Shelby Manning (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shelbycobra) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
nexus_crossings2022-08-03 05:19 am
shelbycobra) wrote in nexus_crossings2022-08-03 05:19 am
In which Shelby brings an unexpected guest.
It had been a while since Shelby had visited the Nexus, and in that time, many things had changed. She had made the decision to stay at Team Penske despite getting a very good offer from Chip Ganassi Racing, unable to walk away from the teammates and crew members that she considered family after they had supported her through the majority of her career. She had reunited with her strategist Shane Worthington, and the two of them had made a pact that they were going to make her giving up her dream job worth it. Unfortunately the 2022 season had not yielded the success that they wanted.
While Shelby had won a race, her other teammates had won more. And though she was leading the championship standings by virtue of consistently finishing in the Top 5, that still felt disappointing when she'd had years where she had won three or four events and dominated. There were only four races left in the season and she felt like she hadn't reached her full potential. She was also adjusting to changes off-track with rumors about where she might be driving in 2023 and having to balance a personal life. After almost a decade of friendship and over a year of circling each other, she and her ex-strategist Peter Fowler had finally entered into a romantic relationship. While Shelby loved Peter deeply, the transition hadn't been easy and she wasn't used to having to think about her home life during the racing season. She also had no idea that he had bought an engagement ring in Toronto.
Add all that up and she wasn't surprised the Nexus thought she needed a getaway once they had finished the Indianapolis race and things had relatively settled back to normal. What did surprise her was that Peter had gone through the door with her. That had never happened before, but one second they'd been headed for the garage to try and distract themselves by working on her Cobra, and now here they were. Peter was the most down to earth person she knew, so Shelby's first reaction was to turn around and see exactly how perplexed he was. He was just staring at her like he thought she was going to say something, and so she just grabbed him by the waist to get his 6'2" self out of the way.
"Okay, how does anybody else feel about surprises?" she quipped, wondering who was around right now and what they were going to say when she introduced them to her boyfriend.
While Shelby had won a race, her other teammates had won more. And though she was leading the championship standings by virtue of consistently finishing in the Top 5, that still felt disappointing when she'd had years where she had won three or four events and dominated. There were only four races left in the season and she felt like she hadn't reached her full potential. She was also adjusting to changes off-track with rumors about where she might be driving in 2023 and having to balance a personal life. After almost a decade of friendship and over a year of circling each other, she and her ex-strategist Peter Fowler had finally entered into a romantic relationship. While Shelby loved Peter deeply, the transition hadn't been easy and she wasn't used to having to think about her home life during the racing season. She also had no idea that he had bought an engagement ring in Toronto.
Add all that up and she wasn't surprised the Nexus thought she needed a getaway once they had finished the Indianapolis race and things had relatively settled back to normal. What did surprise her was that Peter had gone through the door with her. That had never happened before, but one second they'd been headed for the garage to try and distract themselves by working on her Cobra, and now here they were. Peter was the most down to earth person she knew, so Shelby's first reaction was to turn around and see exactly how perplexed he was. He was just staring at her like he thought she was going to say something, and so she just grabbed him by the waist to get his 6'2" self out of the way.
"Okay, how does anybody else feel about surprises?" she quipped, wondering who was around right now and what they were going to say when she introduced them to her boyfriend.
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"I think I get it," he says, "the little things make you feel more normal?"
The little exchange about dinner with Shelby's parents, even with Peter's cringe, makes Danny smile just a bit. The ease they have around each other is sweet, the sort of thing that Danny would like in a relationship of his own, and it's nice to see it in action.
"I suppose it all depends on how fancy you feel like being. I've seen some restaurants that are highly Michelin-rated, in the normal world, but when they're here they're almost empty and you have a chance of getting a table." Danny shrugs. "Or, I could give you the names of a few hole-in-the-wall little places. More relaxed dress code, bigger portions."
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But at his question, her boyfriend nods a little. "Our schedule during the season is fairly regimented. A lot of travel and then once we arrive at the track, everything is tightly planned. Being at home and doing the mundane things is actually a considerable change of pace. It seems counter-intuitive, but you can't even do things like keep the fridge properly stocked because it might be a week or two before you're home again."
"We picked a challenging career." Shelby admits. She had always been going into the family business so for her she knew what to expect and didn't see any other way. "What about you, Danny? How did you get into your line of work?"
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Danny unclips his PINpoint from his belt and asks Shelby, "You've been here before, so do you have one of these PINpoint devices? I can enter information for the restaurant in my world, and have the device scan for a matching location in the Nexus." He smiles, "Well, once I know what cuisine you two are in the mood for."
He taps at the PINpoint a few times, to pull up the screen he needs for the input. "Oh, me? My parents are spies. Even when I was a kid, they taught me things they knew about the business, and then when we realized I had metahuman abilities I started training to get those under control. So... I guess I was born into it?"
