Full Name: Moxime Marianne
Nicknames and Pseudonyms: Mox, Moxie, "Marda's Girl"
Age: 26
Birth Date: May 4th, 2287
Blood Type: O+
Role on Ship: Small ships maintenance, engine mechanic (junior role)
Homeworld: SS Artemis, Uriel System
Significant Relations and Affiliations: Marda Marianne, foster mother (deceased); Archangels Racing League, former member; Red Shift, employer; Singularity Astronautics, employer; Nebula Brume, best friend and major crush
Bonds, Obligations, Debts, and Warrants: Is wanted by Artemis Station Officials for contract violation, Singularity Astronautics for corporate espionage (whistleblowing), and Explorer Inc for theft of extremely classified materials. She is likely also expelled from the local racing league.
Appearance: Mox, like many spacers, is on the short and frail side at only 5'4 in height - though recent fortune has allowed her to put on a bit more weight. She's pear shaped, and gets stretch marks easily, little stripes marring her sides and legs. Her hands are spotty with little calluses and scars from a lifetime of fiddly engineering. Electrical burns here, a bruise that never healed right; a veritable map of her working life, told through misfortune and mishap. Twin puncture scars, a permanent reminder of the worst night of her life, are faintly visible on the left side of her neck, just above the collarbone.
She has a blackout tattoo on her right arm; the upper half crawls up along her shoulder, patterned with cherry blossoms and koi fish, and the lower half is broken up by FTL rings that circle her forearm, stopping just short of her wrist. On the inside of her arm, a tiny stylized fox is dashing through the rings.
Her hair is dark, worn in a short, parisian bob that falls around her face, which she ties up when she’s working or needs to focus on a difficult task. Exposure to the Sila’s crew has broadened her fashion sense, and although she is still most comfortable in the grease-stained tanktops and canvas jumpsuits of her profession, her wardrobe has expanded to include much nicer articles as well, typically in dark or autumnal colors. Her most prized possession is a genuine leather jacket, complete with fur collar, CHL squadron patches, and spikes at the shoulders. Wearing it never fails to chase away the blues of a bad day, or the chill of space installations.
Personality: To strangers, Moxie can often come across as a dour and overly serious person, prone to pessimism and sarcasm. That said, she's not particularly difficult to get along with; treat her with kindness and respect, and she'll do the same for you. Years of enduring unreasonable demands from clueless clients means she has little patience for incompetence and senseless questioning. On the flip side, people who genuinely put in effort and try to do the right thing usually get her approval and her loyalty. If she actually dislikes someone, they'll be the first to know about it.
As the crew can likely attest, she can be slow to befriend, as she has difficulty lowering her walls. But, to those who’ve earned her trust, she can be loving, warm, and incredibly loyal, ready to ride or die for anyone she considers family.
Strengths, Talents, Abilities: Mox is a proficient spacecraft engineer, specializing in lighter crafts like personal yachts, landing shuttles, refurbished fighters, and hotrods. Ships like these are often custom jobs, so she's gotten pretty good at figuring out how off-model rigs get put together.
She's known for tuning high-volatility fusion engines, the kind that put out so much thrust that they'll rip themselves to pieces if not cared for by a deft, and experienced mechanic. Racers typically come to her for this, and she finds toeing that line between "record breaking fast" and "will explode if sneezed on" to be an immensely fulfilling challenge.
The Sila has presented her a very unique challenge, as heavy freighters are not typically her speciality, and the Sila is a very old, unconventionally cobbled-together craft. Seth has been patiently teaching her its ins and outs though, and she’s confident she’ll fully comprehend the interior before the end of the year.
Moxie is also a surprisingly good singer. She's totally untrained, she hasn't pursued it; she just has a good ear for tune and really flexible pipes.
Weaknesses and Fears: Mox is very guarded. She doesn't typically volunteer information about her life if unasked, and even then only with those she really trusts. She worries that she's standoffish and unpleasant to be around, but finds that preferable to showing any hint of vulnerability, because the sarcasm is usually to hide lots of raw, unmanaged feelings she's unsure how to voice. Though she wants to be open and honest, she really struggles with that kind of vulnerability in practice, and it's prevented her from properly connecting with people on multiple occasions.
