fishesoutofwater | TEST DIVE #2

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test dive

TEST DIVE #2

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

Threaded | Flat

[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.

[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)

[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!

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)

[ 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?!

a; underwater slumber party!

[Ignoring the fact that this was approximately everything out of his teenage life that Adrien Agreste could have ever wanted, he was making a valiant effort to take this mission seriously. That, naturally, had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he had almost immediately created a fort out of bedding and tied a blanket cape around his shoulders. Upon being caught doing so, however, he will settle into a serious-looking cross-legged sit, holding the recording device out between himself and whoever drew the short straw to be trapped in a room with him until ideas were produced.]

[A moment later he sets one of the bags of food they were provided in the space between them.]

This is probably not the intended target for brainstorming, but I think my first suggestion is that they make these fish cakes taste less like soap.

d; once a gym sock, always a gym sock.

[It hadn't even been a week since he'd woken up feeling all at once like he'd been here forever and never seen URSULA's base in his life before he was asking after one of the droids in hushed secret. And while he couldn't say he had expected very much out of asking for something as specific as Camembert cheese, he had hoped that maybe it being made out of-- Well, he didn't even really know what the droids were using to make cheese, but being presented with the little round of mold hadn't been terribly different than what felt normal.]

[It still smelled like gym socks, and now so did most of his person, admittedly with an added, equally unpleasant faint fish odor.]

[Contemplating the droid that oh-so-proudly had handed him the round, he shook his head and pat it awkwardly.]

I'd say I'd ask for a deodorizing spray next, but I'm actually afraid that might just smell more like fish.

[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.]

a.
[It's a bit ominous when you're expected to bring a bed into a brainstorming session. He's heard about you and your ways, URSULA!! No funny business allowed.]

[And yet, here he is, cross-legged on one of the beds and thinking of 'ideas for missions.' Well, he has a lot of ideas - get into those damned caves, for one, and find out what's hiding under there. Create a more reliable power source. Figure out how to make all this hostile plant life a little less... Hostile. That'd be nice.]

[With a mild-mannered smile:] She was pretty vague on what she meant by 'ideas,' wasn't she?

c.
[See, here's the thing about a lot of larger transportation methods: they use explosives.]

[Here's the thing about explosives: they're apparently guarded by some combination of parasitic plants and the fish on which they prey. The mechanism by which the Crash work is fascinating, really! Qilby wonders how it evolved.]

[Not that it'll help him now, when he's staring the damned things down and trying to figure out how to get into their insides without losing his other arm.]

Hrm. [He had a game-plan, but looking at them more closely...] It looks like one of us'll need to provide a distraction.

f.
[He wants to go deeper, needs to go deeper, plunge into the abyss and discover its secrets - he's known that even on his homeworld. His entire being has cried out for new experiences for so, so many years; finally being in a place with new life makes him want to take it all in as quickly as possible.]

[That said, when he wakes with sweat on his brow and some sort of knowledge that he needs to go, and now, it's no less jarring than one would expect.]

[Quietly, he slips off to slip into his wetsuit (he's put a hood on it to cover the mystery of what is on his head, and the hole where his missing left arm would be is sewn shut) and tries to make an exit. Perhaps you are, too?]

Edited 2016-04-15 19:55 (UTC)

a: brainstorm

[ Honestly Dave is not really thrilled with being randomly selected for something with so much responsibility, but he is. Kind of trying? Maybe trying. But his ideas are sort of the least helpful because honestly he doesn't really get the point. Exploring randomly seems like the best bet mission-wise for him, and also his priorities are shit. ]

Okay, but consider: a mission dedicated to finding an underwater apple forest.

[ This is probably the sixteenth time he's come up with a dumbass plan relating to apples. ]

Or, again, we could totally use some people mixing up sweet jams. Not that I'm not into Ursula's tunes, but we could use some variety, y'know? I'm dying here. Just give me some kinda mixing equipment and I'll make up for the lack.

[ Neither of these ideas sounds like something that's going to get them out of this room...Dave's laying on one of the beds a little weirdly, his legs crossed and leaning against the glass of the conservatory wall while he eyes his partner upside down from underneath opaque shades. He's not taking those off, even though they're underwater. ]

d: this is not what i wanted

[ Dave...has actually tried more than once. He is sitting cross-legged on the floor in one of the labs, head in his hands, surrounded by a ton of different kinds of drink bottles. Why hasn't he given up yet? Possibly he just has nothing better to do with his life, or he's just trying to see how far down the rabbit hole of wrong shit he can go.

