#crabsnakes though are a maybe

[brandwhorestarscream]

Subnautica AU

Hey! My ask was eaten a while ago, so I'll rewrite it

The ask that involved a version of the AU, in which the cons and neutrals + few bots leave and go live on the planet of subnautica, leaving the autobots to get screwed on cybertron with their own problems

I asked how their reaction would be to discovering where most of the Cybertronians are living, the mutations they have and, mainly, the reactions of those who are the sires of some of the offspring (deathlock x ratchet)

I meannnnn 👀 cybertron is pretty famously organiphobic, so there'd be a lot of disgust and rumors and ewwww that's groooss slimy wet organic ocean ewww

The mutations definitely take them by surprise though! It quickly becomes clear that these aren't new altmodes they've taken on, no: their bodies have actually rapidly changed and adapted. Those more scientifically inclined are honestly fascinated by it, as well as the ion crystals left behind by the Architects. Getting Cybertron back up and running without cheap slave labor is uhhhh Difficult™, to say the least, and I'd say there's probably at least a small portion of mecha that are bitter that the warframes are thriving and unbothered while they're struggling so much. Oh how the tables have turned

As for Dratchet 👀 they'd make a great deep sea couple, though I've never really thought about what species they would adapt to 🤔 I've always been really attached to the idea of octomer Ratchet, but unfortunately there's not really a species on 4546B that I think fits. Maybe in the next game! As for Drift/Deadlock, something fast and predatory, methinks. Not every cybertronian can be a leviathan, right? So... maybe a bones hark? The thick armored plates would make him a force to be reckoned with! Or maybe a crabsnake, if he's still in his reclusive edgelord Deadlock face. I feel like he would definitely love the vibes of the jellyshroom caves.

The two of them hearing about how Cybertron is getting on, or lack thereof... well. I think they definitely feel bad for them, but not enough to ever try to go back and help. Even if their bodies weren't now very much suited for life in a weightless environment, the war is over. They're happy here. They don't want to leave. Let everyone sort their own problems out. Compassionate but not trying to be white knights, yk? That kinda vibe

#subnautica au

[scithemodestmermaid]

so after finding out that the reaper leviathans can be hand-fed, i started wondering what else you could hand-feed in subnautica.  so i swam around with a bunch of fish in hand to various predators to see if they would take it.

please note: i was in creative mode, so i dont know if the critters become docile towards the player like the stalkers do (since in creative mode, everything is docile towards you).  all i know is that they take the food.  also, i don’t know if this is intended or if its a bug that’ll be repaired upon full release, so enjoy it while you can.

Takes Food:

reaper leviathans

sand sharks

bone sharks

ampeels

lava lizards

and stalkers, but everyone knew this already

Does NOT Take Food:

warpers

river prowlers

sea dragon leviathan*

Untested:

bleeders

blighters

crabsquids

crabsnakes

mesmers

wasnt expecting so many of them to be feedable.  not complaining, just find it weird.  and i highly doubt its supposed to happen, since the game makes a big deal of stalkers being the trainable critters.  but i dont mind, its cute.  ^^

*this one was interesting, because it immediately ate both of the lava lizards i’d fed.  just, gulped them down right after they took food from me.  it was the only time i’d seen anything attack something i’d fed.  kinda hate the sea dragon now.

#subdawwwwtica #i predict that the crabsquids are unfeedable #crabsnakes though are a maybe

[mrnibblesleviathan]

Entry 5.1: Silhouette

We’re not posting links at the start of these anymore because tumblr staff is a bunch of assholes. Fic hyperlinks can be found at the main blog page. Sorry.

Ryley was surprised to find Bart standing in front of the window from the workstation as they came back from their daily gathering of building materials. He seemed almost fine today. Didn't look like he'd fall at any second.

He greeted Ryley at the moonpool with an excited voice. "Hey, pal! What did you get for me today?"

