August Training

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: August 15
Where: Bishamon's temple, the Far Shore
Summary: Training and informational sessions for newly arrived gods and shinki



In anticipation of the latest round of new arrivals, Heaven has partnered with the new gods and shinki to organize a very helpful informational reception.

Gods and shinki arriving at heaven's meeting hall are, should they allow it, guided kindly towards Bishamon's temple. In that vast complex they are brought to a traditional-style dojo. The gods and shinki are free to take their time during this day to learn about the details of their new life from Amaterasu's shinki or from the many veteran new god and shinki volunteers.




God Training

Unfortunately, Bishamon is away on business today, but her shinki as well as Amaterasu's ever-present shinki and any volunteering gods will offer information regarding being a god and what is expected of them, such as prayers. It is encouraged that gods group up together to practice what they've learned and discuss their ideologies.
Newly arrived gods are still expected to communicate to their shinki the information* they themselves receive as orientation when they arrive.

Shinki Training

Various volunteers are stationed around the building, passing out helpful informational pamphlets. There are many shinki, including Bishamon's and Amaterasu's, who will be more than happy to train in using the borderline as well as offering a lecture on the basics of what is expected of a shinki and the importance of teamwork with other shinki and with gods. It is encouraged that shinki group up together to practice what they've learned and discuss their ideologies.

Physical Training

The dojo is stocked with a wide variety of practice weapons, traditional and modern. There are volunteers here as well, willing to assist in basic training. (Or even more advanced sparring, depending on the volunteer.) This is vital for gods who, for example, find themselves with a sword shinki but are at risk of cutting off their own toes.
It's also useful for veteran new gods wishing to train with their current partner shinki.

Rest and Refreshments

There is a garden off the dojo that is free to be used for rest and conversation.
Should anyone wander outside the designated area, some shinki of Bishamon's will attach themselves to them and not leave them be until they return to the dojo.

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 just taking a quick break to cool down. Even hand towels are provided by Bishamon's helpful shinki. The Heavens wants everyone to stay in good condition!

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~

Comments

haaaaaaaaaay

[challengesfate]

"Hey--um. Aaare you looking for someone?"

[There's a spark of something in the unfamiliar voice that makes Lucina turn, and-

-Oh.

In retrospect, it feels so silly to have been nervous. Her eyes meet with the young man that approaches and something clicks inside, like it's fallen into a space Lucina hadn't realized was empty. She starts slightly, in mid-shift, before nodding.]

Ah...yes. I am. Or...perhaps I was? But...

[Okay how do you say "I'm not anymore because I've found you" in a way that isn't creepy]

...No - yes, this...feels right. Yes. [She holds her hand out.] My name is Lucina. I believe...we're to work together from here on out.

[photoshooter]

Oh, wow. Uh, hi! I'm Prompto. Prompto Argentum.

[He's wearing fingerless gloves, but as he shakes her hand, there it is again against what skin's left exposed: the tingle of something right. He laughs a little, startled and bewildered, but for all his nerves, his grip is strong and his hand warm.

When he retrieves his hand, it goes straight up to the back of his head to sheepishly ruffle the shorter hair there.]

Haha, um, I don't really get what's going on, like, at all, but I'm happy to help with any prayers you need answering, ah... Lady Lucina.

[How the hell do you address a goddess?!]

[challengesfate]

[Her gloves are also fingerless, so it's more...the brush of fingertips that sets it off. Interesting. Her own grip is strong as well, but not hurtful.]

Prompto Argentum. [She's testing the name out on her tongue. Yes...it sounds right.] It's good to meet you. And...please, no title is necessary. Just 'Lucina' is fine. I've only found myself a God recently.

[photoshooter]

Lucina, then!

[The sound of it is funny and strangely familiar, but he doesn't question it. Makes sense, if they're assigned to work together, right?]

So you were human before? I didn't know gods worked like that.

[challengesfate]

Neither did I.

[At least, Naga was never human before becoming a deity. She was just a really bomb-ass manakete.]

