analogous
/əˈnaləɡəs/
adjective: analogous
comparable in certain respects, typically in a way which makes clearer the nature of the things compared.
Glendale, AZ
Thursday 26th July
Soraya Legacy Valentine | Binkie
"Soraya what has happened in your week?" Soraya rubbed her hands together as she looked at the groups mentor.
"Well, I went to a therapy meeting with my dad."
"That's amazing, how'd it go?" The whole group began focusing on Soraya.
"Better than I actually could've ever imagined, we spoke about a lot of things. He told me how he met my mother, things she did to him and my brother, I found out that she used to abuse my father and that's how he met his now husband and that Trenton didn't have it all that easy as my mother would forget about him and focus on men."
"Didn't he ever tell you that as your therapist?"A member of the group asked.
"He left hints here and there, all the cards were laid out for me I just ignored them."
"What did you find out about him?"
"H-he has schizoid personality disorder like me, worse than me. He never got to take pills they weren't accessible to him. My grandparents also treated him awfully and so he didn't have it easy at all."
"How was the experience overall?" Inej - the mentor - asked.
"It was great, I'm happy that we have somewhat a bond. I never would've imagined in a million years that he could be my father of that I had my father in my life and sat across from him every Sunday for the past eight years."
"That's nice to hear, I'm proud of you." Soraya smiled and nodded her head, "Jana how was your week?" The group that in a circle full of eight members, every week they were requested to say how their week went and elaborate. A good way to express their feelings.
"It was okay, I visited my mom at the station. She said she has parole soon but I don't think it'll work because she'll never admit to her wrongdoings so." Jana shrugged trailing off. Jana was a young nineteen year old woman, her mother was currently imprisoned due to theft. Jana only had her mother and so without her she was left with nothing except for a lonely quiet apartment and a pitbull named Kookie.
Jana was a small petite light skinned woman from Puerto Rico, she had a thick Spanish accent and had all the features of your stereotypical Spanish woman. She owned her thick bouncy blonde kinky curls along with her small button nose, she had wide eyes with sky blue orbs that sat prettily inside them surrounded by sclera.
Jana was a very mischievous young woman, interested in politics and debating along with art and writing. She loved to express herself however didn't know how to vocally so she did it within her words and her arts.
Her brush and canvas was her voice.
"Ignore everything else how did it feel to see your mother?" Inej asked smiling at Soraya, she saw potential in the young girl.
"It was good as per usual, she's all I really got so it's nice to know she's still around when I don't have nobody."
"Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better written by Henry Rollins."
"There is nothing beautiful about being lonely, it's sickening." A member named Beau commented.
"Oh yeah and why's that?" Inej asked invoking Beau's inner thoughts and opinion.
"What's beautiful about being entirely alone and knowing you have no-one? I mean Soraya literally detaches herself from the world however she most definitely cannot look me in my eyes and tell me she found that calming."
"I found it just that," Soraya said in a soft voice, "as if I was floating honestly. As if I was on a busy train in the underground subway station of the buzzing New York City but yet I was the only one at peace in the midst of the storm. When I did and when I do detach my self from the world I feel a sense of solitude obviously, but I welcome that solitude and accept it and I learn to embrace it and love it. You should learn to love what you cannot escape from." A wide smile brewed on Inej's face.
"Beautiful explained, Soraya. Does that clear it up for you, Beau?" Beau rolled her bottom lip in between her braced teeth however reluctantly nodded. Beau was an African-American young eighteen year old who seemed to be angry with the world.
At the age of fourteen both her parents died in a house invasion, she was sent to live with her uncle who she was close with however he died in a drive-by on her sixteenth birthday. She got emancipated and decided it was just best she lived on her own, with no urge to live or do anything for herself she fell to drugs and dropped out of school.
She selles drugs to make money and that was her source of income, until the guy she did drops for took an interest in her and wanted her to be his. He stopped her from doing these drugs and selling them and showed her a new way of life.
It was like everybody that came around her had to die though because he was brutally murdered just a couple months after meeting her and the cycle repeated.
She promised to never get attached to someone again, for the sake of themselves. Drugs and art soon became her escapism, it was all she could fall back on. It was the only thing that didn't die in her presence.
"Okay," Inej stood to her feet and walked over to a large whiteboard. She grabbed a green whiteboard pen from underneath the board and wrote one of her favourites quotes, "If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be, Maya Angelou."
"You will now draw on the canvases provided what this quote means and what connotation connect with this quote." Soraya was totally prepared for this because the one word she loathed the most was normal and so a world full of ideas was brewing in her mind.
Taking this opportunity by its feet Soraya drew exactly what she thought of.
