#Therapeutic Wellness Products

[shaadiwish]

Consider The Wide Range Of Naturally-Made Products From Souk Life As Wedding Favors. Stay Tuned To ShaadiWish For Latest Trends.

[sergle]

btw while I’m still being annoying, my favorite example to bring up in the “hygiene products that you can just pick up off the shelf at the store can have KNOWN carcinogens in them” conversation is coal tar. This one’s still crazy to me. It’s used in anti-dandruff products for its “anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties" but it’s also LIKE. a hazardous substance... but it can still go in your shampoo bc “aww but it’s only SOME poison, it’s not like, a LOT of poison, so we can still sell it and it’s ok”

[buck-yyyy]

is it silly that i genuinely think learning to do my makeup is one of the best things i’ve ever done?

tags for an explanation-

[inkblot-inc]

Imagine if part of Jaws’ hair got/was long enough for a little braid and Natasha sort of shyly asked if she could braid it while they relax together

That'd be so friggin' cute-

Jaws usually keeps their hair pretty short with the same few styles, but once there's a decent amount of new growth, Nat's just like "I just wanna- can I try something really quick?"

There's really no reason for Jaws to say no...Plus it's Nat asking so-

Jaws winds up getting small braids while they're just playing in a Minecraft world with Peter or some shit 🤭

[theritualtea]

The Ritual Buckwheat Tea - The ideal thing for efficient weight loss and body detox. It is also caffeine and gluten-free, supports a safe framework, and controls your craving.

[kheoni2024]

Our Lemongrass Aromatherapy Eye Pillow makes the best travel and home relaxation companion. It is weighted to perfection and provides instant stress and anxiety relief due to the naturally extracted Lemongrass bit present in it giving it a pleasantly soothing aroma. The therapeutic stones combined with dried ginger, lemongrass, tamarind leaves, and pure essential oils make for blissful moments of indulgence and self-care. It is a sustainable luxury at its finest. shop Now khenoi store

[win-your-day]

Website: https://www.win-your-day.com

Address: Norway

Win Your Day Morning Club offers science-based morning rituals to enhance focus, energy, and mood. Founded by clinical psychologists specializing in meditation, psychotherapy, and personal growth, the club provides a supportive online community for individuals seeking lifestyle optimization. Emphasizing mindfulness and self-care, the club helps members start their day positively, fostering mental health and productivity.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winyourday.morningclub

Keywords: mental health support mindfulness practices stress reduction methods therapeutic techniques productivity tips self care strategies wellness practices healthy habits for life goal setting strategies morning routine benefits psychotherapy resources personal growth strategies mental clarity exercises lifestyle optimization emotional wellness resources emotional well being tips mindfulness for everyone morning rituals for focus energy boosting practices mood enhancement techniques online morning club relational trauma healing daily routines for well being mental well being techniques psychological research insights circadian rhythms alignment distraction management tips morning practice advantages psychological well being resources habit formation techniques global morning routines online focus improvement boosting energy levels globally international mood enhancement productivity across time zones personal growth worldwide global online morning club global psychotherapy support healing relational trauma globally international emotional well being global self care strategies worldwide mental health tips wellness practices globally lifestyle optimization worldwide global daily routines international mental well being stress reduction worldwide healthy habits globally emotional wellness worldwide morning routine benefits globally global psychological research international therapeutic techniques achieving mental clarity globally global circadian rhythms international goal setting distraction management worldwide morning practice advantages globally global psychological well being worldwide habit formation morning rituals in english speaking countries boosting energy in english speaking nations mood enhancement practices in english productivity tips for english speakers personal growth in english speaking regions english speaking online morning club mindfulness practices in english psychotherapy resources in english healing relational trauma in english emotional well being tips in english self care strategies in english mental health support in english wellness practices in english lifestyle optimization in english daily routines for well being in english mental well being techniques in english stress reduction methods in english healthy habits for life in english emotional wellness resources in english morning routine benefits in english psychological research insights in english therapeutic techniques in english mental clarity exercises in english circadian rhythms alignment in english goal setting strategies in english distraction management tips in english morning practice advantages in english psychological well being resources in english habit formation techniques in english global morning rituals in english online focus improvement in english

[herespaaa]

How Decluttering Impacts Your Mind: The Therapeutic Effects of Home Cleaning | HereSpa

Home is not just a physical space; it also reflects our state of mind. Cluttered and disorganized living spaces can contribute to feelings of stress and overwhelm. On the other hand, a clean and organized home has a profound impact on our mental well-being. In this blog post, we'll explore the therapeutic effects of home cleaning and decluttering, shedding light on how HereSpa Home Cleaning Services go beyond pampering to enhance your overall sense of peace and relaxation.

