thenearshore | May Training

Entry tags:

May Training

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: July 15
Where: Bishamon's temple, the Far Shore
Summary: Training and informational sessions for newly arrived gods (although there's none this time) and shinki

The product of many meetings and recommendations, at last it has taken shape. On this day, in anticipation of the new arrivals who appear in a recognized pattern, Heaven has partnered with the new gods and shinki to organize a very helpful informational reception.

The shinki arriving at heaven's meeting hall are, should they allow it, guided kindly towards Bishamon's temple. And in that vast complex they are brought to a traditional-style dojo.
Here the newly arrived gods are gathered, so finding their partner is more simple. The gods and shinki are free to take their time during this day to learn about the aspects of their new life from Amaterasu's shinki, or from the many veteran new god and shinki volunteers.

God Training

prayers

Shinki Training

informational pamphlets

borderline

Physical Training

Rest and Refreshments

In Summary:

Get all the information you can handle
Veteran new gods and shinki are welcome to volunteer showing the ropes
Get in some training
Don't get dehydrated
Spectate if you want
Have fun~

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[Ayumu takes her time in the garden, partly out of thoroughness and also because it's just so calming. It's been a long day for her since arrival and this garden feels much more private and secluded than the one at Bishamon's. It's her favorite feature of the place so far though there's still other places she hasn't looked at yet. The entire second floor, for instance.

However, she's been a while and should probably check on her god before heading upstairs, she thinks. With some reluctance she comes back inside, taking another look at each room before she finds the medicine room for herself.

Her eye instantly strays toward the bookshelves with open curiosity for a brief moment before settling on Hakkai working on something. Her footsteps are naturally quiet as she approaches, a habit far too deeply ingrained in her from life for death to rob her of it.]

What are you making? A poultice?

[Her footsteps are almost silent behind him: not perfectly silent, not to ears that despite their limiters are still a youkai's, but almost. A human would have startled.

Luckily -- because he'd have slopped half-finished salve everywhere if he had flinched -- Hakkai isn't human anymore. With his attention still on the herb and oil mixture he's blending together, he nods.]

Yes -- these are books of medicine, so I thought I'd try one of the recipes, and see how effective it was. It's a salve for healing bruises.

[And while he doesn't have any bruises at the moment, it's easy to smack his hand against the table and give himself one for experimental purposes. Also, if the salve turns out to be less effective than he'd hoped, a bruise isn't the sort of injury that will bother him much while it heals on its own.

If it turns out to be as effective as a recipe left by a god of medicines and healing ought to be, he can start working on a cabinet full of the more serious remedies.]

Oh, really? Sounds useful.

[Maybe Ayumu should take a look through some of those books, too. A salve to heal bruises sounds wonderful, indeed. Absently, Ayumu's gaze wanders to his reference text, scanning the handwriting out of curiosity. She doesn't recognize all of the characters but most of them, enough to get the gist of the recipe and what it's supposed to do.]

Oh, I think I saw some of this growing in the garden.

[That gets him to look up from his mortar; he reaches for one of the small jars and adds a small pinch of the dried yellow flowers. That's the last ingredient; a quick few extra strokes of the pestle, and he picks up the spatula instead.]

Can you hand me that empty jar? -- and you read Chinese?

[It's his native language, but he hadn't expected her to be so comfortable with it.]

[Ayumu grabs the jar and passes it over.]

Apparently so. At least, enough to understand most of what it said. A few characters gave me a little trouble.

[So maybe it's not her first language? Or she's not that good of a reader? She seems to have picked up other things easily enough once she got the basic concept down though.]

Well, the handwriting is terrible.

[He takes the jar from her and begins scraping the salve into it from the mortar. It doesn't take long, and he cleans the spatula off against the edge, sets it down, and holds his arm out towards her.]

Would you mind hitting me? The forearm will do. Just hard enough to bruise.

[Ayumu looks up, startled and mildly alarmed.]

Are you sure, Hakkai-sama?

[Isn't that the opposite of what a shinki is supposed to do? But if it's an order from her god, it'd be wrong to refuse. Still, she'll give him one last chance to reconsider before striking his forearm.]

