The Silverbell Household: Waiting for my cousin...

I work hard every day of my life
I work till I ache my bones
At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -
I get down on my knees
And I start to pray
Till the tears run down from my eyes
Lord - somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?

Azalea was walking her twin younger siblings, Heather and Glen, home from school.
"I'm sorry Luca died, Azalea." Heather said, clinging to Azalea's arm.
"Yea! I'm sorry I called him mean. He wasn't mean, really." Glen said, putting on a brave face. Azalea tried to smile for them.
"Don't worry about it, you too." She said.
Azalea, Glen, and Heather passed one of their neighbor's houses that lived right down the rode from them.
"WOW! Look, it's a hummingbird!" Heather said, and the two rushed over right into the yard to see it.
A... hummingbird? At this time of the year? Isn't it a little early for them? Azalea thought, before going after the twins.
"Heather, Glen, you know better then to run into someone else's yard! Look, I'm real sorry, Miss..." Azalea said right before glaring at the twins.

Miri frowned, but she didn't look angry, just cautious. The kids look harmless enough, I mean, it isn't like Flutter would let them touch him anyway, but...
She glanced at the girl in front of her. "...Ms. Silverbell, and it's fine. I'm Miri. Now who are you, exactly?" she questioned, her voice sharp and her tone unrelenting. Miri was pretty sure she sounded a little rude, but she didn't care.
It's not my fault I don't get all buddy-buddy with people the first time I meet them. I bet she doesn't trust me either. She's probably just better at hiding it. But if we both know that the other is a little suspicious, what's the point of lying?
"Sorry, do I know you?"

I work hard every day of my life
I work till I ache my bones
At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -
I get down on my knees
And I start to pray
Till the tears run down from my eyes
Lord - somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?

I'm glad that I take these two home and not Nalin. Nalin would have her neck if she said that to him.
Azalea shook her head, guiding the twins to stand behind her.
"No, you probably don't know me. I'm Azalea, this is Heather, and this is Glen. We live right down the road from here." Azalea said, suprised that she didn't know her name. All of Panem probably knew her name-and that was all thanks to Luca.
"Look, I'm really sorry. These two," She glances behind her and the twins give Azalea a hopeful look. "Have no manners.

Miri blinked, caught off guard. "Oh, you're- oooohhh. Azalea. Right. Well, I... erm... I guess.... hm. Sorry about your, um, friend. Boyfriend? Gah, I apologize, none of my business."
Her eyes narrowed at the mention of the children. "It's fine with me, but- oh! I should warn you..." she trailed off and turned to the kids. "Flutter is not the nicest fellow, especially to anyone he doesn't know. There's a very high chance he might peck you, so be careful."

As if Miri were a prophet and not just knowledgeable about the tendencies of her pet hummingbird, Flutter zoomed high up in the air and dive-bombed the children, poking one of them lightly with his beak, then soaring upwards and pricking the other. Miri winced, even though she knew it wasn't likely to cause them much pain, even if Flutter aimed correctly and actually made contact with their flesh, whcih she hadn't bothered to check.

"Oh, darn it, I'm sorry- Flutter! It's not polite to stab people when you first meet them, especially when it isn't another hummingbird. They're not going to 'steal your territory' or anything! Honestly," she scolded, shaking a pointed finger at the tiny, hyperactive, extremely territorial bird. Whether he didn't understand what Miri was saying or was just ignoring her, Flutter continued to attack the children, although he was very gentle, and missed a lot of the time.

I work hard every day of my life
I work till I ache my bones
At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -
I get down on my knees
And I start to pray
Till the tears run down from my eyes
Lord - somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?

"He wasn't my um-never mind." Azalea was a little glad that the girl was a little more friendly.
"Oh! Glen, Heather! Shoo, hummingbird!" She said, trying to shoo the bird away so it would stop pecking at the twins. Glen and Heather held their hands up to their face in defense.
"Oh, oh I'm sorry! I couldn't let that hummingbird hurt my little brother and sister..." The girl, Miri, was probably going to be real mad, now.

