August Training

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: January 6th, 2017
Where: Outside the Meeting Hall, the Far Shore / the Ryukyu Islands
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 her welcome speech in the monotone of someone who's practiced it far too often. Hopefully no one's feeling sleepy! She adds that gods should be cautious of anyone on the Near Shore who might ask to use their shrines to visit the Heavens, and should instruct their shinki to be cautious as well. There is an unrecognized god who the Heavens believe to be attacking them. 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. Each of the shinki is wearing a brightly-colored sticky name tag reading HELLO, MY NAME IS ________, and all of their names appear to end with the syllable "mei."

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. The white-robed shinki appears to be a particular expert in magic, and will occasionally offer to help out anyone who's practicing a spell more challenging than the Borderline, especially if they look quite lost. His nametag reads HELLO, MY NAME IS SABIMEI. (To interact with Sabimei, please comment on the "NPC REQUEST" thread below! If you prefer, you may also handwave his assistance or advice with your character learning spells.)

Physical Training

Two of the white-robed shinki, whose nametags mark them as Toumei and Kimei, are standing off to one side of the training area near a pair of large, curtained tents. They each have an enormous wicker basket full of clean, folded beach towels, and a rack of what appear to be wetsuits and swimsuits in a variety of styles and sizes. Once suited and toweled, new and veteran residents of the Heavens alike will be handed a pretty white-and-gold cockade that can be pinned to their suit or tied around their wrist by its ribbons, and either Toumei or Kimei will escort them to a beautiful, but rocky, Near Shore beach. Tropical plants, palm trees and high grasses surround the area, and although the sounds of cars are audible from a road not too far away, the only sign of human presence on this beach is an ancient, rotting fishing boat pulled up well past the high tide mark.

It's quite chilly, with a brisk sea breeze, but there's room to run up and down the beach, a net set up for beach volleyball, younger shinki building sand castles, and showers for the brave souls who venture into the water. The surf is impressive today, so swimmers will get the chance for some serious exercise. There's also the chance to climb through the wreck of the old fishing boat; inside, piles of old seaweed and drifting sand host curious crabs, and a curious explorer could even find treasure... although nothing more valuable than large seashells, old one-yen or five-yen coins, and bits of weathered sea glass.

Rest and Refreshments

When sunset comes -- early, at this time of year -- the shinki bring giant picnic-sized bento boxes with five or seven layers of carefully packed foods, and pile wood for bonfires that leap with flames edged blue-green from the salt. The bento boxes contain a wide variety of traditional foods, many in the style of traditional New Year's dishes: sweet potato and chestnut, slivered carrot and burdock, whole fish, toasted mochi, sliced lotus root and more. A fireworks display starts over the ocean once full night falls, fountains and bursts in every color imaginable, some so ornate that it's hard to believe they're not helped along by a touch of magic. The display lasts half an hour.

After the last fireworks, the shinki will guide everyone back to the Meeting Hall to return to their homes. The wind is getting chillier, and gods or shinki who stay too much past the firework display will notice the tiny, creeping forms of glowing ayakashi no larger than a fist, looking like little jellyfish on land. They don't seem hostile; instead, they're fixated on the boat, and will climb on it and settle onto the rigging and wood of the boat, chirping quietly to themselves and snuggling in so that the whole boat seems to glow with an unearthly blue-white light. They can be fought and defeated, but if attacked, will fight back: and be careful! Those jellyfish tentacles spread blight instead of stinging, and they're longer than they look.

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 at a beach (isn't it winter?!)
• Relax and watch the fireworks
• Have fun~

Comments

[letteropener]

"Really? Lying on the beach in the sun is too high-energy for you? I thought that sort of lazy lying around would suit you perfectly." No energy required at all -- in fact, doing so seemed to drain energy away, leaving one in a state of perfect lethargy.

[kokuyoyo]

"It's winter," he reminds her after a long pause, as if he thinks he's possibly forgotten. "The whole point of a beach... is that it's supposed to be warm." Well, hot and wet, at any rate.

[letteropener]

"Yes, but you said it was too much energy even in suitable weather," Celestia reminded him with a smile. "Though if you'd prefer to be warmer, I could arrange that just a little."

[kokuyoyo]

...Ugh. Against his own will, he's a little curious, and Chikusa eyes her cautiously for a moment. "Are you going to do something strange..?"

[letteropener]

"I don't consider magic 'strange', but I am from a world full of it, where many ponies can perform it as a matter of birthright." And honestly, it was something of a shame that other worlds did consider it strange. The lack of casual spellcasting meant the deeper magics were never seen as such, their potential dimmed by lack of perception.

