Welcome to Gaia! ::

Wren watched at Arturo took back the model, growing a bit anxious as the silence between them grew longer. The anxiety briefly dipped when the man agreed to teach him but began to rapidly swell again when the "however" came. He watched as Arturo poured himself another cup of tea without saying a word. He was beginning to sweat as Arturo sipped at the cup, his breath hitching slightly as the man began to speak again at last.

"I can't take the anxiety much more..." The Channeler muttered to himself as Arturo explained the caveat to him. This didn't sound too difficult of an ask from him but he knew it couldn't be that simple or it wouldn't be used as a metric of worthiness from Channelers outside the commune.

"I'll do what I can and... hope for the best, then. I suppose that's really all I can do." He finally decided, following after Arturo as he walked out after his explanation, assuming he should follow if he was expected to do as he'd been told. Hard to make a donation of energy to the commune's "Guardian" tree, if he didn't know the specifics of where it was or how he was expected to do so. Granted, of course, he knew where it was. The tree had been his waypoint for getting here in the first place, after all.

Once the two reached the tree, he would watch as Arturo demonstrated what he was expected to do. "Huh... Not sure why but I was expecting there to be more to it. Some kind of... ritual, I guess? I'm not used to seeing things be that simple." He admitted with a small, nervous laugh.

Once Arturo stepped aside so he could approach unimpeded, Wren stepped up and placed his hand on the trunk of the tree. The moment he touched it, he could feel the life within it flowing like water through the trunk as it drunk up the Grass energy that had been fed into it. Focusing on that energy for a moment, he could almost see it flowing into every branch and down to each and every leaf on the tree. As he poured his own energy into his palm, he felt a strange sensation as the tree began to drink from the well he formed, almost as if he were being struck by a Pokemon's Absorb attack. It wasn't strong but it was unrelenting. Once he had formed the well of energy the tree head begun to drink from, he found it difficult to dry it up, as if the tree were denying him to ability to cut off his own flow of energy.

It only took a few seconds, just as it had for Arturo but by the time he had managed to cut off the flow of energy he had been feeding to the tree, he felt as if he might collapse, nearly all of his energy sapped from him by the tree's ravenous appetite. "How... how was that so easy for you?" He asked, gasping for breath for a moment before he finally fell to his knees, breathing hard.

Wren took Arturo's hand tenderly, at first, his strength low after the tree drained so much of him but his grip grew stronger as Arturo gifted him some of his own. Finding himself pulled to his feet and feeling far more stable once the soft glow from both their hands stopped. "Much better. Thank you!" He replied, offering his own lopsided grin. He was certainly not the kind of attractive Arturo was. Maybe it was all the Paldea gace the other man exhibited that made him seem so appealing?

No berry? That's right! When Arturo had done it, the tree had instantly grown a berry in response to his energy being given to it. For a moment he wondered if the berry was a sign he had been accepted but that wouldn't make much sense if it grew in response to Arturo, would it? He was already a member of the commune and thus, had to have already been accepted at some point, right? So what did the berry mean? Was it in response to the quality or quantity of his energy reserve? He was just beginning to question everything he could think of as the meaning for it when Arturo spoke again. "H-hungry?" He muttered, almost laughing at the absurdity of it all.

The Channeler looked up at the tree's branches and scanned it for anything he could have missed. How had he passd? What was the indicator? If it hadn't been the berry's sprouting, did the tree give some some other sign? "Misled?" Oh. That made sense, actually. If he'd been any less experienced, he might not have lived through the experience. It felt as if the tree would have reached through him to drain his artifact if he'd run out of energy and he didn't want to think about that happening.

As Arturo reached into the branches and pulled back a piece of wood from them, his eyes grew wide. He could feel the energy within it flowing just as it did from the tree as a whole. "Is that... Evergrow Wood?" He asked, stepping closer, eyes practically sparkling in wonder. "I've only heard rumors that it exists..."

