[Editors note: Please be aware that English is Fox's 2nd language, so there may be errors in grammar and other technical aspects. I've left small notes including extra context about Gemlord, but I want to leave his words unedited. Please check the Gemlord Lore Guide, linked by clicking on the title, for information I may not have added. Comments with questions are always welcome!]
Hey readers! It's Fox, excited to make a post after a month hiatus.
Things have just gotten busy, and I haven't been able to sit down and write in English. This post was accidently foreshadowed in my last post, which you can read by clicking here. I mentioned in the section about Castiel's brother, Justice; "Someday he'll run into my mother and there'll be chaos."
Yea, that happened this month.
It started when Cas and I went to see Justice race in his first race. He's driving a stock Dawn [Camaro], number 89, and it's got a beautiful iridescent blue and green paint that matches him quite well. Not unlike his brother, his looks caught the attention of people in the crowd, I think the LaCour boys just have a certain charm to the way they present themselves. People just found him more charming when he kissed his husband, Kazimir before he stepped into his car. Being announced as a rookie gave the crowd more excitement, as the last racer on his team had died six months earlier in a tragic crash. They needed someone fresh to boost their spirits. He was asked why he requested 89 for his number, to which he responded;
"Well, we can only have two digit numbers, otherwise I'd be 00989," he stated, pulling down his collar to reveal his CSRP number tattooed on his collarbone, "So 89 does the job just fine."
Which makes sense. I find a lot of those from the CSRP value their number for various reasons: Cas has his number, 70168, as his license plate. He says it's to where he came from, so he doesn't forget what he learned there. Justice never said why it was important to him, but that's very personal for many people.
During the race, he fought hard for the lead, but starting at the back of the line wasn't super helpful. He fought harder to beat one of the Dash [Dodge] rookies, and that's probably going to do him better than the 8th place he got- which isn't bad considering there were 36 drivers on the track. If I learned anything from watching my mother rejoin her series, it was that having a rival keeps the race interesting. Fans enjoy having competition to follow.
Cas and I were able to go meet him on the false grid after the race was over; if not because Justice and Cas are related, because the people manning the gate knew who my mother was. I was wearing one of her jackets, one of my new favorite articles of clothing. We congratulated him for doing so well, and saw that his rivalry with the Dash driver was only friendly. The safest way to have a rivalry, in my opinion. Justice had relatively little damage to his car, and those things are easily fixed since it's a stock. I looked it over while the brothers chatted, since I had no idea how cars like this worked. My mother called me while I was inspecting the car, and I took her call. She was just asking about when the family was meeting up at my place, which still wasn't for a few months. She's not great at planning. As soon as she saw I was at the track, [Gemlords use video call most often], she gave me an earful for not telling her I was gonna be in Quartz. Cas and I came on a whim, I told her, but she would have none of it. She was coming to see us if we liked it or not, and she hung up before I could protest.
I told Cas and Justice that she was coming, which only made Justice excited. He said he really enjoyed watching some of my mother's best races when he was young, and would love to get advice from her. I warned him that she's not the kind of driver you want to learn from, unless he wanted to drive like Cas. This made him laugh, and Cas jabbed his elbow into my stomach for that remark.
Just as Justice had brought the car to his crew so they could help him fix it- which is unusual since drivers usually don't do the fixing in stock races- I saw a familiar blue and green Dawn sporting "28" drive straight into the false grid, smoke trailing behind as it jolts to a halt. That's my mother, speeding just to come and see me.
"Raidon, how could you not tell me you were here!?" she shouted at me while wrapping Cas and I into a hug.
That's the thing about my mother, because of the mental illness spawned from her weapon being shattered [View the 10/15/23 "Key Information" update and Zelina's profile in "Important People of the Lore Guide for more], she acts like a teen more often than not, with the mind of a mother. I never take offense to her impulsive love. She's just happy to be free from Shards. Then she saw Justice, who had come out with most of the other people in the pits because she had just driven her car in without warning. That's when she let go of Cas and I and marched over to Justice. It went something like this;
"Mrs. Kuro, it's a pleasure to--" but my mother cut Justice off quickly.
"You're Castiel's brother, right?"
"Yes, of course ma'am."
My mother smiled her signature smirk; she was scheming and Justice could see it. She looked to one of the track officials, right in the eye, making them quite nervous.
"How much will it cost for me to run a race with him? Five laps."
"Excuse me, ma'am?" the official asked.
"Mom are you crazy?!" I shouted, my eyes wide with confusion.
"She's not crazy, just competitive," Cas added, clearly on board with my mother's plan.
"I guess, uh, 5,000 Jewels?" the official stuttered, now on the phone with their supervisors, "as long as we can have the cameras rolling."
"Done deal!" My mother went back to her car and threw on her official sponsor jacket, helmet, and looked to Justice, "I gotta see if you're worth the Dawn name, kid."
Kid, of course, is not an accurate statement. Justice is 38, and my mother isn't technically very old either, being 56 herself [Gemlords can live to about 200 years old, but having children within the first quarter of life is common]. My mother just calls everyone "kid" unless she's close with them.
"I won't back down from a challenge from one of the most progressive racers of our time," Justice replied, which isn't wrong. When my mother was racing, the tracks were dominated by the Quartz and Diamonds. Diversity struck in her generation of racing; and even more so now that she was racing among the 25-30 somethings right now.