"Copper, Titanium, Silver. How you feeling?" Ryley asked, signing. They were progressing, little by little. That was a sentence that was useful enough for them to remember most times.

"I'm feeling as great as someone who's got space plague can be." He answered with a smile, watching Ryley climb out of the pool. "I only blacked out once today.” He waved at them when Ryley crossed their arms in disapproval.  “Hey, don't worry, I'm better now. I just wanted to see how the cuddlefish was doing. I climbed the ladder to the aquarium. Maybe I shouldn't have done that." Bart apologized, turning his head away.

Ryley noticed a certain frustration in that gesture. They looked at him, trying to remember the sign for the wrong in “what’s wrong”. Unable to remember, they resolved for "what's up" instead. Bart seemed to get it.

"Sometimes... I feel like I'll never get better." He confessed. "I should have accepted this already. I've been living with this disability for years now, but..." He shook his head, sighing. "Trying to do anything usually means pushing myself." He told them, more for his own sake than theirs. "Trying to study means giving myself a headache, trying to climb a ladder means passing out. Even just doing nothing is uncomfortable. I can't remember a time where being awake didn't hurt."

Ryley sighed, letting that sink in. It was still hard for them, to listen to Bart talk about his pain. Of course, being in pain was even worse for Bart, and they understood that, but it made them feel so useless. They could fabricate him some medication, do their best to give him comfort, but in the end, specially after seeing him talk about it as a disability, rather than a disease, they knew that illness wasn’t going away. At least not any time soon.

"But you are... going... better", they answered. Even though they mistook the sign for "getting" to "going", it still made sense. They pulled out the PDA from the Compressed Inventory and started typing. "I’ve been watching you get better. It's only been a few days, and look! You're back to walking again. You're already decorating the base with new plants! You’ve made so much progress!"

"C'mon, Ryley, I told you to sign." Bart smirked. "You already learned a lot of these words."

Ryley stopped typing, making a pouty face. They did their best to remember the next words, so they could sign them off. "I… think…  I know what you need." They said. And then, fast and surprisingly, they grabbed Bart and threw him on their back. To be fair, Bart weighed about as much as a sack of fiber mesh, it wasn’t hard.

"WH..." Bart gasped. "What are we doing? Ryley what the-"

His words were cut short when Ryley threw him out into the moonpool, making water splash in all directions. They quickly grabbed his helmet, resting inside his personal locker, and cannonballed into the sea with him. 

Bart was still gasping and coughing when they arrived at the second base, the separate half from Ryley's habitat. They helped Bart through the hatch, laughing as he stared at them in confusion.

"A warning next time would be nice, you know?" He complained. "But I'm glad you finally brought me here. I've been wanting to see what you kept..."

He forgot to finish the sentence, as he saw the enormous two-story aquarium in front of him. On the floor, a multitude of assorted vines and mushrooms were growing, and between them, at least five different alien eggs were shimmering and pulsating. A few creatures were already hatched. Four different sharks - two stalkers, one boneshark and one sandshark. A crashfish. And even two unbelievably tiny crabsnakes. Compared to the size - and behavior - of the adults, it was obvious they were all juveniles. Most of those species would never tolerate or even fit within the same space as each other.

Ryley smiled at their friend. “Research Facility. I have… unknown eggs here.” They signed, a little unsure, despite having prepared for this.  “You can go in. Friendly.” They opened the hatch and held out a hand, leading their friend in.

“Wait, stop for just a second, magic can resume in 2 minutes.” Bart held up his hands, a burning question came to mind now that he’s seen Ryley’s aquarium.  “Is this how you scanned a boneshark?”

Ryley laughed and shook their head. They paused for a minute with a small smirk before they popped in the hatch and went up to the boneshark, miming punches at the young creature before patting it’s head and swimming back to the hatch.

Bart was speechless for a moment, but not long. “You. You’re trying to tell me you boxed a boneshark.” 

