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

[lightninglobster]

i. physical training

[The pamphlet had been... a bit much. Ryoma was a clever enough man--he certainly understood words, but the actual meanings behind certain things described in the 'helpful literature' had created as many questions as they'd sought to answer. Still, Ryoma had accepted the papers dutifully, walking the dojo and the training grounds with the intention to... observe.

This initial course of action was a bit derailed when Ryoma found his way to the training yard--some of the weapons were unfamiliar in their make and their mettle, but there were others that made sense even though Ryoma couldn't exactly say why. He practiced for a while with a katana, meeting a training dummy blow for blow with a muscle-deep ease that was thankfully easy to focus on (with a very, very careful sense to not damage the dummy overmuch, as the hawk-eyed overseer had seemed a touch miffed when Ryoma followed on a lunge with his blade and nearly spelled the end of his partner.)

... and if a large, serious man in red armor with a live weapon was a touch too intimidating, it wouldn't be long before he ceded the training dummy to the next person and found himself recruited into the chore team. He faced the duty of picking stray weeds from the garden with the same somber, intense focus that he'd used on the dummy and the pamphlet before it. His face was a bit stuck that way, in all truth.]

ii. r & r

[Work hard, play... not much at all, really?

Ryoma wasn't much for games himself, though he wouldn't begrudge anyone who found themselves drawn into the childrens' play--their laughter and happiness was contagious, and a keen eye might catch something that could almost be called a smile on Ryoma's usually serious face as he guzzled water in as dignified a manner as he could manage. Chore team was not messing around. Trifle not with chore team.

Ryoma still had a weed he hadn't quite detected resting atop his glorious mane of hair.]

iii. wildcard

[samurai contractor for hire, will protect your shit from criminals*

*unless you are poor and cannot afford a samurai]

r&r

[foxrightsactivist]

[Unfortunately, Kaden has already trifled with chore team. Chore team won. But chore team had also saved his fuzzy butt, so he owed them, really.

All of that hair is catching his attention in his momentary break from fishing up crayfish, though. Particularly the one weed sticking out of the top. His fingers are itching to pick it out, but itching even more to... find a brush and help tame that wild mane? Hmm.

For now, he's sticking to picking out the weed. Or trying, anyway. There will be an attempt.]

Hey! Hold still, you've got something on you.

[lightninglobster]

[One minute, Ryoma was minding his own business--and the next he was acutely aware of someone zipping on up to him. He jerks, surprised, staring at Kaden as if he's grown a second head--only instead of another head, he has a pair of fluffy ears and a tail, which is the strangest thing Ryoma has seen in the past twenty minutes.]

I've got what on me?

[Part of him wanted to bat the stranger away and attend to his 'something' himself, but the rest of him at least tried to be polite in most situations, so befuddled, he sat still under Kaden's most noble of intentions.

His hair was looking a bit wilder than usual, if that could be believed considering its usual state. Chore team was not shy about claiming its pound of sweat, as Kaden likely also knew.]

training

[tacomeme]

[Takumi was at training every month- of course he was. But it always came with a bit of dread and hope. New people showed up around that time, and while he was always eager to see if his family or friends might arrive there was always the fear they would be shinki. After Elise he wasn't sure he could manage that again.

And yet here he was, using a practice sword on a dummy, when he spotted that familiar hair and froze. He wanted to call out, greet his brother. But...]

sorry i was trying to edit and apparently my phone freaked out

[lightninglobster]

[Here's hoping Takumi had more to him that what he thought was on tap.

Ryoma moved with a balance of practiced ease and disciplined control, moving on autopilot as he contemplated this whole situation--the strange new world, the pamphlet and all of its odd information, the sense of waiting for something to occur. There was an itch under Ryoma's skin to do something instead of sitting around, but... patience was called for, so patience would be practiced.

Even if there was someone nearby staring at him oddly. Ryoma blinked when he caught the other man eyeing him, nodding politely in acknowledgement before he returned more of his focus to his training dummy. Was there something on his face?]

physical training

[usedperishsong]

You're lookin' even stiffer than the sticks there, buddy.

[ Kanade is on weed-gathering duty, stuffing the things other people had plucked into a big ol' sack to find someplace to compost them later. As such, she is in a good position to stand here and pass teasing judgment.

But at least her smile is friendly. ] Stay that way an' you'll snap someday.

[lightninglobster]

[It wasn't stiffness, it was... discipline. Every task, no matter how small and undignified and utterly frustrating they were, deserved serious consideration. Besides, Ryoma had just pulled another weed a touch too hard and taken the leaves and the stem while leaving the roots, which was a wonderful physical adjustment, but absolutely useless in the longterm.

