#PennedPossibilities 867 — What does your MC smell like?
Bolt is human but also a day angel. Her wing plumage is striking, ranging from pale blue, to sky color, to midnight in a pattern of feathers similar to that of an owl. Her down feathers are not for heat retention since this world is unbearably hot from our standpoint. She molts, but not yearly. In flight, her leg feathers function like half of an owl's rudder fan tail, half on each leg, retracted like a cockatiel's crest when not in use. Anything more is spoilers.
So, what does Bolt smell like?
Because of the heat, mostly like a sweaty human despite regular sponge baths. Showers are a luxury. Clothing is minimal. Perfumes and colognes are impractical because of the sweat. Worse, people in this era would hate what we like—with deodorant and masking strong perfumes—especially how unnatural it smells. Preventing perspiration is a prescription for death by heat exhaustion, so people grow up smelling other humans, expecting certain odors, recognizing friends and family that way—and often also recognizing what those persons recently ate or their current state of health.
Bolt eats a lot of bread, because crusts are cheap, as well as dried squid. Not sure I can characterize that—yeast, salt, some iodine?—not the way I could the devil-girl, who regularly eats fried kippers and onions. Too expensive for Bolt, though she'd happily eat it if offered. People sometimes scent themselves with culinary and medicinal herbs, or oily plants like lavender or geranium. The oils stick. Bolt's partial to thyme, but prefers that her men wear it
They do. They like her being interested in them.
Like all feathers (feather being a self-name when a day angel uses it or a pejorative if you do), Bolt has an inescapable feather dander off-smell. It makes her smell faintly of clean goose feathers, and something else: something faintly metallic (hot iron?) with a whiff of ozone if she's recently flown and the air is calm near her. Keep in mind, human feathers aren't avian feathers. They have a different anatomy and function differently.
@npub1ek8r...t2en— Thanks for this prompt: I got to characterize and lock down a bunch of related details. I feel I know Bolt better. I'm super happy with the result.
[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]
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