March Training / Fourth Wall Event

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Information and Training and... Fourth Wall Event Kickoff!
When: April 22nd 2017 (Kickoff) but Fourth Wall lasts through April 26th
Where: The Far Shore (to start); All Locations here and Map here
Summary: Unexpected visitors arrive in The Far Shore for a little while.





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 midafternoon, once they've had the chance to return to their homes, meet their new partners, and have their questions answered.

Gods and Shinki: The Real McCoys

New gods and shinki - the real ones, the ones that were expected - 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 Heavens are going about their usual business preparing for the new gods and shinki that they were actually expecting, when unexpected visitors appear out of thin air, as if having teleported in on their own power. They are scooped up along with the new gods and shinki and, initially, treated no differently. "Gods" are new arrivals who have strong memories of who they are, while "shinki" are experiencing various states of memory loss.

4th Wall Gods: A House is not a Home

New gods are normally shown their new temples in the morning and introduced to their new partners. The characters who arrived for the event and experienced no memory loss seem like they should be "Gods" and so white-robed escorts with chrsyanthemum logos on their backs take them to where they think their temples should be - in the Western District, where the other "New and Obscure Gods' Temples" always are. Despite many cleanup attempts, the Western District is still scarred from the aftereffects of a volcanic eruption and earthquake only 3 months ago, with fissures in some of the roads and burn scars in the wild landscape. Along the way, the escort can answer questions as provided on the God 101 page.

When they arrive, the escort is surprised to discover a set of ruins instead. This happens, they explain, but usually when a god leaves The Far Shore, not when they arrive. While the escort starts to rifle through some paperwork to figure out what's going on, the "God" is welcome to explore the ruins and - to the shock of both - the ruins transform.

How it transforms is up to the 4th wall player! It should not be very large, no bigger than a one-room building or, if more natural, a small garden or lake complex. Alternately, the ruins can not transform at all, or simply get cleared away into something more clean-slate like a rock garden plot. Get creative!

Afterwards, the "Gods" are encouraged to show up at the afternoon Training session to better understand their circumstances. Before the escort leaves, the "God" will be provided a phone with which they can access the Heavens' BBS system; their display name will be a warped version of their real name, such as "Bob Smith" appearing as "bOBsMITH" or something else that looks like a glitch.

4th Wall Shinki: And you may ask yourself

New "shinki" will wake by the Meeting Hall in a set of white robes from laying down on a tatami mat with a small box wrapped up and set at their feet. (The box can contain a few belongings of the character's from their canon, provided it can fit. Due to the memory loss, it can include things the character wouldn't recognize.) From the way that the bustling people around the area are talking, this is not a common occurrence.

At some point, a person in white robes with a big chrsyanthemum logo on the back will come to interview the person. "We are working on assigning you to a god and temple, but some things have come up," they try to explain, and will then be able to answer other questions as outlined on the Shinki 101. The "shinki" are encouraged to get dressed and explore the Far Shore if they would like, because eventually they will be assigned to one of the temples out there anyway. At this point, the shinki are also handed a phone in order to connect with the Heavens' BBS system; their display name will be a warped version of their real name, such as "Bob Smith" appearing as "bOBsMITH" or something else that looks like a glitch.

God Training: New and 4th Wall Both

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. 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. The speaker delivers her welcome speech in the monotone of someone who's practiced it far too often. Hopefully no one's feeling sleepy!

It's around this time that the 4th Wall "Gods" might realize that, for as weird as everything's been, their experiences with their temples this morning are not the same as most new Gods. Additionally, they do not possess the power to teleport to and from the Near Shore; they might need a buddy to help them with that part! The 4th Wall Gods can't hear any prayers whispered on the winds either. They can't name shinki, whether those shinki were in the Far Shore before today, or only arrived through the 4th Wall situation. (There is one other kind of shinki that might still respond to their commands though...)

Shinki Training: New and 4th Wall Both

A well-appointed dojo has been prepared for newcomers to practice the 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.

What are borderlines? The 4th Wall shinki can't do them, no matter how hard they try. If they had previous magical powers, those still work though! Existing gods can name these "shinki" but 4th walled gods can't. The 4th Wall shinki have no death memories to convey to the god and no shinki vessel power, but they can still be used to Rend an ayakashi.

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. There are stacks of informational pamphlets sitting out on tables around the dojo.

Physical Training

The dojo is stocked with a wide variety of practice weapons, traditional and modern, to offer some practice opportunity to gods who, for example, find themselves with a sword shinki but are at risk of cutting off their own toes. It's also useful for veteran new gods wishing to train with their current partner shinki.

Several magically animated straw-stuffed training dummies, many of which have been carefully mended and patched with neat black stitching, are set up on the lawn with a white-robed shinki hovering nearby to watch over them. They make good training partners, although anyone who comes too close risks being targeted for a sparring match whether they wanted one or not. The supervising white-robed shinki has a nametag which reads HELLO, MY NAME IS SABIMEI. (To interact with Sabimei, please comment on the "NPC REQUEST" thread below! If you prefer, you may also handwave his assistance or advice with your character learning spells.)

Rest and Refreshments

There are casks of fresh, cold water near the dojo to make sure no one gets dehydrated, but for those who've finished working, hot tea and enough seasonal treats are available to make it look as though the Heavens bought out an entire sweet shop. They're being distributed by a few shinki in indigo-blue and plain brown robes with the sleeves tied back, who aren't above teasing the newcomers a bit.

