TEST DIVE #3

[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


Reserves open on the 17th
Applications open on the 24th
Check out our ATP/Enable Me meme!

NOTE REGARDING THIS APPLICATION CYCLE

For information about the animals and locations, be sure to check out the BIOME and BASE pages! Note that TDM threads can be used for game canon and several prompts are based on crew contributions to the base that are being worked on this month!

A: There’s a Storm on the Horizon
A brainstorm. On advice about the ingenuity of multi person parties, and from admitted lack of understanding of many needs of organics, URSULA has selected you and a partner (or partners) to go to one of the observatories with food, beds, and recording devices to have a jam session for ideas about missions.

You are not to leave the room until you have some good ones. So get cracking! Start suggesting to one another what the base needs to do.

Or get horribly, horribly sidetracked and possibly a little crazy at being locked up together with the ocean staring at you. Judging.

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: Test Drive Test Dives
The Robotics section of the laboratory needs your help! Whether you were a poor sap who got dragged into it or love working on robots, this is your time to shine!

A few suits need testing to get the kinks out of them. And you know, figure out how they work in general. So be a dear and get in one so the others can watch you flail around and discover how it works.

If you're not into being a crash test dummy, you can help do repair work, analyze blueprints of various underwater vehicles, bring in scrap metal to work with or maybe just try painting the Seamoth neon pink.

D: Camping Trip
Floater Island is the only real land around so even if it's a longer trip, it's nice to volunteer for an overnight mission there sometimes. Who doesn't want to camp out under the stars when you've been living under the sea this whole time? Attempt to make s'mores out of plants and that chocolate bar you have left! Play with Birdogs! Go for a swim in the lake! Try very hard to get some sort of emotional response from a Light Frog!

Well, sure, you're here on a mission but it's okay to goof off and enjoy yourselves with some campfire stories and freshly cooked Chomper kebobs sometimes. Just grab a few samples from the abandoned farm at least so it looks like you actually worked.

E: THE AURORA
Quiet except for the creaks and rumbles as the ship settles and shifts, the sound of Reapers screaming in the distance every so often, the Aurora is a creepy place to visit for a mission. The remains of those crew members not buried, and the belongings of many others, still litter the ship's halls. It might be nice to remove any skeletons you find.

Of course, their misfortune is your opportunity to catch up on some reading, browse whatever video games they left, get medical supplies and enjoy the comforts they no longer need.

But is it possible the Aurora is haunted? Surely not. Except sometimes you might hear voices from far away. It might just be the people you came on board with, unless they're with you. Or it might be a Cave Crawler knocking over some recording device. You're not too scared to check, right?

F: Farmville
Time to tend to the crops! That's right, the underwater farm needs your help. Some trees and plants rest on the seabed under protective covers that allow them to grow their leaves and fruits while the roots firmly keep them in the sand. Harvest some apples, more apples, oranges, strawberries and other delicious produce that sounds much, much better than a regular diet of fish.

And once you've helped get a basket full of crops for the base, it's time to cook them! But what are you going to make? Apple stuffed fish? Orange stuffed fish? Nah, get creative with what you have! Everyone is counting on you for dinner!

BASED ON CODE BY TESSISAMESS AND SUPERSUITS

Comments

karkat vantas | homestuck

[alienates]

b

[ well, this can't get any worse.

the whole idea of swimming around in the ocean isn't that thrilling, really, for karkat. he isn't a sea dweller, and while he does not give a fuck about troll hierarchy or whatever, it's still kind of weird to be out in the ocean like this. it's not like he makes going swimming a regular thing, and his time here has probably been the most he's been in any body of water.

so this whole getting cut off from URSULA thing? he isn't happy about this. in fact, he's kind of starting to panic a little, and by little i mean he is freaking the fuck out. they are going to DIE or DROWN, which is technically the same as dying but. karkat does not care about those details right this second.

hopefully whoever he is with is taking things a little more calmly. ]

d

[ karkat isn't exactly big on goofing off when there's work to be done. he usually takes things like this seriously, even though he does have a terrible tendency of getting horribly, horribly sidetracked because his attention span can be shit sometimes but not this time!! this time, he is definitely actually trying to do his job.

