[IC] The Sisters of the Dying Branch

[Infinite Cosmos]

Faintly, Arken could hear Hana’s voice. She mentioned s’mores. That’d be nice, he thought. A nice, toasted dessert to ease him into the night. Milk would be nice as well. There was no way he was getting though, is he. Unless he goes and knocks on the door to the place the elders were staying at for the evening and asks for milk. They’d probably turn him away or scold him for disturbing their peace or something...

In any case, Arken rummaged around his small rucksack and found a canteen of water. Taking a small sip, he let the night breeze take his mind where they wanted to go. At first, it was the crackling fire, the scent of burning wood, the red-orange glow. The way the marshmallow charred just right, the sweet perfume of caramelizing sugar, the faint scent of glee and excitement. His mind drifted. Away from the fire, away from his surrounding, and back into the void. What was it? What stared back at him. Just as his thoughts were getting heavier, a small sliver of light shone through.

Hana.

The way she took his arm and healed it. He looked at the scar. Was that really their first major interaction? He remember, vaguely, seeing her around at coven gatherings and family get-together and that sort of thing. She always kept to herself, and he did the same thing. Arken, in typical Arken fashion, didn’t pay the shy, wallflower-esque, girl much attention at all. He carried on, behaving as he is told to. As time went on, he has always held a sort of odd curiosity towards the Song girl.

The thought of s’mores returned, snapping Arken back to reality. He turned, peeking over whatever he had made for himself. “Uh. Ha- Hana? Can you make me a s’mores? I’d really appreciate it. I like the marshmallow to be toasted and chocolate be melted. Thats the only request I have...” His voice trailed off slightly at the end. It felt so odd just simply asking for a s’mores to be made for him...

By the Gods, was Arken nervous? It didn’t even matter that all the commotion was going on around him between what sounded like Dakota and Summer. Those two weren’t his concerns. His mind then went to the thought of “If Hana brings me the s’mores, I can keep her away from those two fighting...”

Illogically, his mind couldn’t stay away from her...

@Akayaofthemoon

[KaijuBaragon]

Charlie had already rooted through his bag and pulled out some lines and hooks, which he was busily beginning to rig up for his night fishing expedition. Emboldened by Alayna asking to join him, Charlie was sure that a fun night was ahead... Perhaps some other people would join in too. He was just tying the took to the end of a line with a fairly complex knot, the redhead biting his lip in concentration, when he was suddenly thrown off by Maggie's voice. He glanced up at her as she began to advise him that perhaps he was being brash and going fishing in the woods in the dead perhaps wasn't the smartest idea... And Charlie found himself quickly agreeing with her assessment of the idea - it was pretty irresponsible.

"Well, I suppose you're right... I was probably being rather erratic, it wasn't the smartest suggestion. Sorry Alayna, she is right. Luckily fishing and drugs aren't the only options available..." He quieted his voice as the scary stories began to start, using the opportunity to root through his bag for his own book which he had brought along, soon finding it and pulling it out. It was of course a book about Watford F.C - a biography of a past manager who had lead the club to glory (well, they hadn't actually won anything, but it was relative glory anyway). He had already read the book about three times in the past, but it was an enjoyable read and took his mind off the club's current misfortune anyway, so why not give it another read. He put it to one side just as he caught the end of Isolde's gripping story.

"That was a fine story Isolde... Very atmospheric! In fact, it reminds me of..." Charlie was quickly cut off as he heard heated discussion going on from across the campsite. He whipped his head around to observe the scene. From about 10 seconds of observation, he could see that Dakota and Summer were involved in some kind of conflict... Jeremy had attempted to intervene already, had done absolutely nothing. Iris, Maggie and Calypso were watching on, clearly not involved in the scrap themselves. The situation looked tense already, especially when Summer grabbed Dakota's ferret by the scruff and started threatening it. And it boiled over when Dakota had done a bit of fancy magic and socked Summer straight in the jaw.

Charlie's jaw dropped, and he immediately stood up, instinctively going over to intervene. He attempted to look as serious as he could while heading over - which probably contrasted to his blindingly yellow pyjamas. "Woah, woah, steady! What on earth is going on here? Something about a bracelet?" Probably not the best start, but Charlie soldiered on regardless. "We shouldn't be fighting like this, we're all members of the same coven here... Let's just cool our emotions somewhat, this seems like something that could be talked out." He looked down at his fellow redhead who was most likely reeling from the punch. "Summer, are you alright? And is... Um... Him! Is the ferret alright, Dakota?"

He thought he had done a pretty good job at defusing the situation.

@Qia @Melissa @Blizz @Hitman @Danvers @canaryrose

[sassy1085]

---

Kate was kinda expecting Isolde’s story to be weird and mysterious like her but in the end, her story was really interesting. A coven of witches that live in a mountains that can control the weather, Kate wonder if they weren't afraid of lightning, they would probably join Morden coven, to feel free and safe. After Isolde was done with her story, Kate snap out of their thoughts "That was a very interesting story, Isolde. But out of curiosity, what's it like living on the mountains?" Kate ask Isolde, they want to ask her more questions, but kate feel like one is just enough.

