[Open Spam]

[hunt4commonwealth]

[Dylan's physical changes aren't as lovely and dramatic as some. When he disembarks he gets just a basic set of gills and some blueish webbing to help him swim, nothing more. His Force Lance is all but useless under water, so his first order of business is to find a spear or harpoon which with to defend himself and his crewmates if necessary (although he hopes it won't become so).

Once that's accomplished, his goal is primarily to talk to the locals and to keep an eye on everyone who has disembarked from the Barge and make sure they stay safe. But he also sneaks a bit of time away to play at throwing a roundish piece of wood he found into a "goal" between two wooden stakes, like a variation on solitary water polo.]

Comments

[truth_is_cold]

I would never put anyone through these growing in. I'm not that cruel. [He gets close enough to shove the ball at Dylan.]

[hunt4commonwealth]

[Dylan raises his hands at the last second to catch the ball. Everything is slowed underwater and the ball doesn't hit his hands with very much force.]

I can think of some young enlisted men who would disagree. [Rhade's reputation as a stern task master was well known on the Andromeda.]

But I know you'd never put a child through that kind of itchy torture.

[truth_is_cold]

It would be difficult to hold, too. [And then he adds cockily.] Those soldiers needed to be able to take care of themselves.

[And they did. He doesn't know if Dylan ever realized what he was doing in retrospect, but for a relatively peaceful society that only had to worry about hit and miss battles with the Magog (traumatic ones) Rhade was relentless.]

[hunt4commonwealth]

Your training probably saved some of their lives later. [He wonders if that was Rhade's purpose. And then concludes that it must have been. He knows Nietzscheans, and one thing about Nietzscheans is that they plan. They often have multiple contingency plans in case some of their plans fail, but rarely do they let anything happen by mere accident if they can help it.

He smiles.]

I bet Tarazed wouldn't have been nearly as populated if you hadn't been such a hardass on them.

[truth_is_cold]

Survival was the point. [He confirms, giving Dylan a shove and- yes, heavy as a rock. In fact, it pushes Rhade more than Dylan. Fortunately, he seems more amused by his driftyness than anything, even as his eyes catch another glint of green.]

So, do you want to help me explore so I don't become trapped in anything?

[hunt4commonwealth]

[Dylan rocks back only very slightly and laughs at Rhade's failed attempt to push him. Bubbles stream from his mouth.]

I'd better. Someone's going to have to make sure all those spines of yours don't get caught in things.

[The sunken ships are getting a pretty thorough search by other members of the Barge, and so far no one seems to have run into any major trouble there. No warnings or calls for help over the network. So Dylan thinks that scoping out the perimeter would be the most useful exploration they could do. There's something about the black wall beyond the circle of the Barge's light that puts him on edge. The word "abyss" springs to mind as he looks into the lightless deep.]

What do you think's out there? [He said to Rhade, speaking quietly.]

[truth_is_cold]

Dark.

[It's a snarky answer, but he's also thinking of the spirit of the abyss. The god of the Magog. At the same time, he's a Nietzschean, and no things are gained through fear.]

Probably some of the wrecks that have been pushed down by the current. [He grabs Dylan's shoulder carefully, using him as an anchor.]

[hunt4commonwealth]

[Dylan lightly backhanded Rhade's shoulder at the snarky answer. Although under the pretended annoyance he was grateful because it pulled his mind away from thoughts of Magog and the shadowy figure that was their god.]

It reminds me of space, in the places on the edges of the galaxies where there aren't many stars.

[That's a more pleasant association than abysses and the things that come out of them.]

[truth_is_cold]

I remember those. Where the stars tended to be cold.

[And he continues to use Dylan as a weight, though he has the spines on his back completely flared out in case something gets closer. He doesn't even know he's doing it.]

We might just want to watch out for aggressive cephalopods.

[hunt4commonwealth]

[Dylan eyes Rhade's impressively large flared spines.]

From the look of things, if anything attacked us I could just throw you at them and problem solved.

[truth_is_cold]

You try to throw me and I'll poke you. [He threatens, which is more considerable a threat at the moment. But still not one he's likely to follow through with.

But he safely leans over his shoulder. What do you think is down there?

[hunt4commonwealth]

[Dylan stares into the darkness again at Rhade's question.]

I don't know. I guess that's the wonder of it. There could be a great civilization in an underwater, opaque-domed city out there and we'd never know it.

[Dylan found his optimism again pretty quickly.]

[truth_is_cold]

We haven't even explored the ruins that are- you know, go ahead. I would rather you go down there with back-up. [And he knows Dylan would go adventuring on his own.]

[hunt4commonwealth]

Thanks, Gaheris. [He puts his hand on Rhade's shoulder.] There's no one I'd rather have backing me up on a crazy exploration mission.

And that terrible Nickelback song starts up as I'm typing this comment

[truth_is_cold]

Do you mean that?

[He's surprised that he's asking it, and astounded if it's true. If he's actually won back that much of Dylan's confidence.

He may finally be at peace with being a Nietzschean again, but sometimes he's still worried Dylan still has difficulty seeing more that that.]

lol!

[hunt4commonwealth]

I mean it.

[He knows that, with their history, this isn't just words.]

I trust you with my life.

[truth_is_cold]

[He feels his chest tighten a little, because he believes he can, now. He can save Dylan, he can protect him, whether it's from the universe or himself. There's just that damnable void of "the one" separating them, 300 years they're parted.

Even if technically, he knows Dylan is beside of him the whole time.]

Then we should see what's down there. [His hair drifts as he pulls back a little, very literally getting Dylan's back and providing a spiny defense.]

[hunt4commonwealth]

[Dylan takes point, confident that Rhade will deal with anything that tries to sneak up behind them, and slowly approaches the darkness. His brain thinks that it should be colder there, just because there's less light, but it isn't. The line where the circle of light fades away isn't as much of a boundary as it seems. Easy to cross over.]

How are your altered eyes at seeing in the dark?

[truth_is_cold]

[For once he empathized with Riddick. He wasn't quite as deep hunter, but he did have dark-vision, and his eyes flicked a brighter green as he looked around.] Watch your step. Or at least be ready to start swimming. There are places here that drop off like cliffs.

[hunt4commonwealth]

I'll consider myself warned.

And if something happens to me and I fall unconscious, I'm expecting you to haul my heavy worlder ass back to safety.