Technicolor Sneeze (F)

[shy guy]

I was attending a conference today when I heard the irresistible sound of a woman sniffling. I followed the sound and spied a young woman in her early twenties: she had fair skin, shoulder length strawberry blond hair, and was wearing those black-framed cat-eye glasses that are so popular with young academic types. She was obviously suffering from allergies, as she kept sniffing, and dabbing at the corners of her eyes with a tissue.

I continued to glance discretely in her direction, hoping to be rewarded with a sneeze, when a most interesting thing happened. She developed the pre-sneeze face, eyes half closed, and then the lower half of her nose went through a color transformation, from milky white to pink, rose, and then bright red, while at the same time she closed her eyes and opened her mouth in a totally silent sneeze: it wasn’t a stifle, more like a pantomime of a sneeze.

The silent sneeze must have released quite a flow of mucous, because she looked quite distressed, as if she needed to blow her nose, but couldn’t make up her mind whether to blow or try to sniff it in. Finally, she took her tissue and gave her nose a very short, quick blow, just a quick shot into the tissue, not enough of a blow to clear her nose but enough to prevent the mucous from dripping out. After the blow, her nose when through a reverse of the earlier color transformation, from red to rose, pink, and finally back to a shade just slightly pinker than the milky white of her skin. She continued to sniff after this, but didn’t sneeze again.

I’m not usually a fan of silent sneezes, but this one was exceptional, both for the range of colors her nose went through, and the expressions on her face. I hope she’s not suffering too badly from her allergies, but I must admit, I’d like to see her do this again.

[King_of_the_ruins]

now that's an interesting observation, i have never heard of someone's nose doing something like that before. Usually it just progresses from the regular skin tone, to pink, up to the bright red, and stays bright red.