Strobe

Strobe

alt text
Rigger, getaway driver, and failed club owner. Also known as Eel Juice
"There's no such thing as clashing colors. Only cowards."
Discord	@discogoblin#9660
Reddit	[1]
Metatype	Elf
Street Cred	0
Notoriety	1
Public Awareness	2
CDP	30
D.O.B.	June 7th, 2057
Age	28
Folder	[2]
Priority	Metatype - D Attributes - A Magic/Resonance - E Skills - C Resources - B

Character Information

Summary

Formerly a stage hand and moderately successful club DJ, Valerie Heinkel's life was forever changed in a single, NovaCoke filled night with her partner. Through a feedback loop of terrible ideas the two decided to open up a club; taking out huge, questionably legal loans in order to do so. Their pride and joy, "The Mudpit", collapsed in about six months. Whether this was due to the unflattering name or its owners complete lack of competency, none can say. Valerie insists on the former. Newly-unemployed and desperate to keep her fingers attached, Valerie took to the shadows under the name "Strobe", applying her lifelong passions of street racing, DIY, and lying to cops in order to pay off her debts. She might also be a little addicted to the adrenaline. And Novacoke.

Goals

Strobe's main goal is paying off her and her partner Liz's many, many debts. She's in deepest with her fixer, Alex "Good Ol" Samson, to the tune of about 100k. With all the interest, runner gear, and work expenses, that number seems to be getting bigger every day. Secondary goals include building up her DJ career, winning street races, helping her chummer Crane get his family back, and upgrading Liz's cyberhand.

Background

Early Life

Valerie Heinkel was born on June 7th, 2057 as the only child of two Stuffer Shack franchise owners. She spent much of her early life stealing electronics and flunking out of school, deciding early that she had no interest in continuing her parents' corporate legacy. She wanted to make music, the louder and faster the better. Her growing rap sheet and gender transition strained her relationship with her parents, and at 17 she moved into a flophouse full of other aspiring musicians. She spent the next few years working odd jobs at clubs, getting into street racing, and building a moderate following as the technopunk DJ "Eel Juice". The name is derived from a former housemates' favorite hangover cure, a truly vile concoction of vodka, dill pickles, the juice from a can of soy sardines, and hot sauce. Valerie swears by it to this day.

Musical Career

Valerie's loud, heavy synths and over-the-top live shows made her a regular in Seattle's underground nightclub scene. She performed under the name "Eel Juice" and used sketchy DIY drones to aid in her performances. The drones worked wonders when they weren't lighting people's hair on fire. They were such a good gimmick, in fact, that Val took out a loan to get herself a questionably sourced control rig. This loan would be the first of many poor financial decisions that would begin to plague Val. They were flying high off their minor amounts of success, and nothing was ever gonna bring them down.

Although she never saw real commercial success as her DJ persona, her song "Analog Concussion" did go viral for a day or two. Valerie believes this to be her worst song, and is incredibly mad that it's the only one people know her for. It was around the time of this song's release that Valerie met her partner Eliza, a bartender at one of her favorite clubs. The two connected over their shared love of loud synths and overly tight leather pants, and they soon decided to take their relationship to the next level... by opening a club!

The Rise and Fall of The Mudpit

The idea for Mudpit was born in a passionate night of Novacoke and how-to videos. The plan was perfect: Valerie would play the music and Eliza would sling the drinks. Sure, there were probably a few other things that went into running a club, but they could figure those out along the way. After an influx of cash that may or may not have come from a loan shark (the pair were VERY confident in their plan), The Mudpit opened its doors to the scene and received a resounding "meh". As it turns out, running a club is hard when you've inherited the business sense of two Stuffer Shack franchise owners. The complete lack of organization, bookkeeping, and adherence to health codes brought the place down in about six months. Mudpit left this world the way it came into it: in a haze of intoxication and poor life choices.

The tragic fall of Mudpit presented a problem for the couple, namely the massive debt that they had run up with Seattle's various crime organizations. In order to avoid getting tossed into the sound with a pair of cinderblock shoes, Valerie needed a lot of money. Fast. Luckily(?) the loan shark she was in deepest with, the Redmond fixer Alex "Good Ol" Samson, came to her with a proposal. It turns out that control rigs are really useful for doing crimes, and someone capable of getting away when things go south is always welcome in the shadows. If Val worked for Samson as an indentured runner, her and her partner would get to keep all their limbs. It wasn't a very tough choice.

Personal Life

When she isn't working or running to pay off her debt, Valerie spends most of her time hanging out with her partner. Despite everything that's happened, the two have a pretty solid relationship. They make music, watch trid, and go to clubs whenever they can. Eliza is back to bartending, and Val is determined to keep her as far away from the shadows as possible. Val feels an immense amount of guilt over the morally grey aspects of her new job, and frequently lies to her partner about what she actually does on runs. The stress of living two lives compounds with the stress of her debts, causing Val to sink deeper into drugs and partying as her coping mechanisms. It's an untenable situation, but one that she's determined to keep up until her and her partner can be free.

Narrative Significant Qualities

Positive

Fame (Online): Strobe enjoys moderate online fame under her DJ persona "Eel Juice", mostly for a single song that went viral a few months back. She frequently performs live, but always wears a custom mask when doing so.

