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let the oceans take my eyes, my breath, and my dreams |
—toss me to sea and let me sink | |
Merana Qingshen Ci [they/them], is the next Rusalka from the opera Rusalka. They are currently attending their Second Year (otherwise known as Legacy Year) at Ever After High. They identify as Neutral.
A child of saltwater, a descendant of shuǐ guǐ, in the role of a freshwater nymph condemned to the bottom of the lake; Merana balances identities like one would cheques: constantly, anxiously, begrudgingly. With Death at their shoulder since childhood, Merana had taken solace in knowing exactly how their life would play out, despite never quite accepting their story's outcome.
Much like a flying fish, that's in the air now.
The problem is that Merana doesn't want to make choices. They don't trust their own judgement, and they don't want to bind themself to a choice in fear of picking the "wrong" one. Instead, Merana remains at a standstill, eyeing the unknown and undecided with trepidation, never testing the waters.
Character
Personality
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try typing "mer" into the wikia search bar |
—see how many results pop up? | |
Merely what appears to be yet another Little Mermaid variant in the grand scheme of things, Merana worries for their sense of identity. And for their future. And about academics. And friends and clothes and crushes and money and really— Merana just worries a lot. After all, there are dozens of other fated-to-die water-themed teens attending Ever After High; what do they bring to the table other than indecision and overdressing?
- smths smth they feel as if taking on a destiny has caused them to change greatly from who they were, and who they want to be.
Once upon a time,
- notes for the future, streamline later, current personality will still be canon until i actually do the rewrite
- first and formost, merana is softhearted. sentimental and romantic and sensitive.
- used to be passionate and bold and standout and attention-commanding but now can no longer hide behind the confident facade their parents had encouraged
- really, it was part of their personality, but in drifitng away from their parents they've lost touch with everything that stemmed from them
- likes to take things lightly.
- reads the room and tenses up at the first indication that the subject is going to shift somewhere bad
- expressive, sentimental, sensitive, feels too much! giddy and skittish and worried. sad + anxious because school.
- easily embarrassed (lil bit prideful), thinks every critique is a stab at their worth as a person.
- wants a weird balance of not being in the spotlight but still being praised. preens at compliments, validation, cause childhood makes them desperate for attention wahoo
- easily irritated, wants everyone to know that theyre irritated, but doesnt want to be called out for it. bit pretentious and hypocritical. judges everyone for their incompetence but that's their exasperation with the world getting bottled up and them projecting + inferiority complex.
- overthinks, bites off more than they can take, idealistic in that way. never gets to doing whatever they plan, and so feel guilty and inferior.
- both resents + is afraid of the future. super pissed at the world and how their fate is in limbo (are they going to die? what to do now, that they won't? theyve prepared their entire life to die) and also just not. a fan of commiting to big decisions, but feels like they have to.
- ALSO just wants someone to blame lmao, will have to blame yourself if you make the wrong decision
- rusalka takes a chance and ends up so much worse. merana will not take those chances.
- loves the beauty of the world and of existence, but also hates its duality? people can be so vile, nothing is pretty.
- this edit is not important just. strong yearning to be more connected to their heritage.
- life revolves around theatre a lot more (no longer plays the sax rip but theyre a cool erhu-ist now lets goooo)
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Appearance
Human Form
Merana is an androgynous teenager of Chinese descent. They have a light, warm complexion and a slightly darker dorsal side due to their aquatic heritage (predators will have this coloration pattern in order to camouflage themselves). They stand at 5'4" (163 cm), have somewhat broad shoulders that they occasionally showcase with posture that isn't terrible, and the god-given proportions of long legs. Despite that, they tend to feel smaller than they actually are because of their nervous disposition.
Their build cannot be considered athletic at all. No upper body strength! Merana has small, delicate hands that are soft and warm and perfect for someone to hold (too bad nobody does) and a habit of biting their fingernails.
Their face is rather round, retaining baby fat. When crying, respiring anaerobically, cold, or a mixture of all three, they get really rosy. Merana has a slightly flatter nose, average eyebrows that don't deserve this many words of description, and lips that usually have some sort of balm on them due to their dryness. They have two small birthmarks dotted on their right cheek.
Merana has teeth problems galore! They had a lot of extra teeth when they were young (it's a shark-knock life), and needed to get them pulled out. Then there was the misaligned bite, which should be fixed now but isn't whyyyyy. They also haven't gotten their wisdom teeth removed yet so they're slightly antsy. Currently, Merana needs braces to fix some spacing issues, but they feel self-conscious about having them so they're trying to put it off.
Their eyes are orange, with bright, almost glowing highlights. Sometimes they dull to black with small flecks of orange instead. Upon close inspection the iris resembles a fishbowl filled with inky water sloshing about. They're large and double-lidded, often making them appear surprised, and framed with long dark lashes. Merana's eyes have very standout waterlines.
