[ Benedict can't imagine the last time he was so eager to get anywhere. The moment the wash of colour lit up on the horizon, he felt himself aching for the boat to dock. The smell that reaches them even over the sea brings him a sense of familiarity, and with that comes calm, and he hardly realizes that he feels much less tired as soon as he sets foot on the shore.

The pollen starts to nestle among his hair, giving it a near golden shine in the sun. Benedict seems wholly unbothered by it. He's far too caught up in the local residents that have come to greet them, looking over the arrangements of flowers - some he's familiar with and some that seem wholly exotic. ]

I wish we'd come here first.

[ He says it to no one in particular. Benedict is already ready to find a place to sit and sketch the wild blooms all around them. ]

[ It's good, really, that the guardians are willing to give some sort of guidance when it comes to using the provided supplies to cook. Benedict has never cooked anything in his life. He's never even prepared a pot of tea for himself. So, yes, while it took a bit of a knock off his pride to have to ask for the help, he's happy for it all the same. Between the instruction and casually watching others attempt it, he feels ready to attempt it.

More or less.

After a moment of looking between the fish and the cooking surface, he decides he should just try and get it done. And it can't be that hard, can it? After all, people do it every day, several times a day, so at the very least he ought to be able to fry himself up a bit of fish.

Benedict thinks it's going quite well at first, but then, suddenly, it isn't. The fish sticks as he attempts to flip it over, and in his attempt to make sure it's thoroughly cooked through, he ends up burning one side entirely.

It's probably still edible. Right? ]

[ He supposes he ought to get the pollen out of his hair as best as he can. Benedict's always tried to maintain a degree of cleanliness, a habit which, admittedly, has gone to wayside a bit since he's ended up on this journey. The last island they were at, he'd been wholly hesitant to go to the baths. Certainly he's not ashamed of any part of himself, but the entire experience of the last island had highlighted his shyness almost painfully at times.

Here, though, he seems less bothered by the idea. If everyone else does it without so much as another thought, then he ought to follow suit. And while he wouldn't say he's been feeling more bold on this new island, he finds that he's more willing to just allow things to happen, more willing to relax. The baths sound - and smell - too tempting to pass up, and when he arrives at first he's nearly alone. Some pools are occupied, yes, but he finds one currently unused and chooses it for his own.

And it is lovely. As Benedict settles into the water, he lets out a contented sigh, only absently marveling at the perfect temperature of the waters. He dips entirely beneath the surface to rinse his hair, and when he comes back up, he settles back and stares up at the sky. His thoughts come and go with no real urgency. Eventually, they drift to home, and while there's a fleeting moment devoted of thoughts of his family, what comes to mind are parties. Not the parties of the ton, though.

Benedict thinks about dimly lit halls and rooms, of music barely audible over the sounds of laughter and excited banter and more elicit things slipping past doors. He can see the smoke hanging in the air.. He can smell perfumes and tobacco. He can see the party guests, men and women that grace society's doors and those that society would sneer at sharing a room with, all dressed (or undressed) to impress. As he sinks a bit further into the water, he thinks about walking through a door and stumbling across Henry and his Lord Weatherby in the midst of their affair. Mostly, Benedict thinks about how he'd have stood there to watch if he could, and what might have happened if he did. ]

Choose your own adventure! Any prompts / situations are on the table, so follow your heart, or shoot me a message if you want to plot something out!