azure_mercy

He is.

He isn't working, though; he is reading a book and cuddling a cat, a friendly white one with grey spots.

"Zhaan?" he calls. "I am here!"

He is on a bench, by a table, feet on the table.

From:

"This man is a friend?" Stark says. He is nervous, but thanks to Zhaan he is stable... for now.

From:

"That's right, you two haven't met," Zhaan says. "Stark, this is Asar-Suti. He is in charge of the gardens here and gave me a plot and seeds after I first arrived. Asar-Suti, this is Stark, my partner. He has been in Milliways for a few months now." Although unlike Zhaan, he can come and go.

From:

"He's from your world?" Asar-Suti asks. "You're out in space with lots of different species, right? Nice to meet you, Stark!"

From:

"It is nice, nice to meet you too," Stark says. "It was generous of you to give ground to Zhaan."

From:

"I am hoping that you can help us with another matter," Zhaan says to Asar-Suti. "Guppy is getting married in a few months, and he has invited us to celebrate the occasion. However, he is from a pre-contact Earth, so..." Zhaan gestures at herself. "We cannot go as we are."

From:

"Probably not, that's right," Asar-Suti says.

Beat.

"You'd both be lots more work than Medusa's snakes -- I made her an illusion to hide them. Does either of you have any senses or body parts that mortal humans don't have, and that you don't want to lose, not even temporarily?"

From:

Stark scratches at the edge of his mask. "Lose?"

From:

"I thought an illusion would work for us. I have been transformed into a human before, and it...is not an experience I'd like to repeat," Zhaan says. "I could pass for human to touch alone - and to smell, once I concoct some pheromones. It is merely my exterior appearance that would be a problem. Stark could probably get by with an illusion as well. Nobody is likely to touch his mask, and if someone does, it will probably be so brief that they will dismiss any inconsistency. But," she adds, "because you have knowledge of magic and we do not, I will accept your judgment for the proper course of action."

From:

"What was so bad about it?" Asar-Suti says."It would be much easier just to take the you-ness of you, and turn it human, instead of laying illusion after illusion over your every feature."

Beat.

"If you'd rather, Stark, I might just mask your mask with an illusion of face, and otherwise leave you hairless. Men can be bald!"

From:

"It might be easier," Stark says. "There are matters of my corporeal body that may complicate any transformation."

From:

"I could be transformed without any long-term damage," Zhaan admits. "I did not realize that creating an illusion would be so complex." On the contrary, she thought it would be easier than a transformation.

"The reason I asked for that is because turning into a human presents me with difficulties. I am a sentient plant: humans are mammals. Delvians and humans differ greatly not only on the atomic level, but the cellular and chemical level. Our perceptions and neural architecture are also organized in very distinct ways." Zhaan likes most of the humans she's met too much to come out and say that being physically human makes her feel ill, but that's essentially the truth.

From:

"Perception," Asar-Suti says, archly. "So you have sense you would rather not lose, or have re-aligned too deeply. It will be harder than completely changing you -- that would just be 'change blueprint, keep individuality -- but of course, I can do it."

Beat.

"And what's so different about you, Stark? You look human enough."

From:

Stark gestures at his mask. "My body is not... whole."

From:

"Stark is a Banik," Zhaan explains. "He looks human, but he is partly non-corporeal energy - a human mind might not be able to anchor that part of him. He is also a Stykera, so his energy is not fully contained. That is why he wears a mask."

From:

"Ahhh," Asar-Suti says. "Bit like me -- I am all energy, really, and transform myself into matter so I can interact with matter. And it's all good -- coffee, tulips, books and Gil are all made of matter! Well, they're made of life-force as well, of course, and have morphogenic fields and everything, but they have matter. So being matter as well is useful."

Beat.

"I could transform both of you into simple, straightforward human matter. But I see why it would be disorienting for Zhaan. What advantage is it that your uncertain energy/matter state gives you, Stark?"

Yay for Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle walking about in a mask and a leather coat!

From:

Stark pauses and thinks.

"Perhaps... it would be best to simply transform," he says. "It would be an... experience."

From:

Zhaan, looking extremely troubled, turns to Stark. "Are you sure it will not cause you harm?" His biology is much closer to human than hers, but she doesn't know how a transformation will affect the Stykera part of him.

From:

"If the sudden certainty of your entire shape wouldn't drive you crazy," Asar-Suti says, "I would rather attempt that, yes."

From:

Stark snorts a laugh. "It would not drive me crazy," he says.

From:

Actually, Stark would probably be on a more even keel without his Stykera powers, but Zhaan isn't going to suggest it. It isn't her call to make.

"Stark, my dear, if you think you can be transformed safely, then I have no objections."

From:

"It would be easier, and less complex to hold up," Asar-Suti says. "And I don't say that because I'm lazy, or it would cost me too much -- I am a god, I make my own magical energy. I just feel it would work better. One fell swoop instead of patching reality piecemeal."

From:

Stark's eye goes wide and he instantly bows his head.

"My, my apologies," he says. "I was not aware of what you are. I should have been far more, more humble."

He takes a short breath.

"I shall assume human form for this wedding," he says.

From:

Zhaan puts a hand on Stark's shoulder. "I should have told you beforehand, my dear. But I do not think Asar-Suti demands humility of anyone."

While Zhaan knows that did not used to be the case, it is so now.

From: