Across The Sultry Skies: Installment 2

"I sayed ye'd catch yere death, di'n't I, Ma'am?"
The thick Lancaster accent of Andrej cut through the silence of the mess room with the property of a battle bugle. Esme LeSultre sniffled wetly and rubbed her nose fiercely, with did as much good as a chocolate teapot. Her nose began to run again, and she made no attempt to wipe it. She screwed her eyes shut as another tickle set in. A tugging on the hem of her coat made her open them again.
She was surprised to find a handkerchief, clean and white, being thrust at her by Andrej. Andrej was 15, seven years younger than her, with the build and face of a powder-monkey - Small and freckled, with a mop of unruly dark-brown hair.
"Go on, Ma'am, take i'. Ye'll only hurt yere nose by rubbin' i'."
Esme looked at the handkerchief for a moment, then as delicately as she could plucked the handkerchief from the boy's hand. She held it to her nose, rocking back and forth before releasing a muffled sneeze into it.
"Hmm...HMM...HuhskEW!"
She removed the handkerchief from her nose and looked at it tentatively. It was sodden, both from the spray of her nostrils and from the wet face it had been pressed to. She handed it back to Andrej, who bowed clumsily before taking it in his cupped hands to the boiler room for cleaning.
Now was the time for action. Back on deck wasn't an option: the boat was pitching from side to side more than ever, and the pounding rain was audible even from in the hull. But she could still look from her window, and use a compass and her charts to plot a course. But first, to get rid of Andrej.
"Adr-"
She stopped, horrified at how congested she sounded. She surreptitiously wiped her nose, and tried again.
"Andrej, get my bath ready! I'll need to warm up... I'll take your ad-advice th-this time, alright? H-h-have my bath ready in an hour, is th-that cle-...cle..."
With no handkerchief this time, and little warning, she sneezed strongly and openly, her head tipping back again and her slender nostrils flaring again.
"Heh...H-heeeh...HehCHOOO! HeeehCHUU!"
She felt a large amount of spray on her upper lip this time, and, feeling distinctly un-feminine and embarassed, wiped her nose again on her cuff. Not only was her nose now bright red and sore, but it was also running faster than she could wipe and she could feel the onset of the other feelings a cold brought - she felt tired and freezing cold, and were she not as headstrong and anxious she actually would take the bath. For now, she decided, she would reapply her makeup and pretend to sleep. Perhaps if she did happen to fall asleep - likely, since the last few weeks' all-night vigils plus the effects of the cold had taken their toll - she would wake up to clear skies and maybe even the sight of land. Wishful thinking, as she knew very well, but she would welcome the chance for rest with open arms despite her feeling of guilt.
Holding her finger under her dripping nose as delicately as she could manage, she strode past the slowly-livening crowd of gunners and deckhands to her quarters, shutting and bolting the door behind her and leaning back against the door. Mother and Father, she was shattered. Her nose was stinging with a vengeance, she was very cold and still soaked through to the bone - the hard property of her hair had meant that instead of absorbing the rain, it had repelled it and the water had ran into her nose, and down the collar of her coat to soak her breeches and shift, and the water had filled her boots too.
She sniffled wetly again as she undid her boots, emptying the water out of the window and heaping them in a pile next to the fire, which was heated directly by the ship's boiler and burned perpetually while the other fires had to be tended by their owners. She then unbuttoned her greatcoat and removed her breeches and shift, and finally stood naked and shivering next to her fire, glad of the warmth of the room and also of the privacy it provided her with - no man had ever seen her without her coat on at all on the Requiem, let alone her breeches and shift.
After collecting two additional blankets from the steam locker (and releasing several more sneezes which, to her dismay, were becoming more frequent and more powerful) she lay down on a settee near the fire with a pile of handkerchiefs on a coffee table nearby. Fifteen minutes later (by the mechanical timepiece above the fireplace it was around 2 o'clock in the morning, Friday, by London time, and judging by her compass bearings that meant that it was around 11 o'clock at night on Thursday (a theory based, rather haphazardly, on the estimate that the Requiem was somewhere south of Greenland. This meant that should she actually go to sleep she would wake around five in the morning, in time to see the sunrise (which she rarely missed for any reason) and by which time hopefully the storm would have blown over along with (once again, wishful thinking) her cold.
Her worry-ridden mind, however, soon clouded over to be replaced with the desparation to sneeze. In the privacy of her own quarters, and this late at night, she was able to let them out without restraint or embarassment.
"Hih... Snf... HihCHOOO! Hih... HitchUUU! Haaai.... Snf... HaaaaaCHOOOOO! Ahh.... "
Despite her frustration at her current incapacitation, and her obvious discomfort from her nose (now flowing freely), the salvo of sneezes had been oddly satisfying - her nakedness meant that her chest was not restricted by her coat, and she now felt slightly less uncomfortable and slipped into a deep and dreamless sleep in a matter of minutes.

