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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


portebonheur: (pic#10100826)

adrien is the truest disney princess minus his animal friend being rude

[personal profile] portebonheur 2016-04-15 09:26 am (UTC)(link)
[Ah. Right back to awkward. Well, she didn't think Adrien would be here, either. And what is she supposed to say? "Hi I'm Ladybug and this akuma battle went pretty weird and I chased it to another planet"? Quick think of something!]

H-Hi! [She waves.] I guess they needed someone to help design the base, I mean-- Decorate the base! Make it nicer? And well here I am! Somehow?

[She laughs nervously.] I'm not sure what else I can do here though...
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (and play all these games)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-15 09:41 am (UTC)(link)
[At least she's clearly very gentle with the Gasopod. There's very little threat of a startled poison sea cow giving them a bad time.

He definitely doesn't think either of them have gone crazy. He wishes he could access the splinter of his mind that lives unconsciously to tap into these things. As is...]


I had the sense that it came from much, much deeper in the ocean.

[personal profile] venerations 2016-04-15 09:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ okay, wait a second. ]

... Y-You mean there's more of them living all the way down there?

[ this is clearly startling information and she actually peers over the side of her gasopod for a moment, as if a deep sea creature would suddenly appear. ]
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (dog........)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-15 09:52 am (UTC)(link)
[...]

Yeah. The ocean is full of all kinds of lifeforms. There will probably be life all the way down.

[personal profile] venerations 2016-04-15 10:30 am (UTC)(link)
... Oh.

[ stop judging her. feeling silly, she straightens up again, thankful the mask is covering her face so he wouldn't see the embarrassed flush. ]

I thought it'd be too cold, or, um, [ what did lady corrin tell her about different depths again? ] The pressure from the water would be too strong?
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (I TOLD YOU DOG)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-15 10:42 am (UTC)(link)
[His mask for some reason features the same opaque shape as his stupid anime shades, so at least she won't see any judgement. And in the sense of being from different worlds, he can't be shocked. Hell, for all he knows, she's from a world without oceans. Not everyone grew up in the middle of betty crocker's ocean apocalypse, complete with alien fish.]

Animals meant for areas of lower water pressure or warmer temperatures would have a hard time surviving deeper in the ocean. The creatures that live in the depths have adapted to it. Their bodies are suited to high pressure, low light, and the conservation of energy.

[Nerd alert.]

[personal profile] venerations 2016-04-15 10:51 am (UTC)(link)
[ she wasn't really expecting an oceanography lesson, but she listens intently anyway, taking the time to think about what dirk says when he finishes explaining. mozu isn't the smartest in corrin's army by far and hasn't had much in the way of a formal education, but she's good at applying what she knows in learning new things. ]

I think I get it. Kind of like how animals that live in caves adapt to the darkness, right? They have bigger eyes, or different ways to hear and communicate?
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (dog........)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-15 10:54 am (UTC)(link)
[This extremely unemotive man gives her a thumbs up.]

Exactly like that. Down here, they could communicate with patterns, clicks, songs, and maybe even whatever we dreamed just now.
forsage: (005. • flick back and forth.)

d!

[personal profile] forsage 2016-04-15 10:58 am (UTC)(link)
-They don't talk.

[ roderic pops up from under the strange hulk of machinery he had crawled inside of in an attempt to fix it. he had been so wrapped up in trying to see what made the thing tick, he hadn't realised someone else was there until now. he crawls out of the machinery to speak with the new person proper while he tried to be careful in not getting caught by the sharper edges.

with his face smudged with oil and grime, he didn't exactly sport the of the friendliest individual with his set frown and tired eyes. he sounded conversational enough though? that has to count for something? ]


Not really? They make sounds but- They're not made programmed for this sort of thing. Interaction.
husbun: (12;)

Yarne | Fire Emblem

[personal profile] husbun 2016-04-15 11:05 am (UTC)(link)
[E: Podded]

[Sleep is fantastic. Yarne loves sleeping, because when he can sleep soundly he can forget about the terrifying fact that he's both the last of his species and stuck on a terrifying ocean planet full of technology he doesn't understand. Sure, he likes helping, but this is all a lot of stress.

He doesn't, however, like sleeping when he wakes up the next morning with glowing, yellow venomous pods on his back like it's no big deal. He's already covered in fur, he can't be a rab taguel and a fish at the same time. After having a yelling match with Ursula, he can be found doing his very, very best not to get startled.

