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Sep. 16th, 2004 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taratemimaAnother Unknown Armies related story. No warnings this time, just some swears. This is about Alia Magid, a teenage girl spending her summer before college catching up on her family, including Peter Ravlin, an independent movie director.
Alia as a six-year-old is in bold. Alia as an eighteen-year-old is not.
My name is Alia Magid and I am six years old. No one knows how to say my name. Ah lee ah. My cousin Sunyata has the same problem. I live in Pomona. It’s in California, and it’s warm a lot. My daddy plays music. He plays it for people and he plays it for movies. Sometimes my daddy plays music for Uncle Peter. Peter isn't really my uncle, but he was around since I was born. Besides, he makes funny faces when I call him that. That makes me laugh.
Mama was a dancer, but now she is just Mama living in Venice. Now she tells people how to dance. Odette says she is a choreographer, and made me spell it right. Odette is twelve, and is very smart and nice but very quiet. Daddy and Mama aren't together, but I see them on alternating weeks. Odette goes to school in Venice and I go to school in Pomona.
Daddy is nice but weird. He won't let me play music too loud. I can listen to my music with headphones, but not play it loud. He tells me not to talk to the dolls in his den, but the dolls talk to me and tell me to break them. I don't because Daddy would get mad. When Daddy plays music, it sounds like glass breaking and cats fighting. I tell him this and he laughs and says that it was meant to be that way. Sometimes he makes up weird songs and sings them to me to make me laugh. They always do. Daddy is busy a lot, because some people like to hear glass breaking and cats fighting in their movies.
Mama sometimes takes out to farmer's markets and her dancing things. People wear leotards and leap around and tumble. It looks like fun, but no one is smiling. Sometimes Mama just makes us color and stuff while she calls people.
Uncle Peter visits and plays video games with me. He is quiet like Odette except when he talks about movies. His arms fly around when he is talking and he never combs his hair. He also listens to me talk about school and we talk about monster movies. I like Frankenstein and he likes Dracula. Sometimes he talks to Daddy in his studio where they talk about what Daddy will play for his movie.
Uncle Bill sometimes lives in LA and sometimes he lives in Paris. He plays funny music with drums called rumba, but he also plays Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder. I asked Uncle Bill if I spelled them right. I have two cousins, Sunyata and Simonne. Sunyata is in LA, taking classes in something called Waveology. He says it helps your mind. Daddy says I have to wait until I am as old as Sunyata. Simonne goes to French school and wants to play music like Daddy. Uncle Bill says he's crazy. I hope Simonne's music sounds better than Daddy's.
Grandma is nice and tells us stories and bakes us cookies. She knows a lot about my family, and tells me I have other family in other states. She said that one day she would introduce me to her brother Pinhhhhaaas (I don't know how to spell that, I just wrote it like she said, like she had something stuck in her throat). I don't know.
I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Everyone asks me and I don't know. I like to write, I like to color, and I like to tell stories and I like to run and jump and I like to play video games and watch movies.
I haven't played skeeball since I was ten. It's really been too long. So, as one of the things to do before I take off for Columbia, I invited Peter to the arcade.
When I met him in my car, it was like old times. I would call him 'Uncle Peter,' he'd sigh and roll his eyes, and I would giggle. Normal.
"You know that it gets real cold in New York, right?"
"Oh yeah, I've been there, remember, when I visit Mom."
"Oh, yeah, the choreographer." He scratches his head and smiles, proud that he remembered a name.
I nod. Mom moved to Cambridge when I was six, and now she is staying in New York for another dance troupe gig. Funny how far apart I am from the woman who actually gave birth to me. Odette was adopted, and she's closer to Mom than I am. May just be one of those things.
Peter never manages to get more than 100 points per ball. See, he would just fling the ball and it would land on the bottom from all that force. I tend to gently toss the ball toward the center. I don't always get 500 points, but I get a respectable score.
The machine spits out our tickets and I count them. Got more than Peter. Go me. I spot a Dance Dance Revolution machine further down the row.
"Hey, you want to learn how to play?"
"Nah, way too active--hey, Asteroid, I haven't played that in a long time." I shrug and head over the DDR machine. Peter seems to love old video games. Maybe if we find a Mario Brothers machine, I'll challenge him. As I pop the tokens in, I laugh and talk to Peter.
"So, I was remembering a t-shirt I saw while going out: "If video games really influenced our behavior, we'd be staying in dark rooms and popping pills to loud music." Not that I do that-the pop pills thing." I select my preferred settings: start off just under medium, and make it go up every so often. Some song called Aquarium Mix or something is selected, just because.
Peter yells over while staring at the screen, "Oh?"
"Dad warned me of addicted friends of his. He also fills me in on drugs I never heard of: Jupiter X, UPS, I think they are designer drugs." I start the up, down, right, left pattern, and then keep on as the patterns get switched. So, far, I am getting 'excellents.' Excellent. Heh.
