Heavenfall

Kinsen nods and offers the tray with both hands to Saruko. Her eyes, though, focus at Taochusu as her eyebrows raise inquisitively upwards.

Accepting the tray, Saruko begin to meticulously clean her hands to make sure there were no remains of the concoction on her skin, in case it would hurt the skin or leave marks.

"So, uh, why are you painting your nails with jade? It will deterioate over time..."

"Coating your nail will protect it from cracks and scratches. It is also a form of ritual the huntresses of the tribe I am originally from did. So, painting it with jade should make me protected and fierce enough to fight the evil we are facing."

Kinsen makes a claws with her hands playfully while smiling. Only one finger painted so far.

"Ah... we just treated our nails and hands with balms made from oils and plants in my tribe. Some choose to dye their nails, using flowers."

She wondered if her tribe had preferred that aesthetic as it seemed more like the animals they cared about so much.

"That's interesting." Kinsen mentions, painting the other nails in green. "I often paint them in red. Although I like black, too. Only use it when there's an important event. And gold. But that's only when Dear Husband needs me to take up his place when he's traveling."

"No nail colors for me. I'm not a fan of wearing colorful things," he says. "Makes me feel exposed."

"Must take a lot of time to paint them so often." And she figured that the more the hands saw use, the quicker the color would chip or flake.

"Would you like to clean your hands then, Taochusu?" Not wanting to feel exposed she could understand.

"I did before I came over."

Kinsen pouts at Taochusu, and teases. "It would look lovely in you Taochusu-san. No fun."

Looking back at Saruko, she grins. "I paint them almost every week. It does chip quite often. I hope these ones last longer. They are really well made."

Saruko wondered if Kinsen had a lot of free time on her hands, to have the time for such frequent nail painting. It did make her curious and start wondering what the married life was like for the other Kami...

"I'm afraid they won't last that long. As we get closer to our destination, the jade will be affected by the corruption."

"Glad that there's plenty here to paint more if needed. Hope it is enough, though." She mentions. After all, they used one entire finger of jade that would look like a thumb from Hida –– as mentioned by Kiosey.

"Yeah, but won't the paint go bad by itself too?"

"Maybe? Stuff made from plants or animals tend to go bad... well, not bones, I'm pretty sure." Saruko shrugged, as nail-paint was still rather weird and new to her.

"I guess I meant more like, if the corruption makes the paint on the nails go bad, it'll make the paint in the container go bad too. And they're separate now. One block of ice melts slower than many chips of ice."

"What's on the contained is all mixed up. Maybe what's on my nails might... wait--" She shakes her head while blinking. "Jade goes... bad?"

Either Hantei is very neglectful, or Kinsen has the attention-span of a squirrel when he talks to her...

She wasn't sure which was the worst, considering she had already given Hantei a piece of her mind not too long ago.

"Yes. Yes it does," she replied, a tad bluntly at first. "The protection of jade isn't eternal... the corruption of Jigoku wears it down eventually."

"Yeah, that's what I was told. It starts to crumble little by little or something. But only around stuff that it protects you from I guess? If you got it and you aren't near this evil stuff I guess it lasts as long as any other rock," he says with a shrug.

“Hmmmm.” She thinks to herself, then starts to get the water heated for some tea.

“Even better I have it in my hands, then. It will be pretty much clear when it starts to wear off.”

"Not sure how quickly it goes bad either though. But it does tell you something."

She nodded in confirmation of what Taochusu said, glad that he had been informed of the jade's properties.

"From what I understand, a piece that is the size of a grown man's finger should last about a week when we begin to enter the corrupted lands. But... it might change faster the closer we get to the hole."