Chapter 15

AusKarts

Thursday : March 6th 2025

An hour and a bit went by quickly as Ruby studied and read, mentally creating an image for herself as this Princess. Her mannerism, how exactly she should speak and act as both royalty, and as a warrior. Her movement, how she walked, how she fought, every detail of how she believed this character to be had to be internalized as best as she could before Monday. Then, as the clock struck 5pm, she had to shut it all off again, and return to the happy, bubbly, Ruby everyone loved. Sometimes that is easier said than done, as Ruby stepped out of her UTE, she could almost imagine that tattooed man from last night looking up at her, the expression similar to that of a humbled, terrified, and cornered knight looking up at his expected end. She shook the thought away, and headed inside. 

Go kart tracks are strange places. They feel similar to that of an arcade or a bowling alley or a club. This wide open space where something slightly wild and uncontrollable was about to occur. Not so much that it needed to be hidden from polite society, but enough something like a helmet and seat belts would be required. Blue light illuminated the track, giving it this sci-fi vibe. It winded back and forth between decommissioned F1 cars, through not one, but two banked turns like you see on American race tracks. Big TV’s and massive paintings of a city skyline gave you the vibe of racing through a city at night, passing billboards and skyscrapers alike. It was a very cool vibe and fun to race around. 

During the open to the public hours, the main lights stay on, somewhat dampening the experience, but it was necessary for safety requirements. However for these closed corporate events, the normal white lights were often replaced for more blue lights, giving a very dusk, night race appearance. Now the headlights and tail light on the karts had an effect, and the TV’s and painting now provided a blade runner like aesthetic as you passed by. The walls closed in, the track feeling even faster and more narrow. Now this is kart racing!

After putting in a high visibility vest, Ruby was greeted by the manager Dick. The first few times Ruby worked there, he lived up to his name, giving the appearance of a grouchy old middle aged man who had no time for these slacking, teenaged temp workers. However, through repeated appearances both as a temp employee and a customer every time Ruby found herself in Melbourne, she slowly won him over. Over the last half a year or so, she had worked four or five times here as a temp. 

“Miss Starfire, nice to see ya.” Dick remarked.

“Same to you Mr. Collins. What am I doing today?” Ruby said with a smile.

“Same as before, waiting tables and waving flags when needed.” Eh, kinda boring but whatever. At least working as a waitress, delivering pizzas and drinks to tables the night would go by quickly. Typically big wigs weren't really interested in a pizza party anyway, so it was mostly drinks and covering other flagmen when they needed a bathroom break. Regardless there would be no breaks for now, as they had about an hour to get things ready for the corporate party. After getting some tables moved around, helmets cleaned and sanitized, and of course fueling up all the go-karts. Ruby and the rest of the employees hopped in whichever karts hadn't been used in the longest time and took them for a few slower paced warm up laps to make sure their engines wouldn't explode. 

Go karts are strange little machines, and especially these GT5 spec rental karts which are surprisingly rapid. Capable of hitting 80 kph on a larger track, they share a lot of traits with open wheeled race cars. For example, being mid-engined with a rearward brake bias, super low to the ground (even more so than a Lamborghini), and having surprising amounts of mechanical grip in the turns. Many race car drivers equate a well handling car to “driving like a go kart” and it's easy to see why. They're like a microcosm of high performance. A Formula 1 car distilled into a bite sized chunk that is just enough to get the adrenaline flowing and the heart pumping. 

Sadly, Ruby only had time for three or four laps around the course, before it was time to give way to the guests who would be arriving any minute. Parking all the karts back in the pit lane, the staff dispersed to their expected locations. As the cluster of respectable middle aged businessmen, and their almost universally suspiciously younger wives, poured into the Karting center, they were met with smiles and congratulations. 

“You're about to have the time of your lives mates, come right this way, and we'll get you suited and booted.” Dick said, leading the herd over to the helmet rental desk. As part of this package they had requested, each participant would be getting a set of fake AusKarts racing overalls and a set of cheap slip on trainers. They weren't fire proof, nor were they of super high quality, but it beat trying to drive in dress shirts and suits. It was a bit of a palava getting all twenty to thirty men and women changed and their expensive clothes stored on hangers and or neatly folded into boxes. But soon enough, the mass of people was shifting over towards the track.

As those who didn't feel like racing took to their seats, Ruby was quickly to their tableside, offering the standard choices of Coke Cola, Tea, or Water and a small sampling of junk food like pizza or sausage rolls. Meanwhile, Dick and the other staff members gave the drivers a short safety briefing on how not to kill themselves on a Go-kart track. It was all going well, Ruby was quickly and efficiently getting drinks onto tables, and the first batch of drivers were taking positions for the first race in just a little over an hour's time. About 7:23 in the evening, the first of five planned races began. 

