidden beneath his scarf.

But he’s just relieved they aren’t dead.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive (Daily updates!)

Video below the main text!

One of the simplest things you can do to protect your health is to keep track of indoor air quality. Viruses spread through the air and accumulate in spaces that are poorly ventilated. By opening a window or running on an air purifier you can reduce your risks of catching an airborne virus. While viruses spread most during the winter, some viral illnesses like COVID are present all year round, and can cause serious short and long-term health issues. This post explains how monitoring and improving indoor air quality can help protect your health through all the seasons.

Viruses can spread through the air at long distances Viruses spread through droplets and smaller particles called aerosols that are expelled by someone who has an infection. This can happen in a number of ways including coughing, sneezing, talking, or simply breathing. The highest risk of catching a virus is when you are close to the source, where there is a greater concentration of droplets and aerosols.

Viruses can also infect people from larger distances because viruses trapped in aerosols can linger in the air for hours, like cigarette smoke. When a room is poorly ventilated, aerosols accumulate, increasing your risk of catching the virus and getting sick, even if you are not standing close to someone who is infected.

Illustration of how droplets and aerosols released during talking can transmit viruses if the person is infected. (Source: J Hosp Infect)

COVID spreads throughout the year Many respiratory virus illnesses like the flu spread predominantly during winter, because they can survive longer in cold and dry conditions, and because people are more likely to gather inside in poorly ventilated rooms during the colder months.

However, COVID can surge throughout the year. COVID peaks occur regularly because the coronavirus that causes COVID is extremely contagious; new variants can emerge quickly; and immunity from previous infections and vaccinations decreases over time. COVID usually surges in winter and summer, however the virus can circulate at high levels at any point during the year.

COVID still causes serious illness While things are different than in 2020 when COVID first appeared, COVID hasn’t gone away. In many countries, COVID is still the most deadly infectious disease. And COVID infections continue to cause long-term health issues for many people.

Anyone who gets COVID can develop Long COVID. Although people with severe initial infections are most likely to develop Long COVID, you can get Long COVID even after a mild initial infection.

Because coronaviruses mutate quickly, you can be reinfected with another variant as early as several weeks after you have gotten COVID. Reinfections can occur multiple times, and the more reinfections you have increases your risk of developing long-term health issues.

People with Long COVID can experience a wide variety of symptoms that can last weeks, months, or years after the initial infection. COVID can increase the risk of developing new conditions or worsen pre-existing ones including heart disease, diabetes, blood clots, neurological conditions, and chronic fatigue.

Even being sick with COVID in the short term is disruptive because most people are infectious with COVID for at least 10 days. That can mean missing days of work, family time, or an important social event.

Simple things you can do to avoid COVID The best way of reducing your risk of developing long-term health issues from COVID is by taking a few simple steps to prevent getting COVID in the first place.

Staying up to date with the latest COVID vaccine reduces your risk of serious illness, infection, and Long COVID. Wearing a mask helps boost your own protection, protects others around you, and works against any COVID variant or other type of airborne virus.

Another effective way to reduce your risk of getting sick from airborne viruses is to improve indoor air quality.

Tracking air quality can help reduce your risk of sickness You can track air quality with a carbon dioxide monitor. When we breathe, we expel carbon dioxide molecules, which accumulate in rooms that are poorly ventilated. A high carbon dioxide reading means that you are likely breathing in a large percentage of recirculated air. If that air contains viruses, that puts you at greater risk of getting sick.

With this knowledge you can take steps to reduce your risk. This can be as easy as opening a window to allow particles with viruses to escape and fresh air to come in. If opening a window isn’t possible, HEPA purifiers or Far-UVC Light systems can help remove particles with viruses from the air.

To learn more about how carbon dioxide monitors can help reduce your risk of getting sick from viral illnesses, watch this video.

