So-Hyun Baik

[Vicky]

Name: So-Hyun Baik

Age: Thirty-four (including the six years she was cyrogenically frozen)

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Bisexual (she's somewhat apathetic about such things)

Race: Human

Occupation: Marine Biologist

Human Physical Description: Almond-shaped brown eyes, the contours of her nose, and the smooth, creamy complexion she bears all betray her Korean heritage. The hair that frames her tapering chin is naturally sable in color, but has been dyed a great number of colors in the past years – blond, dark brown, ashen brown. For now, it seems she has settled on a rich auburn tone. Though it is always short, the style of the hair varies, as does the color. So-Hyun tends to experiment with her hair an inordinate and amount. It keeps her occupied. Besides, occasionally she'll study the chemical makeup of hair dye and how it reacts with her hair.

Her facial features are not particularly feminine, and neither are her hairstyles. The girl stands at the height of five feet and four inches – a considerable height for a Korean; her body is slender and bears a ballerina-like build – only subtle curves grace her figure. She is rather skinny as a result of the fact that she does not seem to need much food for sustenance. All of this, combined with the tomboyish style of her clothes, which usually hides whatever slight curves she may have, gives her a decidedly androgynous look that often confuses others. She could easily pass for a pretty boy.

One could call her sense of fashion rather stylish, in a boyish way, but the truth of the matter is that she throws on whatever suits her mood. She is one to focus more on comfort and practicality than style or appearances – things she considers trivial. She has a pair of glasses that she wears occasionally while in and out of the lab. They are unnecessary for her sight, and one could consider these a fashion statement, but she simply likes to wear them. In addition, despite the fact that she is not yet a doctor, she is fond of wearing her white lab coat, even when unnecessary.

Avatar Physical Description: At a height of nine feet and seven inches, So-Hyun’s avatar is of an average height, and has the potential to be slightly more flexible and agile than the standard Na'vi body, if So-Hyun can master the controls and Pandoran surroundings well enough. It has the standard Na’vi build – slender waist and hips, long legs and neck – though slightly narrower. Fingers and tail, long and slender, are suitable to the partially arboreal lifestyle of any Na’vi, as well as to So-Hyun’s studies in the field (albeit she has yet to get completely used to the extension of the spinal cord). Ebony hair frames a slender face, contrasting with a basic complexion of bright cerulean. Unlike most Na’vi females, the hair-like locks of this avatar are not pleated into tight braids. Rather, the thick strands hang loosely around the face much like the messy hairstyle So-Hyun bears as a human. In the back, it is swept into a thick braid that falls past the avatar's hips.

The large, catlike eyes are pools of honey, flecked with gold; they are a bit more narrow than those of the average Na’vi female, giving the avatar a more shrewd, mature appearance. The stripes that traverse the surface of its body are of a blue only slightly darker than that of the rest of the skin. The markings normally follow the natural flow of the avatar’s figure, except for on the face; faint lines of the darker blue seem to radiate from each eye, giving the avatar a fearsome look. These facial stripes are about a centimeter in width at the eye and gradually grow thicker and fork into two as they grow in length. Atop the forehead lies a wishbone-shaped marking that extends down the delicate nose. Save a scattered few along these darker blue stripes, luminescent dots are absent from the avatar’s cheeks, causing it to appear even less juvenile and innocent. Aside from on the subtle cheekbones, the dots are usually abundant wherever the dark stripes are found.

The body itself is slender and lithe. Even for a Na'vi, its proportions are slighter than normal, even for a Na’vi – it bears only the slightest of curves. As for physical attire, the avatar is most often seen wearing simple – whatever is most convenient for the occasion.

Personality: To put it bluntly, So-Hyun is judgemental. Though she does not often complain, she is actually rather meretricious, hateful toward her fellow sentient beings. She despises many people, most times without seeming to harbor a good reason. She hates beggars and whiners -- finds them disgusting, groveling in the dirt like that. And for what? Pity? Attention? She finds such things -- pity-mongers, attention-mongers -- sickening. It would be wrong to say she can't fathom the reason people do such things -- she understands them surprisingly well. Such behavior just makes her sick to the stomach. And there are still others she cannot stand -- those who act fake, putting on affected behavior... those who are too happy...

However, So-Hyun's intense dislike for many of these human traits -- or flaws, depending on one's perspective -- stems from her own insecurities. She hates seeing these qualities in herself. And, though others may find it hard to believe, considering the way she acts, she really does believe that she possesses many of these traits. She believes that she is weak, helpless, and dependent, and she subconsciously despises herself because of it. Despite this self-loathing, So-Hyun appears quite self-confident to the average onlooker.