Which is unfortunate, because she falls really hard for her crushes. She is at least a little bit in love with most of the women in her life, and the border between friendly solidarity and romantic attraction often becomes really hazy for her. Out of respect for her friends and a desire to keep things uncomplicated, she tends not to bring it up, but the tension usually remains…
Also, she is a terrible cook. The Sila’s autochef is certainly helpful, but she’s yet to expand her skillset beyond anything besides watery soup and charcuterie boards.
History: Mox doesn't know who her biological parents are. As far as she's concerned, Marda was her mother, and anyone else is just an uninteresting bit of trivia.
She was born in the Gallows, the Ninth Layer of the SS Artemis and its poorest district, and promptly taken in by Marda Marianne, an aging veteran of the Civil War and former CHL fighter pilot. The who and why of this circumstance was never fully explained to her, but Mox never really bothered to ask more than once. Why would she? Marda was firm, but kind, and wise in a way not many other adults were. She was the only person Mox knew who could send ruffians packing with just a few words - a skill she greatly envied. The old pilot taught her to be respectful, and dependable, but most of all to never take shit from anyone. It was a mindset that frequently got her into trouble growing up, but it certainly kept the bullies away.
Being confined to the Gallows makes for a generally unpleasant life though. So once she was old enough, Marda used some old connections to get her a job in the Wrench District - the precocious youngster had already been employed a dozen times to squeeze into the neighborhood generator for tricky electrical repairs, and she showed an affinity for it, so why not encourage that interest? Mox took to it like a fish to water, and the station's power grids and thermal reactors became her tutors and mentors, its pipes mapped out in her mind just as clearly as the route back to their home.
Marda died when Mox was 15. She was old, but she'd been lively still, nobody saw it coming. One day she was just fine, and the next...
Mox took it hard. She wasn't totally alone - Marda had been well liked, and there were more than a few neighbors who came to offer condolences, food, and maybe just a bit of company. But life in the lower levels doesn't leave much time for grief, and Marda's debts, though small by Gallows standards, were still enough Mox had to sell most of their belongings to cover the first payment and the cost of cremation. She reached out to all of Marda's old friends, lied about her age, begged for work - and suddenly she found herself catapulted straight to the Line, working in a repair shop with only three days of clothes and her mother's old bomber jacket to her name. It was enough though, and work was a perfect outlet for her grief.
She threw herself into it, learning as much as she could from manuals, from the shop elders, from the rigs themselves. She had this fantasy where, if she learned enough about ships, she could build her own and fly off just like her mother, go see the stars, sail to wherever the gates would take her. It never quite came together - turns out you need a formal education to join pilot school, so her dreams remained out of reach…
Until she met Nebula, anyway.
Nebula was an annoyance at first, turning up at the shop for seemingly no reason but to flirt with and harass her. But when she realized no amount of death glares and biting little comebacks were going to drive her away, she started engaging with Nebula’s ceaseless chatter just to pass the time - and it turned out they shared a lot of interests. Before she knew it, they were fast friends, and soon Nebula was dragging her to bars, inviting her to parties, dressing her up in extremely expensive getups that were entirely too gaudy for her; things she’d never bother with on her own, but with Nebula? They just came naturally.
She said to herself that she was only tagging along to make sure Neb wasn’t getting abused, or choking to death on her own vomit, but the truth was she’d fallen completely, hopelessly in love with this lunatic. Anyone would, obviously, but a mechanic and a budding pilot, both with dreams of escape from this empty, corporate hell? It was too perfect, it felt like it was meant to be. Sure, she’d yet to actually confess those feelings, but she’d have all the time in the world to, once they were out there amongst the stars, right?
It was through Nebula that Mox got into the racing scene. Racing leagues were already one of their shared interests, but Nebula knew people, and after only a couple meetups, those people became her clients. Mox LOVED working on their rigs, fascinated by all the technical tricks and mechanical magic it took to squeeze just that much more juice out of a machine. And after enough time tinkering, she got good enough at tuning their vehicles that racers from all over started requesting her.
