November Training

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: February 21st, 2017
Where: Outside the Meeting Hall, the Far Shore
Summary: Training and informational sessions for newly arrived gods and shinki



Gods and shinki arriving at heaven's meeting hall are brought into small one-on-one meeting rooms as they appear, with a white-robed shinki offering them an explanation of their current role, the name of the god they will represent or the god they will serve, and directions to the temple that will be their new home.

They are cordially invited to a training session beginning in early afternoon, after they've had the chance to return to their homes, meet their new partners, and have their questions answered.



Morning/On the Road

New gods and shinki are being packed off to their new temples for the morning to settle in and meet their partners -- this is also a good time to visit with new neighbors or explore the area! What does your new temple look like? Are you headed straight there, or taking the scenic route to get a better sense of your new surroundings? The Western District is still scarred from the aftereffects of a recent volcanic eruption and earthquake, with fissures in some of the roads and burn scars in the wild landscape. The volcanic ash, though, seems to be serving as fertilizer for vast swaths of unfamiliar and colorful wildflowers that line the roads despite the fact that the weather is late-February chilly.

Shinki Training

A well-appointed dojo has been prepared for newcomers to practice their physical or magical arts. Outside, there are two impromptu target practice areas: one is for long-range weapons, with targets set up against hay bales at the other side of a wide, grassy area and a line drawn for the weapons' wielders to stand behind. The other is for borderlines, and a number of young children wearing short coats marked with Amaterasu's golden chrysanthemum on white are dashing around practicing their own borderlines against scary paper masks tied onto bushes or other haybales. The game seems to require a cutting borderline that will cut the mask without damaging the gardeners' hard work on the bushes.

Inside the dojo, there's room for several pairs to spar, and weapons are set up all along one wall, everything from polearms to rifles, chakrams to broadswords. They're all meant for practice, with edges dulled or padded to avoid any accidental deaths, but sparring partners will still have to be careful to avoid injury. Although there are many fewer white-robed shinki here than usual, except for the children, there is one adult shinki keeping an eye on things inside the dojo and one keeping an eye on things in the yard. They are willing to answer questions, help with borderlines or teach shinki new spells on request. Comment to the NPC REQUEST form to request a thread with one of them or if you have questions about handwaving an interaction.

Physical Training

The last vestiges of winter have melted away from most of the Heavens, but one section of the Meeting Hall grounds appears not to have gotten the message. Snow is piled waist or even shoulder high, the trees and bushes show no sign of fresh leaves, and an ornamental pool is frozen as hard as a rock, with the drifting shadows of koi barely visible under the thick ice. It's the perfect opportunity to play in the snow, and many of the shinki children are already taking advantage of it, sliding on the ice or throwing snowballs.

For those who brave the heavy snow, they may discover an an old woman in the center of the frozen area. She's wearing heavy white makeup and a straw coat, and humming cheerfully as she pounds rice into mochi. Anyone who finds her will be offered freshly made mochi and a cup of warm sake to fortify them for the snowball fights!

Rest and Refreshments

Gods and shinki who are finished with their training can step into a large room in the Meeting Hall that has been set up with comfortable cushions and low tables. Tea, liquor and a wide variety of savory dishes are available, with the drinks already set out on the tables and the savory dishes set up in chafing dishes on a buffet table along one wall. Guests can help themselves, settle in, chat, and make new friends. There's even a dessert table, well-stocked with plenty of chocolate, most of which seems to be mysteriously heart-shaped.

After eating, there are a variety of board and card games available for guests to play. From classic games like shogi, go and mahjong to more modern ones like Trivial Pursuit or Pictionary -- or Cards Against Humanity -- there's something for everyone.

In Summary:

• Get all the information you can handle
• Veteran new gods and shinki are welcome to volunteer showing the ropes
• Practice sparring or shinki magic
• Enjoy a buffet dinner and party games
• Have fun~

Comments

[holygrailed]

[What was the history behind the church? Was it something from Berserker's life? Of Balor's? Or some other relic that is? The temples of gods are the reflection of their god but also carries its own life too. Irisviel observes the ruins with solemn respect. It is a place reclaimed by nature, let it stay that way.

At the sound of her name, the command to return, light surrounds Irisviel and she materializes back at Berserker's side, his armor and bodysuit once more covering him. He's taller again and Irisviel laughs softly at the realization.]

Thank you for the tour, Berserker. Will you stay here or will you return for training in the afternoon?

