quest log | wilder training

[faileas]

Who: Those who signed up for the High-Risk Quest "Wilder Training"
When: 08/09 to 08/12
Where: A camp on the south-western edge of the Wilde.
What: From the quest information itself: "Outside of the recruitment, the Wilders are also offering training for anyone who'd like it regardless of bonds and experience. They'll be taken into a safe, slightly infected area in order to hone skills of magic (both Witch and Monster based), how to handle different weapons available, have lectures on things to look for in the field, and finally a test to see what they've learned. No notes allowed."
Warnings: None in the log post itself; if anything comes up, let us know, and we'll make sure to add it here.

The Way There

The training camp party gathers just outside of the city's walls before the sun begins to rise; once heads are counted and everyone is accounted for, Yvette Tressa - the same Witch who led the expedition into Smugha Cave - will start the march through Dead Man's Land, following the river. It isn't quite dark at this period of dawn, the bare landscape painted a washed-out blue by what small light there is, and as the sun settles into the early morning sky they reach their first destination - the edge of the Wilde. Rowboats large enough to fit five or six people (or a few significantly larger people) bob gently up and down where they're tied, the runes marking around the area marking it as protected by a barrier; keen eyes will notice these are the same as what the Wilders and the Coven have been setting up around Smugha Cave.

The party is herded into the boats and sent up the river into the Wilde, the boats gently rowing themselves against the current. The trees of the Wilde have slowly, almost imperceptibly, been shifting to a new color as summer turns into fall outside of it: browner and fully dead, with fewer leaves hanging from their branches, as if winter has finally come. The air is also significantly cooler the deeper they row into up the river, the breeze a sharp string of cold when it blows, and several Wilders shiver despite their being used to it. The journey is a quiet one, the river ducking out of the Wilde when the sun is at its highest point - the area is changed from the familiar fields around Aefenglom around this small bend, with dozens of flowers waving their faint scent in the still chilly breeze. No two flowers look the same, but the boat ride doesn't stop there: it continues back into the Wilde, leaving the sweet smell behind them.

The sun is still visible where they dock, noting it as a little later in the afternoon; further ahead, the river splits two ways, and it's to the left side the party will be guided. As they come upon the split's left side, the trees begin to thin in a way similar to the area around Smugha Cave, their branches cleaned up and the start of infection scraped from their sides - and then abrupt barrenness as it becomes clear just what the trees now suddenly missing have been used for: A fortified camp, well-protected by its high, sturdy wooden walls, the tops of them sharpened to a point. As the party draws closer, runes of protection are easy to notice, carved line after line in the thick, wood logs.

Training Camp: Sauf

Located on the edge of the Wilde (the red dot; the navy dot is Smugha Cave, for a point of reference), Sauf is a fairly large camp equipped with all of the basic necessities. Used year-round for various training exercises, Sauf is home to around twenty "permanent" residents - that is, those who have volunteered to stay the year - and otherwise hosts trainees, instructors, researchers, and so on. Look-outs are positioned all around the camp's edge, manned by at least one pair of Wilders, and a large communal fire pit sits in the middle of the camp. The main entrance is on the south side, with smaller ones located on the other three sides.

The north side of the camp is where characters will find their living quarters for their weekend stay: large, sturdy tents designed to hold several dozen people comfortably. Given the Wilde's chill, these are kept toasty and warm through the use of small piles of heat stones similar to the larger ones found in the city during the snow last month. Also on the north side is the mess hall, where characters can get some grub or hang out and mingle with their fellow trainees, mirrorbound and native alike.

The east and west sides of the camp are where the training takes place. Each side has a different function, however: the east side is for more individual-based training, with dummies and moving targets, both magically-repairing, and instructors, while the west side is for arena-based training - that is, fighting one another. Any type of match-up is considered fair and reasonable, and fights go on intermittently over the days, as does betting.

Finally, the south side of the camp is home to the meeting hall, a large stone building; while not currently in use, it remains an important fixture nonetheless. The healer's wards are also located here as two tarped areas that hug both walls, which provides medical help for those coming in or who have been injured during training, and protection for those venturing out.

I. A Primer On Witches


In addition to weapons training - which, specific to Witches, comes in the form of long-reach weaponry such as lances, quarterstaffs, or halberds - they offer instruction in spells that come in handy while needing to defend oneself and others in the Wilde.

