THE ONE WOMAN THINK TANK!

Sometimes the holy must be marred. Sometimes that is the price of salvation. [ ind. valeria richards. ]

[stiintaimoral]

we've got killer koalas! we've got broccoli men! but no matter what you say, this is the end! { ind....

heads up! this blog is now an archive. val (and drakta) have moved to a multimuse account @jointheeffort

[stiintaimoral]

keewazikid:

I don’t think you’re creepy at all, Val. You’re a pioneer in your work. Some people might be offput by that, but I don’t think you’re ‘creepy’ just yet. I just don’t think most people are used to that. Just don’t try turning yourself into some full-on robot or AI or something. That’ll start getting to me. 

[Aubrey laughed, sweet, roling her eyes. Really, as long as it wasn’t frankensteining animals together or becoming a machine or hurting anyone, she didn’t mind. There was weird science, but she loved hearing how it was done, from personal or career interest mostly.]

Jess just doesn’t know you as well as I do. She’s easily nervous about things like that. I’m showing her all sorts of new things– getting her more adjusted and all. I think she’ll always be cautious though– not that that’s a bad thing! Some caution in our circles is probably the rarest thing I know!

( despite lamenting that she could show nothing of the real her to those she cares about aside from drakta, valeria smiles. for now, ignorance is bliss )

Now you sound like my mother trying to get me out the house.

Lady Valeria sometimes needs to be reminded to sleep, let alone leave.

[alexablisshq]

@alexa_bliss_wwe_: Did he just smell me?!?! 😟🤔🙄 @mojorawleywwe #wwelafayette

[stiintaimoral]

keewazikid:

She’s got a very good grip. I think it comes with the territory. When she sticks, she’s only coming off when she wants to.

Maybe you just snuck up on her? It’s really hard, but it’s not impossible.

I’ll make sure to announce Lady Valeria’s presence next time.

That... isn’t necessary, Drakta. Aubrey, you think it’s only because she was startled? I’d hate to be your creepy friend. To more people, I mean.

[stiintaimoral]

keewazikid:

She’s just skittish! She startles easy.

I waved at her and she jumped on Drakta.

She was very difficult to remove.

[stiintaimoral]

@keewazikid

Aubrey, I think your girlfriend is terrified of me.

[stiintaimoral]

keewazikid:

I’d work on that soon. You’re a bit clutzy and we’ve got a lot of people who’d love to put us into walls like your tech just did. Or worse. Explaining to that head nurse I missed a shift because I was in another dimension wasn’t easy.

She still gives me weird looks, you know that? To this day…

–And it would be. You’d be screaming at me probably– which I could deal with, it’s my job. But you’d also be screaming when I’d press this-- [She pressed two fingertips into a rib, confirming with a nod that, yes, it was broken. The other ribs checked out, maybe fractures, but Val’s shoulder was worse for wear too. Aubrey hissed a bit.]

–You did yourself in good this time, I’ll give you that. We’re not super strong, Vee– but your shoulder’s dislocated and I’ll have to reset it. Sorry in advance. [And with that, she gave no further warning in fixing it. Not like she’d feel the pain apparently.] –That head nurse, you know? I told her I needed a day off one day for a reservation holiday. Should’ve seen her face. She gave me a long, dead look– dead tired glassy look--, and sighed and let me have it off. Nothing phases her anymore. Make me quit before I get that way, Val.

Everyone gives me weird looks. You get used to it.

( val sighs deeply. she didn’t want to hear so many things were broken or out of place. ) 

You know I couldn’t make you quit. You’d just tell me no. But... ( she shifts slightly. ) give it to me straight, doc’, how long will I need to heal?

[stiintaimoral]

keewazikid:

[Aubrey sighed softly.] Yeah…

I’m almost a doctor, Val, but I don’t need to finish a degree to tell you turning off your pain receptors is a bad idea. They’re there to help you. It’s how you know something’s wrong. Like a broken bone.

… But yeah, sit up if you can. Can tell you now that one’s at least a broken rib; can bet on that one. If I had to guess, I’d say the right side– or the side you crashed into the hardest.

I’m aware, I’m aware. ( she pushes herself up. ) 

I’m in the process of replacing them with something that doesn’t hurt. Pain’s a distraction too, you know. This situation would be very different if I could feel my broken rib.

