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August looks at the turquoise hair, the neon cover-alls and shudders a tiny bit at the disorderliness of it.
Can't these people conform a little to standards of decency?
He turns and slaps Jaxom on the shoulder.
"You're up tiger - try to be polite and be good. And if you can't be good, be safe. And if you can't be safe - name it after me."
He leans over to Diamaante and stage-whispers:
"We're breaking them up right?"
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Diamaante rolls her eyes. "No, Jaxom. August is just putting you on. We are trying to reconcile their differences. We are aiming for a happy ending here--and not that kind of happy ending!" She raises her hand to forestall any immature comments.
The lashunta approaches the mechanic with a smile. "Hello! You are Laboni, aren't you? My name is Diamaante. We understand you have been having some relationship troubles of late. Well, relationships are our specialty! How may we be of assistance?"
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The young woman looks flustered and a bit irritated at your approach as she flicks off her laser-torch.
"What?! Relationships?? I don't have time for that. I've got a race to win. Stuff jucking relationships." She flicks her laser-torch back on and turns back to the engine of her small junk racer.
"Racers, you have 20 minutes to line-up at the starting gate." The overhead voice crackles through poorly-attuned speakers within Laboni's tent.
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Laboni gives August a withering look.
"I've worked hard to pull together a decent racer from worthless junk piled up here. You think the Salvage Union is going to let their star racer lose? Especially to his...?" Here she trails off and snaps her goggles up, wiping at her eyes before furiously popping the lenses back down and sticking her head back into the bonnet of the car.
"Help me with this 'hunk of junk' or leave me alone. I'm not in the mood to talk."
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Leaning over the bonnet, Jaxom points out a fuel injection line to Laboni that could be re-routed within the engine, boosting its velocity. Laboni turns her goggle-masked face to the technomancer.
"Thanks," she grunts.
Diamaante heads towards the largest of the tents in the pre-race section of the compound. A host of ysoki seem to be swirling about the entrance to the compound; many of them step aside as you approach, darkly muttering about 'pseudo-celebrities'. A mottled grey-and-white ysoki leans up against a sleek-looking racer, answering questions casually and portraying the utmost confidence. He seems awfully familiar.
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Ratrod looks you and up and down, Diamaante, as you enter the tent. ”I see that my racing prowess attracts all the right people. What do you like more, sweetheart: the Fast or the Furry?” The ysoki chortles, as do a few of his cronies.
With the others helping to build up Laboni's racer and Diamaante scouting the competition, Telion decided to see about forging an alliance. He walked among the other racers, specifically looking for racers that were having trouble and unlikely to have any chance at winning. He hoped that he could convince a racer to help disable Ratrod's vehicle when the race began so the way would be clear for Laboni.
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"Overcompensating for something?"
"You should come back to the winner's circle after the race to test out your hypothesis, sweet cheeks," the ysoki leers, patting his cheek pouches in a lascivious manner to howls of derisive laughter from his cronies.
*************************************************************************** ***
Telion spies a bulky and unseemly junkracer in a nearby tent. Ducking inside, he sees a small pair of boots wiggling underneath the back end of the vehicle. After a moment, a blue-haired gnome covered in piercings, tattoos, and augmentations crawls out and squints at him, fiddling with a piercing through the septum of her nose.
"Yeah? You lost?"
*************************************************************************** ***
Back at Laboni's tent, August sticks his hand down into the exhaust ports, trying to more efficiently redirect condensation build-up. His first effort simply results in spraying oil-tinged water over himself, Jaxom, and Laboni.
"Watch it!" the nova-punk mechanic growls.
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"That's pretty funny, seeing as I'll already be in the winner's circle before you. This hunk of junk has got nothing on the rig Laboni's working on. You know her? Now there's a race queen if I've ever seen one! She certainly gets my engine revving. And you know what she told me? She said, 'That little mouse can't measure up to a true champion.'"
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"She didn't say that....she's just trying to....you tell her from me that I....OUT OF MY WAY!" Ratrod storms out of the tent, shoving a few of his cronies roughly aside as he goes.
*************************************************************************** ******
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Diamaante enters a tent occupied by a curious spherical-shaped racer. Its biological form stands out from the mechanised drones and robots in other tents. Its pilot, a stoic-appearing, dark-haired lashunta male who looks unfairly good in black and gold, stands out as well. Rising from his position leaning over the engine block, a torq-ratchet in hand, the lashunta cocks an alluring eyebrow at Diamaante.
