Garnet East/Relationships

Mother
The gracious Lady East was a much-beloved parent figure in Garnet's childhood, one with whom Garnet associates the memories of making flower-crowns out in the countryside and stirring headache potions over the fireplace. Rather than being an outright wicked ruler, Lady East was more or less absent during her reign, simply not caring about what the Munchkins did or didn't do.

She was still crushed by the House That Fell, in the end, and it was only because of her death that Garnet realized that it didn't matter if you were actually good or evil or neither-- destiny didn't care. If it wanted to punish you, it punished you, and your actual actions had no merit to them. All Garnet wants is to lash out against that unfair world... perhaps, if her mother had lived, she would be a different person.

Garnet owns half a dozen journals once written by her mother, starting from Lady East's Freedom Year of high school. She treasures these journals more than any other material possession she owns.

Foster Family
Garnet was raised by the Noble Rulers hailing from the East, the descendants of the Scarecrow. Even though they took her in, she is fully aware that it was purely an obligation to tradition. She did not consider them very good company while growing up, and kept her distance from them-- after all, they only came into power because her birth mother was dead. Still, to her credit, she has yet to light any of them on fire.

The previous Scarecrow, technically Garnet's official guardian, made some attempt at raising her... but his babysitting tactics were never meant to be used for a full-time parenting position. He left most of the heavy-lifting to older, more traditional members of the clan, especially after Garnet began developing her magic-- most certainly, a loose cannon in her younger years.

Though Garnet has never particularly wanted for any material belongings, she has never felt any particular familial attachment. She feels somewhat like she owes an irritating debt to the Scarecrow family, a debt that she is quite eager to erase. Maybe she'll spare their pathetic little lives when she takes over Oz... she isn't sure yet.

Barley
"Leave the scarecrow's heir unharmed... I have a debt to settle with that family."

- on the subject of a suspicious dealing

Barley is something of an exception amongst the students of Ever After High, as far as Garnet is concerned... as he is technically her foster brother, in the sense that they were adopted on paper by the same Scarecrow. Though most of the time she finds him annoying, entirely too-curious about what her life was like actually growing up with her foster guardian, she has never taken action against Barley-- and, indeed, Garnet has actually specifically reworked plans of hers to leave Barley unharmed in the process.

Garnet considers tolerating her weird pseudosibling as part of fulfilling her debt to the family that took care of her before she could fend for herself, almost as an extension of that same odd obligation. Their interactions with each other are something of a peculiar study in being nice, for Garnet... a strange behavior indeed, even if she does it only with the ulterior motive of alleviating her feelings of debt.

Though she doesn't particularly like Barley very much, finding him altogether too "lame," she's more tolerant of his behavior than most others, even to the point where she permits him to call her his ""sister"" (although not in public). As one of the very, very few people who believes there's still good in her somewhere, Barley seeks her out more often than most... and though Garnet would never admit it, sometimes even annoying company is better than no company at all.

Distant Family
Garnet East is Celadon West's thirty-fifth cousin once removed. Though not even slightly blood related, she is also Garen Norwitch's thirty-fifth cousin once removed, through his grandparents' marriage. She does not consider either of them related, though the family history is well-documented. More important than either of those is the fact that Garnet East is descended from Rain "the Lost Witch" West, whose twins were rumored to have been fathered by Princess Ozma while still in the form of the peasant-boy Tip. The claim itself is quite dubious, but if the rumor is true, that means that Garnet has a legitimate claim to the rulership of Oz-- her eventual goal. Unfortunately, if the rumor is true, that also means that good old thirty-fifth-cousin-once-removed West has a claim to the throne-- a claim higher than hers, as the one generation they've been removed actually places him closer to Rain West's generation.

Friends Antagonistic Allies
They may have their differences along the good/evil divide, but Garnet still considers Garen Norwitch an ally in furthering their mutual goals, as he will never get his magic unless there is an antagonist around. She knows it's only a matter of time until he'll think of asking her to sign onto the Wicked Witch of the West's destiny, thereby giving her the powers of both lineages. Like all of her antagonistic allies, she has a betrayal perfectly in mind: once he realizes that she's more evil than even what the story calls for, she'll simply zap him down with that lovely little Hellfyre Bolt spell in the West family compendium.

She guesses she's okay with Saphon Goodspell, her roommate and the otherwise weakly-powered Witch of the South. Rooming with Saphon basically means free cleaning service and laundry, so Garnet's not about to complain.

Sable Mimicry
"don't get all monogamous on me just yet, sable... ;) jkjk"

- Garnet's most recent outgoing text

Though Garnet will insist that she has "secret and mysterious" motives behind hanging out with the Daughter of the Black Swan, she actually genuinely thinks Sable is fun to be around. Though they have very similar "romantic habits," so to speak, Garnet usually keeps her hands to what she views as "her turf" in Oz, competing little (if at all) in Sable's domain of Ever After. They met online in the forums of a less-than-worksafe website and hit it off, carrying on a largely long-distance friendship via text messages and weekends out on the town, hopping from dance party to dance party (and bedroom to bedroom).

Garnet enjoys talking to Sable about a variety of topics, whether it's the most pathetic pick-up line they've ever heard, favorite clothing stores, or even exchanging tips about "technique." They have playful competitions over particularly attractive people when out at parties, attempting to gauge each others' prowess in flirting. They occasionally end up in the same bed, usually with a third party between them. Most of the time, Garnet considers Sable her number-one wingwoman.