There were three hours in each session and for the first hour they discussed their week or any serious topics and had conversations on controversial opinions, Inej then wrote a quote on the board and they drew what came to mind after reading the quote for an hour. Then for the final hour Inej would choose something completely random for them to draw.
By the time the second hour was up Soraya had drawn a woman with a simple face, thin droopy eyes along with bags weighing down underneath them, an almond shaped nose and big plump lips turned up into a small smile barely there. Above that just by a couple inches laid a mask which had a very solemn face with everything like the smiling woman except it looked entirely miserable.
"Okay, guys that is it for that activity! Drop your brushes and let me see the canvases!" Inej announced as everybody turned their canvas round to face the mentor. Inej nodded approvingly as she looked around the room.
"Soraya, I love it honestly. Technique, amazing, the bags were drawn perfectly however I know that there is more you can give me with this task." Soraya nodded respectfully silently agreeing too, she knew she held some stuff back.
"Azalea that looks amazing, I love the tone, I love the texture. Very good job." Azalea smiled appreciatively as Soraya looked at her work. Azalea had drown the top of somebody's body, just the shoulders and neck however one neck was twisted to the right slightly and the other to the left and two heads emerged from each neck. It looked as if they were once one singular body but one was being ripped out of the each other due to the anguish on its face. Soraya couldn't deny how talented the woman was and how amazing her work looked and always did.
"Milo, would you like to explain to us your work?" Milo nodded and grasped at the opportunity.
"So I drew a woman looking into her reflection, the woman standing on the grass is very happy-go-lucky, cheery, smiling etc. All whilst her reflection is sad and dull and feels lost at sea."
"And how did you interpret that from this quote?"
"Because of how she acts like she is happy and what not but yet when looking into her reflection she is just sad."
"Good however this is to all of you do not ever feel the need to validate your art. You haven't got to elaborate or explain to anybody how you express yourself or why you have expressed yourself in such a way, in these activities you can never be wrong and nothing can ever be done incorrectly. Every mistake is a seed in need to bloom a flower."
Th group listened intently to her, "Jana, what is your work?"
"I drew a petal peeling off of its flower this is to represent how we shed skin everyday and we lose a part of our cells everyday unknowingly and so we can't allow that to affect how we live and our lives." Beau felt connected to her work and her explanation in a way however she didn't feel like it was the same situation.
Her parents and uncle and lover weren't just some dead cells, they were parts of her but more than just cells.
"Beau, Beau." Beau shook her head as she came back to earth hearing her name being repeatedly called and Merlin, the member to the right of her, clicking his fingers in front of her face.
"Soraya I was lost in the clouds." Beau tried brushing it off but Inej could see through her.
"Mind explaining your work, Beau?"
"Oh yeah, I drew a rib cage surrounded by some butterflies." Beau said bluntly.
"We come to these sessions to express ourselves Beau not give halfhearted answers nor do halfhearted work, elaborate please."
"The butterflies represent life, think of it as the butterflies trying to get inside the rib cage however the rib cage forces them out to protect itself and the butterflies from being trapped between their folds. The rib cage puts up these protective barriers so the butterflies won't be barricaded in, but the butterflies still try and find a way in because they want to be close to the centre of the rib cage." Soraya thought her artwork had a deep and very meaningful meaning. She could see that's how the young woman felt.
"Beautifully explained and drawn Beau. It looks beautiful, I love it. Merlin, explain yourself please."
Merlin coughed to clear his throat then moved his canvas a little more so everybody could see, "I drew a man who has people inside his head basically, and they're like trying to climb out."
"It is lovely to see the different interpretations of this quote, many of you shows signs of being trapped, barricaded in, lonely, ashamed or disappointed in ones self." Inej retrieved the whiteboard rubber from underneath the board and wiped of her quote.
Inej then walked around in a circle with a tray as everybody placed their canvas on a level of the tray as instructed in their first week.
Once done Inej put the tray next to all the others from the weald before and sat in her chair in front of the board.
"I have seen a part of all of you and I have seen that you all share one thing in common which is, mothers."
Everybody looked at her perplexed because everybody in the world had a mother whether they knew them or not and whether they were living or dead.
"Phrased that wrong sorry, you share a special relationship or bond with your mother. Some negative," Inej gestured towards Soraya, "and some positive." She then gestured towards Jana."
"Today I'd like you to paint your mothers or what you presume them to look like." Inej added the last part because she knew not all of them knew their mothers since some were never in their lives and some never met them.
Soraya was nervous about this task since she'd never done anything like it and she didn't even like thinking about her mother however she was prepared to do this.
She had to move on and that all started with the portrait of the woman who ruined her life for the better.
