deercountry | he ate my heart

he ate my heart

AUGUST 2022 EVENT

EXTRA WARNING:

IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Prompt One
[Image One: The shore line lit up by some sort of bioluminescent organism. ]
[Image Two: A sunken pirate ship covered in algae, seaweed, and suffering from wood rot. ]

Prompt Two
[Image One: A tentacle wrapping around a persons hand. ]
[Image Two: A close up of someone's shoulder which is turning black and cracked and dripping water. ]

Prompt Three
[Image One: A statue of a human face, split in half, with a golden devil mask between the two halves. ]
[Image Two: A number of golden hands reaching up for a white sphere. ]

[NAVIGATION]

Prompt 1 • Prompt 2 • Prompt 3 • Plotting • Newsletter

[JUMP TO COMMENTS]

WE GLOW SO DIM

WHEN: August
WHERE: The Ocean
CONTENT WARNINGS: Deep diving, possible drowning, possible death

Early on in the month, the waves start to have a strange look to them. They seem a little brighter, even at night, and it's then that it hits you: the waves are glowing. It's easy to at first to brush it off as the bioluminescence of certain types of plankton, but the way it moves and sparkles has an other-worldly quality to it that can't be explained by science. Those who look even closer at the glow will notice that it seems to be forming some sort of path into the watery depths.

Those who choose to follow the path despite the angry waves and awful storms that plague the seas this month will find that the ocean seems to be at its calmest along these illuminated, watery roads. Diving down to follow them won't require any equipment, as Sleepers will find that staying within the glowing path allows them to breathe under water when they might normally not have been able to. The pressure changes don't seem to be impacting anyone who follows the light either, allowing them access to deeper depths of the ocean than may have previously been explored.

Continuing to follow the path will lead Sleepers to a series of ship wrecks under the water. These ancient vessels are rotted and covered in seaweed, but anyone who is familiar with the cultures of Earth will notice that they seem to come from all over the world and their styles vary by multiple centuries. But all the ships seem to be covered in this same, strange glow that has brought people here.

Exploring the ships will lead to multiple different discoveries. There are chests filled with ancient artifacts: carvings of squids, statues of various sea creatures that feel a little off somehow, and stones carved with a strange text that is almost impossible to decipher. The artifacts are covered in strange, rust-looking stains that penetrate deep into the materials they're made of. These artifacts can be brought back to shore, and if someone were to try and ask the Trenchies what the writing said, they would only be able to say that these are clearly texts of the Old Ones from long before any recorded history that Trench has in its Archives. When asked about the sea creatures, they'll think it's obvious: these are Mariana's various forms from over the years. The off qualities are her unique takes as a Pthumerian on the creatures of the ocean.

Prolonged exposure to these statues of Mariana will cause people to become more bluntly honest, more open with their emotions, and often much more prone to large outbursts from said emotions, both good and bad. However, Sleepers who keep these statues near them will also find that they are able to keep more control of their blood powers. It's up to each individual if it's a worthy trade off.

If you leave the path, two things can happen: Sleepers will either turn into their squid selves and can continue to swim or they will drown. There will be nothing of interest outside of these paths, just typical ocean creatures, and maybe some of those monsters that have been crawling out of the watery depths as of late.

[JUMP TO TOP] • [JUMP TO COMMENTS]

MONSTER WITHIN

WHEN: August
WHERE: All over
CONTENT WARNINGS: Body horror, mentions of potential cannibalism/vore, possible death, contagious curse

Soon after people start to explore the ships, a strange occurrence will start to sweep through the city. Locals start to mutter something about a curse, one that seems to only be impacting Sleepers. The early signs that there's something off is an increase in strength and stamina. For example, Sleepers will find that they might go to pick up a chair or a mug and it shatters in their hands. Some people may find that they are incapable of sleeping. Others might find they're able to move quicker and for longer periods than normal.

If they look themselves over, they will start to find small patches of skin that have started to gray and blacken. These patches will be cracked, almost scaley, and will be consistently damp no matter how hard you try to dry them off. As time passes, this odd rash will start to spread, taking over more and more of the body. The torso might start to swell and distort, making Sleepers feel particularly top heavy. And eventually, suckers will start to form on the arms and legs.