I have been told a few things about this place, but it seems only to raise more questions. What have you been told?

[photoshooter]

Mostly what's in this brochure.

[He takes it out of his pocket, smooths over the creases from folding and refolding it so many times, and hands it over.]

It's sort of like... a quick-start kit for shinki, but it doesn't really explain anything.

[challengesfate]

[Lucina nods in thanks when he hands her the pamphlet, giving it a quick once-over, eyes narrowing. This is...definitely different from the information she was given, but it's important to know nonetheless because she hadn't known it. Once done, she looks back up to Prompto and gives him back the pamphlet.]

I see...it is very basic, isn't it?

[That's one way to say "lacking".]

I can tell you what I know, but I don't know what is and isn't helpful, so...perhaps...if you have any questions, ask me, and if neither of us knows the answer, we can find out together.

[photoshooter]

[He surprises himself with a laugh and rubs under his nose with one knuckle, smile hidden except for the way it crinkles his eyes.]

Oh man, where do we even start?

[But his grin fades a bit as something occurs to him. He covers his mouth a second longer, then scuffs his foot in the dirt.]

Um... there is one thing that's bothering me, though. [He wavers a moment longer, then holds his wrist out to her.] Do you know what either of these are?

[On the inside of his wrist, there's the character for 'silver.' And on the other side? There's a bar code.]

[challengesfate]

[The gesture...makes her smile, just a bit. He's a sweet boy, Lucina thinks. They're going to get along just fine.]

The beginning would be a good place - ah?

[Quietly, Lucina observes his wrists. The barcode means nothing to her; there's numbers, but the sequence is random, and lines of various thickness don't seem to serve any purpose to a girl out of a relatively medieval world. The character, though...

Gently, Lucina takes his wrist with the character, eyes slightly narrowed. It looks like the alphabet from the language of Chon'sin, and while she had never learned to decipher the complicated symbols, somehow, this one is clear to her.]

This is...'Ginki'...?

[photoshooter]

[AND THEN HE TURNED INTO GUN okay no, she needs to call him with intent to actually summon him in vessel form.

Hearing her say that aloud makes him blink, though.]

...It sounds like a name when you say it.

[More than that. It sounds right when she says it, even though it's not a language he's familiar with, even though he's never heard the word before. It sounds like belonging. He looks at his wrist in her hands and thinks, yeah, that makes sense.]

I... guess it's mine? My name. Since it's, uh. On me.

you wanna do the formal naming spell to bind them and shit

[challengesfate]

[There's an incredible need for Lucina to say something. The words are forming in her head, a string of things she never thought to speak as one, and yet, the urge is so very strong. But first...]

It...it does seem right. I don't understand it, but...

[She frowns. The words are like a lump in her throat, but they're not stuck, they're insistent.]

I think I need to make it official? With...a vow, of sorts. It keeps repeating in my head. Is...is that alright?

LET'S DO THIS THING

[photoshooter]

Um... sure.

[He looks up from the character on his arm up to her face, then nods, standing still for once.]

Do what you gotta do. I'm ready.

['Ready' isn't the word for it; he has no idea what to expect, how can he be ready for it? But this is his goddess. If it's something she has to do, he'll help her do it.

And even if he doesn't know what's going on, that's the nature of the vow, anyway.]

1/2 AW YEE

[challengesfate]

Alright...

[Hey may say he's ready, but Lucina isn't sure if she is. This - this is some other person that she just met, and her brain is insisting she say something that seems so strange and foreign yet right, and it doesn't feel particularly fair to Prompto, but at least - at least she made sure to ask first. That counts for something, right? She takes a deep breath, still gently holding the hand that bears the character on his wrist...]

2/2 and then she gets to see how he died :B

[challengesfate]

[And then the words come out, low, confident, easy.]

My name is Lucina. Grasping thy true name, I bind thee here. With borrowed name, I dub thee my servant. The name answers, the vessel to sound. I call thee as my divine instrument. The name, Prompto. The vessel, Gin. Come, Ginki!

