- t h e f o x

milena barbosa, octavian's acolyte, musician, currently apart of huntress,

[addictedtostorytelling]

[lunanightshadex]

Who: @milenabarbcsa Where: Lupercalia

There was something nice about female drummers, about the sweat that gleaned on the lean figure as they drummed out a heavy beat. Luna had just been pooped out of an broodmother's asshole and needed to shake off the gritty details of it all. "I saw you on stage.. I like what you can do. Can I buy you a drink? Do you like piss warm beer or milk bone infused wine?"

[milenabarbcsa]

"Is there a third option?" Not quite a yes, and not entirely a no; Milena had proved to be a master at understanding her canidae traits, the Fox still had troubling with the idea of a wine infused with Milk-Bones, however. Her hair had been lazily swooped into some configuring of a bun and she merely smiled in thanks at the mere mention of seeing her upon stage; many of the lycans in the crowd seemed to like what that other wolf could do with a spoon, way more than Huntress as a whole. Milena tried not to let it grate upon her, the lycans of Lupercal tended to be set in their ways when it came to pack mindedness, so it wasn't a surprise for them to root for their own and not for the band made up of an immortal vampire, spirit, and druid.

[milenabarbcsa]

a starter for @wintersaurora, where: damn this line is long at the gelato stand

The weather had somehow manifested into the perfect temperature to snag some gelato. Maybe it was the amass of bodies either fighting or dancing, or the throngs of people littered between such shows but the line for the stand had amassed considerably. Milena could also presume that the buy one get one free Cloe had decided to gift her could also be apart of it but the druid merely hummed happily; Milena would still find plenty of time to be back before Huntress performed. "What's your favorite?" Called lightly to the person behind her, Milena turned; their presence brought a swarm of chill, it almost allowed a shiver to run up the Fox's spine.

[naturesesme]

When it came to the agility, the grace and the strength of a fox, Milena Barbosa was more of a natural than Esme had been at the beginning of this life - the first of three lives in which she'd been able to move a little past the canidae trait. "Oh, just because there's nothing left to teach you in regards to the fox, doesn't mean you can't still learn something," she noted, taking on a little smile as Milena played with her. All that was really left was continuing to perfect the acolyte's already existing animal skills, her natural magic and getting to know more advanced traditions and history. At least in the curriculum. What they didn't have often in their curriculum was a review on the elven world and Esme liked to think their two natural species were quite entwined in many ways. Revas had taught her much of his world and Esme would in turn teach her favored students how there was a lot more to the magical world than just the elements. The elven magic of the Fey Forest could be dangerous but neither one of them were alone.

So they walked along together, idle gossip and very comforting chatter between two before Esme's smile faded as they entered through the Fey Forest border, her expression growing more pensive as she wondered what she might have missed in all this time not speaking more personally with Milena. Octavian had been banished by the rest of them. While Esme never thought Milena was much like the wayward phoenix and their relationship didn't seem anything like Esme and Dionaeia's, there was still always a bond between archdruid and druid. "How have you and the other acolytes been doing?"

[milenabarbcsa]

Octavian had given Milena everything; the very blessing which constructed her abilities, the kindling which sparked the ferocity of her very mindset. He saw the purpose within her, gave her a bite that went with such bark and set her free to do his bidding and her own. Freedom; she'd never quite understood it before, but as she mastered the canidae trait, and within that the fox, she finally understood at least a fragment of such freedom. All her life she'd been tied down and made lesser than from her circumstances, and though Octavian had been spurned as an Archdruid; she was grateful. Where Esme was concerned, however, the Keeper had given Milena drive and construct; allowed her to wield her ability channeled under the very purpose and rage she felt so heartily within. Lanky and feathered limbs grew strength with each rigorous training and Milena felt a great comfort to know that Esme was just as content within the form of a fox. Kindred spirits in a way it hurt for Milena to think that so many others under Octavian's wing thought of the Keepers with malice and the intent to harm.

Milena kept quiet as they wandered into the fey forest; she felt stronger on the merit alone that she was beside a Keeper, but there was also an instant feeling that she was betraying her maker as they wandered onto his newly established turf. "I don't think they're happy," it's not that she doesn't trust Esme, everything about Milena screams that she does trust the Keeper; but the Fox had to be careful, cunning and methodical about her approach. "There's a lot of anger... hatred," her lips pursed as though that was far enough already.