[bloomzone]

that girl checklist for success and wellness

"There's no need to go fast fast fast, just take it slow even if time wants to fly by I don't care" -straykids (tortoise and the hare)

1. Create a productive morning routine:

- Start your day with a structured plan that maximizes productivity. This could include activities like exercise, meditation, and planning your day ahead.

2. Keep your space clean and tidy:

- Maintain an organized and clutter-free environment. A clean space can boost mental clarity and reduce stress.

3. Workout at least 3 days a week:

- Engage in physical exercise regularly to stay fit and healthy. Aim for at least three sessions per week.

4. Dress for your body type:

- Choose clothing that flatters your figure and makes you feel confident. Understanding your body shape can help in selecting the right outfits.

5. Work towards becoming financially stable:

- Develop good financial habits, such as budgeting, saving, and investing, to ensure long-term financial security.

6. Practice self-care:

- Take time to care for your mental, emotional, and physical well-being. This can include activities like skincare routines, baths, or hobbies that you enjoy.

7. Keep a daily planner:

- Use a planner to organize your tasks, appointments, and goals. This helps in managing time effectively and staying on top of responsibilities.

8. Consume inspiring content:

- Surround yourself with positive and motivating material, such as books, podcasts, or videos that encourage personal growth and positivity.

9. Prioritize yourself and your mental health:

- Ensure that you are taking steps to maintain your mental health. This can include therapy, relaxation techniques, and setting boundaries.

10. Positive self-talk:

- Practice affirmations and speak to yourself in a positive and encouraging manner. This helps build self-esteem and a positive mindset.

11. Adopt a journal practice:

- Regularly write in a journal to reflect on your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Journaling can be therapeutic and provide clarity.

12. Eat healthy:

- Maintain a balanced diet that includes nutritious foods to support your overall health and well-being.

© bloomzone

[shaadiwish]

Explore The Luxurious And Therapeutic Range Of Beauty & Wellness Products From SoulTree. Stay Tuned To ShaadiWish For Latest Trends And Ideas.

[danisdistant]

sunday ramble - music

[intro blog] | [taglist] | [masterlist]

★──────────★─────────★

★──────────★─────────★

music somehow runs in the halovian blood. it’s natural for birds to sing and communicate to one another, and it can’t be helped that halovians like to as well.

robin for example, sings and spreads the word of the harmony. sunday on the other hand, the order and entire dreamscape is his symphony. while he himself isn’t skillful in music itself, he somehow bases off his work and goal off of music notes.

whenever you’re around the siblings, they sometimes can’t help themselves to express their emotions through song.

with sunday, he would often hum one of robin’s songs if he’s in a good mood. his humming is always calming and feels almost therapeutic in a way. you can’t help yourself but hum along with him.

in complete contrast, he’s more silent when he’s in a bad mood, usually because something popped up in the dreamscape. to cheer him up, you would hum (maybe even sing if you’re feeling confident enough) a simple tune that you learned from robin.

your voice would cause him to perk up, and his wings would slightly flutter here and there with every high note you hit. now, whenever he feels down, he pushes everything and his work away just to have some time to listen to your voice.

and in vice-versa, if you’re the one feeling down, sunday would try his best to cheer you up through his own music as well, even if he’s not great at it (it’s the thought that counts). he hums, and sometimes would sing childhood songs that he and robin would sing together.

it definitely makes you feel better, listening to his voice that sometimes crack. he’s a tad bit embarrassed that he can’t sing as well as he wants to, visually apparent with each time his wing flicks at the wrong note, or how he tries to hide his face behind his own wings. But you reassure him that he doesn’t have to even sing that well for him to cheer you up!

seriously, being able to listen to him sing is a privilege. no one else besides you and robin hear him sing, after all, he feels as though he’d make himself a fool if other people and the public heard his out of tune “chirping.”

if you like to sing in the shower, chances are sunday is also listening to you. he hums along your tune as he reads a book or works on some papers. when you come out, he would sometimes ask you to continue, something that would fluster you as you realize that he’s been listening all along.

even if you don’t think you sound that great to his sister, or any other professional singer, he still enjoys listening to you sing. and if you think you’re really that bad, much to sunday’s disagreement, he would ask his sister to help tutor you, something that you graciously accepted.

