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

[nopixiedust]

[There's probably a lot of points to riding a horse in places that aren't packed city streets, frankly. Wendy feels certain about that.]

[What she doesn't feel certain about is their chances of not hitting someone in the head with a hoof, and she peers around Hibiki warily. Please don't let a pedestrian get hit, please-]

[priforprince]

[ Even if you don't trust Hibiki, Wendy, Maxie is an individual in whom one can have fullest confidence. He is a stalwart and reliable purple horse whose stupid-looking forelock is offset by his dependability under fire.

He has to be, to be Shikyoin Hibiki's chosen mount.

Mostly the only people who notice them are kids, though a few older girls and even one middle-aged woman do look up and over as they pass. Somebody says "kyaa". It may have been the older lady. ]

We'll use the theater in the temple for your viewing.

[ Hibiki feels confident she can make smalltalk while making this journey. ]

[nopixiedust]

[There's no sounds of violence accompanying that "kyaa", so Wendy figures it's safe to ease up a little bit.]

Oh, should I make tea and snacks then?

[priforprince]

If you'd care to. [ A tiny, cozy home party. That does sound more pleasant than all this urban clamor. Especially since Hibiki's looking forward to watching what she plans on showing Wendy, as well.

It's been...it's been too long. The time has come to show Wendy exactly what she can aspire to be, and exactly what is in store for all of them, after the revolution.

Maxie stops at a red light without being told. He is a good boy. ]

[nopixiedust]

[A very good boy. Wendy squeezes around to pat his neck.]

It'll be nice. What kind of blend do you think will go well with whatever it is you want to show me?

[Teas have to be chosen with the seasons, after all. She knows how Hibiki is about that kind of thing.]

[priforprince]

A classic, I think. Something from the Palps.

[ ....Swiss tea is probably the best Wendy is going to be able to do there. The packaging will for her sake mention an "Alps".

Blue-green means go. The good horse goes. They're almost there! ]

[nopixiedust]

The Palps....

[As Maxie the very good horse continues bringing them ever closer to their destination, Wendy considers her memory of what tea is in their kitchen. That's... probably that one, then. Probably. In that case, salmon and cucumber sandwiches would probably go the best with that kind of thing. Not only are they good, but they're light enough to not disrupt any meals, and clean enough to not make a mess.]

[Lost in her own head as she does her best to plan the snacking menu, Wendy spaces out on where Maxie carries them. It's tough work being Hibiki's shinki, after all, and requires a lot of thought.]

[priforprince]

[ Aaaand here's the shrine. Hibiki dismounts, does a casual sweep inside the box office with one hand to retrieve any prayers that had been placed in recently ("dear box office god-sama, help me with my modeling audition!"), wraps her other hand around Maxie's reins, then offers it to Wendy. ] Let's go.

[ Maxie paws the ground. He doesn't like this part. ]

[nopixiedust]

Oh- yeah. [Here already! How time flies when you're on a horse. Reaching out herself and patting Maxie, Wendy smiles.] Ready!

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki concentrates, and just like that, here they are outside Apollo's temple. Maxie sneezes, disoriented.

Hibiki pats him idly with the hand she's got the reins in. ] Prepare a viewing room. I'll be along shortly.

[ She has to stable her horse. And provide him a Top-Class Apple from an orchard so exclusive it only has like six trees, all of which are worth the GDP of a small country. ]

[nopixiedust]

[Gracefully, Wendy hops down and brushes off her outfit.]

Okay, Hibiki!

[With that said, she begins to skip inside the massive castle that is Hibiki's temple. She knows her way around it pretty well by now. So much so that it doesn't take much time at all for her to reach the kitchens, and make some nice little sandwiches to go along with the tea that she's preparing.]

[By the time Hibiki has finished feeding Maxie his glorious apple and returned, Wendy has begun to set up a nice aesthetic of a snack, humming to herself.]

[priforprince]

[ What a pleasing scenario to which to return. Hibiki leaves Wendy to her preparations, taking up her favorite spot on the couch to wait for her shinki to be ready.

She's enjoying the sense of anticipation. ] I want you to watch this performance closely. Its subject possesses technical perfection.

[ Hibiki has TV she doesn't hatewatch... ]

[nopixiedust]

[Hibiki has TV she doesn't hatewatch. That's enough to have Wendy interested in what's coming, sitting down on the touch with tea and sandwiches readily available.]

Alright! I'll definitely watch closely~.

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki gets up long enough to put a Plu-Ray in their Plu-Ray player. From the looks of the disc, it's homemade - and the label just says PRINCESS, in the same thick blocky childlike text she uses on her doll boxes.

Hibiki's printing sucks, is what I'm saying.

She returns and waves her hand; the lights in the room dim; the screen lights up as the disc begins to play. ]

See if you recognize this performer.

[ Speaking of doll boxes, the answer to the pop quiz is: the girl on the screen is the same as one of the two Hibiki'd put alongside her and Wendy in the model of her temple, when she'd explained to Wendy about her team back home. She is rather hard to mistake, with all that green hair.

And her dance is...certainly balletic.

Hibiki watches with an expression halfway between satisfaction and rapture. This....this is a concert. This is an idol.

An ideal. ]

[nopixiedust]

[It's really stunning how horrible Hibiki's handwriting is in comparison to everything else about her, it's true.]

[Wendy glances over curiously at her god at the cryptic message, but it doesn't stay cryptic for long. As soon as the girl with the stunning amount of green hair shows up on screen, she makes a small 'Oh!' of surprise, but otherwise stays quiet. You don't ruin a performance, after all.]

[It's definitely nothing like anything she's ever seen before. There's definitely something like a delicateness to the way the girl moves, and Wendy can certainly recognize the ballet-like motions from all the time she's spent studying videos herself. This is 100% Hibiki's tastes in everything- ]

[holy shit why is there so much neon suddenly]

[priforprince]

[ why wouldn't there be so much neon suddenly

Hibiki does her best to absorb the whole performance, which no matter how many times she sees it never fails to heal and uplift her. Immersing oneself in perfection truly is the ideal way to live....

When she's done basking in the light of Utter Perfection, she turns to Wendy. Her expression is unabashedly expectant. ] Well?

[ It is possible that Hibiki is a fan of this green-haired girl. ]

[nopixiedust]

[Wendy would never have guessed.]

[Still, she leans back with her fingertips pressed together, thinking.]

You were right... I definitely saw some ballet in there. And at the beginning... She almost looked like a music box ballernia!

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki nods: well spotted. ] Her flawless skills elevate her to levels above human performers. Aim for that same precision and you'll achieve a similar effect.

[ She's trying to stay professional and mentorly in her words but her face is a kid in a candy store. ]

[nopixiedust]

I'll do my best. [Because she's still human, even if she's a shinki.] You really like her, don't you?

When did you first see her perform?

[priforprince]

Her debut concert. [ Hibiki's smile softens with the recollection. ] Her perfection illuminated PriPara TV like the sun's rays after endless rain.

[ Also, why not: ] Her name is Princess Falulu.

[nopixiedust]

[Oh shit, an actual Princess title instead of Hibiki just calling everyone princesses, or whatever. Whether she's that important or a legitimate princess, clearly this is serious.]

[Time to ask the obvious- ]

Did you know her then?

[priforprince]

Not immediately. [ There was still no need for Hibiki to appear in a backwater PriPara like Parajuku's in person. Certainly not while she was still enjoying the trick she'd been playing on the liars of the world, lying herself.... ] I waited for the perfect time.

Waiting, and longing....

[ Hibiki is looking pretty longing right now. ]

[nopixiedust]

[....Oh. Oh.]

You really miss her, huh?

[priforprince]

[ It's like watching a record skip. Hibiki's expression freezes, wavers. Settles. She closes her eyes.

Can she...can she say it, yet...? What she couldn't say, the night of the moon viewing. What she couldn't even look at.

When she opens her eyes, she actually looks tender. ]

I'll see her soon.

[ ....close. ]

[nopixiedust]

[Well. That's a lot, coming from Hibiki, so Wendy gives her a break as she pats her arm.]

Of course we will. It'll all work out.