As a child, Erangelia was the apple of her parent’s eye. They had no extended family that still spoke to them but their small family was enough. Her father was a tarnished beauty, having acted in several hit television shows in his youth until an accident on set left him unable to continue acting. His left side was partially paralyzed, his arm completely useless and his leg only partially usable. Her mother was a round, maternal woman even before she had Eran. She was head chef in a high end restaurant that her father used to frequent. After his accident he was bedridden for a long while and the one thing he missed most was his favorite dish. He had his caretaker at the time go to the restaurant and request the chef make him the special, even though it was out of season. His requests were denied until word made its way to the head chef who insisted she go to his house and cook for him directly. It was love at first bite.
After they married they were without cares for a time. But soon his physical therapy bills and mobility device costs started to pile up and while her work was secure he could not yet contribute to the household and jointly they suffered. When she got pregnant things didn’t really change. They were delighted that they would have a child together. It wasn’t until complications put her on forced unpaid maternity leave and they had to live off of their savings that things started looking more dire. Erangelia Zyma was born December 20th to a white world. They moved from tinseltown to Bloomburg to a good neighborhood close to the expensive restaurant that her mother was hired at. With her supporting all three of them even with her father helping out with paid convention appearances and some digital writing gigs, things were tight.
Eran was raised in one of the worst houses in one of the nicest neighborhoods in Bloomsburg, not that she knew that. She didn't realize how well off her family wasn't since they kept it from her as best they could. They didn't let her have friends over, she always had to go to their houses. They got her nice things when they went without. They did their best for her to feel normal and accepted. From a young age she had no idea that she had less than her school friends. She was a prodigy, receiving scholarships for the private elementary and middle schools she attended, which were the only reason her parents could afford it. They died from medical complications after a monster attack that could have been easily taken care of if they had had proper insurance.
Her father held on for less than a week after her mother succumbed to her injuries. He told her, while he lay in his bed at home, bare of most of their possessions (repossessed to pay for hospital visits) that she was special. She had smarts and that was something no one could take away from her. She had to call the ambulance to take her father away and was made a ward of the state. She was given housing that was far from her school so her commute became unreasonable. Along with dealing with the deaths of her parents so close together and the loss of her childhood home, her friends stopped talking to her, avoiding her and her complicated situation. They were kids and they didn't know how to deal with the emotions she was going through. It was easier to just cut their ties.
Eran saw how fragile her friendships really were and found herself completely alone. She felt the difference between her and them keenly. She started realizing the sacrifices her parents made to make sure she never felt different from her peers. The distance between them grew, making her more isolated than ever. She struggled with the everyday loss of amenities and luxuries she had never gone without. It humbled her.
Her caseworker checked in weekly and her teachers tried to take time to talk with her. She had a court appointed therapist but everything felt, to Eran, that she was an obligation. She became despondent and began losing weight drastically. Her grades fell because she found it difficult to care about assignments as she fell into a deep depression. The worse she did the more she felt she was failing her father, who so valued her mind and her mother who had often remarked on her lovely plump frame that they had shared. She felt completely disconnected from the person that she was. It was all taken from her in the span of two weeks and it was too much for her thirteen year old self.
She managed to graduate from her prestigious middle school but failed the connected high school exam and decided to homeschool herself. When she felt ready to rejoin humanity, as it were, she was sent to the inner city to a public high school for her final year. It's been three years since the worst day of her life. She's gained the weight back, she's improving emotionally, she has bad days and good days but the good is outnumbering the bad by a wider margin each month. She isn't as much of a genius as she was when she was young but she's started to focus on different things, prioritizing making friends over academic achievement since she regretted not having anyone there for her when she needed them most.
Eran picked up dance as an elective when she was young and kept with it throughout the years. It was one of her only solaces and a place of refuge after her parents died and her friends abandoned her. Her instructor, a dwarf named Mrs. Merryweather, was her only true confidant. They bonded over how neither of them were taken seriously as dancers and their shared love for the history of the Blooms. When she graduated from her private middle school and was made to leave her dorms and classes with Mrs. Merryweather, she left Eran with a broach that had been passed down her family line for generations. It was to go to her child but she was unable to have kids. Eran was the closest thing she had to a child.
While homeschooling in isolation she became even more entranced with the legends of the blooms. She scoured all the sites that mentioned them, collecting information and participating in Bloom roleplay chats.