Dracula: Mina's Souvenirs: Paprika
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the_scent_of_lilacsTitle: Paprika
Fandom: Dracula - original Stoker text
Length: 400
Character: Mina Harker
Rating: Gen
Also for: my GYWO Yahtzee prompt: Peppery
Notes: I am hoping to do a short series of ficlets called "Mina's Souvenirs"
Summary: Mina finds the recipe for paprika hendel in Jonathan's journal.
Despite Mina’s care in turning the page of Jonathan’s journal, a single sheaf and a small thin envelope escaped from its leaves and swanned to the floor. She bent to pick them up, then studied them each in turn.
On the paper was written a recipe for a chicken dish called paprika hendel. And the little envelope, she opened it just as carefully and sniffed, was a spice entirely novel to her. It was a pungent red powder which burned the walls of her nose at no more than a distant inhale.
The paprika of the paprika hendel.
She shivered.
The peppery fragrance and her own bodily response to it reminded her of a truth: how strange a place her beloved had been and how brave he had been to venture so far from home. It cost him dearly, nearly his very life, but that did not negate the bravery.
Mina set the tiny envelope aside and took up the recipe.
Chicken, onion, oil, salt, tomato, and this strange spice. The mechanics of it seemed straightforward enough.
Mina set both recipe and envelope aside and considered the entry of Jonathan’s journal that she was transcribing.
Mem., Get recipe for Mina.
How could such a simple notation warm her heart so? So far from home, Jonathan had been thinking of her, had requested something which he thought would please her, a souvenir of his journey. He could not have known how harrowing that journey would be, not when he made that note, but he’d done as he’d written and got the recipe for her.
He said the dish made him thirsty, as well it might. She wondered if she should try to make it for him or if she might even surprise him with it. But would it be a good surprise or a bad surprise? Of this, she could not conjecture. She must ask. She amused herself by making her own notation in the blotting paper.
Mem., Ask Jonathan if he wants to eat paprika hendel.
Mina returned to her transcription, but less than a few pages and there was another of the same memorandum to ‘get recipe for Mina,’ this time for a recipe of stuffed aubergine. But the recipe, she checked the journal pages, had evidently not been obtained. She was still touched by the thoughtfulness of her husband.
Mina’s thoughts went back the paprika.
Red. Burning. Thirst
Fandom: Dracula - original Stoker text
Length: 400
Character: Mina Harker
Rating: Gen
Also for: my GYWO Yahtzee prompt: Peppery
Notes: I am hoping to do a short series of ficlets called "Mina's Souvenirs"
Summary: Mina finds the recipe for paprika hendel in Jonathan's journal.
Despite Mina’s care in turning the page of Jonathan’s journal, a single sheaf and a small thin envelope escaped from its leaves and swanned to the floor. She bent to pick them up, then studied them each in turn.
On the paper was written a recipe for a chicken dish called paprika hendel. And the little envelope, she opened it just as carefully and sniffed, was a spice entirely novel to her. It was a pungent red powder which burned the walls of her nose at no more than a distant inhale.
The paprika of the paprika hendel.
She shivered.
The peppery fragrance and her own bodily response to it reminded her of a truth: how strange a place her beloved had been and how brave he had been to venture so far from home. It cost him dearly, nearly his very life, but that did not negate the bravery.
Mina set the tiny envelope aside and took up the recipe.
Chicken, onion, oil, salt, tomato, and this strange spice. The mechanics of it seemed straightforward enough.
Mina set both recipe and envelope aside and considered the entry of Jonathan’s journal that she was transcribing.
Mem., Get recipe for Mina.
How could such a simple notation warm her heart so? So far from home, Jonathan had been thinking of her, had requested something which he thought would please her, a souvenir of his journey. He could not have known how harrowing that journey would be, not when he made that note, but he’d done as he’d written and got the recipe for her.
He said the dish made him thirsty, as well it might. She wondered if she should try to make it for him or if she might even surprise him with it. But would it be a good surprise or a bad surprise? Of this, she could not conjecture. She must ask. She amused herself by making her own notation in the blotting paper.
Mem., Ask Jonathan if he wants to eat paprika hendel.
Mina returned to her transcription, but less than a few pages and there was another of the same memorandum to ‘get recipe for Mina,’ this time for a recipe of stuffed aubergine. But the recipe, she checked the journal pages, had evidently not been obtained. She was still touched by the thoughtfulness of her husband.
Mina’s thoughts went back the paprika.
Red. Burning. Thirst
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Date: 2025-05-16 04:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-05-16 07:19 pm (UTC)