12251/What's that SMELL

What's that SMELL
Date of Scene:	02 August 2022
Location:	Central Park
Synopsis:	Mercy meets Gabby in Central Park to offer her some help on becoming familiar with her newly enhanced senses. A lot of sniffing follows.
Cast of Characters:	Mercy Thompson, Gabby Kinney

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Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy has had a busy few days but it is the kind of busy she loves. She's finished her work and has a small limp as she makes her way through the park, stepping steadily as she goes to the point she ask Gabby to meet her at. She has a bag on a shoulder with several bags that are sealed away in top quality ziplok bags. She just hopes Gabby won't be too mad at her for some of what she has planned. At least this part of the wooded area of the park is quieter. Just in case she made sure to pack her pistol however.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Central Park was a place that Gabby was actually rather familiar with. Though there were areas she'd either not explored, or not explored in quite awhile, she was familiar enough with the paths that wound through the woods from numerous jogs and exploration over the years.

Wearing comfortable, sporty clothes (yay leggings and sneakers and t-shirts!) she's already waiting for Mercy where she was asked to meet. Instantly grinning at the sight of the other woman her hand shoots up into the air to wave. "Hey, Mercy!" The cheery greeting aside she had noticed that limp as well. Concern colors her tone when she asks, "You okay? Something happen?"

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy herself is just in some shorts and a tee as she found a spot to sit and wait. The spot she picked should give her a good chance of scenting anyone as they approach before they get too close. She is already turning when Gabby calls out, "Hello Gabby. How are you doing?" She motions to her leg and says, "Just a small thing from my dojo. Caught a kick on the leg." She motions to Gabby then, "How's the nose today? You ready for some training?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney grins in response. Lifting her hand she pokes at her nose, explaining, "Good as ever. Even if I broke it, it'd be fine in ten... twenty minutes or so. Tops. The bonus of having a healing factor." Had she explained that part to Mercy? For a moment she pauses to consider if she had or not, but then realizes it doesn't much matter. Either way she needed to learn how to get accustomed to USING her heightened senses.

Sinking down to sit cross-legged she joins Mercy, shifting her weight forward as she grasps her ankles with her hands. "Honestly I'm glad you can help with this at all. My sisters are kind of busy lately, what with everything going on. And dad is... Somewhere. He wanders."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Color me envious," says Mercy with a small laugh in her voice. She will settle down near Gabby so they can face each other. "By the way. I had no idea you had a sister until someone else mentioned it." With that she pulls the first thing from the bag. "So for me at the least, scents are pretty unique. People all have their own smell, but family and those who live together will often smell alike. It's a mix of the things in their life. I had planned on having you follow a trail but I don't feel like running around as much. So instead I got some stuff and want you to tell me what you can pick up from the samples I have." Handing over the first one.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney looks a little surprised at that... though she does break into a laugh after a moment. "I have *so many* sisters," she explains with a broadening grin. "Rien is one. Though--" Here she falters with a difficult to read expression flitting over her face. Emotions right now were a bit conflicted regarding that particular sister. A quick shake of her head brushes it off. "Laura and Bellona are the other two. I had a lot more, but they died." It's all said matter-of-fact. While it was still something she felt emotional about at times, it was far enough in the past that it didn't sting quite so heavily. She could mention it.

With the explanation given she nods quickly listening to Mercy's ideas. "Okay, gotcha. I'm good with not running around tonight too."

