Welcome to Gaia! ::

Wren listened intently as Arturo explained how the commune went about their training and practice, eyes growing wide as he reached the end and mentioned creating artifacts. "That's incredible!" He exclaimed, nearly jumping out of his seat as he did, catching himself before he properly burst and reigning himself back in a bit. "I've never heard of modern channelers being able to create artifacts before." He said as he looked around, the natural energy inside it almost suffocating in it's intensity. Arturo wasn't kidding about everything in here exuding it, so much so that it almost felt like anyone other than a Grass Channeler might be made to feel uncomfortable in it's presence.

"I know we can create technology that mimics the abilities of artifacts but to make them through channeling is... Nothing short of rediscovering lost arts, I would think." He finally muttered, looking down at his wrist and the silken bracelet that was tied around it. The large flower that grew from it seemed to be thriving in here, the Grass energy practically charging it to it's maximum potential. The buckler-sized gracidea-like flower's petals practically glowed in her, lush and full of life. "Can you teach me? How to create artifacts, I mean?" He asked. "I need to understand them better, I think, if I'm ever going to learn to be a better channeler." Holding up his hand and turning his wrist so that his bracelet was visible from underneath, he explained. "I have no idea how this thing works. I was taught how to make it years ago but I've barely managed to tap into it since then."

Wren felt something in him stirring as Arturo explained further regarding the task of creating artifacts using the old ways. Was that the excitement of discovery? The fear of the unknown? Was it, perhaps, something to do with how Arturo's shirt seemed practically paper-thin across his puffed out chest as he spoke with pride? Hard to say on that last part but he knew the answer to the other two. This was how he'd first felt when he began to walk the journey to creating his company. The work that went into creating that custom blend of nutritional sources that would breath life into dead soil had given him this same feeling all those years ago and it was something he hadn't felt quite so intensely since then. "Uh...oh! Sorry! I got a little too caught up in the conversation there." He admitted, his face flushing slightly with embarrassment at how childish it felt to be so excited over this. Quickly reaching out to the table and taking a cup of tea for himself, he brought it to his mouth and took a sip, feeling the heat spread from it quickly. Something about it was...invigorating. And very bitter. But somehow sweetly earthy? It was almost like the flavor just couldn't decide on one thing it wanted to be. "It tastes like..." He paused for a moment, searching for the right word. "Potential?" It was more a question than a statement. "It's like it could be any flavor but hasn't settled on just one. "Is this another creation of the commune?"


Arturo distracted him from this new line of questions with one of his own before he got his answers, however, and he immediately had an answer.

"I met an old woman in the Abundant Shrine of Unova, a place I frequented in my younger years, who taught me how to extract silk from Cacnea flowers. She took the silk and wove wove it into this for me. At the time, I assumed it was a gift or a thank you from some forgotten tribe of peoples who hid themselves away from the modern world for the times I came to pay tribute to the Harvest Gods." He explained. "I didn't realize it was a channeling artifact until I ran into Team Snagem years later and saw other Channelers and what they could do in action. I've only ever been able to grow plants in a fairly basic form, albeit with some unique functions, using it." He added as Arturo inspected it closer.

"I don't think there is anyone else besides me. I still go visit and leave offerings whenever I can find the time to make it out there but whenever I go, all I ever see are young trainers hunting for Pokemon or looking for open space where they can battle safely." He admitted with a sigh. "It's too bad, really." He heaved another sigh before taking another drink of that marvelous tea with it's nonspecific flavor. "I'm not entirely sure Granny Bloom was even human, to be honest. I've never told the story to anyone else but... She had this way of just disappearing the moment I took my eyes off her but she always seemed to know what was going on while I was gathering the items she said she needed." He admitted with a puzzled tone in his voice. "And there was that strange flower that seemed to be growing in all the places she sent me... I don't think they even grow in Unova naturally."

Arturo's charm wasn't lost on him but at this point, he was too wrapped up in the topic at hand to let himself be flustered by it. This man had to have developed something that cranked up sex appeal using his channeling or something? It seemed unnatural for any human to be so... alluring?

Wren was further intrigued by Arturo's words at this point. He hadn't ever been given a name for the strange, massive flower that grew from his artifact so the fact Arturo knew what it was called was impressive enough on it's own. Then he asked a question that Wren had never really given a lot of thought to. "It's funny you ask that... Because I'm actually not entirely sure." He admitted, looking a bit sheepish.

"What I know of artifacts is that they often involve the primary channeling partner in their creation in some way. But I had two of my pokemon involved and both of them have pretty similar abilities that could have contributed to the first ability I ever tapped into." He explained.

"The silk used to craft the bracelet was gathered from my Cacturne, back when he was still a Cacnea, and we used the flower he shed at the end of his flowering season. The seed the flower blooms from, though, was from my Maractus." He released the pair of cactus Pokemon as he explained, the two taking up immediate sentry positions on either side of their trainer.

"Hemlock, Aconite. Calm down. There's no one to battle at the moment. We're just talking to a new friend." He told the pair, both visibly relaxing as he did. "And the first channeling skill I ever learned to use lets me grow these thick vines covered in cactus-like needles." He continued his explanation to Arturo. "So, you see why I'm a bit lost on that one, yes? I always assumed Hemlock, the Cacturne here, was my primary partner but I truly am not sure."

