Year 3 — Late Winter CHAPTER 17: BUDS

Welcome to chaos. 😁

Members of this ragtag group of kids—known amongst themselves as the "Wilds"—have cycled in and out over the years, but the consistent order of business has been freedom above everything: no rules, no chores, no grown ups! (The "no rules" part makes these. err... "guidelines"... more of a mutually understood exclamation of objection than actually adhered to principles.)

Together they've settled in at the old water treatment facility up by the dam for the winter, maybe longer if it works out that way.

a navigation blog, includes profiles and verse info all according to muse. links for each muse can be found below and are separated by canon and originals.

film, television, and literature.

jeremiah fisher, the summer i turned pretty.

eurydice, greek myths inspired by hadestown.

lorenzo st. john, the vampire diaries.

simon basset, bridgerton.

noah calhoun, the notebook.

tobias eaton, divergent.

kathani sharma, bridgerton.

laurel park, the summer i turned pretty.

robbie turner, atonement.

originals.

lucas arthur sullivan, lucky.

alexandria vidal, bayou wilds.

matías aldana,   fallen angel.

dasia aguilar, divergent franchise.

asli soyder, affiliated apocalypse.

alonzo giordano, astronomer.

calum lawson, amateur pianist.

sebastián fisher, the summer i turned pretty.

prince michael seton, a reluctant prince.

by request.

edmund bridgerton, bridgerton.

max goodwin, new amsterdam.

queen atlanna, dc comics.

Of Unseen and Eyes, Part III

The islands were scattered across the coasts, some no larger than a cottage, others expansive enough for prisons. They were all tainted, each carrying a strain of old magic, of forgotten monsters that had sank into the common memory to become folktale and campfire spook. Across the water, the Drust lingered in shadows, and spoke in their incomprehensible riddles, and they cursed and blighted the mainland... but on the islands, there was more freedoms, far from the humans.

The remains of the coven were scattered around their camp; wicker and wool buildings burned, while others smoldered. Bones, blackened and charred filled the bonfire, and in the shade of the trees whispers replaced the chanting and cackling.

At the heart of the once-filled cavern, Dasia stood before the icon. Blue flames flickered around the antler-and-bone haloed skull, the air cool and wet despite the scorched walls. Her feet were coated in ash, and blood, and her long hair was loose around her shoulders, bare from toes to crown, skin covered in ancient runes. "The deal," She purred. "Is made."

Where hearts had rested on the altar, now there was just the memory of ichor and herbs.

Turning, she left the cavern into the low light, and with a delicious shiver reached for her robe. She had brought nothing but herself, as the Drust witches had asked.

They did not know what they would get.

With a tremor, she felt the call again-- Karsteth. A smile cut across her blooded lips, and she stepped into the spanse of a treeshadow, and disappeared, following his summons.

As soon as Karsteth’s boots hit the surf, he knew she heard him. He allowed his men the privilege if taking up the longboat and securing it. They knew how to make camp. They didn’t need his guidance to do so, and Vinny knew he had business elsewhere. With a small sack at his side, he trudged up the beach and into the thick woods of the isle.

He did not bother shouting her name aloud this time. The witch knew. She always did. His presence was call enough; and the presence of the thing at his side. He knew she’d come to lay claim on it, whether he bellowed her name or not.

And so when he reached a clearing within the trees, a stump perfect for a table and bathed in moonlight, he set the sack down and waited. He waited for her shadow to slip through the trees, and he did so in silence.

She appeared in a whirl of shadows; they skittered uneasily around her, natural things born of treeshade and the lees of stone. She made them real, and so unnatural, and it was all from vanity. Drunk on her deals, drunk on power, she stepped into the clearing in only the robe of feathers, linen and skin-soft hide.

"My Captain," she breathed, eyes wild and kaleidoscopic. "You have it." There was no question in her, and on bare feet she approached him. The shadows fled as she was cast into the moonlight, and her unnaturalness seemed to diminish some, in the pure light of the twin orbs.

He stood near, but not too close and not too far. He watched Dasia as though she was liquid pouring out of the trees and earth itself. He kept his gaze on her as she made her way closer. With a nod, he gestured towards the sack.

