Getting nearly all the way to a sneeze - right up to having already done the scrunchy face and several deep breaths - only to have it disappear -- Gallifreya
They called her "Depth Charge Demir" and with good reason. She was completely silent in her build-up to a good sneeze until...
"HROOOF!" A sound somewhere between a high-pitched explosion and a small dog trapped in a big dog's body caused everyone in Mining Station Gavin to duck and cover.
And always - the first person to emerge from hiding would yell, "Powers damnit, Demir!"
Other humans in the station soon began to recognise her pre-sneeze symptoms and holler, "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
And, for the most part, the system worked. Until that one day when Demir did all of her pre-sneeze wind-up in the cafeteria.
There was the snuffle. The twitching of the nose. The scratch. The erratic breaths. The three deep breaths. The ever-deeper breath...
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
Demir remained trapped on the cusp of a sneeze. Slowly breathing in. Unable to breathe out. Her face crumpled. Non-human cogniscents had already taken their precautionary measures...
And then Demir breathed out with a sigh. "Ugh. False alarm, guys."
The assembled women of Mining Station Gavin breathed out a sigh.
"Powers damnit, Demir," sighed the one who had called the alarm.
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