#Ⓢ : relevant ( susabi )

[nazorneku]

idk if i will expand on this more and write smth more lengthy and explanatory— some time ago i shared with Sophie @entides a headcanon and lbr meta-worthy fact

i talked 'bout the possibility of Senhime (the sovereign of the Seas) knowing the younger version of Susabi, who as we know, lived in fishers' village and divined prophesies to help ppl survive and avoid tsunami— however he was driven to suicide by ppl he was supposed to protect and after resurrection there was nothing left of the cheerful and innocent child, only resentful and scornful towards humanity adult

so when Sen anew meets SSB, he already looks more adult, grown up and changed in more ways than just physically— if before it was SSB who peppered Sen with various inquiries 'bout Sea of Eternity, now they both arent masters of idle chatter and just enjoy the comfortable silence... not to mention now SSB possesses a fear of deep waters and big pools of water... though curious 'bout such drastic change, Sen would occasionally wonder if he is doing good, he will tell her that he is ok obv… just doing his emissary job, but there's no happy/curious glint in his eyes as if he saw a lot and got disappointed, there's no aura of innocence around him as he went through a lot... and what is more horrifying, Sen def would be able to tell

i also have this HC across my muses, that ppl who died once can recognize others who also went through similar experience, 'cause even if they were brought back they never forgot how death felt like

[nazorneku]

they are so cute, your honor 🥺 not me changing discord icon to bnuuy susabi for the rest of the year, do not perceive me

[nazorneku]

Flower View Something by a mountain near the sea caused a stir in the star compass. Susabi arrived and, to his surprise, spring flowers were blooming on the withered branches by the road despite the cold winter season. The colourful petals stretched invitingly before him. And soon, he was mesmerised. "What monster are you, and what evil drink did you use to affect me so quickly?" "Haha, this is Flower View! You're spellbound as well, aren't you, my Lord?" A little spirit appeared from nowhere holding hanafuda cards in his hands. Normally, it would take Susabi just a flick of the hand to dispel the field magic. Susabi tried to conjure his magic, but the star compass remained calm and peaceful, not responding to his power. "Since you're here, you must follow my rules. Your star compass doesn't work here, my Lord." The little spirit giggled triumphantly. The Star Palace above his head looked as though it were in disarray. Whatever he did, it was still shrouded by cloud, and the future shrouded from his sight. Susabi remained calm, although he knew that the stir in the star compass was caused by the divination of the hanafuda cards. Although both humans and spirits could use hanafuda cards to predict the future, none had managed to stir his star compass before. Stars flickered around Susabi and spread out from his fingertips to search for the walls of the Flower View magic circle. Suddenly, a Pine with Crane hanafuda card fell on the ground not far from him. Susabi frowned a little as a fragment of memory flashed in his mind.

Pine with Crane Many, many years ago, there was a small village that suffered from sea wreckages in a similar place by the sea. A boy who was known as an emissary of the gods lived there. His job was to protect the village and provide divination services for the villagers. There was a group of children of similar age to him living in the village. Unlike the other villagers who had all kinds of requests for the emissary of the gods, they often played in packs and carried around with them a deck of worn-out hanafuda cards. They would play with the cards near the emissary of the gods. Their noise often attracted the attention of this emissary, and he would conceal himself and watch them. Those children looked carefree and would play with the hanafuda cards in all kinds of ways. One day, the emissary of the gods picked up a hanafuda card and folded it into a paper swallow. It fluttered its wings and followed the children around. Besides using the cards to play poker, the children would mimic the way the emissary performed his divination with the hanafuda cards. "A white crane is standing on a pine tree. It's a sign of longevity in January. Go on an adventure, Obama, for you'll live for a hundred years and rise to the top!" A child noticed the paper swallow one day. He picked up a willow twig and tried to talk to the bird. "A willow branch to welcome the swallows in spring. It's a good sign for reunion." The paper swallow could only fly, it couldn't make the hanafuda cards move. The villagers started using hanafuda cards for divination after seeing the cards hidden in the sleeves of the emissary of the gods, hoping to gain a similar divine power. But ever since then, the emissary of the gods had not used those hanafuda cards. A hanafuda card fell from above. Susabi reached out his hand. It was a Willow with Swallow, but the willow on the card was nowhere to be found. "This game of hanafuda has been waiting for you, my Lord." The playful noise lingered around Susabi, along with a flutter of wings. "Come."