★──────────★─────────★

BONUS:

“Risee up into my! Woo~rld!” You sang, making sure to control your pitch, volume, and vibrato with each word. “Renew your definition~!” Continuing on with the chorus, Robin smiled, watching the product after a week of teaching and tutoring you upon your request.

“Woo~rld so high, let me sho~ow,” Sunday was watching along side Robin, clapping along as he smiled. “And hear my declaration… No more ties.~”

“Huff… How was that?”

“You did amazing, [Name]!” Robin cheered, clapping alongside her brother as he nodded in response. “Indeed. Your singing has definitely improved. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks.” You ushered, looking to the side as you can’t help but blush in some form of embarrassment. If you were also a Halovian, you would have hid your face behind a pair of wings.

“How about a quick trip to Golden Hour for a snack? [Name] deserves some sort of reward for her impressive performance.” Sunday suggested, something that you graciously accepted.

“I’d love to join, but I have another recording session in a couple of minutes… Get me some Oak Cake Roll when you can brother!” Robin chirped as the two of you headed off.

Along the trip, neither of you could stop humming to Robin’s latest song.

★──────────★─────────★

[littlefeltsparrow]

Nesta’s emotional breakdown at the end of the hike was not a product of a well-meaning attempt to improve her well-being, but a manipulative pseudo-therapeutic strategy that aimed to simulate vulnerability and masquerade as progress in Nesta’s character arc.

The narrative would have you believe that the hike was an ordeal of self-discovery for Nesta, that Cassian was using a bit of “tough love” to help Nesta get better and grow as a person. But it operates on the idea that exposure to nature, which is presumed to be inherently beneficial, would give Nesta the push she needed to work through her issues and unpack the trauma that had been affecting her all throughout the book. But, this couldn’t be further from the reality that we are shown. Exercise like hiking can be immensely beneficial to one’s mental wellbeing and it can also be therapeutic in some cases, but such benefits are negated when the people involved are subjected to undue hardship and danger during that exercise.

It’s not a coincidence that Nesta opening up to Cassian comes directly after an extremely straining hike, during which she exhausted herself mentally and physically all while in the midst of intense psychological stress. Nobody told her that Feyre was alright after their heated argument, nobody told her that Feyre AGREED that Nesta did the right thing and understood why she did it. Consequently, this omission prolongs Nesta’s emotional anguish and guilt unnecessarily and makes the ordeal of the hike even worse.

Nesta, who has never hiked before in her life, is forced on one against her will, chaperoned by Cassian who does not speak to her and hardly looks at her during the 2 day hike. This is a detail that exposes this hike for what it truly is, a means of breaking Nesta’s spirit to get her back in line. It was never about piecing her back together, it was about shattering her emotionally to punish her for defying Rhysand’s authority. But, the text doesn’t want to admit that, it wants to pretend to make a grand statement on mental health and make a cheap copy of Cheryl Strayed’s memoir “Wild” without any of the pathos. Cassian can feel warm and fuzzy about the accomplishment of opening Nesta’s heart, when in reality, that vulnerability he witnesses is entirely a result of prolonged stress and pain.

So could it be, that Nesta’s emotional “ breakthrough” at the end of the hike, was not due to Cassian’s and the IC’s efforts to help her, but the combined strain of dehydration, exhaustion and intense emotional distress finally catching up with her after repressing it for 2 days straight?

[xxblairexxss]

Jibber-jabber

Pairing : Mason Mount x reader

Theme : Fluff

This was so so so cute I had a blast writing it!

