Five Faves, 500 Words (female, various causes)

[Chanel_no5]

***Note***

The other day I lost an animal that I loved dearly. I had to distract myself from this gut-punch of grief somehow. I found a list of drabble prompts, and I have this actor crush, and I decided to use some prompts and write 500 word drabble for each of my five favourite characters that she plays. Am I making any sense? Well. I don’t care, honestly. I distracted myself from the pain and that’s the important part for me, but I decided to post the result of this writing exercise, sooooo... here goes, I guess. 

One illness, the rest various allergies. I think they can probably all be read as original. 

 

Caught In The Rain (Kath, flu)

 It was the coldest winter in ages, five degrees and pouring rain. Kath was shivering in her insufficient coat, not used to temperatures like this. Gemma, having arrived from Canberra, was equipped with something at least a little bit more weather-appropriate. She also had an umbrella, which she didn’t offer to share. Maybe because she didn’t want to stand too close. Kath was very visibly, very audibly, sick.

“You really had to drag me out here, in the middle of the night, in the pouring rain, when I’ve got the fucking flu?” Kath growled and coughed, a raspy, chesty cough that hurt her sore throat and made an almost crackling sound in her chest. “If I get pneumonia on top of this, I’ll blame you.”

“I couldn’t risk meeting you in your office,” Gemma replied, sounding indifferent. “This must be kept top secret, Kath, got that?”

“Oh God,” Kath groaned. “I worked in this field before you were born, I know how the fuck this works.”

Rather than commenting on that, the younger woman went ahead:

“I’ll let you know about the next step as soon as I’m briefed by the minister.”

Nodding, Kath cupped both hands over her nose and mouth and sneezed twice, harsh sneezes that sounded like they hurt.

Gemma’s upper lip curled in disgust.

“I take it you won’t be on base tomorrow?”

“I will if I need to be,” Kath replied, but she hoped she wouldn’t have to. She didn’t get sick very often, but this flu was a nasty one, and she had a feeling her fever was hovering around the big 40. Everything hurt, the raindrops hitting her face felt like icy needles, and there was a steady, droning ache that felt like it came from deep within her very bones. Each breath made her want to cough, and each cough made her want to sneeze, and she was just altogether fucking miserable. She wanted a cup of hot tea, she wanted her warm bed with extra blankets, and she wanted her cat.

“I’ll let you know if it’s necessary,” Gemma said. “That’s all.”

Kath turned and headed back to her car, which she had left running so it would be nice and warm when she got back inside.

“Wait, there’s one more thing,” Gemma called, and Kath stopped with her hand on the handle, shoulders slumping in exhausted defeat.

“What?” she said, turning back. “I want to get back home to Bruce.”

“Bruce? I didn’t know you were seeing someone new. Has he been properly vetted?”

“He’s a cat,” Kath deadpanned.

“Oh. The other thing is, they’ll send a replacement for the compromised ops team member.”

“Don’t tell me it’s Jacob again.”

“Don’t know yet.”

“Fine. Whatever.” Kath shrugged, turned to the side, away from Gemma, sneezed, then started to cough again.

“Go home. Go to bed,” Gemma said.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, I was in bed,” Kath muttered and sneezed again, this time channelling her anger into the violent sneeze. “ARRGSSSHHHooo!”

 ***

 

Lost Pet (Diana, allergies)

 “Mommy, please don’t be mad at me,” was the first thing Maia said when Diana walked in through the door that evening.

“Oh that sounds like a great start,” Diana joked as she took off her jacket. “Do I usually get mad at you, sweetie?”

“No… but you might today,” the nine-year-old said.

“Hmm… you got a tattoo? No? You stole money from my wallet? No?” Diana rubbed her nose, attempting to rid herself of a light tickle. “Oh, I know, you punched someone at school? Not that either?” She chuckled, leaned down and gave Maia a hug. “I won’t be mad whatever it is, sweetie, as long as you’re honest with me, we can work things out.”

“Really?”

“Always. So, let’s talk about whatever it is.” She straightened up and rubbed her nose again, sniffling. “One second, I just have to blow my nose,” she said and went into the kitchen, tearing a couple of squares off the kitchen roll, but before she could blow her nose, she sneezed instead. “HihISSSSH! Oh my G- uhhhISSSHEW! HahISSSHHeew!” She blew her nose, but if anything, this only made the itch grow worse. Her eyes watered and narrowed. “Hehh… nkT-NKT-nnkTSSHEw! Whoa!”

She was about to comment on how weird this unexpected sneezing fit was, when a sudden movement caught her eye.

“Oh my God…” she exhaled into the tissues. “The thing you thought I’d be mad at you for… nnkkT-nkTSSHEW! Uh… is it by any chance black and white with a tail?”

Maia appeared in the kitchen door. She looked ashamed.

“Yes…. I’m sorry…”

“Well, you know you can’t keep it. I wish you could have a kitten, but I’m so allergic.”

