June Training

[priforprince]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: June 7th, 2017
Where: Apollo's Temple, The Far Shore
Summary: FIRST-CLASS ENTERTAINME---er, training for extant gods and shinki



Determining which temple to visit for today's training is not difficult. For one thing, Apollo's Temple is setting off fireworks periodically to entice newcomers through its high, Hibiki-statue-flanked doors. For another, anyone leaving their own temples will find themselves immediately confronted with an adorable purple goat robot wearing sunglasses and a bow tie. The goat has a silver platform suspended above it, atop which has been set a single purple rose and a brief note:

I shall be maa-ttending you today. Follow me.

Said goat will continue to follow your character until they give in and do as the note suggests. In fact, even once they do, the goat shall accompany them for the duration of today's log, seeing to their every need. Ask the goat to fetch something, and it shall be fetched. Ask the goat for directions within Hibiki's castle - "Where is the god training?", "Isn't there an amusement park in here?" - and guidance shall be provided maa-ccordingly.

It seems, today, everyone will receive a full Celebrity Maa-xperience.



Introductions

Incidentally, Hibiki's temple does indeed contain an amusement park. Everyone shall be directed there first, to enjoy the roller coasters, spinny teacups, and merry-go-round to their hearts' content until all the TVs in the area switch on at once. (Should your character not be positioned by one of the many televisions scattered throughout the area, have no fear. Your maa-ttendant has just rolled away and come back with one.)

"CelePara Prince Hour!"

Hibiki's face appears on the screen. She's a decent amount of space back from the screen, for once, and seated upon her throne. There's a brilliant sun motif on the wall behind her - or is it a crown? It's both, perhaps.

"Everyone, it's been a while. Shikyoin Hibiki here. Have your hearts been astonished by the peerless excellence I've delivered to you today?"

The maa-ttendants all nod. Which is hard for robots without neck joints to do, so they rock in place on their wheeled platforms instead. Clatter, clatter. Hibiki, for her part, nods back as if she's witnessed this occurrance.

"Splendid. The three characteristics of divinity are - Majestic. Unparalleled. And...Possessing great love." A smirk. "It's as if the position exists just for me. But those of you tasked with a duty you're currently incapable of fulfilling need not despair. I've arranged a variety of beneficial exercises for gods and shinki alike. Engaging in them is best, so we can create it."

She raises an arm, as if showing everyone ascending from her beneficial guidance. "Together with me - the ultimate puniverse!"

The TVs switch off. Those closest to gods display, on a map, where the god training is. Those closest to shinki display the shinki training. All indicate the physical training and the refreshments. The refreshments seem to be.....outside? With a time marked for dinner?

Pay that no mind. It's probably fine.

God Training

Hibiki isn't at the god training, either, which is taking place in a banquet hall. And which appears to be, ah....a swanky tea party. With a sign indicating there's a sauna next door. She does, however, appear on a large TV a bevy of spygoats push into position once any new gods have entered the room. Behold!

"So-called gods, glad you could make it. Yours is the tremendous task of assisting me, the God of Fortune Apollo, to bring radiance to the scrap-heap puniverse known as the Near Shore. As satisfying your followers with anything less than a Top-Class showing is insufficient, I'll give this chance to steep in a celebrity atmosphere to you. The chosen deities require no throat-drying or sweat-inducing hardship. Open the new celeb world."

And, with that, the tea party begins. Those not wishing to enjoy the top-class light sweets or delicious first flush teas may rid themselves of their average-person cares in Hibiki's special detoxing sauna. Those seeking an example to follow may take in a movie (in a theater featuring opulent reclining seats) starring Shikyoin Hibiki, or enjoy that the Shikyoin Hibiki History Exhibit has returned for a limited time only to this wing of the temple. Learn all about her many accomplishments, and be inspired!

If you're looking for Hibiki, however.....Well. Your maa-ttendant is willing to show you the way, especially if you're a shinki or a god seeking suggestions for a matchup. But there are two obstacles to reaching her. First, you have to successfully kick a soccer ball past a spygoat goalie. Second, you have to read from a college history textbook provided by a spygoat in a pasteboard hat - and get all the kanji right.

Or you could force your way through, or raise a fuss until Hibiki emerges, but who'd conceive of that?! Clearly everything will go as Hibiki intends!

