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. ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.]

I'd explain it, but it's all so essentially stupid that no one needs to understand.

[He nudges Jake—just a little, just gently with his elbow. Don't get sad.]

We're only Gods in a very loose sense of the term. Think of it as more like playing God mode in a video game. Regardless of the mechanics, behind it, Hope is Jake's domain. You can trust in hope from him. I do.

You guys can fly. That's proof of... something, even if it's not something I can understand.

[He's definitely more subdued, though. Dirk wasn't wrong in keeping the gods revelation from him for so long. He's used to people around him having incredible talents. He's used to hearing about talent and skill and everything that goes along with that. But godhood? That's so far from his every day life that as usual, he doesn't know how to handle it.

Also, it just feels like a swift kick to boot him back down several more rungs of importance and relevance from his friends. And that's not a cheery feeling to have.]

I can't just... blindly trust in anyone's "hope," though. Sorry.

[At least Dirk flustered him so he's a little distracted. Dirk trusts him. God. Okay no he has to focus. He can't be distracted by Dirk and smiling stupidly. Right no. He rubs his face and shakes his head to show Hinata it's okay.]

No, it's right by me! Nothing to apologise for? I wouldn't trust me. [Well. That's because he has no self-esteem but you know. He thinks it's logical.] I'm just a ninny from the jungle.

You are more than that, Jake. [Don't do that. Dumbass.

But Dirk doesn't fight against it. He thinks he upset Hinata, which wasn't intentional. He's used by this point to a certain level of blase about the whole matter. He doesn't know what's wrong, however, so he doesn't know how to help. He looks at Jake, a flicker behind his shades, and then down to Hinata.

Then he sits cross-legged on the floor beside Hinata. He assumes Jake will join shortly.]

Sorry.

[He offers his peppermint coffee to Hinata.]

No, it's not that I don't trust you, Jake, it's...

[#SDR2problems. He just sighs and shakes his head. He has an incredibly complicated relationship with hope right now, and being told gun friend is literally a god of Hope is a little hard for him to just accept.

He glances toward Dirk when he sits down and just shakes his head, offering a wry attempt at a smile.] No, it's okay, really. [Keep your peppermint, dude? You'll appreciate it more than he will.] I just... was thinking about someone I knew. He was always talking about finding a person to embody a "hope that could defeat any despair" and crap like that, so... it was a little shocking. Sorry.

[Jake does join, sitting with his head propped up in his hands.]

Oh my goodness gracious no, no, that's not me. I mean, I care a lot about hope! Because boy do I need it. But it's nothing I'm obsessed with? It's just, uh... [How do you even explain an aspect jesus.] ...I guess it's just representing me? But I could be a Page of Denial or Page of Movies or something like that! Page of Guns would've been neato...

[He doesn't think those are aspects but still they represent him?? Oh! More important than his weird hope stuff.]

Dirk is Heart, though. Isn't that swell? [Jake continues to think Dirk is sweet and has the perfect aspect.]

We don't necessarily embody our aspects. Jake might, Pages are a formidably ambiguous class. [He glances at Jake. He knows what he's thinking.] Some other classes don't.

Either way, the game is over. Our roles are theoretically no longer our fate, in that we no longer should be held to any fate once we were let outside the boundaries of the game. [So the coffee. And the movies. And all the rest. Dirk and Jake were given destinies and powers and a purpose for their existence. What they want now is to live an ordinary life.

He considers his coffee.] That dude you know sounds fucked up. Embodying anything is more than any person should be burdened with.

A game, huh...?

[It sounds like something out of a bad manga. Kids with crazy god-powers being trapped in a game, given classes and fates.

But for some reason, he doesn't think they're lying. Sure, they could both just be playing a trick on him, might just turn around and start laughing about how gullible he is, to believe something ridiculous like this. But he doubts that's the case.

Instead, he's the one who laughs, a kind of disbelieving, unamused snort.]

Hah, yeah. Komaeda's... obsessed with hope, and talent. He doesn't even care about creating despair himself if it meant... seeing the Super High School Levels combat it and rise above it.

...

[He pauses and rubs a hand over his eyes, shaking his head again.]

Sorry, that... doesn't matter here. More importantly... what do you mean, his aspect is Heart?

[Looking to Jake, because Dirk hadn't elaborated himself, and Jake seems more likely to answer.]

[Wow he does sound fucked up. Even Jake thinks so. That's just weird. But he likes the topic change from how he brightens up.]

Oh! It means he has a great big old heart. [Hinata why did you ask him he has zero understanding of how the game worked and he likes Dirk.] So he's a kindly fella who's always fretting over his pals even if he acts like an asshole sometimes. Truth is he's the sweetest frog in the pond. Also he has cute poofy shorts. They're neat.

Fucked up and incredibly awful, then. [There's that phrase: Super High School Level. He'll ask about that—

—No he has something to correct. What the fuck, Jake.]

It does not mean that. The game gave me the domain of Heart, which could be better translated as the soul or sense of self. The Heart is what makes a person who they are. As a Prince player, I'm a destroyer class. The title essentially breaks down to 'one who destroys the soul or self, or who destroys with the soul or self.' The colloquial sense of heart as emotions or caring doesn't apply.

[So stop that, Jake. Goddammit.]

The poofy asshole pants are terrible.