Ryley nodded and grinned.  “Yes. I punched…” Ryley frowned, making a few frustrated noises before starting to sign “bone”, then shook their head. They took their two hands, wrists together, so that the two hooked fingers on each hand made teeth for a mouth. Ryley grinned, they seemed very pleased with themselves.

“Look at you! Communicating! Making a sign for a species that doesn’t exist on Earth! Boneshark, right?” Bart returned Ryley’s grin with a beam of his own as they excitedly nodded. “Still doesn’t excuse boxing a boneshark. By the stars, how are you even alive?”

“Coming?” Ryley put out their hand again, totally ignoring their friend, and pulled Bart into the tank. Immediately, the fish swarmed the two of them.  Bart was fascinated, he’d never been able to see these creatures so close before, at least not without the imminent threat of bodily harm.

“They’re beautiful. So friendly too, did you train them at all?” Bart smiled as he pet the crabsnake that was swimming its way around his arms. It’s crust was soft, wigglier than the adult ones. Would probably harden into their crab armour in an older age.

“No. They… Don’t mind?” Ryley signed, shrugging to try and show they’re confused. Bart smiled, shrugging back and turning his attention to the predators swimming in circles around him. Ryley smiled at their friend, playing with the docile would-be predators.  The stalkers seemed to enjoy bopping their noses into him, sending him off balance with a comical oof.  Bart laughed, and it wasn’t quite as full as it had been years ago, but it still sounded like music to Ryley. How did they miss seeing that boy’s happy face again.

But it seemed the moment wasn’t to last.

Ryley folded over behind Bart, stifling a groan. Their vision filled with blue, and an echoing voice filled their ears. “Remember that you were never alone.” The blue image of a majestic creature filled their head to the point of bursting. They could vaguely hear a voice calling to them, reminding them of the friend they had to watch for. The blue shimmered again as they opened their eyes, looking for Bart past the lights in their vision. Just as the world was dimming, they felt themselves fall downwards. Then the blue faded, leaving an afterglow that burned their eyes, and a nasty headache throbbing across the top of their head. Rubbing their forehead, they looked up to where their legs were still half in the hatch, along with a frustrated and concerned Bart.

“I hope you know just how hard it was to get your giant ass out of that tiny hole.” Bart grumbled as he tried to remove their feet from the hatch, which Ryley politely decided to help with.  Then he ungracefully tumbled out of the hatch himself and sat down on the floor next to his friend. “What the fuck just happened?”

Oh, swears. Bart must have been really shaken up. Ryley themself could barely understand their situation as well, but still pulled out their PDA with shaking hands and tried to type. After a few trial and errors, they finally let it start speaking.

“I had some kind of vision. It was glowing in my eyes and left a headache all over my head. It was like the shadow of a creature, and all I could see were four bright eyes. It was trying to talk to me.” They tapped at the screen, backing up more than not. They rubbed at their face before the voice sounded again, “Could make out it saying I wasn’t alone. And it sounded comforting, rather than threatening.” They kept their eyes in their hands. Mostly from the residual headache, though partly trying to find a focal point to get their brain back together. What was that?

“So you’ve seen her too.” Bart whispered. “The visions… Dad thought I’d gone mad. Island sickness, he told Maida that one day. Didn’t talk about it much with me. He tried to keep scarce when the fits happened.” Bart looked down at his hands. “After they died, the visions weren’t as frequent. But they said a lot of comforting things too. I never knew whether to hate ‘em or love ‘em. After all, until now I thought I was just crazy.”

Ryley looked up, once again wishing so hard they could speak. There was no way to interpret that event, except that…

“It seems we’re not alone in this planet. There’s a sentient being out there, trying to reach us. A friendly one, if we’re reading this correctly.” They typed.

“A friendly one. A friend. Gods we might have a friend out there” Bart sighed, in relief, and waved his head. “For once a welcome change. Let me have this moment, Ryler, I might just be able to sleep better at night.” They both laughed.

