[ Voice, Action ] "You lost today, kid. But that doesn't mean you have to like it."

[talentsgirl]

[Molly debated, but in the end, didn't lock this post from Harry. It was as good as a note slipped under his door, really.]

Hey, Luceti, here's a crazy question. Does anyone know the best path up to the mountains? I hear there's a lake up there I'd like to see. And does the Welcome Center keep those really good maps in stock, the ones that are a bit more in detail than the one in the journal?

And here's a slightly less crazy question - if there's anyone feel like filling in an inquiring mind and have a chat over a cold one, I'd love to know some more about these missions everyone keeps going on. Even if it was about the more recent one, or about one of the ones we can sign up for, there's nothing like first hand experience. I'll be in the Good Spirits from 1-3 if there's any takers.

[And that is exactly where she will be, sitting at the bar or on one of the tables, looking friendly over a cold one... which will originally be an iced tea. She may upgrade, depending on the conversation and the conversate-ee.

After her time in the Good Spirits, hopefully chatting with friendly, informative folk and if not spent poured over a very old-looking book and a village map (hopefully someone will help her get her hands on one of the Nami editions), she'll head to the Item Shop and finish picking out her camping gear. After being exposed to some serious bad news magic, she hasn't been quite herself. And this dusty old book and a remembered conversation with Shiro once upon a time has given her an idea.]

Comments

[greenjacketed]

He returned her smile -- smallishly as well, thank God. When he'd been made ensign, many of the lads had laughed. An ensign, at his age? Why, most of his fellow ensigns barely had reason to shave yet. Left behind, indeed.

"Oh, I dunno. You amaze me, you do." He cleared his throat rather awkwardly. "And not just a'cause of the magic."

[talentsgirl]

Ah, well. That was a problem, really. Molly was a beautiful young woman, and she knew that like she knew four minus two equaled two. It was just a fact, she wasn't vain about it, but she knew when a man admired her for more than her scintillating conversational skills.

And Richard was, by all she'd seen, a good man, an attractive man, and someone who evidenced a rough kindness she found appealing. He was also a man who she hadn't seen much of since she'd told him about her magic. A man from nearly two hundred years in her past.

And she? She was no prize. He deserved more than what he'd get with her, and at the very least he deserved for her to be straight with him.

She folded her hands on the table and glanced down at them. "You're very kind."

[greenjacketed]

...He thought he understood that determined choice not to look him in the eye. By now, the meaning became abundantly clear. Or so he believed.

"Nah, lass." His voice remained low -- a rough, rich collection of emotion. "Just a man who's sometimes too honest for his own good."

[talentsgirl]

Molly wished she knew what she wanted to do with Sharpe. He probably just needed a little bit of encouragement, either way, and he'd go with the direction she spelled out. He wasn't forceful or obsessive, he seemed, by all means, a decent and attractive man... from two hundred years ago... who'd spent justifiable time avoiding her after learning her secret.

Sigh.

"Too honest is better than less-than-honest. Things are confusing enough here without games."

She didn't want to be playing games with a good man's affections. Or even his baser inclinations. But she didn't know the rules of his time, and she had her own concerns.

[greenjacketed]

He dropped his hands onto the table and weighed whether to reach out for her fingers. Her wrist. Any beautiful part of her...

"Hate games, me. I've never been a gambling man." Not in cards, at least. Not in dice. But in war? Aye, he took risks. And he placed bets on his heart all too often. But he was most often the played and not the player.

"I confess, I can't understand a lick of it. Magic. The things that others here can do. The bloody wings've still got me half-convinced I'm dreaming. Or dead. Dead's most likely, in the end. But there's one thing I'm certain of..."

[talentsgirl]

Molly glanced back up to him and did some of the things she was best at. She waited. And watched. And listened.

[greenjacketed]

"...Look me in the eyes, Molly. Please. No more little glances."

[talentsgirl]

Several thoughts rapidly flickered through her mind, colliding over each other: He noticed; got to be more careful; ha, here's a wedge; oh dear.

And quite deliberately, she dropped her gaze back to the table. Her tone was low, intimate and raw, with a touch of wryness, be it pain or humor. "You don't really want me to do that, Richard. Not for any length of time."

But she wouldn't leave him hanging there. Instead, Molly shook her head very slightly, "I'm a wizard, you see. If you stare into my eyes for long, you'll see my soul. And I'll see yours."

[greenjacketed]

But I do...he wanted to protest long before he heard her reason. He suspected her eyes were beautiful things to look at, when looked at properly. When held and when connected with. But his hopes sank like so many pebbles when he heard that heady mix of qualities in her voice.

Only...only it wasn't quite the rejection he was expecting. Rather: "Ah. And no kind lass wants to peer at a soldier's soul." Funny, that. He'd never given much thought to his soul before now. But after Jack Sparrow's conversation on the front step of his apartment building, he'd been considering it more seriously. His soul and whether a decent woman ought to find his wanting or not.

