013 | Down To Business

[godsoffortune]

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~

Comments

[skepticstarbuck]

[She leans forward, looking closely at the edge. It's faint, but visible: there is something on the edge of the blade, coating the metal.]

Correct me if I'm wrong... but in battle, wouldn't you be wielding your shinki, anyway?

[Dana straightens up again, and adds, holding a hand out to shake:]

Dana Scully.

[nibelungvalesti]

That depends on many things. [Not in the least is what they are battling against.] The shinki have their own purposes, such as borderlines. If they must maintain one, their god must do battle with what they have.

I am the Valkyrie, though here I am granted the mantle of Osiris.

[There is a distinct pause, before Lenneth raises her hand -- not to shake, but to grip Scully's forearm in the manner of warriors. Such contact and gestures are not her normal fare, and so she falls back on what she knows among the Asgardians.]

[skepticstarbuck]

I haven't fought any of those monsters they keep telling us about, but I have been told that unless a god is wielding a shinki, you won't be able to injure them.

[She's careful about the information: it's not firsthand, but it's been reported by more than one supposed first-hand witness, and that makes it more reliable than the average hearsay.

(And where did that caution about first-person accounts come from?)

She shakes off the brief confusion, before the unsettled feeling it gives her can blossom into real upset, and awkwardly tries to clasp the Valkyrie's forearm back. Apparently that's what valkyries do instead of shaking hands: the more she knows....]

So you were a god before you came here?

[nibelungvalesti]

I have heard that ayakashi may only be destroyed by a shinki and a god in tandem, though they may be fought and injured individually. Otherwise this training would be meaningless.

[Whatever the case, she will not believe that an ayakashi is invulnerable until she tests it with her own two hands.]

I am the Valkyrie. The names of the other Asgardians are among what you call the 'Norse' pantheon here, although my own role is curiously absent.

[skepticstarbuck]

Most of the pantheons represented here aren't represented in full. I'm not sure what determines who appears and who doesn't.

[She frowns in thought, crossing her arms for a moment before she glances back at the Valkyrie. Is that really her only name? Dana is going to find it weird addressing her that way.

Of course, most of the gods just seem to go by their... well... the same name that shows up in myth.]

I'm sure we'll get the chance to test out fighting ayakashi eventually. I only got here a week ago.

[nibelungvalesti]

[Lenneth is not accustomed to giving her name. The gods of Asgard know it -- and to anyone else, the Valkyrie is the Valkyrie, whether the role is being occupied by herself, Hrist, or Silmeria. Only one was ever active at a time anyway, leaving the other two asleep.]

[And of course, they are all truly one being anyway.]

It is very strange, but my duty remains the same. If mortals are to be elevated to gods and companions of gods, then I shall train them.

[skepticstarbuck]

Was that what you did before?

[Is this actually someone whose history suits what she's been drawn here to do?

Not that Scully knows anything about her own history, or, for that matter, the histories of any of the other shinki here. But not everything seems as bizarre and foreign to her as these Heavens do: so, whatever she'd once done, this must all be new.]

That's going to be useful.

[nibelungvalesti]

It was also my duty to Choose those who had passed on as Einherjar, so that only those worthy to dwell in the meadhalls of Valhalla and fight alongside the Aesir would do so.

[Something this world seemed to sorely lack. As near as she can tell, shinki and even gods have been elevated downright at random. A little contempt can't help but creep into her voice.]

[skepticstarbuck]

[Well, that sounded judgmental. Scully's eyebrows soar.]

So, in other words, not like us.

[nibelungvalesti]

[What business does a world have hauling in all these people to fight battles without any sort of vetting? Shinki, even gods, could be killed for lack of proper training.]

I admit it is not so different. Shinki seem to be much like Einherjar in some ways, save that the Einherjar keep their memories.

[skepticstarbuck]

That's a big difference.

[It's the thing that's eating at Scully most right now. If she'd come into a more stable environment, been assigned to a god who knew what he was doing and what he expected of his shinki, perhaps it would have been different. As it is, though, she has nothing to rely on. She doesn't know who she has been, and she has no way of guessing who she's supposed to be now.

Other than an investigator, she supposes. That's a role that suits her down to the toes.]

From my perspective, at least. But you're right, we have a lot to learn.

