Ficlet: A Nose for It
Title: A Nose for It
Characters: Fuery/?
Rating: PG for wine nerding
Word count: 395
Summary: First date a la Kain Fuery.
Notes: Written for a a_big_apple's prompt, as inadequate thanks for a fantastic discussion, canon nerding and bouncing of ideas for my Big Bang. Thank you so much! Sorry it's so brief, and hope I did some justice to Fuery's fabulousness. ♥
Kain cups the glass by the bottom of the bowl and flicks his wrist a little. The red wine moves around the glass in a slow heavy swirl, once, twice. Kain brandishes the glass at his companion. "Look at the legs on this one!" he says with great excitement.
"Legs?"
"See those big trails of wine running down the inside of the glass?" The droplets have indeed left thick, vertical trails, like dripping paint. "It's called the Marangoni effect! Wine is an alcohol-water mix, and alcohol has a lower surface tension than water. Because the mix is inhomogenous, then water will flow away from the bits with a higher alcohol content, along the tension gradient!"
"Um," says Kain's date.
"The legs are thicker if the wine has a higher alcohol content. It means this is a strong red with lots of body!"
Kain sticks his nose right inside the glass and gives it a slow, appreciative sniff.
His date tries not to raise an eyebrow, not a single millimetre. Then a wineglass is thrust under his nose, and Kain is grinning into his face.
"Try it!"
There's something about a certain amount of dorkishness that he's always found disarming. He can't help but smile back and, gingerly, attempt the whole silly ritual. He sticks his nose into the glass and sniffs.
The wine smells like black pepper, which is surprising. He tries again. Black pepper, something sharp and fruity, and a hint of something oddly smokey behind it all, like a wood fire. He lists them all out.
Kain beams again. His date rolls the wineglass in his hand, feeling marginally less silly. The thick trails run down the side of the glass.
Then he tilts it up to his lips. Just a little sip. It swirls in his mouth. The promised black pepper, so immediate in the wine's perfume, doesn't appear immediately. Instead, he tastes red fruit, and then that taste of black pepper-and-smoke, which doesn't hit him all at once, but blooms slowly in his mouth.
He looks at Kain. "It's good," he manages, feeling hard-pressed to articulate it all without sounding completely idiotic, like a pretentious newspaper columnist, car tyres and strawberries with a hint of cat piss. "Wine's - well, I didn't know it was this complicated."
"That's just why I like it!" says Kain. "Now, let's try out your glass."
Characters: Fuery/?
Rating: PG for wine nerding
Word count: 395
Summary: First date a la Kain Fuery.
Notes: Written for a a_big_apple's prompt, as inadequate thanks for a fantastic discussion, canon nerding and bouncing of ideas for my Big Bang. Thank you so much! Sorry it's so brief, and hope I did some justice to Fuery's fabulousness. ♥
Kain cups the glass by the bottom of the bowl and flicks his wrist a little. The red wine moves around the glass in a slow heavy swirl, once, twice. Kain brandishes the glass at his companion. "Look at the legs on this one!" he says with great excitement.
"Legs?"
"See those big trails of wine running down the inside of the glass?" The droplets have indeed left thick, vertical trails, like dripping paint. "It's called the Marangoni effect! Wine is an alcohol-water mix, and alcohol has a lower surface tension than water. Because the mix is inhomogenous, then water will flow away from the bits with a higher alcohol content, along the tension gradient!"
"Um," says Kain's date.
"The legs are thicker if the wine has a higher alcohol content. It means this is a strong red with lots of body!"
Kain sticks his nose right inside the glass and gives it a slow, appreciative sniff.
His date tries not to raise an eyebrow, not a single millimetre. Then a wineglass is thrust under his nose, and Kain is grinning into his face.
"Try it!"
There's something about a certain amount of dorkishness that he's always found disarming. He can't help but smile back and, gingerly, attempt the whole silly ritual. He sticks his nose into the glass and sniffs.
The wine smells like black pepper, which is surprising. He tries again. Black pepper, something sharp and fruity, and a hint of something oddly smokey behind it all, like a wood fire. He lists them all out.
Kain beams again. His date rolls the wineglass in his hand, feeling marginally less silly. The thick trails run down the side of the glass.
Then he tilts it up to his lips. Just a little sip. It swirls in his mouth. The promised black pepper, so immediate in the wine's perfume, doesn't appear immediately. Instead, he tastes red fruit, and then that taste of black pepper-and-smoke, which doesn't hit him all at once, but blooms slowly in his mouth.
He looks at Kain. "It's good," he manages, feeling hard-pressed to articulate it all without sounding completely idiotic, like a pretentious newspaper columnist, car tyres and strawberries with a hint of cat piss. "Wine's - well, I didn't know it was this complicated."
"That's just why I like it!" says Kain. "Now, let's try out your glass."