Haha summaries are fun.
But chapters are better.
Enjoy.
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Chapter 1: Opening Night
Terra slid the sleeves of her costume over her arms, listening absently to the conversation from the other dancers in the changeroom.
Her deep auburn curls were wound tightly into a bun, so many pounds of de-frizz on them she thought they had been crisped alive. Thank god for showers. She examined her ivory complexion once more, checking that the elaborate makeup on her face was still smooth and unsmudged. Her vivid green eyes still winked out at her, despite the dark makeup over them.
One of her current friends, Sandhya Sitara- and she had no idea how to pronounce her last name- stood next to her, fixing her heavy stage makeup. Everyone called her Sita, and that was the end of it. Her long black hair was coiled into a thick braid, pinned into a knot at the back of her head. She was taller than most of the other girl dancers, and her long legs and graceful proportions gave her quite the impression in dancing. Her brown eyes were always dancing with laughter. Over the course of her 24 years, she had collected a few memorable piercings. Possibly her favourite was her bellybutton, pierced personally by Terra herself, with Sita to ice the spot.
As Terra considered her friend's flat, smooth stomach with the sparkling gem in the center, Sita turned, then burst out laughing, clutching Terra's arm.
"My God, you look like you're going to have an apoplexy. What's wrong?" Terra gave her friend a nonconvincing smile, startled out of her reverie.
"Nothing, just envying your belly. Jesus woman, I work out seven days a week and can't get my abs to look like that." She gazed with an envious sigh once again at Sita's body.
Rolling her chocolate coloured eyes, she turned Terra by the shoulders, lacing up the back of her elaborate corset. Terra smirked as she heard Sita pluck at her own boned corset, raised just enough to show off her belly. They were basically just bands that covered the tops of the dancers ribs and breasts, but leaving very little to the imagination.
Terra hitched the top of the corset up higher, trying to hide her cleavage, which was made only more noticeable by the upward pull of the outfit. Sita smiled as she watched her friend's antics.
"It's supposed to look that way Terra. We're supposed to 'draw' the audience in with our dazzling seductiveness." Terra counted to three in her head, then smiled as Sita burst out laughing.
Terra smiled then opened her mouth, but a tall, goateed man popped up in the changeroom, cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting," FIVE MINUTES TILL CURTAIN CALL! LAST ONE IS-" Terra smacked him in the chest.
"Yeah, yeah, Paul, we know. A dead dancer. Can you not be a pervert and sneak into the girl's changeroom for once?" He smiled.
"My dear sweet, Nadia," (A/N only Sita knows her real name, everyone else knows her as Nadia), "I am the director, do I not have the right to direct my dancers?"
Terra rolled her eyes and tapped his cheek in a thoughtful fashion. "If you must. But I do say-" She turned her back on him, sliding one hand down her spine to the unfinished laces. "This corset is almost too much, I mean, my chest is so tight, and-" She stopped because Paul was laughing so hard, tears were running down his face.
He held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, I'm going Nadia. Just make sure you don't fall out during the opening." He smirked, then strode out of the changeroom.
The other girls snickered as Terra walked back to her mirror, sitting down in front of her vanity. "Men," she said snidely, cocking an eyebrow at Sita.
Her friend shook her head, then slid a dark rose into the coil of her hair.
It was showtime.
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Terra peeked out between a gap in the curtains, swallowing the pinch of fear that resulted.
She lifted her black heeled foot upwards, scratching with one black-nailed hand. She continued to gaze out at the audience that filled the massive theatre.
Professional dancing almost always told a story, one that only the in-depth people could understand. Most people came to their dancing performances to see them dance.
Nadia/Terra was normally the lead dancer, as she was tonight. She'd worked hard to put her career in the limelight, and had found her place. Not that she didn't enjoy side roles. Sometimes, the spotlight grew way to aggravating and overbearing, and the sidelines were just as good.
