There's far more work involved in dance than one might think. Mariana had spent most of her life learning how to perfect her beautiful art - And while she was far from perfect, she was a skilled dancer. It was a long and painful journey, her feet constantly ached as she spent hours in her friend's dance studio studying to preform at her peak. It was made worse when the specialized pointe shoes she wore, made of inadequate materials, would tear and become more dangerous than dancing barefoot ever could be. She always persevered though, especially now... She was days away from a major audition, and faulty footwear was the least of her concerns. All of her hard work was coming to a head now, and if she didn't impress - She would likely miss her opportunity to advance into the Russian School of Dance.

It was her life's dream - She had to get new shoes before going, but without the funds now she was unable to afford them. Practicing barefoot was her only answer.

Even through the pain and hardships, dancing was what drove her. It was her spirit, her outlet... She wasn't the talkative type, preferring to stay away from people and conversations in general. Sheepish, shy, and kind were all words that described her quite well. However, in this moment - Dancing on a stage alone in a room while training for the biggest step in her career since she began... She was weightless. Pain had no meaning, for in her mind she was upon a stage preforming for thousands. It was her beautiful way of shutting out the world, her beautiful way of making something more of the area surrounding her very existence. Sweat drained down her face as she reached the fourth hour of her never-ending dance...

She loved it, she loved every damn minute of it.

She had no idea that she actually had an audience. Unable to move, unable to do anything... Mathew lay on the floor looking up to the goddess who danced above him. Like many other times he was simply here, waiting for his body to recover from the trauma that had taken him before. Still reeling from the pleasureful sensations of a life long past in a world far away - He was like a doll as she danced masterfully around him.

*Pat*

Light on her feet, the ball of her foot landed just next to his little body. Mathew took in a sharp breath as she spun, her heel coming high over him to show off the underside of her foot. The light scent of sweat from her work mixed with the ambient smell of the studio's floor filled his lungs, fueling his desires. Just an inch away from destroying him, he was nearly crushed under the dancer's mighty twirl.

Her beautiful heel came down, her skin just barely touching his. He fully expected this to be the end of this short life, however - all he received was pleasure. The sole of her foot stopped short of crushing him, only gently pressing his arousal down and sending a wave of crippling emotion through his body. It caused him to inhale sharply, his heart to race as he gazed up to the sole that lifted off of him just as quickly as it came down. Her other foot was high in the air, it came down with the same light grace as the first.

This time it landed on the other side of his body...

The process repeated for quite some time. She would dance away from him, gracefully moving like an angel only to come right back over his body once more. It wasn't long before his luck ran out...

Her left foot lifted over him...

The shadow was cast...

Mariana was far too lost in her own world. The music in her own mind had taken her far away from her home, far away from Romania and onto a stage... Somewhere, somewhere spectacular. Had she noticed him, she would have immediately stopped to help the small creature on the floor. Her heart was pure, her soul was that of a beautiful dancer and her perseverance was unmatched... Shy and timid on the streets, but when she was here... She was personified grace.

Mathew felt the contact. The tough skin of the dancer's foot came down upon him. A flash of pain rocked through his body as it gave way to the angel's dance. So lost in her own mind, she didn't notice the sensation of his body crushing beneath her. He was far too small, far too weak and frail to even register in her lost mind. The dancer landed, his blood squelched out against her sore and tired sole as the liquid only served to help soothe her skin. The warmth helped to make the pain subside...

There was something different about his blood, something medicinal.

His soul lingered in the crushed remains as she spun atop his corpse. The twisting of all her weight on his direct body caused a torrent of pain and pleasure to wash through his diminished form.

More time passed as she continued her work. More time... Hours, minutes... It was all the same in her mind, like a beautiful dream she would never want to wake from.

Eventually she noticed the blood. Looking back over her shoulder she caught a glimpse of Mathew's remains ground so deeply into her sore and tired foot. The blood was no problem for her - Her feet were already so sore from the day of dance and practice that any pain from bleeding like this was irrelevant. This was far from the first time she had injured herself during her passion, and it wouldn't be the last.

The beauty continued dancing, unaware of Mathew's corpse ingrained in her skin.

After she noticed the blood, things actually started to feel better for her. The pain was subsiding in her toes and feet ever so slowly, almost as though she had taken a wonderful painkiller that helped her to recover. Aches she's had for years began to fade, though her tolerance and her feet's overall toughness remained the same.

She felt energized, like she was given a second wind...

The little human smashed into her skin was more than he appeared. He had the ability to help soothe others by his own massaging touch, an ability he learned several lives ago when he visited the Avatar. Now, the realization that not only was he able to sooth by his own touch - but his blood had medicinal properties and a unique flavor...

As she danced, he stayed with her. His spirit lingering in his body, every motion - every time she would step down upon him he would feel his body crush ever so more.

By the time she was finished, he was unrecognizable.

Mariana casually walked to her clothes bag and took a seat next to it. Her forehead shimmered with sweat after her long workout, the next stop would be to head back to her humble little home and get a shower in. It was strange though, the pain she had been experiencing for so long had gone away... One foot was still very sore, but the other was almost as good as new. She hadn't thought of it much since she had simply learned to deal with the pain over time, but the feeling was fairly nice. She didn't understand it - By all accounts her feet should be throbbing and sore after her long training session, but at this point that foot was alright.

She sat with her feet outstretched as she drank from a bottle of water, casually bobbing the foot that Mathew was obliterated beneath. It hadn't occured to her that she had stepped on something as she gazed up toward the large glass windows which allowed the sunset's light to shine in. It cast the whole room in a beautiful golden glow. As her eyes trailed back down to the floor she noticed the blood once again. Some of the splatters had bits of blue hair in them, but she simply dismissed it. It did, however, remind her that she had been bleeding in her dance.

She brought her foot up so that she could see the sole. She was incredibly flexible, so the task was not hard at all. On the bottom of her foot was something hardly recognizable with a tuft of blue hair. It looked like a bit of meat, like food someone had discarded that she managed to step on during her practice. The thought of a tiny human being crushed beneath her during her dance was far from her mind - though it did look humanenesque. She had danced on Mat for too long, his body was ground down and twisted into an unrecognizable smear on her skin.

The dancer let out a sigh. She didn't look to be injured, so instead of worrying about stopping any bleeding she decided to clear away some of the mess. Mariana took a cloth in hand from her bag and gently pushed it to the sole of her dusty and tough foot with her thumbs. One pass was enough to get rid of the majority of Mathew's remains, though there was a bit of his chest's skin still stuck to hers. It almost resembled a scab, but she knew it wasn't the case. Using the cloth as a barrier, she picked at it with her thumb until his skin was completely removed from the sole of her foot. A bit of blood remained up between her toes, though that would be washed down the drain when she returned. After she had finished recovering from her practice, she used the same rag to clean up Mathew's remains on the floor wherever she saw them.

On her way out she casually tossed the dusty rag into a container to be washed later. She always helped with the studio when she could, volunteering to do any laundry or help with some of the janitorial services since the studio itself wasn't very well-off. She left without knowing the truth, with a slight spring in her step. The foot Mathew was under felt wonderful, though the other one was fairly sore and ached as she had expected.

Mariana secretly hoped that whatever miracle happened would happen again. If she felt like this when she was on stage later on, she would be sure to get into the Russian School of Dance.

It was her dream ~ The joy she lived for.