[kokuyoyo]

"I don't mean magic...." Reaching up, he adjusts his glasses and brushes some hair out of the way. "But I mean... You can still do strange things whether it's magic or not, right...?"

[letteropener]

"Magic runs deeper than you know," Celestia said with a smile, utterly failing to dismiss his allegations of strangeness. "But I can do things humans consider unusual, such as control the weather, yes."

[kokuyoyo]

"I mean... That sounds about par for the course." So, yeah, that's not what's falling into his category of 'strange' here. What kind of news that is, well, it could go either way. The Far Shore had destroyed what was already a pretty apathetic reaction to strange and surprising things.

"But that seems... like it would kind of have a worldwide disaster if you just messed with it."

[letteropener]

"Not in the least. The changes I make are so small that they are easily lost in the greater chaos of the weather here... and of course, in Equestria there is no greater system, and ponykind manages all these things." Familiar with the idea that even small changes could have large results, she nonetheless is satisfied that so many small changes occur moment-to-moment that her own have no meaningful impact.

[kokuyoyo]

"...If you say so..." Does he still sound a little suspicious? It's because he is. Then again, her world seems to run entirely on magic and nonsense, in contrast to the one he's currently living in.

....Which is only sometimes magic and nonsense.

[letteropener]

"I do, and I think I can safely say I am well-equipped to know. But I was not planning to manipulate the weather at all,if that is a relief." Or the season, which she definitely knows would cause some difficulty if she could pull it off.

[kokuyoyo]

Okay, nope, they've veered right back into "suspicion" territory, and Chikusa slowly narrows his eyes. The most straightforward solution to the problem he could think of involved weather magic. "What were you planning on doing, then..."

[letteropener]

"Merely warming things up for you a bit. That's a fairly simple spell, and... one I have been using a lot lately," she said, with a little chuckle into one hoof.

[kokuyoyo]

Well, when she puts it like that, it doesn't sound so bad, but... After a moment, he reluctantly nods. "I guess... It wouldn't hurt to try it." Or at least it better not be a nuisance.

[letteropener]

Well, no sense allowing him to hem and haw and change his mind. As soon as he agreed, Celestia lowered her head as her horn lit up with magic.

Another glow swirled around him, and then as simple as that, the air right next to him felt temperately warm.

[kokuyoyo]

....Oh.

Alright.

"Not... as weird as I was expecting." Blinking, he tugs down the zipper to his hoodie a little bit.

[letteropener]

Celestia favored him with a serene smile.

"I didn't think you'd find it so, compared to some of the things in the Far Shore we've seen."

[kokuyoyo]

"It's just warming things up..." Although that begs another question, one he can't help but ponder now that he's done so much research into magic.

"How do you warm things up without fire, then...? How does it work?"

[letteropener]

"Mental energy becomes magical energy, which becomes physical energy. Temperature is, after all, only physical energy." A simple enough explanation, easily offered,

[kokuyoyo]

It sounds like a really simple equation, although then that begs the next question... "But your kind of magic is different from the kind of magic used here, right?"

[letteropener]

"That is difficult to say. There are similarities and differences, but one may often use different means to achieve the same ends, so it depends on what you think matters as a difference." Shinki powers relied heavily on willpower, after all, so one could conclude they represented the transformation of mental to magical energy.

[kokuyoyo]

It's not simple. Of course it isn't. Chikusa is starting to get the idea that nothing is simple, ever, and he's just going to have to surrender himself to a life of hard work and exhaustion and sleeping a lot. Resting his cheek in one palm, he blinks up at her.

"...How about we start with you telling me what the similarities are from your point of view, then."

[letteropener]

"They both represent the transformation of mental energy to magical energy." If the key factor in shinki spells was indeed willpower, as she was given to understand, that parallel seemed self-evident.

[kokuyoyo]

"Huh." Well, he guesses he can't argue with that. It sounds similar enough, after all. "So, differences?"

[letteropener]

"Well, I am not a shinki, but my understanding is that there is little actual conscious patterning going on in shinki magic. If one wants to create a Borderline, one simply performs the necessary steps of the gesture and the invocation, yes? Whereas unicorn magic shapes the mental patterns to produce the magical patterns. And of course, unicorn magic requires a horn for the translation of energies, while shinki do not."

Celestia may be a wise and serene princess, but she is also quite the magical scholar.