G071 - Lee, Sunshine "Sunny" Cho[/DECEASED]

[MK Kilmarnock]

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Name: Sunshine 'Sunny' Cho Lee
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: 12th
School: Aurora High School
Hobbies and Interests: Guitar, Stand-up, Comedy music, British Comedy, Study

Appearance: 5ft flat, or near enough as makes no difference, and 128 lbs leaves Cho on the stocky side, wide in the hips and rather thick in the body, too. Perhaps as a bid to draw attention away from her figure, Cho's shoulder length and very straight hair is dyed a vivid red, renewed every couple of months or so, which certainly makes her stand out. Ethnically, Cho is half Asian, half Caucasian, but displays the former traits more strongly in terms of her skintone and the slightly slanted shape of her dark brown eyes. Generally speaking Sunny's tastes in make-up are eclectic, often opting for electric shades of lipstick and over-elaborate eye-shadow. The right nostril of her snub nose is pierced with a stud, and she has a ring in her lower lip, as well as three piercings in each ear. Her face is somewhat narrow, which makes her large eyes stand out even more.

On the day of the abduction, Cho wore a bright pink tanktop with the words 'stay happy!' on it, a black, zippable hoodie, and a similarly-dark medium length skirt, replete with buckles and belts. She had also applied a dark blue eyeliner, though for once she'd avoided lipstick. Completing the ensemble was a pair of sturdy black boots.

Biography: When mechanical engineer Jeong Lee and computer programmer Rainbow Beckett first crossed paths at work, there was no way anyone could have anticipated that the two of them could even get along, much less become romantically involved. However, the two polar opposites gelled exceptionally well due to their shared intellect, and although they never married, Jeong and Rainbow started living together. The pair had no intention of having children, and when they discovered Rainbow was pregnant, both of them panicked. However, after long conversations with both of their families, they elected to keep the baby, and soon enough, Rainbow gave birth to a girl, who was named Sunshine over Jeong's hearty protests. These complaints were only placated by the compromise that Sunshine could have the middle name 'Cho', and pick which name to use when she was older.

Sunshine's early upbringing was enthusiastic but a little slapdash; Jeong and Rainbow both relied a lot on their parents for support, and as a result a lot of Sunshine's childhood was spent being passed around her various grandparents. Her father's side of the family were rather strict, and categorically refused to call her Sunshine; a serious point of contention between them and her mother, relations remaining quite cold even now that Cho is in high school. Conversely, Rainbow's parents doted upon Sunshine to a large degree, even spoiling her a little during her younger years, until Jeong told them off for it and they demurred to his wishes. By contrast, Jeong and Rainbow did their best to present a united front; although they didn't always agree on how to bring Sunshine up, they worked together and compromised to make sure that they were doing their best. As such, the one consistency across Cho's childhood was that it was, in several unique ways, very loving.

For her part, Cho enjoyed seeing both sets of grandparents - her traditionalist South Korean side of the family were very different  from home and school, whilst to her, it seemed like her mom's 'hippy' parents weren't anything like any other adults. There was always something new and interesting to be learned from both sides. This natural curiosity saw Cho happen upon her grandfather Stefan's acoustic guitar at the age of just seven, and after seeing her interest, he began to teach her how to play the instrument. Although she wasn't very good at first, Sunshine's determination to learn meant she quickly got better, and by the time she was eight, her grandfather suggested to Rainbow that more formal lessons would be a good idea. Delighted to see her daughter learning an instrument so young, Rainbow agreed, convincing a somewhat-sceptical Jeong, resulting in Sunshine receiving weekly tuition. Due to her exposure to the language from an early age, Cho also became fluent in Korean, often carrying on conversations exclusively in it whilst with her paternal grandparents, and also trying to sneak things past her mom at home by addressing in her dad. Unfortunately for any prospective mischief, Rainbow had made an effort to learn too, making the household entirely bilingual.

School was an initially tough adjustment for Cho, as she found herself drawing attention for her peculiar name and a slight social awkwardness, predominantly brought about by having had few other children about before she entered the education system. However, after a couple of months, things settled down a lot better, and Cho found that there were as many people who thought a name like Sunshine Cho was cool as thought it was weird, and she eventually learned to deflect problems with humour rather than allowing herself to get upset. Insults did still get to her occasionally, but it became easier to handle when she had friends to fall back on. On the more scholastic side, Sunshine was a quick learner and a hard worker, and although she wasn't an exceptional student she was definitely amongst the upper echelons from a relatively early age.

Middle school, though, was another somewhat rocky period. Having been on the lookout for a new house - one closer to work - for a while, Jeong announced that the family would be moving. Not far, only to the other side of Seattle, but since Cho was already entering a new school year and transport was likely to be tricky, she also transferred schools. This was a mixed blessing; although Sunshine had a lot of difficulties adapting to the new environment where she didn't know anybody, the one person she did manage to befriend was a girl called Gabriella Parker. With a shared love of music, the pair became fast friends, and it was at Gabby's insistence that the two of them entered the school talent show. Sunny had her misgivings, as although she was often informed by her family and instructor that she was a strong guitar player, she was neurotic about the possibility of making a mistake for everyone to see. However, this reluctance to perform was outweighed by her desire not to let Gabby down, and a very positive reception at the talent show delighted Cho. This lead to her gaining confidence and becoming more willing to show off her guitar skills in public, although she still prefers to allow Gabriella to take centre stage.

