Mila Aglaie Demidoff-Sokolov

Once a human girl, trying to escape the turmoil of her marriage and cruel rumors among her family, Mila ran away from the past only to drown in icy waters. She was saved by a siren named Kordial, and now begins her new life as a predator in the sea..

[zeldarhodes-blog]

First Day Florist; open

[zeldarhodes-blog]

“It is,” Rho agreed. “Somethin’ like that does better in a white space. Adds contrast, ya know?” Walking around the edges of the store, Rho hooked her fingers through the handles of buckets containing the flowers being named by the woman and brought them over to her counter. “I’d be happy to make some arrangements for you. If you’d like,” she reached forward and flipped the book back a few pages to the front of the arrangements section, “You can look through stuff I’ve done in the past and find somethin’ that fits your brother’s apartment.” 

Rho pulled out a few flowers from the buckets and placed them on the counter, arranging them in a row on the counter. “I can do it for you while you wait or you can pick it up this afternoon, either one is fine with me. If you want to come back, I’ll need ya to sign a contract for me before you leave.”

[milarusalka-blog]

     Mila looked over the flowers the woman brought over and smiled as she saw all the bright colors. Those would work wonderfully. “Alright,” Mila turned her attention back toward the pages of the book and looked through the many photographs of arrangements. “I would prefer to wait,” she looked up from the book toward the woman again, “I like watching. I used to make arrangements for fun in my house, not anymore, of course, I don’t even have a garden, but I really love flowers.” Corals were her flowers now.

     “I like this one,” Mila pointed toward a blue arrangement of Pansies in the book. “Can you make this one a bit smaller though? I think it would be nice in his bathroom. My name is Mila, by the way. What’s yours? I feel strange spending so much time here and not knowing your name.”

[milarusalka-blog]

a story told in a mystic way

[isaiahxwhitman-blog]

Isaiah felt bad and chewed his bottom lip;she looked disappointed, and although it was not his fault, he wished he couldhave helped her in some way. When she added that coffee was okay, the wolf nodded and smiled shyly,crossing his arms against his chest. “Alright then…Let’s get some coffee!” Hetried to look confident, when he was obviously not. He felt weird about playingthe tour guide, especially for a tourist who was supposed to be in town withher friend. He wondered where her friends were, if her story was even true.

His cheeks turned bright pink when shereplied to him, and chuckled nervously. “Oh, it’s fine…I mean…I can definitelywalk with you and we can go to the coffee shop together, but I don’t reallythink you want to hang out with me…”He tried to explain, his eyes meeting her for a short moment. “I think you haveyour friends for that. I’m kinda boring.” He laughed nervously, tucking hishands in his pockets again. “So hm…It’s this way.” He turned to the left, waitingfor her to follow him. “They have a lot of stuff, actually…Not only coffee. Andthey have a lot of flavours too, if you like fancy coffees…”

[milarusalka-blog]

     Mila shot him an intrigued look when he claimed to be boring. She hardly thought anyone was really boring. Sure, there could be people that gave off that vibe, but he didn’t feel like that kind of person. There was some kind of energy around him, she couldn’t quite place what it could mean, but she had decided that it definitely couldn’t mean he was boring.

     “Some of my friends don’t really like coffee..or smoothies,” she added on. A majority of them had been in the sea for so long, that the thought of human food just did nothing for them. Some of them couldn’t remember the taste of it, and they never craved it. Mila was still young enough of a siren to remember food, and while she had no hunger to satisfy, she still wanted to try it -- for appearances and old time’s sake.

     “Fancy coffee, huh?” She walked beside him, absently twirling her fingers around the tassels of her scarf, “The fanciest I’ve ever gotten was an affogato.” She glanced toward him, unsure if he would know what that was, so she decided to explain. “It’s basically a coffee with a scoop of ice cream in it. I had one in Florence, and it was so good. Normally though, I just go for a cappuccino or a flat white. Very rarely do I go for straight espresso. Only when I’m exhausted and need a severe pick me up.”

