Rin Oid's Questionnaire

Doctor Rin Oid lives in Rochester, New York. She earned a couple doctorates there (Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, as well as Electrical and Computer Engineering) and is currently working at the Institute of Technology as one of the faculty there. Being faculty at RIT pays fairly well, so she has a house that she owns nearby. The mortgage was paid off a few years past, so she's pretty entrenched and not interested in leaving. The house is pretty small, with sparse furnishings. The only room in the house that has seen some serious love is her "project room", as she calls it. She doesn't generally let anyone else in there, and it's full of odds and ends that she's working on - half-completed, abandoned, and destroyed in frustration.

Most of the money she earns comes from her salary working as a professor for the Rochester Institute of Technology, with some of it coming from the occasional research grant or lower case "c" contract work using her tech skills for clients that need something done well and fast which isn't on the market yet. Any amount that she doesn't spend on necessities, she funnels back into her projects and research, with a small portion of it being saved in case of a rainy day. Her major spending point is the metals for her wiring and robotics projects, but occasional upgrades to her "project room" also eat up some of her funds.

Rin believes she is truly capable of saving the world, given enough time and resources. She can't stand to see all the suffering around her when she knows the world generates enough food, and has enough housing, for everyone to eat and be housed. She just needs to figure out how to get the resources to those who need them without them breaking or spoiling on the way. For this reason, a majority of her personal time is spent on drone technology. She is also looking for ways to make cheap housing on the spot for people, as well as ways to preserve food. Of course she wouldn't kill for this, that would sort of make the point moot, right? And she needs to live to achieve this goal. Let others get close to death - she'll figure out the problem from relative safety, surely.

When she was a teenager, she went on vacation with her family. While driving at night with her family on a little-used back road that was supposedly a shortcut to the hotel they were staying at, they saw a car in front of them slow to a stop. Looking closer, they had stopped for a beggar to give them some change - but as they rolled down their window, the person stabbed them through their window and got to work taking everything they had, fully ignoring Rin and her family in the car behind as they screamed and backed up. This taught Rin two things:

When people are not given other options, they become monsters.

The only way to keep her loved ones safe was to make sure there were no more monsters.

Growing up, Rin's parents - a pair of scholars who spent every moment working bickering but every moment at home incredibly in love. They were very good at work-life compartmentalization. She thus grew up with a lot of academic pressure, and neglected most other pursuits for most of her life. So, no sports, no playdates, but a lot of late nights, extracurriculars, and libraries. She was never well-liked as most of her "peers" were older than her and thought she was an annoying know-it-all, but she didn't really ever realize that. She still hasn't, really. Obviously as covered she did attend school, though - more than most people and continuing into adulthood as she got two doctorates in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, as well as Electrical and Computer Engineering. The only real friend she ever had was Jen, who still sticks with her and looks up to her as if she's some sort of mythical being.

Well, I guess now she is.

Worst fear? She'd probably say it would be to die before her name became famous, while laughing a little - as if it was a joke. It's not a joke, though. To fade into obscurity having not accomplished any of her goals. She doesn't want the fame itself, but she knows the fame is the only real way to have enough influence to save the world. After the latest digitization fiasco she is now a bit scared of losing her brain, so she's working to make a working backup to combat that fear. Until the day that she confirms that it works the way it should, she will fear dying early most of all. Her other fears are fairly simple - Jen being killed or severely harmed in any way is another great fear that she has, especially now that she seems to have entered some sort of supernatural underworld. Is someone she wrongs on this new messed up job of hers going to find out where she lives, and come and take their revenge on her home? Or her work, even? The more she considers it, the worse she feels. She's going to need to set up some sort of defense system, but she has no idea where to even begin. Maybe someone she meets out there will be able to help her figure out how to stay safe, and keep her family safe.

Her prized possession was her first successful custom drone. It was able to scamper around on six legs like an insect, and even able to use a compressed air cannon to jump. When she first made it, it was remote control only - however, she did spend a lot of time further upgrading and swapping pieces on the drone. Before she started contracting, the drone had an almost working flight module. It also had a camera and a rudimentary AI. A lot of heart and soul went into it, over decades. However, while in her fugue state upon returning from her first contract, which she still doesn't really remember or understand, she integrated the drone into her new body. So it's lost to her, at least for now, but maybe one day she'll find a way to access it again. Until that day, its parts will keep her artificial organs pumping coolant.