Shinki Training

The good news for the shinki in attendance- or any gods who ran away from Hibiki’s tea party to see what else is happening- is that they don’t have to further deal with Hibiki. Or being proper. Instead, everyone’s maa-tendants will guide them to a large indoor space that has been purposefully, uh, repurposed for today. As there are a lot of big extravagant rooms in Hibiki’s castle, it wasn’t very hard to change it into what is essentially the inside of an acrobatic circus. Wendy will already be waiting for everyone to arrive, seated happily on top of some push up bars. “That’s everyone, isn’t it? Alright then!”

Since there are no newcomers as far as Wendy can tell, she gladly skips over “how to shinki” issues and instead offers some quick explanations and instructions to everyone in attendance. People are more than welcome to do the usual borderline practicing, of course, and Wendy will give a quick instruction for those who somehow missed that particular lesson. But that’s the boring way, and she didn’t set up all of this to be boring. In fact, there’s a particular shinki trait that she feels not a lot of people have really utilized: the strange shared trait that they’re all extremely light and can do things like leap ridiculous distances.

So everyone will be encouraged to use the various pieces of equipment that are around. People who are unsure of themselves can use basic things such as monkey bars, low balancing beams, and the other sorts of things that they’ve seen Heaven use in their training sessions such as jumping from stump-like platforms to another. There are even some trampolines for those who want to see how high a shinki can go before their head cracks into the very high ceiling. (And an almost extravagantly large bouncy castle for the kids and kids-at-heart.) But they’re really encouraged to use things that are a little more… high skill. Such as the tightrope extended high above the ground, or the swinging trapeze set. For those who want a bit of a challenge, Wendy even has a route set up where they have to go through just about everything that’s set up in the space… while she has another person practicing throwing borderlines at them to either dodge or deflect. Also the goats might get in the way. Is that part of the training, or is that just how the goats how?

Any random god that comes in will hardly get a blink besides Wendy ushering them in with an off-handed, “Sick of the tea, huh?”

Self-Improvement Training

Those looking for something less...extreme...than Wendy's contribution will find it in Hibiki's gaming arcade, which has been newly restocked with a row of PriPara arcade machines. These machines encourage you to create a customizable character and dress them up, then perform a rhythm game with the character dancing in the background. Successful completion earns you a ticket with more clothes that can be used on your character. It seems that a sense of rhythm improves intuition, which is useful for gods and shinki alike.

Also of use to all: the ability to ad-lib with a partner in an unusual environment! Which is what anyone who ventures into this concert hall will find. It looks like there's an improv contest going on. Grab a partner and be assigned a random scenario. You now have to act out that scenario in hopes of getting perfect 10s from a row of extremely Judge-Looking spygoats (they are wearing berets and glasses, to look Artsy, except for one who got the kind of judge wrong and showed up in a powdered wig instead.)

Now, pick your chosen field of battle! No sparring prompt is required to hone one's competitive urges and divine might.

Rest and Refreshments

Anyone desiring a change of scenery, as well as everyone once the sun begins to set, will be guided out the back of the temple by their maa-ttendant. A splendid dinner table has been set out upon the pirate ship in Hibiki's backyard, and everyone has a place reserved just for them. Why, their favorite drink is already awaiting them in their glass!

Food is available from a variety of sources. For those who prefer self service, a buffet table has been laid out next to one railing, arranged with a variety of high-class, gourmet foods. Filet mignon? Caviar? Lobster? Fugu? Vegetable delicacies? All are available (though none come with instructions - do have fun with the lobster). The maa-tendants are also happy to double as waiters and fetch food, for those who prefer the full service celebrity treatment.

Those seeking a more low-key, though no less eclectic, dining experience can find it along the other side of the deck, set up on a nice table with a tablecloth and some flowers for decoration. It seems one of Hibiki's shinki has decided to grace everyone with a bountiful spread! Poke, acai bowls, salad, malasalada, chocolate macademia, strawberry mochi, and manapua are all available, with placards indicating what each dish is and any potential allergens. This entire temple devotes itself to hospitality.

Still missing, however: the host, though there's a throne awaiting her at the head of the table, a cup of tea already in place. Music is also being provided by goats in the corners, who seem to have full stereo systems hooked up where the maa-ttendants have trays. Baroque classical music recordings softly waft over the diners, lending the entire experience a distinctly elegant air.

This aura of peaceful refinement shall remain until everyone who seems inclined to go aboard has done so (the goats do seem to maa-ccomend you board, but it is not enforced - sit this out, if you wish). At that point, all goats will roll up to their gods or shinki, carrying another sign - Please take care. The music dies down. So do the lights.

