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Jean-Luc nodded along as Maggie described the book that she had. Jean-Luc liked books. Books were always a source of comfort for him- they were never judgmental or harsh, always objectively teaching their readers what lies in its pages. Jean-Luc was not a huge fiction fan himself, much preferring to browse encyclopedias, language books, guides, or, best yet, spellbooks, but he certainly was not opposed to picking up a nice novel and reading through it when he was alone and didn't have anything else to do. They weren't necessarily informative, true, and information was often an end goal on Jean-Luc's reading pursuits, but they were often entertaining and sometimes rather heart-warming, not like Jean-Luc would ever admit that out loud. 

He gave an understanding nod to Maggie before looking down at the book in his arms. [color=DarkMagenta]"This? Well, it's not quite a novel,"[/color] Jean-Luc explained, lifting and opening the book cover. As he did so, there was a faint gasp that emanated from the heavily-enchanted book, which could be a potential source of fright for anybody already wary about camping in the forest at night. He leafed through the worn pages effortlessly, which showed diagrams of dolls, poppets, glyphs, sigils, plants, and more. [color=DarkMagenta]"It's a collection of spells, potions, and curses I've worked out, and some notes of the like...perhaps not as entertaining as your book, but quite informative. It's personal to me...I've had it for a long time. It's almost a friend,"[/color] he said, closing the book and looking it at. [color=DarkMagenta]"If you'd like to read it sometime, I'd be more than willing to lend it. There's no grand tale, but it has some neat tricks to use...just make sure you ask my permission first, or else...bad things might happen,"[/color] Jean-Luc said ominously, before giving a friendly nod to Maggie. The soft-spoken young man's attention shifted over to the stories being told by the campfire, as he listened to them, expressionless. Jean-Luc was not superstitious in the slightest, and if he was affected by the ghost stories at all he certainly didn't show it. Instead, he just sat there, watching as Maggie went out to join Dakota and Calypso away from the fire. While Jean-Luc's presence was quite eerie, the young man deduced that it was likely the ghost story, not him, that had caused her to flee.

Jean-Luc would normally criticize somebody for being so afraid of a simple tall tale, but he held his tongue. The girl seemed a bit frazzled at the moment, what with all the witch rituals happening that night, and Jean-Luc couldn't fully fault her for being on edge. It had been a long day, and most of them wanted to return to a nice warm bed. [color=DarkMagenta]"We're stuck here instead..."[/color] Jean-luc said with clear irritation in his tone to nobody in particular, looking at the fire for a few moments longer before turning his head over his shoulder. A fight seemed to be brewing. Jean-Luc was far from the mediating type- in his view, he had no reason to intervene in other peoples' squabbles- and so he simply sat there, watching the fight. A nice bowl of popcorn would be nice right now...

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Dakota frowned as Calypso shot down her suggestion. She had somewhat expected the girl to not agree to her request- she had known for quite a while, and had a hunch she might be impartial to getting wrecked in a forest- but had clung to the hope that Calypso might want to branch out a little. Despite Iris' approval on the drug idea, it seemed as though Calypso (and Charlie too, but his opinion meant next to nothing to Dakota) were against it, and so Dakota relented. [color=SkyBlue]"Alright, alright, fine,"[/color] Dakota relented. [color=SkyBlue]"Some other time sounds nice, though. We're gonna be hanging out a lot more now, which is great! You're a great friend, you know,"[/color] Dakota said, a little bit more mushy than usual but truthfully. Dakota liked her school friends a lot (they got into all kinds of trouble together), but she enjoyed the dynamic that the other witchlings (now witches!) at the Coven brought. It was nice to have a different group of people sometimes. Even if those people didn't want to get high with her. 

Dakota then heard a somewhat unfamiliar voice chime in, and it seemed to be directed at her and Calypso. She turned to look at Maggie, giving the girl a grin as she spoke. [color=ACA1CD]“Hey… mind if I join you two? Kate and Isolde are telling ghost stories, which isn’t exactly my scene.”[/color] Dakota flashed a full smile. [color=SkyBlue]"The more the merrier, Mags! Gosh, we haven't spoken in forever,"[/color] Dakota said reflectively, tapping her chin. [color=SkyBlue]"Yeah, anyway, come over, sit down, and tell me what you think of this bracelet Astro found in the woods! It's really nice-"[/color]

Dakota was cut off (rudely) by a grating voice that sliced its way into her conversation. [color=f6989d]“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?! I should’ve known you were a thief!”[/color] Dakota's head turned like a deer that heard a snapping twig, and her cheeriness vanished almost instantly as her face turned to a scowl. [color=SkyBlue][i]Summer.[/i][/color] Dakota did not like Summer at all. She did not like her rich family, her attitude, her looks, her talents, anything. Dakota disliked Summer from the moment they locked eyes, and while Summer did have some less-than-kind tendencies at times, Dakota never did anything to change that. Dakota always added fuel to the fire and always fought back. This was no different tonight, apparently, as Summer stormed over. [color=f6989d]“That’s [i]my[/i] bracelet!”[/color] Summer continued, and Dakota clenched her teeth in annoyance. The [i]one[/i] time she had been lucky enough to find something pretty that she liked, Summer tried to yank it from her hands. Well, enough was enough. [color=SkyBlue]"[i]Your[/i] bracelet? 
 Excuse me? I found this lying around. You know how it is. Finders keepers, loser weepers. You just can't [i]stand[/i] the idea of me having something nicer than you, huh? Well, why don't you go cry to your daddy about it, huh, you little-"[/color] Dakota taunted, before being cut off as Summer gave her a hearty shove. Dakota had not expected Summer to go physical, and to do it so soon, and she was caught off-guard by Summer's push and fell backwards, falling onto the ground roughly. [color=f6989d]“Give it back. Now,”[/color] she heard Summer say as Dakota quickly got to her feet, her eyes looking for her target, and she quickly found Summer, who was now holding Astro by the scruff of the neck, the little ferret scratching and pawing midair, trying to escape Summer's grasp.

If Dakota was mad before, she was absolutely furious now. It wasn't the first time that she and Summer had traded mean words, or even some light violence, but roping Astro into this was a step too far. [color=SkyBlue]"Oh, you fucking [i]bitch,[/i] you put him down right now or I'm going to fucking tear you apart!"[/color] Dakota did not listen to the others near her as she glare directly at Summer, her hands balled into tight fists, as she stared, before stepping back and moving forwards.

Dakota was best known for her ability to fly almost anything (in her words, "if it can move, I can fly it, and if it can't move, give me two minutes and I can fly it too"), but she was far from a one-trick pony. She had a few other moves that she kept up her sleeve, and one of them she had named the "feather step." It was really a simple bit of magic: Dakota just made herself move really quickly in short bursts. This ability was not quite as fast as Summer's teleporting crap that she did, and Dakota could only do so in straight lines, but neither of those circumstances really impacted her. Dakota only saw red right now. [i]Nobody[/i] messed with Astro and got away scot-free. This had spiraled beyond the bracelet now. This was war.

Dakota allowed her magic to flare up and then did her "feather step." A trail of pastel blue light followed her form as she crossed the distance between her and Summer near-instantly, a [i]woosh[/i] in the air resonating nearby as she had gotten right up in Summer's face. She then swiftly brought her right fist back, wound up, and delivered her best haymaker, her arm sweeping around rapidly and swinging directly into Summer's left cheek with a great deal of force. [color=SkyBlue]"Bitch!"[/color] she made sure to exclaim as she attacked, fury in her eyes. This was not a Dakota that came out very often, but it was one that was quite scary to witness as she went to mercilessly slam Summer in the face.

She deserved it, right?

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