A visual conversation between Henrik Duncker, based in Helsinki, and Jens Masmann, based in Munich. They started their nonverbal exchange after noticing links and similarities in their work when they met in Derby in 2017. Reading each other's work and learning to understand its visual vocabulary was the main framework of the project: to recognise and decrypt the shadings and syntax of the partner's picture was the first serve, shaping the visual answer was the return play. This reply could have been backhanded or forehanded, could deliver a fast break, or block a narrative thread and open a new one with a topspin or a smash.