[She is his shinki. The red kanji of her name printed on the back of her right hand in almost a mockery of a Master's command seals is proof of their connection. No matter where she goes, how far away she is, she'll feel her strongest emotions, negative and positive. With two shinki, they'll overlap, discernible if only because of their differences in personality. As long as they live, as long as they are named by him, Berserker will always feel their emotions.]

[futhark]

[ That still stings, shuuuut up! Caster instead stands up and just starts dusting the snow off- it got literally everywhere and now is starting to melt from his body temperature and -ugh! ]

But there is more than just that- [ Caster says as he finally, finally get some calm moment to try and focus on Berserker. And there is, there is something he can sense. It's not exactly the level of corruption that Saber and rest of Servants ended radiating. No wonder, really, it was directly related to the corruption running in the Grail. But it is somewhat familiar. A change, and alteration running deep in the Spirit Origin.

Caster's druid form might be a manifestation of a scenario that never happened, but perhaps could in right circumstances. Berserker is more of a rewritten and edited book - impossible possibilities or possible impossibilities indeed.

Geez that makes his head hurt. ]

Huh, I see. [ Only partially. But hey, at least half of the snow off him is gone. Even though moving too much, hurts. ]

Wait, you're going to sit there like that? [ Waist deep in the snow, wow ] And here I thought you hated snow given your reaction.

[holygrailed]

[Oh my. It's a shocking declaration and Irisviel isn't sure if it's hyperbole or serious. (That Irisviel considers it a possibly serious statement is a strange realization onto itself too.)]

Yes, that makes sense. It's not a decision to make lightly.

[Even if they're assigned at the start without any say. Is there a shinki that's refused their first god on arrival?]

Do you think you should show me a borderline?

[holygrailed]

[Irisviel turns the phone around to show the picture of Avenger's shocked face, slightly blurry, a finger covering the bottom of the frame.]

Isn't that incredible? I wonder if to tell how much film is left?

[frenchfried]

[ Avenger makes an even weirder face. ] It's - like a mirror, but... [ she reaches out to poke the screen, tentatively, but the tap of her armored finger against the surface is far duller than expected.

click.

oh. there's that, too. ]

[holygrailed]

[Irisviel blinks as the phone takes her picture, catching her expression in a state between a half smile and mid-blink, head slightly tilted toward. It's a very unflattering picture.]

[towards_okeanos]

[He just came here. Haven't met anyone yet. Too distracted by the kiddos. Still hearing class designation uttered like that makes Iskandar pause. Yet another Servant. And Berserker at that. Truly in spirit of the times.]

No, I didn't have the chance yet. What is he like?

[virtuousdogma]

[Tyzias acknowledged this with a nod of her head.]

Yeah, I'mmmm just thinking about emmmmergencies and the shinki.

[With how big her new hive was, if she were to have any amount of people over, gods and shinki alike, she'd need to be prepared in the event that teleporting in, out, up and down may not be the best option, even if it was the quickest.]

[frenchfried]

[ she very slowly pushed the device back toward Irisviel so that she could take a look for herself. then she turned her own over and stared down at it somewhat ominously. ]

This is all so unusual. [ Avenger will just. put it down on the end table again. face down. ]

[virtuousdogma]

[Passion is one way to put it. Justice was really more her passion, making her world's messed up system at least marginally better had been her passion. Law itself, she could agree, was boring at times. But it had been what she was assigned to do, and what she was good at. And, to be honest, some nights she found she liked the work, if not the amount of it.]

Guess you're right. It can be, but sommmme aspects of it mmmmake it wwwworth it.

[She may not be asking, but if Minako wants to go on and talk about herself more or skip to a different topic, or, heck, even end the conversation here, Tyzias wouldn't mind at all. She feels like she should be working, studying and researching, but maybe she could allow herself this one day to ease into things before she dived horns first and didn't come out of her new hive for nights on end.]

[nopixiedust]

Oh, sure. I can make it happen even as we're walking.

[Lightly, she gestures to the side, but while keeping her hand into the proper shape for casting. Might as well let the new girl see what she needs to, after all. With that done, as she's skipping along, she slices her hand along through the air-]

Line!

[And there's a bright and fairly sturdy borderline up alongside them, on the right side.]

It looks simple, but some people seem to find it tricky. So I guess it depends!

[chibisu]

Then, I'll wish him a safe hunt! Especially with the strange occurrences which have taken place lately.

[Strange dreams, the volcano... It's a good idea to stay safe.]

