S111 - Puncheon, Piper [DECEASED]

[backslash]

DECEASED

Name: Piper Puncheon
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: 12
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Kendo, soccer, kickboxing, judo, cute animals

Appearance: Standing 5' 7" and weighing 137 lbs, Piper has an athletic and toned build. She is mixed black and white and has light brown skin and a small dark mole almost exactly at the left corner of her jaw, though she otherwise has a good complexion that rarely breaks out in spots. Her hair is very long, wavy, and dark brown. She usually wears it in two braids, except during sports where she wraps it into an enormous bun. Piper has a slender, triangular face and an aquiline nose. Her eyes are also brown. Piper wears a little makeup, but keeps it basic with eyeliner and lip gloss.

Piper usually dresses for affordability rather than fashion, and usually pairs neutral-coloured skirts and tights with plain t-shirts. She sometimes wears dresses, but almost always includes a jacket with them. On days when she is expecting to be physically active, she wears dark sports shorts and tank tops along with zip-up tracksuit tops. On the day of the abduction, Piper was wearing leggings under a long skirt with a black and white square pattern, a long-sleeved black t-shirt, a navy colored parka with a pink bunny pin, and a very weathered pair of black winter boots.

Biography: Piper was born in Lynn, Massachusetts to Gareth and Leanne Puncheon and is an only child. However, during Piper's early childhood she was functionally raised alongside a boy of the same age, Masahiko, for whom Leanne childminded to draw some income while unable to work another job due to childcare. Masahiko, known otherwise as Mikey or affectionately as Hiko, is the son of Gareth's childhood best friend Andrew, and somebody that Piper considers to be like a brother to her.

Piper was a quiet child who often had a difficult time asserting herself or making up her mind, particularly because Hiko tended to take charge and Piper would inevitably go along with whatever game or activity he wanted to do, as Piper liked seeing her friend happy. Leanne encouraged Piper to speak up for herself, but whenever this happened, Piper would simply claim that she was already having fun. At school it was a similar story, and it was rare to see Piper anywhere other than trailing in Hiko's wake. In lessons, Piper tended to do well, but rarely spoke up unless specifically called upon by her teachers.

A formative experience in Piper's youth was meeting Hiko's grandfather Masanori while visiting her friend. Masanori was a kendo instructor who had been attempting to convince Hiko's parents to start him off in the martial art young. Curious, Piper asked Hiko about it, receiving an enthusiastic answer about how cool swords were. Caught up in Hiko's exuberance, when Piper learned that he would indeed start to learn kendo, she immediately pleaded with her parents to let her participate too. Piper's parents saw no reason not to indulge her, and she joined the classes. Although initially Piper struggled to combine the art's requisite precision with the required forcefulness in both body and voice, she soon grew more comfortable as she learned more about how kendo worked and the principles behind it. Piper continued learning at the dojo throughout her childhood, swiftly outstripping Hiko and becoming a model pupil. Kendo clicked for Piper in a way that little else did, and such was the extent of her enthusiasm that she often spent extra time outside of her lessons practicing or researching it in an effort to improve even further.

Piper's life went through a period of upheaval when she was ten years old. Her dad, who had often needed to work multiple jobs to keep the family in financial stability, was presented with a lucrative opportunity to upgrade his position at the supermarket chain he worked for. The catch was that the promotion would require moving from Lynn to the nearby Salem. However, with the money too good to refuse, Piper's parents agreed that it was the right move for the family. Piper, even after reassurances that Salem was not very far away at all and she would still easily be able to see Hiko and go to kendo, was very upset, not least because for various logistical reasons, the move would necessitate she changed schools. Privately, Piper's parents actually felt that it would do her some good to get some separation from Hiko, as she was obviously dependent on him and was very much a tagalong in his friendship group with few friends of her own.

The Puncheons' move was a mixed success. Although as hoped the family's financial situation improved, especially when Leanne started working part time as a secretary, Piper struggled to come out of her shell. Inept in social situations and nervous about making a fool of herself, Piper fell back on being clipped and direct in every conversation. Unfortunately, this caused her to give off the impression that she was disinterested in other people, cold, and distant. This was exacerbated by her tendency to overthink when put on the spot, resulting in her either going quiet to the point of appearing to ignore the other person, or otherwise giving a brusque response that amounted to a brush off. As a result, she became something of a loner who rarely socialised with others. Piper instead focused on her schoolwork, attaining good marks in maths, history, and social studies, but struggling more with the sciences, which required her to put in extra work to maintain her grades. She was at least able to still visit Lynn with ease, usually cycling the five or so miles over.

