NAME: Rian Carter.
AGE: 30.
BIRTHDAY: April, 2nd, 1990.
PRONOUNS: She/Her.
GENDER: Cis woman.
BIRTHPLACE: Santa Monica, California.
OCCUPATION: Swim club instructor.
GODLY PARENT: Poseidon.
FACECLAIM: Conor Leslie.
BIOGRAPHY.
There’s not much that Rian remembers about life when she was younger. Bits and pieces are always there, of course, like waking up to the sound of the ocean, going to swimming lessons almost every day of the week, watching her mother, Blair, tame the waves so effortlessly… But one thing she has never forgotten is the story her mother kept telling her about Rian’s father. How he was such a charming man, who shared the same love for the ocean as she had, how they met one early morning at the beach after she’d finished surfing and just talked and talked and talked. Rian has kept that story close to her heart, though even as a young girl, she never stopped wondering why he’d never stayed with them.
That thought was always with her but in the back of her mind. So much so that she rarely thought about her father unless something reminded her of the little she knew about him. For as long as she could remember, it was her and her mother against the world. She taught her everything Rian knows, including how to stand on a surfboard without falling over, how to swim and how to find the prettiest shells at the beach. Ever since she was a young girl, water had always been a constant in Rian’s life and it was all because her mother made it so. Looking back, Rian can’t help but wonder if it was because her mother wanted to see just how much of her father Rian had inherited.
And for a while, Rian made her mother wonder about it. When she was younger, her eyes would see stuff that her friends’ wouldn’t; like the barista at the coffee shop near their school had one too many arms or reading words that to others seemed to be nothing but scribbles in another language. For a bit, Rian dealt with it because, no matter how hard her day had been, all she needed to make it all better was to go over to the beach and just be. As long as her feet were inside the ocean, it seemed like it was all better. And her mother would watch her for a bit before joining in. Looking back, Rian was sure her mother was looking for her daughter’s connection to the man she had once loved.
One day, her mother wondered no longer. Rian had grown tired of keeping everything that went on with her a secret from her mother. After all, her mother was and continues to be her best friend (and Rian remembers that, after that day, she promised herself not to keep any secrets from her mother). The day Rian told her mother what had been going on — seeing stuff, reading tuff that wasn’t written in English, the restlessness, her love for water — was the day she finally understood everything. You’re the daughter of Poseidon. And all she knew about her father was the basic mythology she’d been taught. He was a stranger to her, no matter how big and powerful he was.
In one way or another, Rian’s life had always been connected to water, to her father. The waking up and listening to the ocean sounds and seeing the endless blue as soon as she looked out of her window. The swim team that she was part of in school — a natural, she’d been called by every trainer and teacher she’d had. The way she could hold her breath underwater for longer than normal. The way her mind would just… clear whenever she was inside the swimming pool, even if she was just floating. Water had always made her feel whole and it made sense why that was, after she found out about her father. And water ended up being the reason why her mother and her had to move away in the first place.
She was ten when she had to say goodbye to her home. As soon as her name got out after she won a swimming competition, word going around of a young girl that seemed more fish than human, how she could be underwater for longer than humanly possible, it didn’t take long before those that meant her harm came sniffing around. Poseidon had warned her mother that it might happen so she was prepared. Two bags inside the car, the two of them left their nice life in Santa Monica and headed to the middle of the country, instead. First Colorado for a few months, then Illinois and Ohio. And every time, Rian was the new girl and every time, she was part of the swimming team.
When she asked her mother why, all her mother could say was that being the daughter of Poseidon put a target on her back and that they had to head to Long Island. Camp Half-Blood, that’s what her mother said to her. That’s when she first learned about her next destination for years to come. Blair delayed the inevitable for a bit, wanting to keep her daughter with her for as long as she could. For three years, they stayed in small towns in the states they visited, hopping from one to the other every time the walls seemed to be closing in — half reality, half paranoia — and when Rian was twelve and the two of them couldn’t take the running anymore, Blair took Rian to the camp she had told her so much about before she headed to Virginia.
Life in Camp Half-Blood wasn’t half as good as life had been with her mother. At least, at first. Sure, there were others like her around her but she felt like she belonged with her mother, instead. The woman that had raised and cared for her. Instead, she was at a place that she was only allowed to be in because of a man she had never met. A child of the Big Three. At first, Rian kept to herself — she wanted to be there as much as the others around her seemed to want her there, it seemed. Rian had been the new girl enough times to know what it was all about. She guarded herself and convinced herself that she ought to not like the camp and those in it.
And yet, things change. Slowly, but surely, Rian grew attached to the camp and the life she had there. It was a life she didn’t know she was in need of. Learning how to fight, how to use the powers she had, Rian trained and trained and trained. And, again, slowly but surely, she grew attached to the people that she shared a life with. The camp had become a new home, though she would never forget the one that she had with her mother. As much as she was allowed, she’d visit her mother, keeping herself incognito as she did so. The last thing she wanted was to put her mother in danger just because she had a child with the wrong man… Or god.
When the battle of New York happened, Rian was barely fifteen but had the courage and strength of a small army. She fought beside those she’d come to call friends and, whether it was pure skill or pure luck, she ended up being one of the survivors. But the battle itself wasn’t the thing that stayed with her, even fifteen years later. It was seeing her father. Watching him control the Hudson river. Even in the midst of battle, she couldn’t help but stare in awe. And when it was all over and the campers were able to catch a breath, Rian will never forget the few minutes she was able to talk to her father, hearing him tell her how proud he was of her and how he always watched over her. A moment cut short by reality.
Life after camp was a giant question mark. Rian had never thought about life after camp because she’d heard that many campers didn’t make it to the age where they aged out of the camp. So, when she was one of the campers that actually was told she had to leave camp life behind, Rian had never felt more terrified — not even compared to when she had been told she’d have to fight mythical creatures as a sort of homework/quest. With the help of her mother — though they still lived apart for Blair’s safety — she finally found a place for her to get some money and still do something she loved. Rian became a swimming instructor at a swim club and though her mortal life pales in comparison to how she felt in the camp, it’s still something Rian is grateful for.
Played by: Lu.