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

A

[blizzardrock]

That's an interesting way of displaying it.

[Fubuki lightly touches the ribbon, before stuffing his hands back into his pockets.]

[His gaze moves to the borderline.] How can you tell?

[artificialrose]

Hm? [Garry looks up from where he's been focused on his borderline, snapped out of his train of thought.] Oh, well... It feels a little different.

Perhaps that's just me wanting to be optimistic, of course.

[blizzardrock]

I think it is possible to tell, though. [But Fubuki’s been doing it weird the entire time, so maybe he isn’t the best person to be saying so.]

[He glances over.] You were kind of out of it when I came over, though. What would you have done if I were an enemy?

[artificialrose]

Scream like a child, probably.

[...It's half a joke. and also half true.]

Still, I think practicing here and being out against real enemies is a little different. I can take my time and get lost in my thoughts without worrying here, right?

[blizzardrock]

...Heh. That's quite honest. You shouldn't expose your weaknesses like that, you know?

[He looks at the fake ayakashi.]

I know people who would say otherwise. [He sends a cutting line at it, scratching it slightly.]

What thoughts were you getting lost in?

[artificialrose]

I... suppose? [That kind of thinking sure is along the more cautious sort, and Garry has to blink a few times to take it in. On one hand, true, but also should he be worried if people in Heaven know weaknesses he's not exactly great at hiding anyway?]

[Shaking his head, Garry focuses back on the conversation at hand.]

I suppose mostly what I can do for my god, as a shinki. I mean, there are some things that are beyond us, aren't there?

[blizzardrock]

[His smile is a little faint.] Whoever takes in the measure of their opponent first has an advantage. [And while suspecting fellow, ah...co-workers is a bit paranoid, he was attacked by a then-shinki, once, early on, and he supposes he never got over it. And that's not even taking possible murderers among them into account.]

[But then he chuckles.] There's a lot that's beyond us! [As shinki. As human beings.] What's important is what your god expects of you, I think. Did he say anything?

[artificialrose]

I'd rather not fight you. Or anyone else here. [A beat.] Besides Niles, and only sometimes.

[So he's just putting that on the table.]

And... it's not really something that he's expecting of me. [Glancing away, Garry rubs the back of his neck and lightly curls his fingers into the hair there.] It's more... something that I want to be able to do for him.

[blizzardrock]

Sometimes you won't have a choice, you know? [A laugh.] Not that I'm saying you have anything to fear from me.

But it must be someone who really angers you, to make you break your conviction like that.

[At the talk of gods and expectations, Fubuki looks away, himself.] ...It's better if you tell him you're doing it first, I think. There might be misunderstandings.

[artificialrose]

Ah.... [Garry sighs, a little awkward.] He did really get on my nerves, but it's hard to be too angry now.....

[With the conversation they had, and all that.]

[Still, Fubuki's next bit of advice has him blink back to him.]

I... suppose so. Are you thinking of something in particular when you say that?

[blizzardrock]

That might make you a little too forgiving. [Not that he knows what their argument was about, but someone you bother to make a special fight exception for is someone you...well, make a special exception for.]

[He glances back at the question.]

...I might be. Misunderstandings aren’t...pleasant. ...And everyone has a different idea of what a good shinki is.

[artificialrose]

Maybe.... It's probably too soon to really tell. [Sighing, he shakes his head, hair flopping back and forth against a kanji-marked cheek.] Still... I don't think I have the energy for holding onto grudges for too long.

And besides... Just getting angrier, or hating people for so long... It doesn't always solve things. So...

[Maybe that's not the best view, still, but...]

I suppose that's true... He's seemed alright with me just acting like I've been acting, but, I guess you never know until you ask, huh?

[blizzardrock]

[He can agree with that, but...] It’s not good for you to let people get away with it, either. [Forgiveness is one thing, a good thing, but there's a limit.]

[He goes over to a nearby bush and lifts its branches to reveal another “ayakashi.”]

