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you make me look at the moon and pray |
—pray, that you’ll look at me | |
You Wanlian [they/them, he/him], preferably referred to as Quofeylia, is the next Rose of Evening from Rose of Evening. They are currently attending their Third Year (otherwise known as Yearbook Year) at Ever After High. They identify as Neutral.
[insert brief paragraph(s) describing Quofeylia as a whole]
- they are a cool and troubled youth
Character
Personality
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I’ve never had trouble with being true to myself; it’s usually others that have issues figuring out who I am. |
In true Quofeylia fashion, let's begin with what they dislike.
- loathes being seen and known by strangers. idk they have issues with how they're seen
- They maintain an intimidating image: sharply beautiful and effortlessly above everyone else.
- Tries very hard to be, not just appear, capable and collected at all times. Strives to be perfect, both academically and in their interests.
- underlying frustration with themselves is common. A lot of their creative energy is being used up, but they always seem to need more than they have. Also see: pressure from family.
- is a perfectionist, will not ever admit to it.
- feels isolated from their friends sometimes because of this. They're not happy with the idea that these things are effortless for them, because it takes a lot of hard work. But it's too much work to keep on correcting others so they let it be.
- Generally rather quiet and reserved. They carefully think through their words before they say them, and have a sort of instinctual knack for knowing what to say to get what they want.
- Not so much manipulative as reading the room and recognizing patterns?
- Expects a high degree of perfection from everyone, including themself. When they're really irritated they silently remark on everything they see with one simple statement: incompetence.
- They tell themselves it's because no one around them can follow simple instructions but in reality it's simply frustration at themselves. They just disguise it as dissatisfaction with others.
- They're quite judgmental, even if they keep their thoughts to themself. If they see someone of something that's not up to the standards they set for themselves, they feel annoyed.
- Blunt, in a "above-it-all" sort of way. It's part of their charm, I guess.
- Dislikes it when people try to twist it into them being witty by being rude. They're not trying to be anything, they're just... them.
- People call them a bitch and either applaud them for it or think them rude (as a result of this exaggerated image).
- I mean yeah they do get pissy and catty sometimes (especially at xunfei).
- While not very open with their emotions usually, they can be surprisingly playful when with their close friends.
- Well-developed empathy and emotional maturity like Xunfei. Gets a #1 dad(ish) mug because of these parent friend vibes.
- tendency to rag on xunfei, goes too far sometimes
Appearance
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enticing fish to sink and birds to fall, eclipsing the moon and putting flowers to shame |
—沉鱼落雁, 闭月羞花 | |
Beautiful people keep beautiful company. It is speculated by certain students of Ever After High that Quofeylia You and Zhu Xunfei keep each other around simply for a mutually beneficial relationship: those wishing to confess to the former are brutally rejected before getting swept up in a whirlwind romance with the more-than-willing latter. And in the meantime, the attractiveness of each only seems to increase the other’s. Whatever the reason for their unlikely friendship, none will disagree that the fact the two are often found together is a blessing to the eyes.
Possessing the appearance of a fine marble sculpture, Quofeylia is a statuesque youth of Chinese descent. Their height of 5’7” (170 cm), often accessorized with tall heels and perfect posture, overshoots the traditionally ideal height for a daughter, much to their parents’ chagrin. Nevertheless, everything else about Quofeylia fits the model ballerina build like a glove.
They have a lissome, dainty physique, appearing as if they could be blown away by a spring zephyr. Once one observes their actions however, it’s clear that all of their movements involve a certain amount of strength hidden in gracefulness. (Truth be told, a small breeze probably could send them sailing.) While a long way from muscular, Quofeylia is still rather toned, though all that is covered up by their tendency to wear loose, flowing clothing.
Their limbs are slender without being scrawny, and long, but not so much that it feels like they haven’t grown into their height yet. Perhaps it has something to do with the regal posture they maintain. Or, it could be for the same reason their looks have that quality of feeling balanced, as if every part was an individually crafted melody that complemented each other in turn, coming together in an enthralling sonata. From a short torso, to high insteps, to elegant hands, to straight legs, every one of their features is proportionately perfect. So, it should come to no surprise that Quofeylia isn’t human.