Her first formal gig was an offer from an Archangels team, a bunch of punks who called themselves Red Shift, and not long after she was wearing their jumper, working on their machines, and joining them at big-name racing events where she could see her work get put to the test. It took a few different models, and one or two explosive malfunctions on the track, but her designs eventually won them a series, and even a spot in the interstellar league.
Ironically, this is where things took a turn for the worse; because after a few major televised events, someone from Singularity Astronautics got it into their head that hotrod engineers had precisely the kind of innovation they were looking for. A pool of potentials was assembled, and Mox was selected specifically because she had no immediate family members to speak of.
When the agent approached her, she should've told them to float off, but she was in a bad place at the time. She still hadn’t gotten over Nebula’s sudden departure, still felt abandoned by her best and only real friend, and like before had thrown herself at work to stifle her grief - but even work was bad, because success and fortune was driving a wedge between the members of Red Shift, and she was so done listening to their stupid, violent bickering. And besides, the paycheck Singularity had offered was staggering. This could've been her big break, her chance to finally escape her debts and live free...
It wasn't. Instead, six grueling months of impossible expectations and 16-hour days ran her and twelve other engineers absolutely ragged. The specs the suits were asking for weren't possible with modern tech, but they weren't taking no for an answer, so they did their best to make it happen anyway. And Mox tried, she could almost see her part in the project coming together. But when someone died during a critical malfunction, and the suits told them to keep on as usual, she decided she'd had enough. The moment she had the opportunity, she blew the whistle on the whole operation, and in the ensuing chaos stole a few critical components and booked it.
It did not go well for her. Not had she unknowingly taken an ABSURDLY expensive piece of experimental tech, but she'd accidentally incriminated herself, because the followup investigation into SA's operations uncovered that she was culpable, both for the leaks, AND for the thefts! She woke up the following morning with her station ID screaming for her immediate surrender, and she fled her apartment only minutes before station security arrived. With nowhere to turn to, and an extremely hot potato in her hands, her only real option was to escape the station and the Uriel system entirely.
Swallowing her pride, she messaged Nebula for the first time in almost three years, asking for help, and immediately hitched a ride on the first cargo freighter out of there, dodging trade officials and ratcatchers till she could actually reach a transport line.
The trip to Grand Teton was a little more eventful than she would’ve liked - narrowly escaping a gunfight on the transport ship, only to land smack dab in a second between the Sila and a terrorist group had her frazzled and certainly not in the best mood. The first few days with them were rough - feelings of guilt and inadequacy were at the forefront of her mind, constantly worrying she was about to bring unwanted attention to Nebula and her friends; but after rekindling her friendship with the pilot and getting to know the eclectic characters aboard, she has slowly warmed to them all. After the troubles they’ve seen, she’s even willing to call some of them siblings, rather than merely coworkers - though to a Gallow’s kid, both are a moniker of trust.
Anything Else: Mox is fluent in English and French, and conversational in Japanese.
Her main interests (besides fusion engines) are racing leagues, indie rock and metal, boardgames, and model assembly kits for ships and mecha. She typically only pursues these things in private, but has slowly started opening up to her coworkers on the Sila.
Caffeine makes her stomach upset, but she likes the taste of coffee, and especially the ritual of making it before breakfast, so she needs access to decaf or else she becomes even grumpier than usual.
She sings to herself while working, but only if she thinks she's alone.
What is your character's favorite color?
Red
Does your character prefer the book or the movie?
Depends on the media, but she generally views movies as something to have on on the background, and books as something to dissect in private.
What is your character's typical morning routine? Do they stick to it or does it vary?
Wake early, drag herself from bed, make coffee. She prefers to get working as soon as possible, sometimes even bringing food to her workstation - ideally with loud music and a complex engineering problem to occupy her thoughts.
What is your character's Zodiac sign? Does it suit them?
Taurus. She definitely tries to be that dependable, unshakeable rock, even if it’s mostly a mask to hide her own fears and anxieties. She likes getting hands on, losing herself to her work or her interests, and is hard to distract. If given no other input, she quickly settles into routine and monotony, but she’s not necessarily happiest that way - she needs someone like Nebula to shake things up with unpredictability!
What is your character's favorite food?