"I've only heard of Evergrow Wood once." Wren admitted a bit sheepishly. "Supposedly, one of my teammates got their hands on a piece of it not too long ago but I haven't had the chance to really look at it to see. Thankfully the Academy had a little bit of information on what it is. Their library is amazing."

As Arturo explained the tree's origins, he smirked a bit. "That, I would believe. Some of my teammates have seen the Tree of Life and I've heard it grows every kind of berry and flower under the sun all on the same tree. I'd easily believe the energy it's been fed would change what kind of fruit this one grows if it came from there." He replied, looking at the tree with a sparkle in his eyes. If this tree was a cutting of the Tree of Life, then with the right care, it could be made to grow just about anything. This was the kind of plant that any farmer would his fertilizer would dream of getting the chance to raise.

When Arturo did finally confirm he had been accepted, he beamed brightly. "I'll try my best to remember that. I know very little at the moment so forgetting that won't be hard as I learn more." He assured the Paldean Channeler.

Arturo's mention of a feast in celebration was met by an almost immediate grumble int he inxperienced Channeler's stomach. "Sorry." He apologized somewhat sheepishly. "I got up as soon as the academy library opened to the public this morning and all I ate was a bagel this morning. I wasn't planning a long trip at the time." He admitted, holding his stomach with one hand, attempting to calm the starving beast it felt like had just gone on a rampage in his abdomen as he rubbed the back of his head and grinned goofily as he mussed up his dreadlocks a bit in the process.

Following after Arturo as he lead the way back inside, inquiring about his hometown as he went, he went pensive for a moment before responding. "Lentimas is... Pretty boring, to be honest. With a few exceptions." He added, quickly.

"It's a small oasis town on the edge of the Unovan desert, at the base of Reversal Mountain, a huge, active volcano." He explained. "Due to the heat and remote location, you can only reach it by plane or a single winding path from the East, it's not inhabited by all that many people... The Lorenz's, the Seifs, the Bakirs..." He listed off some of the families he could recall by name. "The Levinses and the Strausses are the ones I know of. My parents know most of the townies. Maybe everyone, honestly. They've lived there their whole lives, I'm pretty sure." He admitted, chuckling slightly.

"Anyway, the heat leads to very few wild plants being able to survive very well on their own besides some cacti, the occasional ironwood tree and some scattered desert rose and desert willow. The volcanic ash that falls over the surroundings smothers a lot of the things that can survive the heat, though." He continued. "The only real exception is the garden I started on my parents property. They own a huge chunk of land by the airfield and back when I was a kid, I spent a lot of time studying plants and learning everything I could about farming so I could bring greenery to our little oasis." He admitted. "And I succeeded, eventually. The garden's huge, now and my parents use it to bring the town together and help feed people as much as they can. It helps a lot since the government usually sends supplies to help the locals survive and that only goes so far." He sighed at that point. "I always hoped I could do more than that but I never could get anything more growing... I ended up learning to use the local ash to make a fertilizer that works wonders and started a company based around it with a small factory on the back side of my parents' property now."

"As for fauna, it's mostly desert-dwellers, rock and ground-type Pokemon but there are a few oddballs that manage to eak out a decent life in it. There are Trapinch, Skorupi and Numel, for example. But you can sometimes find Grumpig and Skarmory that venture in the desert from Reversal Mountain, too." He listed off. "Before you ask, I didn't catch Hemlock at home. I worked on a Cacnea ranch in the Desert Resort halfway across the region from home for a while and kinda swiped an egg nobody knew about for myself when I decided it was time to leave. A bit inglorious, I know, but I was underpaid, 20 and thought I was untouchable at the time." He laughed a bit at his younger self's hubris.

Wren nodded in agreement with Arturo's assessment of his life. "That was the only choice I had. Fight to thrive or wait to die. Those of us in the desert? We're fighters." He asserted, clenching his fist in front of his face as he said it, as if he were capturing the will and refusing to let go even as he said it. Upon being asked to go find and invite the other members of the commune, he nodded. "I can do that! I was actually wondering where the others were. I knew it couldn't be just you." He replied, laughing softly to himself and turning on his heel to head out. That was a strangely comfortable action on the wooden floors in here, he realized. His bare feet on the cabin floor felt little difference between the wood here and the earth outside. Likely an effect of using channeling to produce the wood used, he assumed, walking outside at that point.

