kusuriuri (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kon_kusuriuri) wrote2026-06-20 10:18 pm
kon_kusuriuri) wrote2026-06-20 10:18 pm
Entry tags:
sticks & bones | app
PLAYER INFO
Name: Hurry
Pronouns: they/them
Contact: Discord @ hurrymode
Permissions: Here <3
CHARACTER INFO
Name: Kusuriuri (literally means "Medicine Seller"); "Kon", the name of his sword, can be used for his name if another Kusuriuri shows up.
Canon: Mononoke (2024 - 2026 movies)
Canon Point: Post-canon of the movies.
Age: Undefined and unknowable. Medicine Sellers do not seem to age.
Species: Canon-wise, no idea! Fan canon is that he & the other Medicine Sellers are kitsunes acting as servants of Amaterasu, sent to purify vengeful energy — so I'm good with that.
History: Personal history is very limited, but we do know that of the 64 Guardians of Shuuga, Kusuriuri has attained one of the top positions as the Kon blade of the Eight Swords of Yin and Yang — and if this sounds very ceremonial and theatric, it's because it is. In his role, he travels from place to place to cut down and purify mononoke, which spawn from typical ayakashi/spirits/yokai binding to human passion, trauma, or regrets. To do so, he must show his Sacred Sword the mononoke's Form (the type of spirit/ghost/ayakashi/yokai which haunts the place or people), the mononoke's Truth (whose or what emotions did the spirit latch onto?), and the mononoke's Regret (why did the mononoke form, and why does it remain?). In the movies, this can be witnessed all taking place in the Ooku during Edo period Japan, where he investigates and purifies three separate mononoke, one of which is essentially referred to as a god. One thing that is important to note is that he is technically two characters: his Sacred Sword is a Whole Other Guy called Shingi (or, "Divine Ritual"/"Other Self"), though the power is limited as the sword cannot be drawn, and Shingi not released, without having those three pieces of information — Form, Truth, Regret — about the mononoke. The sword/Shingi, and Kusuriuri, cannot really be separated, as Shingi and Kusuriuri share a body when the sword is unsheathed.
But, regarding Kusuriuri for the purposes of RP, I have no plans on headcanoning a more personal past too much as I find the enigmatic nature of it all quite compelling :3, though I will likely make references to the movies or other Mononoke lore where it is concerned. Happy to discuss this further; I think it sounds fun in the context of this RP setting!
Personality:
✽ What is your character's main motivation? What drives them and keeps them going?: Seeing humanity alive and well, even when they trip up or make mistakes. An example of this is though Kusuriuri keeps himself somewhat distant from humans, he seems to be genuinely pleased when offered a rice ball to try from one of the girls in the Ooku. He wants badly to keep them safe.
✽ What is their biggest regret? Why?: He is always too late to save the ones who need it the most; cleansing the mononoke destroys last remaining pieces of spirits who were typically once victims of some kind. When purifying them, he asks for their forgiveness.
✽ What is their worst fear? Their greatest comfort?: He fears failing his duty: in growing close with humans through his work, in learning their miseries and their losses to better understand the mononoke, his worst fear would be slipping at that one critical moment, and failing to save those caught in the middle. For comfort, it is the downtime of traveling from place to place between mononoke hunts, a simple life with brief connections.
✽ Top three strengths?:
✽ What is their biggest regret? Why?: He is always too late to save the ones who need it the most; cleansing the mononoke destroys last remaining pieces of spirits who were typically once victims of some kind. When purifying them, he asks for their forgiveness.
✽ What is their worst fear? Their greatest comfort?: He fears failing his duty: in growing close with humans through his work, in learning their miseries and their losses to better understand the mononoke, his worst fear would be slipping at that one critical moment, and failing to save those caught in the middle. For comfort, it is the downtime of traveling from place to place between mononoke hunts, a simple life with brief connections.
✽ Top three strengths?:
1. The Kon trigram is characterized by devotion: Empathy, as he cares deeply for humanity and individuals, especially including those whose pain became mononoke. Even those who have wronged others, he tries to save.
2. Subject matter expert: Knowledge of the spirit world & its workings as an expert and exorcist.
3. The world is his oyster: Uncanny capability to get places where he is needed; sometimes this is shown as he interacts with people and talks his way in, and other times he simply appears conveniently at the right time and place.
✽ Top three weaknesses?:
✽ Top three weaknesses?:
1. No mystery solved, no power-up: He can't draw his Sacred Sword — and unlock his full abilities — until he has the three answers about the mononoke. While he's still strong without it, Shingi is Prime Mononoke Killer #1, not Kusuriuri, so if he can't draw his sword the best he can do is ward/repel spirits by other means.