With the patrons mostly satisfied for the moment, Ruby grabbed an open seat for a quick break. She took the opportunity to check her phone, and as expected messages and notifications were piling up from her couple days or inactivity in the digital realm. 

“Oh great, I'm going to have to burn through these this weekend.” Ruby muttered to herself. Having worked so hard to build up a small fanbase in such a short time as an idol, she always tried to interact with them, but that was… 22,579 people now. In just three days of inactivity she had over hundred dm’s requests. Most of course were bots, unsolicited dick pics, pathetic attempts at flirting, or requests for feet pictures. But among the sea of embarrassing filth, there were some genuinely nice messages.

“Hello Ruby! I'm Abby, and I'm eight years old from Canada. It's so cool seeing you travel around Australia and all the cool things you do. You should write a book, I would read it! My mommy said I should write to you, and I just wanted to say… I hope I can be a model like you one day.”

 It was adorable messages like this one that just warmed the cockles of Ruby's heart to no end. With a beaming smile, she replied.

“I hope so too Abby! It's a lot of hard work, but it's so amazing to be the star in someone's life. Burn brightly and love life, best of luck. Ruby Starfire.” 

“I can't keep track of my fans anymore. It's cool you still write them messages.” Ruby nearly leaped out of her seat as a voice appeared over her shoulder. Who the hell is snooping on me?! She thought, before turning to see a… familiar face? 

“Star?!” Ruby couldn't believe it. Just beside her was Stella Star, who was dressed in a carbon copy of her outfit, high visibility vest and all. 

“What are you doing here?!”

“Practice got shut down early because of a crash and fuel spill. Got bored, so I figured I would snoop around and see what you do for a living.” Star explained, not that she explained anything at all.

“What do you mean? Why are you dressed like an employee?”

“McClaire said something about you working somewhere so, I asked Revz what you were wearing when you left. Figured there would be a uniform, and I would need to blend in! Found your car, and snuck in with the crowd that was waiting outside.” She snickered evilly, like a mastermind laying out their plan for the hero in a TV show. Ruby was dumbfounded, who would want to sneak into a job for fun? 

“So you've been here this whole time!” Ruby exclaimed and Star nodded. 

“Yeah, I was doing some magic tricks to keep the guests entertained.” She laughed, pulling her cell phone out. Carefully she balanced it by its corner on the tip of her finger. With a twist of her wrist, she dropped the phone into her hand, and then held the back of her hand up to Ruby. Turning it slowly, she revealed the phone had indeed vanished within her grasp. 

“Uh, okay… that's actually pretty impressive!” Ruby admitted. 

“Hehehe, you can thank Jack Martin for that one, but yeah. So, this is a little more exciting than babysitting?” Even though Star’s question didn't seem to be malicious, Ruby couldn't help but feel a little cornered. It was such a weird situation, almost stalker-ish, that it put Ruby into a defensive mindset. 

“Uh… yeah… that was more a favor for a friend. Vicky got me my first job in modeling.” Ruby explained, not wanting to say too much.

“Oh, I see. So you skipped work to babysit a brat! That's adorable!”

“He's not a brat, just excitable. His mother is really strict, so he loves getting to hang out with me.” Ruby said, still trying to shift the topic away from weird odd job life. 

“Oh I bet! I'm sure he dreams about you every night!” Star hissed through her teeth, trying desperately not to laugh through the punchline.

“Hey?!” Ruby blushed, and Star busted out laughing. 

“Hahaha, I'm joking, I'm joking, but only kinda.” 

“It's just awkward to think about…” Ruby muttered, looking away to hide her blush. 

“Oh trust me, I get it. I'm probably the subject of hundreds of fantasies every minute of every day.” Star agreed with a shrug.

“Eventually you just get used to it and laugh about it. The stars in the sky don't complain about being stared at after all.” 

“Yeah… that's a good antidote actually. I might steal that from you.” Ruby pondered. Meanwhile the ongoing conversation had been noticed by Mr. Collins as he walked across the bridge leading to the interior of the track. 

“Hey, I'm not paying you girls to chit chat, get back to work!”

“You aren't paying me at all dick!” Star immediately yelled back without a hit of hesitation. Ruby snorted as she desperately tried to hold in a laugh as the inevitable reply appeared.

“That's Mr. Collins while you're on the clock, Blondey, now chop chop!” Somewhat confused by his response, Star looked over at Ruby.

“Wait, his name is actually Dick?” Ruby nodded before falling down and rolling around on the ground laughing. Star giggled a little too and shrugged.

“Task failed successfully!”