• Abjuration 1: Barriers, shields, alarms.
• Abjuration 2: Healing (both lower level and advanced courses), dispels.
• Alchemy 1: Potion-brewing for healing draughts, magic draughts, potions that can cure basic ailments (poison, paralysis, sleep).
• Alchemy 2: Arrays to create on-the-go bombs (palm-sized) of the offensive and smoke varieties, weapons of various types, all from materials able to be found around and on oneself.
• Conjuration 1: Temporary camps (tents and campfires), various magical weapons, food and water (not very filling nor hydrating, essentially as a just-in-case thing).
• Conjuration 2: Living creatures such as animals and insects, a variety from the harmless/watcher-type to more offensively-based ones.
• Divination 1: Scrying on the fly using pocket mirrors, running water as a medium, speaking with animals (sometimes not extremely helpful given their lower intelligence).
• Divination 2: Finding magic via a scavenger hunt, how to enter a dream-like trance to access the subconscious and interpretation of signs found there.
• Enchantment 1: Charm spells that work against either humanoids, Monsters, or animals, which make the target more friendly or a straight-up ally; some target will know they've been charmed.
• Enchantment 2: Strengthening spells such as for physical, mental, or magical power, as well as elemental imbuing for weapons and other objects.
• Evocation 1: Single-target elemental spells and how to control them, particularly fire and ice for the latter, with elements also including earth/stone, water, lightning, and wind.
• Evocation 2: Multiple-target elemental spells with the same instruction and types as above, as well as multiple-target healing spells.
• Illusion 1: Visual illusions (people, animals, items), larger illusions (areas, buildings, bigger varities of aforementioned types).
• Illusion 2: Audio illusions, how to tie them together with visual illusions.
• Transmutation 1: Transforming oneself or one's items and back again, as well as mending minor objects.
• Transmutation 2: Transforming other people or other people's items and back again, as well as how to do it sneakily.

II. A Primer On Monsters


In addition to weapons training - which, specific to Monsters, comes in the form of short-reach weaponry such as swords and axes - they offer instruction in the special traits and perks each Monster has, particularly ones that come in handy when defending oneself or others in the Wilde.

• Arachne: Speed/jumps and web-spinning, either as traps or in use as rope, whip, etc.
• Chimera: Fighting blind and/or deaf to avoid charms, illusions, and curses.
• Dragon: Breath abilities, both how to use them and the finer points of control.
• Fae: Creating illusions and seeing through them, with a heavy focus on landscape and areas rather than creatures or objects.
• Faun: Plant growth, with a focus on naturally revitalizing plants and ones with more offensive uses, such as bomb-nuts and carnivorous flowers.
• Harpy: Singing lessons, as well as flying lessons with the use of wind magic should one have it.
• Merrow: Water magic, with an experimental focus on purifying it for drinking or bathing purposes.
• Naga: Speaking to water and empathizing with it, as well as instruction on the proper and ethical usage of hypnosis.
• Puca: Impersonation practice, with shapeshifting into someone they know or see and mimicking their voice and way of speaking.
• Turnskin: Sense training, particularly smell and hearing, with the use of blindfolds.
• Vampire: Casting thralls, and proper measures to take against the sun.

III. Partnering Up


Skills and spells are both useful while out in the Wilde, but one's biggest asset is their partner - or partners, plural. The Wilders will pick at random two or three people to partner up and do a variety of things in order to build trust and clear communication, such as your ordinary trust-falls or a game of telephone, as well as things that might be a little more on the side of seeing just how far they can go: clothes-switching (you don't know a man - or Monster - until you've walked a mile in their shoes), taking care of an inanimate object together, and being connected to one another for several hours, courtesy of some enchanted pair bracelets that won't allow their wearers to move more than a foot from the other half of their pair.

Outside of that, they'll be offering up the opportunity for those without Bonds to try temporarily Bonding to whoever their eyes land on first (with a quick, non-ceremonial shot of silver liquid), as well as fighting together against other pairs or tamed beasts (with or without the Bond) in the arenas.
IV. A Little Exploration


On the final day of the weekend training excursion, everyone is once again gathered - this time for the test promised to them. It isn't a pen and paper test, however, but one to test how well they've retained the training offered to them. In the early morning, the group will set out north-west of the camp; the path begins well-trod, but overgrowth soon begins to get underfoot. Patches of frost begin to show up as well - perhaps it's the Wilde's odd season at work.

