Peter's listening with open curiosity — and oh yes, Paimon most certainly is too, and every once in awhile the boy's pupils will suddenly widen and blow out like ink spilling and spreading through water as the demon's focus and energy rears up within its host's body. Perhaps it could be overlooked, not altogether alarming, but something else is watching Shen Yuan, tuning itself into every word.

(Every once in awhile, Peter's tongue brushes the roof of his mouth, slowly, without his awareness that it's happening.)

But when he needs to speak again, his tongue becomes his own, and he's working it into soft words. His pupils settle, returning his eyes to their natural warm browns.

"Were you born able to do it? Collecting and manipulating qi...? Or was it something you had to learn how to do? Can anyone in your world do it?"

The questions come naturally, little bursts of curiosity voiced. It's all extremely interesting, and energy, the different forms of it, is something he's certainly become more and more curious by over time, considering the entity that occupies him and its own connection to such concepts.