After getting their answer and grab themself a s’mores, Kate hear a familiar voice coming from the forest, it was Rowan "Well, you miss my awesome ghost story called Mary Onyx, The Death Witch. Isolde tell her interesting story about Valerica" Kate say to Rowan, they didn't tell Rowan the part about the rabbit scaring the shit of Kate, they doesn't want to embarrass themself even further as it is. Kate then hear a heated discussion between Dakota and Summer "Um, guys, don't look now but I think there two witches fighting over there." Kate point at both angry Dakota and Summer ".....Soooo, want to take bets on whoever throw the first punch first?" After Kate say that, Dakota use her wind magic and punch Summer right in the jaw, Kate eyes widen and almost burst out laughing, this has not been Summer best night, has it? "Great job trying to calm the situation, Jeremy" Kate jokingly say Jeremy in a sarcastic tone, also while getting excited to see what happen next

@Blizz@Jumbus@Rabidporcupine

[blackdragon]

Rebecca looked at the fight breaking out with more than a little apprehension. She didn’t like fighting at the best of times, and once everybody brought magic into the picture, it could get very bad, very fast. Add in the fact of life that was teenage impulse, and well… it wasn’t entirely impossible that she could have a few new ghosts to talk to soon.

This needs to be nipped in the bud, now. We can’t have the coven turning on each other like this, especially over something so petty. Rebecca wasn’t the type to raise her voice often, so on the rare occasion she did, it was all the more memorable. With a few good breaks, she could calm everybody down, or at least “Both of you, knock it off! Summer, I really don’t think she ordered Astro to steal the bracelet, so don’t take it out on the little guy. And Kota, once you realized it wasn’t yours, you should have found out whose it was and returned it. Now, can we start being civilized about this whole thing and resolve this peacefully? Please?”

A voice came up from behind the medium. It was Cassandra, wearing a happy little grin. “I’ve got twenty bucks on Summer!” she called out to nobody in particular. Rebecca, for her part, simply buried her face deep in her hands. “What did I do to end up in this place? Kick a puppy into low-earth orbit or something?” she wondered aloud. This was going to be one heck of an interesting time. Hopefully, the fallout from all this wouldn’t be too disastrous… but she seriously doubted they’d all get that lucky.

[Melissa]

_{Mentions: Isolde @Blizz, Jean- Luc, Dakota @Hitman, Calypso @canaryrose, Summer @Danvers, Jeremy @Rabidporcupine, Charlie @KaijuBaragon and Rebecca @blackdragon}

Maggie looked back at the campfire, the roaring flames lighting the facing of those sitting around it. She noticed them all watching Isolde intently as she told her story- words weaving a history and narrative that weren’t audible from the girl’s location. Her eyes glanced over at Jean Luc who happened to be looking in her direction- the book he had shown her was captivating- definitely a little creepy, but mostly interesting. It was a type of magic that she had never performed, and probably never would, but it was absolutely something that had crossed her mind once or twice. She’d have to take him up on his offer to read it- maybe she’d learn something new.

The blonde graciously smiled as Dakota confirmed that she could join them and was getting ready to sit down and get comfortable when Summer stormed over and began yelling at the brunette. Maggie was taken aback by the redhead’s disposition; it a stark contrast from the confident, yet polite, girl she spoke with earlier this afternoon. But the quiet girl could sympathize with her- she too would be angry if someone stole a personal belonging of hers. Still, that didn’t mean it was right to scream and swear at someone without hearing their side of the story. Fearfully, Maggie remained silent, unsure of how to intervene.

It all happened so fast after that- there was grabbing, shoving, and one minute Astro was in Dakota’s possession, and the next he was being strangled by Summer in a blind rage. At this point, the blonde tried to find her voice. “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for this…” She trailed off, voice overpowered by the two girls screaming at eachother. If she took a clear side to this argument, it would have made it easier to break it up, but since she remained stuck in the middle, she didn’t know how to solve the situation. Jeremy made a valiant effort to mitigate the problem, but helplessly, she stood there and watched as Dakota unexpectedly let her fist fly and connect with Summer’s face.

Maggie’s jaw nearly fell to the floor and she was too stunned to react in any other way. She couldn’t believe that this argument had become physical so quickly and she felt terrible for not intervening when it began. However, she breathed a sigh of relief as Charlie quickly approached, both thankful that he didn’t go night fishing and that he was here to help. Something about him was comforting and the blonde felt a little better knowing that he was going to try and contain the situation before it got any worse. She silently mouthed a thank you to him, hoping he’d notice that she was appreciative. Rebecca stepped in as well, scolding both of the girls and sounding off as a clear voice of reason. The blonde regained composure, still a tad bit shaky and tense, and tried to not let her anxiousness show as she prayed the argument would come to an end.

If this was only the first night… what was the rest of the Summer at the Coven going to be like?

[Blizz]

@sassy1085

Isolde deliberately ignored the...mess...going on between Dakota and Summer, and Iris wasn’t even paying attention to anyone right now. Did she fall asleep? Isolde liked that someone had listened and was genuinely interested in what she said. ”Well, it’s beautiful up there. The fields in the valleys stretch for miles, the mountain rams are as tap as horses, the sky never sleeps. The wind always keeps you company, and above all else? It’s peaceful. Storms rage constantly, but they’re never out of place with everything else. The weather is like water in the ocean, it moves with the rest. You’d get used to the storms eventually. We sleep through them. The storms almost lull you to sleep, it’s really a beautiful place.” There was a hollow tone in her voice, like Isolde was thinking about home while telling Kate about it. She didn’t regret leaving, though. She might not ever go home.

Honest though...how fast did Iris fall asleep? Didn’t she have nothing but sugar before the ritual?

