> are you implying it's my fault you're not practiced against section staves? 
> do you need me to go and beat up an empress for you?
> i think her robes would look much better on me.

She's typing, even though it's her preference to vocalize, because it was the difference between having a conversation and being understood. Because her map of Solarel showed that she required this kind of stimulus before she'd fold open. Because an open Solarel was the only target of value on this entire battlefield, once it became clear that the Bezorel wasn't an elaborate misdirection. At least not yet. There was always hope this was part of her read on the game outside the game, but even in that case reaching the layer past this one amounted to the same experience today.

Mirror's hand hesitates over the switch. Almost pulls away twice. But in the end, her thumb slides across it hard enough to flip it on, and there's a burst of static before audio/visual connection is established between the pair of... well, she supposes for this match she'd better think of them as Gods. She'd done her best to follow Valentina's logic straight down the middle of her gun barrel. She couldn't honestly afford to give Solarel any less than that. The specifications of the Bezorel made it so that there could never be less than a 10 second broadcast delay even if they were close enough to touch, but that suited her fine. She had little and less to say right now anyway. 

Rain splashes across the surface of the Gods-Smiting Whip. It sizzles loudly where it hits the three pronged energy blades of her laser trident. She's configured Tails One and Eight into a wide-array energy shield over her opposite arm, so today the sounds of water crackling back into component vapors is loud enough for her ears to pick up through the cockpit. Her tail thwaps with pleasure against her seat, and she purrs with contentment.

"Position established, visual confirmation unnecessary. Chokepoint inconsistent with previous tactics, implies post-combat loadout change. Clever girl. Consideration of countermeasures, begin."

She doesn't bother turning the comms back off. Forcing Solarel to hear her voice was half the point of doing it. If she could take information scraped off of that kind of input delay and convert it into an advantage in [i]that[/i] walking scrap heap, she deserved the victory. And more importantly, Mirror did not deserve to be here, or to dream ever again. She'd put everything she had into this tournament. That's what makes her ears stand up on the top of her head. That's what makes her spine straighten out to the point of pain. That's why she glides over every button and joystick three times before she commits to a step. She climbs to the top of a hill and digs her heels into the soil, and then she waits.

Last time they'd fought, it cost her everything she had. Was still costing her, in fact. Last time they'd fought, it had led to the most fulfilling romance of her life. It had [i]been[/i] the most fulfilling romance of her life. Last time they'd fought, they'd blown so far apart that it had taken her this obscene span of years to even find the idiot again. There was no reason to assume this battle would cost of cause any less. 

> if this is what not giving up looks like.
> i am disappointed to my core.
> i did not ask you for the Aeteline.
> but i did ask you specifically not to lose before I came for you.
> seeing you now, i'm not sure what you kept?

In Mirror's opinion, large scale tactic shifts in these preliminary rounds was asinine to the point of absurdity. Your exact record was immaterial in the face of reaching the stage with the most and most serious eyes in the first place. In the meantime, it could be assumed that everybody tracking you was an enemy. Every shadow was a predator, and every shape in the water might be prey. If you didn't put yourself in the vantage point to take advantage of knowing which was which, you'd be gobbled up before your time came. Given that, every new trick you were forced to show before the main rounds could be rightly counted as an actual loss. 

"The battle extends beyond the boundaries of the arena. Predictability as armor. Standardized tactics as a sword. A thinking mind as the venom painted on the blade."

She'd solved the riddle of Valentina's hidden position by taking to the sky and positioning two tails for a multi-angle strike. The efficacy against those tactics against the Bezorel's unknown weapons loadout and the strength of its natural cover was irrelevant. The necessity of them was likewise immaterial. What mattered was that she'd done it before. What mattered is that the person who came after this would note that she has a tendency. The person who came after [i]that[/i] would learn to late that she did not. That's what it meant to fight a war. She was sincere when she offered to upend an entire empire on request. She was sincere in believing it was within her capabilities.

> i have decided.
> seeing you in that walking museum.
> makes me ashamed to pit my Nine-Tails against it.
> i would rather get out and punch it to death myself.
> but don't worry, Heart.
> when i finish tearing in half, you can show me what it really means to not give up.

"Initiating short duration burn to visually ascertain enemy position. Tail Four, Tail Seven, release. Time to fly."

The Gods-Smiting Whip lifts up into the storm with a flash of thruster fire and a cocky twirl of its trident. Whatever projectile weaponry Solarel was using as a distraction this time, Mirror was painting a target on her chest by taking the skies above her. And that was ideal. She [i]still[/i] lacked test data for the Nine Drive's shield configuration. And dodging the first barrage would make her hotter than anything that happened all of last night.

What a shame it'd be over so quickly. Mirror's face breaks into a smirk. Her eyes seem almost frozen over. Her teeth clench. Her hands grip the controls with unnecessary force as she angles herself for the first suicide charge. 

> <3