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

[kokuyoyo]

That's because it's broken.

[It doesn't matter that he's right in the middle of the Meeting Hall, surrounded by Amaterasu's shinki. Chikusa says it plainly, with no strong feelings showing through either way. That's simply the usual tone of his voice, honestly...]

No one knows how people keep ending up here to fill in the roles of missing gods... It just happens.

[disciprined]

Well, as explanations go that's unsatisfactory. Are none of the Gods here more forthcoming than that? A proper justification hardly seems too much to ask.

[Where did the lecturer go? Mirei glances about herself. Perhaps she should go and ask for clarification.]

They don't appear to have explained why the old Gods are vanishing, either. Are we simply supposed to take this all on trust?

[Mirei will, if she has to.

[A fuller accounting would be preferable, though.]

[kokuyoyo]

You're to take it all on... necessity. I wouldn't bother trusting the old guard personally....

[But then, he's a lot less trusting than most.]

If the old guard knows anything, then they haven't bothered to clue us in on it.... It's been up to the rest of us to investigate things, although people probably don't have the tools or intelligence for that... [Besides Add, but, fuck Add.]

So, it's like that.

[disciprined]

How very odd.

[Of course she would be a fool to simply take a stranger's word for it - but a warning is a warning, and only a fool would disregard that. For now, Mirei decides to withhold judgment, in the old guard and on the boy who is speaking to her, too. Her data set is, at present, simply too small to draw any reliable conclusion from at all.]

So people have been investigating? This is a very strange place to find myself in, and I would like to learn as much as possible.

[kokuyoyo]

It depends on what you want investigated... The only people to make any headway into the exact way we arrived... One of them exploded, and the other is dangerous.

[Chikusa feels he's not wrong on that front, considering everything.... After a moment, however, he shrugs.]

But.... There's been evidence of another group going against Heaven for reasons now one knows.... So some think by finding out more about them... We'll find out more about Heaven. Which could lead to other things... maybe.

There aren't a lot of leads.... but a lot of work.... so I doubt too many people get involved with it.

[disciprined]

Thank you for the warning. I intend to watch my step.

[Exploded?

[Gods and monsters, Mirei. This world sounds considerably more dangerous than anything she could even have imagined. It-- is something she is going to have to think about later. There is a lot she still needs to discover, and worrying can wait. It is, if nothing else, proof positive that sometimes one simply has to start talking to strange men...

[The mention of work is more reassuring. Everything worth doing is worth working for. Even if it wasn't Paprika Private Academy Rule 10, Mirei would still believe it entirely.]

Would you be involved in it? You certainly sound knowledgeable.

[kokuyoyo]

[Oh.... Heaving out a sigh, Chikusa lets his head fall back to stare dully at the ceiling- all the trademarks of someone who is heavily debating how much information to give and how much annoying work he'd have to deal with because of it.]

[On one hand.... Yeah, he has been working to learn more about such things. His work with Hakkai, investing the corpse parade and things at that department store... Eavesdropping on Amaterasu's shinki with Sharak... But those aren't things he's really willing to spill to just anyone.]

[Well. He guesses there's one thing he can talk about, for the time being.]

I... do work at the library in the Far Shore. The books are always being moved around... or new ones are being added. So.... I try to make it less annoying...

[Although it's still pretty damn annoying.]

[disciprined]

There's a library?

[That, to Mirei, is more important than everything else she has heard put together. Introductory lectures have their place: field work, too. Neither of those, however, are any good at all without the kind of grounding even a half-decent library can provide.]

Where? I'd like to visit.

[kokuyoyo]

...I guess... it's not far from here. Just to the south....

...Well. I've seen what I've wanted to here.

[Which is to say, what new gods have arrived and that he should keep an eye out for. There are still some things he'd like to check up on the library again, to test his luck. So, pushing away from the wall, he starts to shuffle off to the exit. If Mirei wants to follow, well, he's not in any particular rush.]