[F + Maxie + Anthro + Destruction + Suggestive Dialogue] Giant Sneezes dot-com

[AMTW03]

Hey folks!  So, I'm back with yet another story contribution.  This time featuring everyone's favorite sneezy wolfess, Maxie! The big-hearted canine with the destructive sneezes.

I want to thank SneezeTheWolf for allowing me to write this.  I've always been a big fan of Maxie, and have been wanting to see more of her for a while.  So, I recently came up with the idea of this story for her.  Also, special thanks to oneofthree for allowing me to reference her character Gwen, and some of the entities from her work.

This is actually a continuation of a narrative that sneezyserpent wrote a long while back called The Trouble with a Lie, which ends with Maxie getting told by her former boss Mr. Ego that he knows of a job for her to work at that would be perfect for her!  It isn't revealed what the job is, but she decides to head there right away.  So, now we get to find out what it is!  You can find sneezyserpent's story here:
http://sneezefurs.org/index.php?topic=2371.msg13544#msg13544

My story doesn't necessarily contain any Mature content, but I'm labeling it with "suggestive dialogue," as it does have some references to adult type situations.  Just a little disclaimer.

This is Part 1 of the tale.  Part 2 is currently in the works, which I will post upon completion.  Anyway, hope you enjoy!  By the way, if you've played any of the Maxie games that STW created, you might catch some of the references.

(Maxie is property of SneezeTheWolf - used with permission)
(Gwen and the Kevlar Handkerchief belong to oneofthree - used with permission)

***

Giant Sneezes dot-com
Part 1
By AMTW

Maxie found herself smiling as she drove down the highway, full of excitement as she embarked on her new endeavor.  She had hoped that whatever this potential new job was that she was on her way to might finally be a good fit for her.  The unusually tall and strong, yet kind-hearted wolfess was well suited to many different job settings.  Unfortunately, her one “talent” had always been a hindrance – her big sneezes.

Whenever Maxie sneezed, it was always abnormally powerful and destructive, which caused problems wherever she went.  No doubt, she was motivated to work for a living, but she often couldn’t hold a job very long, for obvious reasons.  But now, she aspired that things were about to change.

She had just departed from her short-lived cleaning position, working in an old building for a panda known simply as Mr. Ego.  The job was going well, until she was tasked with cleaning out an old, dust filled room, which of course led to the expected result.  She had sneezed so hard, that she blew open a hole in the wall, and sent everything flying outside.  Thankfully, the owner wasn’t mad, but he did tell her that he knew of a place that would be perfect for her to work at.  A place where she wouldn’t have to worry about sneezing at all!

When she asked what sort of job it was, he didn’t give her many details.  However, he did mention that this would be a setting where her sneezes would be useful on the job.  When she inquired what that meant, all he told her was, “You’ll see.  Trust me, it’s perfect for you.  I know the owner of the place.  He’ll hook you up with a job.”

Even though he wasn’t telling her much, she knew that she’d be happy anywhere, especially if it was somewhere that her sneezes wouldn’t get in the way, and possibly even be useful.  So, she said, “I’ll go there right away.”

And here she was, on her way to the address that Mr. Ego had given her.  As she pulled off the highway, she began to wonder what sort of work that she’d be doing at this location.  After all, what sort of job would destructive sneezes be useful for?  Maybe it was some sort of demolition work?  She laughed out loud as she pictured herself at a construction site, wearing a hard hat, being tasked as a furry wrecking ball, blowing down large structures as needed.

No, it wouldn’t be that.  Her sneezes were strong, but not that strong.  Her releases were more comparable to a hurricane than a bomb.  She could easily blow down a door, maybe rip up some drywall, but she couldn’t knock down a building (thankfully).  Oh wait!  Doors and drywall.  Maybe it was some sort of remodeling organization where she could do the demo work before renovations... no, it couldn’t be that either.  Her sneezes were too uncontrollable.  She wouldn’t be able to aim them at specific targets without doing more damage than intended.

Hmm... what else could it be?  She decided she would just wait and find out when she got there.  As she continued to drive, the GPS led her into some sort of complex with rectangular, white, warehouse-like buildings.  Before long, she found herself in a sparsely filled parking lot with a handful of cars.  “I guess this is it,” she said to herself, as she exited the car.  She noticed a sign near the parking lot entrance that had the words Reel Feel Studios painted on it.  “Are these filming studios?” she thought out loud.  “Interesting…”

She wasn’t really sure what sort of work would be suitable for her in a place like this, but there was one way to find out.  She made her way to the entrance of building 4, which she’d been instructed to do.  As she approached the tall, plain white structure, she noticed that this building was more isolated than the others.  In fact, it had what seemed to be a giant outdoor filming area in back, complete with crane mounted cameras.  She saw a handful of crew workers laboring away in the space as she came closer.  They must have been setting up for a scene of some sort.  Well, this was cool!  Although, she still had no idea what a place like this would want with someone like her.

After buzzing in on a speaker at the front door of the building, a heavy-kept bear wearing a button-down shirt and a pair of tan slacks came outside to greet her.

“You must be Maxie!” he said with a smile.

“Yep, that’s me,” the wolfess replied, swishing her tail slightly, returning his smile.

“Name’s Jack Berrington,” he said, extending a paw to shake hers.  “It’s nice to meet you, finally.  I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Have you?” Maxie replied, sounding a bit surprised.  “You mean from Mr. Ego?  That’s kind of odd.  I only worked for him for a few days or so.”

“Well, actually no,” the bear said back.  “I mean, I did speak with him on the phone before you arrived.  But I was talking about something else.  I’ve been getting a number of recommendations for you from other individuals…for quite a while if you can believe that.”

“Other individuals?”  Maxie sounded confused.  “Who are you talking about?”

The bear smiled warmly and chuckled a bit as he spoke.  “We have got a lot to discuss, miss.  Let me tell you.  Why don’t you come inside?  We can talk more in my office.”

“Umm… well alright.”  Maxie really wasn’t sure what was going on here, but she was no doubt intrigued.  She followed Jack through the front door, and down a hallway, past several rooms which contained cameras, props, and other filming equipment.  As they passed one filming room, she stole a glance through the large window.  She saw that there was an elephant actress in there, dressed in somewhat revealing clothes, who was getting makeup prepped.  Oddly enough, one crew member was carrying a crate containing what appeared to be a set of jars, filled with a number of different colored, powdered substances.  Maxie shrugged, not thinking much of what she saw.

“So, you film movies here?” she asked as they continued to walk.

“You could say that,” Jack answered.  “Mainly short films.  Full disclosure, I own a subscription-based video website.  We do all the filming for our viewers on location here.”

“Oh.  What kind of videos?”  Maxie slowed her stride to keep pace with the shorter individual next to her.

“Let’s just say, consumer demand,” the bear responded.  “I’ll explain.  Here we are.”

Right next to the filming room that they just passed was the entrance to Jack’s office.  It was a fairly plain, small windowed room, that didn’t have much to it besides a desk and some cabinets.  Maxie wondered why Jack didn’t have any pictures hung or any desk decorations put out.  This room could definitely have used some sprucing up.  Jack gestured for the wolfess to sit down in the chair in front of his desk, while he took a seat behind it in his roller chair.

“This is an impressive studio you’ve got,” Maxie commented. “I’d imagine this must be a pretty popular website.”

“Oh yes,” Jack said back to her.  “We’ve got quite a lot of subscribers, and the number keeps growing all the time.  Last I checked, it was pushing a hundred thousand.  But anyway, I’m glad to have gotten the opportunity to talk to you, Miss Maxie.  Like I said, I’ve been hearing all about you from a lot of different people, and I think that we could really use someone with your talents around here.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” Maxie put in.  Though she still wasn’t sure why it was that this man seemed so interested in her.  “So, what kind of work did you have in mind for me?  Would I be helping to do cleanup work after filming?  Or acting as a stagehand or something like that?”  She didn’t know how work like that would relate to her sneezes, but she wasn’t sure what else she’d be qualified for here.

“Actually no,” Jack stated, as he folded his hands and leaned forward slightly across the desk.  “Believe it or not miss, we’d like to have you in our films.”

“In them??” Maxie quizzed, wrinkling her eyebrows and looking quite surprised.  “But why?  I… I’m really not an actress.  Did somebody tell you that I was?”

“No-no, it’s not like that at all,” Jack said to her.  “I guess I should explain.  You see, the website is a-”

BOOM!!!!

He was suddenly cut off by a loud noise that was heard in the room next door.  The walls shook, startling both of them to the point where Maxie nearly shot out of her chair.  Strangely enough, she could have sworn that she heard a loud “HEEEEEEEEH-CHOOOOOO!” accompanying the noise.

“W-what was that?” She stammered, still looking a bit shaken.

“Oh, sorry,” Jack uttered, taking a deep breath himself, trying to relax a bit from the start he was given.  “We’re right next door to the filming room that we passed.  The walls are pretty thick, but a lot of times, you can still hear what’s going on over there.”

“Was that some sort of sound effect?” Maxie inquired, still looking quite perplexed.

“Well... sort of,” Jack chuckled, still smiling a bit.  “What I started to say before was that our website is intended for folks who have kind of a… ‘fascination’ of sorts... with sneezing.”

Maxie’s eyebrows raised as she tried to process what was being told to her.  “Fascination... with sneezing?”  Well, this was starting to make sense.  That would explain why her sneezes would come into play at this place.  But she still didn’t quite understand what he meant by what he said.

“That’s right,” Jack responded.  He could tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t figuring out what he was getting at.  “I guess I should just come out and say it.  The website is a sneeze fetish-based site.”

Maxie blinked and her eyes went wide as she finally understood.  A fetish-based website??  Oh no, she thought.  What had she gotten herself into?  This was a filming studio for kink videos... adult type entertainment!  That wasn’t something that she wanted to be a part of at all.  Her face turned red as she felt herself silently panicking, contemplating if she should get up and run out of here as fast as she could.  Stay calm, she thought to herself.  After all, she wasn’t really in any sort of danger.  Nothing that she had seen so far looked fishy to her, and this bear that she was conversing with seemed very kind and welcoming.  Not like some sort of creep that wanted her to do lewd things.  Worst case scenario, she could just politely tell him “no”, and be on her way.

Although… she had to admit that she was intrigued to hear more about this sneeze fetish, and about what he had to say.  “Umm wow,” she spoke up, finally breaking the long silence.  “A sneezing fetish?  That’s a thing?”

“Indeed, it is!” Jack blurted out.  “It’s not an uncommon fetish, actually.  Our audiences love what we do!”

“Huh,” Maxie said, still sounding a bit uneasy. “Sooooo... like what happens in the videos?  You make your actors sneeze and record it?”

