Age: 20
Gender: Female
Field of Study: English Literature
Physical Description: Misha is a slender girl of Chinese descent, standing 5' 5" and weighing only 97 pounds due to hyperthyroidism. She has a diamond-shaped face, with smooth skin aside from a small furrow in her brow. Her eyes are large, with long full lashes and deep brown pupils. She has an angular chin with prominent cheekbones, with defined lips and a wide smile. She could be conventionally attractive, but her low body weight gives her a slightly sallow look. Her ears are medium-sized, verging on large, and rounded. Misha's black hair is slightly longer than shoulder length, and is styled into thick dreadlocks. She almost always wears it twisted into a messy ponytail, giving the back of her head a chaotic appearance. Her skin has the faint beginnings of a tan from hours spent outside, but the tan lines are uneven since she doesn't wear consistent outfits when going out.
Misha generally dresses in thin sweaters, and will alternate between jeans and shorts depending on the temperature. For her trip to the arctic she brought along multiple layers of clothing to wear each day, as her skinny frame gives her very low cold resistance. On the day of the abduction she was wearing a dark grey ski jacket over a wine-colored sweater, with a white thermal shirt underneath. On her legs she wore ski pants over top of a pair of blue jeans, bright green boots, and striped mittens with Disney's Stitch emblazoned on them. Stitch was also featured on her blue socks. She also wore a thick cream-colored knitted headband, and had a pair of thick-framed eyeglasses in her jacket pocket.
Background:
- Misha was born Kai-Ming Zheng on January 20th, 2002 in the Jiaocheng district of Ningde in Fujian province, China. When she was less than a year old, she was adopted by Carl and Tracy Yeager and brought to Bozeman, Montana. Carl is a dentist, and Tracy was an assistant to a low-level city official who resigned her post to parent their daughter full-time. They are both Caucasian and are Evangelical Christians. The two of them had been trying unsuccessfully to have a child for several years before deciding to adopt.
- Carl and Tracy called her Kai-Ming for the first few years of her life, but offered her the opportunity to choose a Western name when she was old enough. She chose Misha, a name she had heard in a cartoon and thought sounded pretty. Most of her friends nowadays call her Mimi or Big Meech, the latter being an ironic moniker given her size.
- When Misha was three, Tracy unexpectedly became pregnant. She gave birth to a boy they named Donovan. Misha did not like baby Donovan, and often became irritated with his crying. When they were kids, she disliked playing with him, and often had to be coaxed into interacting with him. Carl and Tracy were careful never to express a fondness for one child over another, but Misha has always felt that they loved Donovan more than her.
- Misha enjoyed school as a child. She was very friendly and social and could often be found chatting with other kids at recess and after school, and she had a number of friends at church. She was a bright student and learned new concepts quickly, and tended to be well-behaved and liked by her teachers. She learned to read fairly quickly, and really enjoyed listening to stories, as well as reading and writing them. Carl and Tracy often read or told stories to Misha at bedtime, which quickly became one of her favorite routines. Misha received particular praise from her English teachers, who found her stories insightful and imaginative.
- Donovan was a bit of a of a class clown and rather hyperactive, and Misha often felt embarrassed or annoyed about the problems that he caused. She tried not to associate with him at school and was known to make fun of him when gossiping with her friends. Donovan and his friends enjoyed teasing and bothering Misha, in the typical way that young boys do. Whenever Donovan had friends over, Misha stayed in her room as much as possible, or tried to stay over at a friend's house. The only activity that the two really enjoyed together were video games, although Donovan's tendency to mess around and play for amusement frustrated Misha from time to time.
- In 2016, Donovan had a seizure at school. Medical tests revealed that he had an aggressive brain tumor. Donovan’s condition worsened steadily over the next few years, he was hospitalized full time in 2018. Misha frequently visited him, but felt that these visits were obligatory and that Donovan didn’t particularly want her there. She stopped attending church at this time, for a number of reasons. She was frustrated with the lack of payoff for all the prayers that people in the church were doing, and grew sick of being told that Donovan would go to a better place if he died instead of receiving genuine sympathy. She's not closed off to the possibility of God, and still retains a few elements of her faith, but she has not gone back to church since.
- During Donovan’s illness, Misha spent a lot of time either home alone or waiting in hospital areas. She occupied herself writing stories, or playing video games on her Nintendo Switch. In time, she began sharing some of her stories with groups online, receiving feedback and improving her abilities. She continues to do so to this day, and though she’s been told she has the talent to be published, she lacks confidence in herself and has never tried to submit her work to anything except student publications.
- Misha’s love of video games continued throughout high school and into college. She particularly enjoys story-driven games, including old MS-DOS choose your own adventure games, visual novels, and artistic indie games. She also enjoys Disney movies, with her favorite being Lilo and Stitch.
- In high school, Misha had a few friends, but tried never to discuss her home life. She attended parties when she could, and dated a few boys infrequently. She occasionally found herself attracted to other girls, but never acted on these feelings. Her dating relationships with boys never lasted long, and often left Misha feeling discarded or unwanted.
