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

[unlucky7]

[Ginia watches from the side of the pond, bewildered and entranced by the sight. Giant floating book, stack of minions, it's definitely... something. Entertaining? That seems right.

Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Ginia pulls up the camera and snaps a few photos of the scene.]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[What the --]

HEY! Assemble for good PR!

[Like a wave -- maybe not even as an analogy, with the amount of water that surged out of the pond with them -- the minions crashed up into a formation next to Zetta, forming ranks like they were posing for a team photo. Which really, they were.]

I do give out autographs.

[unlucky7]

[Oh, that's-- huh. Okay. Ginia's head tilts just a little as they pose, but she snaps off a few more pictures.

And with that done, she waves and gives a small bob of her head before turning to leave. That was...cute.]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

What the -- hey! That's it?! No interview? No autographs?

..seriously, not even a question about why a book is talking? Because that would be a first.

[Of Zetta's many weaknesses, his pride might be the greatest of all. An ego his size makes for one massive target.]

[unlucky7]

[Ginia stops and looks over her shoulder as the book yells at her. She begins to type on her phone as she walks back, holding a message up for him to read.]

Are you not a shinki in vessel form?

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[Zetta is an idiot, it's true -- but even an idiot can guess that she's texting out her words because she can't or won't talk. So no comedy of errors in which he indignantly interrogates her as to why she just doesn't ask ensues.]

[Though he IS indignant.] Ugh, that question again! No, I'm not a shinki! I'm a freaking Overlord! Ignore the book thing -- that's just a setback!

[unlucky7]

[Her mistake then. Ginia offers a small bow of her head in apology. If he isn't a shinki, then a level of respect is automatically afforded.]

What do you lord over, overlord?

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[...Respect and a somewhat legitimate question? Zetta leans back in midair slightly, looking down at the woman with skepticism and concern. No one thus far had treated him with any of that! Was this some kind of trick?!]

'Overlord' is a definite title. It means I'm the ruler of a Netherworld.

[unlucky7]

[Ginia cursors over 'overlord' and replaces the first 'o' with a capital letter. Better?]

"A netherworld (N?)". Are there multiples each with their own Overlord? Are you not a god?

[Information is information, and if someone is willing to give it, she's willing to listen.]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[Welp. Zetta resigns himself to giving her the lecture. She's lucky she's hot.]

In the entire cosmos, there are countless universes -- thousands, millions, I don't even know. In every universe, there's a Netherworld, the realm of demons and evil, and each one is ruled by an Overlord, who's claimed his position by force and the strength to hold it. As for whether we're gods? Some Overlords claim that at one of their titles. Me, though, I'm so far above gods that being called one is frankly an insult.

[unlucky7]

[Ginia listens to his explanation, expression unchanging, but her back straightens a bit more and she stiffens slightly. It's not so much he's evil (by his own proclamation of being an Overlord) because what is evil and what is good?

But when someone tells you they're evil, you keep an eye on them until you know what evil means to them.]

If you're above gods, what are you doing here?

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Same as everyone else... who the hell knows? [The Overlord loses a little bit of his arrogance in that, the top of the book slumping over slightly.] Got sucked here in a moment of weakness, so I'm stuck with it.

[unlucky7]

["We're here to serve our gods" are the words that come to mind, but that's the reason for shinki, not anyone else. Her fingers tap her phone as she looks at him slump. It's an oddly sad sight.]

Do you have a shinki to help you?

[badassfreakingoverlord]

I had a nameless one for a while. [And he's supposed to have another one around here somewhere, but as of yet, no luck.]

[Though Zetta straightens up at the thought.] But I don't need one! I'm the most badass freaking Overlord in the entire cosmos!

[unlucky7]

[Of course. Ginia smiles politely, maybe humoring him just a little, but not patronizing him. The matters of another god/Overlord don't matter to her until they do.]

Does the most badass freaking Overlord in the entire cosmos have a name?

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[Ah, that's the sort of expression he expects from people around here. They'll all recognize their mistakes when he regained his body...]

The name's Zetta. You're a shinki, right?

[unlucky7]

[Zetta. Good to know. Ginia nods, but doesn't offer any more information beyond that.]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Good. I'm sick of every god that wanders through here thinking that just because they've never heard of me, I'm really a nobody. Shinki are a lot more tolerable.

[unlucky7]

Because we're supposed to be subservient and loyal?

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[Zetta scoffs. NO one around here is subservient. It's ridiculous.] No, because you don't REMEMBER whether or not you know my name, so the argument never even comes up!

[unlucky7]

[Okay, fair enough. Though that brings up a question of her own:]

The whole memory loss thing, that's normal, right?

[It was what the shinki helping out said. That it was normal, nothing to worry about, there was no need to fear, but Ginia wanted to hear an answer from someone not obligated to be nice.]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

For shinki, yes. You remember your name, ahem, and... not much else, the way I hear it. [What an insult that would have been? For the strongest Overlord in the cosmos to remember nothing.]

[unlucky7]

Thank you.

[She signs the two words out of some instinctual habit, considering after the fact Zetta probably doesn't know sign language. Or maybe he does, who knows. But it's another confirmation from what she's been hearing all morning and she's thankful for that.

Even if the idea bothers her a little. It's a strange thing being a whole person with a blank slate of a past. But no sense dwelling on it.

Her next response comes from her phone.]

How does a shinki know when they've found their god?

((ooc: There's a line earlier that implies Ginia already talked to her god. My timeline was off so that line is now struck from canon.))

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[Zetta knows... OF sign language. Without hands, he isn't exactly in a screaming hurry to learn it either.]

The god knows you. We get visions and stuff like that. So your god ought to track you down around here. [As reliable as THAT was.]

[unlucky7]

[Then he's definitely not her god. Or he's really bad on the uptake. Mostly, Ginia feels a bit of relief and slight disappointment. Maybe it's best not having to serve an evil Overlord. On the other hand, it still means she hasn't found her god.

She sighs, shoulders slumping slightly.]

Thanks for the information. I should get back to training.