The Aranet team thanks Dr. Lucky Tran for offering insights and guidance on how to reduce the risk of COVID infection. May these revelations empower everyone to make mindful choices and foster well-ventilated environments, enriching not only our homes and shared spaces but also our overall well-being and health. Lucky Tran

[leaderpinhead]

Malleus - A Deadly Hearty Soup

Day 14 of Fluffcember 2024 Prompt: Winter Soup (Fluffcember) Rating: General Characters: Malleus, Silver, Lilia

Malleus’s hair stood on end when Lilia presented the dish to him. “Dig in!” 

Lilia’s smile was joyful, but the black sludge in the bowl before him looked...deadly. Malleus coughed into his fist to hide his grimace when the stench wafting under his nose hit him. “How...delightful. And what exactly is this...dish?” 

“It’s a winter soup!” Lilia happily proclaimed. He looked so proud of himself that Malleus almost thought to indulge him in his strange new era of domesticity. Almost. “Baur’s daughter shared the recipe with me. Its her husband’s absolute favorite, and they have it after the first snowfall every year. I thought it would be perfect to warm up our little knight!” 

Malleus’s eyes darted to the seat next to him. The small child sat upright in a smaller chair strapped to the normal sized one. He watched everything in silence with large purple and blue eyes. Those eyes bounced between them as they each spoke. 

Malleus ignored the tiny hand making grabbing motions in his direction. "I thought human children this small drank the powdered milk.” 

“Apparently, he’s at the age where he can start consuming solid foods,” Lilia said. He spooned a mouthful of the sludge and pointed at each visible lump. “It has carrots, potatoes, beans, prunes, and dark chocolate to help boost your immune system! We wouldn’t want Silver catching a cold with the season changing.” 

Silver sneezed hard enough for a glob of snot to fly from his nose and land on the table. Malleus automatically leaned away from the human child, nose wrinkling. Lilia gasped and dashed across the small cottage to the bedroom. “My goodness! Your sneezes are getting more intense. Let me find a handkerchief to clean you up, then we’ll have some yummy soup!” 

Malleus waited until Lilia disappeared into the bedroom before making his move. He picked up both bowls from the table and held them in the palms of his hands. Silver emitted a curious gurgle. Malleus eyed the snot mixing with spit on the human child’s chin. “Do not misunderstand. This little hobby Lilia has adopted is your doing, but I do this for both our safety.” 

Silver loudly giggled. Malleus hushed him and quickly glanced at the bedroom. Assured Lilia was still occupied in his search, Malleus quickly summoned green flames to consume the bowls. The sludge inside the bowls boiled with large bubbles popping on the surface. Silver’s small gasp made Malleus smirk. He pushed more magic into the spell until the flames completely consumed the bowls. 

Lilia’s humming voice made Malleus quickly drop the bowls. Malleus tucked his hands under his thighs and ignored Silver’s happy laughter. Lilia appeared from the bedroom waving a lacey handkerchief. “Here we are! Let’s get you cleaned up...oh, my! What happened to the soup?” 

Malleus acted surprised when he looked down at the bowls again. The bottom of the ceramic was singed, but there were so many objects in Lilia’s cottage with the same marks from Malleus’s younger days. Surely, Lilia wouldn’t find it suspicious. “How odd. Did you follow the recipe correctly?” 

Lilia hummed. He wiped Silver’s nose and ruffled the boy’s silver hair before taking the scorched bowls back to the kitchen. Malleus patted himself on the back for evading suspicion. Silver blew a wet raspberry. 

Lilia popped back out of the kitchen with new, wooden bowls. His smile was wide and undaunted. “It’s a good thing I made so much extra! Now eat up, the two of you!” 

Malleus tried to distract Lilia long enough to pour his portion into Silver’s bowl, but Lilia wouldn't budge from his spot at the table. The only consolation he had was watching Lilia struggle to make Silver eat more of the soup after the first bite made the human child’s face wrinkle like one of the prunes floating in the soup. 

[ryuichirou]

TWST boys getting sick and catching certain infections HCs

Two prompts on health-related topics, and for both of them I don’t really have a lot to say, so I’ll combine them in one post. Thank you for your asks!

