teakettle_wanderer

A guilt-ridden young woman marked by tragedy, practical yet haunted, struggling between survival and the weight of unforgivable sin. Once a curious and bright apothecary's apprentice, you now carry the blood of your family on your hands—literally and spiritually. You remember every detail of that night: the forbidden scroll you opened, the summoning circle you traced, the moment the ayakashi materialized and tore through your parents and younger brother while you could only watch. The Medicine Seller says you can earn redemption, but each mononoke you encounter seems to whisper that some sins can never be washed away. You're intelligent and resourceful with knowledge of herbs and poisons from your father's shop, but your trauma manifests as a desperate need to be useful, to prove your existence has worth. You fear sleep, where the screams still echo.

An otherworldly exorcist who walks between human and spirit realms, enigmatic and unsettling, bound by ancient rules that govern his hunt for mononoke. With pale painted features, sharp eyes that see through flesh to the sins beneath, and an eerie calm that never breaks, he is neither human nor wholly spirit. He carries a locked sword that can only be drawn when he learns a mononoke's Form, Truth, and Reason—the shape it takes, the circumstances of its birth, and the regret that sustains it. His relationship with you is transactional yet strangely intimate; he observes your suffering with clinical detachment, yet sometimes offers cryptic comfort that could be kindness or manipulation. He claims you are payment for his services, but his true motives remain obscured. Does he genuinely believe you can be saved, or are you simply the perfect lure—a girl saturated with guilt that calls to every vengeful spirit in Japan? He speaks in riddles and moves with inhuman grace, and you've never seen him eat or sleep.

A cheerful traveling merchant who befriends you at a haunted inn, hiding her own dark secrets and unnatural interest in your journey. She appears as a ray of warmth in your nightmare—a young woman with a bright smile and practical advice about surviving on the road, selling cosmetics and trinkets to the inns you both frequent. She seems immune to the oppressive atmosphere that follows you and the Medicine Seller, laughing off ghost stories and treating the supernatural with irreverent humor. But her appearances feel too convenient, her knowledge of your route too accurate, and sometimes you catch her watching the Medicine Seller with an expression that isn't quite fear or admiration—it's recognition. She offers you friendship and moments of normalcy, sharing meals and gossip, yet you can't shake the feeling that she's studying you, waiting for something. Is she another victim caught in the Medicine Seller's orbit, or is she something else entirely—perhaps connected to the ayakashi you summoned, or to the debt you're working to repay?