As Sunshine got a little older, into her middle teens, she found she preferred to be called Cho much of the time, feeling that 'Sunshine' was still likely to attract her some odd looks. The name, along with nickname Sunny, tends to be reserved for close friends or people trying to get under her skin. Coincidentally enough however, it was the quirky name that led Cho to strike up an interest in another topic. A teacher commented that many jokes were based around self-depreciating humour, and off-handedly mentioned British comedian Russell Howard. Investigating on youtube, Cho found herself enthralled by a very different sort of humour to that which she was used to, and would spend hours at a time just trailing around the internet searching for videos of British comedians and sketch shows. Her favourites, other than Russell Howard, being comics Jack Dee and David Mitchell, as well as shows like QI and That Mitchell and Webb Look. Stand-up in particular caught Sunny's interest, and for a period of time she wrote a considerable amount of notes for material for jokes. However, because of all the time spent practicing her guitar playing, with and without Gabriella, and the fact that any school or local shows would invariably be entered as a pair, Cho felt that trying to perform stand-up would infringe on her other hobby and friendship. Furthermore, Cho lacked for a degree of confidence to perform on her own; she knew that she was capable of making people laugh, but doing so on stage was quite the daunting prospect. This, combined with her desire to concentrate on her work with Gabriella, meant Sunshine set aside her ambitions for stand-up, although she still sincerely desires to perform one day.

However, in doing so, Cho's comedic urges were turned towards thinking of funny tunes. Although she does not consider herself to be a strong songwriter, she has always had a natural quick and slightly stinging wit. Coupled with an affinity for stringing lyrics together, and an ability to improvise tunes off the cuff, and Sunny has actually come up with several more comedic songs. However, once again, Sunshine has never actually performed any of these songs beyond a personal setting, to entertain friends and family. Although she has demonstrated some of them to Gabby and had a seemingly positive reception, Cho had the feeling that her friend found the songs to be 'silly' and more of a diversion than something to be taken seriously. Believing that Gabriella would not want to incorporate the comedic songs into any of their sets, Sunny once again found a lack of confidence a stumbling block. Having relied upon Gabriella to get over her initial stage fright, she now felt dependent on her friend's stage presence to successfully perform.

In high school, Cho has now completely got over her awkwardness to become - if not popular, then at least socially comfortable. Where once she was concerned about her name being weird, Cho has fully embraced her own rather odd nature - thanks in no small part due to the influence of her mother. On the other hand, her closeness to Gabby has led some to regard her as something of a sidekick or hanger on to the more popular girl, which she finds to be immensely frustrating, but a label that is very difficult to shake. Cho still habitually deflects with humour, often self-depreciating, leading to the perception that she's a bit of a pushover. When pushed, Sunny tends to retreat as opposed to retaliate, and this tends to lead to her bottling up her negative feelings rather than expressing them, preferring to just bury herself in watching YouTube than say that there's anything wrong. In the extreme cases, although Cho is rarely extensively picked on, she tends to just become sullen and withdrawn, sometimes even refusing to practice with Gabby in the interests of having more time to herself.

Cho's parents have always been fully supportive of her, and thanks to the consistent way in which they approached Sunny's upbringing, she is very close to both of them, drawing on her father for her diligence in school and her mother for her willingness just to be herself. When Cho wanted to experiment with piercings and hair dye, her mom gave the all clear, and finding that she liked them, Cho slowly expanded her collection of facial jewellery. When she was struggling with some of her classes, her dad sat her down and walked her through them until she had fully grasped the concepts involved. This strong support has allowed Cho to maintain excellent grades in school, as she is both a hard worker and naturally intelligent; her standout best subject is maths, but she is a straight A student regardless. Ironically, she considers mathematics to be very boring and vastly prefers the sciences (especially biology), and she often mentions that just because she is good at math, doesn't mean she enjoys it. Cho still spends a lot of time with her grandparents, playing her guitar for both sides of the family, and although her Korean relatives disapprove a little of her piercings, they are never overly critical of her - instead preferring to encourage her academics and hobbies.

Post Aurora, Sunny has every intention of applying to the same college as Gabriella and continuing their double act - she would very much like to make a career out of music, but she doesn't want to compromise her education by focusing on it too much. Recently, Cho has begun to have some misgivings that she might have to pick between what she wants to do and what Gabriella wants from the two of them. There are a lot of things Sunny wants to do; stand up, comedy, even having the vague notion that she'd like to give improvisation a try. However, it seems to her that the amount of time spent with Gabby and practicing is inhibiting these ambitions. In typical Sunny fashion, however, she has not vocalised these concerns, and has simply been dwelling on them.

Advantages: Funny and laid back, Cho is easy to get along with, and unlikely to provoke anyone. Furthermore, since humour is her first recourse, she may find it easier to diffuse tense situations. Cho is also highly intelligent, which may help her in situations requiring logical thinking.
Disadvantages: Cho bottles up her problems and her emotions; when she is under a lot of stress she finds it very difficult to function normally - a withdrawn and antisocial state which is unlikely to do her many favours. There is also a perception amongst many that Cho doesn't stick up for herself, which may lead others into trying to strongarm her.

Designated Number: Female Student No. 071

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Designated Weapon: Riot Shield
Conclusion: I just had the funniest image. Like, so, she gets on the stage, right? And she tells a joke sooooo bad, she has to use that riot shield to block the tomatoes! Ha! Comedy gold, right? But no, seriously, think less tomatoes and more bullets. - Dennis Lourvey


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