February Training

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: October 15th
Where: Meeting Hall, 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 the Meeting Hall, 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 traditional reception room within the Meeting Hall for an informational meeting covering the basics of proper god behavior. A minor deity is giving the speech, and none of the white-robed shinki enter. 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 in the white-and-gold of Amaterasu's hosuehold 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 explanation 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.

A training game has been set up through a section of the Meeting Hall gardens, with little cut-outs of ayakashi hidden in the landscaping, tucked into bushes or taped under bridges. Prize ribbons are being offered for every ten "ayakashi" a shinki (or team) discovers.

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. Several magically animated straw-stuffed training dummies, many of which have been carefully mended and patched with neat black stitching, are set up on the lawn with a white-robed shinki hovering nearby to watch over them. They make good training partners, although anyone who comes too close risks being targeted for a sparring match whether they wanted one or not.

The pond behind the dojo has had dozens wooden poles sunk in it, spaced a few feet apart, with a bunch of brightly colored ribbons tied around the pole in the very center. Some of the white-robed shinki are practicing scaling the poles and leaping from one to the next, until they get close enough that they can snatch a ribbon from the center pole, and several have fallen in and are being teased by their fellows.

Rest and Refreshments

Instead of snacks being served at the training session, this week, white-robed shinki with little flags are conducting groups of newcomers and volunteers down to the Tokyo Daijingu shrine and into a street festival currently being held in Tokyo. Traditional dance troupes are performing on street corners, and vendors have every kind of fall street foods, from barbecue to takoyaki, chocolate-dipped bananas and red-bean pancakes. New arrivals will get a white-and-gold envelope with spending money for the fair, although gods and shinki who have had some time to settle in will have to handle their own lunch expenses.

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
• Go to a festival
• Spectate if you want
• Have fun~

Comments

[letteropener]

God Training

[Well, somepony has to look out for you all. Celestia, on hearing of the new training and information session, puts her wellness checks on the Far Shore on hold for the moment -- or really, just moves their venue. Among the gods strolls the pony, a basket stuffed to overflowing with cookies trailing behind her thanks to her magic. She has a smile on her face, a serenity in her soul, and a cheerful grace.]

How are you doing? Would you like a cookie?

Physical Training

...Oh dear.

[Shaking her head solemnly, Celestia lifts herself up slight in midair from her hover above the central pillar, drifting back to land near the entrance to the dojo. Feeling it would be pointless, she didn't even bother to bring back a ribbon.]

I would love to train, but there just never seems to be an option I can pursue...

Rest and Refreshments

[Witness Princess Celestia, staring at the chocolate-dipped bananas with absolutely undisguised avarice.]

[She takes a quick look around that is actually much less thorough than she thinks if she really wants to make sure nopony sees her -- then, when the vendor is distracted, quickly swaps a banana with several coins, the better not to strain the Far Shore's aura of unnoticeability by overtly shopping as a pony. Then, licking her lips, she takes a couple of steps away...]

[And devours the banana so quickly it actually leaves flecks of chocolate on her muzzle. Oh, that was sooo tasty!]

Rest and Refreshments

[replicatedform]

[Yamanbagiri pause when he spotted Celestia. Who wouldn't? She somewhat stand out, and it's easy for him to remember a flying horned horse like her because of her distinct appearance. After a moment, he figure he could go over and say hello.]

He...y? [He pause and blinks, staring at the obvious chocolate flecks on her muzzle.] ... Excuse me, you have some chocolate on you.

[letteropener]

Whoops. [Celestia giggles, a noise far less restrained than her usual gentle laughter, as she swipes at her muzzle with a fetlock.] Did that get it?

[replicatedform]

[He nods, and a small smile appears on his face.] Yes, it did. I take it you enjoy... whatever you just ate?

[letteropener]

Chocolate-covered banana, and it was good. [Celestia's serene calm has cracked just a little, to the point that her last word practically sounds like a different pony's voice entirely.]

[replicatedform]

[His eyes looks intrigued for a moment. Plus, seeing how Celestia acts just now seems... a little cute. Wasn't there a term for that?] I haven't try that yet, I think. Where did you get it from?

