TEST DRIVE 004

[phantasmods]

Hello and welcome to the fourth test drive for Phantasmal Rift!

Test drive threads are assumed to be game canon for accepted characters unless otherwise noted, so don't feel like you'll have to introduce yourself a second time to everyone you meet! As an added bonus, participation in the test drive comes with the chance to earn up to two items of loot for your trouble! Characters who are accepted can earn one item for having a top level, and one for tagging out to someone else's top level! Your SWEET LOOT will be included with your acceptance notice.

Additionally, characters currently in game can earn themselves a piece of bonus loot for the dungeon by tagging people's top-levels on the test drive! Existing characters get their bonus loot along with the rest of their loot at the conclusion of the dungeon.

This test drive takes place in Keystone Reef, a water-influenced Fissure to the northeast of the station. It is home to numerous fish and coral species, as well as a very interesting magical effect...

OPTION ONE: FINNY FUN

Under the water is where you woke up, and under the water is where you might be stuck for a while. The magic is lodged in you and has changed your form -- maybe a little, maybe a lot. Perhaps you only have gills, but you may also have a full set of changes, fins and no feet to speak of. Don't panic, you'll surely be fine if you just keep swimming...

Aside from the strange changes, it's a pretty cool place to be. If you've ever dreamed about scuba diving on a coral reef, the place that you've found yourself is perfect for that (minus the needing to scuba part). Curious fish swim up and then dart away into rock crevices, coral growths, and even down to bury themselves in the layer of sand at the bottom. The water is also fairly shallow, allowing you to surface if you so desire.

Even the sharks are friendly and just want to have as much a look at you as you want to look at them. Don't harass the glowing eels tucked into cracks between the rocks, though, they bite and don't particularly let go.

OPTION TWO: WORLD'S SMALLEST JUNGLE

This must certainly be an oceanside jungle - in spite of the humidity, the smell of salt on the air is strong. Brilliant greens and the occasional bright flowers, accompanied by island birdsong... It could be a nice place to spend an afternoon. There's not even that many bugs that want to drink your blood (though bugs in general are, well, quite plentiful).

Eventually, though, however far you go, you'll reach the beach and be met with the expanse of the ocean - blue, uncaring, and real big. While one side of the little island thankfully has land visible in the distance, the outer side just overlooks a near-endless expanse of blue. If you're a very good swimmer, you could probably make your way to land past the rocks of the reef itself... Otherwise, though, you might be just a bit stuck on your jungle island paradise.

At least until someone brings a boat.

OPTION THREE: SHIPWRECK

Both above and below the waterline are the remains of ships crashed upon the rocks, just waiting to be explored. Even though it has clearly been an incredibly long time, the chunks of wood and metal are still in fairly good condition, and the chance of finding something nice tucked in with them among the rocks is surely tempting to anyone with an adventurous spirit.

The wrecks beneath the waves also grow coral and seaweed, and provide havens for larger fish, dragon eels, and sharks. Those along the rocks above the waterline, on the other hand, provide a home for seabirds of all varieties. Most notable is the hulking shell of a shipping craft in the distance, looking very much modern if ruined by some centuries of exposure...

For right now, though, you'd best contend with the flotsam a bit closer to you, and the wildlife that might not take too kindly to your exploring. Below the waterline, the dragon eels found in a few places don't take kindly to being disturbed; above, you might run afoul of some overprotective seabirds protecting their nests. Maybe even an invisible seagull (normal sized) - how ridiculous would that be?

Comments

Izuku Midoriya | My Hero Academia

[herolytical]

001;; Unfamiliar territory -- A --

[ Everything had wrapped up nicely after the Culture Festival had ended, even with the brief derailment of dealing with Gentle and La Brava. He'd been fine with that anyway, able to help everyone still enjoy the festival and even Eri had learned how to smile for real and it made him happier than he'd ever be able to express.

He'd allowed himself to fully relax when he'd gotten into his room, but when he'd drifted off? Izuku hadn't quite realized how tired he was until he woke with a small start, sitting upright and blinking a bit at seeing his new surroundings. He was... underwater? Wait a second! If he was underwater then he couldn't breathe, setting in panic until Izuku tried to stand up and realized he couldn't due to having not a pair of feet but distinctively colored fins instead.

Was this a dream?! How was this even happening?! Why was he some kind of mermaid?

Izuku reached down to touch it and the fact he could feel it, said it was real but it was still kind of sinking in. He also noted that he wasn't wearing any of his normal clothes he'd had before, resulting in that all of his scars were visible to anyone who looked at him. Not that it was his main focus as he decided to not panic and instead was attempting to try and learn how to swim with his new set of fins.

Having at least some margin of success until he spotted a shark swimming nearby. ]

Gah! Nonono... Why now? It's probably gonna try and eat me, isn't it?!

[ Cue the panic setting in as he makes to try and swim up to the surface but ends up catching his fins between a few pieces of coral, freezing up instinctively. That's when he spots someone else swimming nearby and he waves his arms frantically. ]

Can I get your help for a second?? Please?



001 - Not quite used to it -- B --


[ Many can catch this green-haired child in his attempts to learn how to swim, including one where he started going a bit too fast and ended up running into some coral face-first since he didn't know how to stop himself in the water. Which resulted in him rubbing at his face with a small whine. ]

Learning my quirk was just about easier than this. Why is it so hard to get the hang of it?

[ Spoken to nobody in particular as he moves his fins back and forth, trying to figure out things while not realizing his last encounter with the coral had scuffed his nose a bit with a small scrape. ]



003;; So much to see || Exploration


[ Once Izuku had gotten past his panic attack of this all happening, and he'd learned to swim without smacking into something - the small scuff on his nose was proof of his earlier attempts, he'd actually begun to be fascinated by this beyond thinking it really was some kind of weird dream or some kind of odd quirk.

So that meant being attracted to the shipwrecks, eyes alight with interest as he swam closer, touching against a piece of wood on one of them. Tracing along the surface with an apt interest, but mindful not to get too close to those dragon eels in the process. ]

...Incredible! These are in such good condition even for being in the water like this. It should be all eroded and worn down more than this but it's still in such a state that I wonder if there's some kind of magical effects in the water that's causing it to be this way or something else...

[ Don't mind him mumbling away to himself, getting lost in thought without entirely realizing it. Someone stop him before he gets himself in trouble because of it. ]

A!

[labelledamesauvage]

[Juliette swims over, auburn hair cascading about and legs bare. She's got a sword on her belt, a bag and an instrument case over one shoulder, and for some reason a pair of boots on.]

Ah, ma foi, the sharks do not seem so mean. But I see the problem you have! Hold still, then.

[She swims down a bit, and tries to move his fins free, tugging a bit to get him to move backwards, so she can then move them out. Of course, the question is... how ticklish are fins?]

Juliette d'Aubigniy | OC/CRAU (Pathfinder)

[labelledamesauvage]

3: By the grace of the gods go I

[The last Juliette remembers was the cries of the sailors and the sound of the storm. Now, thankfully, she's got her violin in its waterproof case, her rapier, her bag and her boots. And that's about all she's got - her pants are gone, so but at least she's got her shirt.

Looking around from the bit of ship poking above the water, she looks about thoughtfully.

Well, I'm sure I have been in a worse spot. But I wish I had a glass, or even my feather!

[And then:]

I do wonder if I can make it to those islands.