Moon Over Field None can manipulate the stars at will. Above the monsters and spirits, there're gods, and above the gods, there're the rules of the worlds. But the eerie images before his eyes were not illusions. "I'll give you a hint, my Lord. The next card is Moon Over Sea." The voice sounded insistent and anxious, as if the little spirit wanted Susabi to draw a new hand. Susabi remained silent as he expanded the stars, trying to look for clues in the voice. There seemed to be a spiritual power with great affinity to his out there - it was responding to his search. Although Susabi had anticipated it, when he followed the response and arrived at the seaside, he frowned a little. The waves splashed violently against the reef's shoreline. The stars orbiting around Susabi dropped into the tiny bubbles in the water as if they were drawn to them. Soon, countless rays of starlight burst from the peaceful surface of the blue sea and spread through the waves. "Why not concede while you have the chance, my Lord? You won't be able to draw Moon Under Sea anymore." The voice sounded even more triumphant. In the disarrayed sky above Susabi's head, the disordered star compass shifted again, as if there were a pair of invisible hands willfully changing the already complicated board, and beginning a game where the gods would have no chance of winning. Susabi moved one step forward in silence. The sea water answered Susan's call and, carried by waves, the reflection of the stars tumbled up and covered the shore and mountains like an unstoppable army, aiming for the sky. Down by the shore, where the sea water burst out, there was a deep sky filled with the dots of stars. Susabi took a step down from the shore... And he immediately fell out of the surface of the sea. The sea water was still roiling behind Susabi. It moved fast, like a wind sweeping by him. At that moment, he found that the sea was above his head, and that he was standing on the sky. The truly orderly star compass was moving slowly by his feet. The moon that had fallen into the sea was now hanging in the upside-down sea. Susabi reached out his hand and tried to grab the view; a hanafuda card appeared in his hand. The moon was hanging over the sea in the card. It was a Moon Over Field. A white figure swept past his head, yelling in protest, "I can't believe you cheated, my Lord!"

Willow with Swallow As the star compass dropped into the sea, the field of sky and sea was shattered. And now, the true star compass was finally hanging within the perception and manipulation of the gods. Susabi raised his head and saw a white paper swallow hovering above him. In the village of the distant past, while the emissary of the gods never showed his hanafuda cards again, a paper swallow followed the children around until they grew up and grew tired of playing cards together. The emissary made a long tail and wider wings for the paper swallow. He released the paper swallow and sent it soaring into the sky on a swift wind. The emissary of the gods told the paper swallow that the village no longer had anything of interest to watch, and told it to go somewhere farther away, and higher up. One day, after the paper swallow had left the village, the waves of the sea became violent. The village soon disappeared in the waves, leaving no place for the paper swallow to land. The paper swallow returned to hover above Susabi and lamented, "It turns out that the star compass I had been manipulating was an illusion, cast to the bottom of the sea, from the surface of the sea." "Because I have missed you, my Lord. No matter how far I travelled, I would still want to return to you. But no matter how hard I fluttered my wings, all I could see was the sea..." The paper swallow twittered with joy like a young boy. "In the end, you beat me with your hanafuda cards, my Lord." "So you were unable to find your way..." And that was why the paper swallow had been using the spiritual power infused in him to make mischief. A falling star suddenly swept across Susabi's palm as he converged his scourging power, and a giant beam of light crossed the horizon like a saber. Before the paper swallow could talk, a thousand beams of starlight converged and fell from the sky. The lights blasted into the air and slowly formed into countless lanterns stretching all the way from the sky to the ground, creating a path of light. The paper swallow turned around and looked at Susabi before it stared into the lights before it. With a burst of spiritual power, the paper swallow floated in the air and landed on the hanafuda card in Susabi's hand. Thus the swallow of reunion returned to its willow branch. A richly-feathered and nimble swallow flew out from Susabi's hand. Lanterns aligned over the horizon and created the Big Dipper. "Is this the direction that the star compass is pointing...?" asked the paper swallow. Susabi patted the paper swallow on its wingtip. "Let's go."

