Test Dive #1

[subnauticmods]

≡U.R.S.U.L.A. NAVIGATION

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

TEST DIVE MEME


For information about the animals and locations, be sure to check out the BIOME and BASE pages!

A1: Go Fish
You! Yes, you! Your friendly neighbourhood AI has a task she would like to encourage YOU to do! After all, you can’t forget the most important fact: you’re here to make the planet habitable. Which means cataloguing, capturing and studying potential threats to anyone’s life. That includes a swarm of Stalkers that have been hanging around the waters awfully near the base, which presents a perfect research opportunity! At least, URSULA seems to think so.

Don’t go in willy-nilly waving your knife around, though. URSULA doesn’t want you to bring in tonight’s Sashimi Surprise™, she wants you to bring in a Stalker that’s still kicking. Which means you have to capture a live one. So hold back your crazy power or trigger-happy instincts!

How will you take one in alive without ending up dead yourself? You could go in the brute-force way, slamming its jaws shut and bagging it, though it’s pretty strong itself… or you could be a bit more cunning, taming it with bait or giving it shiny metal salvage to play with before luring it into a tank to bring it into the base. You might want to get a helping hand with this task, since it’s not exactly an easy one-man job.

A2: Go With Fish
So, now you’ve got a live and very disgruntled Stalker on your hands! Hopefully, said hands don’t have to be amputated (it’s okay if they have to though, URSULA will fix it. Try not to watch the nanites go). What do you do with it? You could keep it as a pet and observe its growth! You could dissect it and study its anatomy! Or you could… eat it. (After going through all the effort to bring it in alive?!)

B: The Abysmal Sea
You’re stranded.

One of the planet’s troublesome signal-interfering pulses has just made your communication devices 100% nonfunctional. No matter how you try to call URSULA for help, she isn’t able to respond. The database strapped to your wrist is just a useless chunk of metal now, leaving you without a useful library of knowledge to survive off. If you were driving any underwater vehicle prior to this point, it’s broken down. And unless you’re a mechanic, it’ll be pretty hard to get it jumpstarted again.

Don’t fret! The communication systems always come online eventually, so if you stay put, it’ll boot back up and give you directions straight back to base so you can finally get home. But can you really afford to stay put? The sunlight’s slowly streaming out of the sky, leaving the waters darker and darker with each passing second. Soon, you won’t be able to see five feet in front of you, and the only warning you’ll get of any approaching threat is through sound, if they even make any.

You have a few choices: take a daring risk and try swimming back to base, but on the off-chance you don’t remember the directions correctly from before you were cut off, you’re going to get even more lost, in the darkness of the night no less. Or, you could huddle in, with any friends if they were unfortunate enough to be with you, and start focusing on getting warm. Because spending the night out here in the vast oceans with the entire world against you is becoming a very, very real possibility.

C: It’s dangerous to go alone. Take them!
URSULA’s technology is breathtaking. With enough materials, she could make practically anything: weapons, vehicles, all those human comforts and entertainments she forgot to build... or perhaps she could expand the base to give everyone even more leg room. But there’s a catch: you need to get those materials to her in the first place, and scavenging can be a monumental task.

The planet Iniidae has a plethora of materials to provide, but you’ve got to go find them first. Some are easy enough to get, by plucking off the ground or breaking a rock. But some are a bit more challenging, such as Crash Powder, seeing that the Crash defending it will literally explode in your face if you get too close. And then there’s materials such as Blood Oil, only harvestable within the Blood Kelp Caves several hundred meters underwater in the pitch-black darkness… remember, you have to gather resources with your two bare hands. No such thing as driving around and conveniently collecting them within the somewhat-relative safety of an armored vehicle.

Since it’s so dangerous to go alone, URSULA will encourage you all to leave the base in pairs or groups if you’re going to try collecting some of the more precarious materials to harvest. She has heard that most lifeforms find being reconstituted from nanites traumatic, so try not to die in front of each other!

D: Hide and Seek Help
URSULA knows that everyone needs downtime, and no one can go salvaging or gathering specimens all the time. So what do you do for fun on an alien ocean planet when the AI who made your base forgot to make any kind of entertainment room?

Why, play hide-and-seek, of course! There’s a lot of places to hide away from others, and it’s challenging to find anyone. (Sometimes, too challenging to find them… ever… but that’s not the point.) The area around the base and submarine is relatively safe, so anyone can hide away in a coral structure or a cave, and telepathy makes it easy to taunt your seekers without revealing where you are.

Of course, you may encounter a Bone Shark or even a stray Stalker, and you won’t have time to get away or even scream as it attacks you, but hey. What other way to make hide-and-seek more thrilling than to turn it into hide-and-hope-you-get-found-as-you-shout-for-help-to-anyone-who-can-hear-your-telepathy?

E: Toilet Humor
Really, it was bound to happen eventually. Someone's in the bathroom observatory, doing their 'business', and someone is trying very hard to catch a fish for dinner outside. Your eyes meet. Someone has literally been caught with their pants down.

And in that moment your telepathy goes a little wonky, because it's good to have open communication about this incident.

F: The Caverns of Dream
The ocean calls you. Of course, it's much easier to dismiss it as nightmares. You'll probably think that's all it is after you have them. Flashes of screaming sea creatures writhing in agony, pleading for help, but these creatures can't ask for help, can they? Something huge, beyond the scope of imagination, moves in the ocean of your dreams and calls out to you to go deeper into the darkness. It pleads and begs but not with a voice you can hear or words you can understand.

