"Alone" (Edgar Allen Poe) -#1 of NMC Arc-

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Tap Tap Tap

Sonya drummed her fingers on the console in front of her, inwardly grimacing at the empty echo sounding around her from it and pulled away to flop in the seat behind her with a loud sigh. "Bored." She finally stated to the empty room, blue eyes roaming around the area then jumped back to her feet. "Bored!" Turning, she marched around the console with much dramatic swinging of her arms and stamping feet. "I. Am. Bored!" Each word punctuated by another stamp of her foot as she came to a stop, staring at the doors in front of her.

She had been itching, itching for something to do, anything! Hell, she'd take on a squadron of Sontarans right now if she thought it would alleviate her boredom. She'd go right out there and straight into the line of fire if she thought for a moment they wouldn't actually hit her... And make her regenerate... Again.

Actually... A frown tugged her lips as she leaned back against the console, ticking off on her fingers out loud. "One... two, oh that one was just awful. Three, not really my fault actually..." After a few moments, she grinned triumphantly down at the six fingers she held up. "Seventh then, great, so I have, what? Five more?"

Looking up, wide grin on her face, she stared around the control room expectantly then slumped backwards, hands rubbing at her eyes. "I am so lonely it's pathetic." Falling silent, she tugged on her synapses a bit, getting them sparking to try and reach for something interesting in the area, even her time sense was quiet, nothing shifting nothing at all.

Not even a whimper. Silence pressed in from around her, aside of the comforting hum of the TARDIS. Then-

"BORED!"

All in all, today was a good day.

Maybe not for the land dwellers, but it was good for Maro. Twenty, thirty years ago, ships were much easier to sink. Most of the time they sunk each other. Now, though, it was a bit of a rare occasion for an entire vessel to be ripe for the picking. She'd been quite excited having all this new metal to pick through. She didn't know what any of it did, but that didn't matter, since it was all getting re-purposed anyway. Maybe it was time to finish those booby trap systems. No way was another pesky fiend getting into her stash. 

Arms and seaweed sling freshly emptied, Maro was hurrying back to the ship for another grab. Surely other people had noticed the wreck by now, and even though she got most of the good stuff, she was being selfish, and would rather the entire dump for herself. It'd surely be more useful to her than it would be to them. What did they even need it for, to look pretty? Maro was convinced her tinkering was a much nobler cause. She swam hurriedly, eyebrows creased, determined to get at least one more good handful.

Fiddling with the controls idly, Sonya let the TARDIS pilot itself for once as she wandered around, keeping her steady with gentle pats and button pushings. "Doing good, Lady. Doing good..." Trailing off, she eyed the screen as it displayed information about the landing zone. "Now, that's just rude! I let you fly all by yourself and you do this??"

Running around, she started throwing switches and mumbling curses as the console sparked in anger. "Don't get snippy with me!" She snapped back, already cranking the wheel hard to the left furiously. A gong sounded just before a series of beeps that echoed around the ship. "Don't you-"

With a last wheeze, the TARDIS landed, rather... Splashed through the water, creating small whirlpools in the currents as it careened through. Finally, with a loud crash, it broke through a sunken ship wall and slid to a quick stop, on it's side, the door flat against the ground as it's soft groaning faded out.

Somewhere inside the darkened console room a soft curse was hissed. "This is the last time I let you drive."

Maro could stop her own giggling, giddy that, from where she could see, no one else had noticed the ship, yet. If she was lucky, no one else would. Maybe there just wasn't anyone close enough at the time, and the waves evened out before they reached anyone. Maybe-

SPLOOSH.


Maro jumped back, eyes scanning her surroundings. Her heart beat heavily in her chest, thumping in her ears. 

Who's there?


She ventured a few steps around the wall she'd been behind, steps slow and careful. A bit more confidently this time, she called out to anyone who might be near.

I know you're there, so stop trying to scare me off.


Maro fully expected to see a menacing Deep Sea ready to fight, but instead her eyes found a rather large box she hadn't seen before. It was blue and a little dirty; it didn't look like it was here before. She noticed the big hole in the wood where it'd crashed through, and wondered what would even be strong enough to throw this here. Was this even from the water, or did this come from the land dwellers?

Cautiously, Maro made a fist and knocked a few times on the wood. Then again, a bit harder this time. This seemed fairly solid. It would take a sizable group to toss something this sturdy of this size and break down a wall. Maybe it would be better if she got far away from here....

Shaking her head, Sonya ran a hand through her hair roughly and shot a narrow glare at the blinking lights a few feet away from where she sprawled out on the floor. For a couple of seconds, she had been flung onto the side of the ship as if gravity had shifted then it righted itself, sending her sliding down to the floor in an ungraceful heap.