This curse isn't beasthood in its usual forms; instead, it seems to be some sort of malady in of the magical blood that Sleepers have been granted. If the blood of an infected Sleeper is looked at under a microscope, there will be black patches clinging to the cells, similar to the patches that people see on their skin. If it isn't stopped, the person suffering from the curse will ultimately turn into a monstrous form of their squid-selves: these monster forms are large, aggressive, and able to move on land. They will feel a hunger for destruction and some Sleepers may find in these forms that they are only satisfied if they feed on other, uncursed Sleepers.

There are two ways to lift the curse. One is through a thorough blood transfusion with a blood type that is compatible with your own. This becomes more difficult to do the closer to the monstrous form people get, both due to aggression from the curse, and also due to the fact that the black patches of skin are highly difficult to puncture. Once the blood is completely replaced by fresh blood, the skin patches will disappear over 48 hours and the Sleeper will be left feeling thoroughly exhausted.

The second way to lift the curse is through death. While these monster squid forms are difficult to kill, it is not impossible, and they are particularly susceptible to magic over weapons. Once a Sleeper has died, they can be reborn, and their blood will be completely free of the curse.

The blood malady can be spread outside of those who come into contact with the ship wrecks. People who touch a cursed Sleeper, particularly the scaley patches of skin, will also run the risk of being cursed. It takes roughly a week for the signs of the curse to show, and can spread as slowly or as rapidly as players choose.

[JUMP TO TOP] • [JUMP TO COMMENTS]

LAVISH DESIRES

WHEN: August
WHERE: All over
CONTENT WARNINGS: Personality changes, mental manipulation, hoarding, obsessive anxiety, disassociation, depersonalization

The high waves seem to just be getting higher at the beginning of the month. Rougher and rougher seas start to cause something anyone who's lived around water will be familiar with: flash floods. These floods are large, powerful, and fill the streets of Trench. First-floors of buildings may get extreme damage, though they can be protected with physical and magical barriers if people are smart about it. The floods happen multiple times throughout the month without warning, so it may be good to get that protection built up sooner rather than later.

The after effects of these floods aren't just structural devastation though. People who get caught up in the water, particularly those who end up swallowing it, will have one word echoing in their mind on a regular basis: More.

More of what? That seems to be different for each individual. Maybe one person wants more and more food, anything from an extra slice of cake after dinner, to wanting to stuff themselves until they just might pop. Or maybe they want to hoard all of their favorite objects or pieces of clothing, filling more and more of the space in their homes until they're ready to burst at the seems. Some might find it's their emotions that come in excess, with over the top anger, or irregular excitement that leaves them unable to sleep for days. Anything and everything can come in excess and it certainly seems to be this month. Some people may get these obsessive needs to such a degree that they start to feel disconnected from themselves, fractured by the overabundance that has taken over their lives.

If people ignore these desires, they'll start to find they're plagued by hallucinations. Strong, life-like visions that riddle them with anxiety and leave them petrified of what might happen if they don't partake in this gluttonous behavior. They'll feel shaken to the core and slowly go mad with need and desire for whatever it is they've been craving. This feeling of madness can make them become violent, lashing out at those around them, even killing those who try and help them out of belief that they're trying to force them to give in to their vices.

The impact of the water will wear off either after one week without re-exposure, or by using a Moon Drop to help to cleanse the mind.

[JUMP TO TOP]

CODING

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Murderbot stares at the young woman. "We all get spat up on the beach as squids," it says, "we have different blood and bodies and magical shit that comes with it. I met someone who got half-turned into a horse. I've been frozen solid as ice. Is any of that usual where you call home?"

It isn't for Murderbot, but colonies on lonely dangerous planets abandoned to their own is. Shit seems weirder than that, but it's possible that the colony seeding process is weirder than a space elevator. Except instead of alien remnants, there's actual aliens. The Pthumerians. Even a corporate expedition without a bond wouldn't miss that. Maybe this is what happens after hundreds or thousands of years on alien remnant sites. Maybe it knows even less about wormholes than it thinks it does.

