Charnelle Shavokar

**Charnelle Shavokar** is a 2016-introduced, all-around character who is the daughter of vetala from Hindu mythology. She is considered the resident 'class claw-n' and an oracle. She joined Monster High (unofficially) after annoying some students there, then inhabiting one of the De-stein Tech 'projects' created by Krisdin Hopkins. In her daily unlife, she is seen being in both 'spirit/ghoul' and 'normie' mode. She appears in the **ongoing!!!** Gods and Monsters series.

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## Monster High Student

 ### **Age**

 That's a riddle beast unanswered

 ### **Monster Parent**

 A Vetala Couple

 ### **Killer Style**

 Sleek vests and skirts, as long as they're also flowing and comfortable. Mehndi and sandals mandatory.

 ### **Monster Quirk**

 I can inhabit other ghouls and mansters, making them do whatever, nothing illegal though. Not to mention, near-infinite knowledge of time and space - but baby steps.

 ### **Personal Monstra**

 I slip through. Everything's more at ease once you fit in anywhere, right?

 ### **Pet**

 It's an adorable squirrel named Memorial. Little nutty, but a willing transport.

 ### **Favorite Activity**

 Watching crime programmes and quiz shows, and following wherever my friends are

 ### **Fav School Subject**

 Archaelogy. Crime scream investigation, but for long ago.

 ### **Least Fav Subject**

 Dance. Physically, I trip over my backwards feet. Metaphysically, my feet barely touch the ground. Lose-lose, much?

 ### **Favorite Color**

 Orange. Personally I think it's the most underrated colour in hexistence.

 ### **Favorite Food**

 Animal (and People) Crackers. What's the phrase, young at heart?

 ### **BFFs**

 Krisdin Hopkins

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## Character

### Personality

Charnelle is one sly, quirky ghoul who is not very ashamed of herself. She spent most of her un-life alone directionless so when she got her chance to make friends, she sticks with them no matter what. With instinctually deep insights, the ghoul is also the kind of monster who interrupts other people because she's eager to share her ideas and knowledge - at the expense of manners.

Charnelle is unrelenting to anyone, thinking that she is treating everyone fairly. Strangely, she may also act like a social sheep, admiring every single thing of a friend and trying to do the same things as them. At the end of the day, she's extremely reliable and helpful, although a bit unpredictable. One thing's for sure: her character's one no one can forget, and she likes to keep it that way.

### Appearance

As a spirit, Charnelle has the typical pale complexion, albeit a bit brownish. Her waist-length hair is white and big eyes shockingly red too. In extreme situations, she can look bat-like due to being a vampiric creature.

Her 'physical' appearance on occasion differs depending on the body she inhabits, but she is most commonly seen in her 'normie' look - reflecting similar characteristics as her spirit form along with backwards hands and feet usually decorated with henna patterns. She also sports a pair of vampire fangs.

Her everyday wear consist of contemporary Indian fashion - long-sleeved blouses and flouncy skirts. Charnelle particularly likes them in bright colours such as orange and yellow. She also wears gold accents and jewelry, as well as shoes. Associated with death, skulls are not uncommon on her monster.

### Interests and Hobbies

She never honestly has much of anything to do at home, other than to hog the television and create imaginary stories to tell and display. However, being in Monster High encouraged to try everything at her platter. Charnelle usually dabbles in anything her fellow creatures are doing, but she sometimes have a difficult time which ones are best.

What she's personally interested however is other stories. Like Spectra Vondergeist, she loves solving mysteries and investigations (if tapping into the infinite realm of space and time counts as solving).

### Monster

Source: Vampmyth, MentalFloss

Charnelle is a vetal (plural: vetala), a vampiric-demonic spirit from Hindu, and to a lesser extent Buddhist, mythology commonly found in cemeteries and charnel grounds (places where corpses lay in the open). They are able to possess corpses (which don't decay during inhabiting) or even alive beings, using them to move 'normally' among humans. Most times, they get out of their bodies to feed during the night. One can know there is a vetala possessing a body by different signs such as finding if their hands and feet are backwards - among other changes.

While they are inhabiting their bodies, their purpose is to annoy and cause mayhem in towns and villages. They are also known to feast on children, cause miscarriages and many more in the night. However, some are also known to be guardians of their respective homes. Due to the vetala being stuck in a afterlife-like state, they can look into the past, present and future. One reason why a vetal could exist because its former body (usually a child) hadn't gone through a proper funerary ritual, making it (the spirit) restless, usually inhabits other forgotten bodies; therefore a vetal can 'die' by doing so.

The most famous example comes from the centuries-old Twenty Five Tales of the Vetala, *Baital Pachisi*, where King Vikramaditya attempts to recover a body inhabited by a vetal to bring to a sorcerer. It was also known for having impeccable storytelling skills.

## Abilities

* **Clairvoyance** - Like other vetala, Charnelle is able to perceive past, present and future through visions as she is in a state beyond the 'normie' realm, albeit the power is less controlled and tend to spring unexpectedly.
* **Possession** - the defining trait of a vetal (or possibly any other ghost) is possessing other bodies, undead or not. Charnelle is so used to this ability she sometimes get confused which body form she is inhabiting. She also gets mischievous with possession by imitating another monster. (Un)Fortunately, there are telltale signs that she is living in a body like backwards feet and hands.

### Skill-set

* **Drawing** - from lifelike portraits to abstract patterns, Charnelle can pull it off. She mostly does this in her favourite medium of henna.
* **Playing the Sarod** - The complex instrument is music to her ears. Great practice gripping with her backwards fingers too.

## Relationships

### Family

She has two loving parents, (names TBD), who has to move a lot due to their overprotective and cautious behaviours, as well as their 'ghostly' nature. On the other hand, she has a half-brother from her dad's side - a black sheep Tamas Mahavidya, the son of Dhumavati. As they're associated with death and disease, it's obvious she hadn't have much contact with them save for her visions.

### Friends

Her absolute best friend has to be Krisdin Hopkins, who had helped adjust in the BS and Monster High. Previously, she hadn't have much connection with others. Recently, she's familiar with Hindu demigods, such as Kara Devi, leading on to ones from other mythologies.

### Enemies

She wouldn't really call Spectra Vondergeist one though. However, due to her clairvoyance and knowledge of future events, people generally trusts her word more than Spectra's, hence being sort-of rivals.

### Pet

Though she doesn't technically own it, Charnelle has a 'pet' squirrel named Memorial. In certain situations, she may have to possess her to sneak around.

## Trivia & Notes

* *Charnelle* comes from the word *charnel*, meaning associated with death. It also refers to charnel grounds. *Shavokar* is a compound of two Hindi words: *shav* (body) and *vokar* (walker).
* Due to the backwards appendages, she tends to be double-jointed.