truthfully, micah was grateful for the tutelage and guidance provided by the three others in the group. each of them had their own charms - flavors, if you will. if she had to describe each of their initial impacts on her in terms of flavors, she'd mark mars as a sweet berry who charmed her at the clever contest and now seemed to be her starting tutor in all things rocket; gavin seemed a bit dry, a worrywart for some reason that she could only imagine was well-founded but ignorance was probably bliss in this situation; barnaby seemed like a spicy berry from his appearance alone - he had the common decency to introduce himself properly which already got micah starry-eyed at finally meeting an admin.[break]
of course, she was in the presence of two freakishly huge figures as well.[break]
this made the gaudily decorated lockbox on her back shift a bit on her shoulders, various neon stickers displaying '100' and smiley face emotes splattered over it as was her own doing. ceri had entrusted the laidback assistant with an important job and she tried to do her best and not smear her name, her chest puffed out as she took a deep sigh.[break]
the walls of water breathed alongside her.[break]
"mister ... er - boss ... er ..." the epitome of 'mommy, sorry, mommy?' was happening then and there in her mind and she couldn't quite find the right words until she cleared her throat and just went for it: "mister sir boss men - all three of you - i think i heard it too." pointing around them in a wide sweeping motion, she hoped to shine a light on the way the sea reverberated around them - basically buzzing with biological activity. [break]
sadly for them, it wasn't any cutesy little fish pokemon that could attribute to this.[break]
"i'm sorry," micah started, already peeking her head into the depths that barnaby had daringly unlocked. more daringly, or perhaps simply registering that her own wellbeing wasn't as worthwhile as that of her more important rocket colleagues, she took the first leap into the depths. this was what prompted the end of her thought, followed by an audibly impressed - yet a bit bemused due to the horrific nature of it - gasp. although she had not even gone too deep, this creature was large enough to be perceived from a distance.[break]
"but what the fuck is that?"[break]
as if deus ex machina was in play, this question was put out there and answered all at once as the large mass of cells breathed in and out in an almost exhausted manner.[break]
it felt like it was expecting them, almost as if it was waiting for them like they were late to a date with the macabre. within the tendrils, blood vessels, organs and more ... something seemed to shine through as if encapsulated. micah didn't know what to make of this, but she figured her higher-ups would have some semblance of an answer, hence her question.

[break]

⚰︎ divider made by milky!

Martín del Mar Cillian Quinn BARNABY FINCH

"haha, bye-bye!"[break]
micah was, for one, a completely honest and open dolt when it came to serious situations. more prone to smiling through the pain and discomfort, she offered a quick nod to her superior when she was called out to tag alongside him. "yes mister sir boss man gavin - may i call you that? - sir!" her thought let out in one long breath, her feet patted against the soft ground underneath them as they explored. both hands on the straps of the lockbox as if she were just a schoolgirl attending another fieldtrip, she did her best to not allow any sense of trepidation set off any 'bad vibes'. [break]
it seemed gavin was already having his fair share of annoyance, let alone having to go with the newbie grunt as opposed to the other two probably more learned rocket members.[break]
"mister sir gavin sir, what do you think of this?"[break]
as expected, she was unnecessarily curious. the sack of flesh that pulsated in the middle of the cabin seemed to be something akin to an alveoli. if this assumption was correct, that would explain why there seemed to be an anomaly in the room. various puddles of dark liquid were scattered here and there. for the ultra deep sea, it was strange to not see more flooding of the sort, but micah supposed all scientific thought was not particularly fitting for a place like this. "do you think it's struggling to breathe? you wouldn't like water in your lungs, right?" assuming they were indeed in a large lung chamber, it might make sense why the oversized creature wasn't lashing out actively or moving. was it ... in pain? perhaps sedated by some battle of old that had caused it to consume and assimilate this large ship?[break]
"oooh, would i?!" [break]
at the thought of perusing through the alien log, the dark-haired assistant found her eyes sparkling as she shoved herself nose first into the text. there were some ... words(?) she could start to make out but they were ultimately not making any sense. it seemed to be some ramblings of a madman or a hostile bastard that had been quarantined to this room or perhaps one nearby. "weird," she said out loud as she finished the log book that seemed to have various pages missing from it. "hey mister gavin sir, do you know anything about this?" pointing out a few lines, she used her fingertip as means to underline them as she held it up to the blonde man. [break]
"and on this ship to nowhere, there is no fellow human ready for what comes next. all beasts seem happy, however, as we enter their realm - not meant for us, not meaning to leave any of us alive." continuing on, she summarized it in her best 'too long, didn't read' format: "so it seems here that this place only has ultra beasts. we're not ... meant to be here, haha!" this last bit came out with a bit of a push past a thick gulp of anxiousness. also pushing through any worries, she held out a hand towards gavin with a cracking smile.[break]
"you wanna hold hands? not 'cause i'm scared or anything, but i don't want you losing your way or anything!" yeah, like someone like gavin would lose himself in a small room with one exit. nonetheless, her baltoy was released and she made sure to keep it closeby. "anyway, i think we should show this to the guys." carefully placing some stray pages in the locations that seemed appropriate, she emptied the desk the log book had been sitting on. hopefully this would give them some form of intel in the long run, seeing as it did seem to have some nautical maps and sketches of the local fauna and flora. [break]
or maybe it was just interesting to a freak like her? who knew.

"did i find something interesting?" in a way a child asks their parent for approval, micah clutched her hands under her chin - looking up at gavin with full starry-eyed splendor. perhaps her knowledge could be useful here after all! with newfound gusto, she went about collecting samples from the flesh sack in the middle of the room as well. the histology nerd in ceri was going to freak out and micah knew it, already wiggling with excitement about what they would find. clippings of the tendrils spiraling off the mass were also taken carefully, forceps and sharp surgical tools moving swiftly to not agitate the creature enough to let it know of what it was now missing.[break]
"hup! ok mr. gavin sir --!" relatching the metal lockbox, she was ready to go ... until --[break]
"haha, what was that?"[break]
to be plain and simple, micah was at 80% stress now. it was surprising she wasn't fully freaking out, but maybe it was the way she held onto gavin's hand that kept her from that last 20%. squeezing onto it, she zoned in on a caretaker role though her boss was obviously more equipped than she was. it was perhaps her nature or her way of giving back for the opportunity to do some field work. "i think we should go now," she suggested strongly, basically noting she was done here and they needed to make haste. tugging gavin along gently, she looked back as she spurred them forward - practically propelling through the waterless sea and its antigravity emptiness.[break]
"i think something bad happened." no duh, really. micah wouldn't hold it against gavin to reprimand her for her dubious words but she meant to fill the space as she hopped and pushed off the floor to jettison their movement forward - getting a feel for the area that allowed swimming through the void itself. this would help them get to the other two men faster, she imagined. continuing to try to fill the silence, she was quickly met with the panic of the situation when the scene was budding into view. barnaby's screams rattled her eyes in her brain.[break]
"don't worry buckaroos, help is coming!" she assured both mars and barnaby through the comms, trying to keep her voice down enough to not alert what may be ailing them.