thenearshore | 013 | Down To Business

Entry tags:

013 | Down To Business

Who: Everyone!
What: Training
When: Morning June 16
Where: Bishamon's temple
Summary: Training sessions for everyone to learn more about their abilities and jobs!

Many people have been wanting to know more about their abilities and what they are required to do here in the Far Shore. So, in conjunction with Bishamonten, the Heavens have seen fit to offer an open training session for everyone to participate in. Here you will be able to learn anything and everything about what you should be able to do and what is expected of you in your new positions.

Bishamon's temple is sweeping and gorgeous, having previously been home to hundreds of shinki. She has graciously offered to hold this training session and will be available to help anyone who needs it.

Equipment

Various kinds of mannequins and dummies have been provided for practice, as well as targets that are either stationary or move, depending on your will. Punching bags, jumping blocks, and a large pool area have also been provided for your use, so that you can find a tool for pretty much anything that you might need to practice. Plenty of practice weapons of various weights, sizes, and shapes are also available upon request from any of the many white-clad shinki that are also attending today.

God Training

Bishamon herself will be the foremost source of information regarding being a god and what is expected of you. It is also encouraged that gods group up together to practice what they've learned and discuss their ideologies. Random groupings can be provided by the mods or you may come up with your own groupings together.

Shinki Training

Various shinki are available to help with shinki training, including Kazuma and all of Bishamon's shinki. Additionally, the white-clad shinki will be more than happy to train you on using the borderline and some of the basics of what is expected of a shinki. It is also encouraged that shinki group up together to practice what they've learned and discuss their ideologies. Random groupings can be provided by the mods or you may come up with your own groupings together.

Refreshments

There is a refreshments table provided. It is covered with light snacks and various kinds of hydrating drinks. There is a little sitting area set up for people to relax in after they have finished their training or if they're even just taking a quick break to cool down. The Heavens want you to stay in good condition!

In Summary:

Use the state of the art equipment
Learn about your job
Form groups to practice
Don't get dehydrated
Spectate if you want
Have fun~

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's sensible!

[Hakkai steps back a few paces, until there are about twenty feet of courtyard between them -- enough for Davesprite's borderline, and enough to let Hakkai move from slower attacks to full speed -- and lifts a hand casually.]

I'll attack first. On three: one, two, three.

[He darts smoothly forward, one clawed hand raised and ready to slash.]

[It's a good distance, enough that Davesprite doesn't have to resort to flashstep to give himself more speed, and as Hakkai darts towards him, he draws out the borderline with one quick flick of a talon. A definite advantage to having claws - you don't need to get down nearly as far to draw a line into the ground.

The borderline flashes into being between them, a good size and a good strength when impacted, but even after just a few seconds of being up, it's obvious that it's losing its integrity quickly. The edges start to go first, like a ragged piece of cloth, dissipating back into nonexistence.]

[Hakkai turns to hit the borderline with his shoulder, throwing his weight against it. He can feel it start to give: at first it's as sturdy as a real wall, but the edges are softening into mist and then thin air.

Maybe it will help to have a real threat pressing against the borderline, or maybe not; Hakkai turns to press his palm against it, claws curving in as he clenches his fingers against its weakening resistance.

He's a little curious.]

[Something instinctive and fearful in Davesprite reacts to that - the claws, the sharpness, and his pathetic lack of ability to defend against it, and for whatever reason, it makes him feel sick to his very core. Whatever part of it sets it off, whatever exactly it is that's driving the feeling, the edges of the borderline even out and harden once more.

It's clear from the look on Davesprite's face that there's a strain here of more than just the physical kind, but he doesn't know what it is any more than Hakkai would, and it's clearly not stopping him holding the borderline. Quite the contrary, because it's staying up for longer than he can ever remember managing before.

[The borderline has been up for thirty seconds, and there's strain showing more and more painfully on Davesprite's face. Hakkai releases his grip and steps back, folding his hands in the prissy and harmless gesture he's picked as the best way to deemphasize the size and sharpness of his claws.]

