Ramiel is invited on a special mission.
For Coelune May prompt; deep sea exploration
Characters: Ramiel, Hazel, Mariska
Warnings: None
Wordcount: 3,402
Vibe: ooooooo deep sea exploration ft too much banter
AN:
hi gamers im adding a bit more than my usual weird authors notes because this is for a cs prompt submission and ive never done that before and im Nervus
this is vaguely more revised than normal but knowing me thats not. saying much. anyways
“That’s a dumbass idea.”
Mariska got up with a stretch and headed towards the door.
“They’re not coming with us.”
“I’d like to see your shitty harpoon do as much as a bigass laser.” Hazel replied, her voice rather smug.
“Yea, a laser that could beyond total the ship if they’re not careful – and given their track record, I’m not too confident.”
Hazel groaned a bit, before hopping to her feet herself.
“You just don’t want the big scary angel to know I have to save your ass half the time.”
Mariska stopped in her tracks, and quickly turned towards Hazel. She looked incredibly annoyed, and was about to say something, but simply took a deep breath and sighed it off.
“I don’t wanna deal with this right now. You’re a dick, Hazel.”
Ramiel had been sitting on the beat-up couch in silence the whole time. They felt… awkward, to say the least. It’d only been a few weeks since Mariska went from ‘actively wanted them dead‘ to ‘kind of tolerated them‘, but Ramiel couldn’t shake the feeling that they were making things more difficult.
“If…” Ramiel started, catching the attention of both Hazel and Mariska – who were glaring at each other as though they were about to start a physical fight.
“If I’m making you two argue… maybe I should go.”
Hazel and Mariska immediately started to backtrack.
“Noooo no! This is normal, Ramiel! We’re just being a little silly, you know, friend stuff!” Hazel said, her tone completely changed.
Mariska just sighed.
“I hate to admit that Hazel is right for once. You, uh, shouldn’t worry. Unless you want to.”
“Right…” Ramiel mumbled, tapping their oversized claw on their knee.
“You were going to the Ultra Deep Sea, right?”
“Where the hell else would I be going?” Mariska scoffed.
“Those Recon wimps came crying to me offering their lunchmoney if I can get some Nihilego samples.”
“You… work with the Recon Squad? I was under the impression you thought they were ‘squares’,” Ramiel said, cocking their head a bit.
“Pfft, they are! But they’re so obsessed with learning more about those stupid parasitic jellyfish they’ll do anything,” Mariska said with a laugh.
“It’s nice, they give me some pretty handsome hush money so I don’t taint their image, or whatever.”
While Ramiel and Mariska were talking, Hazel had already made her way to the door without the two noticing. A sudden knock would catch both of their attentions.
“Aye, are we going or what? And is Ramiel coming with us?”
Mariska tapped her chin, thinking for a second.
“Well…” she mumbled, but eventually sighed in defeat.
“Yeah, whatever, Ramiel can come. But getting them not killed is on you, Haz.”
Hazel clapped her hands twice in a show of victory, and held the door open for both Mariska and Ramiel.
“How are we… getting there?” Ramiel asked, trailing behind Hazel along the wet, mossy ground the surrounded Mariska’s home.
“Up!” Hazel said enthusiastically, spinning around to face Ramiel.
“Well, I mean… I suppose so. I thought you two were pretty low-tech though…?”
Mariska gave one of her signature hearty laughs from up ahead.
“Ha! Sort of! I used to just jack Recon ships to make it up there, but Hazel’s helped me modify an old piece of junk I found to work just fine!”
Ramiel nodded silently, and leaned a bit so they could see a large structure in a clearing in the distance.
As the three approached the clearing, the wet moss transitioned into cold stone, and the structure could be more clearly seen as a ship that looked somewhat like a combination of a submarine, and a small naval vessel. The ship was held in a metal frame, and Ramiel took note of the large thrusters located on both ends of the ship – which, oddly enough, seemed to have scrappy-looking metal tubes feeding into them.
Everyone boarded. Mariska opened a door to a cabin and motioned for Ramiel and Hazel to follow. There was an airlock, then a narrow flight of metal stairs which eventually led to a cramped control room.
Mariska nonchalantly sat down in an old-looking desk chair, spun around once, and grabbed what appeared to be a wired communication device.
Suddenly, Mariska’s amplified voice filled the ship, and she spoke in her best flight captain’s impression;
“Goooood evening and welcome aboard! My name’s Mariska, and I’ll be yo-” was all she could get in, before Hazel ran in to fish the communicator out of Mariska’s hand.
Mariska tried to use her height to her advantage by lifting it high into the air, but Hazel simply climbed to grab it. The sounds of their scuffle filled the control room, amplified by the communicator. The scuffing sounds were too irritating for Ramiel, but thankfully, Hazel managed to get a hold of the device and turn it off.
