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

[revolutionfalcon]

That was a while ago now. I don't assume people haven't improved in that kind of time.

[Though that's mostly because of how hard he pushes himself and anyone who chooses to train with him on a consistent basis.]

[kokuyoyo]

...Then, let's just test it now.

[It's not that hard to step into the little sparring area, and he's... relatively sure Sabimei won't mess with him while he's trying to practice against an opponent. Not when there are his precious dummies to look after.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Since the dummies still seem to be down for the count for a little while yet, Shun follows him back in, closing the tessen and reaching for his belt as if finding another weapon.

Then he flicks his wrist, and something silver flashes towards Chikusa from about Shun's waist height. The throwing knife isn't aimed to do anything more than impale Chikusa's shoulder if he can't respond in time, but Shun figures any reaction test where someone's expecting a hit is going to be entirely useless.

It also might have something to do with how Chikusa initiated their previous spar.]

[kokuyoyo]

[He loves you too, Shun.]

[Fortunately, having been sliced through a little with his last spar with Shun and well aware of how hard he can go, Chikusa is expecting that even discounting his usual paranoia regarding potential violence from other people. He jerks to the side, barely avoiding the attack, and pushes himself off to dash towards Shun.]

[Close combat. He needs to get better at it, and unarmed, too.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun steps forward himself, moving to take advantage of Chikusa's sharp pace by the simple means of meeting it with a hard punch towards the gut. It's a lot harder to dodge that sort of thing effectively when moving at speed, and on the chance it does hit, the opposing momentum will just add to the effectiveness.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Honestly, it's the kind of situation that's most ideal. When Ayumu had attacked, too, it had been this kind of situation... Him, rushing forward, right into an attack he couldn't block in time...]

[There's no one to protect, now, but that doesn't mean his body doesn't subconsciously recognize the similarities regardless.]

[He doesn't dodge. Instead, he jams a foot forward to immediately pull the breaks- an act that would be painful to anyone who'd feel it. Without thinking, his hand snaps forward, sending out a line between them.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun pulls the punch as soon as he sees Chikusa cast a borderline - it's a difficult thing to do for anyone who's not a very skilled fighter, but Shun's developed relatively fine control over his movements. It's not enough to completely stop it cold, but it means he doesn't smash his fist into the borderline hard enough to do himself any damage.

Something about the intensity of that reaction, though...Shun speaks even as he leaps back from the line to give himself distance for when it drops.]

This is about how you died, isn't it? [The timing, the instinctiveness of that reaction. It's something that's stuck with him, and the only recent thing Shun is aware of that would fit is that.]

[kokuyoyo]

...Ah...

[Almost absentmindedly, Chikusa blinks at his borderline with all the awareness of someone who's just woken up. He can't even remember moving his hand to draw the barrier...]

I guess. It... won't happen again.

[He'll have to think harder on this kind of thing, to make sure he doesn't slip up...]

[revolutionfalcon]

[While Shun doesn't let down his readiness, he doesn't attack again yet either. He's somewhat familiar with that sort of fugue state, even if it hasn't manifested that sharply in some time.]

It's not necessarily a bad thing to have that kind of reaction, but it's more something you can use and try to stay conscious of. If you slip like that, you might block the first attack, but you're exposed to anything further than that.

[Or, in a bad enough situation, might have difficulty identifying friend from foe. Shun doesn't know Chikusa's specific circumstances, but he can use his own to theorise.]

[kokuyoyo]

...I'm the opposite of being conscious of this kind of thing...

[It could almost be a self-deprecating joke about his near constant tired demeanor and general apathy towards most movement... but he's not really lying, either. His mind can be so unreliable, sometimes, while still getting him through situations that matter... or, at least, the situations he's most often had to deal with and which affected his state of living.]

[Before, he's never had any complaints about it, but if it's going to be like this now...]

Then... How do you train that sort of thing? [Since it sounds like Shun has experience.]

[revolutionfalcon]

Controlled exposure, basically. You have to adjust enough that you can keep moving in the face of an attack like that, so you don't just associate it with the one that makes you freeze.

[Granted, Shun is very much the kind of person who doesn't actually take a lot of the advice he gives. But it also means he gets a lot of this kind of useful advice off other people, and can adjust it with his own experience to pass on. At least someone can probably benefit from it even if he can't.]

[kokuyoyo]

....Then... I'll have to do this repeatedly until it's under my control.

[It sounds particularly bothersome... but the alternative is messing up in a moment that will really count, possibly for someone else important to him. Even if it exhausts him completely, he won't accept anything else.]

[revolutionfalcon]

You can't get over this sort of thing by ignoring it, if that's what you were thinking.

