Darius watched with curious eyes as the semi-precious stones began to rotate around Gwen's hand and slender fingers. The urge to stick a finger under the floating stones to see what it would do was near unbearable. Then she solved his quandary and added sand to the mixture. He could see how they were supported now, or at least the representation of what was supporting them against her palm. "Extraordinary," he mumbled quietly.<br/><br/>He was forced to back away as the sand was blown off of her palm. The last thing he needed was sand in the eyes. It wouldn't have been the first time, and was not a condition he enjoyed. "I think I understand." Where the energy came from, or how it was directed though was something that he sincerely did not. As the stones fell, he immediately picked one up to see if there was a change at all. Would it be warmer? Colder? Malleable? To his disappointment though, they were the same as they would be had he pulled them from the mines and cut them himself. His attentions were quickly pulled away though, so he set the small purple gem back onto the table where it had lay.<br/><br/>As Gwen poured the sand into his hand and Darius realized what was going on, he cupped his fingers tighter to make sure none of the stuff escaped. He had no clue as to whether or not the sand was valuable, or if it was simply gathered from a beach. The feeling of Gwen's fingers dragging along his arm caused a small shiver, and his skin raised in goosebumps before he directed his attention at the little stone in his palm. "Just like that? That simple?"<br/><br/>Shrugging, he closed his eyes.<em>Pillar, pillar, pillar...</em>he mentally intoned. She said to make a pillar for the gem to sit on. There was a brief tingle in his lower arm, and then a more sustained one. Curiously, he peeked. The sand had pushed up near on two feet into the air, however it was highly unstable. The straight columns that Gwen had made looked nothing like the changing mass that was emanating from his hand. Much to his disappointment, the gem still sat in his hand, under the veil of white particles he was fighting to make solid. Irritation flashed over his face. "Fucking thing."<br/><br/>Irritation only worsened as he tried to focus harder on the stone. The tingling turned to outright numbness that burned. The small green stone began to glow from the inside out, and wobbled slightly. Assuming that he was doing something right, Darius pushed harder. The burning numbness increased in measure in his arm, like it had been flexed and held for far, far too long. Darius, though he would deny it, actually let out a terrified little yelp as the stone glowed like a coal began to vibrate violently and rocketed off of his hand. Grabbing ahold of Gwen's silken attire, he yanked her down under the edge of the table as the audible click of stone on marble was heard while the thing ricocheted off the walls.<br/><br/>The last sound it made was a delicate<em>tink</em>as it popped through the side of one of the smaller porcelain vases that sat on a shelf. "Look. It stopped." Cautiously, Darius stood up, taking his weight off of Gwen. Only to duck back down again with another startled yelp as the little gem exploded, sending chunks of porcelain flying lazily thought the air.<br/><br/>"What...the fuck...just happened woman?"