Merana Little

"let the oceans take my eyes, my breath, and my dreams"

- toss me to sea and let me sink

Merana Little, legally named Merana Shenqing Ci [they/them or she/her] is a 2015-introduced original character, avid saxophone enthusiast, and aspiring author. They are destined to be the next Rusalka from the opera of the same name by Antonín Leopold Dvořák. They are currently attending their Second Year (otherwise known as Legacy Year) at Ever After High.

Growing up with Death's presence at their shoulder, and worse, the guarantee that Death was indeed there, Merana holds a twisted view of their purpose in life. They hesitate to let go of a self-conceived notion of their inferiority, however detrimental it may be. Irrational as it is, Merana finds romance in despair and trades what is the right choice for what is a momentary distraction. At times they can be overzealous in their aspirations, hungry for whatever accomplishment they can get before their early demise. Because of this, Merana is simultaneously hopelessly idealistic with self-standards, and distrustful of what the future will bring.

Even though Merana worries each new day, most notably for their identity and their future, they hold themself nonchalantly, preferring to cry into their covers. For the time being, they grace themselves with a cover of mirthful light and sharp wit, lovely light waves hiding troubled waters. And though Merana wishes they were not so uncertain all the time, not so selfish and unwilling to accept, they cannot find it within themselves to break from their reverie.

Personality
Merely what appears to be yet another Little Mermaid variant in the grand scheme of things, Merana worries for her sense of identity and the pressure of Destiny and Co. Among dozens of other fated-to-die water-themed teens, she feels as if taking on a destiny has caused her to change greatly from who she was, and who she wants to be. She feels counterfeit, like a shadow of the real Merana, like her purpose is obsolete. However, a substantial fear of failure still seems real enough apparently. Merana has an obsession with self-improvement, and desires success, whatever that may entail.

There is a clear divide between the kind of person Merana aspires to be and who she is with her guard down. Growing up consuming media featuring particularly jaded lone wolves made Merana fall in love with a persona she has built to fit herself into. The prodigy distant from everyone else, the cynic pulling badassery out of their perfectly written and edited character arcs, and someone who she should aspire to be. Her romantic nature combined with her want of admiration and attention has led her to subconsciously try and fit into the role better, even forcing herself to put up the facade. And over the years, it has come more and more naturally to her.

The identity Merana strives to be half her waking moments is wry, remarking on daily incidents with oh-so-seemingly blasé comments, handling everything life throws at them with cheek, dramatic flair, and morbid humor. She excels in all areas, garnering praise and trust from her elders, inspiring awe in her peers, while treating the matter as if it was not enough. She must raise her eyebrows at the most opportune moments, scoff and murmur, half-lidded eyes bearing boredom and absolute superiority, win all arguments and always have a snappy one-liner ready. And, exist as if personal lighting, make-up, sound, and wardrobe crews were with her at all times.

Very much so not this persona she exhibits, Merana is uncomfortably aware that she's changing her behavior to put on this cold and harsh front. And though being true to herself and having people genuinely admire her is somewhat of a goal, Merana enjoys the feeling of being superior, this passive-aggressiveness, and meanness because she's a frustrated teenager. As you would expect, the harshness of this persona has seeped into Merana and incorporated itself into her personality.

Merana, when she is not trying to embody a TV Tropes page, is expressive to a large degree. Usually, the heart on her sleeve isn't covered with a leather jacket. She's easily excitable at the mention of her interests, easily frustrated when she is disrupted, and all too easily nervous when faced with just about anything. Through smiles and narrowed eyes and movement and energy and irritated huffs, Merana lets herself crack open a cold bottled emotion.

However, her issues with self-image and identity are also noticeably apparent with the loss of her pretense. Merana craves attention and praise, she idealizes being put on a pedestal, and she becomes desperate when there's a noticeable lack of validation. There have been many points in time where Merana had deliberately manipulated other people into supplying praise.

