𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐥 - 𝓢𝓑𝓡/𝓙𝓙𝓑𝓐

♞

September 25 and 26, 1890
The second stage began with me, Johnny, and my new i̶n̶s̶t̶r̶u̶c̶t̶o̶r̶ friend, Gyro. Our horses were tasked with running across the Arizona Desert.

𖠁𐂃𖠁

The desert heat was blistering against Violet's pale skin. Even just moving to her place on the grid felt like her body was going to liquefy from the overwhelming warmth. She could only imagine how her horse felt, carrying both herself and her luggage must have made all the difference in its body temperature without the midday sun's wrath. Luckily, she snagged a canteen full of chilled water from someone handing them out at the starting point.

"Gyro, Violet, this stage's top candidate seems to be Sandman! Even in the gambling area, he's the most popular, what do you think of that?" Johnny asked in disbelief. "What about me?" Gyro asked, hoping to boost his ego.

"Sucks for you...by the way, I'm the sixth most popular racer. You're only #9th because of your penalty. If you wouldn't have got that, I'm sure you'd be more popular." Gyro did nothing but glance away, practically pouting atop his steed. His eyes then turned to Violet, watching as she seemed more focused on her horse's chocolaty mane than their conversation.

"Hey, what about Violet? She placed pretty high in the first stage!" The green-eyed man exclaimed. The calling of her name brought her attention back to the words they shared.

"She's 12th," he said with a frown, "I'm guessing it's because you're a girl, but that shouldn't matter."

"Those people don't know what fuck they're talking about! Any way you look at it, that article was just written by some idiot, everyday people. No one should take it seriously," Gyro complained. Even though he would never say it, especially since girls are usually bad luck, he was disappointed that Violet hadn't placed higher. His placing made a little more sense because of his penalty, but In his mind, she was a pretty damn good racer.

"But if Sandman takes the prize again after this stage his total will be 200 points...and he'll have accumulated two-hours in time bonuses!" The blonde's voice was full of shock. Two hours was a big advantage in something like this. Every hour, every minute, and every second mattered in the long run.

Gyro re-reigned his focus to the possibility of Sandman winning the race. He was beginning to worry about the fast-footed racer. "I wonder," he trailed off, "can he run over 100KM in one day?"

"I'm afraid so. And to make matters worse, Sandman is from the Arizona desert," Johnny confirmed his suspicions.

"He's racing in his own territory, which puts him an advantage over all of us."

"If he's a step up, then we'll have to be a step ahead," Violet piped in. For the majority of their conversations, the blonde stuck to herself. She listened carefully to the words that left their mouths to try and piece together a strategy. If she were to stick with the two riders she realized that communication would be key. 

"That's the spirit, Violet!" Gyro cheered, glad she was finally including herself.

"That guy over there, Mountain Tim, is just about as popular and a huge candidate for this stage," said Johnny who gazed over Violet's shoulders at a man with a zebra-patterned cowboy hat.  The blonde could almost envy it for the shade it's providing if not for its unusual print.

"But look at the hat he's wearing," Gyro pointed out. His hand went to lightly smack against Johnny's bicep, getting his attention to the man's peculiar fashion choices.