You wake up in a sweat with the unrelenting desire to take a swim, even though it's late and everyone is asleep. Or maybe someone else just had the same nightmare as you? Are you willing to take a swim and try to understand the dream?

BASED ON CODE BY TESSISAMESS AND SUPERSUITS

Comments

Mettaton | Undertale

[showybusiness]

A

[ Oh, goodness! He had come down to the base - or, the planet, and then down to the base - under the assumption he and his band were going on a tour to make more fans, more business, and MORE MONEY! But here they were, stuck doing menial labor. Mettaton, the fantastic and FABULOUS star of the underground world, was not made for his!

But he's metal, and can discharge electricity, so perhaps it was wise to make him go wrangle these big fishy beasts. One extendable robot arm dips into the water and grabs one of the stalkers, discharging some voltage into it - and water carries electricity. So every time he does it, he visibly shudders in... pain? Something like that, perhaps. But he's going to get one of these stupid fish so he can go back to performing!

What does matter is a sexy robot is wrangling fish. What? ]

[inhumanity]

[Glubbing down from above, a shark-mouthed, red-eyed monster of a man . . . is clapping? Yes, he's clapping! He's cheering! He is even, from his upside down position, whipping out some waterproof equipment—yes, that's a camera—and yes, he is taking photographs!

He could, of course, help. But this is clearly a more productive use of his time.]

Ibtisam | Star Wars: X-wing

[sunsetundersea]

After a couple of years of compressing her pedal fins into boots and spending so much of her time in the uncomfortably cool, dry environments favored by humans, it's nice to be in a place where Ibtisam can be truly comfortable again.

B] Which helps out here in the dark. Ibtisam knows where the base is - even without the signal, she feels and tastes the currents and can navigate reasonably well. She did grow up on a world like this. But swimming out through open waters in these conditions seems uncomfortably like being out in open space. Besides, at home that would be a target too tempting for krakana to ignore.

"Most of the wildlife is bioluminescent. If we keep our lights off, we won't signal where we are to anything."

D] So this is a splendid idea! With her fishlike Mon Calamari silhouette and mottled coloration Ibtisam would be harder to spot from a distant and knows it. "Do you want me to take a handicap?"

B

[logdate]

(( OOC: So much love for Ibtisam, holy crap. ))

"Stupid piece of primitive junk-" Ibtisam's companion is busy trying to get the vessel to re-power itself. It's probably a futile attempt, but the short, uh, green woman has levered the main panel off so she can futz with the wiring and electronics underneath. Try as she might, Peridot can't seem to get any sort of reaction out of the submersible. At least they're not sinking. She frowns and swings her head around so she can stare up at her fishy companion.

"They're also much faster than we are while we're underwater. Or at least faster than me."

The lack of oxygen is less a problem, since gems don't really need to breath.

"That might be a slight problem if they find us."

[octoroom]

A1 (or 2, he might try to eat it eventually let's just be real here).
[What about one octopus tackling this, though? A human-shaped octopus, mind, but with tentacles included. Fukami is taking a faint sense of enjoyment from wrangling what is, essentially, as shark-esque a creature as he's come across in this world thus far (barring bone sharks, of course).

Actually, it's kind of pitiful for the creature in question.

A Stalker is being held over the surface of the water, and it's currently wrapped up securely in three tentacles, one holding its jaws shut, the others pinning its fins to its body, writhing valiantly against a tight grip. Fukami, on the other hand, is showing just a... impassive expression like this is just another day, his (human) arms folded across his chest.

Yeah, no, that Stalker is definitely the pitiful thing here.

If you happen along to this sad sight, Fukami lets it writhe around in the air a while longer before:] Do you have a bag?

[Apparently he didn't bother to get one.]


B.
[Congratulations! You get to spend time in the ocean with... Fukami, it seems. He doesn't seem to be paying much attention to who's with him, staring off instead over the water. He's not very chatty. I'm sorry. Occasionally he'll bob in it, as though he's considering sinking down into the depths because he's an octopus, being in water is normal.

When the sky begins to dim is when he'll speak up, if the person with him doesn't speak first.]

Let's go back.

[In which direction, aren't we lost??????]

B

[infusion]

((OOC: Basic Info for you o/))

... Easier said than done, hon.

[Iona Oakes has seen a few strange things in her life. Octopus kid-person-thing is probably up there with one of the strangest. Still, he doesn't seem like he means any harm even if they're both stuck in the ocean right now.]

Though, if you don't mind me saying, it seems like you've been in an ocean or two. Got any sense of direction or am I hoping too much?

Mai | Amnesia

[upcard]

a2

[Mai was certainly not capable of capturing this fish. But someone more capable than her managed to do it, grabbing the fish and wrangling it (at least its jaws are snapped shut and tied up, but who knows how long that will last?) and then shoving it off on her.

The problem is that she's a perfectly normal human being. She's a demure, tiny young woman at that, so a 7 foot fish? She can't carry that.

She tries, she really does, but then she slips and goes tumbling, stalker flopping on top of her, and it's just a disaster. Someone please help her...]

c

[Well.

She's not sure she'll be of much use on this mission either, but that doesn't mean that she won't try. Which is why, as they make their way out to try to collect some of those highly questionable substances, she's turning to you (lucky you, paired with someone like Mai), nervous but as certain as she can manage to be.]

