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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 (dog........)

Dirk Strider | Homestuck

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-15 04:21 am (UTC)(link)
[Wow. It's an endless ocean full of alien life. What a change.]

D, ish
[Knowing how AIs can get, Dirk remembered to ask URSULA before he started tinkering with the droids. But with her permission, he is now camped out in the lab, assorted mechanics tools around him, with a droid opened up and subject to all of his tinkering.

A bottle of something that looks orange and fizzy, and yet probably isn't entirely unlike orange soda, sits beside him. Guess what brought on the tinkering?]


Don't worry, little dude. With a little time, you will have more skills in your processors than you'll know what to do with.


F
[Did you have that dream too? Did you head outside into the ocean depths with it, wondering how to deal with it?

The faint light of the Gasopod will reveal Dirk, in swimming trunks and a breathing mask... just kinda chilling on top of the Gasopod. Patting it gently. The orb of its tail sways behind them as the ocean currents glide through.

He raises a hand to give a wave at you. Then he points at the Gasopod's mate.

Wanna join this chillest of chill underwater dives?]
Edited 2016-04-15 04:22 (UTC)
dirtharama: (pic#10128787)

Merrill | Dragon Age 2

[personal profile] dirtharama 2016-04-15 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
[A: It's Like A Sleepover!]
[Merrill is actually pretty happy with this. Snacks, a bed and a friend to talk to! There are much worse things that could happen. And all they have to do is think of an idea?

But first she gets distracted by the food. Holding up a jelly plant, she tilts her head.]
Is this what a, oh, what was it called... [She only had it once.]

Pudding! That's it. Did they give us pudding? Or, well, she, I guess. URSULA's a she, isn't she? I still don't understand what an A.I. is... Are we sure she's not a spirit?


[D: The Droids You're Looking For]
[The little droids hovering around delight her. They're strange, sure, but they're like birds. In fact they remind her of hummingbirds with how they dart around.]

Oh, hello! My name is Merrill. Can you talk? [One of them hovers in front of her, unmoving.] ...Is that a no? Sorry, was that insensitive? I'm supposed to ask you to make something. But I'm not really sure what to ask for. So I thought we could talk about it first to decide on something...

[The droids continue to hover around her, waiting. Merrill herself is a bit stuck on this. Machines really are hard to have a discussion with.]


[F: And We Are the Dreamers of Dreams]
[Though she's not a dreamer, this isn't really that strange to her. The only real issue is how to solve it. Should she go off on her own? She doesn't have any friends here yet so she doesn't really want to ask a stranger. But what if she can't help alone?

Oh well, if she can't, she'll come back for help. For now she's by the entrance, trying to get into her wetsuit. It's such strange fabric, it just bothers her.]


Ohh, honestly! I should just go out in my nightclothes if you're going to be like this!
aeons: (like a glove like the love)

yuna / final fantasy x

[personal profile] aeons 2016-04-15 04:30 am (UTC)(link)
b.

[ well, this was a pickle they'd found themselves in, but certainly not the worst thing to happen to yuna in her lifetime. but it certainly wasn't the best. either way, she was okay with waiting in the vehicle, and trusted URSULA to solve whatever issue they were having as soon as they could, but she was also amenable to trying to swim back to base. she could hold her breath for a while — 2 minutes and 41 seconds, to be exact — and wasn't afraid of the ocean.

she turns to the companion in the ship with her, her face as calm as she can manage. she was a little stressed, but she was used to this — to saving face for others. ]


Well, what would you be more comfortable doing? It's fine if you want to stay. I won't leave you.

f.

[ she was used to waking up like this, even before working for URSULA — she carried a lot of baggage with her, and yuna had always had difficulty sleeping. it only got worse as she got older, and had simmered to only 'occasional' since her eternal calm had begun, but some nights she still was plagued with dreams of him.. of an emptiness, feeling like she could have done something else.

these dreams were something else entirely, a tug to something foreign and strange, but ultimately it was solved the same way she'd solve this issue if she were back on Besaid — a swim. it was something she'd gotten good at since she began living on Besaid as a young girl. everyone swam, and wakka taught her how to do it well — she wasn't quite on the level of a professional blitzball player, but it was soothing and familiar.

she had just suited up, and was preparing to leave, when she hears footsteps. she felt almost guilty, being up this late when she knew they had important things to do tomorrow, so she doesn't quite leave yet, waiting for the other person to come around the corner. ]


.. Was it the same for you, too? That same dream we all seem to have.
Edited 2016-04-15 04:33 (UTC)
dirtharama: (pic#)

f!

[personal profile] dirtharama 2016-04-15 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
[Merrill feels a similar pang of guilt until she notices Yuna's suited up.]