Your relationship with Mason wasn’t a secret amongst his fans. Two years ago, Mason asked you to be his girlfriend and a few months later, he uploaded a picture of you on his Instagram story which proved all those rumours that has been flying around to be true. His fans had found your social media way before Mason posted or confirmed anything and it was only because they saw Mason following you, a random girl with no more than 1000 followers and never missed to leave a like on every posts of yours though he never left any comments.

ynusername

Liked by masonmount and others

ynusername 🥐☕️

ynbestfriend miss uuuu

masonmmupdate you are soooo pretty

footballwagssoon mason’s gf??

rebeccaa__19 are you mason’s girlfriend? 🥹

﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎

masonmount has added to their story

12th June

ynusername has added to their story

2nd July

Even though everyone knew you were together and that you were no longer an unfamiliar face amongst the fans, you chose to keep it as private as you can. There would be an occasional pictures of you guys holding hands together or showing off your matching socks or a 2 seconds view of him in your Instagram story to which the fanpages would cut the part of the 15 seconds video and reposted it with the slow motion effect. It wasn’t because you were trying to hide anything or trying to be mysterious but it was because you wanted to use the social media platforms as your personal diary and no one stayed on one topic in their diary.

You had been staying at Mason’s house a lot this month as he tried to sort out his contract which meant he wasn’t at home that much so you would occasionally treat yourself on a solo date where you would took a stroll near the park or got yourself a coffee at the new coffee shop you came across. It was therapeutic sometimes to spend time with yourself.

But today, it was different. Mason asked you out to buy some stuffs at a department store. You told Mason that you wanted to do a vlog and that he didn’t have to be in it. He didn’t mind, of course but what he didn’t knew was that it wasn’t actually a vlog.

You already had your phone recording when you did your makeup earlier so as you talked thorough all the products that you were using, you decided to talk about the plan as well but in a whispering tone now. Not that Mason could hear but just to be safe. “So, we’re going out and I wanted to prank him. I’m gonna chatter about 20 random topics I could think about at one time and none of it are gonna make any sense. I’m not sure how he’s gonna react because he never gets annoyed with me so…”

“Babe, you ready?”

“Yeah!”

﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎

“So, I went to this one bakery the other day, yeah?”

Mason had his hand on your thigh, like he always did whenever he drives and nodded to your question. Your phone was propped against something on the car dash to record both you and Mason. You had asked him once again if he wanted to be in the camera and he said of course he wanted to be seen in the camera with his girlfriend.

“And I asked the worker which one was the best-selling and she said it was pain au chocolat but they had a new menu that made them won the— Oh! Do you know the history of pain au chocolat?”

Mason blinked, trying to catch up with you before shaking his head. “No, I don’t know but babe, what about the new menu?”

“Mase, listen! So August Zang..”

“Wait, who’s Zang?”

“The one who brought pain au chocolat to France! This is why you should listen.”

“Okay, baby, I’m listening.”

“Oh! And there was this cute dog that passed by—”

“Was it Zang’s dog?”

“….what? Mase…” You gave in and cackled at his question. “That doesn’t even make any sense!”

“Oh, yeah, tell me about it, princess.” He pinched on his furrowed brows, didn’t find this whole thing funny, in fact, it was kinda stressing him out but were you gonna stop? Not yet, of course so you continued.

“Then I felt like getting a green tea but there was a stranger that walked past me and the smell of coffee from the one that she was holding— the new menu was something to do with cranberry I think.”

“Okay, babe, are you okay?” He teared his eyes away from the road as the traffic light turned red and placed his hand on the side of your face.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Do you…want me to stop talking?” You leaned into his touch and trailed off.

“No, no. Keep talking. The topics are kinda complicated but I’ll manage. So, you were talking about the dog, yeah? No? Was it the coffee? Cranberry? Zang? Which one do you want start with?”

“I want to talk about the street art I saw…” You forlornly returned his gaze.

“Okay, I don’t mind adding one more topic. Let’s take it slow, okay? What about the street art?” Mason stroked his thumb against your jawline and took your hand in his. To him, you looked the most adorable when you talked. He had a hard time catching up, sure but he didn’t mind. The sight of you blabbering, the way you bit your lips to think off the next topic, the way your hands moved randomly with every words you said. He sworn he wouldn’t trade this moment with anything else. He was listening attentively but he also couldn’t stop gazing at you full of admiration. His precious girl.

To you, he didn’t look annoyed, didn’t look irritated. Of course, you wouldn’t be able to read his mind but the public could be the one to decide on that when you posted the video on your Tiktok.