[zeldarhodes-blog]

First Day Florist; open

[zeldarhodes-blog]

“Those tulips would be wonderful,” she replied. “They can certainly brighten up a room. This particular strand is Dutch, and the bulbs I own are incredibly resilient. Cut, the flowers last sometimes two weeks.” Rho crossed the small white shop and pulled one of the flowers from the metal bucket they were currently housed in. “I have some red and pink ones in the back, if you’d like a bouquet with some variety.” She held the flower to her nose for a moment before handing it to the other girl. Tulips didn’t have much scent naturally, but the food that Rho gave all of her flower managed to enhance what little scent was there to the point where it was actually discoverable.

“Though for a brother, I might recommend something slightly more masculine. I actually have a cactus in the back that looks like she’s about to bloom, if ya think he’d be interested in something like that.” She crossed back to the counter where he made all her arrangements in the center of the room and pulled out a big white binder, filled with photos of flowers and arrangements she had created over the years. “Or some poppies, with nice dark foliage. They always look nice.” Flipping through, she found the photo of an arrangement she had made for the funeral of a classmate from Austin Peay. A tall arrangement of Red Poppies surrounded by Black Lace Elderberry, with little bits of Baby’s Breath scattered throughout. “Something like this might do well in a man’s home.”

[milarusalka-blog]

     Mila took the extended Tulip and brought it to her nose for a quick sniff. The scent was light and wonderfully floral. “More masculine,” she mused, lightly brushing the petals of the flower over her chin absently. The thought had never crossed her mind. Not even when she cut flowers or made arrangements at her old home. She just picked whatever flowers pleased her most and put them together. Her brothers always seemed to like them, or they never noticed. Her husband however… one night he had thrown all the flowers out of the house, just because he thought they were making him sneeze. “I’m sure he would like anything I brought,” Mila was certain of it, but she followed the other woman anyway to see the arrangement she described.

     “It just looks so very dark,” she pointed toward the Black Lace Elderberry. “I like the Poppies though… What if we do some Yellow Tulips, Red Poppies, and maybe some Orange Poppies as well. I think I would like multiple arrangements, of course, but that could be one of them…. Yes, one for each room.”

[zeldarhodes-blog]

First Day Florist; open

“Rho, I’m tellin’ you. It’s in Maine. So either Lucy snuck one on your person when ya said good bye, or someone paid with a card not their own. Either way, this is on you to find.”

Rho dropped her head to the store counter in frustration, echoing in the nearly empty storefront. “Why is it on me? She’s the one who can’t let any of us go.” The bells positioned at the top of her front door ran out, and Rho lifted her head, likely leaving a red mark on her forehead. Then, murmuring into the phone, she said, “I have to go, Beau. I have a customer.”

“Fine,” he grumbled, “But there’s a tour group coming through next week. We can’t have her flipping out on ‘em.”

Oh, Beau was going to make her flip out. She knew the situation. She knew, first hand, what they were dealing with and what happened if Lucy decided to go crazy. They were the same age. He had no right to be telling her what she needed to do in this situation. Instead of replying to him, she dropped the phone back into its cradle. Rude boy could deal with that on his own for now. 

“I’ll be with you in a moment, darlin’,” she called to the other person in the store. “Feel free to look around. All magnolia bouquets are half off.”

She had just finished setting up that morning, and already she felt slightly overwhelmed. It was entirely different working alone and knowing that her mother owned the business than it was controlling everything. Checking her reflection to make sure the red mark was gone, she let out an exasperated sigh and put on a smile. “How’re we doin’ today?” she asked. “Anything you’re looking for in particular?”

[milarusalka-blog]

     Mila had decided after visiting her brother’s apartment, that it was in desperate need of some decoration, and what made better decoration that some fresh flowers. In her old house in Moscow, Mila always kept fresh flowers in all the rooms. She would go out to the garden and pick the best ones, cut and arrange them in various vases, and sometimes spend hours until she found the perfect placement. It kept her busy and Mila didn’t really like having nothing to do.