“Exactly,” Jack answered.  “We film our actors being made to sneeze in various situations, with different inducers, objects and allergens.  We induce the sneezes, and film it from all kinds of angles.  We do close-ups of it and everything.  There’s also dialogue, and in some cases plot points.  The viewers eat it right up!”

“Wow….” Maxie stated, “and people actually pay money to see these videos?”

“Yes, they do,” Jack said back.  “Pretty good money in fact.  It’s crazy how folks will pay to be satisfied in such a unique way.”  Maxie noticed that this bear seemed to have quite a passion for his work.  Not in an overly excited or weird sort of way, but very professionally.  “Although our website is unique.  You see, we focus on individuals who have very large and destructive sneezes, which is oddly a preference that a lot of sneeze fetishists have.”

“Ooohhh….” Maxie began as a shy smile started to stretch across her face.  “So that must be why you’re interested in me.”  She blushed hard as the words left her mouth.

“Correct,” Jack said.  “Although, most of our performers are usually species such as elephants and macros and whatnot.  Ones you might expect.”

“So, that’s what that noise was next door,” Maxie speculated, as she gestured toward the wall.

Jack just snickered as he nodded.  “That’s Jasmine, one of our elephant actresses.  She’s got quite a sneeze, as you heard, even for an elephant.  She’s definitely one of our more popular performers.”

“So, that big filming area I saw outside,” Maxie ventured.  “That must be where you film macros.”

“That’s right,” Jack confirmed.  “The crane cameras make it easier to get a close-up of the victim’s nose... and also so our crew can get close enough to tickle it,” he chortled.  “However, as you might be able to guess, we’ve never really filmed a wolf before.  Your species typically isn’t known for powerful sneezes… outside of the big bad wolf of course,” he said with a laugh.

Maxie snorted and shook her head. “Heh, yeah.  I catch jokes all the time that I must be related to him.”

“So, I’ve heard,” Jack replied, “and that makes you even more appealing.  One thing that a lot of our subscribers have said is that they have a thing for canine noses.  But we haven’t really had the opportunity to do anything for them up to this point.”

“Hehe,” Maxie giggled as she blushed a bit again, crossing her eyes slightly to look at her own snout.  “A thing for canine noses?”  She couldn’t help but paw lightly at her nose and the sides of her muzzle with both of her hands as she admired it.  She always knew that her snoot was a bit big, even for someone like her.  But she couldn’t help but feel a giddy at the thought that someone might have a thing for it.

“Yes,” Jack nodded.  “What might surprise you to hear is that for a little while now, quite a few of our customers have been asking for you specifically, Maxie.”

The wolf did a double take as she stared at the bear sitting across from her.  “They’ve been asking for me??”

“Indeed, they have!  You’d be surprised how word gets around in this internet-driven day and age.  A lot of people have heard about ‘that big sneezy wolfess’ from our town and have offered input in our feedback section.  They’ve been asking if there’d be any way that we could get you on there.  Some have even mentioned you by name!”

Maxie stared at him for a second, looking a completely dumbfounded.  “You mean like... I have fans?”

“I would say that’s accurate,” Jack said.

“Wow!”  Maxie’s open-hanging maw slowly stretched into a smile.  “This is so much to take in.  Most people are really scared of my sneezes, and they get mad and stuff too.  It’s refreshing to hear that there’s people out there that like them.”

“I’m sure,” Jack replied.  “In fact, are you ready for another curveball?  One of our customers, who’s been pushing for you for a while, is someone who I understand is a close friend of yours.  Someone who it sounds like you were hanging out with just last night.”

“Amber???”  Maxie’s jaw dropped again.  “Amber is one of your subscribers?”

Jack smiled lightly and slowly nodded, letting this information sink in.

“Huh....” Maxie spoke as she stared out in space while thinking.  “So, Amber has a sneezing fetish... well, that explains a lot.  They’re always wanting to touch my nose and stuff, and constantly trying to do sneaky things to make me sneeze.”

“Oh, I see.  That’s interesting.”

“Yeah.  Just last night, they dropped a decorative feather on my nose when I wasn’t paying attention... a feather that I bought for them, by the way... boy, that was quite an uncomfortable situation.  I tried so hard not to move my nose so it didn’t get to me, but I couldn’t help it.  It tickled so bad!  And well... then, ‘that thing’ happened.  That was some sneeze that I let out!”  Maxie shuddered a little at the thought of it, almost showing a bit of fear.

"So, you’ve never put two and two together and thought that there might be a reason for why they keep doing all of that to you?” Jack asked.

“No,” Maxie said back.  “Honestly, I thought that they were just trying to be funny.  Amber’s always been a jokester.  Although, I’ve told them several times that I don’t like when they do that.  One of these days I’m gonna really end up hurting them with my sneezes.”  Maxie shook her head as she thought about it some more.  Why didn’t I figure this out before?  Gosh, am I that naive?

“I see.  Well fittingly enough, we’ve been in close contact with Amber recently,” John spoke up, “and we actually were planning on reaching out to you, soon.  Although, it’s ironic that my old high school friend Bailey Ego called me today and sent you my way.”

“Heh... I think Amber and I are gonna have a little chat sometime soon.”  Maxie grinned slightly.

“I wish I could be a fly on the wall for that,” Jack said with a smirk.  “Anyhow, would you be at all interested in working as one of our performers?  I should tell you that we compensate our actors very well.”

“How well?” Maxie questioned.  The bear leaned across the table to whisper a number to Maxie.  She perked her ears forward to hear him, before recoiling a bit in her seat.  “Wow, that much?  Sheesh, that’s more than I’ve ever made at any job in my life.”

“Yep, there’s quite a bit of money to be made in our industry,” he explained.

“Umm, here’s a question,” Maxie returned.  “Not to be rude, but obviously, your films are intended to satisfy a kink, right?  Do you film any... ’adult’ type situations when you record the sneezes?  Like, with sex?”

“We do,” Jack said, matter-of-factly.  “That’s certainly not the only type of videos we make though.  A lot of our content is clean with just sneezes, and no sex.  It’s quite popular actually.  And, you wouldn’t have to partake in any of the 18+ rated stuff if you’re not comfortable with it.  Although, I should mention that there’s a bigger compensation incentive if you were to do so.”

“Not interested,” Maxie retorted.  “I would have to draw the line there.”

“I understand,” Jack said, holding up his paws.  “Anyway, before we go any further, I would like some more information on what you could do for us.  First of all, what makes you sneeze?  How easily does it happen?  Do you have any sort of allergies, or anything that you’re sensitive to?”

“Oh gosh.”  Maxie bit her lip.  “My nose is so sensitive.  Like I indicated before, things like feathers running over it can really set it off.  Even just having them brush over my muzzle can tickle it to no end!  Also, I have a few allergies to things like pollen and dust too.”  Just talking about all her inducers made Maxie feel a bit of a twitch in her snout.  She reached up a paw to give her nose a gentle rub.

While she noticed that the bear was nodding as she spoke, and seemed to be listening with great interest.  “I see.  So, how big are your sneezes exactly?”

“Well... let’s just say that they’re hard to miss.  I’ve been known to cause a mini hurricane sometimes.  It sucks too that it happens so easily, especially when I’m out in public.  I’ve had more than a few incidents.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” the bear spoke solemnly.  “Well, I hope you know that you wouldn’t have to worry about any said incidents here.  In fact, if you don’t mind,” he began as he got up, and opened a cabinet next to his desk, “I would like to see a little demonstration of your capabilities.”  From the cabinet, he pulled out what appeared to be some kind of flak vest, which he put on.  He also donned a pair of goggles and a protective helmet.

“A demonstration?” Maxie queried as she watched him.  “Y-you want me to sneeze?  Now?  Here in your office?”

“Yes, I do!” Jack replied, as he reached into his desk, pulling out a big bouquet of flowers.  “If you’re comfortable with it, that is.”

Maxie gasped in fear as she saw what he was holding.  EEEK, daffodils!  Pollen from them was one of her biggest allergies.  “Woah woah, hey!” she exclaimed in a panic, trying to look away, and holding her nose. “I-I don’t think this is a good idea.  You d-don't know what you’re dealing with here!”

“Oh-oh, I’m sorry,” Jack expressed, as he quickly stowed the flowers back in his desk.  “My apologies.  That was too forward of me.  I should have asked first.”

Maxie sighed in relief as she let go of her big, canine nose. “Oh, it’s *sniff* alr-right,” she stuttered, catching a bit of a whiff of the lingering scent of the daffodils.  She snorted hard and scrubbed the end of her nose, quickly extinguishing the tickle, which Jack took notice of.

“Wow, just doing that was enough to get to you, huh?”

“Yeah,” Maxie verbalized, still sniffling a bit.  “Like I told you, my nose is really sensitive.  I’m sorry for reacting like that, I just don’t want to hurt you, or do any damage to your office.”

Jack laughed a bit at her notion.  “I understand, miss.  However, I should tell you that I’m a trained professional when it comes to dealing with this sort of thing.  In fact, my desk and all of the furniture is bolted down, and the walls and windows are heavily reinforced.  So, you don’t have to worry about a thing.”

“R-really?” Maxie probed, pondering what she had been told.  Was it really safe to do as he had asked?  Should she agree to give him what he wanted?  “W-well... I guess it’s okay.  Just, please be careful.”

“I promise I will,” the bear replied, as he reached into his desk once again, pulling out the colorful bouquet.  He held it in his paw for a few seconds, just long enough for the strong scent of the flowers to make itself known, before putting it back in the drawer.  “There,” he said, “let’s see what kind of effect that has on you.” He stood behind his desk and watched the wolfess intently.

Before long, the smell of the daffodils made its way across the room to Maxie’s waiting nostrils, which she quickly took notice of.  She blinked a few times as her long muzzle began to involuntarily twitch, and scrunch considerably.  Her expression already started to look a bit sneezy, as her eyes drooped slightly, and the sides of her mouth creased.  Instinctively, she reached a paw up to give her snout a good rub, before Jack suddenly spoke up.

“No-no!” he burst out, recognizing what she was about to do.  “Don’t rub your nose.  It’s okay, really.  Just let it come.”

*Sniff* “R...really?”  Maxie sounded very uneasy. “Are yah…h-you sure ab-bout this?”

“Trust me, I’ll be fine,” the bear responded.  “Here, if it makes you feel better...” he ducked down behind the shield of his desk, peering over the top of it so only his eyes and the top of his covered head could be seen.  “You won’t hurt me, I promise.  Just do your thing.”

Normally Maxie would be quite uncomfortable with doing something like this.  Then again, the sincerity in the bear’s voice made it seem like he really knew what he was doing, and like this was a safe and controlled experiment, which help put her mind at ease a bit.  Not to mention, she liked the idea of being able to sneeze freely, which was a rare and welcome treat for her.  So, she decided that she would take this opportunity to do so.