[afsosville]

You know what would've been nice? Shen Jiu ending up on a different peak that's actually good for him. Maybe Qian Cao, or the beast taming peak could've been hella therapeutic. Or the alcohol/brewery peak to drown away all his sorrows. But what if he stayed fucked up, in a way that's actually good and productive for society? Yeah, I wanna toss him over to Yin Hui and let him run wild! I've seen many iterations of Yin Hui, the fanon peak for espionage and poisons in fanfics. By extension, Yin Hui is also covertly the assassination peak, and I wish this peak got more attention around here tbh. Why do I think this peak is the most well suited for Shen Jiu? BECAUSE ASSASSINS. Duh.

So here comes a baby demonic cultivator Shen Jiu and the Yin Hui peak lord immediately wants him. Shen Jiu would be more readily accepted by his peak martial siblings, and no one would bat an eye at Shen Jiu, his standoffish personality or shady past. A lot of Yin Hui disciples are from questionable backgrounds since the Yin Hui peak lord naturally has to be very particular about selecting their disciples. Yin Hui was established to protect the sect and its people by any means necessary. Sure, the rest of the sect may fight against the supernatural, demons, and the undead, but Yin Hui fights an even greater monster: people.

The Yin Hui peak lord manipulated things so that the first impression the rest of the sect has about Shen Jiu is 'that new badass Yin Hui disciple that killed the criminal Wu Yanzi and saved the future sect leader!' (Seeing as Wu Yanzi would be the very sort of ppl they assassinate, he's already getting goated on Yin Hui too.) So Shen Jiu is known as that new prodigious disciple from Yin Hui and is getting some goddamn respect! And just because of his association with his peak, fewer people are inclined to question his background and whatnot since there's an understanding that the identity of the YH disciples needs to be heavily guarded. The Yin Hui peak lord finds out about the Qiu's soon enough, and they erase any and all traces leading back to Shen Jiu. Even framing it in a way that makes it look like WY did the massacre. Any credibility Qiu Haitang could've had for Shen Jiu's murder accusations is thrown out the window. (Ain’t no way in hell the Yin Hui peak lord is going to name SJ that stupid trauma inducing name like a certain Qing Jing peak lord, that's for sure.)

I'm pulling in elements from MDZS over here. In my version of Yin Hui, they have disciples who practice demonic cultivation, but they make sure it's in a safer way that won't hurt them. There's a surprising number of disciples who have damaged cultivation and chose to cultivate the ghost path. The previous generations of Yin Hui peak lords have created Wei Wuxian's inventions in this AU, and is used by the rest of the peak, like the compass of ill winds, paper metamorphosis, the spirit attraction flag, and empathy. I lowkey want a Wei Wuxian that's native to SV to be the Yin Hui peak lord, now that I think about it. He's good with his kiddos and would be an awesome shizun. And ofc, Shen Jiu is a reflection of his environment, so he's certainly making an example out of Wei Wuxian, one of the only positive influences in his life.

Shen Jiu still has his violent tendencies, so nothing has changed about that, but he learns to take that pent-up energy out on missions instead. And he does them well. It even gives him an edge. Everyone else thinks he's just reallyyy good at his job, as expected of the talented head disciple of Yin Hui!!

He really does try his best to not be an ass (bc he gets the love he deserves on Yin Hui) and ends up venting in a different way (coz he knows better than to take it out on people who don’t deserve it.) His shizun really gave him the free reign to kill sl@ve trad3rs, human tr@ffick3rs, r-ists, and other scum whenever he wanted, in the name of stress relief lol. If killing a particular person becomes politically complicated, like the Old Palace Bastard, then you best believe he's going to scheme like the little schemer he is. He's going to Nie Huaisang the OPM.

Since Shen Jiu is not salty about his fucked up cultivation, and his martial siblings respect him, they get along just fine. His cultivation is some parts similar to Wei Wuxian's: Shen Jiu is a ghost cultivator influenced by music. Sure, he may not be that great of a spiritual cultivator, so what? He's pulling up like the Yiling Patriarch with his demonic cultivation and a haunted guqin of his own.

