OTA - First Things First

[super_seal]

WHO: Steve McGarrett and YOU
WHERE: Fountain, Forest, Village (behind and in between buildings)
WHEN: September 3rd
OPEN TO: All
SCRUB COLOR: Hunter Green
WARNINGS: None to start
STATUS: Open

[ Fountain ]

Coming to, Steve knows instantly that he’s underwater. Fighting the upwards momentum, he opens his eyes and tries to get some idea of what the hell is going on. All he sees is darkness with light shining down from above. He knows which way to go and after confirming he’s alone without any detectible threat in the water he kicks up.

Slowing just before surfacing, he eases his eyes and nose above the water with barely a splash. SEAL training coming in especially helpful at the moment. He scans his surroundings, only to find that nothing looks familiar.

The last he remembered was taking Wo Fat prisoner and flying a chopper from an island not far off Hawaii. They’d been over the pacific, he remembers that, but then nothing until coming to in the water. Had someone shot them down? The chances of him landing in the fountain he found himself in was extremely slim, but it is possible someone attempted to dispose of him there. The landscape doesn’t look familiar and he doesn’t think he’s on the islands anymore. Which makes him wonder how long he’s been out and where exactly he is.

But first things first. Easing up high enough to see over the edge of the fountain, he sees what looks to be... a park?


[ Forest ]

Out of the fountain, he makes quick work of getting some distance between him and it. It’s not till he has some cover in the trees does he notice what he’s wearing. It strikes him odd to find himself in scrubs and instantly he misses his cargo pants and everything he normally keeps in his pockets. What he misses most though is a weapon.

Taking inventory of what he has in the backpack, he decides against changing at the moment. Changing may help him fit into whatever mess he’s found himself in, but until he has more intel he’ll stay as he is. Instead he removes only one sock from the backpack and with a quick look around him he picks up a rock about the size of his fist and slips it into the sock. Not a great weapon, but it’s better than nothing until he has time to either acquire some or make something better.

With the backpack secured to his back, he carefully scouts out the forest staying as concealed as possible while also gathering as much information as he can. As he moves through he does some light tracking of any animal trails that he might find as well as notes any vegetation that could be useful for food, weapons, tools or anything else he may need. He may not need any of it, and doesn’t waste time lingering, but if he needs it later he’ll know where to find it.


[ Village ]

Once he ventures out far enough from the fountain, he sees the buildings. With the fountain he had figured there was a settlement of some sort not far off and now that he finds it, he’s curious to see what he’s up against. Attempting to keep as concealed as possible, he peaks into windows and around corners.

The town isn’t what he was expecting and he’s still confused about where he is and why. His leading theory is that Wo Fat somehow managed to get the upper hand, knock him out and brought him here, but seeing the village and the people walking around without weapons he realizes that doesn’t seem likely either.

After watching for a bit he slips his ‘rock-in-a-sock’ into his backpack and ventures in closer. He can only find out so much information by remaining hidden and so far he’s not detected a specific threat. Still, he came to by almost drowning in the fountain and as far as he knows, any one of these people could have tossed him there... Along with a backpack with three days worth of clothing. Whoever put him in the fountain hadn't expected him to die there. So, he’s ready for anything.

Comments

[71st_victor]

Johanna doesn't even bother to hide her disdain when she realizes that she's talking to another one of these people who think that they're in some place called the United States. She's beginning to imagine that it might have existed before Panem, before the Capitol and the war, but she has no idea how it goes from them to what she lives with.

"Not the prisons you know, but all the prisons I've been put in, they've made sure to give me something sharp," is her reply. "Sometimes, people get put into trapped places because people need entertainment. Not here, though," she says, even though she'd love to keep pulling his leg. "Here, it looks like some fucked up science experiment, so why not give us weapons? We can't exactly go anywhere."

[super_seal]

Steve sees the disdain but it doesn't bother him. As a Navy SEAL often deployed in areas that the locals would much rather the United States not have military forces in, he's more than accustomed to seeing that look and ignoring it. Like then, there's nothing he can personally do to change where he's at.

To the level of prison entertainment that she's talking about Steve is not familiar with, but he's aware of the concept, and it makes him wonder what she's done to end up in those types of prisons. If she wasn't fully on the list of people for him to keep an eye on before she is definitely there now.

"Science experiment?!" That was not what he was expecting, although he is aware of projects that have tested drugs on specific populations, or towns created to simulate life in another country to train sleeper agents. "What type of experiments?" With her also having said punishments, he's guessing whatever they are it's not pleasant. "What's preventing us from escaping?" Because if they have basic tools and supplies, Steve's fairly certain he can come up with something.

[71st_victor]

"I'm assuming a dome-like forcefield, though taking a run at it is never a smart idea. I've seen people fried that way," she says evenly, like she isn't talking about watching people die, not to mention that it had been Blight and someone that she'd actually been somewhat neutral about. It's not like she's sad about it, still, but he'd been from home. He'd been familiar.

"Who knows why the fuck they want us? DNA, testing, some reason to keep us around and test us, maybe some way to create new fucked up animals and muttations, for their Capitol," she says, annoyed as she looks him over. "What, doesn't the government do that where you come from?" she asks, with mock innocence. "No secret agendas?"

[super_seal]

The force-field she describes brings a pinched frown to his face. The temptation is there to look up to see if he can see something in relation to what she's talking about but he resists, at least for now.

