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

[erogappa]

[ Wait, this asshole's arm isn't working either? Damn. Poor guy. His terrible poker face undoubtedly lets some of that pity through, although he's quick to look away. ]

This? Nah, this is about as good as it gets. [ He gestures expansively at the shinki practicing borderlines, other, white-robed shinki helping them. ] This is just their bullshit first day of school. Nobody ever gets attacked by those purple tentacle monsters or giant floating swords or anything like that here.

[ Which is really telling, because you'd think that ayakashi would be all over a field full of shinki with no idea how to use their powers. It made a man wonder about just who was in control here? ]

You get your phone thing yet?

[killsthebuddha]

[ His lips twitch into a sneer when he realizes what’s going on here. Pity is sure as hell unacceptable. It’s not like he can’t do what needs done, just that his nerves feel like they’re on fire when he tries. It’s different, nothing like getting a damn arm chopped off.

Entirely uncharitable thoughts aside, he just takes in Gojyo’s rambling. Purple tentacle monsters aren’t all that out there, honestly. Giant floating swords? It’s only a little bizarre. But it is telling that this area’s well protected. ]

I’ll pass on that, too. [ Which makes for a bizarre way to say yes. He’s just grousing for the sake of it. Who the hell wanted just anyone to be able to call them? ] It’ll be a pain in the ass to carry around.

[erogappa]

[ He almost laughs outright at that. This surly asshole is great! ]

Good. If they try to give you one, tell 'em to go fuck themselves. [ Does he have any of his painkillers on him? Gojyo pats his pocket -- no, no jingle of pills, he must have left them at the bar. Damn. ] They'll say that it's got important information, but it's just these biddies gossipin' over tea and bitching about their love lives.

[ Sore subject. Anyway! Moving on. He points at Genjo's face, and then his own. ]

But hey, if you want somethin' for that, I've got some good stuff at the bar. Doc gave me plenty.

[killsthebuddha]

[ This is entirely surreal. He knows, logically, that this is the way Gojyo tends to treat other people— brash, full of bravado, and going out of his way to help them even if it’s only going to be trouble for him.

(Okay, so he knows that Gojyo is that way with him, too, but it’s in a much more mutually antagonistic way.)

The lack of familiarity is uncomfortable. For a moment, it strikes him that this is as if he were meeting that same young idiot that had thought to protect Cho Gonou. He shrugs a shoulder. ] What the hell. I don’t have somewhere else to be. [ He pauses, taking a drag on his cigarette. ] What’ s in it for you?

[erogappa]

[ He must really be hurting. Hey, says the stranger, want to come back to my place and do some drugs? You'd have to be pretty damn low to accept that one right off.

Hopefully he can walk. Once they get to Japan they can take a bus, but it's a bit of a walk from here to the temple that drops him near the bar. ]

I'm just a giving kind of guy. [ Hold the bullshit grin from three, two... ] That, and, I dunno. It's fucked up here for us shinki. [ Ready to give the stroll a try, friend? ] Your god's gonna name you at some point, and once they do that they can tell when you're happy and when you're sad. [ He taps his chest, a bit roughly. ] They can feel your feelings, as fucked up as that is.

And a lot of 'em, they think that just because they remember who they used to be, that this makes 'em better than you, and that they know better than you what's best for you. [ Think there's a story there? ] Us shinki, we've got to look out for each other, 'cause you better believe nobody else will.

[killsthebuddha]

[ This isn’t particularly good for the reputation of Sanzo priests as a whole around here, but who cared? Gojyo might not know it, but Sanzo is pretty sure he can count on the amnesiac idiot to not try to kill him. He walks alongside, insistent on keeping pace as he listens. It’ll take a toll, but he’s got his pride here.

The story has a familiar rhythm to it, one that makes what little he’s heard about the situation with Gojyo make a hell of a lot more sense. ]

Don’t start lumping me in with you. I’m not interested in being a shinki or some fake-ass bootleg god. [ Feeling what others feel sounds like a special sort of hell, but having that sort of invasion of privacy being forced was even worse for the one called a shinki. Someone’s going to die for this. ] This magic bullshit doesn’t change who you are, jackass, or that the only side you can count on is your own. That has nothing to do with being called shinki or god.

