A Wandering Caravan - Garden of Memories [CLOSED]

[kanadensis]

main thread

The path becomes overgrown as you distance yourself from the main caravan; whimsical-looking vines wind their way beneath your paws, and bursts of colour - strange, exotic flowers that you don't recall ever seeing before - catch your eye. At the end of the path, nestled comfortably in the overgrowth as if it had been there for years, sits a wagon adorned with a variety of wooden and metal wind chimes. In front of the wagon a kalon - who you had not noticed until now because they themself were also covered in overgrowth - sits in front of a small wooden table, sorting through what you can only guess is a pile of dried leaves and flower petals. Their golden eyes, accompanied by a warm smile, meet yours.

Art by hiraeth+hound

"You are a curious one, I could smell you from a mile away! At least I think it was you..." He trails off and returns to sorting through the mess in front of him. "No darlings, I know we shouldn't talk to strangers..." You slowly make your way over, intrigued by the strange kalon. Who is he talking to?
His head suddenly snaps up, sending a flurry of petals fluttering from the flowers that crown his auburn hair.
"Oh now you want to talk to the strangers! A bunch of fickle flora you all are." He shakes his head at the pile of petals before turning his attention back to you. "Well come closer then and have a sniff." He sees you hesitate and clicks his tongue impatiently. "My dear stranger, don't you know that smells can trigger the most vivid of memories? A single whiff can take you back years! We are in the business of cultivating memories, of collecting stories and the like! Now come closer, like this-" He scoops up a handful of petals in his paws, holding them up to his nose and taking a deep breath, "See, they don't bite!"

You gingerly scoop up a handful of the petals; their colours seem to dance in the soft dappled daylight that filters through the trees - and their scent, which was once intensely floral, has morphed into something quite...familiar.

Tell me about a scent that brings back a memory for your kalon!
Is it their mother's ginger cookies? Their first time in a tea shop? A dusty treehouse from their childhood? Describe the memory it reminds them of - this strange kalon seems to love hearing stories!

This prompt will be open from March 18th @00:00 until March 20th @00:00 CS Time (ends at rollover from 19th to 20th)

Rules
✿ Writing entries must be at least 250 words in length, with a maximum of 500 words.
✿ Art entries must be at least a clean, recognizable sketch. No comics or animations. You may include a short 20-word description to go along with your art.
❀ If you are doing art, please depict the memory itself!
❀ The memory can be a positive or negative one, but please be mindful of others and keep it CS friendly.

[chanhee.]

Cosmo's taken aback by the scent of the flowers in his hands, and immediately he's hit with nostalgia for something not quite floral. It takes him a second to fully register what he's smelling, but when he pulls the flowers from his face it clicks.

"These smell like the candle my mother used to keep in the main hallway of the house when we lived in Maine."

Cosmo pulls the flowers back to his nose and lets himself get lost in the thought of his childhood house, where he'd run up and down the halls with pent up energy, literally bouncing off the walls and trying to up his time each run. He was careful towards the center of the hall because of the shelf half-way through- at head height- that had a three-wick candle that smelled very much like the flowers he was now holding. He was always avoiding it and would run into doorknobs on the other side of the hall trying to keep himself from knocking his head on the shelf.

The candle was set there, unlit, well into his teenage years, and when they'd moved across the ocean, it had been one of the last things packed. It had been discontinued in his pre-teen years and his mother was adamant about keeping the relic around as long as she could, even if that meant it never being lit. It was set above the fireplace, on the mantle, in their new house, where it was still never once lit.

It shocked Cosmo that, years later, it still smelled like home, and he wished he knew what the flowers were, but the man before him simply shrugs when asked what type they are, only giving a wink in reply.

"Well... thank you, I guess. I really should be going, though. I hope to see you and your mysterious plants around!"
[312]

[PleaserOfCrowds]

Curiously, Bethany smelled it a bit as the overwhelming floral scent turned into something that she could handle, the smell of fresh rain and mud. It wasn’t too uncommon back home, as it often rained in the mornings, but for some odd reason, this one seemed even familiar. Somehow, someway, she could hear the crack of bat, and shortly after, a crowd cheering.

-

It started to heavily rain after her team won, with the hot summer afternoon turned into a stormy night. Their celebration would be continued on the next night with a party but for now, everyone was ready to go home. She waved goodbye to her team, which would be her last which she didn’t know at the time. Packing her bags, she set off to walk back home hopefully as quickly as she could, as she could hear the thunder above her roaring. She walked through the woods as a shortcut, when all of a sudden, another kalon was slammed into a tree right next to her. However to her surprise, he was completely fine, just a bit bruised. Even more strangely was that he immediately brought out his journal and started writing excitedly, which the only things she could make out were some things along the lines of “bigfoot” and “mothman”.