2: The Land Abides

[She's managed to make it to the island, only to find that she may have judged a bit poorly - now that she's here, it's quite obvious she should have gone the other way. Still, she's a bit tired, and so she sits underneath a tree.]

"Pardieu, this was not my brightest choice. Well. I shall rest, then see if I cna find some clean water. Besides my thirst, I need to get the salt off me."

[She opens the case to the violin, checks it carefully, then smiles, and leans back, closes her eyes, and starts to play and sing a sea-shanty she'd found the sailors had appreciated on the ship she was on.]

From Cassomir docks we bid adieu
To Suke, and Sal, and Kittie too
The anchor's weighed and the sails unfurl
We're bound to cross the watery row
For we know we're outward bound
Hurrah, we're outward bound

1: I did not expect this, but one must ride the tide, yes?

[She's tried, now, to get into the water and see what she can do. As she slips below, she gasps, and in that moment she feels her throat change, and then her hands. She smiles, and laughs, bubbles escaping her mouth with the air in her lungs, and then she swims, happily.

A song from one of her off-Golarion trips comes to mind, and despite the water, whether it be magic or just how it works here, she starts to sing it:]

Just look at the world around you
Right here on the ocean floor
Such wonderful things surround you
What more is you lookin' for?

Under the sea
Under the sea
Darling it's better
Down where it's wetter
Take it from me...

[Laughing, she swims about, feeling the freedom of the water, and not caring about the fact she's only got the fundaments on between her shirt and her boots.]

1

[nojohnyouare]

[It's hard to tell what she might notice first: that Mai has a bronze swordfish tail and back fin, that she also has a swordfish horn sticking out of the top of her head, or that she has very prominent scars -- what looks like impalement through the chest and claw slashes on the neck. Mai stares silently and swims over.]

...appropriate.

Leonard Lucis Caelum | Red vs Blue | it's another airlocked crau folks

[motherfucking_ghost]

i
[No.

Whatever this is, he's already done with it, like, before he even opens his eyes. It's actually worse when he opens his eyes.

Oh, the sight at first is fine, really! A coral reef? Clear beautiful water and sandy beaches? Reminds him of Alola. It's gorgeous, really. But he shouldn't be here. Unexpectedly. Out of the blue. Suddenly. When he thrashes for the surface, something holds him back, and it's the fact that his legs are no longer legs, just a long fishy tail, blue as his armor ever was, with pretty trailing ends he does. not. want. Swimming as a human is fine! He'd been in enough pools and oceans to get swimming. What is this fin bullshit???

He is, also, seemingly alone at first. Which also isn't right. By any means. He hurls himself at the surface, pulling himself along with drags of his arms, letting his tail dangle uselessly except for a few abortive twitches where he's got that urge to kick his legs. He'd been holding his breath since the feeling of water hit his face, and it hasn't hit him yet that he doesn't feel the burning need to breathe as he moves. All he knows is that his lungs need air and he does not have air.

When he breaches the surface, he gasps and heaves, despite, again, not actually needing to, arms flailing, tail also flailing up and out of the water in unglamorous splashes.

When he finally calms down--oh, let's be honest, he's not going to calm down, but when he's calmer anyway, he'll try to flag down any boats or other persons who may or may not be fish-like, because he needs information, and the question at the forefront is 'what the fuck'.]

ii
[There's little sadder than a beached sea critter. Unless it's a mermaid. Mermaids sitting on rocks and piers and beaches are hot, right? Like old sailor tales. (Heh. Tails.) Church managed to work his way to the island and hauled himself up onto the beach with his arms. They're nice arms. If anyone cares.

He's realized though that he can't just exist by dragging himself around on his arms. What if his tail dries out? What about stairs? Does this place have stairs? Is this just a tropical paradise? He's pretty sure he sees an old-ass shipwreck in the distance, so this place must have stairs in this world, just not here.

Despite being covered in sand, if anyone who stumbles on him wants to look, his back has an expansive design in black, and his chest has a bird with wings outstretched in blue, and down the inside of his right arm? Handwriting in black, some sort of Latin phrase.]

Fuck, I could use a bite to eat. How the fuck am I gonna get a coconut down? Maybe there's a crab I can crack open...

[Or you could, y'know, catch some fish, you mermaid fuck. At one point, before he ends up back in the ocean, because drying out actually really starts hurting his legs/tail, he looks contemplative at the offending fishiness. Rock in hand. I'm sure this is Fine.]

iii
[After being spooked by sharks that don't seem to want to eat him, and trying to get used to the idea that he doesn't need to breathe underwater--or really that he can breathe underwater--then it's time to explore, because fuck if he's gonna sit around and wait for answers to come to him. For long.

So shipwreck it is! Maybe it'll give him some clues. So long as he doesn't get eaten by eels. Fuck those guys. What if there's treasure, guys? Some Spanish galleons or something!!! Time to try and get into whatever's left of the cargo hold.]

take your fucking pick honestly

[founderinglight]

[So, here's a familiar figure!

...Sort of. The hair is more Fantasy-Sweet length, and that tattoo certainly wasn't there before? (Also there's the whole half-octopus thing, that's definitely new, but, you know.)

Probably the most telling thing, though, is that the eyes of the man watching Church with a slowly growing expression of realization are bright Noctis-level blue, about the furthest thing from Ardyn's gold you can get.

...Of course, some people here might not be in a state to notice details such as that.]

Ravus Nox Fleuret | Final Fantasy XV

[giltfoil]

One: Splashdown

The last thing Ravus remembers is falling - one blast of fell magic too many, sending him back over the railing into the abyss at the core of Zegnautus Keep. He doesn't remember hitting the ground, but he must have, mustn't he? That is the nature of falls, and their terror: the abrupt landing. And yet he feels no hard surface beneath him.

Ravus opens his eyes, and then jerks upright with a shout - or tries to, at any rate. He doesn't seem to have the relationship with gravity he's used to, and his sudden movement mostly serves to send him spinning through the... it's water, isn't it? It feels like water, but before he realized this he distinctly recalls taking an easy breath.

It certainly looks like water, when he finally processes what he's seeing. There is coral, and sand, and fish going about their business as if he isn't there. It certainly is much more colorful than anything to be found in the Keep.

"Perhaps I struck my head in the fall," he observes aloud to himself, somewhat surprised to hear his own voice so clearly underwater. Then a fin drifts into his vision, and all thoughts of his voice leave him.

Ravus stares down at himself. From the waist up, he looks normal, from his magitek arm to his white coat bearing Tenebrae's crest. He even still has King Regis's glaive in his right hand. But at the waist, beneath the drifting fabric of his coat, he feels not two legs but one translucent tail. And he can see - is that his spine? Ravus has unfortunately had the experience of seeing many parts of the human body light was not meant to touch, but this may be a little much even for him.

Could he have imagined such a sight, such a sensation? Ravus doubts it. But then where could he be? Is this - he has heard many stories of the Beyond, all different. Perhaps it is an ocean. And if he is dead, then -

"Lunafreya!" Calling for his sister, Ravus swims in a random direction, uncaring of the fish sent scattering in his wake.


Three: Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? No.

Once informed that this is not the Beyond, Ravus has taken to searching the shipwrecks, looking for any clue to the nature of this location. It is a long shot, he is aware, but lacking legs he finds himself with few other options. (Beaching himself in the hopes of the strange magic wearing off proved to be futile, and the sand itched.)

