[ 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

the more the merrier. o9 Armin'll crash in next in that case and then we can wing it

[counterattacked]

It's hard, being dropped into a bunch of new and strange people in a new and strange situation. Like the first day at a new school or something. But when Kou sits, Eren is turned toward the blonde boy beside him and chatting with him casually, like they've known each other for years. (Don't feel bad. They have. It's practically cheating.) Eren looks up when Kou joins them, and he breaks into an enthusiastic and sort of focused grin.

"Yeah, no fucking kidding," a lot of information. After waiting this long to get here, he's practically champing at the bit for more. He leans forward onto the table, "Did you get a look at the Jaegers?"

Of course he did, they all did, during the tour of the bays and the many many safety warnings that came with it. Eren couldn't resist going back for a closer look later. Because those are real live Jaegers sitting in the hangars. Humanity's greatest weapon against the kaiju.

Bonjour. also ps. apologies for the test drive, conventions happened..!

[theheretical]

Hard for the brazenly extroverted, harder still for anything less. Though throwing in with one of the former persuasion makes the experience somewhat bearable. Not that Armin is particularly inept in the socialization department, but reservation always makes branching out a bit of a chore.

It puts him next to his closest friend, ergo across from the newcomer at a slight angle, and before he can welcome the slight change in topics, Eren is dragging it back with a mention of the giant robots. Honestly, Jaeger has been just about every third word that has spilled out of his mouth when it wasn't busy inhaling its dinner.

"I'm looking at one right now," the blond shoots to his right, steeped in an equal measure of amusement and exasperation, "And it's being an insatiable fanboy."

Never one to be rude, he's just as quick to address the other speaker. "It's a great deal to take in, but it's been nothing short of fascinating."

no worries!

[spareheir]

Kou doesn't get the joke, of course, so he just smiles politely in response. These others seem to be so invested in the program already that he's not sure what to say. He's pleased he got accepted, that he can do something that might make his family proud... but he's barely cracked the cadet handbook yet. They just got here.

"Yes. They're enormous. It's like a mecha anime come to life, isn't it?" He agrees with the dark haired boy. They've all seen these mecha on television of course, but it's nothing like seeing them in the same building. They're the size of a building. It's definitely impressive.

The smaller boy almost looks familiar, now that he speaks. Maybe Kou has seen him around as well, though he doesn't recall specifics. They've all been marched around together as a group all day anyway, it would be weird if they didn't at least seem vaguely familiar to one another by now. Insatiable isn't a word he's familiar with, so it takes him a moment longer to decide that it wasn't directed at him anyway, so it can be overlooked.

"It's true. Not everyone is lucky enough to see inside a shaterdome."

Actually, it isn't the only shatterdome Kou has been inside, but he's not ready to volunteer that information just yet. First he takes a bite of the apple and mulls it over.

[counterattacked]

In Kou's defense, Eren's level of investment probably isn't remotely normal. Or advisable. Or...healthy. It also means his attention has been running all day with such intense concentration on the other Jaegers in the building that it takes him a few seconds to twig to the joke at his expense. When he does, his expression creases into an indignant scowl in Armin's direction. Wow, hey!! Fuck you Armin, that's rude. You're rude. He knocks shoulders with the smartass in question to express his (not entirely serious) displeasure. He's feeling too damn excited about being here to let much of anything bother him very long. For now, anyway.

But it does, if nothing else, derail his enthusiasm enough to remind him of what manners he's managed to retain over the years.

"Eren Jaeger," He supplies to Kou with a nod. To explain the joke, and because he can't actually remember if he'd introduced himself before. In his defense, they'd had to absorb a whole lot information since then, so it can't hurt to repeat, anyway. He tips his head toward the cadet beside him and finishes the job. "This is Armin Arlert. We grew up together."

[spareheir]

Something twinges in Kou's chest at that introduction. His best friend had tried out as well, but if they'd chosen Daisuke, he must have been sent somewhere else somehow. Or maybe the big oaf had failed the intelligence tests. Either way, for a moment he feels homesick and out of sorts. There's no one seated beside him to trade friendly insults with.

He tries to shake it of, not wanting to be rude. Jaeger is a name he'd pretty sure he'd remember if they'd traded them earlier, so they must not have. The otherboy's name rings a bell simply because it had been called out first every time they were ticked off a new list that day. Kou nods at them both, bobs in a funny way that's probably a lazy, habitual bow, and returns the favor.

