Griselle Damgaard

"Sometimes the good of heart, deemed wretched by looks alone, really do get their Happily Ever After. But there's a catch: they really aren't ugly, just the slightest pinch different from the rest."

- Griselle's card quote

Griselle Damgaard is the daughter of The Ugly Duckling, the protagonist of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name.

In theory, fulfilling her destiny would be the easiest way to have her peers eventually realize that she's beautiful as she Is, vitiligo and all. That said, while the tale is well-known and ends happily, it's not the most luxurious given the abuse she has to go through. Griselle is motivated for bigger and better things, dance in particular, and wants to feel more comfortable In her skin.

It's not the easiest task, however; she's been reminded all too often that she stands out within a traditionally uniform corps de ballet. But perhaps in her case, it's not always a bad thing to stand out. Ever since Legacy Day, Griselle has been questioning if waiting for her Happily Ever After is the only surefire way to come to terms with a condition that she has no control over.

Personality
Critical and astute, Griselle is a hard-boiled skeptic and a closed-set book who's prone to judging others – whether warranted or not – before they get the chance to glance at her cover. A tad ironic it seems, when destined to be judged quite harshly herself, but she's never found it easy to open up, being a target of ridicule for her story as well as her skin condition. While not intentionally malicious, the girl's wary outlook makes her slow to trust and introspective to a fault. Needing space isn't a bad thing, no, but there is such a thing as being too prim and straight-laced.

She's not completely charmless, however, for every hard shell lies a latent, soft center just waiting for the right time to hatch. Her wall of doubt is rather "ugly" so to speak, and she certainly keeps her insecurities under guard, but inside her metaphorical egg lies a loyal, diligent swan with a natural sense of grace. As a bright student and person of intellect, Griselle's analytical nature can also have its perks, as she isn't easily swayed by false flattery and manipulative tactics. The girl has had to deal with a number of bullies, and has a low tolerance for such people in her life. There are even times where she warms up to the occasional misfit, though it's not something she'll openly admit to.

Overall, this so-called ugly duckling is the last chick that you'd want to push around.

Appearance
Griselle stands taller than average at 5'9" in height, with a lean dancer's build and notably strong legs. Not terribly curvaceous, her torso is straight and she bears shoulders slightly broader than her hips.

She has a pointed chin with high cheekbones, and expressive dark brown eyes. Her hair, having the texture of a cygnet's thick, soft down feathers, is neatly twisted in gray locs that lie 2-3 inches past shoulder length. Griselle wears prescription glasses for her mild near-sightedness, and though her usual rectangular specs are light teal in color, they're frameless along the top border.

While born with a deep, rosy brown complexion, her skin is both rich in melanin and lacking in pigmentation as a result of her vitiligo. Large sections of of pale, pinkish skin appear almost symmetrically along her forearms/hands, lower calves, shins, upper legs, ears, neck, eye areas, mouth, among other sections of her body. As these sections can become easily irritated, she makes a conscious effort to apply generous amounts of sunscreen and to take care of her skin and overall appearance.

Abilities, Hobbies, and Interests
When Griselle received her Thronecoming Gift, it turned out that her dad made her a Swan Maiden robe, allowing her to turn into a cygnet when worn. Being a newbie at shapeshifting, her transformation has a lot of disadvantages. The most notably she takes the form of a fluffy gray bird which, while adorable (and odd, for those who'd mistake a baby swan for a duckling), leaves her completely defenseless. Underdeveloped for flight, and while she could swim in this form, Grisey becomes rather apprehensive near open bodies of water (if only as a cygnet) to the point of borderline phobia.

Another thing of note is that she has a difficult time actually taking off the cloak. This has lead to a number of missed classes, so she prefers to take up the form well before/after school hours (not that she wants to in the first place). It's safe to say she'd rather not think about being stuck as a bird for the duration of her story. Fortunately, the shawl/cloak that she's wearing in her infobox picture isn't said cloak.

Taking lessons since she was eight, she takes interest is ballet – preferably classical, though lately she's dabbled in contemporary as well. This is partially influenced by maternal ties to the story of Swan Lake (see: Family section), but what once was a hobby is now something she wants to persue as a career path. The Ugly Duckling suffers a lot through the story, and while her father at one point had his qualms, he now believes that the discipline and physical strain of ballet will better prepare her for her destiny. Griselle isn't fond of the reasons behind his sudden support, to put it lightly.