And guess what? Shen Jiu enjoys teaching. He's training miniature assassins, spies, and the art of demonic cultivation, so forgive him if he's more than a little enthusiastic about it. I imagine that he's exactly like Shifu from kung fu panda when it comes to teaching. Still extremely harsh and strict when training, but outside of actually teaching, he's an attentive and caring shizun. And yes, he completely does act like a father figure who is proud of his murder babies, and ends up being called A-Ba so much that all of Cang Qiong thinks he's officially adopted every single one of his disciples. (After being saved by SJ on a mission, NYY persistently begs SJ to take her in even though he desperately thinks Yin Hui isn't a good fit for her. And then, after being under him for a while, she's completed her first mission successfully, has smn else's blood on her face, and is smiling brightly. 

Ning Yingying: "I completed my mission shizun! Are you proud of me?"

Shen Jiu: "..."

Some other peaklord: "Haha like father like daughter! She's definitely your girl alright!"

Shen Jiu: "...!?!" )

Yue Qingyuan is conerneth about his Xiao Jiu, but as long as he's happy, who cares. Shen Jiu has a better relationship with the other peak lords, so when asked about why he visits brothels, he straight up tells them that it's the best place to gather information in the dark. He doesn't have that mentality of "why explain myself when no ones finna believe me anyway" He actually trusts them and is more honest with time. Shen Jiu does come clean about killing the Qiu's at some point, and the peak lords are all like-

"I didn't hear shit"

"See, I'm blind in my left eye, and 75% blind in my right-"

"Completely understandable, Shen shidi!"

They don't even ask why he did it and just assume he had a valid reason, and he absolutely fucking did.

Oh, Shen Jiu gets accused of playing dirty? Liu Qingge, he literally kills ppl and makes poison as a daytime fucking job ofc he's gonna play dirty! Shen Jiu tried killing you that one time on the well mission? Bro you good? The fact that you think he tried to kill you and failed?? You just insulted an entire peak of disciples and their ancestors. You would've been dead before you could even think of sensing their killing intent if it were true. And there was a witness too, doofus. Be fucking for real. Nahh coz there definitely would be more people who are taking Shen Jiu's side whenever the two of them fight.

Shen Jiu uses a shit ton of versatile weapons because most of his fighting and cultivation prowess comes from his wits and adapting to fighting with different styles/methods. He is kinda similar to Xie Lian bc both of them lack spiritual energy/qi (damaged spirit roots in Shen Jiu's case), but that does not mean they are weaker. It just means they learned to train their body and minds instead of relying on cultivation/qi. He has a massive arsenal of weapons along with the demonic cultivation.

Yin Hui has got to be my favorite fanon peak, and Yin Hui! Shen Jiu plauges so many of my waking thoughts, I can't stop-

I can add elements from my other hyperfixation into this AU, the Avatar Chronicles. Which are the written books from ATLA. The criminal organization Kyoshi joined, the Daofei, for example, could be a good plot point. Or the Platinum Affair from the Yangchen books. If you don’t know what the Avatar Chronicles are, just ignore this last part lol.

[idontknowreallywhy]

Push

A little Flying Fish one-shot thrown down on my commute. Less plot, more vibes, but inspired the fact my tiny Scott keeps enduring this Situation:

And not at all that a certain someone not too far away may have tried to approach a certain thing in a certain way. Nope…

Featuring One Idiot Flyboy and One Wise Fish

💙💛💙💛💙💛💙💛💙💛💙💛💙💛💙💛

“Better not let the Virg see you limping about like that old man.”

Damn observant squid. Scott immediately corrected his gait and strode purposefully into the kitchen.

Ow. Ow. Ow. Damn it.

Gordon followed, because GORDON.

“What? I just had a wrinkle in my sock.”

“Uh huh.”

“Yeah ‘uh huh’. Now it is gone.”

“Course it is.”

Scott set the coffee machine running and for a few blissful seconds conversation was made impossible by the sound of grinding beans.

It also handily covered the noise of him cursing the entire physical therapeutic profession under his breath.

Sadly, between them Brains and Virgil had upgraded this to be the most efficient coffee-production mechanism on the planet, and the excuse was gone before Gordon got bored and left him alone.

Who was he kidding? Once the limpet latched on… a different tack was needed to scrape him off. And after all, attack is often the best form of defence…

“So, how’s your back after the super-sub rescue, Fish?”

