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04-03-2020, 06:08 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-11-2023, 07:30 PM by skinstealer.)
Under the Sea - 2020
Zenthis, Egress
CW: discussions of potential death
An ordinary day for some.
![[Image: undersea.png]](http://homebrewdeviants.com/static/story/oneshots/undersea.png)
Terza woke up and rolled out of bed. Or at least they tried to, their bedmates shifted around during the night and now someone was right where they had tried to roll.
“Oof, dang it Terza,” a voice muttered, “This is the fourth time you've woken me up this week.”
“Yeah well, you need the wake up calls anyway,” Terza said, clacking her teeth together with a smirk.
“Stop clacking, it's not that funny. And get off,” said Arto, the currently squished Gremlin.
“Alright you big grump,” they said, walking across Arto and hopping off the bed.
“Ugh, you absolute brat,” Arto said, rolling over and jokingly saying “I'm going back to sleep.”
“Oh no you're not, we're on duty today,” said Terza, grabbing Arto by the scruff and pulling them off the bed of insulation and chair foam.
“Ohhhh noooo, it looks like my legs don't work and you'll have to carry me the entire way,” Arto said, flexing their clearly functional legs.
“Oh my god you're such a butt.”
“You're such a butt.”
At that, Terza dropped Arto, “Alright lazybones, we're here.”
Arto got to their feet and stretched with a few loud pops. “Yeah well,” they say, loudly cracking their neck, “It's not like we were far to begin with anyway.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“What does your face have to do with anything?”
A voice called out from the makeshift room in front of them, ”Both of you knock it off! You know the rules, no tomfoolery is permitted here.”
A wizened Gremlin stood in the doorway, standing on three unsteady paws, the fourth rummaging around in a pack on their back, “Honestly,” they said, “It’s like you’ve never done this before. Look just… get in here before someone less kind than me sees you messing around.”
“Oh come on, there’s no need to be that way, Gauss,” Arto said, following them into the chamber, “This has been a pretty good month all things considered, you need to relax.”
“A pretty good mon-” Gauss started to say, their wiry tail drooping even further “You… you didn’t hear what happened this morning?”
“No? We just woke up before getting here,” said Terza.
“Oh, oh no. I don't know how to say this but...” Gauss took a deep breath before continuing, “We lost contact with Settlement 12 after they sent out a transmission about a giant horror. It is... presumed gone.”
“Gone? What do you mean gone? Is everyone there..?” Terza trailed off.
“We've told some of our scavengers to check out the area. They aren't back yet. Look, you should just get to your job, this is... being handled,” they said, sighing heavily.
“But... we have friends there!”Arto said loudly, “You can't expect us to just... sit here and wait can you?”
“You are not the only one who knew the people there.” Gauss said, bitterly, “But we all have our own jobs to do, and you know yours. Get to it.”
Arto nodded solemnly, Terza looked like they were about to say something before turning around and entering the cockpit, grabbing Arto again and dragging them in too.
Once inside the cockpit, Terza's eyes darted around, taking note of the state of the place. The glass window was cracked in several places and taped over several times, not fully managing to stop pools of sugar water from forming on the instruments. Terza stepped in one of the many puddles on the ground and grimaced.
“Ugh, I hate being assigned here,” they said, shaking their paw to get the sticky muck off, “Why can't the council move them somewhere else?”
“And how exactly would you move them? They're practically bolted down, and they don't really... count as metal.” Arto replied, grabbing one of the wire brushes out of the bucket by the entrance.
“Well, just because I personally don't know how to move them doesn't mean the council couldn't find a way,” they mumble, grabbing a chisel and striking it into the crystals growing on the sleeping god in front of them. “Besides, I feel like how wet this room is becoming should be grounds enough to wake them so they can move their own damn self.”
“Terza, there's no need to be so disrespectful,” Arto said, sighing.
“Sorry, it's all just... getting to me again.”
“Hey do you need to take a break for a bit? I can handle this for now.”
“I'm fine. Well, fine enough. Look, Arto, you don't need to cover for me all the time, I can scrape some fuckin' crystal deposits just fine on my own.”
“Y-”
“Sorry. I shouldn't've-”
“No, it's fine.” Arto nudged them reassuringly, “Look, are you sure you don't need a break?”
Terza sighed deeply and hesitated a moment before responding. “You can't keep looking after me like this. You need to take a break sometimes, too.”
“I'll take a break when we all get to the surface.”
“That's not- you can't just...” Terza sighs deeply, “Do you really think it's real? I mean,” Terza rapped the chassis of the god in front of them with their tail, “Turbine here is the only one of us who's seen it.
“Well, we gotta believe it is, or else what else are we fighting so hard to survive for?”
“Yeah... yeah.”
Arto raised their brush and began scraping off some small sugar barnacles that had begun accumulating on one of Turbine's legs. Terza took their chisel and began working again in silence.
