#and it wasn't even winter. it was spring! the temperature was over 20

[000marie198]

I've grown up in a desert. Temperatures go up to 44 during daytime on a normal day, no matter the season besides winter.

I can handle 35 no problem.

I remember in high school my geography teacher said humans will choose to live in unbeatable heat over unbearable cold, but nearly every single person I've met in my life has said they'd rather die in the cold than live in the heat, so now I thought to myself why not outsource this question!

no fahrenheit because if i have to google the answers on polls with no celcius, so do you

[shini--chan]

Axis + Prussia are stuck in a meeting or a flight is delayed causing them to be late in returning home. Only the problem is that they left their s/o alone in the basement during the winter as punishment. Would they feel remorseful if s/o caught pneumonia or was frost-bitten? Wonderful blog by the way.👍

Yandere Axis + Prussia - Frozen

Austria

Rodrich chastised himself the second time today. Frustrated, he stared down on your prone form. Your lips were blue as well as your hands, which were both curled up and pressed against your chest. You didn't even seem to conciouness enough to recognise that he was here, judging from how you didn't even stirr when he lifted you up causiously. You trembled in his arms as he haphazzardly kicked the door open and trugded through the thick snow to the main house.

Earnestly, he had thought it would be one of those warm Aprils this year. It had started out as such after all - there had been daffidols and tulips and snowbells in the small garden, and the air had been think with the scents of spring and bird song. However, April had always been a willful month and this time, it had graced with heavily snowfall in the exact week when he had locked you in the rundown old barn as punishment and had then been summoned to the capital.

He layed you on the narrow bench in the living room, refraining from trying to arrange your limbs und into a more favourable position - he knew that would only cause more complications. Opening the oven door next to you, he then proceeded to build a fire. He had just arived and therefore it was still cold in the mountain cabin.

Roderich would be more annoyed than paniced. Taking on responsiblity in a rare moment, he could recognised that this would have been his fault. However, this wouldn't prevent him from lecturing you and in your weakened state, you wouldn't have any energy to argue.

Would have tea ready (no hot chocolate for bad kiddies) and a few warm infustions if needed. While he might not look the part, he knows how to live in the mountains and deal with all the problems and hardships that could entail.

Germany

Normally, Ludwig would have shoved you to the other side of the bed if you nudged your cold feet against him. But this wasn't normal, and he begrudgingly let you, feeling goosebumps rise all over his skin. Clicking his tongue, he forced himself to stay still.

In the privacy of his mind he told himself that it was splendid that you were moving again - he had been scared that the hypothermia was more severe than his initiatale assesment had led him to believe. If that had been the case he would have had to deliever you to a hospital and he blanched at the thought of letting over people touch you.

He shifted slightly, trying his best to relax as much as he could with an ice-cold body pressed up against him and resume watch Tatort. Another 20 minutes passed, with the detective being a hair-breadth away from catching the actual culprit, when he heard a few slurred words. With how emotionally invested he was, he ignored you - it probably would only be something innane anyway.

Though, you elected to emphasise your point by clumsily drapping an arm over his chest, placing a chilled hand directly over his heart. While your body temperature had significantly improved, he still yelped in surprise, the jerky movements causing him to dislodge his head phones.

Balefully he glared at you, only to be met with a pained expression, and a quiet yet pointed demand: "Hug."

A burst of warmth erupted in his belly. You actually wanted physical closness! Though you were cold, had broken quiet a few rules roughly a week ago and he wanted to finish his Tatort episode. Oh, the dilemea!

Germany would take care of you to the best of his ability. Due to what happened he would feel guilty, and he would beat himself up about it, something you could exploit later to your advantage. Though on the other hand, there would still be the residues of anger caused by whatever had brought on the punishment in the first place. Don't push him too far.

Italy

"Go slowly. Eating to fast on an empty stomach will only make you throw up, bella", Feliancano said, though to him it sounded like somebody else was talking and the words weren't his own, eventhough the voice was his, with how surreal the situation was. But that wasn't the right word - dreamlike would be more appropiate with how lightheaded he felt.

