app

[uninteresting_guy]

for adstringendum

Name: Sammy

Personal Journal: satrugha

Contact: aim: satrugha

Other Characters Played: none yet

Are you 18 or over? well over

Canon: Mononoke

Character: nameless. He is simply called kusuriuri, which translates to medicine seller. The fandom seems to nickname him Kusu because Kusuriuri is kinda hard to type.

Timeline: End of anime

Personality:
What Kusuriuri is exactly is unknown, though he has a lot of qualities which mark him as a supernatural being, particularly a kitsune given his cunning wit, the manner he holds his hands, his long purple nails practically sharpened to a point, and his pronounced canine teeth. When asked who he is, he simply replies he is a medicine seller and rather uninteresting. His sort of approach to his appearance makes him a bit of a walking contradiction, as he stands out more than anyone in the series.

Kusu is generally calm and levelheaded, even in the face of danger. On a regular basis, he faces supernatural beings, ayakashi and mononoke, but hardly seems affected even by fear. He encountered an umizatou, an ayakashi who creates illusions based on fear. While the rest of the cast was terrified of it and their own fears, Kusu confronts it, telling it he'll confess his own fear. What he fears most is a world without the three truths (truth, form, and reason), and in that sort of world, he would cease to exist. The umizatou shows him an illusion of his fear, and Kusu simply watches himself fade away, realizing it's simply an illusion. He doesn't succumb to the fear as much of the cast had done.

Other characters he's encountered how deadpan he can look sometimes. He's certainly not devoid of emotions; he simply appears to have incredible control over them. He tends to stare at people, often looking disinterested. He even answers questions with "Perhaps" and "Might be" at times, though when questioned about medicines, ayakashi, or mononoke, he is more than willing to hold a proper conversation. He can actually be quite personable, especially around women. When inquiring about a situation which may have caused a mononoke to be created, Kusu is incredibly straightforward and blunt, not willing to beat around the bush to pry information out of someone to learn the truth about the mononoke.

Even with his seriousness, Kusu has a rather interesting sense of humor. When he meets Kayo, a seamstress at a manor possessed by a bakeneko, he starts whispering things to her which make her squeal and laugh. He also enjoys teasing people. He teases Kayo for making odd faces. His humor sometimes comes across as snide, particularly for when he teases Odajima for saying Kusu was going to poison the family. He also irritates a mononoke in the noppera-bo story. The mononoke attempts to thieve Kusu of his face, but Kusu simply draws a henohenomoheji (sort of like a scarecrow face made from katakana) on his face, mocking the mononoke's illusion.

Even teasing, Kusu is incredibly intelligent and analytic. His knowledge about medicines and the supernatural is incredibly vast. He can use his medicinal understanding to create wards against ayakashi and mononoke on the spot as well as sell medicines to various people. It is his trade, after all. He is a firm believer that medicine cannot cure everything but may aid in alleviating problems, a belief which gets him thrown into jail by an upset client.

His knowledge of ayakashi, mononoke, and other supernatural beings is vast, shown particularly so during the umibozu story where he and a novice exorcist converse about them and inform Kayo about the different types and what they all are. He uses this knowledge to ascertain a supernatural situation and understand what may be causing it. Oftentimes, the mononoke will create illusions including doorways that lead nowhere, pushing people out of rooms, and even fish swimming in the air. Kusu observes these sorts of activities to understand the form of a mononoke. His observational skills particular show through in the umibozu story where he's the only one who notices the large mononoke eye watching the entire scene play out.

Kusuriuri also has a deep understanding of human emotion. Mononoke are born of strong human emotions, and to combat mononoke, he must understand the emotions which created the mononoke. He encounters a lot of cruelty in his adventures, including imprisonment, abuse, and sacrifice. Despite what he encounters, he keeps a level head.

He is a firm believer that no one should be controlled by another. He also believes in accepting oneself and not losing the self to others abuse and desires. The latter comes into play during the noppera-bo story, where he helps a despairing woman named Ochou realize that she'd sacrificed herself so much for her mother that she lost herself and eventually spiraled into despair, losing her true self and becoming a mononoke. He also tells her that she allowed her home to become a prison because she lost her freedom and her will to survive. A home can become a fortress if instead one chooses to never leave.