[dhcmpirs]

"No, it's not. But it's hard to sit and feel like the bridge hasn't been burned further, you know?" He gets what she's saying and he sees the frustration. This can't be something easy for her, being in the middle of his and Cloe's friendship divorce and he doesn't expect her to take sides. Kay couldn't ask her to, that's part of the reason he'd wanted to talk to her, she was going to give it to him straight. "For the longest time I think her and I were the only two who understood each other. And then I got here and I realized that everyone else in that place," He waves vaguely in the direction of where Camp was somewhere in the distance. "Understood her, too. And then she didn't need me anymore." It's with a huff he puts the cigarette back to his lips and counts down from ten as he takes a drag before speaking. "And now she's finally what she was meant to be and I'm just here. I don't think it's really anyone's fault, it just feels..." He'd sat down and written so many stupid ramblings on how he felt and to put it into one word was hard. "Shitty."

[milenabarbcsa]

Milena nodded, she understood when to edge away and when to really pack on the advice with Kay; he'd always been fragile goods that way, but the Fox couldn't fault Cloe, either, for being so overwhelmed with this new motley of halfbloods and faimen that Kay got overlooked as a result. She doesn't find the idea of Cloe's life and leadership appealing, it's actually a haunting ordeal, a double-edged sword and unfortunately, this time, Kay was the one stuck with the blade. "I think that, for all of Cloe's wisdom, she actually really sucks at having it together all the time," a soft smile, fragile like the dhampir, "Much like some other people I know." Of course she was alluding to herself and Kay, but she'd never confirm nor deny the allegations outright. "And you'll get back to your position as marshal, you'll protect all of us. Sometimes our paths aren't quite parallel and that's okay, right?" Milena nudged him in tandem with the exhale of her own cigarette. It didn't change how Kay felt, it was a shitty feeling, but she had to hope that he could see the fragments of light peeking out from the corner up ahead.

[blairswynford]

Person: @milenabarbcsa Location: After Huntress has played and also during a break from hunting creatures "I think I love Lupercalia." She admits as she rather unceremoniously collapses onto her ass on the grass beside Milena, a rare genuine smile spreading across her lips. The fighting, the music, chasing down animals, it was all in good fun. Everything stops for a second as she just sort of looks at the druid, her smile only faltering to soften. When was the last time she'd felt actual fun? Blair couldn't quite remember feeling like this in Rome, ultimately carefree.

[milenabarbcsa]

"I'm learning to love it myself," purred lazily, Milena unabashedly returned the smile; it wasn't an expression she'd seen resonate so firmly on the other quite yet. "I imagine I'm one of the reasons?" A bold question, typical of Milena's directness; the Fox was still chasing such adrenaline high after performing with Huntress. She'd never seen as lively a crowd as a gangly, rowdy pack of lycans before; it freeing.

[bansheepaloma]

I don't need another hit 'cause it's useless really

@milenabarbcsa & @missharlowdaniels

[milenabarbcsa]

a starter for @bansheepaloma,

"That mix you put together at the last minute really saved us," the crowd at the Embassy always went crazy for Huntress but lycans always seemed to gravitate towards this particular brand of sorts. Violence and mud, Paloma had curated a really fire mix that spoke right to their wolfish aggro vibes; paired with Milena's drummer solo and Harlow's voice? Sensational.

[milenabarbcsa]

a starter for @kaycebishop, note: er ma god it's diesel gaines where: wolfchella bestie

"Did we all throw a dart at fucking Rome?" The excitement is fairly evident in her voice, of all the people she'd expected to see again, Diesel Gaines was not on such list. Close in childhood, he'd disappeared before they both left their adolescence and though she often wondered what happened to him, life kept trickling onward and he was merely a phantom of the past instead of a blip in the possibility of her future. "You're a sight for sore eyes," Milena punched him in the shoulder and though a good ten plus years separated their friendship from the now, it was important to represent Chicago for life, "You still have your baby face."

[violetsinclairx]

who: @senatusstarters where: The Embassy

The holidays were difficult, it was a lonely time and she wasn't alone -- she had been adopted, there was a family that found her and yet the seats that stood empty were still loud with their absence. Her brother and her parents ought to be here and it was never going to be fair that she had to go on without them, at least she had stopped death and buried herself along with them. This time she sat on the opposite side of the bar where she normally stood, getting out to watch the drag queens perform a holiday number of let the ball drop. "I'll buy you a shot if you do five finger fillet." A wicked grin on her face.

[milenabarbcsa]

"I'm not sure that's a worthy price for me," Milena wiggled her fingers, swiveling absentmindedly on the barstool as she did so. The Fox's focus within life had shifted but music was always her muse and no matter how far she'd go when it came to honoring this newfound piece of her, being a druid and acolyte, it'd always be something that Milena could not lose. "I'm a musician, you'd be ruining my future all for a shot." She placed her hand down flat upon the bar top, her other hand waving over the current bartender on duty, "Two shots of Jameson, please." Her denial of such request didn't mean the fun had to cease.

[milenabarbcsa]

Milena found it quite comical that two people with their own staggering array of complications had come together without complication; they both sort of casually hinged upon the other and didn't quite question it. The Fox often preferred it that way, relationships became conflicting when there were too many what are we questionnaires amplified by too many conditions. She couldn't say she was a free spirit in this sense, once the tacit line seemed to be fabricated Milena had stopped seeing anyone else, but she flirted, she danced, it just so happened that Blair was the one who was able to hold her hand, take her to lunch, kiss her. Such things that were more defined than paltry flirtations and empty inhibitions; everything fell into place naturally between them. "You're diabolical," it's something to laugh off, vampires certainly made her feel more flighty but there's security with Blair's hand slipped comfortably around hers, "I'm going to need to be heavily compensated to swipe that imagery from my mind."

[blairswynford]

"I think that can be arranged." It's said with thoughtful casualty for only a second, she can't help the smile that pulls at the corner of her lips. Blair's hand offers Milena's a slight squeeze and she can't help but glance to many a vampire in the room. Too many things looking for a substance she considered precious, but she's more worried about the woman at her side than herself. As long as they're together they're safe. At least that's what she keeps telling herself after the end of everything.

[blairswynford]

Valentine's Day Scrapbook: Blair & Milena

"The rush of slumber party kissing Don't touch, I'll never cross the line So I pushed you down a million times I'd love if you knew you were on my mind" - "Naked in Manhattan", Chappell Roan @milenabarbcsa

[dhcmpirs]

"I don't think I'm dying anymore? But I also think I'm only not dying because I'm taking demon blood and supposedly what's after me is some kind of statue demon? Who fucking knows." Kay truly doesn't really know where to get into it, he could just sit there and talk her ear off about all of the shit that had happened. And because he is that kind of member of the Alphabet Mafia, he paces the small rooftop as he digs a couple of cigarettes out of his pocket. "I think Cloe and I are fucked up beyond repair because what made us friends in the first place is gone now." Among other things, the argument they'd had at that damn fountain was beyond out of pocket. He lights both cigarettes with a lighter shaped like a strawberry before handing one to her. "Oh, and I'm in love with a lycan. Don't know if anyone's told anyone that part."

[milenabarbcsa]

"Kay," she's far fresher with this supernatural bit; it'd only come to her knowledge after The Eye attempted to streak through her family because she apparently held some distant relation to some elf. "I think this is something that you should know," that's a better recovery, Milena is attempting to act as though she'd fit into this horrific world all this time, never naive to it's dark twists and turns, but with Kay's dramedy of a life, it's hard for her to gather her senses sometimes. "I'm sorry but that's silly of you two," the Fox doesn't want to play along to their friendship divorce, she'd already been a child of a literal divorce and look how well that turned out. She gratefully slips the cigarette from his fingers, takes a few rapid inhales before taking one drawn out inhale as though it'd ground her. "I highly doubt it was the trauma-bond keeping you two as pals." That's a hill she'd die on, so what if the three of them were barely functioning; they at least went beyond a superficial trauma-bond.

[milenabarbcsa]

a starter for @rajxambrosio,

"Thanks for meeting me," out of all of Octavian's acolytes, Raja seemed to be completely mute about Octavian's exile, his choices, his beliefs. Plenty of them felt obstinate in up keeping appearances within the Pyramid and though Milena showed up, there was this nagging sense that she should be dedicated to one side of this madness completely. Octavian was her maker, that much had been true, but was he an absolute when it came to the options her druidic tether gave her? "I haven't seen you around the pyramid since, well, you know.." Milena made a face, lips pressed together as her eyebrows raised slightly. "You could say I was worried." None of them were necessarily friends, they were all bond together out of one obligation but she liked Raja, Atlas; the others were far more cryptic but the Fox did her best to get to know them each.

[naturesesme]

Esme found herself smiling, truly smiling. She loved this girl and it occurred to her just then how much she'd missed Milena in all her aloofness. The Fox was like Esme in the sense that they were both wildly unassuming: two small, dainty women that were far more than met the eye. The fox was similar enough to the canine that Esme had taken to it in this life but Milena had taken to it far faster than she had. The fox, a small creature with a lot of prowess, stealth and more bite than people ever really expected. Octavian's acolyte had a fighter in her blood, but more peacefulness than that too. Esme could relate.

