Fine silt lodges beneath fingernails as hands brush away debris to reveal concentric grooves etched into basalt protruding from skin. This fossilized nautilus follows a geometry of growth far older than the flesh, its hard ridges pressing against the soft warmth of living tissue. Tracing these ancient patterns suggests that every pulse and movement is merely a secondary layer resting upon an immutable skeletal blueprint. In this quiet alignment, the body finally settles into its original shape.