Soraya favoured her mother in her skin complexion and the main parts of their face. She began with her mother's facial structure, down to her neck and shoulder tops. She drew a necklace she always remembered her mother wearing that she never once took off, she'd never seen her mother's neck bare.
She drew her mother's strong bulky nose along with her large sultry lips, she also added some make up to her mother's face since she always loved caking her face with the products. She did a nice brown lip liner before giving her lips a glossy look. She then began sculpting the nose fixing any previous mistakes and making sure it looked just as she remembered.
Next she moved onto her mother's very strong and defined cheekbones, honestly her mother didn't have a flaw in sight — she was extremely attractive. It was her personality and actions that reeked.
She gave her mother's cheeks a pink toned look making see it worked well with her brown melanin skin.
She then moved on to her mother's eyes, her mother's eyes were full and wide — they looked like they were staring into your soul. Soraya had dark brown eyes just like her mother. Their eye shape wasn't alike but they had a very unique dark eye colour.
She then began the eye make up, making sure she got the eyeshadow and eyeliner correct before decorating the eyebrows. Her mother cared highly about her appearance and made sure she was always up to par with her hair appointments, manicures, pedicures, lash appointments and eyebrow appointments.
From what Soraya could remember when she was sixteen which was the last time she probably saw her mother, the woman had short shoulder-length dull black hair and if it wasn't braided or she wasn't wearing weave, she simply straightened it and left it out.
Soraya found her mother beautiful, on the outside. In the outside, she was a malicious disgusting woman and mother. An unfit parent at its best.
"Times up!" Inej yelled as the timer went off and Soraya looked at her piece of work.
She was proud of herself though all she wanted to do was burn it. She felt like she'd just opened the gate to the cemetery of the memories she was trying to dig underneath the soil.
"Soraya, you gave it your best and I can tell. That looks absolutely beautiful, you have portrayed your mother as a very good-looking woman." Soraya nodded understandingly.
"My mother wasn't ugly in appearance, well she wasn't when I'd last seen her. However she was an ugly mother and person in general."
"Well you have painted her very well that looks amazing," Soraya smiled and nodded to show appreciation, "Jana, I love your Puerto Rican background that is the first thing I see when looking at this woman.
Jana's mother, Emilia was a gorgeous fierce woman and that could easily be seen in the photo.
She had long flowing brown hair that cascaded down her back in waves, she had a sharp nose which stood out along with full plump lips that were coated in red lipstick. Her eyes were thin and Jana had painted red eye shadow above them and beneath her eyebrows. She had seductive arched brows.
Around her neck laid blue and red beads and hoops dangled from her ears as well as studs in her lobes.
She wore a white bandeau top along with a black long skirt which was decorated nicely with flowers of different colours.
"Your mother looks like a gorgeous woman, Jana. What is her name?"
"Emilia Equimero."
"Gorgeous name for a gorgeous woman, it is happy to see you taking such pride in your origin Jana. I am happy you express that in your art."
"Thank you, Inej." The mentor smiled kindly before looking over at the left corner of the room.
"Pallas, you haven't said all too much. Talk to me about your mother." Pallas was an African-American man whom had just gotten out of jail due to aggravated assault. Instead of going to therapy his parole officer told him about this support group his sister hosted and decided this would be better for him.
"I don't know what my mother looks like and so I drew the woman who raised me instead, Candace Mima." Pallas' biological mother left him outside a woman's door when poor Pallas was merely an infant. Candace instantly took him in without a second thought nor hesitation despite the woman only being twenty and having no clue about anything when it came to children.
Still despite this and despite the odd stares she raised Pallas like her son and treated him as such, making sure to tell him of his African origin and what her people did to his. Candace was a white American and also an anthropologist who worked in a museum for the majority of her career due to the research of cultural heritage and tourism.
"She raised me to be a good man, she taught me everything I know. She probably wouldn't be too proud of the man I turned out to be but oh well," Pallas shrugged mindlessly as he gave everybody the opportunity to see his work.
Pallas preferred watercolour paints over everything and so that is exactly how he drew Candace, "she had sharp cheek bones along with rouge pouty lips. She had a quite even sized nose and her eyes were almond shaped, blue orbs sat still inside of them. Pallas creatively styled her long brown hair into a bun and had some strands escaping from the style. The woman was bare from shoulder up and slight tears looked at her eyes.
"She looks absolutely amazing, Pallas. And I'm sure she'd be absolutely delighted with the man you turned out to be, be proud of yourself and who you are. Do not hate yourself, love yourself." Inej moved on to Tegan.
