September Training

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: January 22nd, 2017
Where: Outside the Meeting Hall, the Far Shore / slopes of a recently erupting volcano
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 at least one unrecognized god who the Heavens believe to be attacking them, and another recent incursion by an unrecognized god ended in his defeat and the extinguishing of the volcano he had caused to erupt. 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

There are stacks of informational pamphlets sitting out on tables around the dojo. There aren't very many of the white-robed shinki around, but the few who are present will willingly answer any questions or instruct newcomers in the use of the borderline. They accompany their answers, or their 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 who appears upset and visibly distracted is keeping an eye on the training dummies, and will intervene if anyone tries to destroy one. He is wearing a slightly battered nametag that reads HELLO, MY NAME IS SABIMEI. (Sabimei is an expert in shinki magic and will assist characters who need help with spells or who want to learn a new spell. If you want a thread with him or have any questions about handwaving something, please comment on the NPC REQUEST thread below. Characters who want to begin learning a new spell from him do not have to thread it out, but should comment on the Shinki Spells and Songs page to begin learning the spell.)

Physical Training

There are no special obstacle courses or training areas set up for the newcomers at this welcome session. Instead, the white-robed shinki will invite any gods or shinki who are willing to help with cleanup in the Western District of the Far Shore. A recent volcanic eruption has left heavy ash fall on temple roofs and fallen trees or mud clogging roads. Some of them are singing in chorus to summon small rainstorms or winds to clear away the obstacles; others are just using brooms and ropes to sweep away ash or drag away trees, and help of the magical or physical variety will be appreciated.

Rest and Refreshments

Once it begins to grow dark, everyone helping to clean up the Western District will be brought back to the dojo to rejoin those who chose to remain there. Traditional public baths are available for everyone to wash off the mud, ash and sweat of their hard work and soak comfortably in a warm communal pool afterwards, and a generous banquet has been laid for everyone. The tables are full of beer and sake (or tea and soda for the non-drinkers), plates of sushi and sashimi, deep-fried vegetables and shrimp, and warm soups to counteract the chill of the January weather.

After dinner, a middle-aged woman sets up an open mic. She starts out the evening by turning on her karaoke machine and performing a few jazzy older songs, and turns the mic over from there to a man with very old-fashioned manners who recites a few poems. Anyone who wants to take time at the microphone is welcome, whether they're performing, doing karaoke, telling jokes, or delivering speeches or information.

In Summary:

• Get all the information you can handle
• Veteran new gods and shinki are welcome to volunteer showing the ropes
• Help clean up ash and clear roads
• Enjoy a welcome banquet
• Have fun~

Comments

[declamando]

I'll take your word for it. [Maria raises her own fingers into the halberd shape, smiling slightly. He presumably has more experience than her, at least.] Would you like to attack or defend first?

[She feels like attacking against another borderline would be more productive than the time she was having with the targets, honestly.]

[mithrarin]

My walls are better than my cutting lines. Much more of a trial by fire there. So that might help you focus your will more in practice.

[Dust traces out a line, then invokes it, summoning a wall between the pair of them. The mindset is a tricky dichotomy to maintain, viewing Maria as someone who must be kept apart from him at all costs while she's still a friend and someone he cares about. He overcomes it simply enough, by keeping the thought that it's for her own good and benefit fixed clearly in his mind.]

[It isn't too difficult to believe that someone would benefit by staying away from him, either. How is she doing, he wonders. Is her god good to her? Are her friends here being careful and helpful to her? Is everything okay? But he doesn't feel like he can pry, like he has the right to intrude...]

[This is the strength of his Borderline.]

[declamando]

Alright then. [At least it's just carrying on with what she was already doing that way. And it doesn't seem like she has to worry too much about hurting anyone severely below her combative weight class here, which has been a bit of a niggling worry since she arrived.

When Dust draws the line, Maria brings her hand up. All she really has to do on her end is imagine a righteous reason for wanting to strike him - perhaps a reason he would need to be safely subdued, and this way being the most ideal to do that.

She makes a cutting motion in the air with those two fingers, and the first attacking line flashes out, colliding heavily against the barrier. There's no question she's had more opportunity to practice attack over defense, with the confidence of it.]

[mithrarin]

[The blow hits the Borderline with enough force to make Dust slip a foot back as if to brace himself, though the wall doesn't yield. Definitely more resilient than a target dummy. Especially since her strength inspired further will within him, a desire not to let her succeed.]

I'm not sure you have too much more to learn on this score, besides just a lot of practice aiming and predicting.

[declamando]

[Maria feels the collision herself, gritting her teeth slightly - she doesn't like to just yield, but at the very least, it's proven that even a more experienced shinki might have some trouble with her borderlines.

After holding it in place for a moment or two longer, she lets it drop, considering that suggestion.] Is there anything set up for that here? I'd rather not have to attack an actual person for practice with moving targets if I don't have to, and it's a bit unpredictable to find ayakashi to practice on.

[mithrarin]

The target dummies are about as good as you can get with that, though they're not great. It's a flaw in the training for sure, though cutting Borderlines are generally quick enough strike most targets that can't anticipate them.

[He figures Maria wouldn't accept his offer for a second, so he doesn't bother to voice it.]

I think walls are the more challenging ones. Not that they're difficult to form, but sometimes you need to maintain them at strength for hours.

[declamando]

Yes, I've heard someone mention having to do that before. But then, there's hardly an effective way to make sure you can do it for hours at a time other than just practicing consistently.

