Cynthia “Ci-Ci” Cooper

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Name: Cynthia “Ci-Ci” Cooper
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: 12th
School: Southwest Red Rock High School
Hobbies: Hunting, Driving, Cooking, Exercising, Social Media

Appearance: Cynthia Cooper is a 6’3, 190-pound girl with pale skin and deep blue eyes. She is stocky, with broad shoulders, and her regular exercise and recreational activities lead her to have a more athletic body. She has long blonde hair coming down her back and regularly wears a red cap over it. She also usually wears red-tinted sunglasses. For her clothing, Cynthia wears hunting attire, with her main choice being a tank top, camo pants, and a green jacket. She wears a long necklace that has various animal bones, including the tooth of a coyote and the foot of a black-tailed jackrabbit. On occasions, she’ll wear her grandfather’s military uniform, with his jacket tied around her waist.

Biography: Cynthia “Ci-Ci” Cooper was born July 6th, 2007, in rural Texas, to Martin and Marybelle Cooper.

Cynthia is a purebred American with her ancestors spanning back to the American Revolution, with most of them being in the military; her ancestor, Arlin Cooper, was a confederate soldier in the Civil War; her grandfather, Sebastian Cooper, served in Korea and Vietnam; Martin was a soldier in Iraq.

Cynthia lived in isolation for most of her life, living in a house on a large plot of farmland that was owned by her grandfather, who was able to live comfortably. Martin, after getting shot in the leg and causing nerve damage, was honorably discharged from the war and received huge benefits for his service, while Marybelle is a stay-at-home wife and mother. Martin and Marybelle moved into Sebastian’s farmhouse before Cooper was born, where they lived there for 13 years. Cynthia Cooper was homeschooled by her mother throughout elementary and most of middle school, with Cooper rarely leaving her house beyond social events outside in her town.

Cynthia was surrounded by the fanatic jingoism her entire life, her parents being staunch far-right conservatives, with Ci-Ci’s informative years being developed through extremely conservative values. Ci-Ci was taught to be proud of her country and her background, as well as being taught the achievements America has made in its history. Cynthia’s ideas of America, from the early settlements to the world wars, were whitewashed, downplaying the country's flaws while holding chauvinistic views of America compared to other countries.

Due to her family's ties to the military dating far back to the country’s beginnings, Cynthia deeply admired the American military as well as her family's history in the war, leading to a fascination with war that began in early childhood. Alongside this, she looked up to her grandfather, Sebastian, and saw him as a second father.

In spite of her love towards her granddad, Sebastian was a cold and strict man who domineered the entire family, verbally abusing Cynthia’s parents and holding his finances over their heads while maintaining strict discipline with Ci-Ci over her school. Cynthia was beaten for every mistake she made in order to make her stronger and would only show affection and pride when Cynthia succeeded, which drove her to be obsessed with making him proud. When Sebastian didn’t beat Ci-Ci for her mistakes, he would tell her stories of their family history during the war, with him personally regaling tales of his time in Korea and Vietnam and how he risked his own life to save his country. These details and stories are graphic, with her father discussing the brutal deaths of his fellow soldiers and the enemies, and despite Martin attempting to stop his dad from discussing such violent topics, Sebastian continued to do so as Cynthia slowly became desensitized from the depictions of violence.

Ci-Ci usually spent her time helping her parents around the farm when she wasn’t doing schoolwork, taking care of the animals and tending to the crops with her father. She would also help her mother around the kitchen and watch her cook and bake from her late grandmother’s cookbook, and eventually Cynthia was taught to bake and cook as well. Sebastian was always angered at Martin and Marybelle for not giving birth to a boy and decided to treat Cynthia like one, making her work out and taking her out on hunting trips with her father. Cynthia was initially disgusted by hunting and cried when told to shoot animals, and she was forced to watch Sebastian shoot the prey and skin them for their meat and fur.

The most traumatizing moment in Cynthia’s life was when she was 11, when she found a baby chicken and began raising it underneath her house, naming it “Georgie.” Her grandfather found out about her keeping an animal as a pet and forced her to cut Georgie’s head off before cooking it for dinner. Despite the traumatic event, Ci-Ci's parents rationalized it as being justified to toughen her up, something she later rationalized herself as being true.

After that, Cooper became more interested in hunting, going on more hunting trips with her dad and grandfather, and Cooper being more and more comfortable using guns, eventually earning her first kill when she shot a buck, and her grandfather being proud of her abilities. She also went on fishing trips with her dad, where Ci-Ci was always able to catch a good chunk of fish for the family. While her family saw hunting as a practical purpose, Cooper found herself deeply engrossed in it as a deep passion, as she felt powerful and accomplished hunting them down. She began commemorating her accomplishments by using the animal’s bones as a trophy for herself, most notably her necklace of a coyote’s tooth and a rabbit’s foot.

On August 29th, 2020, Sebastian Cooper passed away from a heart attack while working on the farm, devastating Cynthia. For his will, Sebastian gave his finances and his assets to Martin and Marybelle, while having all the things from his time in the military given to Cynthia, including his dog tags, uniform, and any other trinkets. A week later, without him dominating their lives, Martin and Marybelle sold their farm, much to Cynthia’s complete distress over her childhood home being sold.

Using the generous money from Sebastian’s will as well as Martin’s benefits, the Coopers moved out of Texas and went into Las Vegas, settling humbly into Meadowbrooke, with Martin planning to save their money for Cynthia’s education. Knowing that Sebastian’s money and Martin’s benefits won’t last forever, Cooper’s parents took up jobs, with Martin becoming a mechanic while Marybelle became a retail worker.

