Meela Paireerak

[Lamps]

Name: Meela Paireerak
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: Senior
School: Southwest Red Rock High School
Hobbies and Interests: 4X Strategy Games, Programming, Cooking, Reading

Appearance: Meela is a 5"0' Thai girl with shoulder-length wavy black hair, dark brown eyes, round ears and olive skin. She has a dainty and triangular nose which turns slightly upwards. Her head is nearly a perfect circle though more tall than wide, while her cheeks are slightly rounded and puffy.

Her pink-brown lips are thin and appear to droop near the corners, as though frowning. She also applies makeup semi-regularly, preferring to use deep red shades of lipstick as well as trace amounts of foundation for evenness and mascara to lengthen her eyelashes.

Meela is averagely proportioned and slightly overweight from physical inactivity, with her physique not being particularly muscular or athletic. It’s difficult to tell from an onlooker’s perspective, however, due to her baggy attire.

She appears to be reserved in her attitude, avoiding unnecessary movement and exertion. Exceptions to this are occasions where Meela flares up in anger or frustration, in which case her demeanor shifts almost entirely — she appears full of energy, prone to waving fingers around and red in the face from the blood rushing to Meela’s head.

She often has a displeased expression on her face as though perturbed about something — this is true regardless of whether she is or not. She rarely smiles, with attempts to do so often appearing forced or sarcastic.

Meela’s wardrobe consists primarily of comfortable, baggy clothes which allow for a wide range of movement and air circulation. She commonly wears a swamp-green hoodie bearing a cutesy snake pattern design on the back, as well as a similar array of simple t-shirts and shorts ranging from knee-length cargo pants to gym shorts. She avoid socks, opting for sandals when leaving the house, though she will wear more conventional footwear when required. Her wire-frame glasses sit loosely on her nasal bridge, approaching the tip of her small nose.

On the day of her kidnapping, Meela was wearing her usual green hoodie with a plain white t-shirt underneath, clearly unwashed and bearing a few stains, a pair of brown camo cargo shorts and tan leather sandals with multiple straps. The state of her makeup could be considered rushed and minimally applied.

Biography: Meela Paireerak was born in Boulder City, Nevada, though she never grew up there. Her family, including her parents Jon and Chalai Paireerak as well as her older sister Lyn, moved to Las Vegas when Meela was 3. Despite Boulder City being the Paireeraks’ first home, there were several reasons behind the move — they’d experienced racial discrimination in the area for a long time, which only seemed to be rising in its frequency by the time Meela was born. Not wishing for their youngest daughter to go through what they did, the Paireeraks looked towards Las Vegas as a preferable alternative city to raise her in. The family also sought to reconnect with the state’s Thai community, which is located prominently within the Las Vegas area.

Jon had experience as an IT technician while working his postal office job before the move, which helped him to land his current job in Las Vegas at an internet company, while Chalai provided for the family as a housewife. Lyn was 9 years old by the time she and her family moved away, having to leave her old school once she’d finished third grade.

As for the family’s dynamic, Jon was a kindly man who valued the safety of his family above everything and could be considered an archetypal tech whiz, while Chalai was a warm and life-loving woman who was excited at the prospect of meeting other Thai women since there she’d never met other Thai people in Boulder City. Lastly, Lyn was very sociable and outgoing, having a close relationship with her mother who’d take the time to cook with her before Meela was born.

Meela is a third-generation Thai-American, with her grandparents emigrating from Bangkok to the US in the mid-60s in the midst of the Vietnam War. Her first language is English but she does have some fluency in Thai thanks to her family using it at home and at occasional social gatherings. Meela isn’t quite as engaged with the Thai community as her mother or sister, only showing up to certain cultural events such as Songkran (a new year’s celebration held in April).

However, she did learn how to prepare various Thai dishes from her mother who made it her personal goal to make all of her children proficient at cooking. From a young age, Meela took to the craft enthusiastically starting by helping to make dinner to cooking for herself later on in life.

