A Wintry Mix (f)

[Blah!?]

Hey 'yall, and welcome to my second real fic evah! I know it's long, and there aren't a whole ton of sneezes, but I can assure you my next fic will make up for it. (if I ever get around to writing it...) Well, here you go: *cuts ribbon and runs away*

Denise never would have thought that going to visit her relatives during winter vacation could have been so complicated. What began as a simple trip to a winter cabin owned by her uncle ended up being a rather disastrous adventure. During the drive to the cabin, Denise had read a book while for once, her younger sister Jess ignored her while listening to music. Upon arriving, she shared a tight, fluffy hug with her cousin Ella, younger than both Denise and her sister. That night, the two families socialized over a large, hearty dinner, in which the adults discussed whatever it was that adults talked about, and the three girls amused each other by whichever means they could think of. After dinner, Jess insisted on going outside to play, but Denise suspected a trap; Jess loved snowball fights, and Ella would be an easy target. Fortunately for two of the girls, an enormous blizzard blew in over the cabin, and their mothers urged them to stay inside for the night. A resigned Jess retreated upstairs to her bedroom, not giving up on her plans just yet.

Finally at 11:30, the adults had gone to sleep, leaving only one person in the cabin awake. Jess stared at the ceiling above her bed, trying to pass the time. She knew it would be too soon to get up just after the conversations on the floor below stopped, so she intended to wait until the opportune moment. The anxious young woman waited for around an hour, but it felt like a lifetime. She was so eager to have fun that she just couldn’t wait. Despite her younger cousin’s age, waking up Ella was not terribly difficult. She was very energetic, not requiring much sleep, and when she did manage to doze off, was easily awakened. The only challenge that remained was waking Denise. As independent as she was, Jess didn’t feel terribly comfortable going out into a blizzard alone. She felt safer with her older sister, no matter how much they bothered each other under normal circumstances.

Having quickly crept over to her older sister’s bed, Jess dug into her mind for a way to silently rouse her. Holding up her hand next to Denise’s ear, Jess snapped her fingers. There was no reaction. Next, the young girl tried clapping, louder, but still ineffective. Jess tried everything that came to mind. Whistling, pulling her sister’s hair, poking her face, nothing seemed to work. Knowing what she had to do, Jess groaned. Denise would definitely not like what she was about to attempt, and Jess needed her sister to be in a good mood, and thus easier to persuade. Jess didn’t know how she would convince her sister of her plans now, but then again, she didn’t know how else to wake her up either. Leaning in close to Denise’s ear, Jess whispered “wake up, Big Nose.”

Working on reflexes and instinct alone, Denise shot up in her bed. Her head shot from side to side, frantically searching for the culprit, but she subliminally knew who it was beforehand. Her eyes quickly locked with those of her sister. A huge scowl came over the young woman’s face. Leaning forward and sticking her finger into her sister’s face, Denise bellowed “I am not a-!” Jess quickly clapped her hand over her sister’s mouth, silencing her. She matched Denise’s scowl with a look of compassion. “Sorry about that, sis. Just don’t wake our parents,” she said calmly. Ella nodded silently behind Jess, confirming her approval.

“Whatever it is you’re planning, you can count me out,” growled Denise, laying back down on her bed. Jess made a pathetic sad frown. “Please, c’mon Denise! I’ll do anything!” she pleaded, falling to her knees. Denise snorted and rolled over. “I said no. Go away and let me sleep,” she muttered, closing her eyes. Joining in Jess’s plans, Ella leaped into the conflict, almost literally. She dove onto Denise’s bed and embraced her cousin in one of her trademark hugs. “Please, Denise! We really need your help! Please!” she cried softly, burying her face in Denise’s chest. The hug was unbearably soft and cute; Denise couldn’t help but give in. “Alright, fine. I’ll help you with whatever it is you’re doing,” she said, sitting up and putting her hand on Ella’s head. Jess nearly jumped for joy, but she managed to contain herself. “But, only on one condition,” interrupted Denise, holding her hand up to Jess. “You never call me ‘Big Nose’ again.”

