𝟶𝟶𝟷. 𝔞𝔟𝔦𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔢𝔰.
enhanced tracking » pin points exact location of target. overpowered by stronger scents, losing scents of ordinary things.
So I gathered fistfuls / of ash, dark as ink, / hammered them / into marrow, into / a skull thick / enough to keep / the gentle curse / of dreams.
⸺ Essay on Craft, Ocean Vuong (2014)
𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗.
In the early days of using his power, he would close his eyes and ignore other sensory information to concentrate on the scent profile of whoever or whatever he was tracking. Over time, his sense of smell has been so attuned to this skill that he no longer needed to completely shut his eyes and cover his ears.
Now, he usually remains stationary, and the only visible indication that he’s using his power is the flare of his nostrils and his eyes turning into slits.
This is in no way visible to anyone else, but in his head, what happens is akin to seismic location (inspiration: Toph Beifong). It also visually looks similar to Tanjiro Kamado being able to pinpoint the location of demons through smell.
𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚎𝚜.
At this point, I think Zhan Lei has been so dependent on his olfactory sense to feel the presence of people around him that without it, he would feel a great sense of loss.
I believe Zhan Lei’s enhanced smell doesn’t necessarily have much of a detrimental effect on his other senses on a day-to-day basis. It does irk him when strong smells are present and lingering, because his heightened sense is able to pick up on them lightning-quick, and these strong smells — whether pleasant or pungent, can disorient him.
When used to near full extent, however, it could potentially dull his sight, hearing, or touch all at once, but not permanently. On the other hand, I imagine his sense of taste being amplified by the use of his power, since taste and smell sort of have a link.
Zhan Lei does not feel much when using his power, except perhaps a sort of tingling sensation that starts from his nose towards his head, spreading throughout the body.
𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚐𝚝𝚑.
I imagine Zhan has an excellent memory for scents, and in the few seconds that he encounters a scent he’s focusing on for the first time, he would already have it filed inside his brain, and is able to recognize it should he happen across it again. His ability has been honed through time and training that he is able to pinpoint a target’s exact location with frightening precision, even moving targets.
It took time and training, but I imagine he is now able to track a target’s location even while he’s moving, so it’s quite literally “you can run but you can’t hide” when dealing with Zhan Lei.
𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜.
At first, he had to be completely immobile when he used his powers. Now, there are still times when he struggles to use his super-enhanced tracking while moving, and it hampers his speed especially during a high stakes chase. This is something he is continuously training on. He is at least able to get a general sense of his target’s location while he’s moving, but it’s not as astonishingly accurate as when he’s immobile while tracking.
Stronger smells are also able to overpower his nose, disorienting him and making him lose track of whatever/whoever he’s chasing. An especially strong (either pleasant or pungent) smell can even serve to drown out his own sense of smell, like a block on his nostrils that gives him a constant head-splitting headache, making him lose sense of ordinary smells around him. And while the pain is something Zhan Lei could deal with, the loss of his sense of smell makes him feel helpless.
𝚏𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗.
As part of the House of Cicada, his extraordinary ability to track the exact location of his targets through smell alone has proven useful, and at times essential. During manhunts, he is always present, used as a powerful tool to ensure capture of many miscreants. With Zhan Lei part of the vampiric society’s law enforcement, the chances of evading capture from their clutches has dropped dramatically (well, never zero, but still...). I imagine one has to pray Zhan is not on the manhunt task force so they have a chance at escape.
𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛.
His power alone is not enough to survive day to day as a member of his beloved house, which mercilessly knocks them down their tiers at any small sign of mediocrity. He saw it as his lifelong duty and obligation to continuously hone himself in different styles of combat, and weaponry.
Since he has a leaner body than some, unable to develop bulky muscles, he chose to study martial arts that focus on using an opponent’s brute force and strength against them, most of which are defensive. As a law enforcer, he doesn’t resort to violence immediately, choosing to defend himself only when attacked.
I think he mostly uses long-range weapons during chases, as he is able to hit them even without seeing them (through the help of his nose). But he is flexible enough to fight close combat when needed, never really stopping the training he started when he was still human and fighting tooth and nail against his own relatives. He knows it’s essential to be able to fight in close proximity with his enemies.
Honestly, a lot of the close combat sparring he does these days is when he’s fighting his own wife (whose ability is to nullify his powers).
Within almost 3 centuries of life, he has learned how to use hundreds of weapons, but chose to master only a few: bow and arrow, spears, butterfly swords, and two butterfly knives (balisong). Headcanon: he’s ambidextrous.
