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 centers herself in the cloud seated cross-legged, letting her fingers dig in. It's akin to squeezing a firm mattress covered by a cotton-y cover. How interesting.

And then she's in the air, high above, and thank all the gods in the Far Shore Ginia has no fear of heights or falling. Her breath catches in a gasp as she stares around at the view. The dancers below, the wider sprawl of the festival, the surrounding area, everything is small, but connected and part of a much bigger picture. For the second time that day, tears spring to her eyes, but it's different this time because her smile is real.

It's beautiful. Everything is so beautiful.]

[letteropener]

Enjoying the view?

[Celestia's sidelong glance and knowing smile prove she has an inkling of what might be going through Ginia's head. She wasn't born yesterday, after all. This may be a lot of effort to try to bring some joy to a wayward shinki, but she regrets none of it. It's utterly worth it.]

[unlucky7]

[Ginia wipes at her eyes as she nods, carefully pulling her phone back out.]

I get it now. [Her phone says as Ginia stops to look out at the scenery again.] What we're here to protect. I want the people below to be happy.

[letteropener]

That is a very good reason. [And a heartwarming one, but also a dangerous one. One can, after all, give too much of oneself in the service of others, and Ginia seems... Well, Celestia has the impression that she does not have a terribly strong sense of self, and that being a shinki has diminished that further. Something to note and be careful of.] The world is a very wonderful place... and everypony deserves the chance to be happy.

[unlucky7]

[There's no disagreeing with that statement, though whether Ginia realizes she's a part of the world and deserves happiness too remains to be seen.]

Are there festivals like this in Equestria?

[letteropener]

[As Celestia is very well aware of. She'll work on that.]

[One hoof goes to her chin as she contemplates.] Well, I would say this festival has a strong cultural element to it that Equestria does not usually possess, but at its basic, a gathering with entertainment and good food? Absolutely.

[unlucky7]

What kind of things do festivals in Equestria celebrate? What kind of food is there?

[letteropener]

We ponies are herbivores, so we rely heavily on baked goods, grains, cheeses, sauces and marinades, and so forth. Fruit is incredibly popular in Equestria as well -- we have some of the finest orchards and farms in the world. And we have a number of holidays as well, many of them not unlike human ones, from what I've read.

[unlucky7]

What are holidays like? What do you celebrate?

[There's the vaguest understanding of what a holiday is, but all specifics and certainly all associated memories are gone. So let the wayward shinki live vicariously through your memories.]

What's your favorite one?

[letteropener]

Hearth's Warming. [The answer isn't immediate, but it certainly comes quickly.] That's the celebration of the founding of Equestria, so I have a certain particular fondness for it. And seeing the annual pageant always brings back so many fond memories.

[unlucky7]

[There is a beginning to all things. The dancing, the festival, it all began from some point of meaning. Even herself. Ginia stares at her hands, wondering vaguely where her story began to take her to this place, but not inclined to think anymore. She's dead, a past forgotten and gone. Best to think of the present, start a new story.

But if there are other stories to be told, she's interested.]

If you don't mind sharing, how was Equestria founded?

[letteropener]

[Well, she just had to ask!]

A very long time ago, ponykind was not united as it was today. The earth ponies worked long and hard to tend the crops, while the pegasi and the unicorns constantly tried to take more away from them, claiming they were owed it for their work in maintaining the weather and the seasons. All of them were at odds with each other, and so when one day a great blizzard fell across the land, each of them blamed the other. And each of their leaders, along with a trusted second, set out to find a new and unfrozen land to call their own.

[unlucky7]

[She sure did. Since Ginia asked for the story/impromptu history lesson, she settles into it, carefully stretching her out legs and leaning on her hands, cellphone safe on her lap.

She keeps her comments to herself, not wanting to interrupt Celestia, but the bickering strikes her as silly. Growing crops, maintaining the weather and seasons, the three parts all work together with no part greater than the other.

Ah. That was probably the point.]

[letteropener]

As you may have guessed, the six ponies found the same place -- and the leaders began to fight over it. Even as the blizzard raced after them, chasing them into a cave for shelter, they squabbled and bickered, none willing to yield to the others.

The three leaders froze there. For they did not realize that the storm had a source: the windigos, who fed off their discord and antipathy, and brought a literal freeze to the world just as the hearts within it were frozen and barren.