When in humanoid form, Gisrelle is as exceptional at swimming as she is in ballet – more out of forced lessons than an actual interest for it. If Soccer Moms exist, then the Ugly Duckling turned Beautiful Swan is definitely an Aquatic Sports Dad. Synchronized swimming seems to be the only water sport that Grisey really cares for, but even that's overshadowed by her dad's expectations. Both swimming and dance are aided by her overal Magic Touch, which grants her the ability of natural balance and svelte grace that any swan should have.

She also has an appreciation for instrumental music, but more as a spectator than as someone who plays one (which she doesn't, as much as she fancies the idea). Along with traditional ballet pieces, genres vary widely from anything between Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, neoclassical, Lindsey Stirling's repertoire, and even piano/stringed covers of contemporary pop in the style of The Piano Guys.

A part of Griselle wonders if her pursuits and passions are too narrow. Beyond aiming to be an overachiever in academics, she's never considered herself to be good at anything beyond swimming and dance. And being pretty, of course – as shallow as it seems, and even with her insecurities, she isn't one to lie about her appearance. Her free time was limited as a child due to the hours she put in dance class, and with the added pressure of her dad pushing her into water sports, she didn't have time for othe hobbies. She's completely aware of the fact, and her perfectionist mentality tells her that she'll never be good enough for much else in life.

Basic Summary
The Ugly Duckling is about a cygnet who, for unknown reasons, was the last to hatch inside of the nest of a mother duck near the pond by a farmstead. His gray down feathers, abnormal size by duckling standards, and overall not so duck-like appearance caused others to subject him to a disproportional amount of physical and emotional abuse in the barnyard he then lived in. The other poultry, the girl who fed them, and even his mother and siblings abhorred him for his so-called ugliness. Disheartened, he left the place he once called home.

Throughout his time in the wilderness, the so-called Ugly Duckling received a somewhat lesser amount of scorn for his looks. When he's shown a pinch of kindness by a pair of goslings, they're shot dead by hunters. He evaded them and their hunting dogs, but rather than being thankful for not being killed, he dejectedly assumed that they only spared him because of his supposedly unsightly appearance. Then at nighttime he came across a small, rundown house owned by an old lady with poor vision. She mistook the Ugly Duckling for a female duck and expected him to lay eggs, as did the snippy tomcat and uppity hen that lived with her. The two constantly put him down for never laying the eggs their master wanted, and found his longing for freedom to swim outside the house again to be a ridiculous fancy. He finally left, feeling unwelcome in their living space.

One day during autumn, he noticed a flock of swans flying south for the winter. He admired their beauty solemnly and longed to be just as beautiful as them. Wintertime came he was saved by a man who spotted him trapped under the icy pond he was swimming in, but growing frightened by children (among other things) at the human's house, he fled in a panic. The rest of his winter was spent in hunger and misery.

When spring arrived, the Ugly Duckling saw and confronted another flock of swans. As he was left despondent by the life he'd lived thus far, he wanted them to put an end to his misery. They welcomed him as one of their own, however, and was shocked to see his reflection in the water: a fully grown, well-adjusted swan, just like them. He quickly accepted his swan lineage and became thankful for his past tribulations, as he could better appreciate his matured, beauteous appearance than he could as someone raised among swans from the start. Though meek and bashful about his self-acceptance, he felt overall elated with his adult swan form.

How Griselle Ties Into It
A lesser known fact about Griselle's legacy: the protagonist and his forefathers descend from the likes of Swan Maidens. Unlike those portrayed in a certain ballet, the specific Maidens mentioned are shapeshifters known to transform between human and swan form at will by taking on/off a feathered cloak or other swan-made garment. In the case of The Ugly Duckling, the cloak in question was fastened to the UD (Ugly Duckling) in such a way that it would have been difficult to take off until the story's end.

Taiwo Ako, Griselle's mother, is the twin sister of Kehinde Ako. Kehinde was transformed into a swan maiden in Swan Lake via Rothbart's curse. Meanwhile Taiwo inherited a Swan Maiden cloak, instead becoming a part of the Andersen tale. She took bird form and became one of the swans that the UD admired during the fall, and met Grisey's father with the others in the springtime. While the swans supported him, it was her who worked with the former UD the most in helping him adjust to his adult bird form. Taiwo considered him a handsome man in both swan and human appearance, but with time she fell in love with the person he was on the inside.

The two married and brought a daughter to the world, a beautiful girl who was christened Griselle Christina Damgaard. Another addition to the family was added when she turned six, for her parents decided to adopt the son of a swan maiden from ''Swan Lake. ''He was a boy named Saaras, who was abandoned by his biological parents when his mother gave birth to a baby girl.