"Aye, I got it. Doesn't look much like an eye, but it glowed as ye said."

He noted the wild look in her eyes and squinted slightly.

"Why's this so important to ye?"

Drunk on power and promise, Dasia laughed merrily and clapped her hands together. "Oh, what a delight. It was of course easy for you, what could the Nightmare offer for you to fear?" Nothing, the word whispered through winds that caught in her loose hair. Nothing to fear from nightmare...

Stepping closer, she reached towards the sack. "Ohhh there we are." She did not make to answer. "You wished to be unseen, and you found me what I needed; what the nightmare makes of an pure, untainted eye. However did I accomplish anything without you," She breathed the last, finally turning her gaze back to meet his eyes, lips parted with delight.

Karsteth watched Dasia closely. There was a twitch, a want to grab her arm before she grabbed the sack without payment first, but they knew each other well enough, and he had nothing to fear from her - rather, she had everything to fear from him. She knew what happened when he was double crossed.

"Ye probably got some other fucks to do yer biddin' but they didn't do a good enough job."

Her laughter was true at his words, and she took the sack greedily, not even stepping back while she opened it to discover-- a clasp, a feather, a shimmer of metal. Whatever it looked like, as soon as her fingers brushed it, she knew.

She knew.

"You never disappoint, sweetest." The words were not meant for Karsteth; her thumb stroked the shimmering center, and the object in her hand changed; a rotted eye, for a moment, then, a small heart the size of a birds, and then again the brooch. Greed, striking and raw, showed in Dasia's features, and it remained as she brought her gaze up to Karsteth.

The item shimmered and vanished in her hands, but that was because she needed them both. As though desperate, she slid her hands to Karsteth's jaw and pulled his face to hers, pressing her lips to his in a searing, hungry kiss. Magic swelled between them, something infinite and dark, and it seemed to flow from her into him, catching where mouths parted and sinking into him.

He could feel it; it was like a cloak, a heavy but comfortable weight. One he could remove-- the edges where there in his mind, he could see the shape of the magic she gave him.

Her hands only dropped from his face to take his hand, and from her fingers to his she slid a ring; wooden, etched with black onyx and what seemed living smoke. Hiding, made physical and real.

Karsteth squinted at the lack of an answer to his initial question, but he did not resist when he felt her hands, both so cold and yet so hot they burned. He did not resist when the kiss was placed hungrily against him. He was caught off guard, but not unpleasantly so. His shoulders stiffened and then laxed at the heavy cloak placed upon his shoulders.

She pulled away and he lingered, if only for a moment. But then his gaze dropped to his rough and calloused hands. The ring she gave him was crude at first glance, but then he caught a wisp of black, a glimmer of a black ember. It was more than meets the eye, and without her telling him, he knew what it could do. It was more than what they had bargained for. He asked to be hidden, yet this would give more.

His mismatched gaze flicked to Dasia's own and he reached behind her to grab hold a generous mass of her hair. He held her tightly and pulled her forward, lowering his mouth to crash against hers. It was another kiss, twice as hungry and twice as hard.

She met his ferocity with her own, feeding into his desire; she would capitulate to his passion only because it was delicious when he was the victor, the raw and violent power of him. Dasia only shifted to breathe him in, lips dragging over his scarred cheekbone as she whispered.

Like a spell, the words revealed her works, and this gift-- a true gift, with no price or deal. "Unseen to all but her, you can make her suffer as she has earned, as she was made to." No other had she granted such favors; no other had fathered more than one son. But Karsteth bled power, thoughts and mind shaped ruthless and cut-throat; he had been more valuable than hundreds of her other petitioners, the fools that took her deals.

Karsteth was worthy, had brought back the one hope she thought lost, and this gift would not be her last; oh no. "Her death and misery shall be your crucible; I promise this blessing to you, Captain Dusktide." Her whisper in his ear was thick as her dark, ash-stained hands slid over his chest.

"Break her, kill her, and keep her heart; so long as you bear that withered phoenix' spark, you shall never die."

