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

[shiitan]

[Wow. In comparison to the outer rooms of the castle, this room was just so...normal. The game consoles still struck him as strange, but that had more to do with him being unfamiliar with certain levels of technology. Being born over 1000 years ago tended to do that.

That aside, he made a beeline for the comfy looking couch. A nap was pretty tempting right then.]

I can think of a few things that are better suited for you than a throne.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[Hey, hey -- Zetta is much older than that and HE can keep current! No excuses!]

If this is some sort of bookshelf joke -- [The minion holding him comes to a halt as he realize he's lost the kid, then brings Zetta back so he can peer into the room.] -- hey, what are you doing?

[shiitan]

[But he spent almost all of that being stuck as a sword...!

That aside it was, in fact, a cheap shot about bookshelves. Zetta's retort had gone in one ear and out the other though, and he didn't even turn away from the couch.

Ross pressed his palm against the cushion to see how much give there was. It was more than he expected, though maybe that had more to do with his rock-bottom expectations than anything else. Only now was he seriously starting to consider that maybe those expectations didn't apply here. That in itself meant the weight that he hadn't even realized he'd been holding was beginning to lighten.

So, in response, he flopped down on the couch face-first. At least that answered Zetta's question, in a sense.]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[Zetta is just baffled -- and wondering what's with the rebellion. Why didn't this kid want to serve under him? He's Zetta, for Magog's sake! He's awesome!]

Uh, I don't care if you nap in here, but maybe we could get the whole tour-naming-etc. thing out of the way first?

[shiitan]

[He stayed put and let that moment of exhausted relief pass before sitting up and answering.]

It's fine. I'll have plenty of time to look around for myself after you give me a name and I start staying here. Or did you change your mind?

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[Well, uh, he guesses the place meets the kid's approval? This -- is the weirdest game of passive-aggression he's ever been sucked into, and as an ancient demon with lifetimes of experience among the petty and pathetic residents of Netherworlds, that's SAYING something.]

Nooo, I was still going to do that. I was waiting for YOUR approval, wasn't I!?

[shiitan]

You have it now.

[He let that remark hang there for a moment. Was this a good idea? He still wasn't convinced that it was, despite the fact that he'd gotten this far without having a name forced on him. It was like he was choosing to either be a servant to a god or be free.

Those thoughts were a little too heavy though, and that meant it was time for his defense mechanism to kick in.]

But if the name sucks, I'm running away from home.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

What about 'Maki'? That's pretty simple. ['Ma' means demon or something, right? He's the protagonist of 'Makai Kingdom' after all, so it had to be a worthy name of a shinki.]

[shiitan]

Maki? [It sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. Luckily he still only had passing knowledge of sushi rolls.]

...That one's fine.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[And Zetta, none at all. Sushi is not evil enough for a demon's palate. Well, maybe if it were made with endangered sharks or something...]

Great. Let's do this.

[Preferably with his shinki not face-down in the upholstery.]

[shiitan]

[He paused and took a measured breath before leaving the couch behind.]

Alright, I'm ready for you to say the magic words.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Okay then...

[Uh, wait. How was this supposed to go?]

[Zetta hurriedly flips open to consult himself.[

Okay, this is stupidly formal... My name is Zetta, the most badass freaking Overlord in the entire cosmos! Grasping thy true name, I bind thee here. With borrowed name, I dub thee my servant. The name answers, the vessel to sound. I call thee as my divine instrument. The name, Ross. The vessel, Ma. Come, Maki!

...am I going to have to do that every time...?

[shiitan]

[Pffft. He didn't respond in words, but the little smirk in response to Zetta's version of that incantation said it all, really. Unfortunately, the part that he would have hated most if he was fully aware of it was coming.]

"Come on, Hero Creasion! 1000 years ago, you were a hindrance to the Demon Lord! I'll make you pay for that right here!"

And he might have paid for that, if he hadn't cancelled the shadow guy's magic and sent him flying with a magic-infused punch right away. But before he really had a chance to do anything else, the tanned man spoke up.

"Sorry, Sion. Yer era's already over."

The tanned man strided past him, leaving a gaping hole in Ross' left side in his wake. Even as he tried to press his hand to the wound, that did little to stop the blood from flowing freely. He grit his teeth against the sudden pain and wobbled on his feet, but he refused to buckle.

"If we're being too noisy in the Demon World, Alba may notice us and come running. That would be troublesome." His attacker turned to look at him. "Sion, thank you for everything."

Ross could only let out a curse as the tanned man then turned his attention to the shadow guy and the black-haired boy lying unconscious on the ground.

"I made Lake swallow the Maker-kun. Now, make a new era with him. Show me a fun world~"

His stance finally gave out as they left. Ross couldn't even be sure of how much time had passed before his consciousness began to fade, and the last thing he saw was a blurry image of a person running toward him and shouting words he was too far gone to decipher.

[Finally, after that view into his past, he transformed into...!

A red and black bookmark. The book jokes, they would never cease. On the bright side, this bookmark also has a fair bit of mana packed into it.]

An ayakashi would get us before you could finish saying it.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

[Aaand he has a bookmark.]

[That's just super. Zetta lets out a low sigh.]

Well, I have an army of minions for that sort of thing, but yeah, let's keep the renaming down. Oh, uh... what the hell was it... change back now, Ross.

[He figures the kid doesn't want to be a bookmark all day.]

[shiitan]

[He assumed his previous form at those words, and his new name was inscribed on the back of his left hand. Ross stared at it for longer than a shinki who already had a handful of names should have, but he didn't draw any attention to it other than that.

...It was probably nothing.]

You're not used to having a shinki, are you.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

The last one was a lot less.... animated. [More along the lines of his minion horde, really.]

[shiitan]

Less animated, huh? I don't know if I can do that. [He let a thoughtful pause pass.]

But I can be lazy.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Hmph. I guess it's hard to be real active as a bookmark. [Zetta is, of course, unaware that shinki can use their spells while in their vessel form.]

[shiitan]

Being a sword instead of a bookmark wouldn't change much. [From his point of view, anyway.]

But you're also a smaller target, so it's easier to do my job.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Hyaaaha ha ha ha! I'm a freaking Overlord! There's nothing in the world that could hurt me! You'll be an offensive-only shinki, no worries about that!

[shiitan]

[...Well, he was better at that anyway, at least.]

You're going to start raising death flags if you talk like that.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

No, no, the joke is that it's a book saying that.

[Zetta is well aware of the cosmic laugh that is his game's plot life.]

[shiitan]

Ah, so I am allowed to make book jokes. Thanks for giving your blessing, book boss.

[Shh, pay no attention to the fact he'd been doing that already.]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Sure, you can, but they're already old. Good luck coming up with something actually clever there.

[Zetta has been paying attention...]

[shiitan]

Good thing I'm dead then. I've got all the time in the world to think of something clever.

[Or annoying. Either/or.]