[ open ] Welcome to Chile, Cadets.

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Characters: ALL.
Location: Valparaíso Shatterdome, Chile.
Date/Time: February 15th-28th.
Summary: The first shipment of recruits into the new Jaeger Academy program arrive. Some are staggered throughout the month, but they all have the same basic greeting. Here you are, there's where you sleep, here's what you wear, get going.
Additional Notes: See here for additional information. For information on the current weather, check out this link.

The Shatterdome didn't look futuristic, swatches of metal and concrete transforming a portion of the harbor into five enormous bays. Nevermind that only two were currently in use. The stark greys stand out against the colorful face of the city, a hulking monolith that's been carved into the face of the city that had once upon a century been termed the Jewel of the Pacific.

Note: Players are welcome to start their own interactions outside of the three main prompted scenarios. Go wild!

Comments

[secondtry]

It was damned good to be somewhere warmer than Alaska, even with the humidity. Vegas was nothing like this, all sand and flat and full of sequins and entertainment, but while he'd come to love it, this was what he was used to. This, even as sterile as the environment could seem, still felt like home.

He walked outside in what he felt would be his casuals from then on - coveralls to the waist, arms tied in lieu of a belt, one of the issued T-shirts on above that. It was great not to feel like he needed to put on a few more layers. Instead, he could sit down and stretch out in the sun, eyes closed, and smell the distant scent of trees alongside the salt of the ocean and the oil and ozone from the constant mechanical work inside the 'dome.

Yep, smelled just like home.

He smiled, fingers knitting behind his head. He knew he should probably mingle, actually talk to people, but for just a little while, what he wanted was to soak up some warmth.

[spareheir]

"It's nice weather, isn't it?" Kou asked the young man who'd wandered out to enjoy the sunlight that he'd been shamelessly basking in as well. No one was around to remind him not to let his complexion suffer, so he could tip his face up to it without feeling guilty about it at all. It was a good feeling, and the sunlight itself felt fantastic.

The other boy looked a little older, but he wore the same cadet uniform as Kou did, so there was no confusion about how to address him. For the purposes of their traiing here, he was a peer, not an upperclassman or superior officer.

[secondtry]

"It's very nice," Mike answered from where he'd sprawled, eyes opening to see who was talking to him. Most people around here seemed nice enough, even if some of them seemed skittish - but he guessed that was their response to a situation they'd not been in before.

He guessed that was where his experience came in.

"I take it you're from somewhere where it's cold."

[spareheir]

"Japan." Kou agrees, shrugging his shoulders wide. "It's winter there. I had a snow delay at Narita."

There aren't any snow delays here, though. The sunlight is warm and pleasant, the surroundings full of warmth and light and life. Even the huge, dark industrial complex behind them does nothing to damage his cheer at the moment. It's so foreign here. It's really good practice for University.

[secondtry]

"Must be a hell of a temperature shock, then," he said with a chuckle. "Lucky Vegas doesn't change a damn lot season to season. If deserts even have seasons, never quite been sure on that one myself." He rolled his shoulders, pushing one at a time into the sun-hot bench to ease his muscles. "Name's Mike. You?"

[spareheir]

"Kou Ichijo." Kou offers, remembering to say it in the right order and everything. He's been to Las Vegas a few times, but it's not all that much fun when you're a teenager and your father is in the other room. Still, he knows enough of it to realize it's a lively place.

He seems to take the friendly attitude as an invitation, and drops onto the bench as well to continue the conversation. "What did you do before this?"

[secondtry]

Interesting question. Not one he'd thought he'd be asked. "While I was in Vegas, I worked as a bouncer. ...Uh, security, if you don't know what a bouncer is. And I did a little car racing, but that kind of petered out faster than the club scene. Easier to spend time partying than digging up the money to keep a car in repair, y'know?"

But then he looked out over the space and lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "Before that, Alaska, and before that, military school. So yeah, I've done the whole routine more than once."

[spareheir]

Bouncer wasn't a familiar word, but the explanation Kou understood. Not so much with petered out, but he think he got the gist of that sentence anyway. What really caught him off guard about it was the mention of Alaska. His eyebrows shot up and he turned to face Mike more fully. "You've been to Anchorage?"

[secondtry]

The surprise surprised Mike, but he nodded. "Yeah. Graduated there, but took time off, which was probably a stupid idea on my part," he admitted with a tilt of his head, readily taking the blame, "so I ended up coming back to do the thing over again to catch up on what I missed. Didn't exactly follow developments while I was working."

[spareheir]

It was hard to imagine making it through the Academy and then leaving, but that was what Mike seemed to be saying. Kou contemplated it for a moment in silence. To do something like that, Mike must have had a reason. Even more so, he must have had a reason to come back after all. So, that was that. He was here just like the rest of them, ready to work hard and do his best. Right? "Welcome back."

[secondtry]

"Thanks," he smiled. "Figure it's gotta be easier the second time, right? Already knowing what to expect, anyway. Fair warning, though, I won't let you cheat off my coursework. ...As if you'd want to."

