Candidate ... bonding? {candies}

[madb]

Liesol thumbed her lute nervously, drawing a bit of strength in the loud room from the sound of it, soft and encouraging and hers. She hummed, quietly and under her breath, and strummed again. In such a crowded place, was it possible to feel so lost as she felt? It seemed as if everyone else was, if not outright making friends... well, they all seemed much more confident than she did. Liesol tried not to hold it against them.

She chewed the bottom of her lip and looked down again at her lute. The wood was familiar under the brush of her fingers, the designs she had etched both comforting and strengthening her. Yes, that's right. The dragon that had Searched her had seen something in her. Just because she didn't think she belonged, didn't mean she was right. Right?

You've gotta do this on your own, Lye.

Liesol took a deep breath, and smiled. It would all be fine. She was going to be okay.

She strummed a note on her lute and began to play a light, pretty tune, humming and moving her body back and forth. Perhaps there are other harpers here, she thought to herself, dreamily. Perhaps it is not as different from home as I think.

She moved her fingers and the song turned upbeat and cheerful at the touch of it, a little louder than she'd thought it sound. The way this place was designed was different... she hadn't quite gotten used to the way the sounds reverberated yet.

Immediately she pushed the lute back on her cot and turned around to stare, wide-eyed, around her.

"Oh, sorry," she yelped, worried that the faces in the candidate quarters were hostile. She was turning a bright red with a fascinating speed. "I-I didn't mean to disturb you! Sorry!"

[Hiko]

Mollin had been enjoying the relative quiet of the barracks; having some time to herself before the rush of the day was something the young woman relished, and she gained so little personal time lately. Propped up in her cot with a small hardback book, her glasses her lazily draped over her face, Mollin was enjoying a rather fanciful piece of fiction involving a young holder's daughter meeting with a rival Lord's son as the night hid their little love affair. While laziness skewed her vision in part, it wasn't bad enough for the girl to correctly place the hooks of the earpieces behind the curve of her ears.

She hadn't even realized when another entered the room. Absently, she registered the sound of strings being plucked. Foot draped off the cot, Mollin merely wagged it in time with the melody, too engrossed in her story to grasp that the sound was coming from inside the barracks. When the strumming came to a halt, Mollin frowned. She'd been keeping time in her reading to the melody, and with it gone she was forced to return to using only her imagination to set the mood of her readings. All sense of the scene lost for the moment, the girl set the book down against her chest and took the time to adjust her lenses.

It was then that she noticed her prey.
“Pretty,” she offered to the timid girl, referring less to the tune and more to the player, “No need to apologize. I rather liked the song – your own?” Mollin stabbed a marker into her novel and plopped it down beside her carry-on bag. She righted herself from the lounged position and rose to offer the girl a hand.
“Mollin,” she began, smile on her lips, “What's your name?”

[madb]

Liesol reached back and clutched the lute like a safety tether at the sound, but then visibly relaxed when she was not shouted at. Of course I wasn’t, she thought, there are only dragon candidates here, and dragons always know what they are doing. Certainly there is to be no reason to expect any rudeness from the dragon-picked.

“Oh, thank you,” she said, pleased to have gotten a complement on her tune and anything else flew right over her head. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and nodded, trying to keep the goofy smile off her face. It wasn’t ladylike to grin like that, especially if you were complemented for your own work; be humble and polite, Liesol. “I did… it is just a small tune, nothing special, just a little ditty...”

Liesol blinked up at the offered hand, and after a beat, took it gracefully. She stood up with a flourish of skirts, even if she wasn’t quite sure why she was supposed to be standing? But Mollin seemed very nice and friendly. Perhaps she could even look her in the eye—nope, never mind, back to her feet. Yes. The floor looked far more safe. Hello, floor.

“Liesol,” she told the floor. “Um. Liesol, the harper. Well that’s not my name. That’s what I do. And I suppose you already guessed that much … oh, dear.”

Attempt to save the situation, Liesol. You can do it.

She looked up, eyes wide. “What do you do?” She asked, rather abruptly. Is this how conversations tended to go for other peoplet? Strangely enough, that had sounded better in her head. At least she hadn’t stuttered.

[Hiko]

The moment Liesol's hand was within Mollin's grasp, the girl took the opportunity to plant a soft kiss onto the harper's knuckles. Who said chivalry had to be confined to one gender? Mollin released the other girl's hand and chuckled.
“What do I do?” Mollin purred the question as she drifted back to her own cot, fingers trailing along the stony walls, “What do I do?”