Dasia spoke of suffering at first, and truly, the thought of that red haired bitch - with her defiant gaze and face that was so much like her mother's -...the thought of her under his boot once more, suffering, terrified, and trapped. He felt heat rise in his belly, his gaze gripping Dasia's hair even harder at the thought.

Oh, he would break her. Oh, he would kill her. And if the witch was telling him to keep her heart in exchange for  that....

He brought down a hard kiss against Dasia's lips once more and shoved her back against the tree stump. He tasted of whiskey, power, lust, and hatred. He pulled from the kiss with a bite that nearly drew blood from Dasia and growled with a low voice, rough with gravel.

"Our deal is fuckin' settled then."

She smiled, feeling the shape of the eye between her fingers. "Our deals are settled. Enjoy your gifts." Dasia slid arms around him, pulled him closer, shadows rising to strain against the moonlight. "My Captain." He would see, and be unseen; a blessing offered, but not without recompense. No, she would make sure he left her with blessings of her own.

Part I | Part II | Part III

@thesunguardmg | @stormandozone

The woman burst through the door to the small safe-house, her hazel hues wild as she searched for something to staunch the bleeding in her thigh near the femoral artery. The latest witch attack had wreaked havoc on their small hunting party, but they had won. "Selyse!" she barked out from behind her, knowing the woman as somewhere nearby. "I used the last of my supplies on Galvin. But I am bleeding out too quickly," she hissed as she sunk into a chair, hand pressing hard along the wound.

“What have you gone and done now?” She shouted as she came from the back room, the wooden door swinging open and bashing the opposite wall. She held in her arms several empty bottles and a bundle of herbs before noticing what had happened to her fellow Inquisitor, the crimson blood dripping onto the floor boards and staining her garments. With no hesitation, the bottles and herbs fell to her feet, the shattering of glass echoing off the walls as she swiftly ran toward her as she began to slowly sink into the chair, “Dasia, stay with me. Damn it, this is why you always bring extra supplies...” she focused intensively on Dasia’s body, her jawline could be seen clenching as she knew she only had a few minutes to stop the bleeding. Spools of cloth are removed from her small leather bag that generally was hanging from her belt before finding the exact location of the wound.The laceration to her thigh was deeper than she thought it was as she tore off a good amount of the cloth and quickly tied it a few inches above to stop the flow of blood. She remained surprisingly calm while grabbing one of the elixirs from her belt, raising it to her mouth as she pops open the cork that kept what it contained inside and tearing off another sliver of cloth before pouring soaking it with the substance. With a gentle hand and light touch, she placed the soaked cloth upon the cut flesh, wiping away as much of the blood as she could while glancing up to Dasia as often as possible to ensure she was still with her. @dasia-kendall

National Examiner, April 26

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Queen Elizabeth's royal rage

Page 2: Playing House -- famous best buds who shared the rent -- Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman, Ryan Reynolds and Michelle Williams, Robert Downey Jr. and Kiefer Sutherland, Danny DeVito and Michael Douglas

Page 3: Justin Long and Jonah Hill, Ving Rhames and Stanley Tucci, Eddie Redmayne and Jamie Dornan, Jason Priestley and Brad Pitt, Holly Hunter and Frances McDormand, Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise

Page 4: Matt Damon's roles and costumes

Page 6: A Delaware state trooper went above and beyond the call of duty when he surprised a little boy with a brand-new pair of Steph Curry sneakers -- Trooper Joshua Morris and nine-year-old Ra'kir Allen got to be pals when they played basketball together, along with other youths in the area and when the good-hearted cop learned that Ra'kir thought NBA star Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors was his idol, he got an idea, and after running the idea past Ra'kir's mother, the cop presented the aspiring sports star with his own pair of shoes -- Morris says cops should never be strangers to the people they protect, and he lives his belief every day

