jaegeracademy | [ open ] Valparaíso, Jewel of the Pacific

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[ open ] Valparaíso, Jewel of the Pacific

Characters: OPEN to all!
Location: The city of Valparaíso, Chile.
Date/Time: The first weekend of March (1st & 2nd).
Summary: The first group of Cadets are finally released on the city of Valparaíso. With a curious city wanting to meet them, both Cadets and Staff of the Shatterdome itself will find plenty of people willing and curious to hear what it is they're up to - not to mention complain about the unapologetic ugliness of the Shatterdome.
Additional Notes: Cadets are expected to be in uniform and represent the PPDC at it's best. For more information and any questions, please refer to this post in the OOC community.

Valparaíso is a city with an old reputation, struck hard by the Panama Canal back at its completion, and struggling and rising to a place of cultural prominence since. Nowadays it remains an important sea port along the Chilean coast, though not as busy as San Antonio, and has helped foster artistic communities and a wealth of Chilean culture well worth recognition and appreciation on its own.

For such a beautiful city, the Shatterdome is both an honor and an eyesore. The Cadets from the new program are a subject of gossip and fascination, novelty selling them in the short term in ways that weren't sustainable over time.

For those who hadn't been able to spend time outside looking over the city, Valparaíso provided all kinds of sights and hidden gems, from murals on stairs to a hundred plus year old tram that runs the hillsides, museums paying homage to the 16th Century roots of the city, to statues and architectural structures and beaches galore. Free from the industrial efficiency of the Shatterdome for a short time, where will the Cadets and Staff find themselves today? The possibilities might not be endless in actuality, but they were a far cry more varied than the last two weeks had been!

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Perhaps Catherine ought to laugh, but she doesn't. She imagines she'll waste away in R&D as time goes by, hiding behind walls shes put up herself. Maybe he's referencing that: her isolation, always acting older than she is, and never compromising on anything if she can avoid it. A stubborn old maid.

"You know I only wear my glasses when I've been working too long."

"I had a lot of people I was friendly with, yeah. You know, classmates and teachers and all. The people in the club I was in. Girls, I guess, even if I don't really care about that..." Hilbert sighs, slouching back with his hands behind his head. The kind of boy you'd come to if you need something, or someone to get something for you, but maybe not the kind you'd invite to parties. It wasn't even like his high school life'd even really started before he'd been able to join in too. But that doesn't bother him too much. He's in love with one thing, and that is Jaegers. "But nothing like this. They weren't kidding when they said that Rangers and all were like rockstars."

But as soon as it's out, he's quick to continue. "Not that I'm saying we cadets are or anything like that, since we're still in training and all, but... Yeah."

No, he's oddly enough just teasing her. He's always seen her as the sort to be that grumpy old lady down the road that chases the kids away when they play outside her house and somehow distract her from her work. He's honestly trying to tease her here really, he doesn't mean much by it and when she doesn't laugh he sighs and looks away, handing her half of his sandwich still in it's wrapper.

"Times change though, right? People change, you and me included in that."

She accepts the sandwich, hand lingering near his for a moment longer than perhaps it ought to.

"We do."

And she's not sure she wants to know precisely how he's changed. She doesn't want to see her brave young soldier with his shoulders slumped and his pride beaten down at all. She wants the vigorous and bold young man she fell for, only older, wiser, and somehow more attractive.

That matters, yes.

But she's changed. What she wants and needs have changed, and she doesn't know if pride will ever let her communicate that to him. She can appreciate him now, who he is, what he stands for. She has trained and worked and connived and built and has felt true loss at last. Nothing has ever been handed to her, but so little had ever been taken away until the kaiju came along.

"It can be a bit overwhelming - but they're all people, just like you and me," Hanji smiles. Hearing and seeing all of the reactions from the cadets was interesting. Almost all of them had stars in their eyes and were just excited to be there, let alone be in the running for being a Ranger. She leans toward Hilbert slightly, as if she's confiding something.

"Well, you're our hope for the future. Remember that."

Hilbert straightens up a little when she leans in to speak, and after hesitating he nods.

"Yes ma'am, I know. It seems like a pretty heavy responsibility to have though, for those actually going out there." But he was under that too. Rangers are only one part of that hope!

"Hm? Hanji?" With the enormous moai tucked under one arm, he narrowly avoids knocking over an innocent pedestrian as he turns to greet her. Although his willowy colleague is almost as tall as Tenpou himself - taller, actually, since he has a bad habit of slouching, it's not just her height or the length of her waving arms that seems to clear a space around her. Hanji has a certain presence that's larger than life.

