Aftermath (female)

[Chanel_no5]

**Note**

This is inspired by Dusty15's self-obs, about allergies after a hurricane.

And because I couldn't resist, I threw in my favourite type of character; a bossy politician. It's short, ridiculous and pretty drabble-ish, but I had fun writing it and I hope you'll have fun reading it, too.

Aftermath

Senator Samantha Payne surveyed the aftermath of the latest hurricane with critical eyes. The disaster had struck hard, and the costs to rebuild everything were skyrocketing. Her fellow senator, John Cameron, who had asked her to come along, shook his head.

"It makes you wonder where to even begin, right?" he muttered. Samantha didn't answer; her focus had gone from the result of the nature's destructive forces to her own nose, which was starting to tickle. Starting wasn't quite correct either, it had been tickling ever since she got off the plane, but it was really starting to bother her now. She raised a hand to her nose and rubbed it gently, trying to make it seem casual. God knew there were far too many people watching her; she didn't want this to get embarrassing. She blinked and gave a silent sniff as she rubbed her nose again. She couldn't possibly believe that her allergies were acting up, not after all the rain, but… but the tickle was without a doubt… allergic.

And her allergy meds were in her suitcase in the hotel room, where they did absolutely nothing good at all.

Annoyed, and slightly worried, she sniffed again, and this time she could really feel the pollen in the air, how it tagged along with the oxygen and hit her sensitive mucous membranes like a punch in the nose.

John mistook her sniffling for weeping, and gently touched her shoulder.

"You okay?"

She nodded, even more annoyed, and swept her knuckles under her nose, much firmer this time. She suspected her poor nostrils were turning a pink shade of allergic misery, and that it was only the beginning.

She searched her pockets and found one crumpled but fresh tissue. A left-over from her last cold, she suspected, since she didn't usually wear this coat in summer which was the time when her allergies wrecked havoc with her otherwise very elegant composure. Well, she wasn't going to take the tissue out unless the situation really called for it. She was going to fight this tickle; this itch, she corrected herself as the innocent sensation had increased, and there was no way she was going to allow herself to seem weak in front of voters and cameras.

That was her promise. Unfortunately, promises aren't always possible to keep, and before even realising it, a sneeze was building up inside her sinuses, a prickly, burning irritation making her gasp for air before she could stop herself.

"Huuuh-uSSHHuh!"

She barely had time to turn away and sneeze against her own shoulder, and afterwards she blinked, surprised at the sheer force and inevitability of the sneeze.

"Bless you" John muttered.

"Thanks" she replied, trying to look as if she wasn't about to sneeze again. And again. And again, till kingdom come, judging from how itchy her nose felt. She pinched her nose and then rubbed it with both hands, hoping to relieve the itch at least for the time being.

Reporters had spotted them and headed towards them with cameras and microphones and questions that sometimes were too dumb to answer.

"How do you feel when you look at this?"

Well, idiot, what do you think? I'm happy as a clam by high tide, of course!

You couldn't say that, but sometimes it seemed at least the reporters were happy to see devastation and horror, and she wondered what the true answer would be if you asked them the same question.

"I feel awful for all those people who've been struck by disaster like this…" she began, using the talking points she hardly had to think twice about, but her nose wasn't going to let her finish without a fight. It was burning and itching to the point where she thought she was going crazy.

"…m-my prayers are with… with you at this time of… of… oh God…"

The last two words were uttered in a breathless, rather high-pitched gasp, and followed by a harsh, violent fit of desperately allergic sneezes.

"Huh-ESSSHHU! Hah-ESSHHH! Hah-iSSCHHuh! Ah-hah-eSSHHuh! Hahh… huh-eSSCHuh!"

No no no, don't do this, stop it! she yelled at herself in her mind, but there was nothing she could do. Her nose had a will of its own, and right now it had decided to repeal every last trace of pollen. It was insane. She had never had an allergy attack like this before, she had never dreamed that allergies could be this bad, and of course she had to learn otherwise in front of rolling cameras.

Clutching her only tissue against her face, she blindly tried to get away from the crowd, and the allergy tears streaming down her cheeks mixed with tears of embarrassment and anger. John caught up with her and gently grabbed her by the arm.

"Why didn't you tell me you're allergic? I wouldn't have asked you to come if I'd known. Hurricanes tend to blow a lot of pollen around, you know".

She replied with the only political non-reply she could master at the moment;

"Hah-ESSCHHH!"

For Senator Payne, it seemed the aftermath of the disaster was the real disaster.

[sneezes]

very nice .....

is there gonna be more?

[Chanel_no5]

Thank you!

It's not likely to be more, since I meant for it to be a oneshot.. but who knows? Some characters just stuck.

[NoV]

The last two words were uttered in a breathless, rather high-pitched gasp, and followed by a harsh, violent fit of desperately allergic sneezes.

“Huh-ESSSHHU! Hah-ESSHHH! Hah-iSSCHHuh! Ah-hah-eSSHHuh! Hahh… huh-eSSCHuh!”

No no no, don’t do this, stop it! she yelled at herself in her mind, but there was nothing she could do. Her nose had a will of its own, and right now it had decided to repeal every last trace of pollen. It was insane. She had never had an allergy attack like this before, she had never dreamed that allergies could be this bad, and of course she had to learn otherwise in front of rolling cameras.

^^Epic!

And not only fun, but topical - really enjoy reading your fics

[count tiszula]

Terrific. I love reading that a nose has a will of its own! [You know, I really think you ought to have a "Blair babe" style character......]

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Mmm... very nicely written.

“…m-my prayers are with… with you at this time of… of… oh God…”

The last two words were uttered in a breathless, rather high-pitched gasp, and followed by a harsh, violent fit of desperately allergic sneezes.

Thank you so much for sharing.

[CDK114]

AWESOME!

[Dusty15]

Oooh so lovely! I feel honored that I inspired it!

[Chanel_no5]

Mmmyum. You guys are quoting my favourite parts, that makes me happy. I'm really glad so many enjoyed this little time-killer. Sammy was quite fun to torture, and poor dear how embarrassed she was. Think of Sammy as a Anne Hathaway-look alike, something like that. I wasn't going to use her again, but I've already having second thoughts..

She might be back for a second run. Maybe.

Thank you so much for reading, reviewing and liking it.

Special thanks to Dusty, who was my main inspiration. Love your sneezing .wavs Dusty, and you gave such a perfect sneezy scene as well for me to play with. Hope your allergies behave now, though.