"So no, I don't know what's going to happen," it says, "but my"—risk assessment—"gut instinct says bad things." It sighs. This person would probably already be in the water without a SecUnit, without someone, to point out the obvious. It doesn't have to obey anyone, but it's still used to, it doesn't know what to expect here.

"What do you miss about home?" it asks as distraction and to get more information. 'I need life saving treatment I cannot get here' is different than 'I want to go back to mining asteroids with no hope of a different life because my family is there.' Or whatever.

It's not like Chizuru to question another's gut instinct, really. Not unless it's really important. And sure, going home? That is really important - but since Chizuru can't be sure that going home is on the line here, she wouldn't dare to be rude enough to question its instincts here.

So as she just lets that settle, the girl instead turns her thoughts towards the question that's being asked of her here.

"There is a war going on back home," she explains. There's very little hesitation before she begins to speak - as if either Chizuru is foolishly honest, or she just doesn't mind sharing this in particular. "A whole lot of people important to me are fighting in it."

There's a tiny pause, but it mostly seems to serve as a time for her expression to drop as she thinks about the next part.

"I.. know that there is probably not much a single person can do to change the outcome of that." Despite how reckless Chizuru may have seemed here to it, it's not like she's totally dumb. She does know this much. "But if they all got hurt or worse, and if things could have been at least somewhat different if I had been there.."

She shakes her head. "Then I never would forgive myself for not having been there."

Maybe it's not what she misses, sure, but Chizuru knows that this is more important than the sentimentality of what she misses about home. Even though she does miss a lot.

Murderbot considers what it would have been like to arrive in Trench before they recovered ART's crew or while it was still fighting Targets aboard ART thinking ART was dead. It would do a lot to get back. It wants to think it would be smarter about it, but constructs fall prey to emotions too. An involuntary restart helps with that but has limits. It's seen that first hand.

This adolescent human may not be a SecUnit or CombatBot, but Murderbot can hardly discredit the urge to protect the people it cares about. It continues to stare off, wondering why it cannot get away from vulnerable humans going into danger.

"Fine," it says, annoyed. It's only died a ton of times in that water. "Let's go." It walks, begrudgingly, toward the suspicious water.

There's a soft surprised noise escaping Chizuru, close to a 'huh?'

But even as she seems surprised, her legs move before her mind does, starting to follow it as it's walking in the direction of the water. It's not like Chizuru is totally dumb. She gets what's going on here, insofar that she understands it is intending on going into the water with her.

But its attitude about it isn't lost on her, considering how much Chizuru pays attention to other people's feelings at all times. It makes the girl frown as she follows.

"A-Are you sure? I mean.. if it's too hard for you, you don't have to..!"

Please, Chizuru wouldn't ever dream of forcing anyone to do something for her, let alone a total stranger. She'd feel terrible if she made it go through something hard here for her.

"I don't want you to feel bad..!"

And, if necessary, Chizuru would go in by herself. Even though it's scary. Even though it's potentially dangerous. All of this feels too important to not go for it.

Glad to be ahead, where its face at least isn't fully visible, Murderbot rolls its eyes. "It's not hard," it answers, "it's stupid." It's dangerous, and this fragile person is likely to end up fish food if they go in on their own. Humans, they're all so fragile. It cannot count how many its seen come to bad ends. The ones that are clients, even the bad clients, it dislikes the memories, even when it wasn't consulted, even when its advice was ignored, even when they killed each other and no one came in to hurt them! People. The ones it hurt, the ones it stopped from hurting its clients, it doesn't feel bad about at all.

"Then you'll just have to not die," it snarks back, appreciating the freedom to do so. Murderbot shakes its head a little. In the extremely unlikely scenario this person is right, it could be back aboard ART getting decontaminated (unless ART has left in the meantime and it returns to empty space without an evac suit and dies).

"Come on," it considers the water warily, but Murderbot has swum in it successfully when it wasn't being dragged under or crushed against rocks or any of the other horrible deaths.

Chizuru sucks in a breath, like she's trying to gather her determination. But then she quickly starts taking a few quick steps into the direction of the water, and then a few steps into the water already. Though her pace seems to quicken enough to get ahead of it by just a little bit, it's not like she keeps going at that pace, instead moving to walk more slowly and carefully before she gets deeper into the water.