“No, I didn’t think I could keep him, but he followed me home, and it’s the same cat as on those posters we saw at the park last weekend…”

“The ‘Lost pet’-posters?” Diana said, sniffling her way through another buildup. “HiKSSSHEW!”

“Yeah. He has the same heart-shaped spot on the back. He has a collar with a phone number, but I can’t get it off so I can’t see the full number…”

“Alright,” Diana said, blowing her nose again. “Okay. Okay. Let me just…” she wiped an allergic tear off her cheek,  “… uh, take an allergy tablet first and then we’ll see if we can get the collar and call the owner.”

She saw the shame still written on her daughter’s face, and sighed.

“Oh sweetheart, I’m not mad! But next time there’s anything involving things with fur, call me at work first so I know what I’m walking into.”

“Sorry, mommy.”

“Alright, enough with the apologies,” Diana said, opening her arms. “Come here.”

“I have cat hair on my clothes.”

“At this point it doesn’t matter, and you need a hug.”

Maia walked into the offered embrace, leaning her head on Diana’s shoulder.

“Someone’s going to be very happy to get their kitty back,” Diana murmured, “and that’s thanks to you. How could I be mad about that?”

***

 

Lying On The Grass (Veronica, allergies)

Veronica’s initial reaction to this idea of Jack’s, had been predictable: rejection. Psychiatrists did not do these kinds of things with patients, absolutely not, it hurt their credibility and most of all her, or, their, dignity…

That thought was gone when she won the three-legged race that Jack had picked as trust exercise, and when she and Mike stumbled over the finish line, she had rolled over on her back, laughing heartily.

She had stayed there, lying on the grass, looking up at the sky and just enjoyed being alive, for almost a full minute. No time at all, really. Not unless you were miserably allergic to grass, which Veronica was. In that moment she hadn’t considered the fact that she would pay for this minute the rest of the day.

She regretted it a while later. Oh, did she ever.

She wasn’t certain when exactly the reaction began, because she was engrossed in the treatment plan of one of her patients, but she suddenly realised that she was rubbing her itchy eyes furiously. They watered and burned, and the rubbing made matters worse.  

She stopped herself, but only with an effort. They itched so badly. And now that she thought about it, so did her throat. And her nose.

Oh, no…

It felt like sharp tiny needles stabbed the inside of her nose. The itch was almost painful, bringing on an urge to sneeze that was so overwhelming that her body forgot how to. Her breath was hitching desperately, but she couldn’t tip over the edge.

Jack tore her office door open without knocking.

“What if we’re wrong?” he said, true to his habit of never starting a conversation at a point where it made sense. Veronica’s face was a canvas of allergic sneeziness and she had both hands ready to catch the elusive building sneeze. “Whoa, what happened to you?” he continued, genuinely surprised.

Veronica snapped forward so violently she accidentally knocked her coffee cup over. Luckily it was almost empty.

“AaaESSSSHHH!! HehESSSHHh! AhhTSSHHEUH! Oh God… hehISSSHH! Allergies…”

“Huh? Allergies to what? Files and paperclips?”

“G-grahhh… ahhhEESSSCHhh! Grass… Nnkt-ESSHH-HaISSSSH!”

Jack’s face fell as he made the connection between his ‘fun exercise’ outdoors and her hayfever havoc.

“Oh… I didn’t know you were allergic. Why didn’t you say anything?”

Veronica had reached for the box of tissues and tried to clean up the spilled coffee simultaneously with tending to her nose, and knocked a pile of loose papers off the desk and onto the floor, where they scattered everywhere.

“I wasn’t really thinking about it,” she croaked, exhaled in something between a sigh and a cough, and then sneezed again.

Jack bent down and picked up the papers.

“Have you taken any medicine?”

“Not yet… aeeSSSSHH!”

“I’ll get you some,” he said and stood up, putting the papers back on her desk. “I’ll be right back.”

He got to the door, then turned around and gave her a sheepish smile.

“Sorry.”

Then he was gone.

“HaaEESSHHHooo!”

The tickle wasn’t.

***

 

Fresh Picked Flowers (Dr Weaver, allergies)

 She did notice the floral splash of colour on the patient’s bedside table, but didn’t pay much attention to it – most patients got flowers post-op, it was just ‘part of the scenery’, so to speak – but then her nose began to tickle.

She had been examining the healing process of the surgery wound and was bent over the bed, perhaps a bit too close to the table with that bouquet, because all of a sudden she became aware of a feathery tickle in the back of her nose. She gave a light sniff as she straightened up and reached for the patient’s chart, that she had placed next to the flowers while her hands were busy.

Looking at the chart, she noticed a light dusting of pollen on it.

Suddenly she was very much aware of how her nose felt. That teasing, prodding tickle, twisting itself deeper into her sinuses, that was not just a random tickle. That was the initial warning that her hayfever was acting up.

Raising her gaze from the pollen on the chart, she slowly turned towards the bouquet, fearing what she might see. Almost everyone bought flowers for their loved ones in hospital, and store-bought flowers were rarely dripping pollen everywhere.