[canaryrose]

Calypso exhaled, relieved. Drugs terrified her, even magical ones. It wasn’t the actual high that she feared, though- it was getting caught. So she was thankful that Dakota had listened to her protestations before going out into the woods and doing it anyways. She wouldn’t want Dakota to be caught either- covering for her would be a nightmare. At Dakota’s compliment, she grinned sheepishly and giggled. ”No, you.” She shoved Dakota lightly with one hand and laughed at her (not that funny) joke. Then, her face grew wistful. She had something to say. “But seriously, I agree. This summer should be awesome. We kind of all grew apart in our teen years- maybe this’ll give us all a chance to connect again as a group. We’re stuck together for the rest of our lives, after all.”

Calypso lifted her head when she heard a voice nearby that she quickly identified as Maggie’s. “Hey… mind if I join you two? Kate and Isolde are telling ghost stories, which isn’t exactly my scene,”Maggie said. Calypso’s face lit up with another full smile, and she waved Maggie over, patting the ground next to her. “‘Course we don’t mind! Come on, sit down right here, I don’t think we were planning on telling any ghost stories anyways. But we’re still having fun! Yeah, ooh, like that bracelet, mhm. Astro is such a good boy.” Calypso booped the ferret’s nose and laughed.

But then, a very unwelcome voice, unlike Maggie’s, sounded from nearby. Calypso’s eyes, too, snapped to Summer, who was yelling about… the bracelet? Summer’s fury was obvious. The way she insulted Dakota almost made Calypso furious, too- Dakota wasn’t a thief!- but she managed to take a breath, planning to speak somewhat calmly and rationally to her, but Dakota spoke first. Calypso sighed. As much as she loved her friend, she was not very… diplomatic. “Dakota,” she hissed. “You’re not hel-” Before she could finish her sentence, though, Summer had rushed towards them in a fit of fury, shoving Dakota roughly into the ground. “HEY!” she yelled, her own temper mounting. She looked up at Summer, lips pressed together in a hard line and eyebrows furrowed in concentration. She would’ve cast something (a forcefield or a binding spell, she was thinking, nothing violent), but before she could… a weight disappeared out of her arms. Calypso glanced down, startled. But that startle turned to horror. Astro was gone. She looked up, frantically glancing around for her tiny charge. She found him quickly, but not in the way she wanted to. Her heart dropped like a stone. Summer had somehow snatched Astro- Dakota’s familiar- from her arms, and held his tiny body in the air, taunting Dakota with it.

Calypso jumped up from the ground, preparing some very not-nice words for Summer. But then, Dakota went into action. Dakota disappeared and turned into a blurred figure for less than a second, feather-stepping up to Summer. Calypso watched, half awestruck and half horrified, as Dakota roundhouse punched Summer in the face. What she wanted to do was stop the fight- like Charlie and Jeremy were trying to do, bless their hearts- but… she saw Summer let go of the ferret. Shit! Calypso cast a spell in a split second, choosing the first one she could think of- Magic Hands. It was a fairly common spell among witches, uncomplicated, but hard to keep up for long. Shimmery, transparent yellow arms shot from directly under Calypso’s real arms. They extended the entire way in a flash, catching Astro just before he hit the ground. They came back in much the same way, shrinking back into Calypso’s torso until Astro was neatly deposited into her own hands. After the spell was over, she gasped for breath, holding the squirmy ferret tight in her hands. But the energy she gave up was much less than it usually was. Plus, her magic had felt… different. A tinge of something foreign that had not always been there.

Nevermind that. Calypso glanced to Charlie and Jeremy, giving the both of them a thumbs-up but subtly shaking her head. They had the wrong approach. “Dakota!” she yelled, stopping for a second to breathe afterwards. “Astro’s fine- come on, you know Summer’s not about to stop being a bitch! It’s probably not hers, yeah, but it’s probably just a little piece of costume jewelry or something! We can get one just like it for five dollars at Claire’s or something, it’s practically worthless. Not worth fighting her over!” Calypso yelled at her friend, trying to get her to see reason. She held up the ferret. Hopefully that would put some sense in her.

@Hitman@KaijuBaragon@Danvers@Rabidporcupine@Melissa

[Qia]

At Maggie's advice, Alayna begins to shake her head. She opens her mouth to argue otherwise, that certain species of fish can only be seen at night as well and that it is just a matter of having a source of light if necessary. But when Charlie gives his quick agreement, the words freeze on her tongue. An argument is not something she wishes to have, especially if she's trying to develop a good relationship with her initiate group. Still...

A feeling of disappointment creeps in, the witch looking down in case it is noticeable on her face. The thought of fishing had, unfortunately, brought up memories that she'd long ago purged from her mind, or so she'd thought. Yet, here she is now thinking about the close moments she had shared with her father as a child, with a father that is now gone, at least emotionally. She supposes she should be grateful that he is still with her physically, but for the life of her, she can't bring herself to do so.

When an argument breaks out between Dakota and Summer, the girl is tempted to step forward to make the situation better, mostly as a distraction to calm her troubled heart. Alayna can honestly say she doesn't care about what is happening, and finds both reactions from the persons involved to be ridiculous. As there are others to fulfill the role of the mediator, however, she thinks about Charlie's words about there being more to do instead.

"I...think I'm gonna take a walk," the girl says softly to no one in particular, bending down for a stick on the ground and lighting it afire with a flick of her hands. Without waiting for a response, she moves off and into the nearby patch of woods.

