WHO: Athessa, Bastien, Doki, Sylvestre, Aleksei, Laura, et al WHAT: An informal inquest into recent acts of thievery WHEN: TBD, between Athessa's day as Ambassador and now WHERE: The Gallows, around Kirkwall NOTES: nah.
The smell of the stolen bath oils is still sharp in Athessa's room. The thief left behind the empty bottles, and they're lined with the residue--but besides that, there's a spot on the floor that has a thicker scent. Someone careless spilled while the thieving was going on.
The distinct scents of the oils then marry into one, pungent and expensive and, even weeks later, overpowering. Like a ribbon it trails out the door, down the hallway, down the stairs. The path criss-crosses the Gallows. Laura, while tracking, will find herself on a tour of the place--the baths, significantly, where steam and water might confuse the scent--but then it's easily picked up again, headed for the kitchens, smeared oily in an empty pantry, then back up and out. One section of crumbling parapet is thick with the smell. Rain and sea-spray and rainwater have marred any clear smell, but then the smell is back, in an interior corridor, headed for the Diplomacy office--and then down another corridor--
It goes on like this. Restless, like. Eventually the scent trails into the cellars, and ends at a locked door. It will require either a key, or some coaxing.
Laura catches the scent, once she's got an idea of what she's looking for, and she follows it. It's the smell of Athessa and Derrica without Athessa and Derrica in it; instead, it's someone else's body mixed up with the oils and whatever's used to make them smell of something besides themselves.
That mystery scent underlying the oils is the most frustrating thing about it. It isn't quite recognizable, belonging to no one Laura knows well. (Which is good, when she stops to consider it means no one she knows has stolen from her, but it does make finding the thief more difficult.)
She goes on the hunt, Matthias in tow, crouching down on the floor of Athessa's room in order to catch the scent. (She waves Matthias down there, too, so he knows what they're looking for, even if he can't smell it as robustly.) And then they wander off, following the traces of the oils where they go.
When they reach the baths, Laura frowns. "It smells like too many things in here."
Smelling common baths isn't the best date. Matthias is content just to spend time with Laura, which helps. And he had promised her that he would help her find whoever stole from her, so when she'd asked, he'd shown, willing as anything.
The oil smell she'd described to him--well, he hadn't gotten all of that. The layers, or whatever. But he'd done all right, even caught a whiff of it once while they were walking. Or else he'd thought that he caught it. Maybe it had been something else.
He wrinkles up his nose at Laura, to show that he's kidding.
"Can you make it out any longer? I can't smell anything. Steam, mainly."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
the bloodhound
The distinct scents of the oils then marry into one, pungent and expensive and, even weeks later, overpowering. Like a ribbon it trails out the door, down the hallway, down the stairs. The path criss-crosses the Gallows. Laura, while tracking, will find herself on a tour of the place--the baths, significantly, where steam and water might confuse the scent--but then it's easily picked up again, headed for the kitchens, smeared oily in an empty pantry, then back up and out. One section of crumbling parapet is thick with the smell. Rain and sea-spray and rainwater have marred any clear smell, but then the smell is back, in an interior corridor, headed for the Diplomacy office--and then down another corridor--
It goes on like this. Restless, like. Eventually the scent trails into the cellars, and ends at a locked door. It will require either a key, or some coaxing.
no subject
That mystery scent underlying the oils is the most frustrating thing about it. It isn't quite recognizable, belonging to no one Laura knows well. (Which is good, when she stops to consider it means no one she knows has stolen from her, but it does make finding the thief more difficult.)
She goes on the hunt, Matthias in tow, crouching down on the floor of Athessa's room in order to catch the scent. (She waves Matthias down there, too, so he knows what they're looking for, even if he can't smell it as robustly.) And then they wander off, following the traces of the oils where they go.
When they reach the baths, Laura frowns. "It smells like too many things in here."
no subject
Smelling common baths isn't the best date. Matthias is content just to spend time with Laura, which helps. And he had promised her that he would help her find whoever stole from her, so when she'd asked, he'd shown, willing as anything.
The oil smell she'd described to him--well, he hadn't gotten all of that. The layers, or whatever. But he'd done all right, even caught a whiff of it once while they were walking. Or else he'd thought that he caught it. Maybe it had been something else.
He wrinkles up his nose at Laura, to show that he's kidding.
"Can you make it out any longer? I can't smell anything. Steam, mainly."