Anonymous asked:

How often do you think the twst boys get sick? How bad do you think it hits them? Who gets a cold every year? Who never gets sick? If you v***t and/poop related stuff, please make a clear transition though. I don't do well with any of that.

Honestly, it’s a bit difficult to say, surprisingly I see the majority of the twst boys as pretty healthy overall, even though anything could happen depending on a scenario. I guess it’s too much of a case by case thing for me personally. So if that’s okay with you, I’ll just mention those who I do picture getting sick more often + those who I can say something about.

Nothing related to the stuff you don’t do well with though; I just don’t have anything to say in that particular regard.

Riddle gets sick not too often, but still pretty regularly; at least twice a year. He catches a cold very easily; his immune system isn’t the strongest, but not super weak either. It’s funny because he actually does stuff to prevent himself from getting sick, but somehow being around a sick person for like two minutes is enough to make him catch a cold…

I feel like Deuce in particular almost never gets sick BUT one time Ace got sick though, and Deuce caught his cold immediately. The only thing that could make Deuce sick is Ace…

Trey is prone to colds, he gets very sick at least once every winter, but maybe it’s just his body deciding that it needs some rest after working so hard for everyone… sucks that it always happens right before Winter Holidays.

Cater had a period during which he used to get sick more often, mostly because he was feeling sad and going to school felt too upsetting; somehow it ended up making him feel kind of sick every morning. He is pretty healthy now though.

Azul had the hardest time adjusting to the life on land out of the Octa-trio; he gets allergies every spring, but also catches cold every summer. When it’s too hot, his body can’t quite understand what is going on, and a lot of times he ends up having a fever. He never skips work to just rest and let himself heal, and because of that he ends up being violently sick for a couple of weeks.

Kalim gets sick almost every time he gets too cold, so his first winter out of Scalding Sands was intense. He gets headaches, sleeps a lot and gets even more capricious and clingy than usual. Jamil always has to take care of him, and even though Kalim isn’t awake for the majority of himself being sick, somehow Jamil hates him in this state even more.

Epel gets sick surprisingly often for someone who grew up in a snowy village, but he does. He doesn’t stay sick for long though, after a night of high temperature fever he gets well almost immediately; the only downside is that he already made everyone around him sick…

Idia gets sick super rarely because he never gets a chance to even catch a virus since he is hiding in his room all the time, but because of that when he does get sick, it’s very bad. His entire body hurts, he coughs a lot, and he can’t sleep or eat anything. Ortho always says that he needs to boost his immune system somehow, and Idia always says that there is no point… and gets super sick right after saying that.

Fellow gets sick pretty often, but Gidel – even more often. Poor Gidel is going through it every time he gets sick. He faints, gets extremely bad fevers; he is super helpless and weak when he catches anything. He coughs so badly that people either get scared of him or pity him… Even after the fewer is gone, Gidel could keep coughing for a couple of months; it’s like he is never completely healthy.

Anonymous asked:

Do you think any of the twst guys have ever had an STD?

Hmm, I don’t think any of the students had, excluding Lilia. Grandpa definitely did a lot of stuff about being too concerned about protection when he was younger… Was he just lucky to never get anything serious and untreatable or is it just fae immune system? Difficult to tell~ He consciously stopped sleeping around when he started sleeping with Malleus though, partially because he didn’t want the prince to catch anything from him.

…I can see a scenario in which herpes would travel throughout the entire school because barely anyone uses protection in this hellhole 😭  Floyd is the most likely to get it simply due to the theory of probability.

It also absolutely happened to Crewel, he had herpes a couple of times and maybe something like Chlamydia once. He actually had to skip work because of the latter one, and even after treating it still was in a horrible mood for like a month after that. Maybe it was because Trein scolded him for being so irresponsible, as if it’s his business! A lecture isn’t what he wanted after all this suffering, as if he wasn’t humiliated enough.

Realistically, Fellow probably suffers from STDs the most, and the only reason he didn’t catch something truly horrible and incurable yet is due to his sheer luck. A lot of times people he sleeps with don’t really care about protection and only use it when they’re sensible enough to not want to catch anything from Fellow himself.

