July Training

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: December 22nd
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 more experienced god and shinki volunteers.




Meeting Hall

God Training

Newly arrived gods are escorted into a small meeting room, with tatami floors and a stage 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. Paper and pens are provided to all the attendees as an unsubtle suggestion to take notes on the information they're given.

The speaker delivers his welcome speech in a rather bored tone, occasionally stumbling and checking his own notecards. He particularly dwells, towards the end of the speech, on the fact that an unauthorized god has recently tried to access the Heavens, and any contact from other gods asking to access the Heavens through their temples should be immediately reported. 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.

A variety of weapons are available in the dojo for shinki and their gods to practice with, and a row of straw targets are set up along one wall. Outside, in an area carefully roped off with red ribbons, are six animated training dummies, also made of straw and dressed in plain cotton jackets and trousers. They will immediately engage anyone who enters the area marked with the ribbon, but will not pursue opponents outside it. A white-robed shinki nearby keeps a sharp eye on the animated dummies, and will intervene if anyone tries to destroy one.

Physical Training

A race track has been laid out, winding through the gardens to a towering pole, 9 meters in height, planted in the center of a pond with a cluster of pretty ribbons tied at the top. White-robed shinki are standing by with stopwatches: anyone who wants can race their friends along the path, with the first one to return to the starting point with a ribbon winning the challenge, or solitary racers can recruit a shinki to time them and try to beat their own speed. But be careful not to fall off the pole! The pond isn't dangerously deep, but the bottom is very muddy, and in late December, it's also very, very cold.

On the lawn near the dojo, a wide circle has been marked out in white paint, and big baskets set around the circle are filled with sachets full of chalk dust in a rainbow of colors. Pick your color, grab a handful of sachets, and join the fray! Anyone inside the circle is a fair target to have one of the sachets thrown at them, and on impact, they splash out enough brightly colored dust to mark the spot they strike. Head or torso hits are an automatic out, leg hits mean the target isn't allowed to move from their position, and arm hits mean they can't use that arm. Borderlines -- and any other magic -- are allowed, and the game can get intense.

Rest and Refreshments

The weather outside, although not freezing, is quite chilly, and in the middle of the afternoon, the shinki will invite everyone into a prepared banquet hall for food and to warm back up. Charcoal braziers set in the center of square tables radiate warmth, and are covered by grates; other shinki bring trays of fresh ingredients, both meat and vegetable, that can be grilled over the hot coals.

After the meal is finished, one of the white-robed shinki, a middle-aged woman with her hair cut in a fashionable modern bob, enters the room with an expression of great, if restrained, delight, pushing a cart with a portable karaoke machine and speaker on it. She sets up the karaoke machine at one end of the room, and begins encouraging others -- both her fellow shinki and the newcomer guests -- to join in with a song. Whenever there's a break, she puts in music selections of her own; she has a trained, jazzy voice and a great fondness for midcentury enka.

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, sing and barbecue
• Have fun~

Comments

[swordofzero]

[Suzaku's eyes flickered over to Hakkai when he spoke and it seemed to take a moment or two for the words to reach Suzaku. He shakes his head.] I'm not...

[He can't actually lie, he's a shinki he's always hungry. Food had just been far from his mind.] I apologise. I lost track of time it seems.

[reformedsinner]

There's no need to apologize. You seem to have something on your mind.

[He nods to the nearby table; there's still a plate of food waiting to be grilled on the side, although it's picked over.]

But it would be a shame to skip a meal out of distraction.

[swordofzero]

I guess it is very obvious. [He's been walking around in a daze all day. He has to focus, he moved over to the table and looked at the food. Meat, vegetables, the still hot brazier.

He starts assembling a stick of food to grill.] Thank you, sir.

[reformedsinner]

Ah... just 'Hakkai,' please, I don't like to stand on formality!

[He gently slides another half-full plate of food into Suzaku's reach from its place on the side of the table, to make up the lack in the one he's currently picking from, and settles back down on his seat.]

Is it anything you'd like to talk about?

[swordofzero]

My apologies. [He manages a small smile as the other plate was pushed towards him. As distracted as he was he was hungry, he was always hungry, so for a moment he was silent as he concentrated on cooking food.

He glanced at Hakkai and began to shook his head. The last thing he wanted to do was burden anyone with problems of a world that was not their own. But... He's been here a while and everyone warns him. He should talk about things that worry him, about things that he struggles with. Because they effect his god. He doesn't want to hurt Lord Kija with all of this confusion inside him.]

You... When we first met you said that when you first came to the heavens you were a shinki. Did you... Did you remember anything? From when you were alive.

[reformedsinner]

Not at first.

[Hakkai folds his hands together, fingers lining up with careful precision to fill the silence that stretches before he continues. So Suzaku has remembered something, then.

Another emotionally charged memory, it seems. It's almost always like that.]

But as I stayed longer, more and more memories returned to me.

[swordofzero]

[Grilling food gave him something to do with his hands, something to focus on and make everything a little less awkward. He had known it was something that could happen. The pamphlet he had recieved when he first arrived explained that much.