Grimacing slightly, Sonya got to her feet fully and wandered over to the controls. She slid the screen over to her when the lights flickered back on and studied the image it held. "Oh... Hello there."

Watching the fish... Person(?) as they explored around the outside of the ship, she smiled softly and tipped her head to the side before the screen shut off and the rotor groaned at her. "I know I know, better to go see for myself. Fine." Moving around the console, she headed for the doors and attempted to open them and frowned when they revealed damp wood on the other side. Slowly shutting them, she turned around and leveled a scowl at the controls.

"Just you wait, Lady. You'll get this. Now get us off our side." She snapped, earning a soft sparkling noise from the controls as they groaned and she felt the gravity shift once more under her feet. "Thank you." Turning back around, she opened the doors again, wary of water rushing in at her because Lady decided to be cheeky with her again and breathed a soft sigh of relief when the water stayed where it was.

Sticking a hand into the water, she waved it around idly, trying to get whoever it was hanging around's attention. "Um... Hello!"

Maro was startled as the box started to make a strange sound. She took a few steps back, hands clutched anxiously on the strap of her bag, watching with a mix of curiosity and horror as it righted itself, tipping up getting dangerously close to another piece of wood in the process. Even when it had stopped, Maro wasn't about to move. It was becoming more and more possible that no Syreni were involved in this. In fact, she was starting to suspect this was a land dweller's doing. She knew they were more advanced than she was, but this was further than she even imagined they could go. What if they were here to trick her? What if this whole ship wreck was a ploy and they just wanted to be able to grab a fish person and drag them up and-

One side opened. It was on the other side and she couldn't see what was behind it, but she could tell it opened. She saw the edge of the door, and a bit of sound coming through. Actually, it sounded like a person. A person she could understand, too - how the hell did a Syreni manage to build a big box like this? Frowning, she took deliberate steps towards the other side, eyeing up the creature she saw with curiosity.

Odd. Not a Syreni, but able to communicate. Not telepathically, though - this was auditory, which was very odd. Maro inspected the creature with care, noting the fact that they looked very much like a land dweller and that the ripples from their hand were stopping near their wrist. Reaching forward with her own hand, her eyebrows shot up at the discovery of air on the other side. The other side of what, she wasn't sure, but there sure was a side. She could see the water dripping off her fingertips onto the floor inside the box. Speaking of which...

Locking eyes with the stranger, Maro retracted her hand, both clasped around her bag once again. 

How's your box so big? Is there air in there?

Sonya tipped her head to the side curiously as the fish person spoke, sang really, at her. A big smile growing on her face once they were finished. "Oh that is beautiful! You- you're gorgeous, do you know that?" Pulling her hand back inside, she wiped it off absentmindedly on the edge of her shirt. "I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of meeting one of you before, tell me what is your species?"

Pausing for breath, she hummed in thought over the questions they asked. "Well... Yes, I need air. Though I do have a suit in here somewhere..." Trailing off, she glanced behind her and eyed the mess scattered around the control room with a wince. "Somewhere, and it's big because... Well, bigger on the inside." With a shrug, she stepped forward until she stood an inch from the water and tipped her head to the side.

"My name is Sonya. What's yours?"

Maro raised an eyebrow - was this flirting? She heard stories - and knew from a bit of experience - land dwellers had a weird affinity for Syreni. It was a strange thing. An old friend of hers had told her there were myths of Syreni on the surface - myths that land dwellers could not resist the "song of the siren," whatever that was. She just thought they were all a bit too friendly, honestly.

One thing she did appreciate, though, was that this creature seemed to have as many questions as she did. She took it as a sign of intelligence - someone who wanted that much information must have a ton of it, she felt. They did look a bit frazzled though. Distracted, maybe? Could be that they were looking for their suit. 

Maro stepped closer to the barrier of air, curiously peeking her head inside, careful to keep her gills in the water. It really was spacious in here. Lots of things, around, too. She didn't think land dwellers kept hoards. Continuing to inspect the box's interior, she tossed out her answers absent mindedly.

Syreni. Maro. What is a suit? Will it help you breathe water?

Sonya grinned and folded her hands behind her back, rocking on her feet for a moment in thought. "Well, nice to meet you Syreni. And a suit is something I wear when there's no air to breathe. Can live without it longer than humans, but I still need it. Just give us a mo." With a wave, she strode back into the room, mumbling under her breath absentmindedly for a moment before finally spotting the closet set off to the side.

Striding over, she flung it open and started tugging on a light blue suit, attempting to extract it from the mess inside. "Come... On!" With a grunt, she finally freed it and stared at it for a moment before tossing it to the side. "Water didn't feel cold, so no suit really needed..." Mumbling to herself, Sonya faced the closet with a sigh and dug around for the helmet.

