subnautica | monolith revisited

Entry tags:

monolith revisited | mingle

One fine morning, a boyish voice broadcasts to everyone around base:

There's a lot left to explore inside the Monolith, so I'll be visiting it today. If anyone else wants to come along, feel free.

Once all interested parties are assembled and traveling arrangements sorted out, they're off to the Monolith! Given the length of the journey, this will be a real time investment. A one-way trip takes nearly two hours by flight. Traveling in silence? Boring. How should they occupy their time? Travel games? Joy rides in the Seamoth? Maybe even some old-fashioned chit chat??

Once they arrive, there's plenty to explore. With some sniffing around, they'll find a map revealing that the Monolith contains a cafe and common area, crew quarters, lab, med bay, and "special alien containment" room. However, it'll take some ingenuity to actually reach each area. And by ingenuity I mean bombs.

Which is why the group will need a demolition crew! Get to blasting those walls in logical places. Or illogical places. No one ever said it had to be a good demolition crew. With enough willful destruction, surely all of the the Monolith's secrets will be laid bare in no time.

(( Here are the full details on what can be found in the Monolith! Create your own topics and go nuts. ))

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[Oh my god everyone. Jake holds up a hand, smile a little scrunched up because please stop panicking.]

Golly gee. It's artificial so I'm sure it's fine? [Plus he really wants to try it. It's not like he gets the chance to try different flavours much anyway so he's going to be stubborn about this.] No need to bust a vessel over it, I promise.

[He is not panicking. He is calm. He is very very calm while he holds the cup and stares at Jake intensely.

After a long, judgemental moment, he holds the cup out.]

I will fuckin' stab you through the heart if you die from this, and it will be a Just death.

[DO NOT DIE IN FRONT OF HIM, JAKE.]

[Hajime immediately points at Jake as if that gesture might be enough to stop the other boy from taking the offered cup.]

No, that's wrong.

[...tbh he probably sounds ridiculous outside of a class trial setting.]

We don't know if there's any medical supplies nearby if something does happen. Unless you know without a doubt that whatever's in the artificial stuff is safe, there's no way we can risk it. I'll put something else in mine, you can both try that.

[Caramel? Caramel sounds safe.]

[Well he's used to Dirk threatening him for stupid things but he's not used to gun friend being so strangely strict?? Jake takes a moment to look between Dirk, then Hinata, then the cup, before he sighs and gives up with a huff.]

All right, all right. You both win.

[He sulks as he drinks his coffee instead of Dirk's. He'll just try it when they aren't looking. Then it's not like anyone would know if he dies stupidly.

[Dirk looks Jake dead in the eyes (behind shades).

And he drinks down the entire cup of coffee. Just tips his head back, and gulp, gulp, gulp. The Adam's apple bobs, the drink drains away.

He puts the empty cup on the counter. Then, pointedly, he washes it out and turns it upside down to dry.]

Caramel should be good.

[Suck it, English.]

[Gun friend is a pushover but there's some things he just won't abide. Friends potentially dying in front of him is right there at the top of a very short list.

He exhales a quiet sigh of relief when Dirk finishes his coffee, passing a hand over his eyes and moving back to find the caramel bottle. Crisis averted, or something. He'll squeeze a little of the caramel syrup into his yet-undrunk coffee and pass it over to Jake first in a kind-of apology.]

There'll be plenty of time for you to try all kinds of new things. You don't have to do it all at once, you know?

[Jake glares at Dirk. He's going to kill you someday, Strider. But he accepts the cup gratefully from Hinata.]

Sorry for the vagary but missing out on a myriad of quintessential human experiences really gets my goat sometimes.

[He takes a sip of the caramel coffee. Oh that's so nice and wait hang on. He takes a sip of his coffee then the caramel really quick. Oh that's good too. He knew chocolate and caramel were paired for a reason. He has to hand it back to Hinata quick before he drinks everything.]

But hey, lucky you! You've got two hot to trot students champing at the bit for any scraps of knowledge you can give us!

[Dirk is inexpressive in the face of that glare. ] Hazelnut isn't a quintessential human experience.

[What Jake does is interesting though. Chocolate and caramel. So there are infinite interesting combinations to try...

Dirk totally fails to remember that they're doing this entire barista roleplay thing and instead strides over to the coffee machine to try to make it work so he can make enough coffee for a peppermint drink. Someone please stop him.]

Sorry...

[He really does feel bad! Especially when it's only a "maybe," and he might be stopping Jake from enjoying hazelnut for no good reason, but listen. He has enough dead friends.

But he laughs at Jake's assessment of him, holding up both hands and shaking his head. You keep it, dude. Join your ex in overcaffeinating yourself.]

You're giving me too much credit, really. I'm sure there's a lot of other people who are way more qualified than I am at this kind of thing.

[Dirk... Hajime isn't going to stop him, though. Two cups of coffee is probably fine? Or, well... okay, no, he's thinking better of this plan. Maybe he should take that caramel back.]

Uh... you guys probably haven't had anything with caffeine in it before, have you...?

[Jake tilts his head. What has caffeine in it? Coffee. Soda but not all soda. Not all coffee, either, he thinks?]

Uh... not that I can think of? I've mostly had fruit and fish.

Only in Sunkist. Bro didn't leave any drinks but orange soda. [And other orange sodas are caffeine free so he has not.

Also he's just pouring that cup of coffee anyway. Grabbing that peppermint bottle to add it in...]

Ah...

[Mm. Hajime holds his hand back out to Jake. Please give that caramel back? Or at least do a bizarre science experiment-looking motion to mix the two together and give him half back.]

Coffee is... really strong. You can get kind of jittery if you drink too much of it when you're not used to it, I think.