Stepping out in the center of the commune, he looked around and the various buildings, realizing there were both more than he'd expected but fewer than he had realized at once. That's what he got for being too focused when he arrived. "It won't take that long." He assured himself, walking toward the closest cabin, deciding it would be fastest to simply circle the area and end back where he started. Approaching the first cabin and giving a solid knock, he found the door opening almost before he'd pulled his hand away. Immediately finding himself being greeted by the young blonde, he didn't notice her hairclips at first, warned and pulled into a hug before he'd had the chance to fully process what had been said. Groaning slightly as the woman's arms squeezed around him, he was forced to push back, spreading her arms a bit with his elbows pressed against his sides until he had made enough room to breath again. "Hello, Miss Cheri!" He greeted jovially.

"Wren would be correct but can we not crush my lungs, please?" He joked. "I need those to live." Laughing as he extricated himself from Cheri's grasp, he offered a nod in greeting and a hand to shake as a more formal greeting on his part, the businessman in him insisting he do it the "right" way. "It's wonderful to meet you!" He assured. "I assume Arturo already told you there's going to be a celebration tonight?"

Wren nodded to Cheri as he rubbed at his arms after the powerful hug she'd given him. The girl might have been "small" but she was certainly powerful. He continued to nod as she responded to his question, trying to dedicate what she said to memory so he could pass it along to Arturo when he got back. "Great! I'll make sure he knows he can expect you, then!" He assured, offering a wave as he began to walk off for the next cabin.

As he arrived and knocked on the door, he would almost knock again when the door opened suddenly after what felt like a very long wait. It took him a moment to realize there was actually a person at the door, so great was the difference in their height(Granted, Wren was only five eight, himself). When the older man spoke up, Wren jumped slightly, having been focused on trying to see or hear someone from inside, as if they had opened the door for him from a distance. "OH! I'm sorry!" He apologized, noting the man's appearance but mostly focusing on his interesting scarf. "I'm Wren, a new member of the Commune. Arturo sent me to let everyone know there's going to be a welcome party later." He informed. "And I guess to let me introduce myself, too." He admitted a bit sheepishly. It had been a while since he'd felt so anxious but with all these new introductions he was doing, he could feel it creeping back in.

Wren polished off the remainder of his own meal and set his utensils down, leaning back a bit in his chair to let his stomach "breathe" a bit. So full. "That was the best pie I've had since my mother made one for my birthday as a kid." He admitted to Cheri as he looked wistfully at the plate, wondering for a moment if there was any left.

When asked about his team and the "similarly named" member as Cheri, he perked up immediately. Of course he immediately knew who they were talking about. "Oh, yes! His name's Lum. He's a bit of an odd Ducklett, that one, but he's kind and he's great with plants. I'm entirely sure if he's a channeler or just a particularly gifted gardener, though, if I'm being entirely honest." He replied to his questioner as he looked around to see if anyone else was interested in learning more about him. Moro caught his attention for a moment. What a strange choice of headgear. They seemed polite enough, though. Ergane, however, he wasn't sure what to make of. She, too, seemed polite but it almost felt like she was forcing herself to be so to conform to social convention.

"I do know his brother is a channeler for certain, of the steel type if I remember right. Also oddly skilled at caring for plants but I get the feeling that was a side effect of being a good brother and watching out for Lum all the time." He noted, trying to recall more details about Cole. He had very little interaction with the other half of the Berry Brothers, as he liked to think of them. "But Lum, in particular, raises berries for Snagem in a wild reserve we keep safe for him to use as well as doing a lot of gardening to help with the cost of food for such a large group. I try and help out when I have free time." He admitted a bit sheepishly.