Oh, goodness. I thought I woke you for a moment. [A beat.] That doesn't make sense does it. But I did have that dream. I thought if something needs our help, we should go look, shouldn't we?
aeons: (and the water was closing all around)

[personal profile] aeons 2016-04-15 04:55 am (UTC)(link)
[ yuna nods. hopefully they can get over their collective guilt here and actually do something about their dream. ]

Yes, I feel the same way. I want to help. I'm just — I'm not sure what I can do. [ so she was just going to go for a swim, hoping to find what she needs to do. ] Would you like to come with me? I could use the company.
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (I can't wait to be)

A is for AI

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-15 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
[He holds out a hand. Can he look at the jelly plant?]

Nah, I'm pretty sure she's an A.I. She has certain mannerisms that are much more common in programs than ghosts.
dirtharama: (Default)

[personal profile] dirtharama 2016-04-15 04:59 am (UTC)(link)
[Brightening up, she goes for her locker, pulling out her own wetsuit.]

Of course I'm coming. It might be a little dangerous alone. [Though she would have gone by herself, so she really can't say much on that.] Besides, if there really is something out there that needs help, two heads are better than one. And two pairs of hands, too! It makes a difference.

[She glances around. Well. It's just them and Isabela never makes a big deal about people getting undressed. Though she does give a little wave to signal it first just in case.]
dirtharama: (pic#)

[personal profile] dirtharama 2016-04-15 05:01 am (UTC)(link)
[She plops it in his hand. Okay it doesn't act like pudding but she doesn't know what else it would be.]

Programs? Is... that like a pamphlet? [A little apologetic.] All of this is really... different from home. Metal houses! Underwater! No one would have thought of that.
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (I can't wait to be)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-15 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
[He holds it up to his glasses. Yeah, it's new. Kinda like jello. He pokes it. Wiggling!

Definitely like jello.

He lowers it to look at her.]


What's the most advanced technology you're familiar with from home?
restorer: (love confession)

d;

[personal profile] restorer 2016-04-15 05:10 am (UTC)(link)
[hiro wouldn't describe himself as an expert on droids. or artificial intelligence. that's the sort of thing better left to somebody like fumi - but he's got enough knowledge via her and via being a sort of normal-ish teenager in a world that at least, at one point, was normal-ish that he's pretty sure he has an idea of how these droids work.

whether it's correct or not is another question.]


I don't think they're... [what's the word he wants to use? she's an elf. apparently. she is something pointy eared so in hiro's mind that means probably elf or "thing that is not an elf but is functionally similar to an elf"; whatever. that's not the point.]

I don't think they're smart enough to talk back. They just do what they're told.

[hiro, where did you even come from, and why are you here?]
maserannas: (amused | she depends on you)

D

[personal profile] maserannas 2016-04-15 05:12 am (UTC)(link)
Dare I ask what you're doing with the metal golem?

[ Dave, sometimes there are elves who show up to bring in plant samples to the lab, and they just don't understand what it is you're doing with the droid you have open over there. Though Ellana is interested, she's not one much for these kinds of intricate feats of engineering: that's why she's bringing back loot and not attempting to improve anything mechanical by horrifically breaking it.

Since she's fairly sure that's what would happen were she to try.
]
dirtharama: (Default)

[personal profile] dirtharama 2016-04-15 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
[That takes her a moment to think, staring in fascination at the wiggling. It's surprisingly cute for food!]

Hmm... Well, we use magic for a lot of things. So I'm not sure about the equivalent to this. I mean, I supposed, with a lot of metal and mages and rune work, we could have a metal house underwater like this, too.

Oh but the Qunari have explosives and looking glasses to make up for, well, how they treat magic.
maserannas: (dubious | you think you've heard it all)

A

[personal profile] maserannas 2016-04-15 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ursula she is vetoing this selection in the future because this is so much less productive than the War Table ever was, and that was a group of people staring down at a map pinned to a table. Nonetheless, Ellana takes this in good grace.

More or less.

Which is to say the apparent city elf (with her lack of vallaslin) with her left arm amputated at the elbow glances up, offers a half-shrug, and her own lack of understanding for the technical aspects of where they are and what Ursula herself is, in the end.
]

I'd advise treating her as one should treat a spirit, regardless of whatever she is. She has access to information we lack, though if you're listening, Ursula, I'm not sure if you have all that much wisdom in using the knowledge you have.

[ She glances ceiling-ward and back toward the main base, as if her lecture will somehow actually make an impact if she addresses it in this manner. It changes nothing, but she feels marginally like she's tried addressing the issue. ]

I'm not sure I'd call that a pudding, but if you cut it up fine enough and boil it down, it's... tastier than you might expect.
restorer: (is on the way)

b;

[personal profile] restorer 2016-04-15 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
[on the scale of "things that have happened to hiro", this is... also not the best, but it is not even close to anything on the scale of "worst". this ranks somewhere at "pretty unpleasant".

unfortunately, underwater adventures are not really his area of expertise. normally he's the leader-type with this sort of thing - and his face doesn't betray any of his concern or anxiety, for now, as he turns to yuna.]


Well, what's the risk if we go? And what's the risk if we stay?

[he's pretty sure he knows them, but he'd rather discuss them with her.]
roundoff: (☉ right?)