[Shun puts that somewhat dryly, but then, he's encountered plenty of people who try to ignore or push down their problems and only end up making them worse in the long run. He also likes to pretend he isn't one of them.]

[kokuyoyo]

I wasn't.

[So Shun can be reassured of that much. Turning on his heel, Chikusa starts to shuffle back to his starting point.]

...If I just ignore something like this... It's as you said, right? It'd only get in the way during a real fight... and maybe cost it. And that's not something I can let happen...

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun hums slightly in agreement, backing off a bit himself. He does note that he should probably pick a different opening move, though, to give Chikusa some wider variety of things to react to.]

Exactly. Not everyone seems to figure that part out.

[kokuyoyo]

It should be easy, considering it's a life or death situation.

[Coming to a stop, he eyes Shun. Right... He has to remember where he is. Before, he thought he had been aware of his surroundings, but something had clearly failed to click.]

...So I just do it the same as before?

[revolutionfalcon]

Whatever comes naturally to you.

[As he says that, Shun reaches down to his belt - and then throws another knife as soon as he's finished talking. This one, however, he doesn't just let fly by its lonesome, but comes to follow it up with a leaping kick from a different angle a second or two later. It means it's going to be difficult for Chikusa to block both at once without regaining his awareness of proceedings - there's a reason the more potentially injurious attack went first.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Naturally, huh? What comes naturally to him tends to be him avoiding outright combat if he can get away with it, and stabbing someone in the back once their guard is down. There's no time to ponder or point that out, however. Not unless he wants to get stabbed with a knife.]

[Something he'd rather avoid, even if he can't feel pain.]

[Chikusa jerks to the side, letting the knife whistle by him, which is the easy part. The hard part is moving in a way to avoid the next attack, and he jerks an arm up, one hand bracing it, to taking the impact best he can.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[It's a pretty heavy impact already, and Shun doesn't hesitate to follow it up - if he hasn't frozen yet, then he should be pressing it to see how far he can go. As such, as soon as he recovers his foot, he throws a punch towards Chikusa's face instead.

At least he's making it somewhat of a challenge, though whether that's a good thing is debatable.]

[kokuyoyo]

[No pain doesn't mean the impact has no effect, and Chikusa barely has time to register that his arm has gone numb. All he can focus on is the follow up hit, sidestepping it, something made easier by the fact that a kick needs a moment to recover. If it's going to be like that, all he can do is try to exchange a blow right back towards Shun's solar plexus.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun pulls back the punch and drops backwards onto his hands rather abruptly to avoid Chikusa's return strike, then uses the momentum from landing back on his feet to launch himself forward again, this time driving an elbow towards his throat. He's consistently making himself a bad idea to get hit by, if nothing else.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Hey, Shun, what the fuck]

[Chikusa is still in the middle of trying to move to a better position when Shun pulls his jack-in-the-box style, and his options are limited. He's not as good at close combat as he wants to be, which is why he's here in the first place...]

[...And why he gets an elbow to the fucking face, right now.]

[It's the best he can do in his limited position. A face is expendable, but his throat isn't. Who knows what state he'll be in with that. The best he can do is duck his head down like he does.... and grab Shun's arm to force him down to the ground, which is coincidentally right where Chikusa is heading from the force of that elbow.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun can take enough weight that Chikusa's going to have a great deal of difficulty forcing him to the ground, but the grab does, at least, slow him down and bring him to a crouch since Chikusa's falling. Even though he's already moving to twist and wrench his arm free, there's no way he can do it quickly enough to completely avoid getting pulled down.

It does seem that the point has been made, and while Shun is ready to react if Chikusa tries to strike out again once he's recovered, he speaks up first.]

You reacted better that time. Choosing a different spot to be hit in takes more thought than instinct.

[It can be both, but that had seemed like an active choice.]

[kokuyoyo]

[He definitely doesn't have the power to pull Shun down especially when he's holding his ground, but that's enough. Chikusa will let him have his arm back, hands pressing against the ground in preparation for movement. He stops, however, at Shun's words.]

...Mm. Yeah.

[He eases up again, flopping down against the ground. His face feels weird, and he touches it carefully. It would really suck if his jaw got broken or something and he didn't realize it just because he doesn't feel pain.]

But that felt different this time... It didn't set my brain off that time. I wonder why...

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun remains in the crouch for the moment, since they don't seem to be starting up again, and at Chikusa's remark, his expression becomes somewhat thoughtful.]

Hard to tell. If I hadn't started with a knife both times, I would've assumed it was difference in the attacking style, since a sharp weapon would be at least a little bit more similar to what originally happened.

[It definitely hadn't been merely a blunt force impact, that much was wildly obvious.]