She desperately needs some air, and the cool night is sorely welcoming.

[Danvers]

Well she hadn’t expected that.

Well, maybe she had. It wasn’t exactly the first time she’d been socked in the jaw...after all, no-one was as aggressive as a gymnast in the height of competition season. Apart from the coaches that is.

Nevertheless, the punch had been surprisingly strong, causing her to stumble backwards, and she'd been required to reach out a hand to steady herself against a tree trunk before she lost her balance completely. Blinking, Summer slowly became aware of a sudden bloom of pain that was spreading across the bottom of her face. The pain was intense but it soon began to dull to a mere, more tolerable throbbing ache. For a second she hoped that it wouldn’t bruise, before remembering that was something she could easily cover up...especially now that she had access to the Wellsprings magic.

Looking down at her other empty palm, she realised that the ferret must’ve slipped from her grasp. No surprise that such a weaslley person would pick such a weaslley familiar. She didn’t really care about the creature anyway. It had been a crude bargaining chip and when Calypso picked it up with the aid of her magic (why she couldn’t just used her actual hands, she wasn’t sure), she inwardly shrugged her shoulders. It probably wouldn’t have been a great idea to kill the thing anyway...she was pretty certain the elders would be extremely pissed off if she had.

Arms hung at her side, Summers nails dug into the palm of her hands as several of the other initiates came running over, all keen to end the fight. It only served to irritate her further as streams and streams of empty words rushed over her head. _{’Let’s cool our emotions...let’s start being civilised...let’s think rationally...'} Summer wanted to tell them all to shut up. Did they not understand? Did they not know that she couldn’t? And that even if she could, she could never...would never stand for such a belonging to be taken from her.

Calypsos words in particular bit at her already short tether. For a second, a couple of tears threatened to well up at the edges of her eyes but she pushed them back, determined that she would never cry in front of such annoying people. Anyone with even an ounce of taste could see that the bracelet was no simple dollar-store item. It was pure silver, a ring of perfect (once unmarred) metal. On the inner ring was inscribed ‘SA’ but aside from that, it was simple and delicate. It’s true power came from the magic that was imbued in it. It’s why she loved it so much...it not only reminded her of her father, but she could practically feel his presence when she wore it. And it would’ve helped calm her, at least a little, during times like this...but sadly, and obviously, she did not have it on her.

Shaking herself from her reverie, she realised that the punch had affected her more than she’d initially thought. Her vision blurred for second, a fresh wave of dizziness threatening to send her tumbling to the floor. Holding her nails tightly against the skin on the palm of her hand, she let the pain jolt her awake. _Fuck. If she tried to fight now she knew she would be out within seconds. Even using the small amount of magic she had planned was risky but she just couldn’t help herself.

Strolling up to Dakota, seemingly oblivious to the threat of another punch, she stared her dead in the eyes. “I’d ask you for it again but you’re clearly so obtuse that anything I say will just go straight in one ear and out the other.” Managing a grim smile, Summer lifted up a finger to prod Dakota in the centre of her forehead. The magic was subtle, flowing through her fingertips like a gentle breeze...like the fringes of a dying wave at the shore line. One moment Dakotas vision would be normal and the next it would be, well...gone. Not darkness or blackness. Gone, as if there was no input feeding into the occipital lobe of her brain. Of course it was just an illusion (and one that she knew would only last a minute or two max) but it was horrible to experience. She’d tried it on herself several times...once having lost her vision for the good part of an hour. The image of her trying to leave her room and walking into the doorframe several times would’ve been a funny one, if she’d been able to see it.

“I’ll have that back now thank you...” Summer held up a palm, initially planning on teleporting the bracelet back to herself. Yet as she did so, she felt her body weaken, threatening to collapse once more. She was running off empty and it could sustain no more magic. “I-I...” As tears of frustration actually begun to spill from her eyes, Summer suddenly charged off, straight into the darkness of the woods. Her own vision blurred a few times as she walked, body stumbling over roots and branches and rocks, but she didn’t stop. She wanted to get away from them all. She wanted to be alone...so she walked, deeper and deeper and deeper. All she could think was that her bracelet was gone. No doubt Dakota would toss it after what she'd done to her...of course she would.

@Hitman @Canaryrose

[Hitman]

Punching Summer square in the jaw admittedly felt incredible, almost liberating in a way. The look on her face was absolutely priceless. But as the rest of the newly-inducted witchlings flocked around them, with Jeremy and Charlie trying to break up the fight, and some of the others commenting about her absolute stupidity from the outskirts, Dakota realized that she had probably made a mistake. She panted deeply, her anger levels lowering slowly as she saw Calypso holding Astro safely in her arms. Astro was safe. "I..." Dakota started, her normally bravado-layered tone weaker than usual. Dakota had a habit of acting impulsively, a habit that often got her into trouble- once, in middle school, Billy Jenkins had cut her in the lunch line and told her off when she tried to take her spot back. Billy Jenkins would be found screaming later that day hanging from the monkey bars by his shoelaces (Dakota ended up buying him a McFlurry, and all was forgiven). Dakota looked around her, her quick breaths slowing as she regained her cool. "You're right, Cal...not worth it..." Dakota muttered, deep in thought, but her words were quiet, hard to hear, certainly if the witches weren't paying attention.

