Normally it's the right thing to root for the underdog, especially when they are your own teammate.
However Beatrice grew up with the simple law that bigger means badder, and more dangerous. So to see Aiden standing next to the loud, and huge vehicles around him made her wonder what in the world he was thinking.
"Look, we get your worried, but the kid has a pretty good shot at this." Mal said, crossing his arms as he drifted to lean against the side of her head while standing on her shoulder.
"Well it's not unfounded, kids strong, but that's several racing vehicles." Mari said unhelpfully, receiving a stern glare from Mal and Sera as she chuckled and spun her umbrella.
Beatrice looked towards the Jax who had joined her in the stands to watch the start of the race. He was currently turned away, munching on what looked to be a small bowl of buttery smelling cooked corn.
Seeing her gaze he nudged it towards her with a paw and gave a small grin.
"You haven't had popcorn before, right? Its super tasty."
Reaching over she took a tasting bite before beginning to eat ravenous at the tasty puffy food.
Jax chuckled and turned back to the starting line.
"You sure they don't need you on pit crew duty?"
"Yea, Selene said they had potions, and that the noise would be super irritating because they didn't have any spare beastkin headphones, so Im watching with you."
Jax seemed to oddly perk up hearing that which he seemed to do more recently but before she could ask her attention was drawn away by an odd sight.
The man was clearly a dwarf with a puffy brown beard, a set of sunglasses on, and a wide brimmed leather hat. He seemed to be rather scantly dressed, wearing what looked to be some kind of spandex underwear looking thing and small ties around his wrists and ankles ending in long yellow streamers that followed the mans movements as he walked.
He strutted forward to stand in the center or the racecourse with the confidence of someone who had this thousands of times as he raised a small object to his mouth, causing his voice to ring loudly in the stands.
"Ladys and Gentlemen, boys and girls, skin, fur, feathers, and scales. I am Maxitomos, your host for this evening, and Welcome, to the 71st Twirlburn hill hopper 5 miler!!!"
He paused as the stadium roared in cheers, their whoops echoing in a somewhat painful way for Beatrice's sensitive ears.
"The rules for this race are very simple, do 5 laps as fast as possible, don't flip, and your in the race till your engine won't turn over. That means weapons, fighting, and ramming are allowed."
Beatrice and Jax slowly panned over to Aiden who seemed to be staring at the dwarven announcer with a blank look that seemed to mark his ignorance to this facet of this race too. Selene and the others in the pit crew seemed to be moving, frantic to find something Aiden could wield, but it was a bit late with everyone on the line.
"We are about to begin, but before that I want to once again thank everyone here today for their generous contributions and our main sponsor Minatomos mercentiles, a place to find a thing. Now Im sure you all have heard me say it a million times already, so why don't you all help me out."
Maxitomos raised a hand to his ear as the crowd seemed to bellow in unison
"RACERS, START YOUR ENGINES!!!"
Some of the vehicles had been running before, but as all of them began to rumble, a faint humming shook the stands and a small shiver ran up Beatrice's spine.
It was hard to explain the cause behind it.
It could have come from the power the engines seemed to radiate.
It could have been the loud thundering noise that had once signaled great danger.
However Beatrice found the thing that truly startled her was the ferocity that seemed to radiate from everyone on the race course, even Aiden to a lesser degree. It was a competitive and almost primal desire to be better, faster, stronger.
It was like watching towering bears clash to claim territory in how all the racers viewed each other as rivals threatening what is rightfully theirs.
"It seems everyone's revved and ready to go, so how about we get things started shall we?"
The crowd once again exploded as Beatrice began to wonder just how much screaming racing involved.
"Racers ready!?"
3…
2…
1…
GO!
Like a wick finding its end, the engine on the track roared and dirt flew under spinning tires. Beatrice and Jax watched as vehicles burst forward, with Aiden not in the front, but following the leaders of the pack as he ran.
Beatrice stayed to watch them round the first corner before she stood and began to make her way down the stadium steps.
"Be back, using the bathroom"
Jax nodded, taking a few more mouthfuls of popcorn, his tail wagging in that somewhat adorably unconscious way it sometimes did.
Beatrice went down the ramp, continuing past the bathroom as Sera floated next to her.
"Yep, she's not in the pit crew, she has some kind of copy she placed, she is currently heading into the woods."
Beatrice nodded as she turned and began to make her way to the treeline.
Beatrice wouldn't call herself the smartest member of the party by far, she wouldn't even call herself the wisest. But she held a different prospective from the others, and better yet, angels who she could compare notes with on things. One such thing being Whinry.
