Private The Perfume Van

[Ishani Dinn]

Hoping to escape the murderous clown Firrerreo , Ishani had quietly abandoned her beloved Vixen in favor of a less distinct starship. Tiny and cramped in comparison, she had taken to referring to the little vessel that replaced it as the Space Van.

She didn't want to risk her accounts being tracked, so she resorted to cash, selling her perfume products and living hand to mouth. It was rough, but she told herself it was only temporary until she could throw her pursuer off her tail. Which it was. There was no way she could just keep going indefinitely like this, right?

Right.

Stopping at a planet whose name she didn't bother to catch, she parked the Space Van near a river. She liked being near bodies of water—it was convenient for when she had to go for a swim. She sold perfumes out the back, posting signs about it all around the neighborhood. Alkemia Perfumes & Apothecary. Made fresh daily. She didn't expect a crowd, and what she got was more like a steady trickle, but that was certainly better than nothing.

Alysanne​

 

[Alysanne]

The life of a free-spirited adventurer held many dangers, but one reigned chief above the rest. Death? No. Bankruptcy? As if. Pirates? Not even close. No, the number one threat to all dazzlingly attractive adventurers of note was odour. No matter what the reason, whether it be a busted shower unit or a backed-up water recycler, it simply wouldn't do to be arriving on planet without a distinctive, demure and dashing scent accompanying her. Something that screamed- or rather, smelled- refined. Intelligent. Beautiful.

Quite what she expected to find being sold in a boxy ship on some backwater planet, she didn't know. But hey, Alysanne saw the word Perfumes and felt a pull. As if destiny had lead her to that very place, at that very moment, for great things.

She'd joined the trickle of country bumpkins and excited teenagers, making their way towards the back where the perfumes stood. The heady scent of scent started to pepper the air around her. It was good. For far too long, she'd had bear with the tyranny of the fresh air. Her eyes were instantly drawn to a slightly bulbous bottle in a sickly, green shade. It looked a little bit... rustic.

Oh, this must be some kind of organic, homemade perfume. How... quaint?

Keeping her judgement to herself, Alysanne looked around for the proprietor, or shopkeep, or whatever the person was called that you gave the money to. Maybe she could badger them with questions.

"Excuse me? Yes, you, the blonde!" Alysanne called out, "what exactly is Echo meant to smell like?"

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"Excuse me? Yes, you, the blonde!"

Looking up to find a dark-haired teen trying to get her attention, Ishani lifted a hand and held up some of her hair, as if checking to make sure she was, in fact, a blonde. With that confirmed, she politely replied, "How can I help you?"

The girl was confused about Echo, which made sense, given that it had no smell in the bottle. "Echo is skin-activated, which is just a fancy way of saying it doesn't smell like anything until you spray it on yourself. Then it takes on a scent associated with a specific memory."

Someone nearby snorted skeptically. "Don't believe me, go ahead and try it." She gestured to a bottle labeled, lo and behold, Try Me.

Alysanne​

 

[Alysanne]

"Skin activated?" Alysanne repeated, frowning. It sounded like hokum to her. Besides, she shuddered to think what existed on her skin currently that might activate a scent. Frankly, she thought it sounded like absolute lies, but she was at least polite enough to keep her snort to herself. Instead, she took the bottle labelled Try Me, opened it up and dabbed a little on her two fingers. A quick rub here and there...

It smelt like... nothing. Just water. A cool couple of patches on her neck.

"Are you quite sure it works?" she asked the shopkeeper, as she felt a tingle in her nose. The light scent of cut grass, baked treats and... and...

Alysanne stared, half-off into the distance. It was like she was back there. Back home. A field full of flowers and fresh grass; buildings taller than trees and sunlight dancing off the the glass panes.

One day, I'll be a famous adventurer! That's what I can hear, in my own voice. Higher pitched and squeaky, but me. Standing in a school dress scuffed with dirt. He looks at me and shakes his head but he wants it to be true too. He's quieter, less pushy, but I like him all the same somehow. It's irritating. I promise him one day we'll go wherever we want and nobody will tell us what to do. There's a flash of light, we're closer, together and I can smell him as lips meet, my cheeks blush and...

Alysanne blinked quickly and the world returned, sound rushing in from the present. Her head snapped back and forth, from customer to shopkeep. Her cheeks glowed as bright as an explosion.

"Well. I'm not sure I like the scent," Alysanne managed to say, stumbling over her words slightly. "Have you got anything more striking? Something that's a little more sophisticated?" With that, she put down the bottle of Echo, handling it like radioactive material.

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Watching as the girl became lost in reverie, Ishani steepled her fingers. Several others who tried Echo were similarly pulled into their forgotten pasts. Whether their memories were positive or negative was up to chance. At least one person came out of it with a sniffle.

"Striking and sophisticated?" Ishani echoed. She turned to rifle around in her stock, pulling out a pink teardrop-shaped bottle. "Blush is infused with pheromones to make the wearer more likeable and attractive—but don't get me wrong, it's not a love potion." Never mind that it had played a small role in her own love affair with Arcturus Dinn . Oof, don't think about him right now, don't think about him, don't think about him...

She reached around and produced yet another bottle with an interesting figure-8 shape. "Infinity is an energy-boosting perfume. Smelling it will keep you alert. I've had people compare it to coffee, but wearable."

