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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


parodeity: captaincrapster @ tumblr (SERIOUS 🎧 yeah yeah)

[personal profile] parodeity 2016-05-22 08:16 pm (UTC)(link)
I have a bag of fruit gummies?

[ that's it. that's all he's got. but you can have some if you want, john, since dave loves you. ]

And yeah, I can't say this is my favorite scenario ever, but look at it this way: nothing's tryin' to kill us yet. [ as long as nothing is trying to kill them dave is going to take it as a win because honestly something is usually trying to kill them in his experience these days. at least john would be down for escaping a reaper leviathan instead of trying to kill it, he...thinks. ] I'm sure something will by the time the sun's entirely down, yeah, but I'll take the leeway. Do you want to actually try to pretend we're outdoorsy enough to camp out for the night or do you wanna try to wander back to base?
windblows: livebites (pic#10288224)

[personal profile] windblows 2016-05-22 08:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Oh god of course you do, Dave. John can't help the very slight, very obvious wrinkle of his nose and snarl-like look of disgust that reveals his very large buck-teeth. Gummies. It's been the better of six years since he's dealt with being overfed sweets, and he still can't stop his stomach from churning at the mention of it. ]

[ But he's hungry. He's hungry and his best friend is offering him food when he is 100% sure he could easily be stingy about it. What a guy. John sighs. ]

Yeah, yeah you aren't wrong. I guess still having all our body parts in-tact with a working pulse is sorta a victory.

[ He takes one more look at their surroundings. It's getting pretty dark. ]

Swimming in a not-so-sure direction doesn't seem like a good idea, I'unno. We don't have much of a choice. Should probably stay here.

Bluh.

[ John lowers his head and holds out his hand. ]

Gummies. Please.
Edited 2016-05-22 20:24 (UTC)
parodeity: starrypier @ tumblr (GLANCE 🎧 what's up?)

[personal profile] parodeity 2016-05-22 08:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[ dave decaptchalogues the gummies and hands them over, scanning the area himself. ]

Yeaaaaaah, you're not wrong, either. That is absolutely the kind of decision that would make Rose raise her eyebrows at us. In that way she has that's like "wow, I thought you had already found the deepest darkest depths of idiocy, but this is a new low you found here, good job" and she would not be far off the mark. Do you have anything remotely useful on you?

[ switching gears to figure out what the hell they have for this apparent impromptu campout. dave's assuming that the rest of the strilonde brigade will notice them missing...eventually. but who knows if they can do anything useful about it. ]

I've got my sword and my iphone, but that's about it. Did not expect this to be an overnight trip. We can probably catch some fish for dinner if you, like, get hungrier? I've seen Dirk kill and prep enough fish that I can manage it. Although we'd need, like. Fire.

[ if only his sick fires actually made legitimate fire ]
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (I can't wait to be)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-05-22 08:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[Are you done yet, John? Dirk perches on a rock to patiently wait the outrage out. Mentally, he's cataloguing similarities and differences: the ways that John is like Jane, the ways he's like Jake, the things that seem to come from no one but himself. It's a habit he got into with Rose and Dave, and now he has another model of ectobiological fuckery to get data from.]

Those pulses kill all electricity for a while. You're going to have to wait it out.

[Dirk's tech is also all dead. But John has clearly had enough of a fit for two people, so he'll keep his cool about it.]
windblows: livebites (pic#10288250)

[personal profile] windblows 2016-05-22 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[ As the bag of gummies sets in his hand, he can already smell the saturated levels of artificial flavoring. But he is just hungry enough to go for it. John reaches in and grabs a single gummy, tentatively putting it in his mouth. Eugh, god this is gross. Too sweet. But he takes one for the team, because his best buddy is just so good to him. When he swallows, there's a very despairing sigh. ]

Thanks.

[ At the question of what he has, John has to actually think on that. He fusses with his modus to see what's there. ]

Oh man...

I'm pretty sure that Rose is somewhere out there sufficiently judging us right now. Like. Nose up in the air and everything, because I don't have anything on me minus my hammerkind.

I mean I could... Uh...

