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31_days2010-05-02 04:35 pm
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2010-05-02 04:35 pm
[May 2] [Original] Cinnamon
Title: Cinnamon
Day/Theme: May 2, 2010 "The scent of her beauty draws me to her place"
Series: Original
Character/Pairing: Bashir, Fado, Ofika, etc.
Rating: G
"Cinnamon. I smell cinnamon." Simcha sniffed. His mustache twitched along with his nose. "Does anyone else smell that?"
"I smell it." Fado squinted. He looked like he was going to sneeze. Maybe the strength of the smell triggered an allergy-like reaction in him. Cinnamon seemed like a strange thing to be irritated by, but Bashir wasn't going to comment on it.
"I like the smell," Saselia threw her own opinion into the ring. "It doesn't smell like just cinnamon. It's sandalwood too. You know, like incense! It's cinnamon and sandalwood and myrrh maybe..."
"You have a great nose." Saffron took a deep breath, but she caught only the faintest whiff of the some smell on the air. It was nothing she could translate into either a source or a memory. "I don't know how you do it."
"I can't smell it yet either." Bashir shrugged. At the beginning of his pilgrimage he had been distracted by the dozens of unfamiliar odors he met on the road, in the shrines, and with each new city, but gradually even change became familiar in a way. It took an especially strong scent to jump out at him now.
"I think we're getting closer to it." Fado took out his handkerchief and wiped his eyes. They had been watering slightly from the corners, but stopped after he tended to them, despite the increase in the cinnamon and other things scent. "Actually, the longer I smell it, the more familiar it seems to me. It reminds me of the court."
"Which court?" Simcha queried.
"The lower court. It smells...sweet...and sick...and heavy..." They clustered around the tallest member of their group as he proceeded along the road, hoping to see around the cluster of trees at the bend that blocked their view of anything much further along, and likely the source of the scent as well. "It's like the scent of the younger emperor."
Bashir stopped dead in his tracks. Fado was right. Emperor Tiokihawa did smell like this. But even more than the younger emperor, this was a distinct marker of another member of the lower court. It was part of her charm in a way. ...But she couldn't be here. Bashir forced himself to start walking again. His ankle was still stinging. He wasn't going to make this day any better for himself by worrying about running into her. She wasn't even allowed to leave her father's palace unattended. There was no way Tiokihawa would give her permission to travel so far away without an enormous, unwieldy retinue.
There was no way. Yes. He had to swallow his concerns and try to think rationally about the situation. When he had left Ricci, Ofika had been safely at home. There weren't any plans of travel floating about her dizzyingly curious brain.
"Now I smell it!" Saffron smiled, happy to be on the same page as the rest of the group.
They rounded the bend. There was a palanquin sitting at an angle, slightly lopsided on the grass just off the road. An imperial palanquin. Bashir startled again, but this time there truly was something for him to if not fear, at least have a strong reaction to. The palanquin bearers wore the familiar livery of the lower court. Two men had been kneeling beside the palanquin, speaking to whoever was riding inside. They stood up and came more clearly into view. Bashir knew exactly who they were. Reinyan and Loskarr, Ofika's chief vassals and minders.
Like a fly to a tropical snapmouth blossom, Bashir had followed a lovely scent right into the jaws of what was almost certainly a beautiful trap. Ofika would open her dainty mouth and devour his cover whole.
Day/Theme: May 2, 2010 "The scent of her beauty draws me to her place"
Series: Original
Character/Pairing: Bashir, Fado, Ofika, etc.
Rating: G
"Cinnamon. I smell cinnamon." Simcha sniffed. His mustache twitched along with his nose. "Does anyone else smell that?"
"I smell it." Fado squinted. He looked like he was going to sneeze. Maybe the strength of the smell triggered an allergy-like reaction in him. Cinnamon seemed like a strange thing to be irritated by, but Bashir wasn't going to comment on it.
"I like the smell," Saselia threw her own opinion into the ring. "It doesn't smell like just cinnamon. It's sandalwood too. You know, like incense! It's cinnamon and sandalwood and myrrh maybe..."
"You have a great nose." Saffron took a deep breath, but she caught only the faintest whiff of the some smell on the air. It was nothing she could translate into either a source or a memory. "I don't know how you do it."
"I can't smell it yet either." Bashir shrugged. At the beginning of his pilgrimage he had been distracted by the dozens of unfamiliar odors he met on the road, in the shrines, and with each new city, but gradually even change became familiar in a way. It took an especially strong scent to jump out at him now.
"I think we're getting closer to it." Fado took out his handkerchief and wiped his eyes. They had been watering slightly from the corners, but stopped after he tended to them, despite the increase in the cinnamon and other things scent. "Actually, the longer I smell it, the more familiar it seems to me. It reminds me of the court."
"Which court?" Simcha queried.
"The lower court. It smells...sweet...and sick...and heavy..." They clustered around the tallest member of their group as he proceeded along the road, hoping to see around the cluster of trees at the bend that blocked their view of anything much further along, and likely the source of the scent as well. "It's like the scent of the younger emperor."
Bashir stopped dead in his tracks. Fado was right. Emperor Tiokihawa did smell like this. But even more than the younger emperor, this was a distinct marker of another member of the lower court. It was part of her charm in a way. ...But she couldn't be here. Bashir forced himself to start walking again. His ankle was still stinging. He wasn't going to make this day any better for himself by worrying about running into her. She wasn't even allowed to leave her father's palace unattended. There was no way Tiokihawa would give her permission to travel so far away without an enormous, unwieldy retinue.
There was no way. Yes. He had to swallow his concerns and try to think rationally about the situation. When he had left Ricci, Ofika had been safely at home. There weren't any plans of travel floating about her dizzyingly curious brain.
"Now I smell it!" Saffron smiled, happy to be on the same page as the rest of the group.
They rounded the bend. There was a palanquin sitting at an angle, slightly lopsided on the grass just off the road. An imperial palanquin. Bashir startled again, but this time there truly was something for him to if not fear, at least have a strong reaction to. The palanquin bearers wore the familiar livery of the lower court. Two men had been kneeling beside the palanquin, speaking to whoever was riding inside. They stood up and came more clearly into view. Bashir knew exactly who they were. Reinyan and Loskarr, Ofika's chief vassals and minders.
Like a fly to a tropical snapmouth blossom, Bashir had followed a lovely scent right into the jaws of what was almost certainly a beautiful trap. Ofika would open her dainty mouth and devour his cover whole.