September Training

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: August 25
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

Newly arrived gods are escorted into a hall near the dojo for an informational meeting covering the basics of proper god behavior, although the minor deity conducting the meeting is in too much of a rush to take questions afterwards. They are encouraged to discuss the information with each other and ask questions of more experienced gods, as well as to guide their new shinki appropriately.

Shinki Training

Various volunteers are stationed around the dojo, 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. Shinki are encouraged to work together to practice what they've learned and discuss their ideologies.

Targets have been hung up just outside the dojo for people practicing borderlines of both the defensive and cutting variety. They've clearly been made by kids: they're big, crayon-colored butcher paper cutouts of ayakashi, carefully detailed. Some of Bishamon's child shinki are working on more towards the side of the practice area, with crayons scattered all around. They could use some help from anyone with an artistic bent.

Physical Training

The dojo is stocked with a wide variety of practice weapons, traditional and modern, to offer some practice opportunity to 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.

Bishamon's shinki have gone all out this time and created an obstacle course for physical training as well. Climb walls, crawl through mud, jump across randomly spaced stumps, find your way through a maze and collect one of each of five different-colored ribbons being handed out by shinki attendants for completing each section within the allotted time.

Rest and Refreshments

Since the obstacle course is even messier than the usual training session, one of Bishamon's shinki will show anyone who asks the way to the showers to get cleaned up afterwards. There are hydrating drinks and light snacks available outside the dojo, along with fresh, lemon-scented towels.

In Bishamon's garden, a proper English tea has been laid, with a long table containing sweet and savory nibbles, and small wicker tables with two or three chairs set out all over the lawn. Gods and shinki can sit down for a talk here, get to know each other, and adjust to their new situation.

Bishamon's shinki do seem a little overworked, though, trying to serve tea all around. They'd welcome anyone, new or old, willing to put on one of the crisp white aprons and help serve some tea.

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

[battered]

[That is a good point...!]

I did get it to eat it... [But would just leaving the subject at that be a proper display of gratitude? Who knows! Not Raichi. The least he can do here is offer up a sincere, if not a little overenthusiastic,] Thanks! [as he takes the tart.]

[kokuyoyo]

Mm.

[Letting the tart vanish back to its actually proper owner, Chikusa crosses his arms and slumps across the table.]

....Shinki or god...

[battered]

[The tart retrieved, Raichi has wasted basically no time in taking a bite, probably planning on simply carrying it back to his own table in his mouth, when he hears the other speak up again.]

Huh? Me? [Are you asking him which he is? Also maybe don't talk with your mouth full, Raichi?]

[kokuyoyo]

[On one hand, at least it's not twenty different kinds of food stuffed into his mouth as he tries to talk. On the other hand, Chikusa's mouth still sort of twitches.]

...Who else?

[battered]

[Probably only because he only has the one kind of food on hand at the moment. Probably.]

Oh! I'm - a shinki!

[kokuyoyo]

So we're the same...

[Both vaguely in age, although Chikusa can't accurately say for either of them, and station, and food hoarding.]

God? ...Who's yours, I mean...

[battered]

[Oh no you caught him at a bad moment regarding god talk!! He sort of freezes mid-chew, like he has to try and figure out what to say, before figuring something out.]

I'm - uh, I haven't met them yet? [Oh boy.] Kahaha!

[kokuyoyo]

[Oh. That earns another slow blink as Chikusa processes this information.]

...You're new?

[battered]

I've been here since March...!

[Come on, surely you can figure out where the confusion here is coming from!!]

My last god disappeared a little while back.

[kokuyoyo]

....Oh.

[That sure seems to sink his mood right back down to where it was before he tried to liven it up with casual petty food theft. Chikusa sinks back down against the table, reaching up to tug his hat a little further down his head.]

...Another one...

[battered]

[Oh...?]

Whoa, did yours disappear too?

[kokuyoyo]

[There's no answer. Chikusa merely slumps further, tugging his hat until it's threatening to go past his glasses.]

[battered]

[Raichi, meanwhile, lets the pause in the conversation linger just outside of a comfortable range before it occurs to him that he possibly hit a sensitive issue. Oh no! He made the situation worse!]

Kahaha, i-it's okay! [Is this supposed to make the situation better somehow??] This will be my fourth, it's really not... so bad?

[y i k e s]

[kokuyoyo]

[Raichi no. Chikusa doesn't bother to look up, voice coming out muffled as a result.]

Do they matter after the first?

[battered]

[He's trying his best but his best is no good.]

My first God... [He doesn't want to say she was bad, but she did scare the daylights out of him pretty regularly and vanish awfully quickly. Instead of finishing his thought, he moves on to a slightly more relevant one,] My second one was great, we worked together a lot!

[So maybe it's more a feeling of 'does it matter after the one you clicked with the best?']

[kokuyoyo]

[Unfortunately, Chikua's standards are low. Even if Axel had treated him horribly- which he hadn't- he would have accepted it in line of a purpose. Still, he can't tell what Raichi might have meant trailing off like that. In somewhere like the Far Shore, there are so many possibilities, after all.]

[So he simply takes in the replacement, making a small noise.]

The question stands...

[battered]

[Maybe if he didn't have someone else to compare it to, perhaps he wouldn't have such apprehensive feelings about Nobume, but... that's neither here nor there. Their partnership ended ages ago, after all.]

I mean... [This is a little much for him to try and process. Let's just finish up the rest of that tart. That'll help him think. Surely.] It's still gotta matter. ... Right?

[kokuyoyo]

I don't know.

[It's why he's asking, after all. But don't think he missed that tart getting finished up.]

....Just go and eat...

[Dealing with someone on the same level as Ken isn't going to help, after all.]

[battered]

[When the questions and conversations start getting a little too deep, it's probably best if he bows out of the situation anyway. It's all a little too over his head.]

Yeah... [Still, it gives him something to think about whether he wants it or not. Great!] Thanks again!

[Back to his food, in that case!]