... while yelling at everyone who isn't because. that's a thing he does. ]

No I do not want to eat a goddamn s'more, oh my fuck. What even is that? I do not believe for a single moment that is actually appetizing in any way.

e

[ ok so, karkat is tired of creepy atmospheres where it feels like he might die at any second so he is done with the aurora. after he heard about what the crew had got up to in here beforehand he was even more done with the aurora, which didn't seem physically possible yet here he is. wanting to leave. right now. ]

Can we go now? I think we have already established that this hunk of metal is shitty and useless now, so shouldn't we be dedicating our time and energy on something better? Like leaving? This whole endea-- jegus what the fuck was that.

[ it was probably just a reaper before horrifying out in the distance but no. nope. karkat is done. ]

d

[parodeity]

You say that about literally every human food thing before you try it, man.

[ dave doesn't seem remotely bothered by the shouting because. he is used to it. he continues to try to press the makeshift s'more half into karkat's hands. ]

Look just take a fuckin' bite and if you hate it you can proceed to rant at me for however long you like about how terrible it was, you know you'd like that.

[alienates]

[ god but it looks gross? says the guy who regularly sleeps in a tub of slime, but yeah, alright. the s'more is what's really gross.

dave does have a point there though; karkat loves going on about being right. ]

If this poisons me I am going to come back from the dead to haunt you. Everywhere you go, I'll be there, reminding you of the time you forced me to eat this goop.

[ ughhh he takes it and takes a small nibble. ]

[parodeity]

Okay, if it poisons you it will not be to death, man. The worst it would do would be a stomachache. And I've already had some, so you should be fine? Look at me, all not droppin' dead and shit. And also it's not like you need to die to be here, reminding me of whatever the fuck you're on about at any given time. You're always like "why doesn't anyone let me forget anything, Dave" but I'm pretty sure that's a pot-kettle situation, bro.

[ like when has karkat ever let a thing go, really ]

So?

[alienates]

[ karkat loves it, of course, which means that he can never admit that he loves it because he is childish as fuck and he refuses to lose... whatever this is. ]

This is garbage, how can you actually offer this to me with a straight face? I already knew you humans had horrible tastes and yet you still manage to surprise me each and every day with something even worse. Congratulations, you've done it again.

[ can he... finish eating this without dave noticing? hm. ]

[parodeity]

[ oh, okay, dave just goes to take it back then because giving karkat a hard time occasionally is entertaining. ]

A'ight, suit yourself, man. More for me.

[ he's not even putting up an offended protest here because. karkat tells him he has bad taste literally all the time. multiple times a day. ]

[alienates]

[ shit no, karkat wanted that. fuck you dave.

karkat glares at him. it would be like, twenty times easier if he just admitted that he liked the damn s'more and asked for another bite but it's too late to backpedal now. he has to live with this decision while simultaneously tricking dave to give him the rest of it. somehow. ]

Should you even be eating so much of it? That can't be good for you, Dave, you should be more mindful of your health.

[ yes, that is definitely not suspicious. he's just being a concerned fellow. ]

e

[splinten]

Don't worry about.

I'll fly you out of here if it's a Reaper. That's why I wanted a small team for this excavation. [Because Dave still won't let him Strife Reapers so he might as well make it easier to get away from them.

In contrast to shouty shouty nubs here, Dirk is very calm, and of course pretty much expressionless. He has surveyed the area, figured out what he wanted, and dragged it all into a pile for sorting. Now he's dismantling a large robotic suit so that it will fit into a sylladex. The bit where he can't fit anything larger than himself is a huge drag.]

Could you take half of this for me?

[alienates]

[ well, you probably shouldn't strife them so. don't do that.

the only reason karkat even agreed to do this is because it's dirk, and he figures he should probably. get to know him better. even if he would prefer a scenario that involved less surveying a place that looks very haunted. ]

What is all of this anyway? Besides junk, I already know that.

