Bee

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Rounding around the last set of corners, Kasumi held down the radio button on her steering wheel. "Car feels alright. Stable through the high speed corners, some understeer in the lower speed corners." Kasumi indicated. "Copy. Push lap. Mode 7, Kasumi, Mode 7." Her engineer said, as Kasumi looked down at her steering wheel. She tweaked the dials on her steering wheel, before her steering wheel screen flashed a giant "MODE 7" on the screen. Rounding around turn 15, Kasumi threw the car around, keeping a moderate amount of throttle as she made her way through the tight series of corners.

Rounding around the last corner, Kasumi opened up the throttle and sped down the opening straight. Rowing through the gears, Kasumi's open wheeled car cut down the straight like a hot knife through butter. The car quickly climbed up to speeds higher than 150 miles per hour, but it didn't phase the racing driver. She was trained to withstand speeds and conditions like this. The g-forces that resulted from a fast lap like this were nothing to her, not after years and years of training and experience. As the braking point for turn 1 came up, Kasumi practically stood on the brakes as the car slowed. At the same time, she went down a few gears to make sure the car would slow down and rotate enough into the next turn.

A bit later, Kasumi back around the last corner again, the car barreling at a much faster rate as she crossed the line. "That was a 1:22.3. 22.3. Box, box." Her engineer said, as Kasumi pressed the button on her screen to confirm the pit. The racing driver had to make another round around the track as she made her way back to the pit stop, eventually finding herself in the speed limited stretch of road after a slower lap around the Melbourne Grand Prix. The pink car of Racing Point pulled out ahead of Kasumi, presumably to go on their practice laps and whatnot. Kasumi only pulled into her pit booth, her mechanics coming in and inserting devices to cool down the brakes and lifting up the car as it was pushed back into the garage. Once the car was settled, Kasumi clambered out of the car, removing her gloves and helmet as her race engineer came up to greet her at her car. "How'd the car feel?" The race engineer asked, pulling up the telemetry data from Kasumi's fast lap.

"Good." Kasumi said, as she removed her balaclava. "I did notice some understeer at turn 11 and 12, car didn't bite in. However, the warmed up tires did alleviate the low speed understeering. Turn 3 felt better on the second go." Kasumi said, getting into a conversation with her engineer. As she conversed, Kasumi glanced at the screen behind her engineer, watching Hugo in his car and working his magic with Valkyrie Racing's first car. Hopefully the car treated him well.

Midnight Answers [Katkook & Bee]

Hana looked at the light, before glancing over at the lady's Fairlady. Hana nodded, "Ready." The racer looked ahead, revving her car all the way to the 9000 RPM it was so capable of. A joker lap, huh? That was something she'd hardly ever heard of outside of rallycross, but she figured things would be different here in Tilview. The strategy was still the same though. She hadn't done rallycross in person but in video games, she'd always take the joker lap as soon as possible to get it out of the way and spend the rest of her time catching up. It was the same principle as pitting in a professional race. Nobody's position was their real position until the pit stop was out of the way. Same with the joker lap. The sooner she got it out of the way the sooner she could fight for her actual position.

As the second light turned on, Hana kept her car in first gear, her hand pushing down the handbrake so that it was no longer engaged. Any second, the light was going to turn green and it was time to go. Soon, the light turned green, and Hana let out the clutch as fast as she could as the car launched forward. As the S2000 tried to find traction as it launched forward, Hana immediately put it into second gear, letting the car immediately establish traction as it made its way down the first straight.

Midnight Answers [Katkook & Bee]

As Hana sat back in her car, there was a slight smirk on her face as the girl who spoke to her offered to double her buy-in. Ten grand? Hana was stupid to not oblige. As she sat back in her seat, Hana sighed a bit, before holding down the button that turned her car on. Hearing her car roar to life once again, the exhaust burbled as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. An unidentified number showed on her screen, but it didn't take a genius to figure out who exactly was the one who was calling. Sliding her thumb to the right, Hana picked the call up, hearing the lady's voice on the phone. "Yeah, I read you." This lady was pretty enthusiastic for sure. Maybe she just liked to beat up on rookies? Hana wasn't entirely sure what her angle was, but she was her ticket into the Tilview street racing scene.

Seeing the white Fairlady roll out, Hana put the clutch in, shifting into first gear as the car rolled forward and behind the Nissan as they made their way to the starting grid. Hana was ready to deal with whatever was on the grid. She expected a good balance -- exotics, muscle, tuners, the works. And, it was pretty easy to figure out who knew their shit and who didn't. At least, in Hana's experience. Those whose cars were flashier more than anything typically lacked the driving ability to do their car true justice. She'd seen many a fancy Lamborghini get obliterated by something that was perceived as inferior. It was the way the cookie crumbled sometimes.