Your slowness with eating was more due to fatigue and pain in your still stiff joints, than you actually heading his words. Hunger glinted in your eyes, and your movements were imbued with frustrated cluminess. You stuffed the tomatoes and mozzarella in your mouth, not caring that the dressing dribbled down your chin and stained your sleepware - you were simply too exhausted to care.

He sat down opposite you, impassively watching you eat. A light meal because this was your first soild meal in three days. The oil and vinegar and light herbs to counter the traces of alcohol in your blood.

Before he had left, he had switched of the electricity and water, you had earned that. Besides his trip taking a bit longer than anticipated he had had a wrong estimate of his stocks. With no other choice when the bottled water and juice had run out, you had switched over to emptying his liquor cabinett. The winter was cold in the northern parts of his country and with having passed out and giving off more body heat than normal due to intoxication, you had gotten frostbite.

Italy would be franky shocked when he would come home to a frostbitten and unconcious y/n in his cellar next to the wine rack. At first he would be in a frenzy, calling one of the officials in charge of handling his affairs for guidance. With their directions he would warm you up.

Would feed you warm milk and honey and soups. During your recovery, he would dote on you after overcoming the initial shock. Besides his concern being genuine, he would also see the chance to gain your trust and charm you. You would be in a very vunerable position where you would be forced to rely on him for safety and health. While the circumstances couldn’t be worse, the opportunity couldn’t be better in Feliciano’s eyes.

Japan

Kiku stared at you. It was all he could do to prevent himself from scowling at you. Inwardly, he did his best to calm himself and smooth over his own ruffled feathers. This was one of the moments where he loathed the fact that he loved you the way he did. Or perhaps it was just this strange modern era that had caused him to grow soft and far too compassionate.

Seeing his eyes burning into you, you tilted the mug of hot chocolate his way, making a soft humming noise in askance. Sighing, he shook his head.

“No, it is just for you. Now drink up. It is best if you get warm quickly.”

After a few seconds of staring at him blankly, you carefully nodded and stuck the straw back in your mouth, resuming your sluggish slurping. As cute as you were when dazed, he would rather not have a repetition of this. It was all so tiresome. Really, who did you think you were, catching hypothermia like that. He had finally though you could care for yourself, that you could cope with a harsher punishment but no – you just had to put him in a situation where aside from dragging his weight, he had to drag yours as well.

By now he was utterly exhausted due to all the trouble you had caused him. When you were finally fully recovered, you would have repay him. After all, one hand washes the other, or not? He did so much for you, protected and provided for you, so the least you could do was reciprocate his affections. Alas! even that seemed to be demanding too much from you, if your repeated transgression were anything to go by.

But he was a patient man, and additionally, hopefully this event would make you see the light.

Japan would be more annoyed than anything else. He would be already stressed out as it is and would love nothing more than to come home to be greeted by his partner with a warm meal and understanding words. Instead, you had the audacity to fall ill and thus heap more work on his already overfilled plate. Have you no sense of shame?

Would hold the whole affair over your head afterwards. While he does like to to take care of you, that would only be at its own time and pace. Kiku doesn't like to be forced to do things. So he would use it to lecture you on how you would be lost without him and with how much he does for you, you should return the favour.

Prussia

"Hand!", Gilbert demanded, his own one outstretched.

"What with it?", you asked, befuddled to what he could possiblely want. It was perfectly clear - as long as you didn't have hypothermia.

Annoyed by your slowness, he harshly grabbed your hand, roughly pulling it towards him. You yelped in pain, trying desperately to escape the iron grip with your flailing strength. Yet it was to no avail – he callously ignored your cries of pain and begun pressing around your lower arm.

When he had practised on corpses 100 years ago during his anatomy course at the Charlete in Berlin, yet, as said, that had been a hundred years ago. You were a live person, and the cold you had been subjected to for so long made it difficult to press a vein out.

Losing his patience with you, Gilbert delivered a harsh slap to your arm, causing a weak shriek to fly over your lips. By now you were crying, the hot tears stinging where they touched your cold cheeks. Surely he had only inflicted more damage through his manhandling.