I'll... do my best to help, so-- so it's very nice to be working with you...!

[It would probably sound more confident if she wasn't so soft-spoken and wasn't stammering so much, but there you have it.]

a2

[civilserpent]

Pardon me.

[Sasasul is soft-spoken, as might be expected from a giant snake with pale hands clasped together, leaning her big head closer.]

That is a very large fish. Would you accept assistance?

[inhumanity]

A2: Care Bear Stare Down

[It's a Stalker, yup! It's in a fish tank. Christopher is happily cooing over it.]

You really have the most remarkable teeth, don't you? They're almost as impressive as mine! On these grounds, I think we'll have to declare ourselves friends. And the friend of my friend is my friend through the mathematical property of transference, so allow me to introduce you to a brand new friend and multiply our joy!

[He immediately reaches over for the nearest person and—yes—he is going to try to shove your appendage into the aquarium to encourage greetings.] Friend, say hello to Jonathan Cyralique Simone IV!

[The Stalker has royal pedigree.]

E: Crappy Puns

[No. Not only is someone outside, but they're upside down and grinning with a mouth full of dolphin laughter. Christopher taps on the glass, helpfully supplying you with telepathic conversation to help you with your shame.]

What shame! What horror! Wait, could it be that you're from a culture that doesn't have that idea of shamefulness? You barbarian! I applaud you. It's important not to ignore nature's call just because society is calling something different. Congratulations on fully embracing the natural situation we've all found ourselves in!

[Yeah, super helpful. Can you giggle under water? Christopher's gonna try it.]

F: Nature's Best Friend

[Christopher is accustomed to dreams of screams, but these cries are not the death throws of murdered human beings. This begging feels so much deeper, so much more true. The scream of unfortunate things subject to a will that is implacable, impenetrable, impossible to persuade.

Ah, it's almost like they scream the same way.]

[A dolphin's laughter is the only warning before Christopher takes hold of the first person he meets and immediately starts steering them out towards the ocean. Hello, you!]

What I really like about nighttime is the call of the moon. Did you know, in some languages, the lunar call is the lunatic call? They say that more murders occur under the full moon than when her persuasive pattern is hidden, but for my part, I imagine that the moon is just as powerful when cloaked in darkness. My, what a fine evening that glowfish tells us it is. Let's go swimming straightaway.

[It seems like Christopher won't wait for greetings, introductions, or protests: he intends on taking you out for a swim with him.]

A2!

[timexposure]

[Whoa, whoa, whoa, no! She is not losing a hand! Not today!

Max pulls back as much as she can, shaking her head.]

Okay, okay, I'll say hi to... [A pause. That name...

...She likes it.] Wait. What did you name it?

Napstablook | UNDERSAIL

[ghouliday]

B

[ This is how the ghost ends.

Or will continue for at least a little while, being a ghost. The communication system probably had better people to check up on, and so here they are, floating aimlessly at the mercy of the currents like undersea garbage. It feels... almost like the life they were used to. Kind of tranquil. If they just take in all the spooky ambience to be found here, it's almost as if they're lying down and seeing stars again. This is normal.

Also it's their first time out here and they've forgotten how monsters like them are supposed to swim. ]

it's all right... don't worry about me...

[ Whether that's addressed to the communication no matter how offline it is, someone friendly nearby, something less friendly like a Stalker (should they just be polite if one tries to bite into them?), or those jellies that look so much like smaller ghosts themselves, floating so nicely and with actual direction... wait.

Realizing and most likely remembering that it's just like flying but with more effort, Napstablook cautiously expands, contracts, and MOVES LIKE THEY DO. ]

oh

[sunsetundersea]

[FINNY HAND CLAPPING she's fixed the suckers on her pedal fins to some coral so this doesn't blow her backwards.]

I knew you could do it!

Sasasul Quetzalcoatl | Centaur's Worries

[civilserpent]

Sasasul is basically a big three-eyed snake with pale humanlike arms and legs. Don't hold it against her.

E (sort of)] Making the sanitary room more palatable is a simple matter. Sasasul had drafted and edited plans for a curtain and the circular ring to hang it from, and has obtained the proper materials after explaining everything. She has always believed that honest sharing of information is a help. Now she's taken the materials into the room and is discovering that one person has a trying time of assembling things.

Whether you come in on foot or are outside watching, she bows her big head on her long neck. "It's nice to meet you. Would you please help?"

WILD CARD] Perhaps this is not the best place for someone who is afraid of being in the water. It's not even drowning that scares her, truly. But in Antarctica, to touch the ocean means to die in short order.

She can't stay in the base for all her time here. So Sasasul can be seen near the hatch, fully suited up with a modified respirator in her maw, clutching her pale-scaled hands together and staring at the door.

E

[mildwildchild]

Well. That sure is a giant snake person trying to hang a shower curtain.

Jamie's gut reaction to something like this would ordinarily be to back away slowly and try to forget he'd ever seen this, but the snake-person needs a hand, and it is asking politely, so it would be kind of jerkish to just walk off.

"Uhh, sure. What'd you need me to do?" He makes his way over to Sasasul and examines the components she's got strung about, if only to keep from staring overtly at her.

Fractured Milla | Tales of Xillia 2

[retconciled]

[A1]
[Someone might notice a couple of Stalkers desperately trying to get their snouts into a small cave entrance. Milla used her earth magic to seal most of the cave without realising it was a dead end. Great. So much for her Stalker hunting. She would have looked so cool coming back with one single-handed, too.