Letting the car roll up, Hana obliged and let her buddy take the very last spot on the grid. It was an unusual choice to the untrained eye, but people who willingly picked to start from the back were very rarely ever people who could be fucked with. That was the person to be scared of and knew what the fuck they were doing. Hana lined her car up, the dark purple S2000 lined up behind what was a newer Ford Mustang, with an exhaust wide enough to fit a fist through. Chances were - that Mustang was going to spin out immediately. Hana put the car in neutral, ready to launch the car when the race started. "So, how many laps is this? 3? 5?" Hana asked, glancing over at the white Nissan.

Midnight Answers [Katkook & Bee]

Hana looked up as she heard a voice speak at her. The street racer was hadn't expected someone to approach her so quickly, but her previous intuition about their senses was only confirmed as she stared at the girl in front of her. Of course, it was hard to tell where exactly Hana was looking, given her eyes were concealed behind a pair of sunglasses. Hana stayed quiet as the girl in front of her pointed at a course behind her. Based on the way it was being set up, it looked like it had its bounds and limits clearly defined. None of that scrambling shit. That played into Hana's favor -- it took her lack of knowledge about the city out of the equation and it made individual driving skill more of a factor.

"A race?" Hana tilted her sunglasses down, showing her dark brown eyes as she made eye contact with the masked girl. "I'm interested." Hana said, before watching the girl in front of her examine her car. Seemed like she really knew what Hana actually had, which was a change for once. People saw the dinky little Honda that Hana drove and assumed it was just another lawnmower. That was far from the truth -- considering that this was one of the most agile cars to ever exist. Sure, it didn't have quite the same amount of top-end that Lamborghinis and whatnot had, but it more than made up for it in its cornering prowess. Where heavier, faster cars failed, her lighter, quicker car prevailed.

"Yeah. I'm glad someone appreciates what I've got." Hana said, putting her sunglasses back up as she looked at more cars make their way around the airfield. "Where do I sign up?" Hana asked, before putting her hand into her pocket, pulling out a wad of cash and holding it in her hand. "I can buy in, too." Hana said. The way she did things where she came from -- they always had a purse and a buy-in. Racing was different when there was money on the line. There were always egos and pride involved, but money introduced an entirely different breed of tension, often for the better. "Five Gs good?"

Midnight Answers [Katkook & Bee]

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A dim amber light shined on Hana's face as she and her Honda S2000 entered the streets of Tilview. A low rumble from the four cylinder, two-liter engine filled the cabin as Hana looked out at the glowing city lights that filled the streets of Tilview. Tilview was one of the hottest street racing destinations in the entire country. For those familiar with the street racing scene, it was practically impossible to not hear about the hottest street racing destination since the city of Los Angeles was invented. Constantly, there were stories of antics from Tilview being passed around like a blunt at a college party. Hana was definitely no stranger to news about this city either. Hana was informed of a meetup in some sort of airfield in this city. Being from another city, Hana decided it was time to pack it up and move on after conquering the street racing scene of her original city.

Tilview seemed like a more appropriate challenge for her. A few days prior, Hana packed up everything she had and set her sails for Tilview. There was nothing for her in that city anymore. It was her old stomping grounds, sure, but there was no way she had any chance to grow if she kept stomping the same people over and over again. Tilview was written in the stars for Hana, and she was here to capitalize on it. Rolling down the window, the street racer could definitely hear what she identified as the sounds of various exhausts and cars. The city was still somewhat unfamiliar to her, as it would be to most newcomers, but she had a feeling she'd get the hang of the city pretty quickly.

Hana found herself on a sprawling freeway on the outskirts of the city, mysteriously empty for this time of night on this day. Not like Hana minded anyway. That just allowed her and her car to stretch her legs. Hana took a glance around, seeing various red lights head toward a large hangar of sorts. There was no doubt in her mind that was the so-called airfield that everyone gathered at. She'd found it. Now to get there. Hana shifted down, before mashing the throttle down to speed up as she made her way down the freeway. The S2000's tires chirped as it sought traction, before grabbing it and planting itself onto the ground. The next exit surely pointed her in the direction of the airfield.

Coming down a ramp and onto a long, narrow street - Hana's headlights illuminated a paved path all the way to the airfield. There weren't many cars coming down this way for whatever reason, but another quick glance around showed other cars making their way to the airfield from all sorts of different directions. There were definitely different ways to get into the airfield, but why weren't people coming down this way? Hana was curious -- perhaps she'd find out the answer later on as she got familiar with the people of Tilview. Hana only got closer to the airfield as time went on, the various headlights illuminating the airfield and the sound of exhausts got louder.

