Konichi wa! My name is ViXN!
Let me introduce myself. I’m Petroeshka a.k.a. ViXN Neko! In this big wide world I am nothing but an unimportant amoebe, so let me give you a chance to get a little bit more acquainted with me. Many people ask me where my roots lie. Let me tell ya’ll how that mix went down: an Indonesian dad + a Surinam mom = me! So yeah… I am what they call a “blasian” or “jampa”. At the moment I am 30 years old. I am originally from Utrecht but nowadays I live in Eindhoven. I work as a Marketing Communications Specialist (fulltime office day job) and as an Audiovisual Production Operator in the festival and in the theater world. But there is so much more to me than just that.
Performer, cosplayer, intellectual rebel with an attitude-problem and more…
I am just your basic crazy party girl who likes to go clubbing with friends. But I also have a broad background in different martial art styles (karate, teakwondo and kickboxing). Besides that I am trained in traditional Japanese stick fighting (jodo) and sword fighting (kendo). I dance and I like to perform. When I am not working, doing all the above, or playing videogames, you can find me at the gym working out. How to describe me? “Street smart”(Those who know me in real life can validate this statement…). And of course, to top it all of (YES, there actually is more), there is COSPLAY! The one thing that brings all my favorite things together. Designing and bringing creative concepts to life and performing with them. Something that I will get back to in a minute.
Now you’re playing with power!
I played my very first videogame when I was 4 years old (Asteroids on the pc of a family member). Around that same time-period I also used to watch the Super Mario Brothers, Legend Of Zelda and Captain N cartoons. This was around the same year Nintendo launched the Nintendo Entertainment System commercial that had the catchphrase “Now you’re playing with power”. Seeing all these videogame related things on TV, it immediately got me hooked to everything that even had the slightest thing to do with Nintendo. And being the spoiled little ‘wiseacre’ that I was, me and my little sister got our Nintendo Entertainment System for ‘Sinterklaas’ (Dutch holiday) that same year.
My gaming habits just became a part of who I am as a person.
So from that moment ISH WAS ON BIG TIME! Starting out with Super Mario Bros./Duckhunt-combi and Super Mario Bros 2 cartridges. Following up with a Super Nintendo, Gameboy, Nintendo 64, Gameboy Colour, Playstation 1 and 2 and a Gamecube… Though I did my fair share of PC gaming. I am not much of a PC gamer myself nowadays. In the following years I got more consoles and I kept playing all sorts of games. My preferred videogame genres are still fighting games, RPG’s, action adventure and esspionage action games with strong storylines. My gaming habits just became a part of who I am as a person.
(Love)story time!
But enough ‘bullcrap’ about me. Girl Gamer Galaxy asked me to write you a lovestory… And this so happens to be about nobody other than me and my hubby Mario! Time to get mushy. Yay! I am not married to Mario. But being together for 9 years now, most people tell us that we might as well have been married. We just think that it would not add anything extra to our relationship since we love each other so much. It’s just a set of rings and a piece of paper. But anyway. We can discuss our morals some other time.
Geeks & Videogamefreaks
We did not meet through videogaming. But being geeks and videogame freaks is one of the main reasons our relationship clicked so well. Our story began 9 years ago on December 28th, 2007 during Asian Night at a club called BackZtreet in Eindhoven. During that time I used to work as a party promotor for lots of different Asian party organisations in the Netherlands (a side job). I won’t bother you with all the little details. So I’ll tell you the short version. As cheesy and cliché it all may sound. I just ordered a drink at the bar that night and chilled there for a bit.
I just decided to walk towards him and compliment him on his hair. Then I offered him a drink.
When I looked accross the dancefloor I saw this guy with a blue sleeveless vest, baggy jeans and reeved tribal paterns in his coloured hair (just like mine at that time). He just had something… I couldn’t help but to look at him a couple of times and smile at him. Appearently he felt the same way because he kept on looking back. At some point I just decided to walk towards him and compliment him on his hair. Then I offered him a drink.
At the end of night…
So at the end of the night I was like “Oh well whatevs… Just go get that guy his number”. And so we exchanged numbers. To be honest. I actually thought he found me a bit too much of a chitchatty annoying girl and I would never see him again. But nothing was further from the truth. Superearly in the morning I received a text saying that he liked my style and that he would’ve had a really boring night if he didn’t meet me.
‘Geeking on’ together
First thing what was cool that we discovered that we had in common during our first date, was that we both totaly loved Final Fantasy 8. Of course there were lots of other things related to gaming that we both liked, but that is something in particular that always kept dwelling in my mind and of which we have conversations about up to today. From that point on we just kept “geeking on” together. And even though back then I used to live pretty far away from Mario (Utrecht VS Eindhoven), we really did a lot of cool stuff together. We danced together in the same breakdance crew, went clubbing, played videogames and of course cosplay together!
Geeky couple things <3
Nowadays we are usually each other’s player 2 when it comes to videogaming. When we play videogames together we mostly enjoy games like Splatoon, Mariokart, Mortal Kombat and Smash Bros. And when we’re not playing together we’re usually each other’s commentator during gaming. Sometimes in a competitive way, but most of the time as each others supporter. We still share the same interests in the world of geekdom, so since 2014 we started cosplaying together as a duo named InuNeko Cosplay. Since it brings together all the things that we both love to do: Being creative, performing arts and expressing love for our fandoms, it is THE perfect hobby to do together.
We like to cosplay lots of things, but somehow we always end up cosplaying game characters. Probably because of our love for videogaming. This is how we ended cosplaying Sub-Zero & Scorpion from Mortal Kombat and Fox McCloud & Falco Lombardi from Starfox. Whenever there’s a new game that we like, most of the time Mario and I get really hyped about it. Even when only one of us likes it. We end up dragging the other along, sparking interest in the game that the other is so hyped about. I think this is something really fun and unique that not many people get to share with the one they love. So as you can imagine.. I am pretty proud of that. Not only because it is fun that we get to share this interest. But also because it’s a part of what brought us together as a couple.
Petroeshka (ViXN Neko) & Mario: not your ‘standard household’
We’ve been living together for about 5 years now and you might say that lots of things in our household are ‘not standard’. From playing videogames together, to the videogame artwork on the walls of our house to cosplaying. Sometimes we bicker about what game we’re gonna play (together) or who’s turn it is to play on a certain console. But to be honest, I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. Being an old skool geeky gamer couple has been nothing but fun in this crazy fun trip that we call a relationship. And from what I’ve experienced up until now, it will certainly take us to even greater things and places. Something I can’t wait to experience together with nobody other than the love of my life.
Want to know more?
Do you want to know more about Petroeshka a.k.a. ViXN Neko and InuNeko Cosplay? You can find them on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and on Deviantart.