So don't sneak up on him while he's trying to get food or doing mundane activities. Don't do it. If he's approached from behind or loudly, there's no telling what will happen, but if he's approached from the front he'll gladly exhale a sigh so loud that it sounds like he's doing some sort of heavy breathing exercise.]


Can you believe this? It's the worst thing that's ever happened to me! [He pauses for just a moment, remembering all of the other horrible things he's experienced.] R-recently, anyways!

[They feel so alive. And. And itchy. They don't agree with the fur at the base of his neck, this is horrible.]

[F: Swim]

[And despite how he loves a full night's rest that lets him sleep comfortably, warm and safe, he often doesn't. He has a lot of thoughts for such a young bunn taguel, and he's seen a lot of horrible things in his somewhat short life so far. There's a lot to keep him up at times, and a strange nightmarish dream actually...isn't so bad, considering.

Because he can tell that the ocean is calling him. It's a hard feeling to describe, but as he stands in a dimly light area and stares out at the ocean, he knows what it is. It's instinct of some kind, maybe, it's a similar sort of feeling to how he feels when his taguel blood is telling him to do more than survive. It's nature, and it can't be put into words, even if everyone else is experiencing it.

Still, Yarne wandering around late at night is a rare sight, and even if the ocean is calling to him, he's...really not sure what to do about that.]


I really, really wish you'd have tried talking to someone else. [He laughs at himself. Really, this is silly, but he feels it in a way that makes sense to him.] I really, really don't want to go out there right now.

[But. Helping people.

Talking to himself in a hallway isn't going to do him any favors, either, though, and even with his long ears he might miss out on someone approaching him. Or he'll give a polite nod as they pass.]


[ooc; I guess he can have the pods from prompt E in each thread, just lmk what you want.]
scarletwitchcraft: (So catch me.)

b.

[personal profile] scarletwitchcraft 2016-04-15 11:12 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, I think staying put is our best bet. It's a little too early for us girls to start panicking, isn't it?

[If there are other people on board the vessel, they're probably much, much more frantic than Cierra and Yuna are in their little corner. If the Scarlet Witch thinks there's anything about Yuna that seems off or stressed, she's certainly not going to emphasize it. She's been almost flooded before, they can handle this together.]

We just have to...wait it out, I think. I'm not really used to being trapped like this, but everything should be fine.
Edited 2016-04-15 11:13 (UTC)
maserannas: (consider | on a lonely night)

[personal profile] maserannas 2016-04-15 01:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[ So rapping is just like spoken poetry, right? It'll be like some weird Orlesian thing? (No, Ellana, no.)

She nods in turn, interested that in the mix of terms she's unfamiliar with, he's also using ones she does know. She chooses not to remark on it for now.
]

Not so much the golems I'm familiar with. More like... a spirit choosing to enter the waking world on their own.

[ Cole comes to mind with a mix of fondness and a pang of... something. Worldsickness? Compassion was something they could all use more of here, she thinks. She gives a small, dismissive toss of her hand. ]

Not to say that's what your talking about, but I'll admit those are terms I'm more familiar with.
maserannas: (consider | on a lonely night)

[personal profile] maserannas 2016-04-15 01:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Fully functional ears, she notes. Huh. Wonders genuinely never cease. ]

As nice to meet you as it can be under the circumstances, Kaden.

[ Pleasantries out of the way, they can then... focus on the oddities of this place? Or at least the sway of dreams here, for all it's familiar in its own ways to Ellana. ]

If you're not used to the diet here, it can take some adjusting to, and it's understandable to be overwhelmed with all of this registering at once. I can say that even a few months of living under the sea hasn't made it feel natural. More familiar, yes, but not natural.

[ Time up on the sandbanks that almost break the surface of the water doesn't come close to satisfying her desire to be walking on land again, all things told. ]

I believe there's some kind of tea we could brew up to settle the stomach, if you'd like?
maserannas: (ask | who survived?)

[personal profile] maserannas 2016-04-15 01:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Kirkwall? Ellana knew more about the city from Varric (and his novels) than anything else. Cullen had his own insights to share, and Cassandra had a much shorter time of familiarity for that hotbed of activity. Briefly, her thoughts turn toward the key to the city lying in her personal locker.

