Seven Devils (Open)

Raine drove her choreographer and dance instructer insane sometimes. Because she would only take routines that spoke to her. If she couldn’t portray the music, if she couldn’t get across the emotion, then she wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole. She wouldn’t fake it, that was a betrayal to the beauty that was dance. Well, sure, sometimes she didn’t have a choice. Sometimes she just had to perform a certain song, a certain routine, even if she wasn’t feeling it. But for the most part, they appeased this odd need she had because she was good. She won competitions if she was able to do it the way she liked.

And usually Raine did hip-hop, or lyrical hip-hop because she liked the bounce, she liked the flow, she liked the rhythm. She adored being able to pop around the stage, like a live wire. She liked that it could still tell a story if it was done right. It was everything to her. It got out her excessive energy and the emotions that she tended to bottle up behind her smile. She was able to let it loose.

But not this week. This week she was doing lyrical. Which was also fun! They all had their perks and Raine had been trained to dance lyrical since she could walk, she only took to hip hop when she started to dance with Selene at 9 or so. So lyrical was her roots. And there was something wonderful about the beautiful way that lyrical moved, the way you could just collapse and tell a story, the way each movement was special. She adored that. She had worked since she was little to achieve the sort of grace needed.

When she hit her change of course there was the added bonus to her grace that was her affinity. It allowed each line to be perfect, the way she moved to be flowing and easy, it meant she only collapsed to fall if she wanted to and even then there was an inherent grace to it. It made lyrical right for her even if she didn’t often dance it. Not that she knew that she had an affinity. She was wrong. She was a vampire without an affinity, a defect. She didn’t let the wince show on her face, though the added sad feelings did help the emotions she was trying to portray.

Her father was the one that said that. Govener of the damn Diamantis District, Mr. Vanderbilt. The one who grumbled and refused to call Raine anything other than her birth name when he managed to call her anything at all, which was a rare occurance. She had changed her name ot get away from him, to get away from the legacy that tugged along with her. And she hadn’t even told her best friend, her boyfriend, her real name or her background, or even how she got the wicked scars that lined her body.

And no rivers and no lakes,
can put the fire out
I'm gonna raise the stakes;
I'm gonna smoke you out

Each and every one of those scars were on display as she extended her arm gracefully, hands reaching but never grasping, her lines perfect, before collapsing and whirling into another soft and slow movement to go along with the beat of the song she was dancing. When the song was over it started again and so did Raine. She Would get this perfect. She had a competition this weekend and she had been avoiding practice because of her sadness. But she was better now, now that Easton was back that took a weight off her shoulders.

But she still had plenty of weight.

Her father was dying. And he wanted her to come home to learn hwo to take over the family business. Which Raine wanted no part of, she wasn’t built for big business and she had told him so. She would only run it into the ground. But her father insisted. She was his only remaining heir, she would learn, and she would go by her birth name, dammit! Her face showed her pain as she danced, spinning and whirling using her hips first to turn, one foot arching up and up until she could grab it over her head and then she was collapsed, and arching up as if someone had attached a string to her heart and pulled. Lertting her sadness fuel her.

She would have turned him down but he had threatened to take back all of her mother’s things, like the discarded leather jacket that sat in the corner of the Rec room she was currently practicing in. She caught sight of herself in the mirror for a moment—nothing more and nothing less--as she whirled into yet another spin, reaching and grasping with her hands.

Seven devils all around you
Seven devils in my house
See they were there when I woke up this morning
I'll be dead before the day is done

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She caught sight of her scars too, but that was okay. She was alone here and when she was dancing she didn’t even think about them. Each barred by the fact that all she wore was her sports bra and spandex shorts. She didn’t want anything getting in the way of her movement. Her baggy clothes that she had worn over them were discarded along with her jacket in the corner. She didn’t even give them second thought. She did catch sight of the small of her back in the mirror for a moment though. The new shooting star that had been added to her mark, the one that whirled and swirled around the tattoo that sat happily on her hip, the one that Easton had given her the day they met.

Uncharacteristically, Raine didn’t dwell on the happy. Her mind was focused on the less so really. She was dancing full of sadness and it shone on her face. She had to get it out, everyone had to get it out. Sometimes one had to let it out so it didn’t eat you up. She was better than she had been, but everyone had their devils.

The song ended and she ended as well, on the floor, her head pressed to her knees, which were crumpled under her, her arms curved around her body, her hair sprawled out so that the black underneath showing.

This time the song kept playing but she didn’t. She was breathing heavy. She had worked out her sadness. She hoped so anyway. She stood, and wiped the sweat from her brow, standing with her usual grace to grab her water bottle. Taking a careful swig, she swayed slightly to the music. And a moment later she was doing small movements.

And then she set down her bottle…and she was whirling again.

Nothing could stop Raine from moving when the need struck her. And it often struck her.

See I've come to burn
Your kingdom down

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Muse: Epic
Comments: This post has been plaguing me all week. Song is Seven Devils by Florence + The Machine
Words: 1174

Note: Accidently deleted, reposted ><