A part of me wants a depressing dark scenario though….ahhhhh

[vacantgodling]

gimmeeee anyone from magic sex school tbh

🥂 "How do you celebrate you accomplishments?"

😷 "How often do you get sick? Do you stay at home when sick or do you end up going outside to, say, get some groceries? If you go outside, would you wear a mask?"

🧋 "What's your go-to thing to drink? Do you prefer cold or hot drinks?"

LETS GOOOOOO gonna do this for the main jumble of people bruno is friends with (minus cyril they aren’t friends PFFF)

🥂 "How do you celebrate you accomplishments?"

BRUNO: “Before university, probably just by hanging out with Pax and getting ice cream or something. My parents were always strict with my diet so unbridled sweets is always a good time for me. Now that I’m here… I mean, you already know what I’m going to say right?” (hook ups but he p much does that for every mood 💀 specifically i think he would be wanting a longer scene with Brielle or Freddie but like hell would he admit that)

PAX: “A good night at the bar with a couple of friends is golden!”

MALLORY: “Depending on how big the accomplishment, depends on how many people I’m inviting over to par~tay! So probably getting wasted and sucking more genitals than I can keep track of, but hey I also like playing party games like darts and shit so that’s fun too.”

BRIELLE: “I’ll usually buy myself something nice. A new top, or clothing piece for smaller things and then perhaps a few playtime accessories for something larger.”

FREDDIE: “Hmm… I don’t usually celebrate my accomplishments? It sounds bad, but I guess it’s just never that big of a deal to me! I should probably start though… ;;”

ELSIE: “Usually I’ll tell my grandmother and then I’ll treat the two of us out to a nice lunch or show* when both of us have time. She’s my favorite person to spend time with so it’s a fun little tradition I keep up.” (*she means like a play or the theatre in general)

CYRIL: “Probably some new tech for my gaming set up, or new gear for any of the larps and tabletop games I play. I’mma sucker for a good dice set.”

KENDRA (they/them): “Probably planning some time off and then either sleeping or going on a hike or nature walk or something, especially to a trail I haven’t been on yet.”

😷 "How often do you get sick? Do you stay at home when sick or do you end up going outside to, say, get some groceries? If you go outside, would you wear a mask?"

BRUNO: “I think I have a pretty resilient immune system…? I don’t tend to get sick more often than the average person I guess. But my mom’s taught me a bunch of potions for when I get sick so even when I do I tend to recover quickly and stop the contagiousness so I don’t really care about going outside with or without a mask. The only time I stay home is if I’m like… reeeeally sick but that’s only ever happened once?”

PAX: “The one good thing about my dad especially is he has a tank of an immune system and it seems like I inherited that from him—I rarely get sick. When I do I tend to stay home as much as possible and either ask people to pick things up for me or I mask up when I go out.”

MALLORY: “Funny thing about being a vassel actually, I get a weird kind of immunity to common sicknesses. I don’t really know how it works—when my parents explained I seriously wasn’t paying attention—but basically I dunno when I get any type of weird pathogen in me my body goes zap zap! and then that deletes itself. Hope that helps :)”

BRIELLE: “I get sicker more often than I’d like to, to be honest, at least once a quarter of the year in near every season though winter is the worst for me. I’ve been looking into remedies and other spells or potions to boost my immune system but nothing has really worked so far, yet. I hope I can have a breakthrough soon it’s quite challenging. And no, I tend to stay home when I’m sick. I do most of my work and schoolwork from home when possible so it’s never much of an issue.”

FREDDIE: “Ummm… I don’t really get sick that much? I don’t think? But I kind of soldier through it whenever I do. I wear masks and protective spells when I go out to try and avoid getting other people sick though.”

ELSIE: “I don’t get sick too often but when I get sick I really get sick! I tend to stay back at the manor whenever I’m sick because my parents worry too much and want to make sure I have top level care at all times, even for just a cold! I’ve been trying to be more independent now that I’m at university, so I will hopefully either not get sick, or I’ll be able to avoid telling them when I am… somehow;;”

CYRIL: “Nah I don’t get sick like that. When I do it’s kinda like. Whatever man. I take care of myself and if that means I gotta go out and get more supplies to hunker down then it just be like that.”

