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]

Mine's been quiet since I got here. Same for you as a shinki, right?

[reformedsinner]

Yes. Although....

[He extends his hand to her, wrist up, for her to take his pulse if she likes.]

... it's restarted now. Which is another suggestion that it doesn't mean much whether it's beating or not.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[She gives his hand an awkward look. No, that's okay, she'll take his word for it!]

Shinki are dead, their hearts don't beat. Gods are supposed to be alive, theirs do. You were a shinki, but became a god...

Well. It is possible to bring back the recently dead, you know. [She glances over at the grill, not in a hurry to meet his eyes.]

[reformedsinner]

[She doesn't take him up on the offer, and so he retracts his hand after a moment and picks his chopsticks back up. The fish seems to be properly cooked, and he transfers it off the grill with a practiced flip.]

Of course it is. But making me a god here doesn't bring me back to life. God or shinki, most of the living look right through us, don't they?

[sassywelshcatgirl]

I got the feeling that was because we're... half-off from them, you know? It's like frosted glass. Doesn't mean anything for sure.

[Evidence that Nia is thinking very hard about this: she isn't grabbing for her own fish.]

[reformedsinner]

We're part of the spirit world. They're not, yet.

-- Although the dying begin to see us more clearly, and very small children, too. [He's seen more of the former than the latter, answering prayers for health and healing; but the pattern is clear.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Right. So if we're... sort of made out of different stuff, like we've already said -- that doesn't mean for sure we're dead or alive. Just different.

[reformedsinner]

It does mean these aren't our bodies. -- So, in other words, something must have happened to our bodies, mustn't it?

[He brightens, raising one finger in helpful suggestion.]

Perhaps whoever is bringing us here has a very large meat locker?

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Unless it got changed. Like -- like ice to water. We're the same stuff that just got remade somehow. [She shrugs, recognizing she has no idea at all exactly what she's saying. It's just something that twitches in her mind.]

[reformedsinner]

Maybe. I don't have any good reason to say 'yes, that sounds right,' or 'no, that couldn't be.'

But I don't like adding more complications to a theory than there has to be, and there's no reason to believe that any of us is really alive, is there?

[His eyebrows quirk, glancing up at her, and he adds:]

Insisting that 'gods are alive' could just be another comforting lie.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Nah. It's not quite the same. [Nia shakes her head.] Saying shinki are still alive, it doesn't mesh with any of the evidence. Gods are a much bigger grey area. So there... maybe there's a reason, even if that reason is just that we want to hope.

[reformedsinner]

There's exactly as much evidence for shinki. Particularly considering that we newcomers have been known to change, one to the other. [He tosses her a dry glance.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[Nia just flashes a smug grin back.] Your heart's beating, remember? And shinki are supposed to be dead, no one said anything about gods. Not exactly as much, now is there.

[reformedsinner]

My heart's beating, but my digestive processes prove this isn't a conventional living body. Furthermore, I know for a fact that both gods and shinki have unreliable memories.

Besides, if you think I was probably dead six months ago, it's inconsistent to suggest I'm probably not dead anymore.

[The lack of a heartbeat is... disturbing, at close range, but that's all; it's not diagnostic.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Gods have unreliable memories too?

[This is news, and she'd like to hear it, thanks.]

[reformedsinner]

I've had friends come here remembering things I don't. I've remembered things they don't.

So, yes.

[He picks a piece of grilled fish up, considers it at the end of his chopsticks, and pops it into his mouth.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Oh -- you know people from... where you come from.

[As near as Nia can tell, she's the only one here from wherever she's from. Everyone thinks her ears are odd, no one knows what a Blade is. But sometimes she wonders if one of the people here was a friend of hers, who she doesn't remember at all.]

[reformedsinner]

I do. There's Goku, right now, and another god by the name of Dokugakuji.

[That's an easier topic, especially when he's careful to avoid the names of any shinki who might be involved.]

And a few who have come and gone.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[Nia perks right up, fairly obviously -- her ears even twitch a little!] Hey, you know Goku? Lucky guy!

[Which of them did she mean, anyway?]

[reformedsinner]

Yes, I do. Are you a friend of his?

[Because, obviously, Hakkai's the one who's lucky to know Goku, here.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Yeah, he's all right. Bit of an idiot, but not a bad guy. [Considering how they'd met, that's a pretty nice assessment, all things told.]

[reformedsinner]

That sounds about right. [Hakkai's chuckle is definitely fond.]

-- well, I'm not surprised he's making friends, but I'm glad to hear it.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

We actually met in the middle of a fight. Okay, maybe more at the beginning... Anyway, lucky thing, too. Don't know how I could stand him if I didn't know he could be serious when he had to. [Nia might grin, but that's literally true. That side of him, however little she sees it, goes a long way toward mitigating the worst of his "hurr durr I'm Goku" side.]

[reformedsinner]

He's really quite clever, except when it comes to math.

[Hakkai was his tutor. Hakkai has suffered.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

You -- tried to teach him math?

[Nia grabs her own stomach an instant before laughter grips her so powerfully she can't even stay upright. She sags to one side, catching herself on the table so she can keep laughing.]