January Training

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: March 24th, 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 (God or Shinki), the name of the god they will represent (Gods) or the god they will serve (Shinki), and directions to the temple that will be their new home, regardless of role. During these initial meetings for Gods, paper and pens are provided as an unsubtle suggestion to take notes on the information they're given. For Shinki, there are stacks of informational pamphlets sitting out on a table inside the room, and which new shinki are offered as they are leaving the Meeting Hall.

Gods and Shinki alike are cordially invited to a training session beginning in early afternoon - several hours later - after they've had the chance to return to their homes, meet their new partners, and have their questions answered.

This time, it is implied that the Training Session will have a different purpose, so it is highly encouraged for ALL new gods and shinki to attend, no matter how long they have been in the Far Shore.



Divine Service

New gods are assigned a time to meet with an attendant in white robes with a chrysanthemum on their robes bearing a notepad. Gods can request a changed time slot, but they are not given an option to avoid the appointment entirely. Unless they are bullied into allowing multiple gods in one interview session, they insist on one god per time slot. All meetings take place in private rooms similar to those for New God and New Shinki meetings.

The interview consists of questioning the God's commitment to serving the needs of their followers, the Far Shore, and in turn Amaterasu herself. There is the matter of "A God's Actions Are Always Just" and The Gods' Greatest Secret as well, to see if the God believes these are true and important. Do they espouse these opinions to other Gods? Will they respond to a summons by Amaterasu to defend The Far Shore? (If prodded, the attendant will admit that they are in fact an Old God, despite wearing clothing similar to Amaterasu's shinki. They will claim it an honor to do a favor for Amaterasu during her preparations.)

The second round of questions are about their shinki. What vessel forms do they take, in order starting with Exemplar? How do you use them in combat? What sort of opponents have you faced with your shinki in vessel form - human, ayakashi, or other? Do you have any plans to personally train your shinki for battle ahead? For wielders of multiple shinki, when was the last time you used all of them working together?

They insist that all questions are answered. Afterwards, the God is dismissed.

(An OOC breakdown for you characters IC answers to the God Interview...)
On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being low and 10 being high, what is your commitment to serving the needs of...<blockquote><b>1. Your followers?</b> ## <b>2. The Far Shore?</b> ## <b>3. Amaterasu herself?</b> ##</blockquote><b>4. Do you believe that A God's Actions Are Always Just?</b> ... <b>5. Do you protect The Gods' Greatest Secret?</b> ... <b>6. Do other Gods know your opinions on the above matters?</b> ... <b>7. Will you respond to a summons by Amaterasu to defend The Far Shore?</b> ... <b>8. What vessel forms do your shinki take, in order starting with Exemplar?</b> ... <b>9. How do you use them in combat?</b> ... <b>10. What sort of opponents have you faced <i>with your shinki in vessel form</i> - human, ayakashi, or other?</b> ... <b>11. Do you have any plans to personally train your shinki for battle ahead?</b> ... <b>12. For wielders of multiple shinki, when was the last time you used all of them working together?</b> ...

Tempering the Vessel

Shinki are assigned time slots to meet with the white-robed shinki as well. While their sessions are shorter, the conversations are similar, and likewise held in private meeting rooms.

What is your vessel form? How many battles have you been in while in vessel form and what were your opponents? Do you have any opponents you would resist fighting alongside your God and fellow temple shinki? What have you done to increase your resilience while in vessel form? If you have other shinki at your temple, how often have you fought alongside them in vessel form? What spells do you know? Do you have any plans to further that training?

The shinki are then dismissed after all questions are answered.

(An OOC breakdown for you characters IC answers to the Shinki Interview...)
<b>1. What is your vessel form?</b> ... <b>2. How many battles have you been in <i>while in vessel form</i> and what were your opponents?</b> ... <b>3. Do you have any opponents you would resist fighting alongside your God and fellow temple shinki?</b> ... <b>4. What have you done to increase your resilience while in vessel form?</b> ... <b>5. If you have other shinki at your temple, how often have you fought alongside them in vessel form?</b> ... <b>6. What spells do you know?</b> ... <b>7. Do you have any plans to further that training?</b> ...

Shinki Training

A well-appointed dojo has been prepared for newcomers to practice their physical or magical arts. There are five or six white-robed shinki present, who 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.