Of course. I'd rather not try this on someone else until I'm certain it works properly.

[Therefore he needs a bruise! And if it turns out not to work, or not to work as well as advertised, he can easily ignore a minor bruise on his arm until it heals on its own. He leaves his arm outstretched, smiling mildly.]

[Ayumu nods. It makes sense he'd want to test it first though she's tempted to offer her own arm instead. Maybe another time if he needs a test subject.

She studies his arm a moment, considers how much force would surely leave a bruise, and then delivers a sudden hard strike. A little harder than what's likely necessary but it's sure to leave a nice, bruise to test the salve's strength on.]

How's that? Do you need me to hit you again, Hakkai-sama?

[The strike is swift and forceful, as he'd have expected of someone with the martial arts skills he'd seen from her. He keeps his arm outstretched, neither flinching nor wincing as the blow lands, and only moving a little with the force of the blow -- since, after all, failing to move away means more force going towards bruising it.

It feels as though it's going to bruise. He sets down the salve jar and unbuttons his cuff, rolling it up to consider the skin. Clearly reddened, already starting to swell; he casts a judgmental eye over it and offers her a little nod.]

No, I think this will do nicely.

[He leans back against the counter waiting, and adds, curiously, as he waits for the bruise to develop:]

I haven't had the chance to look at the garden yet. You said there were herbs growing out there?

[Well, that's that.]

Yes, I did. There's quite a large variety of them. Most of the ones I recognized would be good for cooking, I think, but I saw some healing herbs as well. There may be more of the latter than I could tell.

[Maybe she should add medicine to her list of subjects to study. It certainly feels like something she might feel drawn to but it's definitely something she only has rudimentary knowledge of at best.]

You should take a look while you're waiting. The garden's really nice.

[She still wants to take a look at the upper floor but these medical texts are just too enticing. Surely, a little peeking around at them couldn't hurt...]

That's not a bad idea.

[She looks fascinated by the texts. He clears his throat.]

And if you'd like to look through these, they're quite interesting themselves, too.

[He raises his eyebrows, and adds:] Let me know if there's anything that's difficult for you to read. It's my native language.

Oh? I'll keep that in mind.

[She smiles at him and grabs a book off the shelf, not needing to be given permission twice. If there's passages she doesn't understand, Ayumu will be sure to take him up on his offer. But as it stands, these might be a good test of her own language abilities. Maybe she should look for other books as well, just to get a handle on her capabilites. Briefly, her conversation with Munakata comes to mind.]ir

But I want to see what else I can read first.

[In this sense, not having any memories is a little exciting. There's a lot to discover about herself, too.]

Of course.

[Perhaps they can bond after all. Intellectual curiosity is a plus. Hakkai smiles, inclines his head to her, and heads out to investigate the garden.

He only recognizes about half of the plants, but, after ten or fifteen minutes of browsing, he's concluded that the ones that aren't culinary are medicinal or unfamiliar. There are even some plants he's only seen in old herbaries, never in person, and a few delicate sprays of ginseng growing on a slope under a quince.

He reaches out to try plucking one of the ripe fruit and is surprised by a twinge from his arm. He glances down at it to find that he's been outside long enough that the bruise is well on the way to dark purple.

Back inside it is, to where the salve is still waiting on the workbench, and to see if Ayumu's still reading.]

You were right. The garden is impressive.

[It just so happens that she is, having gotten absorbed in the text she'd been reading. Once again, there's been words that she hadn't quite been able to grasp but it turns out that she's able to read Chinese consistently well. Maybe she can write it, too? She'll have to try sometime.

When Hakkai returns, she looks up with a warm smile. Apparently, Ayumu's discovered she enjoys reading.]

Isn't it lovely? It's so peaceful there and there's so many useful plants there.

[A slight pause.]

Ready to try out that salve now?

[She's curious to know the outcome, too.]

Oh, indeed! There's a cough syrup you can make from honey and quince... and I am ready, yes.

[His sleeve is still rolled up; he leans his arm on the counter and reaches for the salve with his free hand, swiping a generous two fingers' full of the mixture and smoothing it over the darkening mark on his forearm.

