thenearshore | April Training

April Training

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: November 6th
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 rear of 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 a much nicer room than the warehouse where the last set of new gods got their informational speech. It's a smaller meeting room, with tatami floors and a small dais at the front of the room where the speaker stands. 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

informational pamphlets

borderline

Physical Training

Rest and Refreshments

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
Play with the dogs
Spectate if you want
Have fun~

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Ginia waits until Shun is finished throwing his knives and the target cleared before she steps into his field of vision. She pulls a throwing knife off an arm holster and throws with her right hand. The knife flies solidly and lands point-first in the target, a second knife swiftly joining it. Ginia still frowns at the two throws before angling toward Shun.]

You're too stiff in the elbow.

[She's on her feet, which is a good sign, but her posture is also stiffer than usual, especially her back.]

[Shun is definitely eying up Ginia's condition after what happened the other day, though she would've had about a week to rest by now. It does present one obvious remark considering the nature of her criticism, though.]

Speak for yourself. [Still, she seems...mostly in better condition now, so he turns back towards the target, keeping the flow of the motions as she'd performed them in his mind's eye. Pulling one of the knives he's already had success with, he throws it with a much more natural motion that still lands it accurate and point-first.]

Like that?

[Healing magic is a blessing and Caster certainly isn't stingy when it comes to using magic to heal his shinki, but there's still some merit in letting time take its natural course. The wounds are nothing more than bandaged cuts at this point, but there's no harm going easy for another day or two just to make sure. Ginia scoffs at the comment and lightly rolls her shoulders.]

I'm fine, don't worry.

[She nods her approval at his next throw.]

Better. Most people cut their movement short once they release the knife, but you have to follow through.

[Ginia pulls another knife off the holster and throws it again. The knife buries tip-first in what would be a person's neck.]

Guns are still better, but throwing knives work in a pinch.

I know that much, at least. Cutting short is just going to affect the throw. [Being able to throw cards with ridiculous precision has taught him a few things about how to handle projectile throwing, at least. Especially since cards are much easier to knock off course than knives.

The prior experience is mostly why he gives a slight shrug at her comment about guns.] It would take me a lot longer and be a lot more annoying to learn how to use a gun. I have more experience with things like this, and they're easier to conceal.

[For him personally, at least. He doesn't have a lot of room remaining on his belt to hide things under his coat, and he's already had some problems concealing all of his weapons when he's been on missions among humans on the Near Shore.]

Can't disagree with that. Though if you ever want to learn how to shoot, feel free to ask.

[Granted, Ginia's still trying to figure out a good practice situation outside of the training days, but the offer stands regardless. She takes the fourth knife off the holster, but holds it for a moment, feeling the balance of the blade as she tosses it up and down, easily catching it. It's as much a distraction as anything and ultimately she sticks the knife back into the holster.]

For the record, it's not your fault I was injured, you did everything you could. You got me out of there, it's all that matters.

I'll keep it in mind. [There's always the chance he might end up with a shinki that turns into a firearm, so Shun's not going to completely discount the offer even if he can't see himself using a gun as a permanent part of his arsenal.

Shun is pretty clearly expecting her to throw that knife before she returns it to the holster, and he definitely isn't expecting that topic change. A somewhat irritable look flickers over his face, though it's not really focused enough to tell whether it's directed at her.]

I don't need that kind of reassurance. It's been days now, anyway, so you don't need to go out of your way to say things like that either.

[He's starting to wonder if that's half the reason she approached in the first place.]

Only stating it for the record.

[Knife-throwing had been the real reason she'd come over, but clearing the air was a secondary idea too. There's a reliability around Shun she would hate to lose, even if it feels like he's annoyed at her half of the time.

Ginia pulls the knife off the holster again, but switches it to her left hand. She stretches the arm a bit, feeling her shoulder out before she throws the knife in a powerful overhand throw. The knife sails through the air and buries itself in the training dummy's head.]

The old gods ever say anything about what caused the blight?

Nothing specific. [Shun picks up a different knife, adjusts his grip, and throws it. It sinks home right in where a human's solar plexus would be, though the effect is somewhat lost on a straw dummy.] I know Kaede didn't know much about what might've caused it - she's the idiot wind god's exemplar.

[Shun doesn't typically deign to refer to Fuujin by name, since Fuujin never deigns to treat any of the newcomers with anything approaching respect. It's not exactly fostering peaceful relations between the Heavens, but Shun isn't overly concerned about that.]

[Idiot wind god. Ginia huffs at the description and tucks the exemplar's name away for later. If there's one regret from the night among many, it was not meeting as many of the older gods or shinki as she wanted. There was listening in on conversations while eating or weaving fortunes, but for the most part, she kept to the familiar or the outskirts.]

Can't say I've met the exemplar or god. Mind giving a description in case they're still around?

They're both definitely still around - Fuujin, the idiot, is one of Amaterasu's advisors. [It's been a while since Shun's spoken to him directly, though, so it takes him a moment to put together a decent description.] He's a young man, arrogant-looking kind of guy mostly. Kaede is younger, with long black hair. All Fuujin's shinki wear pale green, if I remember right, so you should be able to recognise her by that as well.

[The actual descriptions are sparse and could fit any number of people, so it's convenient the old gods coordinate their shinki with uniforms. Ginia wonders how they feel about it, though from listening in on conversations at the meeting, there seems to be a greater sense of devotion from the old shinki toward their gods. Then again, most of the shinki have been with their god for far more than any of the shinki and gods here.

Briefly, Ginia wonders what Caster might consider for a uniform for his shinki. Just as quickly, she remembers the flashy, gaudy shirts he'd gotten everyone. A snort escapes and Ginia claps a hand to her mouth, shaking slightly as she mulls on the image.

