July Training

[unlucky7]

Who: Everyone
What: Information and Training
When: June 22nd, 2017
Where: Ebisu’s temple, Nagashima Resort on the Near Shore
Summary: A chance for gods and shinki to put their skills to the test… at a water park?



The morning of training, a mass message is sent out to everyone on the contact list.

Training will be conducted on the Near Shore today. Please meet at Ebisu's temple for an overview and directions.

Please see the following list for what to bring.

The list of what to bring is a short one: a container to carry blessed water, sunscreen, a swimsuit and towel, a bag for an outing, comfortable shoes and clothes for moving in... the list sounds like something suited for a to a beach or an amusement park.

(Spoilers: It is.)

A map with directions to Ebisu’s temple is also included.



Introductions

Everyone is led to a large conference room in the temple. There's a long table set up with food and drinks: assorted rice balls, bread, pastries, simple assorted bento boxes, tea, coffee, water, fresh juice. There is also a table with shinki pamphlets and maps to the area if anyone wants one. There are chairs set up facing a projection screen.

Once it seems like there are no further arrivals and everyone has had a chance to mingle and get any refreshments they want, some of Ebisu's shinki encourage people to find a seat. The lights dim slightly as Ginia, dressed in a sharp black suit with a dark green tie, steps in front to address the crowd in sign language, another shinki interpreting for her.

"Thank you all for gathering. Today's training format will have a different approach. As we all know, ayakashi are a common problem on the Near Shore. While reports of larger ayakashi have dwindled, small and some medium-sized ayakashi remain. They are drawn to areas with a high population of humans and where negativity or strife can brew.

Everyone, today we're putting our skills to the test and hunting ayakashi. "

Ginia pulls a remote from her pocket and displays a map of a sprawling entertainment complex with an amusement park, onsen resort, water park, shopping center, and hotels on the screen.

"This is Nagashima Resort, one of the most popular vacation and entertainment destinations in Japan. With an amusement park, shopping centers, a water park, botanical garden, and onsen resort, it's a destination for all ages year-round. Because of that, it’s ripe for ayakashi causing trouble.

"The first part of training is reaching the amusement park. You'll teleport to the Near Shore to one of Ebisu's shrines. From there, four paths in increasing difficulty are marked out with ribbons and flags: white, yellow, red, and orange. If you wish to bypass the course entirely, you're welcome to reach the location through public transportation or other means, the choice is yours.

"Once at the site, you'll want to keep an eye out for ayakashi. Flushing them out with borderlines and blessed water is an option, as is seeking out areas problems might occur. Keep in mind the large number of children around means our actions will be noticed, so take a subtle approach or pull the fight to where it won’t be noticed. Also please keep property damage to a minimum.

"After you've had your fill of hunting ayakashi, please enjoy the location's facilities. Full admission and ride vouchers will be provided for everyone as well as a stipend for food and souvenirs."

Ginia grins and gives a thumbs up.

"Do your best and have fun!"

God and Shinki Training

With no new arrivals, gods and shinki are encouraged to work with their temple or other temples to figure out strategies. Or make plans for how to spend the day, there’s no judgment at all. Ebisu, Tsubasa, and Chris are around to provide support and information for gods. Any shinki that want last minute borderline practice or a refresher on light moving can talk to Ginia or Ebisu's shinki.

Physical Training

Beginning at the entrance of Ebisu's shrine, the four routes are clearly laid out. All four take advantage of the lightness all shinki and gods can tap into to jump higher and longer distances and stand on just about anything. The easiest route, white, is a longer route that’s more street-level, but requires using some leaps across the road or use of lamp posts to cut across areas.

Yellow is entirely crossed with lamp posts and electrical poles can be managed without ever touching the ground. It's a pretty direct route and easy for someone focused on lightness the entire time.

Red moves higher, mixing up lamp posts and signs to bound off, as well as a few rooftop runs. It requires a few tricky jumps that can be easier with borderline bridges or teleporting, but still entirely possible with the right planning. Like the yellow route, traversing means never touching the ground until reaching the entertainment complex.

Orange is the most physical of the courses, requiring precise jumps or teleports along rooftops, vertical wall jumps, and a few blind drops or teleports downward to get to the next section. A shinki who can make bridges with their borderline can test their skills with bridging some of the larger jumps, while a god can test out flying in tighter areas or teleporting.

Race other people, help out someone struggling on a route, or skip this portion entirely, the choice is yours.

Ayakashi Attacks

While there are no large ayakashi to fight on top of a roller coaster, the amount of ayakashi around is still plentiful. Crying children, stressed parents, dates going poorly, there are plenty of reasons for negativity to brew and ayakashi to latch onto or encourage the behavior. Common are small ayakashi; tick ayakashi irritating people, coin purse ayakashi making people spend more, bird ayakashi enhancing bad moods, all sorts causing minor mishap. Medium ayakashi, such as slender shadows unnerving children or ayakashi latching onto mirrors and showing one’s worst self, are less common but still lurking about.