Reaching out for the sample she regards it thoughtfully before taking a quick breath. Not to sniff, but to exhale as fully as possible. THEN she brings it up watching Mercy warily to take a sniff.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy frowns trying to remember. Wasn't Gabby the one that said she was a clone or test tube baby or something. She shakes her head to get free of the thought, it isn't important to what she's doing her anyway. "Didn't mean to bring up family drama. I'm sorry about that, but it's a good entry for something else. Emotions."
    Mercytakes a slow breath to begin, "emotions can have scent. The stronger the emotion. Learning them is important because it can help you smell 'lies' and pick up on what may not be getting said."
    She stops as Gabby gets to the first bag. This one is taken from a regular costumer who lent her a tie. He wears it to his office all the time, gets it dry cleaned, and is rather wealthy. He also smokes cigars and goes out to drink fairly often. "So. What can you tell? Male or female? Any details?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney has already drawn a whiff of it, enough to recognize some of the scents easily. At this she smiles, amused, with a little shake of her head. "Probably a guy given the cigars. Dad smokes them too, though not this sort. There's also..." What else? She continues to breath slowly, steadily, trying to pick out what she recognized and put some description to what she didn't. "Hint of alcohol. And... something gross and chemically. Like a hospital only sharper."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "If you have a hard time, it can help to run the scent over the tongue. It takes time to get a library in your head." Mercy grins and admits, "I still haven't figured out a good way to write down scents. That last scent is likely the dry cleaning. You'll learn some stuff can be really painful to someone with a good nose." She has an idea of where Gabby is starting from. "Anything else or do you want to try another one?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney offers the bag back with a shake of her head at the suggestion of going further. "That's the best I can do on that. And yeah... Not the best smell there. I grew up in labs though, so I'm used to a lot of chemicals." A small pause comes as she grins, "Some I can even identify from before the nose situation. Dry cleaning though? That's new to me at least. Just lots of heavy cleaners." Rocking her head to the side she gives a shrug. "Let's try another."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy takes that bag and carefully will close it back up when they are done with it. The next bag is handed over and inside is a folded up tee shirt. The shirt belongs to an athletic young guy. One that likes to do a lot of free running through parts of the city, works in a pizza parlor and has a girlfriend that he's very very 'active' with when together. "So do your best."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney reaches out to take the shirt only to pull back immediately. Her arm stretches out while she leeeans away looking wide-eyed at it with a rather severe look of chagrin. "That. Uh. Guy. Very guy," she blurts out trying to focus on the basics. Recognize what it is. "Sweaty." There's that. There's the little nagging feeling of familiarity. She'd been around so many athletic guys for awhile on the team she was on after all. "Probably in good shape? Uh. And..." And that last smell. She'd smelled it before of course--Usually after showing up at innoportune times. Or when visiting Robbie and Rien's apartment.

Her face just reddens unable to say anything else as she holds the shirt back out toward Mercy, her eyes looking apologetically back. "Um. Done. Totally done."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy laughs at the reaction. "Yeah well sweat can do that. But you should try to learn the TYPES of sweat. There's physical work, fear, cold, lots of reasons people can sweat." She shifts in her hand and watches Gabby working on it. "Okay we'll move on." She will take the bag back and finally gets a pillow case in a bag. One that she took from a hotel and was used for her own cats bed. "Last one then a break."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney makes a small noise only to clear her throat. "Sex," she blurts out finally as she glances away abruptly. "Or really close to it. I've walked into rooms before... Even before my senses became stronger. It's just. More in my face now."

"... Robbie and Rien usually end up smelling like that even if they try to cover it up by showering a lot. THAT I caught onto quick." And didn't say a damn thing about.

The pillow produced is met with a look of abject relief as she reaches out to accept it. Another sniff is taken and she ... tilts her head again. This time she is puzzled. "It smells comfy. Sleepy?"

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Sex can linger, but you can know who they are with. It isn't always the best smell, but it is a good one to know about." Mercy is patient and doesn't want to push things for Gabby too fast. "Anything else?" The cat on it, traces of Mercy herself, or anything else. Mercy washed it three times to try and dull the scents on it.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney takes another smell. She leans down to press her nose to the pillow drawing in deep. "Fabric softner," she reasons. That was topmost after all that washing. But it was familiar. So VERY familiar. Sitting up again she lets out a breath, and huffs another in only to grin at the realization. "Your pillow? And ... cat?"

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy taps her nose and nods her head. "There you go. That's Medae's pillow that I gave several washes to try and get ride of the scents more. Also to test if you can pick up a scent that is right in front of you."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney laughs a little in amusement at that. It made sense though after all. "People I know I can kind of recognize. There's a familiarity to it." The pillow is offered back with a laugh. "She's going to be upset you washed her pillow then," she points out with a little cluck of her tongue. Poor kitty. "This does help though. It's giving me things to think about and break down about what it is I'm smelling. It's good to know. Thanks, Mercy."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy nods her head, "it's good if we know each other's scents. May help us find someone if they're missing or something." She takes the pillow bag back and closes it all up. "Oh she'll forgive me and get belly touching to make amends." She shifts there and asks, "you're welcome. Any sort of questions?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney pushes back to her feet with a quick dusting of her hands over her thighs to knock off any little bits of twigs, or grass. Maybe ants. Darn ants. "Nothing I can think of at the moment, but I'll see if I can figure out anything to ask next time. I mean," she hesitates looking toward Mercy with a grin. "If there is one. We can always meet up and chat though. Velvet Room is there, and I know where your garage is too. Though I don't want to get in the way of your work at all." Grinning broadly she suggests, "I'll owe you dinner sometime for this. Or chocolate or something." With that she looks down to her cellphone as she fishes it from a pocket to glance at the time. "Should get going for now though, I've got patrols tonight in Gotham. Ah, the life of a costumed sort."