These must be centuries of ships, he observes. Some of the structures he recognizes vaguely, while others are too old - or on the other hand too new.

Ravus finds also that his magitek arm is more than a little awkward in the water: it drags him down with its weight, forcing him to work harder to stay on one level as he uses the other hand to explore.

iii

[burninglight]

Oh, fucking hell.

[Said the former Chancellor of Niflheim, hair longer and tied in a low ponytail. Amidst the scattered mess of scars on his upper body was a stylized black phoenix tattoo on his right forearm; probably more notable was the favt that he was an octopus from the waist down.]

[Almost definitely more notable was the fact that he was looking at Ravus like he’d literally seen a ghost.]

Karamatsu Matsuno | Osomatsu-san | Ryslig CRAU

[karappo]

2) World's Smallest Jungle

[OOC: Here's Karamatsu's appearance for reference! He was assigned to be Faerie in game. He's also got some scars on his face from a past event.]

[It would be fair to assume that the bugs here are small, not too plentiful, and relatively harmless. It would have been, if this forest weren't also recently inhabited by an insect larger than most anyone has probably ever seen, rising up through the undergrowth with a low noise in the back of his throat and a clawed hand reaching up to rest against his head. His wings buzz briefly as he stands up fully and glances around to get his bearings.

Where is he, where was he, was he outside last? No, he was...

The Faerie goes stock still, his eyes widening as he grits his teeth around his mandibles. This isn't Bavan. At least...it's nowhere on the peninsula he's been before. And not remembering how he got here is, quite frankly, one of the things that consistently terrified him. It meant something bad had happened, or potentially was going to very soon.

He ducks down a little and starts pushing forward through the jungle proper, though it's hard to keep a low profile when you're the hue he is, he knows this. But he has the advantage of flight, should any monsters try to ambush him. Occasionally he hisses a name- Osomatsu...Choromatsu...Ichimatsu...Jyushimatsu...Todomatsu- though he doesn't really expect to hear an answer. Little does he know he'll probably be attracting attention like this, but not attention he's actually after.]

3) Shipwreck



[Eventually, Karamatsu leaves the forest and makes it onto the beach, and for a while he just has to stand there and stare out into the open sea. For the sea never quite looked like this back on the peninsula. He's half expecting for hunters to come up and try prodding his back with their guns, but nothing like that ever happens. Is he dreaming? Or did he die, and this is just some hallucination his fevered mind is giving him before he wakes back up at Rohan's castle?

Too unnerved to stay on the ground, Karamatsu tests his wings (a bit sticky from the humid air, but he manages) before getting airborne and flying carefully over the surface of the water, scanning the various shipwrecks for signs of life or anything unusual as he goes.]

What happened here...?

[He muses to himself just a half second before a feathery mass smacks him right in the face, causing him to squawk with surprise in tandem with the seagull he just collided with as he nearly loses his balance in the air.

Except no...no, that was no accident. Unknowingly, he'd flown a bit too close to a cliff's edge where some seagulls had been nesting, and a giant insect like himself is perceived as the biggest threat imaginable. Before Karamatsu realizes what's happening he's completely swarmed by birds in the air, which probably looks quite alarming from the land when there's just a ball of birds screaming and throwing themselves at something to peck and claw until it goes away.]

Aghh! Aaghkk-!!

[The birds weigh him down, bogging up his wings until he gets turned over mid-air and plummets from the sky, landing into the sea with a huge column of water following his impact with the surface.

There are a few long seconds of nothing but bubbles and churning water before Karamatsu surfaces with a gasp, beating at the water with all four arms as he tries to struggle his way to the shore. He's not one of the monsters who absolutely can't swim, but he's certainly not good at it like he used to be.]

2 LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN

[shikosuki]

[ Karamatsu won't be able to see any of his brothers, but he sure will be able to hear one soon. A very familiar scream of frustration and panic coming from the direction of shore past the undergrowth. ]

Nono | Diebuster

[nonono7]

[ 1 ]

[ Nono hasn't really been underwater before. Not like this! Mars certainly didn't have oceans like this - this was an ocean, right? - and she'd never been to Earth. Or on Earth, she'd been to there, kind of.

Setting that chain of thought aside! This was underwater and it was wild! Nono had absolutely no idea what she was doing there, but she wanted nothing more to explore at the moment. Answers could come in a bit!

And so people could find Nono swimming around - swimming normally, she didn't have any fishy parts... at all. Just a normal teenage girl (with bright pink hair) swimming around and peering at coral, sharks, and interesting-looking rock formations.

At one point, a shark gets a little too nosy and she FWOP punches it straight in the snout. Please ignore that part. ]


[ 2 ]

[ If you arrive on the island, you might find Nono on one of the sandy beaches. Boots thrown casually to the side, she's walking the length of the beach... with a GIANT stick and carving S. O. S. into the sand.

After that's done, she'll be scurrying up a couple trees trying to grab some coconuts. Or some other tropical fruit. Whatever is native to this place! Nono doesn't know, she just knows that trees on tropical islands are supposed to have things up them, okay!

If you're on a boat approaching, she is waving her arms like a madman trying to get attention. If not, well, she'll give a wave. ] Heeeeeey!!


[ 3 ]

Augh! Shoo, shoo! No biting! [ To those approaching the shipwreck, you might find a girl floating just above the water near the rocks the wreck is situated on, thrashing her hands about randomly to get the seabirds away. Instead of going away, they are flocking around her, wings and beaks batting or biting at her or near her and this is not how she expected this to go at all! ]

I just wanted to see you, I didn't mean to disturb you! I'm sorry please leave me alone! [ ...It sounds like she was interested in the birds, not the wreck. Too bad the birds didn't take kindly to being investigated, it seems. ]

2

[fistsofchange]

[A fish girl emerges from the ocean, upon noticing someone's making a fuss up there.

Lin could immediately feel her skin starting to dry out. At least she COULD leave the water, unlike the people stuck as mermaids. More importantly, Nono looked like she needed help.]

Are you alright?

Faith Fallon | OC

[moonlightglory]

-1-

[Faith's first reaction to this place was a brief panic about drowning, followed by a slightly longer panic about not having any legs, but she calmed down pretty quick. This was weird, but not all that much weirder than for example Maddie's ability. Conclusion: Work of an enemy mage. Stay sharp.

While she gets the lay of the land (lay of the water?), though, she can't help but appreciate how nice it is down here. She adapts to her new tail quickly, already being an avid swimmer. No having to rely on her leg, either. The thriving aquatic life is, if she had to put it into words, cool as shit. It's almost enough to make her forget that she was probably put here by another goddamn survivor of the Hand. Almost.

Mentally preparing to transform at a moment's notice, and musing on how her fighting style is going to be pretty useless underwater, Faith explores, and calls out.]

Anyone out there? If you have any idea what the hell is going on, I'd really appreciate an explanation!

-3-

Fuck! Goddamn shit, motherfucker!

[That's not proper language for a mermaid. The source of the shout is Faith, over here with an unexpected dragon eel latched on to her wrist.

Acting on reflex, she punches the eel in the head. The impact is strong enough to stun it, freeing her from its grasp, but the damage is already done. She grips her wrist tightly, blood seeping into the water regardless. There are other people around, right? Anyone will do.]

Fucking fuck. Hey, are these things poisonous? Isn't there some specific color combination that means it's poisonous?

3

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Ah, unladylike cursing, the call of his people. Here comes a merman from around a decaying corner.]