Hopefully he will accept it from me.

[virtuousdogma]

[Tyzias nods her head once, before starting down that path. It descends almost immediately, spiraling to the right even further like a wide spiral staircase, before leveling out at the entrance to a cave. This cave was predominantly a spring of water, with a thin stream of water flowing into and out of it from somewhere outside of the mountain itself. Other than that, the area that had flat ground to stand on and fill up containers, and the lights all along the walls here and everywhere else in the mountain, this room had nothing to it, really. Kind of boring, even with the little curiosity poking at Tyzias's mind to investigate where the water was coming and going, but that can be left for another time.]

[chibisu]

I imagine you will. Apollo-sama is a very busy individual and is often all over the place! I suppose that's what they mean by "an artist's personality".

[That's a very generous and kind way to put it, but, bless his heart, the poor god doesn't know any better. The arts are a realm he has yet to understand. Maybe he'll ask one of the other Gods of Fortune about it later.]

Every god always works very hard along with their shinki. [The alternative- at least, for his generation- is to disappear.] A small land god is just as important, after all.

So that's why I'm sure you will do an excellent job of aiding your own god! Your generation is so interesting, after all.

[kokuyoyo]

Not yet...

[Which is almost suspicious in its own right, in his opinion. The corpses had been highly effective tools, more effective than using ayakashi or gods or anything else. An overwhelming mass of them, creatures that didn't stop until completely dismembered or burned to ash...]

[Was it because the supplies were limited? The magic was too complex? Was any kind of failure deemed an absolute?]

[It feels like he might never know, and that is annoying on its own.]

Anyway... You'll hear about them plenty enough from other people... including Amaterasu's lot... but that cult is being a pain...

[kokuyoyo]

[Alright.... Yeah, he'll start moving himself off of the floor for that, elbows against the ground so that he can push himself up enough to glance over at Joss.]

...And you won't tell Hakkai. Or let it get back to him.

[Don't be a fucking snitch, Joss, in other words.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Oh, this is going to be good. Chikusa leans back with his own drink, apparently determined to do Jack and Shit.]

You have shinki, don't you?

[towards_okeanos]

Indeed I do.

[Chikusa, you are evil and you know it. You don't need Iskandar to tell you that. It's an established fact. Though he knows where you're heading with it... and is eerily pleased with the direction.]

But be warned, she would probably crush you in any game.

[He is so not sorry. He already has his phone out and is texting Satya as he speaks.]

[kokuyoyo]

That will depend, right...?

[Besides, it's not just him she'd be playing against, but her own god. Depending on if they can loop anyone else into this mess, that's also yet another contender.]

[Well, at least he's too stubborn to give up right at the start. Have fun with that, Iskandar.]

[curruid_coinchenn]

Medb. It's Medb's fault I'm like this.

[ He knew what Caster meant. What was it that made him so twisted, so unlike his lighter side? It was the wishes of one woman. He doesn't like to speak of her or think about it -- it's easier that way.

Berserker removes his hood and shakes the accumulated snow off of it. Really, half the reason he's sitting in the snow is because it's easing the pain of his residual injuries. As strong a face as he usually puts on, things still hurt, his body still got injured. The cold of the snow against the bruising is pleasant.

But he's not about to own up to that. ]

Does it bother you? It's not that I hate snow, it's that you turned yourself into my enemy.

[ He puts his hood back on and stands up out of the snowbank, bits sticking to the spikes of his armor. His tail is completely coated in snow and...to be petty, he flicks it, sending the snow towards Caster. ]

[ofnovalue]

[ To have something said from someone who definitely read as if they had absolutely no reason to say something kind like that... She didn't take it for granted, letting his words sit in her heart. ]

A fortnight, milord.

[oathkeeper]

Oh. Yeah! Got that, I met a boy named Roxas that helped me earlier. He already knew her.

[Sora laughs a bit sheepishly.]

I guess it was a little more fun talking than playing, huh?

[oathkeeper]

[Sora sits down with her.]

Sure, let's do it! It looks pretty complicated...

[oathkeeper]

[Sora grins warmly and reaches for one of the wooden swords off the wall. It honestly feels really great to hold a practice weapon.]

Thanks! And yeah, do you want to work with me?

[oathkeeper]

[Sora leans up but he's still sitting on his knees.]

You're not a god?! You're a shinki like me... [Gosh, this is embarrassing. Now he quickly stand up.]

Er, thanks. I'll try to remember that.