subnautica | 01.) Arrival

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01.) Arrival

9/29 telepathy broadcast
[All things considered there are plenty of worse ways to be transported somewhere. At least he remembers most of it this time. So. Hello Iniidae. If you're…literally…anywhere around the base you might hear the lovely song of the reefbacks. They're also probably not stopping anytime soon. Above the noise of them though there's soon a telepathic broadcast as well.]

I don't think I've ever heard a fish rap before. [If a voice can sound amused via telepathy, this one does. Never mind that to most people it sounds like the gentle call of normal sea life.] Sorry about that. They followed me to the base after they dropped me off, I'll take care of it soon. But in the meantime I'll see about taking requests. Maybe they know some Top 40s hits too.

Anyway, what's up? [He seems like he might leave it at that, but…] Question for you guys: how many of you are working on the base expansion project? I'd like to talk to you. I'm Percy, by the way.

9/29 base

[After some time, it seems as though the noise stops. Anybody who's in the underwater base at this point may be able to look out the window and spot a school of baby reefbacks, the ones apparently responsible for all of the noise in the first place. Now they're swimming in circles and in the middle cutting through the water with ease is a teenage boy. That's all well and good but said-teenage boy also doesn't have a breathing apparatus on him? Nah, he's just sort of swimming around and seems to be laughing each time one of the creatures sends him tumbling through the water. Sorry he's like this, but at least they stopped singing?

It's not long after that he leaves, waving goodbye to the babies and stepping back into the base. He's just as dry as he was when he entered the water and if anybody's in the entryway he sort of just waves and carries on. He doesn't get too far though before he stops at the stairs, glancing around as though he's debating if he should continue or not.]

You've been busy. [He says to no on in particular and he ventures out on his own, checking each room he comes across. Feel free to chat him up, tell him to get lost, wonder what he's doing, ask if they hallucinated he was outside, etc.]

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[I can't believe this is a real description of Magnus, but anyway it's not like Percy's slow. He's up on the third floor within a fairly short timeframe and by the time he finds room 16 he'll appear in the doorway.

First...he's going to look at Magnus. Then he's going to look at the really, really bland room. Then he's going to look back at Magnus.]

'Sup. [Good start, Percy.] ...first question, why's the room beige? [He'll save all of the hard-hitting questions for a few minutes because he's stepping into the room to get a better sense of his new living space. And also so he's not just hanging out in the hall. That's always good.]

[ it's so real he gets compared to a kurt cobain bowling ball after getting a haircut. ]

Yo. [ with a little wave. amazing. ] Uhh, because beige is my favorite color? But you can paint your half whatever you like. [ gestures to the. other half of the room. hopes percy's favorite color isn't, like. electric teal zebra stripes. ]

[I'm glad it's a bowling ball specifically. Percy might be able to make that comparison if he remembered what Kurt Cobain looked like off the top of his head, but he doesn't. So instead he's just going to settle on what's presumably his bed and...awkwardly take Riptide in pen-form out of his pocket to set it next to him. There. His space has been claimed.]

I'll keep that in mind. [He's letting his eyes roam for a bit before settling back on Magnus, tilting his head curiously.] You haven't been here much longer than me, have you?

[ watches him set a pen out. ok, little weird, percy. ]

I got here the day after Annabeth, end of August. So, like a month. [ shrugs. ]

[Just because his sword doesn't know how to sing...]

After you stepped out of the hotel in the Norse hotel. [Annabeth told him that part. He already knows this next part, too, but he has to ask.] Annabeth wasn't with you then was she?

Do you mean in the elevator or in the showers?

[ pauses because. he probably means showers. ]

Yeah, she was there but she wasn't showering at the time. For the record. [ no he did not see his cousin naked, percy. ]

That's not--[He scrunches his face up for a moment. I mean thanks Magnus that's super reassuring but.] She never said anything about a shower, just something about the hotel to the afterlife or something. What were you doing there?

Oh. Okay, yeah that makes more sense. [ wh..oops. ] Well, I was going to meet up with my hallmates at the time. Probably for some activity to the death. [ a pause ] Annabeth did mention I'm sort of dead, right? Hence the whole Hotel Valhalla afterlife thing.

[There's just....a very, very long pause.

Okay look. You can go wandering around in the Underworld without being dead when you're Percy Jackson. You can even fall down into Tartarus with your girlfriend when you're Percy Jackson and not be dead. So no. Annabeth said that Valhalla was one of the Norse afterlives, but he really didn't actually think it had to do with Magnus's state of being.]

How are you sort of dead? [It's not really the weirdest thing he's heard in his life but he's also not sure he's prepared for whatever this story is.]

