When it comes to more girly things like dresses and makeup and stuff, Selene isn't ashamed to admit it didn't strike her as very fun when she was young.
While this had partially come from being surrounded by rowdy boys who loved swords and sparring before she was 10, and was dissuaded by her arm after she was 10, she had found small enjoyments in more feminine things.
Yet she could never shake some of her more tomboy enjoyments. One of the greatest of which is more dangerous contests like rally racing.
The chance you go flying and wreck your car, the crazy speeds everyone goes to get to the end as fast as possible. It all blended together to form what could only be described as a harmonious violence.
So when Selene Realized they may be actually sending Aiden in instead of a vehicle she was conflicted.
On one hand he had a not so low chance of being run over by 15+ several thousand pound vehicles.
On the other it was like the childhood dream of going from watching a race, to being a part of the pit crew.
"PUUUUUUUUUSH!" Selene bellowed as in front of her Aiden strained against the sled piled high with two dozen full logs.
His Revolution Core was revving high as steam and the smell of charring rose from his body and yet his legs kept pushing.
Jax was walking backwards in front of him, shouting what was a mix of encouragement and calling Aiden a "Noodle Armed Puppy"
The others however seemed more keen on watching the training than providing any active aid.
The sled Selene was sitting on seemed to come to a halt as Aiden slammed a fist into a part of his chest and steam billowed outward as he laid on the ground gasping for air. Sweat rolled down his face and his eyes showed a sizable pain.
Selene would have been worried if not for the strange light deep in his eyes like an odd contentment with what he was able to do.
"Nice job Aiden, you made it almost 80ft farther than yesterday."
"Lets *Huff* Facking go *cough*."
Jax seemed content to let Aiden lay down for a moment as Selene turned towards where Beatrice was standing and gestured her over.
They had been at this training for almost 3 days now, and during that time, Selene had noticed a few things.
At first people had ignored them, but every day more and more came.
However what concerned her more was the lightblood.
She was a taller woman standing around 5'8 or so with jet black hair and a racers jacket she seemed to always have her hands in the pockets of. She wore tall brown leather boots and seemed to be a horse beastkin of some kind.
She was someone Selene might have noticed because of the intensity of her gaze, but otherwise she wouldn't have looked twice, except for the odd frequency she was watching them.
They woke up early every morning to train and she would already be there watching.
They would train practically the whole day and she wouldn't move just watching.
She occasionally seemed to mumble something to herself but otherwise was motionless, only turning to continue watching them as Aiden worked.
Jax had once approached her, but she didn't respond, just watching.
In many ways Selene was ready to just write her off as being kind of weird, but Thalia had poked around and learned that she was a competitor under the name of Lucky Streak.
This was somewhat comforting as it could be attested to her being a competitor and wanting to size up Aiden, but it was still really weird.
Selene offered a hand to help Aiden up after he had caught his breath and helped him remove his shirt so Beatrice could better look at the burns.
Just hearing his class one would assume he would be less muscular, but Aiden's physique had undergone a large fundamental change since he was living at home. It wasn't to an unexpected extreme, but the muscle he had could mark him as a proficient melee fighter. That combined with the still somewhat red spinning fins of the core inside of his chest made him seem in a way like he would suddenly open up and reveal he had been an automaton playing human all along.
Selene was in charge of wringing the frankly extreme amounts of sweat out of his shirt while Beatrice handled the burns that snaked out of his chest following his veins.
Selene watched the burns recede as Liora and Whinry made their way over.
"Eye Carumba, hunk alert anyone?" Whinry said nudging Liora
"I thought you said you were a lesbian."
"I'm not a painter, but I can still appreciate art. Plus who doesn't love a good set of abs."
Both Liora and Whinry turned to stare each with a hand on their chin as if inspecting.
Aiden seemed to blush slightly and bring his arms over his body as if to hide his stomach and chest.
"In all of my dreams of adventuring, the last thing I was expecting to happen was to be objectified."
Liora and Whinry seemed to snicker at this, but Liora found her attention drawn instead to Lucky Streak who seemed to be walking closer to them.
Liora stood, leaving Aiden to fend off Liora and Whinry as she walked towards Lucky Streak and gave a small friendly wave.
"Hi, noticed you have been watching us, is there something I can help you with?"
Lucky Streak stopped, for a moment thinking before speaking with what sounded to be a heavy accent and drawl.
"Does….. Does he always catch fire whenever he uses that engine chest thing?"
Selene glanced back towards Aiden, before turning back.
"No, but he pushed himself a bit too much today so it overheated."
Selene wasn't just about to give away Aiden's weakness to a competitor, especially one who was apparently a high pick for doing well.
Aiden seemed to notice Selene's glance before getting to his feet and putting his shirt back on before adjusting his glasses.
"Is this our watcher in person?"
"Yes, Aiden this is Lucky Streak, Lucky Streak this is Aiden."
Aiden held up a hand to shake hers but was ignored.
"Does it not hurt when it burns like that?"
Aiden glanced down towards his rapidly cooling, but still extremely hot core.
"Its not pleasant, even now it hurts, but its how I can keep up with the rest of my party members."
"So the rest of your party is fast?"
"No, I'm pretty sure I'm the fastest in the party by a wide margin. It's really the only specialty I have over them."
"Is your chest engine the thing that makes you fast?"
At this question Aiden seemed to pause for a moment, spacing off as if trying to wrangle several thoughts at once as he often did before snapping back to focus.
"It makes me faster, but it's not the reason I'm fast, I'm fast because I work hard for it."
At this comment a strange smile seemed to spread across Lucky Streak's face.
It wasn't a malicious smile, but it also wasn't a peaceful one either. It was the kind of grin that seemed to carry a barely concealed intent.
"So you are willing to burn yourself alive to go even faster...… Fascinating."
Both Selene and Aiden seemed to unconsciously shiver at the strange lilt in Lucky Streak's voice as they said Fascinating.
She didn't say anything else, just heading back towards the edge of where she had been standing before, only this time her expression wasn't its normal extreme neutrality it had been before, instead it was a simple, oddly sinister grin.
"Ok great, what in the hells was that about?" Aiden asked with an exasperated sigh once Lucky Streak was out of earshot.
"I couldn't tell you, but did that give you a creepy feeling too?"
"Ok, I'm glad it wasn't just me."
"I don't know what your doing to draw so much lecherous attention to yourself but you need to find a way to tone it back."
Aiden seemed to stumble mid step as they turned to head back towards their camp.
"L-Letcherous!? I am doing nothing, I'm just surrounded by letchers."
"If you say so, maybe we need to cover your ankles or something." Whinry said, jumping in as she and Liora who had been watching followed them.
"Nah, it's totally a forearm thing." Liora said unhelpfully.
"Ankles? Forearms? What are you all talking about!?"
"Hey, don't get pissy at us because you're a Damsel in Distress."
Jax barked out a laugh as got close, clearly enjoying the comments that seemed to fluster Aiden more and more by the second.
"Damsel in Distress!? First of all I'm a dude, and second of all I am not in distress."
"Hey, don't look at me, your the only one who seemed to be getting leered at with those "Letcherous eyes"". Whinry said making aid quotes.
"MOTHER FUCKER YOU WERE A SET OF THOSE LETCHEROUS EYES!!"