[ He’s a bit winded at the end of that, needing to catch his breath. ]

[erogappa]

[ He doesn't slow his pace one tiny bit, but instead of taking the route to the temple (that involves an incline with stairs at the top), he turns to the left and takes the slightly longer path. This path is a little more urban, as much as anything in heaven is, and as they walk the temples they pass get less ornate, their grounds smaller and smaller. ]

Yeah, you'll fit in here just fine. [ This time he does laugh, and it's only Genjo's injuries that stop him from clapping the other man on the shoulder. ] You're a smart guy! It took me weeks to figure that shit out.

[ There. The temple they're heading for is that run-down one there, with holes in the rice paper walls and a yard full of weeds. ]

Has anyone explained the whole travelin' by temple thing to you yet?

[killsthebuddha]

[ If he hadn’t run out of breath, he might have shot something back about how his philosophy directly contradicted what Gojyo had said before. Or, maybe, at least called him a dumbass. Whatever. It’s not like it’s his business.

Except it is, a fact he firmly pretends to ignore in order to preserve some semblance of dignity here. ]

Tch, yeah. [ His distaste is evident, despite the fact that he word actually manages to come out as something of a wheeze. He doesn’t like the idea of using this weird, foreign magic in the least. He’ll pull together some more color commentary in a minute, something he has plenty of. ]

[erogappa]

[ People are terrible, and people have to look out for each other. It's a contradiction he's lived with for so long he doesn't even see the issue anymore. People are bad so let's be good, who's hungry? ]

Good! Then I don't have to explain that bit. [ His new friend sounds -- and looks -- like absolute shit, but they don't have far to go now. The bus stop is just a block down from the temple (accessed with a stolen bus card), and a little midnight rezoning moved the bus stop to right in front of the bar. ] This guy's never here. As far as I can tell, he spends all his time gettin' drunk out in the living world.

[ Which seems to be a popular choice.

Watch your step on the porch, buddy -- the temple gate's just past the hallway, but the floor is uneven in places. ]

[killsthebuddha]

[ It’s putting him off balance to not have Gojyo sniping at him. There was always something particularly motivating about the incessant bullshit he had to put up with from the man, but, hell, he should be glad that he doesn’t have to waste bullets on him. ]

Not the worst idea. [ His lack of disagreeableness is apparently a function of how much he needs to take a goddamn break. But they’ll get where they need to go, and then he can get back to being as ill-tempered as usual. He’s still not sure what he’s going to do to deal with Gojyo. He’s not interested in running his life or protecting him. None of his team needed to be babysat, and he doesn’t have the temperament for it.

But what he does need to do is keep the group together. If that meant taking some entirely too long walk to a shitty bar or something, he’s going to. ]

[erogappa]

[ Gojyo just snorts at that, pausing in front of the dilapidated archway that serves as this temple's portal. ]

Yeah, if you wanna spend eternity pukin' in alleyways.

[ Come on. ]

[killsthebuddha]

[ If it weren’t for the fact that Sharak’s been using teleportation magic in the time she’s been here, he might have balked. Still, it makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

Using said magic is entirely uneventful, doing just what it was advertised, but that doesn’t mean he’s comfortable with it. He pats himself down, checking the sutra he’d rolled and tucked away— a temporary measure he’d taken to avoid any of Sharak Sanzo’s fan club. The ones that had attached themselves to her here were apparently not Kouten Brigade quality. ] I’m already tired of this bullshit magic.

[ It’s just a grumble, mostly to himself. He’s going to be a big baby about this and no one can stop him. ]

[erogappa]

[ The earth-side temple is a small, run-down place (gosh, what a shocker) on a quiet back alley in a part of town that used to thrum with industry. The privacy is as much of a perk as the proximity to his bar, and...

...Hold everything, he checked what now?

He'd been willing to give the robes a pass -- so many people wore robes, Amaterasu's shinki wore robes, people in movies wore robes, robes were common -- but that thing in Blondie's hand? That wasn't common. That was a goddamn sanzo sutra.

His whole demeanor shifts and he takes a step back, into the (empty, patchily lit) street. ]

Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me.

[killsthebuddha]

[ He levels a glare over at Gojyo on reflex, offended before he even catches up to what the implications were.

Shit hadn’t gone down well with Sharak. Right. He gives nothing away at that unfortunate recollection. It’s not like he’s going to pretend to be someone he’s not just to get one of his idiots under control. ]

You got a problem? [ He commits to the course of action without hesitation. It’s an easy reflex to unroll the sutra with a quick motion of his wrist, the scripture settling around his shoulders like a mantle as if it might have come alive at his touch. It’s a comfortable weight, and there’s something reassuring about the fact that Magen remains a constant even while he’s stuck dealing with all the magic bullshit Heaven wanted to throw at him. ]

[erogappa]

Fuck.