     The young woman entered the little florist and smiled a quick greeting to the woman at the counter, taking a moment to walk slowly along the rows of sweet scented flowers. “I’m looking for a lot of things,” Mila returned, fingers lightly brushing over the petals of yellow tulips. “My brother’s apartment is very dull, and I’m going to surprise him.” She clasped her hands together and rested them on her hip, “I’m thinking bright colors. Maybe some of these tulips.”

[milarusalka-blog]

SO LYK WHO WOuLD U B@NG?

     “Interesting question. I don’t really know. It’s not really something I think about doing…especially to people I hardly know, and I hardly know anyone here so far.”

[inboxstuff]

Come into my inbox and break my muse

[milarusalka-blog]

ASK

[milarusalka-blog]

a story told in a mystic way

[isaiahxwhitman-blog]

“Oh…That’s cool. I hope you and yourfriends have fun here, exploring….And the beach is nice. Though a lil’ cold atthis time of the year.” He chuckled, looking down at the dirty sidewalk whenshe gave him a suggestive look. He was not exactly comfortable, there wassomething strange about the young woman. “I’m Isaiah, it’s a…pleasure, Mila.” Heintroduced himself, grabbing her hand to shake it politely. He was not expectingher next question at all, and lifted his brows.

“Fruit smoothies?” He repeated, turningaround to look at the other side of the street. There were many small boutiquesand a few restaurants and bars in town, but Isaiah did not know much, about fruit smoothies. “I…I don’t really know…Iusually drink coffee…” He explained, a little bit embarrassed to be unable toanswer her. “But I think… There’s many restaurants on the main, so I’m sure youcan find one without trouble.” His tucked back his hands in his jeans, andlicked his lips, looking at the brunette without meeting her gaze. “Do you uh…wantme to come with you? So you don’t get lost, of course. Not to…hang out youknow.”

[milarusalka-blog]

      “Oh,” she was visibly disappointed when he answered. She had always loved a good fruit smoothie when she was human, and had kind of hoped it would be the first thing she would try once back on land. Especially since she didn’t think she’d find any good authentic Russian food in this coastal town. “Coffee is okay,” she did prefer tea, but she liked coffee when it was loaded with sugar and cream.

     He was still nervous around her. It made her wonder if it was just because he was inherently shy, and felt nervous talking to anyone new, or if it was because of her. “Not to hang out?” Her brows rose slightly, “Surely we would be hanging out if you came to keep me from getting lost, maybe not… hanging out,” she said those words with an inflection, “hanging out, but definitely hanging out. I would be very happy though, if you’d walk with me, of course, if you don’t want to, I wouldn’t mind. I’d understand if you have something else to do.”

[ai-the-fake-god]

A Thousand Oceans, A Thousand Mountains || Open

[ai-the-fake-god]

Ai stared into her eyes without looking away, thinking he was following the cultural custom of maintaining eye contact as they spoke. It had been too long since he had a conversation with living being, not that he had many when he was alive either. ‘Not raised in the sea? Perhaps beside the sea,’ he wondered as she spoke. If he was more socially adept, he would’ve been able to somewhat understand the truth from those words alone, but he was far from it and could only take her words as they were. 

“Moscow…” he repeated the name. “It must have been a long travel to arrive here.” His mind sparked when she said ‘in the sea’, using the preposition ‘in’ to mean ‘inside something’, therefore confirming his theory. ‘Unless she doesn’t know English very well either,’ a slither of doubt called to him, but he ignored it. The girl’s speaking sounded fluent and prepositions are one of the earliest areas to learn when one learns English, so it must’ve been intentional. ‘Lived in the snow-land, then in the sea… She must have turned at some point.’ His mind began to analyse the possibilities, narrowing them down to ‘Melusine’, ‘Rusalka’, and ‘Siren’.

“Greetings Mila,” he said with a short bow of his head. “What brings you to this land?” 

