thenearshore | October Training

October Training

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: February 6th, 2017
Where: Outside the Meeting Hall, the Far Shore (and optionally, the 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

the information they're given.

Shinki Training

informational pamphlets

borderline

HELLO, MY NAME IS ________

shinki spells or songs

Physical Training

Rest and Refreshments

~~valentine~~

lot

In Summary:

Get all the information you can handle
Veteran new gods and shinki are welcome to volunteer showing the ropes
Explore damaged temples or practice sparring
Enjoy a tea and make some valentines
Have fun~

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The circumstances regarding the formation of new gods and shinki.

[Obviously. Although maybe not. Ebisu has learned that his various incarnations apparently have a tendency to wander off the regular mental paths of other people, or certainly to ignore what's traditional. Then again, he feels that he has good cause to, because- ]

Under normal circumstances, the things you're talking about would be impossible, of course. Deified humans can never come back from death or return to their human lives. Shinki cannot do so either, and to desire so is what can tempt them into being lost forever. [It's what can turn them into ayakashi.]

However, things have very clearly become abnormal in so many different ways. The function of reincarnation, the return of gods who should be long gone, shinki who are so different in so many different ways from those we're familiar with... That's before we even discuss matters such as the peculiar cult, the unprecedented attacks on Amaterasu-sama, the unknown rebel gods... All of this goes against centuries of what has been common knowledge.

[Not that Ebisu can really say anything on centuries. He only remembers a couple of years worth of information.]

So I can't say what I would say under normal circumstances. Instead, I encourage you to look into the strange phenomena which has spread across the Far Shore. For all of this to happen at once, certainly at least two strands must be connected, mustn't they?

I can't say for certain if that would give you back everything you're very upset about- [The life of his shinki or his home or literally anything else.] -because it may very well just reinforce the impossibility of the matter. At the same time, wouldn't it be better to know more about this situation instead of doing and knowing nothing?

[Frowning a little, he tilts his head to the side.] Or maybe that's only me... With all of this happening, it makes me want to understand more and more about what is causing the Far Shore to change, and why your generation is so different from that which has been established for centuries without even budging.

Does all of that make sense, Mars-sama?

Tch...that's just shit I would've done anyway, even without you telling me. [But a little of the tension goes out of Bakugou at hearing it, still. Mostly because it seems like an old god is acknowledging that it could be possible, and that hoping for it - or, even more than that, trying to find a way to make it happen - is acceptable.

Bakugou would have done it anyway, no matter what the old gods thought. But to hear that someone who knows how the heavens work, down to the bones, thinks there's a chance...to hear that someone thoroughly entrenched in the bureaucracy of the heavens doesn't think it's blasphemy to want to figure out what's happening and undo it, to hopefully get himself and Deku back to their own lives...it's anything but meaningless. It's reassuring. Even coming from a child.

(Considering Amaterasu herself is a child, Bakugou doesn't let Ebisu's apparent age bother him much.)

He reaches out and takes a bite of chocolate. A little of his appetite is returning.] ...I didn't die before I came here. So people can end up in the heavens even if they didn't die, right? [He glances sidelong at Ebisu.] How sure are you guys that the shinki are actually dead? 'Cause I met one god who told me that he knows his shinki didn't die the way his death was shown to him.

He did!? [Bursting with curiosity, Ebisu leans closer.] Which god was it? I'd really like to ask more-

[Oh, wait. Cutting himself off, Ebisu blinks for a moment before easing back.]

That's right... I should answer your question first before I start pressing in with mine. [It's the proper thing to do, especially since he really does want to work with the newer gods.] Then... In the past, before the Heavens began to change so much, I would have said... We're completely certain.

[For a brief moment, Ebisu glances around to take into consideration who's around them before he leans in closer to Bakugou again. Unlike before, it's not with all the startled eagerness of a child, but very carefully and slowly, so that it matches the quiet whisper of his voice. This is delicate territory to talk about, after all, especially in such a public place.]

I mean, it's as you've said, in that we've always seen the death of our shinki when we name them. So that's always been proof for us. It's how it's been done. [He pauses for a moment, brow crinkling.] But... Before you all, gods have always searched out their shinki before... Whether as a stray spirit untouched by anything, a spirit who's currently without a name, or a nora. This method of assigning shinki is... new.

[And if it's new, with none of the new gods having to search out their own shinki, to know what they looked like as wandering spirits with nothing to them... He curls his hand at his chin.]

