[ Konnichiwa! ]
[ Or ohayoo gozaimasu if you're waking up right now with coffee... ]
[ Sumimasen... Namarari maska? ]
[ Genki des? Domo genki desu! Arigato!]
[ Do I look dangerous to you? Hai? ]
[ Do you think it hurts when I'm in your coffee at this very moment? Iye? ]
[ I'm actually very special... There's only a handful of places known where I grow (a.f.a.i.k...). I come from the Akadani antimony mine in Japan. Kore wa arsenic! My name is 'shizen-hi' in Japan. But collectors also call me 'konpeitou-ishi' (after 'confitte' sugar crystal ball candy!). But actually my name comes from the Greek 'arsenikon', masculine, from my 'potent' properties. I consist of ca.86.6% As. Hai! Nice to meet you too. Wakarimaska? Originally I was embedded as globular crystalline euhedral masses of concentric and radial aggregates of rhomdohedral crystals in a very argillized hydrothermally altered ('weathered' in plain english) rhyolite (quartz liparite) now consisting mainly of clay and minor quartz ('rock' in street-slang). That was a mouth-full right? Well, now you can find me with some luck in the rocks near the mine... Not easy, but you know, after rain it's easier... When I'm showered and clean I look steel grey, but I turn black within hours when I'm exposed to air. When I'm still in the rock, my close friends are fibrous stibnite, quartz, pyrite, a little realgar or earthy secondary arsenic oxides. Sometimes I grow even to 1-2 cm big (5cm also known!), but usually not larger than a few millimeters ]
[ Domo arigato gozaimahita for your attention! ]
[ p.s.: it is smart not to kiss, inhale, lick and/or ingest me... don't put me in your morning coffee... ]
[ Ciaooooo matta neeeeeee ! ]