Ki

From FaultieCircuitWiki

Ki Oshiro

From the Official Cast Page

First Appearance: The Beginning (November 18, 1998)

Ki is one of GPF Software's programmers and its chief DBA. She is an attractive Asian woman whose top priority is comfort. She dresses by pulling the first thing out of her closet that she reaches for, and since everything is simple and comfortable, there's no problem. Her second priority is her only true joy: programming.

While Ki can occasionally come across as gruff, sarcastic, and irreverent, she's actually got a squishy, caramel center. Deep down, she's sweet, loving, and a bit of a romantic, but her efforts to make her appear to be "one of the guys" sometimes hides this beautiful side of her. It also plays to her appearance; she used to put little effort into trying to appear sexy (although she tends to need little effort to do so), since that would make her appear separate from the gang. (This seems to have changed somewhat, now that she has a fiancé to impress.) She used to smoke, but eventually kicked the habit when she found something (or someone) better to be addicted to.

Ki has a mostly stable (albeit occasionally rocky) dating relationship with her friend and coworker, Nick. For the most part, their relationship has been on solid ground and continues to grow. However, we do know that Trudy has taken great pains to prevent this relationship from forming, to the point of sabotage. Ki and Trudy have developed a long-lasting grudge match, with the affections of Nick usually planted firmly in the middle. Nick's stubborn refusal to accept Trudy as the "resident evil" of the company had placed a strain on their relationship, until Trudy's twisted plots were finally revealed to him. Now that Trudy is out of the picture, they have overcome the last of their rough edges and settled in for a nice, healthy relationship. In fact, the pair has finally become engaged and are actively planning their wedding, which is rapidly approaching.

During Surreptitious Machinations, Ki proved to be a pivotal player in reassembling the GPF Software crew after Trudy scattered them with her diabolical plots. With the aid of her future son Todd, she reunites the gang to combat the sinister C.R.U.D.E. and free Nick from Trudy's influence. When Todd vanishes when his time line ceases to exist, this leaves an uncertain impression on Ki, a mixture of pride and remorse at the sacrifice of the son she never knew she had. Although she has since learned that he still exists outside of time and space, how his new "existence" will affect her down the road has yet to be seen.

One interesting facet of Ki's history is her mixed parentage. Ki's father hails from Tokyo, Japan, while her mother was born and raised in Hong Kong, China. Both moved to the United States to attend college, and eventually fell in love and remained permanently in the States. Ki was born and raised here, but occasionally takes interest in exploring her diverse heritage. Nick's introduction to the Oshiros was certainly mixed, but the family eventually accepted Nick's proposal to wed their daughter.

Ki has one sibling, her younger brother Yoshi.

Some of Ki's GPF milestones:

I've found Ki to be one of my personal favorites, especially since I think her main inspiration comes from my wife. The two have diverged significantly over the years (I don't think my wife has traveled through time recently), but in her heart, Ki is very much my little sweetie.

One last note, since it always seems to come up... Just how do you pronounce Ki's name? There seems to be two main agreed upon pronunciations out there, one with a long "E" sound as in "key," the other with a long "I" as in "kite." Officially, it is pronounced with the long "E" as in "key." This is how she pronounces it, as does her family.

(Text last updated by JTD on 13 October 2005)

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