Hana eventually got onto the airfield, and she could see cars of all sorts. This racing scene was no joke. Hana could see cars of all sorts -- whether it'd be exotic cars tuned to the gills, Japanese tuners with wheels as perpendicular to the ground as possible, and trucks that were tall enough to scale small buildings. This place had it all. Hana kept her window rolled up as she found a spot to park her car, glancing around at potential competition. She'd beaten them all -- tuned supercars, muscle cars, cars lighter than an ant -- she knew how to handle it all. However, a closer look at the cars on the airfield revealed that there seemed to be cars with similar paint schemes and liveries parked close to each other. Did... they have factions here? Were there racing gangs here?

This wasn't new territory for Hana, but she definitely did not experience things to this extent. Eventually, Hana found herself a spot, closer to the middle of the airfield as she backed into the spot nestled in between a Dodge Charger Hellcat and a BMW M3. Before she got out, Hana put on her sunglasses, she knew the sheer amount of flashiness and lights here were going to be a lot to deal with. Not to mention, it helped with the amount of eyes that would inevitably be on her. If there was one thing about a group like this - they knew when someone was new, and it showed as Hana got out of the car.

"Sheeeeeeesh."

"Damn. I wonder if she can actually drive that thing...."

Mass Effect: Kingslayer

mass effect is cool sure

Match Up in Malibu [Bee & Summer]

Anna hadn't noticed that Bella had came back until she glanced over a certain direction and saw her sitting in a chair not too far away from them. The co-champion of the night waved at the girl, before she started to chow down on her much deserved food. Anna thought a little bit about Jett's question as she stuck a piece of the chicken inside of her mouth. If a game of chicken was on the menu, then there was no telling what else would be in store for the crowd. There were many directions that her guess could go. Anything seemed plausible at this time considering it was only the first day of everything. Were they going for something physical? Something summer themed? Something that would activate their competitive spirit constantly?

"My guess is that it's hard to guess." Anna chuckled, "But if you want a real guess, I'm thinking we're gonna have to cook at some point." Anna shrugged, stabbing at her chicken once again. "With such a nice, big kitchen there's no way that we aren't gonna use it somehow and cook something." Hopefully Anna's answer was satisfactory enough. "With that being said, there's gotta be a twist to it. I'm just not sure as to how exactly they would twist it..." Anna glanced over at Bella and Jett. "Really? Cooking's an interesting idea. I think I agree with Anna. Though, Jett here had some good ideas." Bella mentioned, taking a sip out of her (virgin) mai-tai.

"Oh?" Anna smirked, before looking at Jett and Bella again, "What are your guesses, then?" Anna was genuinely curious as to what her peers thought. The possibilities were endless and there was so much that could be mentioned. "I wouldn't mind like a Jeopardy-type thing either. I love Jeopardy." Anna remarked, before allowing her peers to speak their thoughts.

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

The bright sun beat down on a sunny Australian morning, the sun shining on the beginning the latest Formula 1 season as teams got ready to head out and make their debut for the season. This season was the first season for CASTROL Valkyrie Racing Honda, an American team who had punched their way into the grid and joining Haas as one of the American teams on the grid. Ironically, neither of the drivers for the team were of American origin. Another surprising thing was that the team had opted to scoop up two rookies for their first driver lineup. Though, neither driver was a slouch. Hugo de Olivera had just come out of a 4th place finish in the previous F2 season he competed in, racking up a few wins along the way. Joining him, was Kasumi Brown, who had blazed a trail in the automotive world by being the highest finishing female in open-wheeler history, coming off of a second place finish in her last season in Formula 2.

Kasumi was attracting attention from constructors like Williams and Toro Rosso, but she had ultimately opted to sign with Valkyrie Racing, knowing that it was the fastest path to having a car that wasn't playing second fiddle to another team. Two rookies weren't unprecedented, but the precedent of this very occurrence didn't bode very well for Kasumi and Hugo. Of course, Kasumi aspired to beat the low expectations that everyone had for this team and turn some heads in this coming F1 season. Kasumi knew that since the team had entered so late, they were behind when it came to development.

Teams had many years on Valkyrie, and some teams weren't even close to competing. With this knowledge, however, the management of Valkyrie racing knew they had to run things as efficiently and as well as they could. They poached whoever they could from other teams, letting their wisdom and experience guide the team. Despite all that, however, the team also went with an entirely new team principal to oversee everything. Their current team principal, Kimberly Rossi, had no prior experience with managing a motorsports team, let alone a Formula 1 team, but yet the owners and management of Valkyrie Racing saw her to be the best candidate regardless of her inexperience.

