Carmine

Oh wow new lady, wahoo wahoo. And she's a uhhh very pretty cyborg lady on top of that,, yummy,,

So naturally Bobo and I were talking a couple days or so ago haha. We got to talking about our favorite concept arts and such. Lots of talk about Yoji Shinkawa and Mari Shimazaki especially, legends tbh. Which got me thinking about said concept art, and how much I've wanted to do some character designs inspired by it. Well, moreso the games they're for, but y'know. The idea's there haha. And the fact that I never have. Which uh I want to remedy immediately. I've kinda done it with two recent designs (this gal and then a little redesign of another character of mine), but I want to do so much more with it all. I'm in a heavy designing and drawing mood to say the least. But to start! We have a cyborg lady!

The fact that I haven't made a cyborg before this is absolutely criminal, how dare I. I've made full-on robots, but somehow no cyborgs like?? So uh take my remedy to this haha. I was very inspired by the aforementioned concept arts to make her! I'm not very good at designing detailed robotic parts so I tried my best with her, and I like what I came up with a lot! She's so prettyyy mmm,, I'm especially fawning over her like?? Jaw guard thing?? Idk what I was going for haha. I didn't want to give her a full on robotic jaw because lips, but I wanted to do something, so... that happened. And it's so addictingly fun to draw for no reason haha. And just,, everything about her is so good? Her hair, her outfit, her mechanical parts. 10/10 stuff. Her boots I'm especially in love with?? I had the idea of giving her a very Bayonetta-inspired fighting style with four guns, and while trying to get ideas for how to make her legs look with that in mind, I stumbled upon these reference images for shoes that I just LOVED. So I combined them to come to this! It's such good stuff, I love herrr,,

I'm jumping between names for her currently? It's a tie between Carmine and Merlot. I think Carmine fits her vibe a bit better, but,, but Merloooot,, I've wanted to use that name for so looong,, so I don't know haha. I'll use Carmine for now, but maybe do a poll about which name I should keep? We'll see haha.

I'll get her coded eventually. I should really just sit down and do a bunch of coding since I'm thinking a lot about my characters and I'm wanting to write about/for them, but uhhh y'know how about I just,, don't do that haha. But for now, take what info I have!

Carmine is a cyborg mercenary. She was created in a lab to handle combat situations as part of an experiment they were putting together. She now works closely with them, taking on all sorts of jobs they assign to her. She likes her work, though she also loves being able to slow down and relax. She doesn't remember much of anything before becoming a cyborg outside of occasional small flashes, but deep down she wants to learn who she was before all of this.

As a person, Carmine has villainous energy without being inherently evil. She isn't a bad person, but she's certainly not a shining beacon of morality either. She's an anti-hero at absolute best. She's a badass and she's well aware of it. She loves the rush of combat, and would never be afraid to beat up anyone who came looking for it with a smile and a laugh. Outside of her work, she truly doesn't take a lot seriously. She's the type to crack jokes at the worst of times, even if only she really finds it funny. Especially raunchier jokes, as surprising as that may be to many people she comes across. She is no stranger to flirty or naughty teasing, to say the least. To be frank, she's a bit of a bitch, but in a fun way. She has a very cheeky demeanor in most of her interactions. She's mischievous and playful, loving to tease everyone she comes into contact with. She's incredibly cocky, and is the type of woman who would strike all sorts of poses at you while beating you up. She's very confident, assertive, and brave. She's completely unafraid of speaking her mind and making her will known, and gives off huge leader vibes as a result. This is a double-edged sword for her, however. Her confidence in herself and her ideas allows her to be very stubborn. When she holds a belief, she holds it firmly. If you try to test it, she'll get very rebellious.

However, this cocky combat persona isn't everything Carmine has to her. Buried under layers of a tough girl persona lies a surprising amount of sweetness. If you get close enough to her, you can see how motherly and soft she gets to those she cares for. While it's still laced with her typical playful attitude, it's very obvious that she's genuine with it. When she cares for someone, she cares a lot. She especially seems to have a soft spot for those she finds weaker than her in any way, or those who have come from a bad situation. She very much has "fuck your family, I'm your mom now" kind of vibes to her interactions. She's the kind of person who's surprisingly always in your corner, despite her shady and villainous exterior. She is very supportive to those she likes, always willing to cheer them on and help them be their best. She is fiercely protective over those close to her. She'll fight tooth and nail to keep her loved ones safe, even if it puts herself at risk. Alongside this, she seems to have a lot of vulnerability to her. Especially pertaining to her past and her old identity. She feels the sort of divide between her typical persona and her behavior around those close to her, and wonders how much of each really makes up her as a person. How much comes from her past, and how much is a result of her present self. Things like that, among others, are typically on her mind. As much as she tries to deny it, she's a bit of an angsty sad sack under the surface. However, she tries her best to deny that and work through it.

