Bio.

GENERAL INFO.

Full Name: Valeriya Katerinovna Khorkin
Aliases: Val, V, Kitty Kat (by Lucas)
Gender and Pronouns: Cis Female; She/Her
Place of Birth: Moscow, Central Federal District, Russia
Heritage: White Russian
Date of Birth: December 27th, 1983
Age: 31-41
Parents:

Siblings:
Children: N/A
Other Family:

Allergies: N/A
Addictions: N/A
Mental Conditions/Disorders: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Physical Conditions/Disorders: N/A

APPEARANCE INFO.

Features: Sharp, angular features, with focused eyes and a longer nose. Has various tattoos across her body, with very little room left untouched by ink. Notable pieces include the large serpent along her left side (stretching from the breast to the knee), the cluster of roses along her right breast and shoulder, and the word "Respect" across her right forearm in a calligraphy style.
Voice Claim: Yulia Peresild
Eye Color: Dark Brown
Hair Color: Medium Brown
Hairstyle: Waist-length, semi-waved hair that is often braided back into a ponytail/traditional three-strand braid.
Build: Athletic and on the slim side, with prominent leg muscles. Has a narrow waist and a notable silhouette.
Height: 5 feet and 7 inches (approx. 170 cm)
Weight: 127 pounds (approx. 57 kg)

SOCIAL INFO.

Connections:

Relationship Status: Single
Sexuality: Demiromantic Heterosexual

MISC. INFO

You can read more about the organization Valeriya works for HERE! Eventually, this will be made into a meta-based page on the NeoCities site.

Through the vast majority of her canon, Valeriya is unaware that she has any biological family still living. She has heard rumors of a peculiar male assassin operating in similar areas to her, and further rumors of similar appearances, but it's not concerned her.

However, Mikhail is aware of this connection (after Roman's failed assassination of a political figure) and has kept it hidden from her.

The loss of Lucas is something that, even decades later, still impacts Valeriya rather deeply. As such, she's a lot more tentative in forming intimate connections with people regardless of the type of dynamic (platonic, romantic, sexual, etc). She has tried to "feel more normal" again by having one-night stands, but they never made her feel any better.

The former point isn't helped by the fact Valeriya wears a specialized ring, which makes her appear engaged. She isn't, though. The ring is a promise ring that Lucas gave her on her birthday, and it means the absolute world to her. She's gotten it professionally re-sized and tidied up over the years, and she only ever takes it off when necessary. When she's working, she wears it on a custom-made chain that ensures it will not break, fall off, or be lost.

English is Valeriya’s second language, with Russian being her first and Polish being her third. She is proficiently fluent in those languages, and conversationally fluent in many others given the international nature of her work.

BACKGROUND.

Valeriya was born to a young, careless couple who had recently run away from their families to live a life on the wild-side. Prior to her conception and birth, her parents would hop across several cities, partaking in party-fueled drug binges and vivacious flings. Unfortunately, there would be a momentary pause once the realization that there was a baby on the way settled in. Wanting to attempt to do right, the couple would cut their vices cold turkey, even if they had no intentions of actually keeping the child once they were born. This put a serious strain on the pregnancy, both physically and mentally. Thankfully, though, the pregnancy continued without any serious hitches and Valeriya would be born a healthy baby girl. She would promptly be signed over to state officials and her parents would not maintain custody of her. They would both vanish once the paperwork cleared, and Valeriya would enter the foster care system.

At first, she lucked out. A healthy baby girl was the most desirable of the bunch. She would quickly be adopted into a family who had already bitten off more than they could chew with their biological children. Growing up during her formative years was strangely overbearing and isolating all at once. She would be the center of attention when company was around, but completely shunned once the niceties were no longer needed. Her siblings would be doted on and spoiled, where she would seemingly have to beg for the basics. As a result, she became withdrawn and, in the eyes of her parents, "problematic." Concerned for what her allegedly sudden shift in behavior would bring to the home, Valeriya was re-entered into the foster care system at 5-years-old; abandoned by the people she genuinely considered to be her parents and learning the harsh reality that she was never even theirs to begin with. Being too young to understand the intricacies of what that meant, the sudden upheaval of her life took a serious toll, and she would be branded a "trouble child" by the foster agency she was a resident of. This label resulted in her being passed from home to home, never really finding her "forever family" as she never felt comfortable nor safe enough to open up to those that took her in.

One family came, another passed, and the constant social rejection would cause Valeriya to build up many walls. This would, consequentially, make her the target of other children and malicious staff alike. Other children her age would harass her to the point of physical violence, with many confrontations ending in her being bruised and bloodied. Staff would turn their gaze and not administer her care, always taking the side of the aggressors who would spin stories about her starting the conflict. And because of her silence and withdrawal, staff members who had ulterior motives would attempt to target her for their own desires. "Innocent" and "incidental" touches grew focused and forceful, and would only stop when she was cornered in a supply closet at the age of 13.