Oh, shit--uh, I dunno, something about red? If it's Red, you're dead? Or like...red and yellow kills a fellow?

Think seaweed would make an okay bandage? I can scrounge some up!

Setsuna Higashi / Eas | Fresh Precure

[passionis]

i. darling it's... not better

[This is all wrong. She should be back on Earth, specifically back in the mansion, planning their next move. Instead, she seems to be... elsewhere. And she doesn't know where. If it's even still the same world or not. And more distressingly, she's been changed.

Because the girl swimming here sure seems normal enough from the waist up, but the bottom half is... well, it's certainly a very pretty tail. But her movements are far clumsier than such a beautiful tail might suggest. The more she swims around, unsure exactly how to go where she wants, the more frustrated she begins to look.]

Stop it, no-- Ggh! [Setsuna just about hisses that complaint as her tail trashes around again instead of moving like she wants it to.] Why is this so difficult!

ii. calm waters

[Setsuna gets used to controlling this new form eventually, after some more practice. That doesn't mean she's any happier about this arrangement, but at least she's actually moving. On the outside, however, she looks perfectly pleasant, giving not a single bit of her foul mood away.

As she approaches you, she even smiles.]

Excuse me. I... fear that I'm very lost. And geography was never my strong suit, exactly. [Certainly not Earth's, anyway.] Do you have any idea where we are?

iii. fucking seagulls

[The shipwreck is, in all likelihood, unimportant. But it's the one thing that's really stood out so far, which makes it the only lead she has right now. Or that certainly seemed like an excellent idea, anyhow, until she runs into those eels.

Fine, she thinks as she retreats, she'll just try from higher up.

And, of course, as she tries to get closer to the shipwreck while keeping her head above the surface... the birds spot her. Thinking her an intruder, they descend.] Ah--! [Setsuna quickly puts her arms up defensively, but they're pretty relentless.

Someone help a girl out?]

2: Near the surface, presumably.

[have_hat_will_travel]

[As Setsuna surfaced near the shore, she'd see a woman sitting, feet slightly in the water, but not nearly deep enough to set off the mermaid transformation. One dressed... very much like some sort of Evil Minion, but not one of Labyrinth's.

She glanced towards Setsuna, nodding.]

Another new person... And of course the weirdness of this place throws you on the deep end.

I'm going to start with either the biggest or the most obvious statement: You're not on your world. This place is... Kind of in between many dimensions. For reasons not yet clear, it draws people from different places together. We've got a safe area nearby, and we're working from there to try and stabilize the region so we can get home.

So, yeah, any Geography training you might have had... Probably isn't going to be a lot of help anyways.

Also, if you get completely submersed, you turn into a mermaid. I think we're working on that too? Not sure.

So... Yeah. That's the start. I'm Pidonus. You?

Elize Lutus | Tales of Xillia

[darkcure]

i. hide and seak

[There's definitely something in the waters here. Well, other than the already existing wildlife, of course. See, there's something small darting through the rocks. Actually... two somethings?

You might catch a glimpse. If not of the small, child-sized figure, then perhaps of the small purple thing that follows. It almost seems like... a plush toy? Underwater? That can't be right.

If you choose to investigate, you'll eventually find yourself in a hole, too small to be called a proper cave, really. But there's a young girl there. With a tail, of course. When you enter, she gasps and darts back, looking like she might be about to flee again... Quick, this is your shot to make it clear you're not a foe.

...And where's that thing that was following her around?]

ii. this is eely bad!

Stop it! Let go!

[That certainly is a very distressed call. And, sure enough, if you follow the sound, there's Elize. She's pulling hard on what definitely looks like a toy, which is currently stick inside an eel's mouth. Neither of them look like they're willing to let go, it seems.]

L-Leave Teepo alone! Give him back!

1, at the cave

[founderinglight]

[Well this looks promising - oh!

Well so much for his nap. The man who has poked his head in, wavy red hair shifting in the current, is - above the waist - built on the same sort of tall-and-too-thin scale as Milla, though probably much taller. From the waist down, well, he's an octopus. That's just a thing around here, it seems. There's a tattoo of a series of crows lying from a network of cracks across his chest, and a good handful of scars that suggests he's used to fighting.

He doesn't... seem all that threatening, though? Not with the way his expression immediately turns apologetic.]

Ah, I didn't think anyone would be - well, nevermind. Are you alright, miss?

Zaen "Aiden" Ayala | OC (CRAU 1st prompt. second leaves room for canon; I'm debating)

[coagmentatio]

jungle: fuck this? fuck this...

[ It could be worse...

He's never seen a jungle quite so vividly before, and he probably could stand to enjoy this view. But goddamn is it way too fucking hot to enjoy anything. Is this hell? It's probably hell. He probably deserves this.

... Doesn't mean he's going to accept it gladly.

Anyway, don't mind this guy somewhat sluggishly making his way through this place. The second he spots someone, he straightens up a bit. The question is said with some deadpan, almost making it difficult to tell whether he's being serious, or not... ]

Random question: you haven't seen any schools around here, have you?

shipwreck

[ He is the adventurous type, at least, so he has no complaints about exploring this place. For the most part, he is keeping to himself; if somebody speaks to him, will acknowledge them, but don't expect him to initiate anything without a damn good reason. Namely if... say, a big chunk of some debris is about to fall on a person's head? He'll actually shove them out of the way (and this guy can lift up to 500 pounds, so), putting himself at risk of being crushed. ]

Watch out!

[ ... fortunately, he can move quickly, so he's unlikely to actually get crushed. Still... ]

wildcard

[ He will be hanging out above the water line, but there are still reasons he could interact with a fish person? Feel free to create your own adventure, friends. ]

wildcardu

[makejapangreat]

[What the fuck is this having a tail thing...

Shido is sticking to the shallows as he tries to practice this and get used to his new form. This means he's close enough to where the people who haven't been changed can see and potentially even get to him...

So just what is that strange grey and yellow blur under the water?]

Choromatsu Matsuno | Osomatsu-san | Ryslig CRAU (LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN)

[shikosuki]

[ OOC: Choromatsu is a pooka normally (and prior to that, a werebear) and has a number of rabbit/rodent traits, but because of the fissure he has lost all of those for now and is just full mer!! He's gonna look a little more like this (pardon the old, rough design sketch) ]

1) Finny Fun

[ Waking up in Ryslig as a different monster was, weird as it may sound, not as uncommon as you'd think. Heck, Choromatsu himself had it happen to him relatively recently, though it turned out to be a permanent change. Waking up in an unfamiliar place was also, sadly, not too uncommon and most of his family had the fun of dealing with that already. But waking up in water? That's new.

So once he realizes that's where he is he wakes with a jolt and examines himself immediately. Not seeing fur is... disorienting to say the least, and for a split second he almost gets his hopes up that maybe he's not a monster anymore. Of course though, it's impossible to miss that tail. A large spotted tail like a whale shark. He's got all the other check offs for a mer as well (or at least the ones he expects them to have after being in Ryslig for so long); fins, spiny fin like ears in place of his rabbit ones, gills... the only thing he wasn't expecting were for the spots on his tail to also be all over his whole body, though more sporadically, even spread out over his cheeks like freckles. Nor was he expecting all of them to be brightly bio luminescent. He's seen weirder though; you wouldn't expect a rabbit monster to have a squirrel tail for instance.