[ He spits, turning away. It was too good to be true, wasn't it? He tried to do a good thing, and it turned around and bit him in the ass. Ah, but wait. He turns back to Blondie, folding his ar-- that is, clenching his hand into a fist at his side. There's a warning buzz at the back of his mind, cautioning him against asking too many questions, but he's gotten pretty good at finding the limits of what he can and can't know. ]

You know me. Don't you.

[killsthebuddha]

I don’t know who the hell you think you are. [ He’s practically snarling, visibly insulted. It’s true, not even an attempt at deflection here. Gojyo has opinions about who he is that are dumb as hell, and that’s dangerous right now.

Everything hurts, Genjo is tired, and none of that has any effect on whether or not he ends up in a fist fight with the kappa in the next few minutes. He’s not the only one with a handicap here, at least. ]

[erogappa]

[ That was a yes. God fucking dammit, that was a yes. ]

You're damn right you don't.

[ He jabs his finger back toward the portal entrance. ]

You want help, you go beg it off Sharak. [ The name is a curse. ] The old Sha Gojyo's dead, and the new one doesn't want anything to do with any fucking sanzos.

[killsthebuddha]

Tch. I’m not looking for help, you useless bastard. Don’t think so highly of yourself.

[ Hakkai and Sharak had been too soft with this idiot. He’s actually kind of pissed, now, legitimately so. How dare Gojyo drag him all the way out here and start pulling this kind of stupid bullshit with him. ]

Don’t mistake me for being the same kind of priest as Sharak Sanzo. [ Fuck it. He goes after him, quicker than a man in his condition ought to be able to move, going to grab him by collar of his shirt. He hasn’t thought this all the way through, but maybe it’s just so he can knock some sense into that idiot head. ] I don’t give a shit about anyone named Sha Gojyo.

[erogappa]

[ He's not going to hit somebody as badly injured as Blondie is. Shove, maybe. Genjo grabs his shirt, and Gojyo gives real thought to shoving him backwards, all the way onto his charcoalled ass, and leaving him there.

But he doesn't do it, because he's better than all these assholes. ]

Then quit feelin' him up!

[killsthebuddha]

Don’t drag people around if you’re going to be an asshole! [ There’s a moment where he realizes something pressing.

He can’t punch Gojyo in the mouth while he’s got a grip on his shirt, not when all of the abused nerves in his injured arm are screaming. He shoves him, a move that rocks Sanzo back more than it does Gojyo, and takes a swing at him that’s clumsy enough by his standards as to be embarrassing. Still, someone needs to knock him upside the head. ]

[erogappa]

[ Blondie's shove doesn't do more than piss Gojyo off, but that swing nearly connects. ]

Would you knock it off?!

[ He raises his hand, there's a flash of light, and his magic stick appears as a barrier between them (held upside-down, with the shovel blade upright). ]

You're gonna hurt yourself, moron!

[killsthebuddha]

[ Genjo staggers when he doesn’t connect, his own momentum harder to correct for than it ought to be. ]

You’re the one getting hurt if you don’t cut that shit out...! [ That comes out more as a wheeze. ] Don’t put your preconceptions on me, idiot.

[ After all, he’s clearly doing a great job of making an impression all on his own. ]

[erogappa]

[ Gojyo takes another step back, staying out of range, his complete unimpressed state written clearly all over his face. ]

Is this a sanzo thing? [ Sharak was never this bad about pushing herself, but she sure had the casual violence thing down pat. At least this asshole doesn't have a gun! ] You lot are terrible priests, did anyone ever tell you that?

[killsthebuddha]

I told you to stop making assumptions. [ He’d really like to emphasize the sentiment properly, but he’s still trying (and failing) to keep his focus. After all, he’s got to keep on his feet so he can tell Gojyo off and, just as soon as he had a moment, knock the stupid out of him.

Never mind. He’s abruptly on his ass on the concrete faster than he can process that his vision had started to grey at the edges and his knees gave out. The only saving grace is that he isn’t laid out. It just adds another step to his plan— get up first.

In just a minute. ] If you’ve got a complaint, either shave your head or take it up with the gods.

[erogappa]

[ This, right here? This is goddamn pathetic. ]

I'm done asking gods for anything. [ He's not even bothering to hide how much he's laughing at Genjo right now. ] They're all liars and frauds anyway.

[ Gonna be able to get up on your own there, buddy? Sorry not sorry about those white robes on this filthy pavement. ]

If you ask me nicely, though, I'll give you a hand.