(tw: ableism and murder)
[name_f]Zara[/name_f] [name_f]Juliet[/name_f] Griesenbeck (32) is the best friend of [name_u]Ori[/name_u] 's older sister and also is somewhat acquianted with [name_m]Artur[/name_m] and Aadvika. She works as an interior designer - she works on projects for a variety of planning but mostly enjoys coming up with decor for venues when it comes to celebratory events like weddings, baptisms , engagement parties, baby showers , prom dances and so on. She enjoys working with [name_u]Ori[/name_u] 's sister who’s more of a " female handyman" and can fix any kind of mechanical issue when something with the furniture, decorations or feng shui space organisation goes wrong. The renovation & art decor company that [name_f]Zara[/name_f] and [name_u]Ori[/name_u] 's sister handle as co-owners works each year with the preparation of the [name_f]Anova[/name_f] Ball and they are delighted to see that Aadvika 's involvement seems to boost the attendence so much - earlier it seemed like even despite [name_f]Zara[/name_f] ’ s best efforts to make the decor interesting and the whole ballroom invitingly looking, people were still not coming because they were not confident in their dance abilities. [name_f]Zara[/name_f] is happy that this seems to have changed drastically and even sings her praises during the physical therapy sessions that she has with Aadvika 's wife, who’s been an excellent care provider for her for years and an ally to the disabled community of the small [name_m]Vermont[/name_m] town. [name_f]Zara[/name_f] is happy that Aadvika and the physical therapist now have a happy family although she misses her dearly while she’s on maternity leave and admittedly has trouble finidng understanding with the new physical therapist that has been assinged to her while the absence of Aadvika 's wife lasts.
She also meets [name_m]Artur[/name_m] at the same healthcare facility where she has her sessions and therefore knows about his prosthetic foot and phantom pains. She is understanding towards him and his insecurities but also is kind of cold towads him and doesn’t want to hear about the bond that [name_m]Artur[/name_m] and [name_f]Zara[/name_f] ’ s best friend have.
She knows that [name_m]Artur[/name_m] doesn’t want children and at the same time is aware that [name_f]Zara[/name_f] 's best friend very much does want to adopt an older child from foster care - [name_u]Ori[/name_u] 's sister says that babies kind of frighten her because they’re so fragile and completely dependant on the parent , and she, not being partituclarly gentle and more of a tough cookie would have trouble handling a baby without at best making a fool of herself and at worst just downright hurting the tiny human, so she wants a child that is already less tiny but no less capable of love , affection and entering her loving embrace as a mother… [name_f]Zara[/name_f] doesn’t want that dream of her best friend to be ruined by someone like [name_m]Artur[/name_m] who doesn’t want children and she would rather [name_m]Artur[/name_m] stopped wasting her friend’s time and be start being honest with [name_f]Zara[/name_f] 's best friend on the topic of starting a family instaed of posing in cute phots, looking like a couple while avoiding the truly important subjects.
However, she 's still cordial to [name_m]Artur[/name_m] because she feels solidarity with him as a disabled person and knows how not being able to do certain things can sometimes lead to resentment and biterness - she remembers the devastating feeling of rejection she felt when she could no longer run around with the other kids after getting a spinal chord injury following falling from a tree she climbed up on. She’s been disabled since age 6 and doesn’t remember much from the time she was still able-bodied, or rather, doesn’t want to remember - she burnt all of her childhood photos from that time after her mother died last year and she became effectively an orphan. Her father also died when [name_f]Zara[/name_f] was 12 - a furious gambler choked him to death while he was working at a casino as the manager. [name_f]Zara[/name_f] is happy the casino at least no longer exists and doesn’t remind her of that tragedy nor does it facilitate anyone’s addiction anymore.
[name_f]Zara[/name_f] faced ableism throughout all of her childhood - through her mother and father did everything to accomodate her, the schools that were accesible to her and prepared for kids with special needs didn’t have the teaching standards that some "regular " schools in her district did. Her intelligence was underminded even by her teachers who told her that she should work on her hands not her brains because with her condition only working at a factory as a packer would be attainable - [name_f]Zara[/name_f] is paralyzed from the waist down but has developed strong hands, arms and manual skills. Still, the bullying she recieved from kids and the fact that her teachers were condescenending to her only motivated her further and so she began studying Internal Design and even gained independence from her parents by going away for college to the next state over which was [name_f]Rhode[/name_f] [name_u]Island[/name_u] - she had a partial scholarship and managed to get a room where she was alone although her friends from the dorm would still help her if needed. She worked as an interpreter for American Sign Language as a college student - she learned it as a teen to communicate with her best friend at the special needs school , who’s now her husband and father of her precious children - a 6-year-old boy and 4-year-old boy. [name_f]Zara[/name_f] 's best friend is the godmother of her firstborn, after all she always supported her during college when she faced ableism, was ethusiastic about her relationship with her husband and is also her most trusted business partner.