He's not exactly too thrilled with any of this though, Just how the hell did this even happen this time?! ]

...That Mana... how did she even manage this, this time? I didn't even ASK for anything...!

[ He starts swimming, testing out the tail, and can be heard loudly grumbling ]

Honestly... I just finished changing into another monster, this isn't even funny...

[ Well. All he can do is swim around and get to shore then. Go straight home and find his brothers, tell them what happened. Osomatsu is a mer and he should be able to help. ]


2) World's Smallest Jungle

[ When he finally makes it to the shore he's... aghast.

Where the hell is he? He thought he was just off the coast of the penninsula but this... this isn't Ryslig. The vegetation is completely different and it's too small... he can't see it over the horizon either.

What's worse is, he had expected to regain his legs after coming ashore. But it'd been a while now and NOTHING. He knew it was arbitrary how long it took for merpeople to change out of their tail but this doesn't seem right. ]

Wh... What the hell is this?! Just what the heck is going on here?!

[ Maybe if he just waits a little longer. Waits and then screams. Though shouldn't he worry about drying up? ]


3) Shipwreck

[ Once he's met up with his other fae brother again and back in the water he'll start exploring more. He's checking the shipwreck out now though he's going about it a little more languidly, only coming here because Karamatsu is nearby above water.

(this is a bit more of a wildcard prompt if none of the other ones appeal to you!) ]

1

[nojohnyouare]

!

[Mai, with a bronze swordfish tail, fin, and horn, swims over, plastic sword in hand.]

Are you... [...she still isn't sure which one is which half the time, she thinks it's probably Choro, and also Akira and Xander exist so there's that possibility, so she's not going to finish that sentence.]

Flotsam & Jetsam | Disney's The Little Mermaid

[darlingpoopsies]

Finny Fun
[Dragon eels aren't the only eels around here. A pair of very obviously not mermen have shown up, too. They slide from the crevice they've woken up in one by one, looking around.]

The water tastes..... different here, doesn't it?

Oh, yes. I don't think this is our ocean.

Mother will worry.

Perhaps we should ask directions?

Of course. I can't imagine how we ended up so far afield.

At least people are friendly here.

[Jetsam grins wickedly at that, head snapping forward to clamp his jaws down on a too-curious fish. A violent shake, and it goes limp in his mouth; he gives his brother a questioning look, and Flotsam nods.

He carries it with him as the pair depart, looking for merfolk or intelligent looking creatures. The pair seem friendly enough as they approach; they're both smiling, at least, and Jetsam is even offering his prize as a gift.]

Excuse us, but we seem to be a little lost.....


Shipwreck
[The pair are hesitating outside of one of the underwater shipwrecks, slowly circling the rotting, algae and coral encrusted hulks of wood and steel.]

Do you suppose there's anything left inside?

It might all be ruined by now.

Human things can be so fragile.....

A pity, isn't it? It always looks so nice, too.

Such a shame.....


Wildcard
[Toss your own idea my way, or C&P the prompt from your own post that you'd like them to respond to!]


((OOC: This is just for fun to toss real fishies at people; these guys aren't being apped, so don't worry about trying to figure out accommodations for aquatic characters. I'll be using green and blue for individual twins, and normal text color for both doing the creepy psychic twins speaking in unison thing. Spoooooooookyyyyyyyyyy~))

finny something alright

[makejapangreat]

[Shido enjoys the ocean... to an extent.

He enjoys riding atop of it with a magnificent vessel of a boat, able to go in any direction he pleases and simply be free. He enjoys the salty winds, the fresh foam of the waves splashing up, and the endless blue skies and seas.

He would say, rather decisively, that he enjoys being on top of the ocean infinitely more than he enjoys being in it. He may now be more equipped to swim in the ocean, but that doesn't necessarily mean things might not still see him as appetizing.

Which is why when he sees the eels swimming toward him, he immediately wonders if they're cannibalistic. Judging by the set of teeth he'd been given, they were more than well-equipped to take a chunk out of hi—

What the fuck are they talking.

... of course they're talking. Because this is a goddamned fissure in a multiverse and so naturally, all rules of reality have been completely rewritten. But their aptitude for speech hardly puts Shido at ease.]

I'm not sure of what help I'll be, since I'm new to this area myself... but I'll see what I can do.—ah, I'm alright, thank you.

Phi | Zero Escape & Trustfell 4 CRAU

[plentyfriendly]

Clear your mind before you swim

[At this point, Phi has long since accepted that returning to awareness at an unknown place and time is just a thing that happens to her, no thanks to some people.

That doesn't mean that suddenly being blue, gilled, and legless is something she's going to welcome with it; the scaled, finned tail she's stuck with is a lot more flexible than she'd expected it might be and she's struggling to move without flipping around uncontrollably. At least she's... well, she can't really call it breathing, now, can she?]

downed but not even close to out

[The shipwreck is interesting, but she's from both of the wrong Zero Escapes to have any connection to one on a personal level. This one is intact enough that she can rest her arms and get her head above water, though. She'd expected her lungs to still work, at any rate, and she's not wrong.]

Ow.

[Wait. Huh?]

What was tha-

[There it is again. She flinches.]

Hey! Cut it out!

[Is... she pinning this on you, you bet she is.]

Clear your mind

[nor_iron_bars]

Uh, hey, want a hand?

[If Phi looks to her left, she'll come face to... face-half-covered-by-a-gasmask with a woman who appears to be part sea krait, although she looks pretty relaxed about it at the moment.]

Legs look like they've fucked off for the day, but I can definitely still offer hands right now.

Jailbreak | OC

[nor_iron_bars]

I.
[Some people might be worried to realize that they've woken up very far from home, on a tiny chunk of a wrecked ship still floating along the waterline, with no idea how they got there.]

[Some people might be worried about public indecency, and not respond to a lack of a bathing suit in this situation by stripping down to a gas mask and nothing else.]

[Some people might be extremely worried once they stripped down, got into the water to try swimming around and exploring the submerged parts of the wreck, and found themselves suddenly swapping legs for the back half of a fifteen-foot-long sea snake tail, along with growing webs between their fingers on their still-otherwise-human upper half.]

Ahahaha oh my God, I'm a fish! This is fucking hilarious!

[Aaaand then there's Jailbreak.]

Hey, hey asshole, I'm a fucking mermaid now, check it out! Wanna see me do a flip?

[To her credit, she does do a pretty impressive flip out of the water as she launches herself up and dives back in, regardless of whether whichever unfortunate bystander she just asked actually wanted to see her do a flip or not, laughing delightedly the whole time.]

[At least someone's having fun.]

II.
[If you meet her later, inside the depths of the wrecked ships, she seems... at least marginally more focused, cautiously examining everything with a curious eye, muttering to herself.]

[If she spots you, she'll give a reasonably friendly wave and ask:]

Hey there, find anything good?

III.
[Got any other prompts? Put them here, I'd love to try them.]

I.

[herolytical]

[ Izuku was just starting to get used to having fins and swimming around, trying to explore around when a loud voice called out nearby and he looked over to see someone actually go out of the water amidst a rather decent flip before coming back down. All while she was still laughing.

Well. At least someone was enjoying this, right?

Her attitude reminded him vaguely of Bakugou, but with a mix of something akin to Kaminari at the same time. He opened his mouth to respond but immediately realized this woman wasn't wearing anything beyond that gas mask which had this particularly awkward teenage boy turning a nice shade of red as he tried not to stare at her too much. ]

I-I uh... that... um... flip was.. nice. I don't think... I-I could do that... no...

