Sunday Snippet: Guardian fic

Things have been stressful lately and I haven't been writing, which really doesn't help my stress levels. I started this and then haven't gotten back to it but I'm posting it here in hopes of prodding myself.

...And yeah, stress means self-indulgence, which means...I believe the formal term is "back on my bullshit." :P

"Shen Wei?" Zhao Yunlan tilted the flashlight up toward his face, and Shen Wei raised his free hand to shade his eyes.

"Shen Wei, why aren't you wearing your breathing mask?" Zhao Yunlan demanded.

Shen Wei blinked back the momentary sparkles to look at Zhao Yunlan's face--his eyes were narrowed, echoing the inexplicable alarm in his voice. "My what?"

Zhao Yunlan reached to the annoying encumbrance hanging around Shen Wei's neck, gave it a tug. "Oh," Shen Wei said, "that--I couldn't properly smell the fragrance with it on."

"Yeah," Zhao Yunlan said, "wasn't that the point?"

Shen Wei tried to think. He had a vague memory of Lin Jing explaining something while giving them the masks, but the details slipped his mind now. But Zhao Yunlan was looking at him expectantly, so he hazarded, "Yes, that was the point."

"But then you took off the mask to better smell the murder flower's poison pollen."

"Yes, I did," Shen Wei confirmed, relieved to be on more certain ground.