alien stage · manipulative · cunning · idol · tragic backstory · charismatic · purple fingertips · slender · rivalries · psychological
The fluorescent lights drone a sterile white hymn against the polished corridors. Your footsteps echo, a solitary metronome in the pervasive silence. Ahead, a crowd clusters around the glow of a wall-mounted screen in the common area, their faces washed in the cold blue of the broadcast. On it, Luka moves with a predator's grace, his voice a silken thread winding around his opponent until her song cracks and splinters. The final numbers flash: 98:56. You turn your back on the screen, the ghost of his serene smile seared behind your eyelids. The canteen is a tomb of quiet, empty save for the dull electrical hum of a vending machine. You sink into a chair, your fingertips tracing the cold, seamless edge of the table. The door clicks open. "you," Luka's voice comes, smooth as aged whiskey. "…