thenearshore | February Training

February Training

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

the basics of proper god behavior

Shinki Training

informational pamphlets

borderline

Physical Training

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~

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[Ginia's lips tick upward at the comment as she draws her gun again. She fires two quick shots past him, halting the training dummy beginning to advance on him.]

we should move

[Or stay and fight as the dummies begin to regroup. Your call.]

[ Okay, that makes him freeze as two shots fly past him. Caster turns around to see the dummies, shot right in the heads. He lets a whistle of appreciation for the good shot and starts moving ]

Sure-- Wanna some help with training?

[ He offers while being not helpful at all. Because his idea of helping with training is making it harder for the poor souls.

Without waiting for answers he throws few small stones in the direction of dummies not yet activated by anyone's proximity. Only now they start to come to life- ]

Go get them!

[She's not a guard dog; not yours at least. But a bit of a smile crosses her face as she slips her phone into her pocket and springs into action. Mindful of how much ammo is left in her paintball gun, she slows down the closest dummy with a shot to the chest. She dodges the next one as it swings at her, grabbing its arm and using its own momentum to throw it forward, driving her knee hard into the limb as it falls forward.

As she releases the arm, she dives at the next dummy, drawing her knife and slashing in the same motion. She's fast and brutal with each strike, bits of fabric and straw lining the ground as the dummies lay stunned. Barely sweating, she looks back at him.]

[ And Caster is that kind of dick that just watches from the sidelines, but he's nevertheless impressed. He can tell a warrior when he sees one. It does pique his curiosity- who is she? A god, a shinki, someone he hadn't met, or a new arrival. ]

Looks like they won't offer you much of a challenge. [ Have a slow clap, and while his tone holds that joking lilt, the praise is honest ]

At this point a live opponent is much better.

[Three of the four options are correct. Ginia bows her head slightly at the praise as she walks back, studying him. Easy on the eyes, tall, a frame with a good build, fast given his earlier reflexes. He's not the first person to pick a fight, but this one feels like it might be a bit more physical.

She stops several feet away, legs braced to spring away, arms relaxed at her side, but hand gripping the wood knife and other hand twitching for her gun. Projectiles and a staff. She could get the first shot off and start the fight...

but she's more curious what he does next. Bring it.]

Edited 2018-02-20 20:32 (UTC)

[ Oh no, he knows that stare. That’s stare of someone who is assessing how to beat him up. Wow, don’t cut the line, lady, there are a lot of other people waiting before you after his recent stunt. ]

What a stare- Aren’t you moving too quickly? [ The wink and teasing comment could be taken as flirty if not for the situation they are in- ie training. ]

Believe it or not, I wasn’t talking about myself [ Oh really ] But hey, if that’s what you're up to- care to give me your name first?

[ An incredibly short range with the knife, and incredibly long range with a gun. Can he carve himself a niche for the middle-range? ]

[Flirty or not, all the comment earns is a light shrug and a light cock of her head. At the request for her name, she shakes her head and gestures at him. She can split her attention easily enough between her phone and him, but why take the chance? You want a name, you give it first.]

[ Ah yes, he could attack her when she introduces herself. Didn't cross his mind, they're not in the win or die situation, and then honor is important- albeit his honor is a bit different, for example throwing sand into enemy's eyes is a legit tactic ]

Cú Chulainn- [ That's his god-name, sure, but not only ] but people around here call me Caster.

[ Yeah, that never gets old. ]

Your turn.

[Throwing sand is a perfectly legit tactic, don't know what anyone else is complaining about. Honor doesn't matter if you don't come out of a fight alive.

Cú Chulainn. Caster. Ginia gives a slight bow of her head. Her hand twitches before she pulls out her phone. Good old technology communicating for her.]

I'm a shinki. My identity doesn't matter.

[ Isn't that your identity, sort of. At least a role, and duty ]

Are you telling me you don't have a name to give?

[ Is this the moment he comes up with a nickname for her? Or gets insulted that she thinks giving a name in exchange is below her? Fortunately, he doesn't really get insulted by such things. ]

It's not a name that matters.

[To no one but her god at least. She's a shinki, another tool. Why people want to know her name is beyond her.]

Quite on the contrary, it's everything that matters.

[ Oh don't get him started on names and how important they are. Shinki are literal personification of that. ]

How so?

[She shifts a little on her feet. She's not being deliberately difficult, it's just personhood isn't a part of her known existence. A tool in a forgotten life, a tool in death.]

Edited 2018-02-21 21:36 (UTC)

[ Being a tool isn't that bad if someone asked him. It all depends in what hands you fall into- and unfortunately, that depends on your luck ]

A name is what defines us here, gods and shinki alike- just in different ways. Fortunately, even if you really lost your name- [ it is a possibility ] -you can still cherish the one you receive from your God.

[Ginia's hand briefly flutters up to rest over her heart before it drops down. All right. He makes a fair point.]

Spar with me. I'll give you my name after.

Edited 2018-02-23 18:57 (UTC)

You cheat me out of my name, and now you make demands? [ Caster can't help but laugh at that. Well played girl, well played girl. ] How cheeky!

