[ 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]

"Cadet Traceur," he echoed. "Mike. I'm gonna have to practice your name a little. Probably one of those where people look at it written down and go, 'uhh...' So it's... um. N-gaio?"

That wasn't something natural to his American pronunciation, but he was giving it a stab, anyway.

[karearea]

"Ng," she pronounces carefully. "Like the end of 'sing'. Ngai-o."

Even back home where she's not the only Ngaio in town, she's so used to people butchering it that she'd be pretty satisfied with nio, really, but he seems keen to learn it properly, which is nice.

[secondtry]

Going quiet for a few moments, Mike tried to put it together in his head before trying again. "Ng-ai-o? Man, my head and my mouth aren't used to there not being a vowel in those letters. Ng. Nnn-g. I'll get it."

[karearea]

Ngaio laughed, though not unkindly. "Yeah, you work on that, bro. Once you've got the ng going, you open up to the ai, I reckon."

Unsure of another way to explain the ng sound in the first place, she shrugged. But it sounded like he was on his way.

She straightened, finally finished putting her things away (and with some half-conscious ideas of what would need what kind of sprucing up for the inevitable inspections, too), and yawned. "Guess they'll be wanting us back for the tour soon."

[secondtry]

"Practice makes perfect," he said and sent a wink her way before closing his footlocker and standing to stretch, arms raised high over his head. "But yeah, you're right - probably need to head out. See if this place is anything like the other domes. I admit, I got a little lost a while ago, so it's at least a little different."

But now he had appropriate clothes, uniforms that he'd almost missed wearing, and felt like he was actually looking into his future. Not a bad start.

[karearea]

Upon hearing he'd gotten lost, Ngaio retrieved a notebook and pen probably originally intended for classes before starting for the door. She was so gonna need a map of this place, and doodling them out herself tended to help.

"You've been to the others?" she asked, interested. She'd thought the only people here who had been to other Shatterdomes here would be the staff. "What were they like?"

[secondtry]

He shrugged. "The Icebox, up in Alaska. I kind of think it's less organised than the newer ones because I get the feeling they built stuff as they needed it and didn't really think about where they were putting everything," he said. "But you get used to one that's kind of haphazard and the new, organised ones get confusing."

But he walked alongside her, figuring he'd eventually get the layout of this one in his mind. Probably after a few more times of getting lost.

[karearea]

Ngaio snorted. "Never thought this being my first Shatterdome would be an advantage. How long were you up there?"

She also hadn't really thought cadets would be coming down from Alaska. Staff, sure, but she'd figured cadets were stuck where they were.

Despite a glance back at the barracks and a check of their surroundings, she didn't mark anything down in her notebook just yet. She'd wait for the official tour for that.

[secondtry]

"Trained up there," Mike answered. "This is my second go around. Hoping I find somebody I'm compatible with this time around." He shrugged. "Otherwise, I'm doomed to some kind of dome job or going back to Vegas or... who the hell knows."

But then, catching himself, Mike laughed. "Sorry, that sounds kind of defeatist, doesn't it?"

[karearea]

Ngaio had been starting to eye him uneasily, and she gave him an awkward smile at that laugh. "A wee bit, eh. C'mon, 'dome jobs might not have the fangirls but you're still helping save people, just without someone romping around in your head all the time."

That was actually a major reason why she wasn't interested in being a Ranger herself. She usually had company at home, and she loved it, but she also liked keeping her mental space private.

She goes to elbow him, in case that attempt at a pep talk didn't work. "If it's the excitement of kaiju fights you're after, I'll save you some space in my Jumphawk."

[secondtry]

With her elbow, he drifted sideways a few steps, rubbing his arm in a smiling tease. "Don't say that. I'll take you up on it. Make you take me for a flight. Imagine how much trouble we'd end up in," he smirked. "It'd be great."

Well, until they got expelled or something similar, anyway. Mike knew it wouldn't happen, but it was fun to think about and play at, but you didn't get the job by jerking around - at least, not that kind of jerking around.

[karearea]

Ngaio scrunched up her nose, torn between how awesome the flight would be (there were tricks she could do in planes that couldn't be too hard in a chopper) and how fast they'd get kicked out.

"Might as well go out with a bang," she settled for, her bravado a little false. Even though it wasn't serious, she didn't want to get in trouble at all - but still, she'd rather get kicked out for something fun that people would still be talking about after she left than just not making the grade.

[secondtry]

He looked at her consideringly before starting off, "So... how about we make a deal. If it looks like we're both about to wash out, we take a jumphawk joyride to commemorate the occasion so we can go down like badasses?"

[karearea]

Despite herself, Ngaio laughed. "Deal." She perched her pen behind her ear and stuck out her hand to shake on it. Hopefully it would never happen, but it was nice to have a wash out plan that wasn't just slinking back to Tolaga Bay with her tail between her legs.

[secondtry]

Mike shook her hand heartily, grinning. "Awesome. Maybe once we both pass, you can take me for a flight, anyway." Good stuff both ways.

[karearea]

Once they both pass, not if! Ngaio can't help but beam. "I'll ask! Could be good for the city to see some gear out and about: We're here, we're protecting everyone, get used to it."

[secondtry]

"And it's not like we can walk a jaeger down the street without causing way too much damage. Jumphawks are a lot safer." He couldn't even imagine it - sure, jaegers had been in parades, but on crawlers. Those distributed the weight a lot better and prevented impact damage.

Yeah, he knew some stuff, anyway.

[karearea]

"I don't think a Jaeger would even fit," Ngaio said, thinking back on the streets they'd gone past on the way to the Shatterdome - some of them had seemed pretty narrow. (Why, yes, this was the only kind of damage that was occurring to her.) "It'd have to be a bloody wide street to take a Jaeger for a walk."

[secondtry]

"Got a point. I mean, maybe one foot per street, but that would just be awkward." His nose wrinkled just thinking about it. "I hope a Kaiju never makes landfall here. That would just suck."