Further pondering.

A new interlude from me? Yes, it is! by Sergio Turbo on 2025-09-13 21:14:02 UTC Writing Plug Reply

Don't worry, this is not the interlude I mentioned in the thread just below this one. This is actually one I had been working on for a while (er... more like I had been sitting on for a while, and only recently completed)

You can blame its existence on the discussion Tomash and Huinesoron had in this thread about alternative versions of HQ, since it made me think about the possiblity of a section of HQ suitable for aquatic species. And I do happen to have an agent capable of turning into a mermaid...

So, without further ado, here it is the story of how Nikki Cherryflower accidentally found herself in An Unusually Wet Part Of HQ. It isn't a very long interlude, just a couple scenes, but it was a cute little fluffy (if a bit wet( plotbunny!

Oh, that's cute // theorising by Huinesoron on 2025-09-16 14:13:05 UTC Reply

I read and enjoyed the interlude a couple of days back - I know "Department of Floaters" made me giggle, and I grinned at the Pool showing up.

And then I got to thinking about when, exactly, HQ acquired an aquatic zone...

My starting position is that all the HQs take place in the same intersecting Cascade as, well, HQ. Digital HQ exists in our networks; Aquatic HQ is... well, an unusually wet part of HQ, which is sectioned off by necessity to avoid everything getting a bit too wet (or, in their case, dry).

Contradicting my position on methane worlds, I suspect Aquatic HQ did form during the Cascade. Maybe it came from just one portal, opening between a land area and an oceanic one, and the Weeds decided to enclose the water rather than let it flood the land canon; more likely it's a deliberately-connected zone of all the underwater portals they encountered. We could probably do some tests on salinity to figure it out.

I would imagine the area was initially abandoned, Flowers being mostly land-based. There are probably sealed doors leading there which Building Maintenance occasionally patch leaks on, without knowing what they're protecting. But when widespread recruitment from badfics began in 2002 HST, the Flowers recognised the need for an area for water-breathers, opened it up, switched on some lights, and terrorised Makes-Things into adding some waterproof consoles. Ta-da, Aquatic HQ was born.

And other HQs. The Cascade reached the entire Multiverse; for every environment you can think of, there's a cluster of corridors where the Weeds linked up all the related portals and sealed them away. Some of them are tiny, only a room or two; some of them are colossal, almost matching "normal" HQ. Some of them are in use, like the High-Pressure HQ formed mostly from sci-fi super-heavy planets; others are empty, waiting for the PPC to recruit enough agents who need them and can't be accommodated in the standard areas.

By and large, the occupants of the different Zones keep to themselves; most in "normal" HQ don't even know the zones exist. There are, naturally, numerous conspiracy theories about why this should be so; pick up the next issue of the REAL Real Multiverse Monitor to learn the TRUTH!

hS (with a little interference from Starwind and Estelnar)

Having them in Floaters was very deliberate! by Sergio Turbo on 2025-09-16 17:55:00 UTC Edited Reply

I considered having Nikki notice the irony, but I couldn’t make it happen in a way that would be in-character for her.

And yeah, of the odd sections of HQ, I do believe the underwater one is indeed the most likely to have gotten inhabitants fairly early in PPC HQ history - I suppose the Disney Little Mermaid animated movies likely had a hand in that, as they sparked interest in the fairy tale which with its unrequited love themed is just perfect for tragic, angsty stories! And fanfictions means potential recruits...

BTW, what I had Nema and Otto mention about mermaid-themed Cardcaptor Sakura fanfictions is true. There are several retellings of the fairy take with Sakura in place of the titular mermaid on the Pit, so no wonder Nema and Otto just thought Nikki came from one of them!

Further pondering. by Neshomeh on 2025-09-18 03:19:25 UTC Reply

I left a review on AO3 just cuz, but I had some additional thoughts about aquatic HQ zones.

I assume the underwater section Nikki visited was saltwater, given that mermaids and octopi are generally found in oceans. But it links up to the Pool, which is, well, a pool: freshwater, and possibly chlorinated at that (but maybe not, since the Flowers have been known to use it). I suppose the plothole linking the one to the other could act as a selective barrier to the different waters...?

But even before the Pool came up, I wondered whether there are freshwater halls, too, and if they're linked with the saltwater halls (the Flowers not bothering to make a distinction) or not. If so, do the aquatic agents have to be careful about wandering into the wrong ones? Or, IDK, if the difference in water density is great enough and the separation is vertical rather than horizontal, maybe no additional barrier is needed.

The hypothetical freshwater zone would probably be even less populous than the saltwater one, though. Not a whole lot of myth or fiction positing sapient freshwater species.

~Neshomeh

re: freshwater mythical creatures by Kі nо Shirayuki on 2025-09-18 09:49:39 UTC Reply

May I suggest the kappa, a river yōkai that's often believed to resemble a green frog-turtle-like ogre thing?
The "filtering" portals make a lot of sense, actually. by Sergio Turbo on 2025-09-18 09:11:59 UTC Edited Reply

I mean, according to the PPC computer game there's a passage leading to the Pool through an underwater (underbleekpka?) passage. The Wiki states it makes no sense, but that would definitely become possible if portals could actually filter what passes through!

Which, BTW, is how I assumed they always worked. Accidentally opening a portal to open space while in HQ would actually make a real mess otherwise, and I'm sure that would one of the first safety measures Makes-Things would add in while HQ was beign stabilized and built.

I... admit I never actually posed myself the "saltwater vs freshwater vs pool water" problem while writing the piece, since Nikki can happily swim and breathe in all of them while transformed - hers is a magical transformation after all, she might not even feel the difference. But it is an important difference for natural, non-magical water-breathers!