I have the vague suspicion that the "smelling" is to be taken literally…
subconscious olfactory stimuli.
It provides a quite realistic explanation as to how Riku is experiencing such (more or less) "shock" conditions in the presence of people who use the darkness. Such unconscious olfactory stimuli are also present in real life and although they have hardly been explored as of yet, interesting discoveries have already come to light, like how they can trigger deja-vus whose origins aren't clear because nothing is being… "consciously smelled".
I dunno. It's most probably not the actual explanation, but it seems like the only scientific solution to the whole scent of darkness and the whole smelling, sooo..
Thoughts?
subconscious olfactory stimuli.
It provides a quite realistic explanation as to how Riku is experiencing such (more or less) "shock" conditions in the presence of people who use the darkness. Such unconscious olfactory stimuli are also present in real life and although they have hardly been explored as of yet, interesting discoveries have already come to light, like how they can trigger deja-vus whose origins aren't clear because nothing is being… "consciously smelled".
I dunno. It's most probably not the actual explanation, but it seems like the only scientific solution to the whole scent of darkness and the whole smelling, sooo..
Thoughts?