Kusu is relatively typical of his class, as well. During the Edo period in Japan, there was an incredibly strict class system, with samurai on the top and the merchant class, medicine sellers included, at the bottom. He speaks formally, attaching honorifics to all the names he speaks according to class. Even those of equal class he addresses as -san. He properly bows to those who outrank him and he almost always sits in proper seiza, which is when he tucks his feet underneath him and places his hands on his thighs. These are not signs of submission, but signs of respect for classes which rank above him. And even so, he often adds assertive particles to his statements, giving him the appearance of being confident.

And even though he is incredibly polite, Kusu is a bit of a dirty bird. He tells Kayo about romantic charms but only whispers them to her so no one else can hear. Presumably they're pretty dirty, given Kayo's reaction. He carries a book of ukiyo-e woodblock pornography in his backpack but is somewhat embarrassed when it is discovered.

Kusu also seems to have an interesting affection for cats. His first and last tales include bakeneko, ghost cats. His first encounter, he faces off against the bakeneko but it overpowers him, feeding off the rage and hatred in the household, and absorbs him. The truth behind the bakeneko reaches out to him, pulling him into the memory of how the bakeneko came to be. After seeing the abuse this woman endured, he told the bakeneko to not stop and show him the whole memory despite feeling some sadness for what happened with the woman and her cat. Even so, he still slays the bakeneko and lets the cat and the woman rest in peace. When slaying the bakeneko, he apologizes to it for its pain.

Kusuriuri does have an odd quirk that sometimes he speaks in segmented sentences, adding pauses in the middle of a thought when speaking. Other times, he speaks with long, regular sentences.

Background:
His start in Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, considered part of continuity by the characters in Mononoke. http://ayakashijapaneseclassichorror.wikia.com/wiki/Bake_Neko
His own series, Mononoke: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mononoke_(TV_series)

Abilities/Additional Notes:
Kusuriuri has a great deal of unusual supernatural powers. His most noticeable ability is his ability to control things without touching them. He is capable of throwing ofuda around after manifesting them, as well as calling his sword to his hand, untying ropes, and opening drawers and doors. The power seems somewhat limited to lighter objects.

Kusu also has an ability to handle illusions and sometimes see through them. In both the umibozu and noppera-bo stories, he encounters illusions created by ayakashi. In the former, he experiences the illusion of his worst fear but it doesn't shake him as he realizes it is simply that, an illusion. In the latter, he uses his mirror to break an illusion created by a mononoke.

Kusuriuri is also incredibly quick. He has an uncanny ability of showing up in other rooms, even when he's not nearby. His hand to hand skills are quick as well. He quickly blocks Odajima's foot from stepping on the salt barrier despite facing the other direction. He also fights the masked man in the noppera-bo story with ease, matching his speed and skill.

Kusu also has a strange sense of strength, despite appearing rather wiry. His medicine chest he carries around is no doubt heavy, though Kayo did carry it for a short amount of time. In Ayakashi, he filled a large jar of salt and picked it up with ease. When he handed it to Odajima, the man nearly fell over from the weight.

His hearing is incredible and this surfaces the most in ayakashi. He hears Odajima speak ill of him, even though the man is in another room. He tells Odajima that his ears can hear quite a bit, even the talk he wishes not to hear. Also in the same story, he uses the sound of the bells on the scales to locate the mononoke outside the room. He follows the bells as they indicate where the mononoke is as if he were looking at the scales directly, not on the other side of a wall.

Kusuriuri's states in the final story that he himself cannot see a mononoke until its true form has been revealed. He uses his scales and ofuda to reveal a location of the mononoke and track it as needed. He does however seem to have a bit of a supernatural sense. He is aware when a mononoke is present, even if he cannot tell where or what it is. He seems to be capable with communicating with a mononoke, but that seems limited to how willing the mononoke is to speak its truths.

Other self
He also possesses another form that appears to follow the Buddhist form of enlightenment. Kusuriuri has a lot of buddhist aspects to him, but the one which stands out the most is the three truths required to unsheath his blade. In some forms of buddhism, there are three truths which must be revealed for enlightenment. This enlightenment can bring out one's true self and in some stories, give one spiritual and even supernatural powers to ward off evil.