In others, these traits simply annoy her to no end, and she has trouble ignoring them. However, experience has taught her the dangers of being frank with people, and she tries to suppress her comments. However, if she has truly had enough of someone, she will not hesitate to speak her mind. And, if she feels someone has insulted her, she will not hesitate to throw a few punches... or more than a few. In a few words, So-Hyun is independent, persistent, and irritable. She is impatient and frank (sometimes too much so), easily offended and hotheaded. She is rather insecure, and strives not to be what she is annoyed by.

Though it seems that she hates all people, that she cannot be satisfied, even with the perfect person, So-Hyun is not anti-social by nature. There are a few people who she respects and a few she wishes to protect. To these people, she may be a bit harsh, but they know that she is often playing and accept her for who she is. She is actually rather compassionate, though not in the conventional, sympathetic way. So-Hyun's way of expressing it is more brutal... somewhat like what some people call "tough love," except maybe even more severe. In addition, she often gives good advice, though it may be given in a rough manner. Granted, it's hard for most to recognize this side of the girl.

She is quite irreverent and rude toward others, not bothering with politeness. Even toward her superiors, she acts in a casual manner. She's an introvert at heart, and doesn't really like dealing with people, but this doesn't stop her from raising her voice. So-Hyun's brash manner of speech often offends others. Her attitude is unpleasant and difficult to get used to, which only intensifies with strangers, causing many to dislike her on sight.)

Even though she actually enjoys the company of a select few, So-Hyun needs at least brief periods of solitude for introspection in order to function.

In addition to her somewhat irrational fears of her own percieved flaws, So-Hyun has an abnormal and persistent fear of thunderstorms. Whenever thunderstorms occur, she experiences extreme anxiety. Her entire body shakes and she cries out of absolute fear. When the clouds break, she knows this fear of hers – this astraphobia – is extremely unreasonable, and that she shouldn’t fear such a beautiful, natural thing, but during a storm all reason is lost.

When she is engaged in her passion – marine biology and oceanography – her more innocent side shows slightly. The enthusiasm and exuberance with which she tackles science and the intensity of her anger upon the event of failure never seem to fail in surprising others. In fact, when in this state, it may seem almost as if she is stark raving mad. It is when occupied with scientific endeavors that she completely releases her inhibitions. The girl is very perceptive and competes with herself. She looks forward to challenges and craves unlocking the secrets of the unknown.

Talents: Even from an early age, So-Hyun was surprisingly perceptive, and she has always been inherently detail-oriented. She has a photographic memory – a fact she usually keeps to herself. It is a talent that she does not always choose to use to her advantage, but has helped her studies. Because she has always been attuned to the minutiae of observation, she has a considerable understanding of human nature, which is surprising when one considers the manner in which she acts towards others. (She believes she understands herself very well, too, and that scares her.) Because she is so detail-oriented, it is not uncommon for So-Hyun to fail to grasp the "big picture."

Setting aside the talents of the brain and turning to those of the brawn, So-Hyun was never exactly what one would call an athlete. However, she packs a pretty strong punch, and she does not hesitate in throwing it at almost anyone.

History: There were strict laws concerning the one-child policy where So-Hyun was born. Perhaps it was because of this, or simply because they didn't want a girl, that So-Hyun was dropped off, as a newborn, at the door of an orphanage. She had never felt any loss at having been abandoned. It is hard to miss something one has never had. Besides, hers was not a rare situation. There were countless other unwanted baby girls who had met the same fate. During her first six years, she fell in with the poor boys and street kids, becoming a ruffian and a tomboy. The days blurred together, the weeks, the months. And then, when she was six years of age, a nice Korean couple from America, who could not conceive, adopted the poor child. Of all people, they adopted her.

She was their only child, and they lavished attention on her during the first year she lived with them, but once she began to attend school, this attention turned to pressure, and the pressure turned to wrath. As it was ingrained into Asian culture, the importance of education was ingrained in So-Hyun’s parents. They pushed her to excel from the age of six, sending her to countless cram schools, hiring the best tutors… But young So-Hyun had little interest in her schooling. To her adopted parents’ dismay, all she wanted to do was sit around and read juvenile books that would not enrich her vocabulary. They did not—could not—understand what liberation these stories gave her. The young girl was not interested in the tired world in which she lived, but rather in the vibrant exuberance of fictional frontiers, of the new and the unknown. It was only in these books she could find escape. She immersed herself in a fantasy-land, became detached from the world around her. She had never truly felt any kinship with other children, anyway. She had always felt somehow… different from them – not superior, just different.

Her reading obsession exasperated her parents. Of course, they only wanted the best for her. They wanted her to be successful, get a high-paying job, and lead a better life than they had. And they were aware that higher education was competitive, and that their daughter needed to be prepared. Despite her intelligence, she was neglecting her studies, and her grades were dropping to unprecedented lows. It was as if she didn’t care – which was true. None of her studies interested her more than vaguely.

