to live for others

carina araya. 40. kinship landing.

[carinaxaraya]

CARINA ARAYA –  ABOUT

Name/Nickname: Carina ‘Rina’ Araya Age: 40 Occupation: Front Desk at Kinship Landing Location: Southside

Carina was born and raised in Lockwood Springs and began dating Diego Silva throughout from middle school. They had their first child, Xavier, when they were seventeen and promptly married when they were eighteen.

They were married for seven years and had two more children. Isaac who’s nineteen, and Abril who’s almost sixteen. 

Carina moved to Denver with her children after Diego and her separated. They kept in contact and a civil relationship, not ending on bad terms but instead understanding they were young and didn’t know what they were doing. Carina couldn’t say a bad word for Diego’s involvement with their children until he was President of the M.C and went to prison for nine years.

Carina had to change her surname back to her maiden name and keep moving their children from school to school to prevent the bullying whenever other children and their parents discovered who they were related to. Xavier refused to change his surname but Abril and Isaac now have their mother’s maiden name too.

Xavier began following a similar path to Diego, running with a bad crowd and beginning to get into serious trouble. Carina tried everything she could think of until a year ago, she couldn’t take it anymore. She was drowning in debt and Xavier was bringing trouble to the house more often than not, so she sent him back to Lockwood to live with her newly released father.

In the past year, Carina has worried about Xavier and worried that she might not have done the right thing for Xavier’s future. The debt and stressed proved too much and Carina has returned to Lockwood Springs to Southside. She wants to mend her relationship with her eldest son and hopefully stop him joining the keepers, if she isn’t too late.

[carinaxaraya]

XAVIER​:

“It’s fine. Already ate.” Xav shrugged and moved to his feet, out of habit he wanted to help his mother but instead he threw his coat on and grabbed his keys. “Besides, Sofia makes a big serving for everyone so, wouldn’t wanna be rude since you know…” She took him in and did what a mother was supposed to do, forget all the times Carina tried to help him. He nodded about the time with his brother and sister and then looked to the stairs as his mother did. “Was good yeah, Ab’s gone out with some friends she said you already said it was cool so I just drove her there.” he then explained without much heart in anything he said to his mother. He barely laughed at the attempt for conversation too. “Hilarious.” he muttered through an airy noise. “Um, sure. I mean, when he eventually got out it was cool. Before that I was just…it was Sofia doing all the hard work.”

carina sighs as she hears xav mention sofia, not once but twice. she supposes she’s done this herself, driven her first son to be looked after elsewhere and she can’t blame anybody but herself if he now prefers everything she does. “sounds good, mijo. i’m glad you’ve been safe there. was it fun being back on the ranch?” she decides to focus on positives where she can but there’s not many. "but you and your papi are closer now, right?” she asks with a hopeful tone, waving isaac upstairs so he doesn’t have to witness the tense atmosphere even though he probably already notices it and knows it’s there. “i won’t keep you from your family if you want to go but i hope you come over often, xav. it feels nice having you here and i know abril and isaac love it too.”

[sakurahu]

[carinaxaraya]

DIEGO:

‘it goes by fast.’ diego hums as he looks to the stairs. even faster when the last time he saw isaac, the boy was just ten years old. now, almost a man. ‘nineteen was a weird age, right? we definitely didn’t know if we were kids or adults.’ he laughs, thankful isaac didn’t have a two year old to be responsible for like they did at his age. diego’s head tilts, laughing at his own misunderstanding as carina explains. ‘no wonder why she looked at me like i was the devil. thought i was being a good dad the whole time.’ he circles for a moment in the living space before deciding to get comfortable on the couch. ‘think you’re all gonna be okay here? there’s plenty of room at the ranch if you ever need it.’ diego mentions but he’s not sure how sofia would feel about that, or xavier. there’s not exactly bad blood between anybody but it’s tense…fractured. ‘i’m sure xav would get his head around it, i’d talk to him anyways.’ diego adds, even though xavier isn’t exactly happy with him either recently. but that reason can’t be talked about to carina. not yet.