[letteropener]

Oh, there's a stand over there! [Celestia motions with both a hoof and a wing to the vendor, busily dunking another banana into warm, liquid chocolate.]

[replicatedform]

Thank you. [And off he goes to buy one! With one (1) banana on a skewer in hand, and dipped into chocolate, later... He take the first bite.

His eyes widen in clear joy at eating something delicious. And pink, cherry blossom petals start to appear around him from nowhere, floating around him.]

[letteropener]

Oh goodness.

[Celestia reaches out a hoof to poke at one petal. This is very unusual!]

god training

[kokuyoyo]

[Chikusa is not a god, and shouldn't be here, but that has literally never stopped him from attending these little things before, just to see who shows up.]

[Still, he has to pause when he's offered another cookie.]

[....This feels like a pattern.]

Where do you get all of those...

[letteropener]

I make them myself. I have been teaching myself how to bake, and these are some of the easiest things to work on and improve. [And indeed, these cookies are an improvement on the last -- a little more perfectly golden-brown, a little sweeter, slightly better texture.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Well, his standards for food have always been pretty low, so it's not like he's complaining here. Still...]

....Just cookies?

[letteropener]

My cakes are all right, but they need work before I can realistically attempt to share them and have people be cheered and happy because of them. I'm still trying to figure out frosting. [She can admit this without shame, because there is no shame in learning.]

[kokuyoyo]

...What is it about frosting? ...And I guess if you're using homemade or not...

[He knows something about cooking and such, after all, so excuse his interest.]

[letteropener]

Homemade, of course! Getting the frosting just right is a challenge. I tend to make it too thick... or not thick enough. But I'll get it right.

[kokuyoyo]

...Milk.

[letteropener]

In very precise quantities. [She nods.] Too much or too little and it's all over. But what really trips me up is accounting for the spread on the cake. I frosted one cake too soon and it got all melty.

r&r

[wingedprincess]

Hi! (Before she can even finish swallowing her treat, there's an eager woman stepping up close to her with a bright smile.)

You're different from the others which means... (Her face lights up even more.)

You're a god, aren't you? I've been trying my hardest to find one ever since I was told I would be found by mine!

(Tana, it's so rude to interrupt a person while they're eating with unwanted conversation, but... it seems like she comes from the type of background where she got away with this behavior before.)

[letteropener]

[Princess Celestia is entirely okay with this interruption, even though she doesn't answer till she's properly finished chewing. Manners are important!]

[But once she swallows down her bite of banana, she favors the girl with a smile.]

While I am a god, that isn't why I'm different. I'm simply a different species. There are shinki, too, who are not human.

[wingedprincess]

(Manners are important. It's a lesson Tana probably should remember sometime in the future...)

Really? There are shinki like yourself?

[letteropener]

No ponies, I'm afraid. [Celestia does an excellent job of keeping both her dismay and her relief at that fact out of her voice.] But I have seen shinki who are decidedly not human.

[wingedprincess]

Ponies... (Is that what she is? Tana believed ponies were smaller, but glances down at her legs just to ensure they aren't short. It doesn't even seem odd to her that she would know to look for visible differences.)

Well, I'm human. (In a softer voice, she adds:) I think?

Though I'd like to meet more ponies.

[letteropener]

As near as I can tell, you're human indeed.

[Celestia is actually a reasonable height for a pony, some fourteen hands high at the shoulders. Other ponies from Equestria tend to be littler, not that that has meaning here.]

I'd be happy to see more ponies here... although, I admit, not as shinki. [She'd prefer to see nopony she knows dead and memoryless.]

[wingedprincess]

Oh... being a shinki is a bad thing? (Tana might not fully comprehend what has happened to her.

After all, she's living and breathing here! It's hard to grasp that you might be deceased when your movements are just as fluid as they once were. She assumes a bit on that: after all, if she can wield a weapon and ride atop flying horses, then she must have been physically fit.)

[letteropener]

It would lead to certain questions. After all, there are many humans here... but a pony shinki would have every reason to believe they should know the one pony god here, which could lead to trouble as they tried to recover memories they ought not to.

[Also, it would be very sad to see one of her subjects dead.]