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

[missingache]

Roxas raises an eyebrow at that. For people knowing his name, this was... different. No one had referred to him with so much formality.

"Uhm... my name's Roxas, but I don't think I'm a Lord..."

[gentilitea]

“Er, don’t you?” That reaction makes his heart sink. It’s as if Roxas doesn’t remember him—and Jakob certainly can’t see his shinki’s mark from this perspective. “This is rather too, er, public to drop the title, but if you prefer…”

[missingache]

Tilting his head, Roxas squints, trying to see if that would jog a memory or something. Nope. Nothing. He sighs and rubs the back of his neck. "I'm sorry... I just got here today, and I don't know anyone. A lot of people know my name, and some of them got kind of mad I don't remember them. I'm a shinki, and shinki according to the pamphlet I got, don't remember anything from their life."

Sorry, Jakob, this is not the Roxas you remember. Sort of.

[gentilitea]

“No, shinki generally don’t,” he replies, crestfallen. He’d often dreamed of a reunion before he’d vanished from the Far Shore himself, but this…this is bittersweet.

“Therefore I must apologize for my behavior earlier.”

[missingache]

"You don't need to. I'm not mad." He really isn't, he just feels awful he can't remember. He thinks fast and holds out his hand. "We could still be friends even if I don't remember you. Right?"

[gentilitea]

Jakob starts at that proffered hand, unsure of what to do with it—with all of this. Even dead and without his memories, this Roxas is still the same as ever—so pure and bright, so quick to make friends…

It’s too much. Jakob lifts a hand as if to reach out for his, but stops midway to slap it over his face instead, as if that might hold back all the tears that have started flowing.

[missingache]

Roxas jumps at that, not sure why this happened instead of a handshake. Jakob was so close... and now there's crying? The small blond drops all pretenses of a smile that might have come to be as he frowns, moving closer to Jakob, wondering if this was his fault.

"I'm sorry..." Wait. Getting closer might be bad. He stops where he is and fidgets. "I'm making you sad. Should I leave?"

[gentilitea]

“Oh no, please,” Jakob tries to compose himself, hastily daubing at his face with a handkerchief. “I—I only need a moment, it’s just…” Gods, where does he even begin?

“This is…This is all very overwhelming…”

[missingache]

"Okay?" So Roxas will just stand there quietly? Sounds like a plan. At least till Jakob calms down. Whenever that is... All these emotional people around Roxas makes him feel guiltier by the second as they seem to 'grieve' for a relationship he doesn't think he actually had with them.

"Do you need water or anything?"

[gentilitea]

“Oh no, please do not trouble yourself!” Jakob quickly responds, having mastered himself for the most part. Nothing much can be done for all that puffiness around the eyes and whatnot, but he’s trying his best to be dignified again.

“Only…I—I never thought I’d see you again.”

[missingache]

"Are you sure? I can run and get some." It wouldn't be a bother at all. Roxas just wants to make sure Jakob is less sad and keeps hydrated. Water leaking out of people seems like a bad thing.

"Were you waiting for me?"

[gentilitea]

“There is no need, I assure you. If anything, waiting upon you is—” He bites his lip. Roxas is a shinki now, isn’t he? They both hold the same rank, the same peerage. Not to mention that they’d been friends—that alone complicates all such notions of rank and propriety.

He’s not even sure what the appropriate approach to all of this is, anymore. “That is…yes. I suppose I have been waiting for you, in a manner of speaking.”

At any rate, a timely conversation with Sora in what feels like forever ago has sort of…given him some foolish hope, but geez, the way things turn out, sometimes…

[missingache]

Waiting upon him? Should he follow up on that? Roxas decides not to for the moment, or at all. Something tells him that it might not be the smartest idea to do so. Strange... Ah well, that's something future Roxas can worry about.

"Really? But I'm just me. And without my memories, I'm not the Lord you're waiting for..."

[gentilitea]

“Well, no,” he admits. There really is no going around the reality of the situation…but does it really have to hurt this much?

“And it would be presumptuous of me to expect things to go the way I’d hoped.” Still…there’s a longing there, now that Roxas has given him a taste of that special something a long time ago. Jakob is once again forced to realize why he actively avoids making friends to begin with.

[missingache]

It's a strange feeling, not knowing what to do. Not knowing if he should leave or stay. If Jakob would be upset or happier. Roxas is more than a little lost, so he looks down at the ground as he decides what to do. Jakob wasn't happy, that much was clear, and the small blond is the source of it all.

So with a nod to himself, he looks up at Jakob. "I'll stay away then. Because I'm not the Roxas you know, so... staying wouldn't be very nice. You'd be unhappy." He then looks determined. "I won't bother you again unless you need help!"

[gentilitea]

“Please don’t—” Stay away, that is, but he can’t quite articulate himself in the face of that unexpected reply. Stay away?! He feels a little guilty, recalling how bad he must’ve made Roxas feel long ago when he’d let it slip how much he’d missed his old master.

He’ll deal with the consequent blighting of that later, but for now some things need clearing up. “That is, I would take you up on that offer of friendship once more, if you…if you think it is…” What’s the word—“proper.” Close enough??

[missingache]

Jakob doesn't know what he's done. Roxas perks up as he listens to the older man, a bubbling feeling in his chest getting stronger. It makes him break into a bright smile, bouncing on his heels, a reaction that Jakob might not be all too familiar with when it comes to the small blond.

He's happy! Really, really happy! "Yeah! It's proper! Wait, is proper the right word? We're both shinki..." Never mind that! "I wanna be friends please."

[gentilitea]

That’s…new. He’s seen Roxas happy before, but this is like…oh Heavens, what is that warm glowy feeling that’s swelling up in his chest?

He can’t help but blush a little at something so unprecedented. That Lord Roxas would want to be friends with him that much…well, what can he do but do his best to make him happy?

“I suppose it is proper,” Jakob reassures him, staring at the ground between his shoes because oh gods for some reason this is kind of embarrassing? “But I am honored that you would consider being my…my…” Don’t make him say it.

[missingache]

Congrats! You're feeling the term people generally describe as 'happiness'. It might happen more often around Roxas.

Don't worry, he understand what Jakob is too shy to say. "Then we're friends." Which gives him an idea as he notes that Jakob still has orange in his hair. "And as friends, wanna help me win the color fight?"

[gentilitea]

Friends. It’s still not something he’s used to, and he’s still not sure what to make of it, especially now that Roxas has gone from god to shinki. But between the two of them Roxas seems to know exactly what he’s doing, so Jakob has no choice but to follow suit.

He takes one look at the colorful, dust-filled carnage of the general play area, and gives Roxas a curt nod. Of course. This he can understand better.

“As you wish.” Hope you’re prepared for an extremely competitive and highly agile butler who would totally take all the dust bombs for you as a color partner, Roxas.

[missingache]

It's called instinct, and at this moment, it's serving Roxas really well. He wants to be friends, and now that they are, it's hard not to be happy and giddy about the development. He'll calm down a little later. Maybe.

"Then let's do this!" Even if he'll chide Jakob later for taking hits. Roxas is a scrappy kid and doesn't mind getting dirty!

[gentilitea]

Roxas can do whatever he wants as far as Jakob is concerned. Unless it endangers his own safety, but Jakob’s known him long enough to trust that he won’t take stupid risks.

Especially when Jakob’s got his back.

Especially when Jakob’s got…that face on.

“Of course! I shall secure your victory even at the cost of my own life!!!” That may or may not be figurative, who knows.