Entry 49:Talkback threshold. During the soundcheck crisis, when Alfie yelled, her shoulders climbed toward her ears. 90dB is the pain point.
Action:Install a hard limiter on the talkback mic. Set ceiling to 82dB. Cap the transient spikes.
I scroll down to the exit mapping. Every venue we act in, I clock the doors she looks at first.
Seattle:Loading dock B.
London:Fire exit, stage right.
Current venue:She hasn’t seen it yet.
I pull up the venue blueprints. I verify the fire exit latches. I calculate the run time from Monitor World to the street. 45 seconds at a walking pace. 20 seconds at a sprint.
I mark the path in green on the master overlay. I upload it to the shared drive, hidden under a folder named "Lighting Specs."
My fingers are stained with grease and dust. I am rebuilding the world so she does not have to be afraid of it.
I move to the stage snake, the massive bundle of cables running from the stage box to the main console. It’s a mess. A tangle of potential failures.
I sit on the floor, legs crossed, and begin to trace the lines.
Input 1: Kick.
Input 2: Snare.
Input 3: Alpha Vox.
My label maker whirs.
Usually, my labels are precise.VOX_L.GTR_R.DATA_MAIN.
Tonight, the machine feels heavy in my hand. My brain is shorting. The scent match is a phantom limb, aching.
I print a label for her monitor return line.
Instead ofMON_Z, I type: NOVA_LEFT.
It makes no sense. It is inefficient. It is inaccurate.
I stick it to the cable.
I pick up the line for her talkback.
COMET_PATH.
I pick up the main data line that carries her mix, the mix with the hidden fox-tail watermark.
GLOW_Spine.
I am losing structural integrity. I am labeling copper wire with poetry because I cannot touch her skin. I am routing electricity through metaphors because direct connection is forbidden by the laws of physics and the contract of consent.
"Why are you touching their HVAC?"
The voice cuts through the venue hum. Low. Pacific Northwest flat.
I freeze. My hand is wrapped around a cable labeled ORBIT_DECAY.
I do not scramble. Scrambling causes errors. I rotate my upper body 90 degrees.