“See, what I don't get,” Arto said, chewing loudly on a piece of scrap metal, “Is why they don't just make a new air pump instead of just fixing that piece of shit that keeps breaking down.”
“Uh... I dunno dumbass,” Terza said, taking small nibbles of seat leather, and eyeing Arto's plate hungrily, “Maybe because making a new one would take a fuckload more resources than we got right now. They ain't gonna drop everything and make us a new pump just because the clangs make it hard for you to get your beauty sleep.”
“Hey, those clangs keep everyone from getting their beauty sleep.” Arto said with a laugh, passing a chunk of scrap over to Terza.
Terza brought the scrap close to their teeth then grimaced, “Ugh, my fur is still too wet for me to eat this. Looks like I'm still stuck with leather and insulation. God I wish that the magic we use for eating wasn't also disabled by water. I don't need most of my magic day to day, so that's whatever, but I am so tired of being unable to eat metal for an hour after stepping in a puddle.”
“Well, it could be worse, you could be stuck with some of that fake leather shit. That shit's nasty.”
“It's not so bad, well, not much worse than this anyway, my friend Karsk, from Settlement 12 really likes...” Terza's voice trailed off and they took another bite.
“Hey, we don't know for sure what happened yet, they could be ok.”
Terza growled, “Don't. You can lie to yourself, but please don't lie to me.”
“But-”
“But nothing!” Terza spat, their hackles rising, “It's not going to be alright! It is never going to be alright, that is just how it is here.”
“Terza.”
“What?”
“You're doing it again.”
Terza blinked, and their expression loosened, “I... I am, aren't I? I shouldn't have- I'm sorry.”
“You've been stressed lately, it's fine.”
“It's not fine,” Terza said, starting to raise their voice again, before realizing what they were doing, and speaking again, but quieter, “It's not fine. I keep saying awful things to you and getting so
angry! I need to do something about this, about me.”
“What you need is food, and probably therapy, but we only have access to one of those at the moment. How's your fur?”
“It's... dry enough now, I think.”
“Good, here,” Arto said, passing Terza a chunk of a gyroscope.
Terza looked at it with wide eyes, “You can't give this to me! This is the good shit, you should eat it yourself.”
“Nah, I'd rather share it.”
“But I don't deserve-”
“Terza.”
“Okay.”
Terza pulled off a piece and began nibbling on it, purring as they do.
“Thank you Arto.”
“You're welcome.”
“Do you think the people in Settlement 12 made it out alright?”
Arto sighed and looked out the window, gazing into the murky water that surrounded all of them.
“Honestly? Probably not, but I hope so. I really really hope so.”
Zenthis, Egress
CW: discussions of potential death
An ordinary day for some.
Terza woke up and rolled out of bed. Or at least they tried to, their bedmates shifted around during the night and now someone was right where they had tried to roll.
“Oof, dang it Terza,” a voice muttered, “This is the fourth time you've woken me up this week.”
“Yeah well, you need the wake up calls anyway,” Terza said, clacking her teeth together with a smirk.
“Stop clacking, it's not that funny. And get off,” said Arto, the currently squished Gremlin.
“Alright you big grump,” they said, walking across Arto and hopping off the bed.
“Ugh, you absolute brat,” Arto said, rolling over and jokingly saying “I'm going back to sleep.”
“Oh no you're not, we're on duty today,” said Terza, grabbing Arto by the scruff and pulling them off the bed of insulation and chair foam.
“Ohhhh noooo, it looks like my legs don't work and you'll have to carry me the entire way,” Arto said, flexing their clearly functional legs.
“Oh my god you're such a butt.”
“You're such a butt.”
At that, Terza dropped Arto, “Alright lazybones, we're here.”
Arto got to their feet and stretched with a few loud pops. “Yeah well,” they say, loudly cracking their neck, “It's not like we were far to begin with anyway.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“What does your face have to do with anything?”
A voice called out from the makeshift room in front of them, ”Both of you knock it off! You know the rules, no tomfoolery is permitted here.”
A wizened Gremlin stood in the doorway, standing on three unsteady paws, the fourth rummaging around in a pack on their back, “Honestly,” they said, “It’s like you’ve never done this before. Look just… get in here before someone less kind than me sees you messing around.”
“Oh come on, there’s no need to be that way, Gauss,” Arto said, following them into the chamber, “This has been a pretty good month all things considered, you need to relax.”
“A pretty good mon-” Gauss started to say, their wiry tail drooping even further “You… you didn’t hear what happened this morning?”
“No? We just woke up before getting here,” said Terza.
“Oh, oh no. I don't know how to say this but...” Gauss took a deep breath before continuing, “We lost contact with Settlement 12 after they sent out a transmission about a giant horror. It is... presumed gone.”
“Gone? What do you mean gone? Is everyone there..?” Terza trailed off.
“We've told some of our scavengers to check out the area. They aren't back yet. Look, you should just get to your job, this is... being handled,” they said, sighing heavily.
