Rachel

Sometimes we can't see the glaringly obvious from inside. -- Minerva Michaelson

You carry any flaw like a secret in you, terrified someone will desert you for the simple reality of your personhood. -- Red Blood, Black Ink

Biography

Rachel is the third child of Sofia Lopez (professor of electrical engineering at USC) and David Faraday (materials science expert at the privately-owned CEREM Corporation) -- although she bears no notable resemblance to either her mother, her father, or her three siblings (Robert, a 2020 graduate of the Keck School of Medicine; Lucia, a postdoctoral researcher in aeronautical engineering at JPL; and Matias, currently a USC undergraduate student). Well, she does bear one resemblance: like the rest of the family, she's very bright. While she wraps up her dissertation, she keeps herself busy by teaching the occasional fill-in session of undergrad courses and carrying on with independent study at a privately funded research institute. She is also active with a number of public-spirited local organizations, generally with a focus on putting things together for the benefit of the underprivileged, but with a sideline in the high-speed kinetic disassembly of things for the same cause. In her spare time, she enjoys model rocketry, pre-Columbian archaeology, soccer, and membership in the extremely retro Southern Cal Laser Tag Association.

RP Hooks

Argentina: Her mother's family still lives there; she visits regularly and spent an undergraduate semester abroad in Buenos Aires.

Bad Taste: Rachel is notorious for her dreadful taste in clothes. In this case, "dreadful" doesn't mean too tight, too bright, and too revealing: rather, it means she tends to dress like a homeless auto mechanic, in clothes that don't fit and wouldn't flatter her if they did fit.

Bookstores: Low income and a voracious reading habit mean she spends a fair amount of time prowling used bookstores in search of a cheap written-word fix. She's not especially picky and enjoys all kinds of vintage SF&F paperbacks, so if you're any sort of bibliophile it's possible you may have crossed paths.

Fixing Stuff: She belongs to groups like the Southern Cal Repair & Reuse Association (a/k/a "The Jesters") that do things like repairing electrical or water supplies, fixing broken but not yet unsalvageable appliances, and the like. Have you benefited from their efforts, donated to the cause, or (you jerk!) sabotaged their efforts?

Late Nights: Rachel doesn't sleep all that much, so she might bump into you at all sorts of odd hours.

The SCLTA: Or "Skullta" to those in the know. Wear a dorky silver vest and zap other people with equally bad taste, in all sorts of exotic locations across the greater Los Angeles area.

Soccer: Candidly, she's pretty bad at it. Even on an intramural team she would be unlikely to stand out as anything special, but she's enthusiastic. And she never misses Argentina's international matches.

USC: She pretty much grew up on campus, along with all her siblings. If you've studied, taught, or researched there, especially in the hard sciences, you may have already met her, her mother, her sister, or her brothers.

Contacts

• Addison - Be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm compost heap.

• Calvin - But with every gem in his pocket, the jewels he has missed.

• Donovan - Like giving someone a Band-Aid for a shotgun blast. It's a really nice Band-Aid, though.

• Dragana

• Fortitude

• Geffen - Either you're a good guy doing a thankless job or ... well, I hope it's that first one.

• Hall - Date Lucy. Seriously, just once. I'll even pay.

• Horizon

• Ines - Wait, I promise this isn't as insane as it sounds.

• Kelani - No, thank you.

• Kwan - The person we all want to be when we grow up.

• Mal - If you could make yourself just a little less likeable, my life would be simpler.

• Meg - Relax. You're going to be fine spectacular.

• Minerva - I used to be impressed by how you got your life so together so quickly. Now I'm way past impressed.

• Mizha - Spend my days locked in a haze.

• Sophia

• Spencer - A football player and a Bruin and apparently a genuinely nice guy. I think they call these 'unicorns'.

• Wolfe - I should have learned by now not to underestimate people. Maybe this time it'll stick.

Gallery

Logs

• 2020-11-29 You have 20 seconds to seek
• 2021-01-18 : The Flux Capacitor - Grand Re-Opening
• 2021-10-31 Electric Dusk Halloween Daikaiju Drive-In-athon!

Rachel Lopez-Faraday

Name	Rachel Emilia Lopez-Faraday
Appears As	Rachel
Occupation	Graduate Student
Apparent Age	Early Twenties
Demeanor	Innovator
Eye Color	Hazel
Hair Color	Copper
Height	5' 8"
Birthdate	May 1, 2000
Sign	Pisces

Soundtrack

• 10,000 Maniacs, A Campfire Song
• Concrete Blonde, Close to Home
• The Farm, All Together Now
• Hawkwind, Silver Machine
• Kris Delmhorst, Heavens Hold the Sun
• L7, Shitlist
• Marillion, Map of the World
• Mike Oldfield, Five Miles Out
• Noah and the Whale, 5 Years' Time
• Pale Waves, She's My Religion
• Pillow Queens, Favourite
• Ratwyfe, Imposter Syndrome
• Rachel Platten, Stand By You (acoustic)
• U2, Mysterious Ways