The one matter that Garnet takes issue with is Sable's particular favoritism of a certain sorceress, concerned that she is on the verge of (shudder!) becoming monogamous. Naturally, Garnet takes it upon herself to remind Sable at every turn just how awesome the life of a freewheeling bachelorette can be, encouraging her to continue their fun (and promiscuous) lifestyle.

Their BroTP name is Black Diamond.

Pet
Like many witches of tradition, Garnet East owns a cat-- a hairless Sphinx named Marrow. She knits him exceedingly fashionable sweaters, and thinks he's the most adorable little kitty this side of Oz, yes she does (and she will not hesitate to hex anyone who says he looks "ugly" or "like a rat"). Marrow can often be found curled up in Garnet's laundry basket, sleeping at the foot of her bed, or modeling one of many fashionable ruby-glitter collars.

Marrow is one of the three living things Garnet would actually feel bad about killing, as she is deeply attached to her cat. He was pretty much her only company throughout her middle school years, and one of the few living creatures she can wholly relax around. As a preteen, Garnet spent a lot of time worrying about whether her cat would outlive her, due to her particular destiny.

Romance
Garnet would describe her love life as largely "unfettered," determined to experience many things (and, for that matter, many people) before her potential demise beneath Dorothy's house. She is unquestionably one of ECA's most popular girls in this regard, a notorious flirt fond of particularly clever language... and even cleverer tongues. She dates very casually, and kisses even more casually-- usually, never the same person twice in a row.

Enemies
Though the sentiment isn't returned, Garnet considers Celadon West a total waste of everything she herself has ever wanted-- magic, lineage, and a living mother. And what does he do with it? Absolutely nothing, using his powers to neither tip the scales of good nor evil. She hates his guts and spent most of her time at Emerald City Academy trying to make his life a living hell... and it royally pisses her off that, even after all this time, he still doesn't consider her a worthy enemy.

Brangwen Von Dark
"I was worried about Sable, you know, but you're SO different from past heirs of your destiny... SUCH a sweetheart."

- Garnet, upon being introduced to Gwen

You might think that Garnet and Gwen could be something vaguely resembling friends, given their like-minded proclivities for ruthless manipulation and striking terror into the hearts of many. However, you would be very, very wrong.

Even though someone looking in from the outside might say that Garnet always treats Gwen with a cordial kindness, both of them are well aware that they're only trading honey-coated barbs and saccharine quips in a very subtle battle over the relationship status of Garnet's best friend, Sable Mimicry-- the same woman Gwen would have trapped in monogamy.

In a merciless bid to prevent her fellow bachelorette from ending their wild and careless lifestyle, Garnet has taken to sabotaging the relationship any way she can, everything from encouraging Sable to forget about Gwen while "sleeping it up" to double-talking both girls about how they would be repeating all of their parents' worst traits if they were to ever get together. Garnet has made it her goal to tear down any romantic entrapment that might be going on between the two... something like a platonic homewrecker.

Despite her noted dislike of Gwen Von Dark, however, Garnet does consider her something uncomfortably close to an equal. Though she affects a tone of condescension, Gwen is a legitimate threat in Garnet's eyes... and she thinks both of them know it.

Privately, Garnet sort of respects her in a weird way. She isn't giving up Sable's friendship without a fight, but if she absolutely has to lose Sable to someone, Garnet very strongly feels that Gwen is the only adversary worth losing it to. Though Garnet more or less keeps her hands to herself-- viewing Gwen as part of "Sable's turf" in Ever After-- Garnet would readily admit to pretty much anyone who asks that she'd love to share a night or two with the dark temptress.

Part of Garnet enjoys the thrill of this rivalry so much that she's not even certain she wants it to end. Though she doesn't feel particularly bad if Gwen gets hurt by other people, Garnet has something of a vested interest in being the source of all of Gwen's biggest threats. Subsequently, she can be strangely, oddly possessive of Gwen's hatred, and would try to one-up anyone else who garners Gwen's wrath.

Their rivalship name is Blood Diamond.

Damon Gale
"He's figured it out... he's THREATENING me. The joke's on him, though... I'm not scared. I refuse to be!"

- (She's actually scared.)

When Garnet met the protagonist of her story-- you know, the one who's supposed to crush her with a house within the first few of chapters-- he crashed her seventeenth birthday party on the basis of little more than having heard that she was a fellow Ozian. His impromptu birthday gift? A birdhouse.

Reasonably offended by the insinuation, particularly given the destiny of the guy it came from, Garnet took the gift as some sort of unspoken passive-aggressive threat, a reference to her eventual death. Damon, in truth, has no idea what he did wrong... though, of course, Garnet believes that he's only feigning ignorance in order to seem nice to the others.

Though she is well aware that Damon hasn't been told many of the details of their story, she believes that he's somehow pieced together the beginning of his story-- that he's trying to rub her destined death in her face. His enthusiasm for visiting Oz doesn't help matters much, and Garnet takes every "I can't wait to see Oz for myself" as a subtle indication that he somehow looks forward to crushing her with a house, which does, indeed, herald his entrance to Oz. Honestly, it's a more reasonable conclusion than the thought that the guy actually just likes houses and builds them for fun.

As long as Damon Gale still walks the earth, Garnet constantly feels like her life is in danger. Though she is not above plotting to outright murder him, most of her currently existing plans are infeasible for one reason or another... largely because she has limited access to his location at present, due to attending a different school. For now, she just does her best to casually avoid him and pretends not to be unnerved by his multiple (unintentional) threats.