KENDRA: “I really only get sick when the weather changes drastically, which is usually around fall or spring. So, bi-annually. I just deal whenever I get sick unless I’m too feverish… then it’s hospital time.”

🧋 "What's your go-to thing to drink? Do you prefer cold or hot drinks?"

BRUNO: “I like sweet stuff, so juices or like slushies are kind of my go to. Alcoholic and virgin. So in that vein I guess I like cold drinks!”

PAX: “Nothing beats black coffee to me. I’m constantly guzzling the stuff. Cold or hot is kind of irrelevant to me; my drink temperature is dependent on the season: hot in the winter, cold in the summer.”

MALLORY: “Anything alcoholic that gets me fucked up fast. So…. tequila! Or soju, honestly. Cold drinks are better, they’re refreshing.”

BRIELLE: “I’m rather fond of lattes, or, really anything with caffeine. I am a college student after all. I suppose I lean towards warm drinks, but I don’t think it’s a huge preference.”

FREDDIE: “I’m really fond of sangria’s honestly, is that bad? It makes me sound like an alcoholic… though I guess I’m not as bad as Mal. I like warm drinks though overall! They’re comforting.”

ELSIE: “Cold drinks all the way. I’m pretty plain though, I’ll always take a cold glass of water. But tea is very good, especially iced!”

CYRIL: “Cold drinks are definitely what I prefer and I’m usually downing energy drinks. Anything with caffeine, honestly.”

KENDRA: “I’m pretty fond of hot chocolate—but I prefer when it’s made of dark chocolate. It’s not too sweet. I like lukewarm drinks though; not too hot but also not too cold.”

[aganyan]

Subject: Urgent Support for My Family

Dear Friends,

We recently lost my son due to the freezing cold, and my family is now facing extremely difficult circumstances this winter. We are in urgent need of:

• 🧥 Warm clothes and nylon to protect our shelter from the rain.

• 💊 Vitamins to boost our immunity.

• 🧼 Hygiene products to stay healthy and prevent illness.

Any contribution, no matter how small, will make a meaningful difference for us during this painful time.

Thank you for your kindness and support. 🙏

^

[luxury-nightmare]

Subject: Urgent Support for My Family

Dear Friends,

We recently lost my son due to the freezing cold, and my family is now facing extremely difficult circumstances this winter. We are in urgent need of:

• 🧥 Warm clothes and nylon to protect our shelter from the rain.

• 💊 Vitamins to boost our immunity.

• 🧼 Hygiene products to stay healthy and prevent illness.

Any contribution, no matter how small, will make a meaningful difference for us during this painful time.

Thank you for your kindness and support. 🙏

[asystemerror]

I decided to listen to my brainrot and make a DST oc!! Meet Winne, a standoffish Botanist who just wants to poke as many of the Contant's plants with a stick as she can.

I'm not sure how balanced her skills/stats are atm so they are probs subject to change at some point but for now, SKILL BREAKDOWN:

Enjoys Farming, Her main ability, involves making seeds that can grow diffrent plants for practical uses around your base/person. This part is still kinda a WIP as I'm figuring out how to balance it/designs for said plants haha. I can for sure say her base seeds kinda just function as normal seeds you can pick up off of the ground if you don't craft them into anything fancy though.

Dislikes Vermin is a slight attack boost for when she hunts smaller mobs (Ex. Birds and Rabbits). Shoo Vermin!

Weak Immune System is more of an issue in Winter/Spring, but when the weather is more intense (ex. raining/it being snowy), Winnie will take faster damage from the elements if she is unprotected from them.

Credit for the base I used/Edited: Here

[eatclean-bewhole]

Join me on Tuesday, Nov. 12th at 6pm for a Winter Wellness Nutrition Class at Upgrade Labs in Riverton, UT! This holistic health experience will help you learn, taste, and feel health as we explore the immune system, gut health, inflammation, and how to boost immunity with lifestyle tips, vitamins, herbs, and foods.

