diff --git a/HellionChat/EmoteCache.cs b/HellionChat/EmoteCache.cs
index c400086..f2c818c 100644
--- a/HellionChat/EmoteCache.cs
+++ b/HellionChat/EmoteCache.cs
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ public static class EmoteCache
             }
             else
             {
-                var content = await new HttpClient().GetAsync(EmotePath.Format(emote.Id));
+                var content = await Client.GetAsync(EmotePath.Format(emote.Id));
                 RawData = await content.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync();
 
                 await using var stream = new FileStream(filePath, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.Read);
diff --git a/HellionChat/FontManager.cs b/HellionChat/FontManager.cs
index dd06005..df83ef0 100644
--- a/HellionChat/FontManager.cs
+++ b/HellionChat/FontManager.cs
@@ -39,11 +39,18 @@ public class FontManager
         }
         else
         {
-            GameSymFont = new HttpClient().GetAsync("https://img.finalfantasyxiv.com/lds/pc/global/fonts/FFXIV_Lodestone_SSF.ttf")
-                .Result
-                .Content
-                .ReadAsByteArrayAsync()
-                .Result;
+            // Dispose HttpClient and HttpResponseMessage to avoid socket
+            // exhaustion on repeated cold-start downloads. GetAwaiter().GetResult()
+            // unwraps AggregateException so failures surface cleanly. A full
+            // async refactor of the constructor would be cleaner but is out of
+            // scope for v1.0.0 — tracked in the backlog.
+            using var client = new HttpClient();
+            using var response = client
+                .GetAsync("https://img.finalfantasyxiv.com/lds/pc/global/fonts/FFXIV_Lodestone_SSF.ttf")
+                .GetAwaiter()
+                .GetResult();
+            response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
+            GameSymFont = response.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync().GetAwaiter().GetResult();
 
             Dalamud.Utility.FilesystemUtil.WriteAllBytesSafe(filePath, GameSymFont);
         }