"It's bound to be patchwork, by now."

Her gaze may have dropped, but he made certain to still watch her face.

[talentsgirl]

For a moment, Molly was tempted to take this very seriously, to reach over and touch his shoulder and look at him in the eyes, if briefly. She was tempted to explain the intimacy, the permanence of a soulgaze.

But then the reality of what he said sunk in, and she laughed, softly. "You say that as if being a soldier was something to be ashamed of, instead of one of the things you are most proud of being."

She grinned, shaking her head and darting a glance at him. "What do you take me for, to be afraid of a thing like that?"

1/2

[greenjacketed]

He had thought it to be quite an accomplishment. Private all the way up to Major. A captured eagle. Two Forlorn Hopes. Wellesley's errand boy -- even that ignominous position came with some pride. But...

2/2

[greenjacketed]

"...Fool's worries. Mine -- I mean. Goddamnnit but the pirate put some queer notions in my head and..."

And her laugh was was like a balm, really.

"Souls might as well be like buttons. What good are they polished? Eh?" All in good fun. Laugh it off, Sharpe. Laugh it off. She needn't see you sweat.

[talentsgirl]

Molly propped an elbow on the table and her chin in her hand as she regarded him. The crucifix affixed to the plain strip of leather there glistened. "There's just one Judge of Souls, and it's not for me to say what one is good or not. The thing about the soulgaze is - it shows you the person, who the person really is in their deepest places. It's - not something you ever forget. It can be helpful, if you're trying to determine who you're dealing with, or if a person's caught up in something - like if something's keeping them trapped. It's not something I'd ever want to force on anyone."

Something she'd get swept up into? Yes. Something she'd do with friends and family? Maybe. It's such a risk, such personal vulnerability is involved... it's so intimate.

[greenjacketed]

"Not summat you care to leap into yourself, either, I suppose?"

Ah, well. It was something to work towards. An eventual benediction, perhaps.

[talentsgirl]

"It's not something anyone should."

Power wasn't to play with. Power could sneak up, bash you over the head, and suddenly you were offering your soul over to a vampire because he was hurting and you wanted to help, because he was beautiful and brave and the pain would be pleasure, and you were leaving your responsibilities on the wayside because you were caught up, swept away, in an instant of power. And she knew it was a mistake. And she was practically certain she'd make it again.

[greenjacketed]

"...Must be awful lonely, if you don't mind me saying so."

[talentsgirl]

"Oh, I don't know. You can do a lot of things without looking someone in the eyes."

Deliberately cheeking and moderately salacious. Because of course he was right. She'd done the math. By the time the White Council would begin to take her seriously, her youngest brother would be dying of old age. If she was lucky enough, smart enough to live that long in the first place - Harry hadn't been, and if that didn't tell her what her life expectancy was, she didn't know what would.

[greenjacketed]

"But are they ever quite so thrilling, lass?" Said the equally cheeky but nevertheless somewhat sentimental Major.

[talentsgirl]

Her rejoinder was, perhaps, far more telling than she'd intended, caught up in the banter and not quite guarding her words, "I wouldn't know."

1/2

[greenjacketed]

...Huh. Well. It was clear enough that she could have simply been referring to her low eye-contact in general but could you blame a man for his wandering mind?

Sharpe cleared his throat.

2/2

[greenjacketed]

Of course -- sweet maid like her. Molly had a tongue in her head but she'd seemed nothing but good and true to the soldier. Virtuous. Not that he'd find aught wrong with her if she wasn't but...

The woman had heart and she didn't seem to hide it. Sharpe liked that about her. Even this banter slip-up felt soaked in honesty.

"More's the pity for your admirers, Miss Molly."

[talentsgirl]

Molly found herself off-balance, caught between the desire to want to explain or gloss over, and finding herself actually... blushing very faintly.

Good grief, Molly Carpenter.

She made a solid attempt at pulling herself together and regaining some ground.

"This," she said firmly, straightening up, "is striking me as Third Date conversation."

[greenjacketed]

"Third, eh?"

He refrained from explaining just how he might choose to count the meetings they'd so far shared. After all, many of them had been born of intense determination on his part.

"Then -- tell me -- what must an admirer do to win hisself a first?"

[talentsgirl]

...well, that was a fair question, really. A bit unexpected and blunt, but fair.

"First..." she said, darting a gaze at his eyes and smiling a little sadly, "dates aren't things you win. They're just things you ask for, and if it's the right time, or the right person, then they're something that's given."

She shook her head, "And this isn't the right time for me. Not for anything serious."

[greenjacketed]

...Ah. Sharpe didn't bother to hide his disappointment. But he did try to soothe his own bruised pride: easy come, easy go -- you gave it a shot, Sharpe.

He wrapped his fingers around his glass. The Major knew better than to push a proposition any further. He could've told her unequivocally that he didn't need anything serious. He'd take what she'd give him, but...

"I...understand, lass."

But if she wanted him, he thought, she wouldn't have answered this thusly.