[ and what a story it is. pick it up at your local barnes & noble today!

were it anyone but Annabeth's Boyfriend magnus might skimp on the story and just like shrug yolo. or yolt, technically? ]

Okay, very dead might be more accurate? I died. There was a funeral? I didn't go to the funeral, but I did have to frisk my corpse for a sword. But when I died I got picked by a Valkyrie to go to one of the Norse afterlives to be a warrior awaiting all eternity for Ragnarok when everything gets wrecked. Hotel Valhalla. 540 floors. It's a... thing. [ IT SURE IS A THING ]

Apparently, we couldn't just have nice a nice summer camp like you guys. Nope, just death and eternal training to the death.

[Joke's on you that's actually where this mun bought it. But truthfully Percy would probably just go pester Annabeth about the story anyway so Magnus giving him a rundown is much more useful for everyone. Still, the way that Magnus explains it sort of leaves Percy with his eyes growing wider and wider.

Why is it that with each variation of demigod the story gets weirder and weirder? Why?]

Seems pretty morbid to go to your own funeral anyway, dude. [He's trying to think of what a Valkyrie translates into in Greek, assuming it's one of the Fates in a different form.] I don't doubt there's a five-hundred floor hotel when Olympus is on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building. But I didn't know there was a chain of death hotels. If you're already dead why are you training for--you know what, don't answer that.

[Whaaat.] But you can leave and come back whenever you want? [Now he's moved on to "how did Annabeth get there."]

[ the joke is always one me.

it will always get weirder, just wait until riordan tackles the aztec gods with magnus' second cousin. ]

Yeah, it looked like it'd be pretty lame, too. I think only Annabeth and her dad went. [ and maybe uncle randolph, since technically magnus' death was a little bit randolph's fault. gj. ] But does it have 600 doors leading out into the Nine Worlds? Valhalla has 540 of those, too. And it's the only one that's a hotel, I think, since Folksvanger is more like a meadow. [ opens his mouth to answer about the training but. percy's right. let's not get into ragnarok right now. ]

Not... technically? I can, and so can my hallmates because Odin said so after we dealt with... a giant wolf. [ and prevented early ragnarok etc. ] And there's ways to sneak out into Midgard-- err, Boston.

[No, Norse is Enough for Now. But he leans back on his hands and there's a short smirk at the question.]

I mean Annabeth was in charge of redesigning the whole place. Don't tempt her to go back and do that. You're gonna have to explain this whole Nine Worlds thing to me sometime. I'm not that up to date with the Norse gods.

Giant wolf? Lupa? [No, wait, that's wrong. He already knows that's wrong.] So it's like a reward for doing the gods' work...again. [Why does this always happen.] I can't believe she didn't tell me about this.

She loves to redesign places, doesn't she? This place was kind of like a bunch of hamster balls before she got here.

[ there's a deep breath here. does he need to list them all off. no. will he anyway. yes. ]

The Nine Worlds are, well, nine different worlds. All connected by a very, very large tree. There's Asgard, which is where the gods live, specifically the aesir ones like Odin and Thor; Vanaheim, home of the vanir gods; Alfheim, home of the elves; Midgard, that's basically just standard human land; Jotunheim, home of the giants; Nidavellir, home of the dwarves; Nifliheim, the world of cold; Muspellheim, home of fire giants and demons; and Helheim, home of the... dishonorable dead. Also? Hel is terrifying, just fyi.

No, Fenrir. Loki's wolf son, chained to a supposedly "unfindable" island. Spoilers, we found it. [ there's a slight shudder when he mentions hel and fenrir, for different reasons. then he snorts. ] Yeah, basically. Odin did offer to let me go back to being mortal, but... I wanted to stay with my friends. Which is the cheesiest thing I've ever said.

What was wrong with that? [That's more mumbled to himself though as a mildly rhetorical question. Magnus is apparently thinking and Percy, surprisingly, is actually paying attention and absorbing all of this. He's heard of a few of these names before in passing from various things (obviously Asgard, Odin, Thor, and Midgard) and the others make sense to him in a way he can grasp. Don't ask him to remember all of those names in that order, but he can keep up. He nods slowly because Hel probably is terrifying? Like that's a given.]

Right...have you been to all of them yet? Is it kind of like everything else where the Norse influence just moved to America, too? [It sounds that way. He can at least wince in sympathy at the fact that they sure did find Fenrir and he knows Loki, of course. That's a name that's easy enough to recognize and he really doesn't envy Magnus for possibly ever having to deal with him.

On the other hand, there's a small snort of laughter.] It's completely cheesy. But I gave up immortality to stay with my friends. I think I get it.