Merana, having been awarded a prestigious destiny because of hard work, glamorizes high self-standards. By nature she is an over-achiever, eager to improve and with no shortage of a telltale perfectionist attitude. However, she often pushes this to the extreme, wanting to better her skills so much that she gets overwhelmed with what she perceives as the quota. Not to mention, she has such high standards for herself, disguising them as expectations of others, that she becomes unhealthily obsessed with her work.

After competing with others for so long, Merana developed the mindset that if she were not up to par, whatever that may be, she would fail, whatever that may be. Her feelings of helplessness and dependency when she was younger were self-interpreted as weaknesses, consequently she started feeling like she was weak. To deal with this, she finds comfort in success, usually in academics, subconsciously trying to find peace through attention.

She also tends to overthink anything and everything, getting nervous and fussing over the smallest details. Partly because of her ever-embellishing nature and partly because she's kind of pretentious. Because she gravitates towards much too grandiose ideas for simple situations, she ends up running herself exhausted. Merana has bouts of laziness where she indulges in her idealist tendencies and writes a whole future in her head.

Merana's self-consciousness and easy embarrassment also rears its ugly head in her pride. For all she pretends, Merana is actually really sensitive to criticism and insults, and being aware of that piles shame and guilt onto her ego. She tells herself that as an aspiring composer. acceptance of criticism is an important skill, and yet tears form every time someone raises their voice at her.

The grand culmination of all this overthinking, pretentiousness, and perfectionism is a very high-strung student. Merana lets things get to her way too easily, and can lash out at the people around her when even something small happens. It's especially difficult to deal with when you're already attending a school that is currently contemplating the validity of a widely-accepted metaphysical law. Thus, Merana can come off as bossy, self-centered, and too invested in this group project like it's not big of a deal wth clam down

To wrap up, Merana's kind of a nervous wreck that manages to keep everything under wraps by distracting people with spontaneous wordplay and humor. You could compare her to the voltage potential of a neuron: bouncing frequently between highs and lows. Although she puts on a disinterested front, she's quite emotional and more affected by things than she lets on. Part of her dreams big and part of her wonders about the point, seeing as she still might have to die. We can only hope she'll find what makes her happy before her death, whether it be a few years or a few decades down the road.

Human Form
In their more humanoid form, Merana looks like a taller than average teenager of Chinese descent. They have a more feminine appearance, though their style is rather androgynous. In terms of skin color, they have a medium to light complexion with a neutral tone and a naturally darker dorsal (back) side due to their aquatic heritage. Keratosis pilaris forms of harmless little bumps near her shoulders.

Merana stands at 5'7" (170 cm) without heels, a fact they are very proud of. They have somewhat broad shoulders that they occasionally showcase with posture that isn't terrible and the god-given proportions of long legs. While they enjoy athletic activities, their build rarely strays from "kinda toned but not really". Any muscle that they do have is hidden underneath a soft stomach and squishy thighs. Sometimes they wear a binder and sometimes they don't! It really depends on the day.

Their face is rather round and still chubby, retaining baby fat. When crying, respiring anaerobically, cold, or a mixture of all three, they get really rosy. Merana has a slightly flatter nose, unplucked (but not thick) eyebrows, and lips that usually have some sort of balm on them due to their dryness.

Their eyes are orange, with bright, almost glowing golden highlights. Sometimes they can dull to dark brown/black with small flecks of orange instead. Upon close inspection the iris resembles a fishbowl filled with inky water sloshing about. They are framed with long dark lashes.

For pretty much all their life, Merana has had a short bob, with cute blunt bangs as a kid, later becoming an emo side part and a sloping trim. Recently though, they've cut it shorter on one side, trimming it into short fluffy strands. They've also dyed it in a black to turquoise ombre, leaving natural roots. With a lot of hair care, their hair has fortunately stayed healthy.

Merana also has several piercings. She has the usual two lobes and an industrial on her right ear. She really enjoys finding nautical themed earrings and her favorite anchor industrial earring was specially commissioned as a reward for winning her destiny. In the future Merana will get a tattoo or two, and she's already started planning what they will be.

