subnautica | March Intro: Head First

March Intro: Head First

PREMISE & NAVIGATION ✦ RULES ✦ MOD CONTACT
TAKEN ✦ RESERVES ✦ APPLICATIONS ✦ HIATUS & DROPS
FAQ ✦ BASE ✦ BIOMES ✦ URSULA ✦ URSULA CONTACT

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[IT PUFFS UP A LITTLE WHEN HE POKES AT IT MORE; Mikleo shifts back like a startled cat, shoulders stiff.]

There...!

--Whoa, it works!

[This is a much better alternative than spending who knows how long blowing it up, so after a glance at Mikleo to make sure he's ready for it, he starts again. Now that he actually know what he's doing it's pretty simple.]

[HE'S FINE. WHO FLINCHED. NO ONE FLINCHED. HE'S COOL, HE'S FINE]

--that's certainly more convenient.

For a second there I thought I'd have to blow it up like that every single night. Talk about exhausting.

[It only takes a minute to fill all the way up with air, and once he's sure it's full he closes the plug up and gives it an experimental pat to make sure it's okay to sleep on.]

Inefficient, too. Though I'd have risked making you the water bed if that were the case.

...it seems fine, if you don't roll around too much.

[Nothing ventured, nothing gained! He flops down on it, arms sprawled wide and fingertips dangling over the edges of the bed, and it continues to hold air. Though really, anything would work for sleeping on at this point. The floor was starting to look pretty good.]

It's not bad! As long as it doesn't deflate it'll be perfect.

Hopefully it won't, but just use mine if something goes wrong with yours.

[He settles his own pack next to Sorey's by the mattress. There's not much sense in his making up a separate bed; someone will inevitably try to lie on it, or put it away, while he's still on it.]

[His eyes are already closed, but he moves one of his arms from the side to up near his head, shifting to make room if Mikleo wants to sit.]

It seems pretty sturdy. Surprisingly so. I wouldn't poke it with a sharp needle or anything, but it seems like it's made to withstand a few uses.

[He'd actually meant to vanish inside Sorey about then, but the little arm shift gives him pause. He sits down on the proffered space instead, knees drawn up.]

Guess she wants us to sleep well, after all. That much is a relief.

[Once Mikleo sits he cracks an eye open and shifts (awkwardly, because of the angle, but he manages) to poke Mikleo in the side lightly. His words are clear but low and murmured, and he stifles a yawn before he speaks.]

We won't get much work done if we don't get a good night's sleep, right? If it's supposed to be mutually beneficial then we have to be able to actually help out.

Hey--

[He reaches down to push Sorey's hand away automatically, but it's gentle, and he leaves his fingers on Sorey's wrist, voice soft and low as well.]

All right, that makes sense. I'm just uneasy: not much else about this situation does.

[He makes a halfhearted attempt to retaliate before deciding that flopping back down is the best option here, content.]

I know. It's not like I'm not worried. But between the two of us I know we can make it work, no matter what happens.

Ever the optimist, that's you.

[He has the same faith in them, though; his earlier tension's eased a bit, now that they're dry and reasonably comfortable.]

Did you spot anything out there you'd want to have another look at later?

[There was a moment when he might have just fallen asleep, but as soon as Mikleo asks him about his day his eyes snap open and he's ready to talk.]

There was a gigantic fish that I rode on! I thought it was a landmass before I realized it was actually moving. I'd love to take a closer look tomorrow; they seemed pretty docile.

[...oops...oh well.]

So you got brought in on one of those things too, huh? Did you meet anybody else on the way? Did they remember how they got there?

[He has energy to spare it's fine!!]

I met a few people, but none of them knew how they got here and a few of them couldn't even swim. It seemed like they were in the same boat at us.

[FOR NOW, says Momleo.]

Yeah, the girl I met was the same. But when I tried to get an explanation out of URSULA, she just said it was odd, and that people got like that sometimes. A lot of them are able to see me, though -- and they're a bit of an odd lot. Some of them aren't human, seraph, or hellion, as far as I can tell.

...good thing you finally made it in.

[He sounds more nonchalant on the last statement, but he can't even begin to describe how relieved he was when Sorey entered the base, the most steady and familiar friend he could possibly have hoped to see. There was probably a term for how he'd felt bouncing off strange new quantity after new quantity, things he'd never imagined or had the chance to prepare for out of a book -- culture shock? Except twenty-odd people and a lot of fish wasn't exactly a culture. Alien shock? Ocean shock. Sorey had calmed it down.]

Me too. I thought I'd have to sleep on the giant coral fish, at first.

[He wants to ask about the people who could see him, the people who weren't humans or seraph or hellions, but they feel like things he can ask later when he can commit them to memory and put faces to traits. Mikleo's throwaway comment, though, gives him a little pause.]

I thought it was just me for a minute. Not just me since I kept seeing other people, but I didn't know you were here.

[Should he be relieved he wasn't the only idiot to fall in a hole and end up in the ocean on another planet? Probably not. But he's relieved anyways. It's hard to imagine Mikleo not being somewhere nearby, to the point that he'd assumed that he would run into his friend eventually. It's hard for him to imagine what he would have done if they hadn't run into each other.]

[He can hear the echoed relief in Sorey's words...he's quiet himself, for a moment. Just a moment, though.]

Like I'd leave you alone in the middle of an ocean. If there's anywhere you need a water seraph, to make sure you don't do things like sleep on giant coral fish--

[On fish, he nudges huffily at Sorey's side.]

Move over a bit.

[He obligingly rolls away so Mikleo has more room, though not before giving him another poke in the side with his free hand.]

Even water seraph don't want to sleep on fish in the middle of the ocean, huh?

[He yelps at the last poke, swatting at Sorey's hand, before flopping down decisively next to him.]

We water seraphs are too sensible for that. Unlike some people.

[He might regret deciding to share a bed when he has an arm in his face later at night, but right now Sorey is awake and making sure to scoot so he isn't hogging any room.]

I'm plenty sensible! I didn't want to sleep out there either. It just would've been better than trying to sleep in the water.

[He's probably used to it. WHATEVER!]

Considering the way those things dive, you'd have ended up in the water eventually, anyway.

[...pulls up Sorey's blanket over them, and, after a moment's thought, add his own so they're not fighting for one later too. There.]

[AT LEAST HE KNOWS WHAT HE'S GETTING INTO!! Sorey wiggles under the blankets and finally (finally) closes his eyes again.]

I'd wake up if that happened, though!

Yeah, but admit it, this is better.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject