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subnauticmods ([personal profile] subnauticmods) wrote in [community profile] fishesoutofwater2016-04-14 11:53 pm
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TEST DIVE #2








≡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!

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: 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: Almost, but not quite, Entirely Unlike Tea
The droids, URSULA promises, will do their best to make anything you want. Go on! Ask them anything! She’s excited. This seems like a great way to test out their capacities.

Of course, you need to be very careful what you wish for. Maybe you ask for Hamlet by William Shakespeare, and they do their best but only know so much, giving you a book with some… creative changes. Maybe you ask for a puzzle box, but you weren’t specific enough and things went awry.

Maybe you made the mistake of asking for tea..

No matter what, you were given something that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike what you asked for. Now what do you do with it?

E: CREATURE FEATURES (possible body horror)
As more data is collected on the creatures of the deep, DNA can also be gathered to allow URSULA to research how to integrate it into her crew members in useful and hopefully unintrusive ways, unless of course permission is given first for more obvious or exhausting additions.

Well, that's the idea, anyway.

Unfortunately, something malfunctioned while URSULA was researching. Her incomplete serum was injected into you through your devices while you slept (or maybe you were knocked unconscious by the sudden change to your body). Now maybe you have the temperament of a Stalker or the thirst of a Bleeder or Gasopod pods on your back that trigger when you're startled. How this genetic malfunction works and what it is can be up to you but while URSULA assures you it's only temporary, you're stuck like this for now.

Have fun?

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


splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (I WARNED YOU ABOUT STAIRS BRO)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-17 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
[To that, he doesn't say anything immediately. Whatever's hurting them coming after us, huh.

In the end, he just folds his arms on the gasopod's back and lays his head down.]


We can talk to URSULA about giving us a warning in advance about possible threats. So far, she has been working pretty hard on that anyway.
maserannas: (dubious | you think you've heard it all)

[personal profile] maserannas 2016-04-17 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ After having established that she and Josephine weren't even from the same... technical timeline, the baiting by using the year she'd met Varric had been intentional. She's not sure how to feel about how it's, ah, "paid off." ]

I doubt you've missed anything. I'm from... oh, 9:44 Dragon, last I checked. We're dealing with time travel on top of world traveling here.

[ This usually ends in tears. ]

Though on the subject of missions, I'm starting to think finding a means of fermentation might be increasingly more important. You know, for morale.

[personal profile] venerations 2016-04-17 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
[ there's a brief pang of guilt and embarrassment when she sees him laying his head down. this conversation had taken such a depressing turn and she doesn't even know his name. ]

Tarnation, I'm so sorry, [ she wrings her hands a little, unsure of what to do with herself. ] I didn't mean to ramble on about my worries like this. I mean, we're all stuck here together, right? So, it's no use worrying about the what-ifs so much. I'm sure we'll be able to figure things out together.

[ she ends up offering her hand, sort of like a peace offering. ]

I-I'm Mozu.
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (I can't wait to be)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-17 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
[Obviously, any poor knitting is an ironic gesture, brilliantly executed by one of the maestros in his early days. (Leave Dirk alone, he still has a lot of faith in the general concept of a Dave, regardless of which particular Dave that refers to.)

There are logistics to consider here. The logistics of birthday presents.]


We can say it's the day I set him running with the full set of modifications. Wiz 1.0, as it were. He should also be fully painted before he's considered properly operational.

[This is important.]

Dude, do you want me to build you a turntable or something? It wouldn't be hard.
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (I can't wait to be)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-17 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
Nah, you don't have to apologize about it. Worrying about contingencies is important forward thinking.

[He understands the gesture of a handshake. He's never done it, but he understands it. He knows what her hand is requesting.

He opts to give her a high five anyway.]


Dirk. It's a pleasure to meet you on this dreamvision-induced nighttime swim, Mozu.
transited: (Default)

neil josten | all for the game

[personal profile] transited 2016-04-17 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
c

[ neil isn't entirely sure of what he's supposed to be looking at here.

alien technology is still-- well, alien to him. he isn't entirely certain if he can spot something that's actually considered useful, and he refuses to risk his life over something that ends up being just space junk. honestly, he refuses to risk his life over this expedition at all. it all seems rather pointless to him.

so, unluckily for whoever is paired up with him, neil is going to spend most of the way to their destination silently brooding over this setup. if anyone is going to speak first, it'll have to be you. ]


d

[ there is a fox chewing on his shoe, and neil can only blame himself.

he asked for it as a sort of joke. the team he plays for in college are called the foxes, so that's what he asked for. and instead of getting his teammates, he... got an actual, real fox. this was the really obvious conclusion to his wish, he knows. as soon as the creature appeared, he thought, "wow, yes, why did i think this was a good idea?"

maybe the fox saw a kindred spirit with him, or maybe it just wanted something to chew on, because it immediately went for neil's foot. he sacrificed the shoe, and he is not standing a few feet away from the animal, watching it ruin the adidas sneaker. great. ]


This sucks.