Terra leaned back, stretching as she pulled her silky black skinny pants down farther, creating more of a gap between that and the corset.
Tonight, they were just dancing. A combining of the recent dance moves and choreographed dances. The performance was not very long, but still enough to appease the crowd's hunger for the dance.
Sita's long arms crushed around her, and she felt her friend's nervous trembles beneath her dark skin. "I am so nervous.. I'm the second lead dancer, right next to you! What if I make you trip up?" She demanded.
Terra smiled against Sita's shoulder, then clutched her upper arms, laughing. "You won't. I've seen you dance a hundred times Sita! Tonight is our night." She laced her fingers through Sita's and the two women retreated farther back with the rest of the dancing group.
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The man lounged in his seat, his dark hair pulled back by an elegant clip into a ponytail that lingered on the collar of his black shirt. It was opened around his throat, revealing his pale skin.
His midnight blue eyes were focused on the stage, waiting. He'd seen enough dancing to know that this group was one of the best.
He was also looking forward to seeing the renowned Nadia Sharpe dance. From the descriptions he'd heard from the people flocking in, she was quite the star.
The man's lips spread into a smile as he fingered the black velvet of the theatre chair.
Tonight would be a night to remember.
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The stage bloomed into life, the lights becoming a deep violet, mixed through with reds, greens and blues.
A line of dancers moved outwards, females whirling gracefully around, the males catching them, swinging them around, to the ground beneath them as they knelt over them.
I wanna start it over
I wanna start again
I want a new beginning,
One without any end..
I feel it inside
Calling out to me-
Behind the rows of fallen lovers, danced a solitary woman, her head thrown back as she leaned back, her arms stretching to the sky; calling.
It's a voice that whispers my name...
It's a kiss without any shame.
The woman moved forward, her hands pressed to an overflowing chest, and she slid down, her legs splitting evenly, to gentle gasps and audible sighs of pleasure. Then her knees flexed, curving. She rose as if someone drew her up by her chest, head falling back, revealing a beautifully pale, curved neck.
Something beautiful,
Like a song that stirs in my head.
Singing love will take us where,
Something's beautiful.
The woman's feet were pinpoints, standing on her tiptoes as she spread her hands over her face. One of her legs lifted, and she spun slowly.
I've heard it in the silence,
Seen it on a face.
I've felt it in a long hour,
I know this is true,
It's calling out to me.
It's a voice that whispers my name.
The couple on stage seemed to be on the verge of something beautiful.
The man snapped her around, then pulled her back to him, her right leg wrapping around his waist with practiced elegance.
It's a kiss without any shame,
Something beautiful.
One of his hands splayed on her lower back, and her upper body fell back as he ran his other hand a fraction away from her skin, over her chest, cradling her neck as he kissed the hollow of her throat. She clutched his elbow holding her back, her other hand flat on his shoulder, pulling him closer.
It's the child on her wedding day,
It's the daddy that gives her away- Father,
Something beautiful.
It's the love between you and I,
Something beautiful.
The couple froze in place as they kissed passionately, ending the dance as he swung her around beneath him, holding her body against his own.
The audience burst into applause at this different, new dance.
A moment later, the dancers all stood, bowing to the audience.
Their happy grins and heaving chests told everyone how much they enjoyed this.
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The man leaned back in his chair, watching the young woman in the middle of the bowing troupe.
Her hair was a deep auburn, her body slim and pale-skinned. A smile split her face as she waved to the crowd along with her dance partner, who still had one arm looped around her waist.
Though no one would have seen in the near dark of the audience, his nails dug into the velvet, sharpening in the shadows.
His eyes grew dark as he watched her.
Then a smirk spread across his face, and he sat back, fingering the rose on the small table beside him. Maybe he would go and meet this dear girl personally.
His smile did not fade as the troupe faded and the lights dimmed, and in the dark, his eyes glowed as he watched a new dance begin.