Perhaps this was what spurred the downfall of the family unit. Partially because of expensive tutors, the father began to accumulate debt, and the family became more and more dysfunctional. The fear of his debtors and tax collectors pushed him into depression and insanity. He rampaged through the house every night, casting dishes against the wall, screaming. He began to beat his wife, and she began to beat her adopted daughter, telling the child that she was worthless, and that if they hadn't adopted her things would not have turned out this way.

The girl, wallowing in self-pity, only turned more and more to her books, to her escape. The father committed suicide, the mother turned to alcohol. The entire family had gone to the dogs, and the young girl felt that she was at fault. Eventually, however, the girl could no longer sit back while the mother cursed her. Eventually, she began to fight back, to shout back. And their yells would turn into screams. The woman lost the house, and, ruled unfit to care for a child, she had the girl taken away from her.

The girl hopped from foster home to foster home for three years. She would wander the streets during the day, taking out her anger on the ghetto trash that wandered with her. By night, she took to her books. She still could not let go of her escapist tendencies. She cared as little for her studies as always, and failed to try in the least. She flunked a grade, and was held back for a year.

When the girl was in ninth grade, she was introduced to a new science – marine biology – and found a new obsession. Despite the fact that the seas were polluted and species were becoming extinct, The girl set aside her novels and took up marine biology and oceanography textbooks. She devoured one after another, her photographic memory storing extraordinary amounts of information in her brain. She threw herself into her studies, consuming all the information she could get a hold of. Here her perceptiveness, her attention to detail, was rewarded by success. Here she would lie awake, thinking over things she did not fully understand because she yearned for more knowledge. The fact that she went on to attend a college was a great achievement in of itself.

But she was far from wealthy, and the tuition was rather expensive, even when factoring in whatever scholarships she had acquired. So she entered a military scholarship program in which her tuition would be paid, and she would have to serve time in the military after graduation. She was rather surprised at having gotten such a scholarship for marine biology, seeing as most, if not all, of the other students with military scholarships were seeking a medical career (and also considering the state of the environment), but she took it without question. After all, this scholarship would allow her to further her knowledge.

After her graduation at the age of twenty-three and two years of doctoral studies, those who had put her through college approached So-Hyun. They offered her a position among scientists who would be heading back to the moon of Pandora for peaceful research. The girl was utterly shocked (but couldn't help but to wonder whether she had been groomed for this). She had heard mention of Pandora while growing up, but since the corporate failure on the moon thirty years earlier, it had somewhat faded from the public eye (even more so from So-Hyun’s perspective, seeing as she lived a somewhat secluded life). The moon had always been a source of fascination for So-Hyun, but she had never thought she would have a chance to see it, let alone study it. She jumped at the opportunity.

She spent three years studying Pandora and all its inhabitants. During this time, she also completed the last two years of her formal education, becoming a Ph.D. Signal transduction intrigued her to no end, and she latched on to whatever information she could gather on the subject. The idea of having an avatar and how they worked fascinated her, and she wished she could have taken part in the creation of one, other than simply contributing her DNA.

And so, at the age of twenty-eight, So-Hyun was prepared to leave her birth world behind. She had no regrets. The world to which she traveled showed so much promise that all else was forgotten. She would be studying this magnificent moon. This was the frontier she had been waiting for. She was cryogenically frozen and, after six years, found herself above the lush, green moon of Pandora. It was like a dream come true.

RP Sample: The woman sitting next to her smelled of some potent, exotic perfume and was smacking on a piece of chewing gum in a way that would make any cow envious. Her lustrous blond hair cascaded around her shoulders in a luxurious waterfall of gold, framing a delicate, beautiful face. Embedded in said face were two bright green eyes. The gem-like optical receptors absorbed light, as was their wont, and sent messages, in the form of electrical impulses, up the optic nerves and through to her dainty little brain. And then there was her voice -- a gentle alto that sounded almost musical as she laughed and flirted with the boy beside her. In short, she was absolutely and utterly repulsive. Though her face began as blank slate, porcelain complexion bearing not a trace of emotion, as the minutes wore on certain signs of irritation began to show. First, a tenseness in her shoulders... then a knitting of the brows... then a grinding of the teeth... All of these combined together to engrave an unattractive scowl on her visage -- the perfect picture of animosity.