“O... okay” she said, lowering her paw and sniffling lightly, looking down her snout and focusing on the teasing, tickly sensation in her large, pink nose.  It wasn’t quite enough to provoke a sneeze out of her, in fact it was one of those nagging tickles that easily could be doused with a quick exhale and some brisk rubbing, but obviously that wasn’t her goal this time.

So instead, she did something that she hadn’t done in a very long time – probably years.  She tried to egg the sneeze on!  She let her nostrils naturally flare, and she lightly drew in her breath.  Simultaneously, she worked the tiny muscles in her long nasal passages gently backwards, slowly drawing the tickle deeper and deeper into her muzzle, trying to reach that sweet spot where it would make her sneeze.

It seemed to be working, as her breath gradually came quicker and heavier, causing her chest to visibly rise and fall.  Her expression became progressively sneezier as her mouth started to hang open, exposing her sharp canid teeth.  Her muzzle scrunched and twitched, begging for release from the ever-agonizing tickle.  Normally, this would be when she would start to panic.  Although, through half closed eyes, she could still make out Jack looking over the top of the desk, watching with great attentiveness and not at all showing fear.  This helped her relax and convinced her that she could let the sneeze out, and not have to worry about holding back.

Come on! she thought to herself, as she continued to draw in slow breaths through her nose, bringing the irritation ever closer to the deep inner part of her snout.  Almost there...

Her chest kept fluctuating up and down, over and over again, until....

“hihh...hahh…ahhhhh….”

There it was!  The tickle had finally hit its mark, and her sensitive nose couldn’t take it anymore.  The sneeze was coming!

“aaaaahhhh....haaaaaaahhhhhh....”

Maxie’s eyes began to shut, her muzzle scrunched hard, and her chest started to expand, stretching her shirt, as she drew in breath after breath.

“aaaaaaahhhhhhh......AAAAAHHHHHHHHH...AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH....”

Jack’s eyes widened at the site before him.  He had never seen this kind of a build-up from a common canine before, even an unusually tall one.  The wolfess’ nostrils had flared to almost twice their normal size.  Her lips were curled back as the irritation was really getting to her.  Her chest seemed to be inflating more and more in almost a cartoony sort of way.  It swelled and swelled with each inhale she took.  Until finally…

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH....AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH...

HAAAAAAAAAAAAT-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

Maxie’s head snapped forward violently as she released a giant blast!  I great WHOOSH of air was heard as it tore through the tiny office, sending papers and office supplies flying everywhere from the top of the desk.  A loud crack could be heard in the midst of the chaos.  Several minutes seemed to pass before the breeze died down, and the office eventually fell silent.

Maxie just sat there with her eyes closed and her teeth clenched.  Oh no, she thought, realizing that maybe she shouldn’t have let the sneeze go, so unimpeded.  She was afraid to look, wondering what damage she might have caused, and what harm she might have done to her potential new employer.  To her surprise, when she opened her eyes, she saw Jack standing there behind his desk, unharmed, still wearing all of the protective gear.  Amazingly, he was smiling widely, beaming in fact!

“WOOWWW!” he burst out, lightly clapping his paws.  “Now, THAT was impressive!  That’s quite a sneeze you’ve got there, ma’am.  Folks weren’t kidding!”

“*Sniff* You.... *sniffle* you think so?” Maxie said blushing, smiling shyly, rubbing her nose, still recovering from her strong release.  “Umm... thank you!”  She wasn’t used to this.  Someone who had witnessed one of her sneezes up close, didn’t get upset, really seemed to like it, and was even impressed!  “Heh... truth be told, that wasn’t one of my big ones.”

“Is that right?” the bear responded.  “Well if that’s true, then I can’t wait to see what you can really do!  And to think, it didn’t even take much to set you off.  We could definitely use you on set.  I’m thinking of all kinds of fun things that we could do with that nose of yours.”

“If you say so,” Maxie uttered, blushing even deeper now.  “I’m sorry I blew your papers everywhere, and... oh no!”  She pointed a clawed hand behind Jack. “I broke your window!”

Jack turned around to see that a prominent crack had indeed formed right down the center of the thickly paned glass.  To Maxie’s bewilderment, he just looked at it and laughed, as he walked up to it and examined it with his paw.  “Oh, don’t worry about it, miss,” he said.  “Things like this happen around here all the time.  I’ll get it fixed.”

He turned back around to face her again.  He picked his knocked-over chair off the floor, set it upright, and sat back down to face the wolfess.  “And don’t worry about the papers and whatnot.  I intentionally left everything on my desk prior to your sneeze to see what would happen... I must say, I wasn’t expecting this!”  He observed the office supplies that were scattered around everywhere, before finally looking back up to face her.  “Well Miss Maxie, if you’re interested, the job is yours!  What do you think?  Would you like to join our team?”

Maxie folded her ears down, and kind of slouched in her chair a bit as she spoke.  “Ummm...” she mumbled lightly, “I... I don’t know.  I’m really not sure how I feel about all this... I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m flattered… and I really appreciate the opportunity, but well... for one, I must tell you that I’m pretty shy.  I don’t know how well I would do in front of a camera.

Also, well... I’m really self-conscious about my sneezes.  I don’t like them very much, so the idea of showcasing them, especially for others to fetishize about is a bit much.  I mean, maybe I would do it for a close friend, but... doing it on the internet for the whole world to see?”

Jack nodded slowly at her response.  He empathized with the woman, as he was used to hearing these sorts of anxious thoughts from potential employees.  He considered showering her with assurances that his camera crew was very professional and understanding about the unusual situations that the actors were put in, and that Maxie would be handled with nothing but kindness and care on set.  He was sure that she would do great!  He also thought about also pitching the idea that since her sneezes were such a difficult part of normal life that caused others distress, why not share them with other individuals who would love and enjoy them, all around the world?  But he decided that he shouldn’t push too hard.  He didn’t want to pressure the poor wolf.  “I completely understand, ma’am,” he said.  “I hear worries like that all the time.  I won’t push you, as it’s completely your choice.  But one thing I would like to share with you is this.

When I started this business, I did it not only because I wanted to do what I love, but also because I wanted to help individuals like you that have such unique difficulties.  I can’t imagine how hard it must be living with the capability of a giant sneeze, which is such a common and uncontrollable reflex.  I thought it might be a good thing to offer folks like you a job where you could use your unique gift, in a way that others might enjoy.”

Maxie looked up slightly and nodded.  “That’s very noble of you,” she said.  “You know, I must admit, I’ve dealt with this problem for a better part of my life, and it hasn’t been easy... I usually haven’t been able to hold a job for very long... and well... I think it’s cool that people want to see me on your website... I would have to think about it, though.”

“I’m sorry about your troubles,” Jack acknowledged, giving her a sympathetic look.  “That’s totally fine if you need to think it through.  Before you go though, I should tell you about one other incentive that the job offers.”

“What?” Maxie asked, lifting her head.

“I have a question for you,” Jack said, as he leaned in closer to her.  “Have you ever heard of ‘Macro-Micro Relations?’”

“No, I haven’t,” Maxie responded.

“It’s a fairly new company,” Jack explained.  “It was started by a macro equine woman named Gwen.  She wanted to make it possible for macro beings to visit populated areas without fear of causing any damage, should they need to sneeze.  So, she developed a product called the Kevlar Handkerchief.”

“Oh!”  Maxie’s ears perked.  “Yeah, I did hear something about that.  It prevents damage done by macro sneezes, right?”

“That’s right,” the bear replied.  “Except one thing that’s not well known is that Gwen’s company recently created a smaller version of the handkerchief for micros to use, who also have unusually large sneezes.”  He opened another drawer of his desk as he reached into it again.  “I just so happen to have one right here.”  He pulled out a dark green, folded piece of cloth, and held it up for the wolf to see.

“Woah,” Maxie said.  “So like, that thing can absorb really powerful sneezes like mine?”

“Yes it can,” the bear answered back.

“May I see it?” Maxie asked, reaching for it.

“Of course.”  Jack handed it to her and allowed her to examine it.

Maxie twisted the handkerchief in her paws as she inspected it.  The fabric was very rough and dense, yet somehow still flexible.  “So, if I were to sneeze into this thing, it would prevent any damage that I might do?”

“Well…” Jack started to say, “unfortunately it’s not as effective as the full-size product.  See, the problem is that for a micro like you, your sneezes are much more disproportionate to your body size, and there’s good chance of there being a lot of recoil.  Also, you have to really hold it tight against your muzzle, or you could easily lose your grip on it. And there might be some side blast, but it’s still better than nothing.

Anyhow, it’s guaranteed to protect against up to around ten giant sneezes before the fabric starts to come apart.  And we offer an unlimited supply of these handkerchiefs to all of our employees.”

Maxie’s eyes widened as she looked up at him in excitement.  “Really?” she said.  “Does it actually work?”

“It sure does,” Jack said, as he opened yet another desk drawer.  He pulled out a large red, decorative feather, and held it up while grinning slightly.  “Care to give it a try?  You said that your nose is really sensitive to feathers, right?”

Maxie blinked at what he was presenting to her, before eventually smirking at him.  “How many sneeze inducing items do you have in that desk of yours?” she asked.

“You do know where you are, right?” Jack joked.  “Here,” he said as he walked around the desk and stood in front of her.  He made a gesture with the feather towards her nose.  “Allow me… if I may.”

“Ummmm….” Maxie hesitated as she stared at the plume in the bear’s paw.  Her nose twitched slightly, already feeling a bit of a tickle, just looking at the brushy feather.  “You’re sure this hankie will work?  I have to warn you, if you’re gonna use that on my nose, you’re probably going to get a much bigger sneeze than you saw before... feathers really make my nose tickle.”  She blushed deep as she looked at him bashfully.

“Yes, I’m sure,” he said convincingly.  “As long as you hold it right up to your snout, it will work.”

“Okay,” Maxie blurted out, almost without delay.  She was surprised at herself for how willing she was to sneeze for this man.  Nonetheless, he had not steered her wrong yet, and he really brought out the confidence in her.  She knew she could trust him.  “Let’s try it out.”  She leaned forward towards him and stuck out her muzzle, offering up her nose.

“Alright,” the bear said, as he brought the feather up to her face.  “Here we go.”  He touched the tip of the feather to the base of her snout, and very slowly dragged it along the length of her muzzle, all the way to the tip of her nose.  It seemed that he knew exactly what he was doing, like he was trained to stimulate every tickly spot in a victim’s snoot.  Maxie could feel the tiny tendrils of the plume as they dragged along her sensitive proboscis, sending an almost electric-like tingle deep into the depths of her muzzle.

