op2024
FourtyTwo
Noctis
Snowdrops
Goldeagle1221
wintersoldier
LadyAmber
GubGar
Ersa93Portugal, Pre-Everything
“Remember, radio silence on FIAR and Nordic Call. If they ask about opinions, defuse and divert.” Jinwoo bit the end of his pen as he repeated his instructions to the pit crew and pilots a third time, a bad habit gossip zines would have you believe he stopped with after the recovery of his second marriage during the pause in his career - in truth, he had just become better at hiding it thanks to Zygon’s endless media training.
“We already struck the worst topics, they will play nice.” Hyeon-Ae retorted curtly in Korean, closing the optical mirror-camera that captured both her face and the back of her head with help of the cameras in the vehicle.
“Do not tempt fate, Han. You can act innocent, but the world has a way of worming these things out of you.” The old coach returned with gritted teeth. Awkward silence permeated the crew car, until it finally rolled to a stop and the upper crew that had sat in on the exchange began quietly excusing themselves.
Olivia opened the door on her end and smiled with dauntless acceptance of whatever they may walk into. “It will go well, Mr. Jinwoo, sir.” she reassured him, and received a brief nod from Han to build further into assuaging the alleged team principal. With that, the two women filed out of the car, leaving him alone with his anxieties.
DELTΔ HYPER
Interviews +1
Pre-Qualifying
"Hello Han and Olivia! Welcome to Delta Hyper you two, and welcome to the couch. Olivia, what's your goals for this season, after coming so close to the top last year?"
"I'm hoping to get the title. And I am sure that while there are few seats on the grid, I can find somewhere for next season. Han has been amazing, and her data, and the team are amazing. The Queen of Korea is a very good mentor!" Olivia politely beamed, playing her own PR, the interpretation left open on how much Han fed into that.
"A bit of glowing praise there! Han, how are you finding the approach as a young pilot yourself, dealing with press, media and all of this. You can be honest!"
Hyeon-Ae was on her best behavior, the sleek suit brimming with the latest embossed Zygon detail work on-sale as print patterns for home equipment. Her bright smile threatened to overwhelm the emotionally disaffected watching from home. “Well, for us I think it is a bit easier to survive the pressure, yes? For us to come this far, we must first survive Zygon?” she jested with a mild chuckle, the following grin from Olivia making clear it was almost certainly prepared beforehand. “It is a very competitive sport. At Zygon we teach that the track is not all that matters - you know? If you cannot be a role model on and off the track, you will not survive this sport.” She reached over to place a hand on Olivia´s shoulder, and the two shared a practiced warm smile at one another. “Olivia; she is the future of Zygon. Seeing her reminds me that I must never stop working hard.” The little aww from Olivia, and a pat on the leg was also practiced, but at least looked pretty genuine. “Anyone can win,” Hyeon-Ae offered politely as she smiled at their interviewer again. “But no one will remember a winner who does not strike their heart at the same time.”
“I think that went well.” Olivia murmured, idly glancing at her watch as she rolled her heels in the green room. The silence that followed made Olivia glance up at Hyeon-Ae, who was stuck deep in a pad with specifications and numbers - already reading up on the specs of the race and the latest changes before even changing or warming up for practice. “..You don´t think so?” the young racer questioned briefly in follow-up.
Han grimaced, and looked up from her pad to offer her youth peer a brief sneer. “You want to talk to me, win your trophy and replace Neves.”
“You really haven't changed at all, have you.” Olivia sighed, uncorking her water bottle with a frown blossoming over her expression.
“Perhaps if you were more like me, you´d perform better.” Hyeon-Ae shot back coldly, before hauling out her phone to enable a call. Before Olivia could continue any talk, Han started a discussion with a Zygon executive and tromped out the door.
Portugal, Qualifying
The qualifier was within parameters for herself, and a welcome surprise as far as Neves was concerned. She had decided to leave the portuguese mad-dog to herself, as her initial qualifier result of fifth place seemed to have set her anxieties on edge - at least as far as Hyeon-Ae could tell. Worst case, anything she said to her now would niggle at her in some way and ruin her performance. She did not particularly desire a win for Neves, but a good result for her was a good result for Zygon. And if she could keep her fifth-place run all race, it might be enough to convince the meddling bureaucrats to stop cutting into the team with ideas and changes - what they needed was time to adjust and perform.
