Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

I finally figured out why I respond to vetiver and to a lesser extent orris, the way i do. the method was round about. most people reading books, imagine what the characters look like. i do that, but sometimes, I add the character's smell. Not always, but i notice it now and then. so I've been rereading Angel of Darkness off and on. Today, I caught myself having a strong viceral reaction to the body scent I had imagined for her. I had included a variety of elements, of course, but i had imagined her core scent smelling close to vetiver. real people not wearing scent don't smell exactly like vetiver, of course, but there is an element to a certain kind of human predator scent that is very close to vetiver and orris. It is closer to vetiver, hence the stronger reaction. No wonder vetiver makes me curl my lip in disgust. no wonder I don't want it around me or on me. (Alert! Alert! Enemy in my territory!) It would also explain why some people find it fascinating, giving them a thrill of danger and sexual response both. Some people do respond to human predators that way. It's the scent equivalent of a horror movie.