Zone D -- The Foam

[Karl Jak]

Overview of Region - A coastal region that may have functioned as a spot for tourists.  Subzones D9 to D18 are permanently flooded, with water levels up to about four feet (sorry to all you shorties out there).  Throughout the floodplain, you’ll find coral masses and a handful of underwater caverns.  The Safe House is on a small platform near the edge of the island.  The rest of Zone D is comprised of some tropical foliage.  Subzone D2 contains an abandoned resort (complete with two hotel buildings, pools, and a tiny water park).



Currently it is... Light rain. Some wind.

Note: This OP may be updated periodically with extra information or to reflect changes in the Subzone. I will make notifications when this happens.

Note: -- Everyone must roleplay returning to the Safe House at least once in a 24 IC time span (once every 4 OOC days). The first timer starts to tick at 4:30 PM CDT on 6-14 and will expire at the end of the IC day (4:30 PM CDT on 6-18). Regardless of whether you visit the safehouse early or late, everyone's timer starts at the same time (if that doesn't make sense -- ask me)

[The Future Warrior]

Rain. Graowr shaded her eyes with one hand, looking up at the sky. It wasn't a lot of rain, but it was annoying. Oh well. At least the wind made it kind of cool out here. And there was some water. Nice view.

Looking down at the tablet in her other hand, she tapped and fumbled at it, poking at the thing to pull up the map of the island. There were some items and such already dropped on the island. "We're supposed to...grab those things, right? Right! There's one pretty close!" she said happily. Securing her knapsack she took off at a brisk jog toward her destination.

Moving from D1 to C1

[Harlan Higgs]

-fzzzt-

"Wait, what? Oh, fook me runnin' you purple suited poofter I'll suck you dry dropping me int-"

SPLOOSH

Vic Hendy broke the waterline with a pissed off snarl before regaining his composure. Wiping a piece of seaweed from his face, he looked around him to get stock of his surroundings. Waist deep in salty warm water, some sort of tropical floodplain, rock formations sticking out of the placid gentle waves and coral reefs underfoot. 

Blow this for a lark.

He heftes the bag of supplies over his shoulder and started wading towards land, grumbling undsr his breath about having to start off soggy and waterlogged "like a fookin' halibut".

Moving from D17 to D12

[Harlan Higgs]

He didn't even know how long it had beenn but he was still wading through the water. God, he hated swimming. And it had only gotten slightly shallower. Still, the sandy strip of dry land was much closer.

He hadn't seen much aside from pretty coral formations and brightly colored fish, one of which nearly swam up his pant leg. He'd shaken it freen but decided against catching on of them or anything. He had work to do, people to meet, and shit to find. 

Onward.

Moving D12 to D8

[Oleander]

The change of scene was disorienting at first, but not necessarily in a bad way. The immediate thing he noticed was the heavy scent of salt in the air. “By all the lucky stars…” He took a powerful breath, filling his lungs with the smell of the sea. Fishy… mossy… all natural… and the light forestry around him was only adding to the smells. “Feels like home!” And by home, he meant traveling along Japanese coastlines to relax.

And relax he did. Takezo took a moment to enjoy the air as he tightened his straw sandals. He pulled string from his pocket to tie around his knees and ankles, keeping the loose cloth of his pants to his skin, so they did not stack on underbrush and the like. He tucked his coat tail loosely into his sash afterwards. Snagging was a major pain when running through the woodlands, and flopping soaked pants legs were no better.

He was almost stalling for time as he stretched his legs, his arms and his back. Maybe he was. The smell was wonderful, despite the underlying stench of what might be a nearby cesspool. It was better than the blank white of the Nexus, and he had hardly spent any time in that one town before being transported to that facility. Needless to say, the vagabond had missed the great outdoors.

“Time to go… Hmm. Which way… which way…” His gaze peered into the distance, broken by trees and brush. He took another breath through his nostrils. The hunt was on… and Dust was close. He held up a hand, as if reaching for the tall beast of a man. “I feel you there…”

He plucked the bag of provisions from the ground and tossed them onto his shoulders. With a deep breath, he begins to run. The pace he chose was not top speed, but it was one he could hold for a while. Even then, for the man that traveled his whole life, his pace was rather swift.

Takezo kept his left hand upon the hilt of his sword, just in case he needed it. He hoped he would need it soon… As he ran, he breathed in through his nose, but every exhale was a giddy cackle. “Time to hunt, time to slay, let us go, let us play!” The tune was sang with that wild laughter. The old hunter’s shanty was as childish as it was grim.

“Demon, demon at my door, drop ten bodies to the floor!” He paused briefly to leap over a bush. “One for the fun, two for the fight!” The fight would be grand. “Three to feed the demons in the night!” Delicious would be the bodies he fed to the demons. “Four for the challenge, five will be dead! Six and Seven fall without their head!”