It probably wasn't a fair joke, but Mike knew that for more intellectual things, he wasn't one to count on. His memory had gone to hell. Most of it, anyway.

[spareheir]

"I'll have to use the backup plan. Tell me if you see anyone small with their nose in a book." Kou jokes back. He's not that big himself, actually. While he has an athletic guild and toned physique, he's only about 5'5". Pretty short compared to most of the staff and even many of the cadets around.

[secondtry]

Mike had about ten inches on the kid, so he'd noticed just how small Kou was in comparison, but he knew that height was one of those things people couldn't do anything about. Height wasn't a reason to push someone around, if there ever was a reason at all. "You see someone small with their nose in a book, you'll probably see me not too far away, honestly."

And not for the reasons he knew, or at least he thought, would be taken from that particular insinuation. But his reasons - well, they would become clear in time.

[inurhead]

Personally, Yancy isn't a fan of the weather. He's an Alaska boy, born and mostly raised there. Although his formative years included many trips to foreign locations and different climates, in the end he'd always gone back home eventually.

It's winter in Alaska at the moment, so 80 is a big deal to him. Unlike this guy, who seems to be basking in it, Yancy is under a shady tree, trying not to nod off in the lingering afternoon heat.

"Enjoy that while it lasts, Cadet." He teases, remembering all too well about the 4am conditioning the kid was in for.

[secondtry]

"Oh, I am, sir." He recognised who it was talking to him after he opened his eyes and identified the direction the voice was coming from. "Even if I'm pretty sure this is going to be how I'm spending my weekend hours."

And Yancy might've called him 'kid', but the truth was he was older than Yancy's brother. Mike knew that offhand, though he wasn't exactly sure when he'd memorised it. Business as usual, he decided, with his Swiss cheese brain.

"Little warmer than you're used to, isn't it, Ranger Becket?"

[inurhead]

Honestly, Yancy called them all kids. At 25, he wasn't exactly an old man himself, but it felt like it after a few years of service. It didn't help that Raleigh was always rubbing it in either.

He made a face at the question. That was saying the least of it, yeah. Not as bad as Manila -now that had been brutal- but still warm enough to be genuinely uncomfortable. "Warmer than I'd like."

[secondtry]

Mike laughed softly, stretching as he did. "I was in Alaska for a while," he said. "Personally, I'm loving it here. Except for the humidity." The California droughts, then Vegas - he liked a lack of humidity. But he'd take heat in a pinch. "Give yourself a couple of weeks, sir, and your body'll adjust."

[inurhead]

That's what they always say. It's partially true, anyway. Maybe by the time it's summer in Alaska -and there's really nothing like a summer in Alaska- he'll have adjusted to things here, where it'll be winter. That seems pretty likely.

"It's not for everyone." He agrees about his hometown, but he smiles wistfully anyway. "There's nothing like going on assignment to remind you what you love about home."

There's no place like Nome, as they say.

[secondtry]

"Mm." That, Mike shrugged at, pulling himself to sit up and prop his arms on his knees. "Home's a pretty mobile concept for me. Closest I've ever come is Vegas, but right now this is actually feeling like a pretty close second. Vegas didn't have jaegers, and this place doesn't have sequins. Pretty hard to figure out which one I'd miss most."

[inurhead]

"Home on the first day?" Yancy whistles and shakes his head. That's gotta make things easier. It's a strange concept, though. No roots, huh? Maybe the kid was always a military brat? "Guess that saves on phone bills."

[secondtry]

"Saves on everything. D'you know how happy it makes the brass not to have to send the good rations off-base?" There was a certain wry twist of his lips that made it clear, despite his serious tone, that he was joking. "Only problem is that I've got some furniture and stuff in storage back in Nevada that I get to hope doesn't get foreclosed on before I can toss some kind of money in that direction. I'm paid up for about six months, but who knows after that."

[inurhead]

"Don't worry, the pay isn't bi-annual." Yancy replies, joking right back. There's no one around to remind them that they're not having this conversation up to proper military standards, so they might as well go for broke. He yawns and stretches. Man, in just a couple more hours he can get away with retiring to bed if Raleigh isn't causing any trouble. That's a nice thought.

"Tell you what, you find a decent cup of coffee around here and I'll give you the next payment."

[secondtry]

That makes Mike laugh aloud, shaking his head. "You'd think with this base being down here, coffee wouldn't be a problem. I mean, same continent and everything. Ports open or closed shouldn't even matter. Maybe we need to make a field trip to a plantation and pick our own, huh, sir?"

Yeah, he still knew his technical rank while he was here, and it was time to pepper it in there a little more, whether he really felt like it or not.

[inurhead]

Fresh, hand-picked coffee? That would definitely beat the sludge in the cafeteria. "I'm gonna drop that in the suggestion box." Thinking of Raleigh, he adds an afterthought. He can get some help on this one. "Twice."

[secondtry]

"I'd offer to write to some guys I know back in Vegas to see if they'll send coffee, but it's been thin on the ground up there. It's looking like I might have to go decaf." Wouldn't be the first or last time, he thought. In fact, he could probably do without coffee altogether. He'd not really managed to fully acquire the taste.