He's...ah, he's kind of laughing, helplessly. ]

No, man, I - oh my god what even is this? I want apple juice. Or coffee. Completely willin' to cut off my own arm here for either or. Or my leg. Hell, have my head if you want it, although that'd be hella awkward and actaully then how would I even drink the stuff. What did you bring me, anyway, this tastes weird. Not that I don't appreciate the effort, but who's in charge of alchemization here?

...I mean, it ain't like I can alchemize aj either, but I'm pretty fucking sure I can alchemize some better coffee. I have mad coffee skills now. It's actually pretty impressive, anyone else could tell you so.

[ The droid is predictably not going to be responding to like. Any of that. Maybe you can instead? ]

I'd say somethin' about this deck of cards, but honestly artistically speaking I'm pretty sure this is better than usual.

[ HE'LL KEEP THESE, EVEN IF THEY'RE WRONG. The "creative differences" on the playing cards are pretty avant garde and. Entirely shitty mspaint, honestly. Dave loves these, they almost make up for the lack of aj or coffee. ]

f: horrorterror time

[ There's definitely the desire to swim, but Dave's been able to hold it back just enough to be pacing inside the room leading out into the ocean. He's geared up, mostly, though his breathing apparatus is off and he hasn't swapped goggles for shades. Said shades are shoved up on top of his head as he rubs at his temples, though. ]

- No, no, no, I'm not about the horrorterror life, I'm not Rose... [ He's also kind of just muttering to himself as he walks around the room, clearly trying to avoid the whole swim-at-night-because-dreams deal but circling back closer to the entrance every time and looking annoyed with himself because of it.

He doesn't jump when he notices someone else, but he does squint at them, eyes bright red in the faint bio-light. ]

Yo. Sup?

c

[ neil isn't entirely sure of what he's supposed to be looking at here.

alien technology is still-- well, alien to him. he isn't entirely certain if he can spot something that's actually considered useful, and he refuses to risk his life over something that ends up being just space junk. honestly, he refuses to risk his life over this expedition at all. it all seems rather pointless to him.

so, unluckily for whoever is paired up with him, neil is going to spend most of the way to their destination silently brooding over this setup. if anyone is going to speak first, it'll have to be you. ]

d

[ there is a fox chewing on his shoe, and neil can only blame himself.

he asked for it as a sort of joke. the team he plays for in college are called the foxes, so that's what he asked for. and instead of getting his teammates, he... got an actual, real fox. this was the really obvious conclusion to his wish, he knows. as soon as the creature appeared, he thought, "wow, yes, why did i think this was a good idea?"

maybe the fox saw a kindred spirit with him, or maybe it just wanted something to chew on, because it immediately went for neil's foot. he sacrificed the shoe, and he is not standing a few feet away from the animal, watching it ruin the adidas sneaker. great. ]

This sucks.

a. there's a storm on the horizon

[ For someone who isn't the most physically fit person in the world (in any world), a task like this is kinder than most. However, Hotaru's still a young junior high school student, reserved and a little nervous. Any ideas she comes up with are tentative but thoughtful. They all have to do with conserving or promoting the health and safety of people.

In fact, being stuck in that room for a while wears at the mind, and churning out whatever ideas she can breaks down the walls she usually keeps up around the edges. She's been thinking about the technology here in this underwater world, and it's the genetic modifications that especially weigh on her mind. (Her father would love to see some of the research here, she thinks.) ]

Do you think that URSULA... that we could help URSULA cure chronic illnesses somehow?

[ What she's really asking is if her plot device syndrome can be fixed? No, no, she wants to be healthier so she can be of more help. They all have a mission to do here, and she doesn't want to be dead weight. ]

b. the abysmal sea

[ It's hard not be scared or anxious when technology suddenly fails and you've just become stranded with someone. It's not an unfamiliar experience for Hotaru, but it's still worrying when you don't know when or if help will come. Darkness itself doesn't frighten her, but there are still so many unknown creatures out there, and she knows the transportation vessel isn't invulnerable. ]

Should we try to find a way ba—

[ She's cut off by a small fit, her breath shortening as she leans over and curls in on herself, shoulders shaking. ]

I'm sorry. I'm— I'm fine. I'm just... a little dizzy...