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 even shorter, trimming it into something fluffy and asymmetrical. Their hair naturally grows in different colors, black towards the roots and teal otherwise. If they grew it out, their hair would begin to lighten at the ends, effectively making them look like they have an ocean on their head.
Merana also has several piercings: the usual two lobes and an industrial on their right ear. They really enjoy finding nautical themed earrings and their favorite anchor industrial earring was specially commissioned as a gift from their parents. In the future Merana plans to get a tattoo or two, even though they're a bit afraid of the pain.
Merfolk Form
OUTDATED I MUST CHANGE
Merana's merfolk form is inspired by the Siamese fighting fish, also known as the betta fish (specifically, fish of the feathertail variety) and bioluminsecent deep sea fish.
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. These small changes can be affected by emotional states. 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.
Their 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.
Their skin takes on a slightly silver tint, black darkening her remaining limbs, and their teeth take on a shark-like aspect. Merana's eyes glow more luminously, and their movements are smoother. Silver green scales can be found here and there, around their arms and neck. They are able to do as they do on land in the water. Except, y'know. Walk. And everything associated with walking.
Interests
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. She likes to play around with music production software, and also plays in the school's theatre productions.
She's kind of bashful when it comes to singing, which is completely ironic. It's mostly due to her being untrained while most of the student population has had lessons since childhood. If someone just forced her into lessons, she could possibly get into the groove of doing it.
Fashion
Merana's interest in fashion begins when they see just how the kids of other royal families 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 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, just about food. likes describing food. maybe put out a recipe book one day?
Dance
ballet!! because little mermaid ellen price. Mostly into energetic, acrobatic dances, not too much into slow stuff. Ex: swing and 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 received 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.
Abilities
Merfolk Derived
The most obvious ability of Merana possesses is being able to turn their legs into a tail. Despite the Rusalka role calling for a water nymph more than an actual mermaid, . Merana's family had immigrated to the Chess Republic from Lullabina, TBC
Merana heals slightly quicker than the average human, and their senses are heightened. They have unnaturally sharp eyesight, a more aware sense of touch, and can pick up 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, in that they're extremely picky.
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 scales. The scales require them to wipe at them to get rid of them, just like tears. They crumble into fine silver 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 Darwinist 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 their concern for a recently discovered ability in the "magic touch" section of their 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 their destiny, where they will become a death spirit/will-o'-the-wisp and kill their prince.
It's actually an inherent power of theirs, being born to shuǐ guǐ (水鬼; water ghosts). Shuǐ guǐ are malevolent beings, the spirits of the drowned whose bodies were never given a proper burial. They haunt the body of water in which they died, and only when they kill someone can they move on, leaving the victim in their place.
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.
Fairytale - Rusalka
How The Story Goes
How Does Merana Fit Into it?
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Parallels
- really gotta fix this section up man
- shuigui are METAL AS HELL i love chinese mythology
- 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
Etymology
Merana was born Merana Qingshen Ci. In real life, she would be of Chinese descent, and so she has a Chinese name: 刺清深.Her middle name is just the romanization of her Chinese name 清深. Similarly, her last name is also the romanization of 刺. 刺清深 is spelled cì shēnqīng in pinyin. Remember that 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.
They have a nickname, MerMer, that quite a few people know them by/call them by, though they prefer only their close friends to use it.
Viewpoint on Destiny
The older Merana gets, the more unsure they becomes of their destiny. In the beginning, they were thrilled to have been granted such a prestigious honor, happy to make their family proud. Young as they were and eager to prove themself, they jumped at the chance to elevate their family's social class and partake in a fate grander than themself. Now, Merana finds it harder and harder to hide their discomfort.
After the Legacy Day debacle, Merana's relationship with their family became a little more strained. Raven's rebellion was a catalyst, prompting them to reexamine the events of their childhood. They identify as Neutral as they don't want any news of their unease reaching their family, but they think it feels wrong to align with Royals when they don't hold their beliefs.
Education
Class-ic Schedule
Freedom Year
- AP Biolo-genie
- Honors Creative Storytelling I
- Tale-gebra II
- Geografairy
- Princessology I
- Princess Design
- Introductory Muse-ic Theory
Because it's Freedom Year, Merana is able to pick electives. They chose Princess Design and Introductory Muse-ic Theory.
Legacy Year
- AP Chemythstry
- Honors Pre-Crownculus
- AP Meropean Hi-story
- Honors Creative Storytelling II
- Princessology II
- Honors Magicology I
- AP Muse-ic Theory
- Advanced Ballet
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!
Yearbook Year
- AP Physhex
- AP Crownculus
- AP History of Tall Tales I
- Honors Advanced Allusions and Cross-Cultural References I
- Princessology III
- Honors Magicology II
- Kingdom Management II
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.