Recently, she's been experimenting with beauty products! Merana's go to makeup look is some lip tint, eyeliner, and highlighter around her waterline. She actually finds makeup interesting, especially over-the-top eye makeup, but finds it sort of intimidating to start.

Merfolk Form

Currently, Merana does not have a set species that her appearance is inspired by.

Merana's human-merfolk transformation kind of exists on a slider, if that makes any sense. They are able to control it for the most part, meaning that they can decide on legs or tail. But oftentimes more otherworldly aspects will crop up in their human form and vice versa naturally. To this, they usually don't bother attempting to consciously change it since they see it as "it is what it is".

In their most humanoid form possible, they have gill scars on their neck and outlines of or actual scales here and there. As the slider moves up, fins appear on the Merana's forearms and calves, growing larger and more prominent. The legs-to-tail transformation is a binary however, otherwise it would be. very. unpractical. Further changes are functionality of gills, slightly glowy eyes with black-green irises, and a more prominent dorsal to ventral skin tone gradient.

Their fins are translucent black, darkening at the tips. The shape is a long and rather crumpled sort of affair, jagged but droopy, soft to the touch. You'd think they'd be a nuisance in the water but they're surprisingly hydrodynamic.

Her tail is about 7 feet, or 2 meters, not counting the tail fin, average for her age. The scales are glassy black with silver undertones, and in some lighting you can clearly see dappled areas of faint traces of emerald. The tail fin starts out as translucent silvery-green and ends majestically in translucent silvery-black, spanning about 3 feet in width and 2 feet in length.

Her skin takes on a slightly silver tint, black darkening her remaining limbs, and her teeth take on a shark-like aspect. MerMer's eyes glow more luminously, and her movements are smoother. Silver green scales can be found here and there, around her arms and neck. She is able to do as she does on land in the water. Except, y'know. Walk. And everything associated with walking.

Music
Music is one of Merana's more recent interests, but it's quickly becoming her favorite. While she learned traditional merfolk instruments before, her delving into composing music didn't start until she entered Ever After High. production, composition, and playing. too shy to sing tbh which is ironic

Fashion
Merana's interest in fashion begins when they see just how the rest of the Littles dress. As they felt severely out of place, they started putting more time into curating a new look in order to fit in with their new royal family. They genuinely enjoy customizing items to make them unique, especially if they were cheap in the first place. As a result, Merana has a good eye for when clothing can be changed into something more desirable. Recently, they haven't done much besides a few pieces. While none of the school's other royalty would probably notice/care, Merana would feel embarrassed about being dressed unsuavely, as they're royal by title. Therefore, a lot of the customizing they do now is to reassure themself that no one is judging them, rather than partly for their own enjoyment like before.

Cooking and Writing (About Food)
Lately, Merana's interest in her sirenic roots has also manifested in an interest in traditional food. (insert cool fantasy food ideas) this really just ties into the cooking thing but she likes writing about food. not even necessarily recipes, jsut about food. likes describing food. maybe put out a recipe book one day?

Dance
compulsory ballet classes, but likes all sorts of dance. will do a lil shimmy. Mostly into energetic, acrobatic dances, not too much into slow stuff. Ex: swing, hip-hop, tap. only recently branch out and take interest. dance is an important piece of merfolk culture and she started it in a desperate attempt to reconnect with her roots more

Theatre
This interest isn't so much as being on stage herself as it is watching other people partake in it. From a young age, Merana has been mesmerized by theatre. After she recieved her destiny, her parents took her to every show they could in order to make her story more familiar to her. Thus with musicals, plays, operas, and ballets, Merana cultivated her love for theater.

While Merana has watched people on stage and secretly expressed a desire to be like them, she'd always been too shy to take to the stage herself. Perhaps this will change in the future, with the help of some surprising revelations. Merana's always been a good actor, after all.

