Valent Tidbits

Valent. She was raised in a poor household by her single mother. She is an only child. By age fifteen, her mother had gotten ill. This is when she introduced Valent to the "secret work" that she'd done when she was younger. Exorcism - a practice that went on in Valent's mother's bloodline for many generations. Valent sees the legendary heirloom cloak, and although she cannot fit it yet, the little lamb reads up on scripture and becomes invested in the practice. Within several years, her mother's illness worsens and she becomes bedridden. The hospital determined her illness terminal and advised her to stay in her home for comfort instead of a hospice. 

Although she has moved away into her own home and city at this point to work, Valent still visits her mother to care for her occasionally. Old age has made her bitter, and her dementia causes her to treat Valent with an unfamiliar scorn. Even if she flings scalding hot tea at her, it doesn't keep her daughter from visiting. 

Valent lives alone in an apartment building. She eats mostly microwave meals and takeout for dinner every day. She does things to conserve on money, since her job at a supermarket doesn't make her much. She likely puts more money into the cash register than she makes in a single work week. Every check is somewhere around 200-300 USD. She works 40 hours a week, clocking in at 2 AM and finishing her shift at around 12 PM, since the store is open 24 hours. 

Often times- almost too often- people target and harass her, sometimes even going to attack. She wants to be hidden, but fails since there are people in the city who hate her for what she does. Valent cannot exorcise someone without her proper gear, so this happens often when she's on her way to and from work. 

In the inside of her cloak, there are different pockets with many items and gear in them. Behind the big cross on her chest is her primary Bible. She uses it most often to read from and curse demons with. In other pockets all over her body are multiple Bibles of different sizes, along with holy garments, crucifixes, and the pockets for holy water, anointing oil, urim and thummim, although she doesn't possess those items yet. The only weapon she carries is a dagger on her waist for self-defense.

Valent always wears gloves when outside dealing with the outside world. Her mother always taught her to wear them before touching unclean things and people. 

As time goes on, the world becomes more and more corrupted at a very fast rate. People are in such distress, that there is no more order. Cars are abandoned on the street, beaten bodies are lying about, stores have broken windows and missing merchandise, and screaming can be heard in the fiery distance. There's a thick red fog over the city, never showing the sun or even the stars at night. The streets appear barren, but there are bandits hidden in plain sight, stalking and waiting for the next victim to assault. Money is being stolen and losing its value at the same rate. It's hard to even find an internet connection because legislators passed an act to deprive all US citizens of internet and cellular service months ago.

Valent sees the world crumbling before her feet and is not affected by the sudden virus among the people. Little has changed for her, as she never had access to an internet connection nor owned a working phone. With no cable to watch, she spends her free time reading scripture, meditating, and doing calisthenics with whatever she can find. She's studied the Torah and is always reading over the books of Matthew and Proverbs for advice. As for physical exercise, she can keep a single-handed handstand for about ten minutes and manage 60 trunk twists in one set. She can perform half that amount of pull-ups in a single set, which is an extraordinary number. She may be small in height, but she has even more core strength than the average male.

The healthy lamb tries to keep her diet clean by going out and buying fresh resources from a hidden produce market, such as dairy, grains, fruits, and vegetables. She cannot digest meat and the taste of it makes her sick. The manager of this market has allowed her and any other proclaimed exorcists to buy from his shop at a discount. However, this has resulted in many false exorcists coming to receive service. Although she sees that this angers the store manager, Valent is generally indifferent toward the impostors. 

Although she prays every day, she does not seek a real relationship with God, or El. This mistake leads to her struggling to grow as an exorcist. She comes across a man with a persistent legion of demons inside him, and when she fails to exorcise them many times, she gets frustrated and, after trying everything else, finally goes to God for answers. She feels an affliction to re-read Genesis, and finds interest in Joseph, the ancient interpreter of dreams. Valent studies the book for a while, but never thinks, "Maybe I can receive my answer from El in a dream," Days later, she has a dream that she can't stop thinking about. It's not until the day after, that she realizes the meaning behind her dream. God was showing her that she needed to be passionate in order to be strong. Valent takes this advice and begins to speak to God when she feels troubled, instead of only praying to Him about her biggest problems.