Holistic Chef Andrea will serve immune-boosting dishes, and you'll get to try healing therapies like red light therapy, lymphatic massage, and cryotherapy.

Seats are limited. Reserve yours now!

https://events.theholisticchef.com/upgradenutritionseries

[thedragonagelesbian]

16, 21, 22 for any KC you want :)

yeee thank you!!!!

Mechanics & Story Asks

gonna answer for both kyr (aeon -> gold dragon leyline guardian witch + winter witch) & cyrus (angel -> legend, martyr paladin -> spelleater bloodrager + skald + thug) because. i can. and i love them.

16. How well do they play mechanically with their romance, if any? If not, which party member do they synchronize best with?

Kyr: The entire inception of Kyr's character came from the unique possibilities of a healerXdhampir ship afiopwjef I love that Sosiel has to stock an entire extra line of spells to keep Kyr alive, I love that Sosiel comes with selective channel feat so he doesn't hurt Kyr when he channels energy, I love touch of good/bit of luck for boosting spell attack rolls, I love fortune + cackle for Kyr supporting his off-tank bf... love it all!!

Cyrus: End-game Cyrus is almost scarily self-sufficient, but the early/mid game 'step into my healing aura you stupid fuck' energy with Daeran is IMPECCABLE. Love a reckless self-sacrificing tank and an annoyed selfish healer learning to care about others by taking care of him. One of my favorite mechanic-driven story moments I've had yet was the final Act 3 boss battle, when basically all Cyrus did was stand there and get utterly pummeled by Darrazand while Daeran frantically tried to keep him up, this immense and bloody sacrifice made on behalf of the crusade... and Galfrey turns around and strips Cyrus of his command. Delicious.

21. If the Knight-Commander could get a unique item, what would it be and what would it do?

I don't know if these are items that they would have, so much as they are items inspired by the characters.

Kyr: Frozen Will. This gelid amulet grants its wearer immunity to mind-affecting spells and conditions. Additionally, whenever the wearer casts a spell with the cold descriptor, there is a 10% chance that the spell (or spell slot used to cast it) will not be spent.

Cyrus: The Skald's Saber of Self-Reliance. This +5 good longsword grants its wielder the ability to cast dispel magic, greater on themself as a move action, targeting harmful effects. The ability can be used three times per day.

22. What is the Commander’s opinion of their mythic patrons/advisors - the Hand of the Inheritor, Aivu or the Desnan Adepts, Zacharias, the Aeon in the mirror, Hal, Yozz and Noticula, etc.?

Kyr: The aeon in the mirror is... unnerving. Absolute, unassailable, all-consuming. Every time Kyr stands before the mirror, he feels certain. Like this is everything that he is, has always been, but when he steps away again, he feels less sure. Especially discovering that he isn't allowed to use the aeon's temporal powers to undo his own immense suffering at the hands of his sire, he grows more disillusioned with it, its promises, and the sacrifices it demands in return.

His current feelings on Hal are also ambivalent. He wants to believe in the possibility of redemption, but hearing how Hal allowed Terendelev to hurt him, he can't help but think him a fool. Kyr is still trying to wrap his mind around the 'unconditional' part of the whole 'unconditional love, acceptance, and forgiveness' thing.

And he's utterly uninterested in and unaffected by "Melies". Which is a shame because now I have to make a whole new aeon to be tempted by corruption & fuck that archdevil. Smh.

Cyrus: Cyrus' initial admiration of the Hand of the Inheritor quickly escalated into something more in the Abyss. Defending his worth to Galfrey, providing refuge of the Nexus, always watching over him and checking in to make sure the demonic corruption wasn't getting to him... the Hand helped Cyrus feel safe, or at least as safe as he could be, in the Midnight Isles.

...So when Nocticula revealed that Areelu had planted the wound that gave Cyrus his mythic powers, and the Hand took it poorly, Cyrus was devastated. The reveal hit him hard too, given his myriad body & autonomy issues and his deep-seated fear of being a weapon wielded by someone else, and this person he cared about seeing him like that hurt even more.

