Za'id's Questionnaire

Za'id lives in Boston - she moved there for the college scene originally, back when she still planned to get a phd. The only reason that she hasn't left yet is that Tyrn died here, and she doesn't want to live too far from their remains. Her home is a condo above a bookstore, which is where she actually spends most of her time. The condo itself was Tyrn's, after all. Most of the space inside it is covered with bookshelves full of textbooks, except for the room where she performs live research - which is sound-proofed. The bookstore owner lets her stay and read, as long as she buys something every once in a while.

Za'id currently gets her money from participating in and running studies. She works at a nearby lab doing research into genetic manipulation and machine learning, and is trying to learn about how to make real AI in her off time.

Most of her income goes to research materials (both legal and not so legal) as well as greasing academic wheels in her favor, since the condo was already paid for.

The rest she spends on courses - self led online, as well as courses on campus led by professors.

There's not much left after that, but she doesn't need THAT much food to live, right?

Za'id is trying to cheat death. Tyrn was taken from her by some politician who never even got so much as a slap on the wrist for it, so she needs to get them back. She's been looking into ancient sources of resurrection in occult sources for a long time, but nothing ever came close to working. Trust her, she's tried most tricks in the books on various animals, and some people too.

I guess I should note: Yes, she will kill for it. As many as it takes.

She's not stupid, though - she can't save Tyrn if she's dead too. So she'll bide her time and keep her mind sharp until the right opportunity presents itself.

Powers That Be help whoever stands in her way when it does.

On her 21st birthday, Za'id was celebrating a large grant with Tyrn after her trial for genetically modifying a living organism's eyes was a success - she had given sight to one of her lab rats that was born blind. A lot of rats unfortunately paved the way for that discovery with their lives, but that's neither here nor there. What was there, but neither saw in the dark was the car that ran Tyrn over, and then sped off. No one else witnessed it, but she swears she recognized the drunk driver: Aunau, a politician taking a hard-line stance against the traffic problems in the city. No one ever believed her, but she'll never forget his face. Hopefully after she brings Tyrn back, she's planning on peeling it off.

Miri is a small copper haired woman who helps Za'id acquire any less than legal things that she needs, and occasionally provides extra funds or other forms of work. She was cast out of her family for stealing medicine that they needed to survive. The alternative was dying alongside them as punishment, so Za'id thinks she got off pretty well all things considered. Besides, it led her to Za'id, who probably considers her almost family at this point.

Elifira runs the bookshop. She likes Za'id, because she used to do Peyote and considers herself an "occult seer". Whether that's actually the case is not as relevant as the fact that she does seem to have a sixth sense for when things are about to go wrong.

Quincy is a wiry man with glasses that is often on duty at the Boston Library when Za'id visits, and they have a genial relationship because he likes hearing what odd things she's looking for each day.

Za'id had a difficult childhood - she was always good at manipulating adults to her favor, and was always too smart for her own good. She was in advanced classes in school, and her "friends" were really just older kids that she would use for their licenses, or to get alcohol to bribe other kids with. She never really cared much about any of her peers or what happened to them, until Tyrn came along, anyway.

Her parents were scientists and never noticed her social issues, instead just pushing her to excel even further in school. One day, she got tired of it all and just ran away. It took almost a month for her to be found, since she did her research at the library ahead of time and was prepared. She was still fairly young, though, so she wasn't able to get too far. Since that day her parents were more involved in her social life, and she started learning how to do more than just manipulate other kids.

Za'id is in love. She was supposed to marry Tyrn one week after their death. They were together since Za'id's high school days and into college, and Tyrn is the one who originally got her working with Gen-Wyld, and pushing her to do the experiments that led to her eyes being closer to a cat's eyes than human. Her world was shattered when they were killed, and she has spent every moment since then looking into ways to bring them back. She will succeed one of these days, as she has finally got an in into the world of the truly supernatural, and away from Gen-Wyld's surface level manipulations.

Za'id's worst fear is that she will never see Tyrn again. That even with all of her knowledge, and her expanding powers, she still will never be able to speak to someone on the other side. Or bring them back, while we're at it. She's worried that if the afterlife is real, she won't end up in the one Tyrn is at. And if it isn't, that everything she's doing is for nothing. She's even more afraid that she'll stop right before unlocking the power she needs to bring them back.

Lately, she's also worried about the deities that she's become entrenched with. She is quite happy with her new wives, they seem quite amazing and full of knowledge and power to share with her - but she's never directly angered a god before, and while she's fairly sure that she can handle whatever is thrown at her (especially with the power of the twin snakes she has married) there is still a level of anxiety that it might cost more than she thought she would be able to gain from the trade she has made. Luckily, her twin wives have already given her some power that she could not have dreamed of - the ability to understand and speak all languages, through them, as long as she keeps them near.

Za'id's most prized possession used to be her occult library, and all of the tomes therein. Her research into old gods of death and their domains was something she always put all of her resources into pursuing. Lately, however, she has new prized possessions: Her tome of evil, which has given her the power to hide herself, and her ritual dagger - the one that contains her wives as a prison. One day soon, she will unlock the gates to that prison, and let her wives out into the world using the dagger as a conduit for their presence. Nothing in the world could be more prized, more worthy of her time and effort than that. Except, maybe, Tyrn's mortal remains. She needs to stay near them, to have access to them, in case she is able to unlock the power she seeks and restore their life to return them to her side.

The biggest problem in Za'id's life right now? Definitely the god who has imprisoned her wives and is keeping an eye on her. The one whose domain involves dreams and sleep. One of the sons of Somnus - Morpheus. She has to hope that his father, as well as his brothers Phobetor and Phantasos, are not of the same mind as him. If they are, her life could get incredibly complicated incredibly quickly. If they aren't, however, she is considering the possibility of trying to turn them against their brother as protection. She's yet to broach the subject with her wives, due to the fact that they obviously will not like the Greek pantheon, but surely they can be convinced to fight fire with fire? If not, perhaps she'll have to begin seeking out Mesopotamian deities to assist with the situation. After she is able to free her wives, of course - they can't stay in that knife forever!

She wakes long before sunrise, as she has found she can trick the world into giving her more time to do things that way. She sleeps naked with her knife-wives, usually between 12 and 4 am, and then takes a very short shower with them before getting dressed in an armored suit and strapping her wives to be displayed on her thigh, making sure her book is on its chain and is also displayed for its protective effects to function. She then puts on her magical gloves and checks her journal to see what she has to do that day, ensuring she can start her research as early as possible. Once the rest of the world has awakened, she'll generally move on from her book research and start working on any artifacts that still need to be created while getting breakfast, and then moving on to contacting anyone she needs to contact.