Descended from a long line of celestial spirits, faeries, and particularly good-looking humans disenchanted with their ordinary lives, Quofeylia is blessed with supernatural beauty. This doesn’t manifest as anything particularly unnatural, but it is almost always immediately apparent. For one, their mere presence seems to cast a slight silvery glow on their surroundings.
Quofeylia is intimidatingly beautiful, with a certain ethereal quality to them that lets them hold their ground next to the likes of Zhu Xunfei. Their features are rather feminine, bordering on androgynous. They have an oval-shaped face with a slightly flatter nose and a beauty mark dotted under their right eye. Their eyes are monolids and framed with long dark lashes; their irises have sectoral heterochromia in blue-green and pale pink, and resemble lotus flowers.
Most of the time, Quofeylia’s expression makes you think they’re thoughtfully musing, judging you, or perhaps both. An inclination to stay out of the sun and a strict skin care regimen combined with a naturally ghostly pallor means that Quofeylia’s skin is very much like the moon in being pale and glowing. Their ears are slightly pointed at the top due to some watered down fae heritage, but wouldn’t look out of place on a human.
Quofeylia has soft and glorious silver hair in what is regrettably called a “mullet”. Yes, I am trembling with shame and regret. It’s pretty on them though, with black-blue roots and long bangs that fall in their eyes. All that matters is that it's long enough to toss back dramatically.
Piercings and tattoos, at least, in more modern styles, are very taboo in their household. However, Quofeylia has managed a small rebellion in order to achieve Maximum Coolness. They have upper lobe, lower lobe and outer helix piercings on both ears, plus an industrial and an anti-tragus on their left ear. They also have a navel piercing and a right eyebrow piercing.
Interests
Dance
Long before they were even close to being considered for the Rose of Evening role, young Quofeylia took an interest in dance. At the age of 6, they started ballet, or rather, a preparatory class. Soon enough, their parents also slotted them into traditional Chinese dance classes. This became a permanent fixture of their life, as natural as breathing. If they could walk, they could dance.
Passion defines their relationship to dance. Though part of it is certainly due to the fact that they’ve been at it for so long, their own love for the art has only grown over the years. In fact, if they hadn’t been chosen for destiny, they’d be training for a career in dance right now. But, it is their very skill in dance that even brought them the role.
One cannot deny that Quofeylia is good at what they do. Particularly in ballet, their diligence and constant attention to form make them a very technically skilled dancer. In working both smarter and harder, they’ve prevented themself from sustaining any major injuries throughout the years. They take particular pride in their skills, though they tend to flinch when receiving empty compliments from any spectators.
If that seems to suggest there’s a shortage of emotion, then that’s faulty. Like other art forms, dance can be used to express oneself. Quofeylia thinks this can come off as pretentious, but everyone needs to be a little pretentious sometimes. They’ve tried basing routines off of more positive themes, though they suppose they’ve kind of got that tortured artist feel down better. There’s a certain vulnerability that comes with exposing yourself through art, and Quofeylia finds that they don’t mind as much when it’s on a stage. Especially when everyone’s awed into silence.
They’re known for ballet and Chinese dance, but they’ve also been dipping their toes into contemporary lately. They’re also pretty preoccupied with similarly elegant athletic pursuits, like rhythmic gymnastics, aerial silks, and ice skating.
Sometimes, if Quofeylia is feeling particularly masochistic, they like to wonder if their interest in dance is organic. If it was an unchangeable and inevitable thread of silk that would, through iteration after iteration of the universe, be woven into their life, or if it was their parents puppeteering the strings of fate.
Fashion
Quofeylia doesn’t particularly keep up with fashion trends; it's really more that they enjoy designing and making clothes. A firm believer in portraying the best version of yourself to the world, Quofeylia designs in order to bring what clothes they would like to see out of their imagination and into the physical realm. Most of the things they wear have been worked on by them in some way, so they’re quite pleased to be known as something of a fashionista throughout the school.
