Griselle Damgaard

Cynthea Mallard is the daughter of The Ugly Duckling, the main protagonist from the Hans Christian Andersen tale of the same name. While she identifies as a Rebel, she often finds herself doubtful of the cause. While not opposed of the results of her destiny, the path to getting there itself, along with the fact that staying in character means for her to maintain a humble (read: near nonexistant)  self-esteem for the sake of her "ugliness" until the end of her future story, isn't exactly the most appealing way of living the rest of her highschool years. ==Character== Personality

Although a standard first impression from Thea might allude to introversion, being a wallflower isn’t all there is to this so-called duckling, nor would she prefer to actually stay that way. Cynthea is a subtly defiant, albeit awkward swanling with a love for dance, knowledge and hands-on learning, whether she's dissecting literary conventions or spends a day exploring the depths of the pond near the Enchanted Forest. While her sharp mind has more than contributed in analyzing her own father’s tale, she has grown to be riddled with self doubt over the years, a phenomena that has heightened her growing humility.

Well aware of the implications of her father’s story, Thea, in spite of herself, and depending on the circumstances, may sometimes be on her guard upon meeting one's acquaintance, as she is used to others taking advantage of her so-called "ugliness". Her friendship circle is small yet tight-knit and she had a hard time regaining trust once it's broken, often leading her to, ironically, judge a book by its cover when someone's dependability is questionable at best.

Overall, Cynthea is a young woman of layers: Reticent, introspective, slow to trust, understatedly daring, and when in her true self can be discerned, a girl who is graceful while in her element.

Appearance
Cynthea's hair dawns a combination of auburn dreadlocks and grey, flimsy headfeathers that moderately pass shoulder length. She has dark skin, medium brown eyes, and is relatively short if not on the petite side, yet has the merit of a strong, graceful swimmer and dancer.

Due to her nearsightedness, she is rarely seen without a pair of prescription glasses. On normal days she'll opt for specs with either an ovular or circular appearance, and will wear optics that are "cat-eyed" or take an angular appearance on more formal, special occasions.

Basic Summary
The Ugly Duckling is about a young bird who hatched inside of the nest of a mother duck, whose odd, un-ducklike appearance causes others to subject him to the abuse of those around him. When Spring arrives he confronts a flock of swans, the most beautiful bird of them all, only to discover that, after a long winter spent in suffering, that he has fully grown to be one himself. In the very end, he comes to accept his swan lineage and is thankful for his past tribulations, since he can now further appreciate his matured, beauteous state.

How Cynthea Ties Into It
Contrary to popular belief, Cynthea really isn't a duckling, and when aware of the fact that baby swans have gray down (as was described of Ugly's appearance before maturing), it's safe to assume her father was a swan the whole time.

When the very first Ugly Duckling, Cynthea's grandfather of many greats, had their happily ever after - and specifically, had their first child, he and his wife were forced to give up guardianship to the future mother duck, for being raised by biological parents would have defeated the purpose of the tale. It wasn't until Cynthea's generation where the future Ugly Duckling was raised primarily by her parents.

However, in order to fulfill her destiny, Cynthea was forced to move in with her aunt Carolyn, one of her father's duckling sisters, near the barn he was raised during her late childhood. Aside from Carol's own fledglings, the children of Ugly's other siblings were  also gathered in the same locale, with expectation that they treat their aunt as though she were their caretaker.

Family
Before staying with her aunt, Cynthea had otherwise loving parents, her father having married one of the swans he met near his story's end. As far as Ugly and his daughter's relationship goes, she could easily have been described as being "daddy's little girl" at the time, in spite of having more fondness towards her mother's relatives. That being said, the swan-to-be hasn't seen neither her mother nor the current Ugly Duckling since the move, but he promised that he and her mother would reunite with Cynthea once she fulfills her destiny. This alone has made her worry about being a rebel in the first place: If she doesn't follow through the story as told, will her parents even bother to see her again?

As for her paternal aunt and cousins, things aren't quite smooth with either of them. Carolyn is rather strict when it comes to the dichotomy of Cynthea's role and that of the other ducklings, and while she awards them for outright bullying her, she has low tolerance for any uncharacteristic displays on her niece's end. Whether at the farmhouse or at school, Cynthea takes care that she distances herself from them as much as possible, with the exception of Rouen Mallard and perhaps one or more others.

Speaking of Rouen, Cynthea appears to be closest to him out of the ducklings, and in return he treats her with the respect he believes she deserves, to the disapproval of their aunt.

When Rouen had gotten into a bitter argument with both Carol, Cynthea, and the rest of his cousins the December before their Legacy Year, he opted to leave the barnyard and stayed with his father during holiday break. These living circumstances, while outside school perimeters, have persisted ever since, and Cynthea worries that Rouen's defiance will end up with him as the victim instead of herself.

Friends
Her best friends are Cliora Fair, her roomate and the daughter of Fairer-Than-a-Fairy, Pia Danser, daughter of the eldest Dancing Princess from The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and Rouen Mallard. With Pia, both became friends when she discovered Thea dancing in secret. the As mentioned before, Cynthea's circle of friends is limited, but of those she does have she keeps quite close.

In spite of it seeming silly, she also considers Ori, in the paragraph below, to be one of her closer friends.

Pet
She owns a young, male pet pygmy goat named Ori. To her dismay, Cynthea's cousins, as a practical prank, have been known to get away with letting him loose from time to time when paying visit to the school's stalls.

Romance
None as of current - though it isn't completely out of the question, snagging a date is the last thing on her mind.

Basic
Cynthea wears a ruffle-laden dress with deep indigo netting that pokes knee-length under her skirt, draped collar, and in the back of her matching bonnet.

Along with the aforementioned, she primarily wears a silvery fabric that covers most of the skirt's base and collar, red-violet for the torso and fabric stitched nearest the neckline, and had green trim lining the outer skirt and frills of her short sleeves, which match the color of her circular glasses.

Her high-heels match the scheme of her dress and have three tips as though in the style of webbed feet.

The ribbons around her bonnet and lower legs - the former of which hold two decorative cattails - are also red-violet. They, as in said ribbons, also match the color of her bloomers, which sit a few inches above her knees.



Legacy Day
She wears a layered, masquerade-esque dress with an iridescent blue-lavender base for the torso and skirt. Aqua-green netting surrounds partially both as well as her shoulders and upper arms, and hovers her head as a delicate hair decoration attatched to her headband-slash-hair-tie.

A shimmery, light blue and deep purple covering dawns her mid-upper torso and forms a v-neck siding the front of her chest, where it along with the rest of the dress is attatched by two violet cross-straps.

Aligning the trim of her skirt and shoulder-netting are ovular, brilliant crimson ruffles, and along the latter and just above her hips are a layer of white feathers for a presumed swan motif.

Placed above her eyes are a pair of slim, matching glasses with stylized, decoratively dotted arches, making it seem as though she is wearing a Columbina Mask

Quotes
"You may want to keep your knob away from any more duffs next time, at any rate."

- -From her conversation with Airmid during the Wikia forum RP, Chapter One: Orientation Day