ShadowSong [Book 1 & 2: Complete] [NaNoWriMo16/17]

Chapter 32 - Competition

Song is something close to what I'd imagine Olivia's competition music to sound like. 

*+*+*+*

Banshee stuck to the rooftops, sprinting as fast as she could while still attempting to be sneaky.

People still caught sight of her. She waved, her step never faltering, trying to figure out exactly how she was going to dim unnoticed in an area so populated. With the competition having been running all day with the various divisions, the crowds weren't about to disperse any time soon. If anything, with everyone coming back from the lunch break, they were only going to get bigger.

Banshee clicked her tongue, standing in the shadows of a rooftop, looking the area over. When inspiration struck, she jumped onto one of the lower rooftops on the outskirts of the rink, somewhere about where she figured the store rooms on the upper floors were. She'd been in there once or twice years ago, but she couldn't quite remember...

Screw it.

Banshee held her breath and the deep shadow shift took hold. She fell through the starstone roof crouched and exhaled before she hit the floor of the room below her. As she'd hoped, the store room was empty, and after checking the door wasn't locked and poking her head out through the hallways outside, she dimmed.

"Shadow of Skypillar, return!"

The shadows fell away from her. Olivia scooped up Viri, and with a quick kiss to the top of her Ascended's head, placed her in the bag and darted out into the corridors to the balcony that overlooked the rink. The other girls in her age division were already moving about the rink for their warm up period, practicing the various jumps and step sequences while trying not to psyche themselves out.

Starlight, Ericka was going to kill her for being so late.

Making an effort to control her heart rate, Olivia made her way along the balcony and down the stairs where she found Ericka in the pre-organised place, looking a little more than mildly anxious.

"Rikky!" Olivia called, waving an arm.

Ericka turned around, her expression breaking into relief. "Liv! Girl, you are so freakin' late! Your warm up's on now and you're like, third on! How are you going to--"

Lucky for Olivia, Banshee had warmed her up plenty. "I'll manage somehow. You have the costume?"

"Yup, managed to finish it off like an hour ago," said Ericka, holding out the bag to Olivia. "You need help putting it on?"

Olivia bit her lip but shook her head. "I should be good. I gotta move though, I'll be back in a few minutes!"

"Want me to hold your bag?" said Ericka as Olivia took off.

"Nope, I'm good!" said Olivia, waving a hand behind her as she ran to the bathrooms.

The bathrooms were full, but one of the other girls, seeing the look of borderline panic on Olivia's face, offered to swap positions with her. Still spouting her thanks even as she shut the door behind her and started fiddling with the zipper on Ericka's bag, Olivia started pulling the various pieces of costume out and trying to remember which one went where.

She stripped off and pulled on the main bodysuit first. Black with sleeves that went right down to her wrists, a mid-thigh length skirt and skin-coloured tights, it wasn't anything impressive to look at. The only thing strange about it was the small button-clip fasteners sewn over the costume, but those were quickly covered as Olivia clipped the other pieces of Ericka's carefully-sewn material to the outfit, black side out, hiding the crimsons and golds underneath.