But here they were. In spite of the lack of experience and the newness of the team, they were here on day one, ready to go. Kasumi stood beside her car, her helmet on her head as she waited for her mechanics to finish up the last touches to the car. Kasumi stood in her white overalls, complete with green and red accents to match the car sitting in front of her. Her red-pink visor was flipped up, the British born driver looking over the garage in front of her as she prepared to make her debut on an actual race weekend in the pinnacle of motorsport. Kasumi's eyes shot over to a mechanic, who started to beckon her into the car. She started to walk, eventually clambering into the rather snug cockpit of the Formula 1 car.

It took a little while, but Kasumi was eventually secured into the car, the racing driver slipping on her gloves and stretching her fingers as she heard the car rev to life. Glancing down at the steering wheel, it was going through its usual start-up procedures and cycling through its initial diagnostics. All seemed to be clear so far, as the screen eventually flashed a giant "N" for neutral. Kasumi took the liberty to give the engine a couple of revs, the turbo V6 bellowing in the garage. Eventually, the computer in front of the cockpit was raised up, before a mechanic backed up into the pitlane, watching for cars to come. As soon as the pitlane was clear, he waved Kasumi forward, indicating that it was finally time to go. Shifting the car into first, it rolled forward out of the garage as she turned right, the F1 car now clambering along at a strictly governed 38 miles per hour as it rolled down the pitlane.

It didn't take long before Kasumi's engineering chirped in on the radio. A female voice chimed in on the radio. "Practice start at the end of the pit. Position 3. Push hard after this out lap, and then come box afterwards." Kasumi pressed a button to acknowledge the directions, before pulling over just past the stop light. "You are clear behind. You are clear behind, Kasumi." Kasumi took a deep breath, before holding down the throttle just high enough so that the car wouldn't bang against the rev limiter and so that the car wouldn't stall right out of the gate. Holding the clutch down, Kasumi did an internal countdown. At the end of it, Kasumi let go and let the car launch forward, gradually applying more and more throttle as she cycled up the gears, minimizing wheelspin as best as she could.

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Valentina rolled her eyes as Zoe continued to go on about whatever it was she was going on about. Eventually Valentina was going to cool down, but right now Valentina figured that Zoe wouldn't really catch onto the fact that she wasn't entirely interested in talking. She was just going to keep going on and on like the Energizer bunny. Zoe never really knew when to stop when it came to talking, no matter how Zoe was feeling.

The concept of a propelled wingsuit intrigued Valentina, but it was going to be a while before she did some crazy shit with it. "A propelled wingsuit?" Valentina sat back and looked at Zoe, "I'm not hopping in one of those until I get more comfortable in it." Something like that could turn Valentina into a pancake pretty quickly, hence her not being very privy towards piloting such a thing. "You get me some sessions learning how to use it and maybe I'll think about it."

Match Up in Malibu [Bee & Summer]

Anna didn't think about how it was best to get a little bit of everything at the buffet. It was a buffet, after all and pretty much everything was free game. Anna wasn't much of a picky eater but she figured she didn't want to look like a glutton in front of her peers. Then again, who cared what they thought? They were the ones who lost and she and Jett were the ones who came out victorious in the end. No amount of slander these people could ever throw at them would ever take away the fact that they won. They were the ones who were victorious in the end. At least, for now.

Anna trailed behind Jett as he continued to pile on food on his plate. He wasn't kidding when he said when he said he was going to have a little bit of everything. It dwarfed Anna's own plate in comparison, which had a relatively measly serving of white rice, teriyaki chicken, Kahlua pork, and other sorts of Hawaiian delicacies. Once it was all said and done, Jett's plate practically towered over Anna's own plate. Though, there was always the possibility of seconds so Anna wasn't too worried about her plate.

Holding her plate out with an arm, Anna was already starting to slightly regret her decision doing it with just the singular arm with how it was trembling. Maybe she should've swapped arms or two armed it. However, by the time Anna reached a decision, Jett had offered to take her plate. "Oh. Uh- yeah. Yeah that sounds good!" Anna nodded, flashing a small smile, "I'll know if you take something anyway." The Ukrainian winked, before handing her plate over to Jett and walking off to her room. She didn't really plan anything fancy, not like it was the time and place to do so after all. Just whatever she found out of her closet would do.

Stepping into her room, Anna went head first into her closet and grabbed two random articles of clothing that she deemed appropriate for hanging out at the fireplace with Jett. It took a few minutes, but Anna emerged from her room dressed in a blue tanktop paired with a pair of simple gray shorts. Stepping back out into the backyard, Anna immediately spotted Jett and walked over to him, sitting down next to him. "Thanks for guarding my food." Anna smiled, before grabbing her fork. "It doesn't look like you took anything either." Anna laughed, before glancing over at his plate. "You enjoying your food so far?"