thenearshore | April Training

Entry tags:

April Training

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: May 8th 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, 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.

as was the case a month and a half ago

Suijin's findings

off

Shinki Training

informational pamphlets

borderline

HELLO, MY NAME IS ________

Physical Training

inside

Rajio Taisou

seiza

Rest and Refreshments

kindergarten-age songs

enka

In Summary:

Get all the information you can handle
Discuss with your temple-mates if you'd like to volunteer to host training
Choose your style of physical training: high- or low-impact
Enjoy singing together
Have fun~

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I wasn't sure when you disappeared last time, but that sounds about right to me. [He's pretty sure she disappeared before Lavi did, and that itself was a few months ago now. It's kind of a dull ache to think that the time is starting to stretch since he lost so many of his close people here.

On that note, Shun turns a somewhat flat look to the tessen when Ayumu points them out.] Chinatsu is my exemplar now, and her vessel form is a pair of these. I've been practicing with them since I named her, but now that she's my only shinki left that's not from this world, I've been putting more priority on it.

[He does practice with her as well, but sometimes it's nice to just try to get technique and finesse down without having to worry about accidentally shooting fire at something if they get a bit too into it.]

I see. I'm glad to hear she's still around. I'm sure she'll make a good exemplar.

[Chinatsu's driven and outspoken. Some people need that. As for Lavi, she's heard about his departure along with others from her own circle. Loss, even of those closest to one's heart, seems to be an inevitability in this place. For a moment, Ayumu's expression is rather melancholy. She's lost so many at this point herself, the best she can do to cope is to simply be thankful for the friends and allies that do remain and remember the departed with fondness.]

But you have my condolences, nonetheless.

[Then she turns to a less personal topic, giving him a way out of the subject should he choose it.]

Your form looks good. Tessen aren't an easy weapon to simply pick up and master. They can be difficult to learn how to work with sometimes.

It's been like that for a few months now. Maybe three. [Considering how tightly Shun usually keeps track of his personal timeline here, there's...definitely a bit of a sign there that he doesn't really want to remember too firmly when the exact date had been.

He's perfectly okay with taking the departure from the subject that she offers, though, and he gives a bit of a shrug at the observation.]

It'd have to be at least eight months since I named Chinatsu now, so I've had the chance to refine it a bit. Her vessel ability relies on movement in some ways, so I can't exactly get away with not knowing what I'm doing even if I wanted to.

[He'd tried to ask around a bit for clarification on the use of them, too, since he'd figured from the start they weren't going to be a straightforward weapon.]

Your efforts seem to be going well.

[Tessen aren't a weapon that Ayumu has trained in personally but they are an intimate melee weapon and her specialty is close-range combat. Hand-to-hand and knives are more where her experience lies but perhaps she could still give some general pointers if need be.

Ayumu circles him just a bit, examining his form from different angles to see if she can spot any weaknesses - posture, if his center of gravity is off in any way, any visible evidence that he might be favoring any limb over the other.

It's what she does, okay.]

What is her vessel ability, by the way? I don't think she ever told me or if she did, I forgot about it.

[Ayumu really does need to catch up with Chinatsu one of these days.]

I don't half-ass things if I decide I'm going to do them. [While he keeps an eye on Ayumu as she circles him, he seems to be aware of what she's doing enough that he doesn't entirely try to follow the motion. Having already been highly experienced with hand-to-hand before he picked up a few kinds of weapon here, his general points on posture, gravity and weight are natural in that way that often indicates someone who's spent enough time honing their fighting skills that they don't really need to actively think about balancing themselves anymore.]

The fans spit fire, basically. We have to be focused together to make it work properly, otherwise either we get nothing or it gets uncontrollable.

[They've definitely had their occasions of having to halt practice because Shun almost ended up with burnt fingers from the fans effectively exploding into flames.]

I see. Working with fire can be tricky and unpredictable like that.

[After Ayumu finishes looking him over, she nods to herself, seemingly satisfied and steps back a bit to observe.]

It helps to keep burn ointment on hand, just in case. I'm sure Hakkai has plenty at the school clinic if it's ever needed.

[Assuming that it's still open, Ayumu hasn't had a chance to pay a visit yet. Or the Shinki Sanctuary for that matter. Not being able to use the shrines or go home has put limited the things she's been able to do.]

It's not really an issue anymore. I'm never that inclined to go to that guy for help anyway. [From Shun's tone, it's more a matter of exasperation at this point than outright dislike, or at least it's a dislike that's low-key enough that it's not so obvious. He and Hakkai have...an understanding, of sorts, even if they don't really like each other.]