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. (Shinki characters who are interested in learning more about the borderlines or want to learn new shinki spells or songs may approach any of the training shinki for advice or instruction. Please remember to comment on the Shinki Spells page when your character begins to learn a new spell, excluding the borderline.)

Physical Training

While each month the Far Shore attendants try to adapt the physical training to the Near Shore's weather and holidays, the weather is fair and any festive impulses have been subdued. This time, Physical Training encourages pitting a God with one or all of their Shinki against another God with one or all of their Shinki. This is touted as a benefit to the Shinki, so the white-robed shinki make clear that certain Shinki need this training more than others. For example, the ones who answered their Interview questions saying they hadn't spent much time in their vessel form, or fought in many battles, or hadn't fought with their fellow Shinki much - if at all.

There are Old Gods (NPCs - not run by a mod) who can be targeted as opponents, allowing the temple residents to gel as one fighting unit. (OOC: So that your multi-person thread can be limited to as few players as possible, if you choose.)

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. Moreso than other Training Sessions, there is a wide array of international alcoholic options this time. If you've heard of it and you can get drunk by imbibing it, it's probably here in a bottle or glass. Guests can help themselves, settle in, chat, and make new friends.

The Old Gods in particular will begin to regale the crowd at the end of the afternoon with War Stories from the ages past, speaking of their great deeds they performed as prayers for their followers, miracles to convert the unbelieving, powerful ayakashi they fought, and other amazing feats, especially if they involved a shinki at their side - who it was and the form they took. After many Old Gods have spoken, they turn to the New Gods as if in challenge to tell better stories, mocking words exchanged that imply the New Gods could not possibly have done anything so impressive in their short time in the Far Shore.

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
• Answer Interview Questions
• Tell the truth - if you dare - or lie through your teeth... if you dare
• Tell War Stories
• Have fun~

Comments

[defensivematrix]

[ Well, the temple is saved. This is the moment when she can breathe that sigh of relief. Iskandar is gone, probably to get dressed- good choice. They might be able to discuss everything with volume toned down a notch- that would be best.

Right now she is going to get much clearer answers with Waver, though. ]

What was that all about? There was a letter- that much I got. [ Are they... are they getting punished for this whole stunt with council? ]

[hypomeneo]

[Given him a moment. Waver's face is blanked out as Iskandar leaves because he's just realizing he had a face full of nearly naked Greek God and to all that is holy, that is a hell of a view.

(You never know with Nasuverse about that one drop of divinity in his being. Those magic circuits must have come from somewhere, right?)

Then his hair settles down, though frizzed and floofed like a cat's, and Waver stares at, then hands the notepad to Satya while he goes to brew... something. Probably death coffee. Or grandma's tea.]

Amaterasu's shinki left a summons for Iskandar to come in for questioning today during the training session. He didn't react well... because fuck the tone of this can potentially read more like calling in a naughty school boy to the principal's office, even though it's more formally and cordially put than that. So bloody bedamned divine wrath ensued and he accidentally destroyed the letter. That's what we were yelling about.

I recovered it, but I'm not too sure it's completely accurate even though Iskandar says that it is. Doing these kind of spells on the fly feels chancy to me.

[Waver groans because for fucks sake he still has out his feathered fan and that disappears in a burst of mana. Speak now what you want him to make, Satya, because he's going for the cupboards.]

I don't want to assume what those tossers want just yet. All I know is that they actually want all of us and not just Iskandar.

Guess the first question to ask is did anyone get a letter other than us?

[defensivematrix]

[ Satya lets out another sigh, she taps the floor with her feet, and only now realizes- it's bare. Could have at least wear slippers. Waver's explanation of the situation at least make sense of the rage. Kind of. She would simply reply in fitting tone instead of flying into anger-- but that is the part that she doesn't understand of Iskandar, and can only, skirt around it, learn to accept it. Things like that.

During the explanation, she skims the recovered letter, and starts to wonders what to do. An official summon should be met with an official reply. Either attending the meeting or finding a proper way to ignore it. She follows him only for a moment before stopping and turning on her heel. ]

Waver, please, could you make me a cup of tea. I'll be back in a minute, hopefully, I'll get answers that will clear some of this out.

[ When she returns she's dressed up too- nothing fancy, no time for that. Just simple work-out clothes. Sporty t-shirt and yoga pants. That's better than a bathrobe. Her steps are swift and first thing she does upon entering the kitchen, she shows the screen of her phone to Waver. On screen is incredibly short and on point conversation with Archer. ]

It is not just us. Everyone is being summoned.

