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

B

[nopixiedust]

It's called "a break".

[It's probably no surprise that Wendy is also here, and she offers up a piece of her chicken-on-a-stick to him.]

Besides, they probably thought it would be an easy way for them to not have to worry about cooking and food preparation and all that sort of work.

[revolutionfalcon]

[While Shun doesn't outright reject the offer for his normal reasons, he does give her a sidelong look and not actually take the chicken.]

I don't eat in the middle of training. [It's generally a bad idea, and why he tends to stick to water on training days.] They shouldn't be making as much as they normally do for those things anyway. All anyone needs is a drink and maybe fruit.

[nopixiedust]

Oh, you're not actually done. [Shaking her head, at least Wendy stops offering the chicken.]

Anyway, it's rich people hospitality. Besides.... They might not know how many people will actually show up, both those of us who've been here a while and new faces. I mean... probably.

[revolutionfalcon]

I was just trying to figure out where the hell they kept herding people to. [It was a hard thing not to notice, considering how regularly people were disappearing with the white-robed shinki.

Shun looks a bit dismissive at the idea of "rich people hospitality".] They should be doing it some other time, then. Not while people are going to be busy elsewhere.

[nopixiedust]

...Hey, Shun, how did you react when you first got here?

[revolutionfalcon]

I got dropped into the middle of dealing with an ayakashi infestation at a school, so I had to figure things out on the move after I talked to one of Amaterasu's shinki. I was focused on the problem.

[In part so he could have the space to figure things out once said problem was solved, but still.]

[nopixiedust]

I feel a little more thankful for that beach party now... [It had just been confusing, not life threatening.] Did you like having to do that? Figuring things out while fighting?

[revolutionfalcon]

"Like" is a strong word, but thinking on my feet is something I'm more used to than a lot of other people seem to be. So I didn't have a problem with it.

[It had seemed like a sign of incompetence to him, funneling people straight off to help with this problem, but that had been a lesser concern at the time.]

[nopixiedust]

....then let me put it this way. Would you have preferred to have had some time to yourself to take in everything?

[revolutionfalcon]

It doesn't make a difference to me, but I pick things up better by doing them than thinking about them.

[So being thrown right into the fire worked out about as well as it could have for someone like him.]

[nopixiedust]

Yeah, you would be...

[Utterly typical.]

But other people need some room to breathe and get their thoughts together. They get overwhelmed.

[revolutionfalcon]

There's still plenty of space around Bishamon's temple to do that sort of thing if they don't want to go straight into training.

[He does understand it, sort of, but he still doesn't really think it factors into excusing this. Then again, there's the fact that he thinks diverting newcomers to a street festival needs to be excused at all.]

[nopixiedust]

That's not the same, and you know it.

[Is she going to have to teach him about this, too...]

[revolutionfalcon]

If you're talking about space to think, a crowded, noisy thing like a street festival isn't going to give them that either.

[Some people would probably enjoy it, but considering she's been going down the space to think line of argument for a while now, he figures picking on that makes more sense.]

[nopixiedust]

You think so? [She taps the tip of her skewer against her mouth thoughtfully.] Even if it was annoying, when I arrived at the beach party, it wasn't too bad, because everyone seemed to be happy, and doing regular things.

It was dumb, but it wasn't scary.

[revolutionfalcon]

"Not being too bad" isn't the same thing as having space to think. That's not an easy thing to do when you're surrounded by people, whether they seem happy or not.

[Then again, he's the kind of person who just about can't think more than instinctively if he's in a larger crowd, because it's hard to focus just on one thing then.]

[nopixiedust]

Mmmm... [Finally, she shrugs.] Well, whatever. You're just a different kind of person.

So you're not going to stay much longer, then?

[revolutionfalcon]

That's a stupid way to put it. [Everyone's a "different kind of person", so as far as he's concerned, he's certainly not the only one who wouldn't feel comfortable trying to think in that kind of situation.

As for the question, he nods slightly.] I mostly just came to figure out where the hell they kept leading people off to. Hanging around is just a waste of time.

[nopixiedust]

I guess. Vultures probably only eat rotting meat, huh, so you can't give them food from here.

[Hey, it never hurts to care about the local watch birds.]

[revolutionfalcon]

They'll eat other kinds of meat, but I'd need a ridiculous amount of anything from here to feed all of them. [This is why he usually just tosses them some amount of carcass he got from a butcher. It's easier.]

[nopixiedust]

You don't think it could just count as a treat? That would take down on the amount you would need a little bit.

[revolutionfalcon]

There's still around two dozen of them. [It might reduce the amount a little bit, but feeding that many animals is a significant undertaking regardless of how little each of them might be getting.]

[nopixiedust]

So is the problem the price of getting all that meat, or carrying it...?

[revolutionfalcon]

Carrying it. Too many of my followers like giving money offerings. [Add a job on top, and he's almost got more money than he knows what to do with despite buying food for five people and twenty-some vultures. It helps that he doesn't have to buy anything else but food, and also doesn't tend to go for frivolities.]

[nopixiedust]

[Cheerfully, she raises one hand.]

I'll help! I've already finished the kinds of things that I want to do today, so I have time to help carry some meat around.

[Maybe that will endear her to the vultures, too.... To make up for how much they hate Hibiki.]