Despite her denial, Denise’s nose was on the large side. However, calling it ‘huge’ or ‘ugly’ would be a crime. Long and slightly broad, Denise’s nose was elegantly large. It had a gentle bump on the bridge with only a slight change in angle, and a pretty ‘flick’ upwards at the tip. Somewhat of a stereotype of noses, even the slightest bump on the bridge classified it as ‘huge,’ making Denise rather self-conscious about it. Another feature of her nose that was troubling was the nostrils. As wide as her nose was, Denise’s nostrils were thin, almost slit-like, and gently curved. Due to the slight up-turn featured by her nose, the nostrils were always very slightly exposed to anyone who looked directly at her. Because of this, Denise was always worried that someone would spot a loose piece of snot left over from her regular morning congestion, or that had been dislodged by a bothersome sneeze. Due to all of it’s shortcomings in Denise’s image, she failed to take note of her nose’s merits. It was a truly beautiful facial feature inherited from her mother, and in fact one of the most elegant noses a woman could hope for.

“I knew this would be a bad idea!” Denise groaned as she waded through the blizzard, her sister and cousin following a few feet behind. The blistering stormy air was nipping at her soft skin through her thick jacket and snow pants. “Burrr! It’s cold!” whined Ella from the rear of the pack. Jess showed no reaction to the horrible freezing climate, she simply kept walking. Denise raised her foot to take another step, but came to an abrupt stop as the insane blizzard mysteriously did the same. The air cleared of snow, and everything became visible again, as much as it could in the darkness of the night. Looking down, Denise jumped back at what she saw. She had nearly taken the first step over the edge of a steep hill, one she would not likely be able to climb. “Phew, that was too close,” she breathed, rubbing her hands together.

“Come over here, Denise! I need to show you something!” called Ella before the oldest girl could ask what they were even doing outside. Ella was squatting farther down along the edge of the hill, holding a pile of snow in her gloved hands. Her older cousin strode over to her and lowered herself to nearly match her height. “What is it, Ella?” she asked, looking back and forth between the handful of snow and her cousin’s face. “Look at this snow. It doesn’t melt, plus it smells like candy!” she exclaimed, holding her hands up toward Denise’s face. “Does it really?” asked the cousin, taking some of the snow in her hand. Sniffing at the snow lightly, Denise smiled. “It doesn’t smell like anything!” she said, shaking her head at Ella. “Smell it harder!” urged the young girl. Bringing the snow back under her curious nose, Denise sniffed deeply. Too deeply in fact, accidentally snorting the snow in through both nostrils. Pressing her nose into the back of her wrist, Denise stood up, coughing and snorting. Ella fell onto her back and laughed. “I tricked you! You’re silly!”

After a few minutes of continuously wiping her long nose, Denise was just about ready to call it quits. “Alright, after inhaling snow, I think I’ve had enough fun for today,” she pronounced, giving her nostrils one last sweeping wipe with her fingers. Jess rolled her eyes. “What’s the matter? Is your nose getting cold? Too bad you can’t fit it into a nice, warm face mask,” she taunted, glowering at her sister. “You’re a liar!” exclaimed Denise, pointing her finger at Jess. “Of course! We’ve only been living together for twelve years! You haven’t figured that out by now? I thought that maybe if you and your nose though about it together, maybe you’d get it!” continued the troublesome sister, sticking her tongue out at Denise. Turning away from her sister and facing the hillside, which was only a few inches in front of her, Denise crossed her arms and closed her eyes. “I guess that means mom is a ‘Big Nose’ too, doesn’t it?” she retorted, bending her nose to the side with a sniff.