I wonder if that's an aspect to the mystery...?

[Bakugou leans back when Ebisu leans forward, looking openly wary.] I dunno how badly he wants me spreading his name around as somebody who's questioning the mechanics of the heavens that the old gods take for granted. Besides, I don't remember his god name, and I don't think you old gods remember our regular ones.

[Ebisu's murmur of close confidence that follows his burst of inquiry - and his not demanding an answer to his question before, or even instead of, answering Bakugou's own question speaks well of him. It suggests that Ebisu knows that other gods might not take well to this kind of talk, but that he's willing to engage in it anyway. Bakugou supposes Ebisu could be lulling him into false confidence, but - why? He's sure that an old god could get him...arrested or whatever it is gods do with troublemakers, he supposes, if he wanted. Probably on Ebisu's word alone. Bakugou's sure the old gods wouldn't take a new god's testimony over one of their own.

He doesn't give the other old gods much credit for brains, anyway. Certainly not for subterfuge. Whoever's been fucking with the heavens has sure as hell been running rings around them. Ebisu's the smartest Bakugou's seen so far, true, not to mention the most open-minded and rational...but those aren't high bars to clear as yet, and Bakugou still doesn't believe Ebisu could trick him even if he wanted to. He's damn hard to fool.]

So, new gods show up in the heavens who don't work like any other gods you've ever had here, and the shinki that've been getting assigned to 'em aren't working like any other shinki you've ever had here. That about right? [Bakugou eyes Ebisu.] Have any old gods gotten shinki assigned to 'em like that?

[Honestly, more than any consideration for other old gods similar to himself, Ebisu is thinking more of their shinki. All shinki know that they're dead, after all... but the details of that death, and the life they've had before, are what's unknown. It doesn't take very much to set a shinki off into a spiral of wondering about such matters; Ebisu knows this innately. While a lot of the new shinki seem to be strange when it comes to their memories, well... He'd rather play it safe than sorry. Besides, there are still Amaterasu's shinki around, and he knows for a fact that they still follow the rules he knows.]

[Best to be careful.]

[As Bakugou asks his questions, Ebisu looks up at him with a simple honesty, and nods his head.]

Yes, that's right... Although there are still a lot of similarities between both generations. [Which makes things a little stranger.] I haven't spoken to a lot of the other gods of my generation on this, but I'm sure word would have spread if they'd been assigned in this manner.

So...considering how different us new gods are from how the old gods work, then maybe the shinki getting assigned in these weird ways are a new kind of shinki. Maybe they're like us gods, and didn't necessarily have to die to end up here.

I dunno what the fuck the death visions mean if some of the shinki aren't really dead, but considering all the other baffling bullshit going on with us new arrivals, faking death visions would probably be easy to fuck with in comparison to all the other tomfuckery whoever it is is pulling. Anyone who can make humans show up as gods and get shinki assigned to gods as soon as they arrive, even before they're named...faking shinki deaths is probably what they do to relax.

[Perhaps another god of his generation would dismiss such theories. Ebisu, in contrast, falls silent as he tries to work with what magical knowledge he knows. Frankly, it's not a lot. Unfortunately, all the information that his past incarnations must have known to garner the reputation of 'dangerous sorcerer' are lost to him in this current incarnation. Surely, there had to have been books that he had written in those lives on the knowledge he learned... but he's not even sure if they exist any longer. For all he knows, Amaterasu's shinki burned any and all of his notes before he reincarnated.]

[So it's with minimal knowledge that only really has him going around in circles that he can approach this conversation. After a moment, he looks up again.]

I think... You could be right in this assessment, that there is a possibility that these new shinki haven't died in the traditional manner. The soul can be a very strange thing... and magic can turn very dark.

However, it's messing with the god and shinki connection that really sounds unfathomabe to me. I can't possibly perceive how that would work...

I don't have however many centuries of knowledge and experience on the subject as you do, so it's not like I know how it would work either...but hauling mortals out of worlds these heavens don't even correspond to and making 'em gods doesn't seem like it's any less insane a feat to pull off, and we know that shit's going down. I've got the memories, I've got a quirk from a world full of quirks that no one else here has gotten. I know how fucking out of place I am, and I know where I should be, and where I should be isn't even on this heaven's version of the Near Shore.

