PWRBand Technica

Come early Friday morning tons of race staff and organizers flooded out of the hotel inside of the Grand Prix circuit, heading towards their respective paddock areas. Among the early morning stampedes was PWRBand Technica, the mechanics and engineers going out first along with team principal Nina following right behind to get the trailer setup for the weekend.

“Right, lasses. Let’s get this all operational so we can be the first out on track for some clear road.” Nina would keep on cheerleading the girls, happily banging her own metaphorical drum. Behind her was the #911 squad not too far along, with Ryoko stretching her arms around and lugging her duffle bag on her shoulder. Risa alongside was texting someone on her phone, gently smiling as they traversed Rainbow Lagoon Park.

“How are you enjoying California so far, Ryoko?” Risa would remark, turning her eyes towards the girl next to her. Ryoko wouldn’t respond, trying to keep as much focus as possible to the session ahead.

“Hey, heeey~? It’s only free practice. We’re not going to be racing until Saturday afternoon. Loosen up a bit, you gotta meet the fans later today as well.” Risa would tease, nudging her on the side.

“Hmph… you don’t get it, it’s our first race in the limelight and it’s just a little car meet to you.” And a pout, turning the other way as they start to cross the track towards the IMAS GT paddock area.

“Well, kind of is when you think about it.” And a shrug from the blue haired girl, giggling to herself. “World Grand Prix is just a really expensive car meet. You seem really nervous…” She’d take Ryoko’s hand, feeling her trembling. Meanwhile Ryoko would go bright red, staring at the hands intertwining and stopping for a moment.

“What’s wrong?” Risa would let go, smiling softly.

“N-nothing! I’m not nervous! Promise!” Ryoko would storm off ahead, leaving Risa to walk towards the trailer by herself. Meanwhile Nina instructed the team to lift the cars from the trailer, the mechanics climbing up to the top level of the container and slowly lifting the cars one by one onto the asphalt. With her hand on her hips, she’d stare at the slow moving mechanism before turning around to greet her first two drivers.

“Ah, you two made it. I suppose May and Noire still have to get out of bed~.” Nina would get her phone to text the pair, wondering where they could be. “Welcome to your first free practice of the season, it’s not much different to what you two have done before but I thought I could just introduce you two to it all~.”

“Thanks, Miss.” Risa would respond, with Ryoko bowing.

“No need for the formalities, ladies~. I’ve told you before just Nina is fine. Follow me inside, the ocean breeze is kind of chilly, innit?”

The trio would head inside the trailer, heading towards a sort of mini meeting room with Nina taking a seat and crossing her legs. Ryoko and Risa would sit across, with Risa teasingly scooting closer to Ryoko. She wouldn’t take it kindly and gently nudge her a bit further.

“Aha, ara~... you two are already getting along just fine. I love seeing that from my drivers. Now then… I know I’ve already gone over this countless times with you two but I don’t want to have a damaged car at the very beginning of the weekend. The track’s gonna be properly slick so take care on your outlap and just get some data for Tali and Noemi. They’ll be guiding you along the whole way.”

The two would nod, with Ryoko sternly paying attention.

“Ah, Ryoko… you seem pretty excited to be going out on track. Just hold back your excitement a bit? You seem a little nervous dear…”

“O-oh…” Ryoko would slump a bit, with Risa gently patting the top of her head.

“It’s alright! I know how exciting it must be to race at this level for the first time but we need to go at our own pace for now. It’s no good rushing yourself into things. Now, the second session at the end of the day is when I want you two to really do quali sims. Once the track is all rubbered up from the other sessions in the day you two can give me your best.”

“Y-yes, ma’am! I mean, Nina!” Ryoko would exclaim, standing up straight once again with Risa giggling to herself. In the meantime there would be a knock on the door.

“Hey Nina, I’m here now!” Noire would slowly slide the door open, bringing a sleepy looking May alongside her.

“Heh, always the last to arrive aren’t you? And you’re becoming a bad influence on our new girl, hm~?” Nina would tease, waving as she watched the pair take their seats.

“You know me… you gotta sleep in the most to be the most awake by the end of the day. It’s always a strat I follow for Long Beach. Shit’s always so packed and we barely do anything for hours on Friday. You know this…” And a soft yawn, her cat tail and ears perking up.

“Hey, I told you to cool it on the language, Noire.” And a little bit of a serious expression from Nina, looking at the cat girl in the eyes.

“You never watch yours when you’re around me! You’re out here calling Northern Wolf cunts to me on the phone every week, so don’t be all high and mighty boss.” And a smirk, with Nina sighing out and shaking her head.

“Fine. They are bloody cunts aren’t they… snrk–” Nina would try and gather herself, turning towards a sleepy May. “Had a nice night of sleep, May? We’ll be getting going soon so don’t doze off in the car~”

“...h-huh?! O-oh! Right! I’ll try my best, Nina. You can count on me. I wouldn’t put myself in such a fix…” She’d rub her eyes, with Noire gently whispering something in her ear that would make her wide eyed.

“Good, good girl. Now… with you two here, Noire, I want you to help May get acclimatized to things. You know how we work so I think you’ll be the perfect person to get her up to speed. Anything else you need assistance with Lucy will help.”

“Ugh, Lucy again?! I swear Nina, I thought you’d get rid of her last year, but then you decided to sign her behind my back??” And an angry looking Noire, planting her hands on the small table between the two parties.

“L-listen, I already spent a lot finding these new drivers here… d-don’t make a scene out of this please, it’s just one more year and I had a long talk with her over the winter. She’s got it sorted out this season, so give her a second chance?” Noire scoffed in response, shrugging and crossing her arms. “Fine, but if she leaves us stranded with no fuel with one to go again you gotta make her walk. I’m serious, I love you Nina but I don’t know why you keep giving her a chance… s-sorry, you three.”

