Emotion has come of age

During a pause in the practice I asked Panotti in private if he knew he had broken the guy's arm; told him it was what I heard Mr. Costa comment with him and Rodrigo. He said he didn't know and was not happy with it. Nor was he sad.
"These things can happen. To him, to me... what difference does it make?"
"The difference between an injurious and a safe sport?"
"People who want safe sport don't go boasting all around as if they were in a TV show."
"And you have a reputation of not standing for bravado..."
"It's not only a reputation. I'm allergic to it. Is it all?"

Figueira was introverted the whole of the afternoon. It might be something from school, it might be a lot of things, but I was sure it was his night at the Regional Tournament. He confirmed that as he talked, very slowly, as if he were trying to measure word by word.
"It's going to be the first chance for the team. And it might be the last. If it doesn't work this time, it's never going to work again."
A kind of fatalism. Wicked, cold, out of pure reasoning. I knew as well as he did that it would be not the first, but their last chance.

No quarter (reprise) | This was the day

Radio Universal: The Making Of A Thousand Gods.