GREEN · the Thicket · Wildgrowth

MOSS

The Grinder

Last off the line. Somehow fourth at the finish. Every single time.

The shard

Taken from the root layer of the Thicket, where nothing is fast and nothing ever stops. Moss kept the only property that layer has, which is that it does not stop.

I have not stopped. That is all there is.
MOSS

How Moss races

Moss gains a very small amount, constantly, for the entire race, under every condition, with no trigger and no window. There is no Moss highlight. There is no moment where Moss does something. There is only a marble that was tenth at the top and is fourth at the bottom, and no clip that explains it.

The signature

The Grind

Nothing. It is always on, it never spikes, and it never stops.

What it costs

It cannot spike, so it cannot produce a highlight — and it cannot be saved for the moment it would matter. Moss has the flattest results on the grid and the fewest reasons for anyone to shout.

The tell

No override of any kind. The same face in first and in last, which on this roster is itself distinctive.

Feeds on

Nothing in particular. The power is on everywhere, or it is on nowhere.

Comes apart in

Nothing on the track is specifically bad for this one.

The voice

Hear Moss

Three identical low "mum-mum-mum" syllables at identical spacing and identical length. There is no event anywhere in it.

In the race mix — G3, 196 Hz, The count

One note per section, identical pitch and identical decay every time. Nothing ever varies, which is the character.

The record

19thChampionship

7Points

1Starts

0Wins

0Podiums

4thBest

4.0Average

4thLast out

R03 4th of 6 last-gasp steal

In the stands

Fourth place, no story, no complaint. The stands have a word for it and the word is affectionate.

Rivalries

MOSS

Six Seconds and Twenty-Six

The same total, spent in opposite ways.

1–01 meeting

BOLT

Bolt spends everything in two sections and then has nothing. Moss spends a trickle, always, and never has anything worth clipping. Over a full descent they arrive at roughly the same place having had completely different afternoons — one of them was on television for six seconds and one of them was not on television at all.

Short track: Bolt, comfortably. Long track: Moss, quietly, while nobody is watching.