Heavenfall

Kyosei entered the brewery. He was not generally a drinker, but one or two wouldn't hurt, would it?

He did try to find the corner that was likely to be the quietest and most private. He thought of the other as a friend, and wanted to give his good byes before he did negotiations the next day, then left the next. This evening was likely the last for him, instead of his tribe.

Sora slipped into the room without any particular effort at stealth.

After all, why wouldn't he be there?

Kyosei lifted a hand, and gave a wave. He could have called, but it was already a bit rowdy in the main body of the room, and he had no wish to try to over shout the Crabs. Already, the clan was made of large people, and with that came loud voices.

Sora threaded through the crowd without much trouble. He wasn't as big as some of the Crab, but he carried himself like what he was- a man who had been in plenty of fights and come out on top- and as a result, garnered a measure of respect.

When the first guest was present, Kyosei gave a nod of the head. "I ordered a bottle of some sort of local liquor. No idea what it will taste like, but... seemed appropriate. Have a seat, have a seat..."

"Eh, Seidou beer's mediocre, but it does the job..."

"No, no. Not the beer, something they said they brew up in the back, over a longer period of time. I think they said this had been sealed for a few years? Not their first product, but something more practiced than that."

__________

Think a local Microbrewery's best.

Jin had a bit greater trouble moving through the crowd but, eventually, joined the other two at the table.

"A good enough time to celebrate being alive."

"Well, one little break before the work begins..."

"As if it ever truly ends." Jin nods and settles in.

"Breaks from the struggle are all we ever get in this life. The struggle always continues. Ah, and here's the bottle." The servant brought the bottle, stoppered to the table, along with 3 cups. They were common fired ceramic ones, nothing fancy.

It took Kyosei a few moments to figure out how to get the bottle open, scraping away the wax around the top first, then pulling out the stopper. Once he had done so, he poured each cup about half full.

Jin accepts his cup, "Here's to hell and back... literally."

"May someone else get to go in next time, the view sucked!"

Jin chuckles, "When the monk says 'give Sora the worst job possible' well, we give Sora the worst job possible."

"The price I pay for having spent the last five years in a job I love, I suppose..."

"mmm. I suppose that's all true. Though I did have another reason for asking you to meet me. First, for various reasons, I have felt closer to you than to most of the others on this expedition. But second, for this." With that, he reaches into one of his pouches, and pulls out a cloth, wrapped around something. It is about the size of his palm, and he unwraps it. Within it are a pair of black arrowheads, shiny and sharp looking.

"I carved these on the way back. They came from different pieces of Obsidian. And if you look close, there is something very different about them."

Indeed if the men look closer, they will see that one is the same as the obsidian knife he also pulls out and sets next to the pair. The other, however, has an undercolor to it. One that is off-blue, off-green. And slightly sickening to look at.

A frown crosses Jin's face as he examines them closely, without touching either knowing how sharp they can be and not trusting the off-color.

"Did... did it absorb the darkness instead of repelling it? The opposite of jade?"

"That, that is my best guess. I have experimented, and believe it also somehow has all four elements in it, and there is a space I can't touch, which I think is Void. But then that happened. I'm... I'm at a loss with what to do with this information."

"It's well beyond my competence, but I'm not too inclined to trust anything that gives Jin the willies."

Jin rubs his chin in thought as he scrutinizes it, "Maybe they are not in the same balance as in jade? A flaw or weakness - a fracture point where the darkness seeps in."