"I never heard of them."
"Me neither. Dad said that stuff was more powerful and scarier than your average drug. I mean, the effects are stronger but that was the problem." The song switches and the arrows come faster. Fortunately, I am keeping up.
"You think he's telling the truth? I mean, your dad is pretty honest, but he'll lie if he thinks it would protect you."
"I don't know, but if I ask my friends about it, they'll want to know where to get it."
"Wow."
"Yeah Peter, it's weird when the only thing you have in common is bouncing around to loud music. Oh, and Dad won't let me play it loud in the house. Still." The speed goes up and I keep to it.
"So, going to raves and stuff is rebellion enough?"
I had to laugh, even if I did get an OK on that last move. "I wouldn't say that, and some of my friends would tell you are that the only things that should be called raves are big loud house music parties in abandoned warehouses, not going to a club and listening to Digweed and stuff."
Peter shrugs. "Your friends take this stuff too seriously."
"Whatever. I just dance."
Uncle Peter stopped coming spring. At first, I thought Uncle Peter was busy making a movie. But if he was making a movie, why isn't Daddy busy with Uncle Peter? Uncle Bill says that directors can use other music for their movies. That could be it. When Peter is finished, he'll come over the house again.
I tell Daddy to invite Peter for my birthday, and Daddy gets this funny look on his face, like it's something he doesn't want to do. He told me
Peter was in New York and wouldn't be able to make it.
Mama hasn't come here either. I know her week is coming up. I hear when Mama calls Daddy, but lately, I hear yelling coming from the office. The door is closed, so I can't understand him. Odette is acting all weird too, sitting around the house and sighing. Odette looks so sad, but just tells me to go away.
I thought a lot in my room, trying to ignore the dolls talking. They also complain about being dolls, and I ignore them. I'll call Peter in New York. That's where Daddy says he is now, and I will invite him to my birthday party. Even if Uncle Peter can't make it, I'll talk to him and see how his movie is.
I tell Odette my plan, but she says that she heard Daddy and Peter argue in his bedroom and she hoped Peter is never coming back. She won't tell me why they were in Daddy's bedroom. All she said that she snuck in and couldn't smell any pig shit. I yelled at Odette not to say that around me, but she just walked to her room.
When Daddy went outside to water his garden, I went to his office. It was two pm here, so it is five pm there, so I can call Peter. I got my piggy bank out, so I can pay for the call so Daddy won't worry about the phone bill. I dial ten numbers like Odette taught me to call Mom and wait.
Alia as a six-year-old is in bold. Alia as an eighteen-year-old is not.
My name is Alia Magid and I am six years old. No one knows how to say my name. Ah lee ah. My cousin Sunyata has the same problem. I live in Pomona. It’s in California, and it’s warm a lot. My daddy plays music. He plays it for people and he plays it for movies. Sometimes my daddy plays music for Uncle Peter. Peter isn't really my uncle, but he was around since I was born. Besides, he makes funny faces when I call him that. That makes me laugh.
Mama was a dancer, but now she is just Mama living in Venice. Now she tells people how to dance. Odette says she is a choreographer, and made me spell it right. Odette is twelve, and is very smart and nice but very quiet. Daddy and Mama aren't together, but I see them on alternating weeks. Odette goes to school in Venice and I go to school in Pomona.
Daddy is nice but weird. He won't let me play music too loud. I can listen to my music with headphones, but not play it loud. He tells me not to talk to the dolls in his den, but the dolls talk to me and tell me to break them. I don't because Daddy would get mad. When Daddy plays music, it sounds like glass breaking and cats fighting. I tell him this and he laughs and says that it was meant to be that way. Sometimes he makes up weird songs and sings them to me to make me laugh. They always do. Daddy is busy a lot, because some people like to hear glass breaking and cats fighting in their movies.
Mama sometimes takes out to farmer's markets and her dancing things. People wear leotards and leap around and tumble. It looks like fun, but no one is smiling. Sometimes Mama just makes us color and stuff while she calls people.
Uncle Peter visits and plays video games with me. He is quiet like Odette except when he talks about movies. His arms fly around when he is talking and he never combs his hair. He also listens to me talk about school and we talk about monster movies. I like Frankenstein and he likes Dracula. Sometimes he talks to Daddy in his studio where they talk about what Daddy will play for his movie.
Uncle Bill sometimes lives in LA and sometimes he lives in Paris. He plays funny music with drums called rumba, but he also plays Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder. I asked Uncle Bill if I spelled them right. I have two cousins, Sunyata and Simonne. Sunyata is in LA, taking classes in something called Waveology. He says it helps your mind. Daddy says I have to wait until I am as old as Sunyata. Simonne goes to French school and wants to play music like Daddy. Uncle Bill says he's crazy. I hope Simonne's music sounds better than Daddy's.
