Dido Emanuele is the cousin of Xavier Xonora.
History[]
Hover Car Racer[]
Born to a wealthy family, Dido Emanuele grew up in Italy, but in 15 years apparently never met some of her extended relatives from her mother's side, the royal family of the Principality of Monsei whom her aunt had married into.
Shortly after Dido's cousin Xavier Xonora was invited to race in the Italian Run hover car race, her uncle, King Francis Xavier, was starting to become concerned about threat that Xavier's racing rival, Jason Chaser, posed to his son. Knowing that his niece was around Jason's age, King Francis ended up recruiting Dido to serve as a spy, one who would befriend Jason, learn his weaknesses and keep him from proper resting before races so that Xavier could take advantage of them.
When the racers gathered in Rome to attend a pre-race gala, Dido and her parents also attended the event, where she was introduced to her cousin and the plan to get close to Jason discussed. Soon Dido approached Jason, pretending to be a start-struck fan of his accomplishments in the Sponsors' Tournament and the shootout for the Italian Run's pole positioning. The startled Jason, awestruck by her beauty, was barely able to utter a proper response before she bade him farewell and a hope to see him again.
The following night, with her family having chosen to stay at the same hotel as Jason, Dido ate dinner with her parents in the Lombardi Grand Hotel's executive dining restaurant when Jason happened to pass by. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Dido struck up a conversation with Jason and agreed to his awkward invitation to dine with him. Knowing that the Italian Run was the next day and that Jason would be wanting a proper night's sleep, Dido casually conversed with him for several hours until Jason's mech-chief Sally McDuff came looking for him near midnight. Faking an apology for keeping him out late, Dido thanked Jason for dinner before he retired for the night.
After Jason had been rendered unconscious by a crash at the end of the Italian Run for a few days, Dido decided to visit him so that she could try to size up Jason's state of mind before he returned to the International Race School. Approaching Jason's mother for permission to visit, Dido was soon allowed to see Jason in his hospital room, asking how he was feeling as she entered the room.
Since the school holidays in Europe happened to be timed to take place during the last few weeks of the Race School's season, Dido's parents allowed her to go to Hobart, Tasmania, to continue her task of spying on Jason. After watching Race 41 with Jason and his team, she remained behind with him in the grandstands, suggesting that he was eager to begin racing again, but was surprised when he admitted he wasn't. Jason confessed to Dido his new fears about crashing and his concern that he might not become the racer he once was; Dido encouraged Jason to keep racing despite his concerns by suggesting that was what made a true hero and to rebuild his self-esteem slowly, then stunned Jason by kissing him on the cheek before she left.
Dido passed along what she had learned along to Xavier, who in turn informed Horatio Wong of Jason's fear of having his tailfin taken out, which Wong did during Jason's first race back to shatter his confidence further. She and Jason arranged to meet again the next day, and Dido also began arranging a staged confrontation with Xavier's stablemate, Barnaby Becker, to further gain Jason's trust. Both arriving at the coffee shop at the same time, Dido and Barnaby made sure Jason was in earshot as Dido pretended to turn down the older boy and claiming that she preferred cultured and courageous men like Jason before sitting down with him.
Despite their efforts, however, Jason and his team began rebuilding his confidence on the track and coming close to the top four position in the school tournament ladder and needing only to beat Barnaby in Race 50 to earn one of the two remaining invitations to participate in the New York Challenger Race. The morning of the race, Dido met Jason early in the day near the coast, and asked how he was feeling, learning that Jason was indeed feeling more confident. Asking if Jason had a plan to beat Barnaby, Dido learned that Jason had formulated a plan to take advantage of a weakness Barnaby had on right-hand hairpins, and passed this along to Xavier and Barnaby.
During the race, Jason attempted to initiate his plan but found Barnaby was now taking the hairpins perfectly. As he questioned how Barnaby had improved so suddenly, he realised that Dido had leaked his strategy to him, as well as his fears about his tailfin before Race 42. After Jason had beat Barnaby, Dido ran up to him in his pit bay and hugged him, but quickly noticed he was acting odd when he didn't hug her back. Jason told Dido he had something personal to tell her, and asked that she relay it word-for-word to Xavier later, to her shock. Laying out the facts that he had realised about her spying, Jason told Dido to inform Xavier and Barnaby that he was back at full strength and would take them down the next time they were on the track together. After hearing this and being told to leave, Dido clutched her face and fled.
At the end-of-year presentation dinner, Dido attended the event and sat with Xavier at his family's table; when Jason saw her, Sally revealed that she had learned of Dido's familial relationship to Xavier.
Just before the Challenger Race in New York began, Dido and Xavier approached Jason in his pit bay, with Jason suspecting that her presence was meant to have a psychological effect on him, but chose to ignore her.
Personality[]
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Skills[]
- Skilled Spy: Despite her youth, Dido is a highly-capable spy, recruited by her uncle to work her way into Jason's circle of trust so that she could discover Jason's weaknesses and pass them along to her cousin. Dido successfully played the role of confidant and girlfriend to Jason following his crash at the end of the Italian Run, faking sympathy and encouragement - while also working with Barnaby to stage a performance to further gain Jason's trust - and passing on what she had learned to Xavier.
- Bilingualism: In addition to her native Italian language, Dido is also fluent in English, speaking with an Italian-American accent.
Trivia[]
- Matthew Reilly would later name his labradoodle after the character of Dido.