Welcome to Gaia! ::

Belldandy fidgeted with the edge of her gown nervously, standing in the wings of the small outdoor stage. Outside, the sound of murmuring phony intermingled with chirping birds. After a very long and stormy Winter, the weather had finally begun to warm and things had begun to bloom. Bell had sequestered herself the entire season practicing.

When the conductor announced that the city had informed him the outdoor theater had been cleaned and prepared for warmer weather, she'd begun to panic.The Spring Concert was when symphony and tourist season began and this would be the unicorn's debut, her first public performance.

As the MC walked past the flock of musicians, quietly wishing them good luck, Bell began to hyperventilate and clutched her flute tighter. Others in her row looked at her worriedly and offered her words of comfort. She barely heard them with her heart throbbing in her head but managed a wobbly smile and nodded.

The sound of clopping hooves meant it was time. Taking a deep breath, Bell followed the others on stage.

Don't look at the crowd, she commanded herself as they all settled in their seats. Seating herself in second chair of the flute row, she took slow, deep breaths.

The conductor's baton rises and hangs in the air.

The musicians readied their instruments.

And begin.

There was a small pause between songs in which a smattering of applause bolstered Belldandy's confidence in their performance. She considered this collection easy, a tried and true set of songs to welcome in the new season.

But before she was ready, the last notes of the concert fell away into silence. A beat later, the air exploded into hoof stomps and applause. The conductor was bowing to the crowd, and with a wave of his hand, invited his musicians to stand and bow as well.

Don't look, don't look, don't look, she chanted in her head as she inclined her head. Don't look, don't look, don't look. But as she stood back upright, her breath hitched in her chest as she glanced the crowd. There...were so many people...and a lot of them were looking right. at. her.

As soon as she was in the wings of the theater, she darted past the others and out into the back. Several phony tried to talk to her, called after her, but she just zipped past them. Shoving the back door open, she popped back into the sunlight, clutching her flute to her chest and took huge, gulping breaths of cool air.

"Stupid..stupid stupid.." she chided herself out loud, eyes sparkling with tears. "You should be over this by now, you'll never make first chair if you can't even look at the crowd! So stupid!"

Belldandy jumped a little and spied the beautiful unicorn who was looking at her with some concern. "Oh..oh..uhm.." she pawed at her tears to wipe them off and looked around for a way to leave. "I'm s..sorry if I'm not supposed to be back here I just..needed some fresh air. I'll go!"

She turned quickly and grabbed at the door she'd popped out of and tugged, but for her luck, it locked from the inside. Turning around, she looked a bit sheepish. "Ah well I guess this isn't the way." She blushed, her white fur taking on a gentle pink hue.

Bell stopped looking for a way to run off when the other mare mentioned her playing. Her blush notched up from pink to crimson.

"Oh..oh you heard the music today?" she hugged her bright silver flute to her chest. "Uhm..uhm, thank you for coming and listening to us! I'm not..that good yet I'm new. But I'm glad it reached you..that I reached you."

She ran a hoof shyly over a cheek. "Ah it's nothing. I just get very nervous if I see the audience. It's so many phony and people looking up in my direction and it's still pretty scary to me." she managed a small smile. "It's silly for someone like me to be scared of those who come to listen to the music I play but.." she shrugged helplessly

The soft pink color blossomed into bright strawberry red across her cheeks and Bell tucked a curl behind her ear. This mare was looking at her? Really? And she seemed to understand about how scary it was in front of a lot of others. "In..the forest?" Bell inquired. "Do you live there..?" She was very pretty, not like she would imagine somephony who lived in the woods, unless she was Snow White.

"Oh.." it suddenly occurred to her that she didn't even know this mare's name. "M..my name is Belldandy. Are you Snow White?" her blue eyes went wide and she blushed even harder that the fleeting idea had escaped her imagination and slipped out her mouth.

"I like..animals." was about all she could muster in response. "Though I don't have much experience with them." Bell fumbled with her flute a moment. "Mossflower, that's a very pretty.."

The backdoor popped open behind the unicorn and she gave a startled squeak. A earth mare held a shiny black case out to Belldandy with an unamused look on her face. "You forgot your case again..oh..hi." she noticed Mossflower and gave her a polite nod. "The wind section is going to go grab a bite to eat, do you want to tag along?"

Belldandy took her case from the other mare, looking over her shoulder at Mossflower. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up." she said softly. The earth mare nodded and waved before she turned and left the pair alone again. Bell turned back to Moss. "I'm..always forgetting my case."

Bell waffled. On one hoof, being with her fellow players was nice, because had come to know her and they got along fairly well. One the other hoof, this new mare seemed nice and a change of pace after her panic attack might be the right idea.

"H..hey uhm, would you like to go for lunch sometime?" she found herself asking, her mane covering her eyes but the blush was bright as day. "I'd like to talk to you when there aren't about ten other flute players and others who're wanting me to go with them? It'll be..less..pressure." she said that last bit sheepishly.

Popping open her case, she pulled out a sheet half full of musical notes. "Don't worry about this." she said about the musical writings, "The tune isn't working out ." Hastily, she scribbled her digits on the paper and held it out with a quivering hoof.

"Ah..ah yes! Yes I hope so too Mossflower!" Bell turned as someone called out for her, inquiring if she was going with them or not. "Yes coming! Wait for me!"
Turning, she gave Moss a shy little wave and took off across the front of the stage, almost running into several phony working to put away chairs and store away stage equipment. "Sorry! Oh sorry! Guys wait please!" After a moment she rounded the corner to the other side of the stage and was out of sight.