Page 7: Screen legend Bette Davis believed she had psychic abilities, says her assistant Kathryn Sermak, who met the legend in 1979 and was hired within five minutes of meeting her -- as her personal assistant, she was at Bette's service 24 hours a day, but the star was also very generous like if they were going to a film set, the job was seven days a week, but when it was over, she'd give Kathryn a paid vacation anywhere she wanted for as much as six weeks -- few people know that the screen idol loved to pull practical jokes on people; for instance, at cocktail hour, Bette would serve drinks in gag glasses that dribbled, and then when the liquid would pour onto her guests' expensive dresses or suits, she would innocently ask if they were okay -- the assistant also knew Bette's only child, Barbara Davis Hyman, known as B.D., whose father was Bette's third husband, Grant Sherry. Bette and her next husband, Garry Merrill, her co-star in All About Eve, also adopted two more children, Michael and Margot Merrill, but diagnosed with brain damage at age three, Margot has spent her life in institutions

Page 8: Saving Face -- take years off with simple makeup and skincare tips

Page 9: Vax Reax -- prepare for possible COVID jab side effects

Page 10: Billy Adams really knows how to get his daily steps in as the software exec walks 12 miles around Washington D.C. every day, picking up trash by hand -- during the lockdown, Billy took advantage of working from home to find a daily routine that was good for his physical and mental wellbeing, and helps beautify the city he loves -- starting in June, he began to choose a different 12-mile route every day, no matter the weather, Billy crossed from his Maryland home over into D.C. for a three-hour loop, starting at 8:30 a.m., and he picks up trash along the way and dumps bags of it into garbage cans on his route

Page 11: Tips for getting a restful night -- some tried-and-true tips for getting some rejuvenating rest

Page 12: Olivia Newton-John knows a thing or two about survival: she's had breast cancer three times over the past 28 years and has worked tirelessly to save her own life and the lives of others with her extensive research into natural remedies -- the 72-year-old Grease star says she and her husband John Easterling, who founded the Amazon Herb Company to help the world recognize the benefits of the Amazon Rainforest plants, have developed an approach called integrative medicine. It's a mix of doctor-recommended treatments and those from their own research

Page 14: Dear Tony, America's top psychic healer Tony Leggett -- never too late for romance, it will take work

Page 15: Tom Cornish is 96 years old, but age hasn't slowed him down from knitting up a storm of kindness -- over the past year, the Minnesota World War II veteran has donated nearly 500 winter hats in eye-catching colors to the Salvation Army, where he does volunteer work, and he hand-made each and every one of them

Page 16: Keeping the Peace -- TV has its share of great cops, but here are the ten best TV cops of all time -- T.J. Hooker, "Pepper" Anderson, Joe Friday, Andy Sipowicz, Richard "Hutch" Hutchinson, Kate Beckett, Lennie Briscoe, Olivia Benson, Frank Reagan, Sheriff Andy Taylor

Page 18: When a North Carolina school entered custodian Raymond Brown in the state's School Hero Award, he lost to someone else, so they made their own ceremony and gave him $35,000

Page 19: A group of ATV riders got the scare of their lives when one of their dogs stepped off the edge of a steep cliff and kept going, according to Steven Hawkins, president of the Utah ATV Association, who call themselves The Wild Bunch -- they immediately swung into action action to rescue stranded pooch Summer and got together and each took a hold of a rope with Steven at the end, climbing slowly down the face of the rocks as the others held on while looking on in horror, but in the end, the group found the strength to pull man and dog from the cliff face to safety

Page 20: Cover Story -- Queen Elizabeth is on the warpath -- palace aides are walking on eggshells around Her Majesty ever since Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle dropped the bombshell on American TV that the royal family is a racist mess who completely ignored Meghan's mental health problems, among other horrifying accusations, and the queen will never get over the fact that Harry, without warning, turned his back on his own country and the people Elizabeth has served every day of her 95 years and she's also terrified the royal family's circus-like antics will bring on the end of the monarchy

Page 22: A California couple who were just about to retire drastically changed their plans when they adopted seven children -- Pam and Gary Willis have five children of their own and have been foster parents to many others and just as their last child was about to leave home, Pam spotted a Facebook advertisement searching for a forever home for seven kids from ages 15 to 4 whose parents had been killed in a tragic car crash -- Pam says she couldn't stop staring at their faces, saying she can't explain it, but she just knew she was supposed to be their mom and when she told Gary, she thought he'd call her a wacko because they were just about to retire, but surprisingly he agreed and they both felt it was what God wanted them to do

