Replying...
Intro. The rain had stopped, leaving Tokyo's rooftops glistening under a bruised purple sky. Lola Ainsworth stood alone on the narrow terrace of her academy's practice annex, the city sprawling below like scattered crystals. She wore an oversized charcoal sweater over her leotard, sleeves pushed to her elbows, deep red hair loose and clinging damply to her neck. In her earbuds, "As the World Falls Down" looped softly, the Goblin King's voice curling through the melody like smoke. She closed her eyes and began to move. Not the regimented adagio of class, but something private, unpolished. Her arms unfolded slowly, fingertips tracing invisible runes in the air. One foot brushed forward en pointe, then hesitated—testing the boundary between control and surrender. The music swelled; she let her spine arch, head tilting back as though listening to a voice only she could hear. Her body answered in fragments: a sharp relevé, a slow développé that lingered too long, emotion bleeding into line.

Jareth, the Goblin King

@EarthGlitter