Month: June 2018

Azalea Intervenes

Through Shanna’s sleuthing and our connections, I find Pari, for the first time, a few months after Hannah is born. I’m worried about her.

And sometimes, you express your worry for a friend by scolding them.

Scolding them, harshly.

It’s out of love; I wanted her to get better, and I didn’t want her to spiral down. Suddenly I didn’t trust these friends of hers anymore.

But she didn’t listen to me, nor did she want to.

So I went away. And didn’t see her again, or hear about her, until she knocked at our door after Cyril and Cleo were born.

The DJ Gigs

Pari is really taking a liking to DJing.

And going out to party with her refound friends.

She even gets the opportunity to mix for the club, and it feels great. And not just because there’s more than blood running through her veins.

But the nightclubs are public places; and we have common friends in some of them.

Back to the Abandoned House

Aurelie can tell Pari is not comfortable, so she proposes they go meet the club’s “provider” together. Pari is confused when they head back to her decaying childhood home. Aurelia waves the question off, explaining that when Pari vacated, the man moved in on Aurelia’s suggestion. He was looking for a place, see, and she got a good deal out of it.

Pari is not a fan of the situation.

But Aurelie and the man are apparently close friends, and she doesn’t want to disrupt.

But she doesn’t like what she sees.

At all.

Yet easily as that, Aurelie asks for an amount, and he gives it to her; and Pari just witnesses it.

Noises at Night

Pari’s still sleeping — but her friends won’t let that disrupt their usual schedule

Their usual schedule includes some substances I wouldn’t recommend — for anyone. It’s a social activity for them, though, and they toy around with it, and they are sure they are above death, or any risks.

The drugs amp up their focus, and it shows in their practicing their hobbies for hours. Unfortunately for the neighbors, in Alexandra’s case, this means blasting loud music.

And unfortunately for Pari, too, who finally wakes up.

She walks into the living-room to enquire about the noise.

They’re very straight-forward about it.

Advocate for her to try.

And she agrees; they were nice enough to bring her into their home, it would be rude not to participate.

So she joins, and tries her hand at DJing too. She likes it; she feels it could become a hobby. A profession, maybe. It’s not so different from being a tattoo artist. It’s still bringing out the artist in her.

They’re all artists in this loft; and the bubble help.

Help From the Wrong People

So Pari knocks at the wrong door.

At first it seems like the dream place. It’s spacious, open loft with every single piece of entertainment millennials whose parents have young money can dream of.

Maxime is not all that sure he wants Pari around.

But he still invites her to blow bubbles with him.

In the time it takes him to go check why the doorbell ran…

… the emotionally exhausted Pari has already fallen asleep.

Later she sleeps in Aurelie’s bed. Her first real bed since the bear attack on the parlor.

Aurelie

Pari managed to get by, presenting a nice face to the world. She washed her clothes in an inside tub, and spent most of her days outside on the green plaza.

On one such day, she runs across her old friend Aurelie, who learns about her situation.

At first, Pari doesn’t want to talk about it, but Aurelie is smart and savvy, and she figures it out. So she tells Pari she can come live with the group of friends at their loft.

Pari agrees.

As it turns out, Pari and Aurelie used to be in a relationship; and judging from the action in this Windenburg bush, they are ready to rekindle it.

Pari’s Past

So that you get where this decision is coming from, let me rewind a little. Here’s what I learned about Pari the last time I saw her.

After she left our house, she went back to the city she was born in, Windenburg. Her old childhood home was a ruin with an overgrown garden — but her tattoo parlor had been burned down by the Gang of Bears, so she had nowhere else to go.

It was not a pretty sight.

At all.

Without the funds to get her tattoo business back on track, Pari had to turn to other methods to get by.

Pari

Pari knocks at our door on a cloudy evening. She’s paler and she has bags under her eyes. I also notice the tremor in her hands. I know part of what she’s been through, but we haven’t seen each other in years.

I’m worried about her, and I’m even more worried about what she has to say.

She has something to ask, actually. She says she’s in a bad position, a really bad position, and she needs my help again.

She tells me her story, from the last moment we saw each other in that Arts District loft, up until now.

And then she asks if, even though she knows it’s asking a lot, I would be willing to give her my hospitality again.

Oh, Pari, I wish I could.

But we can’t have you here anymore.

Hannah’s Worry

When we come back we still have a few things to fix in the newly repainted and remodeled bedroom — and Hannah sneaks into see what’s changed, and what’s the big deal about her two new siblings.

They scream a lot. Especially Cyril.

She’s not convinced they’re all that great.

“Mom,” she asks me that evening, as I get her hair ready for bed, “are you and Dad going to pay more attention to the twins than me, now?”

“Oh, sweetie, no. We’ll never… We’ll take care of them because they’re very small and they need us, but none of you will ever come second. We’ll still love you just as much, you know that?”

“Will I be allowed to take care of them, too?”

I smile. She can’t see it, but my eyes are watering — what part of that I can blame on the residual hormones I’m not sure. I disguise my choking up as a chuckle.

“Well as long as you dare neither of them to go walk on embers with you, sure, baby!”

Hannah grins.

“Swear I won’t! I’ll at least wait until they can walk.”

Go to sleep you mischevious little one.

After that talk, she’s much more relaxed, and overall goes back to being a curious, self-assured child.