At that moment, when all seemed loss and ponykind was to be doomed to eternal ice, their three companions, their loyal seconds, admitted to each other that, as it turned out, they didn't hate each other. In fact, they had common cause in how frustrated they were with their leaders, who had behaved so poorly all this while.

In that moment, when common cause because a connection between them, the three ponies discovered the Fire of Friendship. That was the key to repelling the windigos, who fled when faced with something so opposed to their very essence. When the leaders thawed out, they found themselves somewhat more open to cooperation, and taking the lesson to heart, ponykind joined as one to found the nation of Equestria.

[Celestia blinks once at the end of that recitation, then smiles ruefully.]

The pageant tells it better.

[unlucky7]

[Wow. Incompetent leaders nearly freezing to death and taking the world down with them was not what Ginia expected. But all's well that ends well and the sensibility of seconds saving the day is not a bad ending.]

I liked it. Thank you. Did the seconds become the new leaders of their respective groups?

[letteropener]

Oh no, not at all. After all, unicorn nobility was hereditary then, so Princess Platinum was of course still a princess, while Smart Cookie was merely a precocious apprentice spellcaster. Mayor Puddinghead was elected, and Commander Hurricane had earned that title. Also, they had learned their lesson, which is I think the most important part. Though they did have more to live.

[A particular memory brings a smile to Celestia's face, though she quickly hides it behind a hoof.]

[unlucky7]

[Ginia frowns a little. Seems like the seconds got the short end of the deal. They're the ones who reconcile and come together, save everyone, and the leaders that nearly destroyed the world with their petty bickering still get to keep their jobs? Even if they did learn their lesson, it would seem there should have been some kind of... reelection or something.

But there's no sense with arguing over a history long past, especially with someone nice enough to tell their nation's history.]

That's four out six accounted for. What about the other two?

[Sorry, those are the kinds of things Ginia gets hung up on. No hanging details!]

[letteropener]

Private Pansy... was quite happy where she was. And Clover the Clever... [Celestia smiles, but it's a little sad.] Well, she went on to great things, which are another story. But history has forgotten her deeds after, I'm afraid.

[unlucky7]

[It's a strange thing to think you can become involved in something so big, but then fade into obscurity after. But in the great reach of history, isn't that an inevitability too? Ginia looks at the people below. Who knows how many of them will ever become notable. Maybe none of them. Maybe all of them.]

Do you ever wonder if you'll be remembered you when you're gone?

[Though of course Celestia will be remembered; it's hard to forget a ruler and the one who raises and lowers the sun.]

[letteropener]

[Celestia shakes her head, and turns to face Ginia fully, her smile all the more ancient.]

If I am not remembered, it is because I did my job so well I did not need to be. But I do not think I will be easily forgotten. And so long as I live, I will remember others in turn.

[unlucky7]

[Despite her youthful appearance both as human and pony--though Ginia supposes she doesn't know how ponies age physically--she feels the age and the weight that comes with it from the ruler's expression. And in that moment, she feels small. Not insignificant, but in the way a new sapling looks against an ancient tree. The sapling may grow into an ancient tree itself, but for now it is small and simply is.

Ginia looks away, fingers resting on the screen.

'I don't think I want to be remembered. Rather, I don't think there's a point if I'm remembered.'

But she can't will the words into physical form. They're thoughts best kept to herself anyway.]

You are very wise and kind.

[letteropener]

[Too late, Ginia.]

[You will be remembered.]

I do my very best. And I have had a lot of practice. But I am very far from perfect, and that is important to remember too.

[unlucky7]

[That can't be right. Ginia shakes her head and frowns, vaguely unsettled by Celestia's casual deceleration of imperfection.]

Don't you want to be perfect?

[letteropener]

It's literally impossible, so I try not to want that too badly. I just try to be the best I can be, and forgive myself when I fail.

[That last part is not always easy, and some things she has not forgiven herself for, nor is she likely ever to. But she tries.]

[unlucky7]

[Ginia pulls her legs up and wraps her arms around them, chin resting on her knees as she stares off into nothing. Being able to accept failure so easily, it's remarkable, admirable. Because even the thought of failing makes her stomach turn and her back and shoulders tense. Is this how everyone feels? Celestia is so much stronger or is she just more fragile?

Ginia mulls over the thought as she picks up her phone, suddenly hating herself for ruining the mood. Again.]

Sorry.

[Is all she writes, setting the phone face up on the cloud.]