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𝓜𝓲𝓪 𝓐𝓵𝓿𝓪𝓻𝓮𝔃

❝𝐼𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓌 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒 𝒶𝓌𝒶𝓎, 𝒽𝑒'𝒹 𝒷𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒶 𝓂𝑜𝓉𝑜𝓇𝒸𝓎𝒸𝓁𝑒.❞ 𝓛𝓸𝓻𝓮𝓵𝓪𝓲 𝓖𝓲𝓵𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮

𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓰𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭

𝑭𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝑵𝒂𝒎𝒆 •• Emilia Alvarez
𝑵𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 •• Mia

𝑨𝒈𝒆 •• 26
𝑩𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚 •• 16 April 1993
𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓 𝑺𝒊𝒈𝒏 •• Aries

𝑩𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 •• Miami, Florida
𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 •• Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico; Miami, Florida, United States; London, United Kingdom
𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 •• Paris, France

𝓭𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓵𝓸𝓹𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽

𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 •• Cis Female
𝑺𝒆𝒙𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 •• Heterosexual
𝑹𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒔 •• Old maid

𝑶𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 •• Au Pair
𝑬𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 •• Will go back to school to get her Master's. Eventually.

𝑺𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔 ••

she has a very sharp wit
thinks on her feet
good at handling things on her own
quite mature for her age
good at solving other people's lives
gives off a very "I'm in charge" vibe, when she wants to
can make a kick-ass cup of coffee
can hold her liquor like an 84-year old high-functioning alcoholic ranch owner

𝑾𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 ••

difficult to adapt; very much likes things the way they are
still smokes
she's stubborn, set in her ways, and will never be able to be the easy-breezy, "cool girl", a fact which eats at her at times, especially when looking at her more carefree, impulsive peers
she won't buy a damn skirt without overthinking it for 847 hours, but will often decide major things on a whim
is prone to speaking without thinking; will say something that sounds so much worse than it was intended
she's very insecure about not having "settled down"; she doesn't want those things, but she's still sensitive about not having them

𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂

𝑽𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒆𝒔 ••

Mia is a fighter. If she wants something, she won't give up on it. She will make it WORK, damn it! That's great when it's a friend she won't give up on, but less so when it's a bad ex-boyfriend, and who hasn't had one of those?

She's often willing to make herself look ridiculous or say dumb things to put others at ease or make them feel more comfortable. She's always offering herself up as cannon fodder to save her friends' skins, because she's willing to take the heat for others who aren't as good at standing up for themselves.

She takes risks when it counts, and is willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. Her forgiving heart may be seen as virtuous, but you could also say she's weak.

Always willing to set her friends straight and give them the tough love they so desperately need. It doesn't sound like a virtue, but everyone needs a friend in their life who is lovingly, brutally honest and can roast the shit out of them when they deserve it.

𝑭𝒍𝒂𝒘𝒔 ••

She can be judgemental of others and their choices at times, and tends to think she's always right or would have made a better choice. That becomes very obnoxious, very fast. No one wants to be around a holier than thou know-it-all. At least she doesn't get preachy; she hates that.

She has allowed people (ahem, men) to walk all over her and treat her like trash before. You know when Dua Lipa was all like "Don't pick up the phone, you know he's only calling cause he's drunk and alone?". Yeah, she should have yelled that at Mia.

She'd like to think that she's too old for that now, but jealousy is an issue, sometimes. Especially when it comes to life trajectories and plans, she's intensely jealous of people who've figured it out, because god knows she hasn't yet. She likes to know what's going on, so this uncertainty may very well kill her.

𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍 ••

Mia doesn't come off as overly friendly at first, and she hates that. She's reserved, so that tends to come across as bitchy. Damn that resting bitch face. But she also isn't making much effort to change it. She's quick to anger, which doesn't make her an ideal person to look after children, but don't tell her host family that. Truthfully, she's not very patient - only child, what can you do. But she wants to be better, very very badly.

She's a good person and she cares a lot about others, she just needs to learn that not everything is as black-and-white as she saw it when she was a teen, and that life, more than anything, is just a bunch of grey, in every aspect. She's slowly realizing these things, but some of it just her justifying her own bad behavior to herself.

𝓫𝓲𝓸𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓹𝓱𝔂

Mia is the product of a pair of very different parents hopping between a variety of very different places - a father of Cuban descent and a French mother, living in Miami, a brief stint in Mexico, and then finally, in the UK up until now. That's where she got her weird, ambiguous, somehow always misplaced accent that no one can figure out, but also where she got her absent sense of identity and belonging.
Charlotte Cardin and Alberto Alvarez met when Charlie, as Alberto called her, was on vacation in Miami in the late 80s, where Alberto's family had fled from Cuba. They fell in love fast and hard, and while they couldn't be more different, their specific brands of zaniness worked together well enough for them to get married, spend some amazing years in Paris, before settling down in Miami, with Alberto's parents.
They never talked much about what went wrong in Paris, that they moved away, but Mia overheard enough snippets to piece together the fact that Charlotte's stuck-up family wasn't all too thrilled about the broke Cuban son in law. I mean, he wasn't even white; the horror!
They had Mia in Miami, to be around family, and while they felt incredibly lucky for the help while the baby was very small, they soon moved down to Mexico for Alberto's job. Unfortunately, the young family didn't have many years to enjoy here, and as a result, Mia doesn't remember much from her childhood in Ciudad de Mexico. Charlotte passed away after just a few years.
Alberto saw no choice but to move back to Miami - a single, young widower who worked full-time couldn't take care of Mia, so back to the States he went, where his mama, abuela, and many tias helped fill the mother-shaped hole in Mia's life. The hole left by his wife, however, was never filled, neither in his life or his daughter's.
Mia and her mother were very, very close, and losing her was incredibly hard on young Mia. Her dad tried his best, but he was no Charlie; plus, he was struggling with his own grief. And while there was a seemingly never-ending stream of women in Alberto's family who were all too happy to provide motherly love, advice, and a few well-deserved chanclas, nothing could ever replace her mother.
They moved to the UK much later, so that Mia could benefit from a wonderful Catholic education with plaid skirts and Alberto could pursue better job opportunities. But the UK, as colorful as it's come to be, will always be too cold - literally and figuratively - for the Alvarez family.
Mia never got to know that other French side of her family, but her mother spoke often of Paris and her youth there. Alberto, however, never ever wanted to go back, as Paris brought back too many painful memories - a happy time with a young Charlie and a cold, unaccepting set of in-laws.
That's mainly why she needed to go to Paris. She wanted to feel close to her mother, discover a little bit about what made her special, and maybe track down the other half of her family. Alberto wouldn't be too happy, but that's exactly why he doesn't know.

𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓷𝓪𝓲𝓻𝓮

𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒖 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒓 ?

Uh, Brexit? No, I'm kidding. But also sort of not.

I guess I've always felt this pull towards Paris and returning to live here for a while was always my goal. But then Brexit came along and I...panicked. Becoming an au pair seemed like the perfect ~~excuse~~ opportunity to come here and find out what it is that I'm supposed to be doing here.

𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔 ?

Is this the part where I get to milk my mother's death? Okay, so my mom died a few years ago. She used to live in Paris when she was my age, and she'd always tell me stories. And I guess I just sort of...wanted to experience something she did? Get to know her better? Feel close to her? Listen, if I knew why, I wouldn't need to pay my shrink $200 an hour to tell me why.

𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒈𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒖 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒓 ? 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 ?

Well, uh, not that long ago, actually. I just got here, this was my first gig. I imagine once they figure out what a fraud I am, they'll ship me back home, so I think I'll be here with the family at least until Tuesday.

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 ?

To not go to prison for child endangerment. If I can smash that, I can do anything. I'll have to go back to school because otherwise, the anxiety will literally kill me. I cannot leave things unfinished. I even feel guilty if I give up halfway through a book.

𝓼𝓾𝓹𝓹𝓵𝓮𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓪𝓵

𝑴𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒍 •• Taylor Lashae
𝑻𝒐𝒑 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 •• Boivin, Proux, Lesauvage
𝑻𝒐𝒑 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒔 •• Taylor Lashae, Vanessa Hudgens,

𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 •• {An older, longer story hosted here. In the meantime, I wrote a bit for Mia because I got overexcited lol}

Mia, RAP

july.

I’m literally like, the worst person to be doing this, I thought as I looked under my bed for the pair to the brown leather sandal in my hand.

No, I’m serious. First of all, I hate kids. Okay no, that's not true, but I don’t really, uh, know how to be around them. I don’t even want kids.

How the hell do you talk to a kid? How do you approach them? What do you SAY? How do you know what they want? You know how they sometimes just sort of…make sounds? Who comes up with a way to translate that? And they’re always sticky, ALWAYS.

And I hate French. Actually, French hates me. I don’t hate the French, because good god is that xenophobic and problematic, but someone please explain to me how it’s possible to take 8 full years of French and for NOTHING to stick. Je m’appelle Mia, je suis très jolie. Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ces soir? And that’s it, I’m tapped out. I mean my mother was French, for fuck’s sake. Now I’m thinking maybe she should have done a better job teaching me her language of romance and croissants. It clearly worked on my dad. Maybe THAT’s why I never got a man to stick around, if only I knew more French.

Maybe I was overthinking this.

Of course, that’s not what I said in my interview. Maybe if I had, I wouldn’t be having a panic attack right now, because I’m sure I wouldn’t be getting ready to move to Paris. I’d probably be on some blacklist, somewhere, with “FRENCH-HATING XENOPHOBE WHORE WHO EATS CHILDREN” written next to my name in big, bold letters. Right after “SOLTERONA” or whatever the French equivalent of “dried up old spinster” is.

Look at me – on paper, I sound like a psycho. Why the hell did I think I could be an au pair? And more importantly, who looked at me and thought “What the heck, why not?”

Okay, so maybe I embellished in my interview. And they might have seen that I’m technically of French descent, so they didn’t really bother to ask about that part? Plus, I smoke (I know, I KNOW, okay?), I wear turtlenecks, and I have a bob, so I guess that translated to “oui, oui, elle est Simone de Beauvoir, c’est magnifique!” I probably fucking butchered that, too. I can’t even remember how to say what grade I was in.

Knowing Spanish helped (gracias, papa), cause madame Boivin (or is it mademoiselle again now, that she's divorced? better not fuck up that part or she'll resent me forever) wanted someone who could teach the kids Spanish. How hard can it be, right? The kids are old enough to not be a pain in my derrière. Then again, that’s what I said about au pair-ing, and look at me now. She looked low-key scary, so maybe once she realizes what a buffoon I am, I’ll end up in the news – “Unidentified woman murdered and thrown in la Seine. She had the world BETRAYAL carved into her forehead, long, bloody nail scratches on her face, and lollipops stuck in her otherwise très chic bob.”

Maybe I should have joined the French Foreign Legion, instead.

They can’t like, throw me in French prison for lying, right? Right?

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devilish