[ he does, however start captchaloguing some of the items. ]

[splinten]

[Don't disrespect the right of a man to throw himself directly at a boss fight when that boss fight presents itself to him, okay Karkat.

At least Karkat is captchaloguing it? Dirk is of course very curious about Karkat. One, he is generally just curious about trolls. His experiences with them have thus far been... limited, if informative. But two, well. Dirk is pretty sure Karkat and Kanaya are the #1 Trolls He Needs To Get Chill With. For the sake of ironic Thanksgiving dinners or whatever.]

Building our own robots. It's significantly less work to take salvage from the Aurora compared to building parts up from silicon and iron. [So much less work. Dirk isn't even sure he could. A lot of what he built on his own came out of scraps from old robots and the Batterwitch's Drones.] The Aurora has the highest concentration of useful parts for robotics compared to other wreckage sites across the area, so it's usually worth a quick trip when we're running low.

[alienates]

[ that's a good plan, except like... who can ever get chill with karkat. that is like the one setting that is impossible for him to achieve no matter what the circumstance is.

also all of the robot talk is just making karkat think of equius, and that makes him somewhat uncomfortable. karkat is almost sure dirk doesn't get into weird shit with his robot pals? he hopes so, at least. this might get awkward otherwise. ]

I guess that's useful, as long as you don't start making out with the damn things. Look I am just going to be upfront about this and ask, but that's not going to be a thing that will happen here, right? Just nod your head in that coolkid way to reassure me of this.

[splinten]

No? [Fuck the coolkid thing, Dirk is in a state of blank inexpressive confusion like he can't even believe he has to say this. It isn't that different from his default face, but who would have known: the exact combination of proclivities that are Equius's are ones Dirk doesn't want to talk about. The ironies of the universe strike at him again.] These parts are for scouting drones and robotic diving suits.

Don't tell me why you felt the need to ask that.

[If any of the surviving trolls are into robotic makeouts, that is their business. He is not interested.]

[alienates]

I wasn't going to explain anyway so that works out.

[ karkat would... prefer not to touch that whole mess, even though he's the one who brought it up? whatever. it's ok if karkat brings it up, but it's not ok if someone else asks him to elaborate. ]

What about all the other shit you grabbed? I don't see how you can make a diving suit out of all of this.

d

[logdate]

I don't even eat! Why are you yelling at me about food?

[ Shrieky grey person? Meet shrieky green person. Peridot is not about to let herself get pushed around, especially when this clearly isn't her fault. ]

Keep your disgusting habits to yourself.

[alienates]

[ well, joke's on your, peridot. karkat never admits with shit is his fault unless people are like. dying. or something. so he's just going to argue back. ]

How is eating a disgusting habit? Newsflash, you oddly shaped green creature, a shit ton of species eat. It seems like you're the odd one out here.

[logdate]

[ Oh, it's on like Donkey Kong. ]

Just because humans and whatever it is you are eat doesn't make it any less disgusting. Besides, it's a huge waste of time!

[ Peridot has to explain why he's wrong, now. ]

And I am not an 'oddly shaped green creature'. I'm a gem.

[alienates]

So you're a talking rock? Wow, color me impressed! I'm surprised you even know what eating is with the whole, you know, rock thing you have going on.

[ screw you, peridot, how dare you lump him with humans??? those are fighting words. ]

[logdate]

We're more advanced than humans - and probably more advanced than you, whatever it is you are.

[ Could she be any more condescending? Yeah, probably. If we she wanted to be. ]

Just because we don't need to eat doesn't mean that some of us don't choose to... for whatever weird reason.

[ She likes Amethyst, really, but eating? Ewww. ]

Some of us actually possess powers of observation.

e

[voidkatini]

[ Roxy's being a good girl.

She's being a good girl, because she hasn't completely embarrassed him or Dave by hammering Karkat with questions about his love life. The first time she teased Dave about Karkat, well. That didn't really go over very well? So she'll behave, even though she is just chomping at the motherfucking bit to get some gossip going. Hey, maybe she can live vicariously through others, that's a thing that parents do, right? Even if you're doing it out of a lack of a love life, and one of the people you are actually trying to live vicariously through is Dave, who is also your genetic son.