#atwr #atwr fic #subnautica #ryley robinson #bart torgal #fanfic #and they were roommates

[mrnibblesleviathan]

Entry 4.2 - Dead Zone

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Present, Mushroom Forest

Dead, they’re all dead. They punched a sandstone deposit a little harder than necessary.  They weren't sure what they expected. They were the only one to show up when the sunbeam had a landing site. But it was still whirling in their mind, my fault, if I had just been a little more cautious. They punch another deposit. Lead. Useless.

They couldn't think about anything but the 11 pods that they had managed to fill before the Aurora crashed. Their entire team was gone. Completely evacuated, with time to spare. No wonder they hadn’t found any of them.

So many pods were jettisoned but they had found so few, so few had sent out signals. They were destroyed before they could ask for help. With their team being the first out of the ship, they probably landed miles away from the safe biomes of the crater. Right into Leviathan territory.

They tried to control the thoughts in their head as they chased the shimmering peepers through the forest. They tried to tell themselves that there was no way they could have known, but it was hard to listen to reason when the opposing team has their team of bright young engineers and programmers getting attacked by leviathans.

What had been the last thing they ever said again? "I'll be fine."

Ryley wasn't fine.

Something had happened and Bart knew it. The way Ryley just ran off made him worry, but it's not like he could have chased them to ask what was wrong. So, in the bed he stayed, alternating between watching the fish outside the window and reading the information Ryley had gathered.  They’d actually gathered a fair amount, which earned him a good quiet time of compenetrated study. It had been so long since he had new material to analyze, to actually learn from. The last years had been mostly a fight for survival, in which he'd been too busy barely scrapping the "being alive" class to actually study the wildlife again. Sometimes he just missed being a scientist.

Almost two hours passed without him even noticing, lost in the new information his friend had discovered with the aid of more technological tools. Bart was somewhat alarmed that Ryley had managed to scan a boneshark, though he figured if anyone could do it, it would be Ryley. There was an entry that stopped him in his tracks, however.

“Assfish McGee?” He yelled into the empty room. He was no stranger to talking alone. “What in the actual hell is an Assfish McGee?” He pulled the PDA up closer to his face, reading through the entry. “That’s… That’s a fucking crashfish, how did they scan a crashfish?” He backed out of the entry, still confused, and started going through the other ones. “Fartmaster?” He laughed. “There’s no way that’s not a gasopod.” Bart grinned as he read the entry, suspicions confirmed by the identical information to his own entry. “I knew it, that’s a majestic bastard right there.” He kept scrolling, hoping for more of the incorrect entries. “And what on Earth is a Cursed Wiggler?” The entry wasn’t one he recognized, but from what he was reading, he realized... “No. They didn’t… a damn Crabsnake? Scanned up close? How?" He whispered. "There's so much to study here... Bless that stupid, reckless idiot."

Bart's yelling seemed to have attracted company. A bright blue ghostly figure swam by the window, stopping to look at him. He left the PDA at the table, getting up slowly. Now, why was there a Jellyray in the kelp forest?

He walked to the window, a little too fast, and the creature backed away.

"Oh no... I don't mean to scare you!" He whispered, in a calming voice. He wondered if it would make any difference, and if it could even hear him beyond that glass. "What are you doing here? Aren't you a little far away from home?"

The ray swirled, going up and disappearing behind the ceiling. Instinctively, Bart hopped out of the bed and followed its tail to the glass tube connected to the kitchen. The ray was now swimming around the second floor, which Bart knew contained an aquarium for edible fish. He had seen Ryley go up and come back with some bladders for dinner.

"Maybe this is your home." He realized. "Were you hatched here?"

"WELCOME ABOARD CAPTAIN." Said the habitat voice, as the hatch opened. Ryley entered, dripping water on the floor, which immediately started drying itself. They wrenched off the helmet of their suit, dropping it in a locker by the hatch, lovingly labeled “DON’T DIE”.  Dropped the tools in there too, along with the oxygen tank.

