[Marley Hyde]

Ethereal Beings Quest

Ok, now if he had heard correctly, then the guy (girl?) should be around here somewhere. Marley looked around as he made his way through the twisted trees and shrubs of the Weeping Forest. This was all new territory for him, but hey, Marley was an explorer at heart. Besides, it was also giving him an opportunity to learn about a future opponent. And that was the main reason he was here. He had heard that one of the gym leaders was an Aura user, and that they tended to be come out here to train. Marley had figured it would be the perfect opportunity to meet them, learn more about mastering the power of Aura, and at the same time get insight on the Gym Leader before he would battle them in the future.

Now, there was a small problem. Just finding them. He didn't exactly have a photographic reference to go on, and whenever they were mentioned, there seemed to be some swapping between whether he was looking for a guy or a girl. Well, Marley would just have to ask anyone he came into contact with. That is if he could find them. The place was a maze of trees and shrubbery. He half expected someone to come out and try to mug him.

Word Count: 217

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[Jenesis]

A random event has occurred!

What will you do?

Marley Hyde

When you find the place at which you agreed to meet, Kiran is already there, waiting. You should introduce yourself and remind them of which abilities you'd like them to assist you in training.

[Marley Hyde]

Marley finally stepped through the woods, coming out into a clearing in the middle of the twisted trees. And there they were, standing there, waiting for him. Kiran, the Maple City gym leader. Judging from the look of them, Marley could understand why the pronouns kept changing. Hard to tell which gender they were, if they identified with any. Marley made a mental note to watch what he said around them.

Marley quietly approached them, "Oi there!" he called out, letting them know he was there, "You're Kiran, right? The Aura master around these parts?" He wanted to at least be sure before asking them for help. Would be kind of awkward if it turned out to be someone else entirely. "Thing is, I've been trying to learn about this Aura stuff meself. Got some hang of it, but wanting to see just what I can really do with it." He went through his mind, trying to think of what he can do. "I mean, I can see it sometimes, get a sense of when danger's coming at me. And I'm pretty sure I'm tougher than someone my build should be." He thought for a moment more, "My point is, I was wondering if you could help me get better at this."

Word Count: 212

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[Jae]

A random event has occurred!

What will you do?

Marley Hyde

Task 1: 
Kiran listens to your explanation and seems to spend a few minutes considering what would help strengthen your aura. They decide the best thing would be for you to hone the control of your aura sight. They lead you to a singular tree and ask that you try and focus in on every flicker of aura from the very roots underground to the tips of the leaves that reach up to the heavens. 

[Marley Hyde]

Marley nodded. Ok, so focus on a tree, and try to see it's aura. Sounded simple enough. He would have questioned if trees even had aura, but he wasn't going to question an aura master. Approaching the tree, Marley sat down on the ground, cross-legged, as his uncovered eye focused on the tree.

Slowly, he scanned up and down it, trying to ignore everything around him and focus on the tree. His eye took in every detail. Every bump of bark, every leaf. He tried to keep himself relaxed, to open himself up to whatever he saw. Even the eye beneath his eyepatch was prepared to see something in the dark.

He tried not to rush it. He remembered seeing flickers of Aura when he trained with the pokemon. How had he done it before? Then he remembered. He had been meditating. He had his eyes closed. Slowly, enclosed on eye, letting the covered on remain open. Perhaps this would work. He took slow, deep breaths,  as he tried to see the inner essence of the tree. A part of him just hoped this tree wasn't dead. As far as he knew, dead things didn't have an Aura, unless you counted ghost pokemon.

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[Jenesis]

Nothing happened!

All rolls were passed.

Marley Hyde

While you may not be able to sense every flicker of life essence within the tree, you can tell that it is very much alive. The aura pulses within the roots and up the trunk, while the ends of the leaves and branches flicker with a variety of colors, albeit slightly muted compared to the rest of the tree.

After a while, Kiran approaches you and asks you to describe what you've seen.

[Marley Hyde]

Marley blinked, temporarily pulled out of his sight by Kiran's words. The lanky Galarian glanced at the gym leader for a moment, quickly processing his request. "Give me a quick moment," he said, before turning his attention back to the tree. He needed to get a good look at the tree's aura again. He was doing it before, it would be embarrassing to miss it now.

Fortunately for him, it seemed easier to do it a second time. The flickering colors of the tree's life force once again came into view. "It's habit muted,"[/color]Marley described, "But if is there. No one solid color, more like a mix. Slowly movin' up from the roots, up to the leaves, and then just fadin' off into the other. That's about the best way I can describe it."

He let his eyes blink and slowly the sight of the aura faded away. Marley hadn't been aware of how hard he had been concentrating until he had stopped. He glanced over towards Kiran. "How was that? Was I gettin' it right? Or was me mind justplayin' tricks on me?" He was sure he was seeing aura, but he wanted to be sure, just in case.

Word count: 201

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[bone]

Nothing happened!

All rolls were passed.

Marley Hyde

You've made first contact with the forest's aura, and now picking it up is far easier for you than it was before. You can see where the colors of the tree blend from color to color, flickering like the northern lights. You can see where wisps of other colors coil around this first light, the lichens and mosses adhering onto the tree adding their own color onto the mix. You can even see the fading aura of a leaf that falls from the tree, fading to a pale, ghostly white as it swirls from the sky.

You're kicking ass at this!