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Shelby digs her PINpoint out of her bag and chuckles slightly at Danny's explanation of his backstory. "I guess you could say the same for me, kind of," she replies. It's not at all as serious as what he does but she can relate. "My father was a racer before me, so I grew up in the business. I wasn't obligated to go into it, and in fact he made me wait a few years before I started to make sure it was what I wanted to do. But I took to it at a relatively young age. One of the things that's kind of fun is that I came up at the same time as a couple of my colleagues, and so we've gone from young kids to now adults who some of us are married and have kids. I'm not one of those people yet, but we've kind of grown up together."
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"There ought to be, if the Nexus tries to keep us happy. I'm in Manhattan's Chinatown for dinner every chance I get." Danny starts rapidly typing in things like coordinates and hours of operation with one hand.
Danny grins when Shelby mentions her father being a racer. "My dad was always real excited to teach me new things. I've got a lot of fond memories of following him around." As the PINpoint starts running a scan, Danny listens to the rest of her explanation, of coming up with a group of friends. "That sounds really great, learning on the job with people around your own age. I was always the tag-a-long kid, but it would have been nice to have friends like that. Since you're all at similar life stages, there's more to relate to, right?"
The device in his hand gives a little trill, and Danny glances down at the screen. "Oh, nice. There's a version of the Dim Sum Palace from East Village in here. Or else there's King's Kitchen, if you'd like to try Hong Kong-style barbeque. I'll send the info to you, Shelby..." and he does so. Shelby's own PINpoint will make a similar trilling sound when the transfer is complete. "And then it's just like following a GPS."
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"Did you have anything to do later?" she offers. "You're welcome to join us. I can't say I won't ramble about next weekend's race, but Peter is a much better conversationalist than I am." The side effect of spending so much of her life focused on racing was that she was always so excited to talk about it.
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Danny looks surprised at the offer, glancing between the two of them. "I appreciate the invite, but I wouldn't want to interfere on your date night..."
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"You knew what you were in for when you started dating me," she teased. "But no, it's no imposition. We'll probably spend some time here and then I do need to get back to work. We have just a couple of races left this season and the championship is the closest it's been in 20 years." She failed to mention that the two of them were directly competing with each other for said title - and that in her gut, she didn't think she was going to win it. She hadn't told anyone that particular feeling. "It sounds like you might benefit from a break, too, Danny."
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He smiles. "Sure, since it's not a date, I'll join you. You can even tell me about your upcoming races and who's more likely to win." (Since Danny can't know about Shelby's gut feeling, he doesn't know that he may have just brought up a fraught topic.) "And I'm sure I can recall some sort of wild story of the cleanups I've done, which will be appropriate dinner discussion..."
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"To answer your sort of question, it's probably him and my teammate Josef Newgarden," she says with a nod of her head toward Peter. "They've won five races out of the 15 this year. That's practically unheard of with the level of competition in our sport. The only reason they don't have the points lead is because of my level of consistency." She hadn't won nearly as many races, but she had a tendency to be competitive at all of them.
"There are still two races to go," Peter points out, shaking his head. He knows that five race victories - which will amount to a third of the season - is a huge advantage and that she's probably right but he has never been one to get excited about anything before it happens. Race wins and points leads can be lost in seconds. "It's been one of our best seasons, but she's right when she says the competition has been great. There aren't a lot of backmarkers this year."
"Which is what we want. We want to be pushed and challenged. Sports aren't fun if there isn't any honest competition," Shelby says. No one can win all the time and the not knowing is what makes it worth pushing themselves so hard and giving up so much. They get to be the best versions of themselves. "I'm sure you get your own kind of adrenaline rush doing what you do, Danny."
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Danny shrugs. "I suppose I do. I wouldn't say I'm in it for the adrenaline rush, but I'd be lying if I said I don't enjoy it when it happens. The people we go after are the sort who push the envelope in all kinds of ways. Most of them are smart, and outsmarting them makes me feel accomplished."
He swirls the straw in his soda, and wrinkles his nose a little to push his glasses back up the bridge. "And, it's kind of funny when their dumb muscle is expecting no challenge from the little nerd in glasses, and I kick their ass anyway."
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Peter nods knowingly. He'd been there with her from the beginning, and it hadn't helped that he had also been new at his job, so they were both under a microscope at the time. A few years later, they were both working for the top team in the league and both had resumes they could be proud of. "To answer your question, Danny, a backmarker is one of the cars that always drives around in the back. Drivers who don't have as much experience, or their car may not be as competitive. We don't have a lot of those this year."
It was the Catch-22 of their profession. They wanted to see one another do well and to provide great competition, but they also wanted to win. If Shelby were to lose the title to her teammate, she would be thrilled for him and Peter and know that they deserved it. At the same time, she would be disappointed in herself. There was no real way to get around any of that.
"We should have had you around the track a few weeks ago," she quipped. "We were racing in Nashville and there were so many wrecks it was just debris everywhere. The cleanup was insane. It was like six figures of damages."