In further response to her sister’s self-defense, Jess crept up behind Denise and leaped onto her back. The force pushed Denise forward, closing the gap between her and the edge of the hill. “No, not really. Mom’s nose is pretty. Yours is just big,” she continued, speaking directly into Denise’s right ear. Meanwhile, as Denise tried to remove her clinging sister from her back, Ella had noticed that the two of them were about to tumble over the side of the hill. She hurried around and placed herself between her oldest cousin and the fall, trying to act as a wall. Neither of the sisters noticed. Jess continued tormenting Denise, and Denise continued trying to get Jess off of her. However, Denise’s nose had different plans altogether.

Suddenly, Denise’s flailing stopped. A potent tickle had entered her nose through her left nostril, and was traveling through it, searching for that miniature pepper-shaker that all noses had, planning to knock it over. In keeping with her habits, Denise made her right hand into a fist, and then held out her index finger. Placing the finger gently under her tickling nose, Denise pushed upward slightly. “Ah… H-hah… Hahh…” Denise’s breath hitched softly as her eyes fluttered shut. At that moment, she felt as if her sister was no longer on her back. The only thing on her mind was the pending sneeze. Denise opened her mouth and tried to speak. “I… I… Hahhh… H-hafta… S-s-s-snee…” she warned incomprehensibly. “Hahhhh… H-Haahhhhh… HAHH! ISHHHHOO!!!”

Already off balance from Jess’s attack, the force of Denise’s untimely sneeze sent the two of them toppling over the side of the hill. The unfortunate Ella was also pulled down, knocked over while in her poor position between her cousins and the drop off. “Nice going, Big Nose!” Jess managed to yell as she rolled to the bottom. Ella managed to speak as well, and was more forgiving. “Gesundheit, Denise! That was a big sneeze!” Finally able to reply after recovering, Denise let out a nasal and exasperated “Thank you!”

After a quick tumble, the girls found themselves in a heap at the bottom of the steep hillside. Ella’s hat had fallen off and was now nowhere to be seen, so Denise had lent hers to her cousin, then turned away and pressed the palm of her hand firmly against the underside of her nose. Jess, still lying on her back, placed her hand on her forehead and groaned. “Great job, Nose Woman. Looks like your ‘amazing’ Super Sneeze really helped us out there,” she complained, sitting up straight. Coming to her cousin’s defense, Ella turned to face Jess. “It’s not her fault! Something went up her nose and made her do it, right?” she said, looking up at Denise. Wrinkling her nose around, Denise nodded. “Yeah, she’s right,” she paused, sniffing deeply, “and whatever it was is still getting to me.” Jess stood up and pulled a stick off of a nearby tree. “It’s probably just a pocket of dust from last month. Big noses have very long recycling periods, you know.”

Denise jumped back to avoid Jess’s stick as it headed for her nose. “What are you doing?” she demanded, glaring at her sister. Jess put her free hand on her side and held the twig on high. “Relax, Big Nose, I’m just trying to help. You could call it late spring cleaning I guess,” she explained, making circles in the air with the end of the stick. However, she didn’t notice that Denise wasn’t listening. “I’m gonna… g-gonna snee… Ah… Ahh… Ahhh… Ha-ISH!” Keeping her outstretched index finger under her long nose, Denise recovered and raised her head. As she pushed her soft blonde hair away from her face, her glaring eyes were revealed. “Look, I know you just called me Big Nose like ten times just now, but that’s not important. We need to get back up to the cabin. And if you put that stick in my nose I’ll shove it up your-”

“Hey, I’ve got an idea! Denise, go behind those trees and change back into Nose Woman. When you’re done, come back over here and use your Super Sneeze to blow us back up to the top of the hill!” ribbed Jess, giving her sister a sly look. The two other girls ignored her, putting serious thought into their plan. “It’s too steep to climb,” Denise thought out loud, pulling her blonde hair back into a fluffy pony-tail, “we wouldn’t have rolled all the way down otherwise.” Ella cutely rubbed her chin and nodded. “I guess you’re right.”