“Hey, what the hell, man?! I was just trying to have some fun.”
“You’re lucky I stopped you before Ramiel cringed so hard they blasted you to bits.” Hazel huffed in response, firmly setting the communicator back into its dock.
“I thought it was funny.” Ramiel butted in, and though their tone was their usual monotone, they tried to make their expression a positive one.
There was a pause from both Hazel and Mariska as they stared a bit blankly at Ramiel, before Hazel broke the silence.
“Anyways! We should get going, yea?” she said, nudging her partner.
“Alright… Ramiel, you better hold onto something.” Mariska said in response, spinning around to face the control panel.
Hazel sat down in a seat of her own just to the side, facing a different control panel.
Ramiel was intrigued by what the panels did, but opted that it’d be best to take Mariska’s advice. They were so used to flying on their own that they’d never been on a ship like this, much less an older one.
There was some indiscriminate pressing of buttons, causing various beeps and blips to sound out. Mariska and Hazel shot each other a look and some finger guns, before Mariska unflipped a plastic hatch and pulled a large lever that was inside.
After a moment of silence, the machinery at the heart of the vessel hummed to life, and the entire ship began to rumble and shake as the thrusters were activated. It was indeed hard to keep balance as the ship lifted off, but Ramiel found that planting their claw on the floor helped quite a bit.
The violent shaking continued for about 20 more seconds, until… it was smooth. The transition was so unexpected that Ramiel lost balance and fell over.
“You good?” Hazel asked, spinning around in her chair to face Ramiel.
Ramiel lifted themselves to their feet before responding.
“I’m alright.” They said, pausing to think.
“Is… the ship still… on?”
Mariska promptly spun around in her chair herself, and propped her legs up on a nearby counter.
“You bet! It’s a part of the sweet upgrade Hazel did.” she said with a wink.
“This baby runs on geothermal! Or, artificial geothermal, at least. The stuff that bursts out of craters where Hazel’s from is pretty killer for energy, runs super smooth!”
“Uh huh…” Ramiel mumbled, trying to make sense of what Mariska was saying. They were at least glad she seemed to be less irritable now.
“If you’d like, there’s a porthole in the very back.” Hazel said, gesturing to the back of the control room.
Ramiel nodded, and silently made their way over to the back – it was even more cramped, and they had some trouble fitting with their wings and claw, but Ramiel was eventually able to crouch down enough that they got a good view.
The porthole hadn’t been cleaned in a while, and as such was rather foggy. But Ramiel was indeed able to see the world growing smaller as the ship ascended, and it was mesmerizing.
It felt like it’d been so long since Ramiel had flown high above the world themselves… but then Ramiel’s mind drifted to what they had done while up that high, and their focus shifted to being trapped in distressing memories. But seeing the world so far away was beautiful, and Ramiel didn’t want to look away – almost like a trance.
But Ramiel’s trance was broken by flashing red lights and alarms going off.
Snapping out of their memories, Ramiel tried to get themselves out of the cramped space as quickly as possible and moved to the main control room.
“What’s… what’s going on?” they gasped, their worry only growing after seeing that both Hazel and Mariska seemed perfectly calm.
“It’s normal! Don’t worry!” Hazel replied.
“The… previous owner of this ship installed a system that would trigger alarms if it got too close to the sea’s surface. It just means we’re about to breach the surface.”
Mariska butted in.
“Get ready to feel fucked up, Ramiel.” she said with a laugh.
“What?” Ramiel responded in genuine confusion.
“Mari, you’re the only one who can deal with the transition decentl-” Hazel almost finished speaking, but there was a deep rumble as the entire ship shook violently, and the alarms suddenly ceased.
The shaking lasted for around 10 seconds, and though it ceased back into peaceful smoothness, Ramiel started feeling funny. It was like the very world around them was warping and twisting – inverting in on itself. They could see Hazel recoil a bit as well, though it eventually became so disorienting for Ramiel that they fell to the floor as the world spun around them. While they considered themselves to have a strong stomach due to their divine nature, Ramiel genuinely felt like they were going to vomit due to the shift.
The shift seemed like it went on for an unbearably long time, and Ramiel was shaking on the floor by the time their perception seemed to stabilize.
While Hazel appeared to be getting her bearings back herself, Mariska casually hopped out of her chair.
“The Ultra Deep Sea…” she started, walking over to Ramiel.
“Is an inverted sea, though I believe you were already aware of that.”
Ramiel didn’t respond, but Mariska continued anyway, offering them a hand.
