The Tickles

The tickles is a condition that makes the affected person laugh almost uncontrollably, it is far from a serious condition and the only negative effects are those that laughter normally afflicts such as headaches and a sore jaw.
Other names for the tickles include - guffaw fever and the unending punchline.

Causes

Inhaling the pollen from yellow fairy flowers while it spreads in the springtime is the only true cause of the tickles but when people are unable to stop themselves from laughing due to normal causes they will sometimes say "I've got the tickles!".
People who are normally susceptible to hay fever are likely to be more susceptible to the tickles.

Symptoms

The only symptom is laughter making it near impossible to tell if someone is laughing naturally or if they have the tickles aside from the amount of time the person spends laughing, the tickles normally last from one to five minutes though there are reports of people laughing for up to half an hour at a time.
Everytime someone is effected by the tickles they become a little more resistant to it's effects, if you live somewhere where the pollen is constant then you should become completely immune in one or two days. These resistances usually completely wears out by the time the spring returns in the following year.

Treatment

There is no conventional medical cure, the only treatment aside from letting it run it's course is melancholy. This unfortunately means those who really benefit from laughing are effectively immune until something else is able to help them cheer up.

History

The legend of the discovery of the tickles says that in the town of Humblehill a mysterious fellow visited, he offered them flower seeds that he promised would bring joy to all. Almost everyone in Humblehill had a garden so they all took a handful of seeds and planted them, they had forgotten about the seeds for a while until the first day of spring, the flowers bloomed in unison and as their pollen spread the whole town was filled with laugher, this laughter lasted from sunrise to sunset and very little work could be done. While the villagers greatly appreciated that day, it was agreed that the flowers should gathered and moved to their own plot of land, far away from the center of town so such a day could not happen without notice again, some say the moral of the story is to make sure you know what you're planting, others don't think the story has a moral. It is now a tradition in Humblehill to suprise a friend or family member with a yellow fairy flower and share a laugh together.
Politicians fear the tickles however for the damage it can do to their reputation because a infamous prank involves gifting someone a yellow fairy flower and asking them to smell it, in the case of politicians this is usually just before a speech, making the recipient either unable to be taken speciously or simply unable to deliver the speech at all due to their unstoppable laughter. As such many politicians have an great fear of all yellow flowers and will avoid them whenever possible. This fear also extends to nobles who fear that will be given the tickles before meeting an important person or during a fancy dinner. Another way this prank is preformed is by planting flowers near where they know the prank's recipient will be standing.
In recent years a few psychiatrists are known to keep a container of yellow fairy flower pollen and use the tickles to help some of their patients feel better temporality.

Credit goes to Dustin Humes for the cover image. https://unsplash.com/photos/wwzdSZWfejg

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Rare