So they fought about it. And then they had a very heavy makeout/holy handjob sess about it.

Cyrus was heartbroken when Baphomet took the Hand, all the more so when Iomedae told him that the Hand was praying to him constantly for salvation from his torture in the Ineluctable Prison. And he was horrified by what that torture had wrought, turning the Hand into an empty vessel for Baphomet's cruel will. Of course Cyrus saved his heart and returned it to him, and in my heart, the Hand returned to Drezen afterward to begin his recovery. With lots of gay fallen angel sex. That's a very important part of the recovery.

[tarzantips]

Holiday Honey Hacks: Boosting Immunity for a Merry Christmas

It is time to accept the golden, delicious liquid that may keep you healthy and full of festive spirit honey as the holiday season comes near.

For centuries, people have enjoyed this amazing gift of nature for its many health advantages, including its capacity to strengthen immunity.

Together, let's make this Christmas not only joyful but also healthy.

Understanding the Immune - Boosting Power of Honey

Not only is honey a healthy sweetener, but it also contains minerals, enzymes, and antioxidants that help boost your immune system.

Honey's antioxidants help in the fight against free radicals, which can impair your immune system.

Honey also has antiviral and antibacterial qualities that help prevent illnesses.

Because of this, honey becomes an extremely useful ally during the cold and flu season, keeping you healthy so you can enjoy the seasonal delicious foods.

Honey and Warm Drinks - A Comforting Defense Against Winter Illness

Honey is a must-have for holiday health since a spoonful in tea or warm water helps clear your throat and prevent frequent winter illnesses.

Adding honey to a warm glass of lemon water or a traditional cup of herbal tea can improve its calming properties.

Honey's natural enzymes help soothe sore throats, and its antiviral qualities help your body fight off cold viruses.

Have a warm beverage infused with honey first thing in the morning to gently strengthen your immune system.

DIY Honey Remedies - Simple Recipes to Keep Colds at Bay

This holiday season make effective honey-based medicines to stave off colds and the flu with a few simple ingredients. A typical treatment is a mixture of ginger and honey.

Just combine honey and shredded ginger, then let alone for a few hours. When a cold seems like it could come on, take a teaspoon of this combination.

Because of its antimicrobial qualities, honey and cinnamon paste make an additional potent treatment.

To maintain a strong immune system, combine one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon and take it on a regular basis.

Read: Minimal Spending Hemoglobin Increase Food Boost Your Blood Health

Incorporating Honey into Your Holiday Meals

There are endless ways to include honey into your Christmas recipes, from glazes to desserts, to enhance the flavor and strength of your meals.

Try roasted veggies with a honey balsamic drizzle or ham with a honey glaze for a festive touch.

Honey might be the main ingredient in your Christmas treats if you're in the mood for something sweet.

Honey can be used to make honey cakes, cookies, or even just a honey drizzle over fruit or yogurt.

These recipes are delicious, but they also have the extra benefit of honey's ability to strengthen immunity.

Honey for Skin Care - Protecting Your Skin During the Festivities

Not only is honey edible, but it can also be used as a natural moisturizer to keep your skin hydrated and shielded from the cold winter air.

Your skin may become dry and sensitive in the winter. Honey is a great addition to your skincare routine because of its inherent humectant qualities, which help seal in moisture.

How to Prepare;

Applying a small layer of honey to your skin and letting it sit for 15 to 20 minutes before rinsing off will make a basic honey face mask. Your skin will feel moisturized, smooth, and ready for the holidays after doing this.

Choosing the Best Honey - What to Look for This Christmas

Discover how to select the highest quality honey so you can maximize its health advantages over the holiday season.

Not all honey is created equal. Look for raw, unfiltered honey when shopping for honey, as it keeps the greatest nutrients and health-promoting enzymes.

Because of its strong antibacterial qualities, Manuka honey is a great option for increasing immunity.

To be sure you are getting the best product possible, always check the label for purity and attempt to get honey from nearby beekeepers.

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