[ Oh god he could die of embarrassment right now. ]

Tiernan | Eberron OC

[character_box]

Option 1: Not this again...

[Is this the Plane of Shadows again? Last time he was dumped into the ocean, though, it wasn't kind enough to polymorph him to suit. On the other hand, last time, he wasn't alone.

How had something caught him and left the rest of his group behind?

The slim, white and black striped tentacles replacing the half-elf's legs go entirely black for a few moments in response to his wary caution before he notices and forces back the excessively threatening camouflage reaction. Interesting, though... Suitable, he can't argue that.

Tiernan turns some attention to his telepathy as he begins to make his way carefully through the water, seeking any other sapient minds nearby. Even if he doesn't find a potential ally, he will hopefully at least find a source of information.]

I swear, if this is the Plane of Shadows again...



Option 3: He's an adventurer by trade, okay?

[Tiernan gets the hang of the odd properties of his new form fairly quickly. Mostly, he's taken to the lionfish imitation or blending his colors into the sea floor. It makes it nearly as easy to get around undisturbed as an Invisibility spell and it doesn't have a limited duration.

He very much wants to go check out that larger, curiously constructed craft out there, but he's adventurous, not stupid. The chances of there being something there he can't handle alone are a little too high.

So instead he is combing through the smaller, closer wrecks and their debris.

Of course he manages to piss off one of the dragon eels. At least it's a relatively small one? Tiernan throws himself backwards through the water as it snaps at him, and suddenly there are three of him there. They all mumble something and throw an icy javelin, though only one of the spell weapons seems to still be there when they hit the creature.]

Ah... I can most likely handle this, but a little help would not go unappreciated?



Wildcard

[Feel free to just run into him! His telepathy is limited; he can't actually read your thoughts unless you're pushing them at him, he can just sense minds within a hundred feet of him.]

III

[labelledamesauvage]

[ The sound passes through the water farther than through air; as a result, Juliette hears the trouble. She moves, quickly, through the water, and sees the fishy-person fighting three of the eels. She herself has avoided the heck out of them, but now is not the time to let someone else fall prey to them. She begins to sing, and it's quite possible that Tiernan feels a sudden thrill and focus (as a bard using Inspire Courage will have happen). Then as she gets closer, her song reaches a high sharp pitch, and what look to be eighth-notes fly past and slash into the eels. As she gets closer, she says: ]

Beg pardon, but you seem to be in a bit of trouble; can I help?

Hibiki Kuze | Devil Suvivor 2: Record Breaker

[shinetagonist]

i

[Waking up somewhere new is... almost familiar to him by now. But water is new. Water is very new. As is his new form glowing softly in the darker water. The bell of a jellyfish is settled over his head like a hood, and his torso eventually shifts towards seaweed like tendrils and thinner stingers. Thankfully he's already used to floating, so drifting through the water with the slightest motion comes naturally.

Unlike many of the others arriving, he seems almost serenely calm as he drifts about, watching people curiously]

So many fish... I'm a little jelly.

[Why]

iii

[Well, there's one good thing about being a jellyfish: there's a small pile of zapped dragon eels near the shipwreck, with Hibiki looking down at them]

... I'd feel bad, but I really don't know what you were expecting?

[RIP]

3

[karappo]

[Oh hey...another merperson. That's to be expected at the beach, Karamatsu supposes...though he can't help but wonder if miss Fog God hasn't had herself a fun little jaunt turning as many monsters as she can into one thing just for kicks.

Karamatsu finds a half-wrecked piece of ship to land on nearby since he's not exactly suited for the water, peering down at the dragon eels that Hibiki is looking at currently.]

...Did you do this?

Spike Spiegel | Cowboy Bebop (with Ein)

[menarefrom]

Shipwrecked

[There is no reasonable explanation for why Spike ought to be on some old shipwreck, lain prone on his back strewn across a few planks of rotting wood. As his limbs float lazily in the shallow water and his brown eyes open just a touch in the glare of the sunlight, it almost appears as if Spike won't rouse at all. Nearby, however, the intermittent cawing of seagulls is interrupted by a rumbling growl and frantic 'yip!'s.

Spike blinks a few times, frowning-- covers his eyes with his arm and tries to focus.]

...Ein?

[He asks, finally sitting up and looking around, eyes adjusting to the light. He scrambles to his feet and follows the commotion to where Ein's little corgi butt sits stranded on a half-crumbled, tilted upper floor of the flotsam, feathers peppering the ground below him as seagulls aggress the young dog.]

Hey! Hey! Get the hell away from my dog!

[Shouts Spike, shaking his fist at the birds that... Now take an interest in him. Spike, for a moment, seems as if he may turn tail, but Ein is so happy to see a friend that he leaps straight onto Spike's face, knocking the six-foot-something pile of limbs to the ground. The seagulls, seeing their chance, descend.

...maybe chase them off, or watch. They'll probably be fine, anyway, right?]

SLAMS INTO I mean hi

[karappo]

[Karamatsu had been flying over the water, scanning the shipwrecks for both signs of life, other monsters, and possibly his brothers, when he hears the distressed and familiar call of someone being attacked by seagulls.

Without thinking about how they'd just swarmed him earlier. Karamatsu rushes to the aid of the poor soul currently smothered with birds. The glinting of his blue-green carapace immediately catches some of the flock's attention, but not all.]

Leave them alone you, you- feathered- ah!!

[He isn't afforded much time to think of a good insult as they start scrabbling and pecking at his chest and yanking on the fur around his neck. This goes on for a few seconds too long before suddenly a bunch of feathers seem to just...explode just behind Karamatsu's shoulders, causing the cluster of birds to scatter with alarm, including the ones on Spike and his dog.

Confused but happy for the break, Karamatsu heaves for breath and looks over to Spike, not realizing that there are currently feathers poking out of the jaws of the mouth on his back.]

Oi- are you alright?

Nakari | OC

[coralroot]

Jungle

[She doesn't even really notice that she's landed off in another universe at first, mostly because... well, look. Miari is naught but a land filled with delightful beaches of various sand colors, fruit farms, and also, treacherous death jungles. So as far as Nakari knows, she just needs to get back to the group.

She straps her spear to her back and sets to exploring, and actually gets pretty far until she reaches the shore, at which point she realizes that she needs to build a raft.

...where's her machete.

If you see her, she's probably trying to cut a tree down with a spear. Real smart there.]

Shipwreck (CW: Animal injury)

[Once that's settled, she has a grand old time jumping from rock to rock to random piece of rubble in the shipwreck, turning over bits of coral and wreckage with her spear. Things are going pretty well until she accidentally thrusts it too far and hears a faint squawk, but sees nothing.

The squawks start getting more and more desparate, more pained, and she honestly starts freaking out a little?]

SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT-

jungle

[freedomofmovement]

Uh.

[Freyja just kind of. Stops. Cutting down a tree with a spear?? That's new, even for her.]

Do you... need a hand?

[Don't mind her, she's just standing back... out of accidental poking range.]

Shouto Todorok(o)i | My Hero Academia

[byhalves]

i;

[Well. This is happening. Waking up under water, with...With his body changed. Different. The tail, the fins, the webbing between his fingers, that's all new. It fits in well, the same white and red as his hair, but that doesn't really make him feel any better. He's not exactly meant to be underwater - in many ways, it's where he's the weakest.