"Great..." He mumbles under his breath and shakes his head. The last thing Steve has any interest in being is the lab rat in any experiment. That being said, the place she describes as the world she knew prior to being here doesn't sound like any place he's familiar with back home. Doesn't mean she's wrong about here, she has been here a considerable time after all, but it sounds like she's made some assumptions and perhaps those are based more on her previous situation than the one present.

"No, they have their own secret agendas. Nothing quite so... elaborate as dome-like force-fields or creating new mutations unless you believe in the stories surrounding Area 51." Which Steve didn't. "Secret experimentation isn't unheard of, but not to this degree of a setup to my knowledge. Not as to how I came to be here anyway."

Although, it would have been the perfect time for someone to take him if they had wanted. He'd been AWOL from his team, the plane he was on crashed on a remote island and they'd been coming in dark to begin with, and those who had come after them were Japanese mafia. His team, and possibly the Navy, would be looking for him but there wasn't much for them to go on to track him down. If he wanted to get out of here, it was going to be of his own doing... And, he planned to get out of here.

[71st_victor]

Johanna isn't sure she believes that, but then, Panem didn't start out like they did. It took the rebellion for the Capitol to decide to start punishing them after wiping Thirteen off the map, so maybe once, her government looked a lot like his. "Well, lucky you," is her response, teeming with annoyed sarcasm, because of course it figures that other people don't have to deal with the crap she does.

"Now you're here, as trapped as everyone else. If you need firewood, I've got plenty. We could do a trade," she offers boredly.

[super_seal]

Wherever Johanna is from is not the same as where Steve is, but they have their own problems in his as well. One of those problems he'd been in the process of taking care of before he was abducted and brought here. It does make him wonder what happened to Wo Fat... He's still not convinced he isn't behind all this.

"We'll see about that," he mumbles under his breath. Being trapped is not an concept he takes easily and even though he doesn't have a plan yet, he will. "I don't have much of anything right now," nor did he need firewood at the moment, but that could change and he wasn't about to shut any doors. "What is it you'd want in return?"

[71st_victor]

Eyeing him, Johanna can see him being plenty at home in any of the Capitol districts, which means that if things get shitty around here, then she could use an ally like him. Narrowing her eyes, she doesn't have anything she wants right now, but that doesn't mean something won't pop up. "Favor," is what she says. "Maybe your muscles or help when things go pear-shaped like they tend to."

"I may be vicious, but sometimes, I lack in brute strength," Johanna admits, shrugging because it would take an idiot to come straight at her. "So, I'd want your help, at some point in the future. That's all."

[super_seal]

It's really not a difficult call for Steve but he takes a moment to appear to think things over all the same. He's new here and while he's starting to get an idea of what he's somehow gotten himself into he's not been around long enough to know details he should before making deals or arrangements. The thing is though, should things go pear-shaped or if she ever needed help, he'd help her without needing anything back in return, but that's just the type of guy he is.

"Right now I don't need firewood," he says casually enough. "But should I in the future, or when you do need some assistance, I'd be willing to discuss that type of an arrangement." At this point he's not really had a good look around to know what shape they are in as far as a community goes, but he can make some educated guesses. "What other services are in need? I'm going to guess hunting? Are there farms for crops or animals? Security?"

[71st_victor]

Johanna arches her brow when he denies her help, unable to help the way that rubs against her like a frictioned edge, making her feel somewhat off her game and far from sure-footed to a degree she doesn't like, but she's careful to make it look like she doesn't care. "There's hunting. Farms. Crops. Things people need to stay alive," she's willing to confirm, giving him a steely-eyed look.

"Security? People watch out for the things out there, but you can't stop it," she guarantees. "Take care of yourself, your allies, that's the best you can do, I figure."

[super_seal]

He's not fully denying her help, more that he doesn't need what she's offering right at the moment. "So we have the basics at least. Not quite as bad as roughing it, but not living in comfort either." Actually it sounded like they were much closer to the roughing it than in comfort, but Steve was completely okay with that. In fact he preferred it.

There's an eyebrow raised at not being able to stop the things that are out there. It doesn't sound to him she means the other creatures that might live in these woods. That she uses the word allies instead of friends is something Steve notices. It's more tactical and military in thinking than community. "Are their structured alliances established here?"

[71st_victor]

Johanna gives him a look of disbelief, mainly because she wants to know where in the world there aren't structured alliances. "People always gravitate one way or another," she points out, seeing as that's just how the world works, as far as she's concerned. "It's pretty much us versus them. The 'them', in this case, being the people who trapped us here."

Because no matter how irritated Johanna might be with some of the people here, most of her ire is reserved for the ones trapping them. If it turns out to be the Capitol, then all that anger can be stored up and shared together, conveniently.

[super_seal]

There's a raised eyebrow to match her look of disbelief. She's thinking in a much larger picture than he currently is and it takes him a second to realize that's the reason behind her look. "Of course," he says in agreement. "I take it then those of us who are trapped generally work together for survival."

The picture he has in his mind's eye of where he's ended up is slowly starting to form. It's not ideal and he'd much rather be almost anywhere else but here, but that the community works together is a positive thing to him.

With a soft sigh he looks around and nods. "I'll let you get back at it but uh... Thanks for the information. When I need firewood, I'll be sure to let you know. Otherwise, if you need some brute strength... Well it sounds like I shouldn't be too difficult to find."