The UD, named Avon, was grateful for his Happily Ever After. That said, a plethora of people/birds admiring his looks and the short-lived epiphany of his exceptional beauty was never enough to overcome his damaged self-esteem. The saying "nice is different than good" applies heavily to the current UD, for while he may be a respectable man, he's far from the greatest parent. Avon wants Griselle to be the best next Ugly Duckling she can be, if only out of the fear that his daughter will be taken away before it's destiny-time if she can't live up to certain expectations. Although this is highly unlikely (the story has yet to start, so they technically don't need to be separated), this irrational fear still persists in his mind.

Family
Avon's growing apprehension resulted in him pressuring his daughter to be tolerant and humble to a near extreme, to the point where Griselle had at one time been a doormat. "You should turn the other cheek,"  he'd say after a nasty fallout between cousins at a forced family reunion, or "try not to be so loud, maybe they'll actually leave you alone next time," as she sobbed hysterically after a rough day of schoolyard taunts.

Once she reached a certain breaking point in early adolescence, she was finally driven her to her current state of mistrust. Curt and tight-lipped around his presence these days, it's safe to say that she resents Avon for his consistent, passive-agressive, and emotionally abusive tactics.

Griselle is much closer to her mother, however. Though not direct, she still holds pride in Taiwo's connection to Swan Lake. In fact, it was knowledge of the Maiden's family history that influenced her passion for classical ballet. At one point Avon wanted Taiwo to take Griselle out of ballet (until he began to see it as something that'd prep her for her tale), and there were times where he's tried to convince her to stay out of her bullying troubles. But like any mother swan who protects her fledglings, the woman is as firm as she is beautiful. Tai's concern for her daughter's wellbeing and Avon's apathy on the subject has put a strain on their marriage, as well as similar concerns regarding their son. Either way, Griselle strongly associates with her mother's Yoruba roots despite living under her father's Danish household.

She avoids her Duckling aunt and cousins when she can. As the UD role is traditionally male, they've been known to belittle her with the possibility of Saaras replacing her in The Ugly Duckling. Griselle was against her brother's adoption at first (being rather young at the time), but she happily changed her mind when "Swan Lake" had been mentioned while the papers were being signed. But Saaras had lived at the orphanage run by the Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe, and since the maidens in the ballet were known for their grace and femininity, he'd been bullied there for years due to being a guy. To say the least, he didn't take well to Grisey's enthusiasm towards his lineage.

How the two of them aren't dead via getting at each others' throats is a mystery. But nonetheless, despite all the times Grisey has called him a lazy thorn-prick, and no matter how many instances where Saaras has referred to her as a raging witch, they're brother and sister through and through. They may belittle each other but they sure as hex (for the most part) won't let others do the same.

Friends
As can be assumed, Griselle's friendship circle isn't particularly big. She has plenty of acquaintances as her story is famous, but with some exceptions, She's not terribly close to the majority of the student body.

Pia Danser
The eldest daughter of the eldest Dancing Princess, came across Grisey en pointe one day while checking inside the school's dance studio. Though suspicious at first of Pia's positive air and feedback, the princess's likable personality helped to chip at her shell. The two of them formed an unlikely yet ongoing friendship, the two of them sharing a passion for dance

Cordelia Chopper
Being a headstrong yet compassionate soul, Cora at one point shooed off Griselle's duckling cousins mid taunt. Despite helping out she initially brushed Cora off, stating that she could have easily done the same without the girl's help. Yet the tin man's daughter kept turning up in Grisey's vicinity despite her irk, until the swan-to-be was convinced in time that Cordelia didn't just defend her because of pity, but out of genuine concern unrelated to her story. Their friendship includes bouts of banter mixed in with legitimate vitriolic spats.

Airmid Valerian
Though Airy isn't exactly considered one of her friends, the two are acquaintances with a roughly mutual respect for each other. That being said, a few incidents involving the blond(e)'s affinity with fire and bunsen burners has made Griselle ever so slightly wary of the green-eyed teen.

He Who Shall Not Be Named (aka Douche-nozzel Ex™)
( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)

Duchess Swan
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Florence Linden
Once upon a time, Griselle was a 5th-6th grader and Florence was a 7th-8th grader. The former's vitiligo was starting to spread and the latter was a bully.