All hope of the situation being resolved peacefully, though, was dashed as Summer walked over, her confidence soaring. Dakota instinctively shifted her weight to her back leg, readying for what she thought was a punch as Summer told her off. Dakota, in truth, did not want to continue this fight. She was ruining everybody's night, and letting her drama ooze over everybody else. Maybe she would confront Summer some other time, and Dakota certainly did not regret her decision in the slightest, but as for right now, she wanted it to end. "If you shut your mouth for one second, I-" Dakota began, but didn't finish as Summer tapped her on the forehead and cast a spell. "What the-" Dakota tried to say, but she quickly realized what Summer had done to her. She couldn't see anything. She was blind.

Dakota was not the type of person to be easily shaken or easily afraid- she had, after all, suggested minutes earlier that the girls do drugs in the forest at midnight- but this was a different level, and she started to panic as she staggered clumsily, her footing clearly uncertain as she stumbled across the forest ground frantically. She quickly discovered that her ability to walk was not very solid when she had no vision, and so she soon toppled over, hitting the ground roughly. The fall hurt, and she could feel that she had definitely scraped her hands and knees, but that was much, much less critical than the other major issue she was grappling with. Her panic rose as she fully came to grip with what was happening, and she began to call out, her head twitching back and forth like a rabbit that had just heard a snapping twig. "Callie!" Dakota cried out to her friend, her voice no longer the same as it was just minutes earlier. She was frantic now.

Her words came out disjointed and overwrought. "Summer...my eyes...gone....blind..." Dakota said in a near-moan, each word followed by a sharp gasp, and though she couldn't see, she could feel water rim around her eyes. This was not good. Dakota Lawson was not a crier. She never cried. She had sat stone-faced through broken bones and bad bleeding- she was not going to let this rattle her. She would figure it out- maybe there was some magic that would get her vision back, or something, or maybe she'd figure out how to echolocate or something, turn into a real-life bat. That would be cool! Her own positive thoughts seemed to betray her very negative experience, though, as she was still on the floor and still, despite her best efforts, crying somewhat. She wasn't sobbing or anything close to it, but for anybody that knew Dakota, it was a highly unusual occurrence.

Thankfully for Dakota, her vision came back, though the manner it did was quite annoying- just as Dakota was getting to her feet, her vision came back with a jolt, so suddenly that it sent her back down to the ground again. This time, though, Dakota was much quicker to recover, wiping her eyes as she staggered to her face, a thin smile of relief on her face as she regained her bearings. Her knees and the bottoms of her wrists were scraped up a bit, but this didn't bother Dakota in the slightest as she gave the group a melancholy smile."Sorry for the hysterics," she said weakly as she removed the bracelet from her wrist, chucking it as far as her arm could throw, before smiling a little wider. "Feeling better."

---

---

The dark-skinned youth watched silently as the altercation quickly devolved. It all happened so suddenly- Summer pushed Dakota, Dakota got up, Summer stole the ferret, Dakota punched Summer, Calypso grabbed the ferret, Summer hexed Dakota, Dakota fell like a wounded animal, Summer ran off into the woods, Dakota got back up, pretending nothing had ever been wrong and disposed of the bracelet with some flair. It was quite entertaining to watch, but Jean-Luc couldn't help but feel just a little bad for the two of them. It was clear that Summer valued the bracelet, and Dakota, like most, valued her vision. Despite the obvious entertainment value of the conflict, the girls were quite beat up about it. Jean-Luc's eyes followed the arcing path of the bracelet, which landed in a tall patch of grass a way's away from the campfire. Dakota had a good arm, if anything.

Sighing to himself as he rose, Jean-Luc's hunched and eerie figure made its way past the group, walking through the campfire in the direction where Summer had fled to, like the Phantom of the Opera retreating from the scene after dropping a chandelier. Smiling to himself at his reference, Jean-Luc held out his right hand towards the patch of grass where Dakota had thrown the bracelet and cast a spell, enjoying the feeling of the sudden reservoirs of magic that he had inside himself now. His Magic Hands- a shadowy, translucent purple-black gnarled hand, like one would expect of a storybook witch, snaked from underneath Jean-Luc's right arm, slinking towards the grass and gingerly snapping up the bracelet. It then retracted, depositing the bracelet into Jean-Luc's hand before vanishing. Jean-Luc continued to walk, following Summer into the woods, stepping carefully over branches and brambles, sticks and stones, as he made his way through the forest. He was grateful that he had chosen the nice, comfortable flannels over something thinner, as the cold was quite nippy, surprising for a Virginia summer day.

He moved swiftly, knowing he had ground to catch up on, and eventually he called out, "hey!" into the forest, his deep voice resonating between the trees as it echoed through the area, bounding into the darkness. "I have a bracelet...I have your bracelet," he added, staring into Summer's general direction and into the dark forest. Silently waving his hand, he snapped his fingers and let what felt like endless amounts of magic flow again, and opened his palm, a small glowing sphere of golden light emanating from within. A simple spell for illumination, one that Jean-Luc had used countless times to read while in the dark. "If you want your bracelet, come and get it. It's cold here," Jean-Luc yelled out, his voice layered with irritation as it stood on a large, smooth rock.

"And just to let you know..." Jean-Luc added on, his voice now adopting a cool, unsympathetic overtone to it, "I am doing this for you not out of the kindness of my heart..." Those last words were spoken with near mocking, his lips taught as he stared into the night. "...but out of pity. Now take it." He carelessly dropped the silver bracelet underneath the glowing sphere of light, giving the mobile candle enough energy to last a few moments longer, before turning on heel and walking back towards the campfire, eyes as stony as they always were. He promised himself that would be the last act of charity for the night, for sure.