[He cocks a skeptical eyebrow at Ebisu.] You really saying that whoever's pulling this shit has the power to bring someone like me here and make me a god, but they can't mess with how gods and shinki interact? 'Cause at this point I don't know what I'd put past them being able to fuck with. Shinki don't have memories so it's a lot harder to confirm, especially when we gods only get small glimpses into their deaths that might not even even be trustworthy, but "it sounds crazy" sure as hell doesn't seem like grounds to rule it out. It's all fucking insane and outside anything that's ever happened in the heavens before, right?

Well... If we go with the theory that there is an individual or group capable of altering the connection between god and shinki, then what is there to say that they can't alter the memory of a spirit?

[Which all gods are, in the end. At least, that's the Japanese version of it all. Ebisu can't say he's ever spoken with other gods in other pantheons on the subject, although he thinks he'd rather like to.]

I think at this point, we have far too little information on this sort of subject to be able to do anything but make blind guesses which have no degree of substance to them. All we know is that "it's highly unusual and has never happened before", and that doesn't tell us too much. There are only a few things we have to go on, and it's hard to say how much of a lead we can make any of them.

Are we talking about altering the memories of gods or shinki? Or both? [Bakugou's eyes narrow slightly.] Either way...what kinds of memories do you think might've been altered?

[He doesn't bother responding to Ebisu's assertion that they don't know enough to draw any conclusions, because there's nothing to say to it. Ebisu's definitely not wrong. But Bakugou would prefer to at least spitball theories based on what they have than sit on his hands waiting for more information to come to him.]

I can't say for certain, and that's the problem. However, once we start touching on the subject of memories, don't you think there's no limit? I think what you would want to do is look into how people arrive here, and maybe that can help give us a clue.

Have you met a god by the name of Add, yet? His more traditional name is Henrir.

I think there's some limit. [Bakugou looks down at his hands.] I've asked myself if a god's memories could be tampered with, too. And I can't say for sure that they can't. But I don't think mine have been, and I'll tell you why.

My memories match up with my body, and what it can do. I have my quirk, and quirks aren't even something people have here - not in the Far Shore, and not in the Near Shore. Not in this world. And I've got a shinki who I knew back home - he's got scars in the same places I remember them getting, even if he doesn't remember where they're from. Scars he got because of his quirk, which he still has.

If you want to get really far-fetched, you could say that they fabricated our memories to match the bodies we've got - or you could even go all in and say that they created our bodies from scratch, that we're constructs from the ground up. But I don't fucking buy it. Why create us as being totally different from everyone else in this place? They didn't have to. It'd be a big expenditure of time and effort for fucking no return. And if we only needed memories to go with these bodies and abilities we've got, why not just chalk my powers up to my godly abilities? But instead I've got this whole convoluted narrative that doesn't even make sense in the context of this place. Who the hell does that benefit?

My memories are real. If they were gonna be faked, they could have faked shit a lot better if they'd wanted to. And Deku's quirk, my quirk - they're proof that we brought these bodies from home, and that the memories that explain them are real. Nobody benefits from trying to fake anything about them.

[It takes a few moments for Ebisu's question to register, and then he glances sidelong at him.] Who's he?

Edited 2019-01-23 12:37 (UTC)

[It's all very logical, the things that Bakugou is saying, yet Ebisu does wonder. What would be the benefit of giving alternative memories to gods? What would be the point? It's his turn to fall silent, thinking carefully on what it means.]

...The memories of the new generation, along with their personalities and way of viewing things... They're all extremely different from those of my generation of gods and shinki. [A pause.] Perhaps not shinki, but definitely some other things about them...

[With their ability to remember things from supposedly their past life, all on their own, and without turning into ayakashi...]

I understand that this has caused tensions more than once... I wonder if that's on purpose?

[He shakes his head.]

That's more theories with no strong basis to it. We'll put that to the side for now. Add-sama is someone who has been looking into the disappearances of gods and shinki. He has some things written on the BBS. Hold on...

[Ebisu digs through his pockets for his phone... Only to immediately drop it. There's a pause before he leans down to try and grab it. It... takes a second, since it seems he has trouble getting a good grip off of the floor, but he. He manages. Eventually.]

[With that done successfully, he starts scrolling through his favorites. There are three.]

It seems as though time and space are things he's rather knowledgeable about.

