#by 2077 it had faded to background noise - and also there was Misty now and Vince was really happy about how happy she made Jackie

[elvenbeard]

2071

"Had to drive a thousand miles just to realize that this is where I belong... This is my home. I'm so fuckin' stupid."

"Some mistakes you gotta make, hermano. How else're you s'pposed to learn from them?"

Vince left Night City for a little less than a year in 2070. He'd burned too many bridges, in Charter Hill, in Kabuki... There seemed nothing left for him to gain, nowhere deeper to sink. Also, his mother had tracked him down two years into his hiding from her. Even though they parted ways somewhat amicably and Vince did not expect to see her again, a certain level of unrest had accompanied him ever since.

Together with someone he thought he was in love with at the time, he joined the backstage crew of a Korean lazrpop duo touring the NUSA. His actually quite extensive technical knowledge... did not land him the gig. It was mostly the good word put in by his acquaintance that was supposed to get him out of the city. But so, instead of working with the crew's techies, setting up the lights and sound for the impressive shows ahead, he ended up having to haul equipment cases most days.

Needless to say, the experience was underwhelming. Combined with his relationship turning sour halfway into the trip, Vince suffered from the worst homesickness ever - for Night City, of all places, the city and the people that had continued to wrong him so many times over, with their games and intrigues.

One thing though Night City had done very right: Jackie Welles. The first person who sincerely liked Vince for who he was, no ulterior motives. The first true friend whose intentions he no longer doubted, that would have his back no questions asked, and vice versa.

Bonding with him over their shared experiences with abusive parents, Jackie was to Vince the older brother he had never had. Naturally, Jackie was there to pick him up when Vince returned to Night City in 2071, disillusioned, alone, and uncertain about his future more than ever. But Jackie always seemed to know someone or something that could be done to get Vince back on his feet.

Night City had changed as much as Vince had during his short-lived, self-inflicted exile. The Unification War was over, Night City a free city. Most importantly though - unbeknownst to both Vince and Jackie still - the old, powerful corporation that had returned to the city's heart with its new, rebuilt headquarters, would forever change their lives just a few years down the line...

Vince through the years (3/9)

For today's behind the scenes ramblings: a few thoughts on something I've been noticing on my VP journey lately...

No matter where you go... I think in any scenic location near Night City, you can see the Arasaka logo somehwere in the background, and I think it's done very purposefully by the environment designers XD It's either the clover, or the whole word "arasaka" spelled out, glowing somewhere on the side of a building or an ad display. It is often there in important story scenes somewhere, too, subtle in the background, a constant, subconscious reminder to V (you know... apart from the constant, subconscious bickering at the hands of Johnny XD).

Arasaka Tower itself is also extremely prominent, unmistakeable with its shape, whenever I'm taking pics lately that are in slightly elevated locaions I look around to see if I can spot it XD And I chose this spot specifically because it's so nicely visible from there, too...

This was one of my very first shoots with AMM - don't think I ever shared these (and wanna recreate them badly now). Just Vince and Johnny pondering the next move, what they're gonna do and say during the meeting with Hanako, Arasaka Tower in clear view in the distance, almost as if it's taunting them.

This particular spot is very important to Vince... as mentioned, it's where Jackie picked him up after he returned to Night City in 2071, but it's more than that. Jackie showed him the place shortly after they became friends, to give Vince a "different perspective" on Night City he wasn't really aware of then, with his sheltered upbrining and the circles he moved in. It's by the dam, overlooking Rancho Coronado, and in few other places the extreme difference between poverty and wealth appears quite as jarring.

In the years to come after this first visit here, it develops into a favourite meeting spot of Vince and Jackie to discuss all manners of things in quiet and relative private... here is where, just a year later, Vince tells him that he's gonna take on a job at Arasaka 👀 And Vince is drawn back there over and over again, even when Jackie can no longer meet him there.

It's simply where he still feels closest to Jackie, due to so many important conversations they had here...

... and he takes Kerry here, later, too, to get away from the city for a little while, talk about the past and the future.

Sometimes he comes over on his own when he needs some quiet time to think, too. What would Jackie do now? What would he suggest? Does it all even matter in the grand scheme of things? What is really important right now, and what can wait for later?

It's the perfect spot to clear your mind, and gorgeous at every time of day <3

Also, I wrote above that Vince was homesick for Night City... but it was less Night City that he missed, but Jackie's presence.