[video]

[purifyingroots]

[Millennial Tree Cookie’s framing when he posts videos to the network is… usually pretty bad, because months of being human in a world with this level of technology have not taught him to hold the Gear level while he records. So, the fact that this video is only showing half his face, with the rest of the frame filled up by the frozen walls of Ice Path and the fluffy orange side of his Arcanine, isn’t that unusual.

What is unusual is that Millennial Tree Cookie himself looks completely miserable. He seems to have smushed himself as far into his Arcanine’s fluff as he can get, and pushed his scarf up under his nose, and… honestly, looks to have been sweating a fair bit more than one may expect from someone literally surrounded by ice.]

Is it… typical, among humans, to… experience abrupt temperature changes and, ah, leaking from the nose in cold weather?

Comments

[video]

[bugbeverage]

Aw crap! I've heard about this. Foxy Grandpa has the living death drips! Sheeeyit!

[video]

[purifyingroots]

The... what?

[That sentence would have made little sense to him on a good day, but now he just looks like he's questioning what reality he's in.

He did get one word, though:] Death??

[video]

[bugbeverage]

Yes indeed-y! That there pe-nu-monia, wiped out plenty a' breathers!

[video]

[purifyingroots]

O-oh - others have told me it was unlikely to be... to be fatal?

[This is new information and he HATES IT]

Are you sure that's what it is?

[video]

[scourgingstars]

Ah, troublesome humanity. Truly the one universally terminal condition.

[video]

[purifyingroots]

[Ah. It's this guy, with the existential depression, here with more of... this. Millennial Tree Cookie frowns a little harder.]

Does... that mean yes?

[Genuinely, he is asking. Please Ardyn do you have to talk Like That right now]

[video]

[scourgingstars]

You've never been ill a day in your life? I must confess I envy that. I fear it's perfectly normal, though it might also kill you. Humans are so fragile like that.

[yes. yes he does.]

[video]

[purifyingroots]

Not... in this same way. The kinds of afflictions trees experience are quite different.

[You know, what with not having any of the same biological systems as a human does, or experiencing physical senses in the same way, or... so on.]

I have been told of a few precautions to take, but I will, ah... keep my own mortality in mind. [Since he guesses that's where this is going.]

[video] i love how nobody is actually helping this poor man

[meteorman]

[Ford looks incredibly excited. He should probably not look incredibly excited about what is obviously a distress call.]

Yes! Do you feel anything else unusual? Pain in your throat? Aches or fatigue?

[video] just leaving him to suffer, smh

[purifyingroots]

Uh... y-yes? To both.

...I didn't realize this was... good?

[Is he missing something? Is he somehow doing it wrong??]

[meteorman]

It isn't!

[Said with nothing but bright enthusiasm. Of course.]

You're sick, likely with a viral infection many humans contract around this time of year. Irritation in the nose and throat are the most common symptoms, so it would make sense that you'd have no frame of reference. I imagine you've never had a nose or throat before.

[purifyingroots]

[Ford. Ford please he is too head-empty and too out of it to comprehend this kind of tonal dissonance--]

I... [Give him a moment to think about that, just in case.] No, I haven't. So, then, it is... not unusual, at least?

[Said with the bafflement of someone who can't believe you people just? Live like this??? Every year????]

[video]

[fortuna_tenax]

... Youuu might have a cold. Are you anywhere near a town right now?

[video]

[purifyingroots]

I... am cold, yes-- or, you mean something separate?

I am, ah... a few days away from the last town I was in... I don't know how long it is to the next.

[fortuna_tenax]

A "cold" is what we call a type of illness. I think you might be sick, MT. I want you to head back to where you were, asap, okay?

( and then, to his darling arcanine- )

Hey, bud. Remember me? Your trainer needs to get to safety right now, and fast. Can I trust you to take care of him? I need you to get him to the place where the nurses heal you and your fellow pokémon in towns.

[purifyingroots]

Alright, I... understand.

[Flame Pup perks up at being addressed, and his tail starts thumping against the icy ground. He answers with a nod and a little whine, and then the camera pitches as he sets about pushing Millennial Tree Cookie to his feet.]

--Ah.

video

[zukeini]

Sounds like you're getting sick.

[A beat, he looked serious.]

Bed rest, tea, orange juice, plenty of fluids, easily digestive foods like soup.

video

[purifyingroots]

[He just... nods, slowly, taking that in.]

I... am told I should return to a town. Once I'm there, I should have access to a bed.

[yeah that's what he can answer with so far, there's gonna be some processing time needed]

video

[zukeini]

Which town are you closest to? Because I have...a list here, of all nearest pharmacies in every town I was in. Just in case.

[He fumbled a bit in his pack for his notebook.]

[Video]

[shiningkindness]

[ Fluttershy herself is still pretty new, but the question doesn't surprise her too much. She's beginning to learn that there are people here that weren't human originally, and honestly it's interesting to know that there are other worlds besides Sunset's where people doesn't necessarily mean human.

What does concern her though is the appearance of this person, even as it takes her a moment to understand what he's saying. ]

Oh dear...i-it sounds like you might be getting sick. You look like you might have a fever.

[Video]

[purifyingroots]

Yes, I'm told it sounds like an illness called a... cold? [He doesn't get why the disease is called a temperature! ...Even if, he guesses, he has sometimes felt pretty cold since it started up.]

It is... a bit alarming that this apparently happens to humans frequently.

[shiningkindness]

W-Well...I wouldn't say it happens frequently. It's just not...entirely uncommon?

[ But not the point. ]

A-Anyway...the best way to treat a cold is to get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids. And...maybe get to somewhere warmer, if you can?

video;

[sassymaru]

Ah...

I have seen this. Among the human members of the police force. I believe they referred to it as "the common cold".

And prescribed days off. More if they were men.

video;

[purifyingroots]

Yes, I'm... starting to gather it is rather common. As... implied by the name.

[Listen he is not at his most eloquent right now.]

Why... more?

video;

[sassymaru]

I have heard bed rest and hot liquid mentioned many times as treatment.

That, I'm afraid, is a mystery I cannot untangle, alas.