In Summary:

• Get all the information you can handle
• Mingle with the 4th Wall "Gods" and "Shinki"
• Veteran new gods and shinki are welcome to volunteer showing the ropes
• Get in some training
• Have fun~
• OOC Event Information Post - ask us questions if you need to!

Comments

[priforpalps]

[ Fuwari speaks the languages of all animals! And if Romeo wants to be friends from the bottom of his heart, she'd assert he'd be able to communicate with animal-sans too!

But now is for tag with Hibiki-san's precious friend. ] I'll do my best, natu~!

[ whoops, that slipped out

oh well

elsewhere, a teacup breaks ]

[myblueskies]

What's natu?

[He's still running. He can question strange words and run at the same time! Hop over a log, round that tree! This is so much fun!]

[priforpalps]

It's a sentence ender!

[ Fuwari is keeping pace...gaining.... ]

But it troubles Hibiki-san, so I try my hardest not to use it!!

[myblueskies]

Sentance ender?

[What's a sentance ender? And why would it trouble miss Hibiki? Though... lots of things troubled miss Hibiki...

He notices she's catching up and runs even faster!]

[priforpalps]

Something like "pri", or "da Vinci"....

[ It's a good thing Fuwari has strong lungs, though she does pause to suck in some more air here. He's so speedy! ]

Adding it to your sentences is terribly fun. But Hibiki-san's celebrity constitution can't take it....

[ What is this, wonders Hibiki elsewhere, looking around in alarm. This mingled bittersweet sense of longing and terror.......As if her greatest wish and greatest fear have both come true at once...!! ]

[myblueskies]

Pri? Miss Hibiki says pri all the time...

[He pauses to, but then remembers he's meant to be running and sets off again! It was fun? But miss Hibiki couldn't take it? Miss Hibiki did get tired very easily...]

[priforpalps]

She does?

[ Fuwari thinks her puniverse's naming scheme is perfectly normal, and thus can't imagine that. In fact, it's so surprising, she too stops running. To put a hand to her cheek in a confused motion.

Something awful hasn't happened, has it? If Hibiki-san is being made to put "pri" on the ends of her sentences......her life could be in danger! ]

[myblueskies]

[Fuwari stopped? Romeo stops as well, confused at why she had stopped running all of a sudden. Was she hurt?

He nodded.] Yes. Sometimes it's just 'p' or 'pr' but sometimes it's pri like 'pri para'.

What's wrong?

[priforpalps]

Oh....she's just using the letter P and "pri" in words?

[ Fuwari lets out a big, relieved exhale! ]

Fwwaaaaaaahhhh~! That's normal, then. Thank goodness!

[ She lifts a finger to turn this into a teachable moment. Romeo seems to truly care for Hibiki-san, so it's important he learn this one thing. ]

Romeo, if Hibiki-san ever puts "pri" at the end of a sentence, look after her very carefully, all right? It's not good for her.

[myblueskies]

It's not? [Why not? Was it a bad word? Would it make miss Hibiki sick? Could words even do that? He trusts Fuwari to know though because she is Hibiki's friend and obviously cares about her a lot! So he would make sure to listen really carefully and if Hibiki ever put 'pri' at the end of a sentance he would make sure she was alright!]

I will! I'll look after her and I'll tell you so you can look after her too!

[priforpalps]

Thank you! Knowing you're helping is so reassuring.

[ Romeo is a big boy, to be entrusted with something so important as keeping Hibiki-san functional! ] You're very reliable.

[myblueskies]

[Romeo grinned at being called reliable! He just hoped to be a good friend to miss Hibiki, especially since she was still just learning about friends.

Though it seemed she had had a good friend even before she had come here! That made Romeo happy!] So are you! You've been miss Hibiki's friend for a long long time!

[priforpalps]

And I certainly hope we'll both be so from here on out!

[ Fuwari reaches to see if she can tag him. Turnabout is fair play? ]

Now, shall we go see if we can find her?

[myblueskies]

[Ah she turned his trick back on him! Romeo guesses that's what he gets, he laughed.]

Yes let's go find her!

[priforpalps]

[ Fuwari offers Romeo her hand. ] Will you show me to places you might expect to find her? If I lead the way, we'll only get dreadfully lost.

[myblueskies]

Yes! I'll show you!

[Romeo won't get lost! He knows all of the heavens even if temples come and go making navigation tricky sometimes!]

Have you seen her temple yet? She lives in the really fancy bit of heaven because she's a god of fortune!

[priforpalps]

[ How reliable he is. And how....unsurprising that news is, in retrospect. ]

A God of Fortune...

[ Fuwari tries to remember what all that entails. So, Hibiki-san is relied on by a lot of people to make them happy, and in exchange, they worship her and place her above them....and in exchange, she gets to live somewhere fancier than everyone else...

The resulting mental image is so intensely Hibiki-san that it is by sheer optimistic streak that Fuwari manages not to use someone else's catchphrase right now. ]

She must be happy here.

[myblueskies]

I hope she is! [Romeo smiled, he thought she must be! She has so many friends and so many people rely on her to help them!

But Hibiki is a really complicated grown up. So Romeo's not sure... It's hard to be grown up he thinks.]

[priforpalps]

With a good friend like you looking out for her, there's no way anyone couldn't be.

[ Fuwari says this kindly, reassuringly. She expects Hibiki has not done a very good job of expressing her own gratitude for Romeo's kindness. ]

wrapping?

[myblueskies]

[Romeo grins back. He is glad that Fuwari thinks he is being a good friend to miss Hibiki and he is sure that if they work together miss Hibiki's spirits will be up all the time!

But for now he would show Fuwari all the best places in heaven!]