[ Question is, is it better or worse? ]

[towards_okeanos]

[Both Waver and Satya are already in the kitchen when Iskandar is back. The wall of light is mercifully gone so he can drop on the couch.
It's not that he stopped being angry. It's more of a simmering kind now. The notepad is still on the table but Iskandar is very intentionally ignoring it.
As if he's going anywhere...

Instead, he just switches on the tv and the game console. The last one on the list is this new shooting game he got recently. If he's going to sit in his metaphorical tent and sulk he can as well use some of this anger to murder a few digital people.
There are many legitimate reasons why Heavens would like to ask him questions but acknowledging any of those would require a calmer state of mind. And right now Iskandar is not being very calm or reasonable.]

[hypomeneo]

I'll make a pot of the painkilling tea. It should help with any migraines we might get.

[Then he calls out.]

I know you might not want any right now, but I'll make enough for you too, Iskandar.

[... Waver scowls as he gets to work. He's the servant in this situation, but he needs to think like a god right now if he wants to figure out all the factors that set Iskandar off. There's a lot of stresses that are different. He needs to place himself in his position...

This place hurts all of them. Hmm.

Unfortunately Waver's still in his underwear and t-shirt when Satya returns. Awkward. But he has a pot of tea and three mugs. Which makes up a little for being the most under dressed person in the room.

Waver scowls as he reads the message while he carries the tray with everything to the table.]

I don't like where this is going. ... smells almost like they didn't enjoy the response at Amaterasu's war meeting.

[Better or worse? How about... both.]

[defensivematrix]

Not surprising, given how it has shown there is a problem in establishing a respectful line of communication. [ Her lips purse into a thin line but her expression softens when she reaches for the tea, and a quieter ] Thank you [ -follows ]

The majority, if not all of the new gods are just filling in the roles they never wanted to be responsible for. I do believe that the unique circumstances of our god are not as widely known nor respected as they should be. Not necessarily out of malice, but just by the virtue of belonging to the group of gods that never consented to be here. The foreign body partially outside the system. [ Perhaps that's something to address. Perhaps she needs to network more among the old shinki rather than the new to combat this- ] I believe we are not in place to resist the summon today. Not because of their position or authority, but because we risk losing an important intel to be gathered there.

[ Now is the question of how to go and convince Iskandar about it. At least the time-slot they received is quite late from now. They're in no hurry and that gives her time. She's concerned at the rage and stress around, but truly she does not know how to deal with it- assessing the situation and proceeding calmly is the way she's familiar with. Empathy is such a hard thing to learn tho. That's why she misses the point often, that's why she has no idea how to react to someone being so visibly stressed or furious ]

[hypomeneo]

Mmmm... that goes both ways. [Softer.] You're welcome.

[... perhaps. Perhaps. The two of them never consented to be here either and Waver doubts very few of the shinki would have either, regardless of death. Important to keep in mind, even if its relevance is not now.

Waver nods. That's one perspective on it. Is it the right one, though?]

I agree. ... as well, if we don't, we could cast suspicion on ourselves in the future. That said, we need to be very careful what we say. With tensions rising, we don't want to let slip anything that can be used against us, especially with a war on the horizon.

... goddamn anything can happen in a mess like that, including some 'friendly fire'.

[Waver presses his lips together as he considers how to handle Iskandar. While Satya is Exemplar and probably the bastion of common sense and logic in this Temple, Waver goes in for the stickier emotional matters, despite being the bitter cynic he is.

He'll draw first fire and let Satya be able to observe the situation and not get swamped in it. Play as much to both their strengths. He wraps his fingers around his mug and plops down beside Iskandar and just sips the tea as he watches people get shot full of virtual holes.]

Okay, we promised each other we'd talk the big shit out when possible. I can tell by the massacre on screen, you'd rather be razing something for bloody real. So...

[towards_okeanos]

I don't.

[Iskandar is too quick to let the irritation rather then reason speak through him but Waver is absolutely right. He can't ignore it. As angry as he is, though with every passing minute more of it silently evaporates, he can't take it out on his own people just because they're unfortunate enough to be close enough. It's also true that he promised. So with a sigh, he corrects his previous statement to something more truthful this time.]

I do.