Page 24: High school senior Dasia Taylor is only 17, but she's going down in medical history for inventing sutures that detect if a wound is infected -- the brilliant student was named as one of 40 finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation's most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors -- Dasia's sutures, which took a year to perfect, work by changing colors if the patient's PH level alters and the level changes quickly when a wound is healing and goes bad, so she began experimenting with beets, and she found that beets changed color at the perfect PH point and that's perfect for an infected wound -- the color changes from bright red to a dark purple when a wound becomes infected so it's easy to see with the naked eye and Dasia envisions the stitches being used in developing countries, so that infection can be detected with no advanced equipment -- Dasia's goal is to attend Howard University and become a lawyer

Page 25: 4 signs you may have weak bones

Page 26: Sentimental baseball fantasy Field of Dreams hit a home run with its poignant story of second chances, and as the one-of-a-kind movie celebrates its 32nd anniversary, here are some of the secrets behind the classic motion picture

Page 28: Wisdom of the stars -- inspirational quotes to light your way -- Javier Bardem, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michelle Obama, Brad Pitt, Diana Ross, Justin Timberlake, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway

Page 29: Beyonce, Barack Obama, George Clooney, Sidney Poitier, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Will Smith, Matt Damon, Ariana Grande

Page 32: Get Insects to Bug Off -- save your picnic and your sanity with DIY tricks

Page 40: Chakras -- Your powers begin within -- what chakras are and what they do

Page 42: 10 facts about Law & Order: SVU

Page 44: Eyes on the Stars -- Blake Shelton says he's hoping for a summer wedding with fiance Gwen Stefani, Sylvester Stallone is writing a potential TV prequel to his Rocky film franchise, Tara Reid recently wiped out on the red carpet in six-inch platform heels, Evelyn Sakash who worked on art direction on Mermaids was recently found dead in her NYC home months after she was reported missing in September 2020, Dancing with the Stars pro Sharna Burgess recently made her red carpet debut in Malibu with beau Brian Austin Green, Jeffrey Dean Morgan admits he's still shocked about The Walking Dead coming to a close later this year, Martha Stewart made waves last summer when she posted a sultry selfie on social media and admits she got so many proposals and so many propositions

Page 45: Rita Moreno attends the SAG Awards via video (picture), Selena Gomez and Martin Short shares some giggles on a NYC set (picture), Mary Steenburgen playfully serenades husband Ted Danson (picture), Helen Mirren (picture), Joe Giudice recently met Luis "Louie" Ruelas who is the current boyfriend of his former wife Teresa Giudice, Salma Hayek has joined the cast of House of Gucci playing clairvoyant Pina Auriemma, Ben Affleck gushed over ex Jennifer Lopez in a recent interview

Page 46: Two best friends are even closer after one rescued the other using CPR, a single day after she completed a course on how to administer the life-saving technique -- Torri'ell Norwood, age 16, was at the wheel when a speeding driver rammed her car, sending it hurtling smack into a tree and the St. Petersburg, Florida teen climbed through the window to safety when her door wouldn't open, and two of her three passengers also managed to get out, but her BFF A'zarria Simmons was still inside the wreck unconscious -- Torri'ell had just completed her CPR training the day before and knew what to do so she pulled her pal from the vehicle and, when she couldn't find a pulse, administered 30 compressions and two rescue breaths until A'zarria regained consciousness and paramedics soon arrived and rushed the girl to a hospital

Page 47: Get out of the wind and rain, or just find some shade, while you wait for the next bus in these quirky, fruit-shaped sculpture bus stops -- the idea began in Japan and is now spreading to other countries, so don't be surprised to see a super-sized piece of fruit at the end of your block in the near future

Don't know how #TurkeyDayDinner gonna turn out when most of the cooks been sipping all day! Trey ham, fried turkey, mac & cheese Destiny potato salad, Chocolate chocolate cake, 7up cake, banana pudding, gumbo (Peaches) Peaches Gumbo (Destiny), Stuffed bell pepper, corn bread dressing, sweet potato pie Meeka Corn Casserole, shrimp & crab dressing Shelita Beef Ribs, Jell-O Shots, Wild Turkey Mark Bacon wrapped Turkey Dasia? https://www.instagram.com/p/B5Y_SR_lhyXToWciRqoLw8lv7IIUpa1ordaFdo0/?igshid=k42vdy3lzuq0

