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]

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?

[reformedsinner]

That's the sort of question I think it's better if I don't answer. Although one former god of mine did return as a shinki....

[But he's not about to discuss people he knew in life who might be here as shinki. It's not subtle, of course, if Nia wants to look it up. Gojyo has remembered a few things, and hasn't been quiet about them. But still.

The old fear flashes its fins every time he so much as considers sharing that information.]

That's not the same thing, though.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[Like she can keep track of all that sort of thing. That's another person who's swapped, and she can't even begin to call this 'uncommon' now. What the hell?]

Still weird, though. You get the feeling if we knew how that happened, we'd know a lot more overall?

[reformedsinner]

Yes. Even if we don't know how it happened, I think we have to take it as evidence that those of us who disappear aren't exactly escaping.

[He watches her, expression mild and unchanging, for a moment.]

It seems like far too much work to drag back the same souls over and over again.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Wait, did anyone actually think they were escaping?

[That's a new one on her. Mostly because 'escape' sounds like it's a little voluntary, not like the people just get swept up with no control and hurled on. Or back.]

[reformedsinner]

Not deliberately, but the story that they're "going home" seems to be a popular one.

[Swept out into whatever world they came from, to oblivion, probably.

Well -- Hakkai's had the experience of disappearing. "Oblivion" isn't too far from the truth, given that he remembers nothing at all.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Yeah. Don't tell me, let me guess. No proof at all, that's just what everyone tells themselves so they can still sleep at night.

[Nia tends to the cynical.]

[reformedsinner]

There's some evidence -- a few people have disappeared and then returned remembering more of their life than they did when they vanished. Of course, we already know that this place can alter our memories.

[So, in other words, Occam's razor doesn't suggest that people are disappearing back home to take up their lives without interruption just because they remember a few additional events.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Yeah, sure, and that doesn't make anything clear. I hear that happens even without disappearing, too, for us shinki. [Seems way too optimistic and way too hopeful to think any of that's a good sign.]

[reformedsinner]

It certainly does.

[Hakkai's not defending the wishful thinkers among them, but they're at least not working entirely from wishful thinking. He shrugs.]

You'll hear the line about 'going home' quite a bit, though.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Hopeful self-delusion. People want to pretend everything is better than it is...

[Is she really the only one who's not okay with this?]

[reformedsinner]

Of course they do. When a situation is unacceptable and you don't know how to change it, it's easier to bear if you pretend it's not so bad.

[Or simply not happening. Hakkai, as a natural cynic, doesn't begrudge the willfully deluded their illusions, at least not too often.

It's the optimists who really have it hard.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Sure, it's easier and it's a lie. [Nia doesn't have much patience for that sort of thing. It's not just themselves they're hurting by spreading rumors like that. They're making sure none of this will ever get fixed, since it won't even get looked at.] Is there anyone not in on it?

[reformedsinner]

In on...?

I think you're misunderstanding. It's not a conspiracy to lie to anyone, Nia, it's an explanation that some of us like to cling to.

[His tone is dry.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Willful lies are still lies. It doesn't matter who puts on the blindfold, even if you do it yourself, you're still blind. And what if someone who doesn't know better hears, and believes? Just taking it for granted that people who disappear went home, all safe and happy?

We're not kids -- uh, well, there are a couple of kids. But for the most part, we should be facing the truth, even if it hurts. Even if we don't like it!

[reformedsinner]

I can't prove that people don't go home. I don't believe it's true, but I also don't think anyone's going around claiming that they know, for certain, that anyone who disappears pops up back home.

[He levels a look at Nia.]

Just because an explanation is reassuring doesn't make it wrong. It might be that I'm the one going around spreading 'lies' that our souls are trapped here whether we disappear or not.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[Nia looks right back. There's way too much spark and fire in her, no matter that she looks young.]

It's the difference between saying, "Yeah, he went home," and, "yeah, I hope he went home." Night and day. One's a hopeful lie, the other's true but doesn't make any promises.

[reformedsinner]

Your standards might be too high. Would you like any more fish?

[Hakkai appears unmoved by her intensity.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

I'll break before the world does, I swear it.

And yes, please. [Message received, really, but what can she do but hold true to herself?]

[reformedsinner]

[More like: she'll make a lot of unnecessary enemies if she decides that everyone who doesn't properly hedge their declarations of belief is a liar. Hakkai can't stop her if she wants to, though. Eyebrows quirking in brief statement of his own opinion on the matter, he shifts the last of the fish onto the grill.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[Yeah. Probably. That's how it's supposed to be, isn't it? She's different. She doesn't see the world quite the same way as they do, after all. Human, normal, all the things they call themselves. They're quick enough to all look at her ears as something strange and different, even if she doesn't feel like they are at all... How much worse would it be if they knew the truth?]

[It's fine to make enemies. It's fine to keep people at arm's length. It's sure easier than dealing with them.]

[One hand lifts to her chest.]

I'm Nia. That's not going to change.