The act of working with their hands is also something very relaxing for Quofeylia. They have a tendency to get very absorbed in their hobbies, so it’s common for them to accidentally work through a meal and not realize it. Of course they have a sewing machine—they’re not ruining soft hands to hand-sew something, that’s absurd—but things like embroidery, beadwork, and drafting patterns take time, effort, and concentration.
Regarding their own preferences, they really like the silhouette of hanfu (call them basic but it’s pretty!), especially modern usages of it. They also like runway looks, as they’re usually unconventional and meant to inspire rather than be worn. Because they’re looking at adult models and designers most of the time, Quofeylia holds themself to an unfair standard, and often catches themself dressing like a mini-adult.
Painting and Calligraphy
Quofeylia likes to paint a lot, mostly with watercolor and gouache. Their favorite subjects are landscapes, especially large scale scenes that make the viewer feel small and insignificant in true Romantic sentiment. The coolest thing they have made to this day is a folding screen with 5 panels of fine silk, carefully painted with various flora. It stands in their dorm room, and they use it for privacy when dressing.
Other than the croquis they draw their designs on, Quofeylia prefers to avoid drawing the human form. (The meta reason for this is that in the Dorian Gray AU, they as Basil Hallward paint a portrait of Xunfei. This would be their first and last portrait, considering how much trouble it brings.) In a similar vein, they also prefer to be alone while painting, with a few exceptions, so they can really get into their craft. Quofeylia also can’t stand abstract art and will let you know so, but they won’t be harsh about it.
Calligraphy, another art venerated by ancient Chinese literati, is something Quofeylia only dabbles in, but considers a useful skill nevertheless. Once, for their birthday, Xunfei gifted them a really expensive and high-quality inkstone made in his kingdom. They’ve recently started to get into hand lettering too, with fancy pens and formats.
Photography
Quofeylia has been calling photography a “casual” hobby, which is a lie because they can’t do anything casually. They own a customized DSLR camera and probably have specific lenses they’re very partial to. They also own an aesthetically pleasing Instax Mini… you know the one. It’s pastel green and they’ve got a custom clear case for it that maximizes its prettiness. Quofeylia also likes the look of filmstrips so they own a film camera.
Unlike with painting, they don’t mind photographing people. In fact, a lot of the time, the subjects of their shots are their friends. Quofeylia hates having their face photographed and putting themself behind a camera is a good way of making sure they don’t have to be in more photos than necessary. This is also why they don’t take pictures of strangers, because they know what it’s like to feel uncomfortable on camera.
Other
- Since getting acquainted with Adoette White, they’ve taken an interest in rhythmic gymnastics, specifically with ribbon.
- There has been many a situation where Quofeylia was roped into helping foster kittens with Xunfei and Gwen. They’re always firm but gentle with the kittens, though ever since one clawed up one of their designs the three have agreed to keep them only in the other two’s dorm rooms.
- They can ice skate! (I'm 99.9% sure they went down a list of "most beautiful sports" and decided to master them all out of sheer aesthetic appeal.)
- Though it's in their destiny to be a celebrated singer of the Prince's court, and most likely play an instrument as an accompaniment, Quofeylia wouldn't exactly say that's something they're particularly passionate about.
- Their parents, however, are urging them to shift their focus a bit, just to be sure. What good would it do to be chosen for a destiny and then have it taken away?
Abilities
TBA, probably very cool
- sometimes just goes incorporeal. wow
- swallows love them
- when they cry the flowers in their irises drop petals for their tears. (the manic pixie dream girl curse of not being allowed to look unaesthetic ever)
- they can bond with merana over strange ways of crying i guess
- smth celestial
Fairytale - Rose of Evening
How The Story Goes
https://www.worldoftales.com/Asian_folktales/Chinese_Folktale_88.html
A boy named Aduan is chosen to perform at the Dragon Boat Festival, but he falls into the water and drowns. However, he did not know that he had become a ghost. In the strange underwater world, he is taken to the Prince of the Dragon Cave, and set to perform in the prince’s dance later.