"Shut the fuck up, you crazy bitch," she muttered under her breath -- words that would certainly have certainly started a conflict. But just as she began to speak those words, So-Hyun felt the metal frame around her shudder as the helicopter in which she was sitting was started up. The whine of the engine and din of the propellers caused her outburst to go unheard and saved her from having to listen to that slut yammer on any longer. For that she was thankful. Maybe she didn't even know the woman's name, but, in So-Hyun's mind, she was a fucking whore nonetheless. The vehicle gave a sickening lurch as air swept under its propellers and thrust it into the thick veil of fog above. They had arrived in Pandora a day or so ago, but had gotten barely a glimpse of the land from above, so this flight would be an introduction to the moon for which she had lived during the past nine years.

They hovered blindly in the mist for what seemed like hours. So-Hyun occupied herself by recalling the details of the process through which trees gave off the fog through which they now traveled. The sieve cells transport water up the tree with the aid of water tension… and finally transpiration, in which the trees seemingly “breathe,” and give off water molecules into the air, which evaporate and rise up in the form of fog…

A chorus of “oohs” and “aahs interrupted her thoughts, and she heard the pilot shout, “Welcome to Pandora, folks!” And she looked down at the land below. The scene that met her eyes was simply breathtaking -- luscious green landscape, a jungle of green, blue, and white. This was the sheer magnificence of nature, a mystic beauty that is both innocent and deadly. This was what she had been waiting fore. This was a land of opportunity. Her keen eyes tried to take in the details of the tangled wilds before her, of the giant trees that shot above the canopy, of the waterfalls that shone silver and white, but it was impossible. There was simply too much. The images of Pandora she had seen back on Earth didn’t—couldn’t—do this place justice. It was simply unfathomable and utterly breathtaking – the scope of it, the beauty of it. Nothing could have prepared her for this.

Her eyes widened. Reflecting the luscious landscape of Polyphemus’s moon, the elegantly shaped orbs held the same expression as that of a hungry beast. The wild look in her eyes, combined with the broad smile that breached her porcelain features, gave her a bit of a maniacal appearance – one that revealed her inner glutton. But she was not a glutton for money or for power. She was a glutton for knowledge, and this world would be her feast. “Pandora…” The whispered word rolled smoothly off her tongue, and she licked her lips. Yes, this would be delicious.

[Silmaneero]

- I believe it is China and not Korea that has the one child policy.

- I find it a bit difficult to believe that So-Hyun would be able to accelerate through her education to such a degree, particularly after being held back a grade. It is also even more unlikely that she would graduate college at age 19; particularly at a prestigious school, she'd be studying for at least four years, which means she'd have gotten into college at about age fifteen. Some modifications will be required here.

- Could we see a bit more information on her mysterious benefactors? Why invest in her if they weren't completely sure it would be worth their while? And what made the scientists want to fund the production of her own avatar aside from So-Hyun's interest in the program? They are quite expensive, after all, and the selection process for choosing a host would be rather meticulous.

[Vicky]

You're right, China used to have the one-child policy. I think they've changed it to two children by now, though I couldn't be certain. In any case, I was thinking that, since this is the future and, since the Earth is having issues with population control, perhaps So-Hyun's birth country instituted a one-child policy. And I don't believe I specifically stated that country was Korea. If you prefer that I don't make such assumptions, just say so, and I'll change it. To be honest, that entire part about the orphanage is kind of extraneous.

As for the discrepancies with the ages... Well, halfway through writing her profile, I changed So-Hyun's personality and the first half of her history. Those numbers remain from when I was making her out to be a child prodigy. I believe I have gone back and fixed these problems: She is now thirty-four. She was held back for one grade, and graduated from high school when she was nineteen. She graduated from college when she was twenty-three. She completed two years of her doctoral studies before being put into the Pandora program. She completed her Avatar training and doctorate by age twenty-eight. Also, after I changed her personality completely, I had meant to take out the part in the talents about her intelligence being inherent -- the new So-Hyun is more the hard-working type. I have done that now. If this is still unbelievable, I will change it.

Well, the mysterious benefactors weren't really so mysterious -- they were the military. Where I live, the military gives scholarships for those going into medical fields in exchange for a few years of service. Perhaps So-Hyun received a similar type of scholarship. After she graduated, perhaps they chose to put her into the Pandora program. But... that's assuming that the scientists are military-funded... I'm sort of unclear on that, actually -- where is their funding coming from?

As for the production of the avatar, I was trying to say that she was to have an avatar in the first place, but that she hadn't been that interested in it, initially. After she learned more about the avatars, she wanted to take part in the creation of her own... but I have changed the background to say, "The idea of having an avatar and how they worked fascinated her, and she wished she could have taken part in the creation of one, other than simply contributing her DNA." I also realized that biochemists usually work in labs, so there would really be no point in her having an avatar. I have changed her occupation to that of marine biologist (not because it would make more sense for her to have an avatar for a marine biologist), if that's okay. I think that will make for more interesting role play situations. If you believe she is not suited for an avatar, just let me know.

[• Aerys •]

Approved.