"It's a good thing you're here. I took a wrong turn at that open-air flea market, and somehow I ended up here..." Tenpou has gotten lost on the way to his own office on multiple occasions, so it's a familiar story. "But if you'd like to get a moai too, I'm sure I can retrace my steps and find that shop again. Since we have the day off, I thought I'd immerse myself in the authentic local culture."

"We're lucky to see it, you know. Us, each other, the changes to things, after everything."

He's gently bumps his shoulder against hers, not very hard but just enough to make contact as he talks. He doesn't want to mention how he's changed, he doesn't want to ruin what she thinks of him because it always happens somehow, doesn't it? Though with her it feels good to just be himself and not an instructor or old Ranger, just a guy hanging around his old girlfriend/lover/whatever they were.

He's just happy for it all, and that in some way she gets it now, maybe. If she's involved at all she has to, right?

"Fortunate, and all in spite of circumstances that should, by all rights, keep us apart."

Once his shoulder contacts hers, she finally manages a small smile, and ducks her head. He's so disarming, the charming bastard. Yes, she was so in love with him once, and she probably will be again if she isn't very, very cautious.

"I've thought about things more these last few years than I ever had before. I've learned some things the hard way." Because loss has shaped her, success has bolstered her. There's so much more of a chance now for them to be friends instead of lovestruck idiots.

"Life's weird like that, we find people again we never thought we would."

He just leans against her when she ducks her head, smiling more now. It's not the soft, unsure smile of earlier but more his old self, charming and he's up to teasing. Goofing off, being himself. Not many people he feels like he can be around anymore.

"And what did you learn?" The smile is still there, and he's curious. He shoves the hope swelling up inside him down though, she can't be thinking about that. Idiots make mistakes and such, that's what that was, wasn't it? So what's she looking at now?

"Much better." She glances over at Hanji and gives a nod of greeting. "Seeing as I lost my umbrella in the move."

Adjusting her hat again, she looks back out into the city. "I'm going to have my eye on a few of them, yes. But I thought I'd take in the local sights and exercise my Spanish a bit, as well. And yourself?" Dressed like that, she looks like she's about to go hiking or something. Catherine herself is in a modest but colorful dress and low heels. Probably not the best gear for walking and exploring, and certainly her calf muscles at least will be feeling it later.

Hanji leans back slightly as he turns, mostly to avoid the fake statue. It might be styrofoam, but no reason to get clunked by it. She stares at him, arms akimbo, an amused smile on her face. She knows all too well that Tenpou can get lost walking from the mess hall to his office, but he's got a good head on his shoulders. Mostly.

"No, no, that's fine! I was just curious. I haven't had a chance to check out all the wonderful souvenirs they've got on display for us tourists..."

Hanji reaches out to rap a knuckle against the moai. Yep, totally fake (although the fact that he was carrying it like a featherweight tipped her off).

"I've been wrangling cadets and exploring a little - it's a beautiful city."

"That some things are significantly more important than pride."

And pride she has and always has had in spades. Enough for several people. Pride in her work, herself, her mind, her inventions and contributions. But losing people has cost her a lot of that. What happens when the ends and the means are light years away from each other?

Subtly, as she takes a bite of the sandwich, she tips her hat back a bit more. It's nice out, at least, bright and clear. The sort of day that makes you want to do something life-affirming.

"Are you free this evening?"

"It's a good lesson, hard won in these times."

He had a lot of it himself, he knows how easy it is to just watch it get bruised and batter or even shattered. But he's never had enough of it to get in the way of forming relationships with people, and he's only gotten humbled further by his past.

He in turn reaches up to unzip his jacket, he's actually, finally getting hot and he doesn't need it on, but he hadn't been sure how long he'd be out and if it got cold well, better in too warm clothing then too little. He glances at her though, watches how her expression changes or doesn't and wonders what all she's thinking about.

"Of course I am, things haven't gotten started really yet." He almost asks if she wants to do dinner but doesn't, instead he pulls out a bit of meat that was sticking out of his sandwich to eat on it's own.

"I'm interested in seeing where we're going to be living for the forseeable future. And I want to see how our new cadets handle themselves after their first couple of weeks here."

Hanji shrugs, humming tunelessly, "They're not really my specialty, but I like keeping an eye on them."

All that noise was cutting in on her peaceful outdoor reading. Upon further investigation, she found out that it was a bunch of kids playing some silly game with sticks. It seemed simple-looking enough. With her skill with the whip, she can probably do it with her eyes closed.

So it is embarrasing for her to see that one of her fellow cadets is making an utter fool of himself and everything they stood for by being a complete failure at a children's stick game.

"Wow, you--" He seems American. Talking like (her horrible impression of) an American might help him understand her better. "-- absolutely suck at this game. Can I try?" The smile on her lips is her attempt at being friendly.