But I do keep a fair amount of first aid equipment back at my temple. I like to think it pays to be prepared for anything. [It's not like he hasn't gotten some very strange wounds before from fighting ayakashi and spirits and what have you.]

He can be a little difficult to get along with sometimes.

[Says the woman who'd tried to break his nose and threw him out of his own temple once before finally just quitting as his shinki. As much as she genuinely cares for Hakkai, she's the last person who'd fault others for preferring not to ask him for help, especially if it's not needed.]

That's always a good idea. I prefer to stay prepared in case of an emergency myself.

[Ayumu chuckles a bit, expression a little nostalgic.]

One of the first things I did when first got here was familiarize myself with every point of exit or entry at my temple among other security measures. In the end, it paid off. I had to deal with an intruder once. Another time, I had to cut off someone's escape.

That's one way of putting it. [Shun puts it somewhat dryly in response. While Hakkai might be reliable in some ways, in others he's just frustrating to deal with. And he's pretty sure Chikusa mentioned Ayumu trying to break his nose previously, so he has some idea of where she's coming from when she says that.

Her description of what she did with her temple is somewhat familiar, and Shun nods a little knowingly.] I did similar, though before that I was having to get used to even sleeping on a bed again. I used the couch for weeks before I moved to one of the bedrooms. [It's a weird switch to try and make when you've had to sleep on hard floor, mats or prison beds for most of your recent memory.] I haven't had to deal with any intruders inside the temple, which I suppose is something.

It was Susano'o. He broke in and tried to steal one of my pillars. So I beat him up with a broom and tried to set him on fire. He never came back again.

[That sure is an oddly cheerful and reminiscing tone Ayumu's taking while describing the attempted murder of a home invader but at least it's not a sad memory so there's that? Then she looks a little wistful.]

My temple was very strange, too. It was all stone, not made of the wood and paper screens I'd been accustomed to. I couldn't sleep in my bed so I exchanged it for a futon that I bought myself with an urn I'd sold. Deku-kun brought me some traditional Japanese decorations so I'd feel more at home. Over time, I slowly started adding my own.

[Ayumu supposes she'll continue her remodeling in time, once the offerings start coming in again. She's not going anywhere and it still wasn't the dream home she'd hoped it might someday be when she'd left off with it.

Of course, she could just go to the main office and put in for a move to a better neighborhood than the Western District but even if her neighbors come and go and there's the occasional stray ayakashi about or volcanic eruption, it's still home.]

[Shun primarily remembers Susano'o for the garbage he'd tried to pull with the noise ayakashi not long after Shun arrived, so the fond reminiscence does not strike him as at all weird, instead getting a decidedly understanding nod.]

That bastard deserved it, honestly. At least he stayed gone after he did something stupid enough to call everyone's attention to kicking his ass. [Most of the real nasty pieces of work have stayed gone after someone took it upon themselves to get rid of them, which is something Shun at least appreciates somewhat about this place.

The temple reminiscence has him considering his own - he's never been much for decorating, but he supposes he has a few things here and there now.] Most of my "decorations" are things people have left when they vanished. Even early on, I ended up with pillows from that Fortuna who had a temple full of the damn things. I suppose the actual temple being mostly earthen helped me adjust, though. Especially the underground, that felt more like a bunker and I was a lot more prepared to live in something like that when I got here.

[A traditional home would have had him uneasy as hell trying to adjust back into, but his basically-a-dug-out-hill temple has worked pretty well for him, all things considered.]

A bunker sounds like it'd be fairly convenient considering what goes on around here. Those ayakashi Susano'o set loose broke one of my pillars and ruined my flowerbeds. A god that I did not know perished on my grounds that day, defending me in an attack.

[Yamato had still been here then, grieving over the departure of his beloved master. Her Axel had still been alive then, too, off fighting to protect his other gods. She'd never blamed him for being away on that day, especially considering how often he'd been with her before.

It all feels like a lifetime ago. And in a way for her, it was from another life on this shore. Those strange memories that don't quite fit into her life yet she has absolutely no doubt had clearly happened somehow.]

I don't have many tokens from those who's passed on from this place. Only my memories of their existence here. Though my first shinki did leave me a 'thank you' note before disappearing one day. And Sheryl-san - I'm not sure if she was still around then or not - left me a picture and her autograph to remember her by.

[And there's a sudden, soft, bittersweet smile.]

But I hope they're all happy and living peaceful lives wherever they are now.

[If they're somewhere - anywhere - living good lives, Ayumu can make peace with that.]

The entire temple is basically dug into a hill, so even the parts of it that aren't underground are fortified better than most places. [Which Shun definitely appreciates on some level, since it feels a lot safer in some respects than a typical temple might. Then again, as an Egyptian god, a stone temple probably would have been what he'd gotten otherwise, which he wouldn't have complained about.