[It's one of those things that can't really be gauged until it's needed in the heat of the moment anyway. An unfortunate truth of quite a few combative abilities.]

[mithrarin]

I think there is. [There goes Dust's voice, down a notch in volume, up a notch in intensity, as he curls one hand into a fist.] It's -- understanding the nature of Borderlines. Being able to embrace the point, utterly and wholeheartedly. Reaching that point where every part of you is put into that expression of determination and will. If you can embrace that, you can do it as long as your body physically lets you.

[That 'you' is specific, not general, because he believes Maria has that capacity. Not everyone does.]

[declamando]

[As far as Maria has heard it, the "nature" of borderlines is that of separation - forming a wall between one thing and another and finding that reasoning to will it into impenetrability. Obviously there's an element of protection to that, but that seems like a further-away thought.]

So what is it that you think the nature of borderlines is? Or the point of them?

[She's curious how Dust would phrase it considering his apparent intensity on the topic. It might be worth asking people like Ginia about it, too.]

[mithrarin]

They are your will, made manifest. People will say things like, 'they're about a refusal to let something past', and that's -- not untrue, but it can obscure what you really want. There can be a million different reasons for a Borderline, but in the end the only thing that matters is your determination to keep that Borderline up. Wherever it comes from. A desire to protect, a desire to contain, a desire to hurt... The will is the point.

[declamando]

[That's certainly one way of viewing it, and Maria considers that notion. It certainly doesn't sound incorrect - there's the element of separation, but it does seem like that wouldn't fit every single situation you could think to make a borderline is.]

I think I spoke to someone else who said something a little similar. I can see how people would end up thinking it's about refusal or separation, but from the sound of things, overlooking willpower would end up being a fatal flaw.

[mithrarin]

[Dust drops a hand to the hilt of his sword.]

That isn't wrong, but... A sword is for cutting. That's its purpose, that's its strength. In the same way, the Borderline is for separation and refusal. When you use a sword, you use it to cut -- but why you are cutting matters so much more than the fact that you're cutting. The sword, the Borderline, they're just tools. Their strength comes from you.

[declamando]

[That doesn't sound wrong to her either - it seems weak to her, in a way, to raise a weapon without a certain will and intent behind it regardless. Maybe that's why she'd picked up on the offensive borderline skill so quickly.

Maria considers it for a moment or two longer before nodding, glancing down to her hand. Though she'd figured out last time that she could wield a sword, for now, her hands are her primary weapon.] Well, that's true of any weapon or shield, isn't it? At least, ones that you hold yourself. But I don't feel like I'd raise a weapon without some meaning behind it anyway.

[mithrarin]

[Dust nods.] Anyone who would doesn't deserve to be wielding one. What I've found, though, is that people can believe their purpose in wielding one is "to hurt", or more charitably, "to protect" or "to defend". That's too generic. What are you protecting? Why?

[declamando]

That does sound too generic... [It's not very purposeful at all, if all you can claim as your "purpose" is something that vague, so Maria doesn't exactly have a hard time agreeing with that sentiment.] Though surely it can't be that many people doing it incorrectly if it's a power all shinki have access to.

[mithrarin]

If we're sticking with that analogy -- if I swung my sword with the strength of my arms and shoulders, I'd cut whatever I hit. If I swung my sword with the strength of my whole body behind it, I'd cleave my target. And for Borderlines, it's not only how strong your wall is, it's how long you can hold it. I had to go for... I don't know how long, but the better part of a day, doing two ablutions back-to-back.

[declamando]

[That makes Maria look a little concerned, honestly.] Two ablutions in one day? What on earth happened to need that?

[She has a loose idea of what ablutions are for by this point, but two shinki giving in to that so close in succession seems like a worry, to say the least.] I see your point, anyway, I've already had someone mention having to hold one for hours at a time as well, so there's no doubt I'll need to be prepared for that.

[mithrarin]

There was... a lot of guilt to go around, that day. Undeserved and unearned, as it so often is. [Just for a second, Dust remembers that day and the pain shot through it. Not pleasant.] In the end, what kept me going was simply a refusal to fail them.

[declamando]

Well, that much is clear enough just from the fact that there were two ablutions... [Then again, Maria feels she probably shouldn't try to pry too hard for the details. Especially if those details might have been dangerous in any way to the people who had gone through that.

Still, she can't help but ask...] So you saved them both?

[mithrarin]

Yeah. They both recovered.

[Any other answer would have been unacceptable. At the very least, Dust's wall would not have been the one that fell.]

[declamando]

Are they still here, too? [Maria's a little bit curious - she doesn't want to bring up an experience like that again considering the suffering involved, but she does wonder if it was a victory that lasted.]

[mithrarin]

Yeah, they are. [Dust hadn't spoken to them since that he can recall, but he's seen both of them around.] It looks like there were no long-term effects.

[declamando]

That's good to hear. [A victory of any size is still a victory, after all.] I haven't heard all that much about it yet, so it's...a little reassuring to know about that kind of result.

[mithrarin]

If you ever want to learn how to do one... [A strange thing to share with Maria, but she ought to be good at them. Strength of will and purpose seem to define her.]

[declamando]

I'll have to see...I'd say I'm learning enough for the moment, honestly.

[She asked Sabimei to teach her a spell already, so she doubts having another one on top of that kind of work already is going to help.]