Or perhaps it's something else.

Entire trees are encased in ice, their branches looking like arms reaching out or twisted around themselves; the bark resembles faces, with hair curled to their chins, and while some may have the sinking feeling that appearances might not just be appearances, the humanoids frozen mid-stepping from similarly frosted trees may all but confirm it.

Dryads, frozen in time, the Cwyld dark and trapped beneath the ice - or maybe those are remnants of the fire that was an attempt at culling the infection before it could begin. Some of them are cracked and broken, their limbs lost, while others are perfectly preserved.

There won't be too much time to stop and stare, however; this is a test, and the enemies of the day become apparent:


• Ice wolves. With a chilly bite and a tendency to work in pairs and groups, it's worth doing just the same to take them down. Their paws are black and crusted with mud and Cwyld infection, their eyes bright and unseeing - and though they may be blind, the rest of their senses have become even stronger in response.
• Snow elementals. Large and actually made of a mix of ice and snow, their patches of Cwyld streak across their white bodies - it makes them easy to see in all the white, but gives them some resistance to the traditional use of fire to melt them. They primarily rely on ice spikes and other related magics, ut will throw a heavy punch if gotten too close to.
• Withered ents. Ordinarily peaceful, these normally massive moving trees are as tall as a one-story house due to hunching over from the cold and ice that covers them. Similar to the wolves, their large, gnarled hands are covered in the black of the Cwyld, but only one eye is the blind white that marks infection - the other is hollow and sunken in. Roots and heavy earth shakes are their primary skills, being otherwise slow to move, and they avoid fighting where there are dryads.
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Comments

[showsnopiety]

(He's changed though. As so has she-which she dislikes, and has to deal with. She doesn't know what the history, the associations he has with the whistle in his arm-just that it hurts, and god only knows the rage that is brewing in her veins-unnaturally so.

And she hates the lack of control on her part, making her even more angry. It's a cycle. And it'd normally be funny if they weren't in a battle situation.

She can't even find amusement in his discomfort, not when there's an ice wolf on his arm, and still clenching it in death. She curses under her breath, and feels her nails prick against her palms as she tries to keep herself from going beserk. It'll fade she knows, but it's just a struggle right then.]

What seperates me from the beasts...? I think that will be you, buying me dinner, to make up for this.

(What 'this' is is mostly the fact that she's having to move around with a frantic energy, not using her blades as so much as she's using her body to move about. She's very careful not to touch the infected parts but...she certainly did try to break a wolf over her knee.

And punt another wolf like a soccer ball.]

[divineconfetti]

( so long as he (mostly) has his wits about him, wolf does not complain about the transformation, though internally he does find it frustrating in many ways. growing so much fur is itchy, for one, and now he has to worry about shedding in his own home... it's embarrassing, but at the very least, its strengths become apparent whenever he finds himself in situations like this. the instincts of a turnskin are sharp, and wolf had already been a keen and competent fighter before. he is much the same now, but there is a ferocity in his sweeping movements that was absent before. he is not so vicious that he loses his rigid discipline, but it has perhaps loosened him up enough that he flows more minute-to-minute than he ever had before.

he almost thinks he misunderstands her reply, but as he thinks over it, there's the slightest ghost of a smile on his face. )

Beasts act upon instinct. Hunt because they are hungry, ( he sweeps his blade through the body of one of the ice wolves, severing one of its front legs and sending it into the ground with a sharp whine, ) defend their territory. Men rise above them when they are motivated by higher cause. Family. Duty. Responsibility. What is right.

( the wolves part from him for a time, as the fight is thinning as it drags on. fewer continue to struggle now, but he can see that she still grapples with the effects of the whistle. they are not completely lost upon wolf either, but he is used to it — keeping the flame of Shura low so he can continue to be a man and not a beast.

he does watch her kick the wolf like a ball, however, and his eyes track the movement of it as it spirals off into the distance. then he returns his dark gaze back to her, giving a short sigh and concluding, )

These are what you focus on, to remember yourself. ( a beat. ) And if a promise for dinner would help, then, yes. I will pledge to it.