She returned to sitting at her cot, feet dangling over the side. Feline's grin plastered to her face, she eyed the girl. Just pretty little things like yourself, she thought privately. Of course with as frightened as the crafter girl seemed, answering how she liked might be responded toward with Liesol's flight from the barracks.
Shame; she hadn't had an opportunity for a good flirt in ages. Most of the candidates at Ista had been young boys or weyrwomen-in-training; neither were likely targets.

Mollin gave an abrupt sigh and kicked gently at her satchel.
“I don't really do anything, I'm afraid.” She gave the harper girl a wan smile. “Raised in the Hold. Didn't do much other than cook and clean after my father and brothers. Funny thing is, I hated it then. Doing the same work here? S'not the worst life.”

[madb]

"Oh," Liesol said, when Mollin kissed her hand. Her face turned the color of a redfruit, rising up to pinken her ears. She raised both hands to her cheeks in an attempt to hide that she was so flustered. She had been kissed--on the hand! Her romantic, feminine soul was swooning.

No, relax, Liesol, she scolded herself. Maybe that's just how they say hello, wherever Mollin is from. Don't make a fool of yourself, Liesol.

She tilted her head and followed Mollin's path as she walked away. To be honest, Liesol was having a difficult time focusing on what Mollin was saying, her easily-excitable nature a bit overwhelmed, twice as much as it would have even normally been, because she had just met the other girl. And no one had home had ever kissed her, except once on the cheek, but all the girls in the romance novels she had ever read had been courted by strong handsome dragonriders and noble lord holders, and they had gotten kisses on the hand, and it was really quite lovely, and, and---

... and, well, she was a little distracted.

"W-w-well," Liesol managed, like a teapot releasing steam. "W-w-well..." She clung to her skirts and stared, very pointedly, at the wall right above Mollin's head.

She felt dizzy, like she could topple over at any moment. Noo, this conversation was going all wrong. Liesol closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"When we Impress dragons," she said, shyly, "we will all do the greatest work." And she meant it, too, even though she loved being a harper. Weren't they all so lucky to have been chosen? It was fun to sweep and clean here, too, even if the riders were always so loud around them. It felt like doing something. They were helping the most important people on Pern!

Liesol's eyes shone brightly, feeling inspired.

[Hiko]

Hah! So she'd thoroughly flustered the girl, hmm? Mollin was all grin at the sight. She allowed the little harper to regain some small measure of composure, the elder still kicking her feet idly just inches above the floor. As Mollin waited, she took the time to remove her glasses, pinning them to the collar of her button-up shirt.
When Liesol managed words again, Mollin felt as if her demeanor had changed some; where timidness had been, it seemed as if inspiration had grown.
Were all craftborn so whimsically-inclined?
Mollin's grin widened.

“Between that cute little flush on your face and the song I can see working itself out in your head, I have to say – you have got to be the most adorable thing I've seen all spring.” Mollin leaned her elbows on her knees, cupping her face in open hands. As red as a cherry, and so easy to pick. Her lips softened into a sly smile.
“So, those eggs. You have a color in mind to Impress?” Mollin found herself idling at the idea of them all; well, at least all of the fighters. The idea that she might be stuck with a gold, only capable of sitting for eggs and young dragons, reminded her too much of life in the hold.
“I bet a sweet little thing like you doesn't care what she Impresses. Every dragon's just as amazing as the next, hmm?” Her tone was light, and while the words might be mistaken with any other tone as condescending, Mollin leaned more toward the jovial fascination of the idea.

[madb]

Mother always said she was a dreamer. There are two types of great harpers in this world, she would tell her, those that see everything as it truly is, and those that see everything as it should be. You, my sweet Liesol, are not the former.

Mother loved her dearly, but that was as close a complement as she ever got. Mother was, of course, the former.

Liesol shook her head, very quickly in response to being any fashion of cute, certainly becoming the color of a cherry, if nothing else. Was she being teased? Oh, it was so difficult to tell! This social thing was difficult! But no, she was dragon-chosen now. She couldn't run out of the room if she was feeling timid anymore. Not like she used to.

Besides, she thought, feeling a bit fluttery, I-I wouldn't mind it, if Mollin wasn't teasing.

