(He knows he isn't alone. He may not have the best vision at times but he isn't totally blind. He'd simply paid no mind to Alhaitham. In fact, he'd completely forgotten him when he'd been in whatever trance earlier. He becomes aware of the other man once more but he's more pre-occupied with other things.
With his finger, he presses down on the shard but instead of bending easily, he feels his whole hand go rigid and stiff. The joints of his fingers crack lightly and he freezes, studying it carefully. )
...
(It doesn't make sense, he thinks. If his true form isn't here then he shouldn't be able to break like this. That is, of course, unless something has happened to his true form. It's hard to feel when his sense is so dull in this city but seeing the cracks, feeling the way parts of his body feel a little more delicate... he feels his heart drop into his stomach but he has to stay cool.
He has to keep himself together.
He isn't the only one here. Nansen is depending on him. He's responsible for him, too. He can't break here. He has duties to uphold.
Remembering Alhaithm once more, he speaks plainly,)
If you want to surprise me, you should say you're a divine sage.
(Not a regular sage but a divine one. A priest or priestess with sacred powers.)
(Of course, he holds it well. He's had centuries to perfect his act.)
How boring!
(He sounds like he's whining and he lets out a loud and dramatic sigh. That's right. There's no point in despairing or crying right now so he holds his head up high, keeps his chest out, and turns to Alhaitham. On pale, white skin, the crack is a thin dark line, the missing spot like a freckle,
Though small, he wraps his fist around the chip, )
It's the least you can do after sitting back and watching.
(The last time they had met had been under similar, hadn't it? He'd been studying away, observing something in the city,)
Unfortunately for you, I can't develop such a skill in seconds. [He shrugs, feeling utterly blameless after he just sat and watched.]
I saw you drink the black tea. [And he starts to write as he talks, gaze drifting to the page.] Once you set your cup down, a small fragment of your face flaked off. Based upon the reflection of the light, it's a piece of metal. Since your fingers have also begun an abnormal creaking sound, it seems that the tea has caused some sort of alteration to your body changing it into another material.
(He doesn't know. He's never heard of humans learning to divine and sense spirits but he supposes it isn't beyond the realm of belief.)
Is that what you saw? (It isn't wrong. Not completely. In fact, it's quite accurate. In response, he holds out his fist to Alhaitham and opens it, revealing the piece of pale steel in his palm.) Would you like to feel it?
That's how it is for humans, isn't it? It isn't enough to just see things. It has to be experienced with your other senses or else it's just a curiosity; something not really understood.
[Tsurumaru offers the piece of himself that chipped off like old paint. Alhaitham, being Alhaitham, plucks it from Tsurumaru's palm to inspect it. To experience it by texture and temperature as if an affirmation of is sight.
Tsurumaru isn't incorrect, really.
That this is a piece of someone's body doesn't outwardly disturb him. It only inwardly disturbs him in that this theoretically could happen to any of them, were they slightly less cautious. Being unmade would be a terrible way to go.
He presses the piece between his fingertips, then looks up to Tsurumaru.] And are you human?
(No larger than a grain, polished at the surface but rough at the edges like a piece of broken finished metal... silver in color but dense like steel. Interestingly, when Alhaitham takes it from his hands, his hands feel warm to the touch as if it's a real body and his hands even feel soft like flesh... and yet, there's no doubt that he's shattering in a way that isn't organic.
He'll keep his hand out in case Alhaitham wants to study closer. If he does, he may notice the way his skin seems to change around the breakage. It's like the immediate area becomes cool and smooth, like a rough scar that then becomes something else. A strange mix of something living but not.
He meets Alhaitham's eyes and smiles perfectly and while his eyes are bright with awareness and intelligence one would expect from another person... there's something not quite human. The kind of look an animal gives when it observes a person. Like a bird watching someone from a high branch; from a different perspective.)
From a biological perspective I would say no. From a social or spiritual one... well, that would depend how human is defined to begin with. [He looks between the shard between fingers and Tsurumaru's hand, as its unnatural blending of the organic and inorganic, and then returns the piece that broke off to his palm.]
But I have no interest in defining the latter two, so tell me for the first one. [Not that he can't guess the answer, but it's an invitation to elaborate.]
(He takes the piece back and is careful when he closes his fingers around it.)
This form is quite human. (Stiffly, he holds out his arms as if to show himself off,) It gets tired, it needs to eat, it gets sick, it bleeds, and all other human things.
(And yet, there's that lingering "but" in the air. Like there's more to be said,)
But this isn't my true form. I'm not human; just a thing in human form.
Are you a thing made of metal, or something else? [Because that begs the question, then, if the tea is meant to reveal a true state or if it's meant to twist you into something else. The second is safer to assume, if only because most people here are probably as naturally human (or whatever they are) as he is.]
(He raises a hand to his chest, right over his heart and he bows stiffly, )
Forged in the Heian era and passed down from owner to owner. I'm quite renowned where I'm from... (And he studies Alhaitham's expression to see if any of those names mean anything to him. Seeing nothing, though--) ... As a beautiful sword.