[nazorneku]

Late at Night As the night feel, everything became silent. The sleeping Heian-Kyo looked as calm as a pool of water. Somewhere in the city, a boy dressed all in black was still awake and busy searching for something in the towering bookshelves, lantern in hand. "First row, second row, third row..." The boy counted the bookshelves, without noticing the dim light shimmering somewhere in front of him. "It's not here... Huh?" The boy murmured in confusion, when suddenly, a flash of light from the corner dazed him. After he came to his senses, he realized the light was just a hallucination. But then he saw a handsome young man reading books had appeared in the dark. From the candlelight, he could see that the young man was well-dressed, and that he was immersed in the world of his books, unaware of the stranger who had barged into his place. The boy tried to leave quietly, but he was stopped by a light cough. The sound echoed and amplified in the depths of the library like a stone thrown into a clear lake. Although the library in Heian-Kyo opens to the public during the day, a heavily garrisoned field will be created at night and will be patrolled by the Ghost Armory of the Minamoto Clan. And the place where the boy had entered belonged to one of the restricted areas where permission to enter was required. The boy vigilantly checked out all movement around him. "What?" Just as he was trying to leave, someone stopped him. "No... nothing. I was just wondering who you are since it's already this late at night and you're still reading books." The boy regretted the moment he blurted out without thinking. And so, he had no choice but to wait for the man's response. "The place is too noisy during the day. The night is quiet and a better time for reading." Sensing no malice; the man didn't seem to be bothered and didn't even bother to look at him, he calmed down and continued to look at his book. And finally, he found the book he was looking for on a dusty shelf. "The answer you seek is not in this book." The boy was confounded by the man's words as he tried to read the book by the lantern. He stood there for a moment before he suddenly turned around and took off the black robe he used to cover himself. "Who are you exactly?"

Before the Meteor "Susabi." The young man who claimed to be 'Susabi' replied without looking at the boy. "Asking the same question over and over again won't leave a particularly good impression." The boy thought for a moment. He thought the name seemed familiar, but he couldn't recall where he'd heard it. The young man in front of him looked the same age as him. His look and moves reminded him of an elegant nobleman... or one of the gods whom he'd see visiting the great onmyoji Seimei's courtyard not long ago. "I'm not looking for an answer in the book, but a way to find the answer." The boy replied, "I'm Kiyoshi, by the way, and I'm an apprentice onmyoji of the Fujiwara Clan." Susabi didn't answer. Kiyohi suspected that he might not be listening. Still he continued. "I... um... dabbled in astrology. A few days ago, I calculated that there will be a meteor passing over Heian-Kyo in three days. But my knowledge in astrology was not enough for me to tell if it's auspicious or ominous." "Do you know what this place is?" "I do..." Kiyoshi replied, "But I'm not here to steal the books. I just want to borrow this book on the stars. Anyway, do you have the permission to read here at night, master Susabi?" "No, I don't." Kiyoshi was shocked to hear such a honest answer, and didn't know how to respond. But he didn't give it much thought and started reading the book by the light. The library returned to silence, with only the occasional sound of pages being turned.

Under the Moon "Did you find it?" Susabi suddenly broke the peace after an hour. Too immersed in what he was reading, Kiyoshi was startled by the question and almost dropped the book. He shook his head. "It's a rare star... Even the great astrologer didn't record it in the book..." Kiyoshi seemed frustrated. "It only mentioned that about a thousand years ago, a bright star fell from the sky and disappeared..." "Why do you care if this falling star is auspicious or ominous?" Susabi close his book. "What can you do as an apprentice onmyoji even if you have calculated the star?" Hearing this, Koyoshi's eyes dimmed. He pondered for a moment, then slowly closed his book and sighed. He walked to the window and looked at the sparkling stars. "I... I don't know. I just think now that I have the opportunity to become an onmyoji, I should take that opportunity." Kiyoshi thought for a moment and continued, "Thousands and thousands of stars are shining in the boundless sky. As a mortal man... I know how insignificant I am." "It's true that the life of a human is but a grain of sand in the sea to the torrent of time." Susabi walked to the window unnoticed and put two cups of hot tea on the windowsill before he looked into the boundless sky. "Everything works in its own way and exists because of destiny. Everything you have been obsessed with, searched for, sighed about..." Susabi continued, "That particular someone also broke into the field protecting the library at night a few days ago and made up an excuse to investigate the stars just to find the answers to the Onmyoji Spells test created by the three major clans. Was that you?" "You.. I... That wasn't me..." Kiyoshi denied, blushing, before he hesitantly admitted, "I... something got into me... I just want to check my result... I didn't try to..." In the face of Kiyoshi's defense, Susabi remained silent and continued to look at the sky. "But... But I didn't lie about the meteor. I may not be an expert in astrology, I'm not mediocre either. I'm sure the star will cross the sky of Heian-Kyo before dawn."