Rough draft A freakishly weird, unpredicted storm is heading towards the area of the Disneycruise Ship. The clouds roll in thick and dark. Dr. Anthony and Mariana look confused. The waves down below are growing wildly taller and aggressive. Dr. Anthony said, “I have to find Dasia.” He runs off. Mariana looks around to make sure there are no witnesses and when the coast is clear, she takes off, straight into the air and flies around the ship trying to find out why she senses evil but cannot see, hear or smell it. “What is going on?” Meanwhile in the Captains quarters, The captain is given orders. “How could we not see this coming? We need to deviate from the planned route to avoid the storm.” “But Captain, we don’t know the area that well.” The Captain ignores him and starts looking at a map of the ocean. Back in Dasia’s room. Thunder can be heard in the distance. Albert is freaking out and making wild noises, trying to wake Dasia up but she is knocked out, so he decides to throw poop at her. Direct hit! He Hits her in the forehead and she sits up. She pulls the eye cover off. “Yuck! What is wrong with you, crazy monkey? You don’t throw poop at me.” Then she starts to feel the rough movement of the ship and starts to worry. “Oh my God, please help us.” A few seconds later, Dr. Anthony Bangs on her door. BOOM BOOM.. “Who is it? Is that you God?” She said. “It’s me baby, open the door.” Dasia gets up and opens the door for her dad and they hug. “Put your life jacket on quickly.” She grabs her jacket and he helped her put it on. they both go to his room to get his and he put his jacket on. “What’s going on, daddy?” She worriedly asked. Outside. The winds are picking up and the waves are hitting harder. The splashing causes water to sprinkle on higher levels. Little do they know it but the ship has had a light Collision with a reef. The impact is so strong that the doctor could feel it. He looked worried and tightened his grip on his daughters hand as they tried to make their way down the corridor and get to higher levels of the ship. It began to rain. At that time, other passengers were running around, screaming and trying to figure out what to do (at Los Angeles International Airport)

This little life 🥰

"So, yeah. Dinosaurs were these giant lizards that went extinct. There were a bunch of different kinds, not just triceratops. They lived here a long, long time ago—"

"Oh! Like when you were little?"

...

"...Just a few years before that."

[silly laughs]

That's when started going wrong — like really wrong — with the pressure cooker. 👀

So much chili. Chili that exists not to be consumed, but to multiply.

Better get out of here, stat. It's not like Cherry's about to fight Skip for the last piece of weeks-old apple pie. And they've got (literal) fish to fry!

Call to meal and take a serving both just kept creating party-size bowl after bowl of chili. None of it functional. A real "water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink" situation.

"...What's a dinosaur?"

"You don't know about—? Oh..."

Kids Dasia's age would have been born around the start of the townie apocalypse. Whatever her life's journey has been, of course dinosaur facts haven't been a top priority.

"My friend Octavia has collected a bunch of picture books for her little girl, Lydia. I bet we could borrow one all about dinosaurs for you."

"...Maybe."

...

"I like your triceratops."

"What?"

"Your dinosaur. That's what this little guy is called."

"Oh. Thanks..."

"Dasia...? Whatcha doing down there, kiddo?"

"Hey Cherry. I wasn't sure... since Alicia isn't here..."

Say hello to the cutest almost-functional kitchen in the world. Sadly I could not get the pressure cooker to work on a hidden countertop or just about at all, really.

Of course the Wilds are already up — and hungry!

[metal gate creaking]

...

"Ooooh! What's this? Don't mind if I do!"

"—Whoa!"

[angsty exhale]

"Dasiaaaaaa."

"What?"

"You guys okay...? Sounds like Max sleep-fighting with himself in here."

"Aw, look. We're scaring the children. I should probably be heading out anyways..."

"So soon?"

The sun is, at this point, almost set. And Cherry has a long bike ride home ahead of them. Time really flies when the pack of kids you live with crash your impromptu picnic date!