The pain fades almost on contact, and his eyebrows flick upwards, intrigued, as he rubs the rest of the salve in over the bruise.]

It certainly reduces pain.

[And, he thinks, swelling. Perhaps? It's hard to tell. It's also hard to tell if the bruise itself is fading, or if it's just partially obscured by the thick greenish mixture. He eyes his arm with critical interest.]

[Ayumu's studying his arm as well. Pain relief is certainly nothing to scoff at.]

That's wonderful. That alone is a very useful trait. It looks like the swelling's going down, too. After a bit longer, maybe you could wipe it off and see how the bruise looks?

[If the salve takes action that quickly, the bruise should be completely gone before long.]

It does, doesn't it?

[Thoughtfully, he scrapes a small area of skin clear. The bruise under it is already faded back from darkening purple to red. His eyebrows go up.]

As expected for a god's recipe. I may have to keep several of these on hand.

Sounds like a good idea to keep it in stock. It's likely we'll both wind up with bruises in the line of duty soon.

[She might know much about anything right now but she knows fighting and duty, at least. Having a potentially hazardous job doesn't bother her; it's a concept she's strangely very comfortable with.]

And of course, others might need tending as well.

[She looks over to the book a moment, looking thoughtful.]

There could be potential here. Mastering what's in these books could be a worthwhile endeavor. This line of work is a good cover for establishing contacts and gathering information without drawing too much attention. Reliable resources of effective medicine are always in demand.

Edited 2017-06-12 04:54 (UTC)

Oh, of course. [His gaze flicks up to her, amused.] For that matter, with so many teenagers and even a few younger children here... I've founded a school where I do some teaching.

[Speaking of lines of work that are a good cover for establishing contacts and gathering information!]

But you're right, being able to provide effective medicines is quite useful, too.

[Ayumu nods in approval. Younger people feel like an overlooked source of information to her somehow so it's good to see Hakkai is aware of the value they have as contacts. Even so, it's better to cast a wider net with many varied sources in her mind. She continues to look thoughtful as she mulls over ways to expand that operation somehow. After a moment, she speaks.]

Setting up an infirmary at your school as well may also be a goal worth pursuing. To attract potential contacts with different needs than education.

[Ayumu gazes once more at the medical text she'd been reading. While much had felt beyond her skill level, none of it had been completely alien to her.]

I don't think I'm a doctor but I seem to have some basic knowledge of medical treatment. That may be something I can assist with administering to minimize interference with your teaching.

I suppose. [His eyebrows flick up thoughtfully as he glances at her.]

I don't have enough time to organize something like that, but if you'd like to, Ayumu, there's certainly room at the school. I could help you clear out one of the spare rooms for it.

[She seems to be pleased by the idea of having a clear goal, and medicine is a rewarding pursuit. She's right, too, that it'll build more and more widespread goodwill than merely setting himself up as a teacher.]

That would be helpful. It'll take me a little time to figure out exactly what it is that I'll need but I'd be glad to manage it for you.

[It'll be a convenient excuse for her to remain close by in case of trouble as well. That she's his shinki will be public knowledge but it'd be best to keep a low profile, preferably a less threatening one. There's much to learn about herself still but given how she's responded to things today, it's safe to assume that she's more dangerous than she seems and that's an advantage worth maintaining as long as possible.]

The long-term rewards will be worth it.

I'll make up a set of these medicines for common ailments, and please let me know if you come up with something else you need, as well.

[He inclines his head, offering a tiny smile, and adds:]

Of course... please don't feel obligated to spend all of your time on my hobbies.

[Like information gathering, influence peddling and rebellion, for example.]

I'd like you to discover what you enjoy doing as well.

[That takes her a little by surprise. Hobbies? It's a concept that's mostly lost on her. There's work she enjoys and chores she doesn't. It's the closest she's ever come to understanding 'play'. Her confusion's clear through their bond.]

Of course. I'll try to do those things as well.

[Not that she really knows where to start there either. Being a person is hard; it's much easier to live as tool or weapon. From what she understands of shinki, that's the professional role she's meant to perform.]

(no subject)

reformedsinner - 2017-06-25 16:59 (UTC) - Expand

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