Ayumu's experience with things left behind has him considering how often he's encountered it himself. He does recall receiving things from most people who've disappeared, though there are definitely some who hadn't left anything.]

I have at least one thing from most people I was close to who vanished, even if it was something small like notes or letters, or I had to get it from someone else. [As was the case with Yuto, who'd left some belongings with Lavi and Hajime that had been passed on.] It makes me wonder whether some of them actually departed without them, though with shinki it might not make much difference.

[Reisi's sword had been a major example of that, but he'd been a shinki, so he might not be alive at the other end at all. Then again, that has been called into question before.] It's hard to tell with all the conflicting information we've gotten, but if people have been able to get home to live out more in their own worlds, I don't see why we should doubt that others who've vanished have made it home.

[Besides the weird soul dolls, but they haven't really heard hide nor hair of those since they were found.]

I wonder about that. I've come and gone quite a few times now but each time I return, I've still learned nothing. I never remember where I go. Nor am I aware of the passage of time at all. It's as if I simply stop being.

[It's brought forth a lot of deep questions about her own existence here, what she is now in addition to the typical questions about her identity that have plagued her behind closed doors her entire life. Ayumu doesn't have any clear answers to that either.

All she knows for certain is that she's not human. Maybe not even mortal as she'd once been in her own world. Perhaps at this point, she truly has become a goddess of this world.

Ayumu's quiet, expression deeply contemplative, as she stares off, eye distant, for a long moment before she continues to speak.]

Sometimes I've wondered if the world I believed I came from truly existed at all. And other times, I've wondered if driving us to the point we begin questioning our roots and reality hasn't been the intent.

[Maybe Ayumu's finally lost her mind after everything she's gone through or listened to one too many of her friends' consipiracy theories and it's starting to warp her own logic. At least, she has enough self-awareness to realize just how weird she might be starting to sound.]

...I'm sorry. Sometimes this place just gets to me, you know? It's my home now but still very strange to me.

Well, I don't know enough about your position to know what that could mean or show. [Shun puts that rather straightforwardly, though it's his way of being considerate of the matter. He doesn't even know if she's dead or alive, and he's not going to put the onus on her to inform him of that if it's something she doesn't want to discuss.

Granted, he's not sure if he's dead or alive either, but he hasn't left here since he arrived to find out. That's been part of the problem.

He can kind of see where she's coming from, however strange the tangent is, and he turns his head up towards the sky as if considering something.]

I suppose it depends on who brought us here in the first place and why, which we seem to only keep getting more questions about and never any answers. Whether it was the cult or the Heavens, or something else entirely...it is frustrating to not know what the intent was, so I can hardly question anyone's theorising unless it actually goes against what little we've learnt.

[Especially if it comes from a position like that, where she seems to be generally unsure of where she stands. It's definitely not one he envies, though he can't tell exactly how similar it might be to his own at this point.]

I'm fairly sure that whatever I've become in this place isn't human anymore.

[Humans don't wield powers like she does as god. They don't die and come back as many times as she has at this point. Even if there was a way for her to go back to her world, what kind of life would she be able to lead there after all that she's seen and experienced in this one? The only option she has left is to keep moving forward in this bizarre place and avoid destruction again.]

My world didn't have anything like this. We didn't have magic, supernatural powers, or technology. I was very lucky to simply be well-educated though I believe my home's standards fall short of what's here.

[That knowledge isn't as maddening to her now as it'd been when she'd been a shinki in so much pain and unable to properly understand her own relationship with this world.]

It'd be nice if we were able to gain some answers, at least. Not having them's pretty destructive for some people.

[At the moment, she's thinking of Gojyo more than herself but they'd been trapped in similar hells for quite some time.]

Sounds like you're having the opposite problem to me. Even with all the changes that have happened here, I can't not think of myself as human more than anything.

[Much to the chagrin of the old gods the few times it's come up with them. As a God of Fortune, he's seemingly supposed to be some kind of guidepost for the new gods, but when he's so vocally resistant to everything down to their very nature, it's definitely rubbed the old gods the wrong way to have him in that position.]

My world had technology, but not magic or supernatural powers. That sort of thing, I had to learn about during my time here, and I still don't really get it in full. Having answers would be better, but at this point, I suppose I've figured that if we want them, we're going to have to drag them out of someone ourselves, because nobody seems to want to offer them.

[The Heavens least of all, though at the very least, they seem to have started to learn to share the results of their investigations. It remains to be seen whether that's going to continue after the cult is dealt with, though.]

