subnautica | March Intro: Head First

March Intro: Head First

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Arrival!

It was supposed to be a routine mission. Maybe you think you’ve been here for a bit or maybe you just arrived. Either way, you know there was supposed to be a completely normal underwater mission, probably just gathering resources, unless you just arrived, in which case welcome!

Unfortunately, somehow you’ve been dumped somewhere you shouldn’t be. A woman’s voice can be heard, robotic in tone with hints of emotion. That emotion mostly seems to be mild surprise.

"Life signs detected. Life forms are non-native to this planet. They... oh. Oh dear, I wasn’t prepared after all. Please refrain from dying for a moment. Your things are incoming."

Your eyes open underwater. At least you're near the surface. But the moment you break through you'll notice one thing: the ocean, stretching out for miles around you in all directions with no end in sight and only a very distant gleaming metal structure in the far distance. You're not alone but this surely isn't what you expected. In fact, you really can't understand how you managed to get from where you were to underwater so fast.

None of your belongings are with you save the clothing on your body. And the depths below you offer no comfort, the light engulfed before it can reach wherever the sea bottom is.

Somewhere, you hear a sound shaking through the water, like something between a whale and a foghorn.

No turning back now.

Prompts!

A: WHALE OF A TALE
As it turns out, there is hope for those who can't swim or get help from someone who can. Something emerges from the depths, a massive bed of coral that makes that strange sound, allowing people to climb on top of it. Of course, that bed of coral is actually the back of a massive creature that moves how it pleases and occasionally dives back down underwater.

There is a pod of them around the area calling to each other. They're friendly, or at least they don't seem to mind any poking or hangers on. But one of their long tendrils may still give you a good whack on accident.

If you’re really lucky you can probably ride one all the way back to the base. Wouldn’t that be a fantastic entrance?

B: HELP ARRIVES
At least, some assistance arrives. Strange little robots on propellers arrive fifteen or so minutes later, rushing to the scene carrying a floating bin of some sort. They drop it into the ocean and buzz excitedly around it in the hopes of luring people over.

Inside the bin are goggles, breathing devices and knives enough for the new arrivals. The knives have a compass on the hilt that has a marker for the direction of the base. One robot will play a helpful recording from the robotic woman for those getting their gear:

"Please deposit any articles of clothing getting in the way of swimming in the bin. We will be sure they arrive safely at the base. Do not try to swim in anything that will bog you down."

A pause.

"Swimming nude is not recommended. There can be... unpleasant issues. For future reference, please consult me before going on missions like this."

C: UNDER THE SEA
Of course, there's no reason to rush right to the base. This place is certainly beautiful in its own right and has a few caves to explore - watch those stingers hanging from the ceilings - with an abundance of strange and wonderful fish eager to either play with you or dart away as fast as possible. Of course there's plenty of Reefbacks still calling to each other and a large amount of floating rocks with Floaters attached.

D: MATING SEASON
On second thought, maybe heading to the base is a good idea. Occasionally you might see plumes of dust near the ocean floor. Exploring these is a very bad idea. The moment you get close, a Sand Shark will explode out of the sand, ready to attack. They range from five to eight feet in length and will pursue you without mercy. At least they give up if you get near the surface or hide in the right caves.

Unfortunately, it's mating season. That means dozens of them can appear at any time trying to court a female with acts of aggression and skill. And you really don't want to be in the middle of that.

E: HOME SWEET HOME
You did it! You made it to the base. You are probably dead tired by now having swam quite a long distance—or somehow riding a Reefback all the way here—and the sun is beginning to set. Upon arrival, URSULA will welcome you and give you a quick rundown of the lockers (where your personal items can be found, as safe as if you stored them there yourself) and the base's layout if you’re new. She will also recommend that you put on your communication device and settling in. She will then just as quickly apologise by saying that she must finish preparing the base for the others.

"Please give me a few days to finish retooling the base. Oh, I'm so excited. We're going to make a great team, I promise. And don't go back to that biome yet until mating season is over. Sand Sharks are... troublesome."

F: WILDCARD
The ocean is yours to explore! Maybe your characters will find places to take breaks. Maybe they'll start gathering things. Maybe they'll murder fish! Or maybe they'll get lost in the dark and take a rather long time to find the base. Or just crash the kitchen for some of that delicious fish, more fish and seaweed! It's all up to you!

