[ open ] Valparaíso, Jewel of the Pacific

[supportadmin]

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!

Comments

[inferiorcomplexes]

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.

[paperbacks]

"...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."

[inferiorcomplexes]

She considers the prospect of cute alpaca wool hats until she realizes that she almost took fashion advice from someone who was wearing socks with sandals. Oh, the humanity.

"It's Franziska von Karma, Chien Chan," she corrects him. She wasn't familiar with Japanese suffixes, so for all she knew, Chien Chan was his real name and not a cute nickname. Besides, he already has a nickname. He's Slobby McSlob to her.

"The Moai is a priceless cultural product of the Easter Islands and it shouldn't be light enough for you to carry under your arm. That's obviously a fake." How can a man who's so smart about kaijus be so dumb about art? She doesn't narrowly miss hitting a passerby with a bag of fruit. She hits a passerby with a bag of fruit and moves on as if it never happened. "I know this because I handled an art counterfeiting and smuggling case once." More like she tagged along her brother's case like an annoying cartoon puppy, but details.

[paperbacks]

"It's Ten-chan," he clarifies with a sunny smile. "It's pronounced just like the number, so it should be quite easy to remember. You can even count on your fingers. As for the moai, Easter Island was annexed by Chile in 1888, and the island falls under the administrative jurisdiction of the Valparaiso region. Real moai are a protected cultural artifact, so naturally this is just a replica for my office. I wouldn't want to break any laws." Tenpou pulls a cigarette from his pack and lets it dangle between his lips.

"I believe you mentioned that you were studying law? You should always research the local administrative zoning legislation. Regulations and by-laws can vary quite significantly from one region to the next, especially when one considers the diverse historical and ethnic makeup of the country." With that, he lights his cigarette and takes a long, deeply satisfying drag. Tobacco always tastes better after he's had a chance to be a smug bastard. Tenpou is usually a very pleasant, agreeable man, but underneath that is a streak of pure, childish pettiness. Franziska insulted his taste in art and that wasn't something he could forgive easily.

[inferiorcomplexes]

Whatever he said about his name and the history of Chile is quickly forgotten after he talked about his plans for that so-called piece of art. "You're displaying it?" She coughs as some smoke gets in her mouth. "Where people can see it?" Possibly underneath piles of coffee cups, take-out menus and maybe, just maybe, things that are work-related?

"Like they'd let me in, with this polarizing uniform?" she scoffs. Earlier, she walked in front of the parliament, saw all the people dressed for work, and walked away. Didn't feel like she'd belong there anymore. "I won't have time to properly study law when this course is over." She furrows her brows so hard, she thinks she might cry. She blames the smoke.

"Stop that!" She quickly reaches for his cigarette, which causes the bag of books she was carrying to swing around. "I have a swimming test next week and all that smoking is bad for my lungs!"