[Marley Hyde]

The more Marley watched and stared at the Aura, the more clear, more detailed it become. It was, well, it was actually quite beautiful. When he thought of Auras, he had initially thought of a single color. But this, this was something else. The swirling of colours, the way they moved. And to think this was all just from a single tree! They way they shifted, changed, and changed again. Marley swore he could see little motes of colour in the aura as well. Was...was he seeing insects, or was that part of the tree as well? If this was the aura a simple tree had, one can only imagine what the aura of a person looked like. He had caught glimpses of aura when he was training with the pokemon, but it was nothing like this!

Marley had to pull his gaze away from the aura, lest he end up losing himself in the colours. He turned his attention towards Kiran. "I hope there's a way to turn this off," Marley mused, "Otherwise it's gonna be hard to see reality through everyone's Auras." Good lord, imagine that. A man would be pretty much blinded by all of that.

Word Count: 200

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[HopelessStar]

A random event has occurred!

What will you do?

Marley Hyde

You look towards Kiran, and all you can see is their Aura instead, almost blindingly so. White fading to green, edged with brown, maybe it's the white that makes it hard for you to see, or it is just your closer proximity to the other. You just know for certain it is very hard to see, and a headache is starting to bloom behind your eyes.

"Yes, there is. But as you focused on the tree, you must focus on not seeing them. Or, unfocusing if you will."

[Marley Hyde]

Marley bit back a hiss as Kiran's aura almost hurt his eyes. Damn it was bright! Well, that's what you'd expect from an Aura master, wasn't it? He closed his eyes,letting the light headache subside as he listened to his words. Ok, so the key was to unfocus. Gotcha. Marley had the feeling that concentrating further would only make matters worse.

He slowly opened his eyes, looking at the tree before him. He could see the vibrant aura before him, almost entirely obscuring the tree. He tried to let his vision unfocus, to not pay attention to the swirling colors. But that only turned the tree before him into a mass of coloured. Ok, so that didn't work.

Through the Aura, he could make out some of the tree. Perhaps focusing on the physical worked. He tried to focus on the physical details of the tree. The branches, the leaves, the bark. He tried to block out the vibrant, shifting colors of its aura, and instead focus on the mundane shape and details of the tree itself. He quietly hoped this would work. Seeing was hard enough with one eye constantly covered. He continued to focus on the tree, trying not to strain his eyes.

Word Count: 206

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[HopelessStar]

A random event has occurred!

What will you do?

Marley Hyde

The Aura before you begins to flicker in and out, returning brighter each time. The pressure is steadily building behind your eyes. Focusing on the tree itself is only helping so much. Unfortunately you are straining your eyes slightly anyway, but as soon as a firce headache starts to bloom your Aura sight cuts off. Without the stimulation your headache begins to fade but likely you'll still have a weak, pulsing headache for a couple hours.

Do you still wish to continue your training? Kiran is looking mildly concerned, but won't stop you if you want to continue. Unfortunately that will mean using your Aura sight again.

[Marley Hyde]

Marley let out a sharp hiss as the pain in his skull reached a crescendo. A hand came up to his head as he jerked his eyes away, his aura sight giving out, not do to him willingly shutting it off, but simply by being unable to keep it on. The pain lingered in his mind as he kept his eyes shut, silently willing the pain to subside. It had been like staring into the sun with his bad eye! Thankfully, without his eyes constantly being bombarded, the pain in his skull was starting to ease.

As he slowly opened his eyes again, he caught sight of the concerned look on Kiran's face. He knew that look, he had seen it numerous times. Couldn't really blame him either.

"Just...give me a moment," Marley said, taking a deep breath as the pain dropped to acceptable levels. "After all, no pain, no gain, right?" Taking another breath, Marley slowly looked back towards the tree. Time to try again. Maybe if he didn't concentrate so hard, he'd have an easier time shutting the sight off. Well, it was worth a shot regardless. He focused on the tree, trying to see its aura again.

Word Count: 201

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[HopelessStar]

A random event has occurred!

What will you do?

Marley Hyde

Kiran nods in understanding and waits patiently.

Once the pain has subsided enough you try again. But this time isn't quite like the first. You can see the Aura, but there is very little color to it. You can see the energy radiating off of it like how one sees waves of heat from a hot object. A bit more focusing brings some of the color into focus, but it's still very faded and blurred like you are looking through dirty glasses. But it should still be easier to turn it off?

[Marley Hyde]

Marley tried to focus on the aura, but it seemed like this time he wasn't seeing it as vividly as he had before, no matter how hard he concentrated on the tree in front of him. Had he broke something within him? Was it an after effect from the headache he had felt before? Perhaps it was like when you strained a muscle. It just didn't work right after a while until you allowed it to rest and recover. That certainly made the most sense. At least this time, the aura wasn't straight up blinding him like it had before.

Well, if it wasn't as strong as before, perhaps it would be easier to shut it off without overloading his eyes. Marley took as deep breath, trying to relax himself, letting his vision unfocus from the tree. No overly concentrating this time, just relaxing, letting it all gently slip away from his eyes.

He looked away from the tree, blinking and looking up at Kiran. "Guess I must of overshot it last time, huh?" he figured. Perhaps it was better to take things a bit more slowly. After all, it was like exercising any other muscle. No sense in messing yourself up in the attempt.

Word count: 205

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