But before she does so, she at least turns back to it for a moment. Her hands are tightly clenched into fists, and her voice is more clear, without the nervous stutter from before.

"Then.. I won't die! I promise!"

.. nevermind the fact that it's not exactly the sort of thing one can promise. Maybe she's just promising to do her best to not die.. Especially since her tone sounds so genuine as she says it. Dumb idea or not, Chizuru at least does seem like she is giving it her all, especially since she's turning back to the water after that declaration, taking more steps out into it until the water is already up to her waist.

"I can't swim, but.. we could all swim underwater as squids before, right? Then I just have to see if I can turn back into one.." Even if just partially. She'd prefer partially, really, before she loses any sense of self all over again.

Murderbot actually facepalms and groans. Why are humans like this? It's lost much of its willingness to oppose their stupidity, but Murderbot has limits like humans wandering into deep water when they don't know how to swim. "No, no, no," Murderbot repeats.

It moves at optimum human speed (slow for it, it knows), readies itself for physical contact (uuuuuuuuuuugh), and firmly grasps her arm. Standing in the glowing water isn't great, but it's not going to lose this human. They didn't go into the water until it said okay. That makes it its fault if the human then goes and drowns horribly or gets eaten or something.

Its other hand opens flat, palm up, and acts as a landing pad for a small (waterproof) drone. "We can send this," it offers.

See, this is what happens when you can't openly communicate about the entire 'don't worry, I can't die from most normal causes of death' spiel. It makes people worried about you since they can't quite follow your line of thought, and so the other is entirely valid in grabbing onto Chizuru like that. The girl doesn't even resist its grip - mostly since she doesn't want it to think that she's trying to pull away to jump in fully by herself anyway and for this to turn really awkward, or into some sort of struggle.

So instead Chizuru freezes up where she's standing, staring at..

.. well, she doesn't quite know what it is that she's looking at right now, to be quite honest. Chizuru definitely is not from the kind of time period or place that would allow her knowledge of these things.

"What is it..?" She therefore asks.

Slowly, watching this human closely, Murderbot releases their arm and frees itself from unnecessary physical contact (it can regain the human quickly if need be). That ticks its performance reliability halfway back up to where it was before. They are still standing in the water with no guarantees the worst stupidity will be avoided. So, that's fair.

"It's a drone, very small machine," Murderbot explains. It pulls out the omni it doesn't need to display the output of the drone and connects the two. Instead of displaying the network, it shows the image within the drone's range. The drone lifts off Murderbot's hand and faces the human so her face shows on the omni.

"This kind is waterproof and built to withstand pressure," it explains. Its first independent job as a security consult involved research performed with the lab module floating atop a large body of water. Murderbot had consulted specs when filling its complements of drones. "It can give us video and some audio. If for some reason this water goes beyond its range, it's better to discover that with a drone than bodies that grow tired or can't swim."

"It could get eaten or smashed," that's why Murderbot hasn't sent drones out of its own accord, "but that's better than you getting eaten or smashed." There's no resupply on drones that it can count on here, and while it has enough drones now, it is more conservative with them than it would be otherwise.

Honestly, the girl isn't too sure whether or not she's managing to grasp the full story here. All this technological stuff often is too difficult for Chizuru to grasp, especially with her own lack of experience of it. But she thinks she at least gets the very gist here of what it is trying to explain to her. That little thing, whatever exactly it is, can look underwater without them having to go underwater themselves.

"That's amazing.." If she's grasping it correct, anyway.

She still isn't sure. But Chizuru looks kind of impressed all the same. And - perhaps even more important for it - it also doesn't seem like Chizuru is about to dive into the waves. She's just calmly standing there.

There's only one concern left on the girl's mind though.

".. but.. wouldn't it be a problem if it did get eaten or smashed? I wouldn't want you to lose it.."

Following that logic, it's almost as if Chizuru is implying that this drone's existence is more important than her own life, since she was very much willing to risk her own life.. But the difference is that now someone else is risking something for her, and that seems so much more troublesome to Chizuru than she herself risking something.