Tenderize the meat of some beast we hunt down or whatever. Smack the crap out of an offender.

[ John manages to laugh a bit. ]

Hah, hey maybe unload one of your sick rhymes down on a pile of wood and we'll totally be in business.

[ See? Hivemind. There's a reason they're besties. ]
windblows: livebites (pic#)

[personal profile] windblows 2016-05-22 08:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ John manages to let that groan roll out for a bit longer. Likely fifteen seconds of nothing but raspy, dramatic moaning in disgust until he finally lets his arms drop to his sides. ]

Oh yeah, totally convenient and useful in a time like this. Yeah, yeah, logic says we've gotta wait it out, but I am just going to stand here and be super mad and groan-y.

[ There's another one. BLUHHHHHHHH ]
Edited 2016-05-22 20:44 (UTC)
parodeity: zu-art @ tumblr (BLUE 🎧 query)

[personal profile] parodeity 2016-05-22 08:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Ok, we basically have to ace this camping thing so we can tell her to suck it.

[ they are not going to ace this camping thing. although they probably won't die???? it wouldn't be a heroic death or a just one even if they did so they should be fine if they die of idiocy somehow. dave doesn't ask for the gummies back or reach for any himself, instead snickering and loosening up. ]

I'm always down to unload sick rhymes, you know this, but sadly I don't think the cooking world is ready for that sort of flavor. So we'll have to find another way to keep warm and or start a fire. They like, rub sticks together in movies, right?

[ ok. he needs to ask dirk for camping lessons. this is pathetic. ]

Why the fuck weren't you a boy scout, you're like the stereotypical prototype for boy scouts and then we'd at least know more than jack shit about what we're doin' here.
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (your PRAYING WRONG)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-05-22 08:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay.

[Dirk isn't going to object to that. The Eglishes (Englberts?) must be permitted their dramatics. Actually, is that more of a Jane thing? Jane's less shameless about it but she definitely does it.

Maybe all their friends are dramatic.

Either way, Dirk gets to his feet.]


We should camp out here for the night. I'll find a fortifiable position and hunt down some dinner.

[While John just has his fit? Honestly, John is probably much more suited for the recon of finding them a good spot on this island, but sometimes Dirk still forgets that he doesn't have to do literally everything.]
windblows: lolcats (pic#10288263)

[personal profile] windblows 2016-05-22 09:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh yeah. Too spicy. Good call, Dave.

[ Is he rolling his eyes? Yes. Yes he is. John doesn't really take much more out of that bag of gummies before he's taking a seat on the ground. ]

I'm pretty sure that's how it works? I've seen enough movies to get that there's some kind of rhythm to it or whatever, but--

[ Boy scout. Really? ]

Excuse me, but I was spending my valuable adolescence doing something meaningful. Like reading through your mile-long raps and tangents and getting well-versed in the magic that is Nic Cage.

You're the one drowning yourself in irony. Wouldn't being a boy scout make you like. Ascend to the highest peak of irony you could ever reach?
Edited 2016-05-22 21:08 (UTC)
windblows: livebites (pic#10288216)

[personal profile] windblows 2016-05-22 09:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[ BLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-- ]

--!

[ John stops his whining and puts his attention back on Dirk. ]

Camp out?

[ One look around, and he can tell the sun is going down. John rubs the back of his neck. ]

Oh... Yeah, that's probably a good idea. In a little while, we won't be able to see where we're going.

I'll tag along. We shouldn't be alone either.
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (not all the cans are the same)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-05-22 09:17 pm (UTC)(link)
[Dirk pauses ("We shouldn't be alone either" is a weird sentence to him even after all these months, and he's reminded of that conversation about friendleaders) and and then nods.]

An aerial survey will be our best bet on finding somewhere. Something walled off on most sides would be ideal. We want an open top for the fire, but no matter what we can handle ourselves. [None of the monsters here will be an issue as far as Dirk is concerned. (Dirk thinks he can fight a Reaper Leviathan and win.)]
windblows: livebites (pic#10288181)

[personal profile] windblows 2016-05-22 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[ John puts his hands on his hips as he looks around again, up above and at their surroundings. ]

Can't disagree there.