Right. ]

Don't worry Shoutypants McTroll, I totally got you if that thing comes back. [ Yes, she saw it, too. No, she's not worried at all! Why worry? Looks like he's doing enough of that for the both of them, anyhow... ]

But I agree. Let's get the eff outta dodge 'cuz I think I got all that's really important anyway.

[ Like some medkits, but mostly video games. Lots of video games in her Sylladex just waiting to be played. Yep.

#priorities ]

[alienates]

[ thank you, dave's hot mom, for not asking him questions because however dave reacted to that? karkat's reaction will probably be worse, because it'd probably involve yelling and rolling dramatically on the ground, as karkats do.

no one wants to deal with that.

karkat almost wants to point out that the majority of the shit that roxy grabbed didn't look that important, but he also does not want to be here any longer so. picking a fight about that particular thing would not be helping him out here, so he manages to actually bite his tongue on this subject.

instead, he'll start babbling about a different one. ] I can take care of myself, Lalonde, I just would prefer not to have to deal with them altogether. You don't need to get me or anything.

[ so he manages to not be difficult about one thing, and chooses instead to be difficult about something else. right. ]

[voidkatini]

[ Roxy would argue that she has made plenty of successful scavenging missions out here nabbing perfectly useful things, like cloning tools to make a hundred Magisters. Now it's Momma Lalonde's turn to reap the spoils of another victorious scavenging mission, thank you very much.

She'll probably give most of the games away, but whatever. ]

That's fair. If you fight as well as ya bitch, you probs fight like an old wrinkly crone? And if history's taught us anything it's that you don't fuck with grandmas.

You're right, you got this.

[ WINK. ]

[alienates]

[ what.

is that an insult? or a compliment? karkat isn't entirely sure what a grandma is? he is pretty sure it has something to do with human families but he isn't... sure... where? didn't jade have a grandpa? or something. wait, are grandmas really strong?

roxy has to be fucking with him. ]

Yes? I mean, fuck yeah, I do. Obviously. Since I just said so. [ very convincing. ] Which one is the grandma again?

[voidkatini]

You are, Grandma.

[ Roxy knows he was probably asking which one of the guardians was the grandma, but if she isn't completely obtuse with him then what is even the point of anything. Why have laws. Why have anything. Why anything? Just, why. ]

Okay Granny, got your Life Alert and walker? We're burnin' daylight here and I know you gotta be in bed makin' sweet, sweet lovin' to-- [ She pauses. Is she going to go there? Is she? She's grinning like a cat. ] --your sheets.

[ She didn't go there but wasn't the suspense rad? ]

Don't wanna miss that Early Bird Special waaaay before sane and reasonable people have even gotten it in their pans to get out of bed. What the fuck you gotta get up so early for anyway, Grandma?

e

[grimdeity]

[ Why did she think coming here with Karkat was even a decent idea, what horror of the sea did she anger for this fate. She has probably ignored him this entire time outside of meaningless "hmm"s and "you're right"s to make it seem like she's actually paying attention. ]

Judging by your tone of voice, I'm going to guess it was nothing.

[ Rose would be more willing to believe the Aurora was haunted if everyone else didn't seem to... think it was. Of course. ]

We'll leave as soon we're done doing what we came here for. Or once we're set upon by unimaginable horrors unleashed by the spirits trapped within these hallowed halls. Whichever comes first.

[ said in the same tone one would use to discuss the weather. ]

[alienates]

[ see, this is why karkat isn't that big on hanging out with rose by himself. she keeps saying things like that, and it's creepy, but it's also better than when she tries to do the whole psychoanalyzing thing. at least when kanaya or dave were around, rose is more likely to focus her attention on them instead.

although yeah it figures she wouldn't think this place is creepy. ]

I swear to god if you just jinxed us, Lalonde. [ karkat doesn't finish that threat because like, what the hell would he do? see: the above meta text. ] Ok maybe it's not ghosts but what if there's some freakishly large beast lurking around? I'm all for going sickle on its ass, but this place is just screaming "ambush."