Her nose reacted accordingly.  Twitch…twitch…scruuunnch…

“Hhhh...hiiiihhh...ssnrrrrrrrkk...” Maxie’s head reflexively pulled away as she panted.  She had the most tortured look ever on her face.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked, as he pulled the feather back.

“Thaahh…hahh...that really t-tickles!” Maxie managed between breaths.  “You’re gonna m... make me sn...suhh... suhhh...suhhnneeeze!”  Her nose twitched and flared like crazy, so close to the cusp of being pushed over the edge.

“Wow, already?” Jack said, sounding almost amused.  “You were right.  Feathers really do get you going.”  He reached for her muzzle yet again.  “It’s alright,” he said, not pausing at all.  “Just let it out.  Remember to cover your nose.”  Once more, he followed the same process, and dragged the feather along the length of her snout, pushing a little harder this time.

Maxie clenched her jaw and narrowed her eyes in horror, as she felt this second wave of torture engulf her muzzle.  It was far too much to bear.

“Hehhhhh... I'm gonna sn... snehhhh... aaaahhhh... aaaahhhhhhh…."

As her breath hitched and she started to build up again, she became alarmed as she realized that Jack wasn’t ducking back behind his desk this time.  He was boldly standing right in the line of fire.

To make matters worse, the bear decided to provoke her nose some more.  He moved the feather down and started brushing it back and forth briskly across her twitching, flaring nostrils.

Maxie jumped when she felt her already irritated nose get bombarded by the feather some more.  What was this bear thinking?  Was he crazy??  The feather was just torturing her now, and she impulsively started inhaling more and more, her body trying like crazy to rid her nose of this ever-growing persistent tickle!

“Laaaahhhhhh…heeeeahhhhh….LOOK OOUAAAAAAAHH….HHAAAAAAHHHHHHH…”  Maxie tried to warn him to get out of the way, but she could no longer talk, as the sneeze was taking full control.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH…..AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH….AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH….”

Her chest swelled bigger and bigger.  Her nostrils were quivering now, protesting against the quick strokes of the feather which just wouldn’t stop tormenting her!  They stretched so wide that the pink of her nose was starting to show.  For whatever reason, Jack decided to take it even further.  He pushed the feather into one of those gaping nostrils and began to tickle the pink directly.

“HIIIIGGGGGHHHHHHH!!”  Maxie gasped audibly as she felt the feather reach the most sensitive spot in her nose.  He had really done it now!  Her nose was on fire, and was angrily scrunching, flaring and trembling like crazy.  She knew that this was going to be one of her biggest sneezes ever!

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…..AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH….”

Jack finally decided that he had done enough, as the wolf’s chest was starting to inflate like a giant balloon right in front of him.  He withdrew the feather, but still stood his ground.  “COVER YOUR NOSE!” he yelled as a reminder.

Maxie barely heard him, as she fumbled around with the hankie in her paws.  With some effort, she managed to get it up to her tortured snout.  Following his instructions from before, she held it to her muzzle as tightly as she could, just as…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…..AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH….

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMPPHH!!!!”

The next thing Maxie comprehended was an almost deafening blast of air from her own sneeze that hit her right in the face!  It was followed by the sensation of flying backwards for a split second, before SMACKING hard into the wall behind her, and tumbling down and landing awkwardly next to her chair.  She let out a groan and squinted her eyes for a few seconds, and she struggled to get up onto her hands and knees, panting heavily from the head rush she was experiencing.

She felt Jack’s paw on her shoulder.  “Oh my gosh!” she managed to make out, over the slight ringing in her ears, “Are you okay??”

Maxie sniffed hard and scrubbed her nose in the crook of her elbow before blinking her vision back into focus and looking up to see the bear standing over her with a concerned look.  Her eyes went wide as she rolled to a sitting position.  “I’m fine, I’m fine!” she yelled back, even though she still was pretty dazed from the G-force, and from releasing such an enormous sneeze.  There was a much more important question on her mind.  “Are you okay??” she asked, rubbing her nose, still sniffling a bit.  “I… *sniiiiiffff*… I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“Oh no, not at all,” Jack assured her.  “I only felt a breeze.  I wish I could say the same for you, though.  I’m so sorry.  I probably should have emphasized the potential for recoil when using the handkerchief.  Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked.  “Here, I’ll help you up.”  He held out a paw for her to take.

Maxie panted deep a couple more times, still recuperating, but she nodded at the bear, feeling that her sense of balance was coming back.  She took his paw and pulled herself back up to her feet, dusting herself off a bit as she looked at him.  “Thank you.  I’m glad you’re alright,” she said to him.  *Sniff* “Whew!  That was big…”

Jack looked at her with a sheepish smile.  “Yeah…. sorry about that.  I may have gotten a little carried away with the feather.  I was just really intrigued to see how big of a sneeze I could get out of you… I guess now I know!”

“Ugh, yeah,” Maxie said, as she reluctantly went to take a look around the room, half expecting to have blown open a gaping hole in the wall, and sending the contents of the office flying outside, similar to her incident at Mr. Ego’s building.  Stunningly enough, there was no destruction at all! The papers had been blown around again, and the objects that were strewn had moved a little with what air had gotten past the handkerchief, but not much more than that.

“Oh my gosh!” Maxie said, still surveying the room.  “I didn’t do any damage?  Sheesh, I was half expecting to have leveled your office with that one.”

Jack smiled and nodded as he spoke.  “Isn’t it incredible?  Gwen’s company has made quite a product there.”

“It’s amazing!” Maxie said, staring in awe at the hankie still in her paw.  “You said your employees get an unlimited supply of these?”

“Yes, as many as you may need,” Jack responded with a smile.

“Wow,” Maxie said as she started to think of the possibilities.  “If I had one of these with me… maybe I could actually go out in public again, without having to worry about damaging anything!  Maybe other folks wouldn’t be as afraid of me any more… gosh, I could even go back to school!”

“I’m sure you could,” Jack replied encouraging her.  “Like I said, we want to help people like you in your situation.  This is a big example of that.”

“I see,” Maxie looked back down at the hankie.  She kind of cringed realizing that she had sneezed into it, unsure if she was supposed to return it or not. She looked at the bear uneasily as she held it out to him.  “Umm… I’m not sure if you want this back…”

“Keep it!” Jack replied enthusiastically.  “Consider it a gift.  Maybe it might help you with your decision on whether or not you want to come work for us.”

“Really?” Maxie piped up, “Well thank you!  And thank you again for the job offer.  I certainly have a lot to think about.”

“You’re very welcome,” Jack stated as he reached into his pocket.  “Thank you again for meeting with me.  I’m happy to have been able to meet you.  Here’s my card,” he said, handing it to her.  “You take all the time in the world you need to think about this, ma’am.  No rush at all.  Just remember, the offer’s always on the table.”

Maxie took the card and held it up to read it.

Jack Berrington
GiantSneezes.com
555-417-1173 - work
555-417-0827 - cell

As she made her way back to the parking lot, Maxie found herself deep in thought with everything that she had just learned.  Boy, did she have a lot to contemplate.  For the first time in her life, she had been praised for the power of her sneezes.  She even had fans who wanted to see them in full display!  She still wasn’t sure how she felt about all of this, but regardless, it made her feel a lot better about herself than she had in a very long time.

As she come closer to her car, she pulled out the Kevlar Handkerchief once again, and gaped at it as she held it in her paw.  This thing really was remarkable.  Nothing had ever been able to hold up to her sneezes like that before.  Obviously, she had to be mindful about the blow back from holding it up to her nose.  But she came to think about how if she used it the right way, there could be some favorable results.  She might have a chance at a more normal life.

The question was though, could she really trust this thing to save her out in public, when property damage and potential injuries were a very real factor?  Maybe she needed to try it out some more first before she came to any real conclusions.  Except, how could she do so without there being a risk?  Then, as she entered her car, she got an idea.  “I think I know just the place I could put this hankie to the test!” she said out loud.  Without delay, she started to car, and headed to the locality that she had in mind….

To be continued.

[Furry-Sneezes]

Oooh, quite the long one. I'll add it to my list. Ought to re-read the serpent story. I miss that guy, heh.

[AMTW03]

Oooh, quite the long one. I'll add it to my list. Ought to re-read the serpent story. I miss that guy, heh.

Hehe yeah, sorry about how long it is. I got a little carried away.   But anyway, whenever you do read it, hope you enjoy!

Oh yeah, you should give serpent's story another read.  It's a good one. ^^  Didn't know he's been absent.  That's a shame.

[Furry-Sneezes]

Fun, silly. Definitely worth a part 2, though I had predicted the wrong type of part 2, apparently.

[oneofthree]

Nicely done.  Happy to see these characters and ideas being used together!

Also: Super interested in that elephant side character, lol.  I wonder if she has a story too? Casual explosion sound from the studio.  X3

[Ghoulfiend]

I love this!
Maxie's new place of work opens up lots of scenario possibilities!

[AMTW03]

Fun, silly. Definitely worth a part 2, though I had predicted the wrong type of part 2, apparently.

Haha, thank you so much! Glad you think so. And glad you think it's worth a Part 2 also. ^^ I'll definitely do a sequel.

Sounds like you pictured the story going a different direction from what's implied at the end? What did you have in mind, just out of curiosity? I always welcome input. Maybe it's an idea I can use. ^^

Nicely done.  Happy to see these characters and ideas being used together!

Also: Super interested in that elephant side character, lol.  I wonder if she has a story too? Casual explosion sound from the studio.  X3

Thank you! ^^ And thanks again for allowing your ideas to be used in the story. I thought they would fit perfectly with these characters and this scenario.

Oh yeah? Hehe, I mainly just used the elephant to demonstrate what all goes on in the studio....buuuuuut I could include her more in a sequel, and maybe explore her story some.

I love this!
Maxie's new place of work opens up lots of scenario possibilities!

Thank you! And thanks so much for reading.

Yes it does! I've got quite a few ideas for where to go from here ^^

[Furry-Sneezes]

Nothing specifically, but I thought that it would be a sequel with her first day of work rather than her going off to experiment with the hankerchief.

[AMTW03]

Nothing specifically, but I thought that it would be a sequel with her first day of work rather than her going off to experiment with the hankerchief.

Ah ok. I had a feeling that's what you thought, lol. We'll get there.

[FireFlower3013]

Love this! brillaint!

Cheers,
Drea

[AMTW03]

Love this! brillaint!

Cheers,
Drea

Don't know why I didn't see this till now.  Thanks so much, Drea!

By the way, Part 2 is still in the works!  Hoping to have it done sometime soon. ^^

[GodzillaGuy]

Don't know why I didn't see this till now.  Thanks so much, Drea!

By the way, Part 2 is still in the works!  Hoping to have it done sometime soon. ^^

Woohoo! I love where this is going

[AMTW03]

Hey everybody.  As promised, here is Part 2 of the story!   Sorry that this is so late (adulting sucks), but I FINALLY managed to get it done!