[milarusalka-blog]

     “It was a long travel, yes,” many months of just swimming, of course it was with the company of her sisters and very enjoyable. She remembered when she was human, traveling long distances had always been a chore. She would have to pack her bags, and always be concerned if she forgot something important. Then there would be a long car ride to the airport or train station, and then a long flight, and then arriving at her destination. It was a long drawn out process that was incredibly shortened now. She just needed to find water, and her fins would do the rest. The thought of flying in the air now was inconceivable. She couldn’t imagine being able to live out of water for that length of time. Maybe if it was a short flight, but definitely nothing over a few hours. As a siren, she needed to be in close proximity to any body of water, otherwise, like a fish out of water, she would dry up and die.

     She wasn’t sure why, but she enjoyed it immensely when he bowed his head slightly as he greeted her. It was such a strange gesture she was unfamiliar with, and made him feel extremely dated. That was something she had only ever seen in Victorian based movies, and other such period films. She wondered if it was a cultural thing, or perhaps a habit. “My sisters brings me here. They said they come here every year for a little while. I guess you could say I’m a tourist. Why are you here? Do you live here?”

[iconszzy-blog]

[milarusalka-blog]

a story told in a mystic way

[mindcontrcl-deactivated20160925]

          The siren was not one who commonly comforted others. She was not comfortable with showing affection, or any other emotions, actually. Alayah did not do well with those things, especially after the death of her pod. She grew unbelievably numb when she lost them, deciding that it was because she’d dared to love them and become truly happy that the world turned against her once again and stole away the one source of happiness she had. It would have been the second time something like that happened and, quite frankly, Alayah came to the conclusion right then that it would be the last. From then on, the elder siren didn’t permit herself to feel. Yet, at the sight of a tearful sister, the Cuban couldn’t help but extend some form of comfort. 

          “I know how hard that can be, mi amor. Times change faster on land than in the water.” Alayah said softly, her hand coming to rest on the woman’s opposite shoulder in comfort. “You will have things like that happen very often for the rest of your long life. Things will remind you of where you came from forever, you just need to grow used to seeing them and learn to accept that that is the past. I see things from my old home all of the time and my chest still aches,  but it does get easier.”

[milarusalka-blog]

     The other siren was right. It was easier in the water to forget about the past. When nothing familiar was around her, nothing that could possibly remind her of Moscow, Viktor, or her brothers. It was easier to forget, to move on and focus on her new life beneath the waves. She would get used to it, she knew she would. The human body -- and inhuman body -- were capable of amazing feats, and that included becoming accustomed to torturous things. She knew first hand how easy it was to put on a smile and cover up bruises and pretend to laugh so much, that even she could believe the happiness she was faking could be real. This too would pass. She could walk down the street, look through a hundred windows looking into hundreds of memories from her past and she would be fine. It was just this, this was so sudden and unexpected, it caught her off guard and for a split second, she forgot how to pretend.

     “Thank you,” Mila responded, smile pulling up the corners of her full lips. “You’re a siren, aren’t you? I think I can tell, because I feel so comfortable around you. My name is Mila. Are you from here?” She didn’t think so, based on the other woman’s occasional inclination to speak in partial Spanish.

[falcon-morden-deactivated201803]

Oh. Right. The hearts. That’s what people were upset about. He eyed the heart he had hidden, and reached instead for his handy-dandy pink vaporizer. He took a drag– blueberry and menthol today. Falcon eyed the girl standing beside him, and it took a few seconds for what she said to sink in.

Oh.

Uh, how was he going to get out of this one? Sure, Falcon liked women. He just had to be in the right mood. He likened his taste to an average McDonalds craving. You get it once– load up on dollar menu specials. Then comes the diarrhea and the temporary revulsion. Then, midnight strikes, you’re the hungriest you’ve ever been, and there comes the huge yellow arches..

Okay. Bad analogy, and probably kind of sexist.

“Nah,” he breathed casually, head lolling toward her. He showed off his fangs, sharp and protruding over his lip. “You’re lacking the necessary equipment, sweetheart.” He turned back to his vaporizer.