In spite of their checkered middle school past, and from the moment that Florence had spotted Grisey during her freshman year, the guy seems to have this ridiculous idea that he can confide in her about peace and POC "solidarity" – never mind that he's compared her condition to that of a skinned-alive chicken on more than one occasion. For reasons that even Griselle doesn't know (and to her frustration), he acts as though he's never committed a single injustice against her.

Whether or not Florence Linden's actions had been the straw that broke the camel's back that nurtured her fault-finding attitude is something of mystery, but he wasn't her only bully back then Were one to ask either Grisey or him, then neither of them would give the asker a satisfactory answer.

Pet
For her animal companion in terms of book canon, Griselle happened upon a a white-faced whistling duck about the age of a fledgling, who is yellow with dark brown markings, and sports a black beak and legs. She was highly unamused by the irony at first, but didn't have the heart to abandon it (not that she could anyway) and the duckling grew on her with surprising quickness. She named it Ayo (ah-yo), meaning joy in Yoruba.

As the Damgaard household runs a farmstead (the same one featured in The Ugly Duckling – ownership is given to a regular farmer throughout the duration of the story, then restored back to the Damgaards after The End), she helps to take care of the livestock and poultry there. The latter aren't exactly fond of her though, as though aware of her role as the next UD. Nonetheless her favorite animal there is her pygmy goat named Sven (young man/warrior in Danish/Old Norse), who with a bit of convincing and careful arrangements, the male kid resides in the boarding school's stalls whenever she's attending classes.

Romance
Her romantic history isn't particularly lively, and she's really only dated a select few times. She once had some random middle school boyfriend who was fond of trees and birds, but they broke up after Griselle grew a reality-numbing spine.

Some point afterwards, at least passed her tweens, she was with a guy who wanted to invoke the popular-dude-dates-loser-girl-and-makes-her-realize-that-she's-beautiful-all-along-via-spontaneous-makeover trope. He pressured her relentlessly: saying she needed to get rid of her dreadlocks, to wear her contact lenses more often (which she currently only wears for swimming and Dance Class-ic), among unmentionable phenomena. He wasn't successful, and she broke it off once he suggested that she'd be better off without ballet, hinting that it'd help her conceal and cover up her vitiligo.

She doesn't like to talk about the latter relationship, in fact she's even reluctant to mention the latter's name. As a result Griselle tends to be more hesitant when guys find interest in her, usually feeling more comfortable when her feelings are being requited after she speaks up first. She finds it difficult admitting her feelings in general however, and at times feels at a loss when faced with crushes and the like. She can't help but question why anyone would want go out with her in the first place.

Orientation-wise, Griselle is bisexual and for the most part is in the closet about it. Potential ships include the one-sided Grisora and Grisairy, and whatever you have it because she's single and ready to mingle. Though she's only starting to come to terms with it, lately she's coming to the realization that she isn't as strongly attracted to guys as she thought herself to be. Her preferences tend to lean towards women and some of those under the non-binary umbrella, though she's been known to fancy a guy or two on occasion.

Featured Fanfics

 * Grace of a Swan
 * First Encounter
 * And more to come~

Basic
The first thing one will notice about Griselle's casual wear is her cloak. Medium-dark gray, made of a fleece-like material, and embedded with/cut into the shape of a wing-like print. Like a peacoat it fastens around her neck with four lavender buttons, and kept further in place by a thin, medium blue shank to the middle of her chest. What's seen of her dress is a pleated teal-green skirt with deep violet trimming, and a short layer of netting draping from the sleeves of her top as well as over the skirt in question. While the rest of her top remains concealed, its design has an early Victorian influence.

She wears fingerless, mid-length green gloves over her primarily pale forearms, and gray legwarmers around her ankles and calves. The heels and soles of her shoes take the shape of teal-green pond reeds and leaves, with blue triangular straps and pointed violet toe boxes. Dark blue talon-like spikes peak from the left and right sides, making her footwear appear webbed.

To complete the look, she dawns matching green lipstick and attaches two cattail pins to her cloak above her heart.

Legacy Day
Griselle wears her father's feathery swan cloak, the one he once wore in order to transform into a cygnet and mature into a beautiful adult swan. It's white in color with hints of gray, and contains three layers: long primary feathers that reach near the ground, a set of above knee-length feathering, and a lining of protruding down that flares outwards in an almost collar-like fashion. Two extra feathers, seemingly out of place, flare diagonally downwards over her shoulders, indicating where to find the robe's hidden sleeves were she to use it to shapeshift into a swan. A metallic chain keeps the garment fastened around her sides and back.

