TEST DIVE #2

[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


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

Comments

Kaden | Fire Emblem: Fates

[roundoff]

[ A FOR ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THIS? ]

[The first thing out of his mouth is:]

We should find some really nice hair care products! There's probably lots of stuff like that, right? Or if we could start planting some trees that we can nap in? [But they're still underwater-] I think that sort of stuff would be really good!

[Is he air-headed or just easy-going? Is there a difference?

But regardless Kaden's just going to tilt his head at the people who are with him, his tail swaying behind him as he gives a smile.]

What do you think? Or do you have any ideas? Hah, I'm not really the one doing a lot of the planning back home so....

[What, really? No, could've fooled us.]

[ D FOR DON'T MESS WITH ME, BRUH ]

[Okay, but what is this.

Kaden's not really sure even as he holds it in his hands, both parts of it and tries to raise both of them up to his own ears - though they twitch in the anticipation. He gets close, really close and then he's just going to

Not.

Just not.

In fact he's going to turn to the nearest person to him, looking rather bugged as he holds out both parts of the item to them.]

Does this look like any kind of brush to you or were those guys just playing a mean joke on me?!

[ F FOR FFFFFABULOUS IDEAS AFOOT ]

[It's not hard to make a fox feel restless.

Kaden is pacing as soon as he's awake, padding back and forth and raising his hand to the windows around the base every now and then as if he's definitely considering going out there. Does someone need something from him? Is there a favor that he needs to repay? Is there someone in trouble?

When you approach, he's jumping and pressing his back against the wall a bit like a cornered animal though he's not necessary unfriendly - not yet. You may not even be that close - you may be as silent as can be, but his senses are sharp. Sharper than any human's and he's definitely on edge.]

Wh-Whoa! Who's that?!

F

[maserannas]

[ If Ellana had any advice as someone who's been living underwater in a confined base with people who were largely strangers at the start for the last two months, it would be...

... get used to feeling exactly like this, because inevitably, it will keep happening. Not to say she turns around and quietly walks the other way, since she doesn't, but she has to admit it's almost grounding to see someone else being antsier than she is. ]

Ellana, for what it's worth. I didn't mean to startle you.

[ She hadn't meant to disturb him at all, but he's reacting, and it's easier to talk to him in calm tones now and see if there's anything other than cabin fever going on, or if they can go their own ways in... a really cramped space. It's easier to find separate pacing areas than one might expect, if one timed it correctly.

She holds up her one good hand, letting her shorter arm fall back down to her side. With her left arm ending at her elbow, it was generally easier to leave most the gesturing to her right arm, particularly if she wasn't trying to unintentionally unsettle people she wasn't familiar with. Like this guy. This guy with... huh. Interesting ears. And interesting fashion choice with the tail? ]

Not that I believe I know your name, Ser...?

[roundoff]

[Ah.... Well he's still jittery, because there's a lot going on all at once. There's still something that leaves him on edge, waiting to see if maybe he should go out and take a swim - even though the water is a very mysterious and unfamiliar place to him indeed. Maybe he ground himself.

He glances toward her shorter arm for a moment before looking at her properly, one of his ears twitching in mild curiosity. At least his expression heads toward something a little bit more apologetic than antsy.]

Kaden! My name's Kaden and - I didn't mean to be startled, if that helps?

It's kinda just... a lot right now, you know? And I think I ate something bad before bed 'cause I woke up not feeling too hot either.

[maserannas]

[ 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?

[roundoff]

[Oh, so he's run into someone who's more familiar? He perks up a little at that, his demeanor brightening up almost immediately because as far as he's concerned, he's found a friend!

Whoa, that's fast.]

Really? We have tea where I come from too so maybe that'll help! If you wanna have some with me, I'd really like that!

D

[dirtharama]

[Merrill has a brush at home. It doesn't look like this, exactly, but it does remind her of a brush.]

Well, it could be, couldn't it? It has the pointy bits that go through your hair. Maybe it's just a special design for... special hair? It might feel nice on your ears!

[roundoff]

[ . . . . . hmmmmmm.

Solid suggestion.

Kaden continues to look at the brush rather suspiciously before looking back up at the stranger. Then at the brush. Stranger. Brush. Stranger.]

Do you have any experience with brushes or petting?

[are you getting at something here, Kaden]

[dirtharama]

[Merrill blinks, then she gets it. She brightens up.]

Oh, yes! Not a whole lot, but I used to help brush the halla sometimes when I was little. Do you mind if I...? I mean I need the brush.

[She really has no idea what species he is but he's fluffy and that means he must need a lot of hair care! Brushing only seems fair.]

D

[tentaculled]

Oh! That's a hair sponge, my furry friend.

[ Korosensei is there. Of course he's there...! He's nosy as all get-out, and how could he not be curious about this unusual-looking man with the fuzzy ears and fluffy tail? They're odd, they're fascinating, they're... pretty adorable, actually. His beady eyes are gazing at Kaden's ears with something between admiration and childish eagerness. He totally wants to touch them. But he won't. Because that's rude.

Nothing weird about a nine-foot-tall tentacle monster gawking at you, right? Fortunately, he's also knowledgeable about beauty products. Because, again, of course he is. ]

You can use it to make your hair longer and curlier... Hypothetically. Sensei has to say he doesn't think it will work on hair as straight as yours.

[roundoff]

[ . . . . okay but like-]

Whoa.... Thanks for the explanation but... what're you, though?!

