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subnauticmods ([personal profile] subnauticmods) wrote in [community profile] fishesoutofwater2016-02-13 02:56 pm
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Test Dive #1








≡U.R.S.U.L.A. NAVIGATION
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


imsorey: (Default)

[personal profile] imsorey 2016-02-19 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
They don't have any appendages that would be particularly useful for communication, so that's certainly one idea. Or they could be releasing a variety of chemical compounds that the other floaters can pick up on.
oneandmikleonly: (you've been holding up.)

[personal profile] oneandmikleonly 2016-02-19 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
That's a likely possibility too. They're pretty simple-looking creatures.

[He drums his fingers on the bench, frowning in thought, but for a moment, despite the oppressive press of the ocean all around, he feels almost light. There's so much to research, so much to see . . . it'll be a problem if they're stuck here indefinitely, but Iniidae certainly holds plenty of wonders for them to see.]
oneandmikleonly: (oh; poor Atlas.)

[personal profile] oneandmikleonly 2016-02-19 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
You're not bothering anyone. I'm in the same room.

[He'll look around for something handy to knock to the floor, but there's not much in evidence. Oh well. He hopes he sounds convincing.]

You're not just hearing things, promise. I can't be seen by most people in the base. I was just surprised someone else was up, and for the same reason I was.

[personal profile] fascists 2016-02-19 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
[He's slowly figuring things out, but Jamie definitely has a more level head than his partner for this mission. The swimming part isn't too bad, but being sent to play scavenger hunt? Oliver Queen isn't exactly known for his patience or fine attention to detail.

But he's doing his best?]


Breakin' rocks, huh? I guess I can do that.

[Luckily when it comes to telepathy, Ollie doesn't think hard enough to really be put off by it. He barely realizes he's doing it.]

All right, kid. Get your water gloves on. Let's start hitting these rocks and making them cough up metal.

[That's... close to what Jamie said, right?]
fallingangel: (Regal's manly hands saved the day)

[personal profile] fallingangel 2016-02-19 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
[Experimentally, she reaches out an arm towards it and watches it dart away from the hand, only to swim back around her flippers.]

I guess it wouldn't like playing tag if it doesn't want to be caught. I wouldn't want to be bait either, if I was a fish. But just playing like this seems okay.
oneandmikleonly: (oh; poor Atlas.)

[personal profile] oneandmikleonly 2016-02-19 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
[There's the slightest huff of laughter through their mental connection -- it looks like another of the rabbitrays has found Mikleo's quasi-invisible flippers too, from the way it's swimming in small tight circles near the archway he's at.]

Wonder how well they remember people...
imsorey: (We are diamonds taking shape)

[personal profile] imsorey 2016-02-19 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
Who knows, we might be catching those next to find out.

[Resting his palms flat on the bench and looking back out at the ocean, focusing on the view for a few moments instead of on research.]

It's a nice change of pace, isn't it? We've never gotten to see much of the ocean before. Though, maybe this is too much ocean, but there's a lot to explore.
oneandmikleonly: (where i let the water take me.)

[personal profile] oneandmikleonly 2016-02-19 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
At least no one's making fun of us for not knowing what crabs are, this time.

[Not that there have been any crabs in the shallows -- or any wildlife that's an exact match to the little they saw in Glenwood's waters. Mikleo leans back, folding his arms loosely.]

Or anything else...it's all new. There could be anything out there...even some lost civilization, maybe. Underwater ruins...
fallingangel: (You think you like fairies until)

[personal profile] fallingangel 2016-02-19 05:55 am (UTC)(link)
[Swimming a little closer to him and coaxing her rabbitray along with her so that the rabbitrays can play with each other!!]

If they have a sense of smell, or can see colors, they might tell people apart that way. They're willing to play with us, so they must have a good memory, don't you think? They have to remember who's the most fun to play with.
mildwildchild: (wooooooow)

[personal profile] mildwildchild 2016-02-19 07:06 am (UTC)(link)
[Okay. This is sort of creepy but also intriguing. Jamie glances around again, as though he just wasn't looking hard enough the last time, and turns away from the observation window to face his invisible companion.]

How come nobody can see you? Are you, like, a ghost or something?

[Does this mean ghosts have dreams? Can ghosts swim? Has the ghost been wandering around watching everyone change out of their wetsuits and stuff? This raises so many questions.]
mildwildchild: (doooc)

[personal profile] mildwildchild 2016-02-19 07:50 am (UTC)(link)
[Jamie's used to being the level-headed guy and babysitting his elders. He's also used to translating hot-blooded shounen anime hero talk, so Ollie's assessment of the task ahead is close enough for Jamie to work with.]

...right. There's some caves, uhhh - southwest? Let's check there first.

[And now it's time for actual swimming. Jamie's technique is horrible, but it's succeeding in propelling him through the water, so...mission technically accomplished, on that front.]

This takes some getting used to, doesn't it? The whole...underwater thing.
forsage: (003. • the walls lean in to listen.)

