Title: Bittersweet
Fandom: Penny Dreadful
Rating: Teen
Genre: Drama, unresolved sexual tension.
Word Count: 1998 words
Pairings and/or Characters: Sir Malcolm Murray/Vanessa Ives, Ethan Chandler/Vanessa Ives, Ethan Chandler/Ferdinand Lyle, Victor Frankenstein, Sembene
Warnings: None
Summary: They don’t realise it, the people in the large stone house, but the love they feel for each other is perhaps the strongest protection they have.
AN: Written for the Rare Pair Fest 2015. This fic takes place during the second season, before Dorian Grey's ball. I know that there are several suggestions in the show that Sir Malcolm is Vanessa’s biological father, but as I’m not keen on incest I prefer to think otherwise until it is spelled out, and not just suggested.

Two of my interests have influenced this fic. First; the history of perfume and the way we relate to smells. After the scene when Evelyn Poole is buying perfume, I started to wonder which perfume Vanessa would wear. And I think a perfume by Guerlain; Jicky, would suit her well. It is the oldest perfume still in production and when it was released in 1889 it was a bit of a revolution; it was one the first perfumse using synthetic notes; coumarin and vanillin. It was also the first abstract perfume, meaning it wasn’t dominated by a single note. The first modern perfume if you want. It really is a rather odd perfume, often described as a “lavender-vanilla” but with so much else going on. There are citrus and herbs as top notes, followed by patchouli, vetiver, rose and carnation, to dry down to a vanilla civet with hints of leather. It really changes a lot during the time you wear it. I am, however, talking about vintage versions of the perfume here. Modern Jicky is very nice, but much smoother in its formulation. (It’s a sad fact that perfumes are frequently re-formulated, often with the aim to make them cheaper, which can drastically change the way they smell.)

Secondly I love fashion history and upper class women clothes could be quite complicated in the late 19th century, often requiring a second pair of hands to get on and off properly. We never see a lady’s maid skulking around Sir Malcolm’s house, to which I gather either he or Sembene must help Vanessa with her more elaborate clothes…

The quote in the beginning is from Elegies IV. The Perfume by John Donne.

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