#astarablaze (kaede)

[doomxdriven]

"Marriage, you say? Interesting."

The mention of marriage drags a chuckle out of Jin-- he could see Kaede had studied their family history well. Kaede was right, even hundreds of years ago, their family would never have engaged such a treaty without a marriage tied into it, and this treaty Jin had brought up to Kaede was no different. The factor of marriage was actually a focal point of this treaty (and partly to blame for all the drama surrounding it)… but Kaede wouldn't know any of that, as Jin had purposefully left out another page of the treaty that would have mentioned this.

Jin knew that as he and Kaede delved into the search for Mourning Star, this marital truth could potentially come to light, but until that bridge had to crossed, he didn't see a reason Kaede had to know about any of it.

What Jin didn't mind disclosing to Kaede was more information on Mourning Star-- that was information they definitely required.

"Mourning Star, as you might have guessed from the name, is a rather macabre looking object," Jin goes onto say, in-between taking drags of his cigarette, "picture a desiccated head, adorned with a star-shaped crown of thorns, attached to a long staff made of ligaments and bone."

That was how Jin remembered Mourning Star anyway, from the two times he had seen it. Jin was never sure if Mourning Star's shaft was in fact made of bones and ligaments but considering everything else about it, that seemed correct. It was a very unsightly creation nonetheless.

"The Cursed Technique embedded within Mourning Star allows its user to speak with and summon the dead. I desire it more for the speaking aspect, though the latter always sounded useful, too."

Being able to communicate with, and to some extent, control the dead, was an exceptionally rare ability, and the greatest of any Seance related Cursed Technique that Jin had come across. It would prove very useful for one of Jin's longer-term goals.

"A bit of digging I did into your family leads me to believe that the 'vault' Mourning Star was sealed in is part of a larger armory hidden beneath your family's old estate, one that can only be accessed by someone of Shikibane blood."

How that limitation was enforced, Jin didn't know, but the texts he had read all indicated that only a Shikibane could open the way to the supposed vault. Knowing the troublesome individuals who sealed Mourning Star away, Jin was sure that something dastardly awaited him and Kaede beneath the old Shikibane estate, however.

"I'm thrilled you will help me finally attain Mourning Star, but an armory full of other Cursed Tools belonging to your family would be wonderful, don't you think?"

Jin, cigarette in hand, turns to Kaede while they poured over the treaty, a sly grin on his face, "reclaiming the rest of those Cursed Tools could set you on the path of revitalizing your House." // @astarablaze

"Even in death, I'm responsible for these people..." he grumbled, tucking his words into a sigh under his breath and snatching the treaty Jin had provided.

A centuries-old parchment, kept well and cleanly but still showing the familiar marks of age. Wrinkles, frayed edges, some smears of ink here and there, but no less clear on what was owed - and just who had signed it. He scowled, searching through the document for a drawing of some kind, a picture of the so-called Mourning Star - how pretentiously grim. The Shikabane clan and its inclinations toward all things death-related...even centuries before today. He was almost embarrassed.

Still, he half-listened to Jin while he read, picking up on ancient legal jargon and agreements that seemed forged in friendship, but knowing his family, it couldn't have been anything more than a ploy. At least, at first. Or maybe the former heads thought they'd be able to wriggle their way out of it; They succeeded, after all. The debt no longer belonged to the family, but to Kaede. And now here he was, no doubt soon to embark on a mission to the ruins of the estate and pick it clean as if a vulture, carrion vermin to a corpse. He closed his eyes for a time, setting his jaw and wrinkling his nose.

"It doesn't make any sense for anyone in my family to sign a treaty unless marriage is involved. The only treaties I was aware of until now were made in time for certain weddings over the centuries - this should have been filed away in the same place," he went on, bitterly annoyed at his ancestors and the more recently departed. For a clan obsessed with keeping records of everything... Sabotage, but who? A great-grandfather? Grandmother? The one his would-be father was named after, Zenchou? But that name wasn't anywhere on the treaty that he could see, so perhaps he was one of the few who disagreed?

"You'll need to give me more information. This isn't enough. I can't read a lot of this and there's no description of the Mourning Star. I can tell you I know where it might be, if it exists, but I'll need to know what it looks like - 'cause it's not just a morningstar, is it?" He re-scrolled the treaty, careful as not to damage it further. Bristly as he was, it's not like he was trying to be rude. "If you want it, you can have it. I have no use for it."