She had suddenly arrived, made herself known, and then nobody had a problem with her, there was no struggle, no fight, nothing. It was like she was instantly integrated for no reason.
The worst part about it was even Beatrice herself was fooled at first.
She only realized how weird she was acting around Whinry because her angels kept commenting on her acting strange.
The scary part was how seamlessly it happened, no struggle, no foreboding, just acceptance, like she was always a part of the group.
She might have even called herself paranoid if not for the stories she had heard of the party's old team member named Kaelin.
He had lied, tricked them, and almost gotten them all killed. So for them to turn to a random stranger Liora found on the road and bring them in was abnormal.
As she entered the treeline Sera shifted some of the vines, granting her a better camouflage against the ground and dirt as she took a moment to roll to hide her white coat.
Even these measures didn't seem like they would be enough, but she would have to trust it as she began to move, focusing on silence and stalking, even using the tricks she had learned while hunting like avoiding looking directly at the target so they don't sense you.
She approached, following the scent as Sera scouted ahead and Mal hid with Mari underneath the small pouches she wore on her sides Jax had gotten her.
She could see Whinry standing in a small clearing humming to herself as she seemed to be looking at something.
Beatrice couldn't see what it was yet, but she refused to take her eyes off Whinry as she approached.
Even now she wasn't exactly sure what her abilities were, but looking through the Log she had seen a skill called Self Trickery(C)
She didn't know the classes nearly as well as the others, but it didn't seem like a skill that would reasonably belong to any of them.
To make matters worse, that book they had gotten that listed the classes and what they did seemed to be broken, showing extra slots that seemed to be struggling like they were trying to appear and hide at the same time. So she couldn't even check using that.
Beatrice moved to get into view, moving to see what Whinry was looking at when her blood seemed to chill.
Floating before Whinry as she stood patiently was a wooden sign that seemed strange, being oddly round and somewhat unnatural in its almost balloon-like texture which had a simple message.
I know your there Beatrice, Ive been waiting
Her heart was pounding so loud she was worried Whinry would turn around.
How did she know?
Did she slip up somewhere and reveal she knew more than she was letting on?
Does she have some skill that alerted her to being followed?
Forcing her mind to calm down as best she could Beatrice looked at the two choices before her.
She could step forward, revealing herself
Or
She could bank on the small chance that while she knew Beatrice was onto her, she didn't know if she was being followed or not.
She waited silently, Sera making the foliage hide her better as she set her posture to wait.
1 minute
3 minutes
10 minutes
It felt longer than it actually was because of the anticipation, but she waited unmoving.
Whinry however seemed to rapidly grow bored, fidgeting, moving, pacing.
Eventually she seemed to grow bored, the sign seeming to fade as she flicker her hand.
"Dang, maybe popcorn doesn't agree with her stomach or something."
Beatrice didn't move but a small confirmation settled in her head.
So she doesn't know where I am, but the fake of herself she made to be in the pitcrew can let her see through it, that's why she did the sign, she was suspicious.
Whinry seemed to pause as if in thought before she reached into a pocket and pulled out what looked to be a rectangular device that seemed to light up. She seemed to poke at it, the light subtly changing before she held it up to her ear.
Beatrice couldn't head the whole conversation, but the half she could hear worried her.
"Hey, its me, found a chance to step away and call."
….
"Yes I have confirmed, they are in fact fatebound, it seems the Hollowcreek boy infected the others."
….
"Yea, he's being watched too hard so I can't do much to him, so I looking to the more straggler ones of their group. Seems Thalia is working directly for a player which leaves just the fox."
….
"Huh, what do you mean the fox is off limits, she's the one without any backers."
….
"Purple claimed her!? I thought she already had a group with that vampire guy."
….
"Damn, looks like im pulling out, Ill have them drop me off when we pass through town after the race and meet up with you. Whinry out."
She turned, and began to make her way out of the clearing, an annoyed look on her face that was normally always giddy and wearing a smile. Beatrice didn't move when she was out of sight.
She didn't move when she was out of earshot.
She didn't move when her scent was too far away.
Her mind was racing, bits and pieces of the puzzle clicking together. However something instinctual told her it wasn't the right time to mention any of it.
Both because Whinry was still traveling with the party, and because for some reason Mal, Sera, and Mari seemed to be silently staring at Beatrice from where they thought she shouldn't see them with the same expression on their faces that Whinry had just moments ago.