His voice rose. He could care less who hears him at this point; his hand tightened on the handle of his sword. “Eight for the record, nine for the night! Ten bodies fall, before first light!”

D10 to D11

[Harlan Higgs]

Oh good lord. Thank the Lady of chancen he was finally on dry land. He paused for a minute, turning around and looking out over the lapping beach, the waves gentle and placid, the sun shining in a manner he hadn't seen in decades.

This Omniverse had different rules, and here, he could appreciate the gift of the sun.

He was appreciating it so much that he almost tripped over the crusty wooden chest half buried in the sand, the toe of his boot making a thunking sound as it impacted.

Victor Hendy grinned. Off to a wonderful start.

Item Search, D8

[The Future Warrior]

Out of the city, and back into the gusts of sea-breeze and drizzle of rain. Her features immediately snapped into a mildly irritated scowl again, feeling her scarf already starting to get weight down and drenched with the rain."I don't like this place..."

Fishing the tablet out to check the map again, she broke into a swift, hopping run along the land, avoiding the gathered puddles and muddy pools. "This way! Getting closer!"

Moving from D4 to D7

[The Future Warrior]

"Closer...closer...just along this way!" she said to herself, her pace picking up. She had gone from hopping, skipping steps, leaping from one 'dry' section of ground to the next to a regular run now to keep her attention. Looking from the map, back up to where she was going, to the map, and back up again.

"Almost there!"

Moving from D7 to D8

[The Future Warrior]

As she ran along, she heard something. A ringing form her scouter, and a moment afterward a message popped on screen. A call from...Tony Redgrave! The guy with the red coat. She tapped at the buttons, fumbling for a moment with the rain-slick contraption before answering it. "Hey! Redcoat!" she said cheerily.

"Redgrave." came the correction.

"Yeah, that! How ya doin'? Where'd you end up?"

She wasn't exactly making an effort to be quiet as she ran along toward where she'd last seen the item at on her map.

[The Future Warrior]

"Oh, you found a safehouse already? Cool!" She checked her map again. "I'm down in Zone D, I think...where all the water is and it's kind of flooded out in the distance." She looked back up, hopping over some muddy puddles. "I already found one of those items, and I think I'm close to another one!"

She slowed down, seeing someone in the distance. "I think someone else might have found this one already, though..." she whined.

[Jak Mar]

The announcement played a annoying little jingle as to advertise the final bell to leave for Dante’s Abyss.

Daxter would be at home cheering Jak on as loud as possible “COME ON, DYNAMITE KID, you go get’m!”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak braced himself as he grabbed his brown, plain knapsack.

The dataverse device/ Com had just went off as he grabbed it out.

Keeping his voice low, he bent down “Tony"' "Grov"

“You hear me?"

[Handsome Jack]

I wiggle my 'toes' in the sand and breathe in that cool ocean air. The sun beats down on my carapace, warming me inside and out. And, speaking of inside, FUCK I'M HUNGRY! I haven't had a chance to eat since I GOT here. Not just to this island, of course, but to the Omniverse as a whole. Red-Haired Bitch interrupted the meal I'd HAD planned... Well, I guess I'll just need to find someone to quench my appetite. I begin walking along the sand.

Moving D5 to D6

[Corporal Light]

Teleportation is the worst thing in the existence of everything!


Those were the thoughts he would have vocalized if he wasn’t more busy shrieking his head off as he plummeted into the ocean below. It didn’t take long for him to reach the bottom, and when he did, his knee slammed right into ocean floor. Pain swarmed up his leg and into his stomach, replacing the fear that he had felt. His yelled up to the sky, moving his hand to comfort his wounded leg.

Then, he slowly, ever so slowly, floated up to the surface of the water. His suit decompressed as his head broke through the waterline, giving him some much appreciated oxygen.

He removed his hands from his leg, tenderly setting it on the floor beneath him. The fact that the mere act of trying to move on it sent spurts of agony up his leg did not ease Isaac fears at all. He moved his wrist up to his face, pressing a button on his torso. A holographic projection of his spinal display flickered into view.

80%. The color of the juice inside of the spinal display was already glowing a dark orange.

He took a deep breath to ward off the cold shiver running down his back. He had to remain calm. He could not go into shock on the first day. He concentrated on his surrounding environment, trying to avoid the pain by settling the more obvious question: where the living fucking hell was he?

The sky was covered in dark green, thick clouds, blocking out more or less all the sunlight. It was drizzling rain, providing an almost mist-like, sea-foam quality to the area around him that permeated the distinct smell of fish, moss, and salt. Rain and seawater splashed up against his helmet and suit, rinsing his RIG and cleaning it of the bloodstains covering it. That was probably the only good thing about his situation: it was making sure his clothes were all nice and sparkly shiny. Thank god for its decompression, too. He could handle pain, but sand in his boots? Fuck that straight to hell.