It was clear to Meela from a young age that Lyn found the attention she received somewhat irritating. Lyn had to leave her school and hometown, which she had grown attached to, because of their parents’ decision to move. She therefore placed part of the blame on Meela herself since she believed she was one of the driving forces behind this decision. Besides this, she felt as though she was now the second-favorite child of the family ever since Meela was born — Chalai didn’t cook with Lyn as much as she used to, Jon had even less time for her when he wasn’t working, all the while Meela didn’t seem to be aware of any of this. Though she never confronted Meela directly, she complained behind her back to both Jon and Chalai enough times for her to eventually notice. As a result, Meela has stayed quiet about the matter, trying not to get in Lyn’s way too much for fear of causing a real argument.

Meela was a naturally gifted student growing up, especially in mathematics, though she didn’t make a lot of friends in either elementary or middle school. In early education she was quiet and preferred to be alone, opting to sit and read books instead of playing with the other bigger, more active kids. This tendency alienated her from the rest of the class, with classmates forgetting she was even in their grade at times. One of the friends she did make, a girl called Samantha who sat behind her, stole her lunch one day when she’d left her backpack unattended. Along with how disconnected from her peers she already was, this event hurt Meela in a way she was already familiar with back home. This was proof in her mind that no one actually liked her, except her own parents. Even her own sister had issues with her — no matter how trivial these issues were, it didn’t change Meela’s feelings.

Middle school was largely the same for Meela. She achieved excellent grades while having little interaction with her fellow students, now mostly of her own volition. She would rather focus on studying than waste her time with people, so she began reading non-fiction books about science and history as a form of distraction. One such book featured the history of computing, which caught her immediate interest as she read it front to back several times.

After finishing middle school, Meela’s now lifelong passion for computers would come to fruition after her father Jon set up a PC in her bedroom to help her with studying at her future high school — Southwest Red Rock High School. He was thrilled to discover she wanted to pursue this field, being a career IT expert himself.

Soon, her attention would turn towards PC gaming as she became more used to her new desktop computer. One of the first games she downloaded to play in her spare time was Sid Meier’s Civilization V which she’d play every evening with games usually spanning entire nights, particularly on weekends. Building historical empires, constructing world wonders in her cities and strategising with dozens of military units all appealed to Meela greatly. She had control over an entire world, one that played with real-life history which she already enjoyed reading about. Meela favored civilizations like Austria, Siam and Greece that favored a diplomatic playstyle. The idea of managing lots of little city-states was something she had a soft spot for, as though she had someone on her side for once. Her love for the strategy game also helped to bolster her decision making skills and quick thinking, as she also played multiplayer games against people much more experienced than herself.

She would also become knowledgeable in programming with C++ as she developed mods for the games she played. Now she could alter these games to her liking, adding new mechanics and forming connections with other modders online in the process. She believed other programmers thought the same way she did. Her understanding of programming would expand outside the realm of games to more practical uses, such as website and OS design.

At present, her relationship with her family is still generally positive — Jon and Chalai support Meela as much as they can while Lyn assumes a less caring role more typical of an older sister. Lyn no longer holds a strong grudge towards Meela — at least not as strongly as she once did — now having more important matters to worry about such as her current retail job. They talk occasionally, though the years of quiet resentment have taken their toll.

Despite convincing herself she didn’t want to deal with people going forward, Meela had at least some hope when it came to her high school life. Meela’s aversion to interaction eroded over time, giving way to genuine attempts to befriend other students. This has had mixed results — she now has a few people she could call actual friends, meeting most of them through the school’s various clubs, but her main source of interaction now comes in the form of what she has termed unofficial tech support. Having offered to help one student remove a virus from their laptop in her first year, she now aids people with their technical issues on a regular basis. She enjoys this newfound attention, but she does wish more people would come and talk to her about matters outside of technical troubleshooting.