Merfolk Derived
The most obvious ability of Merana is being able to turn their legs into a tail. As a magical creature they are granted a couple of differences in addition to this. Merana heals slightly quicker than the average human, and their senses are heightened. For example, Merana has unnaturally sharp eyesight, a more aware sense of touch, and can pick up more subtle scents. Their hearing however, is slightly impaired, since it isn't very utilized in the life of a merfolk. This means that they really struggle musically with perfect pitch, and oftentimes find it easier to communicate through text rather than speaking. Their sense of taste is also awful.

Speaking of merfolk life, Merana is fluent in the sirenic language, or at least the dialect in their area. Underwater, the language requires careful interpretation of vibrations from sound waves and signing as an accompaniment. It's neither efficient nor understandable on land, and so on calls to home they'll take them in a pool or just speak in the common tongue. For this reason many merfolk tend to be good at the common tongue. If not that, they have an understanding of the language and some broken Sirenglish.

Merana also has an odd way of crying, in which their tears are literally scales. No tear drops form, instead, their under eye area blossoms with silver-green scales. The scales require them to wipe at them to get rid of them, just like tears. They crumble into fine silver-green powder, disappearing after that.

This interesting phenomenon is actually the result of natural selection. Tears were not visible underwater, and so it was often hard to track distressed merchildren or wounded merfolk. Everyone was also emotionally constipated because of a cutthroat culture. By being unable to physically see distress this way, contact with humans were awkward and negotiations were hard to pull through. Geneticists believe that this trait appeared due to spells placed on a single population, spreading through others naturally. These scale tears are often mentioned in local creation myths.

Miscellaneous
Merana expresses her concern for a recently discovered ability in the "magic touch" section of her infobox. It's the ability to make things die, put simply. Right now, it's very limited, only able to kill bugs(Raid who?) and make flowers wilt. It's tied to her destiny, where she will become a death spirit/will-o'-the-wisp and kill her prince.

Merana's curious as to why this magic is appearing now, since it's not supposed to come into action until during the story. It's most likely that the seals placed on the transformative magic were a little wonky and have started to crack. Thus, the magic that was implanted in her to help carry out the destiny started too early. This went on for about a year until her parents found out. Per her parents' request (she herself wasn't planning on doing anything about it), she went to a physician and was told not to worry about it. It hasn't gotten worse.

How The Story Goes
Rusalka

How Does Merana Fit Into it?
The previous Rusalka (who is she?? why don't i know??) disappeared after her story had ended, leaving behind no contact information, and more importantly, no heir. When the Fairytale Authorities finally found her, forcefully expelled her from the gloomy bog she was residing in, and reminded her of her duties as a legacy, she refused to cooperate, causing a massive magical implosion at the area.

Some common local gossip is that she renounced her title as Rusalka and as the princess and heir to the lake, discarding her magic. Others will argue "no no, that was intentionally spread by the authorities, using the controversial action of renouncing her title to corner her. They have her in custody- no they're still searching for her! She's still on the run! and they're utilizing their influence. If she doesn't cooperate she'll lose her title and inheritance and if she does- well, that's good for them, eh?" Still others will say "aw, come off it! She's definitely in custody, don't you know who was in the sect that met with her? They had these crazy rookies! Look, I heard one of 'em took out her right eye! And she's in that secret government-protected prison now and she's- aww she's a tough cookie she's not budgin'! No sirree, no torture could make her submit to the devil's will. And-"

Anyways, there was a more important matter at hand: a new Rusalka was needed.

...Well, perhaps the matter was not so important, seeing as how the situation was left unresolved for many years after that faithful encounter. It was only due to the urgings by one of the smaller branches of the White family that a new Rusalka was called for at all.

Enter: Merana, stage right. A resident of one of the smaller, quieter lakes of the New World. Possesses ability to have legs, currently undergoing an education on land. Born, and here's the kicker, to parents without destinies.

There was a relatively large ruckus made of the (then) current Rusalka disappearing. In the history of Ever After this event was not considered too prominent on the rebellion scene as it had a small public reaction, because of the insignificance of the story. Regardless of the substantial amount of news publicizing the issue, there were other concerns that greatly overshadowed it. In any case, any shock that was present was quickly replaced with excitement when the DCA was announced.

