[ open ] Welcome to Chile, Cadets.

[supportadmin]

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!

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ARRIVAL | OUTSIDE THE SHATTERDOME

[supportadmin]

A man somewhere in his thirties stands with a clipboard by the gates the bus dropped the recruits by, dressed in the PPDC uniform spotted throughout the Shatterdome. He adjusts his glasses, fighting to keep a more sunny disposition on the serious, neutral side of thins as he calls out to each person standing around with their suitcases, packs, or simply the clothes on their backs.

"Cadet, report! Name and age?" He keeps his questions simple, looking for names on his list before dismissing each cadet and indicating for them to wait off to the left of the entrance.

"You have approximately one hour before we take you useless lot of nobodies by your barracks and show you how not to die around the Shatterdome! Stay close, and don't get curious! Curious cadets are dead cadets."

He smiles at the end, and it's almost friendly. Meet Lt. Diego Contreras. He'll be with you for a while.

BARRACKS | TURNING OVER PERSONAL ITEMS

[supportadmin]

When a second PPDC soldier appears, she's more serious, taking in the group of cadets with a glance. She doesn't seem impressed. "Attention! Cadets, fall in line! Double file, quick now, did your mother raise you lazy?" She stood at point, calling out further encouragement as needed.

"Most of you won't know how to march yet, so don't try. I'm Captain Zhang, and this is Lieutenant Contreras. You will refer to us with ma'am and sir. We're here to keep you in line and alive, so when we say jump? You jump. No asking how high."

She takes them inside not long after, Lt. Contreras bringing up the rear. It wasn't far to the barracks, where Contreras steps forward and calls out which names are assigned to which series of bunks.

"All personal items will be stowed until completion of the program. Items related to personal hygiene may be retained, and all barrettes and hair ties matching the color of your hair. You may keep a photograph, up to five. Report to Lt. Contreras for tagging and numbering. Dismissed."

After turning in their personal belongings, cadets will be allowed to sort themselves out, selecting their bunks in their respective rooms.

FREEDOM? | OPEN TO ALL THE SHATTERDOME

[supportadmin]

All the Cadets are run through a basic tour of the Shatterdome, stressing on points such as never walking inside the freight lanes on pain of injury up to and including death. They're shown to the Mess Hall, the Kwoon Fighting Rooms, the Classrooms, the outdoor training areas, the LOCCENT, and, of course, the Jaeger Bays. It's not comprehensive, but it takes them to the Shatterdome Exchange and lets each cadet be familiarized with the place they can come on base to buy both necessities and luxuries, if they have the chance.

Once uniforms have been issued, the cadets are given the rest of the day to themselves, informed they'll be expected back in the barracks by dinner call, and in uniform by the next morning. It's their first chance to look around and interact with the rest of the Shatterdome that's willing to deal with them, and an open call to the last free, clear time they'll have off schedule for a while.

Welcome to the Jaeger Academy. Remember, Heroes aren't born, Cadets.

They're made.

Wanna meet a rockstar? Yeah ya do.

[inurhead]

There's a cheerful sort of chaos going around the Shatterdome today, even if the new recruits are pissing themselves. There's nothing new about that. Yancy watches it all from a distance. He's not supposed to interact with the kids until they're released, glassy eyed and at a loss, probably convinced they've made a huge mistake. The first day feels like that. Hell, the first month feels like that.

But there's no rule against hanging out in the courtyard under a shady tree in plain sight. Might be reassuring for them to remember that others have made it through, right? Besides, it's a great vantage point to watch what's going on.

Re: BARRACKS | TURNING OVER PERSONAL ITEMS

[protagerrant]

By a near margin, Yuri manages to resist rolling his eyes. Ah, the dulcet tones of authority. He hadn't it missed it much at all, and even six months in Alaska hadn't made him used to it. It wasn't even the content he minded--just something about the pitch, like those whistles only dogs could hear, drove him nuts. And if he so much as raised on eyebrow out of line for the next three months, they could throw him out on his ear. Fantastic.

At least prior barracks experience meant he knew exactly which bunk he wanted. He headed straight for one of the bottom bunks nearest to the door, dropping the bag of hair ties he'd salvaged from his personal belongings onto the mattress and then settling down on it himself, watching the other cadets file in with open curiosity and a short nod of greeting.

Re: Wanna meet a rockstar? Yeah ya do.