Finally she uses telepathy, keeping the range short.]

Hey! Anyone around want to give me a hand? I need some live bait over here!


[D]
[If anyone asks, it's only because she was bored. This isn't really fun for her, okay? Except maybe it is a little bit. She's doing the seeking right now just so she can prove how good she is at this. It's like hunting! With less killing, probably.]

You can't hide forever, you know! Come out and face me like a man! Or are you afraid of telling everyone you got your butt kicked?

[She's great at hide and seek.]


[Wildcard]
[Cooking below sea level takes some trial and error. A lot of error. But it's fine. Milla is going to be the best damn chef on this base whether it kills them.

The first person who walks into the kitchen gets Milla striding up to them, crossing her arms.]

You. Take a seat. Now. I finished my stew and you get the honour of tasting it.

wildcard

[upcard]

O-oh...! [The timid girl that is now Milla's target is...definitely not going to argue with someone so fierce. She squeaks, and then nods quickly, taking a seat immediately and obediently.]

I... um... okay?

[...stew??? This wasn't what she was expecting at all, but she'll keep her hands folded in her lap and her head down because maybe eye contact will make Milla fiercer.]

Cardia | Code: Realize

[discardia]

c.

[ So none of this is really going to help her find her father, she realizes, although from everything she's heard about Isaac Beckford, this would be along the lines of something he could have invented. But all the same, Cardia wants to be useful, so she's poring over the list they've been provided and looking at her partner, thoughtfully. ]

This doesn't look impossible... herb-collecting is something I'm used to, at least.

[ Dealing with things deep underwater or angry animals that didn't just die if they bit her? Not so much. ]


f.

[ Nightmares aren't anything new to her, even if she can't always remember them-- and personally, Cardia thinks it's better than the alternative. But this-- this she remembers, and it's still so late... she can't exactly clear her head with some fresh air, but maybe heading to an observatory will help.

But when she spots someone else, she pauses in surprise. ]

... You couldn't sleep, either?

f

[infusion]

[When she woke up from the nightmarish calls, the witch's automatically thinks of going to Oren. But her golem isn't here and she's all by herself where no one knows her. She'd have to deal with this on her own...

But man, sleeping didn't seem like a good prospect, not if she kept hearing those cries.

Iona is standing and leaning against a wall towards the path of the nearest observatory. Her opposite hand clutches her right arm (did it just flicker or a trick of light?) and she looks up when she hears Cardia's voice. She responds rather cheerfully, all things considered.]

Sleep and I are having a disagreement right now. How's it going for you both?

Max Caulfield | Life is Strange

[timexposure]

A2

[For the record? Movies totally make capturing stupid, dangerous fish look so much easier than it really is.

And Max isn't sure she'd call it fun.

Still, once she's finally managed to get it subdued and in a tank, she can maybe-- maybe-- begin to see the appeal of having things like that around.

She taps lightly on the glass of the tank, leaning in close.]

Hello, little monster... You didn't get to eat any of my fingers this time.


E

[Why?

The poor, unfortunate soul in the observatory will immediately hear a telephatic groan, coming from the girl just outside the glass covering her face with her hands.]

No. No!

[Bathrooms just get worse and worse.]

a2

[sunsetundersea]

[Have a big-headed fishcrustacean with a low, gravelly voice.]

Lucky! I understand they think fingers are a delicacy.

Archer (Nobunaga Oda) | Fate/etc

[ateaist]

A1

[Considering they seem to want these creatures back alive, trying to gun one down seemed like a bad idea. She didn't want to go through all this trouble for nothing, after all...so she really weighs her options, hoping to come to a decision based on a very simple question: what's the least likely advisable course of action to take?

So this results in the scene occurring before you right this moment: a woman in a military uniform holding onto the stalker's fin with both hands, feet firmly pressed onto (and maybe a little dug into) its back, as it swims about wildly trying to shake her off, to no avail. If it goes above water, you might even hear the second part of her brilliant plan: diplomacy.]

So, as we've been at this for quite a while, surely you've come to understand defeating me is out of the question! Actually, the entire time we've been at this, the advantage never once slipped out of my hands! You only live as a result of my magnanimity, so I would ask you settle down and listen! Do you understand? We'll move away from this unsightly idea of us as opposing forces and unify, thus ensuring your survival and m--!

[Yeah it just submerged again. Maybe it's smart enough to not want to listen to her.]

B

[If you're the type who takes confidence in other people managing well in stressful situations, be glad you're stuck with her. She has no idea how to actually get out of this situation, but that doesn't mean she's going to fret. Rather, she responds with the kind of sure can attitude you'd expect from someone who even has a plan.]

What a hassle...but it can't be helped! We'll simply regroup with the others; follow me!

[After a while.......it may become apparent you're not getting anywhere following this idiot.]

F

[And much like any other person taken in by the call of the ocean, she immediately gets out of bed with the intention of heading out for a swim...and if you want to stop her, or get in the way, all she offers as far as explanations go is:]

Fool! The ocean has made itself clear! And when one issues the likes of the great and mighty me a challenge, I never refuse.

[SHE'S GONNA FIGHT THE OCEAN, mostly because she misinterpreted the entire experience.]

F

[materialist]

[Yuffie can't exactly argue since she doesn't know what that dream meant either - Aerith was the planet girl, not her! - but this still seems like a bad idea.]

You can't just go fight a whole ocean by yourself! Even I'm not that reckless...