Break of Dawn Before Kiyoshi finished speaking, a bright star flashed across the night sky. Together they silently watched the star fall. "Most people would make a wish when seeing such a sight. But you didn't." "The life of a man has already been predestined. Mortals like us know the beginning. Still, we spend our whole life looking for an ending." Kiyoshi's word of sorrow seemed to be answering Susabi, and yet, he seemed to be talking to himself. "Then how do you know the end of one's life?" "We will all die eventually. But if we can pry into future.. perhaps, we can clear up some doubts." At that moment, the lights on the desk were extinguished. It was dark in the library. But outside the window, the reflections of the dotted stars in the sky seemed to have dimmed in the clear pool. Birds were chirping in the distant forest, telling of the break of dawn. The spring swallows under the eaves awakened. Susabi drawn water from the pool to illustrate the trajectory of the falling star. Kiyoshi stared at the water with admiration in his eyes. "You're truly extraordinary." "What do you see from the star?" "The star fell from the north and matches the sign of another star. Auspicious, I assume?" Kiyoshi thought for a moment and gave his answer without hesitation. "If this is auspicious, did you find what you're looking for? Have your doubts been cleared up?" Susabi asked. "Naturally, I..." Kiyoshi smiled and returned the book he 'borrowed' to its rightful place. "I maybe an apprentice onmyoji, but I have been learning astrology since childhood though various methods. And because of that, I had a thought of risking my life to alter my destiny with external force... I know it's a mistake, but I'm willing to keep practicing for a better mastery of my skill to protect this land. I never meant to use it for my own gain." Kiyoshi seemed to be defending himself with righteous words. He looked to the stars and continued. "I will never make the same mistake again." The spring swallows circling outside the window seemed to be drawn by the trajectory and started to dance around it, forming a star chart with them being the dotted stars in the sky. I beg for your benevolence, Master Susabi..." As the first ray of morning light broke the dawn, Kiyoshi took a sip of the tea that had gone cold. He tried to beg again when he realized that the man next to him had gone. He turned around and saw a piece of paper on the desk. Something was placed on the paper to prevent the spring breeze to blow it away. He walked up and saw a line of elegant handwriting. "Destiny disposes, man proposes."

[nazorneku]

Biography 1 There once was a village by the sea where the villagers suffered from tsunami. Despite this fact, the villagers were reluctant to leave, as lived off the sea. They prayed to god to bring them peace. In return, god granted them a boy with a unique ability. He could foresee the future. From when a butterfly would fly through the window, to when a tsunami would strike the village. He used his ability to guide the villagers to avoid total destruction. Hence, the villagers treated him with great respect. And everyone lived a peaceful life.

Biography 2 No one blamed the boy the first time he was wrong. They all just smiled and walked away. But after more and more inaccurate predictions, the villagers started to blame and even beat the boy. Bruises and wounds started to appear on the boy. In fear of punishment, the boy was forced to keep predicting the future, but with more and more inaccuracies. One day, someone proposed a suggestion, that the villagers should abandon the boy since he had lost his ability, and offer him to the god of sea hoping to appease the disaster. The villagers all turned down the proposition the first time they heard it. But fewer and fewer villagers opposed the suggestion when it was brought up again and again. In the end, no one was willing to oppose the suggestion, and everyone agreed.

Biography 3 The boy, with bruises and wounds all over his body, sobbing, walked into the endless night, into the cold sea in front of all the villagers. The moment he was consumed by the sea, a towering wave emerged, devouring the whole village and every villager. Foolish humans, don’t you know the heavy price for blaspheming a gift from god? It would be better if god were not so kind to humans, to just control them by force. Oh, that poor innocent boy. A little hypocritical kindness has made him grow feelings toward the humans. His feelings have impaired his decisions and cost him greatly. The innocent boy was gone forever that night. Yes… The water is chilling to the bones… I have no desire to feel it again.

Biography 4 For humans, emotions may be beautiful and filled with power. But I have shown them through my personal experience that gods cannot let emotions cloud their judgments. Otherwise, tragedy is inevitable. However, neither "she" nor "he" listened. After I left the human world, I began observing them. Not because I had any schemes in mind, nor because I took joy in observing them, I merely think that it is the responsibility of the gods to do so. The village by the sea that sacrificed the child had already been devoured by the tsunami. The people who rebuilt their homes on this land are totally different.