It's difficult, to say the least, and Merana's on a road to burnout.
Fourth Year
- Throne Economics
- Honors Magicology III
- Princessology IIII
- Honors Advanced Allusions and Cross-Cultural References II
- Advanced Ballet
- Beast Training and Care
You know what sucks? School. Merana says "no more!" and resolves to stop learning useless and boring things.
Hextracurricular Activities
Drama Club
Ever since they were a wee fry, Merana has loved theatre. The actors and their art, the over exaggeration, the beautiful sets and the bright spotlight. Though they've never been brave enough to stand on the stage, Merana likes helping out with productions and seeing the show come to life. One of their pet peeve is when the audience doesn't laugh at the funny parts. It's comedic genius, how could they not?!- Now, Merana reasons, their love of theatre is even more justified because their destiny is a theatre production.
They don't like to think about that, though.
Big Bad-minton Club
Although Merana enjoys playing big bad-minton, perhaps even more so than swimming, they don't exactly have the time for it. And, the team captain is intimidating, so they have all the more reason not to join. Thier skills have also gotten pretty rusty from lack of use, so the perfectionist within them is to embarrassed to start again now.
Swim Team
For obvious reasons, Merana likes swimming. They enjoy the feeling of being surrounded by water on all sides, hearing muffled, limbs weightless. Their 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 them feel at home again. The best part about being on the swim team is the exemption from Grimmnastics.
Trivia
- Merana's birthday (June 21st) falls upon the summer solstice, the birthday of Ellen Price (who modeled the Little Mermaid statue), and marks the end of Rusalka Week (also known as Green Week) in Slavic countries.
- This makes them born on the Gemini-Cancer cusp.
- They're extremely paranoid about losing their eyesight. It stems from their general fear of the unknown. Pinata at a birthday party? Please no.
- They're also incredibly easy to scare, particularly by loud noises and sudden movements, and any sort of grotesque, unnatural image.
- Merana is sapphic! they proceed to laugh because sapphic? like, the color, sapphire? blue? like them!
Specific things they like:
- Glancing behind someone periodically as if there's something behind them. It's kind of mean but they find it really amusing, especially if the person doesn't figure out that they're doing it on purpose for some time.
- Fiddling with things around them, like playing with zippers, twirling earbuds, or bouncing their leg.
Specific things they dislike:
- People fighting, or even just the sound of raised voices (especially if it's directed towards them). They're awful in fights; they can't properly string together their thoughts, and will always end up miserable and in tears.
- In a similar vein, being asked why they're angry when they really aren't! It makes them feel like people are seeing them as hotheaded, which disgusts and unsettles them to their core.
- Showing skin outside of private places, like their room. It makes them feel strangely vulnerable to the world. Even if it's a sweltering summer, they want to wear long sleeves and bottoms.
Here's a description of Merana's voice:
- When they speak, they often don't know how to word themselves correctly. Expect a lot of pauses and "the... that... thing."s and overemphasized hand gestures. And strange metaphors that end up muddling the explanation even more.
- "Sorry, what?"s are common! Merana can't hear well.
- Merana makes a lot of non-word noises. Whining is common, so are "myehhh"s (disinterest) and squawks (surprise). A soft scream in the back of the throat is very common, indicating frustration or alarm.
- Merana refers to Dvořák in interjections, e.g. "Thank Dvořák!" or "Dvořákforsaken mess".
A list of epithets they are commonly referred by:
- dark-eyed/ember-eyed - dark isn't in a literal sense here; Merana is just frequently melancholic. Ember-eyed refers to the bright orange of her eyes, ironically bringing to mind fire, the absolute antithesis of what they are strongly associated with. Additionally, some deep sea fish are known for being bioluminescent, a trait their eyes echo.
- stream-swift - Merana tends to be giddy when sufficiently rested, skittish when not.
- a coiled spring - they have a habit of slouching or huddling up to themself, tucking their hands into their sleeves and bringing their knees up to their chest. Merana also generally keeps their worries bottled up, becoming tense and prone to lashing out.
Quotes
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This isn't what I came to Ever After High for. I came here to... well I don't particularly know, but I know it isn't to be miserable. I can be miserable later. |
—o! to be young, where every cupid's arrow bursts ice-hot gold in your veins and eyes turn to the east as bodies journey to the west | |
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I know I've said it so many times— countless times! The stars in the sky could never compare! but I was mistaken—and I knew it at that time (I just could not say it): death will not be the end of me! |
—running a race, running my mouth, running out of time | |
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I would never! |
—a handy dandy catchphrase in response to most everything | |
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Yes, I see. **realization** Oh that's funny! |
—the (not very good) joke is "see" and "sea" | |
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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. | |