[protagerrant]

A lot of the cadets do end up milling around the entrance to the courtyard, warily eyeing each other and their surroundings for some kind of cue, unsure of this sudden freedom. Having been through it all before, Yuri looks comparatively cheerful as he walks through the doors, breathing in the fresh air deep as he pops his back and looks around. When he spots Yancy--someone that famous you don't mistake, even at a distance, and he'd technically seen him around the Alaska base even it'd never been up close--he strides over, letting out a low whistle once he gets close enough.

"Damn, that's nearly three full active Jaeger teams they've got stationed here now. I feel like precious cargo." It's only after a pause that he remembers to tack on the rest. "Sir."

[spareheir]

Kou gives his name and age, then stands around with the others to wait. Well...they're off the bus at least. That particular misery is over. It's time to begin the intense training, then. In an hour, anyway. Until then, they'll just have to stand around and wait it seems like. Maybe it's alright to make conversation?

He turns to the cadet next to him and decides to give it a shot. "It's nice here, isn't it? It was winter at home."

[inurhead]

"We're counting on you to help us to victory." Yancy recites, remembering the propaganda from his own academy days. The 'sir' gets a nod, but no further comment. Unless these kids get really out of line, he's not interested in being a hardass anyway. He's just here to keep the perimeter.

[protagerrant]

Yuri grins at him, "Each cadet has the potential to turn the tides of war." A line right out of another recruitment pamphlet. He made a point of reading most of the stuff the PPDC put out; he liked to know how the organization he was working for liked to style itself.

He crossed his arms, head cocked curiously. "Are you going to be participating in the new, innovative drift program here, too?" Andrea had blown him off when he asked her, but maybe Yancy would give him a more straightforward answer.

[secondtry]

Mike had tossed his bag things onto a bottom bunk and was very nearly humming as he went through the process of putting things away. After all, he'd been doing this almost all his life, so really, this was nothing new or different for him. It was just warmer here than it had been anywhere else, and that was just about perfect. He could handle all the physical work, all the yes-sir-no-ma'am with no problem, but finally he could say, "So much better than Alaska," even if it was slightly under his breath.

[secondtry]

There hadn't been much for Mike to turn over. His toiletries, yeah, they stayed, but his hair was short enough that he didn't have any thing special for it, and he didn't even have any photos to sit around. All he'd exchanged, in the end, had been his clothes (which, if his prior experience held true, would be loose when these three months ended).

Now, left to choose his bunk, he'd chosen one at the bottom and was putting his clothing away in the preferred military manner. In some ways, he already missed Vegas. In others, this was just business as usual.

[inurhead]

While Yancy doesn't feel the need to stand on ceremony, they're in a courtyard surrounded by others, including many of this kid's immediate superiors. The report won't come from him, but it can easily be filed by anyone standing around. So he quirks an eyebrow and gives his head a slight tilt, waiting for it. C'mon, kid. In three months no one will give a crap, but right now they're watching you.

[protagerrant]

Thankfully, Yuri catches on fast, mostly due to situations like this coming up many, many times. Sometimes it was deliberate; sometimes it wasn't. When you grow up directly opposed to authority, accepting it--or pretending to--didn't come easy. And he'd been free and clear of the of this kind of nit-picky the last three months he'd been at Alaska.

"Sir." He adds on. "Sorry, it's been awhile; I always forget what my sir-to-sentence ratio is supposed to be. Sir."

It was a miracle--or maybe just PPDC guidelines--that Yuri's superiors hadn't simply backhanded him every time he opened his mouth, truly.

[protagerrant]

"Tell me about it," Yuri sighed, pulling out the clip he'd used on the bus to keep his hair off his sweaty neck and tossing it in the back with the rest. He briefly rifled a hand through his hair to get it to sit straight. "Regular daylight hours and everything."

Re: BARRACKS | TURNING OVER PERSONAL ITEMS

[heliokleptic]

Luke carries the telltale look of someone whose never really been given such direct and clear orders, and is terrified of somehow getting them wrong. All wide green eyes, his stand to attention more stiff than starched. For once he's grateful to be on the shorter side, hoping perhaps he can go as long as possible without being called out for clearly having no idea what he was doing here. And luckily, at least so far, it works. Captain Zhang moves on and he briefs a sigh of relief before beginning to unload his personal items a little sadly.

He didn't have much. He was mostly going to miss his phone. He fires off a quick text to his mother to let her know he wouldn't have a phone for the next three months but promises to call when he gets a chance. That by itself was rare for him, but he'd been worried about her ever since their father died, and he'd been trying to do better about leaving her with no idea what he was up to or when he'd be safely home.

