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

[yousaytron]

Shinki Training
[Well, someone's decided to show up to training days after an extended absence. Mostly, he just seems to be glad to get some borderline practice in after so long without it, and while he's not really going out of his way to teach, Keith can easily be singled out for any questions. He does look like he knows what he's doing with those lines, after all...!]


Physical Training
[Those animated training dummies are practically screaming for use, or at least that's how Keith feels, finding himself being drawn to them in particular. His weapon of choice is one of the practice swords, and he seems to be doing a stellar job of landing blows on the target consistently and avoiding its counterattacks. It's such a natural feeling, fighting like this, it's easy to get caught up in the battle...

Maybe too caught up, as eventually, one of his strikes rips clean through the dummy rather unexpectedly.]

Ah-! [He holds his position steady, as the dummy doesn't really stop its efforts, but the wooden sword sure does keep it from advancing and further.] How do you... turn these things off?

[Because, you know, beating the thing up and causing even more need for repairs seems kind of unnecessary. Heaven should just get better sparring targets, that's all there is to it.]

[usedperishsong]

Well, ain't you just a natural.

[ Kanade has been having an off day. She'd gotten lucky with a borderline during ayakashi chasing earlier, but when she tried it today on a whim, no dice. Here, however, looks like somebody who is having better fortune. Good for him! ]

You'll be able to put yerself in your own little box at this rate.

[yousaytron]

[Oh, small-talk during training! That sure doesn't make practice awkward, but he's in a plenty good enough mood to be a little accommodating with it rather than try and brush her off entirely.]

I don't think anyone is capable of doing quite that much.

[If it's a joke, he did not quite catch that. She could just not know better...!]

[usedperishsong]

Not quite the point, huh....?

[ Kanade chuckles. Everything for the god, and all that...

Well, whatever. She has her own reasons, and that's enough for her. ]

Here, come at me. That's what we're here for, right?

[yousaytron]

[Ah, see, that's more his speed...! He does look her up and down at the invitation, as if to try and assess what she might be capable of. Which isn't really something you can easily tell by looks alone when it comes to borderline ability, but. You know.]

More or less, yeah. You do much of this kind of training yet?

[He's never seen her around before, but he has skipped more than a few training days by now, so telling how new she might be based on that isn't really easy.]

[usedperishsong]

Only the hard way.

[ As in, while being chased. By ayakashi-affected punks. Oh well!

She looks like she could handle herself in a physical situation, and carries herself with a carelessness that might indicate confidence....or sloppiness. ] C'mon, do yer worst.

[yousaytron]

Only if you do your worst in return.

[He may have... some reservations about going all-out in a spar against a stranger whose own level of abilities is a total mystery, but as long as he's careful about it, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Hopefully.

He moves to widen his stance, hopefully a strong enough signal to give her a second or two to prepare for an attack, before he makes a slashing stroke in her direction-]

Line!

[And here comes one speedy borderline, right at you Kanade!]

[usedperishsong]

Wh--

[ She knew it was coming, but that's fast!

Kanade bends backwards to avoid the line, windmilling a little instead of thinking to get her own borderline up in exchange. It nearly grazes her nose.

Since she's this far back, she ends up turning a backflip and crouching. These are some weird reflexes she's got, but she's not gonna worry about why stunts like that come naturally to her. This is exactly what she asked for, so no point in complaining or worrying! ] You've been to a buncha these.

physical training

[kokuyoyo]

You don't.

[Sitting lazily over at the edge of the training grounds, Chikusa watches all of this unfold with a sharpness to his gaze that betrays his otherwise general feeling of apathy. Even if he apparently won't be able to learn this kind of magic for hundreds of years, it's still helpful to watch...]

I think he forgot how to implement that...

[yousaytron]

Ah.

[Well that makes this situation a little. Awkward. Keith exhales, steadying himself before twisting the blade, pulling it out, and striking a blow for the base of the dummy in order to topple it over.]

That's kind of a big oversight, isn't it?

[Unless they're trying to keep someone employed in repairing the things over and over, at least.]

[kokuyoyo]

You would think. Then again... he refused to let me read his notes so....

[who knows, really.]

Just pin them...

[yousaytron]

[Well, that's easy enough, especially with it already on the ground. It feels like a waste to go all-out on an already damaged practice target, and as such, he simply stakes the thing to the ground with the wooden sword, through the hole torn into it earlier.]

What, are you wanting to learn to make some of these things?

[kokuyoyo]

...It apparently takes 100 years... to learn that kind of magic.

[Chikusa always speaks in a particularly slow manner, but this time around seems particularly sulky.]

[yousaytron]

[So he does want to learn.]

I guess you've got nothing but time up here.

[It's not like gods or shinki really get old and die off without something more extreme happening to them, right?]

[kokuyoyo]

...Unless I disappear.

[Sorry, optimism what]

Physical training

[needsteaplz]

As far as I know, they don't have an off switch.

[A loud smack of a wooden practice sword went off as the dummy in front of Saori staggered back. The woman was far from done, as she gave it a swift kick to its chest to send it flying further. Finally, she could give Keith her undivided attention.]