He blinked, brow furrowing as he looked to Kanade with that serious mug of his.]

I beg your pardon? I'm feeling perfectly fine.

[Frowning was a healthy expression of emotion! It wasn't Ryoma's fault the weeds, like everything else in this strange new world, were stupidly complicated.]

HIRES A SAMURAI

[hakingitup]

[Hak is coming here for several reasons.

With Yona asleep, someone has to meet people from their world.

He's secretly hoping to see Shin-Ah again.

And maybe, just maybe, he has a shinki waiting for him.

It's something he can feel when he enters the grounds, and begins to make his way through. Walking towards the feeling that he gets as he starts to recognize it. He felt this before with Shin-Ah. And he needed to find it again.

Once he sees it... this man who is someone who he'd definitely fight, he moves closer to him.]

...That's a lot of hair.

*only rich and important people hire samurai

[lightninglobster]

[There was so much about Ryoma that was notable--his bright red armor, his unique facial guard, his imposing figure... so why was it everyone was noticing the hair? It was just hair. Just because Ryoma's hair was a particularly impressive specimen that was both a waterfall and a mullet didn't mean there wasn't a man beneath the mop.

... either way, Ryoma would look to Hak with a quizzical expression, one eyebrow arching as he finished the last strike of his form.]

I suppose that's a way of looking at it.

[Odd statement, meet equally odd statement.]

r&r

[festal]

( For all of her shyness, Sakura shines a little brighter when she's around children. Maybe it's because they're younger than her and so much more accepting than older people are. She's some how been roped into playing Kagome, Kagome with some of the children. Covering her eyes, she tries to guess the name of the shinki child behind her. This isn't her first time playing with these children and it isn't her first time at Bishamon's temple, either. It takes her a few guesses, each wrong guess drawing a new round of good natured giggles as the occasional child yells, "no!" in response to her guesses.

Ah, just when she feels like she might be here forever, she delightedly makes one last guess and the child behind her laughs brightly and congratulates her ("it's about time, Sakuya-bime!") Finally able to uncover her eyes, she removes her hands, blinking in the light and finding herself staring right at-- )

O-oh!

( She jumps, covering her mouth with her hands. She really can't help but stare at the man that suddenly appeared sometime between the start of their game and now. She could recognize him anywhere. His smile is just as familiar as she remembers and.... That's him. That's definitely him. It's Ryoma. Her greatest brother and her king and--... She wants to call out to him but she catches herself, immediately ducking her head away and dropping her hands in front of her, turning them awkwardly in front of her. To the unfamiliar eye, she probably just looks terribly shy and nervous right now.

A shinki girl notices, at least, and she snaps at Ryoma. "Buu! You scared Sakuya-bime!"

A boy laughs, "That's easy, though!"

And the girl knocks him over with a hissing shush. )

[lightninglobster]

[And in this moment, no eye is more unfamiliar to Sakura than Ryoma's. There's a moment of confusion as he looks from one little shinki to the next, brow furrowing as he tries to figure out what she was talking about. He spots the woman in the cluster of children, turned away with her head dipped low and a sense of worry pings in his belly. He frowns, though there's no anger in the expression--he's. Sorry? He can't help his face, okay.

He could help his face, but that'll have to be explored later. The default settings are strong on this one.]

I apologize, Sakura. I'll find somewhere else to sit.

[As simple as that, he rises with his water in hand, too honorable to a point and so very ready to make amends for the perceived slight.]

i

[revolutionfalcon]

[If there's one thing Shun finds these training meets useful for, it's for tracking down sparring partners. While he knows what he's doing with a sword by now, he hasn't been at it longer than the months he's been here, so he doesn't have that same bone-deep familiarity he has with hand-to-hand combat, and like he can see this man has with his blade.

Shun doesn't mind taking a spar he's clearly going to lose if he learns something from it, and giving up before starting is no way to make any sort of progress anyway. So after some observing from a distance, Shun chooses to approach the newcomer - his own blade is in his hand, a much shorter wakizashi.]

I can't call myself an expert, but I can definitely give you a better fight than the straw things. [And despite lacking experience with the specific weapon, he does have the combative and acrobatic skill to avoid getting himself stabbed with a live weapon, so there's that.]

[lightninglobster]

[Ryoma, in testament to the years of practice that's gone into his technique, glances to Shun when the man approaches but does not break his form, finishing his strike and then backing up a safe distance so that he could properly address the man. He lowers the sword, giving a polite nod of his head as he turns to face him.]

I would be honored to practice with you. Would you prefer to use steel or wooden swords?