“There’s probably a gentler slope somewhere else. We could climb up that more easily.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“But, we have no idea where it is, so we’ll have to look for it.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“And it’s going to be morning soon. We’d better hurry so we get back before our parents wake up.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“I’m g-going to… Ahh… S-s-sneeze… Hahhh… A-aga… H-hahhhh… Again…”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Hahh… HA! Ha-ISHHH!!”

“I g- Gesundheit!”

“Ugh, thanks,” Denise muttered, rubbing her nose gently with her finger. “Jeez, what has gotten into me today?” Jess ran over to the girls eager to offer her “insight.” “Only mere weeks ago, Nose Woman’s arch nemesis, Dr. Sinus, learned that the hero’s greatest strength was also her weakness! He devised a plan to infect the all-powerful nostrils of our nose-based hero. Secretly placing a genetically altered cold germ in Nose Woman’s nose hair as she slept, the evil doctor managed to make the hero sick, turning her nose against her!” Denise and Ella stared blankly, unsure of how to respond to such idiocy. “Ew, nose hair,” mumbled Ella. Denise rolled her eyes. “Very funny, now would you stop talking about this ‘Nose Woman’ person?” Jess put her hand on her chin. “And so, the heroine’s secret identity remains unknown…”

Walking along the side of the hill, Denise stuck her hand into her jacket pocket. Her arm shot backward reflexively as she discovered that the pocket was filled with snow instead of the travel-pack of tissues she had stored in it earlier. “Ohhhhh! It must have fallen out on the hill,” Denise complained, digging the snow out of her pocket. Ever since that first sneeze at the top of the hill, her nose had been feeling a little stuffy. Denise checked her other pockets, and there was still no sign of her tissues. She resorted to quickly sliding her finger across the underside of her nose and a simple “sniff sniff” afterward; it was the best she could manage. A few sniffs later, Ella noticed that something was wrong.

“Are you okay, Denise?” asked the young girl, looking up at her cousin as she wiped her nose with her finger. Jess gave her ludicrous input from behind again, “I told you already, Dr. Sinus infected her nose with a super-cold and in a few minutes, she’ll be sneezing so much that the whole world-” She was cut off abruptly as Denise whirled around and grabbed her sister by the nose, silencing her. “Stop it! That’s enough! I’m not Nose Woman, my nose isn’t big, and it certainly isn’t a breeding ground for advanced viruses! And thank you, Ella, for the concern, but I’m fine,” she pronounced, jerking Jess’s head from side to side. “Now, are you finished?” Jess nodded as best she could with her nose being held tightly. “Are you sure?” asked Denise, tightening her grip.

Jess nodded again, and Denise released her nose. Turning around, Denise raised her hand up to her own nose, and then sneezed a strained “Ha-ISHH!” stumbling forward a few steps. She pushed her sleeve back, only to remember that she wasn’t wearing a watch. Looking over her shoulder at Ella, Denise asked “you know what time it is?” Ella shook her head, she wasn’t wearing a watch either. “It’s time for you to get a watch,” muttered Jess, crossing her arms. “I’m sure your nose would love one as a Christmas gift.” Denise’s hands clenched tightly, but she did her best to ignore her sister’s unrelenting comments. “That’s mean, Jess,” said Ella in her cousin’s defense. “Aw, come on! She knows it’s just a joke, right Denise?” Too angry to respond, Denise ignored her sister and continued walking.