Alysanne​

 

[Alysanne]

Infused with pheromones? Her mind went to interestingly unpleasant places. Alysanne wondered quite how they'd managed to get the pheromones in the first place. Perhaps it was just better to assume they were synthesised, rather than extracted. Or milked. Whatever. She was definitely interested, though. Especially when the peddler said likeable. Even in her own inflated self opinion, Alysanne knew she could do with a little more help in that department.

"Don't worry, I'm not interested in love," she lied, inspecting the bottle a little closer. Feeling and hearing the slosh of the liquid inside. Would it seem desperate to buy ten of them? Hm. "But I'll take a bottle." Maybe she could be that dashing adventuress with a man in every port. Though, on the other hand, that sounded quite like too much effort, especially just for men.

"Infinity sounds like a bad stimulant, I like it. I'll take two bottles," she insisted, reaching for her datapad. "I'm presuming you'll want cred-"

"Can you hurry up, I haven't got all day!" another customer called from behind her. Alysanne instantly looked back over her shoulder, glaring at the man who spoke up.

"I'm sorry madam, I simply must insist that you show me every single perfume you have and don't spare the details. I want to know everything." She'd end up paying through the nose for this act of pettiness, but in the moment she didn't care. She'd been getting her own way since she was a toddler, it wasn't about to stop now.

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Her brows rising and eyes widening as she thought of all the money this could net her, Ishani pursed her lips and nodded. "Mmhmm, certainly."

She began laying out the rest of her bottles rapid-fire, starting with a white container.

"This is Chthonic. Wear it and it will ward off incorporeal beings such as ghosts and demons." A snicker from the crowd. "Smells like a candy bar in a dark wood. One of my personal favorites."

A bottle shaped like a sphere was added to the lineup. "Sphere boosts the wearer's connection to the Force, but only if you already have a connection to the Force to begin with. Smells a little like incense and citrus. Use it in meditation or wear it into battle, I don't care."

A rather malevolent looking pink bottle with thorns submerged in the liquid inside. "Panic can induce fear in your enemies, clouding the senses of an opponent if they get too close. Not to worry, it can't affect the wearer—to you it'll just smell like flowers and rainbows."

Finally, she laid out a blue bottle, the contents of which swirled like a raging sea. "Seastone grants enhanced strength to the wearer. Tends to make them more aggressive as well. Roid rage, and all that. Smells like a martini on the beach, perfect for summer."

Alysanne​

 

[Alysanne]

The smug smile on Alysanne's face quickly slipped away as she realised that, oh damn, the shopkeep actually was going to list everything she sold. That'd backfired. Something about warding off ghosts and demons, this had to be total and utter crap, right? What kind of scent scared incorporeal beings away, if they even existed?

By the time she'd reached the end of her spiel, Alysanne was staring off into space, just past her eyeline. As the silence hung in the air for a couple of awkward seconds, she blinked and shook her head a little. "Oh. You're done. Sorry about that, completely in my own head." She gave the shopkeep a weak smile before shaking her head.

"I think I'll just stick with the three I've ordered, thanks. I don't see much use in my life for uh, wards and roid rage." Come to think of it, throwing a table at a few people would be good fun but completely out of her style. "You're clearly exceptionally talented to make these, though," Alysanne said, with the merest hint of being impressed. "The last scent I had just made my neck itch. It contained the word Princess in the branding. Quite vile."

Another cough from behind, this time from someone else. Alysanne huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Fine, fine, I'll bloody well pay then," she grumbled.

Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

The brunette girl might not have been listening, but others around her were. Or so Ishani hoped—she wasn't looking forward to having to repeat that entire spiel again. "Your choice, girl. Never know when you'll encounter some freaky chit beyond all understanding."

The mention of a popular perfume called Princess forced Ishani to suppress a smirk. Definitely a teenager's perfume. "Oh yeah, heh—that's one you shouldn't wear so much as walk into." She rung up the three perfumes Alysanne had selected. "That'll be a hundred and fifty credits total."

Force, the line behind her was getting long. Hard work, but more money. Maybe she should get some ice cream after all this was over. She'd passed by a place on her way around town, as she was putting up her advertisements along the road. Yeah, she could definitely go for some chocolate chip cookie dough, if they had it...

Alysanne​

 

[Alysanne]

Her purchases rung up, Alysanne reached for her datapad to fling the credits over. It should've just been a quick affair, but naturally the datapad threw up a few errors. Warnings like YOU ARE OVERDRAWN and YOUR SPENDING LIMIT IS APPROACHING and WE CHARGE INTEREST ON INDEBTED ACCOUNTS were swiped aside as Alysanne decided to buy some weird perfume from a slightly less-weird lady.

"I'll be sure to remember you and your van if I'm ever burdened by the threat of freaky chit," Alysanne lied. She'd probably forget all about the details of what she'd seen, aside from the bottles she'd bought. There was every chance she'd forget the day had ever happened, until she saw that suggestively red bottle at the bottom of a drawer.

With the credits finally sent, Alysanne took the three bottles from the shopkeep and smiled. "Thanks. My scent drawer is indebted to you." The bottles were swiftly deposited in her satchel bag and she finally, happily, turned to leave. The queue behind her shuffled up, the murmurs turning a little happier now.

"Finally," one man groaned, "rich girl's shut her mouth."

Alysanne stopped, almost seeing red. Scowling, she turned to the man who'd dared open his mouth, brandishing her pointed finger like a lightsaber.

"I wish she sold a perfume that'd help us forget about your stench, asswipe." A sharp poke on his chest and then a twist away from him, chin in the air. There, that showed him. That'd teach him to speak to his betters. And by betters, she meant herself.

Ishani Dinn