Yuki’s lips hurt from smiling too much, the bags under her eyes were expertly hidden by professional makeup artists, her hair is in a perfect mixture of volume and length, media day is her favorite activity on the whole season, it’s much better than being crumpled in a plane or getting yelled out by coaches and players alike. But this, answering questions and having fun with friends, is her natural habitat. One hour ago she was laughing with Laura about the pains of talking to reporters, now in the middle of an interview with one of her teammates she couldn't be happier to introduce the rookie to the media.

Zoe is the sixth pick in this year’s draft, about 6’3, with snowy hair and wispy bangs it is difficult to see the sharp features of her face, just like Yuki she is lanky and thin, big round eyes hidden behind glasses and a timid posture, focused on not being perceived she holds the microphone tightly against her chest.

“Is there a desire for vengeance in your heart? Since you didn’t even get traded, they just let you go like you were nothing?” Ally asks without the profissional smile on her face faltering for even a second.

“C’mon, they gave me cupcakes on my way out!” Yuki jokes, receiving a polite laugh from Ally before she continues, “but no, I actually don’t have anything against them, it was perfectly amicable, I– I understand that there are some… anger on the internet, but please, to all the fans out there, keep cheering for the team even though I’m not there anymore, those are my girls and they deserve a title more than anything.”

Yuki pauses, the interview is about to continue but the Center finishes her sentence with a sly smile, “But they won’t get one, ‘cause the Bobcats are going all the way this year!”

“Oooh, that’s what I like to hear! Now, Zoe, you’re the first transgender woman to play basketball at a high level! It feels great doesn’t it?”

Zoe eyes widen as she tries to suppress her shock, she almost laughs, but contains herself, she needs to be perfectly unremarkable, “Well, no, there have been players, like Laisia Clarenndom, who is openly non binary, and Ariette Mackenz, who plays college basketball. But I do think that it’s important to… uh… begin somewhere, and yeah… if it’s me, that— that’s okay.”

She promptly looks down after answering the question, shamefully trying to forget about her rambling at the end of her sentence.

“Sure!” Ally exclaims, happy to change the subject to something less controversial, “After the disappointing loss at the conference finals last season, you’re due for a finals appearance, but most new teams don’t come even close to that in their new years.”

“That 's true! But most teams don’t get Hannah Court in their first year. Did you see the things she was doing last year? She was fighting for an MVP with Aga. If you ask me, I think there’s no bigger blunder than letting her go. I don’t care what happened, I heard the Sorcerers talking about being a “Mood killer” in the locker room, but if she’s killing the mood and putting 30 points a game I’ll happily help her murder it. To me, that’s just a losers mentality.”

Sitting at the other side of the room, the Bobcats hear the Center’s words with a smile, the only one that doesn’t get rejuvenated with joy is the blonde woman being mentioned by the player, Hannah just drops lower and lower at her chair, almost to the point where she is mostly laying down.

Dina, without looking up from the comments on her newest tiktok, asks, “Wait, Zoe’s a dude? How the hell can she play with us?”

Barbara gently puts her book on the floor, letting her reading glasses rest on top of her face, “She’s actually not a dude, by being a transgender woman she had to, and will have to follow the parameters on testosterone levels and hormonal replacement or suppression, since she’s my replacement, I was talking to her a bit after the draft, she actually has less testosterone than me.”

“Wow, I thought that outta everyone you’d be the transphobic one, that’s a crazy turn of events,” Dina contemplates, finally looking at her teammate, when she only receives a confused look in return she explains, “Just… you know, homophobia, transphobia and racism is more like, old people shit, like, only dinosaurs care about stuff like that.”

“I’m 37 it—”

Before Barbara can finish her sentence and defend herself, she is interrupted by Dina, putting one hand on her own chest, exclaiming “Jesus Christ!”

“Very funny, make fun of the old lady, my bad knees can still kick your ass you hear me?”

Dina hugs her own body and making a scared face she exclaims, “Oh, shivers me timbers I fought rats for food in second grade.”

“No you didn’t…” Anik says with a smile.

“You don’t know me! I could’ve! There’s rats in Ukraine!”

On the other side of the room, a production assistant signals for Hannah to approach him, sighing in relief she moves towards him, the relaxation quickly vanishes as she realizes that they are sending her to the main broadcast, a livestream in the middle of their arena. Sitting on the chair, and making sure to adjust it to her smaller size, she takes a moment to look around the arena, ignoring for a moment the two reporters at her side.

A part of her is not a fan of the bright cyan that colors the floor on one side, another part of her dislikes the pinkish hue on the other side, but somehow, she doesn’t hate the whole product, there is something refreshing about the different shade of blue, just the slightest change in how the chairs are organized, even the difference between the jumbotrons is already enough to make her happy. She never noticed how dark the Sorcerer's floor was, the Bobcats used ponderosa pine, something she didn’t even know existed until a few months ago.

