Eleanor Zarrin

Kamala had been a sloth long enough that it was slightly concerning, but also, since Eleanor knew how these things tended to work around here, increasingly more dangerous to actually bring Kamala around with her to public places and things like their shared classes. It was one of those things were she was at that point of turning back at literally any minute. The last time this had happened, Eleanor had left to go to class, swung by the store to pick up Squishies and some food, and, while she was out, Kamala had conveniently changed back, 'stolen' one of her Shenanigans shirts, and all was well in the world.

It was probably a bit optimistic of her, then, that she was hoping the same would happen again, and she'd come back to her room to find Kamala back to herself and having raided her closet once more.

She tried not to sigh with her disappointment when she opened the door to find that Kamala was, indeed, still a sloth, and then she tried to smile and be encouraging and positive.

"Still slothing it up, huh?" she asked. "I guess that makes sense; everything's a bit slower when you're like this, right? Well, either way, I brought some food and a Squishy." She set both of them down on the floor before going over to pry Kamala from where she'd been hanging to set her down with them, too. "We can have lunch and I'll tell you about what you missed in class."

[[ for the slothified girlfriend first and foremost, though open after all of that probably! ]]

The unexpected arrival of some of Eleanor's family had spent her Parents Weekend into a little bit of a whirlwind, and while, underneath all the chaos it created inside of her, that was a part of her that was oddly grateful for it. That Luma had wanted to come, even if it was mostly to give her a hard time or to just remind her how much Rhys depended on her, and that her mother had wanted to come, too, even thought it would be difficult for her and she'd be spending most of the time in a hotel room. She didn't invite them because she figured it would have been pointless, but it turned out they'd come anyway, and that meant...

Something. She wasn't sure quite what yet, but it meant something, and she'd figure it out once it was all over. For now, she was mostly just trying to focus on having this next part go over well. She led Kamala down the hallway to her family's room at the hotel, but she paused at the door before opening to turn to her and regard her with all the nervousness and gratitude she felt roiling around inside of her.

"Thank you," she said, "for doing this. I know you're going to say that of course you would, why wouldn't you, especially since I've met your parents, but..." She shook her head lightly. "Just...thank you. It's really going to mean a lot to her. It means a lot to me."

She gave Kamala her best attempt at a confident smile, a pale imitation of whatever Kamala herself probably would have been able to wrangle up.

"Ready?"

[[ and for the oh-so-lightly modded girlfriend, please! ]]

Well, well, well, it's time for me to stop being lazy about this and finally get up an info post about Fandom High's newest student, Miss Eleanor Zarrin, and listen up, folks, because this one? Is kind of a lot.

Not that you'd know it by looking at her, for the most part. Eleanor is a pretty normal seeming sixteen year old on the outside, but there's a lot (an infinite amount, even, perhaps) going on inside. You see, Eleanor is the daughter of a werewolf and....well, we're never really clear exactly what her mother is, but she's some sort of human-hybrid creature from the deepest, darkest depths of the sea (more than likely, anyway). It's not explicitly mentioned that her maternal line is eldritch in nature, but it is very strongly implied. Her grandfather was also a werewolf, her paternal grandmother a witch, and her whole family is a coterie of supernatural monsters and beings, with the theme of embracing the monster within strong throughout the entire book. Her matriarchal grandmother is also (in my reading of it, anyway) a big, old Nazi allegory wrapped up in a Lovecraftian skin, too, so that's a lot of fun!

Anyway, I'm getting into digression territory here. I should really just keep it simple, or else this post is going to be about the length of the novel itself. What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo tells the story of Eleanor's tumultuous return to the family homestead in Maine, after having been sent away to boarding school for trying to eat a boy. And then she left that boarding school when she attacked another student. Upon her arrival back to a home she barely remembers, to a family she'd been alienated from for years, her grandmother, while reading her tarot, falls dead, and the entire Zarrin household is thrown into imbalance and turmoil. Not knowing what else to do, but entrusted to take care of the family by her grandmother's dying wishes, Eleanor turns to calling for the help of her other grandmother overseas, despite her dead grandmother's explicit request to not let strangers into the house.

Needless to say, it does not go well. Eleanor trips and fumbles her way through trying to make things right, but only makes them worse, until it comes to a culmination where she, finally understanding her true nature, must do all she can to save the family from the dark and evil fate she herself had unleashed upon them.

It's a pretty cool book. And I really liked it. But all that can be revealed through getting to know Eleanor personally, but here's what you should probably know about her from the outset:

+ Looks fairly average for a teenage girl, with notably pale blonde hair, and she describes her features as being a bit "fishlike"--wide-set eyes, wide flat lips--especially compared to the sharper, more canine features of the rest of the family.

+ But inside, she's quite different. For one thing, her blood is orange. And, for another thing, she has inside of her a sort of deep, fathomless pit in which she can actually suck things into and consume them, either to keep them in there or to eventually regurgitate back out, after which whatever it was will essentially be a puppet bound to her bidding. She's basically just a big old black hole, soul-sucking void inside!

+ She also has the power of compulsion, and can order people to do what she tells them to by modulating certain tones of her voice.

+ BOTH these powers, however, it should be noted, she is absolutely loathe to ever use, especially once she realizes their true nature. So she hopes to never have to use them, but will if she feels its necessary (or maybe, on occasion, if she slips up). And if she should find herself in a situation where she wants to use one of them (more so the compelled speech over the swallowing people whole to make them her puppets, probably), I will always poke before doing so. Probably obsessively and to the point of annoyance, because I really, really do not want to step outside of any boundaries there. I don't see it coming up OFTEN, but, again, you never know, and I just want to let everyone know that communication, I hope, will be consistent with this one, in that respect.

+ Also a point on the compelled speech: it is canonically possible for some people to resist it. Eleanor's sister Luma, for example, is practically immune. So if you wanted THAT to be a thing, that is also entirely possible and there is definitely support for that being a good way to avoid Eleanor having that influence over your character if you'd like.

+ If your character would notice something like 'half-werewolf, half-eldritch creature of unknowable nature' or the whole 'wow cool infinite black hole inside!' of it all, I very much welcome that.

+ She also has an interest in pursuing the witchcraft that her paternal grandmother used to keep the family afloat through the years, especially in terms of apothecary and potion-making and maybe a little tarot reading on the side.

+ She's also kind of a big fuck-up, but she's working on it!

I think that's MOSTLY the important part? I usually forget a few things in this write-ups, but, please, if you have any questions or concerns or even just silly gifs for me, you know what to do!

The big things are DEFINITELY the whole 'swallowing people up' and 'power to make you do things' parts, for suuuuuuure.