Waiting for trainers.

[Micheal Grayflow]

Michael sits in the Inn, back against the wall, deep in thought.
Thinking about his past before leaving Ner Batin brings a single small tear to his eye as he thinks if Ner Batin got hit back in June when the rifts were opening up all over.
He takes a deep breath and wipes the tear away, trying to keep a level head. He pulls out his spellbook and flips to a section where he's marked it as 'Desired Training' and he puts a small tick mark next to 'Psychic'.

[Kuromori, Taka]

Taka enters the inn, pours herself a drink, and sits down in the empty-est part of the room.

[Micheal Grayflow]

"Taka I assume? We've never formally met. I'm one of the residents here in Holdfast and lately I've been thinking of picking up some more training and thought being trained by a Psychic would be a good starting point.
I saw your note earlier, I have 5 rocks on me at this moment, I was wondering if that's enough for training in psychic?" Michael says, standing up and walking over towards the bar and pours himself a drink, sitting down near, but not next to, Taka.

[Kuromori, Taka]

"Just the basics of psychic? That would certainly cover it. At that price I could also teach you some basic combat skills as well."

[Micheal Grayflow]

"I don't really need any combat skills, I'm fine with the basics of psychic and I'd like to find a way to keep people from forcing me to feel different, like those fauns that BillyBun had last month. If that's an additional cost, then I'll settle for the basics." Michael says, reaching into his pocket and pulls out 5 rocks and hands them, open palm, to Taka.

[Kuromori, Taka]

"That is certainly something I could teach; it's a discipline called 'focus mind'." 
She pauses.
"Tell you what. I will charge you just the going price of an imparted state, to cover my materials." She takes four rocks out of Michael's hand, and then closes his hand around the remaining one; "You save up for focus mind. It will be worth your while."

[Micheal Grayflow]

Taking the remaining rock, michael stuffs it back into his pocket.
"So, when do we get started and more importantly, how?" Michael asks, shifting in his spot, becoming eager and excited for the new training.

[Kuromori, Taka]

"Alright, so first things first, I have to ask you; what is your impression of psychic so far? What do you think it means to be a psychic?"

[Micheal Grayflow]

"My impression of psychic? I've seen 'good' psychics and 'bad' psychics. So I guess it's all a matter of how you interpret the use and intent. As for what I think it means to be a psychic, I believe it means to allow for your mind to be more structured and resistant, but also allowing it to be open to the world around us."

[Kuromori, Taka]

"Well that's not incorrect, but what it really takes to be a psychic is to become attuned to the astral plane as it overlays the material plane. Every aura, every ghost visible to a psychic is from the astral plane, and it is simply seen by the psychic who inhabits the material plane."

[Micheal Grayflow]

"I see now, that makes sense now. For psychics to be able to see the Astral plane, though I never knew it was real." "So what can you teach me about this?"

[Kuromori, Taka]

Taka is slightly dumbfounded that someone could have not believed in the astral plane. She dismisses it before saying anything snarky, remembering most residents of Holdfast were totally ignorant to psychic before she showed up.
"The astral plane is a plane of psychic energy. To the best of our understanding, nothing resides there naturally, but through some practice, many beings may learn to visit it, although generally for a limited time. It seems those who reside in the Land of the Dead can enter the plane without much effort, at least, I presume based on Hugo's visit. Last I spoke to him he knew nothing about interplanar travel. I should ask him about it next visit..."

[Micheal Grayflow]

"So if psychics can see the Astral plane, what can they do with it aside from visiting it?
Like what other applications does being psychic grant?"

[Kuromori, Taka]

"Well like I said, seeing the astral plane is the fundamental of being a psychic, and then you work on the structured and resilient mind that you had mentioned. So seeing and gaining insight from the astral plane is most of what a basic psychic does, and then visiting it is another thing that can be learned. Anything else I can tell you about it with respect to the psychic disciplines is my own speculation; I think it's reasonable to assume that the states themselves - the energy we use as psychics - come from the astral plane. And that could imply a lot about the process of meditation; could that be tapping into the astral plane? An understanding of meditation is generally considered a necessary step on the road to visiting the astral plane, so it's not unfounded. I for one have seen visions of other planes while meditating as well."

[Micheal Grayflow]

"I think I'm starting to understand it now, the Astral plane is the source of energy for psychics and at a later period, they are able to travel there if they know how. So how do I go about becoming psychic? Like what methods exist that I can use or learn to become psychic?"

[Kuromori, Taka]

"Well, let's see."
She pokes him in the shoulder.
"Feel any different?"

Click if yes:

Click if no:

[Micheal Grayflow]

"W..What was that just then? I feel a bit different but I can't quite put my finger on it." He says, rubbing his shoulder a little.

[Kuromori, Taka]

"I imparted a psychic state onto you. Meditate on that. Feel the energy you were just given. See if you can figure out what it is."

[Micheal Grayflow]

"Alright, I'll try meditating on it and see what happens." He says as he sits up straight, eyes closed as he focuses on the psychic state and it's energy.

After a few minutes of focus, Michael speaks. "I think I feel it, something warm, calm almost." And at that moment, Michael slumps over on the table, the last thing that went through his mind was, "Ow" as his head hit the table.

[Kuromori, Taka]

Taka watches Michael's body slump over while the projection of his person into the astral plane stays upright. "So you've figured out what I imparted, huh?" She asks rhetorically.

[Micheal Grayflow]

Looking around for a brief moment, Michael stops to see Taka looking straight at him.

"This feels... disorienting at the moment. But I think with some time and practice and additional training, I could get used to this."

"So, how long am I here for, my projection, that is?" Michael asks, looking down at his body, noticing that he may have hit his head hard.

[Kuromori, Taka]

Taka sees Michael mouthing words. "Heh. I can't actually hear you, you know. You can hear me, but I can only see your projection; it's the attunement to the astral plane that I was talking about. If you ran into any non-psychic they wouldn't see you at all.

Anyhow, I've chosen this as a lesson as I believe it would be easier for you to see my aura from that plane. Give it a go now, will you?"

[Micheal Grayflow]

"I think I can see something. It looks like some sort of glowing light, surrounding you."
Michael says, walking around taka, looking at her aura, or what he thinks is her aura, closely.
"Feels somewhat warm" he mutters.

[Kuromori, Taka]

"And once you've seen it, you can go explore a little and see if you can find anything else interesting in this plane. Just make sure you get back to your body before it starts dying, cause y'know I can't really do anything about that; I wouldn't even notice."

[Micheal Grayflow]

Michael nods and runs off through the door. Once outside, he sees the townspeople mulling about, tending to their daily lives. He looks around for anything interesting, he sees a faint glow around some of the folks there, it dawns on him that these are auras, he walks up to Fr. Francis and feels his aura, the calming it brings with his music.
Michael steps back, feeling a bit hazy, something feels off. He takes a few more minutes walking around town and seeing peoples auras before returning to the Inn,  back to his body and Taka. Once he returns, Michael touches his bodies shoulder, and in that moment, he regains consciousness.
Rubbing his forehead, Michael asks. "So, how long was I out?"

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