He took a deep breath, gritting his teeth as his leg went into another conniption fit. He knew where he was located at the very least: the middle of fucking nowhere.

Only that wasn’t quite true. Stepping around in a circle, careful not to move his hurt knee too much, he found himself facing what looked to be a coastline. Shells and coastal flora covered the sandy shoreline, with what looked to be light green leaves and massive, tropical bushes and other pieces of brush farther up. Palm trees dotted the beachhead, some carrying brown, plump coconuts on top of them.

With his bad leg, trying to traverse the sea just wasn’t an option. It was already hard enough to walk, so swimming would be an absolute nightmare. The only direction he had was forward.

He was just about to start heading toward shore when he saw something else: what looked to be a ninja of some description was jogging along the beach, merry to the point of absurdity. He would have taken him as some sort of mental patient if not for the ninja’s hand gripped around the hilt of his sword.

He wasn’t just a mental patient. He was a mental patient who was competing. And he looked like he was itching for a fight.

That was only confirmed a moment later.

“Eight for the record, nine for the night! Ten bodies fall, before first light!”

He sucked in a breath, remaining quiet. The man was close enough that if he turned his head then he could easily see Isaac, floating with the waves of the ocean. He had to find a way to hide.

He pressed a blue button on his torso. His magnetic boots clicked into place, keeping him locked on the ground. He leaned forward, his suit compressing and activating his oxygen supply as he dipped his body below the surface of the water. Despite the waves trying to force him backwards and forwards, his boots kept him as still as a statue.

He glanced down to the green hologram projecting from his RIG. 106 seconds. That was more than enough time.

So, he stood, hiding, underneath the waves of the ocean, and waited.

Still within D11. Hiding from Shinmen.

[Gamzee Makara]

"Whoa. It's motherfuckin' damp in this bitch," Gamzee murmurs to himself.

What a pretty view though! S'like a bunch of tidal pools and flooded beaches and shit. From his angle, the clown thinks he sees some motherfucking shapes all movin' about in the distance. Ey, Gamzee thinks to himself. Maybe those motherfuckers would be chill bros. Maybe they'd even wanna help a fellow Abyss participant out.

Only one way to find out!

------

Gamzee sheepishly sloshes his way across beaches and flooded land towards the nearest silhouette in the distance, who appears to be crouched over something. The alien will try to be cordial at first, but frankly he probably needs the item more than whoever this dude is.

It takes a little while, but eventually Gamzee is pretty close to the guy; albeit covered in sea water and wet sand. He stepped on a coral branch on his way hear. Shit wasn't fun. He's pretty tired already and mainly just wants to shoot the shit with someone friendly, maybe just casually ask them some stuff about you know, stuff.

"Yo!" He shouts out, waving his arms a bit.

This is directed at Harlan Higgs

[Oleander]

The run through knee-deep waters and plantlife was growing tiring, even to the well traveled vagabond. Instead of sloshing straight towards Dust, he turned a bit northward. He looked over his shoulder, almost feeling the presence of someone else… but no, it seemed no one was there.

Takezo trudged through the wet floodlands towards higher, dryer ground. He was still singing his haunting, jaunty tune on repeat. He had not been too far into the floodlands, making it easy to slosh his way onto the unwitting shoreline. He took a very brief moment to ring out some of the water of his pants legs, chuckling while he does. "I feel sorry for the poor bastards that wind up any deeper..."

With that, he treks forward, his pace quickly renewed.

D711 to D7

[The Future Warrior]

"Oh? Hey, Jak!" Graowr said brightly. "Glad to hear from you!" She tiled her head at the suggestion. "Yeah, I think the first items are all grabbed by now, probably. We could try and meet up, I guess. Maybe we could head for a safehouse somewhere? We'd be safe there to at least think for a while or something." She paused again, looking ahead. "Hang on, there's some people here. I'm gonna go say hi!"

She hurried on ahead, splashing through the mud and lifted a hand in a wave. "Hey! Hey, you guys! What's goin' on over here?"

Speaking to Harlan and Gamzee

[Oleander]

Turning eastward once again, Takezo picked up Dust’s sense once more and raced towards it. He was getting closer, and the closer he came, the louder he sang that haunting tune. “Three to feed the demons in the night!”
 
“Four for the challenge, five will be dead! Six and Seven fall without their… Time” Takezo saw just barely off in the distance a small cluster of mobile bodies. His brow furrowed, even as his smirk grew. His left hand still rested upon his hilt as he moved in. They must have found something… One of those mysterious drops, maybe? The swordsman was rushing forward till he could see and hear the group clearly.  His hand itched to draw his blade and cut down the three bodies here. That would be a good start on his way to ten.
 