Her favorite subjects in high school still include mathematics, as well as history and I.T., but she also enjoys physics for it’s theoretical and inherently mathematical nature. Subjects she loathes include art and theater, both of which she believes herself to be hopeless at, and most of all physical education — she hates being made to tire herself out for any reason, even if it’s to her own health’s benefit.

Her general character could be described as quiet, focused and analytical, though heavily tinged with sternness and chronic lethargy. She uses short and snappy sentences when getting her points across, rarely mincing her words. She’s also typically unwilling to get very close to people, though there are moments where she feels able to open up about personal matters to her friends and family.

One such friend of hers is Raya Loux from the metalworking club — once simply acquainted via a request to fix her laptop, now they have frequent interactions outside of this context. Meela acts differently around Raya than she does with almost everyone else, as though she feels safe enough to lower her guard when talking to her. She doesn’t understand the reason why just yet, but she it’s clear she’s attracted to Raya as something more than a friend.

Her prospects for the future are something she’s already planned out in detail — she wishes to study IT at university, likely based in California but her dream is to study at MIT. After that, she’ll pursue a career in software development or, if all the previous steps fail, work in the same field as her dad. She still plans to be an active Civilization modder in the online space, regardless of her chosen path.

Advantages: Meela is remarkably intelligent, able to formulate plans and adapt quickly to her situation. She’s also short-statured and light on her feet, useful when hiding behind obstacles to avoid potential attackers as well as crawling through small spaces.
Disadvantages: Meela isn’t the most physically active person - she tires easily and can’t sprint for very long, needing to take breathers often after exerting herself. She may also come across as rude, dismissive or even callous (intentionally or unintentionally), which rarely leads to good things in a deadly survival scenario.

[Ruggahissy]

Welcome! I'm Ruggahissy and I'll be your moderator for this profile. This is a good base (like a pizza) but we need to add some extras to it so it's ready and can shine (like toppings). Come join me, won't you, as we add toppings, together.

- First, for uniformity take out the pronouns from the top info section. You can put that up top in the biography.

- Description of nose and lips?

She’s not particularly muscular or athletic and appears to be reserved in her attitude, avoiding unnecessary movement and exertion.

- Can I get a bit more on her makeup? I wouldn’t ask, but in the “day of” it says her makeup is minimally applied and rushed and the only mention here of her makeup thus far is lipstick. Mascara, eyeliner, concealer, none of the above? I Also think these might be two different sentences since it starts with her physical appearance then goes into her personality, which then gets continued on in the next sentence.

- Quick note here that you should be using either a double dash –- or a proper em dash — when they appear instead of just a hyphen –

She rarely smiles.

- This sentence is a bit of an island and feels abrupt after the last few sentences. Maybe expand a little on her typical expression.

- Can we get a bit more about her typical style of dress/ personal style? Right now all that’s mentioned is the snake hoodie and lack of socks, though I know up top it was said she wears baggy clothes.

- What do her parents do for a living?

Her relationship with her family is generally positive, with Jon and Chalai supporting Meela as much as they can while her sister Lyn assumes a less caring role more typical of an older sister. It was clear to Meela from a young age that Lyn found the attention she was receiving somewhat irritating, likely due to deep-rooted jealousy.

- I like this section, but can we move it towards the end of the profile and give me a sort of current update on what her relationship with her family is like, and explain a bit more about this relationship she has with her sister where she is jealous? Also how much older is Lyn?

Even then, not even her sister completely liked her.

- This seems to be in elementary school. Her sister and her were having issues even then? I’d also like a little expansion on how she dealt with other kids. I can definitely see her friend’s betrayal having an impact on her, but did the other kids add to that by not talking to her as much since she kept to herself and read rather than play with them?

- Can I get maybe a short bit about middle school since we skip over it? Two or three sentences will do.

- Can I get works in either quotes or italics, like Sid Meier’s Civilization V?

I’d also love for you to expand a bit on why she likes Civilization and what appeals to her about programming. By learning why characters like certain hobbies, we get new information about them.