"Diamaante? In all of the junk joints in all of the planets in all of the Void, you had to walk into mine. It's Orsis. You probably don't remember me - we were both young and stupid."
*************************************************************************** ******
Idar looks around Laboni's tent, trying to spy a spare part that might be particularly helpful to the race effort. Feeling out of his depth, Idar turns his efforts to checking out the weapon mounted on the turret of the junkracer to see if his expertise with weapons might be useful. In the meantime, August successfully re-inserts the exhaust hose into a novel engine port, a trick he picked up on Akiton designed to reserve fuel and boost efficiency.
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Diamaante flashes a bright smile. "Why, Orsis! As I live and breathe! Of course I remember you--and I would hazard to say that we are both still young but hopefully slightly less stupid!"
She embraces her fellow lashunta. "So how did you end up in the botracing circuit? There are easier ways to impress the ladies, you know, especially for a man of your impeccable character. This is a fine-looking racer, though--and the junkbot is bad, either," she adds with a wink.
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"Oh, you know how it goes, Diamaante. You want to travel the Diaspora, you hop on the nearest ship, you get addicted to discoveries, new people, new experiences. This is a mere diversion, this racer, but I find myself living my way through a series of diversions until I find my way." Orsis returns the hug with warmth.
*************************************************************************** ******
"What in the jucking Void are you doing?" Laboni steps back as Jaxom begins over-clocking her engine, a high-pitched whine rattling the frame of the engine as he starts it up. Jaxom scans the chassis with the infrared odometer and presents it directly to Laboni, indicating the significant boost in RPMs that the engine is now churning through.
She shakes her head with a flat expression on her begoggled face, looking between the grinning middle-aged human and the android. "Where did you two strip-nuts come from?"
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He is a fine-looking man. I wouldn't mind a little diversion of my own with him if there's time after this race business...for old time's sake. Never seen a spherical racer before. It doesn't seem very aerodynamic, but perhaps he knows something I don't. This isn't my specialty, after all.
"I know all too well, dear. I'm only here as a favor for a friend. I'm afraid I don't know much about this racing business. Any tips you might have would be appreciated."
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Idar looks around Laboni's tent, trying to spy a spare part that might be particularly helpful to the race effort. Feeling out of his depth, Idar turns his efforts to checking out the weapon mounted on the turret of the junkracer to see if his expertise with weapons might be useful.
Idar looks over the junkracer's weapons array.
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"I'm sure I don't know much, but I can suggest some pointers..." Orsis is surprisingly candid about how to make the best use of the Botscrap track to a botracer's advantage, pointing out areas to brake hard and other areas to accelerate and out-corner less-apt racers. Diamaante leaves the tent after a few minutes with a few tricks under her belt - and a private comm-link number to catch up with Orsis when they're both less inhibited by other things.
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Jaxom's attempts at further over-clocking the engine only result in flatly stalling the motor, along with a few steely stares from both Laboni and August.
"Not lost. Not exactly anyways. Just so... exasperated. That Ratrod is just so full of himself, you know? He thinks he's so great, he can just run the whole place and just push everyone else out. I'm looking for someone that can really stick it to him, and my friend Laboni's racer is woefully undergunned. Unlike this impressive piece of machinery. It looks like it can take a beating and dish the hurt back out. Am I right?" Telion finished his explanation with a dashing smile.
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"Not lost. Not exactly anyways. Just so... exasperated. That Ratrod is just so full of himself, you know? He thinks he's so great, he can just run the whole place and just push everyone else out. I'm looking for someone that can really stick it to him, and my friend Laboni's racer is woefully undergunned. Unlike this impressive piece of machinery. It looks like it can take a beating and dish the hurt back out. Am I right?" Telion finished his explanation with a dashing smile.
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The blue-haired gnome looks pleased at Telion's flattery. "Lemgem, that's the name. Thanks! I've built her myself from parts here and there. She still needs a good deal of work. I think her aerial derailleurs could use over-hauling, and I'm working on up-mechanising the throttle adjuster to allow for more pull through angled driving, oh, and the gravitron stabilisers could be upgraded to a Q model, but...did you mention Ratrod?"
The gnome twists a large-bore hoop earring as she moves in closer to Telion.