Good son duties accomplished, he stows his phone and other personals in a bag with his name on it, and goes to find a bunk that looks like it hasn't been claimed yet. Ideally something in a corner, where at least there was slightly less chance someone who hates him would end up sleeping within feet of him.

((Optional read on luke's public background))

[inurhead]

That gets a smile out of Yancy, who wasn't offended anyway. He just doesn't want to see the kid get written up in the first hour of his training. The answer is to go liberal with 'em when in doubt. No one ever gets written up for too much respect. The kid will figure it out, though. He's got a good uptake. Yancy nods again and responds like there wasn't a pause there anyway.

"There's been some discussion about that."

[secondtry]

"Hm?" He looked up, then he laughed. "Yeah, I'd forgotten about that. I mostly remembered the temperatures, and that was ridiculous. I thought I was going to freeze my fingers off." As well as a few other body parts, but he was trying to keep conversation polite for the first few weeks.

[protagerrant]

"I heard K-science was working on a formula for that, sir." Well, less k-science and more a couple fellow cadets who had dropped out of the Jaeger program after their three months to transfer over. They'd stayed up with Yuri after curfew a couple of times. They'd even come up with a solution, though hell if Yuri remembered it. Too jargony.

[inurhead]

He'd been talking about the training, actually, but Yancy snorts quietly at that response. This kid is funny, he's alright. Probably a brat. The smartasses always are. Not that that's inherently a bad thing anyway. Yancy happens to have a certain fondness for smartass kids.

"As long as they don't pull our guest lecture spot to make the announcement."

[protagerrant]

"Looking forward to delivering an inspirational speech, sir?" That was a little surprising. Given the sardonic quoting he did earlier, Yuri wouldn't have pegged him for it, but maybe he had other ideas.

[spareheir]

Someone hung backward off the top bunk across from Luke's, watching curiously as he moved his things in. The boy was fairly petite himself, with fine features and a lively expression in spite of all of the glum looks that the others in the barracks seemed to be sporting. He'd already tacked up his 5 photographs to the ceiling, though there was no guarantee he wouldn't be made to take them down. They were happy scenes. Kou holding a laughing baby, Kou with his arm around the shoulder of a much taller boy in a track suit, something that must have been a family portrait, and two that seemed to be clipped from a school newspaper.

He recognized Luke, if the spark that briefly crossed his eyes was anything to go by, but he didn't address the other boy by name. Instead he flipped off the bunk with a somersault and landed gracefully on his feet.

"Best view in the barracks." He said instead, nodding to the window beside the beds. It was why he'd chosen something so out of the way. No matter where you were at night, if you looked up to the stars -even an unfamiliar set of stars, as these were- you'd feel at home. It was all still the same sky.

[inurhead]

Honestly, the lecture would be business as usual but with a ice twist. A bunch of fresh faced cadets would be the audience, rather than a sea of daytime TV goers or a boardroom of thoroughly seasoned military and political figures.

Was Yancy looking forward to that? Yeah. Yeah, he was. It wasn't often he got a chance to have fun interacting with young men and women who were actually going to put the information to use. He shrugged, still grinning a little bit.

"Someone's got to do it."

Re: BARRACKS | TURNING OVER PERSONAL ITEMS

[heliokleptic]

Luke wasn't expecting others to know him, but he honestly hadn't put much thought into what he'd do if he recognized anyone. So he freezes up a bit when he sees Yuri, a slow confused blink, and then an openly wry smile. Why was he surprised? Yuri was a lot more qualified than him, and had already been to a different shatterdome. He absently squeezes the bundle of uniforms he'd been given.

"Sorry." That he was here, and that apparently they were going to be sharing a building. "I'll... grab a bunk on the other side."

[protagerrant]

Yuri wasn't exactly a fresh-faced cadet, but it was good to know that being bombed by the media practically 24/7 didn't have to make the pilots too jaded to be jazzed to talk about their work.

"I could use some bolstering form someone who's actually seen the inside of a Jaeger," he said mildly, mostly as filler. He didn't need much inspiration to destroy the kaiju so places like his home ton could really recover. "But sir--I was actually curious: are you going to be participating in the multi-partner drift program?"

[protagerrant]

"The PT'll be a lot easier without so many damn layers." Yuri could take or leave the temperature, but man he hated having to bundle up. It was so cumbersome.