The Destiny Compatibility Assessment, or the DCA, was less of a standardized test and more of a competition. It was run by the Fairytale Authorities, and allowed parents to enroll their kids into a two week program where they would be evaluated on their compatibility with the Rusalka destiny. The children participating in the two week long test would need to prove their "destiny fitness", so to speak. Very little information was given out about the destiny itself, but really, it couldn't hurt to try. Sure beats paying a babysitter, right?

Long story short, Merana won. She went home with $200 in prize money and a very thick letter in her hand. The days following were filled with tears from all parties, arguments between the two adults, and some very pointed ignorance from the youngest of the family.

The representative from the Fairytale Authorities was quite pleasant. He came in, chatted with them, explained all the details carefully, and brought fancy delicacies as gifts. "From our organization," he smiled.

It's easy to get lost in the glamour of fairytales. They learned of the prestige that came with a destiny, no matter how small. They learned of honor, a sacrifice so that your story could be passed on to the next. It was an honor, the letter crooned, for their daughter to hold a title as important as Rusalka. To hold a destiny that could have fallen into oblivion, and raise it from the ashes. Your daughter will die bringing a story to life.

This little voice soothed and cooed and added gold to their coffers, butlers and maids to their manor, smiles to their neighbors' faces. It poured them wine, sharpened their suits, gave them something bigger, more substantial to brag about to their families. It showed them their dear daughter, o! how happy she was for this honor, how perfect she was for the role. And little by little, the little voice convinced them.

Parallels

 * Even though Merana's sirenic roots are not of those rooted in singing to seduce sailors, she still holds interest in music. Why? Because their story is an opera! Furthermore, their interest goes beyond singing and delves into composition and performance of music, seeing as operas have both of those components. Merana plays instruments that are generally used as accompaniments to a theater performance.
 * Merana's shyness and reluctance to be on stage or sing is ironic considering that her destiny involves both being on stage and singing. ...Or does it? Is her destiny to be the actress or to live out the life of Rusalka? How does she know it's an opera then? Could she technically go through with her destiny as an actress instead and bypass dying through this loophole?
 * Adding onto that, Merana's desire to act like a cool tough guy is well. Acting. Which is (kinda) part of the role she is destined for.
 * myehhhh

Viewpoint on Destiny
The older Merana gets, the more unsure she becomes of her destiny. In the beginning, she was thrilled to have been granted such a prestigious honor, happy to make her family proud. Young as she was and eager to prove herself, she jumped at the chance to elevate her family's social class and partake in a fate grander than herself. Now, Merana finds it harder and harder to hide her discomfort.

After the Legacy Day debacle, Merana's relationship with her fmaily became a little more strained. Raven's rebellion was a catalyst, prompting her to reexamine the events of her childhood.

Her destiny has put a strain on her relationship with her family, and Merana feels awkward talking to her parents now.

Name
Merana was born Merana Shenqing Ci. In real-life, she would be of Chinese descent, and so she has a Chinese name: 刺深清.Her middle name is just the romanization of her Chinese name 深清. Similarly, her last name is also the romanization of 刺. 刺深清 is spelled cì shēnqīng in Mandarin romanization. Remember that in China the last name appears first!

Merana is a name of Italian origin, meaning "woman of the waters". It was chosen for obvious reasons.

深 itself means "deep" and the character is used in conjunction with other characters to form phrases like "profound" and "dark", referencing the dark nature of the story. 清 means "clear" and can form phrases like "clean" and "quiet", referencing what water is often associated with being. These two meanings kind of contradict each other, since they're not typically thought to be on the same page.

The three dots on the left side of both characters is the water radical, again, chosen for obvious reasons. Without the water radical, 清 becomes 青, meaning "blue-green" or "black". 深 without the water radical is 罙, which is pronounced differently and apparently either has no meaning or also means deep??? This is relevant to Merana because it's a mess and Merana is also a mess.

刺 means many things, and is translated as "spine", "thorn", "sting", "prick", etc. However it's also used as a term for the very fine bones of a fish.