Finally finding a vein, he inserted the needle, holding your arm firmly to ensure you didn’t jerk away and harm yourself more. Letting out a sigh of relief, Prussia quickly grabbed the gauze and cotton patch he had prepared, fixating the needle and putting the IV bag with the warm saline solution on a high shelf beside the bed so that it could drip into your system, heating you from the inside out.

Gilbert would be angry – at you, at himself, at the world itself for deciding to be cold at the most inconvenient time. Why did you have to be weak and bring him in such a predicament, he would ask himself. Nevertheless, he would get on to warm you as quickly as possible since time would be essential. He would do active inner warming, hence the warm saline solution.

[frankhightower]

2024 Size Drive: Introduction

Aaand it's March and the page is done! I got a lot to say about this one so let's do a sort of FAQ:

Second drive? Where's the first? The First Size Drive ran from late March to late April 2023. I'd been trying to do it for years but that was the first time I was able to before Macro March was over. This is also why there was nothing for Micro May last year, but I've planned one for this year. And if you're new here, welcome!

What do you mean by "one panel every day"? Last year, I would only make a page when I got a donation. I soon discovered this was terrible for visibility, so I tried a regular schedule for my other drives, which soon proved unmanageable. This time, I'm just going to post a single panel every day that I'm able, and we'll see how many panels I can end up doing by the end of it.

Why are you suddenly un-fluffy? Where's your winter coat? In-universe (even though these events are non-canon), the size drive is supposed to be a 30-ish minute live event that takes place at the end of the month. Although it has been rather cold lately (which, don't get me wrong, I'm happy about!), I'm drawing everyone in "spring" fur for this reason: I'm hoping for "normal" spring temperatures by the end of this.

So how does the "grow or shrink multiplier" work? Each donator specifies if their donation goes to growing or shrinking. If someone donates $10 to grow, 10 is added to the numerator of the multiplier: i.e. my size is multiplied by 10. If they donate $10 to shrink, 10 is added to the denominator: i.e. my size is divided by 10.

What do you mean you "corrected" it? Last year, I wrote the multiplier as "size = size × fraction", which means that I wasn't multiplying my original size, but my new size, meaning the multiplier wasn't being added to, but multiplied to. I didn't realize the mistake until the second donation, at which point I decided to run with it since most growth/shrink drive "stories" are about how the growing or shrinking malfunctions.

So how does it work now? If the fraction stands at 10/5 (i.e. 11 ft since 5½'×10÷5=11) and someone donates $10 to grow, the fraction will become 20/5 (i.e. 22 ft). If they donate it to shrink, the fraction will become 10/15 (i.e. 3 ft). The fact that my size can change wildly is part of the fun, and creates a friendly competition between the viewers who want me bigger and the viewers who want me smaller!

Who are Bobby, Jason and Jeremy and why do you "not have them" this year? Part of the reason for doing the drive was to introduce my characters. They each had a role if certain milestones were reached, and the only milestone we didn't reach was Camila the fairy's. There are in-universe reasons for why they wouldn't return for a second year, but mostly, the reason is because having to draw them all severely upped the drawing time, even when they were just a background blur. We really only "need" two camera operators.

Who's Camila? A childhood friend of Susan. This actually makes her hard to draw because I really only had a solid story design for what she looks like as a child!

Who are Jane and Susan? Frank's in-universe wife and daughter, respectively.

Your "daughter" looks taller than you Yes, she's an adult here, and she takes after her mother (who is taller than me when we're both mouse-sized). Also, she's standing on tippy-toes to avoid damaging the camera.

Is she wearing jeans?! Unlike her parents, Susan prefers wearing pants/trousers. It's her little bit of teen rebelliousness that stuck with her as she grew up. (She was wearing a dress last time because she thought she should look formal if she was going to be in front of the cameras, but now that she's behind them...)