[personal profile] forsage 2016-02-19 04:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[ and maybe hell will freeze over because give him cigarettes or give him death.

right. focus on the mission. roderic takes sensei's words into consideration, chewing on his lower lip as he tried to keep his powers in check. it was going to be a headache to keep them in check but it could be worse. sensei seemed to know what he's doing so- ]


Okay. I can get behind that. If anything happens, you can hear my thoughts and you can tell me how to get the hell outta dodge. [ he nods slowly, appreciating the idea. he sounded confident about it and that was a good thing to hear for the man.

plus it would be real nice to let someone else do all the thinking for once if something went and hit the fan. ]


Alright. Let's just be safe and hope this doesn't go belly up on us.
oneandmikleonly: (oh; poor Atlas.)

[personal profile] oneandmikleonly 2016-02-19 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[He's covering his face in embarrassment, even unseen; this hasn't gotten any easier. At least the talk helps get his mind -- hopefully both their minds -- off the urge to swim out into the dark water.]

I'm not a ghost, I'm a seraph. You're close, though; it's probably easiest to think of me as some kind of spirit. I don't know why humans don't see seraphim, but that's how things are.

My name's Mikleo. And I'm...a little more to the right of where you're looking, if that matters?
oneandmikleonly: (you've been holding up.)

[personal profile] oneandmikleonly 2016-02-19 06:03 pm (UTC)(link)
It's hard to say without coming back here a couple more times, maybe having a test group. We've only met them the once -- oh, hello.

[He backpedals a little in the water so she doesn't wind up accidentally crashing into him; the rabbitrays startle off briefly, but then flutter back around them.]
discardia: (Dem hips?)

[personal profile] discardia 2016-02-19 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
That seems simple enough... is that all you need me to do?
discardia: (All proper ladies must shank)

[personal profile] discardia 2016-02-19 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
... Will your nation be all right without you? Kings and Queens are very important people, aren't they?
ateaist: pixiv id=74573578 (13)

[personal profile] ateaist 2016-02-19 10:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[Likely, even under normal circumstances, only those who submitted to her rule would be all that bothered. Everyone else would see it as an opportunity to take her territories in her absence.

But she neglects to mention that, because there's a more important factor here--
]

Hm? Well, I'd imagine...it's been some 500 years since I've ruled just about anything. Japan has done quite well for itself since my passing, or so I believe.
upcard: (✿ i think you're a psychopath)

[personal profile] upcard 2016-02-20 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
Oh... if you're sure...

[There's yet more hesitation.]

But what should we do with this-- um. Fish...
upcard: (✿ sane people don't carry scissors)

[personal profile] upcard 2016-02-20 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
[??? maybe, she doesn't know!! But he doesn't look like the sort who will take hesitance as an answer so--]

Yes! Yes, um-- I'm definitely ready...! With...everything I need.

[Definitely.]
upcard: (✿ i think you're a psychopath)

[personal profile] upcard 2016-02-20 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
[... Yeah, she supposes he did leave that one wide open for her to question. She feels a bit better that he doesn't seem to mind it much, at least.]

A private investigator...? So--you're like a detective?

[She can only really think of anime, movies and stories when she thinks of it that way, which is...both dashing and intense.]
little_lost_dragon: (Default)

[personal profile] little_lost_dragon 2016-02-20 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
Pretty much exactly like one, yeah. Ninety percent of what I do is boring as dirt - digging through camera footage, analyzing social network activity, that kind of thing. The other ten percent, though?

[Flashes of memory flicker across the mental link - a three-way firefight between 14K triad enforcers, hypercorporate security troops, and Xiaolung and a couple of strange-looking associates ( is that an octopus with a gun?), running for his life in the Titan Quarantine Zone from terrifying-looking masked cyborgs, cycling through the streets of Noctis-Qianjiao as a pissed-off orangutan pursues, freerunning along the rooftops with a nasty-looking knife in one hand...]

The other ten percent keeps life exciting.
Edited 2016-02-20 02:01 (UTC)
scatterbrains: (pic#10006056)

[personal profile] scatterbrains 2016-02-20 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
[mary will teach her the ways, clearly that's how it needs to go.]

Mm, just the thought alone is enough for me. [she can't expect someone else to trigger those memories, after all.]

Ah, right. I'm Mary, by the way.
pseudoll: (23。 a calling)

[personal profile] pseudoll 2016-02-20 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
I'm sure. [She doesn't sound UNsure at least, but it's really not much to inspire confidence... Regardless, she really does start swimming out at a normal pace. She's now athlete after all, and Tenryuu at least looks like she would be more capable than her if something happened. Yin's just hoping that nothing actually does.]
pseudoll: (16。 a sense of wonder)

[personal profile] pseudoll 2016-02-20 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
["Poised"? She's not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing... Yin recognizes the important of being calm and level-headed, but if she comes off that way, it's more because it's just impossible for her to be anything but.]

... Thank you. [SHE'LL DEFAULT TO BEING POLITE THOUGH surely this can't go wrong.] I don't think you'll be any trouble either. [aka what started her confusion in the first place.......]
pseudoll: (16。 a sense of wonder)

[personal profile] pseudoll 2016-02-20 04:24 am (UTC)(link)
[After befriending Kiko, Yin's heard a lot about cute things and seen firsthand just how distracting they can be, even if she...... doesn't really get what cuteness is at all...........]

What makes them cute? [She's honestly curious! Which may be rather sad in and of itself.]

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