The man who locked them in would grab her by the hair and cut it as short as he could with the scissors he'd previously held to her throat, musing that the shorter her hair was, the easier he could "do whatever he wanted, as he could simply crush her head if she struggled." Unfortunately for him, that was a chance she was willing to take. She fought hard against him, clawing and kicking and biting, unfazed by the blood that it brought forth. Those scissors got her many times, but she wouldn't stop until she had them in her hands. She wouldn't stop until she drove them into his eye and twisted until he let her go. Seeing the limp body before her twisted her stomach, but also brought her a sense of pride and self she had not felt in a long time. Something good happened, even if others wouldn't see it that way. And this would be made evident by the staff member who, upon hearing the commotion, bust the door open and found the grizzly murder scene. When demanding to know what happened, Valeriya would bluntly recount the comments and advances made toward her. It was routine at this point: tell them what happened, be told that she was making mountains out of mole hills, and be told to go find something else to do instead of wasting people's time. This time, though, they only made it through two of the three steps.

Instead of being told to fuck off, she was kicked out and told that a "rotten brat" like her should rot in Hell for what she's done.

Now homeless and left to the streets, Valeriya knew rather quickly that she truly had nowhere else to go. So, she just began wandering. Snuck through back alleys and cleaned herself up. Stole discarded clothing items from trash bins and hanging lines, and tried to work with what little she could scavenge. This would be her new routine for the foreseeable future, with her observing society as it moved past her and growing into a cunning chameleon who would take advantage of the rare stranger's pity to rob them for just enough to keep herself alive.

One day while scavenging for food, she came across another teen like her. He had been sifting through some trash when she came across him... and promptly scared the life out of him. Something about the encounter was amusing to Valeriya, who would tease the older boy for being scared of a "little girl," and she would simply move to sift through what he was looking at. The two would establish something of a cat and mouse routine, with their crossing of paths often resulting in Valeriya scaring the boy then offering what goods she found as an even split. Eventually, he would introduce himself as Lucas, and the two would opt to pair up. Throughout their time together, and establishing something of a home in an abandoned parking garage, the two would fall deeply in love. And, unfortunately for either of them, it would not last.

Lucas would be picked up by police for murder, grand theft, and a plethora of other charges that resulted in the arrest process being intense and forceful. Valeriya would try to intervene and follow up on the case, but the trail would quickly grow cold as the issue was a matter of international enforcement (with Lucas being from Poland, and his family there being known targets of law enforcement, Russian officials would extradite him back).

Now alone again, Valeriya would try to turn her life around in hopes of being able to find Lucas. She would reach out to community resources, acquire a phone that she would pay for by completing simplistic jobs like dog-walking, but it wasn't ever enough to truly make progress toward setting up stable ground. She continued to live out of that parking garage they once shared, doing everything she could to preserve the memory of him there. Eventually, she would be found there—bloodied and bruised from a scrap with a sleazy pimp trying to recruit her—by an older gentleman. He offered her a handkerchief to clean her face, and she would hesitantly accept. The man reassured her that he had no intentions of hurting her with it, and would inquire as to what happened. She initially brushed it off, and he wouldn't push for an explanation. Instead, he simply asked her if she had somewhere safe to go. When she revealed she didn't, he offered one to her. And when she asked what the catch was, he laughed at the look in her eyes and gave her a simple answer: a job.

Reluctantly, Valeriya accepted the gesture. At worst, she would take his life just as she had that of the man who attempted to assault her as a young child. If she did it before, she could do it again.

And she would, but just not the life of the man who took her in. Instead, the man—who would introduce himself as Mikhail—would open her eyes to the criminal underworld. He would explain that his operations ran tight and clean, and with many avenues for her to pursue. Smuggling, arms trafficking, protection rackets, money laundering... and contract assassination. Mikhail would say that line of work in particular was only just finding itself in tune with the others, stating that he needed someone with attention to detail and a focused mind to fill his shoes and take over. Valeriya would ask what kinds of people they would target, and would learn that for the most part? Only the worst of the worst. No women, no children. That was enough to convince her to take on the role, and Mikhail would become her mentor. They would train intensely, alternating between hand-to-hand combat, ranged weaponry, and useful skills such as lock-picking and thievery (the latter of which she already had a fair understanding of). He would teach her how to build and dismantle identities at a whim, and would shadow her on several contracts to help her get a feel for things.

And she would quickly become the best he's seen in a long, long time.

It wouldn't take long for Valeriya to become Mikhail's right-hand operative, both on part of her skill and the soft spot he developed for her. Likewise, over time, Valeriya would come to see Mikhail as a true father figure; someone she could trust and could be close to. She would trust his judgment, and he would hear her out should issues arise. They were, effectively, unstoppable when paired together, and this caught the attention of an American man by the name of Adam.

The deal between Mikhail and Adam was simple: If there was a need for more hired guns, he would provide. In return, Mikhail would be granted access to underground markets in New York to operate out of and do business with. The only condition was that Adam received his best gun, and in return that she would remain accompanied by Mikhail. From that moment on, they would remain loosely on Adam's retainer, stepping in when his preferred contacts from Tango Down were unavailable or otherwise unfit for the specific jobs he had in mind.

More often than not, though, Valeriya travels the world on her own completing contracts handed down directly from Mikhail.