These weren’t store-bought flowers. These were fresh picked wildflowers, a mixed bouquet overflowing the vase they were put in, and she wasn’t sure which one it was that bothered her allergies, or if it was all of them, but there were definitely enough of any of the pollen-spewing foes there to make her suffer quite horribly.

Her eyes and throat felt a bit irritated too, but usually, her main symptoms came from the nose, and this didn’t seem to be an exception.

She pressed her knuckles against the underside of her nose, pushing against her septum in the hopes that it would distract her.

“I am very pleased with how the wound is healing,” she said, sniffling quietly as she made a note on the chart. “The bruising is going down nicely and the scar will barely be noticeable.” She sniffled again, wetter this time. “If it continues like this, I think you could go home in a couple of days.”

She wanted to get out of here asap, but she prided herself with having a good bedside manner, so she forced herself to remain calm, suppressing the itch the best she could.  

“Awesome!”

She smiled, but behind that smile was a woman absolutely tortured by the allergic itch in her nose, and as she left the room, she swallowed a tickly rapid sneezing fit, only noticeable from the repeated bobbing of her head and a discreet wettish sound in the back of her nose and throat. Allergic tears overflowed her eyes as she fled across the corridor and into the nearest ladies’ room where she could surrender to the allergy attack.

Wildflowers, she thought as she took several paper towels, muffling another sneezing fit into them, I did not see that one coming!

***

 

Windy Day (Janice, allergies)

 Normally, Janice never suffered from her allergies out here on the offshore research station, but on particularly windy days, when the wind blew from the mainland, it could sometimes carry with it enough pollen to set her off.

Today was a particularly windy day.

It was alright while she was down in the research lab and living quarters, but when she went to the surface, she could feel the pollen in the wind almost immediately. Most people – Susan in particular – simply didn’t believe that she was that sensitive, but Janice was. Inhaling the pollen that was carried on the wind, her nose immediately began to itch. Her throat and palate soon followed. Her eyes burned.

If she were smart, she would of course have slipped back below surface, away from the allergenic wind coming in over them, but she clearly wasn’t that smart, because instead she went to watch the storm clouds approach.

She felt like the most obvious person in the world as she attempted to seem nonchalant approaching Jim, who was leaning against one of the fences, already watching the storm roll out to sea from the coast.

“Hi.”

He turned and gave her one of his unusual smiles.

“Hi.”

“May I join you?”

“Sure.”

He moved a bit to the side, giving her more room that she didn’t want; she wanted to be close to him. Silly little crush, perhaps, but it was a sweet dream that she didn’t want to give up on altogether.

“What do you think about the storm?” Jim asked. “Bad one? Worse?”

Janice smiled and rubbed her nose again and sniffled.

“Well, it’s blowing lots of pollen out here, so it won’t be a light storm anyway.”

“Pollen?” He looked at her, really studying her face. “You’re allergic?”

“Oh, I’m allergic to everything,” Janice laughed nervously. “But definitely to pollen. It’s… it’s…” her nostrils, already rimmed with red from her persistent rubbing, flared widely as the urge to sneeze overtook her poor nose. She quickly pulled her sleeve over her hand and covered her nose and mouth with it. “HehhISSSHoo! ‘scuse me… ahhhISSSHew! It’s usually not something I notice out here, so when I do, the winds are definitely strong.”

“Bless you.” He was still watching her closely. “Should you be out here then?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “It’s just some sniffles.”

“Your eyes look quite irritated too. Do you have medication available?”

“Yeah, but…” she rubbed her nose and sniffled again, “it’s really not a problem, it’s just a tickle… heh… ehhhISSSHHoo!”

“It certainly doesn’t look comfortable.”

“I’m used to it,” she replied, laughing. “Really, it’s just some sneezes and watery eyes, it’s not exactly pleasant but it’s just one of those things… you know?” She looked up at him with big blue-green eyes and a bright smile. “It’s not life-threatening, just annoying. You can’t let that limit you.”

“Grin and bear it, then, huh?” he said.

“Grin and bear it, exactly,” Janice replied, then sneezed into her sleeve-covered hand again.

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Chanel_no5

[Purplelily]

These are so cute. I did not realize that all these characters were played by the same actress! 
 

I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s always hard to lose a furry companion, no matter how expected

[pepperbreeze]

Sorry for your loss

These were very cute, really enjoyed them.

[Chanel_no5]

On 7/26/2022 at 5:14 PM, Purplelily said:

These are so cute. I did not realize that all these characters were played by the same actress! 
 

I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s always hard to lose a furry companion, no matter how expected

Thank you, I'm so glad you liked them! Well, to be honest, neither did I to begin with.  

And thank you.  

On 7/27/2022 at 11:44 AM, pepperbreeze said:

Sorry for your loss

These were very cute, really enjoyed them.

 

Thank you so much!!  

Edited November 30, 2022 by Chanel_no5