And beneath everyone, the Starship PriPirates's...rocket engines...rumble to life. And a triumphant peal of laughter, high above everyone - rings out!

In Summary:

• Delight in your precious new robot BFF (maa-ttendants are OK to NPC & adopt!)
  
• Learn absolutely nothing from anybody actually charged with hosting this informational session
  
• Engage in various "training" activities with no ulterior motives behind them whatsoever
  
• Be kidnapped by pirates?????
  
• Have fun~

Comments

[revolutionfalcon]

At least he had the decency to get gone quickly so we only had to deal with him the once. [He pretty much had his mad scientist villain bender and then was wiped off the face of the earth by...someone. It hadn't been long after Shun arrived, so he hadn't been able to keep particularly close track of that situation.]

It's probably just a numbers game, honestly. We don't usually get big groups of people from one pantheon, and if people are coming from all of them, then the Japanese pantheon's just one of many.

[Having multiple people represent that god might be odd, but it's definitely happened with other gods.]

[unlucky7]

I wonder what factors there are for what god you end up being?

[Some are obvious; of course a few people would be themselves if they were legends deified in life. And with Tsubasa, as the owner of Susanoo's sword before coming here, it makes sense she'd end up inhabiting that role.

Ginia squints at Shun, trying to imagine him as another god. Not that she knows too many.]

I bet you'd always be associated with birds as a god.

[revolutionfalcon]

I think it usually has at least something to do with your usual personality or associations, but it's hard to tell what. [He can't exactly disagree with her summation of what he'd probably be even if he changed gods, though, and he shrugs a bit.]

Probably. I'm surprised I wasn't one associated with falcons instead, but I suppose the vulture thing fits in other ways. And the dealing with death, and associations with protection.

[Nekhbet is overall fairly fitting for him in most ways, even if there's definitely aspects that he elects to ignore, like her explicitly being a mother figure in some interpretations.]

[unlucky7]

I think the overall package of Nekhbet fits pretty well.

[Better a few categories than one specific thing. What she can remember from light research, Ra and Horus don't quite seem to fit him.]

I'd probably be a death deity of some kind. [There's a flicker of resignation as she signs.] Maybe the kind worshiped to keep away. I don't think there are any gods associated with guns.

[revolutionfalcon]

[In terms of the pantheon he's already in, Montu seemed like the closest fit in terms of falcon gods, but then, Shun likely would have enjoyed being a god of exclusively war even less than he does being one covering funerary rites.

Though it's not like they haven't had death gods before, and Shun shrugs slightly.] We've had at least one Thanatos before. But it's entirely possible you could have been someone with more than just that association. War and love are a popular combination.

[Doesn't he know it, with that being half of why Ren had always seemed so fine with being Inanna.]

[unlucky7]

The popular combination of war and love says a lot about it, doesn't it.

[Though Ginia is pretty sure she wouldn't be great at the love part. How do you help an aspect you don't understand?]

Found out more about myself. Wouldn't you know it, I'm an operative. An assassin. [A smile twitches at the corner of her mouth.] But I think most people could tell.

[It's a test run of sorts. Shun she feels like might understand, especially when he did see her kill the vice-principal. But if he rejects her for her past, it'll sure say a lot about how things will go with others.]

[revolutionfalcon]

I wouldn't call them so similar myself, but I suppose that's just my experience with both. [He hasn't had the kind of troubles with love that some people have, while he's had a great deal more personal experience with war than a lot of the kinds of people who'd compare the two would have. Still, if one considers love and hate two sides of a single coin, he supposes it fits.

Shun can't even fake surprise at that remark, especially because, courtesy of her dream space, he already knew that.] Probably. Seems like it's a lot more useful for you to know than them, though.

[The fact that he takes it so entirely in stride without even questioning might be an indication of the fact that he already knew, but if she knows now, he doesn't think making that obvious would harm her unless he went into detail about the dream.]

[unlucky7]

Memories are a double-edged sword. It explains a lot, but... [her signs fade into a defeated shrug. There's a partial answer for why she was so domestically inept and overly cautious in her day to day life. There's a partial answer for all the self-loathing and anger boiling inside her. And there's a partial answer for the drive to do better, be better.

Atonement is a hell of a thing.]