[ She says, voice faint and obviously still in pain. ]

d. almost but not quite

[ After the third attempt of asking for a lamp like the ones she keeps in her bedroom back home, Hotaru gives up. She gives the droid a polite but less-than-happy thank you and looks at her collection of weirdly shaped firefly-like lamps. She gathers them up in her arms, her hold on them awkward because of the odd sizes and shapes.

It's not long before her grip slips or one tumbles out of her hands and crashes to the floor. ]

Oh, no...!

[ Hotaru moves to pick the fallen one, but in the process, another mistaken creation clatters to the ground. Does the sound draw you out? Does a broken lamp slide to a rest at your feet? Or maybe Hotaru bumps into you in her hurry to clean up after her mess? ]

A.
So here you are, faced with what appears to be a box the size of a carry-on suitcase laid flat on its side, with rounded corners and a sleek gunmetal-grey case of some extremely advanced ceramic. It hovers in the air at your eye-level, one of the long edges facing you with an array of small protruding sensors—it is most definitely looking at you. It is surrounded by a faintly glowing aura, just visible, that is a formal medium blue in colour.

"Hello," it says, its voice polite. "My name is Fohristiwhirl Skaffen-Amtiskaw Handrahen Dran Easpyou, but please, call me Skaffen-Amstiskaw. Shall we begin?"

B.
The drone's aura is grey with frustration; the communications implant that it agreed to accept from URSULA isn't responding. "Are you getting anything?" it asks irritably.

a;

[being locked in a room with a stranger and told to brainstorm is... well, that doesn't even sound like a punishment to hiro. that sounds like a combination of an icebreaker and a good time. come up with ideas for missions, huh? things that ursula can do to help them out? this sounds like all sorts of a good time.]

So what do you think's missing from here? It could be worse. I wouldn't mind some video games or something like that, though.

[there's a smile on his face. hiro is perfectly aware that the person he's talking to might not know anything about video games, and it's difficult to tell from his expression whether he's 100% serious about the video games or just trying to get a reaction. regardless, it's a good way to start things rolling, rather than the awkward staring and introductions and all that.]

d;

[some people, when approached with the task of telling these droids to bring them anything, would find creative things to ask. hiro isn't unique in this ability, but he'd come up with something for the droids to bring him - and received something that was almost completely not what he'd asked for. what makes this proposition interesting for hiro isn't the fact that it didn't give him what it wanted, but the fact that it gave him something that was close to (but not quite) the exact opposite of the thing he wanted.

some people would have gotten frustrated at the droids' inability to deliver what they'd asked for. hiro, on the other hand, had seen an experiment in the making, and as a result, anyone who is coming across him will see a teenager who has approximately eight or nine random geegaws and doohickeys around him. one of them appears to be some sort of double-ended plunger; another is a plastic pizza whose toppings appear to be other, smaller pizzas. presumably they're objects that the droids have brought him.

right now, he's addressing the droids again.]

Can I get some pureed sneakers?

[the droid rushes off, burbling and chirping and generally making droidlike noises that might not be either burbling or chirping.

oh, hello, person. hiro waves his arms at the pile of assorted gadgets.] Don't worry, I'll get this cleaned up. But if you want one of them, you're welcome to it.

[a wise person wouldn't ask what he's doing because that's a very dangerous thing to ask, given that he has just asked the robots to provide him with pureed sneakers. a curious person, however, might want to know what anyone would want with pureed sneakers. maybe he's on an extremely unhealthy diet.]

[A: 5-star calamari, probably]

[tytree is probably the worst person to ask for ideas without much other prompting. he can focus when he needs to... but he's also pretty capable of distractions. and maybe it's because he's hungrier than a few snacks can sate, or maybe because the ocean is right there in their view. as a few sea creatures swim right by, tytree's jaw drops, and...]

Wow, I bet that'd make a really good seafood gratin... [can that be the mission? can they just collect the edible sea creatures and make a really bitchin' dinner?

maybe someone should get him back on topic, or maybe someone should agree with him. and maybe someone should make sure he doesn't get too pumped to go meal hunting right now...]

[D: This is not what he wanted at all]

So... you can make pretty much anything, huh? [why tytree's asking when he already knows the answer to the question is a mystery. double-checking? something like that. granted, before anyone can pipe up to remind him what the answer is, he's already pressing forward like he never asked it at all.] All right! Let's see what you can do then!