Grandma is nice and tells us stories and bakes us cookies. She knows a lot about my family, and tells me I have other family in other states. She said that one day she would introduce me to her brother Pinhhhhaaas (I don't know how to spell that, I just wrote it like she said, like she had something stuck in her throat). I don't know.
I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Everyone asks me and I don't know. I like to write, I like to color, and I like to tell stories and I like to run and jump and I like to play video games and watch movies.
I haven't played skeeball since I was ten. It's really been too long. So, as one of the things to do before I take off for Columbia, I invited Peter to the arcade.
When I met him in my car, it was like old times. I would call him 'Uncle Peter,' he'd sigh and roll his eyes, and I would giggle. Normal.
"You know that it gets real cold in New York, right?"
"Oh yeah, I've been there, remember, when I visit Mom."
"Oh, yeah, the choreographer." He scratches his head and smiles, proud that he remembered a name.
I nod. Mom moved to Cambridge when I was six, and now she is staying in New York for another dance troupe gig. Funny how far apart I am from the woman who actually gave birth to me. Odette was adopted, and she's closer to Mom than I am. May just be one of those things.
Peter never manages to get more than 100 points per ball. See, he would just fling the ball and it would land on the bottom from all that force. I tend to gently toss the ball toward the center. I don't always get 500 points, but I get a respectable score.
The machine spits out our tickets and I count them. Got more than Peter. Go me. I spot a Dance Dance Revolution machine further down the row.
"Hey, you want to learn how to play?"
"Nah, way too active--hey, Asteroid, I haven't played that in a long time." I shrug and head over the DDR machine. Peter seems to love old video games. Maybe if we find a Mario Brothers machine, I'll challenge him. As I pop the tokens in, I laugh and talk to Peter.
"So, I was remembering a t-shirt I saw while going out: "If video games really influenced our behavior, we'd be staying in dark rooms and popping pills to loud music." Not that I do that-the pop pills thing." I select my preferred settings: start off just under medium, and make it go up every so often. Some song called Aquarium Mix or something is selected, just because.
Peter yells over while staring at the screen, "Oh?"
"Dad warned me of addicted friends of his. He also fills me in on drugs I never heard of: Jupiter X, UPS, I think they are designer drugs." I start the up, down, right, left pattern, and then keep on as the patterns get switched. So, far, I am getting 'excellents.' Excellent. Heh.
"I never heard of them."
"Me neither. Dad said that stuff was more powerful and scarier than your average drug. I mean, the effects are stronger but that was the problem." The song switches and the arrows come faster. Fortunately, I am keeping up.
"You think he's telling the truth? I mean, your dad is pretty honest, but he'll lie if he thinks it would protect you."
"I don't know, but if I ask my friends about it, they'll want to know where to get it."
"Wow."
"Yeah Peter, it's weird when the only thing you have in common is bouncing around to loud music. Oh, and Dad won't let me play it loud in the house. Still." The speed goes up and I keep to it.
"So, going to raves and stuff is rebellion enough?"
I had to laugh, even if I did get an OK on that last move. "I wouldn't say that, and some of my friends would tell you are that the only things that should be called raves are big loud house music parties in abandoned warehouses, not going to a club and listening to Digweed and stuff."
Peter shrugs. "Your friends take this stuff too seriously."
"Whatever. I just dance."
Uncle Peter stopped coming spring. At first, I thought Uncle Peter was busy making a movie. But if he was making a movie, why isn't Daddy busy with Uncle Peter? Uncle Bill says that directors can use other music for their movies. That could be it. When Peter is finished, he'll come over the house again.
I tell Daddy to invite Peter for my birthday, and Daddy gets this funny look on his face, like it's something he doesn't want to do. He told me
Peter was in New York and wouldn't be able to make it.
Mama hasn't come here either. I know her week is coming up. I hear when Mama calls Daddy, but lately, I hear yelling coming from the office. The door is closed, so I can't understand him. Odette is acting all weird too, sitting around the house and sighing. Odette looks so sad, but just tells me to go away.
I thought a lot in my room, trying to ignore the dolls talking. They also complain about being dolls, and I ignore them. I'll call Peter in New York. That's where Daddy says he is now, and I will invite him to my birthday party. Even if Uncle Peter can't make it, I'll talk to him and see how his movie is.
I tell Odette my plan, but she says that she heard Daddy and Peter argue in his bedroom and she hoped Peter is never coming back. She won't tell me why they were in Daddy's bedroom. All she said that she snuck in and couldn't smell any pig shit. I yelled at Odette not to say that around me, but she just walked to her room.
When Daddy went outside to water his garden, I went to his office. It was two pm here, so it is five pm there, so I can call Peter. I got my piggy bank out, so I can pay for the call so Daddy won't worry about the phone bill. I dial ten numbers like Odette taught me to call Mom and wait.