Carmine's combat style is very unique compared to others she's come across. Her typical fighting style revolves around a set of four semiautomatic pistols. Two of them are situated on her heels, while she holds the other two in her hands. Using these, she fights with a combination of powerful melee blows and bullets. She has a very acrobatic and stylish fighting style, almost as if she's dancing moreso than fighting. She's no stranger to using her terrain to her advantage, grabbing items around her as extra weapons or using pieces of the environment around her to assist in mobility and cool moves. However, she's also no stranger to using other weapons. She especially enjoys swords, knives, and polearms. Alongside these bits of prowess, she has a motorcycle to help her get around places quickly. She also uses this in combat for various stunts that many people would find near-improbable if they didn't see them unfolding before their very eyes.

Before becoming a cyborg, Carmine was a human woman by the name of Vanessa Rosewood. She was raised by a single mother, her father having abandoned the family. Her mother was significantly cruel to her. She seemed to blame her daughter as the reason why her lover left, and took it out on her in various ways. Her household was incredibly strict, and she wasn't given many freedoms. She was constantly walking on eggshells to avoid her mother's temper and "punishments." Mainly this was done verbally, but it sometimes escalated to physical levels. Vanessa endured the situation throughout her childhood, running away from it as quickly as she could once she entered adulthood. She got into college and, while she was financially struggling, she did her best to survive it. She deeply enjoyed the newfound freedom, and used it to explore, both in good and bad ways. She cared about her studies, but also got very into party culture and such. When she was 21, she ended up pregnant after a fling at a party. She couldn't find the father, and found herself as a single mother. She, however, took this in stride. While she wasn't quite ready, she was determined to be a better mother than her own had been. She wanted to give her child the best life possible, make something good despite how troubled her own upbringing had been. However, she quickly fell into trouble trying to financially support herself and her kid. She did everything she could to keep her child supported and happy, taking the best care that she could, but she grew desperate. One day, she found out about a research facility looking for subjects on their latest project, either through an ad or through being scouted by a member of the facility. They were paying handsomely for what seemed like an easy task. Seeing it as her ticket to give her child the support they needed, she took the job. However, it turned out that the scenario was all a ploy to gather people to turn into cyborgs for combat. She was put through a painful and horrifying process, one that lasted an excruciatingly long time. She blocked out much of her memories from the process and her life before due to the trauma, and all the stress gradually turned her hair prematurely white (her red eyes we're chalking up to fancy cyborg enhancements haha.) She was trained in combat, and now leads her life today as Carmine, completely unaware of the past. However, there's a high likelihood that she'll find out about her past and try to find and reconnect with her child someday...

And some little facts! I don't have a ton but y'know wheeze,,

• Carmine is very tall, like almost seven feet tall. She has almost fashion figure-esque proportions, very much leggy. She has a more pear-like figure, and has especially prominent hips and thighs.
• She can wear clothes over her cybernetic body! This is mainly shown through her jacket and choker. However, she can wear more than that. She especially loves dress clothes and cute, casual clothes.
• All of the bright red areas of her body, including her eyes, can glow! She's able to control the brightness of this glow, but it typically flares up if she gets particularly emotional.
• The palms of her hands are red and can glow!
• She has sharp fangs, like vampire teeth! She can use these for biting foes, and has the ability to eat just in case she ends up swallowing anything like blood. Anything she eats just gets converted into extra fuel for her body, so she's not opposed to doing just that necessarily.
• She likes to jokingly say that her favorite foods are things like "her enemies' throats, hearts, spines, or other body parts." While this is debatably false, she does definitely have a taste for savory foods like meat.
• She also quite enjoys red wine. She has a much higher tolerance for alcohol than a normal person. She can drink a lot and not have any side effects. However, this doesn't mean she's completely immune from getting drunk.
• Before becoming a cyborg, her hair was a dark brown/black, and her eyes were hazel. While she doesn't remember much about her past, she does sometimes get flashes of images from her past, so she kinda knows she didn't always look the way she does now.
• She does enjoy the idea of having a romantic partner. She's not entirely certain of what she'd be looking for, but the idea of having someone to trust and love like that is nice to her for sure.
• More later wheeze, I'm tired and can't think of more,,