It seemed, to her, that she was the only one in the entire school who knew how to defrag a hard drive or how a VPN functioned - two of the most common issues she ran into.

- This edges into passive GM. I’m willing to let several students asking for her computer help slide because it’s possible, but you don’t know the technological capabilities of the other characters people are making.

It seemed, to her, that she was the only one in the entire school who knew how to defrag a hard drive or how a VPN functioned - two of the most common issues she ran into. Though she wasn’t unpopular per se, she now wishes she could hide in the woods for a while to avoid people asking her to turn a laptop off and on again.

- These two sentences are also just a bit less formal than we’d normally like for the profile tone to be. The rest of the profile has been pretty good about adhering to tone.

Meela is remarkably intelligent, able to formulate plans and adapt quickly to her situation.

- I’d love to see a bit of this showcased in the profile itself.

While unlikely to be of use during most of the game, her programming expertise may prove to be vital under the right circumstances.

- This seems a bit of a stretch.

In addition to the notes above if you could address the following:

- Can I hear about her cooking hobby, how she got into it, and why she likes it?
- I heard about the games Meena likes to play, but how does she engage with her programming hobby? What does she make?
- Her holding on to her mistrust of her classmates from that one incident so long ago seems a bit odd. Have other things happened or has there been a general disengagement from other kids? If so, why?
- A bit more about her and her family as noted. What’s her sister like?
- I’d love a paragraph about her general personality. In addition to that, does she have any friends? Even if it’s just a few? If not, why?
- Any romantic aspirations or feelings for others?
- Any plans for college or after high school given she’s a senior?
- Since her family moved to be closer to a bigger Thai community, does she engage with her heritage or that community in any way?

And we’re at the end!

This is a very good first profile as the starting point. Now we just have to add more detail. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out, and post when edits are in!

[Lamps]

Welcome! I'm Ruggahissy and I'll be your moderator for this profile. This is a good base (like a pizza) but we need to add some extras to it so it's ready and can shine (like toppings). Come join me, won't you, as we add toppings, together.

- First, for uniformity take out the pronouns from the top info section. You can put that up top in the biography.

- Description of nose and lips?

She’s not particularly muscular or athletic and appears to be reserved in her attitude, avoiding unnecessary movement and exertion.

- Can I get a bit more on her makeup? I wouldn’t ask, but in the “day of” it says her makeup is minimally applied and rushed and the only mention here of her makeup thus far is lipstick. Mascara, eyeliner, concealer, none of the above? I Also think these might be two different sentences since it starts with her physical appearance then goes into her personality, which then gets continued on in the next sentence.

- Quick note here that you should be using either a double dash –- or a proper em dash — when they appear instead of just a hyphen –

She rarely smiles.

- This sentence is a bit of an island and feels abrupt after the last few sentences. Maybe expand a little on her typical expression.

- Can we get a bit more about her typical style of dress/ personal style? Right now all that’s mentioned is the snake hoodie and lack of socks, though I know up top it was said she wears baggy clothes.

- What do her parents do for a living?

Her relationship with her family is generally positive, with Jon and Chalai supporting Meela as much as they can while her sister Lyn assumes a less caring role more typical of an older sister. It was clear to Meela from a young age that Lyn found the attention she was receiving somewhat irritating, likely due to deep-rooted jealousy.

- I like this section, but can we move it towards the end of the profile and give me a sort of current update on what her relationship with her family is like, and explain a bit more about this relationship she has with her sister where she is jealous? Also how much older is Lyn?

Even then, not even her sister completely liked her.

- This seems to be in elementary school. Her sister and her were having issues even then? I’d also like a little expansion on how she dealt with other kids. I can definitely see her friend’s betrayal having an impact on her, but did the other kids add to that by not talking to her as much since she kept to herself and read rather than play with them?

- Can I get maybe a short bit about middle school since we skip over it? Two or three sentences will do.

- Can I get works in either quotes or italics, like Sid Meier’s Civilization V?