[Practice, after all, was meant so that both combatants would be able to heal any bruises and take the lessons they impart to heart... being grievously wounded was, perhaps, a bit detrimental to the overall process.]

i.

[appealingdame]

[Damn, son. Charlotte watches Ryoma do his thing with both a critical and appreciative eye. A strong man may not be as attractive as a rich one, but she's not blind. As a woman and as a fighter, she can enjoy the view. And it's interesting to see another new shinki take to fighting so quickly. Looks like she wasn't the only one there.]

Oh, wow! [Charlotte gasps and smiles when Ryoma cuts down his dummy opponent finally. She giggles and presses her hands to her cheeks, just another young maiden in awe of a dashing samurai.] That was so amazing! You must be incredibly strong, sir!

[She would have just gone for his knees and knocked him over rather than bothering to block his sword, she thinks, but hey. They're called dummys for a reason.]

[lightninglobster]

[One does not have to buy the fish market to enjoy the bounty of seafood on display there. Charlotte is free to enjoy the lobster all she wants and take a much richer fish home at the end of the day--or... wherever this metaphor was meant to go. Ryoma is getting back into his starting position for a new strike when Charlotte turns on her charms, and to her credit, it catches his attention handily--and for the first time, that stoic face is instead set to 'bewildered', blinking at Charlotte.]

I... thank you? It feels natural enough, I suppose. I wouldn't say this is a good gauge of my abilities--it's just a stuffed doll, after all.

[The purpose of the dummy was not to trick the dummy! It was to beat the stuffing out of the dummy! Or... something like that? Why was Ryoma here again?]

i

[kokuyoyo]

[As Ryoma starts to move away from the training dummies due to the glaring eyes of a certain shinki, another voice calls from nearby.]

Don't let him discourage you from tearing them apart...

[lightninglobster]

[It wasn't that Ryoma was intimidated, it was that he was considerate. Mindful. Not a dick, probably.]

I'm not certain I could aptly replace them if I destroyed them.

[Because sewing is for nerds, ornery old shinki, and people who didn't spend most of their somewhat forgotten lives learning how to literally bring the thunder.]

R&R

[letteropener]

Ah -- excuse me?

[The gentle, serene, confident voice comes from behind him, offering no immediate clue to its nonhuman source save for coming from perhaps two or three feet higher than it should.]

I'm afraid you have something tangled in your mane.

Training

[mithrarin]

...You look like you're holding back.

[Dust has been watching, out of idle curiosity that became more interested once he noticed the man's skill. Of course, with his eyes hidden beneath his hat, it's hard to tell that he was watching -- but it's true nonetheless.]

ii

[nopixiedust]

[Among the group of children is what appears to be a young girl, her hair wrapped around her head in intricate braids. She's laughing along with everyone else as they run about, singing with one another. She's also apparently very good at redirecting the flow of children, because soon enough the small group starts making its way towards Ryoma like a tumbleweed.]

Hey! Mister, you should come play too.

i.

[sweetdeath]

Oh hey, you missed one!

[Or maybe it's actually "hadn't gotten to it yet," but either way, Tsuzuki's reaching past Ryoma to pluck a dandelion out of its position between the roots of an azalea. He sits back on his heels, grins, and picks the yellow flower off before tossing the leaves and roots into the weed pile.

The flower goes behind his own ear. What? It's a cheerful color.]

I haven't seen you around before. Are you new here?

Physical Training

[clothes_make_the_man]

[Forrest is familiar enough with gardening from keeping things clean around his own temple, so once Ryoma shows up, he's already hard at work. And that red armor and huge mane of hair is hard to mistake for anyone else. By this time, Forrest has gotten used to restraining himself from calling familiar people by name just in case they happen to be a shinki, so he just glances over and gives a friendly smile.]

Is it your first time weeding a garden?

R&R

[deniles]

[Did he point out the weed? Should he? He's not sure if he should bother or not here. Instead, he looked the man up and down, with the wild mane of hair, and let out a chuckle.]

You certainly look like you've had a rough time.

[AKA you look a damn mess.]

[replicatedform]

[Instead of being intimidated, Yamanbagiri find himself watching the red swordsman with interest. While he's here to check out the training dummies, the other fighters here are also worthy of watching.

Once Ryoma's done, he calls out to him.]

Not bad. Are you done for now?

physical training

[pure_radiantics]

Woah! You're good!

[Kairi has walked over to the training area with her keyblade already out. She's got activewear clothing on completely unlike the man in his armor, but he looks impressive being able to swing the weapons around while wearing it, so she's going right up to him in sheer awe.]

If it's not too much to ask to practice with a shinki, I'm okay with sparring against a god, sir!

[Because dang that armor. He surely must be a god.]