Chapter 137: Aura Unlocking

"That…" Summer's expression rapidly grew sour and she pulled her hands away, lowering them to cross over her lap. "That's… can do that but it's a little… touchy… It's not exactly 'legal' for me to just go around unlocking peoples auras."

'Curious,' Parc thought as he watched her expression remain sour. "Any specific reason for that?" he questioned.

"Don't get me wrong. It's not really 'illegal, illegal,' its more frowned upon than anything. Having an aura isn't exactly uncommon. Huntsmen families usual open up their children's auras but opening up just anyones aura is… not… well, liked. Unless of course the person who's aura is being unlocked is to be that huntsman's apprentice."

"Like Ferry," he glanced past her to the blue haired faunus girl who's ears radared his direction upon hearing her name.

"Yes, I couldn't exactly leave her aura less out there now could I?" an awkward chuckle escaped her.

"I see, but I have no intention of becoming another of your apprentices. I doubt there's much you could really teach me." He mused over his options for a bit, questioning how he could convince Summer to do it for him, so he didn't have to toss himself in the line of fire once again. "How about this then? In the process of rescuing you, Ferry and Lili, I ended up getting injured and with no other way to treat me you resorted to the only thing around that could. Aura and its natural healing properties. It's not exactly a lie," he did nearly break every bone in his body by leaving a him shaped imprint on the bullhead.

Summer went silent as she thought it over, eventually nodding along, "I do suppose that is reason enough to unlock it for you. Just, please don't go parading around that I did this for you. I don't want people to think I'm an aura scalper." Lightly dragging herself right before him, Summer rested on her knees. "Can you lean forwards a bit please?"

Parc complied, his eyes shutting as he lowered his head in her direction, soon feeling her thin palm press against his forehead and right above his heart. Summer's eyes too soon fell shut as a soft, pale light grew over her body, her aura, slowly it shifted and thinned collecting in the palms of her hands.

A strange, invasive feeling took to Parc as in the deepest recesses of his mind he could feel two tendrils of light poking around at his very being like curious snakes nudging the tips of their noses against a possible prey item. Time unbeknownst to Parc would pass and soon the tendrils of light converged upon a small flame burning within his body, one he had not noticed before now. The fire was a dark, all encompassing black that flickered in bright, holy white light of embers raising off it.

Upon finding this flame, Summer's exploration halted, and her aura began to collect in a sphere around the unfettered flame. Parc could faintly hear Summer let out a heavy sigh as her voice softly resonated through beneath the soft roar of the bullhead's engines.

"It is in vain we fight to protect all we love. In effort we strive to better ourselves to protect those we can never forget. For we as the warriors between light and dark, it is in our essence to secure the betterment of the world for the future generations. With this pact, I beseech you." The words she unleashed brought the sphere condensed around his flaming soul to tighten and arduously began to shrink, turning the fist sized flame to the size of a marble which shimmered in a dark, yet holy light as the thin line connecting the orb was severed and Summer's aura rapidly retracted into her body.

Parc's eyes wandered open just in time for him to catch a dazed and pale Summer who was sent collapsing towards him. "You… have a weird aura," he could hear her mumble. It was then he saw a dull shimmer across his hands, a swirling amalgam of light and dark, black, and white running all across his body. It didn't linger long as just as quickly as it appeared it disappeared, retreating back into the furthest depths of his body, into that new marble sized orb hidden deep within his soul.

'So that's my aura then?' he flipped his hand around, attempting to summon out the dull shimmer, finding that it was actually quite a natural feeling to do so. Letting it fade away, Parc moved to help Summer clamber to seat herself against the wall besides him. A new set of dark circles beneath her eyes.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Mmm… yeah. It's always a little tiring unlocking aura," she yawned.

Parc could easily guess why that was as he could still feel a lingering portion of her aura surrounding his own. Meaning that in the process of unlocking it she had in turn had to cut off a not-insignificant portion of her own to do whatever it is she did.

"Bertilak, how long till we make landfall?"

"Forty minutes there abouts," Bertilak answered after checking the fuel gauge, "I'll be landing this baby down in a village on the coast. We can figure out what to do then."

Turning his gaze to Summer, Parc lifted a hand and pulled her head onto his shoulder. Summer too tired to even realize what he had just done. "Sleep for a bit, I'll wake you ip when we get there." Like a light Summer went out, her breathing soft and steady.

It wasn't moments later that Summer began to stir and squirm but didn't wake, instead getting herself into a more comfortable position. Eventually finding herself hugging Parc's arm, cheek pressed into his shoulder while Parc could feel her breasts pressing onto his arm.

Looking to the three girls against the back of the bullhead with upturned lips, he saw that Kurome had already fallen back in sleep, letting out soft 'fuu's' while Ferry was also looking to be on the verge of sleep. Lili though, he was unsure, she was still entirely covered by her blanket. Whether or not she was awake or not, he couldn't tell.

Shifting his gaze to the cockpit, he could faintly see Carmine's eyes glaring at him in the reflection of the windshield. 'I'm going to need to give her a bit of training,' he snorted, his smirk forming to an anticipatory grin.

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Yeah, really short chapter this time, planning for a 'cultural enrichment' scene to come up pretty soon, like, next chapter/ in two chapters.

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I've started playing Phasmophobia.

I fucking hate what I've done with myself. It's so fucking unnerving and I am such a pussy. But it is weirdly fun. And I hate what i've done with myself.

I would like to mention, the first time I played the original Bioshock, I stopped at the lighthouse portion (aka the beginning of the game) because I was fucking terrified to enter the place I had at the time, no idea would light itself up because it was so god damned dark.

That is how much of a wuss I am.

Also, my comp/mic is so shit because my mic picks up my computer/miniaturized jet engine and fucks with the voice reception.