Professional Gambling Sleepyhead

Name: Calliope Morenos

Nickname: Calli, Calls, Bestie, Bebē (Camila), Jaws, Sharkie, Calli-bii, Bitey (Floyd), Morenos-san and Miss Morenos (nearly everyone at NRC)

Gender: Female

Age: 20 (physical appearance)

Birthday: November 17th

Star Sign: Scorpio

Family: Asimina Morenos (mother)

Height: 5'11 (human form)

Appearance: Unlike her best friend Camila; Calliope is quite the opposite. She appears as a tall, athletic, androgynous young woman whose beauty is striking in a quieter, sharper way than Camila’s. Where Camila had deliberately chosen her appearance to be approachable, soft, and pastel-bright; Calliope chose a human appearance that leans into cool elegance, physical strength, and subtle intimidation. She is tall with broad shoulders, a narrower waist, and a lean, muscular build that reflects consistent training and a life shaped by endurance rather than decoration. Her body has an inverted-triangle silhouette: toned arms, visible abdominal definition, long powerful legs, and the kind of physical presence that makes her look less delicate and more like someone built to withstand pressure. Even standing still, she gives off the impression of contained force. Her skin is pale with cool undertones, the kind of complexion that seems untouched by sunlight and better suited to dim spaces than bright ones. Her hair is a soft muted lavender-gray, thick and slightly tousled, with a texture that falls somewhere between sleek and wind-disturbed. She has two long pieces of hair that are usually worn in long braids that frame her face and fall over her shoulders, both practical and strangely elegant. While loose bangs and shorter layers soften the severity of her features just enough to make her expressions harder to read.

Her eyes are heavy-lidded and sharp, often giving her a calm, almost sleepy expression that can be deeply misleading. They tend to look half-amused, half-evaluative, as though she is always quietly observing more than she says. Her mouth naturally curves into a small, knowing smile that reveals narrow, pointed teeth; less overtly jagged than Camila’s, but no less predatory. Calliope’s face carries one especially defining feature: a thin diagonal scar beneath her right eye, slanting down across the upper cheek. It is from being struck by another merfolk predator. The scar adds an immediate sense of experience and danger to her otherwise composed appearance.

Her clothing choices on land tend to emphasize the same balance she carries in her body:. In human form she wears structured silhouettes, dark boots, sleeveless cuts, high collars, clean lines, and pieces that show her arms and shoulders. Even when dressed in something formal, she reads less “dainty” and more dangerously polished. Her nails are usually kept dark, and overall she has a way of looking composed without seeming delicate, elegant without seeming ornamental.

In her merfolk form, Calliope loses almost all resemblance to the romanticized image of a mermaid. Unlike Camila, she is not “beautiful” in the fairy-tale sense. She is beautiful in the way deep-sea predators can be: eerie, efficient, and haunting. Her hair becomes a slightly duller, deeper toned version of that same color, drifting weightlessly in the water and making her look even more ghostlike in the dark. Her upper half remains humanoid, but leaner and more severe, with visible muscle and smooth pale skin that transitions into the heavy, muscular body of a goblin shark mermaid. Unlike the bright and decorative tails associated with shallower water merfolk, Calliope’s lower half is built for the Midnight Zone: long, dark, streamlined, and powerful, colored in desaturated deep blue-gray tones meant to disappear into the trench water. Her body is significantly longer than many other merfolk, stretching to around 13 feet, with a tail built less for display and more for sudden, devastating momentum.

Her form reflects survival above all else. The fin structures along her body are angular and practical, her hands tipped with darker claw-like fingers, and her mouth carries a more obvious predatory shape when fully revealed. In motion, she looks less like something meant to enchant sailors and more like something glimpsed too late in dark water. She is sleek, silent, and unnervingly graceful, with the distinct impression of a creature that does not waste energy unless it has already decided the outcome. If Camila’s true form feels like an angler’s lure hiding a monster, Calliope’s feels like the deep itself learned to wear a humanoid face.

Merfolk Form (goblin shark):

Night Raven Uniform:

Coffin:

Homeland: The Midnight Zone (Coral Sea)

Dorm: Octavinelle

School Year: 1st year

Class: Freshman (No.12)

Occupation: Student, VIP Lounge Attendant at Monstro Lounge

Club: Equestrian

Best Subject: Animal Linguistics

Favorite Food: Rare seared tuna with sea salt, salted fish broth, and grilled eel.