The Hunger Games reference had earned amusement but Esme had still picked up on the bit of lacking in her friend's smile. "Walk back to the Pyramid with me?" She gently nudged at the woman's arm with her own. "I'm sorry I've been kinda distant. I'm missing our runs, our trainings..." Back when they were still in the beginnings of Milena's trainings the Fey Forest became off limits pretty quick due to the druidic bad standing with the lycans and fey. However, it was supposed to be a new, bright world these days. "We never got to explore the Fey Forest together. I'm thinking we should do that... See just how fast and agile you've gotten since everything."

[milenabarbcsa]

Loss was so fragile yet so unbearably tangible all at once; the Fox often felt consumed in how swiftly her life transitioned to that of the supernatural. It felt as though she'd died, those mortal pieces of her and in a way she had, but Milena was quiet in her suffering, she'd persevere until the blood spilled over too rapidly to ignore. She mourned what could have been, the life of ignorance she once led, what it could have amounted for the Fox, if anything at all; perhaps mundanity never was meant to serve her. "So, we'll take the long way through the fey forest," Milena smiled softly, she understood Esme was immediately taking them off track from the Pyramid and the Fox found comfort in that. She wasn't quite ready to face the unbearable silence the evening would overtake once she was back in the sanctity of her room in the Pyramid. The others already felt alienated, shut out after Octavian's exile, whereas Milena attempted to remain in blissful ignorance.

"There's no reason for our trainings and runs any longer, hm?" A trick question, poised innocently as Milena attempted to pick at Esme's mind; for all the Fox knew of the Princess, she understood that Esme had plenty of experience and lifetimes under her belt. Nonviolence was decreed over Rome, through the Senate, but nobody could really be convinced that it would stick, right? "But I'll play along; you've taught me so much." Credit was due where Esme was concerned but it didn't absolve Milena's current conflict; her maker banished, the other acolytes up in arms, the Fox was at a crossroads.

[blairswynford]

They fall into it all easily, casually. That's what she liked about Milena though. For all of her years tucked away in that damn convent, Blair didn't think she was completely socially inept, she'd had friends, she'd had relationships. Were they kind of out of necessity? Or proximity? Kind of, she'd always been independent because she had to be. Jonah and Viktor were the constants in her life, other than that people came and went. And yet the druid and her fell into this thing where it kind of just felt like they knew each other off the bat. There'd been no 20 Questions or getting to know each other. They hooked up and they just sort of.....Were. It feels natural, and she can't deny she doesn't find it nice. Her hand squeezes Milena's gently at the thought. "Public. Though I still think if a vampire drank my blood I could use it to kill them from the inside." It's very casual, it's something she thinks about.

[milenabarbcsa]

Milena found it quite comical that two people with their own staggering array of complications had come together without complication; they both sort of casually hinged upon the other and didn't quite question it. The Fox often preferred it that way, relationships became conflicting when there were too many what are we questionnaires amplified by too many conditions. She couldn't say she was a free spirit in this sense, once the tacit line seemed to be fabricated Milena had stopped seeing anyone else, but she flirted, she danced, it just so happened that Blair was the one who was able to hold her hand, take her to lunch, kiss her. Such things that were more defined than paltry flirtations and empty inhibitions; everything fell into place naturally between them. "You're diabolical," it's something to laugh off, vampires certainly made her feel more flighty but there's security with Blair's hand slipped comfortably around hers, "I'm going to need to be heavily compensated to swipe that imagery from my mind."

[missharlowdaniels]

"That's a nice way of saying we're all a squad of homosexuals." Harlow can't help but grin over at the druid and there's this swell in her chest. It's something she's quite proud of, their little literal band of misfits. "Paloma has a staggering amount of queer playlists, she's already a hit there." And she loves that fellow blonde, always going out of her way to get a gig. "I was thinking I have a really good arrangement of 'Kiss Me' by Six Pence None the Richer all ready to go." She grins, fingers idly strumming at well tuned strings. It feels like such a simple thing now, to be able to play music and think of gigs instead of impending doom.

[milenabarbcsa]

"It's homosegguals but nice try." Milena could never say she was in with the hip crowd but Octavian's acolyte was within her cringe-fail rights to ensure people laughed. Or at least chuckle, it was obviously why her and Kay were close friends and Cloe was mercilessly dragging behind them trying to ensure they wouldn't get killed; ah, the braincell of the friend group. Harlow and the rest of Huntress were on a similar caliber for Milena, except for the vital fact that most of the others were undead, or literally dead, and ancient. She got over that quickly, but sometimes she still had to cope. "And Paloma, I don't think I've ever seen her not mixing something new," they certainly had talent in abundance. "If you play it, I can slip in my own drum notations," unless Harlow already had those mapped out, too.