Mary Argent • Tales of Destiny

[scatterbrains]

( a2; )

[somehow she managed to wrangle the stalker—and no, it's not happy about this at all—but now what?]

I wonder how good you would taste grilled over a bed of rice. Probably pretty tasty, right?

[she lets out a small laugh, and whenever it tries to further resist her, she bonks it over the head with a hard thunk until it settles down. well, that's one way to go about things, right?]

( d; )

[hide-and-seek is all well and good—mary is a pretty good hider.

...not so much a good seeker, though. while she's supposed to be looking for people, she gets incredibly sidetracked by a group of rabbitrays.]

Ahh, they're so cute! [distracted by cute things: a mary argent life is somehow a very real thing for a woman who looks like she could probably single-handedly take down an army herself. whoops. someone might want to remind her they're in the middle of a game here.]

( e; )

[it's not as if mary is much of a shy woman, but when she steps out of the shower and is greeted with prying eyes (no matter how unintentional), she bristles a bit.]

Hey! [yeah, she's not to thrilled. but once she's got the voyeur's attention, she'll point to her eyes, then to the axe that's leaning against the shower pod, and finally to the potential victim.

she probably won't hurt anyone unless they do it again, but it's better to be safe than sorry, right? it's probably better not to question why she's got her weapon with her in the shower, too.]

d;

[upcard]

U-um, excuse me...!

[Mary is incredibly intimidating, so Mai's not so sure about approaching her, but... but she must try! She must do her best...!]

I think... I think we should be hiding right now, so um--!

Josephine Montilyet | Dragon Age

[ruffledup]

F

[Well, that was. Certainly an unpleasant dream.

To say the least.

Josephine doesn't immediately let herself go out into the water though (as strong as the sudden desire to do so is). Instead, she walks away slowly, very slowly, from her bed, until she finally spots someone else awake.

Yes. This is safer. Much safer.]

I don't suppose you were thinking of swimming as well?

[sunsetundersea]

I'm always thinking about swimming, when I don't want to walk on land.

[Ibtisam's sitting up in bed, immense eyes concerned. ...hope you don't mind Mon Calamari, Josephine.]

But that was terribly sudden, wasn't it?

Mikleo | Tales of Zestiria

[oneandmikleonly]

A1

[Well, this is something Mikleo can try to do. It’s still unnerving how all the ocean life seems able to see him -- especially when it’s something as big as a Stalker -- but at least nothing he’s come across down here so far has looked or acted particularly doglike. Yet.

He’s still not the best at swimming, and Edna would probably make fun of his clumsy approach if she saw it, but at least he doesn’t need to go right up close, or get too rough. Killing non-hellions for no reason? He doesn’t particularly want to. Bringing them in live for study? It’s similar enough to cataloging artifacts in ruins to work for him, though those are usually less...bitey.

Speaking of bitey, he’s within range for a spell now! The incantation comes out as a stream of bubbles, but the result’s satisfactory: a globe of ice that forms out of nowhere, timed just right to freeze the Stalker’s jaws shut.

It’s a good start, but he’s not as fast with the followup as he’d like to be, and the Stalker’s going for him before he can fire off another spell to disable its movement. Uh-oh, he broadcasts loudly, getting his staff up (slow, this is too slow!) to block it. A little help here, please!]

F

[...ugh, this is what he gets for trying sleep here, while he doesn't have a vessel. Maybe that strange oceanic force isn’t the same as malevolence, but it’s disquieting, all right. His head’s heavy.

He’ll stow his mattress, and suit up to head into the water, but he’ll stop just short of actually leaving the base. Someone else who woke up might stumble on him there at the exit, hesitating and pinching the bridge of his nose. Water seraph or no water seraph, the ocean seems even more vast and strange than usual right now, and he doesn't want to just follow that compulsion into it blindly.]

Damn it . . .


((Please note that Mikleo may not be visible to all characters! I’ve put up a handy interaction guide here for people’s reference.))

F! hopefully this works!

[retconciled]

[Over the years, she's been losing her abilities as Maxwell, but they're not all gone. Not yet at least.

She thought after that nightmare, she could just take a quick peek outside and come back in. But there's someone already there. At least, they look mostly like a person. Milla rubs her eyes a few times to see if it's the sleep in them making him look blurry but it's just not working.]

Wha-- Hey, how are you doing that? [Is it the darkness maybe? Milla leans in and squints.] Don't mess with me!

Rail | Baccano!

[detonatable]

Observatory

[The depths of the ocean is something Rail never imagined she'd see in person. Sure, she'd casually flip through books of marine life out of the curiosity. But seeing it in person was a whole other kind of experience.

She's been there for a long time, with her face pressed up against the glass. There were other things she should be doing but, it felt pretty unimportant compared to this. Besides, she works on her own schedule.

The second she hears someone enter behind her, she doesn't turn around to greet them or tear her eyes away from fishing swimming past her. Instead, she just shoves her finger towards the glass with a small thunk.]

Hey. What's this fish called?

Outside the base

[How do you catch a fish when you don't have that much experience swimming? Rail doesn't know, but she needs to bring one back. And some of them she's seen look pretty huge (of course, that's the one she wants). The knife on her might be useful... but the bombs she has tucked away might be even better.

So Rail, before diving into the water to try wrestling some fish, unhooks the pin from one of her grenades and tosses it several feet away. It plops into the water, before an explosion ruptures into a massive fountain of sea water and who knows what else.