When the Prince holds a review of all his dancers, Aduan sees a girl named Rose of Evening, and they have a moment. After being separated from her, he becomes sick with longing. Aduan is led out in the night to a field of giant lotus flowers, where he and Rose of Evening meet and talk lots every night.
After performing for the King of the Wu River’s birthday, the King decides to take Rose of Evening in to teach the girls in his court how to dance. Aduan unsuccessfully tries to visit her, until one day he is informed that she has cast herself into the river. In a fit of grief, he tries to escape the bottom of the river, somehow finding himself on the surface of the river again. He takes a ship to get back home, and finds that Rose of Evening is there with his mother.
Rose of Evening explains that after she realized she would never see Aduan again, she flung herself into the river and was carried to the surface, where a traveling ship took her in. She told them to take her to Madame Dsiang, Aduan’s mother. When she arrived, she won over the woman by proving herself to be a respectful and industrious young woman.
Aduan’s mother is happy to have him back, but she digs up his grave and sees that his body is still there. Aduan realizes that he’s actually a departed spirit, and begs her not to tell Rose of Evening. Rose of Evening eventually finds out and she’s not too phased about it, as she’s also a ghost. They get married, somehow have a human son, and become really wealthy. There’s a mishap with the Prince but they end up living happily ever after.
How Does Quofeylia Fit Into It?
The Rose of Evening destiny is chosen by the Lullabinese branch of Fairytale Authorities. Quofeylia was Cool and Had Potential even though they were already under Parental Pressure. Now they have even more Pressure.
- I’ll write more but tldr; they were picked.
Parallels
- I write things due to parallels and forget to note them down so have fun finding them everywhere.
Etymology
Quofeylia’s full name is 幽婉莲 (yōu wǎnlián), though at Ever After High they go pretty much solely by Quofeylia. Their parents do not know about this, as back home they go by their given name, Wanlian. In an effort to distance themself and create a new identity that was solely theirs, Quofeylia enlisted the help of Xunfei, spending a few odd weeks bouncing ideas back and forth for a new name. The goal was “something cool”, which worked well considering they were middle-schoolers at the time and could’ve chosen something completely awful.
Originally, only Xunfei would call them this, and only if no one else was listening. Once Quofeylia entered Ever After High and started going by it, Xunfei started tossing ideas for nicknames in the air. He insists it’s because “we need a best-friends-only thing, QQ”. Quofeylia thinks that it’s stupid and if he wanted to be unique so badly he could just use Wanlian. (To their chagrin, he actually listened.)
幽 means “secluded”; “tranquil”; “serene”, but can also mean “imprisoned”. This alludes to the nature of their family as pseudo-deities of their hometown. Although they live in peace and prosperity, they long for the heavenly bodies to which they cannot return. It’s doubly felt for Quofeylia, who is ever the image of tranquility and reservation, and yet feels trapped. 幽 also forms the word 幽魂, meaning “spectre”, foreshadowing Quofeylia’s destiny prerequisite of being a ghost.
婉 means “graceful”; “tactful”, alluding to the near-perfect nature of the heroine of the story, Rose of Evening. It is a homophone with the word 晚, meaning “evening”. Additionally, the 夕 radical in this character also means “evening”, while the rightmost 女 radical means “woman”. In English, this character is romanized as “wan”, which has a meaning of its own: “pale”; “ghostly”; “deathly”. You could also make an argument for the waning moon because… the moon is associated with adjectives that are associated with Quofeylia, I guess.
莲 means “lotus”, referring to the field of lotus flowers that appears in the fairytale, along with the fact that the role is named after a flower. In fact, combining it with all three definitions glanced from 婉 will give you three phrases: graceful lotus, evening lotus, and ghostly lotus.