[except... he didn't consider what to have them make. so after a solid two minutes of standing there with his hand on his chin and his brows furrowed deep in thought, he perks up.] I got it! How 'bout a new crossbow?

[he could use a weapon upgrade, it always comes in handy when throwing punches just won't do the trick. and so he waits. and much sooner than expected, the work seems to be done. and out comes... a cross bow?]

...Eeeeh!? That's not—Hey, come on! I think you've got your wires crossed, that's not a crossbow! It's bow... shaped like a cross? [the defeat is so real right now.

pink isn't even his color either, but for some reason, it's getting stuck right in his mop of hair, as if to rub salt in the defeated wound.]

A: GAME ON

[Kay puts a finger to her temple, pouts, and squints at everyone in the room from where she is sitting cross-legged on one of the beds. She is silent until this point before speaking up in a voice too serious for someone as happy and peppy as she normally is.]

Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

[Then she jumps up on the bed. Don't worry, she's not wearing any footwear. Just her pink knee socks.]

...is to play a game! It gets kinda boring down here, so why not? Now let's think of games we could play...

C: /POINTS AT FISH, POINTS AT YOU

[Kay found a flock of Rabbitrays. They're swarming around her, investigating the giant key thrust through her ponytail, and swimming toward her outstretched hands. You'd think she's just playing around instead of gathering those Rabbitrays up - that is, until she glances in your general direction and discreetly points you, and then to them.

Thank goodness for telepathy.]

Psssst! Now's your chance! Grab them!

[She's trying to pet them, sort of. Luring them into a false sense of security. Better be careful or they'll bolt at the first sign of Something Is Not Right.]

D: THAT'S HOW THEY ROLL

[Kay decided to test out the droids by starting small, with something that she thinks is difficult to mess up.

Now she's holding up...what looks like a cylinder made entirely of real Swiss cheese.]

Wait, I asked for a Swiss roll, not a...Swiss...cheese...roll. [She facepalms, then shrugs and waves the cheese about.] I guess now we can have grilled cheese sandwiches?

Edited 2016-04-19 02:33 (UTC)

A

You've no doubt seen Jotaro around the base at some point - he's two meters tall and built like a brick wall, he kind of stands out. But unless you've done something to annoy him, it's also pretty likely you haven't exchanged that many words with him. He tends to keep to himself.

Until now. Now you're stuck in an observatory with him, and you can't get out until you come up with some ideas. He's just sitting on his bed with both arms and legs crossed, leaning back and staring up at the sea life outside, generally looking like he'd rather be anywhere but here.

The awkward silence is broken by a sharp sigh. "Good grief," he says, still not looking down at you. "Let's get this over with. Do you have any ideas?"

B

The pulse was on top of them before either of them could react to it. There was a doppler sound as all of the Seamoth's systems shut down, and then a horrible shaking and tearing as momentum carried the two-person craft into the rocky sea wall.

Good grief, not again, Jotaro thought as he was thrown against the console and his ears filled with the awful noise of metal scraping against rock.

After what felt like an eternity, the Seamoth came to a stop. Jotaro shook his head to clear it, then turned to the sub's other occupant.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice betraying no sign that he was shaken by what had just happened.

b.

[ the sea is a fickle thing. for those who don't know it well or aren't attuned to how it works, it can be a world of fear and uncertainty. especially now with communication devices down, it can be even scarier for those who aren't sure what to do.

just when you might be starting to panic, there's a tap on the window of your underwater vehicle. on the other side of the glass is a young woman with flowing blue hair, in what appears to be some sort of marine-themed outfit. if it weren't for her two legs, you could swear that she were... a mermaid, perhaps. odder yet, it doesn't appear that she has a breathing apparatus.

but there's no time to dwell on that - she's speaking to you through telepathy. ]

Come with me. I can lead you back to the base.

d.

[ but as a totally normal civilian, minami finds that she's missing some of the luxuries of noble academy. it seems a bit trivial, but a cup of tea feels like it could at least remind her of home... it may not be of the quality that miss shamour can offer, but it's something familiar.

at least, that's what she's hoping for when she asks the droid. what's delivered to her is certainly warm and in a cup... but the colour seems very, very wrong, not to mention the smell. ]

I... well, thank you very much.