HUR...RAY... [cw: death, FFXV spoilers]

[photoshooter]

[His eyes have just enough time to widen before he's overtaken by a flash of light--no, he becomes a flash of light, stretching and changing until--

It's dark. The darkest it's ever been, and the daemons never end, an ocean of them swarming over the streets of the only home he's ever known, and his heart is pounding but it's full of hope. This is it. This is the end. Gladio's and Ignis's voices cut through the night, grunts and calls and battle cries, and he responds in kind--but his heart's with the man striding up the steps to the throne. His friend. His king.

It remains with him when the heaving, clicking darkness of the daemons gives way to a deeper darkness. As he hears Ignis and Gladio fall. As bones break like matchsticks, flesh tears, as the gun falls from his useless hand...

The last thing he sees is dawn.

--metal settles heavily, comfortably in Lucina's palm. He's a firearm, he knows this shape intimately, as if it's his own--dark metal with a streak of blue along the top. It is his own. But he's startled by the transformation nonetheless.]

W-whoa! I-I-I'm a gun! This is unreal!

OH BOY (fire emblem:awakening spoilers)

[challengesfate]

[The images that run through her mind are ones that, immediately, Lucina knows she cannot breathe a word about to the blond man who was now a weird metal object in her hands. The sheer darkness of things, the sounds of battle, of death, are ones she knows intrinsically, having sliced men and Risen alike in two, having seen her friends and family and allies clinging desperately to life as the healers made way. And did she mention the darkness? So deep, so cold, so relentless, she feels as if she's staring down into the maw of Grima again as the beast looms overhead, no longer the caring mother who would kiss the crown of hers and Morgan's heads when she was tucked in at night-

The heaviness in her hands yanks her free from the lingering image of dawn, and she breathes out in a shudder, looking down...]

...Wh...what...

[Lucina looks around, then back down to the object - no, to Prompto, sitting in her hands. When she speaks, her words are hesitant, stilted, nothing like the vow from before.]

What...what is...a "gun"...?

[photoshooter]

Huh? Oh. Um, a firearm! ...A weapon?

[Wow. How does he explain what a gun is to a goddess? He guesses guns really are a pretty human invention.]

You point it at the thing you want to shoot and pull the trigger--the little thing under the muzzle, see?--and a bullet flies out really fast and hits the target. Easy, right?

[challengesfate]

[...Okay you know what she's going to put all of her focus into the concept of gun, that sounds. That sounds absolutely great right about now. Lucina breathes in, out...looks directly into the barrel of the gun, but does not put her finger on the trigger.

Honey that's. Still a terrible idea.]

I understand weapons, but...not like this. Nothing this small, save for some tomes...

[photoshooter]

Aaaaah, don't--don't point that end at your face! Or at any part of yourself!

[He buzzes a little in her grip, sheer nerves overcoming the fact that he is, for all intents and purposes, an inanimate object.]

It's dangerous!

[challengesfate]

Ah!

[HOW IS HE BUZZING WHAT IS THIS okay okay she just. Points the barrel away from her completely.]

Okay - alright. I won't do that. But...but how do I change you back? You can't stay like this forever...

[photoshooter]

[He breathes a sigh of relief. He's obviously gonna have to teach her basic gun safety.

Why does he know so much about guns, anyway?]

Uh... it doesn't say in the instructions?

[challengesfate]

I...I don't know...? Everything was told to me, not...I didn't get a booklet.

[There should be God booklets. Damn. Instead, she closes her eyes, and thinks very hard about the young man she'd just met, his eyes, his hair, the shape of his face...

...

Hopefully willing him to turn back actually works?]

[photoshooter]

[Mmmmmnope.]

...You said, 'Come, Ginki,' right? Maybe 'Go, Ginki' will work in reverse?

[challengesfate]

...Go, Ginki?

[PLEASE WORK]

[photoshooter]

[...............

Nope.]

Maybe we should ask someone. I kind of like being able to walk on my own two feet...