In middle school, Piper started playing soccer at the encouragement of her dad. He had always defaulted to kicking a ball around with Piper as his method of bonding with her, and he felt like she needed a hobby that wasn't kendo. Although reluctant to play a team game, Piper agreed to give it a try, finding that she was a decent player, albeit one who tended to get fixated on her own role to the exclusion of communicating with the rest of the team. When she started high school at John Endecott, Piper successfully tried out for the soccer team, but she was unhappy with the lack of attention and resources the school put towards its sports programs, comparing it unfavourably to kendo. As a result, Piper quit after only a few months, something which cemented Piper's reputation of being unapproachable and indeed arrogant. Piper instead stuck to playing for a team outside of school which she deemed to be more serious about the sport. Her preferred position is central defensive midfield, and she is considered to be a strong and tenacious defensive player, but lacking in flair or leadership with a relatively weak range of passing.

At high school in general, Piper proceeded along similar lines that she had always had. She continued studying hard, but she simply didn't have enough time due to her extracurriculars to break through her weaker areas and become a top level student. Socially, her friendship group remained narrow, and for a while she was the subject of rumours that she had threatened somebody with a sword. Piper was unsure of how these rumours got started, but her irritable responses to the taunting over something she took very seriously ensured that they persisted for some time and resurfaced intermittently over the years.

Most people who don't know Piper well would be surprised by the affinity that she holds for cute and cuddly animals, an affection that she developed young thanks to the cats kept by Hiko's family and which she spent as much time with as she could get away with. She wanted pets of her own, but her parents didn't think that it was fiscally responsible for them to keep animals. Piper instead had to content herself with looking up cat videos online, which inevitably led her towards finding all kinds of other animals doing cute and funny things. Seeing a cute animal is one of the few ways which Piper's normally calm demeanour cracks, although she's embarrassed enough about her habit of gushing uncontrollably over people's pets that she completely avoids the topic at school and keeps any browsing strictly limited to when she has privacy.

The pandemic frustrated Piper. She had recently started attending a mixed martial arts gym that focused on kickboxing and judo as a means of stress relief, since she did not have to take it as seriously as kendo and was able to physically exert herself without needing to put herself under pressure to excel. However, the pandemic meant that not only was she deprived of this outlet, she was also unable to participate in her primary martial art. Moreover, her dad still had to work long hours and was at risk of exposure, causing her to worry for him a lot. Piper was at least quite suited to remote learning, which enabled her to maintain her solid grades, but her motivation was low. Thankfully, both her immediate family and Hiko's were able to avoid contracting anything other than mild cases of Covid, and Piper launched herself back into all of her extracurriculars the very moment she was able to do so within restrictions.

Piper's familial relations are good, and she has got past her childhood upset with her parents over moving to Salem. She mostly talks about soccer with her dad as it is an easy topic, but he is always willing to hear about her latest kendo accomplishments and tales. Her mom and her bond over cooking and completing household chores together, and Piper's mom is usually the first person she shares any goofy animal video she finds with. Her mom also helps her study when she has the time, aiding Piper with flashcards and research. Piper is still close with Hiko, although she is not nearly as joined to the hip with him anymore as they have grown up and diverged in personality and interests. Nonetheless, they have all the in-jokes and affection that only comes with knowing each other for many years. Piper also idolises Masanori, and outside of lesson time, he treats her more like a granddaughter than he does a student. Vice versa, Piper views him almost like an extra grandparent, and cares for him a great deal.

At present, Piper continues to keep kendo as her number one focus and has become a trusted assistant at Masanori's dojo. She recently achieved her 3-dan and hopes to continue progressing through the ranks with time and effort. She has not applied for college because it is not financially feasible for her family, nor are her grades good enough for a scholarship, and instead is hoping to find a simple straightforward job that allows her to concentrate on her passions. Her dream is to make a professional career out of kendo, but she is aware that this is going to be a major challenge. Piper has resumed going to her MMA gym, a hobby that she finds keeps her from thinking too hard and tires her out enough that her stress levels drop. She is competent at both the kickboxing and the judo thanks to her level of fitness and general understanding of combat sports, but finds that her muscle memory causes her to make errors and she does not go out of her way to fix them, having firmly placed the hobby into the bracket of being strictly for fun.

Advantages: Piper is in good physical condition and very fit. She is very skilled in kendo, and her reflexes and instincts in the martial art will serve her well even if she is unable to locate a suitable weapon. Piper has knowledge of both kickboxing and judo, and although she hasn't been practicing either for that long, they will give her an edge against anyone who does not have similar experience.
Disadvantages: Piper is socially awkward and struggles to think on her feet in conversations or effectively articulate herself. This inability to navigate complicated or pressurised social situations means she will find it difficult to persuade people and may even get herself into trouble by saying the wrong thing or acting suspiciously by accident. Her reputation may work against her and cause her peers to assume that she is untrustworthy or likely to play the game, causing further difficulties in finding allies.

Designated Number: Student No. 111

---

Designated Weapon: Pair of moose antlers

Conclusion: Anybody can hit people with a stick. You might as well be a champion at thumb wrestling. Unless she can do some kind of sick martial arts move with those moose antlers, I'm not impressed. - Veronica Rai

DECEASED