Least Favorite Food: Overly sweet desserts and anything with too many mixed flavors.

Dislikes: Scent overload (stress sweat, perfumes/colognes, blood, salt balance, fear, alcohol, sickness, residual magic, unfamiliar territory markers, even the difference between genuine calm and forced composure).

Hobby: Stable work and horse grooming with Charybdis.

Talents: Instant Strike

『PERSONALITY』

Calliope Morenos is the exact opposite of Camila: she is unnervingly self-possessed in a way that can make people straighten their posture without realizing it. She speaks clearly and confidently, often louder than people expect, but never wastes words. There’s no uncertainty in the way she carries herself. She moves with deliberate confidence, the kind that makes it seem like she already knows where she belongs before anyone else has decided. At first glance, many people assume she is cold, intimidating, or difficult to approach. In reality, Calliope is simply observant. She watches before acting, listens before speaking, and prefers understanding a room before participating in it. Underneath that calm exterior is someone quietly amused by people and genuinely fond of the strange little habits others have. She notices far more than she lets on.

Calliope’s confidence isn't performative; it comes from certainty. Unlike people who seek validation or status, Calliope rarely feels the need to prove herself. She was shaped by a world where hesitation mattered and false confidence could get you killed. As a result, she doesn’t chase attention and doesn’t waste energy trying to become the loudest presence in a room. Ironically, this often makes her more noticeable. There’s a strange gravity to her; people naturally slow down around her or start paying attention without understanding why. She has a calming effect on people she cares about and a deeply unsettling effect on people who are hiding something. Calliope understands pressure instinctively: when to apply it, when to relieve it, and when silence speaks louder than confrontation.

She isn’t particularly impressed by politics, titles, or social hierarchy. Not because she disrespects them, but because she sees them as surface-level things. In the Midnight Zone, power was tangible; you could measure it in pressure, endurance, survival, and whether someone could protect what mattered. That mindset stayed with her. A title cannot feed you. Reputation cannot save you. And authority means very little if a person themselves is weak. Because of this, Calliope tends to judge people based on consistency rather than status. She respects reliability more than influence and honesty more than charm. Someone who keeps their word will earn her loyalty faster than someone important ever could.

Calliope is fiercely loyal once she chooses someone. She does not become attached quickly, but once she decides someone belongs in her life, she commits fully. This is especially true with Camila. Their friendship is one of the few places where Calliope becomes openly protective. Most people know her as calm and patient, but there is a very specific line that should never be crossed: upsetting Camila. If someone crowds her, ignores a clear “no,” mistakes kindness for permission, or intentionally hurts her feelings, Calliope becomes a problem. Not through shouting or physical aggression, but through pressure. The atmosphere changes around her. Her voice gets quieter. Her expression softens. And suddenly people realize they are deeply uncomfortable without understanding why. She doesn’t need intimidation; she simply makes people feel watched in the same way deep water can make people remember how small they are.

Unlike Camila, whose sensory struggles revolve around light, Calliope’s greatest sensitivity is scent. Goblin sharks rely heavily on environmental awareness, and Calliope experiences the world similarly. Overpowering perfumes, heavily layered fragrances, strong artificial scents, or too many competing smells in one place can overwhelm her badly. Crowded events become exhausting quickly because she processes scent the way other people process noise. Most people don’t realize how much effort she spends filtering the world around her. Because of this, she absolutely loathes people who wear too much perfume, spaces with sensory chaos, or groups where everyone talks over one another. Strong scents can leave her visibly irritated long before she realizes why.

Despite how calm she appears, Calliope isn’t naturally detached. She chooses calmness. That distinction matters. Deep beneath her composure is a stronger emotional current than most people realize. She feels things intensely but learned long ago that panic wastes energy and impulsiveness creates mistakes. So instead of reacting immediately, she processes things quietly. Sometimes too quietly. When she’s hurt, she withdraws rather than explodes. When she’s worried, she watches. When she misses someone, she rarely says it outright. Instead she’ll linger nearby, sit closer, or ask someone to stay a little longer. Affection doesn’t come naturally in words for her. It comes in presence.

She also struggles in ways people overlook because she appears so put together. Calliope has difficulty asking for help and often assumes she should be able to handle things alone. She can become overly self-reliant to the point of isolation. Because she is so observant, she often notices shifts in mood, discomfort or tension long before anyone else does. Which means she quietly carries emotional burdens she never speaks about. She can become hypervigilant, reading rooms too carefully and monitoring people constantly. And perhaps most importantly, she sometimes forgets she doesn’t always have to be the calm one. Part of her still believes that if she stays steady enough, observant enough, and useful enough; then she can prevent people she loves from getting hurt. She is also comes off either cold or too abrasive.