See the Biomes page for the currently accessible areas or details on current wildlife and the Base page for all your base needs. Direct any questions and plotting to the OOC post and have fun!

BASED ON CODE BY TESSISAMESS AND SUPERSUITS

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"Well, not specifically. I mean, I guess this is the place I agreed to come to, but I kind of expected to wind up somewhere, and not right in the middle of nowhere."

But this was the middle of nowhere, the middle of wet, blue, salt-tinged nowhere. "I'm not sure how to find where we need to be either. That could probably wind up a problem if we're stuck out here too long."

Food. Fresh water. Those sorts of things are important right. But hopefully they'll get some information or help or something. ...Shiro is optimistic.

Good. Just try to breathe slowly, okay?

[Shiro smiles and runs a hand through his hair to try to fluff it back into... some semblance of something.]

I guess you wound up dropped right into the water too, huh? This isn't the best start...

[Not human, excuse you!!]

And? Are you saying I should do anything that anyone asked of me?

[Brett continues to stare incredulously for a moment, shadows swirling about him, before:]

... So you're saying your dog somehow found his way into your locker to surprise you?

[Someone reacting like that to him when he hasn't even done anything isn't a good sign. Brett likewise tenses up as he bristles, and perhaps a bit more venomously than needed, he bites out:]

I'm what? You might as well finish that sentence, you know!

[Huh. The help was somewhat unexpected, though he supposes that in this situation, it's not entirely unwelcome even if Brett will always feel a bit defensive about receiving assistance from anyone not of his kind.

With the shark's movements further restricted, it makes it easier for Brett to properly aim, though this time he doesn't go for the eyes. Instead, he directs his knives, still held by his shadows, to slice at the shark's fins.He's no expert on aquatic biology, but he's fairly certain that the creature needs them to possess any real sort of efficiency.]

[Mikleo bites his lip on a retort, then holds his hands up in a more peaceable gesture, trying to relax. Malevolent or not, he didn't actually mean to be aggravating -- it's not like that's going to help, nor does he want to get in a fight in this state, or without more information.]

I...can't quite tell what you are, and you startled me. That was rude of me, sorry.

[There's a pause before Josephine speaks, during which she tries very hard not to look she's carefully studying this newcomer.

It's to be a day full of surprises then.]

Droids? [She pauses, turns the word over in her head. No... It's nothing she recognizes.]

Is that what they are called, then? I've never seen anything quite like them before.

...

[ She doesn't bother with an of course, since that much she'd figured out, and hoping this creature has any better idea of what's going on is looking more and more pointedly hopeless. Either way, she goes for the short, quick test, placing the apparatus over her nose and mouth and carefully letting her mouth bob underwater. Breathing in through her mouth, she's prepared to have to spit water right back out: but she doesn't need to. Through this device, all she's getting is air.

Will it hold up under the water?

She really, really doesn't want to check. It's precisely for that reason that she forces herself under the surface, temporarily bobbing down under and blinking her eyes as the sting of salt in the water tries to normalise. Her instinct is to hold her breath, not to let any of the killing water in, but she's having to test this or else figure out how otherwise not to drown. When breathing is the most immediate problem...

A scant few inches underwater, Ellana tries to breathe. To her astonishment, she finds she can. By Sylaise... By the name of a sleeping elven mage? She pulls back up to the surface. No, there's no real point in calling out to self-styled gods, but how much had that changed? They'd been "abandoned" for centuries. A world away made it even less relevant, for all it could still twist her stomach into knots. ]

Mrrphm...

[ ... Talking might be a problem. She settles for lifting her amputated arm to wave to the small green one, figuring that'd indicate nothing more than "I didn't drown yet, thank you," but that was a complicated enough sentiment for the moment. ]

It's not ideal, obviously, but it's not as bad as it could be.

[Sorey's not really sure he's supposed to be here, or how he got here, but now that he's here there's nothing wrong with making the most of it.]

We can both swim if we fall off our ride, which might be more than other people can manage. Oh! I'm Sorey, by the way.

I'm Sorey. Nice to meet you, Peridot.

[He doesn't mind the awkwardness, or at least doesn't notice it too much.]

Is it weird to ask...are you human? You don't look like one, but I could be mistaken.