“You headin’ to the school?” he asked. “You don’t exactly seem like you’re rushing to class.”

[milarusalka-blog]

     She noticed the sharp white fangs protruding from his mouth when he responded to her proposition. He shot her down, just like that. Part of her felt moderately offended when he did, but when he said she was lacking the ‘equipment’, she felt better about it, taking that to mean he preferred males to females. She could respect that. If she really wanted to, she could try to entice him with her song, but it was always more fun to do that with her fellow sisters around. Whenever she was alone, it just felt… desperate, and she did not want to be desperate, even if it was just for fun and not for pleasure.

     “Actually yes,” she was still smiling at him but that smile faltered slightly now. “I was told it was a good place to find out information about strange things, and I need to talk to someone who knows about… strange things.” She paused and eyed him again, “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about… hearts?”

[adelaidekanedaily]

[falcon-morden-deactivated201803]

Hearts. Beating. 

Falcon was no stranger to ripping a still-beating heart from someone’s chest. It had been some time, though. He didn’t like to get his hands dirty. That was a task better left to Father or Kosmose, or even little Andromeda. No. Falcon was a lover. A hipster, free-winged lover. And this gift suited him so well. He plucked it from the box, as heavy as he remembered. It fit in his hand, more comfortably than he cared to ponder. He recognized the mouthpiece and couldn’t hold back a grin. They knew him so well. He brought the item to his lips and inhaled slowly, deeply. The taste of blood filled his mouth and settled in his lungs. It was a satisfying feeling, making him lick his lips in desire. Why go through the trouble of procuring a meal, when one could be inhaled? Never one to be modest, Falcon carried his new, errr.. customized vaporizer with him as he walked. Of course he was walking.What else was there to do? At the sounds of footsteps, however, he tossed the.. device into his bag. He’d heard panic from the weaker species… but Falcon was delighted. He turned to the person walking by and cocked his head at them. “What a Valentine’s Day, hm?” he asked, pointing as yet another police car whizzed past. “That’s the fourth in an hour. I wonder why?”

[milarusalka-blog]

     Mila was shaken up after having just found a still beating heart. She had taken the heart of her sister and dove back into the ocean. After mourning the loss with her fellow siren sisters, they had buried the heart case by some coral so that their fallen sister could always be with the ocean. She was just on her way to the Academy, hearing from some of her sisters that there were specialists there that could help figure out how or why this had happened in the first place, when her thoughts were interrupted by a man.

     Right now, Mila wasn’t feeling friendly. She shot a glare at the male, sensing blood, but that could just be the rage building inside of her. “It’s a wonderful day,” it was supposed to be a wonderful day, “but someone has spoiled it. They did something horrible.” She eyed him skeptically before a sudden twist in her emotions caused a smirk to curl up the ends of her lips. “Maybe… you could make it better?” Mila was upset, and causing distress in men always seemed to cheer her up, so maybe she would play with this man. Toy with him, until he satisfied her craving to cause inner turmoil, maybe take a few years off his lifespan and then leave him drained.

[milarusalka-blog]

pressing flowers

     Sunlight glistened on the surface of the ocean waves, frothing as they reached the shore, stretching up the expanse of damp sand. Mila swirled in the current, letting it carry her body in twirls and dips with each inhale and exhale the ocean took. This giant body of water was living and breathing, it was one giant living organism, at least that’s how she saw it. She could stay there forever, being carried by the waves, but eventually her fin brushed against the sand embankment and she extended her body out across the warm sand to stay. She still pulled her lower body up, fins splitting into legs and took a step up to stand. Her toes sunk into the wet sand and she wiggled them. A bounce in her step, she walked along the beach, wet hair sticking to her naked skin, not caring if anybody saw her.

     Mila walked over to an alcove in the rocks, there would be a chest filled with clothes, but as she was walking toward it, she noticed a box. There was a small velvet red heart nestled in the warm sand. Mila looked around, thinking maybe someone had left their Valentine’s present here, but there was no one nearby. Curious, she picked up the box and felt the fabric. She had one last look around her before opening the box. Mila was surprised to see that the card inside had her name written on it.

