Profile

Personality: The Medicine Seller is a hard man to define. He seems to be plain, though in a very remarkable way. Strange and creepy without ever really doing much to enforce such feelings.

He seems very aloof, first of all. The Medicine Seller distances himself from everyone, taking up the position of a quiet spectator of sorts, almost a judge at points, and seems to have a feeling of superiority despite his (usually) flawless politeness. He is a very quiet sort of character, though does like to gossip, and tends to get along well with women, despite his obvious disinterest in romance. He doesn’t ever seem to show any actual hatred for anyone or anything. In fact, he often seems to feel some underlying sort of pity for the mononoke that he slays, though he shows no mercy in killing them. There are occasions that bring out irritation in him, though actual anger seems to be beyond him. Disgust can be obvious, considering the creatures that he must fight and how they are made, and even concern and worry are within his understanding. However, emotions such as love, real affection, and lasting tenderness is beyond what he is usually capable of expressing. Even his smile is painted on, he himself hardly ever shows a real, kindly smile.

The Medicine Seller has endless patience as well. After all, he does have until the end of time to do his job properly, and he can wait for as long as necessary, and usually defend those who hold the information he needs, until he receives what he wants. His slow and careful manner of speech suggests this: he pauses as he talks quite a bit, and his tone is soft and hypnotic, a relaxing and casual drone.

The Medicine Seller is, in fact, a salesman, and does take that part of his job seriously, despite it being simply a cover up for something greater. He will peddle his wares to those who can trade for them, make suggestions about what to buy, and even be generally sociable, as long as it means a sale.

He is also, however, an exorcist, and is forever travelling the earth in search of mononoke. He is self serving in that aspect, and doesn’t seem to care much about the humans involved. Often times, those who get caught up with the mononoke are the ones that assisted in creating it, though he does show some sympathy towards the few innocents that occur, or unwilling participants in the exorcism. While he is fighting mononoke, and indeed, when he is on the trail of one, is the only time he seems to show excitement, especially when he is close to figuring them out. He enjoys the thrill of the hunt, as one could put it. Too bad annoying, secret holding humans tend to stand in his way.

The Medicine Seller, while normally quite polite, is also perfectly and unashamedly capable of being rude and biting as well, and seems to take a certain amount of enjoying from needling those with large egos, quite happily mocking the people who flaunt their self appointed importance while maintaining his own rather nicely sized ego himself. He also seems to enjoy mild teasing and subtle insults and hints, though such behavior is more often then not quite rare, and centered on those who are either chronically dishonest or blatantly rude towards him.

His Other Self, rumored to be the sword of exorcism that he carries, has only one goal, and that is the destruction of mononoke. He does not appear unless the Truth, Regret, and Form of the mononoke is established, and then vanishes as soon as the mononoke is slain. The Other Self is nearly unstoppable, but is also nearly impossible to summon, as he has no interest in anything other than mononoke, and will only show himself for that.

And… oddly enough, the Medicine Seller seems to enjoy cats.

History of the Character: The Medicine Sellers personal history is a mystery. It is assumed that he was created when humanity first appeared on earth, for it is humanity that creates mononoke, creatures born from Ayakashi and human emotions. When they two combine, they create “something that should not exist”, a nearly unkillable, unstoppable monster that will ravage and destroy the land it was born in, and kill all who oppose it. Seals will not hold it and human weapons cannot cut it.

And so it is assumed that the Medicine Seller was made.

It is probably more likely to assume that the Sword of Exorcism, and the Other Self were created before the Medicine Seller, and the man himself is used as a guardian and a ‘sheath’ of the powerful and strange spirit. Only the Other Self can wield the Sword, and only by discovering what, how and why the mononoke was made can it be drawn.

The Medicine Seller walks the earth and exists only to kill the monsters humanity makes. It is assumed that as soon as his job with humanity is done, he will fade from existence, and considering the nature of humanity, it is only when the last human dies that he will finally be allowed to die himself.

The greatest mononoke that he has ever faced, and probably will ever face, is the Bakeneko. A mononoke born from rage, it is the fusion of a cat and a human spirit that seeks vengeance on the ones that wronged it. As such, with such a powerful force behind it, it is the strongest of all Mononoke.

Magical Powers/Skills: The Medicine Sellers abilities are complicated and many. As he is, he is exceptionally fast, with precise and well honed reflexes. He has the strange ability to appear and vanish. Never while he is within line of sight, often times appearing behind someone, or rounding a corner only to vanish.

The Medicine Seller has a great deal of items on him that are for barter or sale. Whether or not the medicines work is often up to the persons own feelings about them. In short, they’ll work if you believe they will. He’s exceedingly intelligent and enjoys staying silent and watching people, learning everything he has to simply through observation.

Human weapons seem not to be able to harm him, though a mononoke, or an exceptionally magical being or weapon could do damage. All wounds seem to disappear, as if they had never been there, within a few hours, taking the stain of blood and the damage in the cloth with them.

He seems to possess super human strength, as referenced in the Ayakashi Bakeneko arc as he easily held and handed over an extremely heavy pot of salt that made even a practiced and powerful samurai struggle under the weight.

The ofuda can block off and contain beings of magic, spirits and demons alike. As well, on occasion, they appear to have the capability of playing back memories like a movie screen, referenced in the Noppera-bō arc, the images only visible to the viewer and to the Medicine Seller himself. Along this particular line, the Medicine Seller himself seems, at a limited level, to insert himself into memories as the person thinks of them, referenced by the Mononoke Bakeneko arc, to see for himself what truly happened. Humans tend to be rather dishonest after all.

The scales alert him to the location of those beings, and seem to have a mind of their own, sometimes following people, hovering (literally) behind them or before them, and tilting in the direction of a magical or otherworldly creature.

The medicine box holds what seems like an inexhaustible supply of items. Medicines, potions, lotions and perfumes, bandages, salves, manuals… Even gunpowder, paper and flint can be found in there, as well as all his scales, and the sword of exorcism. As for the box itself, it is directly connected to him, and will open or close and lock its drawers at his whim.

As for the Other Self, his abilities almost seem to be endless, but singular. He is the only one capable of wielding the sword, and he can summon forth golden ofudas, which block of a mononokes attack and power with incredible strength. They are almost impossible to break, but just as impossible to call forth unless the sword is unsheathed. The Other Self is almost totally untouchable, but as well, almost never seen, and uninterested in anything other than mononoke. Nothing will force him to show his face otherwise.