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OOC :: It's Time For the Info Post!
May. 4th, 2023 07:04 amWell, 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.
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.
