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

Comments

[octoroom]

[In all of these, you might notice that this sucker (get it, he's an octopus) isn't wearing goggles or a breathing apparatus. What's up with that?? In fact, if you watch him long enough he seems to be breathing perfectly fine underwater...]


C.
[You're probably taking the time to explore. Maybe you're making your way through a cave or swimming around an outcropping of rock when you see it--

Tentacles, disappearing around a corner not far ahead. You might think AHH, SEA CREATURE or maybe you'll think OH LOOK DINNER I LOVE CALAMARI but either way, anyone who continues through one of the caves will find Fukami soon enough. He's examining the plants that grow here, while a few persistent fish poke around him. Occasionally, one tentacle will wave as though to shoo them off but they just keep coming back.

You'd think they'd be more nervous around an octopus...]


D.
[Well, now he's done it.

But in this case, it's not as though it was his fault. How was he to know some stupid sharks were mating? Ugh. Sharks. Typical. Fukami is speeding upward through the water toward the surface, his lips compressed with faint annoyance.

It's annoying because there're at least six sand sharks in pursuit... One that might break off and head toward you as the others give up the ghost once Fukami is close enough to the surface.

At which point Fukami stops himself mid-swim, turning toward the shark headed your way.]


E.
[Base sweet base. Fukami arrives with little ceremony-- an octopus don't need to cling on to no reefback to get around! He's dripping as he lifts one gloved hand to comb some of his hair back from his eyes. Maybe you'll notice he dries fairly quickly.

These clothes were made to be worn underwater, okay?

Or maybe you'll catch him opening up the locker that is his and-- pulling out a plate of what appears to be a roast bird. Well, that's not strange at all.]

...

[I thought I gave that to Wadanohara. There's no way anyone could tell that's what Fukami's thinking right now, probably...]

d.

[upcard]

[Mai can't even swim.

She definitely didn't want this, because, well....she can't swim. She's been outfitted with a breathing apparatus and goggles by now, at least, but ineffectual flailing and attempted doggy paddling can only get her so far.

So.

When that shark suddenly breaks off to come straight at her, she definitely just sort of...freezes up pathetically.

GOODBYE, CRUEL WORLD.]

[octoroom]

[Well. This was his fault, so Fukami's on this!

There's definitely a moment where he goes tch when he sees her freeze, though it's just bubbles for anyone who doesn't know how to... talk underwater. Which is most people. Because of course. He speeds his pace, snaps out a tentacle, and wraps it around the tail of the sand shark.

Yanking it back, he proceeds to wrap up the rest of its body in his tentacles and just.

Squeeeeeeeeeeeze. While he glances over at her.]

[upcard]

Oh--!

[Or, at least, she...tries to speak??? She wants to tell him not to hurt it, it was just being a shark doing its shark-y things, but then instead she swallows seawater.

Good job, Mai.

The mental connection might pick up on some of her concern and distress, though.

She flails, trying to fix her breathing apparatus, please hold.]

[octoroom]

[Listen, hurting sharks is a hobby of his... But, since it looks like she's drowning and he jerks (startled) at the sudden sense of feelings not his own, he winds up letting the shark free.

It wiggles out of his grasp and escapes back to its homies as Fukami moves through the water toward her.

He's just going to move to encourage her to float back up toward the surface...]

E

[undyingly]

[Shiro is the soggiest. He's managed to at least fluff his hair so it's a mess, drying slowly. Very slowly. And his clothes? Hanging off his skinny little self as he pads (barefoot. shoes were ditched because they made swimming difficult.)

He pads his way soggily to the locker that he's been told is his, but he's pretty sure, halfway there that he smells...

dinner?

A tilt of his head as he turns and finds an octopus holding a plate. Oh. Well. Sure, why not?]

Do you always keep dinner in your locker like that? Maybe a bento would be easier.

[octoroom]

[Fukami turns his head very sightly, glancing over one of his shoulders at Shiro. He shakes his head after a long moment, his lips compressed in a line. You wouldn't think it to look at him, but he's somewhat baffled.]

I didn't put it in here.

[thanks URSULA clearly you have supplied him with only the best

Well. At least she put his hammer in there too...? Though he doesn't take that out, he's still eyeing the food on its plate and wondering if it's still safe to eat. It smells good enough. It's even warm.

How?? It's a mystery.]

[undyingly]

[Shiro makes his way closer. So someone else put dinner in his locker? ...wait. Shiro stops, turns to his own locker, opens it up only to sigh. No dinner.]

Looks like not everyone got dinner.

[He turns back to Fukami now and his plate of food. It smells pretty good, okay? And Shiro is hungry after all that work swimming. He's not the best swimmer, so it was a lot of extra effort if he's being honest with himself.

He'll need to learn better.]

d.