Once again, I do want to thank SneezeTheWolf for allowing me to write about his character Maxie, the big sneezy wolfess. ^^ Also, thanks to oneofthree for letting me use their idea of the Kevlar Handkerchief.

So in this part, we get to see Maxie interact with her friend Amber, the playable character from SneezeTheWolf's text based games involving Maxie (in case you didn't already figure that out.  The name Amber is also a reference to another one of STW's screen names).   By the way, if you're wondering why Amber gets referred to as "they" in the story, STW asked me to make Amber genderless and species-less so the reader could decide these, and picture the character to be themselves just as much as they did when they played the games. ^^  Hope it doesn't sound too confusing.

If you'd like to play the Maxie games, you can find them here:
https://sneezefurs.org/index.php?topic=254.msg1396#msg1396
https://sneezefurs.org/index.php?topic=2565.msg14626#msg14626

Anyway, enjoy!  Feedback is always welcomed.  I probably will do a Part 3 at some point.  Once again, just wanted to give a "suggestive dialogue" warning about some references to explicit situations.

(Maxie is property of SneezeTheWolf - used with permission)
(The Kevlar Handkerchief belongs to oneofthree - used with permission)

***

Giant Sneezes dot-com
Part 2
By AMTW

It was a gorgeous day out.  The sun was shining, perfect temperature, not a cloud in the sky!  It brought a smile to Maxie’s face as she drove through town.  The beautiful weather certainly gave her a pleasant and calming feeling.  Although ironically, it also made her anxious.  On a day like this, there was a good chance that lots of other folks would likely be out and about too… especially at the location that she was thinking of.  It wasn’t that she didn’t like being around other people.  It was just, given what she had planned, it probably would be ideal if she could be alone and more isolated for this venture.

Before long, she arrived at her destination – the local park, a few blocks away from her apartment.  To her dismay, as she pulled into a parking space, she found that her fears were realized.  “Shoot,” she thought out loud, as she surveyed the locale.  The place was packed.  Various furred, feathered, and scaled folks were everywhere, walking along the pathways, posing for photos in scenic areas, and kids were running around on the playground.  It seemed almost hectic.  She thought pretty seriously about turning around and coming back another time, which probably would have been a good idea.  Admittedly though, she really was eager to carry out the test that she had thought of.  “I guess it can’t hurt to at least scope out the situation,” she said to herself, as she shut off the car.

She climbed out, closed the door, and took a few steps up onto the sidewalk.  She dodged a couple of tiger cubs who ran past her as she made her way into the public place.  She knew exactly where she had to go to get to the spot that she had in mind.  She walked for several minutes, passing many individuals along the trek who were also out for a stroll, until she came to an intersection in the path with a multi-directional sign that pointed to various points of interest.  Without hesitation, she turned right, following the arrow on the wooden painted sign that had the words, “Flower Garden” written on it.

She didn’t have to venture far before the colorful area came into view in the distance.  She squinted her eyes and held up a paw to block out the sun, as she observed the open space from afar, smiling at it with admiration.  The park actually had a beautiful, expansive garden, with many different varieties of flowers arranged in colorful patterns.  A pair of brick walkways crossed through the center of it, allowing guests a very scenic view.  Maxie had in fact visited this place a few times before, and truthfully, she loved it here!  However, after having some “incidents” in the past, she decided that it might be a good idea to stop coming back.  To her surprise, there weren’t too many folks currently in the spacious garden.  She could see a few people here and there walking among the flowers, including a canine group, and a horse family.  But it wouldn't be too hard for her to find a private area.  She felt her heart skip a beat and begin to race as her nerves kicked in.  Was she really about go through with this?

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the dark green, Kevlar Handkerchief that had been given to her by her potential new employer.  She stared at its coarse fabric for a few seconds, and then looked back up at the garden in the distance.  Was this truly safe?  Normally, she would avoid anything that would provoke her allergies at all costs, so’s not to have another one of her frightening and embarrassing episodes in public.  Now, she was about to deliberately trigger them!  Jack had assured her that the handkerchief would hold up against her sneezes, as he had so assertively demonstrated in his office.  But she didn’t have total confidence in the product yet.  She wanted to see firsthand that it would work in a situation where there was more of a risk.  This was a good chance to do so, so she decided she might as well take it.  Hopefully, this wouldn’t blow up in her face… both figuratively and literally.  She took a deep breath and let it out, trying to relax herself.  “Alright,” she said aloud, mustering up whatever bravery she could, “here goes nothing.”  She started to walk towards the sweeping array of blossoms, following the rock-lined pathway.

She prayed that she wouldn’t encounter any of the park officials as she made her way towards the vibrant expanse.  After all, they were starting to know her very well, and trying to discourage her from coming back… for obvious reasons.  Thankfully, she didn’t see any uniformed folks as she strolled along.  When she approached the edge of the garden, she could see the many different hues and variations that had been well placed in the extensive ground.  Before she got any closer, she quickly pulled her shirt up over her nose, and held it in place with her paws on either side of her muzzle.  She didn’t want to take any chances, as she knew that her sensitive canine snout would soon be detecting the strong scent of the flowers before long.  She wanted to ensure that she was well away from anyone else first.

Eventually, she went through the garden entrance, which was denoted by a decorative arch that attached to the metal fence on either side.  She came upon a rhinoceros couple who were pushing a stroller as she continued to walk.  Despite the weird look they gave her as she passed, she politely nodded hello to them.  They stared at her for a few seconds, before finally returning her gesture.  She continued to follow the walkway and took a good look around at the flower beds that surrounded her.  Well, she had done it!  She was really in the heart of the lion’s den, now.  She felt herself becoming apprehensive, especially when she detected a bit of the potent scent through her shirt.  She sniffled a little and felt her nose twitch.  Uh oh, she thought to herself as she tried to pinch her nose tight with her paws.  She had no intention of turning back.  In her mind, she was past the point of no return, but she knew she had to hurry.  She sped up her pace, before finally reaching the intersection in the center of the garden.  This seemed to be a quiet spot.  She glanced around and confirmed that no one was close by.  There were a couple folks on the path a distance away, but they all seemed to either be walking away from her, standing still admiring the flowers, or sitting on park benches.  She decided that it was safe to conduct her little experiment.  Carefully, she pulled her shirt down, exposing her snout, and took the hankie in one hand.

“Okay,” she said to herself as she held it out in front of her face.  “Here we go….” And without delay, she took a big *SNIFFFFFFFF*, inhaling deeply, drawing the sweet, pungent fragrance of the flowers into her waiting nose.  At first, it was quite pleasing, getting to breathe the enjoyable smell… until she found that she had also inhaled quite a bit of pollen too!  And with that, her allergies started to kick in.

The reaction was almost instantaneous.  Her nose began to itch like crazy, and her snout crinkled and scrunched.  Her eyes teared up, and her breath quickened.  The powerful aroma of the flowers quickly overwhelmed her sensitive muzzle, and she could feel the tickly pollen playing away, dancing around the insides of her nostrils.  “Heh...hiiihh...oh b-boy,” she stuttered to herself. “Heh...h-here it c-comes!  *Sniffle*.”  She knew a big sneeze was on the way!

“Hehhh…. hahhhh…. aaaaaahhhhhhh….”

She stood tall as she began to huff, allowing her chest to expand.  Her eyes gradually shut, and her mouth hung open, her nostrils stretching and flaring wide.

“aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh…. aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh…. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH….”

She made no effort to hold back, boldly allowing the tickle to completely engulf her long nose, drawing in breath after breath, her shirt stretching tightly against her ever-enlarging chest.

“AAAAHHHHHHHHH…. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH… AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH…”

As she felt herself on the cusp of the sneeze, she brought the hankie up to her muzzle.  At the last second though, she remembered the last time that she had done this.  She had been blown backwards, smacked into a wall, and was left in a daze, which she was in no hurry to experience again.  Instinctively out of fear, she loosened her grip a little, just as...

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSCCCHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

Big mistake!  As her head whipped forward, she felt a HUGE blast of air rush out from the sides of the fabric in her paws.  A loud tearing sound was heard on either side of her as the gust from her sneeze ripped through the flower beds, easily shredding, and uprooting the blooms within the blast radius.

She cringed as she slowly opened her eyes, sniffling and having a look around.  As she had feared, her sneeze had done a considerable amount of damage!  The flowers to her immediate right and left had been replaced by two cone-shaped craters, and the torn-up remains of the plants and dirt had formed into a cloud, hovering above the ground.  To add to it, her loud, booming sneeze had echoed through the area, getting the attention of the few individuals who were within earshot.  She could see them on the paths ahead of her, standing upright and just staring at her, dumbfounded by the power of the wolf’s enormous sternutation!  “Umm… bless you!” a cat lady called out, a bit of a friendly chuckle in her voice.

“Th-thanks…” Maxie replied, sniffing hard and now blushing deep.  She was so caught up in her embarrassment, that she failed to notice that the debris cloud was drifting closer to her.  Without even realizing it, several tiny petals, loose dirt and pollen particles had made their way in front of her face and were picked up with her hard sniffs… right into her nose!

“Hiiih….heeeeh….hahhhh…..oh nih-not again!”  The side of Maxie’s tender muzzle contorted, and her lips curled, exposing her jaw line.  She felt another vicious tickle, worming its way up her reactive canine snout.

“Haaaah……aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh….”  Her chest quickly began to expand again.  Another sneeze was coming on fast and strong!  The few individuals ahead of her began to move away quickly and uneasily, seeing the big wolfess build up to yet another one of her massive sneezes.

“HAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH…. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH…”

Maxie barely had time to process what was happening.  Clumsily, she fumbled around with the hankie in her paws trying desperately to get it up to her twitching, flaring nose.  She barely was able to drape it over her irritated snout, unable to really establish any sort of grip before…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH….

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

WHOOSH!!  This time hankie was helplessly blown from her hands, and a GIANT shockwave resulted, effortlessly pulling up the blossoms and sod in front of her, ripping them to pieces and blowing them a great distance!  She blinked her eyes into focus and saw that she had indeed done a lot more damage this time.  The flower beds within a substantial radius in front of her were ruined, and only a large hallow of dirt remained.  “Oh, come on!” she grumbled in frustration.