After several moments where items were flung unceremoniously across the control room before she came up with a triumphant grin. "There we are!" face battling the glass, she moved back over to the door and fitted it snugly over her head, letting the glass mold over her head and create a seal to keep the oxygen in and tapped a small device fitted onto the back of the thing. "Filters water and turns it into air."

Looking down at herself, she shrugged and yanked her boots off, along with her socks and jacket. "Nothing like a good swim to get the hearts pumping." With that, she grinned at Syreni and backed up to give her room to run and sprinted towards the door to dive through the vertical water with a whoop of glee.

Maro was about to correct Sonya, but was quickly alarmed as she jumped into the water. She stepped to the side, watching in horror as she.... wasn't struggling to breathe? Didn't land dwellers need air? She literally just said she needed air. Concerned, she swam towards Sonya, lifting her tank top and checking her sides for any gills. Her hand brushed her own, the other rubbing at the smooth skin, completely baffled at the absence of breathing apparatus.

How are you breathing? Don't you have gills or something? Where are they?


Logically, they must be inside her helmet, then, if that's the only thing she'd altered before she came out here. Grabbing onto Sonya's helmet, Maro peered inside, frowning deeply. She was still alarmed to not see any gills. 

You are breathing, right?!

An involuntary giggle slipped from Sonya as the fish woman accidentally tickled her sides and gently detangled herself from her grip. "This helmet helps me breath. See the metal thing sitting on the back here?" Turning around, she pointed at a harmonica-shaped device attached to the back of the helmet. "It filters air out of the water for me. All good!"

Twisting back around, she flashed her a grin and waved a hand in a general gesture. "Now then, would you mind showing me around? I'm afraid I'm new to the area." Sonya chuckled at that and shook her head lightly, green hair flicking over her eyes before she flicked it back and turned to look around the area curiously.

"I have to say, I've never been deep-sea diving before, so this is new to me. I usually snorkel around the reefs on different planets... You know, looking at the ecosystem and all that." Swimming around Maro, she turned to inspect the TARDIS, swimming around it to check for scratches or anything of the like.

Moving back to the front, she reached in and shut the door tight and turned to face her new friend with another wide smile. "Anything interesting happen lately?"

Maro frowned, a bit frustrated, but pleased she'd learned something, at least. Land dwellers must breathe with their faces, then, if their gills were inside of that helmet. They probably didn't even have gills. Whatever they had, it was inside the helmet, and they didn't seem to be drowning, so that was good enough for her.

As far as items of interest went...

This ship, she hummed, returning to her scavenge for debris. It's new. Must have crashed last night or something. Full of land junk, and I don't think anyone else knows it's here yet. She smiled to herself, feeling a bit triumphant. 

Bag half full with interestingly shaped bits of metal, Maro began swimming towards the big hulking... thing she'd spotted earlier. At least to where she remembered it being, anyway. 

You can come if you want, but I get first pick, since I don't know what you'd want with this stuff, anyway. Land dwellers don't have hoards, right? She asked over her shoulder curiously, beckoning for the air-breather to follow.

"Oh no, be my guest." Sonya grinned over at the woman and moved to swim beside her. "Humans really... Well some of them hoard things, but... Well." Pausing, she rubbed her helmet. "Yeah, they do, they have hoards, but nothing like this."

She grinned wryly and shook her head. "Been around them all my life and I still can't understand them all that much." lifting her shoulders up in a shrug, she kicked her feet and moved off to the side a bit, something sparkly catching her eye for a moment. "I collect parts from spaceships myself, usually to help fix mine, that box." She added as an afterthought, turning around to look at the woman, a piece of metal in her hands. "What about this? You want it?"

Maro listened intently to Sonya, eyes scanning the wreckage for bits she might have missed while she headed for a big hunk she knew would be a huge haul. The thing looked like it might be in working condition, but probably not from down here. Good news, still, because that meant the metal wouldn't be damaged.

At the offer of metal, she spun around eagerly, ready to appraise whatever it was her new companion had found. Taking the bit in her hands, she ran her webbed fingers over the surface. It felt rough, but after trying to bend it, she found it to be sturdy. 

Feels good. Could try to alter things with it, like eroding them? She tried to get across what she meant by mimicking rubbing the rough surface against something. We'll see. I don't even know if that's a thing I'll need to do. Yet.


Maro turned around for a moment, ready to continue to lead Sonya towards her anticipated huge find, but turned back, a small frown of confusion on her face.

What's a human? Are you not one? Are humans land dwellers? Do they breathe air like you do?