As the trio padded on in silence, snow began falling again, gently as opposed to the howling blizzard earlier in the night. Denise’s soft blonde pony-tail became covered in snow, her hair no longer covered by a hat. Ella was lucky, her short brown hair was protected from the cold by what was until recently Denise’s hat. The young woman snorted softly, too quietly for anyone else to hear. It was hard enough being an oldest sibling, but being a nice oldest sibling, that was something else entirely. A few snowflakes sprinkled across the top of Denise’s nose. Normally, such a thing would have been soothing, but this time it made her shiver. As if she wasn’t cold enough already. She remembered the last time she met Ella in the winter, when the two of them enjoyed the odd practice of snow-catching. It was perfectly normal for children to catch snowflakes on their tongues, but for some reason, Ella preferred to do so with her nose. By the middle of the day, she and Denise would be laying on their backs, faces tilted upwards, telling stories and jokes as snowflakes collected on the undersides of their noses. After a while of socializing, and giggling as the melted snow tickled into their nostrils, they got up and trudged home. The two girls ended up catching bad head colds because of all this, and they were miserable for the next few days, but it was fun while it lasted.

“Hah… H-hahh… Hehhh… Hhhih… HA! ISHH! H-heh… HEHH! HA-ISHHH!! Huhh… ISHHO!” Denise sneezed a drawn-out triple sneeze. Snow fell from her hair as her body bent forward with the force of each one. “Ow! That last one hurt!” Denise complained, giving a resigned sniff. She pinched her nostrils between her fingers and moved the tip of her nose up and down. Irritated by the cold, her stuffy nose, and her sister, Denise increased her pace. “We’d better be able to get up this hill soon. This is making me really mad!” she whined, rubbing her tingling nose with her fingers. Ella quickened her stride and ran ahead of her cousin. “Stop being brave! You’re not okay! Maybe you’re getting sick!” She appeared to be on the verge of tears, out of sheer concern alone. Giving in to the utter cuteness of Ella’s pleas, Denise smiled and dropped to her knees gently. “Don’t worry about it, Ella. I’m sure we’ll be back in the cabin soon. Tomorrow, we can all sit by the fire and drink some hot chocolate, and everything will be all better,” she said reassuringly, punctuating her sentence with another nose-bending sniff. Ella livened up, smiled, then reached forward with her hand and wiped her cousin’s nose. Denise smiled as the soft, puffy mitten mopped up her sniffly nostrils. “Thanks a lot, I needed that.”

Denise stood up and wiped the snow off of her back as best she could. “Here, climb aboard,” she said, turning so that her rear was facing Ella. The young girl leaped up onto her cousin’s back, wrapping her legs around Denise’s thighs and moving her left arm under her neck for support. “There you go. Now you can… N-now you… C-c-can just r-res… Ah… Hahh… H-hahhhh… HAH! HA-ISHCHOO!” Denise’s powerful sneeze caused her to bend at the waist, but she retained her balance, even with Ella perched on her back. “Now you can just,” Denise paused to sniff and rub her nose, “relax while I carry you.” The awkward piggyback formation began to move forward through the deep snow, continuous sniffs and snuffles puffing from Denise’s nostrils. She smiled and giggled softly as she felt Ella’s soft mitten press up against the underside of her nose. “Thanks again, Ella! You scratch my nose, and, er, I’ll just carry you.”

Much to her delight, Denise finally discovered a section of the hill that was gentle enough to climb. Ascending to the top with Ella still riding on her back, she shot a glance to the left, the direction they had come from originally. The outline of the cabin was visible in the distance. “Look, Ella! There it is!” exclaimed Denise, hopping slightly to get her cousin’s attention. However, Ella had fallen asleep, one of her arms hanging limply, the other somehow still wrapped around Denise’s neck. As she began to walk forward again, another tickling sensation filled what little space was left in her stuffy nose.

“Heh… Ahh… HA-GNKT!” Denise stifled a sneeze onto her outstretched fingers, trying to be as quiet as possible. Ella needed her rest; she was too young to be up this late, even though part of it was her idea. The last thing Denise wanted to do was wake up her sleepy cousin at a time like this. Thankfully, the cabin was getting steadily closer, only few more minutes and they would be inside, nice and warm. Denise smiled at the thought of this. She was looking forward to tomorrow, a snowy day in a cozy cabin filled with blankets, tissues and hot chocolate. Denise was quite sure she would need all of those, especially tissues. “Just a few more minutes, then I can go back to sleep. Nice and warm. No more freezing hair, no more stuffy nose, no more sneezing!”