Even if said 'something' is her life, of all things.

Murderbot looks at the human and at the drone and back at the human. It's a drone. It isn't a bot pilot or anything that is conscious and can feel pain and fear and terror. It repeats, "That's better than you getting eaten or smashed."

It's face screws together in confusion because that shouldn't be a difficult concept. As much as humans do stupid things, they usually value their own lives. Murderbot watches, the water glowing up around them both.

It's not like the look on its face goes over Chizuru's head. She's at least pretty good at reading emotions when she tries, after all - and its clear that it is pretty confused about this entire thing. About what Chizuru is saying.

.. she supposes that's not too strange. Maybe it values something like this thing on a different level than she does. The drone just looks so amazing and special to her, unlike anything she's ever seen before. Something someone wouldn't want to lose - especially in a place like this, where you can't easily get a replacement for something so advanced on a technological level.

It's why Chizuru looks a little worried, even now, but she does slowly nod. The only side effect her feelings have is that her eyebrows knit together into a worried frown.

"Okay," she softly says. "If you're sure."

(Not like she isn't still going to feel guilty if something happens to that poor little drone. Chizuru hopes with all her heart that it won't end up broken - or worse, gone.)

It's all she says, since she knows saying anything else - like the fact that she doesn't want it to lose something that might be precious to it - would just be repeating herself.

Murderbot would love to say 'oh, no, lets all head home and get a good night's rest,' but that wouldn't satisfy the person. They would go down without supervision and drown or worse, and Murderbot would have to live with that. Even if they respawn and drones don't, it's been through forced shutdowns, memory wipes, and significant loss of bio mass. It lived. It's alive. It's not an experience it recommends to anyone.

So yes, it's sure. Murderbot nods, and the drone flies away, skimming above the glowing water so long as that's an option. It pauses, above the surface, and Murderbot looks at the human. "We can watch this from shore," it says. It doesn't need to pause the drone and its input to say as much, but a human would need to. It's the human-ist SecUnit in history. Totally human mmhmm yep (nope) indeed.

While it waits an answer, the drone dives under the surface into the glowing water. The display of its view lights up brightly in the dark night. The drone is surrounded by light, and Murderbot cannot easily make out anything in the dark water beyond the glowing route.

There are several things working for the other here.

First of all there's the fact that Chizuru does fully believe she is speaking to a human here. She has no reason to believe that it is anything but human, after all. If any behaviour seems faintly odd to her, it's easy for the girl to blame it on the fact that she isn't used to people from other worlds a whole lot yet, constantly encountering other cultures and habits she's never even heard of before.

And then there's also the fact that while she can be stubborn about some things - like wanting to go and see what's down in the water - Chizuru is very trusting. If it says that they can watch it from the shore, then she's already turning to start to wade out of the water, showing how her pants are completely soaked, the water dripping onto the sand once she makes it back to the beach.

But since she focuses on getting out without tripping and falling over into the water, it also means Chizuru isn't quite watching the display the way her companion here is. So she turns once she's on dry land, asking it: "Do you see anything yet?"

Murderbot follows the human out of the water, making sure it's between the person and whatever rears its ugly head. Nothing does, as it happens, but it's best to be prepared. It's fought multiple monsters this month, and none of them were particularly delightful.

On the beach, also dripping wet, it turns the omni around to the human. "Once the water gets deep, the glowing path does not stick to the bottom of the ocean," Murderbot points out. The drone briefly looks down. The water goes down and down and down and down. It pans around the glowing light. Shapes are there, far off in the distance, especially when using the infrared range. Something most people cannot see.

It looks over at the human, wondering what they make of the dangerous waters.

".. there's something there," Chizuru says as she watches the image. Sure, it might be an obvious observation, but on the other hand - the girl is trying her best over here. She's not used to situations like these. Underwater things, drones.. basically everything about this situation is new to her, but she tries to adapt the best she can all the same.

That's what she always does, after all, with the many times she's been thrown into completely unfamiliar situations.

"But it isn't moving."

She can notice that too. Maybe it's since the shapes are still far off, like shadows looming in the distance, but they don't seem to her like they're moving. It's just the image itself that's moving as she drone moves through the water, but she's more than used to that by now thanks to her experience with the Omnis.