I suppose I know now when asked with killing a target with a child involved... I can't say I'd never and haven't gone through with it, but I balked and wouldn't do it.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun hums slightly as if to say that he understands what she means when she just trails off like that. Even if it helps in some way to know, contextualising behaviour and things like that, it's not necessarily helpful to one's actual mental state to have the specifics.

He can't even really judge what follows, either, simply giving a shrug.] That's something. A lot of the people I've fought in the past were younger than me, so I had to make that kill or be killed choice even if it was a child, or at best a young teenager. So I don't have a moral high ground to hold over anyone about that.

[An innocent child, sure, but even then, he can't say he hasn't seriously harmed innocent people around Ruri's age, and he still considers her a child.]

[unlucky7]

You're in a war and trying to survive.

[Their circumstances are different and Ginia wants to be clear on that, though she's frowning a little as she signs. Not that killing someone else is any more justifiable or even better in Shun's situation.]

This was my job. I was given a target and I or someone in my team would take them out.

[And she's pretty sure the reasons they were all given were lies.]

I think I've been doing that for a long time. Hard to say.

[revolutionfalcon]

Just because it's your job doesn't mean you chose it. [Shun's well aware that many of the people he's at war with were indoctrinated into their ideas of battle, and he's met one or two who he would have felled just the same if they hadn't had the chance to break out of that mindset before he needed to. A "job" just means something someone else is having them do.]

Even if you've been doing it for a while, when you were given more options here, you chose something else for yourself. I think that speaks for something.

[It sounds like she's trying to remove any justifications for it, in which case Shun is just going to point out that it's not really any more or less forgivable as the kinds of things plenty of other people here have done.]

[unlucky7]

I know. I know I can do more. Have done more.

[Her hands can do more than hurt. Ebisu was so certain of that months ago. Her hands hang as if there's more she wants to say, the contradictory "but...". There isn't one this time. Just the uncertain hang because she's not sure where to go.]

But there's still a lot of guilt there. Not the blighting kind, just...guilt. And anger. Sadness. It's why I haven't told any of my gods yet. Still working it out.

[revolutionfalcon]

[That's understandable, and really, the only reason Shun has been able to make any progress at all (which is still very little) on his guilt while he's been here has been because he remembered it.]

If it's not doing anything to you or them, then it's your business when you decide to tell them. But I don't think anyone who knows you would judge you for it.

[It had always been obvious that Ginia was a trained combatant of some kind, if nothing else, and that does somewhat limit one's options in terms of what background they might be from to things that aren't generally very benign.]

[unlucky7]

[Ginia can't fault anyone who would judge her, especially the ones that haven't seen her in combat. She also doesn't expect Ebisu, Chris, or Tsubasa to cast her out either, but there's no escaping that slight trickle of fear.]

Would you want to know? If one of your shinki learned more about their past and it wasn't good? Would you want them to tell you?

[revolutionfalcon]

I'd want them to do what worked for them. [Shun doesn't even have to think about that answer. He's had shinki in the past that he thinks learnt things that he wasn't let in on, but those were the things that had actually caused damage.]

If they tell me, then I assume that means they trust me, so I'd respect that. But I wouldn't want them to feel as if they had no choice but to tell me.

[unlucky7]

[Ginia curls a hand against her chin. It feels like she has to tell her gods what she's learned about herself. Keeping the link between them pure, yes, but it's more out of a sense of wanting to be honest. Chris was honest about the things she's experience and she doesn't want to keep her out in the cold. Same with Tsubasa.

While Ebisu and the temple mean the world to her. She owes Ebisu the truth so she can heal and move on.

She raps her knuckles against her chin and grumbles slightly, hand falling away.]

What I hate most is I can't tell anyone else in Ebisu's temple. I could use their advice, but I'm not going to risk hurting anyone.

[Sometimes it sucks living among old shinki.]

But I think I have a better idea of what to do. Thanks.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun's encountered that issue with the old gods before, and he nods somewhat knowingly.] It's hard to even discuss new shinki issues with some of the stricter gods who keep their exemplars around at all times, because it's too risky and they won't adapt to the situation.

[Find another god or advisor who could listen to the discussion without being harmed. Hell, Amaterasu literally keeps her exemplar on her person at all times.]

You decided on it yourself. I was just a sounding board.

[unlucky7]

I don't think... {Ginia pauses, waving her hand as she tries the sentence over.] I didn't come from a place where my opinions and feelings mattered. I'm getting used to the fact it's different here.

