December Training

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: September 25th
Where: Bishamon's temple, the Far Shore
Summary: Training and informational sessions for newly arrived gods and shinki



Gods and shinki arriving at heaven's meeting hall are, should they allow it, guided to Bishamon's temple, where a reception area and a traditionally styled dojo and training ground have been made available for the day. 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 Western-styled reception hall within Bishamon's temple 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 shinki volunteers, both in the white-and-gold of Amaterasu's shinki and in Bishamon's red-piped black uniforms, are stationed around the dojo, passing out helpful informational pamphlets. They will be happy to instruct the newcomers in the use of the borderline as well as offering an explanantion 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.

Someone has brought two overflowing boxes of back issues of From Ama, the Heavenly magazine, which includes profiles of successful shinki and gods, historical tidbits, and the occasional magazine quiz to help shinki determine how well they're currently working with their god or what their greatest strength might be.

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.

This month, a clever shinki magician has created a dozen straw-stuffed training dummies, some with sword-length sticks and some with polearm-length sticks, that have been enchanted to really fight back. Unfortunately, the spell isn't perfect yet! They're good training partners, but sometimes they might go a little haywire and try to smack passersby.

Rest and Refreshments

Along with bottled water, there are several large boxes of energy drinks and vitamin drinks in small amber glass bottles, and an array of protein bars and meal bars. One particular shinki in white, a bespectacled twentysomething man, is explaining the health benefits of everything on the table (even the water!) with great enthusiasm to any guest who looks even a little confused. It takes great tact to discourage him.

Party games have been set up on the lawn near the refreshments table: Twister, Kubb, lawn Jenga, and more.

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
• Play some games
• Spectate if you want
• Have fun~

Comments

[sing_for_me]

I. Physical Training
The polearm length sticks were still to long for her to handle, so Alex thought she’d give the shorter ones a try. It went well for a little bit, as if the dummies matched her level, but suddenly they stared to move faster and hit harder. Then another joined, and another, and Alex found herself running from five of them. She would stop whenever one caught up to try and fight it off, but when the rest came she had no choice but to make a run for it.

“Aaaagh!! Leave me alone already!!” Maybe it was just too soon for her..
II. R&R
A. Taking a break from her earlier..battle.. Alex is tiredly nibbling at a protein bar. She’s not close enough to really hear what the man’s saying, but even if he was, she was starting to zone out again. She stared blankly at the ground, her mind starting fog more and more.

B.What better way to keep focused than to play games? She’s never tried jenga or twister, but watching people was all she needed to figure them out. She’ll look up at the nearest person, gesturing towards the game. “Want to play?”

i

[lionhearrt]

[ Alex will suddenly be encased in a red shield as Mikoto steps into view. The target dummies can crash into that shield but they're not getting past it. And occupied as they are with her, they forget the real enemy. From his spot, Mikoto gathers his powers, compressing them into a heated ball of fire making it smaller and smaller until the pressure from it is almost too much to contain and then suddenly he releases it and red explodes out like a volcano, spewing fire and crashing forward decimating everything in its way. Inside the sphere of power Alex is safe, the temperature warm but not hot, definitely not anywhere near the heat that suddenly slams into her pursuers, disintegrating them in seconds leaving nothing but a memory of their existence. ]

Re: i

[sing_for_me]

[ Alex halts to a stop when she’s suddenly surrounded by a familiar red. She turns to see the dummies slamming into the shield, blocking her view as they bombard the front. The next moment they’re set ablaze, burning into nothing. With her line of sight no longer obstructed, she searched till she spotted the redhead.]

Mikoto..!

[lionhearrt]

[ Once the wooden unit is gone, Mikoto drops the shield as he looks over at her, saying nothing in response. ]

[sing_for_me]

[Even before the shield is completely down, Alex is running over to where he is. She’s glad he doesn’t just leave, and it’s evident in the relieved smile on her face. It had been a couple of days since she last saw him, and that time...well..

She doesn’t see any of those marks from before on him, so that’s a good sign. Now that he’s actually in front of her, Alex isn’t sure what to say, other than—]

Hey.

[She's not in a bad state, but she does have a couple of nicks and bruises here and there. Still, she's smiling up at him.]

[lionhearrt]

[ He regards her with a neutral look, hands in his pockets. ]

You make an easy target.

[sing_for_me]

[She shrinks back a little.]

It was just one of them before...and I could handle that much.

[lionhearrt]

You should have called for help.

[sing_for_me]

That...kinda defeats the point of this..

[She’s trying to do things herself after all. Although there may have been a set back..or four.]

Thank you for saving me back fhere though.

I

[futhark]

He keeps the promise he made ones, and shows up to help on those training days- but today, yeah, today is a special disaster day with those magical dummies. When he enters and notices a very familiar face being chased by the five dummies it's- actually pretty amusing, so sorry Alex. It's hard to stop the short "pfff" sound where he tries not to chuckle.