[leftinme]

[Brett wouldn't claim to be an expert swimmer, and so in terms of sheer physical movements in the water, he's definitely at a disadvantage in a fight against a freaking shark. Thankfully, he doesn't have to do this purely in terms of physical movements: tendrils of shadow flare from his body and rush towards the shark heading towards him. As they attempt to hold it in place (he really wishes they were closer to the sea ground, so that he could simply bury it deep enough that it hopefully wouldn't be able to burst back out), another part of his shadows grasps his knives—he admittedly took more than one, just in case—and moves to stab the creature in the eyes.

... Killing humans is so much easier. While that didn't do no damage, per se, it's obviously going to take more than a few stabs to bring the shark down, as it struggles where Brett is doing his best to keep it in place. Damn it, why couldn't he have something better than knives right now...]

[octoroom]

[Fukami stays in place—

He might be quicker to rush over were it someone completely helpless having to deal with sand sharks, he stops at the sight of the shadows. He narrows his eyes, watching closely.

Just long enough, and then he begins to move closer.

Well, in the end, it's his responsibility for bringing them up here and involving someone else. He's very wary of those shadowy tendrils, however, but nevertheless once he's close enough two tentacles snap out to wrap around the shark, restricting its movements all the more.]

[leftinme]

[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.]

D

[tentaculled]

[ well, he can't stay in the base forever. A ship is safe in port, but that's not what ships are for, as they say. Something like that. Except he's not a ship - he's a man completely made up of cells that have an adverse reaction to water, and thus, he's kind of wishing he could just stay in the proverbial port. But alas. There's no getting away from the ocean out here, so he might as well learn to deal with it.

Fortunately, his wetsuit was designed with his particular problem in mind, resembling a spacesuit more than anything. And while his method of locomotion through the water is similar to Fukami's octopus swimming, it's rather obviously not coming naturally to him. Probably how he clumsily ended up out here near the sharks... That, and the fact that Fukami's leading them all out here!!

He doesn't say it, exactly, but his panicked "nyuaaahh" is practically audible through his helmet anyway as 3 panicked tentacles lash out to stop the incoming shark in its tracks, looping around its fins. Much more sluggishly than he's used to, but it seems to have worked for the moment, though the fish is still snapping at him angrily. ]

[octoroom]

[It was an accident. Normally Fukami would just kill them all, okay. But the number of sharks beat his amount of tentacles. :(

And now he's watching Korosensei, refraining from helping if only because the sight of those tentacles stops him. Hm. Odd, but not too odd. Probably. He moves through the water once he's done very helpfully watching and lashes out a tentacle or two of his own.

One of these babies is definitely easier to handle. At least, he gets a good hold around its tailfin to pull its snapping jaws back from Korosensei...]

[tentaculled]

[ hey, don't murder the wildlife unless you're going to eat it, Fukami! Korosensei is similarly shocked by the sight of Fukami's tentacles - and the fact that they're functioning perfectly well underwater - but he doesn't really have time to worry about it when he's suffering a power handicap and an angry shark is after his hide. In this case, the intervention is more than welcome.

Even though it's followed by Korosensei immediately going on guard. Tentacles almost always mean an assassin sent to kill him.

He can't exactly say "thank you" underwater (and he doesn't have the hang of the telepathy thing yet, ostensibly), but he does wave a few additional tentacles in Fukami's direction in a display of gratitude, though he's not letting go of that shark yet, himself. ]

D

[ateaist]

[WELL LET'S DO THIS SHARKY, it's unlikely he'll reach either of them before the Shark and Nobunaga meet, if only because...she's swimming right at it, since it's decided to approach. It's only once it gets close enough to bite that she suddenly evades downwards, ending up beneath it (it's magic, y'see, hence the sudden, impossible movement at the speed it's preformed) and in optimal position to grab a hold of the appendages lining the bottom of its body.

Naturally, this doesn't sit well with the great beast, and it starts thrashing about fairly violently, but she's a lot stronger than her build lets on. With both legs wrapped around it and still holding on with one hand, she reaches for her sword-

-oh, but then she catches sight of Fukami and pauses for a moment, waving-

-then continues, drawing her sword to just ram it through the shark's underside. Despite that it's still got some life in it, so maybe he ought to help out anyway if he's still inclined.]

[octoroom]

[... Fukami pulls up short when he sees her moving toward the shark. He's busy trying to keep his eyes on her as it is, because his mind isn't quite reconciling how she got from one place to another that quickly. He folds his arms over his chest and watches.

Ah, she waved.

He lifts one of his tentacles slightly in acknowledgement. He'll just watch. She seems like she has it covered.]

[ateaist]

[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?

c

[maserannas]

[ Taking the time to explore or cautiously moving around, once she figured out how not to float at the surface like something overly buoyant? Her navigation skills when swimming with only one whole arm, the other ending at the elbow joint, has taken some seat-of-the-pants learning. Regardless, when stranded at sea and taking leaps of faith on breathing apparati and strange eye-coverings, what else is there to hold back on?