[personal profile] venerations 2016-04-17 01:19 am (UTC)(link)
[ dirk slaps her hand and mozu looks down at it so dubiously for a moment as if she's growing another finger.

city people have such strange customs. and choice of accessories, now that she's gotten a better look at him.
]

Would you mind if I asked you something that might be a little rude?
parodeity: feastings @ tumblr (WAIT 🎧 hold up)

[personal profile] parodeity 2016-04-17 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
[ All right, Dave was actually going to respond to some of that re: Wiz 1.0 and painting (maybe make a remark about painting the corridors while they're at it, consider: color being a thing again) but.

But.

Dirk is good with robotics and building things. That was a thing that was apparently a fact and Dave was kinda aware of it, but for some reason this logical outcome just never occurred to him. ]


Seriously? [ A turntable. He misses his gear so much, but also: a turntable built by Dirk. Who probably has better things he could be doing with his time than entertaining Dave, but - ughhhh don't start comparing and contrasting guardians again, Dave, shit, stay focused. ] Jesus Christ in a sidecar you're the best. I'll make you a mix, I used to make 'em for Jade all the time back before, you know, meteorpalooza. Can I help? Uh, in the handing you shit sense again I actually do not have technological building skills, Harley would be way more help here than I am, ngl.

[ why did he just say the acronym ngl aloud. ]
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (I can't wait to be)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-17 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
I am laying here completely receptive to whatever question you may ask. Trust me, I won't be offended.

[This may or may not be true. But he believes he won't be offended.]
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (dog........)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-17 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
Hope isn't something to knock down. It can be pretty fucking powerful force, if it's used right.

[He gives her a thumbs up.]

[personal profile] venerations 2016-04-17 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
[ she takes a deep, steadying, mental breath. ]

... Can I try on your glasses sometime?
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (I can't wait to be)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-17 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
[beat]

My sweet shades?

[another beat]

Yeah, sure. Sounds fun.
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (these keywords were a mistake)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-17 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
[In Dirk's opinion, there could not be a better use of his time. Dave's immediate response vindicates this feeling. It makes Dirk smile, and he even stops tinkering around inside of Wiz's hardware for a second.]

I'd love that. Meaning both a mix and your help. You can tell me all about the specs you want as I work. And pass all the tiny little wrenches that will enable this Strider masterwork.
parodeity: feastings @ tumblr (LAUGH 🎧 lmao lmao)

[personal profile] parodeity 2016-04-17 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ He gets a half-smile back, as Dave starts tapping out a rhythm on his knees again. ]

I am the best at passing people shit, so you've got it, bro. I'll tell you all about my gear back home while we go? Also, how weird is it that we can't, like. Alchemize shit here? Did not even notice how completely commonplace that got until suddenly there wasn't an alchemizer around.

[ Not that he would be doing much good if there were one around, since like his friends Dave is pretty good at making 80% ridiculous shit from them, but. At least 20% of the stuff he comes up with is maybe useful!!! Maybe. ]

Do you make mixes? [ He realizes he doesn't actually know. CLEARLY all the hobbies and likes don't directly translate, what the fuck adult dave and your lack of an endless supply of aj. ]
maserannas: (chat | somebody new?)

[personal profile] maserannas 2016-04-17 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ Beat. ]

Thought so. I have a friend who'd have loved to meet you, were they here.

[ Then with a clap of her hand against her thigh, she goes with: ]

What's your name?
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (I can't wait to be)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-17 02:41 am (UTC)(link)
It's strange, but admittedly, likely not as strange as it is for you. Our session's underlings don't drop much grist, so we didn't have as many resources for it.

[Null sessions are so fucking annoying.]

I've made a few, but it's never really been a primary focus. Conceptually, I absolutely love the idea. The integration of the manipulation of your base materials for music into the music itself opens up so many potential layers for creativity and the exploration of meaning. Usually, I ended up incorporating mixes into other artistic projects rather than using it as my sole medium.
Edited 2016-04-17 02:44 (UTC)
parodeity: (HEH 🎧 sure thing)

[personal profile] parodeity 2016-04-17 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, right, the whole void session...thing. I kinda tuned out the details when Rose lectured me on it.

[ Also, that lecture took place well over a year ago and he can't possibly be expected to retain that shit if people don't bring it up in detail again later. Good job keeping a lockdown on the lingo, Dave. ]

But yeah, we were basically rolling in grist. Especially John, which is why we fuckin' stole some of his. [ GRISTTORRENT, he misses you. And he never actually turned that off, did he. Whoops. ] So wasting grist on random ideas was never a huge production, really, especially with each additional player.