You got some pretty sharp moves there.

[yousaytron]

[No switch, but he'd sure expect there to be some kind of easy way to get them to stop.

But that just means he'll have to figure out a less-than-easy way, and once he's steadied his stance, he roughly yanks the sword out of the dummy, pulling it closer in the same motion. Bringing the sword up and holding it horizontally, he strikes high on the dummy with the broad side of the weapon, throwing it wholly off balance and toppling it back.]

You're not too bad yourself.

[needsteaplz]

Ooh, nice one, Keith. Now then, let me give something else a try.

[She even gives Keith a thumbs up. Saori was rather glad when she found out there was another shinki at Futaba's temple. This seemed like a good chance to know the young man better. Well, if they weren't being interrupted by persistent dummies. The redhead noticed her sparring dummy slowly getting up.

She pulls out a metal flask from her side. The cap pops off and smoke bursts out from the opening. The thin white whisps gathered into thicker plumes around Saori's hand forming into a katana. The smoke still swirls around as if it's trapped within a sword-shaped glass. With her opponent rushing in, Saori went into a low stance and strikes its stomach. The dummy slumps down to the ground.]

Hmm, these dummies aren't too bad but aren't ayakashi much bigger than them?

[yousaytron]

[It's not the first time a go he's with has taken up another shinki, so finding out about Saori was no big issue. Getting a chance to actually get to know each other a little definitely has its perks, and getting to see what she might be capable of in a fight before any serious threat is present is even better.

Smoke, though...? That sure is unexpected. His own training dummy subdued for the moment, he takes the opportunity to watch her carefully. It's not the first weird power he's seen here, but that doesn't make it any less fascinating.]

Depends. Sometimes they're colossal, sometimes they're much, much smaller. [And here, he gives a small gesture toward the swirling smoke sword.] Can you do other stuff like that?

physical training

[revolutionfalcon]

[There's something familiar about that voice, though it takes Shun until he's already speared through the dummy's head with a wooden naginata and is dangling the flailing upper half from it with a remarkably impassive look before he identifies it.]

They don't take a hint well. [Turning his attention to Keith, Shun looks him up and down rather sharply. Other than lacking the coat he was wearing last time he encountered Keith, Shun looks pretty much the same.] You've got a perfectly good way of tearing it apart right there. Unless you want to try and bring that cat of yours in.

[Though he doubts it would fit through the door.]

[yousaytron]

[Keith at least has the advantage of having seen this guy up close while in the cockpit of the lion - Shun jumping up onto the robot's snout was good for that, if nothing else. When he notices he's being spoken to, he takes a moment to register that, yeah, he definitely remembers where he's seen him before.

With a quick sweep of his leg, his dummy ends up upended, allowing him to pin it in place with the wooden sword. Easier to make a little conversation without having to worry about fending it off, after all.]

Can't always count on being attacked while I'm in Red. I'd rather stay in good enough shape to fight like this if I need to.

[Also siccing a giant mechanical cat on a training dummy makes for an unbelievably unfair fight.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun can see his point there, at least, and hums in faint agreement.] I'm guessing you didn't bring that thing here when you arrived.

[Some people do seem to bring weapons with them, but he's fairly sure he's never seen anything quite that big tag along with someone. And considering part of his duel disk's functionality was disabled, he's kind of surprised it came through intact even if it did arrive later.]

Is a sword your normal weapon other than the robot? [Shun only started learning sword here, but he's been learning it for most of his time here and been very dedicated about his study and facing a variety of opponents, so he's been improving quickly. He's no expert, but he feels it's no longer more of a risk to try and go sword-to-sword with someone than just trying to go fist-to-sword out of being much better at hand-to-hand.]

[yousaytron]

Nah, it and another one like it just showed up at my last god's place a while back.

[Bringing in such a big tag-along sure would have caused quite a ruckus, that's for sure. It's still kind of a mystery how something so big would have just... popped into existence, but it's been invaluable so far so he can't really bring himself to question it too much.

As for the sword question,] I think so. [It's mostly an assumption, but a fairly confident one.] Feels natural, you know?

[revolutionfalcon]

[That piques Shun's interest, but if this guy is a shinki, suggesting that they came from the same world isn't a good idea, even if it might seem obvious. It's not a train of conversation he ever feels comfortable leading a shinki down.

He can, however, relate to the weapon feeling natural, and he nods a little.] I've heard a lot of shinki say that. It's as good a way as any to figure it out.

[And the only way they have at hand, usually. As the half a straw dummy tries to flail its arms at him again, Shun spins the polearm and plants the blade (and dummy) against the ground.]

Didn't get your name last time. [He likes to know who he's dealing with.]

[yousaytron]

[His own natural curiosity about himself and his origins is only being held back so far by better judgement, so the consideration to not chase where he may have come from would absolutely be appreciated.

Keeping his own dummy soundly pinned to the ground, Keith pays close attention to the way Shun works. The situation was a little too tense to really appreciate his combat skills much during their last encounter, but he really does look like he knows what he's doing with that weapon.]

I don't think I got yours, either. [Not that there was much room for it, but, you know.] It's Keith.