June Training

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: December 7th
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.

Once they've had a chance to have things explained, they'll have the chance to relax and enjoy an afternoon party.




Meeting Hall

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.

The speaker delivers her welcome speech with the intonation of someone who's practiced it many times. Newly arrived gods 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. They are allowed to remain in the room as long as they wish, should they want to discuss questions with each other or with more experienced gods who are here to help out.

Shinki Training

Various shinki in the white-and-gold of Amaterasu's hosuehold are stationed around the dojo, passing out informational pamphlets that have been freshly printed. They will be happy to answer any questions or instruct the newcomers in the use of the borderline. They also accompany their answers, or lessons, with 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.

The dojo is back to its old, fully functional self; a set of motionless straw targets line one wall, to be used by people practicing with any of the weapons spread out on tables or hanging in racks on the walls. Outside, six animated straw targets wait in an area marked off with red ribbons and warning signs. Anyone entering the marked area may find themselves in combat with one (or more) of the magical training dummies. Those who leave the marked area, though, won't be chased.

Physical Training

Beyond the dojo, a scavenger hunt has been set up throughout the grounds of the Meeting Hall. Brightly colored plastic balls are hidden in shrubbery, tucked into support beams, floating among reeds in the ponds, and lurking in even cleverer hiding places. When a god or shinki gets their hand on one of them, they will burst open to reveal a hidden prize, such as candy, small toys, or accessories. How many can you find?

As well as the scavenger hunt, the white-robed shinki are engaging in more serious physical training and will be happy to let new gods or shinki join them. Sparring matches with practice weapons from the dojo, jogging laps around the hall, sit-ups, push-ups... or, for the younger shinki, competing to see who's the fastest to climb a tree.

Rest and Refreshments

Midafternoon, once the last of the scavenger-hunt prizes have been found, the white-robed shinki will turn their hands to clearing away the training equipment and laying out a lovely buffet table. Bright lanterns are hung from the trees, and a few shinki even take up a station on one side of the training area and begin playing shamisen, koto, wooden flute and drum. Although their instruments are traditional, their music selection ranges from some very classic Japanese tunes to others that sound surprisingly modern. The koto player can really rock!

Old and new gods and shinki alike are welcome to circulate, socialize with their friends, partake of the buffet food and enjoy the music. There's even room for those who feel inspired to dance, and plenty of privacy offered by the extensive garden for those who would rather retreat with their new partners to have a serious conversation.

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
• Relax at a party
• Have fun~

Comments

[swordofzero]

Suzaku smiled at him, "I'm not sure I know how to use throwing weapons." They had met when Edge had been throwing Shuriken in the park and Suzaku knew that Edge was very good at it.

"If you didn't mind I would be honoured to learn."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Oh, sure, I can get you started on that. Of course, it's mostly just a matter of practice once you get the technique down. [He figures.] I suppose the first question is what weapons you'd prefer to use. Knives are trickier and more lethal. Shuriken are easier to hit with, but you need to land a fan of them to be really effective.

[swordofzero]

I'm not sure, I figure knives will be easier to get a hold of than shurikan, even throwing knives. [Shurikan were a lot more niche.] If knives are trickier then it is perhaps best to start with those.

[They would take more practice after all.]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Hey, around here you'd be surprised. They're not too hard to come by.

[But still. Edge flicks out three throwing knives, really just blades with wrapping on the narrow part before the rings at the end, and offers them over.]

Throwing knives is all about learning the rotation. You need to know just the right spin to make sure the knife lands point-first in the target.

[swordofzero]

[Fair point, perhaps shurikens were easy to get in the heavens. But knives were a good starting point. He takes the blades and looks at them a moment before nodding at Edge.] How much do they need to rotate?

[onehandsomeslickninja]

That's the tricky part. You need to calculate that on the fly, between your estimations of distance to the target and knowledge of general rotation speed over distance. It can be just a few times to several.

[Edge pulls another knife out, then flips it into the air. It spins a few times going up and then a few more times going down before Edge catches it again.] Same principle.