[He pauses. Both hands on the controller but he's not making a move so it's his turn to get shot down. The screen gets blurry and "Mission Failed" appears on the now almost undiscernable background in capital letters. Is this what he does?]

From the moment I was summoned here, I treat my position very seriously. I try to help, where help is needed, fulfil my duties as a god and don't bring shame to my father as his son.
And yet I see it is not enough. [He gestures vaguely to the notepad on the table.] I get this. What am I supposed to think of it?
They want me to go to war with them and yet they order me around as if I were some mere lackey of theirs? I am not used nor will I ever be, to such treatment.

[hypomeneo]

Not what you'd ever expect your godhood to be, huh?

[Tea sip as he stares ahead at the screen. Mission Failure, huh? Sorry, he doesn't believe in the no win scenario.]

It's thing after thing, and finally this is enough. I'm sure to anyone else it'd seem like a small thing, and maybe it is, even though I wouldn't agree. But with everything else, it's a mountain. Am I right?

[towards_okeanos]

Maybe. No. I... [A shrug] I don't know. I don't think I was expecting anything.

[Iskandar drops the controller on the couch. He's not using it so it's better that way. He'd better not break it by accident. He doesn't exactly has the best track record with keeping their equipment intact.]

I suppose it is. I mean, you're right. It's been a lot.

[That's not the most coherent string of sentences but at least it made him think for a moment and stop fuming internally. A small victory but a victory nevertheless.]

sumanai, she's being holier-than-thou

[defensivematrix]

[ Satya listens to exchange of both men and formulates her strategy. She must shift the balance in their favor. Put order into things, for this what is happening here sounds like chaos. ]

War brings only disorder, it must be avoided if possible. [ There are tensions in Heavens, tensions between the old and the new. But there must be a middle ground to be achieved. Besides Heavens have their enemies on the outside, why to battle on the inside? ] Remember that we are not their enemy, but that does not necessarily binds us as their allies.

[ It's a matter or pride, is it? That's what it looks like. High positions come with big responsibilities, but also reputation and respect. Gods or directors, same thing it seems. ]

You are worthy of your position and you perform your duties admirably. [ Really. From anyone else it could probably sound like a pure flattery, ass-kissing even. Satya however delivers it in a very honest albeit flat tone. Then soon follows with ] But you are trapped in your own mind.

[ Aren't we all, Satya? Aren't we all... ]

Do not forget your place! It is a burden of greatness. Responding to such call is a mere courtesy. Should they disrespect you, give them taste of it back. If they insult you with this treatment, don't go - send me in your place. This counts as answering the summon, but on your own terms, for your own convenience, not theirs.

[ Damned office politics. But bureaucracy is needed to maintain order. It can be tweaked, adjusted to work the best to it's function, instead of hindering. Sometimes there is no other way to make a statement than be cordially difficult though. ]

[hypomeneo]

[Mmmmm... yes and no. Waver's going to give Iskandar a moment to respond to that as a finger traces the rim of his mug, thoughtful. That addresses one part of it in a way. But rage mode to the point of spitting lightning suggests a pile up of issues intersecting and the stress of the council had to be weighing heavily on his shoulders.

You're worried about losing us. Aren't you? On top of everything else. Not just to this fucking mess... but... aw fuck! Guess I'm not the only one still having problems with the fallout of when we met, right?

Yeah... that's a stressor. On top of all the others. On top of everything that offended. On top of rule. Iskandar seems too... stable to be pushed over otherwise.

I better be keeping a better bloody eye on his mental health going on in other words. ... Satya's too, though I think right now she's okay.

Truer words never spoken, though. Trapped in your own mind. Waver huffs a bitter mental laugh at some of the ways that's true for them.]

[towards_okeanos]

[You will not address in me in such a manner. was the thing that Iskandar almost said.
Almost. This close.

Fortunately, he's calmed enough that he doesn't bark at Satya as he did at Waver. This would not end well. She could treat this as an order and never speak so openly again.
He can't allow that to happen. He needs both of their perspectives. Exactly for moments like this.

Satya is right. They must go. But so is Waver. A lot happened lately. The pressure has been steadily creeping on him and he did not notice. He needs to be more careful. He made himself too comfortable here. It dulled his perception. That ends now. There are things on the horizon they need to prepare for.]

I have forgotten nothing. I agree, this invitation requires a response but I'm not sending any of you there alone. Not even to make a statement. They want to ask me questions, fine. They'd better be ready to cope with my answers.