Get Her Good Side

Name: Doris Meraud, called ‘Dori’ for short

Species: genetically engineered half-siren

Height: 6’4”

Age: 23

Hair: long silky green straight hair parted on the right, the right side of her head is mostly fishlike spined frills resembling fins capable of rising and falling.

Eyes: aquamarine

Features: tall, slender and willowy build, two thirds of the right side of her face is covered by dark blue-green scales down the side of her face and body. The demarcation line between skin and scales arcs around the outside of the right eye, the outer half of her right cheek and running down the side of her neck and over her shoulder down her arm to fade into full scales upon her right arm and half of the right side of her body. The entirety of her back is scaled with a few instances of vestigial spiny fins. The right side of her smile shows jagged sharp teeth while the left side of her teeth are normal human teeth, this makes her naturally wide bright beaming smile an unsettling and terrifying sight. She can breathe underwater due to having gills on the right-side ribs, her left-side lungs are airbreathing lungs causing her lung capacity diminished by half both on land and in the water.

Personality: shy and self-conscious but unashamed, nice, keeps to herself, hopeful, earnest, sensitive, almost too friendly, easily embarrassed, easily flattered, her feelings are easily hurt and she is easily angered when hurt or mocked or insulted, a little isolated, friend-starved, sweet, kind, touch-starved, tries to be brave and resilient and content with her lot in life and sometimes manages while other times it is far more difficult, fun-loving, smart enough to know when she’s being needy and feels disappointed in herself when that happens, determined, realizes she can be dangerous and tries very hard not to hurt anyone, feels the pressure of having to prove that she’s not a danger.

Likes: the ocean, music, her left side, singing, rom-com and buddy movies, the beach, reading, makeup, swimming and being submerged, being complimented, singing, when she manages to suppress her biting urge, the smell of saltwater.

Hates: when people recoil at the sight of her, being mocked or insulted, being referred to as deformed or defective, being underestimated, makeup, rejection, being isolated, looking like a ‘freak’, not being able to hit all the high notes every time, doctors and dentists.

Backstory: Born from an illicit and defective bio hack IVF method with siren DNA to create humans capable of breathing underwater, as with other designer babies of similarly flawed methods things went sideways. She doesn’t know who her parents are as she was raised in one of the foster care facilities known as ‘Evidence Lockers’ for children resulting from such illicit methods are kept as they are technically evidence in the cases of the criminal malpractice that created them. After the trial she was evidence in, she remained in the facility until she aged out of the system. Having received a typical public education albeit in a setting that was far from typical, she was automatically enrolled on disability under the assumption that no one would hire her. She lives in a trailer park called ‘Beachcomber Bungalows’ not far from a beach on the coast of northern Massachusetts. She often screws up the courage to try to prove wrong the assumption that she's unemployable and applies for work in sporadic flurries of hopefulness that is usually dashed by agonizing increments with often humiliating interviews until she gives up for a few months spent dragging herself out of the resultant funk. Only to start the cycle all over again when renewed hope inevitably strikes again.

Notes: Can breathe underwater, a talented singer with a flawed siren song that will hit rare but misfortunately timed random sour notes that tend to ruin her songs at the best parts, has a bite-urge that she resists determined to be harmless.