However, he stopped… They were talking, so he held his hand for the moment. “What do we have here? I don’t assume you three are a team, so I guess something must have dropped here…” His sharp eyes glance between the present foes. He waited for someone to make a move, expecting nothing less than a blood bath right where he stood.
 
Those who looked into the swordsman’s eyes saw the demon that hid in them. He may be human, through and through, but the man’s blood lust was endless. He could die here and laugh at them. Those with weaker constitution may even flinch if their eyes met. He was allies with no one here, which meant that these three were fine to slay on sight – if they posed opposition.

D7 to D8, confronting Higgs, Graowr and Gamzee.

[Corporal Light]

He waited. He waited some more. He had patience; he could wait as long as his oxygen could hold out. The numbers on his hologram ticked by. 90. 80. 70. It was surprisingly bright underwater, though part of it was helped by the cyan tri-lights on his helmet. Aside from small bits of seaweed and the occasional sand dollar floating past his face, there was a heaping amount of absolutely nothing. For a reasonable looking beach, he was kinda shocked there wasn’t more life. 60. 50. He could feel his heartbeat in his head. He had to look up, just to see if the man was still there.

Steeling his nerves, he lifted his head up. His helmet broke the surface, allowing him to see the shoreline. Wiping away the water impeding his vision, he squinted.

He wasn’t there. The plan had worked.

He sighed in relief. That was one confrontation avoided, at least.

He turned off the magnetism on his boots. As he bobbed up and down, letting the current of the ocean take him wherever it desired, he considered his next move. Obviously, trying to follow that guy would be the worst decision of his life, and that would be WITH him convincing Nicole to go on the Ishimura, so the shore was a no-go. That left only one available way to go.

He turned his head to face the remainder of the sea. He rubbed his throbbing knee. Hopefully, the ocean wouldn’t be TOO rough with him. The last thing he needed was ALL of his body parts broken, bleeding, and battered.

Taking a deep breath-- an instinctual one. He’s swimming, after all.-- he hopped forward and activated the thrusters on his legs and shoulders. The sudden jolt of force sent a shockwave of pain down his leg. Gritting his teeth, he puttered forward, heading into the sea.

Moving from D11 to D15.

[Harlan Higgs]

Vic had swiftly pocketed his prize from the chest, promptly seating himself on the sturdy makeshift bench. He lifted up his foot, and began the process of squeezing the seawater from his sopping clothes. 

Slipping off a shoe, he poured a stream of liquid out of his socks and pant legs, patting down his clothes and sleeves. He was just about finished, having proceeded from "soaked" to merely "dripping". 

"Yo, bro man. How's it hanging?" Hendy looked up and saw what looked like an adolescent boy, humanoid. Makeup on his face, brightly colored horns on his head. "You good, dude? Ain't gonna eat me or nothin', right?"

Victor Hendy gave a friendly chuckle. "Not at all, harlequin, not at all. Pull up your soaking shoes and sit a spell." He extended a hand and shook the boy's, looking out over the waves. "Name's Victor Hendy, son. Good to meet someone friendly, unlike the majority of the fellas back at the facility. You travel far?"

Gamzee was just about to answer.
Then the tranquil serenity of the seaside scene was rudely interrupted by a bouncing blue blob, waving cheerily at them. "Hi! Hi! Hello, you guys! Hi!"

A start of fear ran through the conman's body. The one thing he was not expecting in a competition like this: aggressive friendliness. He put on his folksy demeanor once more.

"Well now, first a friendly trickster, then a lovely azure lady! ...lady, right?" It was hard to tell. Oh gods, this was rapidly spiraling out of his control. The newcomer nodded fiercely, a vapid grin on her face. 

Yeah.
 
It was time to move along.

"Ho ho ho! What have we here?" Another voice sounded from the surf, this one with some edge to it. Some malice. Vic looked over to the third arrival, his shirt stained with blood, a sword at his hip, the man making strange and predatory movements with his lips. Jesus, he'd seen this guy in the bar. Boastful and monstrous.

It was definitely time to leave.

"Not much, friend. I was just sittin' a bit to get the dew out of my boots, but I think it's time I hit the old dusty trail. Y'all play nice now, hear?"

He started edging off of the beach, leaving the conspicuous chest behind, empty of it's treasure.

Attempting to leave, D8 to C12

[Deadpool]

"Wade waded through the marshlands," the mercenary mumbled. "Then again, is it really a marshland? Who knows--the description given and the picture provided confuse the hell outta me. We'll go by the picture though."

Perhaps Alex trolled Deadpool with the ultimate pun--Wade having to wade to shore. The thought made him chuckle. Not many narrators had the ability to land those sort of jabs.

He would have to wade at least a few hundred meters; the closest chunk of tall grass looked like row of Hawaiian dancers in the rolling humidity. He splashed towards it.

D18 >>> D13