[D5 LM] Studies in Practical Spiritualism

[Hisomu Susumu]

Susumu is silent, drumming him fingers on the table. "I wasn't always a Hisomu you know. I don't think I had a last name, or if I did, I've long forgotten it by now. My family...my biological family were traders, not that I know much about the profession. They were always on the move you see. One day, a sickness began to spread through the camp. Fevers spiked and would not go down. At least not for living patients. The village they stopped at turned them away, refusing to help because they feared what the sickness would do to them. All they had was a long healer outside town, an outcast. She tried out help us...she really did, but there were so many of us and only one of her. Only so much medicine to go around. My parents chose me to receive their doses." The Spider's fingers stopped moving. "I was the only one left."

The volume of his voice drops. "Recovery took long, even with the medicine and care. The healer, Amara, sent word to help for an old pupil to come back to the lands of the Kakita, a man by the name of Reo. They had been planning to visit, to bring his wife and foster child. They had found a new home together, both outsiders from their own tribes, and were beginning a home together with other people considered broken. And so, they chose to take a broken child back with them. And so Susumu the trader's son died, and Hisomu Susumu was born"

Susumu chuckles darkly. "I hated it at first. I hated that they tried to take the place of my parents. I hated the library that they ran, being stuck in the dusty old tomes. One day, I let it boil over, told Reo what I felt about him and his stupid library. That I didn't want to waste my life stuck as a librarian, that I actually wanted to step outside and do some good. He walked out without a word. With my anger gone, I was terrified. What had I done? Would he turn me out? I got my answer in the morning."

"He was waiting for me. With a pair of swords...these swords" Susumu pats the daisho at his side. "And then he took me around to the village to hear people's stories." Susumu smiles faintly. "The Spider are filled with broken people Rei-san. People abandoned by the people, or by the whims of chance, or even by their own bodies. And they chose to believe that they belonged together regardless. So, you are a bit different...but that's not so bad, is it?"

Susumu tries to meet Rei's gaze

[Ryoshun Rei]

"No, I suppose it is not." she shook her head and smiled. "My brother and sister were born the same way, but they don't hear the ghosts following them as I do. But, I know they understand. Even Agasha understands, having lost her entire village as a child. It is comforting to know there may be others. Thank you."

[Hisomu Susumu]

"If anyone wants to give you any guff about it, let me know and I'll see to their reeducation" Susumu reaches for his cup and pours a refill. "Or perhaps I should let them wallow in their ignorance and let their loss me my gain." He holds up his cup. "Cheers"

[Ryoshun Rei]

She refilled her cup and raised it. "To all the possibilities."