“But... we have friends there!”Arto said loudly, “You can't expect us to just... sit here and wait can you?”
“You are not the only one who knew the people there.” Gauss said, bitterly, “But we all have our own jobs to do, and you know yours. Get to it.”
Arto nodded solemnly, Terza looked like they were about to say something before turning around and entering the cockpit, grabbing Arto again and dragging them in too.
Once inside the cockpit, Terza's eyes darted around, taking note of the state of the place. The glass window was cracked in several places and taped over several times, not fully managing to stop pools of sugar water from forming on the instruments. Terza stepped in one of the many puddles on the ground and grimaced.
“Ugh, I hate being assigned here,” they said, shaking their paw to get the sticky muck off, “Why can't the council move them somewhere else?”
“And how exactly would you move them? They're practically bolted down, and they don't really... count as metal.” Arto replied, grabbing one of the wire brushes out of the bucket by the entrance.
“Well, just because I personally don't know how to move them doesn't mean the council couldn't find a way,” they mumble, grabbing a chisel and striking it into the crystals growing on the sleeping god in front of them. “Besides, I feel like how wet this room is becoming should be grounds enough to wake them so they can move their own damn self.”
“Terza, there's no need to be so disrespectful,” Arto said, sighing.
“Sorry, it's all just... getting to me again.”
“Hey do you need to take a break for a bit? I can handle this for now.”
“I'm fine. Well, fine enough. Look, Arto, you don't need to cover for me all the time, I can scrape some fuckin' crystal deposits just fine on my own.”
“Y-”
“Sorry. I shouldn't've-”
“No, it's fine.” Arto nudged them reassuringly, “Look, are you sure you don't need a break?”
Terza sighed deeply and hesitated a moment before responding. “You can't keep looking after me like this. You need to take a break sometimes, too.”
“I'll take a break when we all get to the surface.”
“That's not- you can't just...” Terza sighs deeply, “Do you really think it's real? I mean,” Terza rapped the chassis of the god in front of them with their tail, “Turbine here is the only one of us who's seen it.
“Well, we gotta believe it is, or else what else are we fighting so hard to survive for?”
“Yeah... yeah.”
Arto raised their brush and began scraping off some small sugar barnacles that had begun accumulating on one of Turbine's legs. Terza took their chisel and began working again in silence.
“See, what I don't get,” Arto said, chewing loudly on a piece of scrap metal, “Is why they don't just make a new air pump instead of just fixing that piece of shit that keeps breaking down.”
“Uh... I dunno dumbass,” Terza said, taking small nibbles of seat leather, and eyeing Arto's plate hungrily, “Maybe because making a new one would take a fuckload more resources than we got right now. They ain't gonna drop everything and make us a new pump just because the clangs make it hard for you to get your beauty sleep.”
“Hey, those clangs keep everyone from getting their beauty sleep.” Arto said with a laugh, passing a chunk of scrap over to Terza.
Terza brought the scrap close to their teeth then grimaced, “Ugh, my fur is still too wet for me to eat this. Looks like I'm still stuck with leather and insulation. God I wish that the magic we use for eating wasn't also disabled by water. I don't need most of my magic day to day, so that's whatever, but I am so tired of being unable to eat metal for an hour after stepping in a puddle.”
“Well, it could be worse, you could be stuck with some of that fake leather shit. That shit's nasty.”
“It's not so bad, well, not much worse than this anyway, my friend Karsk, from Settlement 12 really likes...” Terza's voice trailed off and they took another bite.
“Hey, we don't know for sure what happened yet, they could be ok.”
Terza growled, “Don't. You can lie to yourself, but please don't lie to me.”
“But-”
“But nothing!” Terza spat, their hackles rising, “It's not going to be alright! It is never going to be alright, that is just how it is here.”
“Terza.”
“What?”
“You're doing it again.”
Terza blinked, and their expression loosened, “I... I am, aren't I? I shouldn't have- I'm sorry.”
“You've been stressed lately, it's fine.”
“It's not fine,” Terza said, starting to raise their voice again, before realizing what they were doing, and speaking again, but quieter, “It's not fine. I keep saying awful things to you and getting so
angry! I need to do something about this, about me.”
“What you need is food, and probably therapy, but we only have access to one of those at the moment. How's your fur?”
“It's... dry enough now, I think.”
“Good, here,” Arto said, passing Terza a chunk of a gyroscope.
Terza looked at it with wide eyes, “You can't give this to me! This is the good shit, you should eat it yourself.”
“Nah, I'd rather share it.”
“But I don't deserve-”
“Terza.”
“Okay.”
Terza pulled off a piece and began nibbling on it, purring as they do.
“Thank you Arto.”
“You're welcome.”
“Do you think the people in Settlement 12 made it out alright?”
Arto sighed and looked out the window, gazing into the murky water that surrounded all of them.
“Honestly? Probably not, but I hope so. I really really hope so.”
