3. Sightseeing
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The following morning, Tourmaline was still asleep in the great big shell. In a series of events comparable to the other night, he was awoken by a shadow blocking the light filtering in through the aperture of the shell. When he opened his eyes, or rather his eye, as he only had one now, he saw his former eye looking right back at him, a few inches away from his face.
“EEK!” He shouted, rolled back, as the spiky gem threw himself backwards as well and scrambled out of the shell. “Oh, shoot, not again,” he said, and scrambled after him. He couldn’t keep doing this to the guy, scaring him and then running after him to try and apologize. Well, maybe this time it would be different, because he wasn’t nearly blind anymore. He caught up to him, leaving a considerable distance between the two.
“Hey!” He shouted, and the spiky gem turned and looked, his new eye wide with curiosity, or maybe fear, he couldn’t really tell. “Waitwaitwait, don’t run! I won’t hurt you! Promise!” He said. Well, at least not this time, not again, he wouldn’t hurt him.
The other gem just looked at him, expressionless. The sheer number of facets on his face sort of blocked any semblance of emotion. Then, with a similarly faceted, gnarly hand, he pointed to his new eye.
Tourmaline did the same, and pointed to his empty eye socket where that eye came from.
The spiky guy, seemingly satisfied, turned around and began to walk away. Tourmaline was confused. That was it? We’re cool about the decapitation last night? Did his plan work? Was it that he can’t speak, or that he won’t? He hoped that his eye would’ve imparted his knowledge onto the other guy and that they’d be able to communicate better. Perhaps this was not the case, and he gave up his eye for nothing.
Or maybe it wasn’t for nothing, as he watched the spiky gem slowly meander around the island, looking at everything there was to look at. He crouched down to look at the grass and the bugs, and he made his way over to the sea and watched the waves roll in, the foam, his own reflection in the water. He walked over to the fields again and sat down, looking up at the six faint moons in the sky. This was the first time he'd be able to enjoy his own island with all his senses.
The clouds rolled in, heavy with water, and it began to rain. The spiky gem made his way back to the shell. Tourmaline soon followed. This was mostly out of habit, as water would wreck the coat of powder that he was used to wearing. Here, without any, he didn’t really face any repercussions for staying out in the rain. As for why the spiky gem did so too, he wasn’t sure. He didn’t have any powder that could wash off. Tourmaline sat down at the mouth of the shell and watched the rain, and the spiky gem stood nearby.
“Can you understand anything I’m saying?” He said.
No response. Hm.
The spiky gem hadn’t ever seen rain before. He’d of course heard it, the past however many years he’d been living here for, but now that he had an eye he could really see it. He reached out to try and touch it, and flinched as a raindrop hit his knuckle, smoothing its jagged surface down. He backed away a bit and looked closely at his dissolving finger.
So, he’s water soluble. He’d have to keep that in mind. He’s soft, he’s made of the same stuff as the volcanic gases are, and he dissolves in water. He still failed to come up with any minerals that would fit the bill for a name.
The rain didn’t seem to let up, so he went to sleep. The spiky gem did so too. Tourmaline was quite rather confused and didn’t know what to make of the situation, the sudden acceptance of his presence. But for now, he’d take it.