Why does she say "Hullo"? I had a few British teachers in elementary school, so I say some words "the British way" (like "aluminium"). Susan had mostly British teachers in elementary school, but since her mother has a very strong American accent, it had a similar effect on her.

What's that thing behind her? An archway.

No, the other thing! Stairs. The fountain is in a lower area.

What's with the permit? Jane is a lawyer by trade and one of the milestones last year was "getting so big the police gets involved". It would be fully in-character for her to file for a permit as soon as she knew we were doing this again: she's good friends with the police captain and wants to keep it that way. Note that getting a permit for this requires authorization from three separate entities: The Human Government, The Mouse Government, and The Magical Government so she is properly proud of having procured it!

What's this about the dentist? Due to (among other things) genetics, most of my teeth have had to be filled and this means the fillings periodically break and need to be redone (periodically meaning each tooth breaks about once a decade, don't panic yet). After about, wait for it, a decade of not being able to go to the dentist, last year we tried to fix all my teeth in one go... and quickly ran out of money. The situation was made worse by a combination of other factors which I hope to explain later, but the priority was paying off the debt to the dentist so she could finish the job.

For this reason, the previous Size Drive's stated reason was "to pay off my dental bills". It was a big help, but didn't quite reach that goal, and the "combination of other factors" has been keeping me from paying it off since so I haven't been able to go back to her.

What do you mean you'll be "showing us the kingdom"? If the first size drive was to introduce my characters, the second one is to introduce the world. There's a branching script of sorts in my head so that, especially on days when there's no donations, there's something for the characters to do. (Branching because "what if I get too small by the time we get here? what it happens over there?" etc.)

What's with the church in the background? It's a town square. Town squares have churches.

I suppose you'll explain more about the setting as the month goes on? Yes.

So... where can I donate? The donation link is http://PayPal.me/FrankHghTwr and any amount is much, much appreciated!

[delicatecloudfire]

31 Dec - really didn't overeat or anything over the holidays at all, so that's good! Had some cookies, 2 slices of pie over the course of a week, and maybe 3 pieces of chocolate? No alcohol except maybe 1/3 glass of wine (it was gross). I did several Pilates videos, and the stationary bike once. It was too cold to walk for the most part, though I did a 30 min walk/jog this Thursday when it was about 54 out which felt wonderful!! Perfect temperature for that. Very impressive step totals for the time at my parents' though.

I am using the Lose It app to track my food. I don't have much of an issue with eating too much or being hungry, but I do easily add 300 extra calories with evening snacks on the regular out of not much more than random cravings, and I want to stop that, and also be more aware of the times I will have a glass or two of wine and think little of it. I know that if I didn't do these small things I'd lose the five pounds I've been stuck on forever....

Most important from just five days of tracking, though, is how low my protein is! I knew I wasn't getting what I should but i am below even that!!! So this is my biggest goal. No wonder I've been stuck in terms of increasing my weights for dumbbells!

I do want to incorporate some barbell exercises this year, but I'm most interested in losing those five pounds of fat I'm so uncomfortable with, so I don't expect to advance much. Maybe if I achieve that goal I can add in extra calories for muscle building, but I don't trust myself to work out heavily enough during the winter months when it involves going to the gym, so there will be more at-home videos and basic dumbbells til spring.

Overall, I did not make the progress I wanted in terms of looks or muscles, BUT I can say honestly that there was hardly one week this year where I didn't work out at least twice, and I've kept the commitment of going to the gym and using weights more. My back is definitely stronger which is huge for me!! I feel more aware of my body for better and for worse.

Specific-y Winter 2023 goals:

Track calories/macros daily January through April.

Increase average daily protein intake to 75 grams (I'm averaging like 50 now) by February, then increase.

Pilates/yoga/balance-ortiented videos once a week, even if only 20 minutes. Must log here and link specific video/routine.

Exercise at least 4 a week (20 min minimum, preferably 40+)

Post Fitbit reading for every. day. Posting multiple days at once allowed, but can't go for more then five days without.

Go to all sessions of the barre class I signed up for. Starts second week of January.

Be able to do 3 30 s deadhangs in a row by March 15.