[showsnopiety]

(She's used to having things out of her control, physically. It's the mental changes that she's still adjusting to-and her strength. But there's also the sense of relief, being able to do this. Caren has never been able to fight like this before.

There are fewer wolves thanks to Wolf's abilities. And thankfully, she comes up with the idea of embracing the drills that the Wilders have been teaching her day after day. They're not perfect, but it means her sword and daggers are coming out, striking one wolf across the muzzle, sinking between the ribs of another, and pulling out in a quick motion. She's scrambling for it, but she's finding her discipline, almost despite herself and the whistle.)

Good. Thank you for that promise.

(She took in a deep breath, through her nose. The air smelt of the sickly rot of the infection, blood, corpses-and under that, clean snow.)

While it seems rather petty and even upper handed to do when I'm in this state it...does help in a strange way.

[divineconfetti]

( the girl seemed want for company. she certainly would have to be so, to go entreating wolf for such a thing — he was not exactly a conversationalist or charismatic in any way. but he was straight-forward and honest, and a good man at heart, even though he didn't seem to think of himself as such (it's hard to think such a thing when you leave so much blood in your wake).

he holds his blade at the ready, half-feral eyes scanning the movements and intentions of the few remaining beasts. they squabble and quarrel with one another, otherwise being dispatched by other wilders or left to scatter into the sparse, cold woods. it was not how he wanted it to happen, but it seems to be over.

he lowers kusabimaru, eyes growing calmer as he looks up to caren. )

A beast rarely plans for tomorrow. So, it helps. ( when the oath he had made to kuro seemed to abstract, he reminded himself of smaller, shorter-term goals. a promise to return to him, or a task he had agreed to. it clears the mind. )

Besides... a meal is nothing harrowing. You need not be in any "state" to request.

[showsnopiety]

(Or more like she thought he needed the company-or preferred those who were straightforward and honest.

Caren tried to hold back in seeing the wolves and the others rounding things up. There was still a glow in her eyes, and she trembled with tension. But she still put her blade away.)

Plans and meeting goals are what organized people do. And I do like being organized.

But also I don't like being a pain. Unless it's earned.

[divineconfetti]

( she's right in that, though wolf would never admit it. it's hard for a man trained for so long as a shinobi to admit that he needed anything — so long had he been used to the core of his life in being vassal to a lord that he continued to drag his feet in acknowledging himself as an individual with wants and needs.

he listens to her, and he remembers it. but he can see the gleam in her eyes, still sharp and focused. he takes note of the shake to her hands.

he sets aside the current conversation for now, finding this moment too important to pass up. )

Do you feel like you need to continue to fight?

( he lifts his chin slightly, brandishing kusabimaru and turning it into a defensive posture. )

Fight with me, then.

( wolf can play it defensive. but he thinks that bottling up all of the energy of the monster within was just as dangerous as letting it rule you. one must be at peace with it, letting the violent instincts rein when they were permissible and then commanding them when they were not.

but he had robbed her of much of her fight, with the finger whistle. so he owed her, in a way. )

[showsnopiety]

(It's difficult to do self care or care about yourself at all when you're devoted to another person or cause. She doesn't know anything about serving a lord, but she knows something about serving a cause.

The offer came as a surprise. And while she had been told over and over to not restrain her instincts or urges, some habits are hard to break-and she hadn't thought she'd have a fight offer.

She turned towards him, bringing out her gladius, and her dagger in her other hand.)

I should warn you. I'm stronger then I look. And I'm still learning.

(So she might accidentally come at him with her hands instead. This might get messy.)

[divineconfetti]

( the blade is different from what he is used to fighting — there had been the armored knight on the bridge that had used something similar, though the gladius was far smaller. he reminds himself to beware both edges, as a shinobi could blind themself to such possibility when too used to fighting against single-sided blades.

kusabimaru clinks in his hand as he twists his wrist, reflecting sunlight from the dark blade as he turns its edge. he watches her, calm and collected, wary of any and all movement. )

Let neither of us underestimate one another, then.

( no matter what she threw at him, he could handle it.

and if he couldn't, well... he's still under the impression that he can't die... )

[showsnopiety]

(It was smaller, well balanced though. It felt right in her hands. Though...there's a part of her that wants his sword too. For what, she's not sure.