"Now look, you didn't hear it from me, but I've raced against Ratrod, and he's got some form of an energy converter parked up on his vehicle somewhere. We all attack each other's racerbots during the competition. Hell, I think that android Velocity races JUST to shoot at everyone else. But Ratrod, see, he's just itching for someone to fire an energy weapon at him - his converter will turn it into a speed boost!"
"Now I'm not blind. I see where Laboni is coming from. Spurned lover and all that. I get it. I---hmmm..." Lemgem scratches her wild hair. "I've got a deal for you - what's your name? - Telion? Right, Telion, I got a deal for you. I'll help Laboni win. I dig it. Let the lady get back some pride; show her ex- what a fool he's been. Good stuff. I'll take second place and try to ensure smooth sailing for your girl. But here's the deal: when she wins, I get that sweet Strawberry Machine Cake signed album. That's my price. We got a deal?"
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Diamaante finds herself staring at a very pretty, highly-weaponised junkracer in a curiously-quiet and uncrowded tent. With a sudden entry, a beautiful androgynous android with silver hair and skin steps from behind the vehicle.
"Hello," they say. Colorful paisley patterns dance on the android's lips, eyelids, and luminous clothing. "I am Velocity. How may I help you?"
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Idar stares at the array of salvaged weapon components in Laboni's tent. Looking back and forth between the junkracer and the offerings, Idar sees that there already exists a standard energy weapon mounted on the rear guard of Laboni's racer. A bare turret under the racer's underbelly seems to scream out for a second gun, in Idar's mind, but a choice needs to be made: kinetic weapon or energy weapon?
In the meantime, August focuses his attention on improving the targeting computer within the junkracer operating system (successfully), and Jaxom gets his engine clocking adjustment to settle in without stalling out the engine.
"Oh man, you're a fan of SMC too? I don't mind about the signed album since I've never been a fan of physical media -- I don't stay put in one place long enough to really start a proper collection, you know -- but I'll have to check with my team to make sure they're agreeable. I'll be right back after I check, but before I go, did you hear that they recently auditioned a haan? I don't know if they're a member of the band proper, or more of a pyrotechnics specialist, but I can't wait to see what they bring to the group!" Telion checked in with the other members of the crew, warning them about Ratrod's energy weapon countermeasures and checking that everyone was ok with the trade of the album for a racing partner.
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"Do the races usually get so violent?""
Velocity looks flatly quizzical at Diamaante. "I'm not sure what you mean, Diamaante," they say in an even tone. "How does a non-sentient machine get violent? If you refer to the shooting of other mechanised targets, then I understand your query for many would wonder why the actual race would not be the foremost goal of a so-called bot racer."
Velocity continues in the same flat but polite tone. "Alas, I have never won a race as my vehicle - despite my moniker - does not seem to achieve the same speeds as other racers on the circuit. Despite the mild ironic tragedy, I do gain amusement from firing on the other participants' vehicles. I do believe that the spectators enjoy this as well."
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Lemgem seems excited enough to stop fiddling with her over-large piercings at the conversation about Strawberry Machine Cake. "A haan? Are you jucking with me? That's unbelievable, and again, I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, Drelonious-Q has publicly said on his spherezine that he finds himself most attracted to non-bipedal creatures, so that would fit, but a haan? I saw SMC live at Qabaratonomicon on Castrovel two cycles ago, and it was sooooo shiny, I mean, a laser pyrokinetics component on top of that intensity?? I'd steal a necroglider to get there!"
Once Telion returns, Lemgem seems genuinely excited about the race plan. "3000 feet. That's all we get; that's all we need. You just make sure that Laboni gets her racer in front and I'll keep her there." Lemgem punctuates the plan with Telion with a firm handshake. "It's nice to meet another CakeFace. Catch ya around - I've got a botracer to prep!" The gnome heads back to her vehicle, a pep in her step.
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The solarian makes it back to Laboni's tent just as Jaxom finishes finely tuning the engine timers. The kasatha is attempting to retro-fit Laboni's machine with a second kinetic weapon to replace the energy weapon.
Idar doesn't find it as easy to fit the second kinetic weapon as the first. He asks Telion for some assistance as the audio system in the tent crackles to life.
"Racers, this is your race start warning. Report to the starting blocks within the next 5 minutes. Failure to present in the next 5 minutes will result in disqualification."
Laboni looks at Idar and Telion struggling with the turret. "Come on, people. We've got a race to win."