Kusuriuri's other self can only appear when the three truths (truth, form, regret) are revealed, and only the other self can slay a mononoke. The other self is an enlightened form of Kusuriuri and is immensely powerful. When becoming the other self, the transformation is wholly symbolic, with Kusuriuri calling to release the blade and his power. Oftentimes, as shown in the gif above, Kusu's kimono becomes the markings on his other self's form, one shape transferring to the other.

The markings in themself are highly interesting. They have similar characteristics to Kusu's own markings he has on his face, though they respond to the situation. They can look in many directions when his other form's looking elsewhere and can actually be transferred from his body to form shields to protect himself.

His other self is capable of harnessing the other power of the sword. He states that he himself cannot fully harness the power of the sword, implying only his other self can. The true form of the sword is a colorful blade which can bend and extend as needed. This blade can only cut through mononoke and when it does, it seems to spread confetti-like pieces around the area to symbolize the mononoke has been eliminated.

Even when sheathed, the other self can use the blade as a means to deter a mononoke attack. In umibozu, he uses the sheathed blade to redirect the mononoke's attack and prevent himself from being harmed.

Tools of the trade
Kusuriuri also has an unusual inventory of items as well as many medicines from around the world. Both are used as an extension of his own abilities to detect and track mononoke.

Both sections got a bit lengthy when I started writing them out so I put them in their own journal. If this isn't okay, I can copypasta them in the comments.

First-Person Sample:

[ Mr. Medicine seller has only recently figured out this PCD thinger. It's odd and mysterious and intrigues him somehow. A communication device? Perfect. ]

My my. What a dangerous place this is.

[ he tilts his head slightly to the side, the mess of bangs obscuring part of his face. He seems to be smirking or amused, but it's really just the odd markings on his face. ]

I am a simple medicine seller by trade. Surely I could offer some medicines to help with any sort of injuries or sickness. I have come to understand that money means little in this world, yet what sort of merchant would I be if I simply handed things out for free?

[ maybe he really is smirking. It's hard to tell, but he seems at the very least amused by the thought of offering medicine for free. ]

Yet I am the reasonable sort. Perhaps... [ he pauses to tap his chin thoughtfully, showing off his rather long, purple fingernails. ] a trade will do. A barter system will do nicely.

Please send all inquiries to me via this unusual device or in person. I will do my best to accommodate every request I receive. I thank you for your time and look forward to potential business.

Third-Person Sample:

"My goodness," the medicine seller mused, staring up at the sky. It was paler than he'd remembered yet this place didn't feel like home at all. The buildings were unusual and in ruins. He wasn't anywhere near home. It was painfully obvious. He had only walked from the train station after killing the bakeneko and relieving it of its pain and regret. He had knelt down to scratch the cat under the chin before sending it off to the realm beyond. The cat was finally at peace, as was the murdered woman.

He had only left the train station to seek some herbs for his collection of medicines. He was short on mint. And yet this wasn't a medicinal shop. This wasn't anywhere he'd ever seen. There was a spiritual sense in the air, something unsettled and unrested, but the Sword of Exorcisms residing in his sleeve remained settled and quiet. No mononoke had made itself present just yet.

But perhaps this was an illusion? He reached up with his right hand, covering his eyes for a moment, listening to the sounds around. Illusions created by ayakashi could be so easily dispelled if one kept a calm mind and didn't let their eyes fool them. But as he removed his hand and glanced upon the world once again, it quickly became apparent this wasn't an ordinary illusion or could quite possible not be an illusion at all.

Could this possibly be a world where truth, form, and regret no longer existed, a realm where nothing was certain? He paused, considering the gravity of the thought. Without the three truths, he would simply cease to be, wandering the realm without a purpose. He stared at his hands. They remained solid, and he remained where he stood. This realm, illusion or real, had to exist on the edge of the human world, possibly an intermediary realm between this and the next, or a place where not human nor ayakashi would dare go.

He placed a hand on his chin thoughtfully. The silence in the distance was overtaken with sounds a cat in the distance. It surely wasn't a bakemono but it had a supernatural feel to it. Perhaps he would still have a purpose in this world.