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.

Fire and Alcohol

Even Bastien the dog knows that the kids in the loft are up to no good in their evenings.

A beverage shouldn’t be on fire. And whatever is allowing it to burn, you shouldn’t mix with other substances.

But they do.

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.

Cyril and Cleo

And here it comes again.

We rush to the hospital; but I’ve done this before, I’m not too stressed. And we’re elated.

Once again, Hugo has been denied entry into the delivery room — but for good this time. He’s not too happy about this part.

So instead he goes and eats all the snacks in the vending machine at the cafeteria.

I wish he were here, too, this machine doesn’t get less scary.

But it’s all worth it when we meet them.

Hello, Cleo! Hello Cyril! We’ve adjusted the big room just for you guys.

Hannah’s New Groove

Hannah got moved into what was the guest bedroom; we remodeled it for her, broked down a few walls, starting with the wall that used to shelter the closet. I have to admit Hugo and I are glad to get rid of this closet, we’ve done too many things in there to be completely comfortable with the idea of it staying intact in our kid daughter’s bedroom.

Anyway her bedroom is fully remodeled after her tastes and preferences, and though it’s a downgrade in size, she loves it. And tonight, for the first time, she gets to sleep in her very own double bed.

Still a small human, such a gigantic bed.

“So I am going to be a big sister? And they’ll have to do what I say?” she asks me in the living room we were much too lazy to strip of its decorations the day before.