But she rolled her wrists, before she started stalking towards him, blades by her sides-and after she got within a few feet, her careful walk turned into a rush, with her sword coming up to cut him across the torso, and her dagger staying by her side, clenched tight by her side.

Hopefully they wouldn't be stopped before she felt more like herself...)

[divineconfetti]

( form and functionality were perfectly in-line when it came to blades. the katana that wolf wielded, slightly curved with one incredibly sharp edge, was meant for savage, sweeping blows that could rend bodies with ease. the gladius - smaller, straighter, and double-edged - was slightly more versatile, though perhaps lost the clarity of its purpose by having its ability stretched out in such a way.

as for kusabimaru, however, wolf would sooner die than part with it. it is one of the few things he has left that kuro had given him, and this one with a promise: to seek mercy whenever he could. he's uncertain if he's kept that promise, but wielding the simple, dark sword reminds him nonetheless.

wolf did not offer this to sharpen his own skills. instead, he acts as hanbei had: a living (or, rather, undead) training dummy. he twists his right hand and kusabimaru responds in kind, turning to deflect the slash with the ringing of steel and a strong, numbing reverberation up the length of his arm. she is stronger than she looks.

he doesn't counterattack, instead saying, in a low voice: ) Again.

[showsnopiety]

(It's beautiful. She doesn't know the sentiment that comes with the blade, doesn't know the story that Wolf has with it-just that it exists, and that it's dark. Something that she things would suit her.

It's frustrating, even as it's comforting that he was able to deflect so easily. She bared her teeth in a silent snarl; her grip trembled, if only due to the vibration.

But she still had the urge to hurt, to kill. She would not be held down by bestial instinct.

So instead of trying to hurt, she shoves her knife into its place on her belt, gripping her sword two handed as she slashed at him.

Again. And again.

Better to make it an exercise, to make it as if it were a drill, then to go freestyle. She might accidentally hurt him that way-and she doesn't know what will happen if she smells blood.)

[divineconfetti]

( the wolf's eyes are impossibly sharp, keen and searching, receptive to each and every moment. to fight wolf is to tell that every moment outside of combat is one he is spending being someone else. this is who he was trained to be. a beast on a leash - a servant whose commands would inevitably be to hunt, to infiltrate, to kill. he tempers himself with humanity (something many ceased to do, allowing themselves to become Shura), but as aefenglom robs him of even that, it becomes harder. separated as he was from lord kuro and the divine child, it becomes harder still.

but wolf is at the very least a beast of conviction.

he is frustratingly defensive, and that defense is like a steel wall; for wolf, a single blow coming to meet him could mean a swift death and the need to resurrect. so a fight becomes a dance of slashes and parries, all until the single, pivotal moment when one's posture shatters and they can be killed.

for now, his posture holds strong. he allows her to attack at him, the short blade now held two-handed. a short time passes, and he starts to test the waters with attacks of his own, though they are fleeting and exploratory. he tries to see how well-educated she is in the ways of swordplay - or if it is just a tool being wielded to sate the hunger in her eyes. )

[showsnopiety]

(He's centered. She's reminded of Servants she's seen in battle, who stay centered, balance, and in control of their environment.

It frustrated her. She was years behind in balance, even if she was strong, even if she was quick, even if she could switch between one handed and two handed-he was like a Wall, like a training dummy, non responsive.

She could hear the hilt creak under her fingers. But when he slashed at her, she managed to parry, surprise marring her hungry expression.

But while there was the initial pause, she took in a deep breath, and threw herself back into it. While there were more dodges then parries, she did seem to be calming down. She did better with responses, or the fury induced by the whistle was wearing off.]

[divineconfetti]

( for so long, this had been all that he was — it had only been recently, in his service to kuro, that he had been asked things regarding how he felt about the situation, about what they would do next. it was good that it had all happened before his arrival here, because otherwise he might have been paralyzed without the guidance of a master to follow. it is still difficult, but he manages now. even if all of it is mostly leading up to the end of returning home to the quest he left unfulfilled.

their exchange is becoming more and more equal and even. he replies to her slashes and parries in kind, still largely playing defensive and guarded, but testing her from different angles and speeds to see how she would react. he wonders if this is how owl ever looked at him — a fierce and hungry cub, a rough gem waiting to be cut into shape.

as she calms, her reactions become sharper. ) Good. ( wolf doesn't notice that a few of the parries have slid outside the range of the block, and that one has sliced through the fabric of his jacket to cut shallowly into his forearm. their attacks pass back and forth a few more times, and then, as their blades clash one last time, wolf reaches out with his prosthetic hand to grasp the blade of her sword. the cutting edge scrapes against the carved fingers, and he holds it still to stay her.

one breath, two. )

Do you feel better now?