... She certainly hopes Varric doesn't need to be lowering both chains into the harbour anytime soon. Focusing on her companion once more, she gives a small, sympathetic nod.
]

I don't think many spend a great deal of time by the ocean. Aside from crossing the Waking Sea when necessary.

[ Particularly relevant to recent history in Thedas, but that's a matter of complicated timeline arrangement. She's not sure where this woman falls in the timeline of Thedas that Ellana knows. Ahead? Behind? Similar in time? ]

Though if you don't mind me asking, which clan are you from?
maserannas: (amused | she depends on you)

a

[personal profile] maserannas 2016-04-15 02:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He's young. She keeps racking her brain wondering how it is that so many young men and women in his demographic seem to have ended up here, though she balances that unasked question against "what do you mean so many, there's not exactly hundreds of people here." It makes her suspicious of Ursula and whatever is enabling them to come here, but that kind of questioning is better not done in present company.

... Not Adrien's, but Ursula's, given where they still are. Blanketforts and blanket capes aren't the strangest things in the world, particularly not here, and he settles himself down readily enough.

... He's so young. Like the three young men who had gone missing not so long ago. If she's honest, that's part of what worries her most. Though she makes her response an almost amused question in turn when she answers his statement.
]

Are you certain they're not actually soap?

[ There have been "difficulties" with such things in the past. ]

I'd suggest leaving the cooking to those with some skill for it, or learning on your own. It's not so difficult once you try.

[ Theoretically speaking. ]
maserannas: (ask | since you've awakened her again)

E

[personal profile] maserannas 2016-04-15 02:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She just so happens to be walking down the hall toward him, intent on heading toward the lab with an armful of brain coral, when she both catches sight of him (... huh) and hears that particular exclamation. She pauses, quirking up her eyebrows before answering in what she presumes is a way he was looking for, with a statement like that. ]

What precisely happened to you? Unless we're talking about being on a foreign world stuck in tight quarters with strangers and the objective of "saving the human race," which I don't think even the humans are happy about.

[ ... Okay, the humans are probably inclined to save their race, but the kidnapping, the employment opportunity gone wrong, and all the other stories for how people found themselves here make it suspect how pleased they are by the circumstances now that they are around. ]
inimicalis: (pic#10161537)

D for douchebag tbh

[personal profile] inimicalis 2016-04-15 02:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Jakob rears up, grim of mouth and about to snap, because why are you bothering him. ]

Of course it's—

[ - aaaaand then he looks down.

... Huh.

His expression changes from reproaching to quizzical as he eyes the item more closely. ]


I've never seen such a thing. The padding may be to deal with snags. It's possible they're passing judgment on the state of your ears.

[ He had to get a cloaked insult in, because of course he did. ]
Edited 2016-04-15 14:42 (UTC)
upcard: (✿ OTOME TRIP ACTIVATE)

f.

[personal profile] upcard 2016-04-15 02:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[Naturally Mai's immediately jumping back, stumbling at the sudden on edge, sharp comment. AAAAAH.....]

O-oh, um... I'm very sorry...!

[Why are you apologizing, Mai.]

It's just me!

[He doesn't even know who you are.]
upcard: (✿ so done with you rn)

f.

[personal profile] upcard 2016-04-15 02:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[Mai's just taking a walk, mostly. She had the strange dream, and it leaves her unsettled--leaves her feeling like she should be swimming, but she's still not a strong swimmer so she just walks instead, walks out to loo and--blinks when she sees someone else up and awake and all suited up.]

O-oh... yes, I did too.

[Mai rubs a hand over her eyes tiredly.]

But... you don't seem bothered at all.
upcard: (✿ nobody could mistake fireflies)

a

[personal profile] upcard 2016-04-15 02:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Um... thank you.

[She will very, very tentatively reach for some of that food, sitting with her legs tucked under her across from him, other hand still resting in her lap. This sort of thing... well, she doesn't know that she's very good at it, but nonetheless she has to try to help, so...

Brainstorming.

Right.]