[ But onto more important topics, i.e. the one he actually brought up himself: ]

K, so you can be into doin' them long enough to collab on one sometime, right? Or if you're doing one of those other artistic projects - what are we talkin' about here, by the way? - I can provide the sweet tunes and you provide the whatever-the-hell we're talking about here.
restorer: (Default)

[personal profile] restorer 2016-04-17 03:15 am (UTC)(link)
[hmmm. "getting lost out in the ocean" vs "possible starvation". neither of these sounds like a particularly pleasant way to go out, but if hiro had to make the choice, he'd rather the latter - if only because he suspects the odds of "the system never comes back on" are a lot lower than the odds of "them getting lost".]

I think we're better off staying here. How long does it normally take things to get running again?

[and when was the last time they ate? hiro isn't feeling hungry... yet. or thirsty. but that could change in a few hours, depending on how long they're out here for.]
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (dog........)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-17 03:17 am (UTC)(link)
[First reaction: I would fucking love to collaborate with you on anything and everything you are the alternate younger version of my artistic idol.

Second reaction: oh shit, smuppets.]


Your bro had a lot of puppets, right?

[beat]

I'll. I'll think of something else.

[another beat]

...Did he do anything awful with horses?
parodeity: (ROSE 🎧 stop analyzing me)

[personal profile] parodeity 2016-04-17 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
I mean. Uh. [ YEAH, PUPPETS ARE. A thing that Dave is still not over and if Lil Cal ever shows up expect him to wig the fuck out and abscond from the vicinity, but. But. ]

If they're...not smuppets. Maybe it'd be okay. And if we weren't, uh, collaborating on a smuppet snuff film, it could be...neat? [ Because that sure as fuck was a thing he got tricked into doing once THANKS BRO, THANKS FOR...THAT. Despite trying to act like it would maybe be okay Dave's having puppet war flashbacks here so maybe he should just focus on option number two.

But come on he's not Egbert and this isn't cake - yeah no we're gonna just focus on the horses thing ]


Horses? He never did anything with horses that I remember. [ Maybe horses are Dirk's AJ. ] You into horses?
bajkaiskierki: (from the fire's ashes)

D

[personal profile] bajkaiskierki 2016-04-17 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
[there's a wash of heat and steam from behind him, and a spiky, horse-sized, red-scaled head poking over his shoulder in an interested sort of way suddenly. yes, a dragon wants to know what's going on in this thread.]

I do not see anything sucking; it is only chewing. Would you like me to eat it?
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (I'M FALLING DOWN ALL THESE STAIRS)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-17 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
[Dirk gently picks up Wiz 0.1 and moves him over to Dave. Here, take the little droid. Pat its head. No puppets now. Only mechs. And Dave can pretend that this person in front of him would not immediately fistbump and possibly even snuggle with the very same puppet that so drastically inspires Dave's need to abscond.]

I love horses. Not as much as Arquiusprite does, but they're still pretty cool. [Puppets are still cooler, but he is trying not to trigger Dave's Puppet PTSD.]

We could just start collaborating on some mixes and see where the mutual inspiration takes us. [This feels like a suitable compromise that a) gives them room to develop, b) cuts out Dirk's compulsive controlfreak tendencies from the start, and c) absolutely does not involve puppets of any kind.]
parodeity: (HEH 🎧 sure thing)

[personal profile] parodeity 2016-04-17 04:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ Dave is like more than willing to pat Wiz 0.1 on the head. MAYBE EVEN FIST BUMP THE LITTLE DUDE??? As much as one can fistbumb these droids. ]

I wouldn't say I love 'em, but I have absolutely nothing against horses. Horses are p cool, sure. I think I might have had a horse fursona at some point to throw at Harley? I mean. I came up with like ten thousand fursonas just to throw at Harley, so.

[ Dave, That One Friend from when you were thirteen. Only he's still that same friend at sixteen... ]

But all right, that sounds chill to me. [ Dave's...actually usually willing to let someone else take the lead pretty much whenever (assuming they are not trying to get him to do some new dumb sword time heroic thing or something else he really doesn't want to do) mostly precisely because he was raised by a compulsive controlfreak and after that kept getting shoved into a heroic role he never felt he could entirely live up to. It's nice not to be in charge? Vriska had being in charge on lockdown on the meteor, and before that John was just their nebulously agreed-upon pal-honcho. ] I'll settle for a goal of a more upbeat tempo than we get from URSULA for the time being, honestly.
Edited 2016-04-17 04:25 (UTC)

[personal profile] venerations 2016-04-17 04:33 am (UTC)(link)
Shades? Is that what you guys call them?

[ that pretty cool. he's pretty cool. she also didn't expect him to agree so readily too, but her eyes immediately light up with excitement. ]

Thank you!
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (I can't wait to be)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-17 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
[Dirk isn't entirely certain how to take this. He does think it might be cool to meet whoever this is, but even then, he's wary.]

Dirk.

[He should probably say, 'What is yours?' but doesn't get that far. His uncertainty has made him monosyllabic.]

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