Justice's crew chief stepped up to ask if she'd need one as well, but my mother rejected the idea of crew chiefs in one on one races. To her, it's up to the driver to be aware of their opponent. No one questioned Zelina's oversight; how was a stock car going to be an even match to a street racer? I heard murmurs rise from those who were still in the stands, and those in the pits. The most common question: How is a street car from 7970 [1970] going to stand up to a stock car from 8031 [2031]? Mind you, my mother has decked out her car to the limits of the street racing regulations, which are looser than stock regulations. There was only one way to find out, start the race.
I was still shocked she could pull this off, but I understood why; not only was my mother one of the biggest investors in Warrior [Chevrolet], so much that they publicly endorse her frequently, but this was good publicity for both stock and street racing. Cas and I sat in the pits, with Kazimir who had just come back from the restroom to find that a whole new race happening. The announcers spoke in a confused tone that was entertaining enough for broadcast, and explained how this would be the only time this happened. Everyone knew my mother was spontaneous, and that's what people love about her. I've tried to suggest she see a therapist to help, especially when these ideas get dangerous, but she refuses. And everyone knew not to fight her when she had one of these ideas, including me. As Cas put it once "she'd fuck them up real bad."
As the green flag was waved, my mother sped off as if the Jaspers [police] were after her. It was like she could see the flashing lights in her rear view. She had been given a camera to feed the live feed like the one Justice's car had, and we watched her speedometer jump from 40 to 140 real quick. Justice was only going 120 in that same time. Now I know my mother's top speeds have been around 300 on road courses, and the track didn't seem to scare her. She always told me she hated being contained, but she seemed just fine taking those tedious left turns she complained race tracks had. She was climbing to 170 really quick, and Justice had only caught up to 140 now. The announcers were getting really into it, shocked that a street car tuned for dirt roads and rough streets was handling smooth road better than a stock car. Crowds cheered for their favorite, Cas and I quite split on the matter. He was just enjoying the race, and I was getting more and more concerned about my mother's mental health.
"Is that safe?" Kazimir had asked, looking more concerned as he pointed to my mother's speed on the screen.
"There's no such thing as safe for Zelina," Cas laughed an answer as the second lap started.
The second lap went down without a hitch, although I could see my mother faltering on the unfamiliar track. She didn't have slicks either- tires illegal to use in street racing since they didn't represent what an average street racer would use. The fact that Justice had more rubber to the track helped him catch up, matching her speed of 170 by the third lap. This worried my mother, who sped up as he tried to pass her on a curve. Her back bumper hit the inside wall, falling off completely, and the camera mic inside picked up her saying: "Needed a new one anyways," making everyone laugh.
Even at 180, my mother couldn't shake Justice. He was either right behind her, or she was right behind him. By the fourth lap, my mother was practically on slicks now, camera footage gave us a clear view of her beat down treads, and she had no idea how to control a car that way. But she kept pushing, inching up to 185, which Justice took the chance to beat, going to 200 on the first curve and passing far ahead. This is where my mother's reckless nature kicked in. She refused to let him show her up after she'd been the challenger. You might think she'd suddenly hated Justice for this, but she could be heard laughing from her camera mic. Justice was a quiet racer, though a celebratory cheer came from his mic as he passed my mother. They were having fun. On the straight towards the last curve of the fourth lap, my mother gunned it to 215, passing Justice as his speed slowed to 190 on the turn. My mother's speed had gone down to 200, just enough to get ahead.
By the fifth lap, she and Justice played the passing game. Justice would pass my mother, and visa versa. It looked like my mother would win, hitting her top speed of the race at 225, but as they were headed for the checkered flag, she lost her grip on the road and had to slow to 200, matching Justice as they flew over the finish line at the same time. There were many ways to determine this; between the clocks on the dash counting the seconds on the track and the cameras, two things became clear; a well tuned street car could match a stock car's speeds, and Justice had skill. He was on the same level as a racing legend. Granted, my mother's top speed of 300 was a rare occurrence, she'd sit comfortably between 185-250 an entire race.
The two got out of their Dawns, and my mother offered her hand to Justice, saying "You're a good kid. Worth the Dawn name," and smiling like the proud mother she was. She loved Castiel like her own son, and it seemed she was ready to adopt Justice into the family too. It didn't take long for cameras to flash, for the racers to pose with their cars, my mother even climbing on top of the 89 Dawn and singing Justice's praises. It made the three of us behind the pits laugh. Cas grabbed my hand and run out to the spotlight, Kazimir in tow. He picked Justice up and kissed him, while Cas and I joined my mother by sitting on the 89 Dawn. Of course, Cas wanted to get in on the publicity, and I'd never not pose for pictures with cars, who do you think I am?
It was honestly a great day, since I invited everyone to dinner and my mother got to talk more with Justice. He got vastly more popular, and they agreed to appear at each other's races to promote each other. It's been a few weeks since then, but I'm always watching the races on TV, sometimes to Cas' annoyance. I saw my mother sporting Justice's jacket in pre-race content, and Justice had been allowed to put "28" as a small sticker on his bumper. Warrior, of course, was very happy about their racing teams getting along well across different sports, and as far as I can tell, they're working on a joint promotion for both Justice and my mother to be apart of. And I know they'd both like that.
Anyways, thought y'all would like that story. I'm excited to see if I get new content to update you guys with about it!
XO,
Fox.
[Cover image by Talia]