Every group has a stereotype and where Ariel is from, the users are no exceptions. Fire-Types are considered stubborn and rash, prone to temper tantrums and fits out of the blue. Wind-Types are considered ditzy fools and ignorant idiots, unable to take anything seriously because they're just too darn weird. Earth-Types are believed to be the most level-headed of all the Thaumaturgy-Types out there, able to think on their feet and are the go to peacemakers if there is a problem.

For the stereotypes that fall on Water-Types? People believe they're generally a depressing group to be with if you have the misfortune of meeting them. They happen to have the doom-and-gloom stereotype, known to most of the normals as the naysayers and the pessimists who will disagree with any suggestion or idea to fix a problem because what’s the point? It’s either going to get worse or happen again. But it’s not like the negative view on them is unwarranted, in a way. Studies in Ariel’s world have shown that Water-Types are the most likely out of all the Thaumaturgy-Types to be unstable and dangerous if they corrupt into Chaos-Type. Which is quite a possibility on their side as they have the highest corruption rate in the recent decades, an impressive feat as it has been the Fire-Types who were believed to be the most prone to it up until this development.

So how does Ariel fit into this mold? The answer is this: She doesn’t.

People who have known her for a long time can describe her in three words: Loud, bright and cheery. She defies some people’s expectations of her being a moody, quiet girl with her bright smile and that we-can-do-it! attitude of hers. She won’t be the first one to throw in the towel if an obstacle presents itself and instead will do what she can to overcome it. From trying her hardest in becoming friends with the new security member, Blake, despite having her efforts thwarted by the person time and again to doing her best in maintaining a B+ average in order to qualify in leaving the school grounds so she can see her family every year.

Wearing a smile on her face almost 24/7, Ariel has been described by people that she’s youthful energy personified due to her age, unable to hold still for long periods of times and needing some sort of way to stay active and not end up feeling restless. This and combined with her endless enthusiasm for things in general, her friends have noted how she should never go near caffeine or anything sugary unless someone is willing to deal with her all but bouncing off the walls. Yes, she can come off as immature at times but most days it happens to be the childlike happy immature with her optimism and loudness.

Having been raised in the school since she was a young girl, taken care of attentive teachers and given what she thinks are privileges – Two hours to speak to her parents in the holidays! Getting most of the contents that are her grandparents’ packages! – in her eyes, she comes off as pampered and naïve. Which isn’t much of shock seeing how she’s been raised in Angela Cunningham’s ever since she was a young girl and Ariel was given the best things she needed and sometimes wanted during her time there. She does know and admits that the school can go overboard with their insistence of protection for the students, always having found the masks she needed to wear when visitors were in the school or when she was traveling such a dumb rule. But they do it because they care for her and the students so her exasperation, if she chooses to express it, is one mixed with fondness considering what they do for her all the time.

Being in the school has left her out of loop in regards to a lot of things. Most movies, shows and songs are banned from the school due to harmful or aggressive content. She doesn’t know that latest things that is happening in entertainment or politics and only hears a few things from her friends Gretel Violet and Adam Mayflower, who get the word from a delayed amount of time themselves so it isn’t what one would call up-to-date. Though the school does its best to prep her for her reentry to society with its Social Integration class, it happens to be more of how open bank accounts and pay bills and apply for this and that. So she can come off as awkward at times when talking to people who have lives outside of their education and she knows it. She isn’t blind to her obliviousness with social cues and is in fact self-aware of it to the point of pain. She tries to cover up any shyness she may feel with her usual chirpiness, seeing it as a goal to overcome and not a setback for her.

For a girl who has just turned sixteen, Ariel is quite bright and clever for her young age as evident with the fact she is in two advanced classes and has caught the Headmistress’ eye in terms of being a potential lighting course student in her later years. When she’s passionate about a subject, she is passionate about a subject and will go after it with gusto by taking meticulous notes when the teacher talks and asking all the questions for the class and answering all the questions of the teachers. Her grades since she was young have always been consistent of high Bs and As.