Of course, that doesn't stop things from being dangerous, and being bitten is never fun.

The change in temperature might be noticeable before the boy himself and the wall of ice spiking up from the ocean floor. It's not quite big enough to breach the surface, but inside of it is a very, very angry eel.

Oops.]

iii;

[After the fiasco with the first eel, he's learned his lesson. Don't get close to them. Be much more careful and pay more attention to your surroundings. If your surrounding is a ship with loads of nooks and crannies? All the better to be aware.

Even with being more on the lookout, he's still a kid who's maybe a little excited to do some exploring of a fantastical shipwreck. Sue him, he never really got the chance to play pretend. There is something about the wrecks that's bothering him, though.]

This doesn't make any sense.

[It's a random mishmash of ships, and he thought shipwrecks were supposed to have like, remnants of the crew. Skeletons hanging around protecting their loot even in the afterlife.

More than just...Stuff.]

i;

[nonono7]

WHOA!!!

[ That voice seems to be coming from the... ice that Shouto just threw up?

Upon closer inspection, though, there's a girl on the other side of the ice, FACE PRESSED RIGHT UP AGAINST IT like a kid in a candy store window. ]

This is amazing! How did you do that!? Are you Topless!?!

[ Perhaps notably, from what you can see, this girl - about Shouto's age - seems to not have a fin or tail? Just a normal human girl... talking and breathing underwater. With her face pressed up against the ice. ]

Soma Cruz | Castlevania (Now with Airlocked memories!)

[power_of_dominance]

Finny Fun

[If you catch him right at the start of this madcap watery adventure, you'll see a pale, shirtless young man with white hair floating on his back halfway between surface and seafloor. His sculpted human torso ends at the waist, however, stark white skin blending into the grays of sharkskin. The upper part of his caudal fin is exaggeratedly long, the distinct indicator of a thresher shark. He's still, but thankfully the gills in his neck don't work like a normal shark's or he'd drown from not moving. They suddenly flutter faster before flaring right as he jerks awake with a gasp, clawed and webbed fingers slashing blindly at the water.

Yes, he just jolted awake from a nightmare. Or... was it only a nightmare?

He rolls over, not yet realizing that he's floating or breathing water or swishing a shark tail behind him. Right now, he's focused on his left arm. There are two distinct scars there that he didn't have until now, but there are plenty of others here who will recognize them on sight.]

It's not possible... how.... [He winces and presses his right hand to his forehead.] Ah, my head... what... what happened to me...?

Shipwreck

[By now Soma's noticed his transformation, but it doesn't really bother him. He has Souls that change his body, this isn't an issue. What's still making him look a bit distracted as he explores the wrecks is far more traumatizing to him: a new set of memories slotted into his head and the scars to prove they're real. He's seen them on others here... no, not others, his friends. His family. He didn't know them when he met them here, but he knows them now. How badly did he hurt them without even realizing it? He has to find them and apologize.

In the meantime, he searches the wrecks for anything they can use, keeping everything in a netting bag he looted from one of the first spots he explored. He's even pried a couple of large abalone loose and stuffed them in the bag for later eating. There's a small, bright purple fish darting around him playfully, swimming in and out of his drifting hair. Close inspection reveals it's a tiny, four-eyed cat with a fish tail instead of back legs and the normal cat tail.

Yes, it's Polaris, and he's a betta-sized purple catfish.]

Freyja Stormlight | Original Character

[freedomofmovement]

1 - shipwreck

[Shipwrecks are a fairly common sight along the Blasted Strand - the vicious winter winds have driven many a craft ashore - but none of them look like this. Cautious but interested, Freyja picks her way around, using a well-worn quarterstaff to probe the ground in front of her.

There's a muffled tnk sound, and she crouches down to look, brushing away sand from something.]

Huh. And what are you...?

[So distracted by her find, she doesn't notice the annoyed seabirds wheeling above her. Maybe someone should warn her, before she gets divebombed.]

2 - make me a home among the palm trees

[Walking the length and breadth of the island hadn't been hard - but something wasn't quite right about it. Freyja couldn't quite figure out what, and so instead busied herself with making a campsite above the high tide mark. A canvas tarp stretches between two tree, anchored with rocks to make a sun shelter, and a small fire crackles brightly.]

[Freyja herself is sitting crosslegged under the tarp, well-worn pack beside her and a dagger in her hands. She's running it across a whetstone, occasionally picking it up to examine the edge before taking another few passes over the stone. She's talking to herself.]

The sealife is familiar enough, but there's something in the water. Not a curse, I don't think... but I can feel the pull.

3 - take the plunge

[Like any druid worth her salt (hah), Freyja wanted to find the source of this weird magic emanating from the sea. Turning into a mermaid was not actually something she anticipated. Still, she explores the coral crags, poking her nose into everything and -- talking to the glowing eels? What?]

[And when they snap at her, she swims back fast, adjusting the drape of her floating tunic, making sure the dagger she tucked in earlier is still there.]

You're a rude one, aren't you? Makes two of us, I guess.

2

[dubiouslychthonic]

Afternoon. Mind if I join you?

[Jetshard pauses a bit outside the bounds of Freya's camp, not wanting to approach much closer without acknowledgement; newcomers can be jumpy, as can the sort of person who sits around performing maintenance on their weapons in uncertain situations. And though she's not overtly threatening by the standards of her own species, Jetshard's occasionally found that her appearance - grey skin, forked orange horns, eyes that are not quite the color of human eyes behind the tinted lenses of her glasses - is startling to humans. Better safe than sorry.]

Manuel Menendez | OC

[sorcerer_rebooted]

1.

[He'd known there'd be challenges going into this place. Like pretty much every dimension, if he wanted to use magic he'd have to start from scratch, and if he wanted to do science it'd require the money which he could really only access with, uh, magic. Those were normal. Less normal were the indications that the dimension served as a sort of Venus Fly Trap: Getting in would be easy, but getting out would be extremely difficult to say the least. Potentially impossible.

He went anyway. As you do. Mostly because, as far as he was concerned, dimensions like this existed for a reason.

Turns out his scan didn't pick up everything. Like the fact that he'd end up landing in water on entry. He sputters a bit, trying to make it to the surface, before realizing the OTHER thing he hadn't picked up on, which was what he could only assume was ambient levels of wild magic. He couldn't think of any other explanation why he was suddenly a really big, uh.

Fish.

Manny works like a wizard most of the time - well, a "magicist" as he tends to call himself, what with his application of scientific physics to magic and his observation that a lot of wizards tend to be jerks. However, technically speaking he knows he's a sorcerer, one particularly sensitive to the ways magic functions from dimension to dimension. Which means he tends to absorb magic.

Which is why he's pretty much ALL fish and not sorta fish. Brain notwithstanding, anyway.]

Good start. Yeah.

3.

[He's managed to brute force things after about an hour of concentration, and now he's... MARGINALLY less fishy. Which is to say he's at least got his fins to function a little more like arms, which he decides is about as good as he's going to get for now based on how much effort that took. Hopefully at some point the ambient magic passes so he can start studying it in earnest.

Instead, he's studying what appears to be a shipwreck. An old one from what he can tell, and sizable. If nothing else, he can perhaps start getting a sense of the tech level here, maybe do a little exploring, find some loot, smack some mons --

...he's gone to way too many places where dungeon crawling was a regular way to make a quick buck.

