(FIN) Light Your Tinsel Moon [Bee]

[Dark]

Rin nodded, "That's fine. Shall we then?" He wasn't particularly keen on spending any sort of prolonged period of time with Jin, but it would be easier in the long run; Jin might even remember something relevant along the way.

The pottery master was located in one of the older districts--an eclectic mix of shabby apartments, hole-in-the-wall stores, and warehouses. Abner's master had taken up residence in a converted warehouse, unimpressive like all the other buildings besides a loud welcome sign: bright, colorful, and just a tad jaunty. Rin thought he rather liked it.

A bell jingled merrily as they entered, and Rin took a moment to enjoy the smell of baked clay. There was something very homey about it.

"Hello? Sir? We don't want to take up your time, but we have some questions concerning Abner."

Rin twitched, voice echoing eerily in the large room. The kiln wasn't running, and in the middle of the work week, and there were no bumbling students or benevolent teachers lamenting the waste of perfectly good clay.

The sign had said 'Open,' so what the fuck was going on?

[Bee]

Well, this was an exciting development. No one home when they were supposed to be. It was hard to tell if anything had been going on--anything that might have been seen as a sign of...altercation...could just have easily been some clumsy student or an improperly cleaned workspace or...whatever. He sighed heavily. He wished Abner would just materialize magically out of thin air so they could go home.

"Right," he said, flatly, surveying the room again, trying to find something weird he might have missed the first time around. "So this is a dead end. I don't know where this guy lives or anything."

Then he caught a glimpse of something over by the wheels. He recognized that crappy artistry anywhere. One of Abner's pots. He trotted over and inspected it. They clay was still moist and mushy. Abner had been here, at the very least. He called Rin over.

[Dark]

Something fishy was going on and Rin didn’t like it. Not one bit. A missing brother had escalated to a missing brother and a missing pottery master, not to mention the suspicious absence of the other students. It would probably be a good idea to check the man’s office and see if he kept decent records; they might be able to contact some of the other students--if the man had any other students--and see if they knew anything that might help them find Abner. Maybe, if they were lucky, they’d find the pottery master along the way. But first he needed to check out what Jin had found.

“This is your brother’s work? You‘re sure?” Rin tried and failed to find any redeeming qualities in the lumpy mass that might have been a vase; the poor boy didn’t have even a shred of talent, and the vase was almost physically painful to look at.

Well, time to get to work. He gestured for Jin to take a seat, “This might take awhile.” He reached out with a wing and touched the gooey mess with a claw.

[Bee]

Jin had assured him that this could only be the work of his brother; he had seen enough of his other projects to know. Just as geniuses all succeeded in their own unique way, every failure flopped spectacularly in their own hideous manner, and this had every hallmark of Abner Failure.

So he watched curiously as Rin examined the misshapen lump of an artistic abortion, wondering what he could possibly hope to glean from the bit of pottery that had been invisible to Jin's naked eye. Probably just some kind of close-inspection private detective shit; he was paying for the man to make himself useful, after all. He hoped he turned up something.

And soon. He didn't like this whole might take a while business. His areas of patience apparently didn't include waiting for clues on missing family members. His tail twitched in anticipation.

[Dark]

Rin always experienced a moment of disorientation when using this particular ability, and while closing his eyes beforehand seemed to help a small bit, it didn’t completely save him from the effects. When he finally was able to focus again, the narrow vision allotted him was not promising. Two figures, one of which could only be Abner, bound and gagged in a dark room. Not for the first time, he wished desperately that he could hear what was going on, because not-Abner suddenly twitched and another man came into view. It wasn’t much of an argument, as not-Abner couldn’t really contribute, but he shook his head at whatever their capture said. The man did not seem all too pleased with the answer as he stormed off.

He could try talking to Abner mind-to-mind, to see if could get a more complete picture of what was going on—and maybe a better idea of where they were—but it was always risky. People didn’t react well to a stranger’s voice popping up in their thoughts. It was his only option, though.

Don’t be alarmed. Abner went very, very still. Your brother and I are looking for you. Can you tell me anything about where you are or what is happening?

[Bee]

There was something going on between the detective and the terrible lump of pottery--Rin was making all sorts of very serious, contemplative faces, and Jin's curiosity was tinged heavily with incredulity. Was he trying to--did he think he was some kind of fucking psychic, communicating with his brother through clay? Was he trying to glean some kind of information from the emotional memory of the bleeding pot?

But apparently he found something out, or was very good at having pretended to find something about, because a moment later they were off again, to some kind of abandoned warehouse, where Rin informed him his brother was being stored.

"Let your psychic powers guide us," Jin said, only somewhat sarcastically. He really did feel stupidly anxious. Not because he liked Abner, but he was family, and his mother would be heartbroken.

The warehouse was empty before they got there. Apparently his brother had made enough bother that it had given his captors a bad feeling, because they had cleared out. The concrete was dark and damp, and blood pooled around a giant dark lump of person. Jin stared at it.

Sometimes valiant quests ended very, very poorly.