Some of the people here are better at making the food taste...well, a little better but... I don't know why these taste like soap. Maybe if we had something to dip them in...?
parodeity: (PESTER 🎧 sup)

Re: then hello from the other side (of sleep)

[personal profile] parodeity 2016-04-15 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It will probably be a new rap every time. ]

Man, how could I forget my nakodiles? Best natives by far. As to rap skills... [ Dave snorts, picturing it. ] Noooo, that's not a thing they're really into. I mean, Jade tries and it's all kinds of adorable, but John doesn't. Rose...honestly does not need improvement. Stylistically she's more a straight up poet, but she's someone I prefer not to rap battle with. Mostly because she loves rapping about things specifically picked to wig me out when she does it. Holy shit, I'd actually pay money - again, if money mattered - to see her rap off with the batterwitch. But she's part Strider, so.
Edited 2016-04-15 15:11 (UTC)
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (its sports)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-15 03:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[Yes, Ellana. Embrace rap.

Even though he's still tinkering with his little bot bud, fixing a little chip into place, he is thinking over something she said.]


I guess that depends on what a 'spirit' is, as far as your world goes.
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (these keywords were a mistake)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-15 03:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[Good bro.

...Nakodiles? Goddamn, their crew missed out on so much. Skeleton underlings and corpse consorts. Boring null session bullshit.

The little smile comes back. Apparently, his ectobiological descendants put him in a good mood? What can he say, he likes Dave and Rose.]
That must be why Vriska didn't pair us up with her and Roxy for a deadly rapoff. [He slides a chip into the droid and flicks a button.] Our tongue-tormenting teardown of the Batterwitch's bad behavior would go quickly sour sick from Rose shrinkin' on the Strilonde saviors.

[Dirk glances down at the droid.] Get that, bud?

[A mechanical voice cracks out:] Behavior, your savior, sick quick orders licksplit, what do you require, neighbor?

Yeah, that's coming along nicely. Listen and learn, little dude. You're sitting with the masters.
Edited 2016-04-15 15:58 (UTC)
maserannas: (Default)

[personal profile] maserannas 2016-04-15 04:20 pm (UTC)(link)

[ She makes a considering noise. It's not a simple question depending on who was approaching it, and with what understanding. Might as well admit as much. ]

That's a subject of centuries long debate, depending on who you ask. The simplest explanation could be that spirits are emotions given form in the Beyond, the world of Dreaming. Also the source of magic, kept separate from the waking world by a barrier called the Veil. It's... a more flexible barrier than many expect, like a resistance that holds the Beyond back and leaves the waking world as immutable as it wishes to be.

[ To Solas' dawning horror, once he realised what the Veil had done in a practical sense. ]

Though emotions alone aren't the only things spirits embody. Spirits of Wisdom are collectors of wisdom, as their title might suggest, but wisdom is less an emotion than a state of being, or an idea, or even an ideal. Where-as Rage, or Pride, or Envy are easy to recognise from their emotional source. They're generated by thought, a reflection of the waking world, and start off focused primarily on the one concept that defines them. Gaining more complexity is less a spirit's natural state and more a physical state... that being said, it's possible for spirits to willingly take on physical form and learn and grow, beyond what they began as in the Beyond. Or the Fade, as most of Thedas refers to the dreaming world.

[ There are all sorts of complexities there, but it's at least a place to begin. Getting into possessions, the desire for more negative emotion beings to press across the barrier, differing levels of intelligence, the complexities of the Nameless Ones, the Forbidden Ones, and so on... but who wants to hear all that. ]

redy: (MarinetteW32)

a. tales of ladybug and chat noir, see i finished it for you

[personal profile] redy 2016-04-15 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ well. marinette's brain is certainly storming, but probably not in the way ursula actually wanted it to. thoughts of missions... no. it's more like thoughts of adrien agreste, her heart beating in her chest as she tries to piece herself together. what the heck? who actually thinks she's going to be productive when it's just the two of them, and—

—and he made a blanket fort with a blanket cape, that is so cute—

—no, focus! f... focus! focus on the fact this kind of seems like some aquarium date, except with something like homework, and maybe the ocean is a little more ominous considering half the stuff in it isn't the usual ooohh no there, her mind's storming again.

what did he say? fish cakes... fish cakes, soap. soapy fish cakes. ]


I like soap. [ ......... what? no, she really likes him, not soap. not that she doesn't like soap. ] Er. IIii mean, I like soap, but... yyyou're right! Fish cakes. Shouldn't taste like soap, so...

[ with less intensity to correct herself this time, and somewhat defeated she reaches for one of those fish cakes: ]

... Do they actually...

[ throw her into the ocean. ]

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