“Who is this… friend?” Bart pointed at the ray, who was swimming around the window nearest Ryley excitedly. Bart watched as his friend walked over and put a hand on the glass. With a tap of their fingers, two other creatures showed up. Two rabbit rays of different sizes and colours. The lighter, smaller of the two nuzzled it’s face where their hand was resting, and Ryley smiled.

They pulled out the PDA and typed “They’re mine, I hatched them here.  They seem to have imprinted on me. Named them after some old online friends.” They pointed at the darker rabbit ray and typed “That’s Frill.” Then they moved on to the jelly ray, “…Heather,” And the lighter rabbit ray, “…and Miz”.  

“So they’re like your own little fish crew,” Bart smiled as the rays swirled around in front of Ryley. “They seem fond of you. Is there anyone else I should know about?”

Their face lit up as they signed “Wait,” and climbed the ladder to the aquarium right above. After a few moments, they came back with something cradled gently in their arms. They opened their hands up, showing a small egg with a transparent grey membrane, containing a ridiculously adorable creature inside. Bart recognized it immediately.

“Found, your base”. Ryley said, briefly, typing with just one hand.

“My… my cuddlefish egg! You rescued it!” Bart took the small egg in his hands. “I thought the carnivores ate it… I’m so glad you found him, Ryley. I felt really bad when I fled.  I thought I had abandoned it, that the cuddlefish would never have the chance to live. I’m glad I was wrong.”

Ryley nodded, happy, as Bart returned him the egg. Before climbing back to the aquarium, he showed the inventory screen to Bart. He smiled as he saw the seeds he was looking for.

“Ryley, you’re the best” he said, when his friend got back. “Thank you so much for everything you’re doing for me. You don’t know how much I appreciate it. But, please… talk to me. Stop dodging.” He stared at them. Ryley stopped in the middle of the room, suddenly aware of the concerned look directed at him. Bart crossed his arms.

“You left awfully quick this morning. Spent the whole day out, almost as if you were trying to avoid something.” He said. “Let me help you too, Rye. Did something happen?”

Ryley shook their head, trying to find an excuse. At the very least, they couldn’t do that there, where Bart could fall. He was already leaning against the wall. They steeled their face and picked up their friend, who made a very amusing noise of protest, and walked him over to the bed.

They stayed there for a moment. Bart hesitantly edged closer and placed his hand on their back.

“Take your time” He said. He felt the air push Ryley’s shoulders up and down. They pulled out the PDA.

“My team.” They typed slowly. “My crew. There were 22 other people. Engineers and programmers mostly. I was the head of the division.” They said as the memories came flooding back. “I got them out fast. I was the only one to get their entire division out from what I could see. But apparently it was all for nothing.”

“They ended up falling in the...” Bart whispered. “When I told you about the dead zone… that’s why you… Ryley, I’m so sorry--”

“Is it my fault? I have saved them, at least given them a fighting chance if I had just spent a little more time trying to find more people. If I had delayed a little longer, they could be alive right n…” Ryley gave up on writing and placed the PDA on the bed with shaking hands. They felt Bart’s arms wrap around them, and this time they leaned back into it.

“Don’t let me hear you even thinking that it was your fault. You knew nothing of the planet’s ecosystem, okay?” Bart put a hand on the back of their head. “You did what you thought was best with the information you had. The ship could have exploded and then all of you would have been dead. Then I’d be dead too.”

Ryley was quiet, but they weren’t shaking as much. They didn’t seem inclined to move, however. Which was fine, in Bart’s book. Even if they were rather heavy, they made up for it by being incredibly warm. He could stay there as long as they needed him.

Still, they moved. Had to. That peepkit fabricator wouldn’t build itself.

#subnautica #atwr #atwr fic #fanfic #ryley robinson #bart torgal #and they were roommates #fanfiction #say hi to the discord fam