match my rhythm

Biography:

trigger warning: accident, death, alcoholism, abandonment.

Raina Mirza was the first of two children who were born to Kashmiri born American man, Pawan Mirza and an American woman named Cynthia. Pawan had migrated to America when he was merely seven years old. Since then he had resigned himself to becoming a full American and leaving his Indian roots behind. He’d fallen for and married an American woman he’d met in high school and the rest was history. Raina was their first child, the one they’d both prayed for and hoped for. After Raina, they ended up adopting a son who was also doted upon, (name not mentioned as he’ll probably be a WC). The reason they chose to adopt their second child was because Cynthia had some problems in her delivery with Raina and the doctors had informed them that a second child would be dangerous for her.

Raina’s relation with her family was always positive, they’d been very close knit until a horrific car accident left the two children without a mother and Pawan without his wife. While they were a close family—it became clear that Cynthia had been the glue to keep them all together. This accident had happened when Raina was just about 16 and the next two years were difficult as she tried to help in the home and take care of her brother who was still coming to terms with everything.

When Raina graduated high school, she’d gone away for collage heading to the west coast at CalArts School of Dance in California. She’d been left a considerable amount of money from her mother who had inherited it from her side of the family and so Raina had been able to get admission, pay tuition and go through the next four years away at college. She didn’t return home very often and perhaps that’s a regret she’ll always have. Her father had turn to alcohol and it had gotten pretty bad. She’d get calls from her brother but would pay them no heed. By the time she’d returned, her father had developed a poor liver and also had extremely high blood pressure. The older man hadn’t wanted to be a burden on his now adult children and so night when they both were sleeping soundly—their father had disappeared. Countless phone calls and search parties led to nothing. The two siblings had been forced to come to terms with losing yet another parent. 

Raina often believed it was like some bad curse had befallen on her family and that was why all this had happened. But when she danced—she allowed it to heal her if only temporarily. Dance had become her outlet in a lot of ways and so she’d been applying for jobs everywhere across the country. The first offer she’d gotten had been from Iron River and so she’d come here just about four years ago. Her brother had gone off to college and they’d both decided that their hometown didn’t have anything left for them.

Now she’s been happily working at off the bar for a couple of years and life has been good for her. She’s close to her brother who still hasn’t come and seen her life in Iron River but she doesn’t mind—she ends up travelling to wherever he is because she refuses to lose the bond she’s built with him. In a lot of ways, Raina has raised him as her own and perhaps it's why she will always be there in his life, no matter what. 

In terms of relationships, she’s had a few flings and such but nothing quite as strong as she’s wanted to build. Raina has seen the love between her parents as a young child and thats’s the kind of relationship she’s been searching for. She knows she’s not getting any younger and hence the lookout for her longterm love is very much on her mind.