Not wanting to worsen the situation, she quickly pulled her shirt over her muzzle once more, and squeezed her nose tight, making sure that nothing else would get to it that would cause her to sneeze again.  Yikes… well, this was no good.  It could have been worse, but it was safe to say that her first public experiment with the handkerchief hadn’t gone well.  It was time to get out of there before she got into trouble.  She started to walk briskly down the path ahead of her, which was now deserted.  How humiliating!  She felt so bad for damaging the flower beds, and for scaring off the individuals there who were just trying to enjoy them.   No matter how many times this had happened to her, it never got any less upsetting.  Nothing to do now but make another expedient exit… wait!  What had happed the handkerchief?  She groaned, realizing that it could have gone anywhere, and she didn’t have time to look for it.  Thankfully, after a quick scan of the area, she spotted it dangling from a tree branch near the edge of the garden, which she was able to jump for and retrieve without much effort, due to her unusual height.

She stuffed it back in her side pocket, and once she was away from the garden, she pulled her shirt back down off her snout, and tried to act as calm as possible, quickly making her way back down the park paths, keeping a low key.  She eventually reached the parking lot and slid back into her car.  “Whew!” she let out a sigh as she thought about what had just occurred.  “Those poor gardeners,” she said to herself, thinking of the park workers who were once again going to be tasked with cleaning up her mess.  “They must really be starting to hate me.”  She decided that she might make a donation to the local Public Works department in the near future as an apology.

“Alright,” she thought audibly.  “Note to self… HOLD THE HANKIE TIGHT against your nose when you have to sneeze!”  She knew that this would likely mean some less-than-desirable recoil in the time ahead.  But it would certainly be better than the outcome that she had just faced.  Maybe she could practice with it, and train herself to brace up against something before sneezing if possible, or even lie down.  If nothing else, it was good that this experience hadn’t made her want to give up on the possibilities of the Kevlar product.

Speaking of which, she was reminded of something else on her agenda for today.  She wanted to address the individual who was somewhat responsible for her even being granted this luxury in the first place.  She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts, finding the name, Amber.  Her clawed fingers moved rapidly as she typed up a text.

     -   We need to talk.  You free for dinner tonight?  Pizza on me.

After hitting send, it wasn’t long before she saw the indication that the message had been received and read.  A set of bouncing dots appeared, showing that Amber was typing up a response.  Their text tone sounded as the note appeared.

     -   Uh oh… I think I know what this is about, lol. xD  Sure, I’m down.

***
Some time later…
***

“Wow!” Amber said, as they smiled at their canine friend, sitting across from them in the booth of their favorite pizzeria.  “So, they offered you a job on the spot, huh?  Guess I’m not surprised.”

“Eee-yup,” Maxie replied, smirking at her long-time companion.  “Soooo… I guess I partly have you to thank for this opportunity.”

“Heh… umm, yeah,” Amber said back, trying to hide their face as they looked up at the wolfess while flushed.  “You’re welcome, I think?”

Maxie just chuckled and shook her head a bit.  “Yeah, I think a ‘thank you’ is in order,” she said.  “I gotta say, that was unexpected.  I never knew that video websites like that existed, so much as they might be interested in having someone like me on board.”

“Oh yeah,” Amber reacted, lifting their head, happy to see that their friend wasn’t displeased with them for putting in a recommendation for her.  “It’s actually a pretty popular business.  So, what do you think?  Are you gonna take the job?”

“Eh…” Maxie blinked a few times and looked off to the side uncomfortably.  “Actually, that’s partly what I wanted to talk to you about.  While it’s intriguing, I’m not really sure how I feel about it.  I mean, you know how self-conscious I am about my sneezes.  And we’re talking about me sneezing in paid videos that are gonna go on the internet for the whole world to see.  It makes me really uneasy, you know?  Plus, it’s for a kink-based website.  I’d be doing it for, well… ‘adult’ type entertainment.  Seems kinda weird.”

“Aw Max, I think you’d love working for them!” Amber burst out.

Maxie perked her ears and she looked back up, still acting somewhat apprehensive.  “You think so?”

“Of course!  Do you really think I’d recommend you for something that I didn’t think you’d like?  Jack Berrington and his crew treat their performers, great!  I’ve watched the side-interviews that they’ve done where their actors get a chance to tell their stories.  They all have the same thing to say; how great it is working for Jack, and how well they get treated on set.  Also, they talk about how they used to be so embarrassed about their sneezes, and how they were feared by many for them, until they joined GiantSneezes.com.  Now they’re so happy that they can do so freely for others to enjoy.”

“Huh…” Maxie nodded lightly as she drifted deep into thought.  “You know, I won’t deny that Mr. Berrington seemed really nice, and pretty understanding… I guess if his crew is anything like him, it might be enjoyable working with them… maybe even kinda fun!”  Maxie was surprised with herself, finding that she was smiling a bit as she spoke, and her tail was lightly thumping against the back of the booth.

“Yeah,” Amber added, “not to mention, you said that they would pay you pretty well, right?”

“Uh huh,” Maxie answered.  “Also, there’s another incentive involved.  I found out that I would also get an unlimited supply of these.”  She pulled the rough, green hankie out of her pocket, and presented it to her friend.

Amber’s eyes went wide as they stared at it for a second.  “Oh my gosh!” they exclaimed.  “Is that a Mini-Kevlar Handkerchief?”

“Sure is,” Maxie said.  “Somehow, I’m not surprised that you know what this is.”

“Holy cow!  Let me see that,” Amber said excitedly as they took it from her.  They warped it around in their hands as they studied it.  “Wow, this thing seems pretty durable.  So, have you uh… you know, tried it out yet?  Does it actually work?”

“It does,” Maxie replied.  “I mean, I gotta be careful when using it.  There’s quite a bit of recoil.  Also, it doesn’t work that well if I don’t hold it tight enough against my nose… I found that out the hard way at the park earlier today.  But it does work.”

“You don’t say,” Amber stated, sounding rather amazed.  “Well dang, this alone seems like a great motivation to get on board with them,” they laughed.  “Seriously though, Maxie.  I think you would do great in those videos!  People would love you.  I really believe you would get a lot out of it, too.”

Maxie’s face reddened as she laughed bashfully.  “Sounds like you enjoy that website, quite a lot,” she joked.

“Hehe, yeeeeaah you could say that,” Amber replied.

Just then, they were interrupted as their waitress, a tall deer, came by.  “I’m so sorry about the wait,” she said apologetically.  “I know I took your order a while ago.  The kitchen is a bit backed up.  Your food will be out shortly.  Just wanted to give you guys an update.”

“Alright, thank you,” Maxie reacted with a nod, before turning back to her friend as the deer walked away.  “So, I gotta put you on the spot,” she began.  “You have a sneezing fetish, huh?”

“Oh… yeah,” Amber answered uneasily, “Very much, so…”

“Well, I won’t deny, that’s interesting,” Maxie responded.  “So, tell me about it.  What is it about sneezing that you like so much?”

“Weeelll….” Amber smiled lightly, looking a bit unsettled, “It’s hard to say, really.  It’s difficult to describe a fetish… I mean, I can tell you that it started off for me as sort of a childhood fascination that I never really outgrew.  And after a while, I found myself… ‘impacted’ by it in an odd way.”  Amber chuckled nervously, continuing to stumble over their words.  “If I had to guess though, I’d say that it’s probably because a sneeze is a lot like, umm… a climax... or an orgasm.  There’s a big buildup to it, and then a huge release.  It’s a reflex that’s kind of uncontrollable too, you know?  Plus, a tortured, sneezy expression on someone’s face is similar to somebody… well, getting off?”

Maxie couldn’t help but snicker at how hard Amber was blushing and squirming in their seat as they spoke.  “Wow, you’re into this!” she said. “Yeah, I guess I can understand all of that.”

“Oh yeah!” Amber continued, relaxing a bit, seeing that their friend wasn’t judging them.  “Truth be told, while a lot of other folks enjoy looking at explicit types of media where people do lewd things, for whatever reason I get a lot more out of seeing someone sneeze.”

Maxie let out a laugh, “You’re so weird!  I love it,” which drew a hearty cackle out of her friend as well.  “Sooo… sounds like big, powerful sneezes are more of your thing, huh?”

“Yepper,” Amber returned.  “There’s something so fascinating about somebody just… losing control and creating chaos!  It’s crazy that something simple like a little tickle in their nose can cause them to just explode like that!  I find it enticing to see them try to hold back against something so strong.  It really gets to me.”

“Is that right?” Maxie grinned, “So... you must really like my sneezes, huh?”

“Oh my gosh, Max…” they replied, practically beaming.  “I frickin’ LOVE them!  I mean they’re just so powerful and unstoppable.  Your buildups are so BIG, and you’re helpless to that tickly snout!  Plus, you’ve got such a great nose, too.  It’s not even fair!  I love seeing you twitch it and scrunch it.”

Maxie was laughing hard now, burying her red face in her paws, before looking back up at her friend to speak again.  “Well… that makes sense.  I’ve always wondered why you’re constantly trying to torture my poor nose.”

“Heh, yeah… sorry about that,” Amber returned with a blush.

“Well, it’s alright,” Maxie said, “I just hate the thought of hurting you, which I’m surprised hasn’t happened yet… considering I’ve sent you flying across the room more than a few times.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Amber giggled, “I find it quite exhilarating.”

Maxie just snorted as she shook her head again.  “You know hun, I get why you didn’t tell me about this until now.  I’m sure you were embarrassed and found it hard to explain.”

“Yeah,” her companion replied, “you could say that.”

“I understand,” Maxie countered, “But I kind of wish you had just asked me to sneeze for you before… I might have been willing to do it.  Maybe I could have come up with a safer method of doing so.”

Amber eyes widened with surprise.  “Y-you would have?  I… I didn’t think you’d want to do something like that for me,” they explained.  “I know that you’re already shy about sneezing, but I figured you really wouldn’t want to do it if you knew that it would affect me in ‘that way’.  I mean, I let you know before that I kind of have a ‘thing’ for you, Maxie,” Amber put in, blushing again.  “But you told me pretty firmly that you just want to be friends.”

“Well yeah, that’s true,” Maxie answered, “But you are still one of my best friends, Amber.  And if it’s something you would have enjoyed that much, then why not?  Plus, it would have been nice to have an excuse to sneeze so liberally… maybe it even would have been fun,” she winked.

Amber smiled widely from ear to ear as she let out a happy sigh.  “Gosh, you’re amazing!” they declared.  “What the heck did I do to deserve a friend like you?  I’m so happy to hear that.  And I’m really glad you’re not mad.”

“Not at all,” Maxie said.  “Besides, why would I be?  It’s not like you’ve been too stupid about it or done something careless, like tried to make me sneeze in public.”

Amber’s smile suddenly vanished.  They tensed up and seemed to wince a bit in their chair.  “Ummm….”

Maxie froze as she stared at her friend.  “What?” she asked.  When Amber didn’t answer right away and fidgeted their hands, Maxie persisted harder.  “What?!”

“Well…” Amber started to say, looking a bit pale, “that’s not entirely true.”