[Jumbus]

---

Rowan first replied to Kate, "well with stories like that, I'm sad I had to make a forest venture. Either way I still like my horror shows live." She gestured over to the situation with Summer and Dakota, but felt bad as she saw Summer retreating into the woods in tears. Though,Rowan doubted she would be able to comfort the witch. Even if Summer would be willing to listen to her, which was a slim chance, Rowan doubted she would have the right words to say. Ultimately, she decided to just not comment on it. "I'm going to get changed I feel like I'm the odd one out here haha."

Rowan reemerged from her now set up tent in her pjs. "I would love to see those mountains one day." Rowan replied Isolde "I've barely been outside this town let alone the state. Well at least I still have more of these mountains to see, when I've been camping before we've always stayed some distance from the wellspring. I feel like this forest has so much more to offer." Rowan took the kettle off of the fire. "Anyone want tea?"

@sassy1085@Blizz

---

[Akayaofthemoon]

. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .

Hana was already half way through the roasting of her first marshmallow when the commotion started up, causing her to pull the sweet treat from the fire. She watched nervously as Summer started up a confrontation with Dakota, it seemed to be rather serious straight from the start which usually wasn’t the normal style. She debated if she really wanted to get in the middle of a raging Summer and her recent target when the new member Jeremy stepped in to try to calm the stoking flames of both women’s fury. She honestly hoped that would be the end of it, that they could calm and settle things properly. Hana has hoped they would just have a relaxing and peaceful evening after such an ordeal but that must have been wishful thinking to hope for.

It was in that moment that her attention was pulled from the chaos by the sound of her name. Hana turned to see who was speaking to her and she was unsurprised to see that it was Arken, nervously or more uncomfortably asking the simple request to make a s’mores. Well, actually he didn’t ask to make a s’more, he asked if she could make one for him which she didn’t mind doing. She didn’t know much about Arken other than details that she had observed or the coven talking about his family in passing so for all she knew, maybe he wasn’t a camping person and didn’t know how to make one. It was also possible he was trying to stay as far away from the conflict as he could which she didn’t blame him for. It was getting ugly and even more were joining into the mix. It made her stomach curl in knots and she was really worried one of them would be hurt. They had just changed the way they were used to using magic, it didn’t seem like testing it with fights was a good way to start.

She did her best to set that thought aside, moving the marshmallow back into the fire with a small smile, ”Sure, no problem. I’m almost done with this one.” It didn’t take long before it was complete, Hana carefully placing the top graham cracker on and getting up to make her way over. She knelt down next to him, holding out the sweet treat and waiting for him to take it, ”Here, I hope you like it.” Her eyes drifted back to the fight, more people joined in to stop it from the last time she was focused on it, though it seemed like it was at the top of its boiling point and some people were more like herself hoping to avoid it. Alayna even clearly stated that she needed some air but when she headed for the wood. She felt a chill of panic at the thought of anyone being alone out in the woods at night.

”Wait! Alayna, you really shouldn’t go alone! It might not be safe, I’ll come with you.” Hana called, standing up before looking back to Arken. ”I hope you like it. I’ll be back in a bit and we can have some more.”, she said with a bright and happy smile at the idea of doing some actual camping activities. It would be nice if she could convince Charlie to do fishing after all. Heck, maybe she could chat with Alayna about it and see if she thought more people would enjoy that. She quickly jogged up, not wanting to fall behind but Summer decided to head off into the woods now too.”She shouldn’t be going alone either. Someone should go after her?”, she said, seeing if anyone would volunteer or she might have to ask someone to go with Alayna so that she could go after Summer.

. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .

Speaks With: (Arken)@Infinite Cosmos,Alayna@Qia

[sassy1085]

---

"Yeah, same here. I always want to go to new places and if I do, that is the first place I would go" Kate say to Isolde with a warm smile and they really do mean it, when Kate was a kid, they just want to travel all over world, never stopping, just travel everywhere until they passed, that is their dream. Kate then laugh at Cassandra when she say she got twenty bucks on Summer, even though Kate was only kidding, they also bet on twenty bucks on Dakota. "Oh, come on, Rebecca. We just need a little excitement tonight, that's all" Kate say to Rebecca while padding her on the shoulder. While Kate is just having a great time tonight, things quickly turn dark when Summer did something to Dakota that make her go blind, Kate almost stand up to check the flying witch while wondering if healing magic can heal any illusion magic, but then, things quickly calm down when Dakota vision got back to normal.

When Rowan ask if anyone want some tea, Kate thought since they just grab a s’mores, they grab some tea while there at it. But just as Kate was about to ask some tea, Hana then ask if anyone should go after Summer, Kate rolled their eyes, didn't she just witness the fight and then expect anyone to go after the pink devil? Kate stay silent, seeing if someone, anybody would go after Summer but seeing that everyone, except Jean-Luc, is not going after her, Kate then sigh "I will go after her" Kate say in a tired tone. Kate walk toward Summer with a s’mores in their hand "Hey...Are you okay-On second thought, bad choices of words, you did just got punch in the jaw...Um, do you want some company?" Kate ask Summer while trying not to make this conversation awkward as possible.