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Terra, Sita, and Cale were all standing on stage, conversing with some of the remaining fans, laughing madly.
Cale had his arms draped lazily over Terra and Sita, and they stood within his embrace.
After five years, you got to know one another on the dance floor.
Especially when they were often involved in more personal types of dancing, like tonight.
Cale was amazing, but totally not into her that way. He had eyes only for Sita, and he seemed determined to woo her, no matter how much she put him off.
After sending him off on another wild goose chase, Sita turned to Terra, a defiant grin on her face, shaking her head.
With his brown hair and gorgeously trim body, he was quite the heartbreaker, but he spent all of it on Sita.
Terra found it quite amusing how Cale never gave up, determined to have Sita. She could tell that her friend like him as well, though she managed to hide it relatively well.
As the last few fans trickled away, leaving the theatre empty save the clean-up crews.
The trio made their way back to the changerooms, below the stage. Cale was entertaining them with the latest escapade he'd witnessed from his very devoted female fans.
"I mean, seriously! She was standing outside of the theatre, in a wedding dress, begging me to marry her. I practically had to leap over traffic to get away from her. Crazy broad," he sighed, glancing at Sita wistfully.
She only laughed, smacking his chest playfully. He grabbed her hand, kissing her fingers as he grinned, dark eyes burning as he watched her.
Terra sighed. "Alright, break it up. I'd rather not witness a love fest from you two." Sita sputtered, trying to deny it, but Cale merely chuckled, releasing her hand.
After they parted to their separate changerooms, Sita and Terra found the changerooms to be bursting with noise. All of the girls had their makeup off, finding it too stifling and to plaster-like to wear for very long.
Terra, caught up in conversing with Paul as he flirted lazily with her at the changeroom's door, barely noticed as the girls began to trickle out of the room, bidding farewell.
They had another performance the next night as well, tonight being Friday.
Paul finally cupped her shoulder, giving her a swift hug, then left.
She turned back to the now empty changeroom, sighing as she unwound her curly hair. It sprang from the coil, coursing down over her shoulders until it reached her waist.
She removed her long-heeled boots first, rubbing her sore feet. She grumbled at the caky makeup still crusted on her face.
Damn, she wanted a shower.
She snatched a towel and some hair and face cleaners, then headed for the showers, unaware of the shadow that paced her, lingering silently behind her.
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Terra rubbed conditioner through her wavy hair, sighing as the hairspray and stress washed away in the hot water.
The curtain buckled inwardly for a minute, and she cursed, batting it away impatiently.
Her face, now mercifully free of makeup, relaxed as she let her head fall back, long hair dangling behind her.
A door slammed.
Terra smacked the shower's nob, turning it off. She snatched her towel, wrapping it around her swiftly as she wrung her hair out.
Slowly, she slid the shower curtain back, scanning the stall in front of her.
She dumped her shampoo and cleaner in her small shower bag, slipping on her crocs - which Sita still teased her about - and edging her way out of the shower stall.
"Hello, Nadia." The deep, masculine voice startled her, and she whipped around. Terra leapt about a foot in the air, trying to correct her footing as she dropped her bag, hair flying around her.
She slipped, her head cracking against the metal stall as she crumpled to the ground.
A groan of pain passed her lips as the man knelt beside her, gently touching her forehead.
Without notifying her, he gently brushed the damage away, healing her concussion and stopping the headache.
Terra's eyes opened and she blinked, staring up at the handsome stranger who'd startled her.
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heehee.
meetings are fun. especially with VD.
Dracula: I thought you had enough fun tormenting me in your other story.
Hadasah: -rolls eyes- Yeah, right. Do you think I'm going to stop breathing? That's probably as likely as me not bugging you. -smirks-
Dracula: Hmm... -slides hand over her shoulders-
Hadasah: Ahahha... time to end this, I think.
Dracula: -whispers- You'd better.
Hadasah: Read and review people! I've got a vampire to deal with.
0.o
oddity...
