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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


[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.

[personal profile] venerations 2016-04-15 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[ oh good, she got it right! she smiles briefly with relief, breathing a small sigh. ]

Animals are pretty amazing, aren't they?

[ even weird alien looking ones. ]

But I wonder what they're trying to tell us... they sounded like they were in pain in the dream.
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (its sports)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-16 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
They're cool.

[Haunted by Seagulls says this.]

At this point, anything about the specifics would just be speculation. I think, however, that it would be fair if we tried to be cautious with the life here. If it's capable of the level of intelligence that calls out to us like this, it deserves respect. It would be pretty twisted to torment something you can hear screaming in your dreams.

[personal profile] venerations 2016-04-16 11:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ if dirk were a lot more dramatic and had the aching blood of legendary heroes, he'd be just like odin. but he's thankfully not, even if he tends to use fancy words with a lot of syllables. it's not really hard for her to follow per se, but she does wonder how city folk can talk like this without being short of breath all the time.

or maybe when he actually speaks it's different? mozu doesn't know. but she'll make it a point to talk to him above water soon to see for herself.
]

Yeah. But it's strange... I didn't think animals that're this smart could be hurt like this. Makes you wonder if whatever's hurting them will come after us too.
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.

[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 01:08 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.

[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?
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.]

[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.

[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 (its sports)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-17 10:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah. They're sunglasses, or shades. They block out sunlight to protect the eyes from damage and help them see.

[And they look fucking cool, which is obviously the only reason to wear them, somehow, as part of your underwater mask.]