Incorporate 1 set of 7 lat pulldowns at 80 lbs every time starting in Feb.

Write out all workouts for posts here.

Equally important less-measurable winter 2023 goals:

Reduce belly/back fat -- pretty much the only places excess weight collects on me, though I also expect to possibly reduce my bra size slightly. I don't want to make a specific inches goal, but I think 5 lb is reasonable even if I gain a bit of muscle (which I don't really expect, being at a slight deficit, tho maybe the protein will help.)

Return to place where 15 lb dumbbells are very comfortable for me for basic curls etc., because how was it so much easier when I was 15 lb lighter and not now?! That's nothing! Vague I know, but I'll feel when.

Good luck everyone!

[aalinaaaaaa]

Day 3 — Eternal Winter

As part of @rheas-chaos-motivation 's writing challenge!

Word count: 423

Synopsis: A piece touching on the basic premise of the Twenty Year Winter, an event that happened well over 100 years before the start of Flamebearer.

Today's Friday, so that usually means a Flash Friday piece (based on flashfictionfriday's weekly prompts).

This week is no different, here is a link to what I wrote today:

Flash Friday #260. Fear is a Sickness | Eternal Winter

Below the cut, is context behind the piece if anyone is interested :D

As the name implies, this phenomenon lasted twenty years. According to witnesses and written accounts, it was said to have started near Audri, a small area within the province of Yverli, in east Helinda. People said that it wasn't noticed as a cursed/prolonged winter until it got into the spring months and the ice and snow had not melted. If anything, the ice seemed to spread.

Over the months and years, it spread further, leaching into much of Former Delitsyia and then into west Vaer. Areas that had their trees and foliage in full summer bloom actually got preserved in that form, the only catch being that the trees and plants could not photosynthesise nor go through the usual growth cycle. Leaves and branches broke off due to the weight of the snows that landed on them.

As expected, temperatures in the affected areas plummeted, to about 0-5°C in the daytime, and between ‐4°C to -20°C at night. Any and almost all precipitation fell as snow or hail.

People wondered what the cause was, and to the current day, the cause is not definitive. The most popular belief is that someone's spell went very, very wrong and they weren't able to stop it.

In the tale of Saint Alastor, it is mentioned that an ice queen was the progenitor of it all, where her intention was to end the Verlova line in order to prevent Fate from appearing again. If her curse made it to the capital city, all that would've happened is that the royals would've moved. It just so happened she got a prime opportunity to end Romerius Verlova's life due to him visiting one of the affected towns.

However, this curse ended about twenty years after its first appearance (on the summer solstice, no less), due to the efforts of Alastor Tolyvenko, a teenage boy who broke the entire curse through releasing a burst of divine light into the sky. He died almost immediately after his heroics, and was venerated as a Saint shortly afterwards.

The death estimate is very murky, because Helindian culture stipulates the burning of their dead. It is said that millions of people and creatures either died or moved during this time. Even to this day, the population numbers of Yverli and west Vaer have not seen a full recovery.

In a sense, some argue this event has contributed to Yverli's natural environment, consisting of many ponds, streams, lakes and winter-tolerant trees and flowers.

The piece linked way above touches a bit on the conditions present during that time, and also the fear that people felt due to the hardship.

[alpaca-clouds]

The Hot & the Cold

Fandom: YURI!! On Ice

Shipping: Victor/Yuri

Genre: Fluff & Smut

Length: 1489 words

Given the fact he was an ice skater, one should believe that Yuri was fine with the cold. But in fact he wasn't. Especially not with the icy cold that would reign over St. Petersburg this late December. It would cut his skin almost like knifes, as he shivered.

“You should've warned me it is this cold,” he complained to Victor, while the other man put an arm around him.

“It is not that could.”

“It is literally freezing.”

Victor laughed. He indeed seemed to be immune against the cold, even when he was not on the ice. But that was Victor for you. He was a wunderkind in each and every way. Not only was he still skating, even though he would be 30 next year, he seemed too often be immune against the cold, the heat or exhaustion. “Let's just get a cab,” he said. “Once we are home you can take a hot bath.”