...Make him say it clearly.

[artificialrose]

I know.... [It's too easy to see other people's side of things, or feel their emotions. That's his problem. Pressing his shoe down to keep a branch away from the ayakashi, he sighs.]

Clearly, huh?

[blizzardrock]

Yeah. Clearly. Otherwise you'll get hurt.

[He regards the fake ayakashi a second more, and then looks back up with a half-smile.]

...How many more of these until your next ribbon?

[artificialrose]

I'd worry more about the other party than myself....

[It's something that would go two ways, wouldn't it? Still, he draws his attention back to the ayakashi.]

Oh- just one more with this, I think.

[blizzardrock]

[A light chuckles bubbles out of him as he continues ahead.] That's what makes you too forgiving.

...You can give all you have, and still have it not be enough. I'm...tired of it.

[After a few steps, he stops, and looks up.] ...Have you noticed that one yet?

[The one in the crook of a nearby tree.]

[artificialrose]

Then it's a matter of knowing your limits, I think.

[Still, he's worried now, and he's a little distant from the task of what they're currently doing, so he looks up with a surprised blink when Fubuki points the next one out.]

Oh, no- Hold on. [Let him just get that down...] ...Are you alright?

[blizzardrock]

[He remains staring up at the tree.]

...I don't think I am.

[He lifts a hand, almost covering his eyes.] I know my limits. [It's not that part...that was the issue.]

Garry...you're reasonably sure that your god respects you, right?

[artificialrose]

[....Well, shit. Garry moves a little bit closer, keeping his eye on Fubuki just in case. He doesn't want to be too invasive, but...]

Yes... I'm sure.

[He has a feeling he shouldn't push too much on this.... Hopefully Fubuki will tell him the story on his own, although Garry is a little worried where it's leading.]

[blizzardrock]

That's good...

[He continues walking.]

...I just... I don't have anything left to give. [His morals, his values, his convictions...he's given them all up. All he has left is his name, and even that gets overwritten by the name that marks him a vessel. And yet it apparently still wasn't enough. He's...tired.]

...Being a good shinki. Make sure you know how your god defines that, too.

[artificialrose]

[Gently, he reaches over to lightly touch Fubuki's hand before he thinks to do otherwise. When he realizes what he's done, he retracts it, but... only a little bit.]

...Then maybe you can just stop for a while. It's.... alright to take time for yourself.

[blizzardrock]

[He twitches, but doesn't...pull away.]

[He exhales audibly.]

I—

[He kind of has been, getting up in the middle of the night and training until he hits the warning sign that he's getting too uncomfortable, and then kind of...spacing out until he gets exhausted enough to go back to bed. ...But that's probably not what Garry means.]

Shinki don't get vacation days, you know? [...Which...is also probably not what Garry means... But ever since his first memory of Fujiwara Yusuke, he hasn't been able to bear the thought of anything happening to his god, and it's only gotten worse over time.]

[He finally turns to look at Garry. Looks at him for a long moment, and then finally looks away again.] Thank you...

[artificialrose]

[That's it. As he turns to look at him, Garry reaches forward to lay his hands onto his shoulders. He's careful about it, slow, keeping an eye out that he may be overstepping his boundaries... but he'll do it if he's not stopped, just so that he can make sure that Fubuki's eyes meet his.]

Of course you do. We all need breaks, no matter what we are or what we're doing.

If we don't take breaks, we wear ourselves out... We run out of ourselves. It's like you just said, isn't it?

[blizzardrock]

[He lifts his hands to Garry’s, taking them off his shoulders and holding them instead.]

[Part of him wants to believe in what Garry’s saying. It makes perfect sense. But part of him just...can't. Turn your attention away for a single moment, and someone gets hurt.]

[...People get hurt even when he is paying attention. Even when he's right there next to them.]

...Alright. On one condition. [His grip on Garry's hand tighten.] You can't disappear, either. You can't lose yourself. ...Promise me.