Gearhead: Terrible finances and a lifelong fascination with street racing have taught Strobe to pull 120% out of even the cheapest vehicles.

Stunt Driver: Why would they put a ramp there if they didn't want her to jump it?

Juryrigger: Repairs are expensive. Strobe learned early that you can get surprisingly far with WD-40 and a roll of duct tape.

Low Light Vision

Negative

Dependent (Inconvenience): Strobe's paying off the debts of two people. Eliza's bartending brings in a bit of money, but Strobe needs to constantly be shadowrunning to make up the difference.

Addiction (Moderate) (Novacoke): For a club DJ, a Novacoke addiction is practically part of the job.

Day Job (20 hrs): For all the money that Strobe makes running the shadows, none of it actually goes towards her rent. She works part time as a freelance stage tech to cover her lifestyle costs.

Bad Credit: Strobe's failed club left her with nothing, and her awful impulse control ensures that people aren't keen to give her anything more.

Distinctive Style: Strobe's garish clothes, bleach-blonde perm, and LED tattoo leave quite an impression, for better or worse.

SINner (National) (UCAS): Strobe's day job and apartment are listed under her real SIN. It'll be fine.

Run History

Name	GM	Metaplot	Threat	Date of Run
A Trip to the Petting Zoo	Archtmag		High	12 August 2082
The Ghost of the Sprawl	Sleevey		High	10 August 2082
Cenozoic Smash and Grab	Sleevey	The Cretaceous Clash	High	5 August 2082
Mega Low-Down	Sleevey		High	12 July 2082
A Simple Repossession	Archtmag		High	19 June 2082
0 to 60	Scranton		Milk	13 June 2082
A Sea Of Opportunities	Scranton	The Cradle Of Betrayal	Medium	2 June 2082
Buoys Are For Saturday	Cutier Than Thou		Milk Run	30 May 2082
Where's the escape van	Zerre de Seattle		Medium	25 May 2082
Negotiating, Corp Style!	Archtmag		Medium	17 May 2082
I swear they are normal Salamanders Part 1	Draknic		Medium	7 May 2082
Bogged Down And Swamped	Asmodeus		Medium	6 May 2082
Getting One Step Ahead	Malyc	Against all odds - The OtherCon story	Medium	21 April 2082
The Lurker at the Threshold	Draknic		Middle	16 April 2082
So Collectable! Much Impeccable!	Archtmag		Milk	12 April 2082

Affiliations

Contacts

Contact	Connection	Loyalty	Archetype	Profession	Aspects	Chips
Alex "Good'ol" Samson	6	1	Fixer	Fixer	Money Laundry, Haggler, Word On The Street..., Antiques, I Know An Expert, I Have A Bridge To Sell Ya!, Debt Collector, Loan Shark, Take No Wooden Nickles	Even
Lil Raj	5	2	Service	Mechanic	Mechanic, Vehicles, Drones, Flashy Vehicles, Chop Shop, Vehicle Enthusiast	Even
Chloe Cunningham	3	4	Custom(A,K,N,G)	Rockergirl	Punk Rock Girl, Who Is Who, Roots Radical, Shout Your Lungs Out	Even
Dana Jessica Boatman	2	1	Custom (G,K,A,N)	Talismonger (Burnout)	Unreliable, Gifts of the Unknown, Dark Knowledge, military past, Awakened	Even
Our Lady of the Perpetual Saturday	2	3	Networking	Influencer, Not A Cult Leader	It's Always Friday Night Somewhere, A Rare Medium (Who Does Well), Good Vibes Only, Life of the Party	Even
Tlazopilli	6	1	Legwork	Aztechnology Johnson		Even
Agustin Diaz	2	1	Service	(un)Tortured Artist	I'm an artist you know, I'm kind of a big deal, I bet you've never heard of it	1

Organizations

+2 Ares Rep

-2 Aztechnology Rep

In Character Information

Matrix Search Table

Threshold	Result
1
3
6

Shadow Community Table

Threshold	Result
1
3
5

SINs

Valerie Heinkel (National) (UCAS)

Britney Albertson (Rating 4 fake) (UCAS)

• Fake license (R4) (driver's license)
• Fake license (R4) (drone license)
• Fake license (R4) (firearms license)
• Fake license (R4) (restricted augmentation license)

Appearance

Body

Strobe is an Elven woman in her mid 20's, standing at 5'7 and weighing about 200 pounds. She has pale, acne prone skin and a wild perm of bleach blonde hair. Her smile is big and lopsided, with a small gap in between her two front teeth. An LED tattoo of an electric eel winds from her right leg up to her right arm, with the head on her palm giving a big, razor-toothed smile. The tattoo shimmers with iridescent shades of purple, pink, and blue. Her hazel eyes shine with intensity, and she speaks with the wild confidence of someone used to hyping up a rowdy crowd. If nothing else, she knows how to make an impression.

Clothing

Strobe's favorite outfit consists of bubblegum pink platform boots; black leather pants; a teal and white mesh crop top; round sunglasses with gold frames and black lenses; and a toxic green armored jacket with a multi-colored triangle pattern.

Matrix Persona

Strobe's Matrix persona is her body with the head of a purple moray eel. Sometimes, she'll make the neck extend and wobble around for extra effect.