“What are you talking about?” Maxie inquired.  “What did you do?”  Just then, she started to reflect back on some of her public sneezing instances.  It occurred to her that during many of those episodes, it just so happened that Amber had been with her… through quite a few of them, come to think of it!  “Hang on a second,” Maxie said, a slight edge forming in her voice.  “Last night at the movie theater… was that you that put pepper in my popcorn?”

“Weeell…” Amber said anxiously, “yeah….”

Maxie jaw dropped.  “Amber, why would you do that??  You know how dangerous my sneezes can be!”

“Umm… cuz it was ah… too good of an opportunity?” they answered back, giving her a sheepish smile.  “I know how much you love the smell of popcorn… and you tend to sniff it a lot when you eat it.”

“An opportunity!?” Maxie shot back.  She was starting to sound angry now.  “That’s your excuse?  How could you!  I caused such a ruckus in that theater.  I could have easily hurt somebody, or worse.  That was so embarrassing!”

“Uh, well…” Amber replied, snickering and shrinking down into their seat.  “If it’s any consolation, the security guard figured out it was my fault, and he forced me to help clean up the mess… I never knew I could swallow that much wet popcorn...”

“Do you think this is funny?” Maxie said harshly.  Her voice was getting louder, and other people in the restaurant were starting to take notice.  A few heads were turning here and there.  “When else have you done this to me!?”

“Uuuhhh…” Amber bit their lip and looked around a couple times, before answering.  “You remember the fabric shop incident?  When I tried to start a pillow fight, and caught you on the nose?”

Maxie’s eyebrows bent down hard into a frown.  “YOU TOLD ME THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT!” she boomed, causing Amber to jump and just stare at her bewildered.  “I should have known that you did that on purpose, since you hit my nose, twice!”

“M-Max, I… I’m sorry, I-“

Without even thinking about it, Maxie shot up and stood tall over the individual in front of her, shaking a finger at them.  “YOU’RE SORRY!?  I PRACTICALLY DEMOLISHED THAT PLACE!”  She was basically screaming at the top of her lungs at this point.  “I thought I was gonna have to pay for the damages.  Do you realize how lucky I was that the owner had sneeze insurance!?  And she only got paid because the insurance company cut her a break.  Normally, that’s just for macro sneezes!”

Amber gasped and cowered in their side of the booth, looking up at the intimidating wolfess towering over them.  Maxie was raging mad, now!  Her lips were curled back, and her teeth were showing.  She was even slightly growling under her breath.  Amber’s normally light-hearted friend seemed hardly recognizable to them, presently.  She looked like a legitimate feral, angry animal, who might seriously lunge and strike at any moment!  To add to it, the two of them were really starting to attract attention in the restaurant.  Their section had gone quiet, as many patrons had stopped their discussions and were staring at them intently.

“Woah… uh, hun?” Amber barely managed to get out.  “M-maybe you should try and calm down-“

“Don’t you DARE tell me to calm down!” Maxie yelled.  “Is this your idea of what friends do?  Taking advantage of each other, and getting them in trouble, just to have some fun and satisfy a kink!?”

With that last word, Maxie’s fist flew down, and she “lightly” pounded the top of the table.  She was so enraged!  With her strength, she probably could have turned the table to firewood if she wanted to.  Thankfully, she managed to hold back enough to avoid this, but she still didn’t fully comprehend what she was doing, or the fact that such an action might have consequences... which it did.  As it happened, she caught the edge of the condiment holder just right, which sent the items flying… including the pepper shaker.  Luck was not on Maxie’s side either, as the shaker flew up and bounced off a hanging light, before crashing right back down onto the table in front of her, shattering, and puffing out a big black cloud.  The two of them gasped!

“Oh, geez!” Amber belted out, before she and Maxie both went into a coughing fit, surrounded by the burning, irritating substance.  Amber felt like their eyes were on fire, as tears seeped out of them.  Their nose wrinkled as they took in a deep breath.  “HEEEEEEESSSSSHOOOO!! EEEEEHHHH-CHHOOOO!! NNNNNNSHOOOO!!! UGH!!” They stood up, fanning the air in front of their face, trying to get away from the infernal pepper cloud them was all around them.  They panted a few times before opening their eyes and looking up at Maxie.  To their horror, the big wolfess also had a very sneezy look on her face!  Her muzzle was scrunched hard like a coiled spring.  Amber could make out specks of pepper that were stuck to her large, pink nose, which was starting to turn red.  Her nostrils were dangerously flared, and some pepper particles were dotting the insides of them too!  It was obvious that she had inhaled quite a bit of it.

“Hiihh…heh…oh no!” Maxie said in a panic, as she helplessly pawed at her irritated nose.

“Oh, crap!” Amber said, as they moved back in fear.  Normally, they would have loved seeing this view of their friend’s pre-sneeze expression.  However, given how angry Maxie had been at them, this was NOT a good time for the wolf’s nose to be set off again in public!  Not to mention, everyone in the crowded restaurant probably had no idea how much danger they were in.  “Max, don’t!” Amber yelled, holding up their hands and motioning forward with them.  “Stop!”

Maxie kept desperately scrubbing the end of her snout, but it was no use.  She had no chance of getting her nose under control.  Her breath started to hitch.

“Heehhh…haaaahhh…”

Intuitively, she held a finger under her nose, trying whatever she could to quell the horrible sting in her muzzle.  Unfortunately, this too seemed to be a feeble effort.

“Aaaahhhhh….aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh….”

Amber looked around in a fright.  What could they do!  Should they try to get Maxie to the door and move her outside?  Should they duck under the table?  Should they yell and try to tell everyone around them to get down and take cover?  This was all happening so fast!

“Aaaaaaaahhhhhh….Aaa...Amber!” Maxie barely managed to say, “Haaaaannn….HANKIE!!  AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH…. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH….”

“Huh?” Amber blurted out, looking back up at the sneezy wolfess in front of them, before realizing that they still had the green handkerchief held tightly in their hand.  “Oh, right!” they said, quickly reaching for Maxie’s muzzle, having some difficulty in doing so, due to her height.

Everyone around the pair was nervously shifting around in their chairs, unsure of what they were witnessing, or what they were about to witness.  Maxie’s sneeze continued to build.

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH….”

Almost as if on instinct, Amber swiftly jumped up and stood on their seat in order to get to Maxie’s level.  “I gotcha, hun!”  They speedily pushed the wolf’s paw out of the way and wrapped the hankie around her nose.  They could feel it trembling underneath the fabric as they held it tight with both hands on either side of her muzzle.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH….”

Maxie knew she couldn’t hold out much longer.  She felt like her whole snout was aflame, and her lungs kept filling more and more, gearing up to rid her nose of the extreme, burning tickle!  Her eyes were squinted shut.  She could sense Amber pressing the hankie to the end of her muzzle and could only hope that her friend was holding on tight enough.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…”

With that one last hitched breath, Maxie’s lung capacity was reached, and she froze like that with her nose pointed high.  Amber could see that their friend’s chest looked like an enormous balloon in front of them!  Maxie was bound to explode at any second.  Amber squinted their eyes tight and looked away, trying to brace themselves, until finally it came!

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

Maxie’s sneeze resounded through the restaurant, and Amber felt the extreme force of air against their hands, before both they and Maxie were suddenly blown backwards!  Their legs smacked the top of their seats, causing them both to tumble awkwardly into the (thankfully) empty booths behind them.  The two individuals ended up rolling off the tables and falling to the floor.  Audible gasps could be heard all around, as the eatery fell silent.

Time seemed to stand still, until eventually Maxie groaned and panted, sniffling hard, whipping her head around, trying to shake off the rush that she was experiencing.  After a few seconds, she worked up the courage to part her eyelids and scan the establishment, hoping that her sneeze didn’t cause any damage.  She noted that she hadn’t detected any crashing noises, or the sound of anything breaking when it happened.  This was confirmed when she witnessed only a few swaying light fixtures and hanging plants.  Other than that, the restaurant looked untouched.  Whew!  It had worked!  The handkerchief had absorbed her sneeze and prevented any harm being done… except for Maxie’s friend who appeared to be in a daze close by, on their hands and knees on the floor.  “Oh gosh!  Amber, are you alright?” Maxie pleaded as she scrambled to check on her friend.

Amber grunted slightly before blinking their eyes open and giving Maxie a weak smile.  “Yeah… never better!  Heh… that was fun.”

Maxie sighed in relief, knowing that her friend was okay.  Then, she started to notice that everyone around was gawking at them and breaking out in mixed chatter.  Maxie looked down at the ground in shame with all of this unwanted attention.  To make matters worse, she saw the manager, a horse wearing a collared shirt and tie, briskly making his way over to them with a concerned look.  Great, Maxie thought to herself, here we go…

“My goodness, are you two alright?” he asked, as he reached the two individuals.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Amber replied, as she and Maxie helped each other up.  “My friend here had a little, ah… pepper related incident,” they said in a wisecracking tone.

“I see,” the equine replied, observing the table.  There were condiment containers strewn across it, and all along the floor as well.  The pepper cloud had settled, lining the tabletop, turning it a dusty gray.  Besides all of that, there was nothing really notable.  He looked up at the wolfess, standing over him.  “That was quite a sneeze, Miss!” he said with a laugh.  “Bless you, by the way.”

Maxie blushed hard, still sniffling, and rubbing her nose with the side of her fist.  “I’m so sorry,” she said remorsefully.

“It’s alright,” the manager came back briskly.  “I’m just glad you both are okay.  Here, why don’t I move you two to a different table while we clean up the mess?  Your server will be bringing your food out in just a minute.”

Maxie blinked in surprise.  They weren’t being asked to leave?  In fact, the manager was still willing to serve them after everything that had just happened?  Wow, this was new.  “Uh… o-okay… thank you.” she managed to say.

Before long, the two of them found themselves seated at another booth.  Maxie let out a sigh, still feeling embarrassed with what had happened.  Thankfully though, everyone around them seemed to be going back about their business, enjoying their food and their conversations.  After observing this, she turned back to Amber to see them gaping at her.

“W-O-W…” Amber uttered slowly, stressing every syllable of the word.

Maxie gave them an annoyed look.  “What!?” she retorted at them.  “It’s not like you haven’t seen me sneeze like that in the past.”

“No, it’s not that,” Amber replied.  “It’s just… I’ve never seen you that mad before.”

“Oh…” Maxie said, moving around restlessly in her seat.  “Yeah… I don’t get angry often.  But when it happens, I’ve been told I can be scary.”

“Heh… that’s an understatement,” Amber joked.  “I hope I never have to see that again!”

“Yeah,” Maxie said back, maintaining her aggravated tone.  “That makes two of us…”

Amber just looked down at the top of the table.  “Oh...”  Their friend was still upset with them.

Maxie sighed before speaking again.  “Look Amber, I’m sorry for getting so angry, but I still can’t believe you’ve done this to me before.”