"So it's probably not a monster.." Thankfully, she thinks, glancing over at the other as she speaks. "But what else could be there underwater? I thought seas were mostly just full of fish." (And monsters, in this strange town's case.)

Even though that may mostly be hearsay. Chizuru has never been near the sea much, after all.

Murderbot stares at the image from the omni to analyze it compared to the internal feed in order to judge any differences in performance or identify unusual elements that come through differently. Nothing so interesting happens. The feed provides input in the way Murderbot is used to. Less environmental noise, overlay of light sources, etc. That's why it's better than using display surfaces for serious issues. It's not like watching a serial.

"Trench's ocean does not represent most oceans," Murderbot points out flatly. "Anyone and everyone who is a Sleeper came out of this ocean. Every Sleeper's objects that wash ashore came out of this ocean. What couldn't be there?" It's an interdimensional black hole filled with water.

The closer the drone gets, the more it slows down and moves cautiously. "If any of these are monsters, lets not wake them," it says.

Now that is a sentiment Chizuru can agree with at the end there. She would rather not wake a monster, especially since there is a big chance that it would find its way up to the surface and start terrorizing the area near the beach - aka: the spot where she and it are standing right now.

That's a line of fire no one ought to want to be in, even when they do have powers that might be capable of handling a monster.

Chizuru shifts a little where she's standing though. There's something about the other that makes her feel.. tiny, almost. The girl is well aware that she's not exactly the smartest person around in the first place, but something about the other's seeming intellect and its flat way of delivery makes her feel even dumber than usually.

It makes her go quiet for a moment, biting her lower lip, clearly seeming nervous or worried about something that she isn't voicing.

Taking a moment to gather her courage enough to speak again, Chizuru adds: "These things look big though."

Even if they aren't monsters.

"They can't just be the regular objects that wash up on the beach.."

Sure, sometimes there's bigger stuff. Chizuru is pretty sure she's seen someone drive a very, very odd sort of mechanical cart through the streets before, for one. But somehow these shadows look even bigger than that, though she can't place what they might be at that size at all.

Murderbot has been here for only a handful of cycles. It lacks context for what constitutes the size of regular objects that wash up on the beach. After all, the items it recognized—even when that pisses it off—were a range of sizes up to and including a company cubicle. It can fit inside one of those. Sure, it's no big hopper, but it's many scales larger than the drone diving through the water.

"Maybe that's why they sunk," Murderbot suggests. It has no idea how the cubicle made it ashore. It too should have sunk. Despite the duty to provide security, Murderbot has a lot of experience lugging heavy objects around for the humans, whether setting up a hub or loading one of the hoppers. No one pays that much simply for a SecUnit to stand there doing 'nothing.'

The drone soars—swims, it guesses—through the water between enormous curving objects on the sea floor, some with spikes like comm arrays or weapons. However, having been on a water world recently enough (as in a matter of cycles before coming here, even if the experience feels forever ago), Murderbot says quietly, "Boats. Wow they're bad at their jobs." Boats are supposed to be on top of the water, not under it.

If this situation was any less serious, Chizuru might actually have laughed at that last part, no matter whether it meant that as a joke or not. Most likely not, though, and since the girl is already so on edge from how dumb she feels here, the urge to laugh and feel merry definitely doesn't arise within her. Instead she just keeps quiet, watching for another moment as the device approaches the ships.

.. quite a few ships, in fact.

It's that latter realisation that makes the girl let out a soft: ".. huh," as she watches.

"That can't be right.. or they must have been here for a long time." It's probably the latter, she figures, since those boats are definitely right there in the water. But it feelo so strange to acknowledge that, since.. "I don't think I've ever seen a ship arrives here at the shore, even though I've been here for quite a few months now.."

Unless these sank here in the middle of the night. But with how strange and active some people in Trench are, Chizuru bets someone would have noticed if these ships had sunk during the time all of them were already in here in town.