Yuri sighed. A hot bath would probably do wonders. Because even after just those 10 minutes it took them to get a taxi, he felt already frozen through. It was always those moments when he missed Japan and the onsen. Of course, he knew that he was in a way quite lucky, having grown up in a ryokan, being able to bath in the hot springs every day, but he still missed it whenever he was abroad.

The cold was really bad, given that he was already wearing a thick winter coat and a scarf and yet was shivering, when they were sitting in the taxi.

The cab driver looked in the rear-view mirror. “Aren't you…” he started, but Victor just grinned.

“I am nobody,” he replied and named their address.

It was a 20-minutes-drive, but in the end Yuri was quite relieved when the cab stopped in front of the rather old building that had been constructed before the soviet era.

“How do you do it?” he asked, when Victor – who was just wearing a normal jacket – easily caried his suitcase over to the door.

“What?”

“How do you not freeze to death?”

Victor gave him the kind of suggestive grin he would show quite often. “I think hot thoughts.” He opened the door to let Yuri inside.

It being an old building that had been renovated had some upsides. The thick walls were keeping the cold mostly outside. Though there was a downside, too. As their apartment was on the third floor and the building did not have an elevator.

“See,” Victor teased, when they finally reached their apartment door, “now you are no longer freezing.”

Yuri half laughed, half grunted, looking at him while he got out his own keys. “Just great.” It was of course the reason, they would not freeze on the ice, as the skating was just physically exhausting. The movement would keep them warm.

Their apartment was thankfully heated, though only as much to keep the temperatures around 20°C. It was nice. Not too hot – even though Yuri could use a few degrees more.

Once the door was closed behind them, Victor wrapped his arms around Yuri. “Welcome home,” he whispered and now even his tone was suggestive.

“I have only just arrived,” Yuri commented dryly.

“Well, you have been gone for almost a month. So of course I've missed you.”

Yuri sighed, though he could not help a slight smile. “Let me at least shower, first.” Sitting in a pressurized metal tube for 10 hours just did not make you feel very sexy. Especially as around this time a year one could always be certain, that there was a sniffling child in one's general vicinity.

“A kiss, at least?” Victor asked, making Yuri turn around to him.

“Fine. A kiss.” He put his hand into Victor's hair, pulling him into what was meant to be a short kiss. Victor, however, would not allow for the kiss to stay short. Kissing him deeper, more demanding.

“Shower, first.” Yuri said, breaking away from his fiancé with a chuckle.

All of this still seemed to be like a dream. The two of them together. Him living here. With him together.

Yuri was tired. It had been a 10-hour flight and there was of course the jet lag. Normally he was able to sleep well during flights, but there was the aforementioned sniffling child, that had decided after about three hours to start whining – and would not stop for another 2 hours. After that sleep had simply evaded him.

Still, he sighed with relief, once he had stripped off his clothing and turned on the shower. He shot the bathtub a long gaze, but frankly: He was almost certain that if he had a bath now, he would just fall asleep inside the tub. So, he decided for a shower, giving another sigh as the hot water was running over his skin. It felt heavenly. For two or three minutes he just allowed the water to run over him, as he closed his eyes and enjoyed. Only to find Victor standing in front of the cabin, once he opened his eyes again.

Grinning, Yuri just shook his head, as his eyes drifted over their soaps. He was about to pick up some shampoo, when the glass door was opened.

Victor always had had the uncanny ability to strip in what seemed to be the blink of an eye and now he stepped behind him. “You know that is my shampoo, right?” he asked softly, looking at the bottle Yuri was about to grip.

“I know,” he replied. “But… It smells like you.”

“Of course it does.” Once again Victor put his arms around Yuri, pulling him close, their skin now touching, while the hot water was running over them. He kissed Yuri's neck, while Yuri could feel his cheeks flush, as they would always do. “Let me do this,” Victor then said, taking the shampoo bottle.

[It gets steamy for the last like 400 words, so those will have to stay on Ao3.]