Hyeon-Ae instead honed in on the crew working on last-minute changes to her own machine, and spent her day pestering them for details, opinions, and whatever other stale conversation she could inflict upon them to sate her own need for control. Portugal had to be perfect.
Portugal, THE RACE
The moment the signal sounded, the engine whirred and her senses shot away across the track alongside the delicate machine purpose-built to spit in all laws of reality as much as it could. Hyeon-Ae´s aim was clear. She started on P8. The goal was to never drop position. She´d gotten an optimistic P6 call from Jinwoo and his team of ignorant stat-counters, but with Zenix behind and a stacked front-field, she had already foreseen that it would be enough of a struggle to keep position against the aggressive pilot nipping at her heels.
That was the plan, and that plan mostly remained solid. A series of failures or poor choices - Hyeon-Ae wasn't sure which, saw Hornfleur slipping hard, and both she and Hart passed him mercilessly with no real shot at recovery from the frenchman. Suddenly, the optimistic positional ask from on high did not seem so unreachable. Hart was a solid driver - sometimes - but was clearly driving a lot less erratic than the off days she'd seen him in playbacks. She made adjustments, pushing and trying for his position when she could without giving up too much energy or momentum, but the Apex vehicle was just brute-forcing away and out of passing encounters.
So once more Hyeon-Ae rejected the dreams of management of a P5+P6 finish, and focused entirely on defensive play, making only real overtake attempts when it looked like Hart was overcorrecting. The real enemy was on her heels after all. Zenix was an aggressive driver. Pushing and testing, trying each opening and forcing adjustments to combat his probing assaults. But the first time he course-corrected instead of forcing his engine for a rougher overtake as she had expected, she honed in on him. The minute hesitation into accelerating into a turn, the skepticism making him unwilling to bite on bait. Everything was exploitable. And more or less leaving her dreams for a higher position to base opportunism, she laid her full attention on keeping Zenix at bay. It was a long, tiresome game of cat and mouse. He attacked, she defended. She baited, he hesitated. In the end, he never got to bring the full brunt of that fearful machine he rode, and that suited Han perfectly. Keeping the mad dog of the championship muzzled was a victory on its own. It wasn´t until she crossed the finish line herself that she truly realized what had gone on in front, and Cassie´s surprise performance. That took the wind out of her own sail, just a little bit. But it was still good. She powered down as the machine was taken into the right resting place, mind already abuzz with new possibilities.
Post-Interview
The blood was still pumping, the thoughts still racing, when Kais invaded her space during her prep for her interview. It took considerable willpower to not physically pull back when he spoke, somewhere deep still wired to keep this brute at arms length. But he offered a sardonic compliment, more or less, and skulked away after congratulating Cassie. Han followed him with her gaze for a few moments longer than appropriate. She wondered how many of them realized the full extent of his movements, the way he carried himself, the subtle flex of muscles when he passed someone. It was terrifying, fascinating, and relatable, all at once. And then it was her turn, and she shifted those thoughts to the side, and smiled for the camera.
"Han, a solid race for Zygon, with good points positions, and your first podium of the year for Cassie. Do you think the move has finally worked out and she's settled in?"
“This is just the beginning. Those who have been expecting Zygon to remain still will be disappointed. Expect great things, yes?” the korean pilot verbalized with a charming glee pulled from the reserves of adrenaline.
Portugal, The Day After
Han slung her arm around Cassie´s shoulder, in a maneuver that was now becoming surprisingly common. It had started as a move for the cameras to signal unity and kinship, but now it had become equal parts manipulative and genuine camaraderie. It felt natural enough, so Han kept doing it. Neves didn´t seem to dislike it either. She directed her leftwards out the door, to the waiting limousine with her waiting aide and several bodyguards.
“You deserve a little relaxation after that performance, no? Podium, and you will torture yourself by flying back immediately? No, I will buy you a new ticket. Sanbeng cleared your schedule for the day.”
“Is this a spa or something? What are you up to?” the other woman chuckled a little, stiff only out of base confusion, but clearly not resisting the idea of relaxation. Especially not when, for once, Han seemed to be taking the initiative for something that wasn´t work.
“No, no. Just a friendly meeting with the opposition.” Hyeon-Ae retorted with as much mystery as a deadpan explanation could muster.
“What?” came the quick reply. It was enough to make Cassie falter but not stop.
