Polytrix Formula 1 AU (Part 3) MEMES + ANGST (Patreon)

Once again I offer you more F1 AU content...

This time, a bit of a meme overpaint of Rumira training and a (pretty) angst heavy plot outline for the AU (find it down below)! I'm not planning to write a fanfiction or anything really but it was fun to ponder for a short bit.

Hope you enjoy!

Plot Outline:

The First Crash/Rumi Backstory

had a car crash before she got popular/in her early racing days

it almost made her quit, but she kept going

has scars from the crash (equivalent to patterns in this au)

Zoey knows of this, but Mira doesn't

Rumi trains her ass off after that and makes it to the top

Celine is her coach and pushes her, "just so she's safe and it won't happen again"

Rumi secretly is immensely scared of crashing again, but she pressures herself into continuing (to an extent even Zoey isn't aware of)

The Second Crash

Mira has been getting closer and closer to surpassing Rumi, often mere miliseconds behind her

During one race, Rumi's nerves catch up to her and she crashes her car

Zoey is watching everything happen in slowmotion from the stands, she's frozen in shock and can't do anything

Mira stops her car instead of securing the win and runs towards Rumi's car to check on her

stays around as medics take Rumi to ambulance, sees her scars and finds out about her first crash in later research

feels incredibly bad and like an idiot for being so jealous of Rumi when she didn't even understand why she felt that way, when she barely knew Rumi and how much she must've pressured herself, when all that's driven herself was the stupid need to prove herself

The Aftermath

Rumi has to get back into it slowly - she almost quits

Zoey has her back in all of this of course - takes care of her, assures her that she'll support her no matter what she chooses to do (retire or continue)

Rumi loses the first match after her crash to Mira.

during the race, there is a split second where Mira knows she can surpass Rumi but she doubts herself

does she surpass Rumi? Does she let her win again? The fact the thought even comes up and shocks her, and makes her press the gas down even harder.

the win does not give her what she had hoped for. It doesn't give her satisfaction, she feels frustrated because she had been working towards this for so long, lost to Rumi so many times, she thought she needed this but it doesn't feel right.

The broad public and even Celine and Bobby suggest she retires after that race. That the second crash took too much of a mental and physical toll on her. Zoey doesn't want her to. She doubts herself again.

Zoey is pissed at Mira. Thought she would know better. That by then, Mira would've known Rumi well enough to let her have that win. That she could've won the race after or the race after that. That one more second place would've been fine, if that had meant Rumi would be in a better place mentally, with everything that had happened.

Rumi's confidence has been routine rather actual confidence - she puts it on because it's all she knows, because it's what kept her going all this time, but the loss sets her back so, so much. Mira doesn't even begin to understand the dimensions of the consequences of her "win".

Mira gets defensive. She asks Zoey what she should've done, that this is her job, her dream, they all knew she always wanted to win, that she didn't knew of Rumi's past, that it isn't any of her business (she hurts herself with those words, but she ignores the sting in her chest).

Zoey looks at her, so many emotions in a single gaze, Mira can't make out all of them. Betrayal, disappointment, lost hope, sadness, anger, maybe even a broken heart. Mira chokes on them. "Does it really give you the satisfaction you sought, Mira?" Mira can't breathe. Finds no words to reply. She chokes on them and runs.