Most of the time, Calliope is the way she is by choice. But deep-sea creatures do not survive by being harmless. And every so often, someone learns firsthand that calm water can still hide teeth

Backstory: Calliope Morenos was born in the Midnight Zone too. Darkness was not an obstacle to overcome; it was simply the shape of the world. The Midnight Zone was pressure made physical, silence made endless, and hunger made ordinary. Cold water pressed against everything until it stopped feeling cold at all. Distance meant little. Time meant less. Life was measured by endurance, and survival was a skill learned before anything resembling comfort.

Calli’s earliest years were defined by structure; not warmth or softness. Goblin shark merfolk valued different things than anglerfish did. Endurance, awareness and patience mattered. They were not creatures of frantic pursuit or loud displays. They survived through stillness, observation, and timing. They waited, watched and when the moment came, they committed completely.

Calliope learned that lesson young:

Do not waste movement.

Do not waste energy.

Do not react before understanding.

And above all: do not strike unless you intend to finish it.

She grew up among a species that viewed emotional excess as dangerous. Panic clouded judgment. Impulsiveness invited disaster. The ocean rewarded creatures that remained composed beneath pressure, so Calliope learned early how to sit with discomfort and let it pass through her rather than around her. As a result, she became steady, quietly competent, and useful. The kind of child adults stopped worrying about because she never caused problems as proven by her mother promptly leaving her upon her first kill. A child people assumed needed less than she actually did. But because Calliope survived differently. Affection in the Midnight Zone remained scarce and unproductive. Touch was practical. Attention was conditional. Praise usually meant you performed correctly rather than you are loved. and over time, Calliope adapted. Learned how to monitor rooms before entering them, how to notice emotional shifts before they happened and how to make herself easy to rely on. Because reliable stayed. Useful things survived and did not get left behind. And for a long time, Calliope assumed that was enough to keep her satisfied.

Then she met Camila, which really their first encounter should have ended badly; two young predators crossing paths while hunting usually meant conflict. Territory. Tension. Teeth. Instead Cami ruined the entire process because she was loud, talked too much, smiled too much, glowed too much, and asked questions no Midnight Zone creature would ever think to ask.

And somehow, impossibly, Camila treated her like she had always been there; no caution, no calculation, nor distance: just immediate acceptance. And for someone who was used to being alone too and knew what to expect from other fellow predator merfolk, Calliope from the anglerfish mermaid was strange. Which evolved from amusing to confusing and eventually necessary because Cami possessed something that Calli had never realized she was missing: warmth. Not the physical kind or safety, something stranger. Someone who reached for her without expecting anything in return. Sitting too close and speaking into silences without feeling threatened by them. Another mermaid who looked at her and never asked her to become smaller, softer, louder, or easier. Camila simply decided Calliope belonged beside her.

And somehow that was that. Soon enough Calli began staying longer; longer conversations, shared hunts, quiet companionship, moments where they drifted close enough in dark water that their shoulders brushed. Tails curling around each other in greeting or having to anchor the other when something bigger overpasses them from above within the pitch blackness of their home.

Small, useless little things that stopped being so because Calliope eventually realized something deeply unsettling: she had become accustomed to Camila’s presence and there was no undoing it. Which is how Cami became her first friend. The first person Calliope ever chose entirely for herself.

Years passed.

Then one day Camila started talking about impossible things: the Surface.

Letters.

Sunlight.

Humans.

Stories.

Dreams.

Calliope listened. Mostly because Cami talked enough for both of them but beneath all the excitement, she noticed something else: Camila wanted something more. Something beyond the Midnight Zone entirely. And while she herself had never looked upward with the same desperate curiosity, she found herself listening anyway. Because Camila made impossible things sound close. And really, such things are a rare sight to witness within the Midnight Zone without it being snuffed out first.

Eventually the letters started. Something that Calli didn’t object to but was wary; because really who would answer a letter from this far down in the Midnight Zone? Not many merfolk ventured this far deep unless you were looking for materials to trade. Even rarer, an Abyssal Guard was needed. But even so, it’s something that happens. Until one fateful day, it happened; Camila’s pen pal, Azul answered. And finally, those plans became reality.