Very well done! I'm impressed.

It's difficult for me to hold them that long myself.

[When the barrier comes down, Davesprite's wings droop as if they're suddenly far heavier than they were a moment ago, and a few feathers that had risen and flared out with the strain settle back into place. For a moment, he feels woozy and muddled, but with a shake of the head, he brings a talon up to ease the swimming a bit.]

Doesn't feel like I'm going to be doing repeat marathon runs anytime soon, but it's a fuckload better than I've been doing. I guess opening the conversation with casual threats really does help a guy out.

[Hakkai clears his throat, adopting an expression of mild embarrassment.]

Ah, as for that... it was a genuine offer!

It is easier to focus when there's a real enemy. Taking practice seriously against stuffed targets is more challenging.

[Waving a hand slightly, Davesprite lets the other drop from his face when his head starts to straighten itself out a bit.]

Yeah, I know, wasn't giving you shit for it so much as recognising the legitimacy of that as an actual training method. [On reflection, actually, it doesn't feel all that weird to him.] Even if this opening round is feeling like a good one happened for all the wrong reasons.

The wrong reasons?

[He keeps his tone light and cheerful; there'd been real fear in Davesprite's face for a moment, and while it's probably what helped him maintain the barrier for longer than he'd been able to before, Hakkai prefers to only scare people who are really asking for it.]

[Since they're both shinki, Davesprite isn't entirely sure how kosher discussing this is, but he figures since they've both clearly got powers and skills from their past lives that they recall but don't truly remember, it's relatively safe, and after a moment, he lets the words out with uncharacteristic seriousness.]

It's kind of like when you know you can fight here, and you just end up doing it without really knowing what the fuck it's all coming from. Like that, except a fear instinct instead. It kicked my ass into holding the line.

I see what you mean....

[The wrong reason. The kind of reason that it's dangerous to think about too hard, as a shinki; the kind that might suggest something in Davesprite's past, hidden from him as surely as from Hakkai, that still influences his feelings and reactions.

It's happened to Hakkai on occasion, too.

But he hadn't collapsed, or even let his barrier collapse. He'd maintained it despite his terror.]

... As panic responses go, defending yourself is a good one to start with.

[That, at least, he can't really argue with, and though Davesprite still doesn't look entirely settled, most of his previously flared feathers have straightened themselves out by now.]

I mean, if we were going the armchair psych route, it'd probably say a shitload of things about me and stress and whatever else, but I'm staying on the straight and narrow away from thinking about that shit unless I get the royal treatment of one of my random memories smacking me in the face unbidden.

[He still doesn't really know much about that, except that one of the first people it'd seemed to happen to was one of Hajime's other shinki he never really got the chance to meet for real.]

It is better not to question that sort of thing.

[Hakkai's tone is more serious, with only a faint hint of wryness floating above the flat warning. He can't, however, resist adding:]

Purple wouldn't be your color.

-- And even if memories return from time to time, hoping for something like that can be dangerous, too.

Yeah, I'll stick with neon orange until such a time as I don't have a choice. [Not that Davesprite really wants to think about the possibility that anyone might be stupid or malicious enough to let a shinki in on their memories, but in this place, anything seems possible.

And Hakkai isn't wrong, but Davesprite shrugs slightly rather than expressly agree.]

I know, I get skeeved as everyone the fuck else thinking about remembering anything before here, but when you've seen people go on about it often enough it's hard not to wonder. Whether it's good wondering or inwardly freaking out at the risk of it fucking you up wondering. [Of which Davesprite's tone implies it's the latter.]

[Hakkai doesn't like to think of it himself... but then, he's watched gods threaten the use of shinki memories against them to his face. He's seen gods forcibly name a shinki and then refuse to release him, even when the stress of being made a nora was rapidly corrupting both god and shinki with blight.

He's concluded that the majority of gods aren't to be trusted until proven trustworthy.