[The opinion matters. Knowing she has his support matters. Talking to her gods is daunting, but a little more manageable.]

Thankfully, Ebisu is pretty adaptable. He would keep his exemplar around more given the chance, but we're trying to make sure he learns how to do things on his own. Kunimi needs a break anyway.

[revolutionfalcon]

At least it is different here. [There are probably some gods here where that's still the case for their shinki, but most of the new gods have seemed to avoid it, and the more tolerable of the old gods. Ginia's found a position that works for her, and that's a good thing.]

That guy definitely seems like he'd be more flexible than the others. But then, considering all the things he has domain over, that makes sense.

[Economy, business, tourism...those are the kinds of things that need to be dynamic and constantly moving in order to continue functioning. A god like that couldn't afford to be static in the way that the ones that represent natural phenomenons could be.]

[unlucky7]

It does. Wouldn't be a great god of business if he was completely inflexible. But with regards to his domains and the Near Shore, it's more Ebisu loves humans at his core. He wants only the best for them.

[Even if that means naming and placing masks on ayakashi to control them.]

He was also a god abandoned by his parents when they considered him useless, so he's pretty caring when it comes to Heaven's undesirables.

Frankly, Heaven would be better off with someone like him in charge.

[No one else around knows sign language so she's not worried about someone seeing her heretical words. It's not a training session on old god territory either.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Well, Ginia knows him better than Shun does, so he's not going to argue that even if he's generally a bit dubious about the old gods as a whole. The Gods of Fortune had seemed to be the most consistently decent ones, but even then he hadn't truly gotten to know any of them.]

Try telling them that. [Without the context, it sounds harmless enough, since they could be talking about just about anything.] Or don't, since it's not like they really listen to anyone else anyway until it blows up in their faces.

[Guess who's still annoyed about the Sabimei thing after him and however many other people airing that the Heavens had a traitor and it was probably someone high-ranking, it's Shun.]

[unlucky7]

I do and they execute me, Ebisu, and probably anyone else they think might have such heretical thoughts. Because their way is just and always right.

[Her expression is dry, signs exaggerated with sarcasm. And if news got out she was killed, no doubt Chris would be knocking on Amaterasu's door. A few people, perhaps.]

I wonder what is Amaterasu's core? If she was killed and came back newly formed, I wonder what her first thoughts were? I wonder if it comes from a place of good, if those around her have tempered it to their own needs?

[revolutionfalcon]

It's one way to ruin the peace we just finished establishing. [Shun's tone is equally dry in saying that, because he knows it'd be a terrible idea for a variety of reasons. He's pretty sure all of them have figured that out by this point.

The idea of a "core" makes him curious, though. It makes sense that gods that were entirely reborn all the time would have something like that, but...] I doubt we'd ever find out from the people who hover around her. Since she keeps her exemplar so firmly with her all the time, I'd expect they have a lot of influence on what she ends up as.

[Which makes it hardly a surprise Amaterasu is so resistant to change. As if an exemplar in that kind of position would want that.]

[unlucky7]

Maybe stubbornness is in her core.

[Given how much she pushed back against the idea any of her shinki were in the wrong. More uncharitably, the fact her predecessor was unwilling to hear any reason before ordering a massacre on Ebisu's temple.

But maybe that too is the influence of Amaterasu's exemplar. If there's anyone Ginia holds a grudge toward, it's Ikuten.]

I met her at the God's Meeting before I knew who she was. At the time, she struck me as a nice child. I still have the bracelet she made me. Even now, I suppose I still have some sympathy for her in the way I do for Ebisu. They will never really be children because of who they are and the roles they have to grow into. But it'd be nice of they could not worry about their responsibilities for a little.

[A teasing smile slips.]

But that's why Ebisu's shinki are the best. We're giving him a chance to grow.

[revolutionfalcon]

I first met her at the sakura grove fire not long after I got here. She was a lot easier to get on with then, and she even seemed open to taking advice. She got a lot more closed-off later on, and I'm still not completely sure what changed.

[If it had happened immediately after the temple fire, that might have been more logical, even if it was newcomers that saved her from that too. But it hadn't seemed to be tied to any particular event, so he can't exactly judge what might have shifted her attitude so much.

It may well have had something to do with her shinki, but in that case, why not warn her against the newcomers to start? Something he'll likely be considering for a while.]

That sounds like a better way to do it. Being there but giving them their space as well.