If she'd had trouble looking Mollin in the eye before, well now, it became even more obvious she couldn't.

Liesol nodded frantically. "Oh, yes," she said, her typically soft voice rising a little louder in excitement, "dragons are the most wonderful creatures on all of Pern, I couldn't possibly--I couldn't possibly say no to any of them."

She decided to keep the feeling that she wasn't good enough to impress such a magnificent creature to herself, knowing that nobody liked a pity party. And she liked Mollin. She didn't want the other girl to think poorly of her... even if she was teasing her so.

"D-do you? Have an idea, that is, of what dragon you'd like to Impress?" she asked shyly, looking up quickly through her lashes before getting flustered again and hiding her face under a curtain of her long hair.

[Hiko]

Mollin, enjoying herself at Liesol's poor expense, hadn't expected to have the question turned on her. Her head shook, frown clear on her face.
“Not really. I know what I don't want, but other than that...” Mollin trailed, waving her hand in a “meh” sort of gesture. “I hate the idea of staying cooped up in the Weyr while others get to see fighting action. I've never been good for homemaking, get too restless for it, honestly. Give me a bronze before a gold, any day.”

The elder girl's frown turned into a lopsided half-smile as Liesol allowed her face to be obscured by hair and timidity. Feeling the need to move about, she rose once again from the cot and neared the other girl. Crouching, she pulled the curtain of hair away from Liesol's face and tucked the locks behind the younger's ear.
“Am I bothering you overmuch?”

[madb]

Liesol bit her bottom lip, uncertain. "M-maybe I was lying after all," she said, with a fluttery laugh. "I don't think I would suit a bronze," she said with good cheer, "I'd likely prefer to stay in the weyr!"

Of course, that was over simplifying things. Golds had plenty of responsibility, and they even had their own wing. But Liesol was proud of her tiny bit of humor.

Even if she still wasn't able to meet Mollin's eyes.

When Mollin brushed her hair away, Liesol actually squeaked in surprise. Oh noo, there went her only protection...

She was sure she'd gone so red that she was radiating heat. I've become a new creature, she thought, human no longer, I'm now the red beast of Pern, known for its trembling and vivid color.

"N-n-n-no." Liesol lied, eyes wide as she stared down at the floor. "N-n-ot bothering! Not bothered. Um."

She looked up to prove it, and then looked away, and sighed. "I'm sorry," she said. "I ... I'm not, not very. Um. Used to." She flailed, attempting to gesture her thoughts out where her words failed. After a complex and entertaining symbols that meant Farnath-knows-what, she went limp. "I'm not used to people, or being teased. I don't..." she flushed again, "I don't know how to react. I am sorry."

[Hiko]

Mollin returned Liesol's flustering with a rather cheeky grin and kissed the younger girl lightly on the cheek before backing away.
“No need for apologies, little redfruit.” Glancing to the small timekeeper set at her horribly cramped bed's table, the elder frowned. Chores were short to come, and suddenly all that extra time she'd had to herself
(and perhaps, alone with the all-too-pretty thing across from her)
had disappeared.

“Well,” Mollin began as she packed her book back into her carry-on, preparing to leave for the kitchens for washing duty, “I do believe I've done all the damage I can for one afternoon.” Chuckling, she sauntered out of the barracks with a hum. Before getting too far out of sight from the girl, she turned and fluttered her fingertips at Liesol in one last flirting goodbye.
“Perhaps I'll see you later, little redfruit~”

[madb]

Poor Liesol. The shy harper was frozen in shock by the meeting, quite unused to anything like it. 'Damage' was an accurate term indeed.

Liesol was still, but her mind was playing like a broken record. K-k-k-kiss, she thought, numbly. Oh, dear. She was even stuttering in her own mind now. That was likely not the best of signs. Liesol raised fingers to softly brush her cheek. That was the second time Mollin had kissed her. People sure were different here than at the Harper Hall!

With a small, shocked smile in place, Liesol felt warm fuzzy bubbles rise in her chest. She had made a friend! Maybe. Probably? She had a nickname now? That was a sign of friendship! And even though Mollin was a tease, surely you didn't kiss someone you didn't like. Probably. Hopefully?

Yes, she thought. Think positive, Liesol.

Positive thinking aside, she did not thaw from her state of shock very quickly. Liesol stood there long enough that she was late to her own chores, which was quite a feat, as that was a whole half-hour after Mollin had left.

/fin