March Training

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: October 25th
Where: Outside the 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 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 what looks like an old, large warehouse behind the Meeting Hall for an informational meeting covering the basics of proper god behavior. Several chairs have been moved in, but they're squeezed together between packed shelves and boxes of old ritual clothing, scrolls and rusty or chipped household goods. 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.

Back copies of the "From Ama" magazine, including puff pieces about new or rising gods or successful shinki, advice columns for resolving problems between gods and shinki, temple photographs and other articles of interest to gods and shinki, have been brought out in boxes and piled up next to a table holding a few remaining copies of the shinki questionnaire for any new shinki who want to keep one around until they can answer the included questions.


What is your name?

What is your god's name?

How do you see your duties as a shinki?

What is your favorite part of life with your god?

What is your least favorite part of life with your god?

What advice would you like to give your god?

Do you wish to be assigned to a different god? []Y []N

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 white-robed shinki are still busy cleaning and preparing the Meeting Hall for the big annual meeting of the gods. They'll recruit anyone who looks as though they're not too busy in order to help scrub floors, weed, sweep paths and walkways, and shoo away any unwelcome little spirits that are hiding away in dark corners of the hall. Heavy lifting is good exercise... right?

Rest and Refreshments

There are casks of fresh, cold water near the dojo to make sure no one gets dehydrated, but for those who've finished working, hot tea and enough seasonal treats are available to make it look as though the Heavens bought out an entire sweet shop. They're being distributed by a few shinki in indigo-blue and plain brown robes with the sleeves tied back, who aren't above teasing the newcomers a bit.

Young shinki are playing in the nicely manicured garden, trying to catch crayfish at the lake edge, dashing around playing tag and hide-and-seek. Just be careful you don't get caught in the middle of a game of "Kagome"! If you do, you'll really be stuck until you guess someone's name.

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
• Enjoy a traditional tea
• Spectate if you want
• Have fun~

Comments

[swordofzero]

I've only spoken to a few people. [The sum of all the people he knew was about three. None of them had been called Vega.]

[Ah.] It is probably against the rules to climb on the roof. [He blinked] Training? You mean in the dojo. Practicing fighting for the most part, practicing with different weapons and improving their skills.

[reformedsinner]

Ain-- you've met him?

[He is, in fact, reasonably nice. If also very quiet.]

Yes, his energy feels a little like an ayakashi's. [And considering that it's literally a sort of shadow surrounding him, "darkness" is a description that makes perfect sense to Hakkai.] Try focusing on that, and on creating a boundary between something like that energy, and yourself.

[reformedsinner]

[It seems Ain's not the chattiest of people, but he also doesn't seem particularly unwilling to talk. Or particularly emotional about this subject at all, which is a little bit odd.]

Hmm, I see. -- Well, perhaps I'm not the rudest of the people you've met today, then.

[He flashes Ain a dryly amused glance, inviting him to join in the joke, and shrugs.]

Ah, I forgot to ask: are you a god or a shinki?

[reformedsinner]

[The boy looks agitated, even upset. Hakkai blinks at him -- is it the subject of his sister not being here that's bothering him? That would make sense, but Lucky's reaction is still a little odd.

He reaches out to take Lucky's hand to shake.]

It's a pleasure to meet you.

[reformedsinner]

A god of medicine -- Li Tieguai. [Hakkai returns the nod with a shallow, polite bow at the introduction. Suzaku, being a shinki, shouldn't bow to a god who's not his own. Hakkai, being a god, can bow to whoever he likes, in his opinion. If it shocks the Heavens, so much the better.]

Although I must admit I don't feel particularly divine. We new gods in particular are souls no different from yours!

[abgrund]

[ Hakkai's glance only gets a blink from him, though this time it's textured with a slight delay suggesting that he takes a bit longer to process the joke.

No response to it, though. ]

Shinki.

[sweetdeath]

Oh, wow. You're good at that.

["Not hard," sure. Tsuzuki saw how fast that hand swept through the water the very moment the rock moved. And how did the guy know there was going to be a crayfish there anyway!?]

How do you know which rock they're hiding under?

[reformedsinner]

Ah, I see. [So, in addition to whatever strange effects left him looking like he looks, and reeking of some kind of chaotic, if not actually malicious, energy, he doesn't remember anything before today.

It's no wonder the poor man is so quiet.]

I'm a god, myself -- though when I first arrived here I was a shinki. It's a difficult adjustment, isn't it?

[swordofzero]

[Well bowing regulations were not in the welcome pamphlet, so trial and error would be his teacher there. A god of medicine, Li Tieguai.]

Souls no different from mine? [Surely that wasn't right. Suzaku looks a little confused. There's a lot that is confusing but so far people have been pretty good at answering questions]

[abgrund]

[ Really, it's great that Hakkai is so patient. Otherwise, Ain might not have had a single person to talk to for this whole day save for his god. ]

... I don't know what to do.

[ That much, he'll admit freely ]

[appealingdame]

[Hey, she could live off lobster and caviar.]

Yeah, these things are really only good for figuring out what you like hitting stuff with. [Charlotte's been finding that her hands work well enough for her. Swords seem like such a hassle.] Oh, but you're definitely a natural! And when you've only just arrived too!