"Ichijo Kou. Ah, sorry. It's Kou Ichijo." He laughs at himself, and the absurdity of getting his own name wrong in this upside down part of the world.

[counterattacked]

In this, Eren is far luckier than he realizes. Come here with both his best friend and—as smothering as she can be—the last real remnants of his family. There's literally nothing left for him elsewhere to miss anymore. (Unless you count the ruins of his home. Or his absentee father, and in that case he sure as hell won't count it. Not after Dr. Jaeger had fucked off years back and left the three of them alone as refugees.) The three of them are close, they always have been, and they've only gotten closer in the years since Trespasser appeared. Hopefully it'll do them good when it comes time to try to find a drift partner. But you never know.

"Kou?" after a slight pause as he works out which one of those is actually the right order. Well, not that he won't get used to hearing everyone referred to as "Cadet (Surname here,)" anyway. "Good to meet you."

He nudges Armin again, more gently this time, as if to grab his attention, "He came all the way over from Japan,"

Pretty cool, huh?

[theheretical]

"It is," precisely like a mecha anime, the marginally more open anime fan admits, smiling at the all too perfect comparison. "Sort of hard to believe they exist in real life."

Even seeing them up close, the entire process has had a rather surreal quality to it all, but the fact that they were all there and ready to try their best to find a way into one of those cockpits is, slowly but surely, beginning to sink in. Eren's droll and incessant hype has probably skewed his view of a proper response, rendering the surrounding cadets remarkably unenthused.

Armin takes the knock to the shoulder in stride, as well as the introductions to follow; they're enviable things this early on, and though he isn't privy to the other's upset, he's just as thankful for them regardless. The three of them here together.

After a return of pleasantries, he glances at Eren's input briefly before turning back to Kou, "Isn't there a Shatterdome in Japan?"

[spareheir]

Kou smiles at the nudge and the agreement from Armin, but the question about the Tokyo Shatterdome makes him sit up a little straighter, as though called to respect out of nowhere. It takes a slow exhale and a concentrated effort to relax his posture again. He nods, confirming it.

"Yes. Tokyo established a Shatterdome ...a few years back. But I wouldn't have the opportunity to learn Spanish there, right?"

[counterattacked]

Mecha anime. Wow, you nerds. Who even watches that kind of thing. (Shut up Armin.)

"Well, were they even recruiting anyway?" Eren asks, mostly rhetorically. Plenty of people want to try their hands at being a pilot. It's a pretty big deal when a whole new shatterdome opens and accepts recruits. "Besides, he'll be fighting either way, what's it matter where he is?"

Chile, Japan. They're all here to kill kaiju.

[spareheir]

"They were," Kou admits, glancing back down at his plate of unappetizing foods. He shrugs, and glances off to one side. There's suddenly a distant expression on his face. "I guess I just wanted to get away. Besides," he adds, "this program isn't the same."

It's innovative. New. Far more appealing for both of those reasons, and the distance was the hat trick that assured he'd be lured in by Valparaiso's siren call.

[counterattacked]

"You mean the way they're trying to train pilots to drift with more than one partner," Eren leans into the table, fiddling restlessly with his fork. He's not as bad at reading people as he seems most of the time, and Kou's sudden bout of melancholy does register on some level. He frowns a bit, but keeps on going. "You think it'll work?"

And he's asking that honestly. He's got a decent enough understanding of the general concept of the drift—enough to know that what they're doing here is unprecedented—but the mechanics of it are a bit of a mystery.

then I remembered which thread was which jeez

[spareheir]

Kou's not an engineer, or a neurologist, or anyone qualified to respond to a question like that at all. He takes it in with due consideration anyway, mulling it over as he pushes a bit of food around with his fork. He's not that great with forks, honestly. He'll probably have to think of creative ways to pick the food up without calling attention to it. It's not very appetizing anyway, but they're all going to have to eat it. They won't be allowed off base for anything else for the rest of the week.

He attepts to pick up some of the noodles, but they slide back off onto the tray. Kou frowns at them, then shrugs. "They must think it will. Or hope it will. They wouldn't ask us to come here if they didn't, would they?"