I see no reason to worry about it. [Because of it can and will, what will he do to stop it? What can he do? Solutions and preparations are worth more than concern, and if that isn't possible... well, no reason to concern with it at all.]
Simply curious about how far it's already gone to change people to fit into it.
You're experiencing the consequences. What are you going to do about it?
[Tsuruno asks why he's always watching. In fact, there is much that can be learned from simple observation. Apply a little patience to one's life to look and listen, and you come away with pieces that build up to a bigger picture, clearer truth, better solution.
The turn of phrase causes the slightest quirk in his expression. It is the shift in his shoulders as he leans an elbow forward.] And how's that going for you?
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no subject
With his finger, he presses down on the shard but instead of bending easily, he feels his whole hand go rigid and stiff. The joints of his fingers crack lightly and he freezes, studying it carefully. )
...
(It doesn't make sense, he thinks. If his true form isn't here then he shouldn't be able to break like this. That is, of course, unless something has happened to his true form. It's hard to feel when his sense is so dull in this city but seeing the cracks, feeling the way parts of his body feel a little more delicate... he feels his heart drop into his stomach but he has to stay cool.
He has to keep himself together.
He isn't the only one here. Nansen is depending on him. He's responsible for him, too. He can't break here. He has duties to uphold.
Remembering Alhaithm once more, he speaks plainly,)
If you want to surprise me, you should say you're a divine sage.
(Not a regular sage but a divine one. A priest or priestess with sacred powers.)
no subject
Alhaitham watches.] Then I'm not going to surprise you.
[He was an Acting Grand Sage, though? That counts for nothing.]
no subject
How boring!
(He sounds like he's whining and he lets out a loud and dramatic sigh. That's right. There's no point in despairing or crying right now so he holds his head up high, keeps his chest out, and turns to Alhaitham. On pale, white skin, the crack is a thin dark line, the missing spot like a freckle,
Though small, he wraps his fist around the chip, )
It's the least you can do after sitting back and watching.
(The last time they had met had been under similar, hadn't it? He'd been studying away, observing something in the city,)
What did you see with those eyes?
no subject
I saw you drink the black tea. [And he starts to write as he talks, gaze drifting to the page.] Once you set your cup down, a small fragment of your face flaked off. Based upon the reflection of the light, it's a piece of metal. Since your fingers have also begun an abnormal creaking sound, it seems that the tea has caused some sort of alteration to your body changing it into another material.
no subject
(He doesn't know. He's never heard of humans learning to divine and sense spirits but he supposes it isn't beyond the realm of belief.)
Is that what you saw? (It isn't wrong. Not completely. In fact, it's quite accurate. In response, he holds out his fist to Alhaitham and opens it, revealing the piece of pale steel in his palm.) Would you like to feel it?
That's how it is for humans, isn't it? It isn't enough to just see things. It has to be experienced with your other senses or else it's just a curiosity; something not really understood.
no subject
Tsurumaru isn't incorrect, really.
That this is a piece of someone's body doesn't outwardly disturb him. It only inwardly disturbs him in that this theoretically could happen to any of them, were they slightly less cautious. Being unmade would be a terrible way to go.
He presses the piece between his fingertips, then looks up to Tsurumaru.] And are you human?
no subject
He'll keep his hand out in case Alhaitham wants to study closer. If he does, he may notice the way his skin seems to change around the breakage. It's like the immediate area becomes cool and smooth, like a rough scar that then becomes something else. A strange mix of something living but not.
He meets Alhaitham's eyes and smiles perfectly and while his eyes are bright with awareness and intelligence one would expect from another person... there's something not quite human. The kind of look an animal gives when it observes a person. Like a bird watching someone from a high branch; from a different perspective.)
It depends. Is having a human form enough?
no subject
But I have no interest in defining the latter two, so tell me for the first one. [Not that he can't guess the answer, but it's an invitation to elaborate.]
no subject
This form is quite human. (Stiffly, he holds out his arms as if to show himself off,) It gets tired, it needs to eat, it gets sick, it bleeds, and all other human things.
(And yet, there's that lingering "but" in the air. Like there's more to be said,)
But this isn't my true form. I'm not human; just a thing in human form.
no subject
no subject
(He raises a hand to his chest, right over his heart and he bows stiffly, )
Forged in the Heian era and passed down from owner to owner. I'm quite renowned where I'm from... (And he studies Alhaitham's expression to see if any of those names mean anything to him. Seeing nothing, though--) ... As a beautiful sword.
no subject
And is this form something you had before, or something you gained in the city?
no subject
Are you worried this city might change you? (Is that why he's asking?) I had this form for some time before I arrived here.
no subject
Simply curious about how far it's already gone to change people to fit into it.
You're experiencing the consequences. What are you going to do about it?
no subject
(He'd observed him the last time too but at least the ice cram parlor had been mostly harmless (even if he still thinks he was dying).)
Keep it together, of course. What good will falling apart do?
no subject
The turn of phrase causes the slightest quirk in his expression. It is the shift in his shoulders as he leans an elbow forward.] And how's that going for you?