Aria Quickstep

"Life would be so much better if we aimed to express and not impress."

- Aria

Aria Quickstep is a 2018-introduced and all-around character. She is the daughter of the first princess from the Grimm Brothers’ tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Personality
Aria Quickstep is a delightful, adventurous, if not slightly awkward girl. She's not very good at taking compliments, despite the fact that she's almost a compliment magnet.

She doesn't take well to being put on the spot. She caves under pressure and expectations. She also has a self-destructive habit, believing that her successes will only lead to higher expectations that she would inevitably disappoint.

Aria has trouble voicing her thoughts to others. Though she flourishes in the company of people she is comfortable with, she finds herself happiest on her own, under the stars.

Aria also has a dim and jaded view on the subject of how others feel about her. She believes people don't care for or couldn't care less about her and if she was gone she wouldn't be missed. This is why she now actively denies her destiny, and refuses to become just one of twelve.

As a child, she often craved individuality and recognition, a result of her upbringing as one in a big family that is often treated as a whole. Out of anything, all Aria has ever really wanted was to be taken seriously as herself. Eventually, she gave up on this and simply retreated back into herself.

Abilities
As her mother’s daughter, Aria is naturally agile and quick on her feet. No matter the height of the heels or the speed of the briskwalking, she can never be caught tripping or stumbling.

Appearance
Aria is a beautiful girl with dark skin and almost-glowing freckles sprayed lightly across her cheeks. She has bright peach eyes and long raspberry pink hair with streaks of rose, magenta and pastel pink. Her clothes are pink, brown and black, with recurring lotus and ribbon motifs.

How the Story Goes
Main article: The Twelve Dancing Princesses

View on destiny
Aria actively doesn't want her destiny, but is still not out as a Rebel to her parents. Though she loves to dance more than anything, her "destiny" has given her too much anxiety and distress courtesy of her mother.

However, on Legacy Day, Aria signs the book anyway. After seeing her future self in the magical mirror, she comes to terms with the fact that choosing her destiny is not succumbing to her mother's wishes, but instead finding her own happiness.

Family
There is no denying that Aria's mother loves her daughter, but a closer look into their home life shows that she is also emotionally neglectful as a mother.

As Aria feels, her mother is raising Aria as her legacy and heir more than her child. Not once has Aria ever felt like a daughter to her. Her whole childhood, she underwent rigorous dance and training regimens, always told that she wasn't good enough... that even being okay would never be good enough.

After a big fight, Aria left their home and went to Ever After High without a goodbye. They haven't spoken since. Aria is too afraid of a possible confrontation to even try.

Some time later, after a few choice talks with other adults and professionals, Aria has come to accept that her upbringing was emotionally abusive. Her self-esteem was deeply affected by her mother's harsh judgments and invalidation. Aria is learning to pick herself up from there, learning that she deserves to have some happiness no matter her feelings of inadequacy.

Aria appreciates her father more than she does her mother, but he is hardly at fault. He is very submissive and lax, though loving as a father. He not once ever stepped into the conflicts between Aria and her mother, and failed to provide the emotional support his daughter needed.

Friends
Aria is open for relationships~

Tressley Strandafors
Aria is good childhood friends with Rapunzel's future prince, her being one of the young prince's oldest friends. She calls him Tress and he calls her Ri, and they don't allow anyone else to call them that. Aria refers to herself as Tressley's "evil" twin.

Willabella van Haunt
Though Willabella's judgmental and critical attitudes would sometimes strike a few nerves in Aria, she enjoys the company of her roommate. Bells even seems to be a bit gentler around Aria, honest but still tries to be considerate.

Pet
Starly is Aria's pet mynah (a Bali myna to be specific,) who loves watching the trees sparkle around Aria when she goes out at night. Starly is always with Aria, though usually perched somewhere in the treetops, but you can always be sure she's never too far. She loves flying from tree to tree, and there are a lot of those at Ever After, but she loves shiny things more and Aria is about as shiny as one can get.

Romance
Aria and Rising met on accident, running into each other one night. They spend nights together just talking, or dancing together. Aria is more comfortable around Rising, feeling free to talk or do anything and be accepted because of it. She maintains a crush on the Charming Princess until the start of their senior year, where they drifted apart as Rising started disappearing for long stretches of time without notice.

(Unknown to Aria, though the fact that this was unknown to Aria is concerning enough, is that the Charming family was undergoing some very big changes. Namely, Rogue had left Ever After High and the remaining siblings had to help clean up after.)

Aria is vital in Rising realizing her identity and who she is, teaching Rising how to be more open. Rising bears a big role in Aria's development too, being the handhold for her self-esteem and sense of self-worth to grow, but ''they never become a "thing." ''It just ended out of mutual ghosting, but they both ended up as better people for it.

Outfits
{| class="article-table" ! !
 * [[Image:AriaQuickstepBasic.png|center|230x230px|art by [[Amazamazing|zam]]]]
 * [[Image:AriaQuickstepBasic.png|center|230x230px|art by [[Amazamazing|zam]]]]

Signature - Rebels
The top of her dress is pale rose pink. The skirt is a more saturated pink with a complicated swirl and lotus pattern and a translucent black ruffled trim. The underskirt is dark brown. She wears a lotus forehead tiara and other lotus-themed accessories including a ring and a bracelet.
 * }

Trivia

 * Aria's faceclaim is Vanessa Morgan, who plays Toni Topaz in the CW show Riverdale.
 * Her theme song is If I’m Being Honest by dodie.