... You have just arrived, right? I'm sure I would have noticed someone like you before. [Giggles.]

[priforprince]

I want no part in children's games!

[ But her feet are. Glued to the ground. By some force.

Hibiki hasn't felt like this since the time Tsubasa pinned her next to a puddle she'd been staring into with ninja powers....She struggles against the hold, clearly conflicted.

The shinki children are all staring, confused. Is the God okay? ]

[revolutionfalcon]

Six and a half months, which is long by the standards of people here. [Shun rattles off the number like it's one he committed to memory. He's been keeping very close track of how long it is he's been here.] And I am a "god", or what they take for one here. I've only been assigned shinki twice, and it wasn't that hard to find them.

[Joker he'd taken a bit longer to get to, but Reisi had been easy.]

[revolutionfalcon]

That depends on the situation. [There's a slight dryness to Shun's tone that indicates he's perhaps not being entirely serious, but it's difficult to tell. Regardless, he flicks a few more pieces of fruit out to draw the birds away from her path a bit.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[The nekomata seems almost surprised at the question, though it recovers its prideful bearing quickly. Or as prideful as it can get while hanging off the end of a spear.]

I want somewhere comfortable and with food where I don't have to worry about getting cleared out whenever somebody wants to hold a meeting. [It definitely sounds a bit sulky now, though Shun mostly just raises a brow at that.]

Half the gods here are obsessed with cats. Surely you could get one of them to adopt you.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun hums slightly in assent to the second comment. He knows it's harder for shinki, but it's also something he's seen done before.] Might be worth asking around for people who've had the same problem and how they dealt with it. It'll save wasting time on trial and error yourself when you can just use the experience from others.

[Whether he chooses to do that today and here or on the BBS, since Shun figures the process is going to take some work beyond just this training day regardless.]

Or if your god isn't new, they might've dealt with it before.

[revolutionfalcon]

Apparently. There's supposed to be some important meeting going on soon, which is why they're making a fuss about it now. [Shun mainly sounds exasperated with the whole thing, because not only is cleaning not really his business anyway, it's inconveniencing both the old and new gods and shinki with the rush.]

Though they're always incompetent about administration here, so I shouldn't be surprised.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Considering that's just about the reason Shun's here himself, it's acceptable enough to him, and he nods slightly as he continues cutting his own fruit. He does, however, keep an eye on Ginia's movements with the knife - even if she's just cutting a pear, it might give some sign of her familiarity with the weapon other than when she showed it to him at the previous training.]

I never figured before coming here that spirits would still need to eat. [He says it with a very mild tone of incredulity, but then, he hadn't really believed in things like that anymore by the time he got here. Any idea that there was something watching over or any kind of higher power had been wiped out by the war.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun doesn't seem too put-off by that - some shinki are less bothered by the disappearance of their gods than others, because some take the bond less seriously. For his part, he'd need time to actually care about that, so he can hardly fault a newcomer for not really caring.]

It's not that much of a problem for some people, it's just annoying if it happens. You can choose a new god before the Heavens reassign you anyway. [So there's something to be gained from it, even if it's only the ability to choose the one they want to work with.

If he's that apathetic, though, it does raise a question Shun hadn't really cared enough for before to ask, but now seems more relevant. He gestures slightly to the sweets.] Why are you carrying those around?

[He's offering them to people, but it seems...out of place compared to his other reactions.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[It's actually the cat that speaks up first on that subject, tiny voice sounding very indignant.]

Don't presume to decide where I go! [It scrabbles a bit against the spear shaft, like it's trying to get closer to Chikusa, and Shun, maintaining that eye contact with Chikusa, moves it closer so the cat can claw out in his direction.]

It seems more interested in you. [In shredding him to the best of its ability, at least.]

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki just turns her back on Aqua. This conversation. This conversation is so impossible, she cannot even begin it.

The bird continues to eat the food off her face. ]

1/2 i want icons

[priforprince]

Our prior encounters haven't been encouraging.

[ She considers this anyway, though. The wandering spirits she'd gotten to help her earlier today have, true to their name...wandered. And it's much nicer out here, even with the cold, than it is indoors.

So be it. ] There's a chair in the hallway. Move i--

2/2

[priforprince]

[ She tries to step in the direction of the building and. Can't. From the look on her face, this was unexpected.

The shinki kids are in a huddle, waiting for God Apollo to get with the program and join the game, already. A few of them are even looking expectantly at Sorey. You too? ]

[swordofzero]

[Six and a half months seems a very long time for someone who only has memories spanning about three hours. But it does not surprise him as much as the fact that this is a god.

He's not sure what he was expecting from gods, he has nothing to draw knowledge from. But this man was no different than the shinki he had met so far. Was there some kind of protocol to meeting gods? No one had explained that and Suzaku looked awkward though he mostly didn't shift from his formal, attentive posture.]

How did you find them?

[priforprince]

I haven't reached it yet.

[ Hibiki lowers said script. Why? She's memorized countless scripts in the past. Why can't she focus properly on this one? Even before the interruption, her mind had wandered.... ] I'm still in the middle of absorbing it, after all.