Calliope watched her best friend stand at the edge of an idea large enough to change her entire life. For the first time in years, she felt something she had not experienced since childhood: uncertainty. Because Camila was going. And for a brief moment, she considered staying behind because the Midnight Zone was familiar, predictable, safe in its own brutal way. But Cami being Cami, curse her (affectionately) asked: "Come with me."

Just like that; as if the answer had always been obvious. And Calliope discovered something deeply unfair: she could imagine Camila leaving. But she could not imagine her gone. So she made the choice to follow her, not because she wanted sunlight nor dreamed of the Surface. And most certainly not because she cared about humans or schools or opportunities. She chose the Surface because Cami was going and should anything happen to her...Well she'll be there to ensure nothing does.

The glamour spell came later. Calliope did not design herself to look softer or easier to approach. She crafted a body that still felt familiar: tall, athletic, composed, broad-shouldered, controlled. Human enough to belong and still herself enough not to disappear. Truthfully she had never wanted to become something else and only wanted to remain beside someone that had grown to matter to her.

Eventually she arrived at Night Raven College with Camila; she saw a school, Calli saw an ecosystem: social hierarchies, unspoken tensions, too many people, too many smells, and too much noise. Predators wearing uniforms and subtle with their approach. For a small, brief moment, she wondered whether she had made a mistake. Its not familiar like home, where danger is in plain sight, you know what to expect, where to hide, where to stay still when something bigger and older had the right to pass by without question.

But naturally and because the Seven have a twisted sense of humor; Cami grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the gates; suddenly things felt manageable again. Calliope’s first goal at NRC was simple: keep Camila alive. Her second goal was also equally simple: figure out why Surface people voluntarily lived like this.

『ABILITIES』

Unlike her best friend, Calliope's goblin shark tendencies and traits are always present. Hers are more sense-first, strike-fast and built for sudden violence. Same Midnight Zone logic, just different biology.

Perfect “Low-Light” Vision

➥ Calliope’s eyes are optimized for deep, dim water: good in darkness, excellent in murk, and extremely sensitive to sudden brightness on the Surface. Unlike Camila’s “pitch-black vision,” Calliope is slightly more adaptable across variable low-light conditions (like twilight/deeper ocean zones), but she still relies on tinted lenses/visors in bright places, not all the time but enough to keep the edge off. If her glamour glitches, the sensory whiplash can trigger headaches or disorientation.

Electroreception (Living Compass)

➥ Like many sharks, Calliope can sense bioelectric fields, the tiny electrical signals living things give off. She's literally a living compass, she's never really “lost”. In the water, she can “read” bodies nearby even if she can’t see them.

On land, it’s dulled, but still present; she can sometimes detect someone close by, or tell when a crowd is “alive” and noisy in a way that makes her tense. This makes her terrifying in darkness: hiding doesn’t help if you’re alive.

Instant Strike Response (Signature Talent)

➥ Calliope doesn’t move often but when she does, she commits completely. Her body naturally at NRC creates a very specific problem: people lose track of where she is. Not because she’s sneaky like Camila, whose Silent Movement gives people jumpscares when she’s SUDDENLY APPEARS THERE. But because Calliope stays still long enough that others stop actively tracking her…right before she moves. Moreover goblin sharks are famous for sudden explosive attacks when drifting in the dark depths of the ocean, and she inherited that same “all at once” movement pattern. Most of the time she conserves energy and moves with measured efficiency, but the second she commits to action, her acceleration becomes frighteningly abrupt.

There’s almost no warning.

One moment she’s standing still.

The next moment she is there.

On land this translates into unusually fast reaction speed, sudden directional changes, and a tendency to startle classmates by appearing in places they swore she wasn’t moments earlier. In water, it becomes even more dramatic. Her body is built to close distance immediately. The unfortunate downside is that these bursts consume energy quickly. Like most deep-sea creatures, she’s built around conservation. Explosive movement means recovery afterward.

Pressure Reading

➥ Calliope instinctively reads tension the way other people read facial expressions. Body language, breathing patterns, emotional shifts, social discomfort—she notices them almost automatically. She can often tell when someone is angry, frightened, overwhelmed, lying, or about to do something stupid before they realize it themselves.

Most people assume this is intuition: it isn't. It’s survival.

The Midnight Zone taught her that noticing changes quickly could mean the difference between safety and danger. This is why she often seems to know exactly when Camila is becoming overstimulated or when someone in a room is making others uncomfortable. It also explains why Calliope can become deeply unsettling when angry.