“I have this bet with Paul Mulder, the winner between us decides the activity, and you are now invited.” The korean pilot offered with a smile that was equal parts charming and insidious. It was difficult to know if she had some scheme in mind - but she did appear to be genuinely in a good mood.
That made Cassie stop, leaving Han helplessly stopped as well. Try as she might, Hyeon-Ae could not brute force the Portuguese woman into motion. At least not officially. “H- Wait-.. Han, I don´t wanna third-wheel your date.” Cassie almost whined, frowning with a spread of anxiety blooming out on her face.
“Nonsense. It will be fun. We will eat, laugh, relax. It is not up for negotiation. And besides. You beat him yesterday. On the podium, both. You should take your chance to rub it in his face. As a friend, of course. And. You will get to spend the day not speaking korean. Yes?” Hyeon-Ae argued in a quickly mounted offense, well-practiced and impenetrable in it´s sheer willpower. Cassie chuckled as she let herself be dragged along, and the two women entered the limousine as Sanbeng opened the door. A worthwhile investment, Hyeon-Ae thought to herself.
The Sofa on the Moon
"Han, great to have you here on Delta Hyper, and welcome to our favourite couch of the year! With your talent on show over the last few races, do you think you and Cassie have what it takes to charge after Valkyrie, and do you think there's any edge you can find at Luna?"
“Hello, and thank you! What a wonderful place to be. I am trying to document as much as I can for the fans who cannot join us.” Hyeon-Ae led in innocent and crowd-pleasing charm. She tapped at her lower lip briefly, falsely pushing the narrative she needed that much time to think of any answer. “As for Luna, I believe the very unique track features will have a debilitating effect on those who enter the race with a set plan. We are adaptable and relentless at Zygon - that will be our advantage.”
Qualifying, Luna
She regretted her words while on the track. In theory, the high technical skill required and the bizarre driving feats required would be a fair handle for her and a negative for others, but now that she was faced with the real thing, Luna proved a little less friendly than her hubris had allowed her to expect. The weightlessness was crazy, and real, in a way it wasn´t in simulation. The turning was sluggish, the machine fought every little adjustment with tiny overcorrections and mild drifting. It was more to keep track of, even with freshly adjusted stabilizers. In the end, Han wasn´t sure if it was her own poor performance, or if Zygon´s machine was just antithetical to the moon, but something did not gel on a fundamental level. As more results rolled in, and Zygon yet again teetered on risk of scoring zero after qualifying, that momentum that they´d carried out of Portugal was getting drained like an oxygen leak in the hull.
Hyeon-Ae had stood fully behind the sudden pivot at management to hard push Cassie after Portugal, and she´d made several appearances together, talked her up in public and private, and even greenlit changes that would suit Neves´ driving style better than her own. Yet here the woman was, stood next to Han as a sour portuguese-british raincloud, one position lower than Hyeon-Ae on the starting grid. All that time and energy, and she was back down here among mortals in no time flat. Then again, the machine wasn´t just fighting Hyeon-Ae.
Han leaned sideways, and bumped Cassie briefly to get her attention. “Who do you like better, Paul or Zenix?.”
Cassie scoffed a little, frowning briefly but eventually presenting a little cheerier of an attitude. “What question is this? Worried I got along too well with ´Mr. Mulder´?” she bit back with mild sarcasm, earning a snicker from Hyeon-Ae.
“Of course you would think of it like that.” Han murmured, not entirely displeased.
“Not all of us are robots, eh.” Cassie shot back, leaning in to bump the korean woman back. “Zenix is a real rocket though. Paul has more of a future.”
“Mmmm. Do you think Zenix would agree to a meet?” Hyeon-Ae continued entirely calmly, earning a look and a smirk from Cassie. “Loser has to ask.” Han continued and glanced back to Cassie. The portuguese pilot stared at Han in momentary disbelief, then snorted to herself.
“Deal.”
Post-Qualifying
She was back in the hot seat after the awful round of qualifying. Expecting the questions to come. That said, she was all smiles, undefeated and proud for the cameras.
"Han, not the best result for Zygon, after a very promising Portuguese GP. Do you think you have the race pace to keep Valkyrie and and Carrera at bay, and keep them on their toes?"
“A very good question.” Han began with a pleasant chime to her tone. “I think Luna is perhaps deceptively difficult. The qualifying race should not be relied on too much - I myself found it much different from what I was expecting; it will be even more different with others vying for position on the track. We are adjusting, we are preparing. Zygon will overcome.”