But it's a short moment, might not even be noticed because he soon realizes she's in real trouble. That's where he jumps and kicks two dummies at once off their track- sending them on a crash course with a wall.

"Useless trash...!" three more to take care of, that's going to be piece of cake- or is it?

[sing_for_me]

Alex heres a crashing sound behind her, turning to see Caster kicking two down at the same time.

"Cú..!" She stops her running, surprised to see him. She'd actually never seen him in action like this before.

The other three wooden figures freeze for a moment before shifting, deciding they have another target as well. Alex immediately moves next to him, grasping her stick with two hands. Although she's still not sure if she can take them on, she wasn't about to let Caster face them on his own.

"Will those two come back?"

[futhark]

"I wonder--" he shoots a glance at the dummies that dropped down after hitting the wall- but there is no guarantee that they won't join their other friends soon. Technically, he could just set them on fire, but- why not have some fun first. And maybe help with the training at the same time.

He materializes his staff, but instead of good ol' Gandalf way, he holds it in both hands like a polearm - or spear. He moves and aligns them so they stand back to back.

"Two are going at me, so it leaves one for you- don't worry I got your back."

[sing_for_me]

"Alright..."

That'd be pretty pathetic if she couldn't handle at least one of them...Alex nods though, determined to take it down one way or another.

She waits until it charges at her and strikes to block it. It pushed her back a little, but she managed to brace herself for it.

[futhark]

That one soon might become three, who knows.

"Who made these?" he blocks the two incoming attacks, and then counters with the heavy top of the staff, scattering the united front of the dummies. They're going back here anyway but that gives him a moment to glance at Alex.

"Try hitting it overhead-" That's always a good way to get a strong hit - gravity is being helpful.

[sing_for_me]

"I don't know-- they were just there! And other people were using them, so I thought it'd be fine."

[She blocks one as well, using all her weight to push the dummy back.]

"O-okay. Overhead. I can do that." Yes, she can. Or she'll try.

Raising the stick over her head, she waits till it gets closer than brings it down with a loud whack. The stick almost gets knocked out of her grip, but she hold on tighter, trying to steady her arms. The dummy hits the ground face first, rattling from the hit.

[futhark]

"Ha, good job" Caster gleefully encourages her seeing - or rather hearing as it hits the ground. And immediately after that, he pushes one of the incoming dummies on the side setting it for a good position to flank them. It can go attack either him or Alex at this point.

"Think you can take another one?"

They're annoying in groups sure, but how about one-on-one?

[sing_for_me]

"Eh? One on---you mean me and it?" He wasn't seriously going to trust it to her, was he? He'd take it out way faster!

II B

[shiitan]

Ross had also never tried jenga or twister; in fact he had never heard of them in the first place. Trying to figure out what the rules were just by watching did give him something else to think about at the very least, though actually playing was another thought entirely.

So yeah, he didn't answer right away when she asked. Thinking she had been talking to someone else seemed like a more logical answer.

"...Are you that bored?"

He was fully aware that he had answered her question with another question.

[sing_for_me]

"Um...not particularly but...it's something to do..?" At least, she thought that the people who were there had come over to play. He didn't seem too inclined to do so though.

[shiitan]

His serious expression cracked a bit at her awkwardness. If he had his memories he would have known exactly who he was being reminded of, but for the time being he just had to take that gut feeling as it came.

"Alright. Then let's play."

Twister seemed more fun to watch, so he was heading toward the jenga blocks instead.

[sing_for_me]

She was ready for him to make another comment, so it surprised her that in the end, he did want to play.

“Ah, okay..!”

Alex follows after him towards the jenga blocks. It was a straightforward enough game. Just pull them out without making it fall, right?

“Did..you want to go first?”

[shiitan]

"Sure, I'll take the easiest one first."

Ross studied the stack of blocks for a moment before going for one near the middle. It wobbled about halfway through and his hand shot back in response. Ugh. He furrowed his brow and frowned. With everything that had been going on, he was more on edge that he realized. As he tried to ignore those thoughts, he nudged the block out of place and set it on top.

"...There."

[sing_for_me]

Alex observed him, mostly because she hadn't played this game. She did notice the way he reacted, but she figured he was just worried about it falling. Something seemed to be bothering him though.

She reaches for one on the side, sloooowly pulling it out until--

"Got it!" Yes, she was a little excited.

[shiitan]

He stared. Her reaction was just so different from his own; how could he not wonder about it? Unfortunately, that wasn't necessarily a good thing, considering how he usually reacted to people who caught his interest.

Ross pointed at the corner of the tower, and in response to his magic, it wavered and fell with a clatter.

"Oops, it fell over. You lose."

[sing_for_me]

"Wha--how..?!" She was definitely shocked. How did it suddenly fall when it was fine a few seconds ago? Her shoulders slump, feeling a bit dejected. That was such a short victory...and an even shorter game.