Gods no. No one ever give Caster the idea.

Sorry, Shun, give her a moment.]

[Shun, not being privy to the train of thought that's led Ginia to that reaction, mostly just watches with a slowly rising brow. He does at least give her a moment, but that's largely on the basis that he assumes she's going to explain given that.

Eventually, though, he does feel the need to prompt.]

Why do you look so surprised?

[Maybe she met one of them earlier and is just realising now...?]

Sorry. Sorry.

[Her laughter subsides though her grin doesn't. Sorry, Shun, if you were expecting an immediate answer, you aren't getting one.]

Would you ever consider giving your shinki uniforms or something unifying? Because I was thinking about how the shinki of the old gods all have uniforms to set them apart.

Then I thought about what Caster would give us to wear.

[When she gets to the part of that about Caster, Shun pulls a bit of a face that says he most likely came to the same conclusion as her, though he manages to stop himself from facepalming by some extreme measure of self-control.]

I know I wouldn't do it, and I'm pretty sure most new gods wouldn't. The old gods seem to consider shinki more extensions of themselves than allies who are also independent people. But I don't doubt he'd come up with something ridiculous if we ever had to do that.

[Shun...honestly doesn't know what he'd even do in that case, honestly. Probably put it to a vote between his shinki to see what they preferred, since they'd be the ones wearing it.]

You are the most popular god of the new ones, so the old might come around to court you for ideas.

[Ginia smirks slightly, but drops it quickly enough. Shun's a private individual and she can't imagine he enjoyed being pointed out in such a manner.]

You haven't had any trouble because of that, right?

They've asked me for opinions on other things before, but that was a long time ago. [And thankfully it had nothing to do with something as inane as outfit choices.

He does look a little annoyed with the reminder of his position now, though.] Not yet, but I'm expecting it. Getting called out like that when so many old gods don't trust the new feels more like getting a target painted on me and the people around me.

Did you know you were the top of the new gods?

[Though just shy of her first month, Ginia's gotten a sense of the politics and inherent hierarchy of the heavens. They are one of the eight million, but also not really, not with their current incarnations.

He's dependable and one of the few people she can truly talk with. That alone is a reason to watch his back whether he needs it or not.]

[Shun lets out a faintly irritated sound, though it's clearly not directed at her as opposed to his situation.] I figured I had to be in some kind of "high regard", since my temple moved to Central District, but I never gave it that much thought. I don't care about that sort of thing.

[He doesn't like popularity contests - even things like entertainment that are founded in popularity should be based on skill, he thinks. It's definitely not his area of interest to wonder too much about how many people might be praying to him, which may be obvious by the fact that he said "high regard" in the same tone someone might say "rotten apple".]

So I didn't actually know until it was announced.

Who else of the new gods are in the Central District? I already know about Hibiki and Hakkai?

[A varied crew at that. Ginia also has the sneaking suspicion of the people who care most about prestige and rank and all the honors of being top god, Hibiki's probably the highest up there. She can't quite imagine Hakkai caring that much.

And as much as Ginia likes Hibiki, maybe it's also the best she's not the top god of the new gods.]

[Shun nods slightly.] Other than me, it's just those two and Kusanagi Izumo. Their temples all moved at around the same time, if I'm remembering right, around a month after mine did.

[Considering Shun's less than stellar relationships with Hibiki and to some degree Hakkai, he hadn't exactly been impressed with the new neighbours, but he certainly hadn't had a problem with not being the only person to have attention drawn to him like that.]

[Kusanagi Izumo isn't a god Ginia has met, but she recognizes the name from Yata. Four new gods in the Central District. Not a lot, though Ginia's still not sure where the actual count of new gods remain. The west district is certainly the most populated, though its constant state of flux makes it hard to tell how many reside there.]

So depending on what scale is used to determine standing, any of the four of you could have just as easily been the top god then?

[She smirks slightly.]

Then we should all be thankful it wasn't Hibiki.

Who knows. I don't know how they organise the system. [But he hadn't assumed he was that highly marked above anyone else. He does give a faintly derisive sound at the idea of Hibiki being top god.]

She's so self-centered her follower base is probably mindless idiots anyway. [Shun does not like Hibiki at all, and the derision carries into his tone, as if the words didn't make it clear enough.]

It might have something to do with timing as well. Hakkai's been here the longest of the four of us, then me, then that idiot and Kusanagi - who was a shinki for most of the time he was here anyway, so don't ask me how that works.

[His derision carries loud and clear. It's understandable, really.] Maybe it comes as a surprise I like Hibiki. She's entertaining. [Ultimately, for as narcissistic Hibiki is, Hibiki has been remarkably kind to her. It may be in a self-serving way from Hibiki's side, but kindness is kindness.

And as it turns out, Ginia is fond of J-Pop. Who knew.]

Has Hakkai been around the longest of everyone in general or are there others as long-staying?

She's infuriating. [Shun puts that very bluntly - other people can like her all they like, but that doesn't mean he isn't going to be completely honest about his own feelings regarding her behaviour.

As for the question of Hakkai, Shun shakes his head.]

I don't think he's been around the longest, but I still only know of a few people who've been here longer than I have - I turned up a little under two months after newcomers started appearing. Hakkai was originally a shinki, so he hasn't been a god as long as I have, but the others I know about have been gods the whole time they've been here - Ren, Add and Hajime.

[Hakkai was a shinki once? An interesting bit of information. And yet his temple is in the central district, so there must be something at play beyond duration as a god. Interesting. The only other name that stands out is Add and if only because he was responsible for Caster's death. That post was... something.

The heavens have interesting choices for their gods.]

Is there anyone here that was a god for awhile before turning in a shinki?

April Training

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