"I've heard tales since learning what Channeling even is, of incredibly rare instances of channelers with two primary partners but the only one I've ever seen a hard record of is a woman Team Snagem dealt with years ago named 'Io', who seemed to have bonded with both a Lunatone and a Solrock but I think she was the first Channeler they had ever interacted with so I don't know how accurate that information really is, either." This was more of him admitting he had no idea how he might divine the truth of it without saying it directly than anything else but he was really just hoping it might be true because he hated the thought of making either of his oldest partners feel less special than the other.

Wren nodded along as Arturo commented on his story. "Yeah, that's why I never believed I was that special." He laughed softly. "I didn't exactly have many options when I was young. I did grow up in a desert town. "He explained. "Despite my travels around Unova when I was young, I didn't get the chance to start really raising Pokemon until I worked on a Cacnea ranch in the Desert Resort area." He explained. "Even then, Cacnea and Maractus were the only Grass-types I had regular access to until about the time I left the region as an adult."

When Arturo brought back the Oran berry seeds and laid them on the table, he gave them a curious look before the explanation was given for what he was meant to do with them. "Ah, I see. Not sure why I never thought to try something like that, myself." He commented, a bit ashamed of himself. "You'd think I would have thought of that by now, as much as I do research for my business." Reaching out and separating the seeds into several small piles, he would wave to Aconite to aid him. "We'll start with you and see what we can manage, alright?" He told her. She nodded and as Wren extended a hand to focus on the seeds, he felt her energy flow into him and out through his fingers in vine-like tendrils that wrapped around one of the piles of seeds. At first, nothing happened but after a moment, the seeds began to sprout, slowly cracking their outer shells and sending small and somewhat fragile roots searching for soil. Little else happened from that first attempt, however.

"Hmm... I'm not used to trying to make things grow on purpose... Let me try again." Nodding to Aconite, he felt her energy flow through him once again, this time making a more conscious effort to shape the energy as it went. As it enveloped the seeds this time, they sprouted much faster and a few of them produced the first inkling of stems as they tried to truly grow. After several long moments of trying for more, he found that this was all he could achieve with Aconite.

"Ok... I'm not going to hurt myself straining..."He announced to himself, admitting defeat in his efforts here. "Your turn, Hemlock."

Aconite stepped back and Hemlock took her place beside Wren as he nodded. The Cacturne's energy flowed in greater quantity and with far more ease than Aconite's had, almost surging through him faster than Wren could shape it. As the next pile of seeds was flooded with the Grass energy, the entire pile sprouted roots in a matter of seconds and quickly found the stems of the plants not only sprouting but winding around one another into a single sapling, huge for such a fresh sprout and with an utterly ridiculous root ball already formed. "Ok, then... I guess I was right about him being my primary partner. I was just trying to get them to grow a bit. Kind of reminds me of the Entree, looking at it..."

Wren nodded in agreement with Arturo as he confirmed Wren's same thoughts. "Yeah. I was always under the impression it was him but I rarely ever saw my abilities manifest with just the one out before I started running around with Snagem." He admitted, standing up as Arturo directed, finishing the last of his tea before following after the man.

Upon entering the other room, his eyes began to roam across the assorted objects scattered around the various shelves. Every item within this building gave off the same feeling but these? These were on a whole different level. He could feel the energy within these items practically bursting out of them, as if each one was a thriving seed, yearning to burst out into the sun and begin it's life in earnest. He paused for only a moment as he entered the door, momentarily overwhelmed by the energy coming from all these Artifacts but after that moment had passed, he began to walk around and take a closer look at the various items. Bracelets of silk and cotton, several charms and larger pendants made of polished wood or perhaps seeds or shells of some sort of plant and even a few that appeared to be machines made of something that almost looked like plastic but was clearly natural from the energy they were giving off. "These are amazing. I've never seen material quite like this before." He announced as he leaned over to examine one of the machines. "They look like they're made of artificial materials but they're giving off the feel of something natural. What in the world are they made from?"

Wren nodded calmly to Arturo's explanation, looking over the items laid out before him. "So these are what I hear are called 'biomaterials', then?" He asked. "I've heard about such things for years but I've never been able to understand them all that well. Probably because I've never met anyone that deals with them regularly that could explain them properly." He admitted, continuing to look at the various Artifacts on display. One in particular caught his attention. It looked like something he'd seen in a video online once, not too long ago. A carpet tufting gun, if he remembered, correctly. "This is interesting... I'm a crafty person. I actually own a business that specializes in fertilizers from Unova." He told the handsome Channeler with a small smile.

Standing upright once more and stretching his back slightly, he nodded toward the tufting gun. "Something like this, I think, would be right up my alley."

Wren would watch as Arturo released his Pokemon and the Pokemon performed movements he would never have expected from such a strange-looking creature, passing the item off to it's trainer. Upon Arturo handing it off to him, Wren would turn it over in his hands, inspecting it more closely. "It feels.... comfortable. I can feel the energy within it, sure but... it's the shape? No... The feel of it in my hand, I think? It just feels comfortable." He was struggling to find the right words to describe this sensation. It wasn't "comfortable", really, but that was the closest word that came to mind. This item felt like it was an extension of himself, in some ways. It was made to create, to better the world in some way, and that was something he felt a deep kinship with that the silk bracelet Granny Bloom had showed him how to make simply lacked. Certainly the bracelet with it's flower was beautiful and it enabled him to channel but it simply didn't have that same feeling when he pondered over it.

"Tell me. Please. How can I make one of these?" He finally requested of Arturo, holding the model out for the man to take back.