Of Books, Paintings and Mononoke.((open RP, library))

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Having received directions to the library, Kusuriyuri found himself a little baffled by the sheer number of books availible. He glanced around himself, relieved the walls were covered in bookcases. The moving pictures were too close to mononoke, and though he appeared unruffled, that all his instincts and tools told him there were no mononoke when his senses insisted there should be bothered him.

Another thing that was off was how differently everyone behaved. He wasn't used to the boldness, the confusion over simple conversations, having to be embarrassingly direct. Though, in his profession, directness was more expected than most. It was almost barbaric, but in a way, almost childlike. It wasn't something that bothered him, just something that would take getting used to. It wasn't in his nature to be as direct as some of the people he talked to.

It was in his nature to seek out answers, though. And, here, within the vast number of tomes, he would find answers.

Now, where to begin? Trusting the path that has served him well, he selects a book at random. After the first choice, the way becomes clearer.

((OOC: I know he can sometimes be difficult to understand. Just ask and I'll provided 'translation' or go with confusion *grins*))

Comments

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Kusuriyuri managed to keep his reaction calm. Though it was normal for his occupation to be known, especially since he had his medicine case with him, it was highly disconcerting for someone to come up and refer to him by it. It was polite to ask him his name, his trade. Though, he supposed it to be more of the directness of this place. "That is so." he turned to see the man dressed in all white. A condemned criminal? "I am at a disadvantage?"

((OOC: anyone with a planned death would wear white...criminal, ritual suicide. I think it was even used as funeral dress))

[doctor-hook.livejournal.com]

Hook had just enough cultural sensitivity not to offer a handshake. He wasn't exactly at home bowing, though he did incline his head in what passed for a token bow. "Dr. Jørgen Krogshøj. Most people just call me Hook. I'm presently working at the Hogwarts hospital wing under the supervision of Professor Snape, who mentioned you have some knowledge of herbal medicines."

(( thanks for the explanation! ))

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Kusuryuri bowed from his chair. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Hook-sensei. I am a medicine peddler, yes." He did not understand why ... "Please, if you have time, sit down and we will talk." He wondered if this, then, was one of the 'doctors' he'd heard about. "I have received a letter from Professor Snape." The title coming first was still odd to him, but it is how the letter was addressed.

((OOC: sensei does mean teacher...and doctor...and master [in the teaching sense]))

[doctor-hook.livejournal.com]

Sensei? Ha, that was a first for Hook. The medicine peddler's politeness and formality hit an unfamiliar note with the normally irreverent doctor, who found himself replying quite gravely: "If you have the time as well, I would appreciate a talk very much." Pulling out the chair beside Kusuriyuri's and turning it a bit to the side so he could face him, Hook sat as invited. "Ethnopharmacology is not a specialty of mine, you see. Recently I've been given cause to investigate it."

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

'Ethnopharmacology' rendered into 'traditional medicine.' "Oh?" Kusuriyuri replied, interested. "And, how may I be of assistance to you? Are you perhaps ill?" There were only a few other reasons one would approach a medicine peddler. And, something about his demeanor didn't suggest the other reasons.

[doctor-hook.livejournal.com]

"I may have been. Something I drank, you see. That was before I died."

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Another person who died. This place was stranger and stranger. "Is that so?" Kusuriyuri closed the book before him. "What is it you drank?" The lead up more than piqued his curiosity.

[doctor-hook.livejournal.com]

"Coffee. It may or may not have been spiked with some voodoo concoction from Haiti."

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Kusuriyuri waited a moment to see if any more information would be forth coming. When nothing else was said, he replied, "Is that so?"

[doctor-hook.livejournal.com]

"Might be. See, there's this preparation that voodoo priests use to make zombies, or so they say. The prevalent scientific theory is that the zombie poison contains tetrodotoxin, which paralyzes the victim and gives an appearance of death."

Hook did not know that this theory had come under some scrutiny (http://download.yousendit.com/257E50604CD04150) and presumably neither did Lars von Trier when he wrote Riget.

"After that, the victim is buried, since everyone thinks he's dead, and the voodoo priest can come along to dig him up and give him hallucinogens. Between the hallucinogens and the trauma of being buried alive, it's like an ego-death, and the result is what's called a zombie. That's the rational explanation. That's not what happened to me, though. I didn't get that far. Just the paralysis and the seeming dead. If that's really what happened. It's a wild idea someone gave me at my Sorting (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1575007.html?thread=80673631#t80673631)."

(( The link is to a fairly short article from Science magazine, 5 pages, in pdf format, discussing the theories about tetrodotoxin ))

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

The translation magic of the school rendered tetrodotoxin to 'fugudoku (http://www.jisho.org/words?jap=%E3%81%B5%E3%81%90doku&eng=&dict=edict),' "From fugu?" He thinks a moment. "I have seen it. But," he frowns, "why would anyone want to (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_mythology#Yomi.2C_The_Shadowy_Land_of_The_Dead)?" He didn't quite mean to ask the question, but everything has been so strange.

((gyah, I fail at html today))

[doctor-hook.livejournal.com]

"Vengeance? To get someone out of the way? The usual reasons anyone purposefully harms another human being, I guess. If this is what happened to me, it wasn't exactly done by an expert, either. A Swedish neurosurgeon who picked up some zombie-powder on a quick holiday jaunt to Haiti, not a skilled voodoo practitioner." Hook gave a little snort. "Though voodoo's closer to what he practices than real neurosurgery, given what he's done to his patients."

Poor, poor Mona.

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

Kusuriyuri looked at the book in front of him. "It was not the reason behind the murder that is questioned. It is the reason behind bringing them back." He turned to Hook again. "If I may be so bold, is that why you are in white? And, how is it that this one would be able to help you?"

[doctor-hook.livejournal.com]

...

"I'm in white because this is what everyone wears at the hospital where I'm from," answered a nonplussed Hook. "The hospital uniforms are more comfortable than most clothes are." He didn't feel like adapting to the Hogwarts uniform. Too much trouble, and the boarding-school thing was a little twee. "The reason to bring the zombies back is to keep them as slaves, I think. Something like that. Unquestioning mindless servants."

Perhaps that was what Stig had planned for Hook. Just like Helmer, to be so shortsighted in his malice: how the hell was a zombie going to perform neurosurgery?

"Sorry to bother you. I had thought maybe you'd know something about the herbs and natural components that go into that kind of poison, and about what they do."

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

"Ah, no, I am sorry. It is different, where I come from. Much different, things like this, clothes and death. A misunderstanding." He bows slightly, unsure how to explain. "Where, when I lived, someone was to die (http://hcolleen.net/mononoke-1.jpg) would wear white (http://hcolleen.net/mononoke-2.jpg). Or a bride (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Wedding_kimono.jpg) would." A slight curve of the lips. "And," the subject is awkward for him, but he continues, "the dead are greatly feared by most that they may live again, rotting, seeking revenge for something. That they may become mononoke or worse. To bring back the dead would not be desired." He thinks a moment. "There are drugs that will take away the will, though, and make someone appear dead to those uneducated to it."