[b]Jade[/b]

“Hurry, hurry we need to be ready. It could be anytime now, the way the fight is going. You need to take it over and pass on the control. Hurry Jade!”

Matty’s voice cracks and you can hear the strain in her heart, the poor girl. It’s not really from you, you’re a goddess and it really can’t be from you. But she’s worried about Mirror, she’s worried about the fight, she’s worried about every fraction of a second of hesitation and the need to be able to move exactly when her big sister needs her to move. 

For you, the beat is steady. The rhythm of stone, you’ve played this game before, haven’t you? Twice now in fact. Stone has been your foil, the strength against which you’ve broken. But then, too, there’s a comfort in stone. Stone doesn’t change quickly, stone doesn’t surprise you. Even its tricks and its traps, its sudden twistings and carved runes, these are things you can understand, can wrap yourself around. Pillars rise and twist, but the beat is steady and you can feel it as it’s coming. The heart of the system glows with its own rhythm, the beating clock that is the heart of every digital being. It’s close, so close. Steady, so steady. You just need to pick your moment within the flow. 

Take it. 

[b]Dolly[/b]

“Huuuuuuu” the breath is drawn into Sam’s mouth, breathing in like she’d breathe in forever. She was almost done with the zipper, but her hand stopped moving. You’d think she was petrified except that her heart’s beating in her chest so loudly that it makes your ears twitch with it.

The other tech, the tall one has turned back to the board. The fight is moving in unusual patterns, spiral-shaped evasions that require adjustments to the camera, angles, the drone controls, the audio feeds to get the best view.

But Sam’s frozen. She reminds you of Mu’Ysha on the lily pad, so still and silent is she as her blood thunders. 

When she has taken all the air that she can, she holds her breath. And then there is a whisper. “You’re her, aren’t you?” and in her voice is awe. More awe than anyone in your cult has ever shown you. Perhaps this is what it’s like to be Jade. Because for her, it’s like one of the performers stepped off the stage mid-show and started chatting with the lighting hand. 

***

[b]Isabel[/b]

“No that’s okay I…” Vicky tries to move past you quickly and suddenly. Too suddenly. Thud! 

You lose your vision for a moment, and then you’re seeing stars and you don’t quite remember when you fell over. 

First thing back to your head, the table’s at the wrong angle. You’re on the ground, the table top shouldn’t look normal to you. Oh it fell over. Asil’s standing next to you, she must have jumped over. She’s waving a wet cloth over you that smells faintly of coffee. Not bad, though it’s not the best you’ve had and the coffee smells a tad burnt. Slightly acrid, makes you want to move your face away from it. 
Several of the workers have cleared out space and most of the ones at the fringes are starting to drift away. That’s probably okay?

Matty crackles in your ear. “Isabelle? What happened, I was…I heard an impact but I wasn’t watching. It sounded like someone hit you.”

No, that’s not quite right. Vicky was just a bit cornered and then she moved too fast, and she has a very strong build and thick bones and you probably just ate a rib or something in an awkward collision. She’s standing near the ring of onlookers, not too far away, looking extremely worried.

You’re fine, probably? Well, you’re going to have the most hilarious bruise across your face by the end of the day. But probably fine. 

The situation’s a mess though, and everyone’s paying very close attention to you. What do you do now?

***

[b]Matty[/b]

You turn your attention back to the fight, and somehow even though the Whip should have been torn apart, it’s got the Aetline bound. She could go for the kill shot. 

“Let’s fucking goooo!” you shout and then clamp a hand over your mouth with a sudden flush and rush to the door. You pop it open and bless every goddess you can think of when there’s a snore out the other side. The soundproofing was good enough, you didn’t wake Slate! You’d die if you woke Slate now because there’s no way she would go back to sleep and she needs her rest. Otherwise they’ll all be a mess after the match. 

You turn back to the match and there’s still taunts going back and forth, and you can see the evasion patterns, attempting to break contact and reestablish distance and engagement. Solarel is running. But she’s also running and Mirror had better hurry it up! 

No breaks for you, you’ve got to keep focused on the match. Jade’s nearly done, and well, you can worry about helping Isabelle and Dolly with information once Jade’s done and your job is done. So much to do, this is such a big responsibility!