[ there was nothing wrong with that, but annabeth is Organized. ]

No, just a couple. Midgard, obviously, Jotunheim, Nidavellir. Also Folkvanger, which I... would guess would be in Vanaheim like Valhalla is in Asgard kind of. I think it's more like the Norse went looking for the center of the worlds, where the tree-- Yggdrasil-- is, and it just happened to be Boston. [ it seems different than the "flame of the west" or w/e as annabeth probably explained that to magnus in the past month. and loki sure is a thing, if different from movies. ]

Then I guess we're both cheesy trash. Worse things to be, I guess, though it totally ruins my street cred.

"Just happened." [The way it's said makes it sound as though Percy also subscribes to the whole "flame of the west" thing but you know what since Magnus has been cool so far he won't argue it too much.] Maybe if we get back...I dunno, maybe I can check it out, too.

[Or we just wait for the third Magnus book apparently ig. He laughs though because yeah, they're both cheesy and it's fine? It's protag syndrome and he also doesn't mind being called on it.] You painted your room beige, dude, I don't think there was a lot of street cred to ruin. But I won't tell if you won't. Deal?

[ listen do any of them subscribe to the beliefs of their godly parents. like really. ] Yeah, come on by. I probably can't let you in Valhalla, but Boston's got it's charm.

[ protag syndrome, a fatal disease no one deserves. ] Deal, but wow. What do you have against beige?

Never been, so I'll take your word for it. But I'm gonna guess it's got nothing on New York. [Sorry, home-bias. Still, he raises an eyebrow and gestures to the beige half.]

Other than I feel like I'm back in one of my boarding schools? Nothing much. [But just like that he's up off of the bed and gesturing like he wants Magnus to go with him.] I'm going to look for some paint. Coming? [Come bond with him, Magnus, he'll maybe apologize for dragging him around to look for blue paint.]

We'll see about that. [ home-bias is strong here, too. kids these days. ]

Boarding schools like private schools? [ percy are you secretly a rich boy, asks magnus who is apparently descended from swedish kings and who's uncle owns the family mansion, btw the chases have a family mansion. ] Sure, got nothing better to do. [ magnus gets up to follow. he probably knows where the paint is, but will he tell? maybe not. ]

[And off they go to find paint since Magnus may or may not actually be helpful. But. You know. He can't help but shrug in response. He needs to learn more about the Chase family history since the Jackson family history isn't that impressive.]

Boarding schools like private schools...after a while my mom had to start looking at schools that would accept me and my record. [No big deal. He's been doing okay since hitting high school.] But before you ask I'm at a normal public high school now. Or was? Man, I don't even want to think about having to catch up on even more homework when I get back. I've already been gone for months.

[ at least the jackson family history doesn't include a slightly stupid amount of deaths in recent times. ]

Record? Oh, yeah, I think Annabeth mentioned you were a troublemaker. [ that is probably not quite what she said but merely what magnus got from her stories. ] Annabeth said you guys were studying to get into college, or something. Shouldn't be skipping months worth of schooling, should you?

[For the best unless we want one sad protag.]

That wasn't really always my fault. [Or, like, ever.] And try telling Hera that since she's the one who started it. I don't mind missing school but being asleep for, like, four months, waking up without my memories and being thrown into another prophecy wasn't what I had in mind. [But Annabeth mentioned college.] I'm pretty sure Annabeth's a couple of months ahead of me. It was August last I remember.

[ magnus is enough of a sad protag for them both, we don't need another one ever. when percy jackson cries the sea levels rise. ]

Oh, yeah, Annabeth told me about that. Hera sounds like a huge bitch. [ annabeth apparently literally told magnus Everything, including about tartarus. and cried while talking about tartarus. ] Really? Huh. I think I've heard other people mentioning stuff like that, but hadn't really given it much thought, honestly. It was like... February for us, I think.

[ or the very end of january. somewhere in the six weeks between sword of summer and hammer of thor, whatever. timelines are stupid. ]

[He rolls his eyes but you know.] Yeah, they're not each other's biggest fans. I'm not too fond of her myself. Things worked out in the end but she's always been a pain. [Gods. What can you do? He's getting the feeling that Magnus knows a lot more than Percy's aware of, but he's Annabeth's cousin so he hardly minds.]

February? [Don't judge him, he's sneakily counting that difference out on his fingers. That's six months? Why does this keep happening.] She mentioned you to us a while ago but I didn't think that meant she would go to Boston to find you. [A beat.] I mean I should have thought so since it's Annabeth, but that's still a long time.

[He's also idly wondering where he is in this scenario but. Whatever.] Think it'd be worth asking URSULA why that is?

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01.) Arrival

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