[sort-of open] we cannot think of a time that is oceanless

[littlecousin]

Characters: Nita (littlecousin) and whoever can accompany her on a dive
Date: various times during landfall I am being very specific here
Location: underwater woo!
Situation: check your surface-dweller privilege--aka Nita goes diving rather than die of dehydration in the desert
Warnings/Rating: none anticipated, will edit if necessary

The sea is clear and cool, and the floor slopes gently into the invisible distance. It's not a healthy ocean, not like Nita remembers from when she was a child, or like her mother's stories from before the war, but it's better than the land, and there's nothing in the water to make her gills sting or her vision blur. She dives quickly, wanting to leave the surface behind for a time, and her eyes, blue as the sea itself, are fixed on the depths.

It can be easy to forget that cheerful, friendly Nita isn't human, but as she slips through the water with effortless grace, it becomes clear that this is her natural habitat, a realm that humans can only visit through the sufferance of technology and luck--and of the true denizens of that unforgiving world, who must surely be as cold and implacable as the ocean itself...

Any impression of alienage is entirely shattered by a certain denizen drawing up short with a gleeful expression on her face and pointing toward the seafloor with excited poking gestures. "That is totally a wreck! See the masts?"

How the hell is she talking underwater? Probably best not to ask, especially if you're holding your breath.

OOC: Action tags are fine, as always.