[ she has enough courtesy to thank the droid, but when it leaves, she's not quite sure what to do. she's looking at you with a hesitant gaze - something that's along the lines of "please, help me". ]

Edited 2016-04-19 05:24 (UTC)

[ A ]

[Nagisa is a newcomer, so unfortunately he doesn't have much to offer by way of specific ideas for missions – yet. Science isn't his best subject at all, but that's no excuse for him not to learn as much as he can. Regardless, he feels right at home in a compulsory cram session.

He gives his parter(s) an easy smile, then holds up a notebook.]

I know we have the recorder, but I'd also like to take notes by hand. We may be here awhile, so – ah… well, I guess it depends, I don't mean to doubt your abilities, but – if the recording goes on too long, we'll be glad to have time codes for the good ideas. I can write those down so we don't have to go searching through all of the audio later. We may need to draw some things out, too.

Er… [He rubs the back of his neck.] I'll admit, I don't really know where to start. I only have a few questions and ideas about preparation for missions, and even then, I don't know enough to say if they'll help. [Sitting cross-legged, he bows.] I'm sorry.

[The young man takes his lack of knowledge seriously, that much is clear.]

[ C-1 ]

[Speaking of missions, even if Nagisa doesn't know squat about his new environment, the best way to learn is to jump right in. Perhaps you are veteran crew and are showing young Nagisa the ropes, as it were. Fear not! You could have a much worse student.

He gives you a nod and an appreciative smile.]

Thank you for looking after me. Now, our goal is to salvage materials for the base, right? Let's go over one last time what we're after, and what the best way to collect it is… if you don't mind.

[ C-2 ]

[Nagisa could also be paired with a fellow newbie, in which case he will be friendly and encouraging.

…For the most part.]

You… you want to go after the Crash Powder? That seems reckless.

[If you're serious, though, his face brightens with a gleam of confidence and camaraderie.] Between us, though, I think we could pull it off without anybody getting hurt. So why not? I'm in.

[ Wildcard ]

[I'm open to all of the other prompts in the OP, as well as any variation of the prompts I did include. Feel free to throw Nagisa into any kind of perilous or silly situations; he's much tougher than he looks, and very adaptable.]

[ Food prepared, beds made, and recording devices on. Valentine didn't want to waste any time with small talk. She pointed to the food and gave a brusque: ] Eat, if you're hungry, [ And promptly sat down on the edge of the bed she'd selected for herself. She had a notepad and was tapping the pen against it gently. ]

I assume you know why we're here, so I won't ask how you are or what you're hoping to get back to. Instead, I want to know if you already have some ideas.

[ The endless blue of the ocean stretched out for miles all around them. A school of brightly coloured fish swam close to one of the windows before darting away. Valentine didn't do much other than glance at them. ]

[ Dark chocolate wasn't such a difficult request, was it? It was one of Valentine's only worldly vices. She had been missing it. And with the work she had been doing for the base, she had assumed that asking a super computer that could literally bring people back from the dead for chocolate wouldn't have been too terrible.

Unfortunately, the bland dark bar of waxy... something was not dark chocolate. Valentine didn't even need to take the tiny bite out of the corner to know that.

She did immediately have to spit that tiny bite out, however. ]

Ugh! Disgusting.

[ SCIENCE. ]

No, there's no immediate cure.

[ Valentine's bedside manner was nearly nonexistent to begin with. When she had several tentacles itching to come out of the palms of her hands and suck the blood out of a patient, it vanished completely. ]

Get out and stop bothering me. You'll be told when the fixes come through.

[ The patient slinked out, and she turned on her heel and shouted: ] NEXT!

[ That would be you. She was glaring murderously, and clenching her fists. ]

[ Dreams are esoteric.

But they were also important, here and now.

Valentine had swung her legs off of her bed and was digging for her wetsuit and goggles. She needed more equipment to try diving into the waters at this time of night, but the basics were down and she was already peeling herself into them.

And not being quiet about it either. Sorry if you didn't share the same dream. ]

A;
[ For the most part, Sanson walks into the room compliantly before taking the seat furthest away from the door. There's a notebook in his hand (he'd been advised this was a meeting, after all), along with an old-fashioned fountain ink pen.

He flips it open and waits for the rest to be seated, but he doesn't talk. Unless the silence stretches too long, then he will break it with a very deadpan: ]

Well? Are we about to begin?

