Eleanore Alvarez

Eleanore Elisa Alvarez, better known as Lane, is the protagonist of The Other Stars, a novel in progress by Valeria Seville.

Appearance
Lane is seventeen years old, standing at 5'3" with an athletic, slightly masculine build. She's Colombian, with medium olive skin and dark brown eyes. Her hair is thick, wavy, and naturally black, though she dyes it a dirty blonde color. It's about shoulderblade-length and usually kind of messy.

A decent portion of the right side of her body shows deep third-degree burn scarring; most of her arm, leg, side, and some of her neck. It's worst on her arm, which sustained bad enough injury to result in permanent nerve damage. Her clothing is typically very casual and almost androgynous; usually she'll be wearing dark jeans, a big hoodie or sweater, and a slightly oversized pair of old steel-toed combat boots. She wears a silver nose ring, and one of her lower teeth is chipped.

Generally she has a very lively look, with full lips and a round, expressive face. She's not really the "poker-face" type; however she's feeling, it'll show. She has a prominent rough suburban Boston accent and is not the most eloquent speaker.

Personality
Lane's foremost quality is her ridiculous optimism. She always tries to see things positively, to the point where she can be a little naive at times. It's especially problematic in terms of her tendency to see the best in people and be overly trusting. She has difficulty empathizing with other people and understanding problems that she can't relate to, but she tends to insist on helping in whatever way seems logical to her, strange as the logic may be. This sometimes comes off as annoying or overbearing, but she means well, and takes it personally when people brush her off.

After a traumatic house fire, Lane took on an aversion to fire or heat that ranges anywhere from nervousness around open flame to vague discomfort in a warm environment. She's also fairly claustrophobic and uncomfortable in restrictive clothing. She's somewhat of an anxious person in general, and doesn't always know how to deal with feelings of stress or anxiety.

Although Lane can be stubborn at times, she's also very impressionable. She's a good person at heart, but she doesn't always have the best judgment, which sometimes leads her to make bad decisions if the wrong people are influencing her. She sometimes encounters difficulty in standing up for herself or saying no to people, and is quick to grow uncomfortable in situations of conflict.

Lane is asexual, but romantically attracted to women. She encounters frequent difficulty in terms of relationships and preferences, especially given her age, and is thus fairly inexperienced and somewhat insecure in her sexual/romantic identity.

History
((I haven't actually written the book yet so this is as much an outline for me as it is a reference for y'all tbh))

Before Lane was born, her parents resided in Colombia. Her mother was comfortable raising her there, but her father wanted to raise her in America, where nearly all of his family was living. Lane's mother died in childbirth, and shortly afterward her father decided that he would bring her to America. Hoping to do so while Lane was still very young for ease of assimilation, he applied for a military citizenship, successfully expediting the process for himself and his daughter but, of course, committing to a period of military service for himself in exchange.

Lane was sent to live with her father's sister in a slummy suburb outside of Boston, Massachusetts while he was deployed. Lane's aunt Maria, though not quite uncaring, was relatively negligent, having fallen into habits of substance abuse prior to Lane's arrival. Resultantly Lane grew up with a strong sense of independence and a rather negative view of drug use. When she was eleven, she was severely injured in a house fire (which, unbeknownst to Lane, started when Maria dropped a cigarette in bed). This left her with severe third-degree burns over a decent portion of her body, most notably her right arm, which sustained permanent nerve damage bad enough to impair the fine motor function of her right hand. Lane was left badly scarred, and though she's grown less insecure about it, she still usually avoids revealing clothing.

Growing up, one of Lane's closest friends was Rhett, and over time he developed unrequited feelings for her. He never confessed his attraction, but it eventually spurred a subtle tension between them which, among other things, led them to grow apart. During her junior year in high school Lane befriended Violet, who was a year older and lived alone in an apartment after an ambiguous "falling-out" with her parents, the details of which she was hesitant to disclose. A short while later, Lane had her own conflict with her aunt, when Maria confessed that she was to blame for the fire years ago. This escalated into a fight which, serving as the culmination of Maria's neglectful treatment of Lane over the years, led her to want to leave Maria's household, despite Maria's threats to withhold future information regarding Lane's father.

Violet, sympathetic of Lane's situation, invited her to stay in her apartment on the condition that she get a part-time job and assist with rent. Reluctantly Lane accepted, though unsure of the duration of her stay and the extent to which she would be severing ties with Maria. Very soon afterward, Violet informed Lane that she could get her a job as a waitress at a bar despite her age; though hesitant to trust the offer, Lane took the job at Violet's insistence. That night, Violet suggested they have a drink to celebrate; initially Lane refused on the grounds of both the illegality and her negative experiences with Maria's drinking, but after much persuasion from Violet she gave in. While inebriated, Violet confessed to Lane that she had been disowned by her staunchly Conservative, devout Catholic parents upon their discovery of her bisexuality and active sex life.

Having not spoken to each other in months, Lane was contacted by Rhett, who suggested that they catch up, and agreed to have lunch with him at the bar where she was employed. He mentioned that he'd heard she was living with Violet, and made subtle insinuations of a romantic relationship between the two, Lane grew defensive, questioning his sudden interest in her life and raising suspicions of his feelings for her, and he revealed that he was distrustful of Violet and her influence on Lane.

[tbc cause I'm exhausted and I don't wanna start writing weird shit]