Clearly it's resource (and information) gathering time. Including on... the tentacles. Strange tentacles. Strange creature that has an odd melding of humanoid and... tentacles? Features. Ellana hooks her shorter arm against the wall, a foot catching underneath another rock outcropping to keep her in place on the wall of the cave. Telepathy is in no way natural to her, but after having figured out she was transmitting to the others in this situation when she let out a stream of eleven curses, she was making a logical leap that it'd function. Maybe. This creature doesn't wear anything to assist with breathing, and considering her own goggles are missing (she'd shoved them back on the metal creatures after having them shoved on her, she can see fine, thank you), she doesn't make much of that. Yet the ah, tentacles? ]

Learning anything interesting?

[ Barely comes before asking outright what in the world they are. Other than, hopefully, something not as aggressive as the large fish burying themselves in sands all through this area. (Those are as bad as some of the bears in the Hinterlands...) ]

[octoroom]

[Fukami cuts a glance her way-- he felt her coming even before she spoke... "spoke" up. His tentacles are preoccupied with several of the fish, rabbitrays in particular, though some floaters have gravitated to him. Maybe because he's unlike them. He keeps the floaters at more of a distance, however, disturbing the water to wave them further from him when they get too close.]

...No.

[An answer, after several moments.] Besides that some of these creatures are too friendly.

[Were he meaner, he'd consider taking several of the rabbitrays with him to eat. He's not. He'll save that for sand sharks and stalkers. For the time being, he lets the rays play and gambol through the water around him, though some cut away to go toward Ellana, curious.]

[maserannas]

[ When the rabbitrays come close enough they might touch Ellana, she moves her hand. They're gently deterred from coming any closer, and for the moment, she keeps the barrier in place. No offense to the fish. She simply wasn't up for being investigated by them.

The smooth, unexpected barrier leaves them curious, moving up and along it in the rough sphere it made. It might look odd, a shimmer in the water and rabbitrays curving around the edge of that shimmer. It's also another line of defense, in case she needs one. Fast casting without tools to assist with focus gets chancier, for all she's had her share of practice over her lifetime. ]

While others are more territorial. You're not from here by any chance, are you?

[ Life would be both simpler and more complex if anyone was truly from this whole ocean-dwelling nonsense. She doesn't expect an affirmative, but... at least this individual seemed built for it, talked on the mental connection, and wasn't spouting gibberish. Points in their favour overall. ]

E

[mensrea]

[ Naturally, Stiles does not immediately notice that the room’s other occupant appears to dry off quickly. Nor does he process the bird that has been pulled out from the locker like a magic trick. Eyes wide with alarm, he stares and stares and stares at Fukami. ]

H-hey, dude? [ he begins, voice lowered in a whisper. ] Don’t freak out, but… I think you’ve got company.

[ Stiles is, of course, referring to the octopus tentacles. It simply has yet to occur to him that they are a part of Fukami and not, say, the limbs of an overly clingy critter from the sea. ]

[octoroom]

[Fukami turns his head to glance over at him. What. He glances down at the roast bird on a plate on one of his tentacles, but he doesn't think Stiles is talking about that, so he'll just put it back into the locker (FUKAMI...) for now.]

…What company are you referring to?

[As far as he can tell, he and this guy are one of the few in here. One tentacle curls next to him, like a question mark.]

d.

[pseudoll]

[What do you do when you're absolutely defenseless and something's swimming your way to attack you??

Swim away! Or try to... in a different direction... feebly...... Yin can swim at least, but she's not going to be making her escape from the shark any time soon. While she realizes this is pretty hopeless, she still tries her best to swim away. Even if she doesn't understand emotions, survival instincts are still something she has.

But for real, this kind of sucks. Just when it seems like the shark might reach her, she closes her eyes, wondering how much this will hurt.]

[octoroom]

[About as much as being gently buffeted by water-- because that's what happens. The sand shark's gotten tangled up in tentacles around its back fin, creeping across and under its snapping jaws in order to clamp them shut.

Fukami's teeth are gritted as he forcibly pulls it back from her because wow that was a close call.

(Too many people in this ocean are defenseless!!)

There's a dull snapping sound that might not carry well in the water and the sand shark's thrashing renews, in pain this time. Fukami flings it further away and it, moving oddly and sluggishly with one side dipping down, stages a retreat back to where it came.]

[pseudoll]

[The pain she's expecting never comes, and Yin doesn't have to open her eyes to know that she's surprisingly been saved. What's even more surprising is who her savior is, what with the tentacles and all. For a moment, she wonders if someone purposefully saved her, or if an octopus decided to get into a fight.

It's obvious which it is though, and as the shark swims away with its injuries, there's an undeniable sense of relief. She looks at Fukami, wanting to say thank you, but that's not exactly possible right now. Actually, more than that, she really wants to breathe right now, so she quickly makes her way towards the surface, hoping he follows so she can express her gratitude.]