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

physical training

[redmare]

[ Chinatsu's version of playing with the children was more of chasing after them with a vengeance. Those little twerps were going to get it!

Until she does. Had she missed another child? Quickly gathering up some snow and forming a ball of her own, she turns with a rather nasty look on her face. ]

YOU BETTER BE READY TO PAY FOR THA-- [ And there the ball goes, flying towards what she finally sees is not a kid. But a lady.

And it is too late. ]

[holygrailed]

[Irisviel's snowball soars harmlessly past Chinatsu, laughing as she raises her arms to shield against Chinatsu's retaliation. Her long white hair is looking a little messy from all the movement and snow, falling in front of her face. Irisviel lowers her arms and looks at Chinatsu with bright red eyes, pale skin red from the cold and exertion.]

Oh my, what a scary face.

[She giggles and smiles, running to gather up snow for a snowball and throw it back Chinatsu's way.]

[redmare]

[ Chinatsu's hands are over her mouth in absolute horror, and she immediately starts to run towards her. Her own face turns red, but more from embarrassment as she tried to relax her expression. But it was just all sorts of panic right now. ]

Oh my god, oh my god..! I'm so sorry!! Are you oka--Oomph!

[ And right in the face that one goes, since Chinatsu is much closer now. ]

[holygrailed]

[Teehee. Another giggle escapes Irisviel as she covers her mouth, brushing her hair out of her face. She dusts snow off her clothes and takes a few steps in, smiling warmly at Chinatsu.]

I think we're even now.

[redmare]

[ Chinatsu can't even be mad. Wiping off the snow from her face and finding the woman she just assaulted much closer now, Chinatsu starts to get even more sheepish. Oh god and she hit a nice lady. ]

I'm..really sorry about that. I thought you were one of the kids and I--N-not that I'm always like that with kids!

[holygrailed]

Well, I am shorter and it would be easy to mistake the white of my hair for the white of their robes.

[She is not in the slightest bothered. One is hit with snowballs in a snowball fight after all. Irisviel takes another step in and gently brushes snow out of Chinatsu's hair.]

My name is Irisviel von Einzbern. I arrived today.

[redmare]

[ Was she royalty of some kind? Because that was one fancy name. ]

I'm Chinatsu Hiyama! [ Chinatsu bows politely. It seems appropriate. ]

It's nice to meet you, Einzbern-san. [ Oh shoot, was Miss Einzbern better, maybe? ]

And um..welcome.

[holygrailed]

It's very nice to meet you. Please, call me Irisviel. Have you been here long?

[The graciousness and warmth is real as Irisviel smiles at Chinatsu. She picks out a tiny bit of dirt caught up in a snowball.]

Your hair is so beautiful!

[redmare]

Irisviel-san, then...I’ve been here for a couple of months actually..

[ She couldn’t be that forward, even the other was okay with it. ]

Ah— ![ Her cheeks flush again, touching her hair consciouslly. ]

Um..thank you! Yours is pretry too..! [ So hearing such a compliment from her madeit much more of one. ]

[holygrailed]

Why, thank you.

[Irisviel touches her hair, laughing as she brushes it out and combs it back into a sense of order. It'll need a through wash later and plenty of brushing, but so go the woes of ultra long hair.]

A few months! Do you like it here? Is there anything I should know?

[redmare]

[ Anything she should kn--Where do you even start? ]

I like it enough..yeah. I'd just say pick up on doing borderlines and maybe a spell or two since it can be a pain when your god isn't around.

[ Not being able to do anything on your own sucked, but at least even if they couldn't rend ayakashi, they could still defend themselves. ]

Also..don't let your guard down just because we're in "heaven". For the after life, a lot of weird things happen here.. [ Chinatsu sighs, shaking her head.

[holygrailed]

What kind of spells are there besides borderline?

[The pamphlet from Wendy mentioned other spells, but didn't go into detail besides borderline. Anything she can learn to protect herself or her temple Irisviel will take.

Her eyebrows furrow slightly at the warning to keep her guard up. She's already heard of the serial killer from Wendy, but she's curious what else there is to know about.]

What sort of weird things?

[redmare]

Well..so far I've learned silence and bind..and there's a bunch of others ones too. They just give you more than creating borderlines. Some of them work on other shinkis too.

[ As for the weird things. ]

Sometimes..we get affected by who knows what. Suddenly you're seeing things, or your moods change a lot. Then there were incidents like recently, that volcano over there erupted. [ She tilts her head in the direction of the volcano. ]

Or when I first got here, we all got turned into kids..or just younger versions of ourselves. And...it seems someone's pissed off at the heaven's. They tried kidnapping some of the people here not too long ago. They've even got regular humans working for them.

[ Shun was definitely more involved with this stuff, so Chinatsu couldn't say much. But you didn't need to know all details to notice something was up. ]

[holygrailed]

[Silence, bind. It's not hard to figure out the purpose behind each one. Spells that work on other shinkis. It's a sour realization on the world to know there are spells to use against each other, but they are tools for their gods, are they not? It only stands to reason sometimes gods would fight.]

I see. It is unfortunate to hear such troubles occur even here, but it is better to know than to not know.

[Irisviel smiles, gracious and kind.]

Thank you for telling me. I will have to warn my god and fellow shinki about such things.