Miri shooed Flutter away from the twins and carried him over to a flower, which he immediately began drinking from. Glad her hummingbird had ceased his insistent pecking, Miri grinned when she saw her cousin arrive. "Hey Scarlett. It's fine. I'm glad Olive's okay. This is Azalea," she said, and introduced the two, even though she didn't really know Azalea very well at all herself.

I work hard every day of my life
I work till I ache my bones
At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -
I get down on my knees
And I start to pray
Till the tears run down from my eyes
Lord - somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?

Azalea smiled as a little cat came over to play with Glen and Heather. She was a little glad that the twins could have something to occupy themselves with. They loved cats.
"Oh, it's nice to meet you, too, Scarlett! That's a very pretty name, if I do say so myself."
When Azalea was alone, she thought that if she ever had children, then she would name them Scarlett or something like that. But Azalea didn't want to have children as long as she lived in District 9. The chance that her children just might be killed in the hunger games scared her.

(Just a note- Angel's a cat, if that's who you meant by the little girl. XD I know this because I found the picture of Angel for Hyacinth, so.... yeah. Just a hopefully helpful comment.)

Flutter got bored of the twins, greeted Angel with a taunting peck on the head, and flitted over to examine Azalea. He twirled around her head for a while until Miri snatched him out of the air and set him back on the flowers, which he took to immediately. "Sorry," she apologized.

:.:.:Oops, I'll fix that!!! :.:.:


I work hard every day of my life
I work till I ache my bones
At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -
I get down on my knees
And I start to pray
Till the tears run down from my eyes
Lord - somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?

Azalea felt a little bit like an outsider.
"Oh, no, it's okay. I don't have to-I've got to get home and help these two with their homework and then I've got to make dinner for my older brother. He'll be home in about..."
Azalea looked up at the sky, squinting her eyes.
"He'll be home shortly, and he'll be really tired and grouchy. He probably wouldn't like it if I wasn't home when he got there." Azalea said. It wasn't that she didn't like her brother, Nalin. No, she simply felt sorry for him. He worked a lot to support himself and three other people, but he didn't get paid much.
"We should really get going."

I work hard every day of my life
I work till I ache my bones
At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -
I get down on my knees
And I start to pray
Till the tears run down from my eyes
Lord - somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?

Azalea thought for a moment.
"Well, I suppose Nalin could come over here for a little...okay, fine. I can stay, but not for to long. You've never seen mad until you've seen my older brother mad." She laughed, remembering all the times her mother had yelled at Nalin to fix his temper. He had always had one, and would probably always will.

I work hard every day of my life
I work till I ache my bones
At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -
I get down on my knees
And I start to pray
Till the tears run down from my eyes
Lord - somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?

Azalea looked back at the twins, who were sitting in Miri's yard playing a game that they had made up. She smiled, and stepped into the house.
"Oh, Nalin isn't that bad. He's actually really sweat. But, he works way to hard and doesn't get paid much. He's had to help support himself, plus me, and our little brother and sister for quite some time now. I can make a little extra money on the side as a healer, I know a lot of different healing plants from my mom. But, all that work is stressful on a nineteen-year-old." She said, spilling her secrets, realizing it a little to late.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to ramble on like that."

I work hard every day of my life
I work till I ache my bones
At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -
I get down on my knees
And I start to pray
Till the tears run down from my eyes
Lord - somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?

"Oh," Azalea began. "I've probably got the same stove at home. All the houses probably have the same stove, I probably know how to work it."
Azalea knew that it wasn't very polite to tell someone that they already knew something, especially in their own home...but Scarlet was Miri's cousin, so this wasn't her home. It was Miri's.
"But uh, how do you make 'spaghetti surprise'? Is it any different from regular spaghetti?"

I work hard every day of my life
I work till I ache my bones
At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -
I get down on my knees
And I start to pray
Till the tears run down from my eyes
Lord - somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?

Azalea nodded.
"That sounds good." She said, smiling. Then, Scarlet went into the garden to get tomatoes and other herbs.
"What do you want me to do?" Azalea said, trying not to get in the way, but still help at the same time.