[SUDDENLY MORE INTERESTED IN THIS GUY THAN THE BRUSH THING. He's so tall?! Kaden's just going to wander up to him, his tail swaying behind him as he super obviously looks Korosensei up and down. Where are his manners....]

And how do you know so much about hair care? I'm the best groomer of all the kitsune but even I've never seen something like this before.

[tentaculled]

[ a kitsune, huh... He knows what those are. Previously, he would have said "a myth," but considering the other weird folks hanging around this base, and the evidence sitting on this man's head and rear, he's going to have to revise that belief. ]

Why? Because I'm a teacher, of course. Knowing about things is my job.

[ hair care isn't something you teach in class, though... regardless, that seems to be his answer for both questions. ]

It's more surprising to see a fox so far underwater.

a...........

[venerations]

[ there's a lot of things going on in this top level that mozu doesn't really know how to react to. actually, she's still trying to grasp the fact that they are underwater and still alive somehow. like, okay, everyone knows corrin's got a thing for water and stuff, but this is an entirely different situation. she's mainly simply thankful for the fact that kaden is here and he's a familiar face, which does a lot to at least ease the panic a little. she grew up on a goddamn farm, okay, hoshido isn't exactly surrounded by water.

in any case, she's partly listening to kaden's ideas and partly trying not to freak out, but she does manage to catch some points here and there. ]

... I think we're gonna need a lot more soil if you wanna plant trees.

[ god, isn't silas the one who comes up with ideas? ]

[roundoff]

[Meanwhile here's Kaden, convinced that he just followed some of his favors too far and surprise surprise - this is where he's ended up! Easy-going as ever. His ear twitches a little bit as he notices Mozu's discomfort because of course he does, he's super sharp! Sharp like a fox.

Heh.]

Ooh, good point! Alright - we'll start with soil then!

[ . . . . ok but from where]

[venerations]

[ kaden, please. ]

Right, but... I don't think we're gonna find any here.

[ like, this is an underwater base, right. ]

Besides, too much water is bad for the soil too, yanno? Unless we plant them in the base. But then it might get crowded real fast.

a;

[chataclysmic]

[The stupid thing is that as soon as Kaden brings up hair products, a number of brands and types spring to mind and Adrien just about names them all off before he catches himself. It helps that he moves on to planting trees to nap in without much pause.]

[Adrien splays his fingers against his chin in thought.]

I mean, a lot of people do use "Dead Sea" products for hair and skin, and we are underwater, so it's maybe not exactly far-fetched to assume they'd be find-able? I dunno about trees though, at least not normal trees. Aquatic trees, maybe? Are those a thing?

[roundoff]

[ . . . . . . listen, he's down to talk about aquatic trees and maybe seeing where that conversation will go but also-]

Hold on, I don't wanna put Dead Anything on my face! What're you talking about, man? Are you okay? Do you want to lie down?

[he's imagining like putting a dead rat for skin nourishment or something

WHICH IS CLEARLY A SIN, PLEASE CALM DOWN, ADRIEN]

[chataclysmic]

[He opens his mouth, blinks, closes it again, and has to make a conscious effort to not laugh. It results in a quirk of his lips and a somewhat choked tone when he starts talking again.]

Nonono, it's-- People take minerals and stuff from the Dead Sea and use it as face care. None of it's actually dead-dead. I don't think.

D for douchebag tbh

[inimicalis]

[ 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. ]

[roundoff]

Nah, that can't be it. My ears are perfect - so they probably couldn't think of a way to improve 'em!

[Oh.

That.... That was dismissed Really Fast.]

This is probably so I can help the less fortunate...? Hey Jakob, how's the state of your [fur? mane?] hair? Need any help?

[Nailed it.]

f.

[upcard]

[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.]

[roundoff]

[ . . . . . . . well.

The thing is that she seems like a really cute, unassuming human girl!

But also like - who knows? Maybe she's like Hana and can suplex him at any given moment? Kaden's settled pretty quickly but also trying not to underestimate her.

Humans are weird, y'know?]

Um. Is that supposed to mean something to me...? Sorry, I don't think I know you.

... Well, I'm Kaden, whoever you are!

[upcard]

S-sorry!

[Yet another apology, we're on a roll. She bows quickly, hands clasped together before her.]

My name is Mai. Um... I didn't mean to startle you...

F

[discardia]

[ Cardia instantly flinches back, hands held up defensively. Lupin had taught her how to move about silently, and it's more out of habit than necessity that she does this now, but she supposes a person with ears like Sisi's could definitely pick up more than the average human. ]

It's just me.

[ Wait. ]

... Cardia.

[roundoff]

[So many humans, whoa. Kaden's ear twitches a little bit at that and given how silent she was, he's thinking that maybe he's run into a ninja? But she's not dressed like one?

How many different flavors of human can a kitsune find, jeeze.]

Well.... Nice to meet you, I guess! I'm Kaden.

[Though he's still not entirely calmed - he's still pretty spooked.]

Did you have a weird dream too?

[discardia]

[ Cardia's a particularly weird flavor of human, but to be honest, she's never met a kitsune before, so Kaden's kind of particularly weird to her too. But she's learned manners by now, so she won't just say something like that. ]

I... did. [ Granted, she has unpleasant dreams about her past all the time, but this one was different. She's... not sure whether she prefers it or not. ] About the ocean? And... so many creatures, being in pain...

[ It makes her shudder where she stands. ]