Shaking his head, he maneuvers a little deeper in. He's so focused on a particular metallic formation that he just barely manages to avoid the snapping jaws of possibly the biggest damn eel he's ever seen. He's now frantically getting away, trying to avoid mental images of animated movies with these exact scenarios, because that's REALLY not going to help his situation right now. Crap.]

3.

[nonono7]

[ There's a turbulence in the water as something zips past Manny. By the time he turns, there's already a girl with vaguely glowing orange hair, eel in hand, swinging it like a chain or like somebody does in one of those animated movies, and *tosses* it.

It's gone. It's very, very gone.

The girl turns to the, uh. Fish. ] Are you all right, Mr. Fish? [ Despite being human in appearance, she seems to not have any problems being here and also speaking. But that's probably not the weirdest thing Manny's seen. ]

Akira Kurusu (genderswap AU) | Persona 5

[hairpincurves]

2
[Good grief, she doesn't know where she is but she is fairly certain that the humidity is going to kill her. At the very least, this could definitely be worse.

The bugs here are pretty neat--she's occasionally stopping to look at one that catches her eye. Though, she isn't lingering for long. Not until she gets to the beach. Getting to the water makes her stop.

And stare.]

Well. That's not exactly helpful for trying to figure out where I am.

1
[Eventually, she figures she might as well swim to get a better feel for the area.

Suddenly having a fish tail instead of legs was not part of the plan. She can't say she's complaining too much at the moment, it's a nice look! She's liked mermaids for as long as she can remember! .... On the other hand, maybe she should be complaining. The swimming with a tail thing is hard to get a handle on!

Which is why she just bonked headfirst into a rock. Ow.]

wildcard
[Go ahead and hit me with anything! Maybe explore the shipwrecks with her or fight off some seabirds or dragon eels. I'm cool with whatever!]

[meowna]

[Meanwhile, Morgana has actually gotten pretty good at swimming with a tail! That doesn't stop him from bonking into rocks, apparently--but it's an intentional bonk, that's what's important. It's a controlled bonk with the frantically struggling fish in his paws between him and the rock, because he doesn't want to eat the poor thing alive. (And his system is more than capable of handling raw meat, unlike a lot of the others here. Why waste provisions when he doesn't have to?)

He's just started eating (sorry about the blood in the water, there) when he spots a flash of long, messy black hair billowing in the water, not too far away. He can't help but wince in sympathy at the crash--but it's only when he sees their face that he gapes in confusion.]

Huh? .....Akira.....?

Serena | Pokemon X/Y (games)

[trailingstars]

Surf
[She hasn't actually gotten in the water--why should she, anyway? She's got a Pokemon for water travel, after all! So as of right now she's just happily perched on the back of this pleiosaur-looking thing, with whatever you'd call this thing sitting in front of her. She rubs the Lapras' neck affectionately as they paddle along.]

You see anything, Azha?

Dive
[Eventually, though, she does end up tipping over into the water. It's hot and it'd definitely be way cooler in the water than in the sun!

What neither she nor her Pokemon expected, however, was for her to surface with fins, a neck ruff, webbing between her fingers, and a tail. And. You know. Gills.

... Well, this could certainly be worse. If nothing else, she's certainly enjoying being able to see what's under the water. Maybe you'll catch her ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the coral or the dragon eels. Maybe you'll catch her having a staring contest with a shark.]

So cool...

Surf

[burningcuriosity]

[Azha may, in fact, see something--a strange silhouette that's probably all but unknown in Kalos, unless you happen to read scientific journals. It's taken a bit to learn how to swim properly like this; hours of observation of Kabutops swimming under laboratory conditions hadn't prepared him to actually put those principles of hydrodynamics into practice. Once he had mastered the proper motions of wiggling the shell framing his shoulders, thrashing his tail in time with that exaggerated shimmy, and tucking his limbs up as tightly as possible, though? He was actually remarkably fast. Especially now that he'd hidden his clothes on the beach to help reduce the drag.....

His belt, though, that he refused to leave behind. He'd just cinched it as tightly as possible around his newly narrow waist instead, and trusted the locking technology to keep his Pokéballs firmly in place.

Regardless, the silhouette of a Lapras is one he instantly recognizes, and chases after. Before long, his head and shoulders are surfacing, bald head glistening and water streaming down the impressive (and completely soaked) mustache drooping down past his chin. There's not enough mustache wax in the world to survive a situation like this.....]

Good afternoon, young lady!

Keva Recrie | Original

[rebelliousdragon]

i. Under Da Sea

[Perhaps he looks as though he belongs in the sea - a merman with long light blue hair and a silver tail swimming through the water with relative ease. Eyes match the color of that tail, able to see in the darker parts of the ocean without accidentally stumbling on something too dangerous. Despite having woken up here with half of his body transformed, Keva isn't panicking at all.

Supernatural creatures are common where he's from... hell, Keva himself is one of those creatures though becoming a merman is relatively new. Still, scales are scales and he may be using some of his natural abilities to make navigating the water a bit easier.

Which is why when he sees someone having an altercation with the eels this blue and silver creature darts in as if it were nothing. A smack of his fin to the eels causes them to lose their grip and Keva's hand curls around the other person's arm.]

Let's get out of here while we can.

[His tail sweeps through the water only once and they both rocket away from the eels at an impressive speed for such minimal action. It may not be the intended use of Keva's gravity-defying abilities but it works well anyway. Now that neither of them are in danger of being attacked by the eels, he brings them to a stop.]

Are you okay?

ii. beneath the shelter of the trees

[One would think that with the humidity, all of Keva's long hair would make him extremely hot as he crashes through the thick jungle greenery but it's the least of his issues. Instead, he seems to be having trouble not tripping over thick tree roots or underbrush while making his way towards the open sand and bright blue ocean. There are sticks and leaves stuck in it but he's too busy mumbling unhappily under his breath to stop and pick them out.]

Gods, I miss the city. I'd rather deal with too much traffic than so much wilderness. [Those are typically what his complaints tend to be about. He may also be muttering something about flying but would be difficult to hear it all.

Eventually - finally - he reaches the beach and runs out into the open space free of all the thick greenery. Keva races down towards the water with one hand pointing out at the island in the distance.]

We could make it there in no time! Flying that far would be so easy!

[As he says it, a pair of large dark blue wings seem to appear out of nowhere from Keva's shoulderblades. His shirt magically doesn't rip but somehow parts in the precise area where the wings connect to his body. The appendages spreading wide and look very much like a bat's except for the color. These wings are huge and look to be capable of supporting a person his size.

For all his moaning and groaning earlier, Keva looks downright ecstatic now as he turns back.]

Come on! If we leave now, we can make it there before dark!

i

[herolytical]

[ It had purely been done on accident.

He'd simply been making to explore some of this one ship wreck when some eels showed up without warning, causing him jolt a bit with green eyes going wide. This was bad! Izuku made to try and attempt to try and get free, only to stop when something - or rather someone - moved in and smacked the eels.

Something which had them letting go of him before a hand was grabbing his arm and he nodded numbly. ]

Y-Yeah. Sure!

[ With that barely being said, they were off through the water rather quickly and it made him just blink a bit in surprise. They got far away a bit faster than he was expecting, which prompted only one thing to come to mind. ]

How did you move so quickly like that? You move so naturally through the water and just now it felt as if the water had no resistance as we moved! It was incredible!