It just hadn't prepared him for how hard hitting it would be, going from nothing past his arrival in the Far Shore to the memories of a single day. A single day didn't seem all that important but when it was compared to nothing. ]

I see. It's a very odd sensation, suddenly remembering things.

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai looks at his folded hands for a long moment before he inclines his head with a little smile.]

Yes, I think it may be the most unbearable thing about being a shinki. I'm sorry.

[swordofzero]

You don't need to apologise. [Not even in sympathy. It's fine, he's fine. Even if Hakkai is probably right. It's worse somehow having some memories, disjointed, of an unknowable life, than to remember nothing at all.]

It's a temptation though, to wish to know even more and yet to know that doing so is dangerous.

[reformedsinner]

Yes, it is. Unfortunately, knowing a little doesn't make it any less dangerous to know more.

[His apology hadn't entirely been in sympathy; there's a certain amount of guilt that lingers, to have been a shinki, and to no longer be. Still, it's not as if he can change that.

It doesn't change anything for Suzaku, either.]

It only makes it harder that you don't know more. If you can... I'd personally recommend not putting too much weight on what you remember.

[swordofzero]

I guess really it doesn't matter anyways. [Hakkai's words were wise. It is still just as dangerous to know anything. All the memory has brought is more questions. The answers of which could not be known.]

They are memories of a completely different world and one I am no longer a part of. [A world of war. But in it such gentleness as was found in Euphie's smile. But Hakkai was right. He should not think on it over much.]

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai's glance is sharp, and thoughtful.]

Does it help to think of them that way?

[swordofzero]

I guess. [He frowned for a moment before nodding.]

It is not as if I can change things. Or make up for what I did.

[reformedsinner]

I don't think there's ever any way to truly make up for things you've done in the past, except to learn from them and go on.

[His shrug is very slight, barely a shift of his shoulders, as he looks up to meet Suzaku's gaze.]

Now that you remember it, that's what I'd recommend. Learn from what you remember, but don't question it, and keep looking forward.

[Easily said, he knows. Easily said, and much more difficult to accomplish.]

[swordofzero]

[Learn from them and move on. A lot easier said then done. Especially when he had no solid information of what he had done. Betrayed his country, his family. Murdered hundreds of Elevens. But it was just angry words. He can't remember doing any of that.

Can't remember becoming a person so infamous that he hid behind dark glasses and was recognised and hated the moment they were knocked from his face.

Can't remember being a murderer. But he can't question it. Not even to wonder if it were true. Just accept and look forwards. It's difficult but he nods.] I will try. Thank you.

[reformedsinner]

I know it's not as easy as it sounds. But still... good luck.

[He bows his head, in a gesture that's half apology and half sympathy.]

[swordofzero]

Thank you. [He bows his head in turn, before turning his attention to the now cooked stick of meat and vegetables.]

How have you been, Hakkai?

[reformedsinner]

Oh, I've been managing. [His laugh is deliberately light. Better to rush past the question of how he's been. It's been a bad few weeks, but perhaps it'll be better in the new year. It's supposed to be a fresh start, after all.]

Busy, but... and you? It sounds like this-- [A flick of his forefingers stands in for mention of the memories.] --is new.

[swordofzero]

[He nodded, though he didn't feel like he knew Hakkai well enough to push past that simple polite answer.]

It is, I woke with the memory this morning. I have been fine otherwise. [He is slowly getting to know Kina, settling into some semblance of a routine.]

[reformedsinner]

[There is nothing Hakkai appreciates more than a willingness not to pry. As Suzaku accepts his (unconvincing, he suspects) dismissal of the question, his demeanor lightens, just a little. He nods acceptance of Suzaku's answer in turn, picking up another piece of vegetable from his own plate and considering it.]

That's good. It helps, too, I find, if you can talk to your god about it. They might be able to offer you better advice than I can, or, at least, better support.

[swordofzero]

Ginia said that as well. [And it is advice he really should follow. But he doesn't want to bother Kija with this. With anything really but especially this. He's still trying to make a good impression. Telling him that he's probably a traitor us...

It would not be a good way to earn his gods trust.

[reformedsinner]

But you don't sound sure about it.

['You're not the first one to tell me that' may be the most noncommittal response ever invented; perhaps Suzaku doesn't mean it that way, but his expression is a touch dubious as well.]

[swordofzero]

I don't really want to bother him with this.

[Or anything. Really.]

[reformedsinner]

Things that bother you bother your god, too. It's not a matter of sympathy, it's just how the bond works.

[He spreads his hands in a shrug, smiling wryly.]

If you can't talk freely about that, it just gets worse. I couldn't talk with my last god about my problems, and it drove me into needing an ablution that almost killed her.

-- Not to say that everything you don't share is that serious, of course. But not talking can be as much of a bother as talking.

[swordofzero]

I do not want to being any danger to him. [Hearing that not talking could lead to putting his god in danger was one thing but hearing from someone that had been in that situation was slightly different.]

It's just difficult to know where to start.