#valence shell

Quantum Wavefunction Simulation | Electron Orbital Azimuths 𖣠

Mary sits in her stillness, unmovable and unafraid, as if staking her claim in the earth and refusing to allow another to take it. There is certainty and security in her tranquility: the firm, steady outline of a woman who has never had to run, and will never apologize for her presence. Mary doesn't dance along fourth story balconies in the dead of night, or sever other people's children to protect her own. If Mary Malone had a daemon, she would never hurt it.

"We must remember that what we observe is not nature herself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning." [Heisenberg; 1958]

The gesture is unsophisticated and direct, and inescapably alluring, and Marisa feels herself sinking into the gravity of Mary's authenticity, the cornflower blue of her eyes and the way they make her long for something bright and fresh and totally unlike the shadows in which she is most comfortable. It takes a moment for Marisa to huff a laugh, but she does because she cannot help herself from releasing the pressure that's built in her chest.

The valence shell is the outermost shell of an atom containing the valence electrons (Merriam-Webster).