“Did you see all of that?! That was a... I don’t know what it was,” he suddenly exclaimed. “Well, I was trying to get a good picture to figure it out, but it got mad and you see what happened. My camera broke, too.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Bethany questioned. “How did you even survive that?!”

“Well, I got my psychic powers to slow myself down.” He sighed. “It always comes in handy with situations like this.”

“Okay, you’ve gotta slow down. I don’t even know you, or whatever weird stuff you do,” Bethany could feel the rain had completely soaked the two of them. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to erm... document your experiences in that diary when it’s pouring like this.”

“Well, first off, it’s a field guide, not a dairy. Second off, name’s Felipe. It’s not important.” Felipe looked down on it, realizing the pen ink had bled off the paper.

“Do you want to go back to my place? It’s not far from here.” Bethany asked.

“Yeah, sure. One problem, can you uh... maybe help me up?” Felipe said.

-

“Oh yeah, this does remind me of something!” Bethany remarked. “I met my best friend after my last baseball game, when I was going home and he flew into a tree and broke his leg while it was pouring outside. It is kinda weird if you think about it, but I remember it clearly now. It was really unexpected, but sometimes your closest friends come from weird experiences, y’know?

I gotta show this to Felipe once I get back. Now normally I’m not very well versed with plants, but this is the coolest thing I’ve seen.”

[495 words]

[Soll]

Snefald smiled widely at the question, the scent she knew and loved coming back to her as if it was a wave crashing into her. "All I can think of is my most favourite smell in the entire world, cinnamon pine cones. My mother used to buy them every December and hide them in the hose for us to find, it was always so fun sniffing them out and it honestly became the one thing that I always looked forward to doing every year." Snefald looked down with a slight sorrow in her eyes, a smile still plastered on her face. "She passed away a few years ago, but every year in December I buy cinnamon scented pine cones and put them in my little home so I can remember the old and best times of my life." Snefald suddenly looked back up, all of the sorrow disappearing almost immediately as if a switch had been flicked inside of her mind. "But right now is no time to be thinking about sad stuff!! The memories are very special to me, and they're all happy memories as well so I don't want to think of them as sad memories. In all honesty I've never been that truly happy in a long time, December is always my favorite month of the entire year because of those cinnamon scented pine cones, I don't know what I would do if I didn't have them in my life because they make me feel so at peace every year.. Thank you so much for asking me this question.. you made my entire day so much better." Snefald smiled up at the kalon in front of her and thanked her multiple times over and over.

[288 words]

[Chickpea]

Hen smelled the flowers carefully, they had a strong, pungent smell that they had not had before. Hen widened his eyes when he realized that it was the smell of ciders and beers, now Hen never much liked their taste, but it reminded him of the old family pub. Hen sniffed the flower again, he could just barely make out the musty smells of the pine counters and old barrels made of cedar wood. It was a bit of a harsh scent, but it was familiar. Hen remembered when he and his identical twin brother Othello would play in the pub, with darts or just sitting at the scratched counter playing some board game or another. The regulars were all kalons from his small snowy town and would often join in with their games.

Hen held the blossom carefully in his paws, it was delicate. He gazed thoughtfully at it. The old pub’s warm atmosphere was something he missed very much, but Hen knew he could not go back. Hen knew he had to stay alone in the mountains after his twin Othello was killed. It just wasn’t safe, if the kalon came back, or if someone mistook his for his brother. The memories of the old pub brought him joy, but also pain. He gently rested the flower back down and gave the kalon in the wagon a small melancholy smile.

The kalon overgrown with flowers looked at him expectantly, as if to ask what he smelled.

Hen faked a large grin and lied, “smells just like the tea my mama used to make!”


[264/500]

[Rosemoon]