[showsnopiety]

(He might have been frozen. Really, she might have been too, if she hadn't been allowed some small measure of independence from the Church-she might have needed a handler, and found someone that she had to cling to, in her strange way.

But she has purpose in waiting, in helping those that can't help themselves.

She remembers it now as they continue, feeling less like she's flailing about-feeling more that she was remembering what she had been taught in the last few days. Her stance felt more balanced, and she didn't feel as if she was a second away from tumbling into the snow from a defensive blow.

Seeing his hand come out-even if it was his prosthetic one-she held back the brutal force. She still felt the way it slightly scraped against him. A heart beat. Two.

Her eyes close, and she nods once.)

Yes. That...I don't normally become angry. Not like that.

(She sighed, and her eyes open again, peering up at him.)

Thank-

(Her gaze snagged on his sleeve. That...oh.)

You're bleeding.

[divineconfetti]

( there was much about their situation here in this city and in this world that sat ill with him — if he could be here with the divine child or (even better) with lord kuro himself, wolf would be at peace. the only thorn in his side is the thought that he had left the divine child alone and unprotected. that is his primary motivation for wanting to return. but strangers appear through the mirrors commonly enough... perhaps he can also hope that one day either she or lord kuro will find their way through.

but this place also allows them to continue in freedom from the circumstances of their lives that otherwise would be impossible. they both share this.

the fever pitch of the sparring bout ebbs and fades as he holds the blade in the carved bone digits of his prosthetic hand. she closes her eyes and nods, and he releases the blade, sheathing his own. )

The instincts of the monsters can be violent. ( wolf feels them too, but he is accustomed to such things. the impulse of Shura is similar, and he had become familiar with resisting it. )

Hm? ( he reemerges from his reverie as she points out his injury. he glances at his person, soon finding the cut on his forearm. he gives a gruff sound of dismissal. )

It is of no consequence.

[showsnopiety]

(If only they could have their precious people. But...well, they were managing with what they had. More or less. At least now she wasn't a danger to anyone around her, thanks to Wolf.

She copied him, sheathing her blade with another slow breath. )

I'll have to work on it. It took me by surprise.

(Though hearing that, she huffed, and motioned for him to hold out his arm. She's already reaching for a small first aid kit on her hip.)

But we do need to attend to it. With wolves, you may catch more attention with the blood.

[divineconfetti]

( the circumstances of the world often robbed you of those that were precious to you. wolf finds sanctuary in the thought that kuro had not ended up dead, as he most likely would have, if wolf had not intervened. but to leave the divine child behind put them both in danger, so it was a constant worry and guilt upon his shoulders. )

You must not run from it, or attempt to ignore it. It is a reality. Face it as it is, and overcome it.

( it is the only way someone could resist becoming Shura, or the best way he had found, besides conviction in duty. the sculptor had tried for decades, carving what he hoped was penance into sculptures of the Buddha, but all he had ever given them was wrath.

but that man had been too far gone.

he watches her hands, noticing what she was going for. he frowns, thinking it was a waste of limited supplies... but he extends his arm anyway, pulling the sleeve of his orange jacket up to reveal the shallow cut. from even what little one would be able to see from this, it is in good company — wolf is a man who has weathered many, many battles, risen from many deaths. )

...It is the blood of a wolf. They would know better than to hunt here.

( but, still, he goes along with it..... )

[showsnopiety]

(She sighed, and she shook a little from the force of it. Her tail curled and she tried not to let it lash. It was frustrating. She had been told of course that she had to not surpress her instincts from the Coven, and now Wolf was reminding her to face it. It just didn't feel...natural.

But then again, she wasn't exactly a collection of normalcy was she.)

Easy to say, but not so easy to do. Also-if they were in their right minds, they wouldn't have hunted us at all.

(Her movements are those of long practice, cleaning his cut, before making to wrap it in gaze. Even if she notes the other scars, she doesn't comment.)

Especially when I know I must have a particular scent.