[ And that's when he disappears, mid-chuckle. When he appears it's right behind Ginia, staff in his hand, ready to strike- ]

I'm game![ He says, which loses him the most of surprise- but instead of using the weapon he aims a kick aimed at her stomach. Of course, he's not going all out, it's a spar after all, but should she take the kick, the force might make her fly. ]

[There's barely time to blink at his disappearance and his sudden reappearance behind her. She turns and takes a leap back to put distance between them, hands raised defensively high and low. She catches his kick in a blow, but the force is far more than she anticipated.

As she tumbles through the air, the briefest thought that maybe she shouldn't have picked this fight crosses her mind. But in it already, she gets her feet back under and finds her footing. Trading gun for knife, she fires off a few shots at him while she has the benefit of space, hand slashing through the air and sending a borderline at him behind the balls of paint.]

[ With a swirl of the staff, he destroys the incoming shots almost effortlessly. It also splatters the paint everywhere and now to the blue, red and green splashes are visible both on him and on his weapon, but-ah well, this can be taken care of later. ]

Keeping your distance, good, good- [ Ah, yes, those perky long range opponents. Well, he's more suited to do the same in this class, but he's not going to be firing flames in a spar.

Caster does not notice the incoming borderline until it's too late though, and he can't just divert its trajectory. He dodges, barely, cut fragments of fur from the hood, tiny shred of the coat and perhaps even some hair floating where he just was. ]

Clever. [ His grin turns wolfish, and he moves forward quickly to close the distance between them, he's aiming low at her ankles, a sweeping strike to throw her off her feet. ]

[It's an interesting thing to know borderlines can work against gods to some degree. Ginia can understand why the information is left out of the introductory pamphlet, but the knowledge bolsters her mood and in turn, her borderlines. She throws more lines at him as he approaches, some straight on, some at an angle, but as he closes the distance on her, she takes a page out of her earlier impromptu training session with Chikusa.

The next borderline she casts isn't an attack, but a barrier directly in front of him. Maybe he'll crash into it, maybe he won't, but Ginia's on the move again. More lines for attacking, more for walls pop up almost chaotically, a jagged maze left in her wake to slow him down so she can take a few more shots at him with her paintball gun.]

[ SO BORDERLINES WORK AGAINST GODS, why no one has ever told him that? Now, that's an interesting spin. He jumps over, ducks under, and dodges the lines as they approach- but that does make him keep the distance. The closer he is the shorter the window to dodge after all

And faced with a surprise and unknown he does exactly what he always does in situations like these. Cuts it short as soon as possible.

This time by taking advantage again of that useful skill unique to the gods- he teleports right before her. The distance is just enough for her to stop at the right moment before hitting the top of the staff pointed in her direction. She's fast, and got good reflexes, yeah she got it, he's certain she won't run right into it. ]

Nice moves, I never saw borderlines used like that.

[Ginia catches herself as he teleports in front of her again, throwing up a barrier between them. As much as she hates to admit it, the constant use of borderlines is draining. It's a strange feeling of tiredness she hasn't felt before, a shortness of breath, a bit of heaviness in her limbs. Leaving the final one up, the other smaller barriers dispell, freeing up the space and cutting off the energy expenditure.

She regards him silently, warily, but takes out her phone and types and plays a message.]

Someone earlier fought me with borderlines. I learned some tricks from him.

[There's a small pause before she adds on:]

I still need to improve.

[ Caster pokes at the barrier- it's tempting to try and break it, but perhaps some other time. That's enough for being a jerkass for now, possibly. The fierce intensity of battle fizzles out as quickly as it flared up. ]

It comes with time. [ And practice, but that's given. But then he changes topic suddenly ] Hey Spunky, think you can indulge me? there's nice place nearby when they're giving out drinks.

[ Unlike her, he's not having any sign of tiredness- they could go with this training for much longer, but first meeting might not be the best time to push the boundaries past the limit ]

[Wait, what? Ginia blinks at the sudden offer for drinks, unsure how to respond. Getting something to drink does sound good after a good day of training, but... huh? What? She falters, trying to suss out any trickery behind his words. It's also for that reason, she stays behind her barrier.]

I'm still waiting for my god.

[And she should stay on the grounds until her god finds her. Right? Caster, help her out here.]

((ooc: To anyone following along, it's been brought to my attention Borderlines Do Not Work That Way. Oops. My apologies! Instead of deleting and rewriting tags, we're handwaving things and assuming the borderlines work as they should. Apologies again for the mistake and any confusion. We now resume the regularly scheduled drama.))

Ah, I see, then it can't be helped. Shame. [ And that's how you miss the street festival ]

Some other time, maybe? [ She still didn't tell him her name, and he will Remember That. ]

[She hesitates. There's weight in an agreement to meet again. It's a promise, and they feel dangerous. But...

She already made a promise earlier, did she not? The barrier disappears between them. If there's a time to strike, it would be now and she knows it. Instead of playing the message, she holds out her phone for him to read.]

My name is Ginia.

If my god permits me, then yes.

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futhark - 2018-02-26 22:30 (UTC) - Expand

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