That is if she happens to like the subject. Notes from teachers for her grade reports can go either:

A) They praise her for her dedication on the subject and focus on the studies. Her sincere engagement and consistent energy for projects, quizzes and activities often charmed them while her continuous pestering for more was rejuvenating from the usual batch of unfocused students.

Or

B) They note that while she’s smart and does well for their class, she doesn’t pay much attention to it. She has good marks and answers the questions when she’s called upon to do it but that’s about it, not really trying to go above and beyond since why do that when she can save that energy for things she likes? Mr Parviz Filbert, her Biology teacher, despairs her whenever he sees her in his classroom as he often catches her taking a nap during his lessons.

Ariel is very much a social person, wanting to be able to connect with people, as evident with her close friendship with Diaochan Meihau and her almost paternal relationship with Adam and Nicole ‘Sampy’ Sampaguita since the three of them met each other. This stems from a form of insecurity that she feels thanks to having no real connection or feeling of positive acknowledgement from her immediate family. Even when she returns to them during breaks, having to work hard to get the grades and conduct needed, she’s met with distance and carefulness from her older siblings and parents due to her Thaumaturgy. Her parents have little communication with her and her older siblings almost never hear of her, making them unsure of how to deal with her when Ariel returns home. More so that her loudness is a stark contrast with the family’s usual stoicism and it shows with how forced and awkward their interactions come off to the student. As a result she is constantly reaches out to her friendships and relationships she made in school to keep her grounded, viewing them as a sort of not-family to make up the feeling of not having hers. She aches for approval and praise that doesn’t come out a lot from the school.

She tries her best to be a good friend to those she cares about and helps them out whenever she gets the chance like tutoring Diaochan in mathematics so she can pull her grades up so she can leave the school as well and be willing to listen to Adam’s constant yammering. (Not that she’s any better when it comes to chatter as it has been pointed out. She can be bit of a hypocrite at times when making judgments or comments on fellow others.)

She has a bad tendency to go up in arms in the honor of her friends if someone so much as makes a suggestion that they’re doing something wrong. Defend them passionately and argue for their cause until she goes blue in the face. Done out of her loyalty and love for them because she holds people she considers near and dear. She doesn’t say this aloud, not wanting to be teased by Adam or Diaochan, but once and a while it will show with her starry eyes and her insistence to other people, often in front of them, that they are amazing and great and perfect and flawless. Sometimes it is done in a joking manner, sometimes it is done in a semi-serious tone thanks to her sheltered nature.

Her dependency on these relationships does make her needy. It shows if she’s separated from her friends and is unable to contact them. Needing some form of contact with people, she ends up getting restless and starts to wander to find communication with another person because she won’t wait for them to come back. They’ll come back. She knows they will, they’re friends after all, so until they get back she’ll try to stay upbeat and positive as she usually is. But people who know her well or can read body language are able to tell she is more subdued and quiet until the person comes back. That’s when she’s back to her regular self, from rather loud to her usual loudness in a matter of seconds when learning they’ve returned, switching to that side as if someone flipped a switch inside her. Ariel just doesn’t feel comfortable being by herself or not having someone she cares with her. She loves the rapport she has with her friends and her not-parents and doesn’t want to lose it, certain that if she does than she won’t be able to find it again, holding onto them with a stubborn force and strength that she always shown.

Due to having limited interaction with new people, she’s very eager to meet new faces and does what she can to be amiable in order to make a good impression on people in hopes she can become friends with them or get to know them better. While this isn’t a bad thing, per se, she can come off as aggressive or annoying when meeting new people who find her loudness and her exuberance exhausting. Like, again, Blake who is not used to someone like Ariel.

She means well when it comes to a lot of things she does or says, or doesn’t say or do, but she has a long way to go in terms of maturing and growing up. As long as she has friends and people she can rely on, it won’t be too much of a bumpy road.