Not only is Quofeylia a made up name in canon, it was also made up by me. It’s a combination of the names Banquo, Ophelia, and the word “fey”. Banquo is from Macbeth, and I really only chose him because his name is cool and he becomes a ghost. (There may be significance later on with the role Banquo plays story-wise, as he is Macbeth’s reminder of the crimes he has committed.)
Ophelia is from Hamlet, and she’s a love interest who drowns in a river, much like Rose of Evening (though Rose of Evening does so before the story begins). The word fey means "unworldly" or "fated to die", two apt describers of Quofeylia. It’s also a homophone with “fae” / “fay”, which while isn’t exactly the word for their family, is a related translation.
Viewpoint on Destiny
- Has a complicated relationship with femininity, especially in conjunction with their role.
- Fear of becoming chained into marriage and parenthood, along with killing their best friend if their child is to be born into a destiny.
- carries the role's name with pride
- ?? conflict
- Neutral.
Education
Class-ic Schedule
First Year: classes
Second Year: classes
Third Year: classes
Fourth Year: classes
Hextracurricular Activities
TBA
Trivia
- Quofeylia is nonbinary, and doesn’t really have further thoughts on their gender identity besides that.
- They’re AFAB, which ties in with their weird relationship with femininity.
- Xunfei and Quofeylia’s pages were both posted on June 8th. The reason for this is because June 8th, 2008, was the first time the Dragon Boat Festival, mentioned in Rose of Evening, was celebrated in China as a national holiday.
- They have tetrachromacy, meaning they have four types of cone cells in their eyes and see colors slightly differently.
Specific things they like:
- Slinging an arm around a close friend's neck. Since they're usually wearing something with large sleeves, it makes them feel like they're literally taking them under their wing.
Specific things they dislike:
- Quofeylia cannot stand being unprepared with their appearance. It makes them feel exceptionally vulnerable, and they already loathe being seen by strangers anyways.
- Unwanted / unexpected physical contact. Half of their family is some form of incorporeal, and all are averse to giving them affection. Any touch of this sort feels both stiflingly warm and uncomfortably wet on their skin.
- Conversations with their family. Since most of their year is spent at EAH, they've drifted away from their parents even more, and have started to see them in quite a negative light. Distance makes the heart grow colder.
Here’s a description of Quofeylia’s voice:
- It's melodic and pretty, pleasing to the ears, with a distinct tone to it that just sounds soft and lilting.
- They used to have some trouble with English / German / whatever they speak at EAH but now that they're older they're flawlessly fluent. Really, what clues native speakers in on them not being a native speaker is the fact that their pronunciation is too textbook.
- Quofeylia has mastered the art of sarcasm to the point that it's hard to tell if they're being serious or not. They've managed to achieve a certain level of dryness and nonchalance without overdoing it.
- This often leads to someone (usually Xunfei) getting confused.
- They click their tongue when annoyed or mildly inconvenienced.
- They laugh exclusively in giggles, which is extremely cute and contrary to appearances.
- If they're texting, they type scarily quickly and use proper punctuation and capitalization. Just out of principle.
A list of epithets they are commonly referred to by:
- evening glory- also known as moonflowers. uhm, i think it’s a cool title. that is all.
- charming young man capable of being terrible- ripped straight from Les Mis, just like Hugo would have wanted.
Quotes
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I'm tired, you see. I'm tired of being your Apollo, your Antinous, your fine marble statue, your charming young man capable of terror and incapable of love. |
—angery rant time | |
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Well, *sniffle* I don’t usually cry because freshwater and saltwater don’t really, you know, mix well. |
—when xunfei remarks that he’s rarely ever seen them cry | |
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No, bèndàn, *laugh* it was a joke. Did you think I was serious? |
—when xunfei gasps “really?!” | |
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For someone with such a big head, your brain is astonishingly small. Get away from me. |
—unknown circumstance | |
Author's Notes
- hoo boy
- i love rose of evening but she's... such a standard.
- for quofeylia, it's a mixture of that rebellion against being an obedient, pious, filial and submissive child thing.