name: azalea ruth palmer age: twenty-seven years old birthdate: august 31st 1996 gender: cis woman pronouns: she/her signs: ☀ virgo, ☾ aries, ↑ scorpio occupation: employee at the orange art gallery
ABOUT AZALEA
born in san diego, california, to a black father and a white mother.
her parents, raymond palmer and jennifer benson, met in 1993 as they were both travelling to las vegas: raymond for a bachelor party, jennifer for a girl’s trip.
they immediately hit it off, but the knowledge that they’d both go back to their respective homes on opposite halves of the continent, made it difficult.
thinking they’d both found something special in the other, though, they decided to try long distance. raymond was twenty-five, jennifer twenty-one.
within a year, ray decided to move across the country to be with his lady love, against his family’s wishes. it caused friction for a while, but his relationship with jenny was long lasting, and the palmers have come to accept it.
three years later, they welcomed their first and only daughter, azalea, on august 31st 1996, at 11:31AM. named after a flower in honour of her grandmother and aunt, rosemary and iris.
at twenty-three weeks pregnant, jennifer developed preeclampsia. as her symptoms only worsened as days went by, she and raymond decided to have their little girl preterm.
azalea was born at twenty-three weeks, 1.07lbs. she stayed in the nicu for three months.
lucky for her, the only long term effect her preterm birth left her with is asthma.
though she was a turbulent child (impatient, defensive), her home life was charmed. she had a mother and father that loved her very much.
it wasn’t until an incident when she was five years old that things took a turn at home.
at a family function, her uncle gary, touched her inappropriately. over the clothes, for everyone to see, and yet, no one noticed. but azalea did.
even as a child, his lingering touch and his words caused her a great discomfort. when she tried to tell her mother, gary’s sister, she was dismissed: she was only a child.
following that incident, azalea has grown touch-averse, and her relationship with her mother is strained. her father, to this day, doesn’t know what happened.
without realizing, her childhood home had turned into a battleground. jennifer, feeling her daughter pull away yet not really knowing, grew bitter, and resentment settled inside her.
azalea, not afraid of confrontation, found herself bickering with her mother more and more. her expectations of her increased tenfold, and suddenly that warm little nook she called home became a very toxic environment.
a traumatic car accident involving raymond’s sister, iris, saw the whole family move to barton point to be closer to her and her husband in 2007.
the distance from the benson family and the now-constant presence of her aunt in her life gave azalea a new mother figure to look up to, and the strength to tough it out in her family home. nevertheless, tensions got the best of her, and she moved out at 19.
her mother’s words had a lasting impact on her life, making her extremely self-conscious now, though she wouldn’t show it. she projects a strong personality, but is an expert at diverting attention from herself.
she’s one to often review conversations she’s had with others long after they’ve happened and kick herself for not saying something witty.
while there are nuances to her touch-aversion, touch of any kind makes her both physically and emotionally uncomfortable, anxious. whether that contact is light, firm, prolonged or brief is of little importance. it’s affected her life, her relationships, but lea remains rather neutral about the whole thing. she neither feels cursed or blessed, it just... is.
but that aversion sometimes gets in the way of emotional contact.
from as far as she can remember, azalea has withdrawn into art to escape. throughout the years, she’s practiced and now honed her craft. attached below is some of her artwork (original by art.manee)
art is what she’s truly passionate about, and she’s currently running a small independent shop, selling both prints and original canvases when she can.
but since that doesn’t pay the bills, she also works at 32 below, the frozen yogurt shop.
