Esther de Groot

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**Esther Fenella de Groot** originated as a character in *Scary Go Round* and later became one of the lead characters of *Giant Days*.

Known sometimes as "Dark Esther" due to her "goth-girl" style, she was a grammar-school classmate of Erin Winters, Sarah Grote, and "The Boy" Eustace Boyce. Esther collaborated with Sarah to produce a fanzine entitled *Guns for Eyes: formerly "Slash Don't Stab"*, which also had music reviews by Shelley Winters (writing as "Dr Lady Sounds").

Esther maintained connections with Shelley Winters long after the time they collaborated on the "zine". She brought her friends from college to visit Shelley in London, getting pursued romantically by one of Shelley's co-workers (who she at first thought was pursuing Shelley). Many years later, she was one of many people showing up at Shelley's baby shower following the birth of Peggy.

At some point during her grammar school days, she worked at an unorthodox pet store, and sold Comrade Bat to Shelley Winters.

For a while Esther was romantically involved with The Boy, and the couple lost their virginity in a caravan in Wales, during a trip made in a failed attempt to get Tim Jones back from his exile. They briefly continued a long-distance relationship after Esther left home to attend the University of Sheffield, but this did not last long; the breakup is reported to have happened eleven days after she arrived.

At Sheffield, Esther soon found a new circle of friends, becoming very close to Daisy Wooton and Susan Ptolemy, who had dorm rooms near hers (and later shared a rented house with her). A group of stuck-up "mean girls" tried at first to recruit her into their friendship group, on account of Esther having been head girl in school as they were, but she found nothing in common with them and they soon became enemies instead. Erin, freshly returned from Hell, made a brief appearance to help Esther and her friends in one of the dizzying array of adventures they had within their first few weeks of college, adventures which continued through their college careers and are still being chronicled now. (Although *Giant Days* takes place a number of years earlier than other current John Allison comics -- it's in the gap between *Scary Go Round* and *Bad Machinery* -- no indication has yet been given of what becomes of these characters after this, except that Shelley once noted while browsing Esther's Facebook: "There's nothing here that isn't 'it's complicated'.") Esther wound up with a mysterious tattoo on her back from the Black Metal Society during one of these adventures.

Esther was listed at #3 on "Fresh Meat: The 25 Hottest First Years" at Bantserve, a website run by some guys who attend the same university as her. She was not pleased at this distinction.

Esther's second boyfriend (not counting the one-night stand with with Steve Shields, which triggered the breakup with Eustace) was an assistant teacher named Ian, whom she first met while taking an exam, in which he was the invigilator. This relationship was problematic from the get-go though, due to the age difference and due to Esther having to conceal the fact in front of Ian's co-workers that she was actually a student. They ended their relationship after an argument during a dinner at the place of Ian's professor.

### Trivia

Esther turned to the goth lifestyle at the age of twelve, after having been completely humiliated by her opponent in an inter-school debating team competition.

1. ↑ http://scarygoround.com/sgr/ar.php?date=20081014
2. ↑ http://scarygoround.com/sgr/ar.php?date=20061211
3. ↑ http://www.scarygoround.com/bobbins/?date=20140621