2. A one-man show: He works alone, and is liable to overextend himself; in cases where an enemy is too large or too unknown for him, he would not lean on others, even up to the point where it may lead to his own downfall, especially in instances where he's driven to protect.
3. Do no harm: Bound by his somewhat divine purpose to cleanse mononoke and protect humanity, he has never been shown to directly hurt or harm others past defending himself...even if they deserve it. Being put in a position that requires this would deeply challenge the whole of his spirit.
2. A one-man show: He works alone, and is liable to overextend himself; in cases where an enemy is too large or too unknown for him, he would not lean on others, even up to the point where it may lead to his own downfall, especially in instances where he's driven to protect.
3. Do no harm: Bound by his somewhat divine purpose to cleanse mononoke and protect humanity, he has never been shown to directly hurt or harm others past defending himself...even if they deserve it. Being put in a position that requires this would deeply challenge the whole of his spirit.
✽ What was their last lie?:
Inventory:
- Tansu / Medicine Chest: technically a pocket dimension so Kusuriuri never runs out of his exorcism tools. As a nerf I propose that the pocket dimension is turned off so that it only contains his usual goods (a noninfinite number of exorcism tools + various medicine, and not just because him going off about love potions has comedic potential)
- Sidenote on the medicines: I'm not going to list out a bunch of traditional Japanese medicines, just know that I promise Kusuriuri isn't going to whip out a miracle potion anytime or whatever, deus ex machina style. He's never done that in the series, and will not do so here unless explicitly discussed prior.
- Sacred Sword: quoting the rule, "Weapons must be no bigger than an adult man", which is convenient, because the Sacred Sword once unsheathed has Kusuriuri's body shared with Shingi, who is exactly the height of an adult man. There is a convenient and natural power limitation here mentioned above, since Kusuriuri can't unsheathe the sword anyway without the three key pieces of mononoke information. 1. There may not even be a mononoke in Aldric's Grove but 2. if we dooo plot one being here or consider some creature in the grove a mononoke, then Shingi can come play only for the duration of that plot.
- Note: The sword is also impossibly heavy to anyone else trying to pick it up, so it couldn't be force-unsheathed or used by anyone else as a weapon.
- When sword is unsheathed, here is a video of the transformation + ability showcase (flashing cw). (Again, if not unsheathed, then too bad for Kusuriuri.)
- Ofuda (talismans): talismans used to detect and block mononoke; typically black ink with closed eyes, but eyes will open and ink will turn red in presence of a mononoke. Can be placed individually or spread out like a boundary or shield. Will fail if the mononoke swells in strength enough. He makes these himself, and there are usually countless folded up his sleeves.
- If used by Shingi, they are much stronger/more resilient to the spiritual pressure of the mononoke.
- Tenbin (scales): charming, semi-sentient scales which tilt to ring a bell (shown in the first couple seconds of this short) to alert him to a mononoke's distance & direction. Spin in circles and fail if a mononoke is moving fast enough, or big enough.
- Typically he has unlimited numbers of these because of the medicine chest pocket dimension, but if he only keeps a few that's fine with me, they're too cute to lose. They bow to people! It's adorable.
Abilities:
- Physically: can carry >400 pounds at once time and still effortlessly sprint in geta; agile to the point of leaping, dancing, flipping through the air and landing gently and gracefully; does not need to eat or sleep, yet can bleed and be injured. Has great endurance even when injured.
- Spiritually: extremely knowledgeable about yokai/ghosts/spirits/ayakashi and how to counter them or craft effective tools against them; highly attuned to spiritual energy, able to sense when a mononoke is present even across the Ooku (which is about 200k sqft of space)
- Mentally: often being pulled in, and sometimes asking his way in, into the mononoke's traumatic visions and flashbacks. Occasionally this looks like "reliving" those nightmarish moments of suffering.
- Connection to his exorcism tools: the power for these talismans, scales, Sacred Sword, etc all come from Kusuriuri (though they're all somewhat sentient themselves, too). There is not currently a way known of "cutting off" this connection in lore, though I'm open to playing with it. :3
- "Transformation": technically not just a transformation because Shingi is his own guy and they share Kusuriuri's body, but, yeah, you get it at this point.
- "Telekinesis": not for just anything; only in regards to his ofuda/talismans, tenbin/scales, Sacred Sword, and opening/closing the drawers of his tansu/medicine chest, he can direct each with his hand gestures.