The drone curves closer to one of the sunken boats. Sea life that Murderbot doesn't know the names of clearly occupy it. Plants or animals cover the hull. Something moves inside. This particular ship has definitely been there a while, like the girl said. The drone moves to another ship and another, each with similar basic situations. Sunken a long time. No matter the differences between the boats (again, they are outside Murderbot's purview, and these boats don't resemble the boats it has been on, though thankfully the boats it was on floated).

"Do you know anything about how long it takes all that stuff to move on/into sunken boats?" Murderbot asks without much expectation of an answer. Probably neither of them are the ideal person to study this kind of thing. It's used to working with scientists. It never had to be the scientist.

It exhales as they see another long sunken ship. "I don't think this is a way home," it says.

It's true that Chizuru doesn't exactly have much experience with sunken ships and sealife. Read: pretty much nothing. On the other hand, she does have experience with growing plants. And while she can't be sure if that functions the same way on land as it does under the sea, she figures that it's got to be at least a little bit similar.

It's why she bites her lower lip for a moment before replying with: "Probably years.."

At the very least. Especially with just how much these ships seem to be covered - it could be much longer.

But then again, it's hard to make an exact judgement when Chizuru definitely is not a scientist.

What she will agree on, though, is its assessment as to what these ships aren't. Chizuru nods, slightly in defeat, but she does try to not show it too much. She's already left enough of a bad impression on the other so far, she thinks. The least she can do is not seem like a disappointed child here.

Instead she should keep thinking. After all-- "There has to be a reason why this place wanted to show us these though."

The water glowing can't have been a coincidence. It must have been a sign. A call, a request to investigate.

"There can't be anyone left on these ships to save if they've been down there for so long, so there has to be something else about them that's important. Some reason we had to see them." For what it's worth - the girl does sound a little more sure about that. Like she truly believes it.

The basic facts are in agreement between them. That's a starting point. Patience is easier that way. It's still the ocean, the same ocean that spat so many monsters at Murderbot that it became fishfood repeatedly before it ever hit the shore. Mariana's something. Perhaps ill will isn't the right word (Murderbot lacks enough information for a meaningful guess), but she's dangerous. It respects that.

It looks at the painfully optimistic girl, reminded of other optimists it knows, ones now an ocean away. "I agree there has to be a reason why this place wanted to show us these," it says, "I won't go so far as to say we had to see them." That's a step too far. A step too optimistic. A step asking for trouble. Murderbot thinks sometimes things that are too good to be true are just that.

"What are you proposing?" Murderbot asks. It sets the drone to mapping and imaging one of the ships. That's well within the drone's wheelhouse. However, as an intelligent drone, it cannot readily bring any physical objects to the surface. That fact causes a sinking sensation.

"Well.."

It's here that Chizuru falters again for a moment. She's not quite used to responsibility being thrust into her hands like this, after all. For as good as a listener and follower as Chizuru is, she's never really been a leader.

On the other hand, it's not like she fully gives up either. Even if she isn't used to calling shots, or giving ideas, she at least tries. There's a thoughtful frown on the girl's face, seeming to consider this.

"If we can't tell much from the outside of the ships, maybe there is someone on the inside we should see." Or take a look at, at least.

(As long as it's not a monster.. hopefully..)

"Can your little.." 'friend', she almost says, because it's hard to think of something that moves like that as someone that isn't alive, but then again.. the other didn't seem to treat the drone like a companion, right? "Um, your little.. thingy.. maybe see if there's a way to enter the ships..? If they sunk and landed on the bottom of the sea, there might be a hole to enter the ships through."

Murderbot nods at the suggestion. It's heard far worse from people before. The girl is ahead of the curve on that front, which is more a sad reflection on humanity than it is high praise. Murderbot appreciates it nonetheless. Avoiding the most basic problems is commendable.

"It's currently mapping the outside of one boat," Murderbot explains. It switches the view on the omni from the camera to the three dimensional shape the drone constructs from its scans. They can see the curve of the boat including a decent amount of texture. It starts interacting with the display, marking parts of it as sea life/organic matter instead of the ship proper. Again, it's the wrong drone to clear that all off.

"Once it finishes that, it can start doing the same inside," it agrees. Assuming of course it finds a way in. The human has a point, and the drone only needs a small entrance.

"What are boats like where you're from?" it asks to pass the time.

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