“I’ve heard those fancy wormholes don’t have the same effect, but the feeling of gravity inverting can be pretty nasty. You’ll get used to it.” she said, her tone a bit unexpectedly understanding.
Slowly, Ramiel was able to gather their strength back and wobble to their feet. Once Ramiel was standing again, Mariska walked over to the stairwell and grabbed a harpoon.
“I bet it’s reassuring that even the child of two gods gets messed up by the shift, huh Haz?” Mariska said with a laugh, her tone returning to its usual brashness.
“Mmph.” was all Hazel mumbled, rubbing her temples a bit.
“Here, follow me, Ramiel. We should be descending pretty fast, so we’ll hit a shelf soon.” Mariska said, motioning for Ramiel to follow her up the stairs.
Ramiel followed Mariska about halfway up the stairs, before noticing Hazel was still in her seat.
“Are you coming with us, Hazel?” Ramiel asked, leaning over the open side of the stairwell.
“I usually don’t go out with Mariska, no…”
Mariska’s voice could soon be heard echoing from the top of the stairwell.
“Awh, why the hell not? You should come with us this time, Haz!”
Hazel thought for a moment, then let out a deep sigh.
“Fine…” she mumbled, before jumping out of her chair and passing Ramiel up the stairs.
A bit hesitant, Ramiel followed them both up to the airlock.
“Alright, second weird thing coming right up!” Mariska said with a captain’s confidence as the airlock door closed behind Ramiel.
“Though, uh… I suppose you’ve gotta be immortal, right? So I guess the air thing may not be as big of an issue.”
“What?” Ramiel responded.
But with no response, Mariska pulled a lever, and Hazel turned her halo into a head bubble.
Slowly, the airlock chamber began to fill with a greyish-blue tinted water.
“Hold on, what’s going on?!” Ramiel said, their tone incredibly confused.
“What do you think was going to happen? We’re in the Deep Sea, after all. It’s not exactly dry.” Mariska replied with a chuckle.
Before Ramiel could say anything, the water had already crept its way up to their chin – instinctively, they squeezed their eyes shut as the water finished filling the chamber.
Ramiel could hear another level get pulled, and the noise of one of the blast doors opening followed. But Ramiel felt frozen, afraid to move.
Suddenly, they felt a tap on their shoulder.
“You can open your eyes.”
It was Hazel’s voice. Though they were hesitant, Ramiel slowly opened their eyes with a squint.
Though they could definitely feel that there was water touching their eyes, it wasn’t exactly unpleasant – just odd-feeling.
“Pretty strange, huh?” Mariska said as she exited the airlock, using her large tail to give herself some more momentum against the water’s resistance. Her voice was mostly clear, though it was a tad garbled by the water.
“A breathable ocean… the kinda thing you’ll only see here, ha!”
Hazel followed her partner out onto the deck, where it was quite dark – only illuminated by the light bleeding out from the airlock, as well as Hazel’s bubble, which gave off a soft blue glow. Though, in the distance, Ramiel could see the dim light of bioluminescent coral towers.
Mariska and Hazel eventually made their way to the edge of the deck, and Ramiel followed in suit. They peered over the edge of the deck’s railing, only to see they were parked on the edge of a cliff, towering over a pitch-black abyss.
“We’re… not going down there, are we?” Ramiel asked, looking a bit concerned.
“Nah, that’s only for serious business. Today should just be a breeze.” Mariska replied.
“Well, I guess we should head, then?”
“Wait, we’re leaving the ship? I thought you were going to use a harpoon.”
But Mariska simply waved off Ramiel’s question, and headed away to de-board – waving for Hazel and Ramiel to follow.
Ramiel gave a confused look to Hazel, who just shook her head.
“What can I say, she throws it like a spear. Not the brightest when it comes to safety.”
“I HEARD that!”
Hazel huffed with a smile before moving towards the ship’s exit herself, to which Ramiel followed. The water resistance was annoying to work against, but Ramiel found they could use their wings to help paddle themselves forwards.
They were able to quickly get ahead of Hazel, who was doing a sort of pseudo-swimming motion.
Mariska appeared to already have a route planned, as she had been to this same location before. The plan was simple:
Walk until a nihilego senses the disturbance in the water;
Catch it with the harpoon;
Return with the sample to the ship;
Profit.
“But… waiting for it to find us sounds… dangerous.” Ramiel said, interrupting Mariska’s rambling.
“They’re parasites, if they get a hold of you, you’re pretty much done for – or so I’ve heard. My mother was very adamant about not wanting me even going here.”
“Yea, listen to your mommy, and you’re definitely gonna go places.” Mariska replied with a laugh.
“I think you’re forgetting exactly who Ramiel’s mother is, Mari. Don’t be a dick.” Hazel said back at Mariska with a sigh.
