A Myriad of Scents (RivaMika Week 2015)

Day 2 - Spicy

Mikasa woke to a throbbing headache that seemed to resonate all the way to her eyeballs. She opened her eyes, and realising this was a mistake, she quickly closed them again. Even with her eyes closed she felt as if the whole world was spinning around her. She was nauseous, and she knew exactly what was wrong with her. She had a hangover. More precisely, this was her first ever hangover. Her stomach was doing flips, or at least that's what it felt like.

"Uuuurghh."
"Wow, Mikasa. You look like crap." Sasha's smug voice cut through the air.
"I feel even worse. And please lower your voice, my head feels like it's going to split open." Mikasa called back almost whispering.
Mikasa recalled the previous night's events and began to cringe. The night had started off well enough with the Survey Corps celebration party. Mikasa decided the turning point had been when she inadvertently challenged Captain Levi to a drinking competition. She remembered that he had surprised her, when he had asked her to dance with him. She also recalled drinking glass after glass of the Titan Tears punch that Sasha had provided for the night. Her memory started to get cloudy from then on, but she could remember talking to the Captain outside the girl's dormitory, but she couldn't exactly recollect what they had talked about.

Even though Mikasa's eyes were still closed, she could sense Sasha coming closer to her bed, and heard the sound of a glass on her bedside table.
"Water. Drink up."
"Thank you." Mikasa wasn't even sure she could manage the water, but she was willing to try anything to get rid of this hangover.
She gulped down the water, not realising until that moment how thirsty she had been, and how dry her mouth and throat was. As soon as she had drained the glass, she knew that she had made a mistake. Her stomach was now doing forward and backward somersaults and flips.
"I'm going to be sick!"
Mikasa immediately jumped out of bed, finally opening her eyes to find her way to the bathroom.

Mikasa and Sasha headed to the dining room for breakfast, although Mikasa did not think that she would be able to keep anything down.
"Not a word about me throwing up, Sasha. I mean it." Mikasa warned.
"Not a peep!" Sasha retorted a little too enthusiastically.
As they passed the scouts eating their breakfasts, the smell turned Mikasa stomach, and she stopped in her tracks.
"I really don't think I can eat, Sasha." Mikasa's stomach rolled again, as the familiar feeling of nausea washed over her.
"Follow me." Sasha said as she grabbed Mikasa's arm. She was being pulled in the direction of the kitchen.
"No Sasha. I think I should be going in the opposite direction of food, not closer to it." Mikasa managed to say.
"You won't be eating. Just trust me." Sasha said, as they entered the kitchen. "Sit over there, and don't move."

Mikasa sat down on an empty box that had once been used to store vegetables. Most of the scouts had already eaten their breakfast so the kitchen was deserted. Mikasa watched as Sasha zoomed around the kitchen preparing something. Mikasa rested her elbows on her knees and propped her head up, in her hands. She closed her eyes as she tried to preoccupy her mind away from the sick feeling in her stomach. She was thinking about the events of last night. She had never thought of Captain Levi much before that night, but something now was different.

She had of course respected him, as did all of the members of the Survey Corps. But when they had danced together, the way she looked at him was different. She remembered the surprise she felt when she felt his muscles ripple underneath the layers of his suit. Even though his wasn't the tallest of men, he was still a force to be reckoned with. Mikasa remembered how unnerved she felt whenever he looked at her that night, like he could see inside her...

"Here!" Sasha said, thrusting a glass with a thick red liquid inside it. Mikasa wasn't even sure exactly what she was looking at.
"Sasha. Explain. And what the hell is this?" Mikasa said while plucking out something that resembled a long green vegetable, from the glass.
"Haven't you ever seen celery before? Besides, this will cure your hangover." Sasha said, pushing the glass closer to Mikasa.
"Oh I forgot, one last thing." Sasha said, whilst grabbing something from the cupboard. It was a bottle of hot sauce and some black pepper. Sasha liberally added both ingredients.
Mikasa raised the glass to her nose and took a whiff.
"Sasha this is craziest recipe I've ever seen: tomatoes, hot sauce, pepper and celery." Mikasa took another sniff. "Don't tell me there is alcohol in this. I'm trying to get rid of my hangover, not make it worse." The defeated tone in Mikasa voice was evident.
"Seriously this will work. Trust me Mikasa – everyone in Trost does it."
Mikasa felt she had no other choice, and was willing to do anything to at least lessen the symptoms of night of drinking. She took the glass from Sasha and sipped.