D;
[ As a Servant, Sanson doesn't really need to eat much. The fact that he no longer has an active mana connection to his Master is a problem, but the environment around him seems to be supplying enough.

However, any gentleman does need tea once in a while, and it's what he requests from the droid. What he actually gets, however, is a cup of suspiciously grey liquid.

If you're next to him, you'll get a quip after a few seconds of silence. ]

I'd suppose they took 'grey' a little too literally, didn't they?

E;
[ Unlike most people, Sanson's reaction to having a Gasopod pod stuck to his arm is remarkably calm.

The Assassin is seated at a table in one of the common areas, perhaps, with a sheet of plastic in front of him. There's a thick rubber cord wrapped around the affected upper arm, and in his other hand is some sort of scalpel. For now, he looks at it with a sharp ice-blue gaze, tapping the skin around the edges of the pod with the blunt end of the scalpel and otherwise examining it with an objective eye.

He's literally going to cut it off and dump it - an amputation, like what any serious doctor would do. But maybe it's not that good an idea? ]

D;

[The eleven-year-old staggers under the weight of an iron cauldron with pink flowers enameled on the sides. It seems rude to complain when she did ask for a flower pot, but she's not sure how much use this one will be for what she intended.

She's not even sure she can get it back to the rooms.]

F;

[Cheria stands with both hands pressed agains the curved glass wall of an observatory, shivering a little as she watches the nighttime sea. The flickering lights of swimming creatures should be beautiful, are beautiful, but the chills wont go away.

They need help. She's as sure of that as she's been of anything in her life.

She'll die if she goes out there. She's just as sure of that.

A cough worms its way up her throat, then another, like an agreement. She pulls her hands from the glass and hugs herself.]

a.

[Unfortunately for whatever poor soul gets stuck partnered up with Andrew, they will learn very quickly that he is not much of a team player. Instead of making attempts to hash out ideas, he will instead position himself next to one of the windows and stare out into the ocean beyond, utterly still and silent.

Andrew doesn't care about the missions, or even about the planet really. The reason he's here is mostly due to boredom, something he had hoped this is little jaunt would alleviate. Some aspects of it had; he's definitely interested in the sea life, or more to the point, interested in pitting himself against the creatures and seeing how he fares. But this little jam session that depends upon teamwork and creative thinking? He could do without.

Maybe you're trying to gently encourage him to join in, or perhaps you've given him up for a lost cause and have began thinking out loud as you hash out plans of your own. Either way, Andrew will eventually glance over his shoulder, face carefully blank.]

Do you ever shut up? [Yeah. Have fun being locked in a room with this guy.]

f.

[Andrew is familiar with nightmares; certain ones continue to haunt him in his sleep and sometimes into his waking life. But there's something different about this one, and it's not just the screaming sea creatures. When he awakes, the dream is unusually vivid still, lingering in his mind even as he pushes himself up in bed.

Water. He wants to go out into the water. There's something out there, something he needs to find or to do, he just needs to go. With barely a pause to consider the consequences of going out alone, Andrew with begin changing into his suit, not particularly caring if he wakes someone up or not.]

[Under the C]

["Try not to die in front of each other", she says. Don is really not wanting to die anywhere, as much as he finds the idea of nanites reconstituting his body fascinating. While it's not the first time he's found himself staring down something particularly dangerous, it's the first time he hasn't had one of his brothers there to help out. Whoever you are, you'd better be decent at backing up a ninja in an underwater fight.]

If my calculations are correct, knocking off this rock should...

[... Hopefully knock out those Crash parasite-fish, leaving the resources ripe for the plundering.

Or it could miss, and alert them instead. Turtle Luck might just run true to form.]

[Dark F-ects]

[The ocean is calling to him, like the dreams he had of Y'Lyntis. However, this one is far more sinister. Its darkness clings to him even now that he's standing there, silently watching the waves at the edge of the dock.

There's someone else nearby. He can feel it, from years of ninja training; the sounds of another person. His fingers curl around the breathing mask he was holding, almost like he hadn't remembered it was there until that moment.]

Did you... have the dreams, too?

[Did they affect you, like they affected him?]

