A/N: Just wanted to let everyone know that I'll probably only be able to update drabbles for the next week or so. The next chapter of Esprit de Corps will be completed after my two enormous exams after Spring Break. Sorry for the long wait!

Pairing: Scarlett and an unidentified patron. First person POV.
Word Count: 344
Prompt: Mask

Soldier's Odor

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A soldier's odor of sweat - the odor of a sweet sea breeze that like the air, burned to ocher above the seashore, and it stuck in my nostrils, continuing to intoxicate me to this day.

This was probably my earliest memory of childhood. Needless to say, the odor could not, at that time, have had any direct connection with my sexual desires, but it did gradually and tenaciously arouse my spirit within a sensuous craving for such dubious acts. It was, perhaps, the tragic nature of their calling and mine. The distant countries they would see, sailing away into the arms of death, and I was the woman who would await their arrival with open arms and warm bed linens.

You can say that I had been handed what might be called a 'full plate' of all the troubles in the world, while still too young to understand it.

However, these men were the first and only memory I had. From the beginning, they stood before me in truly masked completeness. There was not a single thing lacking upon the surface, and not even their eyes could tell me otherwise. Not much could be said about what lied within, but I had settled for the surface for as long as I could.

In later years, I sought after them for the wellsprings of my own profit, and again, not a single thing was lacking. Especially not on my part, for I refused not allow myself to be tormented by vain doubts, even as I continued to be tormented to this day. I regarded such of my own doubts as another temptation for me to indulge, and I could not afford anymore of that, now could I?

I haven't got all night. Now, for five shillings, love, I'll show exactly what that odor does to me. For ten, I'll let you wear the mask I snatched from one of those soldiers, but just for a moment. I don't want to spoil the odor.

Just a suggestion, though. I'd choose ten, if I were you.

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