She notices pressure and knows exactly where to apply it back.

Unique Magic: Riptide Retract.

『“Don’t struggle. Unhinge and take; Riptide Retract.”』

➥ Allows Calliope to snap her “jaws” forward at high speed, extending magically up to several meters, striking, or grabbing an object instantly. The magic creates a water-like distortion or a miniature water-like goblin shark phantom, when she focuses hard enough (or has the motivation to do so). Overusing it puts strain on her jaw and can leave her with soreness or headaches.

『“I admire the confidence. The execution...leaves much to be desired.”』

Club: Equestrian

Calli is one of the few riders in the Equestrian Club who does not try to “win” against her horse. Instead, she establishes trust through consistency, stillness, and precise control. Her riding style is quiet, deliberate, and remarkably efficient; she wastes no motion, gives clean cues, and never overcorrects. Rather than imposing herself through force, she creates a sense of pressure and expectation that Charybdis responds to almost instinctively. Other students often describe the pair as unsettling to watch, not because they are harsh, but because they move with such calm certainty that it feels less like training and more like an agreement already made.

In stable work, Calliope is meticulous. She takes grooming, tack care, and post-ride checks seriously, and Charybdis is notably more cooperative in her hands than in anyone else’s. She notices discomfort, tension, and mood shifts early, often before other riders or stable hands realize anything is wrong. Her strengths as a rider are posture, balance, rein restraint, and emotional steadiness; even difficult mounts respond well to her because she does not flood them with nervous energy. If Charybdis is the whirlpool, Calliope is the current that decides where it turns.

Charybdis is a large black Friesian gelding with a build that feels less like a riding horse and more like a controlled natural disaster. He is tall, heavy-boned and powerfully muscled; with a deep chest, strong neck, and the kind of broad, elegant frame that makes him look almost unreal when he moves. His coat is a rich, inky, dark black that catches blue undertones in low light. His mane and tail are thick, long and slightly wild if not meticulously maintained. He has feathering around the fetlocks, large expressive eyes, and a stare that often makes students feel like they are the ones being assessed. Altogether, he gives the impression of something regal, ominous and very old-fashioned in the most dramatic way possible.

Despite his beauty, he is not a decorative horse. He is calm, intelligent, and deeply particular. He dislikes hesitation, loud hands, erratic energy and riders who try to force trust before earning it. He is not prone to dramatic outbursts for no reason, but he will absolutely test people he doesn’t respect by refusing to move, shifting his weight just enough to throw off their confidence, or staring them down until they make a mistake first. He is not mean; he is discerning. Charybdis responds best to riders with steady posture, controlled breathing, and quiet authority, which is exactly why he took to Calliope so quickly. She does not yank, over-correct, or posture at him. She meets him with the same pressure he gives the world, and he respects that.

Around Calliope, Charybdis becomes almost eerily cooperative. He lowers his head for her without fuss, stands still while she adjusts tack, and responds to the smallest cues as if the two of them are operating on the same current. He is most settled when she is nearby, and other club members have noticed that he watches her even when she is not the one handling him. If she leaves the stable, his attention follows the direction she went in. That bond makes him unusually tolerant of a small, very specific circle of people; he eventually accepts Camila because Calliope chose her, though he regards her with the same patient skepticism he gives anyone loud and excitable. Floyd, meanwhile, is still on probation in Charybdis’s eyes.

In riding, he is not the fastest horse in the club, but he is one of the most intimidating. He moves with power, balance, and deliberate force, the kind of presence that makes a whole arena quieter when he enters it. His stride is smooth but heavy, and his turns have a frightening precision when he trusts the rider. He is especially strong in controlled dressage-like work, collected movement, and any course that rewards poise over frantic speed. Watching him with Calliope feels less like watching horse and rider and more like watching a tide obey the moon.

『TRIVIA』

▷Her mom is alive, they are estranged. But they still visit each other every 6 months or so. Sometimes once a year. Calliope looks more like her father, his whereabouts are unknown.

▷She doesn’t often wear tinted lenses/visors since her glamour is more stable; Calli only ever does so if she can feel her glamour is about to act up then does so.

▷Her guilty pleasure is hoarding shellcraft made goods; she adores the cursed looking animals the most and wind chimes that humans make.

▷Calliope, hilariously, gets drowsy when she and Camila sometimes sunbathe.

▷She ate most of her siblings.

▷Yes, she does “lose” her teeth that get replaced.