“Seven times all star, five times all WNBA first team, two times all WNBA second team, three times scoring leader, one time assists leader, all rookie second team and, most importantly, the new point guard for the New Mexico Bobcats! Give it up for Hannah Court!” Alexandra Leigh, announces to the livestream with a bright smile.

Being taken off of her own mind, the player looks at the camera, giving a small head nod to it, she takes the microphone on the table, moving it close to her mouth as she answers, “hi.”

“Talkative as always!” Marc jokes.

“Well, first, I think we would be crazy not to ask how is the chemistry in the team working? I’m sure all of you are professionals, but there has to be a little bit of a sting right? Especially after the fight you and Yuki had after game seven.”

Hannah tries to control her reaction, choosing to rub her hand on her face, swallowing hard, she explains, “Once again, we didn’t fight, w– we did have a heated discussion, but she didn’t hit me and I didn’t hit her, I just fell, but to answer your question as a whole, we are… working on it, not just us two, but everyone, we all come from different teams, that played a different kind of basketball, it– it’s just hard to get everyone on the same page.”

Marc nods, actively listening to her words as he brings out a stat sheet from his lap, “I can see that, you had 21.7 field goals attempts per game last season, increasing to an astonishing 26.5 on the playoffs, are you having to decrease your shot tendency to fit better with the team.”

Exhaling, she lets out a shy smile, happy to answer something about basketball and not herself, “I really don’t like taking a bunch of shots, I would assume my average is about 18, but at the beginning of last year I noticed that the level of the team was not good, and that if I wanted to win, I needed to be a little more selfish, but with the Bobcats we aren’t gonna have that problem, Yuki is insanely efficient, Dina is a great facilitator, Zoe is a little green but she has great potential, everyone is really focused on winning… so… all that’s to say; I’ll probably be taking way less shots this year.”

Both of the professionals stop for a second, feeling the story hot on their hands, Allie asks again, “So… you’re saying that the reason your shot tendency skyrocketed was because you didn't trust your team?”

“No, I am saying that they were not good enough, not because of talent or skill, I think that group had a lack of desire, they just didn’t want it enough, I trusted them to do a below average job, and they did just that.”

Marc hesitates for a moment before asking, “A-are you not worried about what your ex teammates will think about your words?”

“Why would I? I told them the same thing every chance I got,” Hannah turns to the camera, addressing the Sorcerers directly, “If you don’t put any effort in your game, you’ll never be worthy of a championship, you shouldn't even be worthy of a spot in my roster, I root for you, I hope that you become a successful player, but you won’t.”

“...Is that it?”

“Yeah, I can’t lie to them.” Hannah smiles at the reporter, straightening her posture and waiting for another question.

Unbeknown to the woman, the internet was not listening to the rest of the interview, it didn’t matter what was being said about the new team, Court’s name was already trending on Twitter, article after article were being pumped out by media, even the commenters were focused solely on the “hate piece” the biggest star of the Sorcerer's history just gave the franchise.

In the next few days, only the Bobcats’s fans saw the pictures of their new team, the memes of the height difference between the two star players were lost in the midst of hate comments, an open letter from the Sorcerers repudiating the comments made by the guard and Hannah Court doubling down on those words. If she is being honest, she didn’t see most of it, it’s not like she ego searches a lot. But she did find a youtuber Anny2k making a Sorcerer's rebuild around her, she did wish they did that.

Three days later, after the training camp officially began to the other teams, on the middle of the night, a sweaty and tired Hannah slumps over the counter, the bright, neon lights hitting like sharp needles behind her eyes, arms and legs begging for a rest even though she is sitting down without holding a single thing. The loud music almost completely envelops the voices of her teammates, actually, almost all of them are muted, the only one that manages to break through the sound is the one with the brightest smile, Yuki Saya.

“Guys, guys! Dude? Where’s Ice cold killer? Where’s the Tiny Monster? Where’s the Mute Bitch?” The center screams while opening both of her arms.

Hannah was finally convinced to participate in an after party, she has been awake for 20 hours, training for 14, including on court practice and athletic conditioning, usually she tries to always sleep at around 22:30 so that she can wake up at a healthy 03:30, the various clocks on the club walls are a constant reminder of how late she is.

She really doesn't understand the thought process behind this establishment, The Last Hour is a nightclub close to their facility, the owner decided that it is a good idea to show everybody how much time they were wasting in this place, so there are different kinds of clocks splattered across the place, Court doesn’t like it, but all of her teammates loved it. Stepping over the checkered pattern, hugging on one side the newbie, Zoe, and on the other the backup center, Star, Yuki brings the team closer to their point guard.

“Ayo!!! Found you boo! You can’t run from us” She screams at the top of her lungs while stopping a few inches away from her teammate.

Following what has been most of their conversations for the past few weeks, Zoe waves and whispers, “hello…”

Star gives her a lazy smile, “Sup cap!”

Listening to those words, the tallest woman turns to her friend, giving her a confused look while she questions, “Yo, she’s the captain? The fuck? We have the same amount of experience! Put some respect on my name too, how ‘bout that?”