Kaden | Fire Emblem: Fates

[personal profile] roundoff 2016-04-15 05:27 am (UTC)(link)
[ 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?!
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (I can't wait to be)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-15 05:27 am (UTC)(link)
[Runes? That's actually a good place to start.]

You can think of a program as sort of like a series of runes that end up producing a spirit. Instead of using runes, a program uses electronic impulses. There's a physical and computational division here, but the really important part is that the runes are giving out a series of commands that make something happen. URSULA's at an advanced state where her program probably lets her adapt to new things. The code is set out so that she can be flexible and write new things into her memory, which would be is a record that she can access through her program. URSULA might even be able to alter her own program. She is nonetheless based on a series of explicit and direct commands, and her tendency to fall into the parameters of those rules marks her as more likely to be an AI than a spirit.
maserannas: (ask | since you've awakened her again)

b

[personal profile] maserannas 2016-04-15 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ellana readjusts, having (admittedly) mostly been ignoring Yuna's attempt at saving face for others while she maneuvered herself to pull her waterbottle around to the front, nestle it between her legs, then find some of the more edible tidbits she'd stored away. The lowering light doesn't bother her, being able to see fairly well in the dark, moreso than any human she's encountered. Even the swim isn't all that daunting: she feels she knows the area well enough she could keep them both out of avoidable trouble if it came down to it.

No, more than anything else, she doesn't want to lose the resource they're sitting in, and she's nothing like a mechanic. So hurry up and wait? She can manage that much.

Her answer is to offer Yuna her water container after giving a small shrug of her shoulders.
]

I've been out here at night before, it's not so bad. I suggest we avoid being loud, but aside from that, make ourselves comfortable until the... contraption starts working again.

[ Technology. So many times worse than magic down here under the sea. ]

Water?
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (I'M FALLING DOWN ALL THESE STAIRS)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-15 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
['Metal golem'?

Actually, yeah. That's a really good way to think about them. He can't argue with it.]


Right now, I'm adding more processors so he's capable of more tasks.
dirtharama: (Default)

[personal profile] dirtharama 2016-04-15 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
Oh! Sorry, I was just rambling to myself. Well. To this. [She gestures at the droid.] But apparently I was rambling to myself.

[Still there's someone to actually talk to now.]

That's a little sad, though, isn't it? They can't do anything they want to do.
maserannas: (surprise | a hundred leaders)

F

[personal profile] maserannas 2016-04-15 05:37 am (UTC)(link)
[ 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...?
tentaculled: (tentaconvicted)

b

[personal profile] tentaculled 2016-04-15 05:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ on the other hand, he hates this. He hates this so much. Finally, they've got some transportation tha lets him go out into the ocean without feeling like he's going to die every second (only every minute or so, really) and then this happens! Just his luck, honestly. The slithery yellow monster squeezed into the ship with her looks to be on the verge of panicking, even though he's trying his best to hide that. Hiding his feelings isn't his strong point. ]

N-n-no, I'll do whatever you want, Miss Yuna! It's fine! It's totally fine... I'm fine.

[ he doesn't sound fine... ]
dirtharama: (Default)

[personal profile] dirtharama 2016-04-15 05:38 am (UTC)(link)
[The injury must be work relate, since she's a city elf. She's seen a few that have gotten hurt on their jobs, some even severely. It wasn't something Merrill ever worried about herself but it's nice, having another elf, even if she's not Dalish.]

Oh, I've been living in an alienage, so "cut it up and boil it down" is a recipe I can really understand. [Even better that it actually tastes good(?) when done. That's better than some of the things she's boiled.

Merrill glances up afterwards. She's listening to them right now?]


...She's a bit shy, isn't she? I tried talking to her a little but I don't think she understood much of what I was saying. I think I rambled a bit.
maserannas: (listen | anyone else but you?)

[personal profile] maserannas 2016-04-15 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
[ Processors doesn't make sense in that context to her, but she makes herself consider the overall statement. One processes things to understand them. This young man is saying he's altering how the metal golem processes so that it can handle more tasks than it already does.

... He's teaching it, or improving it's capacity to learn?
]

Will that leave 'him' capable of performing those tasks well, or simply performing them? [ She's not being entirely serious, though she's serious enough that the upward lilt of the question doesn't erase the fact it's still a genuine question. ] I'm not familiar with the way you're speaking, but it seems like increasing the capacity of the metal golems here would be a service to the group as a whole.
dirtharama: (Default)

[personal profile] dirtharama 2016-04-15 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
[That actually makes perfect sense to her.]

Oh! So, like a golem, but without a body? Or is this whole place her body?
splinten: appl-juice42 @ tumblr (dog........)

[personal profile] splinten 2016-04-15 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
[To her joke, that isn't quite a joke, these impassive sunglasses show no visible sign of mirth. But there might be some. It's a Mystery.]

You can't be too hard on a child if it needs time to learn how to walk well. You have to give a toddler props for crawling first.

[And he mimes the little droid....Toddling along.

It's a baby bot, Ellana.]

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