As for memories that spontaneously return, though, that's a separate issue. He glances away, expression distant.]

Memories that come back on their own seem to be safe. They don't cause blight, and there's no repulsion when you try to think about them.

Yeah, I kind of figured that if people were getting memories back lucky door prize style it'd make for a pretty shit bonus to have them fuck you up on entry.

[Not to mention basically every time they've come up on the BBS, any instances of panic seem to rapidly subside to reassurances that everything isn't about to go to hell for the person who just remembered something.

It's not really something Davesprite feels he wants to think about too much anyway, so he rubs his feathery hair a bit and pushes it back from his face.]

So, do we want to do second verse same as the first, or some other training thing that isn't going to bring up deep existential issues.

Yes. Unless what you remember makes it too hard to avoid thinking about what you don't.

[Hakkai's smile is still thin; he steps back and lifts one hand, open and palm-up, offering the initiative to Davesprite.]

I'd like to try holding a barrier against your attack, if you don't mind, before we move on?

[How long can he keep a borderline intact? He's done it for half a minute at a time, or so, but never had reason to hold one longer than that. Instead, in combat against ayakashi, he's usually slashed with borderlines until the creature was disabled, and then run if he didn't have his god close enough to Rend it.

It's effective, but if he's ever forced into a defensive posture, the practice would be a good idea.]

Then I guess all you can do is hope like fuck that doesn't happen. [Davesprite himself isn't sure how he'd react to returning memories, but right now he can't really think anything other than that he wouldn't enjoy it.

Since Hakkai's offering him the option to continue or not, Davesprite gives him a long look before drawing the sword sheathed in his stomach.]

Yeah, I'm good to do that first. Never thought I'd get this much mileage out of swinging swords at people in one day.

[Even if he has had to ask a lot of them if they're good enough at borderlines to handle it.]

Really? I would have thought the walking dead gave you much more practice.

[He slashes his hand down, summoning a borderline that flashes up between them. Hakkai's borderlines are pale, limned with a faint shimmer that's almost invisible in bright sunlight, but it still holds strong.]

[Davesprite raises a talon as if to rebut that remark, can't quite find anything to manage it with, and drops it back to the hilt of his sword again.]

Yeah, okay, I'm just gonna attack you now and pretend you didn't just kill my point.

[Coming forward in no more than the space it takes to blink, Davesprite delivers a harsh upwards slash of his sword to the borderline.]

[Hakkai laughs merrily as the sword strikes the borderline, sparks flying from its edge. He can feel the strike, not with the directness that he can sense pressure against his chi barriers, but as an increase in the effort of maintaining the borderline.

His laugh trails away, and his eye narrows as he focuses on maintaining it against the edge of Davesprite's sword.]

[As chill as he still looks in expression, Davesprite's bearing is all combat-ready, and he moves into another diagonal strike against the borderline. If they're going for how long something like that can stand up in an actual battle, he'd better give it as much of a hiding as he can.

And he'll also be watching Hakkai a bit himself, to see if there's anything he can pick up on in terms of technique.]

[Hakkai's eyes narrow; the borderline strains under the force of the blow, but holds. His posture has gone still, his face draining of expression as he focuses on the play of energy against blade. He could keep it intact against that attack, he suspects, for a while. If he had to.]

Will this damage your sword?

I don't know. Guess it's better to find out now than in the middle of a fight.

[There's an uncharacteristic seriousness to his tone there that hints towards the manner in which he's actually taking this training. Normally, he tries to keep a certain casual element to these situations as well, but for some reason he's finding it more and more difficult as he focuses himself further, and he looses another harsh slash at the surface of the borderline.]

Much. [Hakkai's gaze stays even, locked on Davesprite's face as he braces against the next slash. It's hard holding the barrier against attack, he reflects, but it's not exactly an expenditure of energy. It's more the effort of maintaining the correct mindset, to force Davesprite to stay on the other side of the barrier.

It could grow difficult. But fearing your enemy, he supposes, would help.]

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