Rend them and keep the day lively and fun for everyone, but don’t get caught by any children in the area. If you do, better come up with a story fast. Some kinds are as persistent as ayakashi when it comes to getting an answer.

Rest and Refreshments

Before leaving Ebisu's temple, everyone is given vouchers to exchange for tickets for the parks and 10,000 yen in spending money. There’s plenty to do at Nagashima Spa Land. The water park with its multiple slides, wave pools, lazy rivers, and swimming pools is the perfect way to beat the heat and the main attraction. However, for those who want to stay drier, there's also a full amusement park with rides for all ages and excitement levels. From merry-go-rounds to haunted houses, a giant ferris wheel to thrilling roller coasters, the 40 rides across the park should be the trick

For those who want something a little more relaxing, there's a botanical garden to stroll through with beautiful illuminations at night. There is also a large onsen resort with multiple pools for a nice long soak. There’s also a large shopping center nearby and plenty of food options across the entertainment complex.

In Summary:

• Try racing against others through the city
  
• Put the skills you’ve learned to the test against ayakashi
  
• Enjoy a day at a water/amusement/spa park
  
• Have fun~

Comments

[unlucky7]

I, on the other hand, was a solid mess the first few months.

[Flinching at failure, lacking a purpose beyond serving, needing to be the best in an aimless way... on reflection, Ginia understands where some of it comes from. The brief glimpses of her life was a look into hell.

Finding direction and support, space to sort things out and grow has helped.]

In hindsight, I'm glad you didn't accept when I asked you to name me. Not because I don't think we would have worked well together, but I didn't know what I wanted at the time. It probably would have ruined our friendship.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Well, he won't argue with that. When she'd first arrived, she'd clearly been having trouble adjusting to how things were for her here even if she couldn't remember where she came from.

Shun gives a short nod at her guess.] Taking you on at that time...I didn't exactly have the best record with shinki around then. Problems with mutual communication, and that sort of thing. I don't know that I would've wanted to take any friend of mine on as a shinki.

[Everyone he'd named, he'd named when he didn't consider them a friend. The one exception in permanent shinki had been Lavi, and that had been a case of extenuating circumstances even if he hadn't vanished shortly after.]

[unlucky7]

It's messy, the relationship between a shinki and god. I think for all the talk there is about working things out and communicating... it's harder than it is.

[Ginia leans up against the tree and looks at the garden as she considers the gods she's served. Save for Nona, they were all of her choosing and all picked for different reasons. Pragmatic reasons in a lot of ways, but also driven by misplaced wants too.

She pushes off the tree and adjusts her angle to sign.]

It's one of the biggest problems of our generation. We don't have the time to learn and figure things out. An old shinki or god could die suddenly from an accident, but that's different than a new shinki or god disappearing out of the blue. Time is our enemy. Ironic, that.

[revolutionfalcon]

[That gets a faint hum of agreement.] Especially with the problem of shinki not necessarily knowing what they need to help themselves, so obviously someone else isn't going to be able to tell them that any better.

[Which had largely been the issue with the two of Shun's shinki relationships that fragmented and in one case, was basically completely destroyed by the time they disappeared. Problems with no apparent origin due to the lack of memories, unable to be dealt with as they needed to be.]

I suppose now most of the ones left have been around long enough to have solved most of those problems, but it was definitely a factor before. Things like shinki going through several gods in a matter of months, or gods losing shinki just as they were getting to know them. It makes things volatile.

[unlucky7]

It feels like there are only a few around that only have a month or two to their name.

[Nesir is the newest shinki Ginia can think of, and surprise surprise, she already lost a god in her short time. For herself, it's been a busy eight months with only the last few even beginning to feel stable.

Ginia laughs quietly as she considers their conversation.]

We always lean toward serious conversations, don't we. I suppose that says plenty about us.

[revolutionfalcon]

Right. We've been losing a lot more people than we've been getting recently.

[It's definitely tied into that whole issue that's been becoming consistent for the last few months, where they're not getting the numbers to replace the ones they're losing.

As for serious conversations, Shun shrugs slightly as if he never really noticed.] It's the kind of thing I prefer to talk about anyway. I still know what I'm doing with that more than more casual things.

[unlucky7]

We're old souls.

[Damaged souls by circumstance, though that's too cynical. They are who life made them, but they're also who they chose to become in the circumstances.]

I won't deny it's nice having someone to talk to judgment free. Constancy is appreciated here.

[But all work and no play makes one dull.]

What do you think about the garden? Honest opinion.

[revolutionfalcon]

I don't feel like there's much point being a listening ear if you're not going to be consistent about it. [Shun shrugs a little, like it's just the natural thing one does. He figures there's probably some people who are more wishy-washy about it, but he definitely avoids being one of them himself.

At the question, he raises a brow.] It's a garden. [But after that somewhat dry initial reaction, he glances around like he's trying to find other things about it.] It seems peaceful enough and it's maintained well. I prefer it to the atmosphere of the rest of the park.