Any kind of Japanese seafood, but especially takoyaki. She’s only ever had the imitation octopus they serve on the SS Artemis, she’d probably be uncomfortable eating real octopus.
Does your character have any hidden talents or skills?
As previously mentioned, great singer. Also has steady hands and an eye for detail, which makes it easy for her to paint the minis, mechs, and model ships she likes buying and assembling. Has a good memory for blueprints spatial reasoning, which is invaluable when working on a ship - with or without gravity.
What TV/movie/literary character, etc is your character most like? Alternately, what is your character's trope?
Kim Pine from Scott Pilgrim is her biggest influence! I love the inherent conflict in “grumpy and mean but actually cares a lot” characters - that, and I always thought that Kim and Ramona would make for a better couple than the canonical pairing. There’s also her engineering background, which draws from about a dozen different characters like Firefly’s Kaylee Frye, Mass Effect’s Tali’Zora, and Gaige from Borderlands 2. Basically any “wrench wench” you can think of.
What is your character's relationship with their parents? What made it that way?
Marda's gone now, but when she was alive she and Mox were very close. She couldn't provide everything, unfortunately - there was always a bit of an emotional distance, Marda being the type to hide her worries rather than share them - and Mox learned more about being tough and self-sufficient than she did about how to communicate with people or grapple with her emotions properly. She got the distinct impression that Marda thought of herself as a guardian and a mentor to Mox, rather than a mother figure. But she genuinely believes she did her best, and it's thanks to those survival skills that Mox was able to eventually leave that life behind.
Does your character have any siblings? If so, do they get along? If not, do they wish they had siblings?
No siblings! She grew up alongside a lot of other Gallows kids, but she's been removed from that world for quite some time now and hasn't had time to keep in touch.
Does your character have any extended family they're close with?
Closest thing she had to an uncle was Mr. Hayashi, an algaculturalist who served food for the 'neighborhood' out of his little coffin-home. When she was young, Marda would ask him to babysit her, and in turn she'd help him rotate the algae stacks and change out their water. She learned her first bit of electrical engineering from him too, by watching and helping him fix his stovetop and various farming appliances.
When Marda died, he was one of the first to pitch in and help her find work elsewhere on the station. She has no idea what he's doing now, though - grief and work ate up most of her time in her late teens, and these days she's afraid that trying to reconnect might just put him in danger with the local authorities.
Favorite family member and why?
Marda, on account of her being Mox's only real family member. But, if you asked today, she might honestly say Zeke instead.
Least favorite family member and why?
Not applicable!
How does your character feel about or deal with family gatherings?
The closest thing she had to "family gatherings" growing up were either neighborhood support meetings organized by Marda, or getting a stern talking to if she acted up or broke something important. Strong believer in communal problem solving, but no specific opinions on 'family' gatherings.
What are your character's feelings about their childhood?
Mox can't complain about how she was raised - she honestly believes Marda did her best to be a good parental figure, and she picked up a lot of skills from other adults around the Gallows that have served her well to this day. That said, she heavily resents that she or anyone has had to live in abject poverty like that, deprived of a formal education or housing no bigger than a hundred square feet. She's missed out on a lot of opportunities, and lacks knowledge in a lot of important areas because of her background.
How does your character feel about having a family someday?
Mox really, REALLY wants to be a mother someday, it's one of her biggest aspirations! But due to the way her life has played out, she's pretty convinced it's not going to happen. There are a lot of obstacles between her and the kind of stability she'd want to provide her kids, and it's unlikely she'll overcome all of them. So, for now, it's just a fantasy she likes to entertain, or something to revisit if her circumstances ever change.
What kind of parent would they be? Do they think they would make a good one?
Mox isn't totally convinced she'd manage it considering her unconventional upbringing (this is one of the aforementioned obstacles), but in truth she'd absolutely love every second of it, and would probably make for a really amazing mom. Nurturing comes to her like a second nature, and her problem-solving skills would make her pretty adaptable to the twists and turns of being a parent. She'd be very focused on letting her kids be independent, teaching them just enough to get them on their feet and then encouraging them self-direct. Super supportive, eager to help them reach for opportunities she'd never had access to, and always providing a loving place to return to if they get lost along the way.