That's a hard sight to miss. Trust her, she tried. But it's hard to ignore a man she's vaguely familiar with lugging a giant moai statue that she doesn't want anyone to be seen with. She chases after him with her plastic bags of fruits and books.

She looks to the left. She looks to the right. Good, no one else that she recognizes is here.

"You are aware that you got ripped off, right?" Says the girl who paid an exhorbitant price for her stuff because she fails at bartering.

Instead of being embarrassed right off - that'll sink in in a bit - Hilbert looks really relieved. Thank goodness. Someone who might actually know how to do this right.

"Please! I've been trying for like, half an hour to win, and all I've gotten out of it was my pride being wounded," he jokes slightly. After thinking of the words he needs to use, he asks the group if she can play too in hesitant Spanish. It's a simply enough phrase, obviously, but he doesn't want to embarrass her further.

A little girl hands her one of the toys, and Hilbert grins. "It's all yours... Ah, Franziska, I think? Sorry if I mispronounced that. All you have to do is get the bell bottom onto the stick."

But he couldn't even accomplish that. Ha. Haha. Man.

Sugane has come into possession of a massive plate of chorillana due to not quite mastering the language to the point where he's able to communicate that he just wants a reasonable sized portion of Chilean heart-attack-on-a-plate and is now sitting at his table staring at it in moderate distress. He's sure he can eat at least some of it, but he also knows he can't take the rest of it back with him, so he's stuck with a ton of grease-soaked food he'll never be able to eat on his own. Considering he's wearing his uniform, he's pretty sure the other patrons of the restaurant are laughing at him, especially because he's all by himself. Might as well just eat...

"Indeed." Valparaíso's brightly painted houses and chaotic, colorful urban graffiti appeal to Tenpou's own eclectic tastes, so he agrees readily. The port city was a center of global trade before the opening of the Panama Canal rendered the old sea routes irrelevant, so for a hundred years it's fallen into a soft decline. Buildings slowly crumble beneath the relentless sun and salty air. The writers of Tenpou's home country are fond of drawing metaphors between spring flowers and the transience of human life, but he thinks that cities, the living products of human hands and human minds, can be just as fragile and fleeting.

"So they've put you on cadet duty, then? Better you than me. You're much friendlier, so they won't realize that you're planning to conduct questionable experiments on them until it's too late." He grins and gives her a conspiratorial wink. "Try to save a few of the new lab rats for me."

"...Francine?" It takes several seconds for Tenpou to root through the dusty file cabinets of his mind to find the right name, or at least something close enough to the right name. That's right, she's the girl who hates the color orange, as if a portion of the visible light spectrum were something one could hate. Judging by the way she eyes the styrofoam moai staue with undisguised digust, she can't have much appreciation for art. Tenpou sighs, but he heads in her direction anyway.

"I wasn't 'ripped off.' This is a priceless cultural product of Chile," he informs her, narrowly missing a passerby as he swings the foam statue under his arm. "Have you been shopping too? You definitely came to the right place. I saw a shop selling those little alpaca wool hats with the puffball on top, but then I remembered that it wasn't winter here in the southern hemisphere." Indeed, Tenpou's only concession to the balmy summer weather is to wear sandals (with socks) instead of shoes. In his lab coat and tie, he sticks out amid the t-shirt-wearing locals. "I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that."

"Well, it's more like I volunteered for it," Hanji chuckles, "I like seeing how they adapt to the new place - it gives me an idea of who they are. Besides-"

She shakes her head, "-I get first pick. Better then letting you decide how we're going to use them."

She's joking. Mostly.

"And my experiments aren't questionable They're perfectly ethical! Human experimentation is more of Halsey's thing. She's the one who helped make jaegers worth building, after all."

It's all in good fun, even if the target isn't here.

Hey there buddy. Kate's gone into town because they've finally been allowed to, thank you all supernatural beings that may or may not exist. And she can spot one of her roommates looking clearly distressed by the giant pile of food in front of him.

"Looks like you're having trouble," she's clearly amused and taking the seat across from him.

"Just promise me one thing..." Hanji's voice drops slightly, as if she's imparting a secret of great importance, "...if you become a Ranger, bring me back a kaiju."

Out on the city and walking around, just trying to get used to being outside of the base. That's when she stumbles across a bunch of kids and one of the cadets playing get the cup on the stick. It's pretty obvious that Hilbert isn't doing a stellar job of it.

"Not going too well is it?" Seems like a hand eye coordination type of game. She'd think a cadet would do better at it, but it seems like there are plenty of different backgrounds among the cadets.

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[ open ] Valparaíso, Jewel of the Pacific

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