- Misha tends to repress negative emotions and not discuss them. Despite her best efforts, the emotional stress of Donovan’s illness and the surrounding chaos for the family took a significant toll on her, and internalizing her negative feelings didn't work. She developed Grave’s disease in 2018, causing hyperthyroidism. Misha was already a slender girl, but hyperthyroidism caused her weight to get dangerously low, and she found herself constantly hungry and suffering odd fluctuations in her heart rate. She initially blamed these conditions on stress and difficulty finding time to eat between classes and hospital visits, and compensated by eating more and trying to find more time for exercise as best she could. It took a few months for Carl and Tracy to notice that something was wrong and take the situation seriously, being occupied with Donovan's concerns. When they did, they insisted on getting Misha checked out. The doctors discovered the Grave’s and put Misha through some treatments to reduce her thyroid activity. She is now mostly healthy, and has regained some weight, though she still remains quite slender. She has taken up yoga as a way of staying fit while she works to get back up to a healthier body weight. Carl and Tracy have been extremely overprotective about it and frequently remind Misha to take her pills, and they have been known to make doctor's appointments for her and check up to make sure she actually went. Misha deeply resents this, but does participate in treatment to the best of her ability.
- Donovan died in 2019. Misha refused to see him before he died, despite Carl and Tracy asking her to be present. Misha struggled to match Carl and Tracy’s levels of grief in the aftermath, as she had been relatively distant for most of their life together and knew that he had been suffering a lot towards the end.
- As Misha was graduating high school and looking towards college, Carl pushed her to consider pursuing medicine, “for Donovan’s sake.” Misha was a bright student, but her grades had suffered throughout high school due to absences and stress, and she had no interest in medicine. This sparked several fights between her and Carl. Misha wound up applying for English literature programs at several universities, and deliberately chose one far out of state to get some distance from her parents. Misha has constantly felt that her parents want her to be a substitute for Donovan and do not value her as her own person. In her darkest moments she suspects that they wish that he had lived and she had died.
- Misha met her current dating partner, Tess, during an elective class on Greek mythology. They sat next to each other, and bonded over a shared fandom of the game Hades. They became study partners, and then close friends. Misha had never been in a queer relationship before and was initially reluctant, but she agreed to try going out on a date. They had a fantastic time and have been together ever since.
- The honeymoon effect wore off quickly for Misha and Tess. Tess' obsessive personality and insensitive demeanor can often cause her to be rude or abrasive to people in their orbit, and create social divides between Misha and her friends. Tess is also sometimes quite dismissive of Misha or makes her feel neglected. Communication is an issue for both of them, and Misha has a tendency to repress or ignore things she doesn't want to think about, which often creates problems down the line. Though she and Tess fight sometimes and do not have a particularly healthy relationship, Misha would rather be with her than be alone. She views Tess as the one person that seems to be willing to accept her for who she is. Tess makes her feel wanted and desired, in a way that her previous relationships and her parents have not.
- Carl and Tracy strongly disapprove of Misha’s relationship with Tess, but have not attempted to expressly forbid it. They can quite rude to Tess, and have mentioned to Misha more than once that they see the relationship as nothing more than a passing phase that she'll get over. They also dislike that Tess is several years older than Misha, and suspect that Tess is preying on her in some way.
- Tess is aware of Misha's health problems and isn't afraid to make sure that she's taking care of herself. Misha also resents this but does take her health more seriously for Tess's sake. Misha is more willing to accept nagging from Tess than from her parents.
- During her high school years Misha liked going to parties, and had a very high alcohol tolerance due to her hyperthyroidism. She still parties when the opportunity arises, but nowadays she can't handle alcohol very well at all. If she's feeling particularly smothered by Tess or her parents Misha will occasionally go out and get heavily drunk, forcing Tess to come to pick her up.
- In her free time, Misha runs a small blog where she posts doodles and prose about a cartoon version of herself named Li'l Meech. The blog details her experiences with adoption, illness, and bisexuality. She has a few dedicated readers but has relatively little notoriety.
- Though she has had to occasionally request deadline extensions or similar measures as a result of her health problems, Misha is a diligent student and takes her studies seriously. She has received good grades throughout her time in Cascadia, and maintains a 3.75 GPA. She often scores particularly well on essays and creative writing assignments. She tends to be extremely proud of these accomplishments, and saves her A+ papers. She submitted a short story to the university's annual collection of student writing, and was shortlisted for an award but did not win.
- Misha isn’t sure what she wants to do with her life, and is considering pursuing a journalism degree or going into teaching.
Assets: Misha is quite intelligent and a strong creative thinker who is likely to come up with creative solutions to problems. She is rather sociable and could build decent bonds on the island or potentially talk her way out of dangerous situations.
Limitations: Misha has very low body weight, and is relatively frail. She is unlikely to do well in physical confrontations. She is also unhealthily attached to Tess, and will follow her lead even in situations where she knows better. If Tess is hurt or dies, this will have an extremely negative effect on Misha and could cause her to become reckless.