"Tegan, explain this gorgeous woman to me." Tegan Rivers was from an Irish background and she had the accent to match it. She grew up in a small town named Strangford in Northern Ireland. Tired of the weather and people in general she needed a change and decided to go to the big apple.
That obviously didn't work as she didn't get an apple she got a grape named Arizona. And a city named Glendale. However not one to be deterred from her aim she accepted her fate and decided there was nothing wrong with it, she could make do with it. Which she did. Despite missing her mam and meemaw she found a way to make a life out of herself. And she'd been in the city for nearly over a year now so she seemed to be doing something right.
"This is me mam," everybody in the group had gotten used to her difference in speaking by now, "she looks just like me as you can see."
That was something that could be seen: Tegan's maw had fiery hot red hair just like her daughter which Tegan often had left out however she styled her mother's hair into a messy bun with some loose strands. Her lips were small and slightly chapped and she had a beauty spot to the right of the right corner of her upper lip.
Her nose was long and thin and her eyes were grey and arrow, she gave of the strong, powerful woman look. She had thin arched eyebrows and a very firm sharp jawline.
"Do you want to tell us a bit about your maw, Tegan?" artist in question nodded as she looked at her parent.
"My mam is called Danika and she is an engineer. She is also me bestfriend and always provided me with everything I could've ever wanted, especially the 2000D Digital SLR $682.49 camera I wanted just before I came here."
"You seem to love her dearly."
"I do, Alzheimer's can be a bitch." Tegan mumbled but it was still audible. She was referring to her mother's medical condition.
Inej didn't speak on it and moved on to Azalea. "Tell me about your mother, Azalea." Azalea smiled slightly before she began describing her mama.
"My mom's name is Lotus, like the flower. She had very springy bouncy brown hair, I loved the colour of her hair because it was so beautiful and unique and I loved the way she would style it. She has these forest green brown eyes that I'm utterly obsessed with and the brown freckles that were littered all over her face which is the only thing I managed to inherit from her. She had this tiny cute button nose and soft milky skin. Her skin was always so soft and warm, she radiated warmth." The smile on Azalea's face as she spoke of her mother was hard to miss, "she looked like a greek goddess honestly." Azalea and her mother were obsessed with greek goddesses which is why Lotus painted her as one.
"Your mother is a gorgeous woman Azalea, try not to speak of her in past tense so much. She is still with us my dear, do not be so quick to let go." Inej was in awe of Azalea's painting as she found her mother to be truly beautiful.
"Merlín, your mother seems so mysterious to me. Explain her please." Inej smiled sweetly as she sat down in her chair and twirled around before stopping to face Merlin.
"Um growing up we didn't have much. It was difficult to get what we needed to obtain. My mother wasn't the best but I guess she was there unlike my father so I have to be grateful and thankful for that. She wanted things done her way, a certain way, a specific way. No other way was acceptable. I guess we bumped heads a lot and argued a lot, we never got along honestly but oh well." There was a distance in Merlin's voice as he looked into his mother's full black eyes.
Merlin's mother was a petite slim woman, she had short ginger hair that probably stopped at her ears. She had porcelain skin along with thin red lips and a long round nose, her eyebrows were very thin and her eyes were droopy. In the painting, she was sat leaning on a chair and staring off into the distance with a table in front of her and some shelves behind her along with a pale white wall.
"What is her name?" Inej enquired.
"Lorelei."
"She seems like a strict woman.
"That she was."
"Just because you are without one parent does not mean you must love the other if they treat you cruelly or wrongly, same goes for just because they're your parent, sibling or cousin. Blood means nothing. And you shouldn't love your mother for doing the bare necessities or the bare minimum or doing what a parent should do." Soraya felt the need to speak up and put in her input.
"Correct," Inej nodded in Soraya's direction, "Merlin, do you agree?"
"I do not love my mother, I do not love a woman who abused me." Merlin said with a stoic expression masked on his face.
[WE MADE IT TO 100K VIEWS!]
[i love you guys an indescribable amount I always say I'd be nowhere without you all but I really wouldn't]
[this chapter was 4003 words longs that is very long guys that totals up to 25 pages, i'm so kind]
[anyways I genuinely don't want this book to end because I cannot be asked to start all over again, don't get me wrong i'm really excited for this spin-off but it's just too much for me to handle so I may finish this book then begin the spin-off at the end of Feb or mid Feb once I get some time to myself]
[I'm always changing my mind so I probably will change this plan soon]
[I'm genuinely so proud of this book though and my abilities, I never imagined I could've came so far. This book is my baby it literally means the world to me as do all of you who helped me get to where I am]
[but yeah I just love this book and all of you guys and we're going to be finished in three more chapters guys, unbelievable!]