[It's Hinata's! Of course he'll give it back. He's not an ogre.]

There was that time Fry drank one hundred cups of coffee and transcended reality. But that would be aces. Does that really happen if you drink that much coffee?

As much as an overclocked robot would become divine. [Bender.

Dirk stirs in the peppermint and takes a sip. Woah. That's so cool. He adds even more and sits down. He will drink all the peppermint.] Jake, try this. [Here Jake, have more coffee despite Hinata's warning. Then give it back because Dirk is down with this flavour.

Regarding the warning, Dirk glances over to Hinata.] We'll be careful. Stimulants tend not to effect me.

[This is a statement that is partially but not wholly true.]

Uh... no.

[He doesn't watch enough American cartoons to get that reference, so he just shakes his head. Jake, please tell him you don't actually believe that...

Anyway, he just accepts his cup of coffee back and sighs, somewhat resignedly, and shrugs one shoulder.]

That's a good talent, but... you can't say later that I didn't warn you.

{He doesn't really! Honest! Just he thinks it would be fun if it were true. Besides he has it on goo authority that food can do crazy shit to you.]

Oh, he's not joshing you. He really can't get knocked over. I can, though.

[He says this calmly dripping the peppermint.]

Egads, now that packs a punch! Is that what winter feels like but in your mouth? [He'll try his two-sip test again with his coffee though and confirms it's good before handing it back.] Man, I wish humanity would stop being doomed. This stuff is so spiffy.

[Also he guesses it sucks but honestly this is the most people he's ever been around so his idea of humanity as a group is kind of. Loose.]

[There Jake goes on the understatements again. Dirk's monotone becomes exceptionally flat.]

Yes. Lack of access to junkfood is also why I regret the agonizingly slow destruction of humanity.

[A loooooong sip of that peppermint. This time from the same side Jake drank from so congratulations, it only took three cups for it to become the movies.]

[Gun friend... why are you like this.

Please forgive Hajime, he clearly doesn't know how to begin composing a response to that. To either of them. Instead, he brings his cup to his mouth to buy time, looking... more than a little disturbed. Who wouldn't be, hearing something like that...? But it seems like he's not entirely focused on their conversation as much, and rather thinking about something else entirely.]

...Humanity's not doomed, [he says finally, a little more quietly.] I can't believe that.

Whoopsey daisy. [Not that it's a topic he likes much but he just. Forgets to think about it in terms of actually happening. Even though it did?? He didn't see it happen or see any other people in his life anyway so it's hard to really think of it as real until he remembers it is.]

Don't worry, friend. I'm sure your humanity isn't all goners. Humans are kinda like ants. There's always more of'em.

[Look, he thought he was alone and then it turned out there were more people! Not a lot more. Like. Less than ten more but hey.]

It's just three out of three universes so far.

[Thanks for being optimistic, Dirk? Look, he isn't going to lie. They have had really bad luck as far as humanity goes, and this universe appears to be doing an equally shitty job of things.]

With the eight of us deriving from a total of four unrelated genetic sources I am doubtful that even artificial creation could restart the human race in our new universe. Humanity is down to eight, highly non-representative teenagers for the rest of eternity for us. Civilization is up to the Carapacians and whatever sentient species arise naturally, presumably not on the planet we'll all be inhabiting.

[He glances over at Hinata.]

Comparatively this universe has a fighting chance. If the classmates you mentioned are human then yours does too.

[Eight teenagers? Artificial creation?? Three out of three universes???

Hajime sits down. His back hits the wall and slows the decent of ass to floor so it's not full on anime-heroine-collapsing-to-knees shit, but it's not too far from it.]

Of course my classmates are human. Super-human sometimes, but not like... aliens.

[Hardly the most important, relevant, or shocking counterpoint, but it's the first one he can make that even makes sense.]

[Jake might not be the best Hope aspect around but he is the only one, which means he has to help somehow. He sighs at Dirk because really? Hinata is normal! Don't do that to him. Gun friend needs to be handled delicately, less Homestucky.]

Then I'm not going to blow smoke into the posterior of any cows but I will say our case is, um, really weird. Don't judge the rest of the universe by us! [Flatly:] Especially not by us, actually.

[Look he's seen enough movies to know Hollywood may exaggerate and mess up but most people are not as weird as them.]

Um... It's okay? [Jake stops holding his coffee with both hands to awkwardly reach out and pats Hinata's head. It's horribly sincere despite how stupid and condescending it might seem.] I just have a good feeling things will turn out better for your universe than ours. And my feelings are accurate due to tomfoolery.

[Not that it's hard to be better than "totally destruction of humanity minus eight kids but. He's got this?]

Due to Jake being a literal God of Hope.

[Jake can do the headpat. Dirk will sip his peppermint tea.]

[dON'T PAT HIS HEAD as sincere as it is, it really does just seem condescending. Hajime tilts his head away from Jake's hand with a frown and stares up at him, mouth open to answer.

God of Hope stops any answer he might have given, though, and there's a certain guarded look that comes into Hajime's eyes at the mention of that. It's subtle, but it's there, even as he studiously turns his attention to his coffee and takes a measured sip. Conceal Don't Feel.]

What are you talking about...? "God of Hope"...?

[With feelings properly Concealed, he instead asks the more pertinent question for that particular moment, glancing to Dirk. Does this have to do with their earlier conversation with Loki...]

[Well at least he tried. His shoulders sag though because it didn't work very well. Though he's mentally blaming Dirk for that. Maybe they should ask people if gods are weird to them first?]

Oh, um.... Well. It's true? I don't have any proof, so it's okay if you don't believe it? We're all like that.

[You know. Gods and whatever.]

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