She lets out a pleased laugh. This is how you catch fish, right?]

observatory

[youscared]

Er, that one...?

[Tenryuu's used to babysitting, or at least, some forms of it. In any case, she's not put off by any enthusiasm or hyperactivity. The fish in question stands out from the smaller ones, with its ray-like body and big eyes.]

It's... a Rabbit Ray, or something. 'Cause its ears look like carrots. [THATS NOT THE REASON ITS CALLED A RABBIT RAY but hey. Tenryuu managed to get that one right! Maybe Rail can give her an impromptu FAUNA TEST.]

Rutee Katrea | Tales of Destiny

[lifedischarge]

a1.

[be cunning and lure? oh please, that's still far too simple of a plan and it involves far too much effort! sure, it beats the brute force route, but why do that when someone else could do all the work for you?? THAT'S true cunning right there! rutee being rutee is of course the most cunning of them all.

she turns toward anyone close by. whoever you might be, and especially if you look strong or stupid or both, rutee will swim on over to you with her sweetest smile and most charming eye flutter.]

Hey there! Do you think you could help a girl out with catching a fish?

[and by help, she means have you do all the work. best possible partnership.]

c.

[did someone say scavenging? for materials? that can possibly be used for profit or to get stuff??? oh rutee is in so hard. it's nice to know this godforsaken planet has something going for it!

rather than go around asking for help, she's been walking around the base and muttering stuff under her breath about the items and finding them. rushing in to get stuff without figuring out the best way to profit first won't get anyone anywhere. these things take time and effort and finding lackeys to do the less pleasant stuff. her current mutterings are focusing on the fun that is crash powder.]

...So the best thing to do would be to have someone else pick it up instead. [she immediately frowns down at... her sword.] It is a good idea! Someone needs to do the dirty work and someone needs to keep all the records of what we get for the stuff. Where would we be if someone scammed us or if we got jipped or lost something? Then all our hard work would be for nothing!

[...is she talking to her sword? why yes, yes she is.]

c.

[discard]

What do you think you're doing?

[Oh, look it's...an asshole. He's not happy about this entire situation, but he's sure here to make Rutee's life harder as she tries to come up with a good plan with Atwight.]

Atwight is right, you know.

[Stop being so...so Rutee!!]

Monster Kid | Undertale

[freeexp]

The Lab

[Seeing all these fish in the aquarium was amazing. Monster Kid was a little jealous that they hadn't found a fish friend of their own, but they were content moving back and forth with the fish in the tank. And occasionally talking to them.

It's not like they really could go out right now, since they didn't really swim.]

Yo, so how long are we keeping these fish here? We're gonna let them back out into the ocean as soon as we're done looking at them, right?

be warned, the link is gross

[spidermouth]

[Monster Kid is joined in this room by another monster - although this one not nearly as small, harmless or as... armless as they are.

The long,eel-like dragon creature lumbers up to the smaller monster, watching the fish with a similar sense of awe. He may be quite a bit larger than Monster Kid, but Ygnodentus is similarly immature, and the sight of such a large aquarium is somewhat amazing to him.

He responds to the Monster Kid's question after a brief pause, of course, but the armless youngling may notice something odd about his response...]

We're gonna let them back out into the ocean?

[...and it's that the larger monster speaks in the same voice as the smaller one, albeit with a slightly different inflection. It isn't done mockingly, though. Ygno just tends to mimic words and voices out of habit.

He speaks again; still using the smaller monster's voice, but this time using his own words. ]

Why would we do that? I worked so hard to catch them.

riptide / obligatory dang robot

[knaval]

b. I'M HELPING

[riptide is awfully glad he's a hydrobot right about now.

he has his headlights on, ones built to illuminate the specific and crushing brand of darkness found only underwater, and is just... wandering around, really. communications are down; he can't really do much else. all he can do is keep walking and be silently grateful he's stuck in the environment he was built to work in, rather than... space. or lava. lava is bad.

not to mention if the entire communication network went dark for him, he can only assume it's a problem for other people. unfortunately, he doesn't really realise that a giant, half illuminated robot stomping along may not be the most comforting thing to see. no lungs means no concept of drowning or suffocating.

damn, he really doesn't want to admit he's just as lost as everyone else.]

c. wait, no. not helping at all

[congratulations! you've been paired up with riptide.]

What are we getting this time? And-- no offence or anything, but if it rhymes with smash chowder... you're on your own.

[he grins. how serious he's being is entirely up in the air.

confident his greeting was Not Awkward And Weird at all, riptide transforms into his boat mode.]

Ready?

b

[gayfish]

[Oh, man, that got a little scary for a second. Undyne sure is glad that the base has huge, awesome rescue robots that they send out to folks who get lost when the communications go down! Where would she be without this huge, awesome rescue robot whose shoulder she's been riding on for the past few minutes or so???]

Heh, you must be taking us on an amazing shortcut, right? I don't remember going this way at all!

Colette Brunel | Tales of Symphonia

[fallingangel]

A1

[Colette has eagerly accepted the challenge of trying to catch a Stalker, all bright eyes and enthusiasm as she searches around the Safe Shallows for them. It's not every day that an AI like URSULA asks her for help and the only thing to do, of course, is catch one to bring in! Unfortunately swimming is a slow, awkward task. Instead of sneaking around looking she's taken to making her presence known to the sea life and hoping they come to her instead. After all, who wouldn't want a swimming partner?

