::Open RP on the Grounds::

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

Outside was intimidating. The sky was too big and formless, the wind seemed to come from all directions at once, and the ground was lumpy and uneven under his feet.

But L thought he could be brave. L wanted him to be brave. And A has his wand, after all, and a growing arsenal of hexes to go with it (even if he hasn't actually tested most of them yet).

And so he's exploring the outside of the castle now. The sun is out this time, and it's already warmer than it was when L took him wand-shopping.

And there is new green grass, smelling so fresh and clean, and there are tiny flowers dotting the grass. The daisies A knows, and the foxglove, but botany was not something he studied much and he can't identify any of the others.

But oh, all those tiny shivering alive things in all the terrifying rush of air!

It's a sort of peace he can barely recognize.

Comments

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"Processing, I see." He nods. "Eliminating excess toxins, isolating the desired compounds."

He reaches out, almost but not quite touching one of the blossoms. "Do you use a lot of plants that are toxic?"

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Kusuriyuri smiles. One could almost call it a smirk. "Some medicines are toxic if they are taken the wrong way. Oleandar is a good medicine, but if it is burnt, it becomes toxic." He used it once to find the form of a mononoke. It amused him greatly.

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"It makes sense, it does. Medicine is supposed to change something in the body, but if you are changing something, it could change too much in the wrong direction."

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

He is pleased with his student. "Would you care to continue the lesson?" he asks, offering to teach A as much as he is willing to learn. "I will soon be teaching divination, as well, if you are so inclined."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"I would like to learn," A told him, and meant it. "I think I like plants. I never saw very many before, and they're..." He looks up, meeting Kusuriyuri's eyes for the first time. "They're beautiful."

Divination might be useful, as well."

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Kusuriyuri bows slightly. "I will endeavor to teach you as much as you wish to learn." A smile plays with his lips. "Many things are beautiful. Those that are not afraid of the truth are most beautiful. Plants do not try to hide themselves, but we need to learn their truth to fully appreciate them."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"Plants..." A frowns, trying to find the words for his amorphous thoughts. His speech slows. "Plants don't have to be afraid. They're like Schrodinger. They're not afraid. I can't be a kitten or a plant, but I can't know about them."

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

A slight puzzled frown crosses Kusuriyuri's face. "You can learn from plants and kittens to not be afraid. When you find your truth, you will be less afraid." This he knows. He has faced his greatest fear, that there is no truth, no reason, no form, and he let it take him and returned. "If you face the truth of your fear, it loses power over you."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"I try to not be afraid. There's so much... most of it is less scary, less scary when I learn. But..." A lowers his voice and averts his eyes again. "I know who... I know who makes me afraid, and that's truth, but unless I can make him stop..."

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Kusuriyuri listens a moment beyond when A stops talking, as if he his hearing words that are not spoken. "You have seen the truth of what I say." He choses his next words carefully. "By learning the truth of the world around you, you become stronger. By becoming stronger, you are able to face more fears for what they are. This will make you stronger, and becoming stronger will enable you to stop him."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

L had called A brave, thought he was strong, thought he could be strong. And now Kusuriyuri was implying it as well...

"I'm learning hexes," A murmurs. "Hexes, to stop him. But I don't know if they'll make him stop. I'm not supposed to kill him."

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

More listening to hear what is behind the words. "Maybe, if he finds you an unpleasant target, or an unresponsive one, then he will stop. If there is nothing to give him pleasure in tormenting you, then he has no cause to do so, is that not so?"

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

A's face twists at that, and his breath turns to smoke in his throat.

"I tried to... I told him no, told him I don't like it, he knows I don't, don't want him to, and I just need to learn how to stop him. Last time was the first time I stopped him."

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Kusuriyuri's eyes narrow. Perhaps his phrasing was unfortunate. Regardless, the past cannot be changed, but it can be learned from. "That is good." It is praise, high praise from a teacher. "Unfortunately, he will become angrier before he stops seeking you out. You will need to be on your guard." If his scales worked here, he would teach A how to use one.

As if in response to his thoughts, one of the scales comes out and balances oh his finger when he raises his hand automatically to catch it. The bells drop, jingling merrily before balancing still on his finger.

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"He's something worse than angry, I think," A muses. "He... likes it too much, likes me to be afraid. I think the only thing that will stop him is being dead, dead, but I can't, I'm not supposed to kill him." He tilts his chin up, jaw tightening. "But I would."

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

A small smile crosses Kusuriyuri's lips. He kills mononoke. Who is he to say destroying someone who acts like a mononoke is bad? "But, you can be stronger than his anger. If you are not afraid, then there is nothing for him to like." It had taken years for him to learn, but he knew it well now. "To him, to lose that power over you, it would be worse than death." He doesn't need to know who 'he' is to know this is true.

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"There's more than fear for him to like," A whispers, and it's true, there's the strictly physical domination, the pain he can cause, and how could those touches, those filthy filthy touches, be anything but humiliating, even if A did manage not to be afraid?

But he is trying, he is.

"He's been dead, he..."

And so have I.

But he doesn't say that. Not yet.

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Very softly, Kusuriyuri begins talking, the words not seeming to have anything to do with what A is talking about, though they very much are related.

"There are a lot of plants that like a particular type of environment, some even to the point that if they are allowed to grow, they will dominate the area, choking out anything else that tries to grow there. They are called parasites then." He pauses a moment to look over the field. "Every plant like this has a natural predator, something that will keep it in check. If that is absent, like when a plant is taken out of its natural environment, then overgrowth occurs."

Another pause and he choses the next words with more care. "Twisted personalities," mononoke, "need fear to flourish. Fear of their truth, their form, their regret. The predator is the person who knows themselves and has grown to accept themselves as they are."

He looks back at the foxglove. "But, that self-knowledge and acceptance takes time to develop. Very young, and it can be a poison. But, when developed, and it is a strong and powerful medicine."

He turns to A. "Understand?"

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"Parasite," A murmurs. "I think. I think I see. We were supposed to know. It was what we were supposed to be. To know. I tried so hard to be that, to be what I was meant to be. B... I think he thought it was funny, like a game. He didn't care if he was good enough, he just wanted to be better than me. Because he knew he was the just-in-case, the spare."

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Kusuriyuri watches A for another long moment. He knows his student doesn't fully understand yet, but if he understood right away, he wouldn't need to be told. He senses that he has given A enough to think about on that particular subject.

"Is there more you would like to learn today?" he asks, gesturing to the field.

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"Is there anything else here that is useful?" He looks around thoughtfully. "If I know what it looks like and you tell me, I will remember."

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Kursuriyuri glances around. Bright yellow flowers attract his attention. "These are useful," he comments, walking toward them. "Yellow iris. It can be used as an emetic when one is required, though it is irritating when applied to the skin. It is also a plant that can take over when planted outside its natural habitat."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

"A parasite?" A asks softly. "Rashes and vomiting... does it cause anything else?"

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Kusuriyuri thinks a moment. "It can be irritating if inhaled as well. Be careful when preparing it. The root is used. The leaves are very irritating. To use it, you slice the roots fresh. If you dry the roots, they make a good antiseptic." He has A repeat back the instructions to him. He sees another plant with smooth tear shaped leaves and red berries. "This one is useful, as well. It is bearberry."

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

Yellow iris seems like quite a lot of trouble to deal with, A thinks, but it might be worth learning just how it can be administered as an emetic and how fast it works.

Having memorized the appearance of the yellow iris, he turns his attention to the bearberry.

"Is this an emetic as well?"