ARIEL CARINAE is based on ARIEL from THE LITTLE MERMAID. she is a 29 year old mermaid, unemployed, and uses she/her pronouns. she has the curse of shifting in water. ariel is written by ALEX.
At heart, Ariel is incredibly adventurous - which is what initially led her to the human world, combined with her impulsivity and undeniable recklessness. Despite having the whole sea to explore, that wasn’t enough, with the tales of the human world endlessly pulling at her curiosity despite every warning from her loved ones to avoid it. Yet, what use are warnings when she doesn’t see any facts to back them? She’s an optimist, an altruist, believing that even these humans she’s never directly encountered (until very recently) are inherently good, and the warnings her father and sisters gave her were out of fear, not legitimately backed - a trait that’s both a blessing and a curse, given her openness often makes way for a naivety which lands her in trouble.
With a dulled sense of danger, she’ll easily risk her own life for anything that seems worth it at the moment, whether collecting potentially interesting trinkets or pursuing a man she saw twice - yet, logic does kick in when those she loves are at risk. For their sake - not her own. She’ll try to protect them whilst eagerly throwing herself at danger to see them kept safe, and she won’t listen to any insistence that she’s a hypocrite in that capacity. Still, despite questionable decision making, she’s undeniably clever, quick-witted and able to get herself and her friends out of trouble even when literally faced with death.
Ariel is compassionate, having empathy even for those who outwardly detest her, and, generally, she can manage to befriend even those who may have began as her (one sided) enemy. She constantly offers understanding - or, at the least, a willingness to do her best to understand, knowing her knowledge is often lacking but possessing a determination to learn more, to see all perspectives in a compassionate rather than fearful light as so many back home did. Of course, this overly optimistic worldview can lead to trusting people she shouldn’t, but she convinces herself it’s worth it to continue to remain open rather than living in guarded fear like her father.
She’s dreamy, often with her head in the clouds (or just generally above the sea where it was supposed to be); as a child, she was offered all the educational opportunities a mermaid could wish for and more, yet she always preferred digging through all the fairytales and folklore she could find, researching the origins of trinkets she discovered, and daydreaming to learning the intricacies of historical fact. Contrary to her upbringing surrounding the lore of her home, with her fixation on the human world, Ariel has taken to devouring as much information on human culture and history as she can now that she has open access to it.
She also inherited a bit of her father’s temper, particularly when it comes to people questioning her capabilities and (yes, questionable) decision making. It’s a defense, really, because despite how she tries to present herself as the curious, adventure seeking girl she is, self-doubt can still bubble to the surface. She’s not deaf to those - both in the sea and on this new land - who have called her a freak, and as time passes by and she feels like Eric barely even notices her, she’s beginning to question the wisdom of the decision to turn human she was once so sure of. Still, she knows she wouldn’t have been able to live with knowing she never tried.
HEADCANONS:
Despite all she sacrificed to go to land, Ariel still finds herself missing the sea - and often dreams of it and finds herself breathing strangely when she wakes, as if she’s still not entirely used to the air in her lungs. It feels a little harder to breathe as each day passes… And maybe, that’s just her creeping anxiety surrounding what will happen to her if she fails.
She doesn’t fall for people often, but when she does, she falls hard. She’s a firm believer in love at first sight, soulmates, all that fairytale romantic stuff. She’s convinced herself that she will get her fairytale true love, despite the obvious obstacles now put in her place.
Ariel isn’t the best with social cues - even as a mermaid, she was seen as strange compared to her sisters, and learning human customs has been a particular challenge. To me (yes, it’s likely projection but bear with me), she’s very much autistic-coded given her huge special interest in the human world, her best friends being animals rather than fellow mermaids, a lack of understanding for the rules of the society she was born into and a constant questioning of them that lands her in trouble, and a yearning to be accepted in a world that doesn’t seem to understand her. I mean, she has a whole song about it!
One of her favorite parts of the human world is all the television shows and films they make - and she kind of wants to make one of her own now, even if she continues to struggle with most basic technology. No one gets her like the girls of H2O: Just Add Water!
Canon - but Ariel is a huge collector! She has an assortment of trinkets from both the land and the sea stuffed in her drawers, both new things she finds intriguing and shells that offer her a little reminder of home.
She spends a lot of time at Evermore’s local aquarium… And when she thinks people aren’t looking, she’ll try to talk to the sea creatures like she could back home.
Ariel loves music of all kinds and is pretty much always listening and/or singing along to a song. She learned how to play quite a few instruments back when she lived under the sea, making learning their land counterparts not too difficult. One of her favorites has become the guitar!
She still struggles with walking sometimes, stumbling and gathering an assortment of bruises on her legs due to her miscalculations over how long every step really is, however, she’s become a pretty decent dancer! It feels like swimming, in a way, swaying with the rhythm rather than the water, and the focus allows her clumsiness to diminish.
Her concept of money is still a work in progress. She’s accidentally shoplifted a few times, leaving a random trinket of no value in its place that she thought would be an equal trade - but after being yelled at by some shopkeepers with threats of arrest, she’s pretty much learned her lesson. Of course, that doesn’t mean she’s any good at actually saving the little money she has.
With looming fear surrounding losing her own voice, Ariel has began to learn sign language - which she didn’t know existed before Evermore, but she figures if things do go wrong (but they won’t, right), she might as well have a back up plan. Not that she’ll need it… but it is nice to know for those who already can’t communicate verbally.
She loves human clothing! As a mermaid, she really just stuck with the tail she got - which she liked, sure, but now that she’s in the human world, Ariel constantly finds herself experimenting with different colors and fabrics… Even if sometimes they’re absurd, clashing combinations that make people look at her funny. However, she’s found that she hates wearing anything feeling too tight or rigid, and certain fabrics like denim are a no-go; she loves soft and flowing clothing.
She’s certainly struggling adapting to all of humanity’s technology, but she’s found that she loves texting: because of the cute little emojis! Oftentimes, her contact list will find themselves sent a string of them that Ariel thinks is decipherable as a sort of sentence through pictures, even if it’s not. She’s a big fan of strangely (not that she thinks they’re strange) angled selfies, too.
The opposite of a pescatarian… Or, well, just a vegetarian. You certainly won’t find her eating any sea creatures, as fish are her friends, not food! The idea of whole restaurants devoted to seafood? Terrifying, no thank you!
More random things she loves from the human world: plushies, pillows, blankets… Anything soft and cute, really! Also lava lamps, vacuums, flower arrangements that simply wouldn’t work under the sea… The list goes on!
In general, she’s a huge lover of animals - both from the sea and above land - and has spent many hours volunteering at the animal shelter. She’s tempted to adopt a dog or cat of her own, but she’s forcing herself to focus on her more immediate problems first.