If they wanna cause tensions between the new gods and the old ones, let's be fucking real - they didn't need to give anybody fake memories for that. [Bakugou snorts.] It doesn't matter just how different we think or act from you guys - the fact that we even get created differently is enough. The fact that we weren't created within this heavenly bureaucracy, that we don't automatically conform to it 'cause it's not built into our bones, that's fucking enough. The tensions between the new gods and the old gods didn't need to be engineered by specifying anything in particular about the new gods; all they ever needed to create tension between the new gods and the old gods is for the old gods to be pompous and set in their ways. After all, what kind of consistent theme do you fucking see in us new gods? There isn't one. The only thing that all of us have in common is that we aren't the old gods. That's all they ever fucking needed us to be.

[Bakugou watches Ebisu fumble with his phone, sizing him up.] You sick or something? [Sure, Ebisu's a kid, but that still seems to be kind of a lapse in motor control that seems...out of the ordinary.

He leans in while Ebisu is scrolling through Add's entries, studying the screen. After a moment, he grunts.] Send me those links. [He wants to peruse these for himself. At length.]

You think I can help Add, or just that he can give me info?

[In Ebisu's opinion- perhaps not experience since he can't remember 90% of it right now- things can always be made worse. Still, that's a whole fascinating talk for another time, and he should try his best to stay on track. so instead he focuses on the comment about his ability, merely shaking his head.]

Oh, no, I'm merely clumsy.

[To the point that it would be a danger to any normal person's health, if his own luck didn't keep him safe from the really fatal encounters. As it is, he smiles up at Bakugou even as he begins to send the links over.]

Either or would be beneficial to what you're hoping to look into, right? If he was able to give you more information than what he's already posted about, you would be a step closer. If the two of you could help one another, then I imagine it would be even better. After all, no one goes to this much work for no reason, so I'm sure he could use the help.

[If Bakugou can deal with Add's personality or vice versa is an entirely different conversation. Ebisu will let them come to their own conclusions on that. After all, they're both grown gods, right? Ignoring the fact that Bakugou is a teenager and Add is himself.]

[Ebisu, if a meeting between Add and Bakugou goes well, you can talk about your luck for the rest of your days because nothing but amazing luck could ever make that work out pleasantly. Neither of them have anything even approximating emotional maturity.]

He's at least thinking about this. Working on it with some kind of fucking method, some kind of logic. That's worth looking into. I want to get home.

[As gruff as he keeps his voice...there's something about a teenager like Bakugou saying it - and the particular emphasis he puts on it - that feels plaintive, like a verbalized ache. As tough and surly as he is, he's still a kid far from home or anyone he knows(except Deku, who doesn't even remember him, so even the one familiar thing he has is strange to him). There's no appearance of vulnerability, but there's an awareness that somewhere underneath all the bluster it has to be there.]

[Oh. Ebisu lapses into a brief moment of silence, tilting his head as he looks up into that awkward teenage face. There are a lot of delicate situations in which he hasn't quite adjusted to yet, as a reincarnated god still relearning about other people and humanity. What can he do in this situation? He's not particularly sure, and he'd rather not draw his shinki into this conversation without being very careful.]

[So, after a moment of silence, all he does is slowly reach out and press his hand against one of Bakugou's arms.]

[Bakugou (who'd turned his face away only moments into Ebisu's scrutiny) gruffly shrugs off that hand, but it's not a particularly violent gesture - especially from someone who seems to be the kind of person to only speak in violent gestures. Without words, Bakugou somehow seems to communicate grudging gratitude for the concern, but also a refusal to be perceived as wanting or accepting it.]

[Oh, alright then. Ebisu lets his hand be shrugged off with little issue, blinking up at the teenager blankly. This is about where his comfort skills end, for the time being, and he patiently looks back to the chocolate. He'll wait for a minute or two, allowing Bakugou to collect himself, before he starts to patiently place more of the candy near to the war god.]

There is still an entire unknown future ahead of us, so let us work well with one another. I will go check on my shinki now, and see where else I am needed.

I look forward to meeting with you once more.

[Bakugou grunts.] You're probably one of the old gods who'd say shit like that and mean it, but at least there's one of you.

Edited (missed a punctuation mark) 2019-02-24 18:34 (UTC)

[All that gets is a smile.]

I only say things I mean. Then, I look forward to speaking with you again.

[With that, he slips from where he's seated himself and begins to leave.]

[...Ebisu only gets halfway across the room before he nearly pitches forward for a face plant, but at least his shinki are near enough that they manage to catch him by that point.]

[Somehow still reliable.]

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October Training

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