[stiintaimoral]

keewazikid:

Val, I think I heard something break.

Nothing broke. I would’ve felt --

ah, I disabled my pain receptors. I had meant to install an alternative but I got sidetracked... could you check if anything’s broken for me?

[keewazikids]

Oh! That looked like that hurt!

Are you okay?

[stiintaimoral]

Just... if I could have some ice.

[doctorxdoomarchived-deactivated]

   Her answer did little to put his mind at ease, but at least it was a concern he understood–if not exactly what had prompted it.

   “There are magical means of extending one’s life… but the price is steep, and it’s still a far cry from true immortality.” It was tempting to note that he’d considered those options himself, but he left it unsaid; surely that had occurred to her. “If you wish to leave a legacy, some… echo of your genius, that can be done with relative ease–by replicating your consciousness. …But I think you crave a more precise solution, yes?”

[stiintaimoral]

There’s nothing Valeria loves more than precision, except perhaps perfection. As a scientist, she understands that perfection is impossible, but her love of science is not born out of the art itself, but the pleasure of making something of it to help humanity. And to help everyone, you need to be perfect. 

“It’s not so much that I’m looking for immortality through magic, I just want invulnerability from it,” she says. “At least, as much as is possible. I don’t want to leave anything to chance. I don’t want to wake up one day and be face to face with a sorcerer who can outdo my technology with a tome and some Latin lessons. As far as keeping my body alive, I’m well capable of that.”

[themechanics-deactivated2018012]

“There were those nights when you get home and there’s no one to call. And there’s no vodka left to drink. And you got nothing on TV from those stupid infomercials. And you’re stuck with yourself. And that’s what they mean when they say the word terror. Because all I wanted was to be wrapped up in somebody’s arms. Anybody’s arms. Even stranger’s. I hate… I hate being alone. But when I am, I look into the mirror and I tell myself something that Audrey Hepburn once said…” - She’s Funny That Way (2015)

[doctorxdoomarchived-deactivated]

   Victor scowled, though only his eyes suggested it. Magic? Somehow, the thought was… unsettling; if not for the tentative connection between them, he could already have considered her a rival in many areas, but this one?

   No.

   “You would need to be taught.” It was only a partial lie. A necessary one, in his opinion. “Though I doubt you’ll find anyone willing, given your current state and somewhat… nebulous motivation. Magic is not a scientific study to be picked up on a whim, Valeria. What do you want to change so badly?”

[stiintaimoral]

She would need to be taught. The idea she couldn’t just do it herself is foreign and annoying, much like magic itself. Val supposes it couldn’t be any more fitting. 

“My mortality. I don’t want to die, Uncle Doom. The world’ll need genius like mine forever.” More specifically, it will need her. “I can’t afford to be caught unaware.”

[doctorxdoomarchived-deactivated]

   He was surprisingly wary of her. Val had changed as she’d grown, and while Doom expected that most changes were ones he might approve of… well, she was full of surprises. Always had been. That he knew so little of her life these days more than proved that. 

   On the other hand… she was still Val.     “You need only to ask, child. What is it?”

[stiintaimoral]

Val’s more her father than her mother, no matter what she looks like, and that means hours locked away in a lab. Even right now, she’s running mostly on adrenaline shots, having slept last sometime in August.

“I want to modify a certain aspect of myself, but I can’t quite do it just yet. So, how would I go about learning magic?”

[stiintaimoral]

@doctorxdoom

I need your advice on something.

[acecfspace]

     ❛ oh ? that is rather interesting. i must admit i have never heard of this  … crossroads nexus. nor of an iron knight. what, exactly, does the latter entail ? ❜

[stiintaimoral]

“ an iron knight is the name of my people, my race, however is the most consummate way to say it, dear friend. well, it’s the english translation of it, but it’s only one word in my language. ”

[acecfspace]

    ❛ well, i would be dishonest if i said you had heard incorrectly. i can only assume the same for you, yes ?  ❜

[stiintaimoral]

“ yes! while i am not of space origin, i too am considered an ‘alien’ to earth as i am an iron knight from the crossroads nexus. ”