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

[sweetdeath]

Pretty much. Hey, don't worry about it, though.

[The line moves forward another few spaces, as two people head off with their snacks, and Tsuzuki steps briskly along before anyone can step into the space without noticing their presence.]

As weird things about being a shinki go, that's not so bad.

[hedgehogsdilemma]

[At least the line is moving along at a nice, steady pace. soon enough, they should be out of it, no more need to worry about being unnoticed for a while longer.

That sure makes it sound like there are worse aspects to it, though. Having been given a rundown of what's expected of them by a few people already, he can make some guesses at what could possibly be weirder.]

It's probably one of the easier things to deal with, right?

[sweetdeath]

[Tsuzuki tries for a reassuring smile: the other shinki's only a kid, after all, and he doesn't need to get any of the seriously scary aspects just yet.]

Yeah, well. Changing into an object is definitely weirder, for one thing.

[hedgehogsdilemma]

[Okay that is... definitely one of those pieces of information that was dumped on him that left him with a lot of questions. Bringing it up with anyone trying to help earlier felt kind of ridiculous, but having it mentioned first makes it seem a little easier to ask about.]

How, exactly, does that work, anyway?

[sweetdeath]

It's a weird feeling. When your god calls your name, you just... well, you stop being you, and start being you as whatever you turn into. It's like it's natural, though, you know? Like you've always been that shape too.

[He wrinkles his nose.]

... but if you mean, how do we turn into weapons or animals or whatever, beats me. Magic, I guess.

[hedgehogsdilemma]

[A little from column A, a little from column B.]

That sounds... pretty weird, honestly. [Maybe he just can't wrap his head around the concept of it feeling totally natural, but maybe it'll make more sense once it's actually happened to him. Either way, he doesn't sound more than mildly put-off about the whole thing, doing his best to take the information in stride as much as he can.] Do you think it takes getting used to, or is it always like that...?

[sweetdeath]

It felt pretty natural the first time I transformed.

[He shrugs, smiling awkwardly, and steps forward as the line advances.]

Oh, hey, here we are! What did you want to get?

[hedgehogsdilemma]

[Huh.]

Oh-! [So they are! Shinji moves up to the counter, fishing the envelope full of spending money he was ushered off with out of his pocket.] Um, two, please.

[One for each of them, it's a good plan, right?]

[sweetdeath]

[Tsuzuki'd already gotten some; he was just helping the new guy through the line here, so he'll stand back a little while Shinji orders. Whatever he wants is fine, after all.

The cook at the booth flips a couple of skewers expertly over to confirm that they're done, squirts each with a quick drizzle of tare, and hands them both to Shinji, taking a thousand-yen note and dropping a few coins in change into his hand.]

Wanna go find someplace quieter to eat? Or look around more?