[center][h2]Sunday November 11th, 2094, 18:45 Bonneville Salt Flats, FSA[/h2][h3]Cooldown Room[/h3][/center][quote]”Not bad at all fightin' with ya, Bea. Another lap and maybe I'd have gotten the place!”[/quote] [color=#1EFF24]”'One more lap,' that's what they all say.”[/color] Bea grinned back, holding a bag of ice on top of her head. [color=#1EFF24]”Bloody Hell, did you make me work for it.”[/color] [quote]”Shame you couldn't hold your P1 though, ey Ava?” Nora chuckled as she turned to the Chilean, who smiled, shaking her head. “Just don't have the same sauce in the corners, Nora. She is extra spicy” Ava simply chuckled.[/quote] [color=#1EFF24]”Rematch in Jordan.”[/color] Be declared, chucking the ice bag into a bin. [color=#1EFF24]”No excuses.”[/color] Walking back out of the cooldown room was like walking straight into a wall. The anthem seemed to drag on, Bea could swear she felt herself losing weight with each droplet of sweat, the holographic flags behind them doing nothing to help. Still, it could do nothing to take away from the moment as she held the trophy high with a feral grin. The cold champagne spray at least brought a momentary relief from the scorching heat as Bea gave Nora as good as she got, though the sun reflecting from the salt stung the eyes like needles straight into the retina. It wasn’t the only thing that stung. Teammates on the podium, not a 1-2 but still almost a miracle when looking back at the state of the team when she first stepped over the factory’s threshold. And yet… It was just a quick glance held for no more than two seconds, easy to miss but measuring more than just physical distance. Then Bea wrung the champagne out of her hair, pulled out a length of cord out of her pocket, tied it securely around the neck of her bottle and used it to lower it down to Alistair and her mechanics assembled under the podium. [hr][color=gold][center][h1][i][b]DELTΔ HYPER[/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color][color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Episode 17: Mustang Alley[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] [hr] [quote]”Unbelievable stuff, Beatrix, back on the top step of the podium after one of your finest drives since Belgium. It seems like when everything lines up on track, you seem to be one of the fastest pilots around, in a fight between you and Nora that was an epic finding a tenth nobody could. How does it feel?”[/quote] [color=#1EFF24]”What do you think I will say? It’s an incredible feeling!”[/color] Bea bounced in the chair, definitely figuratively and quite possibly a little bit literally. [color=#1EFF24]”To show up somewhere new and do this far above expectations? Blown away! Sure, the track fits our ship like it was made for it- Ah, whose leg am I pulling? These three high-speed tracks have been in our sights since Cape Town. We had some setbacks along the way of course - some pilot errors, some team cock-ups, the factory fire which didn’t actually cost us much, even if we had that upgrade at Hawaii it would not have changed much at that circuit and I would have binned it in qualifying regardless - but all in all this is what the season has been building toward.”[/color] She talked a mile a minute, at one point knocking something that was just out of frame over with her elbow without noticing. [color=#1EFF24]”That doesn’t mean Nora made it easy, she does not do ‘easy’ on track. Hats off to her for nearly matching my madness.”[/color] She changed topics but not expression, a feral grin still firmly in place, [color=#1EFF24]”But in the end, she had too much sense of self-preservation. You need to get rid of that, Nelly, that stuff is weight on board..”[/color] [color=#1EFF24]”Thanks of course to the other side of the garage for holding Nora up.”[/color] She added in a serious tone, [color=#1EFF24]”Most likely not necessary, but it definitely helped.”[/color] [hr][h2]Pilots’ Group Chat[/h2][quote][color=fff200][b]Paul[/b][/color] I am not surprised. There are tons more fanfictions out there about me. I have made it a policy not to care and chase them down. I don’t really care about them. I only really step in when I feel someone else might be wronged over the press’ shenanigans. If I protest or comment it only makes it worse. I am just grateful that if my mother has seen them, she has never asked me about them. Talk about awkward! 