“And sorry to me, Noire.” And an eye roll from the cat girl in response, whispering something again to May. “Right then–” She’d be interrupted by a gentle knock on the door, a soft voice being barely heard.

“Excuse me, Nina…? May I come in?”

“Sure, introduce yourself.”

A silver haired girl would slowly open the door, entering and facing Nina. “Tali told me to get the drivers outside immediately… apparently Aleph are already practicing their driver swaps and she wants Ryoko and May to get used to it. Do you want them to do them right now…?” She had a polite tone, with her clipboard held closely to her chest.

“Ah, Sia… you’re right. We did a bit in testing but we’ll have to really get the girls up to speed on that. Okay. Tell Tali I’m sending the drivers outside in a bit.”

Sia would nod, but would tilt her head wanting to ask another question. “Also… Lucy was talking to me about setup… I’m a bit confused about it, should I also bring that up with Tali? I don’t want to create arguments already but something doesn’t line up.”

Noire would giggle, smirking towards the new hire. “Yeah, Lucy is always messing up the setup. Poor girl, she’s probably being super stubborn about it.”

Sia would look a bit nervous, looking down at the floor before Nina would encourage her. “I’ll talk to her. She has interesting ways of getting the car to work but it pays off. If you have any ideas that could help though, please speak up. We work as a team here, and no one should be starting arguments about anything here… Noire…” Nina would arise from her seating position, smiling towards the intern and giving a nod.

“Don’t worry. You’re doing a fantastic job already. We’ll be out in a bit.” Sia would smile brightly at Nina’s compliments, exiting the room and leaving the four drivers curious.

“Nina, I like her better already. Why can’t we have her instead of Lucy, she’s way more attentive instead of just browsing model car websites on her downtime.”

“Shush, I let you wear earphones in the car so cut Lucy some slack. The extra help will benefit her as well.” Nina would simply laugh at Noire’s antics, getting a team jacket from the hanger and slipping it on. “Do you know she’s the daughter of Meigui Zhejiang? The lead designer of the R8 WEP… she already is as diligent as I hear her mother was, it’s inspiring to watch.”

“Yeah, well you better hire her instead of Lucy next season”

“Noire… maybe that’s enough?” May would try her best to defuse the situation. “Let’s not scare off the other two…”

“No, I’m perfectly fine here. I’m just starting to find it funny at this rate.” Risa would remark, smiling as she’d arise and start digging her things out of her duffle bag. She’d have her pink and gold helmet read, adorned with a kimono-like design across the sides. “It reminds me a lot of when I used to race with just my group of friends as a team. Good to see you all aren’t as uptight as this silly girl here.” And a nudge to Ryoko again, not responding and trying to stay attentive.

“Think we’ll get along then, Risa.” Noire would lean forwards to get a good look at the girl, smiling and showing off her fangs. “We’re all a big, dysfunctional family here. Nina knows how to care for us… well… asides from KEEPING LUCY!”

“I said quit it, bloody hell!” And a stern tone from Nina, putting on her frames. “You keep on hammering on about Lucy I’ll take away earphone privileges.”

“Fine, mom. I’m sorry, mum.” And a laugh, resulting in Nina begrudgingly laughing as well.

“Heheh… it’s fine. Come on girls, we got a race to practice for.”

Nina would exit the room, with May and Ryoko following along right away. Risa would stay for a bit to get the rest of her items ready with Noire staying back for just a moment.

“Hey, Risa?”

The blue haired girl would respond, getting her glasses out as well. “Yeah? What’s up Noire?”

“A lot of people here take this shit too seriously. I’m just here because my dad thought it would be better than wasting my talent on music. You know the deal, racing family wants their child to continue on their legacy… I mean, it’s fine by me but he wanted me to do oval stuff! I hate that stuff, it’s so boring! Like, what’s the fun in going around in circles? You don’t get to experience stuff like Long Beach.”

“I don’t find it too bad… though I guess I don’t watch racing too much in my free time.” Risa would finally be ready to head out, changing into her team polo right then and there. Noire would keep on looking, smirking to herself.

“You don’t even bother to wear team stuff until you get here… I appreciate that. I always find it stupid that people just flaunt their stuff and brag about to the others at the hotel that they run for a third rate team. Nina lets us do a lot of stuff that normally other teams don’t – I mean you did hear that she’d take away my earphone privileges if I kept crying about Lucy.”

“What’s your deal with her? I thought she looked nice. Just maybe a little clumsy but–”

A loud thud could be heard within the hallway of the trailer, a high pitch screech coming out. “MERDE!!! Aaaaaah…”

“Really clumsy. I was stuck with her last season as well. You’re lucky you got Noemi, she’s really good at what she does. It’s obvious the team had to cut corners somewhere though…”

Risa would giggle, heading towards the door and turning towards Noire who was still seated. “Well, it’s a big step up from working on the car with your girlfriend with your hands aching at the end of the day. You don’t want to piss off Nina any further by staying here, let’s get going outside. The two are probably waiting for us.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m right behind you…” Noire would sigh, picking herself up and taking Risa’s arm. “Definitely wouldn’t mind spending time with you later though… too bad you mentioned a girlfriend~.” She’d give a wink, a finger to her mouth before Risa would laugh and make Noire let go.

“I’m starting to think this isn’t a family but some weird harem instead… don’t get any weird ideas-” The two would finally head outside, preparing themselves for the long weekend ahead.