thenearshore | July Training

Entry tags:

July Training

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: August 5
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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The Far Shore is not Asgard. The meadhalls of Valhalla do not await here, or anywhere in this world. So I wait and train them as I ought to, until I find the opportunity to send them to their proper fate -- to become gods.

[Does that answer adequately? She is unused to explaining the principles of her duty, though she finds herself needing to do so more and more often these days.]

["Asgard"? ...That's not too important, she's got the gist of it.] I see...

[She might have jumped into this too hastily; when she'd heard that someone else was trying to fulfill their own task while stuck here, she'd wanted to see if there was any common ground. Lenneth's situation sounds like it's a bit different... But now that she's here, she should slow down and take it easy.] I'm Rekka.

I am the Valkyrie, here also known as Osiris.

[She has a name, of course, but it is reserved for her fellow gods. Her fellow Aesir, rather, though she will reluctantly share it with gods here if pressed. But the name is irrelevant. She is her duty.]

You have arrived but recently, then?

Not too long ago. [Which is why the beings that aren't shinki caught her eye, but it doesn't seem like a problem, from the looks of it. Especially since people have non-god-related abilities here.]

What do you train? [Because she has an ink-manipulation ability she doesn't know how to use; asking's worth a shot.]

Battle, in all its forms. [Which to her mind is necessary, an obligation, for all shinki and gods alike. Therefore, Rekka would have no reason to turn down such an offer, right?]

I see... [She supposes a god ability could be used for battle... She's already met someone who didn't know how it works, either, though, so she clarifies.]

I have an ability that I received when I arrived. It doesn't seem as if it's for combat.

...I don't know how to use it. [Said reluctantly. She hates to admit it, but she doesn't like not being able to control it, either.] Do you know spells?

I do not myself practice magic, but I am capable of training mages in combat. Show me your ability.

[She is rather imperious in her command, but not intentionally; she is simply that way.]

[Imperiousness doesn't faze her, and she actually cracks a slight smile.]

I don't have any ink on me.

[And her own ability isn't quite the issue she's having, so, to demonstrate, she pulls out her forearm-sized brush and has a small goldfish-like creature pop out of the bristles. It lazily swims through the air and comes to a rest beside her.]

My own abilities work fine. The ink...just seems to work differently. You have an ability you were given as a god, right? [Just going off what she's heard, which is that everyone has one.] How do you use it?

[How to explain this...]

To properly train and equip my Einherjar, I possess the ability to materialize weapons, armor, and supplies. This is part of my nature, not a power granted by my mantle of Osiris. The energy to do this is ordinarily limited, however, and apportioned to me by Freya at our meetings.

Here, however, I seem to have unlimited energy to expend on such creations.

[There's far more to it than that, but the Valkyrie as of yet unaware of the further ramifications of her ability.]

Mine seems to work totally differently from my own skills. [She has so many questions about why their god abilities are so different, but she can't really explain her own abilities without getting into things that are supposed to be a secret (secrecy which she's been debating the merits of recently, but she hasn't yet decided to discard it), so she shelves that thought. She can look into it later, if she really needs to.]

But thanks. [She looks out over the training as she stows her brush away.] ...What do you think of the people here?

[The Valkyrie sweeps her gaze over the crowd, barely moving her head in the process.]

I have met very few suited to their role or position here.

[Her blunt assessment is matter-of-fact and straightforward, born of her particular opinions on the role of gods and those who serve them.]

[Rekka doesn't say as much, but, considering her background...she's inclined to agree.]

It can't be helped...

[But there's still something disquieting about this whole thing, even if Rekka's focusing more on the ayakashi side of things than the gods part.]

It cannot. And though some shirk their duties, many strive to live up to them. Given that there seems to be little thought put into the selection of gods and shinki, that is no small thing.

[She is not negative so much as simply blunt and pragmatic. This is the world they must deal with, and it could be a far worse one.]

[That sounds like a pretty positive spin to Rekka, actually.] That's true.

[Making the best of it; that's not exactly an ideal way to live, but she's not happy at having been dragged here, either, and making the best of it for now seems like a good idea.]

[But, having said all that, it's time to get to get to the serious part. She turns to fully face Lenneth.] Have you been facing ayakashi? [She may have a sliiight fixation.]

[The Valkyrie can very much appreciate those who treat the issue of ayakashi, and their duty to vanquish them, seriously. Not that such appreciation shows in any way.]

I have. On numerous occasions.

What's your preferred method of dealing with them? [She knows there are different types of ayakashi, but it's also somewhat ingrained in her that people have specialties. The only standardized thing here is rend, it seems, and not even that, if the varied forms shinki take are any indication.]

The ones you encountered—what could they do? [It'd be good to know, not to predict their patterns necessarily, but to be prepared.]

The majority I have encountered are not masterful tacticians. They rely on their ability to blight at a touch, which means that simple skill can defeat them with no harm done. Others, however, are more troublesome... Some are so small that they are difficult to recognize as dangerous until the damage is already done, for example. They are similarly difficult to battle.

I use the same means for all, however. [Her hand falls to the hilt of the sword. This is a slightly untrue if taken literally; occasionally she uses a bow. But the Battle-Maiden knows only combat.]

[The smaller ones sound like they could get annoying, but it's good to hear that most of them aren't very tactical. As well as the fact that it sounds like they can't do anything more dangerous than blight, but she's heard of ones that drain people's energy, so maybe she shouldn't relax yet.]

[She follows the movement when Lenneth puts her hand to her sword.] I heard that conventional weapons don't work on them.

That is not precisely accurate. Ayakashi may be fought with the full power available to any god or shinki, but they cannot be permanently destroyed save with 'Rend'. That may only be conducted by a god wielding a shinki in vessel form.

[Of course, one might call a divine weapon 'unconventional', but the principle applies to more than the goddess.]

Fighting them is necessary to weaken them, in fact, so that they may become vulnerable to Rending.

So it's like that... [It's good to know that they can be fought at all without rend. Sometimes being able to hold them off is good enough. (Not often. But sometimes.)]

You said "not many" earlier... When the tactical ones appear, are there any signs?

[If they could not be, the Valkyrie would have likely gone mad long ago.]

Size or shape. Most ayakashi are more like creatures or simply eyeballs floating absently. Those with greater power and ability to use it are often of greater size or more sophisticated appearance.

That sounds familiar. [Which means she won't have to adjust her thinking too much, so she's grateful for it.]

[And that paints a more complete picture of the ayakashi than she had before (which isn't quite saying much, really, but, considering she hasn't met one yet, that's to be expected.) And different people have different takes on them, after all.]

Thanks. That was a help.

You will only truly understand them when you have fought them. Which you will do, in time. [She intends that as a warning, but whether it comes off as that, a threat, or something else -- hard to say, really. She is just too affectless to be read so easily.]

[She takes it as a warning, mostly because she was thinking the same thing. Most of her job was to take care of similar beings in her world; even if ayakashi never bothered her, she would have sought them out herself at some point.]

But there's nothing to understand... [As with Horrors, ayakashi are things to be eradicated. That's all.] They aren't things to be empathized with.

If you do not understand how your foe fights, you will underestimate them, to your dismay. [She isn't arguing Rekka's points, for she is in complete agreement that the ayakashi have no redeeming qualities in the slightest.]

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dragonflood - 2017-08-16 15:25 (UTC) - Expand

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