Her dress has a halter top with a red and black beaded empire waist. Black netting overlaps between her neck and bust below the red and black upper neckline.Three long black feathers dangle from the red middlemost beading and sewn along the middle of the lower neckline is a short dark down feather. The over-skirt of her dress is a translucent medium gray dappled in shimmering sparkles, which overlaps a a solid dual-toned silvery crimson underskirt. Fishnet tights strap over Griselle's legs, her footwear a simple pair of wedged, black and dark gray heels with a subtle feather design lining the sides. To finish the look, she wears elegant black gloves with red lining and dons a netted hair piece with two dark gray feathers.

A pair of black and white cat-eyed glasses replace her usual specs, not unlike the dark feathering around the face of a mute swan. While normally left with her vitiligo untouched, Griselle wears concealer over where her condition would be present on her face (for in-her-creator's-canon reasons, she definitely doesn't cover it up willingly). Her gray dreadlocks are partially streaked in white dye, and are meticulously parted to her left and elegantly curled for the occasion.

Getting Fairest
Because the following outfits have yet to be announced, everything between her Getting Fairest attire, Thronecoming gown, and the many other eah lines yet mentioned shall be filled out via musical 80s interlude:

we're no strangers to love

you know the rules and so do I

a full commitment's what I'm thinking of

you wouldn't get this from any other guy

I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling

gotta make you understand

Thronecoming
never gonna give you up

never gonna let you down

never gonna run around and desert you

never gonna make you cry

never gonna say goodbye

never gonna tell a lie and hurt you ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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

Notes/Trivia

 * Griselle was born on July 11th, making her a Cancer.
 * Her Magic Touch was partially inspired by the following quote an passage in The Ugly Duckling, something that is said by the Mother Duck about the titular character when he first learns how to swim: "How well he uses his legs, and how upright he holds himself! He is my own child, and he is not so very ugly after all if you look at him properly."
 * She's not fond of the cold. At all. She spends most of her time inside during the winter when she can help it, and is especially apprehensive when it comes to frozen bodies of water.
 * The name Griselle is one of many variants of the Germanic name Griselda, which can either mean 'dark/gray maiden warrior', 'dark battle', or 'stone' depending on the interpretation of its etymology. The former of the three most likely applies to her, if only due to a cygnet's natural gray down feathers and her swan maiden lineage. As for Damgaard, it's a Danish surname meaning 'the farmstead by the pond'. The Ugly Duckling tale begins in such a place, as he was hatched near a pond in the aforementioned locale.
 * When addressing her middle name Christina, it's a nod to Hans Christian Andersen. The Ugly Duckling is often considered autobiographical due to its parallels to the author's life. Along with Griselle being part Danish on her paternal side (or its equivalent in a fairytale realm), Anderson was tall as a youth and at one point took dance, similar to Griselle.
 * Specifically, Griselle is half Nigerian of Yoruba descent (or Spellgerian of Storuba descent, if you like puns) on her mother's side, whereas Avon is biracial, making her a quarter white-Danish and a quarter black (Ethiopian)-Danish.
 * Avon, Griselle's creator's headcanon name for the UD, is a reference to the Shakespeare's nickname "the Swan of Avon". As for Taiwo, her first name is traditionally given to the first twin born in Yoruba culture. Because the second-born twin (Kehinde) is considered the eldest (viewed as wise and careful while the first-born is more adventurous for leaving the womb before them), her mother's sister inherited the swan maiden role in Swan Lake from Griselle's maternal grandmother. Regarding her maiden name Ako (or Àkọ̀),  it's simply the Yoruba form of swan.
 * The swan maiden robe she wore on Legacy Day is actually the one that her father wore during his story.
 * As noted she has vitiligo, hence the appearance of her skin. Despite assumptions by peers, it’s not something that is inherently connected to her story. It’s purely medical it will never go away when she grows into her adult swan (maiden) form. Griselle has her grievances with her skin, but it’s still degrading when others imply that her vitiligo will go away at the end of her story, especially with the false idea that the condition makes her less “beautiful” than her even-toned classmates.
 * Saaras, Griselle's brother, is owned by leavesofthree on deviantart, and is to be drawn by hers truly. I have her permission to mention him on the wikia.
 * For those familiar with Cynthea Mallard, Jade Encrusted Bugs, has revised her character notably. Her name has been changed, the page title has been altered accordingly, and the rest of her page has been reworked.