“That’s rich, coming from you.”
Mariska just laughed, and Hazel groaned.
The three continued along the dark, winding path that Mariska had planned. The only light now was from Hazel’s bubble, but even that was rather dim.
Though, as Ramiel’s eyes adjusted to the darkness of the abyss, they began to notice the landscape around them.
Large towers of bioluminescent, almost crystalline looking coral lined both the ground around the trio, and towered out of the abyssal trench nearby. The bioluminescence glowed a rainbow of colors, flickering slowly between them. It was almost hypnotic, but thankfully, Mariska’s aimless rambling managed to keep Ramiel grounded.
One thing Ramiel did notice was the dimming of the light from Hazel’s bubble. Worried, they turned around to check in on her, only to find she was straggling behind quite a bit, struggling to get as much momentum against the water as Mariska or Ramiel.
“I can carry you, if you’d like.” Ramiel said, turning towards Hazel.
“Don’t even think about it,” Hazel replied, though clearly frustrated with lagging behind.
Ramiel wanted to respect Hazel’s comfort, so they simply nodded and continued walking along the abyssal shelf.
The three continued deeper, and after some time, despite Mariska’s storytelling, Ramiel started hearing an odd noise.
“Do you hear that?” they asked, stopping in their tracks.
“Hear what?” Mariska resonded. She fell silent for a moment, giving a listen.
“Yea, I can’t hear anything. Maybe it’s the first time exploration jitters gettin’ to ya.”
Ramiel sighed, and just continued on.
But the noise continued, and sounded as though it was getting closer. It was almost like a chittering, though a deeply unsettling one. Ramiel couldn’t shake the feeling that there was imminent danger, but they didn’t feel like bugging Mariska about it more.
They would keep turning their head to look back at Hazel, who was still lagging behind. On one of those looks back, Ramiel swore they saw… something floating above Hazel, but it quickly vanished from view. They stopped once again, squinting their eyes to try and get a better look.
“Why are you staring?” Hazel asked, sounding confused.
Ramiel said nothing, until the something phased into view again. Their eyes went wide, before they spoke in an almost uncharacteristically firm voice.
“Don’t move.”
Mariska, confused by the interaction she was hearing behind her, stopped and turned to face Hazel as well. But before she could react herself, Ramiel dug their feet into the seafloor and raised their claw up.
While there was no real light for Ramiel to gather, they decided the situation was dire enough to use what light they had. The blast built up for a few seconds, before Ramiel unleashed a precisely-aimed, massive laser of light. The laser cleanly tore through the water, illuminating the sea bed around them – and almost completely vaporized the nihilego that was about to latch on to Hazel.
“HOLY SHIT.” Hazel and Mariska yelled out, almost in unison.
While Mariska was fully aware of why Ramiel had let out the blast, Hazel was left in a confused shock, until the bits of the nihilego that hadn’t been caught in the blast’s radius drifted to the seafloor.
“My god…” Hazel mumbled, trying to process what had just happened.
Meanwhile, Mariska pushed past Ramiel and ran up to Hazel.
“HAZ!! Are you ok?! That thing didn’t graze you or anything, did it?!”
“I’m… fine.” Hazel mumbled, pausing. She leaned past Mariska, looking at Ramiel.
“Holy shit, Ramiel.”
“Is that… a good thing or a bad thing?” Ramiel asked, not able to read Hazel’s reaction.
“It’s good, I’m just… it shakes you up a bit.” Hazel sighed.
“This is the second time that those things have gotten close to getting me. This is why I don’t usually go out with Mari. I think something about the glow from my bubble against the darkness attracts them.”
“Then… the light from the laser definitely must’ve attracted more.” was all Ramiel replied with, realizing the consequences of their hasty action.
“Shit… okay.” Mariska mumbled.
“I think the bits left that didn’t get taken in the blast should be enough, anyways. We got what we came here for, we can go now.” she said hastily, pulling a plastic baggie out of her jacket and gathering the remains inside.
“…I’m sorry.” Ramiel said, sounding incredibly guilty.
Mariska finished gathering the nihilego bits, then turned to Ramiel with a sympathetic look.
“Hey, don’t sweat it! You did what you had to do, and to be honest, seeing one of those blasts in person was pretty fuckin’ sweet.”
Hazel nodded.
“It certainly means a lot that you see me as someone worth protecting, haha!” Hazel added on, having collected herself.
Ramiel didn’t know what to say – they weren’t really used to praise. But they didn’t need to say anything.
“C’mon Ramiel, we can head home now.” Hazel said with a smile, offering Ramiel her hand – which Ramiel took.
“Right.”
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