Cynthia was angry at her parents due to moving away and began distancing herself from them, and she felt stuck due to the completely different environment of Vegas. Because of her parent’s now working, Cynthia was enrolled in public school, which she struggled with socially due to spending her life on a farm with just her family. There, Cynthia lacked any social skills and abilities to make friends, and her frustrations in life led her to become a bully towards the other kids, getting in massive amounts of trouble for starting fights and mocking students less fortunate than her. Cynthia’s ultra-conservative teachings also got her in massive trouble for making racist and homophobic comments, getting suspended from eighth grade once for insulting an Asian student.

While Cynthia felt justified in her actions, her parents were disappointed by her getting suspended, not wanting her to hurt others, and disciplined her by taking away her electronics and forcing her to stay in her room throughout the suspension. Cynthia was forced to make a written apology towards the students she was bullying and attend behavioral counseling to address her attitude while being closely monitored by faculty. While angered, Cynthia recognized that her actions were not going to be tolerated by anyone and kept her head down throughout eighth grade, accepting the punishment while keeping her mouth closed to prevent any more issues.

Martin and Marybelle, for their part, put Cynthia into grief counseling, believing her outbursts were due to her grandfather’s death, and scheduled family therapy. While Cynthia was angry at her parents for moving her away from home, months of therapy helped her accept her grandfather’s death, and while still upset, she understood her parents reasons for moving away. After that, she slowly rebuilt her relationship with her parents, allaying her previous struggles with them for her sake as well as keeping her family ties. Throughout most of her high school years, Cynthia's relationship with her parents has improved, spending time baking with her mother and going on recreational hunting and fishing trips with her dad.

Entering Red Rock High School, Cynthia continued to keep her head down and not cause waves with others, though she was nursing an extreme animosity over feeling her opinions being stifled, and looked online to share her opinions anonymously. She began to fall into the Alt-Right crowd on forums and message boards, feeding into her mindset as she embraced Jared Canon’s talking points, becoming an ardent supporter of him and his policies. Since Cynthia is aware that any bigotry she states on the internet can be traced back, she is careful with what she says online and in public, never referring to specific demographics or insults as she uses dog whistles to have plausible deniability.

Politically speaking, Cynthia is very much vocal on her support of the military and nationalism towards America, posting about their achievements compared to other countries and the soldiers, such as her family, who bled for their country. While she controls her opposition in front of others, on anonymous forums, she shares her dislike of immigration and welfare users, believing them to be undeserving and taking money away from veterans and benefiting the United States.

In Red Rock, Cynthia struggles with history due to the conflicts with how she was taught and slacks with it but does much better in English as well as math, keeping an above-average grade with both. Cynthia’s strengths, however, come in the form of gym, which she excels in as she keeps up with an active lifestyle. She took echoey club ones and grew bored with it, having already known how to shoot with hunting rifles, and instead signed up for boxing, finding it a good way to keep energy and get her blood flowing. She frequently can be seen in the school gym, boxing as well as regularly exercising with weights and aerobics, and she can also be seen out of school jogging around town with headphones in.

Socially, Cynthia attempted to come out of her shell to build a bond with others, still feeling lonely with just her parents and online groups. However, she can come off as cold, boorish, and actively judgmental of others, having an overly sarcastic tone while unable to respect others’ personal space. Despite this, Cynthia is capable of holding a decent conversation with others on a good day and can be able to open up, becoming sociable and witty. However, when she gets more open and trusts the person more, her views will sometimes slip out as she speaks with off-colored jokes or a very uncomfortable political statement, something she’ll try to excuse or downplay.

While she was able to keep her head down before when not talking to others, she grew more confrontational when challenged over her belief and, if pushed, will end up becoming aggressive easily, though she will backtrack before outright exploding at someone. A particular soft spot for her is the military and anyone insulting it, which will result in her being hostile instantly and storming off immediately to prevent herself from screaming or getting physical.

On her off time in school, Cynthia will usually be driving around in a red pickup truck, which was bought on her sixteenth birthday, and she loves to drive around the city and sometimes deep into the Nevada desert to relax and watch nature. Cynthia listens to music loudly on her radio and through CDs, and while initially listening to country and folk music such as Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, Cynthia gained an appreciation of Michael Jackson as well as rappers like Tupac Shakur and MF Doom, finding the music catchy and enjoyable as she frequently sings them.

Cynthia’s biggest passion, next to hunting, is baking, having weekend baking nights with her mom. While Cooper doesn’t usually share food with others, her mom encourages hospitality, and she can frequently keep extra portions to share with anyone who wants it.

After graduation, Cynthia is very eager to follow in her family’s footsteps and join the military, planning to sign up for the marines to help serve her country. Cynthia’s love of the military can also be seen in her clothing, as she frequently wears her late grandfather’s military uniform as well as her dad’s dog tags, which she can also keep in her rearview mirror.

Advantages: Cooper is naturally good with firearms and survivalism through her hunting and is good at being stealthy and quiet. She is strong and has good stamina from her time on her farm and is in good shape to go toe to toe with other students.
Disadvantages: Cooper’s aggressive stubbornness and her vitriolic viewpoints would lead to conflicts with other survivors and an inability to cooperate with them, which could make her a target. She can also put herself in danger if she feels slighted in any way, unwilling to retreat unless absolutely necessary.