     “Oh?” She couldn’t stop a smile from breaking across her features at the sight of the card. “Who did that?” Could it have been one of her siren sisters? Could it have been her brother? Could it be a secret admirer? Elated, Mila picked up the card, but what she saw underneath had her instantly drop the box and the card. The contents of the box fell out onto the sand. It was a glass case filled with water, inside it a heart, still beating. Tears filled Mila’s eyes as her breath caught on her throat. “Ahee,” she wailed as she stared at the heart, clutching at her own chest, fingers digging into the skin by her neck. For the first time in a long time, she spoke her mother tongue of Russian, mumbling between sobs as she crawled closer to the water case. “Кто сделал это? Кто сделал это с тобой , моя дорогая сестра ?” Mila grasped the case in shaking hands and turned to look at the card. There was writing on the back. She grabbed the card and read it quickly.

Open your lips and scream For this is not a dream Or laugh if that’s your choice- I’ll know you’re my Valentine by the blood on your skin, red like wine

     “Моя дорогая сестра…” Mila moved to stand, holding the encased heart gently in her arms as if it were an infant, “Я помогу тебе. Я возьму тебя домой .”

[milarusalka-blog]

What is your idea of a truly romantic evening?

     “A truly romantic evening?… I think it depends on who you are with that makes an evening romantic or not. If I was with just anybody, then it wouldn’t be as romantic, but if I was with someone special then… maybe a nice dinner out… and maybe a walk along the beach to watch the sun set. That would be very nice…”

[avatars-by-cece]

[milarusalka-blog]

a story told in a mystic way

[thisbrutalbelle]

         “Legally I would have to pay you, for insurance reasons we’d need you under contract,” Bellamy responded rather quickly. It was ridiculous that people in this town didn’t understand liability. The payout if a staff member was injured was far less than if a customer was and if this girl could sing and got up on stage only to be electrocuted she could sue the place for practically whatever she wanted, while staff were under contract. Bella could pay them sick leave, give them money for the accident but they couldn’t sue when their contract stated they could come into contact with such things.

         “If you can sing though perhaps this once we could do something without needing it,” she added because with someone up there she then wouldn’t have to deal with bad reviews, people demanding their money back or false advertisement suits. Plus the girl was pretty, even if she couldn’t sing tremendously well people might forgive her because she was so wonderful looking. Once Bella got her into something elegant and designer that would help to. Some more dramatic make-up, red lips and cat eyes.

        Yes, if this girl could sing a note Bella would be willing to take her even just for the day. “Can you sing something here? I mean, you can’t exactly be shy and willing to stand on a stage, even a small one,” Bellamy pointed out. If the girl needed to hide in a car or go in an alley thing perhaps she could compel some confidence into her or just deal with the fact it would be a solo piano act.

[milarusalka-blog]

To be honest, she hadn’t expected to be put on the spot directly here. Mila was not shy, not in the least, but even though she had suggested to sing for this blonde woman, the request still came at a bit of a surprise. She would have expected to move to a more conventional setting, though she supposed since she had suggested it rather suddenly she should have expected a sudden performance. “Oh, of course.”

Mila ran her hands through her hair, pushing the bulk of it behind her ears and letting the long strands fall down the length of her back. She then adjusted the scarf wrapped around her neck, loosening it up a bit to give herself a bit more movement. For a moment, she considered imbuing a bit of her sironic powers into her song, but decided for now not to. She wasn’t sure what sort of song to sing, most of the ones she did sing recently didn’t really have any words, just vocalizing. So she tried to remember a song she had heard recently, it was while she was walking down the street and stopped for a moment to savor in the smell of some coffee. She could hear the song wafting through from the cafe, and repeated it now.

“Tried to keep you close to me, but life got in between.. tried to square, not being here, but think that I should have been. Hold back the river, let me look in your eyes, hold back the river so I can stop for a minute and see where you hide, hold back the river, hold back...”