You're right. The only way any of us will get what we want is if we work for it.

[Ayumu's tired though and she's lost most of the edge that made her a force to be reckoned with. She's become colder and more ruthless since the end of her life, fragile and reckless in ways that could cost lives out on the field. Even if she trusts herself more now than she did as a shinki and isn't as frightened of the violent, sadistic streak that she remembers what made her that way, Ayumu still sees herself as a dangerous liability to others in the field.

She's already killed one person, nearly killed another, and put countless others at risk because she couldn't control herself. And that isn't even counting the human lives she took on the Near Shore before that.]

I think it's best for everyone's safety, if I stay away from the heart of any direct conflict with Heaven. At least for a while. That doesn't mean that I won't work to help us all in ways that I can, though.

That's how it's always been for me anyway.

[Shun has tried pressing at the Heavens, digging and scraping and dragging them out in public where he can, but it only seems to have had minimal effect so far. On one hand, it seems like they've finally become willing to share investigation findings openly, but on the other, it's the questions they actually need answers to that are still being kept close.]

For now, the cultists are distracting from any direct conflicts with them, but once that common enemy is gone, I suppose we'll have to see how things go. I'm still prepared to keep them accountable as much as I can considering my position, but that's still not much.

[Even with the God of Fortune title, Shun doesn't exactly have the diplomatic side to take full advantage of it instead of just very publicly dragging people for their stupidity.]

Good. Positions such as yours with them have their uses. They're more likely to open their doors for a God of Fortune than an unknown such as myself, for example.

[Not that Ayumu's obscurity itself doesn't have its uses. Her entire military career has been built on the concept of working in the shadows, pulling strings, and applying pressure from a place where she attracts no notice. Both her success and her survival has depended on masking her movements and agenda until it's too late for an opponent to launch an effective counterattack.]

You're right that we'll have to see how things go first before coming up with a proper plan.

Opening their doors is one thing, actually listening is another, considering how the cultist business has gone. Though at least traditional seven Gods of Fortune seem more inclined to listen than Amaterasu's lot.

[He's only spoken to a few of them, but Ebisu, Bishamonten and Daikokuten have all been considerably more useful than his general experience with Amaterasu and her advisors. Bar, perhaps, Suijin, and even then, she gets rather stubborn about the same kinds of topics as Amaterasu does.]

In that case, there's not much to do but continue working on an outcome to this. Hopefully it comes to an end sooner rather than later.

We can prepare, at least.

[Ayumu looks thoughtful before she speaks again in a hushed tone.]

If it gets to a point that we can't live harmoniously with them within the Heavens, perhaps defection could be an option. The world is a vast place. Theirs is not the only group.

[The Roman gods in Italy had been quite happy and welcoming of her presence the one time she visited them so long ago. If this world is to be Ayumu's permanent home for eternity, it'd be prudent to get better acquainted with her brethren overseas on the off-chance she and others have to flee.]

[Shun knows he's not the only one to have visited his pantheon at this point, besides the ones who were around way back when their first overseas shrines appeared. He's had to speak to his own and even one other for various reasons, and they've generally seemed relatively welcoming when he's encountered them.]

It'd cause problems for anyone who was following us from this country, but it is an option. I know a few people have at least established contact with their gods' actual pantheons. Something like that wouldn't be a decision to make lightly, though.

[He doubts the Heavens here would necessarily begrudge someone deciding their other pantheon is a better fit, but framing it as defecting or doing it at a sensitive time? Could cause some problems if it's not handled the right way.]

I agree. Choosing to leave is something that should always be taken seriously. It comes with a hefty price. In some organizations, the cost is one's life.

[The penalty for leaving the Shinsengumi had been death and the Oniwaban had been about as strict in its regulations. She doesn't know if the Heavens would be just as harsh but it's possibility she remains mindful of.]

Regardless, I wish to become better acquainted with my patheon overseas. Perhaps foster an alliance or relationship with them for myself and my shinki. Still, I'd prefer to prepared. It's better to have options that aren't needed than get into trouble without any at all.

Hopefully the Heavens don't run on honour codes or gang logic. [Shun puts that somewhat dryly considering how old-fashioned some of their other attitudes are, but he imagines the departure would have to cause a pretty massive infraction to draw major retribution. The Heavens are unreasonable in a lot of ways, but that strikes him as something they know would more likely stain their supposedly benevolent reputation.]

It's been a few months since I last talked to mine properly, though I see one or two of the gods from it more often than others. [Horus and Wadjet, mostly, the first god from there he'd met and Nekhbet's counterpart god.] Working more in the country the god you're standing in for is worshipped in makes it easier.

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