Evangeline blushed at the kalon in front of her. Wow... he's really handsome... and the smell of the petals is... just so familiar... she thought.
"I probably sound really... daft, possibly even insane... but those petals..." she took in another deep breath, inhaling their scent until it caused her fur to stand on end slightly and her skin to form goosebumps. She was surprised on how something like this... could smell something like that.
"They smell like my mother... I don't remember her, she was gone around the time I was born. The only memory I have of her is that she smelled like strong cinnamon, freshly baked pumpkin pie, and ripe picked apples... like Autumn. It's why I love the season so much, because I may not have gotten the chance to get to know her, but it always makes me feel her presence, as if she's still here with me... getting to know me in her own way".
She sat down, looking down at the ground, her heart a stone in a cage of glass bones.
"I wish I knew her. I wish I could remember what she looked like, what she sounded like... I wish she didn't leave me. I know it's not her fault, but it hurts all the same. I don't even remember how it was she died... my father never told me and he ended up losing himself as I got older. He's been getting help and I'm thankful, but for him to be as broken as he was for so long... she must have been a truly remarkable person".
Evangeline took in one last whiff and handed the petals back to the strange but beautiful kal. She bowed politely to him, saying thank you.
"I'm glad you showed me this, I really missed her. Now I feel like she's here with me, watching over me. Maybe... maybe I'll try to communicate with her... I'm just scared..." she shrunk inward on herself shyly, "I am a Pagan spiritual healer but I haven't even tried talking to anyone in any other aspect... because I'm afraid of what I'll find..."
Evangeline blushed as she felt like she was talking too much and oversharing.
"I'm sorry, I'll leave you to your work now... whatever it may be..." she felt her face grow hotter, "but uhm... maybe I could... see you again someday?" she left a small card with the kal and said her quick goodbye before trotting off to her next destination.

(415)

[cocoa]

Bogo held the petals, and wondered if they were supposed to smell different. But then she realized - they smelled just like the roses from that time of her life...

Of her youngest years, there was little Bogo remembered but of the smell of roses.

All of her sisters had pelts adorned with roses of the most beautiful of colors - even if Bogo didn't remember their faces, she remembered the brilliance of each petal of their flowers. She remembers the way she would admire the color and the delicacy, the way the prickly vines interlocking the roses curled around their bodies. She would worry over getting too close to them, because else she would crush their flowers.

And that's all she remembers of them. Each memory of them seemed to be interlinked with the rich smell of those roses, and when Bogo missed her family, she would find a rose and admire it. No rose ever seemed to compare to the near magical beauty of her sister's.

Bogo had been so young when she had been taken apart from them that she barely remembered what had happened herself. Had she been cast out by their parents for not being magical as them? Or had it been them that had been selected for some better, special life? Or had Bogo simply gotten lost, or they had gotten lost away from her? Had some magical entity, some God taken her away? The only thing she knew was that she had been registered with a foster family after a week of being alone and had lived with them since. That week - it was as if Bogo had blocked it out from her memory. Nothing could grip her to that week but the scent of empty rooms and the feeling of loneliness.

Bogo didn't linger on such things anymore. Her foster family had been loving, and she had eventually been adopted out to another loving family. She then moved out and got her own place, and grew her own garden. She was not bound to the upset of losing her family; she had moved on early into the years of her adopted family. But at times like these, she could not help but think to marvel at the magic of those memories.

[377 words]

[-pidge]

As I stoke him, fat tears rolls down my puffy red face, my pumpkin pie wafting into my nose. It was only this time so long ago, at least it seemed.


The faint smell of chai tea muddled with fresh pumpkin pie. The scratchy sweaters that mother knitted alongside the mugs of hot coco. Autumn, my favourite season had newly began. The blissful atmosphere welcomed me as I tread on the dread crunching leaves. My scarf warmly snuggled into my neck, I decide to take a stroll down the dirt road leading to the woods filled with the gorgeous smell of the pine-tree leaves. I was only a third of the way there before I stumbled across a little spikey ball.

"Hello!" Juniper giggled as a little hedgehog appeared from the muddle of spikes. It looked nothing for that a few days for leaving the safety of her mother. As she approached, the little creature didn't shy away. Thats odd. She were merely a step away from it when he took a step closer to her. "Arn't you friendly!" She smiled, reaching towards it. The hedgehog willingly let her stroke his thorny back. "And a bit prickly may I add!"

Soon, a strong bond came between Juni and bumble the hedgehog, everyday visiting him in the pine woods; Bumble always waiting eagerly for her arrival. "Your favourite book, as promised," A wide grin appears on both their faces, and my berries? Bumble nudges some wild berries, that by the smell of it, seemed freshly gathered.

Her memory faded as the burnt fragrance surrounded her. If only this morning, she hadn't been late, it was her fault. She looked down at Bumbles helplessly painful eyes. If she wasn't late, he wouldn't of come looking for her. If she wasn't late, he wouldn't of gone onto the dirt track. If she wasn't late, that car wouldn't of hit him right before her very own eyes.

She had taken him home, rapping him in an endless amount of bandages, cradling him in her arms. "You can't leave. Please, don't go..."

[Safe_Haven]

"My old mate..." Nyco whispered hesitantly, tears choking in his gullet.

[Breado]

Lavender; Eddie and Mary's wedding~