Esme woke up with a start at the sound of gunshots and flares. Taking a look out the window, she was startled to see silhouetted against a crimson sunrise (and, she was pleased to note, cloudless skies - her cold, however seemed far from blowing over) a leaden and foreboding mass - a sky-hulk.
Sky-pirates.
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Hopefully you enjoyed my second chapter as much as I did - requests are still eagerly taken, but it will have to incorporate into the storyline.
Sorry it was late out, but due to a school play which went on three nights in a row and ended at 9 PM, I was absolutely shattered. I will have the story out generally within a few days, but don't get your faces shaped.
Thank you, and goodnight.

Oh, and for those having trouble with visualising this story, put it this way - I pictured Esme as a little like Tatsuki from Bleach (if you hadn't guessed already, I'm a manga fiend) but with dark red hair, obviously much older (22) and with different clothes and makeup. However, her personality is very similar apart from the fact that Tatsuki is quicker to anger and never seems anxious or embrarassed. The character model for Andrej was based on my friend Andrei (very similar name), who if he was anime-ised would look a little like Marco from the Studio Ghibli film "Howl's Moving Castle".
However, unlike either of these people, my characters are at present all of English nationality - being the country of which's accents I am most familiar.
Now is the time, remember, for suggestions for any added characters (probably sky-pirates), providing they are not totally ridiculous or unoriginal - this is a steampunk world, remember, so while reality is bent in places, eg. flying ships, it has roots in history and science. Vampires are probably alright too... .

please write more i really enjoy reading this

Absolutely brilliant. Thanks so much for taking my suggestion! I can't wait to see what you'll write in the future.

Also, I might try to write a weird combination steampunk/cyberpunk story because of your fantastic work. I hope this doesn't come across as stealing your idea or anything similar. The plot idea I have is already fairly different.

To be honest, Blah-San, that is the most encouraging thing said so far. I'd really like you to tell me your ideas because a combination of steampunk and cyberpunk, while not something I'll ever attempt (That's dangerous waters, I can't concieve of writing cyberpunk), sounds extremely interesting.
The other purpose of this post is to stop this series sinking to the bottom of the heap of stories currently being piled on by reminding everyone it still exists. This series is as much a fusion of steampunk and my own fantasies (ahem) as it is a compilation of the requests and ideas of the older and more experienced forum-goers, and I need ideas for characters and situations to get the ball rolling for every story, so it's essential that those interested are able to contribute. I need ideas for characters right now, and I will work from there (trying to include at least one sneezing-while-hiding scene, for the benefit of Mr Blah-San!

This is the best story i've read in ages! your an awesome writer perhaps a female crewmember could catch her cold hehe

That would be rather nice, but I'm thinking more about the other ship for now. I'm trying to focus this story on Esme herself, but any interesting situations/characters will be welcomed with open arms, seeing as the only important characters currently have been Esme and, to a lesser degree, Andrej and with brief mention of Helmsman Jarvis.
This ship may turn out to be friendly, for all we know. It would be interesting if she met an old friend, perhaps and old lover (heh-heh). After all, this story is only half sneezes and the other half is atmosphere and plot. If you need more frequent sneezing, go for The American Shepherd.

(this is to be my signature from now on until I become a Newbie.

Seriously, guys, I need those requests!

I don't want to be the guy who takes up all the requests, but I've sort of thought of another situation you could try.

Perhaps Esme could get into some denial of her cold on top of simply trying to avoid the subject. I'm not sure if this really fits her personality, but I mean the sort of thing where she continues to adamantly deny it even when it's blatantly obvious.

Also, I'd love the share some of the ideas I've had, but I don't want to take up your story thread with them. Unless that's really okay with you, we should probably wait until you can use private messages.

I am enjoying this greatly, and you seem to have several suggestions which you could well develop into something really nice.

I am also somewhat hampered in that I have no idea what steampunk is.

However, here is a further suggestion or two. When the skypirates arrive, Esme hides, as does everyone else. It turns out that the bo'sun of the pirates, or number one or something is Esme's old school chum from the convent, named Annunziata. As she explores the ship she sneezes and from her hiding place Esme recognizes the sneeze. A classic SwH scene develops, resolved when Esme realises that denial is not for her and sneezes out loud and proud, giving herself away.

Or, it turns out that they are in fact skypilots, and Annunziata is a Deaconess. She decides to take over the ship's cathedral and hold a Tridentine Mass, whereat the huge pilgrimage thurible makes Esme sneeze as before, with hilarious consequences.

And welcome to the forum.

That, count, is a bloody AWESOME idea!
I think that Annunziata could, in fact, be the captain of the ship. I think she may also, although this is a little risque, be a lesbian. The two ships tie together to exchange stories and supplies, while Annunziata invites Esme to the ship's parlour. I really don't know how I can go from there, but I'll give it a try.

I would also like to use Blah-San's idea to do the class subject-avoiding, as she most definitely IS the type to deny a sickness.

Heya, I merged your two posts up there, and I noticed from what I read that you have a knack for writing! (especially characterization in my opinion.) Welcome to the forum.