I’d also love for you to expand a bit on why she likes Civilization and what appeals to her about programming. By learning why characters like certain hobbies, we get new information about them.

It seemed, to her, that she was the only one in the entire school who knew how to defrag a hard drive or how a VPN functioned - two of the most common issues she ran into.

- This edges into passive GM. I’m willing to let several students asking for her computer help slide because it’s possible, but you don’t know the technological capabilities of the other characters people are making.

It seemed, to her, that she was the only one in the entire school who knew how to defrag a hard drive or how a VPN functioned - two of the most common issues she ran into. Though she wasn’t unpopular per se, she now wishes she could hide in the woods for a while to avoid people asking her to turn a laptop off and on again.

- These two sentences are also just a bit less formal than we’d normally like for the profile tone to be. The rest of the profile has been pretty good about adhering to tone.

Meela is remarkably intelligent, able to formulate plans and adapt quickly to her situation.

- I’d love to see a bit of this showcased in the profile itself.

While unlikely to be of use during most of the game, her programming expertise may prove to be vital under the right circumstances.

- This seems a bit of a stretch.

In addition to the notes above if you could address the following:

- Can I hear about her cooking hobby, how she got into it, and why she likes it?
- I heard about the games Meena likes to play, but how does she engage with her programming hobby? What does she make?
- Her holding on to her mistrust of her classmates from that one incident so long ago seems a bit odd. Have other things happened or has there been a general disengagement from other kids? If so, why?
- A bit more about her and her family as noted. What’s her sister like?
- I’d love a paragraph about her general personality. In addition to that, does she have any friends? Even if it’s just a few? If not, why?
- Any romantic aspirations or feelings for others?
- Any plans for college or after high school given she’s a senior?
- Since her family moved to be closer to a bigger Thai community, does she engage with her heritage or that community in any way?

And we’re at the end!

This is a very good first profile as the starting point. Now we just have to add more detail. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out, and post when edits are in!

New version up now, twice as long as the original so hopefully it's twice as good :D

With regards to the Raya paragraph, I've checked with her handler and agreed on everything beforehand (imagine a thumb, i'm thumbs upping).

[Ruggahissy]

Looking much better! Just a few really small things left.

She therefore placed part of the blame on Meela herself since she was one of the driving forces behind this decision.

- I thought they moved for the community and Jon’s work. If you want to say she just perceived it as being for Meela though, I’m OK with that — kids think all sorts of things. Plus she has the other reasons of parents time being split of being upset with Meela

Even her own sister had issues with her — no matter how trivial they were, it didn’t change Meela’s feelings

- I’m slightly confused by the end of this sentence. Do you mean to say that even though the issues were trivial, they didn’t change Meela’s feelings?

While I have you here:

- Favorite and least favorite subjects in school?
- Maybe something about how either programming or her strategy games developed her quick thinking so I can see how that advantage developed?
- Be a dear and move the personality summary down to the bottom before the Raya paragraph since that's where things start to wrap up.

THAT'S IT! Post when edits!

[Lamps]

Looking much better! Just a few really small things left.

She therefore placed part of the blame on Meela herself since she was one of the driving forces behind this decision.

- I thought they moved for the community and Jon’s work. If you want to say she just perceived it as being for Meela though, I’m OK with that — kids think all sorts of things. Plus she has the other reasons of parents time being split of being upset with Meela

Even her own sister had issues with her — no matter how trivial they were, it didn’t change Meela’s feelings

- I’m slightly confused by the end of this sentence. Do you mean to say that even though the issues were trivial, they didn’t change Meela’s feelings?

While I have you here:

- Favorite and least favorite subjects in school?
- Maybe something about how either programming or her strategy games developed her quick thinking so I can see how that advantage developed?
- Be a dear and move the personality summary down to the bottom before the Raya paragraph since that's where things start to wrap up.

THAT'S IT! Post when edits!

We are so done up in here.

[Ruggahissy]

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