ＴＨＥＡＢＹＳＭＡＬＳＥＡ

( she hasn't been here long enough to have even settled in, much less adjust to the tech before things start to go wrong. they're supposed to be running a routine mission, exploration and observation only, and they're barely an hour away from home base when everything suddenly goes black. there's a few seconds of utter silence and near-blackness before anyone starts to react. wanda raises a hand, red sparks flickering around her fingers and providing some sense of light. it's not much, but at least it's better than nothing.

she makes her way towards the others in her vehicle, glowing hands lighting the way, and her lips are pinched and jaw tense as she finds another person on her "routine" mission crew. some routine, huh. )

My device is dead. ( she starts matter-of-factly, holding the useless object up to prove her point. ) How will we signal for rescue?

ＴＨＥＣＡＶＥＲＮＳＯＦＤＲＥＡＭ

( wanda is no stranger to nightmares. they happen often, almost every night, and usually she is excellent at dismissing them as just that - bad dreams intent on plaguing her subconscious time are hardly a new phenomenon. this is different though. wanda jerks awake and for a second all she's aware of is the thumping in her chest, the gasps for air and the cold sweat covering her body.

the next thing she becomes aware of is the intense desire to leave. she isn't even thinking as she gets out of her bed, it's a conscious decision but she's barely thinking things through. it just seems to make sense, to get up in the middle of the night and head out of the safety of the base. it's the perfect time for a swim, right? wanda will definitely seem out of it to anyone who happens to pass her on her mission to get out into the ocean, or for anyone who has the desire to join her, they can make their way out together.

what could possibly go wrong? )

ＷＩＬＤＣＡＲＤ

( another prompt taking your fancy? got a specific idea in mind? throw it my way! i'm up for pretty much anything! pm or pp sharknado if you have questions etc. but otherwise lets do a thing! )

Edited 2016-05-10 14:47 (UTC)

B:

[ You know? Honestly? Getting lost and dealing with a wide expanse of land with absolutely no decent resources is not something that he is necessarily unfamiliar with. That's quite literally all SBURB is minus the rare occasion of the shitty mechanics actually doing something useful. It's always a pleasant surprise, never one that really stays. God, that game is ridiculous. Part of him still wonders if this is just another aspect of it. The likelihood is very much there. ]

[ John can be found standing just at the shores of wide waters, empty in the increasing darkness. He takes a large inhale, and exhales a very irritated, heavy exhale. ]

Aaaaaaaand I'm lost.

[ Big, thick glasses guide his eyes, otherwise horrid without them. Nothing. No path, and in fact? He isn't even sure how he wound up here. But he blinks as a light goes off, and John points up at the air. ]

Oh! Yeah! The URSULA thing!

[ John puts his wrist up, looking down with his dopey smile in face. Oh how could he forget about you? Precious thing. ]

Let's see here... C'mon, get this guidance thing going. Dunno how you got me in this absolutely horrible situation, but I can forgive once we're ho--

[ Tap tap. Tap... Tap.... Taptaptaptaptaptaptap. ]

Oh my god.

[ Nothing. It lights up for a second and then... Nothing. And John is tired. Very tired. So understandably? He's a little mad in knowing he is stuck in the middle of fucking nowhere with NO resources and this piece of shit isn't working. ]

[ It starts quiet. ]

aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrRRRRRRRGHHHHHH!!!! COME ON!!!!

[ TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP. ]

Edited 2016-05-22 19:41 (UTC)

[Every good jam session needs visual aids. Which is precisely what Terezi is providing! Armed with deliciously fruity-scented markers, she uses the brightest and tastiest... more for her sensibilities than yours, mind. Having the colors pop helps the concepts become clearer. Literally. She is even drawing over the nice ocean view.

... at some point during the discussion, Terezi's attention has wandered and she's given up on taking notes. Instead, there are colorful dragons taking a bite out of one of the bullet points...?

If confronted, she says:]

I'm making additions to your plan. [She points at an especially cyan dragon writhing in a black circle. Grins, all wide and sharp.] See?

[Well, this was bad. Terezi had enough trouble swimming in the first place. Having to literally follow your nose made underwater travel a little tricky, and it was only with URSULA's help that she got her suit modded to help her predicament.

Now? She's floating around, smelling nothing but an awful, awful frostbitten blue. Flailing around blindly isn't going to help her situation, but she knows she can't get very far in her current state. So she doesn't bother to waste any energy to swim, even as her mind is racing.

Then she catches a blurry whiff of a new color. Something with a thinkpan? A beast? Terezi kicks so she's facing it, then sticks her arm up and waves.

Whatever it is, hopefully it isn't hungry.]

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