[swordofzero]

I understand. [So each throw was different, something you had to work out as you went.

He watched as Edge flipped the knife into the air and then tried himself. He threw it up carefully and reached out to catch it after it turned one circle. He's not sure that he has any actual skill in it, just fast refelexes. But at least he hadn't dropped it.]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

[Whoops, he hadn't meant for that to be an emulated behavior! Edge's mask hides his gritted teeth or slight inhalation of breath, but Suzaku makes it without injury. Whew.]

This isn't the best example, because you're always going to want to throw a knife full-force -- but that just means you know how many rotations it will turn over a given distance. After that, it's just a matter of getting good at estimating that distance.

[swordofzero]

[Suzaku nodded again, estimating distance didn't sound too hard. He already did that whilst fighting even in close quarters. It was important though not as necessary as with ranged weapons.]

I understand so far.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

You might also need to adjust your grip because of that. [With a neat little motion, Edge reverse the knife in his hand, now gripping the blade by the flat with two fingers.] That's if you need another half rotation.

[swordofzero]

[Suzaku reversed the knife himself, taking a moment to study how Edge had done it and trying to copy the movement. He moved his hand until the grip felt natural and nodded once more.] So the judgement has to be made before you even set up for the throw.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Right. [Edge pauses, drumming his fingers on his biceps, then adds for the sake of full disclosure...] Unless you're very good, a lot of the time a thrown weapon of any sort is just a distraction, a nuisance. It takes incredible skill to accurately put a knife or shuriken into a spot where it will do damage, on the fly, while moving.

[swordofzero]

So it is thrown to distract an oponent before being followed by a different attack. [He nodded.] I understand, it is not to be relied on for damage until you are exceptoionally skilled.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Yeah. You want more, you train as a ninja. I can put a sword through someone's chest at thirty paces, but that's me. I say this to you keep perspective, because no offense, I'm going to be far better than you at it and I don't want you getting discouraged.

[swordofzero]

[Suzaku smiled slightly at the words.] Don't worry Edge, I am doing this more out of interest. My fighting style is very different than yours and fighting like you would require unlearning a lot of my own training. [Which would be hard enough on it's own, harder when all of his fighting is instinctive, not attached to any memories. He has no context for any training he would have to unlearn and change.]

I just wish to learn something new and as my experiences in the forest shown, there are times where I will need every tool at my disposal, a thrown distraction would have come in very handy in that situation.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Just making sure we're clear on that. [He may not remember training others before, but he's done it. Comes with being the head of the Eblan ninja clan.] It's definitely a useful tool, though! I'm assuming you're not the poisoning type, but I bet a weapon dipped in holy water and then thrown would make an ayakashi unhappy!

[swordofzero]

I imagine it would. [Edge is right, poison is not his style. But holy water. He needs to make sure to take some next time he goes anywhere there might be a fight. Holy water throwing weapons would definitely drive an ayakashi back.]

That is a very good idea, anything to keep them back is very useful, especially if borderlines fail.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Yeah, I'm glad I thought of it.

...Just now. Instead of before, when I had ayakashi to fight.B

[swordofzero]

Often the best ideas come to us too late. [He smiled.] But I am sure there will be many more ayakashi to fight in the future. [Spirits that were once human, fallen into despair. There were no shortage of them it seemed.]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Boy, that's sure true. Everything is just a stalling trick against them without a god's help, but...

[swordofzero]

But the longer we can stall the more chance we have against them. [He frowned, remembering Kamui's words in the forest.]

Did you know that Ayakashi were once human?

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Is that really true for all of them? Some of them are so small and trivial it's impossible to imagine they were once human.

[swordofzero]

I'm unsure. Some of them do seem too trivial to have been human. They look very different than what I imagined.

Perhaps animals can turn into ayakashi as well.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

That would really explain a lot. A lot of the ones I've seen sure look like they came from animals.

[swordofzero]

They do. It is hard thinking of animals succombing to despair. But they must... if they become ayakashi.

[This is all quite complicated.]