“Ha… Haa… HAA! HA-ISHHH!!” Sneezing loudly, Denise reached forward and grabbed the handle of the cabin’s front door. Her mouth dropped open; it was stuck. After pulling on the door for a few moments, laughter echoed around inside. It was Jess! Denise hadn’t even noticed that she had gotten away from her and Ella. She must have found someplace else to climb up the hill, and had done so without anyone else noticing. “Jess! Open the door right now! Ella needs to get inside!” More snickering pushed past the thick door. “Say the magic words, and I’ll open right up!” Denise scowled, rubbing her nose again. Jess had made no previous mention of ‘magic words,’ but Denise knew exactly what they were. She didn’t care anymore; she just wanted to get inside. Not without sighing beforehand, Denise took a deep breath and clearly pronounced “I’m a Big Nose.”

The door to the cabin clicked as the lock was released, and Denise quickly pulled it open. Jess was rolling around on the floor, incapacitated by her laughter. Hurrying inside and closing the door, Denise ignored her sister. None of this mattered to her. All she wanted was to go back up stairs and go to sleep in her soft, warm bed. After tucking Ella away to sleep, Denise stepped into the bathroom. Turning on the lights, she looked at herself in the mirror. Surprisingly, she didn’t appear as if she had just been hauling herself around in the freezing cold as she expected she would have. The young woman’s face retained its plain tone, and her long, broad nose was only slightly pink at the tip. Speaking of which, her nose deserved a good, hard blow. Denise plucked a tissue from the box on the sink, placed it gently over her nose, pushing to one side to leave only one nostril open, and blew out as hard as she could. After thoroughly draining both sides of her nose, she left the bathroom and almost literally fell into bed, Jess’s laughter still audible from the mud-room downstairs.

Jess rubbed her eyes as light poured in through the bedroom window. She felt strange, almost heavy. Barely managing to stumble out of bed, Jess staggered forward toward the other two sleeping arrangements in the room. Their occupants were sitting upright, facing each other. One of them, the taller one, was holding her hands over her face, leaning back slightly. Jess blinked to clear her vision, and was able to make out her sister Denise and cousin Ella. They seemed to be having fun somehow, Jess wasn’t sure exactly. The sequence of loud noises that followed told her exactly now.

“Heh… Hahh… ISH!!”

“Gesundheit!”

“Ah… Ahh… Ahhh… Ha-ISHHH!!!”

“Gesundheit!”

“Hihhh… HA-ISHHOOO!!!”

“Gesundheit! Whew! Too bad you caught a cold last night, I was looking forward to playing with you today,” said Ella apologetically. Denise sniffed and rubbed her nose. “Don’t worry about it, it wasn’t your fault.” She giggled, sniffing and wiping her nose again. “It’s all because of Jess. If you’re going to blame anyone, blame her. Besides, we can still hang out together. I mean, you like hot chocolate, right?” Ella bounced up and down on her bed. “You bet! Who doesn’t!” Denise glanced off in a random direction. “Actually, this one guy I know d- Oh!” Denise gasped as a tissue fell onto her nose from above. It felt nice as soft as it draped across her face, soothing before she even touched it. Wondering where it had come from, Denise looked around, only to see Jess standing next to her. “So, which nickname from my nose are you going to use today?” she asked, frowning and placing her hands on each side of the tissue. Jess smiled softly, for once an actual, sincere smile, and said, “bless you, Denise.”

[And Beat Him When He Sneezes]

That was nice. I just wish that Jess bitch had caught a nasty cold--would serve her right.

[silentdreamer789]

That was nice. I just wish that Jess bitch had caught a nasty cold--would serve her right.

I thought she had for a moment there, when she woke up...but alas, no. Even so, it was a great fic!!!

silentdreamer789