October Training

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: September 4th
Where: Meeting Hall, 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.

It seems Bishamon's temple is unavailable this week due to business, although she has generously allowed a number of her shinki to go on with their usual tasks of passing out pamphlets and assisting the newcomers to settle in.

Gods and shinki arriving at heaven's meeting hall are, should they allow it, guided kindly towards a traditional-style dojo and banquet hall towards the back of the meeting hall itself. 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 banquet hall 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 instructed 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 perspectives.

The garden is available for borderline practice, and a few of the last training's slightly tattered crayon-drawn borderline targets have been brought back out and pinned to bales of straw to make a practice area. One of Amaterasu's shinki is drawing replacements with a large inked calligraphy brush. His targets are simple but elegant, but somehow, before they make it over to the target bales, they're ending up crayon-scribbled into much brighter colors. Maybe it's the child shinki who are in charge of putting them up? They do seem to be giggling a lot, and Amaterasu's artist shinki is looking more and more annoyed...

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.

There's an additional task that the hosts are more than willing to ask for help with. The Meeting Hall seems to be suffering an invasion of cute soot sprites. Although they're harmless little spirits, they leave smears of ash and soot wherever they go, and the shinki are running themselves ragged trying to keep the hardwood floors and white walls clean! They're handing out cleaning rags and flyswatters to squash the soot sprites flat and scrub the resulting smears away -- and, for the softhearted, butterfly nets: although they implore anyone with a net to be sure they let the soot sprites out again far, far away.

Rest and Refreshments

The meeting hall's facilities are less modernized than Bishamon's: there are rainwater barrels set out by the dojo with fresh towels for hardworking gods and shinki to wash their face and hands. The water is ice cold, so it's very refreshing, too-- brr!

By lunchtime, the banquet hall where the gods' informational session was held has been cleaned out and re-set with cushions to sit on around long, low tables. Gods and shinki who come inside for lunch will be served a plain but hearty meal, with soup, rice, fish and pickled vegetables to refresh them for the afternoon's training.

The hall will stay open even after the lunches and tables have been cleared away, so that those who want a quieter space to talk with their new partners can find somewhere in the room. Hopefully the occasional stampede of soot sprites won't be too distracting.

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
• Help catch soot sprite pests
• Spectate if you want
• Have fun~

Comments

[yousaytron]

[A few weeks with no payoff, huh? Not that Keith fancies himself much of a teacher, but it really does seem like the kind of situation where some extra help is called for.]

It might help... [Trying to think back on when he was still learning, what sorts of tips has he been given?] To think of it like you're decisively separating yourself from something else. It might be easier to get the hang of it if you're up against someone else instead of just a target, too.

[Is that an offer to help? Imagine that!]

[impetuouswind]

Decisively separating myself...

[Temeraire's nose wrinkles just a little more, and he considers his hand.

So, is that what it is like?]

Even if I do not feel any energy?

[yousaytron]

If you're having trouble getting it to work while worrying about getting your energy focused, tackling it from a different angle will probably help.

[That's how he sees it, anyway.]

[impetuouswind]

Oh. Yes, I see.

[He brightens right up, and looks at the target, from which he has not managed to separate himself even once so far.

So, if he were to set up a line between, like he would between himself and -- and someone who was careless and shabby, for instance -- then....]

Line!

[He doesn't precisely cast a borderline. Light does, however, spark visibly at his fingertips as he brings them down. Temeraire's eyes go saucer-wide.]

It almost worked!

[yousaytron]

[That's definitely a much better result than the total-nothing he had been getting before now.]

Think you can get the hang of it like that?

[If it showed signs of working on the first try, then he can probably figure it out from there, right?]

[impetuouswind]

I might.

[He's swiping his hand back and forth, relishing the triumph before he tries to cast it again and risks invalidating his near-success with failure. It would be very disappointing if that happened. And, right now, he has his very first success to celebrate.]

No -- I'm sure I will! Thank you.

[yousaytron]

[Hold on to those small victories! Use them to build up bigger ones!

He does sort of... wave off the gratitude a little bit. It was really only a small piece of advice, after all.]

There used to be private classes for learning these techniques, but I think the shinki holding them got too busy to keep them up. Might as well help each other where we can, right?

[He's no expert, but he's better than trail-and-error, probably.]

[impetuouswind]

Yes, of course.

[He doesn't insist on the gratitude, although he certainly still feels it. He can do this human a favor in return.

It's too bad about the classes, though. He frowns.]

But perhaps there should be classes too. Could any shinki who knows the technique teach them?

[yousaytron]

In theory, I guess.

[If the knowledge is there, it really depends on if they're a good teacher or not, in the end.]

Either way, if you need any more help, I'm sure you'd be able to get something out of pretty much any of the older shinki here.

[impetuouswind]

[Temeraire nods, wide-eyed and absorbing this information with care.

Even if not everyone can be a teacher, perhaps it is useful to hear from different shinki about how they each cast the borderline, after all.]

I do very much appreciate the help.