“The most solid advice for a writer is this, I think: Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.” ~ Ernest Hemingway [Untitled - Shah Bibi Tarakhail with Davyd Whaley]
• During the twenties, Hemingway became a member of the group of expatriate Americans in Paris, which he described in his first important work, The Sun Also Rises (1926). Equally successful was A Farewell to Arms (1929), the study of an American ambulance officer’s disillusionment in the war and his role as a deserter. Hemingway used his experiences as a reporter during the civil war in Spain as the background for his most ambitious novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). Among his later works, the most outstanding is the short novel, The Old Man and the Sea (1952), the story of an old fisherman’s journey, his long and lonely struggle with a fish and the sea, and his victory in defeat. More: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1954/hemingway/biographical/
To learn a bit about my Mox V, as well as see the process behind this detailed piece, check under the ‘read more’
This V’s birth name is Valerie, the name our Fem Vs have in-game. But she takes on the name of Velour as she becomes more of her own person. Her cyberware may seem flashy, and yeah it kinda is, but it all serves a function; and she only has all these prosthetics due to a particularly dark era in her past.
Her Mom died when she was just 10 years old; a tragedy NC knows all too well- she got caught in the crossfire of a gang shootout on her way home from work at Clouds. The grief shattered V and her Father, and when the grief took away what little they had left, their Father turned to drinking; becoming more irate and abusive as time passed by. Things eventually got so bad that V ended up having to run away from home.
They lived on the streets for some time, scraping by as they tried to learn how to survive in their newfound hell. Over the years, they built up a pretty decent set of skills, but never stayed in one place for too long. When they got older, times were particularly bad money-wise; she had a few bad run-ins with some shitty people.
And as she was older, V found themselves working as a Hooker down on JigJig Street. One night, whilst having a smoke between shifts, she happened to cross paths with Evelyn Parker. The two hit it off, and she was able to get V in at Clouds. This gave V a new sense of security and belonging; there was a cluster of Clouds’ dolls that stuck together. And when more time passed, Evelyn brought up to V the idea that they could try and get in with the Mox.
V was incredibly excited for this; they saw it as further steps to gaining the family they’d lost, and finding more solid footing on the streets. A meeting was set up in Lizzie’s bar, but V never showed; on the way over, they’d been accosted by a group of Scavengers, and whilst they fought like hell, they got taken down. Evelyn knew something was up, especially when V didn’t respond to her calls. So she asked the Mox to help her look.
Trapped in the Scav den, V was subjected to torture as they stripped her for parts. She was paralysed due to the drugs they injected, but she could still feel the agony. Limbs were taken, organs removed and replaced with cheap parts to keep her breathing while they took as much as they could. Even her eyes, some facial nerves, and certain parts of her neck were taken or butchered.
It took several days for Evelyn and the Mox to get a lead on V, and when they did, they immediately went for the den, storming through and saving who they could along the way. They found V close to death. And they took her back to a safehouse. Evelyn helped get V fixed up, gaining extra help from the Mox because they had heard from her the skills that V had, and knew she’d be a good addition to the crew.
When she was finally physicallyrecovered, V dove into life with the Mox, wanting to repay them and Evelyn for everything that they’d done; turning to drink and drugs when the nightmares got bad.
And they spent time honing their skills and gaining new ones. V left Clouds when Evelyn did; the two becoming private, well known Escorts. But V also took on merc work; and steadily built a rep.
This is a basic summary of her story; I’ll be exploring it more in-detail in a fic I’m planning for her. Excited to explore where it’ll all go!
As for the art, here’s the (condensed) process behind it:
Honestly, it took forever to do this piece; chipping away at it for 3 or 4 hour long stints every few days, until I finished it after 30 hours. But I believe it was worth it; I really am happy with how it turned out.
I normally shy away from backgrounds, so it was great to deviate from my norm with this project. It was super fun actually; I love the whole neon/brightly coloured aesthetic of the Mox and their hub at Lizzie’s Bar.
And it was even more fun to draw Velour! I loved making her outfit fit with the whole Mox aesthetic, but also making it her own thing. Working on her Cyberware was challenging, but I still had fun with it.
Unfortunately the colouring Timelapse was too long for Tumblr to handle :(
Definitely expect to see more art of her in the future; this little project was very labour intensive, but it was a labour of love honestly.
