✓ WORKING FOR THE KNIFE ━ lando norris. ¹

[ 004 ] Snakes in a Jungle

( ACT I. ── The Becoming )
chapter four / Snakes in a Jungle

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A trick to growing accustomed to cameras and microphones blocking your line of sight more often than not: do not try to ignore them. It just makes things worse. Annika learned how to simply accept them as part of her environment ─ snakes in a jungle, where else would they be?

They were waiting with their tongues practically hanging out when she and Lewis stepped off the jet in Melbourne. A P13 in Saudi Arabia had already dampened her mood, so Annika truly could have gone to madness right then and there, but it was only the third location of the season and it was too early to lose her cool. Instead, she put sunglasses on and tipped her baseball cap down further. Although, in most instances, the media were not capable of picking up the specific social cue for I don't want to speak to you.

When they reached the cars to take them to the hotel, Annika opened her phone to check her messages. Emails here and there that she would open later, a notification about her subscriptions, and a text from her head engineer.

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MESSAGES
( Lyndon M. + Annika R. )

LYNDON M.
We'll be making some minor updates to the car. Details have been sent to your E-mail.
-Lyndon.

ANNIKA R.
Thank you for letting me know. I will read it tonight.

Also, you don't have to sign your texts.

LYNDON M.
Great
-Lyndon

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Puzzled but amused, she switched back to her main screen and opened her Instagram account ─ her private account, of course, as she had no interest in managing her public ones, and typically stayed logged out of them to let Matt handle it. This one didn't have her name attached, a faceless picture for the profile, and no relevant information about her in the bio. It was entirely stalker-proof. However, since she boarded the plane, she had garnered a new follow request. She clicked the account and inspected it.

userlann99, the account name read, with a picture of a familiar neon helmet as the icon.

Annika smiled to herself and shook her head. Very unsubtle.

Just to be safe, she screenshotted the account and sent it to Alex, with a brief question attached to the message: Is this Lando?

She got her response almost immediately: Yup.

Annika returned to Instagram and accepted the follow request, hitting follow back in quick succession. She didn't post much about her life, only ever using the account to stay updated on events and the lives of her friends and family. She wondered if Lando did the same, or if he was the sort to post pictures of pigeons and sunsets. She could see it going either way, truthfully.