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

[sassywelshcatgirl]

A school?

[Nia pulls a strip of meat off the grill with her chopsticks, but her attention is almost entirely on him. First she's heard of it, and given how the the place views 'teaching' as 'cram everyone in this training hall and let them go at it', she hadn't even thought something more like a school would be around.]

What's it teach?

[reformedsinner]

Yes, that's right. We don't have many students, so most of our classwork is tutoring rather than formal classes, but I teach math and Japanese, and we have a few other teachers who can teach English, modern technology, and so on.

[He shrugs cheerfully.]

Would you be interested?

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[Nia's look grows skeptical as can be, one eyebrow arching up while the other drops.]

Why the hell would anyone here need to know math?

[The other stuff she can get but FIRST THINGS FIRST.]

[reformedsinner]

Oh, please don't tell me you're one of those people who thinks math isn't important...

Household budgeting? Building anything, for that matter. Converting currencies.

[He spreads his hands.]

And, besides that, some people enjoy it.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

I'm a shinki, I don't run a household. I'm not a builder. Don't have much money either. Honestly... not seeing the use.

[Nia shrugs. No offense, pal, but she is what she is. A Driver and a shinki, not anything special, so far as anyone knows.]

[reformedsinner]

And that's a reason for you not to need to learn math, but not for everyone. Plenty of shinki do their household budgeting, you know. For one thing, some gods here are children....

[Others are just irresponsible.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Yeah, I suppose there's that. Not that I see what kids have to do with anything, but I suppose some basic idea of what to do with numbers could be helpful. But you say 'math' and I think a lot more complicated stuff, with the letters and small numbers and signs that don't make a damn bit of sense. [Alrest didn't exactly have comprehensive education. Especially not considering her circumstances. So her unconscious mind doesn't expect that sort of thing.]

[reformedsinner]

Oh, well, yes, for those who want it. That's the kind of math that's useful when you're solving more complicated problems, you see.

[His shrug is still cheerful.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

The sort we come across all the time in our daily lives as gods and shinki, right. I'm not sure how we've gotten by all this time, the prayers asking us to solve complex equations are just piling up...

[Nia isn't even trying to be so snarky about this. It just comes naturally to her.]

[reformedsinner]

Actually, I use math quite a lot in my work. Solving a complex equation incorrectly when the answer is 'how large should a dose of this medicine be' could kill someone, after all.

[Math is too important.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Oh... yeah, I guess that's a thing. I'm used to healing being, 'toss regenerative aether at someone till they stop needing it'. [She shrugs, then starts hauling her cooked food off the little grill so she can start making inroads on it.] At least I figure that's what I'm used to, knowing what I know here.

[reformedsinner]

Is that so? Interesting. I do the same sort of healing, although in my technique, the power I use is just 'chi,' rather than 'aether.'

[Possibly different, but.]

Unfortunately, that takes time and energy. With proper medication, I can help far more people.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Well, I've got my Blade now so we can actually do stuff. If you ever need help, give a yell. Maybe not diseases so much, but physical wounds? Easy stuff. [She points a chopstick at him with a confident smirk, before finally popping the steak into her mouth. Her eyes go shut at the taste...] Aah, that's good.

[reformedsinner]

Thank you, I will keep that in mind.

[If there's ever another ayakashi rampage in the Heavens, or disaster on the Near Shore, Hakkai'll know who to call.]

And if you have any problem with diseases, that seems to be my new specialty.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

If I can still get sick when I'm dead, I've got a real problem with how this whole afterlife thing is working out. Guess gods may have to handle it either way though, huh?

[Diseases are complicated beasts, but for her own purposes she doesn't think she needs to worry...]

You've been doing it all for a while then?

[reformedsinner]

I've certainly seen gods get sick. [Shikyoin Hibiki and the Death Flu of Dramatic Effects, for one thing. His own run-in with a few unfortunate spells, for another, though that wasn't enough like a mundane illness to count.]

As for shinki, I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be too surprised. You eat, drink and bleed.

I took over these duties in, hm. Mid-July of this year, so it's been about six months.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Yeah, the bleeding part's a little weird when we've got no pulse. Guess it's just kinda leaking out.

You've been here a while though, huh. [Nia says this with sympathy. Enduring this mess for that long has to be rough.]

[reformedsinner]

March to July as a shinki, and July to December as a god... yes, it's been a while.

[He shrugs.]

Considering the digestive effects, I don't think any of our anatomy really works the way it should.

[You know: gods don't poop, and all that. It's disconcerting.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

You -- [Forget the second half of his comment, Nia sputters at the first, then breaks into a cough as she tries to swallow and speak at the same time. Hacking a little (not, it must be admittedly, terribly unlike a cat with a hairball), she manages to work the food down the proper tube.]

You too, huh?! Is every god around here an ex-shinki and they just don't bloody tell us?!

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai leans over, helpfully whacking her on the back to keep her from choking on that bite. It's definitely helpful.

Probably.]

Oh dear, are you all right?

-- It's really not that common. There are a handful of us, though.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

I'm fine! [She's a little angrier about this than it warrants, because looking foolish and weak bothers her.] You're the second one I've run into.

[reformedsinner]

It happens in reverse, too. I've met several shinki who had once been here as gods.

[He can understand embarrassment at looking foolish; he sits back, not making a fuss about it after her 'I'm fine.']

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Wait, what? How the -- oh, wow. That has to suck. Go from top to bottom. Lose your memories and everything...

[Nia can't help but shiver a little. Yow. What a horrible thought.]

[reformedsinner]

Honestly, there are times I've missed it. "Ignorance is bliss," as they say.

[He picks a few of the mushrooms, now cooked through, off the grill, and pops one into his mouth.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Not much worth remembering, huh? p[She can understand that. She's not chasing her own memories -- in fact, something tells her not to go down that route at all. (Nia doesn't know all shinki feel that way.)] Anyone here you have to fake not knowing?