[ She doesn't pull the suit away, instead watching as he reaches out, eyebrows quirking up a hair at the new vocabulary and the concepts he was presenting as attached. A wetsuit, meant to waterproof and keep warm. There's a sense to that, she supposes, given her own experiences with water. The nature of this place in its whirlwind arrival leaving them with any supplies is beneficial, even if it's a change of (strange, new, probably useful) clothing. ]

I see. Which either indicates a need for sealing or waterproofing any alterations made to it. Though sealing might not be so difficult, depending on what we have around.

[ She pauses, eyes flicking back toward the way out into the open waters. ]

Or on what might be found. I admit that the idea of a... wet suit is new in my experience.

[ Ellana pulls herself up short, a startled blink at the ease with which the other individual is moving pairing up with that niggling newness that said speaking in my head isn't just a spirit or demon phenomena here. Not that it need be limited to such things, she could always simply be going insane, but with a check that she wasn't pulling on the Fade, it helps reiterate that she's probably 'hearing' the individual who just swam by.

She treads water for the time being. ]

Aside from the surface?

[ Comes the neutral response. ]

I was looking to get up on one of the sand bars and catch an eyeful of the ship off in the distance.

[ At sunset, with the dark rolling in. She trusts her sense of direction and ability to see in the dark, and past that, being evasive to an unknown creature isn't necessarily going to be helpful. Honesty it is. ]

[His eyes follow Mikleo's gesture, looking dryly amused.]

"Covered" is one way to put it. There's so much of it I don't know if we'd get through it all. Or, it would take a while.

Then it'll be a mad dash for survival! All the more exciting.

[Depending on your definition of the word...but there's no time to argue, assuming he'll still follow, because she starts swimming on down.]

[ She has to admit, the look away only makes her gesture with the stump of her arm toward the dog in question. ]

No more than you were expecting to be here?

[ She leaves it as a question, because it is one: of those she's spoken with, not all have been surprised to find themselves here. It's strange, in ways she's not sure how to articulate. ]

We're really going to need more practice. I wonder how well our armatus'll work under all this? We've never used it while completely submerged...

[Something to analyze.]

Fufufu...very astute! I believe we've found ourselves a real winner, stranger!

[Still holding onto it, she pulls her sword out to pierce it another time, and then once more for good measure, but it's harder when you only have your legs tightly wrapped around it without holding on with your hands. She's thrown off finally, yet their prey begins to slow its resistance, inevitably drawing to a total stop as the last of its life is spent.

A few feet away, drifting, she gives Feferi a thumbs up with both of her hands.]

Eh? Eh, eh? Now hold on a moment here!

[Apparently just ignoring the fact that the sharks aren't completely dead, she swims around to move herself right in front of him, leaning close to his face. Apparently the question was offensive in some way, because she's not so pleased looking now.]

Who am I? Outrageous! We may not have spoken much, but to forget the great Demon King herself...unforgivable! You mean to tell me you've forgotten none other than I, Nobunaga Oda?

[WHY DOES NO ONE EVER LISTEN! He looks up at the sky in exasperation for a moment, pulls in a deep breath out of habit (even though he's masked), and plunges clumsily after her, towards the caves.]

[After a few more minutes of struggling, which she seems to be really enjoying from the looks of things, a few more stabbings here and there ultimately leads to the death of her would be attacker, leading it to drift down slowly. She rights herself in the water and positions herself to look as if she's standing on it's corpse (in reality, of course, she's only floating a little above it) and grins over.]

Well met, friend! Could it be I've stolen your kill?

[She is pretty cracked, unfortunately...

Either way, at least Nobu's happy to help, reaching to take the device and go about attaching it.]

Hah. Nothing weird, I assure you; you must be simply overwhelmed by my personality. It's quite forceful, I understand, but you'll adjust.

[Maybe just stop listening when she talks, it might be easier.]

[He weighs the question in his mind for a second before nodding, though that's not his whole answer.]

A bit of both, I think. There are a lot of things I have to do back home, but that doesn't mean I can't help out while I'm here. It could take a while to figure out how to get back and I don't want to just sit around in the meantime.

Wahahaha! Hurt? No, no, the ocean may be a force to be reckoned with, but even the worst creatures lurking beneath its surface could not hope to contend with me.

[Inevitably, this'll probably come back to bite her. Until then, the ego problems likely won't stop.

Well, even being eaten by a shark or something wouldn't stop her either.]

[Giving her a pat on the back to make sure all of the water is out. Awkward or not, at least she's alive!]

Hopefully that's a little better.

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March Intro: Head First

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