#elliot vc hey you know practicing doesnt actually change ur stats right. u know blaseball is just the whims of the gods right

[unpitch]

@errorware: fuck it, maybe the earth opens up and swallows us whole.

"us." she's making air quotes with her fingers. because she knows, everyone fucking knows, that kind of shit doesn't touch the people behind the scenes of the game. earth could open up at any moment and swallow up someone on the field; just look at the secret base bullshit, the people soul or silk bean entering a tunnel below second and never coming back out.

(she's afraid of this a way she isn't afraid of burning anymore. because it's unknown. it is not the familiar fear she's carried on her back since being dragged from the grave; it's fresh like a wound.)

jaylen chews on the inside of her cheek a moment, letting words boil up in her throat before she lets them free. "i mean, i guess regular ol' sinkholes are still a thing, so, not totally impossible for that to happen to you, too, but — let's face it, dude, pretty fuckin' unlikely. unless you know something about next season that i don't —" and she squints at him here, like that'll get him to break whatever semimagical nda the commissioner's had him sign. players don't get spoilers, that'd ruin the fun of it all. (if any of them'd known about the burning at the start, would anyone have stayed?)

"whatever, though." blaseball bounces in her palm, up-down-up-down and out towards the other end of the field, straight down the strike zone. the imaginary batter standing at the plate watches it go past. "even if the earth does swallow me whole, you really think wherever that'd go wouldn't still have blaseball to play?" she makes a sound, somewhere between a snort and a scoff. "had to play in the trench. don't see why that'd be any different. so," she throws another ball. the imaginary batter fouls it away. she's gonna have to walk down the field and collect them eventually; the pile beside the mound is running low. "might as well practice."