@blackdragon@Blizz@Jumbus@Danvers@Akayaofthemoon

[Rabidporcupine]

Jeremy Lindall

@Danvers@KaijuBaragon

Well... That had gone poorly.

He had to admit, he'd already picked Summer out as being a fairly abrasive person to put it lightly, but he'd honestly hoped at least the other one, Dakota, would be able to keep her cool. Naturally, this trust was betrayed immediately, and from there the whole scene erupted into chaos. By the end, Summer had wound up running off into the woods, but not before temporarily blinding Dakota. Luckily, her sight seemed to return very quickly, but more concerning was the fact that Summer had run into the forest alone. Even though they were on coven property, there was still no guarantee that dangerous predatory animals weren't on the prowl in there.

Or murderous, potentially undead witches.

"Hamlyn." He said, looking over to the person who seemed to have been the friendliest with Summer. "You know Abernathy better than I do. I'll probably need your help to find her, and to calm her down when we do."

And then he was off into the woods, hoping that Charlie really had decided to follow him.

As it turned out, he didn't really need him to figure out where Summer had gone. By reinforcing his eyes, he found it rather easy to follow the tracks she'd left behind her as she ran. Then again, it wasn't like she'd put in any effort to keep her tracks light. In fact, he probably could've followed the path of destruction with just a cheap flashlight. Still, she'd run pretty far into the woods, and it was almost ten full minutes before he and Charlie finally found her. He hesitated for a moment, wondering how he should handle this, but eventually he decided that she would probably have a decidedly low opinion of him no matter what he said, so he might as well just speak up.

"Abernathy." He said, just loudly enough to let her know he was there. "It's not safe to go out into the woods alone at night, so we came to make sure nothing happened. You might not want to talk, which is understandable, but if you decide you want to vent, we're both here."

[Tracyarmav]

Uaithne Cináed Fearghal Orvar

---

Uaithne watched the fight unfold with annoyance. Dakota picked a fight over jewelry Astro had picked up... Didn't even try to verify the claim, just picked a fight. Summer took the punch, responded with a surprisingly cool head. A simple illusion spell most likely, her speciality. Uaithne doubted even Calypso would realize just how lucky Dakota was to be fighting the illusionist and not someone else. Calypso decided to join the fight... Pity, she had seemed an intelligent child.

Summer stumbled off, shit that's a bad night waiting to happen. Uaithne slipped his pack back on and slipped silently into the woods after Summer, pausing just long enough to string his bow. He moved with the shadows, in practiced silent ease. He'd been hunting these lands since Dad had died. He knew these trees, and the paths between them. Not that he needed to with the noise Summer was making stumbling through he woods probably partially blinded by tears.

He noticed others following Summer, less quietly, and hoped she wouldn't react by just running blindly farther into the night. There wasn't anything to worry about yet, nothing big enough to hurt Summer or the others nearby; but she was making good time, and was headed for big animal territory. Uaithne would have to keep alert, but that was a simple task. He easily heard Jean-Luc's shout... And his pathetic speech.

Uaithne paused in his hunting; a sharp cracking, as thick glass was broken, and the spell within spilled over him. Uaithne persuaded an owl to take the bracelet, that was apparently Summer's after all, to Summer. Uaithne gave Jean-Luc a parting snear, and resumed his silent stalking through the night moving with the shadows to ward of any local predators Summer might stumble into. Thankfully there weren't any wolf packs this close to the Coven. So a bear or wildcat would be the most likely to protest Summer's presence though foxes and cougars also roamed the mountains they usually stayed farther from the coven house, like the wolves.

He kept his bow ready, an arrow which had been dipped in a fast acting numbing agent resting on the string. The poison would last only a few minutes for a bear, that was more than enough time to follow up with something designed for bear. Uaithne stayed about 30-50meters from Summer, always moving silently in the shadows, but close enough to keep her in his peripheral awareness while watching for trouble. He heard people talking to Summer, and saw the owl silently deliver her bracelet like the Hogwarts post. The owl kept flying, it had paused it's hunt for an evening snack to deliver the bracelet.

It seemed as if the days ahead would be full of immaturity, stupidity, and half baked plans. Uaithne decided to make the most of it. He might even manage a friend or two... though he doubted it. Plenty of others had lost parents, but it didn't effect them the same. Maybe they had siblings, or their remaining friends filled the gaps somewhat. He never could quite connect with anyone. But that could wait, the wind rustling through the trees brought Uaithne back to the present and he scanned his soundings on high alert. For now, he focussed on just keeping the local predators at bay...

---

Speaks to: N/A

Mentions: Summer @Danvers, Jean-Luc, Cal, Kota, Kate, Jeremy.

[Jumbus]

---

"Hey Kota, drink this, it'll help calm you down a bit." Rowan had moved over to Dakota and had a cup of tea held out to offer. Only after she said her first sentence did she realize 'calm you down a bit' could be taken in the wrong way. "Wait, hang on I uh, didn't mean it like that. I'm just saying all that must have been pretty scary." She took a seat next to Kota still offering the tea. "I don't know if its the wellspring or just because I haven't seen you all in a while but everyone seems a lot more powerful now."