[ He exhales with his lips in an 'o' shape, which causes a bit of a whistle. ]

You know, I get that you guys are like... Clones of yourself and there's this weird situation where we're each other's like. Own parents and stuff, so I can't exactly make an assumption of Dave's Bro and you, but...

I don't know, you seem a lot more uh...

[ John taps at his temple. ]

Collected? Put-together? I'unno, from what I heard, Bro seemed more antagonistic than calm and calculated.

If that makes sense. It's more a 'thank you' for dishing out ideas. I'm kinda hangry right now, so my head's twisted in the wrong direction.
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (cloun)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-05-22 09:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[Dirk goes dead still the moment John mentions the cloning situation. This may not be particularly noticeable, given that Dirk isn't exactly emotive, but internally there's a blank terror about what John might say, and the mention of Dave's Bro only confirms his sense of dread. Is John going to call him out? Is he acting too much like Bro? Shit, is he being controlling and bossy again? And being called out by someone who looks so much like both Jake and Jane just feels even worse, a reminder of the tangible fact that he is very much like Bro, and—

And oh.

Well all that worry was unnecessary.

Dirk's brain sure does get ahead of itself.]


Uh.

[Super put-together, here. Very collected.]

Don't worry about it.

[Nailed it.]

Hangry's a pretty serious condition. Worse than a pole through the head for altering personalities. We'll have to get that treated ASAP.

[He kicks off the ground so he can get an aerial view of the island and also because if he stayed standing in take-off mode, the sheer level of awkwardness he is feeling would get broadcast unbearably loudly.]
windblows: voidkatini (pic#10288151)

[personal profile] windblows 2016-05-22 09:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Before John can even say anything about that very clear break in coolness, Dirk is up and gone to survey the area. He can't help but snicker a bit. John's known Dave for maaaany years, and in meeting him in person? He's fully aware that the whole coolsona is a big, fat façade. It's really no shocker that it's about the same for Dirk, and it's honestly kind of... Admirable? The Striders have some hardcore tenacity when it comes to how they're looked upon. ]

[ John shrugs. Honestly, they're a bunch of dorks in his opinion. Cool dorks, but dorks nonetheless. ]

[ He takes off himself, wind picking up around his feet as he lifts off the ground in gentle flight. Might as well help in finding a safe spot for camping before they lose all of the light they have. ]
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (im telling you. . . . air like)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-05-22 09:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[Dirk lacks John's deftness in flight. He has had practice, but he just isn't a Breath player. He is no master of any kind of windy thing. As he looks over the area, he is also making a map of it in terms of strategy. Good routes, probably hunting grounds, areas that would fuck him over in a fight. The heavy foliage in a lot of these places would definitely not be to his advantage; Jake may have grown up on jungle island, but Dirk doesn't have experience fighting on that kind of terrain. He'll probably need to get into that if John wants landmeat for dinner. Frankly, Dirk wants landmeat too. He has lived an entire life on seafood and his Bro's gifts to the future. Let him taste landfoods.

Despite himself, he drifts closer to John. And while he never stops looking at the ground...]


So you... never met Dave's Bro, right? You just heard about him from Dave.
windblows: livebites (pic#10288233)

[personal profile] windblows 2016-05-22 09:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Flight has gotten easier over time, and honestly he's started to kind of enjoy it. While this place seems like it's own specific prison, seeing everything from up high gives him a feeling of being in control. Being tall and free... Or something like that. ]

[ A lot of this area has promise of being pretty dangerous, considering that there are monsters that come out. John seeks a covered area that they can claim for the night, but finding it in dim lighting isn't easy. Even while Dirk talks to him, he keeps looking. ]

No, I never did.

His Bro died a while back, so I never got the chance to actually see him. So yeah, it was all second-hand from Dave. All over PesterChum and stuff.
Edited 2016-05-22 21:57 (UTC)
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (and play all these games)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-05-22 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay.