It seems to work, because she does actually find a Stalker, swimming in search of its next meal. But as it passes by she forgets the task at hand. Maybe there's no rush, anyways, or URSULA would have mentioned it. It's big, but she doesn't find it threatening--who knows, maybe it's friendly.

So for anyone passing by they'll find her reaching out to the Stalker with her telepathy. Hey, I know, you can be "Fishy!" That's a good name, don't you think?

She might need some help.]


D

[Making friends and playing games sounds wonderful, but hiding gets boring. So it's not long after the game starts that there's a curious voice asking:]

How long do we wait before we have to give u--Oh, oops!

[Thirty feet away, a coral structure crumbles to the seafloor conspicuously.]

I...I can fix that. Can I be "it" next?

A1

[oneandmikleonly]

[Colette...may or may not be able to see this kid swimming awkwardly nearby, but she should be able to at least hear him on a telepathy band. How handy! He's keeping an eye on the fish in case it gets aggressive, but he also sounds genuinely curious.]

Are you . . . trying to communicate with it? Is it sending any kind of answer back at all?

portgas d. ace ( one piece )

[meramera]

A1|

[ calling this experience surreal doesn't quite cut it – not when the last time ace actually set foot in a body of water larger than a puddle was almost a whole decade ago. that’s not to say the handicap is gone entirely; the alien ocean still saps away at him through the material of the suit, but the toll it exerts is far less concentrated in intensity, draining him slowly like sand bottlenecked in the narrowest part of an hourglass.

well, fine by him. surely it can’t be that hard, catching a fish or two.

it doesn't take long to observe any instances of exploitable behaviour of URSULA's marks in the shallows near the base, and the pirate glances at his companion, turns a sliver of metal over in one hand so it catches the sunlight streaming down from above. the fish seem to like shiny things, so – ] Ready to do this?

[yourotherleft]

[Zoro knows not to let Devil Fruit users go anywhere near the sea without a buddy. Even if the effect is lessened, it's not nothing. Besides, he's armed! What could go wrong?]

I'd rather just cut it and get this over with.

[He swears, he can hold back his strength! He can knock it out, he'll use the flat of his blades! C'mon, Ace, please?]

yin | darker than black

[pseudoll]

b.

[As the sun slowly but surely continues to set, the idea of being stranded out in the middle of the ocean certainly becomes more alarming! ... But not quite as alarming as it probably should be. For Yin, being underwater actually makes things somewhat convenient. Water is all she needs to use her specter, and like this, it's all too easy to see the base, almost as if it was right in front of her. She knows exactly which way to go to get back.

But there are other people stranded out here as well. It's not like it's her mission to help them, but she feels like she shouldn't just leave on her own either. Besides, there's safety in numbers. Even if she knew how to get back, she wouldn't be able to defend herself if something happened.

So turning to the nearest person:]

Follow me. [Says the most monotone voice coming from the most expressionless face. Probably doesn't inspire much confidence... But at least it's something?! Although this telepathy thing is probably going to take some getting used to.]

f.

[Yin isn't all that used to dreams, let alone nightmares. Contractors don't dream. Neither do Dolls. But the fact of the matter is that she has been having dreams of late. This latest one isn't the usual nightmare she has (although whether that's good or bad, she can't say), but it unsettles her all the same.

While she doesn't go out for a full swim, she does leave the base to go the Shallows, simply... Taking a seat there. It's a bit too dark down here to really see the moon, but there's a kind of comfort in knowing it's just there past the surface. She's never been able to explain it, especially now, but the moon has always felt relaxing to her.

... Maybe a little too relaxing. She's not going to fall asleep out here, is she?!]

b

[youscared]

[Let's face it: the ocean freaks Tenryuu the fuck out. That's ironic, seeing that she's literally a fleet commander back home and has to fight wars on the seas. But she hasn't been under the water. Because being underwater means, sinking, drowning-- dying. And she sure isn't dead, not at all.

So, surrounded in the darkness of the night with the communications dead, even Yin's voice makes Tenryuu jump (however someone can jump while in scuba suit underwater, anyway).]

W-what? Follow you where? Out into... that?!

[Sorry, Yin, you have to deal with an antsy adult woman now. Have fun.]

Seto Kousuke | Kagerou Project

[sorrytohearthat]

f.



[Sometimes you just can't sleep off a bad dream.

Seto Kousuke was roaming the base in the wee hours of the morning, trying to avoid looking up at all moments possible. Though this might seem silly for some folks, he had his reasons. These same reasons had kept him from exploring the waters fully. It was no surprise that he had been suffering from nightmares considering the massive amount of guilt he had begun to carry.

Every time he heard the cries of a sea creature in his dreams, his heart tightened in his chest until it felt like it was going to explode. He had always been in tuned with animals (more literally than you think) so he always had a strong attachment to them. Not only that, he was generally a good person who only wanted to protect those around him. He loved to help others! Animals, his friends, whoever he could help!

But the water scared him.

He was drawn to it, but it was impossible to erase the memory of a certain point within his lifetime. He tried his best to move on, dealing with this situation with a smile and not worrying anyone that happened to be nearby, but even his dreams were haunting him now. He was just tired. But still he told himself "Just don't look up . . . Just don't look up . . ."

And so of course he'll be running into you.]

[oneandmikleonly]

[Normally, Mikleo would have moved out of the way and avoided that . . . but the dream is distracting him too, and he's paying way more attention to the unfamiliar, almost uncomfortable press of the ocean all around.