Rowan threw a few more sticks on the fire, watching it rise up a bit before back down and becoming stable again. "I think we all need to take a bit more care with our magic now that we're proper witches. It was fine to fight and practically bite each others heads off when we were kids, but now we can just about blow each other up." Rowan had a short laugh to herself before continuing, what she said had sounded ridiculous but it was very true in her mind. "I just, don't want to see any of us get seriously hurt over some petty squabble. I think some others are going after Summer to settle her down now, you clocked her pretty good huh." She couldn't help but show a small smile of satisfaction when saying that. "Anyway, I hope you can make peace with her when she comes back. I don't think the Sisters were expecting a witch war on the first night. Neither did I, as a matter of fact." Rowan had another chuckle to herself.

---

(Occurs after post 140)
Speaks with: Dakota:@Hitman

[blackdragon]

Okay, this was ugly. And Cassandra didn’t do ugly, in more ways than one. The fight had been bad enough, but whatever hex Summer had used was too far by half. Even if it was a pretty cool bit of magic, she had to admit. It seemed Dakota was returning to normal, though, so she’d be fine. The main priority was getting to Summer, now.

Eventually, she came across the other girl, looking for all the world like a domestic abuse victim from Dakota’s haymaker. “Hey, Summer. I’ve got a spell that would work for that injury of yours. I think. It’s… it’s a variation of one of my curses, drains life force from things around you to heal. Never used it on somebody else, though. And if you don’t want me working black magic around you, I’ll understand.”

Cassandra plopped herself down on a log next to Summer. “How did you cast that hex, anyway? I mean, I know my way around spells like that, but I never saw anyone cast one that fast in my life before. I’m really impressed- you’ve got some serious game, girl. Remind me never to get on your bad side…”

[Qia]

When Alayna hears a voice call after her, she is tempted to ignore it. But it is so unexpected, the idea that someone would want to keep company with her, that she comes to a stop either way. She turns back, coming face to face with Hana. The orphaned girl. This person she'd always tried to remember the name of, although the two had never really talked outside of the coven.

But still. It is a lot easier on the mind to remember the name rather than the circumstances.

"Um," Alayna starts, unsure of how to proceed at first and then, "only if you really want to. I am a witch, after all. I think I can handle myself." There's a moment of silence before she adds a slight smile, hoping that the other girl would not take her words as a rejection but as a way out just in case.

Speaks to: Hana @Akayaofthemoon

[Akayaofthemoon]

. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .

Hana felt relieved that Alayna had actually paused for her to catch up. She was worried that she hadn’t heard her at first which would mean that the other girl would be wandering alone. It didn’t matter that they were witches in her opinion. These woods were not to be trifled with and she doubted the Elders had planned for them to full on trek around in it even if they had probably cleared it out a bit. It did hurt a bit that her company didn’t seem all that welcome but no one should have to be alone and it was safer in pairs. ”Of course! Two casters are better than one when faced with a challenge and besides, it’s no fun to do things all alone, right?”, she replied. They were here to bond and have fun, get to know each other since they would be around each other for a long time and work together.

. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .. * 　　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .

Speaks With:Alayna@Qia

[canaryrose]

For a moment, Cal thought they might be able to figure it out. Both girls stopped hitting each other and stared each other down, glaring. Summer approached and Calypso tensed up, preparing to dash in between the two of them and break it up. But instead of punching… she touched Dakota’s head? Like a boop? Surprisingly playful for Summer, Calypso thought, until she stopped being an idiot and remembered magic. Oh. Oh no. Whatever spell she had just cast could not have been good. Calypso watched in horror, still cradling Astro in her arms as she watched it take hold. Dakota started panicking in seconds, stumbling and falling. Calypso ran forward, looking confused and rather distraught herself.

"Callie!"

Calypso dropped to the ground with Dakota, concern showing on her face. Dakota always kept her cool- something was wrong. “I’m right here, Kota, everything’s fine! What’s wrong?” She listened as Dakota spoke, horror dawning on her face. Summer could blind people? Was it permanent? If it was, maybe Summer would be kicked out… hm... Calypso hugged her close, rubbing her back until her sight came back. “It’ll be okay. Promise,” she reassured Dakota, although she wasn’t quite sure of that herself.

When her sight came back, Calypso let out a sigh of relief. She offered a hand to help Dakota up, but her friend refused it and stood up by herself. She rolled her eyes playfully. It relieved her to see that Dakota was fine, even if she was clearly still shaken up. “You are not fine. Look at you! It’s time for some TLC. Stat. C’mere.” Not waiting for Dakota to say yes, Calypso yanked her friend back to their sleeping bags, gesturing for her to sit down. “Stay here. I’m getting us s’mores, then we talk.” With that, Calypso turned around and went to the fire, searching for Hana’s s’more stuff.

She found it fairly quickly and pulled out the marshmallows from the bag, finding two sticks that she hoped were sterile and stabbing them with it. She put them both over the fire in one hand and prepped the graham crackers and chocolate with the other. Not wanting to take long, Calypso pulled them out while they were freshly golden brown and pressed them into the s’mores. If she was being perfectly honest, she had never really made s’mores before, so she just kind of put them together like she thought they might go together and went back to Dakota in record time, holding up both s’mores triumphantly.

“Here. Eat. Being upset takes energy!” Calypso shoved the s’more into Dakota’s hands and plopped onto the ground next to her. “How are you feeling? Do you need some water? Another hug? God, I’m gonna kill that bitch… do your eyes hurt? No, it was probably just an illusion… you’re okay now, though! Do you want me to punch her for you?” Calypso munched on her s’more, miming punching the air. “Seriously, I will. I’m not very good at it, though. But I can do it! Whatever makes you feel better.”

@Hitman