12 Days of Sneeze (Superstitions), Day 1
My original plan for tarotgal's Christmas gift this year was to do more sneezefic related to tarot cards. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work out the way I wanted it to, so I sadly had to scrap it. The good news was, I had a second idea on the backburner; namely, to look up various sneeze related superstitions and to write a small thing inspired by it.
As stated in my last post, I'll be posting one of these a day, starting today and ending on the 25th. All of the ficlets are probably G-PG rated, and shouldn't have anything that requires a warning. At the bottom of the fic, I'll include the superstition and where it came from in italics, allowing you to try to guess where it came from until then. But for our first one, I'll say this much; it's a superstition that a lot of us are already at least somewhat aware of...
“I hear that Yoshiko got a promotion at work.”
“Yes, she did, and I’m happy for her; she definitely deserves it.”
“I just hope she’ll be as lucky in her personal life.”
“You still think her roommate’s up to no good?”
“That’s going a little too far...but I do think that Manami is jealous of Yoshiko’s success, and will end up being a difficult roommate in response. Leaving a mess, making catty comments, that sort of thing.”
“Let’s just hope that she leaves it at that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well...Manami’s a very beautiful woman. And when we all got together and Yoshiko was introducing her to everyone, I saw Nobu looking at Manami far more than Yoshiko.”
“You don’t think he’s going to try to cheat on her, do you?”
“...It’s a possibility. He’s been with Yoshiko for over a year, but he was quite the womanizer in university. I wouldn’t put it past him, especially if Yoshiko ends up spending more time at work because of her promotion.”
“I don’t know. Manami does seem petty at times, but I don’t think she’d go that far to spite Yoshiko. But I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Across town, in Yoshiko’s apartment, Yoshiko abruptly set down her cup of tea. “Hold on...hah...hat-shu!”
“Bless you,” Manami said, “Are you a...ahh...” she pressed the back of her hand to her nose and stifled two sneezes. “Achnxt! Ipxxt!”
“Bless you!” Nobu said, only for his own breath to start hitching seconds later. “Eh...hehh...Het-kshh! Hep-tshh! Heh-SHH!!”
“And bless you too,” Yoshiko said, laughing and passing over a tissue box, “I guess that’s a sign that I’ve let too much dust accumulate. You and I should probably set aside some time to clean the house over the weekend, Manami.”
“Maybe,” Manami said unenthusiastically, “Or maybe there’s truth in that old superstition.”
“I doubt it,” Nobu said, offering her the tissue box with a flourish, “What could possibly be so interesting about us that was worth discussing?”
From Japan and other Asian countries: When you sneeze, someone is talking about you (one sneeze=compliment, two sneezes=not so complimentary, three sneezes=really, really bad gossip)
As stated in my last post, I'll be posting one of these a day, starting today and ending on the 25th. All of the ficlets are probably G-PG rated, and shouldn't have anything that requires a warning. At the bottom of the fic, I'll include the superstition and where it came from in italics, allowing you to try to guess where it came from until then. But for our first one, I'll say this much; it's a superstition that a lot of us are already at least somewhat aware of...
“I hear that Yoshiko got a promotion at work.”
“Yes, she did, and I’m happy for her; she definitely deserves it.”
“I just hope she’ll be as lucky in her personal life.”
“You still think her roommate’s up to no good?”
“That’s going a little too far...but I do think that Manami is jealous of Yoshiko’s success, and will end up being a difficult roommate in response. Leaving a mess, making catty comments, that sort of thing.”
“Let’s just hope that she leaves it at that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well...Manami’s a very beautiful woman. And when we all got together and Yoshiko was introducing her to everyone, I saw Nobu looking at Manami far more than Yoshiko.”
“You don’t think he’s going to try to cheat on her, do you?”
“...It’s a possibility. He’s been with Yoshiko for over a year, but he was quite the womanizer in university. I wouldn’t put it past him, especially if Yoshiko ends up spending more time at work because of her promotion.”
“I don’t know. Manami does seem petty at times, but I don’t think she’d go that far to spite Yoshiko. But I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Across town, in Yoshiko’s apartment, Yoshiko abruptly set down her cup of tea. “Hold on...hah...hat-shu!”
“Bless you,” Manami said, “Are you a...ahh...” she pressed the back of her hand to her nose and stifled two sneezes. “Achnxt! Ipxxt!”
“Bless you!” Nobu said, only for his own breath to start hitching seconds later. “Eh...hehh...Het-kshh! Hep-tshh! Heh-SHH!!”
“And bless you too,” Yoshiko said, laughing and passing over a tissue box, “I guess that’s a sign that I’ve let too much dust accumulate. You and I should probably set aside some time to clean the house over the weekend, Manami.”
“Maybe,” Manami said unenthusiastically, “Or maybe there’s truth in that old superstition.”
“I doubt it,” Nobu said, offering her the tissue box with a flourish, “What could possibly be so interesting about us that was worth discussing?”
From Japan and other Asian countries: When you sneeze, someone is talking about you (one sneeze=compliment, two sneezes=not so complimentary, three sneezes=really, really bad gossip)