So, Seto takes him by surprise, and sends him knocking into one of the wall lockers with a muffled thud.]

Hey, watch where you're going...!

((ooc: please check these interaction notes!))

Kuroba Kaito | DCMK

[phishbait]

Other.

[There was going to be a tag here, but Kuroba Kaito unfortunately passed away from a heart attack. Ichthyophobia sucks especially when you're actually underwater.

So he's dead now. Sorry guys. I don't know what you expected.]

[civilserpent]

[Sasasul would kind of like to dissect him but there's no way to do that privately. It would send entirely the wrong message.

plus nanobots would probably revive him at the exact worst moment.]

kazuhira miller » metal gear solid v

[dissevered]

f;
( Sleep hardly ever came easy – now much less so than before in this cage of glass and metal far beneath the surface of the ocean – and Miller finds himself already in the entrance of the facility before he is properly aware of it happening. The voiceless call of the void persists still, long after he’s left the shaky confines of his dreams, yet he knows that to simply heed the summons unprepared would be suicide; nobody knows what lies that far beyond the shallows.

Not to mention his state – the ability to swim was a crucial skill to have, especially when your bases were located out in the open sea, but the incident in Afghanistan has put paid to that for now (at least until he takes the A.I. up on the offer for prosthetics) and a pronounced ache is settling once more in his phantom limbs.

Leaning wearily on his crutch Miller stares hard at the foreboding darkness on the other side of the glass, as if waiting on a sign. If he squints, perhaps he can make out shapes in the murky waters: questionable alien forms hovering in his peripheral vision that dart out of his sight just as he has them vaguely in focus, the reliefs of slopes and cliffs in the distance, harsh lines of struts platforms, mangled wreckage of the MSF Mother Base -- )

Shit.

( The oath comes on an exhalation that is loud in the silence this late at night, and when he looks again after pinching at the bridge of his nose the shapes are gone. There is nothing there, only a solid canvas of black, but he still hears the call all the same. )

wildcard;
( While URSULA’s been helpful enough in providing the bare-bones of what a living thing would need to survive this far under the waves, it will prove insufficient should the base see more arrivals – and he’s got a feeling they’re not about to stop coming in any time soon.

Before they can figure out next steps, though, he’ll have to familiarise himself with any and all existing data he can get his hands on, first. The lab is as good a place as any to start, and any visitor to the room will find Miller at either the aquarium or at the line of samples, questioning the database as he finds each one. He’d like to get that wreck in the distance checked out too, to be honest, but that’d have to wait. )

[thatsruff]

[Teddy had never cared for the depths of the ocean. In all the worlds he had traveled to, none held fast in his memory as strongly as this one, with the dark depths ever in the distance, taunting him with things he could neither see nor smell. His man olfactory senses were rendered useless out there, regardless of the gear provided him. And doggy paddling could only get a canine so far.

Miller's missing limbs were a sight common to members of the IEGP, human and canine alike, and Teddy could sympathize. He had nearly lost a leg once, a near death sentence in his line of work. He padded over to the man, his nails clicking along, interrupting the otherwise silent padding of his paws on the metal flooring.

Sitting beside the human, he stared out into the murky grey darkness, his depth of field far less impressive than a humans, even more so down under the waters. The crew here had to be intimate to certain degrees, but he often had to give people a moment before sparking up a conversation. Most found the voice emanating from his collar jarring at first, and he liked to make his presence known before he dove into attempting to converse. He looks up at one of his many new companions and intentionally clacks his nails on the floor.]

You look like you're feeling rough, buddy. [The voice comes from the collar around Teddy's neck, but despite having the quality of someone speaking through a phone or walkie talkie, it's human and not robotic.]

Raphael | TMNT 2003

[saisthelimit]

A2.
[Turtles evolved their shells as protection from predictors, which Raph has had plenty of experience with. Funny how it comes in handy so often, especially -and this is sort of a random example- with a Stalker's jaws clamped around it and refusing to let go. What an angry face on the turtle coming up to you.]

Hey, you, do me a favor? Grab the tail and pull.

B.
[He's a turtle. He's a ninja. At least one of these things should have helped him not get lost in the middle of the ocean. He should have been a sea turtle.

The darkness of the ocean has a strange heaviness to it, he can almost feel it. weighing on his head. But you don't become a ninja if you're prone to panic, and even if he can't fix an unresponsive underwater vehicle (Where's Donnie when you needs him?)...well, OK, there's no "even if" here.]

Well, we're sunk. If you need meditation lessons or to get knocked out, speak up now, 'cause if you start panicking, I'm tossin' you into the drink.

F.
[Raph hasn't been sleeping well the last few nights. Nightmares are...well, he's had his fair share of them. But this is different, it drives him, it reaches right down into his soul and yanks him to his feet and that feeling makes him feel absolutely insane.

He really, really doesn't want to talk to anyone right now, and he's using every single ninja trick in the book to not get spotted, which can only go so well with all these different people around here. But even a ninja can't avoid being seen forever in a ship as small as URSULA, nor can he trust her to not suddenly throw up the lights on him as he sneaks around...]

b

[civilserpent]

Ah! Please do not put me in the 'drink'!

[Sasasul looks like a three-eyed snake with humanlike arms and legs. She's afraid of water, but hadn't outwardly shown concern until Raphael said that. Now her head rises in alarm and her mouth gapes open.]