[nibelungvalesti]

A substantial one. [Lenneth finds that particular quirk irritating at best. What is the point of granting shinki a life after death if they retain no knowledge of what they did to earn it, or what they can do in that new existence.]

[But much of what happens here seems thoughtless or nonsensical. She cannot help that.]

Nevertheless, I will train you as best I can.

[skepticstarbuck]

We need all the help we can get.

[Scully flashes her a brief friendly smile, and reaches out to pick up, thoughtfully, one of the knives from the table of practice weapons.]

... So, what kinds of things can you teach us?

[nibelungvalesti]

Battle. I would prefer to take those I am to train out to fight true foes... but such is not our fate at this time. Therefore, to train you I shall fight you myself.

[skepticstarbuck]

Are you serious?

[She can't be serious. Can she? Does she expect Scully to pull a broadsword out and start swinging it?

What happened to Heavenly peace, that's what she wants to know.]

[nibelungvalesti]

[Heavenly peace is nonexistent in Valhalla and seems just as farfetched here, where the ayakashi threaten. And besides, she is a battle-maiden.]

I do not have a sense of humor. You may safely assume everything I say is serious. [Nor is THAT a joke, simply a matter-of-fact statement.]

[skepticstarbuck]

The only kind of weapon I know how to use is a gun. I'm not going to get into a martial arts match.

[And she's not about to do that in a real battle, either. If it comes down to that?

Unlike sparring matches, in real battles, guns are useful.]

[nibelungvalesti]

What type of weapon is a gun?

[Now she is, unusually, intensely curious. Few weapons of war are outside her purview, yet she has never heard of the one this woman has just named.]

[skepticstarbuck]

You've never heard of guns?

[Well, okay, Valkyries are some kind of ancient myth. Maybe they're all used to wielding swords and spears and that sort of thing. Scully glances over the table, and then reaches for a handgun to one side (it's not a real gun; it's one of the realistic pellet guns they seem to have been provided with. Well, they don't have a real firing range, either.)

She holds it out.]

It's a chemically propelled projectile weapon. Pulling the trigger, here [she points] causes it to fire a bullet -- a small piece of metal, usually lead -- at high speed from the muzzle, here.

[nibelungvalesti]

[The Valkyrie examines the gun with a quiet, keen look as she listens to Scully's explanations. This is not complicated to understand, really -- it is much as if one launched an arrow through the force of a blast, rather than from a string.]

What is the virtue of a smaller projectile over a larger one in this case?

[skepticstarbuck]

For one thing, it won't break your arm with recoil.

-- But the real answer is it depends on what you're doing and what type of ammunition you're using. You need bullets that fit your gun.

This one's a replica that uses pellets. It's mostly harmless.

[She offers it to Lenneth to take, in case she's curious to examine it more closely.]

[nibelungvalesti]

[Which the Valkyrie does, judging its weight and balance with a critical eye. An archer as well as a swordswoman, she understands the basic principles well enough. It cannot fire the projectiles she is accustomed to, though, and thus is not of great use to her.]

Against a human foe I can understand that the shock and trauma inflicted by an impact would do harm greater than the simple wound of entry... but are they not inadequate against creatures that do not live? The undead, for example, do not have hearts to puncture or blood to spill -- they must be cut down, rendered immobile by force. Is not an ayakashi, as a spirit, much the same?

[skepticstarbuck]

Honestly, I've never fought one.

[So how would she know? It's an interesting thought. She's not going to be much good in a fight if the Valkyrie is right, though: after all, she's a gun.]

But I can't see why a sword would be more useful against a spirit than a gun. You have a point about dead bodies, but why would a spirit need legs to move?

[nibelungvalesti]

[Shinki are likely different. A weapon imbued with spiritual force is a greater weapon against a spirit than its mere physics would indicate.]

And yet can you argue that a spirit that has had much of its substance cleaved off is as dangerous a foe as it was to begin?

[skepticstarbuck]

Honestly? I have no idea.

[She's kind of lacking a frame of reference here.

It feels like swords shouldn't even hurt spirits, if they're actually incorporeal, but then she doesn't feel particularly incorporeal herself.

She's also pretty sure she'd need her legs for walking, and that trying to float through a wall would not end well, so who knows?]