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

[goingbananas]

And Sanada sure as hell isn’t going to blame him when he’s finally found at least one of his old housemates safe and sound.

“Not yet! I bet he’ll be really cool, though!” If Mei is any indication—and yes he needs to develop better standards for these kinds of things.

[battered]

"He'd better be!"

Sanada's a cool guy, he deserves to have a cool god watching after him, and 'Better than Naurmiya Mei' isn't that high of a bar, at least not in terms of personality... It sure would be great if his new god had some kind of baseball experience to show off, too. That's the only aspect that's going to be hard to top Mei in, probably.

But, you know, no use in dwelling on that if Sanada hasn't even met the guy yet! For now, Raichi takes a quick look back and forth - as if he's expecting to find someone to try and keep him on task or something? - before jogging out into the water toward Sanada.

"Kaha! It's freezing out here!!" How are you standing this?! But, hey, he's still making his way over.

[goingbananas]

Well, guys who know nothing about baseball can totally be taught it though, and that’s a pleasure even Mei can’t provide them! But the prospect of corrupting whatever poor soul ends up as his god into baseball hell will have to wait.

Right now he totally wants to see how well Raichi does in the water.

“Maybe a race will warm you up,” he responds, already taking that sweet head start as he begins further away from shore. “Catch up if you can, Raichi!”

[battered]

"Whoa-!"

So fast, there he goes!

"Hey, kahaha! Wait up!"

He hesitates, but only for just a second, before actually diving into the water. Oh god, yeah, that's cold all right!! But with Sanada still going, there's no way he's going to just back down! He can ignore the chill of the water for now, and maybe if he gets moving enough while chasing down Sanada, it'll warm him back up. Yeah, that's a nice, solid plan.

[goingbananas]

He does stop once he hits a good distance from the shore, wading in the water as he waits for Raichi to catch up. With a grin as usual, of course.

“How’s the water for you? Not too cold, is it?”

[battered]

"Kahaha! It's really cold!"

Though, at least, he looks like he's having a good time of it, and even if he reflexively laughs under stress, too, it's probably a little easier to tell that this time, it's pretty genuine.

"You wanna see who can swim faster?"

Let's race! Or something! The more they move around in the water, the less cold they'll get!!

[goingbananas]

“I dunno…” He totally wants to, but he can’t help but tease Raichi a little anyway. “You sure this isn’t too cold for you? Maybe we should sweeten the deal a little. Let the winner get something cool out of this.”

Or better yet, punish the loser in some stupid fashion. Either way, man.

[battered]

"It's not too cold!"

He wouldn't still be here if that was the case!! Probably.

But, oh... a bet? Hm...!

"Okay, kaha!" Yeah, sure! Why not? What's the worst that could happen? "What did you have in mind?"

[goingbananas]

Raichi he really can’t trust you to not make bad decisions even with adult supervision…

But Sanada taps his chin thoughtfully, making quite a show of considering the question. “What would be a fun prize after all this trouble…oh! I know~ Loser has to climb up the temple stairs on his hands!”

Maybe Raichi should let him know that Mei’s stupidly stairs-heavy temple is no longer, um…

[battered]

Ah, that does take a bit of the wind out of his sails...

"Stairs?" Who could possibly forget the completely asinine amount of steps at Mei's temple? Raichi hasn't thought about it in a while, though, so it takes him a moment to catch on. "Th-that temple disappeared when Narumiya did." And uh. Everyone else who was living there.

He's starting to shiver a little in the chill of the water now, but that just means they gotta settle on a more doable punishment game so they can get the race going right away...!

"Oh! But, the temple I'm at now, the grounds are huge! There are some mountains, so maybe, kaha, we can use those instead...?"

Oh, yeah, that sounds safe????

[goingbananas]

“Oh, it did?” He feels a pang for its loss, but doesn’t dwell on it when Raichi suggests a still more insane alternative.

Okay, well, he can dwell on his loss at another time, as he lets out a strained laugh at that suggestion.

He hadn’t been serious about the stairs punishment—or indeed, any punishment, really, but hey. “How would that be fair, huh? You’ve totally got the advantage on your home turf!”

At least Raichi has a place to call home. That much he can take comfort in.

[battered]

You can't just pitch an idea like that and not expect Raichi to take it at least somewhat seriously...! But that is a sane and rational rebuttal against his completely unreasonable alternative, which Raichi takes just as seriously as the initial challenge.

"I guess...!" Not like he's ever actually attempted such a feat himself, but, hey, maybe Sanada's got a point. "There's probably a better place for something like that anyway."

His temple grounds have other dangers to watch out for, after all. (Dinosaurs.)

"H-how about..." Something simpler, a more achievable consequence... "Loser has to make the winner a meal?"

Ah, of course. Why wouldn't it come back to food? Is this just some kind of ploy to try some of Sanada's cooking again? Probably. Definitely.

[goingbananas]

At least Raichi is easy to convince. Then again, he can say that about half the residents at Huitzilopochtli’s temple to begin with.

Sanada pretends to consider Raichi’s very important proposal. A meal, huh? Come to think of it, has he ever even seen Raichi cook?

…Actually you know what, he figures it’s best not to find out. It’s rough being such a doting senpai.

“Oh yeah, that’s a lot less dangerous.” Provided that Sanada’s careful to lose, anyhow. “So…race ya?”