😂[/quote] [color=fff200][b]Bea[/b][/color] Ah, the luxury of people who don’t run art channels with fan submissions and therefore can avoid this (seriously, even AI-powered filters can’t deal with all the porn I get sent…) [quote][color=fff200][b]Paul[/b][/color] @Bellatrix I am not going to ask why you think the next chapter would be super kinky. That is information I don’t need Princess Brat! 😀 [/quote] [color=fff200][b]Bea[/b][/color] Princess Brat! 😂 [color=fff200][b]Bea[/b][/color] Also, have you seen the fight you two had on track? Bet you a fiver the next chapter features handcuffs and a whip. 😛 [color=fff200][b]Bea[/b][/color] Hmm. Do I dare? [color=fff200][b]Bea[/b][/color] Do I dare ask what everyone’s wildest piece of fan content is? 😀 [hr] [center][b]Bea Ward @MadBea[/b]: [i][Selfie of Bea on the flight from Utah, smiling through bloodshot eyes, the camera looking over her shoulder to the rows of seats where her mechanics and other garage personnel were seated, most asleep and all looking just as hungover as her if not more. Her wrist watch, held up in frame, dated the image to the Monday after the race at well past ten in the morning.] “We’re open to suggestions on smuggling celebration supplies to Jordan.” #CarreraCondorFA #FormulaAG #AGRacing #FSAAGP[/i] [/center] [b]AndesAG:[/b] nora v bea. pure vibe racing [b]SmolNjol:[/b] Get them into Rallycross, yesterday. [b]Hotstuff:[/b] thats not a team thats a frat house [b]Xinny:[/b] One spark in that cabin and they’re all dead. 😀 [b]Laugh_Ness:[/b] Think I know what caused that factory fire... [b]Richie:[/b] The timing of their new beer sponsor is peak. [b]Shel1:[/b] First “Rally Brave,” now “Match My Madness.” Merch when? [b]MadBea:[/b] If I can think of designs that merit a price tag. When my head stops hurting. 😛 [b]User420:[/b] Jordanian customs ‘bout to be dealing with a suspicious amount of “ethanol fuel” [b]DohnJoe:[/b] step 1: don’t get caught. [b]DadManWalking:[/b] I can absolutely picture “Here is the strat, ladies and gentlemen, write this down: Win.“ uttered at that team’s meeting. [b]NineIron:[/b] It’s so fitting that both of her wins so far come from absolutely feral duels that nonetheless stayed spotless clean. [b]GalwayGirl:[/b] “self-preservation weighs you down” - Bea Ward, 2094, philosopher 😀 [b]GaryFromIndiana:[/b] Philosopher’s stone? More like “philosopher’s stoned” [b]MadBea:[/b] Was not! Excuse me? 😀 [b]CloroxEnjoyer:[/b] “cares too much about living” is insane (literally) trash talk. More. [b]Blizz:[/b] Not a good look saying that about someone who literally lost a limb doing this. [b]GalwayGirl:[/b] Just have Xinny carry it, he seems to be immune to consequences. 😛 [b]Xinny:[/b] You wound me. [b]CarreraCarmen:[/b] That’s probably the most positive she’s been about Ava since Singapore… [b]Sol_de_Mayo:[/b] Low bar. [hr][center][h2]Thursday November 11th, 2094, 05:52 Buenos Aires, Argentina[/h2][h3]”The Ranch” (Carrera Condor Formula AG Team headquarters) staff dormitories[/h3][/center]Bea was up at an unusually early hour. That was one ‘U’ word to describe it, she would have called it ‘unreasonably’ early if you asked her. But she was a slave to time zones that day, sitting on her bed with her phone in her hand, a number with a Polish country code selected. She had to search through the history a bit, not having needed that number since after Silverstone. Amy’s email kept flashing through her mind, having read it after she fished it out of the pits of Hell that was her spam folder, the antivirus software not liking the dodgy attachment one bit. She’s read it several times and felt sick every time. Solutions came and went, the same ideas feeling good one moment and disastrous the next. Ava had been right about at least one thing in that hallway two months ago - this was completely beyond her. She selected a different number then. Not Frederick’s, not anyone at Pridwen Solutions security department, not Lucho or anyone at the team. One she only had due to a brief group massage exchange with its owner and Paul. [b][center][h3][code]Thursday 11/11 05:52 Kais [Batt: 98%][/code][/h3][/center][/b] [center]———— Today ————[/center][color=#1EFF24]> Hey. I know we’re not exactly friends, but I need help and I can’t think of anyone else I could turn to with this. I know you have no reason to even answer, much less do what I ask, but if you’re willing to talk in confidence, name a time and place, I’ll be there. -Bea[/color] Then she went back to the Polish number and happier thoughts. [hr] [center][url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TrLdbYUu7LJQf9_6F1zblN3WfwvCU8R3W8Xskd8b3vI/edit?usp=sharing]Carrera Condor NPCs[/url][/center]