Edited 2016-08-01 01:46 (UTC)

[Hajime's expression twists into a bit of polite disbelief at Jake's explanation, because, well. It's Jake's explanation, and while Hope is perfectly legitimate to have as a talent, something like Heart the way Jake describes it just... doesn't seem to fit.

...Dirk's explanation, while more difficult to understand, somehow makes more sense. Or at least sounds more plausible if he's supposed to accept they were somehow playing a real-life game using the god-mode cheat. Or... something.]

I can't comment on the pants, [both because he's never seen them, and also because he can't imagine poofy shorts that actually look good on anyone,] but... that's incredible. Both of you guys are incredible.

[Somehow Jake is just amused by Dirk. Mostly because it's funny to him when Dirk really feels the need to correct something. How a monotone can sound so sassy who knows.]

I don't know about that but... after that whole rigmarole, we're glad to be rid of the old towel. [He realises saying that sitting in spaceship ruins sounds weird.] Kinda? We're more out of it than we were. And... honestly I like normal things like this better.

[Jake is right, at least about this. Normal is better. Getting out of it is better. Living their own lives... That's what Dirk wants to do from now on. Live his own life, with his family and friends.]

Jake didn't ask to roleplay a barista alternate universe for no reason.

[He looks at Hinata behind his shades, curious now.]

That's the second time you've mentioned something about 'Super High School Level.'

...Yeah, I understand that. Wanting to go back to your everyday life, or just... start a new one, with less absurdity.

[it's why he didn't really mind playing in Jake's barista AU. Sure, it was mostly because he couldn't disappoint a friend, but it's so refreshingly normal compared to an undersea base, a wrecked spaceship, a murderisland...

He pauses, glancing to Dirk as his lips part in surprise. That's right... that's not a common phrase in anyone's vocabulary here except his. And then his lips press tightly closed again, a muscle in his jaw tightening.]

Oh, it's... sorry, I keep forgetting that not everyone's from where I am. It's the title given to people who are scouted by Hope's Peak Academy for having amazing talents. It's a government-funded high school with no entrance exams -- you can only get in by being scouted by the school itself. The two requirements are that you have to be a current high school student, and are at the very top of your field.

[His voice is quiet with the faintest, easily-missed edge of bitterness. He seems to be reciting something from memory rather than thinking about his answer.]

Super High School Levels are... top students recruited to inspire hope, and shape the future. That's the kind of people they are.

[And there it is again, "hope."]

Edited 2016-08-01 02:52 (UTC)

[As the patron of Hope, Jake feels a little bad.]

Boy if I had that drilled into the old think tank everyday, I wouldn't be too keen to hear 'hope' ever again. [Though that really explains why his friend(??) is so hope crazy. Sounds like the whole school kind of is.] It sounds frightful to have so many expectations on you.

[This is a hilarious statement on so many levels.]

You mean it's Super High School Level Fucked Up.

[That definitely explains the weird kid with the despair-hope fetish thing. That edge of bitterness—Dirk isn't sure about it. He doesn't want to test to be sure. He has already made Hinata unhappy enough.

He also decides not to ask what Hinata is. They talk about Hope and Heart, but sometimes there are things that you don't want to bring with you. If Hinata doesn't want to bring his high school life along, then that's fine.

Dirk is also refraining from tearing the entire part of scouting talented students and bringing them together only to spit them out after years of educational training. Sounds like an ideal plan for controlling and manipulating key players from an early stage to him.]

What?

[Hajime jerks back as if he'd touched the hot plate of that coffee machine over there, eyes widening with surprise.]

N-no, that's wrong. You don't get it. Hope's Peak is an amazing school, full of incredibly talented people. Any kid who wants to be somebody wants to go there. There's nothing wrong with the school itself.

[laughtrack.mp3

If he sounds defensive, it's because he is. Whoa now, insulting Nagito "I don't mind if you kill me" Komaeda is just fine, but when it comes to Hope's Peak? Hope's Peak is the best.]

It's just... Komaeda's idea of hope that's fucked up. Being willing to create despair just to try to foster a stronger hope is the problem, not... just trying to inspire hope by being the best you can be.

Edited 2016-08-01 14:43 (UTC)

[Oh. Well apparently he really likes this place despite... how bad it is? Or, well, he doesn't think it's bad? Hmm. Jake think it might be bad though. It sounds like too much pressure.

Jake is trying to get better at this whole conversation thing, though, and Hinata likes the school, so he deserves the chance to say a nice thing about it.]

So everyone else, do they have cool titles? Can you be a Super High School Level anything? Could I be... Hmm, a Super High School Level Gunslinger? And Dirk can be... Super High School Level Hipster?

[Even so, Dirk wants to say. Even so—The school doesn't ask people to be the best they can be, they ask them to be better than everyone else. It produces a sense of the elite; its very nature gives those people more access to power and opportunity than others. Choice is concentrated on a narrow few, and what's the fuck is the point of 'hope' if all it is is being led around by people who are treated as superior? Hope is fortitude, but a system like this breeds passivity in those who aren't selected. Why bother trying if they can never be the best and being the best is the only thing that's valued and rewarded? That isn't spreading hope. That's sowing despair.

—Dirk doesn't say any of it. Because Dirk is trying not to be an asshole, so Dirk looks to Jake and tries to follow his lead.]

Super High School Level Sick of Your Indiscriminate Taste, you mean.

[He is not a hipster, Jake is just tasteless.]

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