[So all of his impressions were from Dave. And he seems different from that? Which isn't bad. It's good. He wants to be different. But Dirk has to take in all the data and process all the information and overthink himself to death. So he draws on the contextual cues at least as far as that to work out a better picture of the worst version of what he could be.]

That area looks promising.

[He points to a series of cliffs. High range, rocky outgrowths, fewer trees. Less likely to have places for animals to hide and sneak attack them.]
windblows: livebites (pic#10288167)

[personal profile] windblows 2016-05-22 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[ John would get into it, about how he felt like the whole puppet harassment thing was kind of creepy. About how he knew about the frequent rooftop fighting and the sort of... Off-putting stunts he would pull. But that's for Dave to bring up with Dirk, honestly. Plus, he could just be acting judgmental. Rose is the psychoanalyst. Not him. So he moves on to the next subject when Dirk does. ]

[ John eyes over the area and lights up. ]

Oh yeah, it's perfect! Good eye, dude!
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (not all the cans are the same)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-05-22 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[Dirk swoops down closer to the cliff range, checking out the area. There are some irritating cave crawlers, but those will be easy to knock away. No big deal. There's an area where the ground slops in, and while it isn't perfect fortification, Dirk is pretty sure it can do the job.]

The next question is what kind of dinner you want. [Hangry Gods must be said before someone gets hurt.]
windblows: livebites (pic#)

[personal profile] windblows 2016-05-22 10:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[ John happily follows, careful not to allow a gust of wind to rustle any leaves and catch attention. For now, it's best to be careful. He lands softly on his feet, scoping the area. He looks back to Dirk. ]

Not... Sure if I'm in a position to be picky. But something definitely with meat and substance.

What about you?
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (the coart is on FIRE)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-05-22 11:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Anything that isn't seafood. Can you start a fire while I hunt?

[He just assumes John can start a fire because...

Well, because John looks and sounds so much like Jake that he has forgotten they don't share the same survival skills.]
parodeity: silisboo @ tumblr (SNICKER 🎧 you're an idiot)

wakes up again

[personal profile] parodeity 2016-05-22 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
What, no. That's not how irony works, bro.

[ maybe it is. dave has no idea. he thinks that would have actually probably not been a bad way to spend his childhood? it would have gotten him out of the house more, or something, but it's not like it's a thing that can be changed now. it's definitely not the sort of thing bro ever advertised, but he kind of figured it was more john's dad's speed. ]

Although I will give you points for my raps being meaningful, because that is totally a thing that is true. Not giving you points for watching the questionable disaster that is Nic Cage or Matthew however-the-fuck-you-say-his-last-name [ he can't misspell it on purpose here to fuck with john so dave's just straight up refusing to say it ] but at least you did do some valuable shit with your adolescence.

Anyway, since you're the movie master, wanna try to like. Make fire and shit? I can do the hunting thing no problemo.

[personal profile] voidkatini 2016-05-30 07:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ Roxy still can't believe he's here. John's here. He's here, and she's on a mission with him, and they're fucking stranded on an island together. It could be the plot of one of her stupid smutty fanfictions if one were to get right down to it. Too bad it's so totally real! ]

This is normal, John. It'll pass.

[ His nerdy, dorky rage is so adorable. Now she understands where Jake gets it. ]
windblows: (pic#10306410)

[personal profile] windblows 2016-05-30 09:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[ John can't help but seethe for a bit longer. His head throws back, glasses sliding up his face as he does so. ]

BluuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

This is bullshit!

[ But eventually, it passes. John sighs as he straightens up and lets his arms fall to their respective sides. ]

Yeah, yeah. Pass. But what are we supposed to do until then? There's nothing out here.

[personal profile] voidkatini 2016-05-30 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Laughing, she pats John on the shoulder. There, there, friend. It will be okay. ]

Iunno. Fuck around? We're kinda shit outta luck for now. Might as well make the most of it.

[ It's going to be dark soon... They should probably gather some firewood and hunt for dinner. Who knew how long they'd be stuck out here until this pulse passes.

Roxy starts heading inland, towards the forest. ]


C'mon, Eggman. We're burning daylight.
Edited 2016-05-30 22:56 (UTC)

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