“I know,” Amber replied, still not looking up.  “I get it…”

“Do you?” Maxie fired back.  “Do you know what I go through any time I get a tickle in my nose?”

“Well… no.”

“It scares the heck out of me!  That’s what.  All I can think is, what am I gonna destroy this time?  Who am I gonna potentially hurt?  I get freaked out any time I have to sneeze.  And it always comes on so fast too!  It’s not like I’m an elephant or something like that, where I’d have ample warning.  If I had a trunk, and I felt a sneeze coming on, I’d at least have a few minutes to get out of dodge before the irritation worked its way up my long nose.  I don’t have that luxury with my muzzle, and it always leads to trouble!”

Amber kept their downward gaze, nodding slightly, acknowledging their friend’s words.  To think that any other time, they’d be enjoying this conversation about tickly noses, long trunks and irritated muzzles.  Not now though, given the circumstances.

“Amber, you’re supposed to be my friend!” Maxie continued, some sadness creeping into her voice.  “I trusted you!  I never thought that you would purposely do something to get me into trouble when I’ve been around you…”

Amber exhaled, sensing their friend’s disappointment.  Their previous antics on Maxie’s nose didn’t seem so fun or satisfying anymore, now that they had been caught.  All they could feel was guilt in causing so much grief for their companion.

They finally found the courage to look up at Maxie.  “Heh, well,” they started to say, cracking a smile, hoping that some comic relief might ease the situation, “you didn’t destroy anything this time...”

The wolfess tsked and let out a forced groan, which Amber took notice of, causing their smirk to quickly disappear.  Maxie was getting tired of how her friend didn’t seem to be taking this seriously.  She was about to go off on them some more, until just then, she stopped herself, realizing that there was in fact truth to Amber’s statement.  For the first time ever, Maxie had sneezed in a public place, and nothing bad had happened!  In fact, she had her companion to thank for their quick work with the handkerchief.  Before Maxie could say anything though, Amber’s tone finally changed.

“You’re right, Max,” they began solemnly.  “I’ve been a lousy friend to you.  I’ve been selfish and uncaring about the trouble I’ve caused you.  I’m so sorry… I’ll understand if you can’t forgive me.”

Several seconds passed before Maxie broke the silence.  “Oh hun,” she said as her lips pulled back, “Of course I can forgive you.  After all, it’s because you like my sneezes so much that I’m in such a good place.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if you didn’t have that fetish of yours, you wouldn’t have put in that recommendation for me.  And now I’ve got the chance, not only at a good job, but maybe even a more normal life!”  Maxie’s tone was starting to sound cheerful again.  “I mean, look around!  That handkerchief saved the day, and I’ll have an unlimited supply of them before long.”

“Wow,” Amber returned, “so... does that mean you’re gonna take the job?”

Maxie stopped as she thought for a second, before blurting out excitedly.  “Yeah... I think I am!  In fact, I’m gonna give Jack a call as soon as I get home.”

“Oh, that’s great, Max!” Amber said back.  “I’m so happy for you.  You won’t regret it… I can’t wait to see you in action online,” they said with a wink.  “That’s gonna be fun to watch.”

“Heh, I figured you might be happy to hear that,” Maxie returned with a smirk.

“So… are we still friends?” Amber ventured.

Maxie just stared at them for a moment, before exhaling sharply through her nose.  “Yes…” she said.  “Yes, we are… under one condition… NO… MORE… MAKING ME SNEEZE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!  You got it?  If you want to see me sneeze, just ask.  I’ll even let you induce it.  I just want to do it in a more controlled setting, and certainly not in public.  That’s for both of our own goods.  You understand?”

“Of course,” Amber nodded.  “I promise.  In fact, I look forward to that!  Having a willing victim sounds enjoyable,” they grinned.  “I can’t wait to have some fun with you and that nose of yours.”

Maxie flushed, covering her nose with a paw.  Just then, the waitress came back with their pizza.  “Here you are,” she spoke, placing it in front of them, and handing each of them a plate.  “I’m sorry again for the wait.”

“Oh, no problem,” Maxie said to her, taking the platter and reaching for the spatula.  She found herself salivating, realizing how hungry she was.

“Enjoy!” the deer said, as she walked away.

“Mmm, lets dig in,” Amber licked their lips.  “I’m starving!”

The two of them relished in the rest of the night, gorging on pizza, talking and enjoying some laughs.  What had started as being an eventful excursion had turned into quite an entertaining evening!  At the end of it, they decided to walk home together, since they lived within a few blocks of one another.  They reached Maxie’s apartment first, where they stopped to say goodbye.  Amber stood on their tiptoes, wrapping their arms around the tall wolfess, as they both exchanged a hug.

“Have a good night, Max,” they said.  “Thanks again for dinner!  Good luck with the job.”

“You’re welcome,” Maxie replied, “and thanks... thanks again for putting in a word for me.”

“You got it,” Amber said as they let go.  They waved as they walked away, sauntering down the sidewalk.

As Maxie made her way inside, she wasted no time.  She took off her jacket, tossed it on the couch, and pulled the business card out of her pocket.  She dialed the number on it, listed under Cell.

After a few rings, she heard a familiar voice on the other end.  “Hello, this is Jack Berrington.”

“Hi Jack, this is Maxie Wolf calling.”

“Maxie!” Jack exclaimed.  “It’s great to hear from you.”

“I’m sorry for calling so late,” she said.  “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“Not at all.  Thanks for reaching out.”

“You’re welcome!” Maxie answered back.  “So, I wanted to talk to you about your offer...”

"Ah, yes,” Jack began to say, sounding intrigued.  “Have you thought about it at all?”

“I have,” Maxie stated.

“And have you come up with a verdict?”

“Yes...” Maxie replied.  “I’m in.”

“Excellent!” Jack burst out.  “That’s great news.  I’m very happy to hear that.  So glad to have you on board, Miss Maxie.”

“Thank you!” the wolfess smiled, wagging her tail slightly.  “So, what happens now?  When do I start?”

“Well, let’s see,” Jack began.  Maxie could hear a shuffling of paper in the background.  “Are you available Monday?  Say, 9 AM?  I can give you a walkthrough of the studio and have you meet the crew.  I’ll also tell you about what you’ll be doing on set when we record you.  We actually could start filming right away if you’re comfortable with it.”

“Umm... Monday works for me,” Maxie said. “As for the filming, can we play it by ear?”

“Of course,” Jack replied.  “By the way, do you have an email address?  There’s a bunch of forms for you to fill out when you have time.  I can send them your way.”

“Yes, I do,” Maxie responded, as she spelled out her email address for him.  She could hear pencil marks being made on Jack’s end.

“Got it, thanks,” he said.  “In addition, if it’s alright with you, I’d like to give you a password to an administrator account on our website.  It will allow you to view any video you want for free.  If you could just have a look, and sort of study up on what we usually have our actors do.  It might give you an idea of what to expect when you’re on set.”

“Uhh... okay,” Maxie stammered out, “I can do that.”

“Okay, great!” Jack replied.  “I’ll send that your way too.  We’ll see you Monday!” he proclaimed as they hung up.

Later that night, Maxie sat down in front of her laptop, wearing her pajamas.  She sipped a cup of tea, as was one of her bedtime rituals.  She figured she could at least give the webpage a look before she retired for the night.  She navigated to GiantSneezes.com, and logged in with the info that Jack had given her.  “Alright, let’s see what we got,” she thought aloud as she navigated through the page.

She clicked on one video that she found compelling.  It had a thumbnail of a horse macro, grinning and holding a feather.  She watched it in its entirety and blinked a few times while doing so, captivated by what she was witnessing.  “Heh, wow...” she said with a chortle, as the recording concluded, “that was interesting... let’s see what else there is.”  She opened a few more videos, watching them all to the end.  She laughed and found herself smiling at everything that she was seeing, which surprised her a bit.  This was actually pretty entertaining!  “Wow...” she said to herself, as she began to think about how she would soon be in front of the camera, starring in these videos as well. She smirked mischievously as some ideas flashed through her head.  “I think I’m gonna have some fun with this...”

End Part 2.

[Furry-Sneezes]

That's... an interesting approach.

That's not a complaint, just that it's not the type of ... content we usually get around here. Unexpected, y'know? But... nice. To have a story that provokes thought and empathy and stuff. Thanks for writing something like that. (And if there's been other stories that have done that, sorry for not reading them, haven't done much reading either here OR elsewhere in a few years, heh.)

[AMTW03]

That's... an interesting approach.

That's not a complaint, just that it's not the type of ... content we usually get around here. Unexpected, y'know? But... nice. To have a story that provokes thought and empathy and stuff. Thanks for writing something like that. (And if there's been other stories that have done that, sorry for not reading them, haven't done much reading either here OR elsewhere in a few years, heh.)

Oh yeah!  I guess it is a little different from the norm. :3  Anyway, you're welcome!  Glad you liked it.

Yeah, I like to have big plot points in my sneeze stories, and I also like to sprinkle in some realism.   I figured, what would daily life be like for someone with Maxie's problem?  And what would her friends think and say?  Empathy seemed the most reasonable.

Thanks for taking the time to read it!  Always nice getting comments from the Head Fox.

[Furry-Sneezes]

That's the type of thing I like with writing, but I admit it caught me a bit off guard, haha. Made me feel a bit bad since I was uhh, approaching this story segment differently when she got mad at 'us'.

[AMTW03]

That's the type of thing I like with writing, but I admit it caught me a bit off guard, haha. Made me feel a bit bad since I was uhh, approaching this story segment differently when she got mad at 'us'.

Oh... O.o heh, I didn't think of that.  I guess she did get mad at "us" didn't she?  Lol, well I didn't intend for her to come off that way.  I was mainly trying to play off something that STW told me about Maxie before.  That she's normally super sweet, but when she gets mad, like if she has to defend a friend, she can be scary!  Other people's safety being threatened would definitely be one of her triggers too, and I thought it would be interesting to write about angry Maxie, lol.

Well, if it's any consolation, she forgave us, and she's really intrigued about our fetish... and she's willing to let "us" have some fun with her, which I may write about too at some point.

[Furry-Sneezes]

Of course, of course. XD But yeah, in a sense, especially in my case since I was at least a mild part of the original games' conception, it did end up feeling a tad personal, hahaha. Just means the writing is good, right?

[AMTW03]

Of course, of course. XD But yeah, in a sense, especially in my case since I was at least a mild part of the original games' conception, it did end up feeling a tad personal, hahaha. Just means the writing is good, right?

Haha, I hope you're right, that it means the writing was good.

Sorry if it came off as personal.  Hope you didn't take it in a bad way.

[FireFlower3013]

Loved it cant wait to see MORE!

Drea