“Getting there. I know the drill now. Slow and steady, just gotta be careful not to rush or over-extend it. The physio helps…”

Gordon had an eerie way of making an ellipsis audible.

“Good good, keep it up.”

“Thank you, Mr Motivator.” Gordon perused the range of noxious-coloured energy drinks in the fridge and in a clearly fake-casual voice threw the return grenade over his shoulder:

“How’s your physio going?”

“Fine. Good. Smashing it actually.”

“You don’t smash physio, bro.”

“I do.”

“Oh. Well, you’ll have to give me some pointers. For example, how to smash it so hard you appear decidedly more uncomfortable you did yesterday… I can tell by your posture - that ain’t no sock wrinkle, Scoots.”

Scott immediately stood up straighter and took a long gulp of scalding coffee to disguise the wince.

Gordon raised an infuriating eyebrow.

Scott eyeballed him impassively and took another swallow, just to make sure his throat lining was entirely obliterated. No point doing things by halves.

The raised eyebrow was replaced by an even more irritating expression of concern.

“Hip dislocations take a while bro… and your leg very nearly parted company with the rest of you… there was a lot of swelling in that joint. Give it time.”

Scott shrugged.

“Is all good, I’m nearly there. As soon as I get full rotation, I’m back in the air.”

“I knew it!”

“There’s nothing to know.”

“You’re trying to fast track it! It’s meant to be a GRADUAL extension of range! Faster isn’t always better, you great lanky donut!”

Scott didn’t have to listen to this. So he spun on his heel and made for the desk. He absolutely did not wobble and tip the rest of his coffee down his sleeve as his treacherous pelvis made a ridiculous fuss over nothing.

An even more treacherous part of his brain wondered if his little brother didn’t have a point. Scott threatened it with hyper-specific lobotomisation.

Little Mr Got-Straight-As-In-Physio slid under his shoulder and took a good proportion of his weight just as he stubbornly stepped forward again. Blinking frustrated moisture out of his eyes, Scott heartily wished it hadn’t helped as much as it did.

“Pretty sure you’re meant to use the crutches for a little longer yet too, huh?”

The groan escaped before he could stop it.

Gordon manoeuvred Scott to the couch. Scott’s right hip point blank refused to resist and the rest of his body meekly followed.

He dropped on to the couch, yelped, muttered a few words Grandma would have disapproved of and then stared mutinously at the ceiling.

He was so very Done with it all.

Little brother cocked his head to one side and then handed him a fluffy cushion. A hot pink fluffy cushion.

THE hot pink fluffy cushion.

He looked up at the one person who really and truly Got This. Gordon smiled and inclined his head towards the much loathed eyesore he must have brought up its home from the infirmary. Prescient little guppy that he was.

Scott glared at the cushion. Then pressed his face into it and screamed and shouted for what could have been thirty seconds or thirty hours.

Eventually he was spent. Taking a couple of shaky breaths he sat up and threw it with all his strength across the room. It hit the wall of the stairwell and dropped out of sight.

“Better?”

“Mmhmm.”

Gordon gently lowered himself on to the couch and looked down at his hands, slowly flexing his fingers, one by one.

“Sometimes I was so crushingly bored with all the teeny tiny increments… it felt like I was going backwards… so I’d push until it hurt. Like, really hurt. Because at least then I had something to fight. Then at least it would be interesting, you know?”

Scott nodded, quietly. Then rested his head on Gordon’s shoulder.

“Think I’ve made it worse.”

“Yeah. You’re an idiot. Runs in the family, I guess.”

Gordon ruffled his hair and Scott growled.

“You’ll get back on track, bro. Just might have made it a bit of a longer one.”

Scott couldn’t summon up anything more profound than a sigh.

“Y’know… I could always keep you company. When you’re doing the exercises, I mean. Could make a game of it or… or something. If you wanted, I mean… you don’t have to if it wouldn’t…”

“It would. I’d like that.”

“Cool. Team Hip Flexion is Go!”

Scott made a valiant attempt at the audible ellipsis thing.

“The Upright Knee Raise Crew? The Abduction Gang? Aaah I’ll work on it…”

For the first time in what felt like weeks Scott’s mouth twitched into a grin.

“I’m going to regret this aren’t I?”

“You can bet on it.”