After her coronation as the new Rusalka, Merana took on the last name Little. However, she finds herself more and more uncomfortable with using it, and deeply wishes she could return to her original name. She's too scared to bring it up though, especially in the presence of the Little Kingdom.

She has a nickname, MerMer, that quite a few people know her by and call her, though she prefers only her close friends to use it.

Freedom Year
During Freedom Year, Merana's classes are sorted into three categories: core classes, EAH specific classes, and electives. Core classes are kind of the Ever After equivalent to their real life counterparts, and include AP Bi-ogre-y, Honors Creative Storytelling I, Tale-gebra II, and Geografairy. The destiny specific class is Princessology I. Because it's Freedom Year, Merana is able to pick electives. They chose Princess Design and Introductory Muse-ic Theory.

Legacy Year
Second Year is Legacy Year, and that means no electives! Goodbye, Princess Design, hello Advanced Ballet! Rusalka actually has dance sections, and so Merana is suddenly corraled into dance. To their surprise, they like it! Their core classes this year are AP Chemythstry, Pre-Crownculus, AP Meropean Hi-story, and Honors Creative Storytelling II. Their destiny specific classes are Princessology II, Honors Magicology I, AP Muse-ic Theory, and Advanced Ballet.

Yearbook Year
Yearbook Year is interesting. After the whole Legacy Day fiasco happens, uncertainty is everywhere. Merana lets things happen to them, and after discussions with their parents, still has no idea what they'll do. Do they go forward with the destiny? Do they not? Thus, Merana takes on classes that are not necessarily needed. Kingdom Management's lessons can be applied to businesses right? Let's just skip ahead to Kingdom Management II and- PUCK.

Fourth Year
Self-explanatory I don't want to write this anymore myehhhh

Drama Club
Ever since she was a wee fry Merana has loved theatre. The actors and their art, the over exaggerated movements, the beautiful sets and the bright spotlight. Though she's never been brave enough to stand on the stage, Merana likes helping out with productions and seeing the show come to life. A big pet peeve is when the audience doesn't laugh at the funny parts. It's comedic genius, how could they not?!- Now, Merana reasons, her love of theatre is even more justified because her destiny is a theatre production.

She doesn't like to think about that though.

Big Bad-minton Club
Although Merana enjoys playing big bad-minton, perhaps even more so than swimming, she doesn't exactly have the time for it. And, the team captain is intimidating, so she has all the more reason not to join. Her skills have gotten pretty rusty from lack of use, so she's a bit embarrassed to start again now.

Swim Team
For obvious reasons, Merana likes swimming. She enjoys the feeling of being surrounded by water on all sides, hearing muffled and limbs weightless. Her favorite thing to do is sink to the bottom of the pool and lie there, looking at the lights dancing on the water's surface. It makes her feel at home again. Honestly, Merana thinks the best part about being on the swim team is that she gets exempted from Grimmnastics because of it.

Trivia

 * Merana is sapphic! they proceed to laugh because sapphic? like, the color, sapphire? blue? like them!
 * They have a fear of losing their eyesight, or being visually impaired in general. It stems from a childhood fear of being unable to see what's there. Pin(~)ata at a birthday party? Don't even try. Their vision is fine, however laying off the electronics would not hurt.

Quotes
"For all those jokes I make, I don't want to die."

- running a race, running my mouth, running out of time

"I was once told by someone that I would regret coming to Ever After High. And I mean, I kind of do? But I'd rather prove them wrong."

- "told by someone" as opposed to being told by no one

"I would never!"

- a handy dandy catchphrase

"Yeah, I see. **realization** *nice*"

- the (not very good) joke is "see" and "sea"

"Synapse is interesting ...and disturbing. Are you suggesting I run off to witness the high-stakes cat-and-mouse like so many others? Disappear in a second sunset? Perhaps you're right! I'd love to."

- a thought for the future

"I hate it. It's sick. How can so few make miserable so many?"

- Thank you for this incredible opportunity, Your Majesty. I won't let you down.