“it does, you blink and you miss it.” carina laughs sadly and doesn’t need reminding the years that diego has missed, through his own bad choices or not she still wishes he had been there. “you’re here now, that’s what counts. there’s plenty more time to make memories.” she says to him softly and laughs as she remembers when they were age of their son. “i think we thought we knew what we were doing.” she lets out a sentimental chuckle. “but no wonder why everybody thought we were in over our heads.” carina adds tilting her head. she shrugs off abril’s little grump with her father, knowing the next time she sees strip lights they’ll be added to the cart for her so there was no harm done. “maybe come and help her put them up to say sorry?” she teases before the mention of xavier makes her quieter. it’s never easy for a mother to admit fault, like a bad mother sign hanging over her head. “we’ll be fine, diego. i know you probably will be over here more than the children.” she throws in a joke to lighten the conversation. “don’t put any pressure on xav, he has to do it in his own time. it’s for me to fix, anyways. has he been doing okay?”

[themarcspector-hasmovedblogs]

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[carinaxaraya]

XAVIER:

carina’s home southside

@carinaxaraya​

When his dad told him that his mom was moving back with Isaac and Abril, Xavier was only excited to see his brother and sister again. Carina wasn’t much of a mom in his eyes anymore. Their relationship had suffered long before she ever sent him to Lockwood and Xavier took the rejection to heart. Still, knowing he’d get to be a big brother again made the tension feel a little better. Plus, he had taken Isaac and Abril out for food and then came back when he knew she wasn’t there. After a few games with his brother, Xavier didn’t even realize the time until Carina entered and he awkwardly switched his laughter to silence as he watched her. “I better go, man. I’ll text.” he mumbled to his brother, grabbing his keys.

“you can stay, mijo. i’ll be making your favorite.” carina suggests with a hopeful look in her eyes. returning with groceries to see her eldest on the living room couch brings back both fond and bitter reminders of why they’ve ended up where they are. she has a lot to apologize for. for not understanding, for being scared and wanting the best for him. the conversation can’t happen suddenly, or in front of isaac or abril so she tries to catch xavier’s eyeline with her own. hopefully he can see there’s a lot she needs to say. “did you boys have fun? is ab in her room?” she then asks, keeping her tone as light as she can. trying to pretend everything is normal. “your father said the other day, it made me laugh, actually. he thought the l.e.d strip lights were for stripclubs.” she chuckles as she unpacks the groceries, whispering a thank you to isaac for helping as she then looks to xavier again. “has it been good? seeing him?...living with him?”

[carinaxaraya]

DIEGO:

closed starter @carinaxaraya​ carina’s home southside

love doesn’t go away. like life, it can only change into something that looks different and feels different but unlike life, it doesn’t stop. helping carina settle into her new home is the least diego can do, even if he hates feeling like a stranger after the previous nine years he was inside. being able to be a part of all of their lives again is the reward even if it serves a reminder of his stupidity. ‘ab loves her new room…isaac just kinda grunted which i think means he likes it.’ he sighs, after helping each child unpack the last of their boxes. he returns to carina to see if there’s anything else that needs organizing but he’s certain she’s got it covered. ‘what’s led strip lights? i immediately thought abril wants her room like a strip club so i said no and she told me off. i feel like i missed something.’

behind the news headlines of a murderer is the real diego silva. he’s caring and loyal and everyone who knows him knows it too. the divorce never made them hate one another, nor did her leaving for denver. even when she learned he’d face nine years in prison, carina didn’t hate him but cursed the choices that caused it all. they’re not strangers but there’s a rift, a cautiousness. the fact she could no longer cope with xavier she’s sure plays a part in it too. “he does that these days. the little nerd who’d chew your ear off about star wars now grunts and leaves dishes in his bedroom for weeks.” she laughs while cleaning down the counters of the kitchen. “strip...” she laughs louder, turning to him. “they’re...these things you stick around the edge of a room. strip...you know...strip lights? she probably thought you were being strict for no reason.”