THE AURORA was once a sight to see. An impressive mining ship, home to many, it could travel across great interstellar distances while providing all the comforts necessary to those within. Its star-sailing days are over now, as it now is a terrible wreckage, with salvage and dangers for those who come near.
It’s also exactly where the new crew members just showed up. URSULA will be immediately sending the on-base crew towards the Aurora, while those who have just arrived have some time to explore. The Aurora, however, isn’t the safest place to be. There are some large creatures in the water, and they may not be friendly towards the crew…
Below is a timeline of events as they unfold, with some further information!
1000: THE AURORA
While the new crew may have arrived anywhere throughout the ship, many will have found themselves in the common rooms, surrounded by the comforts of those who once lived here. Those who choose to wander further may find many rooms throughout, often in varying states of decay. While there are smaller predators on the Aurora and the danger of a wrecked vessel, an unsettling peace pervades the crashed ship. For now, they are safe.
1030: THE BASE
At 10:30 in the morning, URSULA reaches out to all crew members with an urgent message:
”All crew members please report in immediately! Life signs detected on the Aurora! Please stop all other activities and begin rescue mission. Gather any supplies you need, use the vehicles and help any survivors you find. Devices are near the entrance to track life signals once you're on the Aurora. If they're safe, please remember we need to salvage what we can from the Aurora as well. The supplies will benefit any survivors as well.”
Get cracking, crew! Base and Biome have information on what kind of weapons and defenses your fellow crew have had.
1100: THE AURORA
Thanks to the transportation they had built, the base’s crew is able to arrive in record time. They can help seek out their new crew members, take the opportunity to explore more of the Aurora, or just sulk in the transporter. URSULA reminds everyone that salvaging is a key part of their mission, and they should gather what they can before returning to base.
1200: THE AURORA
The crew however only gets an hour to enjoy itself (?) in the wreckage. At noon, URSULA broadcasts to all present, new and old:
”Attention! Dire warning! Reaper Leviathans! According to what I've salvaged of my database, they're apex predators from the westernmost region of the ocean. One signal coming from the west, two others coming out of the Void from deep below the ship!”
The crew may try to evacuate, but it is probably better to prepare for battle or hiding instead. They won’t get enough time to get out of the way before…
1210: THE AURORA
The Reapers are here. Peering out one of the Aurora's entrances will reveal that they are already circling around the vessel, as if they realize something is inside. One even beaches, its entire, 160 foot body soaring through the air before slamming down into the water. It almost feels like a warning. A threat.
URSULA urges the crew to stay inside where it is safe, but if anyone does insist on charging forward, she advises them to split into teams and take on as many Reapers at once as possible to avoid any group being teamed-up on by multiple Leviathans.
NOTE: To fight a Reaper Leviathan, comment under the REAPER FIGHT THREAD comment below! We ask that you work in teams of two or three for the battle to keep threads organized and minimize the number of fight threads the mods will need to work through. Be mindful that these are extremely fierce, dangerous, fast, giant apex predators, and they are very likely to do damage against those who fight them! By tagging in, you are agreeing to put your characters at risk of injury from the Reapers. As URSULA advised, those who don't want to get hurt should hold back and wait.
1300: EVACUATION
Things are looking grim. While the crew's teams make a good fight of it, these Reapers are durable, and they just keep coming back for more. It seems they're on a mission, to stop the crew, no matter how battered they become.
That's when the bellowing starts. Coming from everywhere, a song like that of the cavalry that disorients the Reapers as a large pod of Reefbacks swim in. Several put themselves between the ship and the Reapers, allowing anyone on aboard to safely get into the transports and into the water.
Others begin to fight. The use the concentrated power of their songs to knock back attacks from the front, powerfully lashing their tentacles like whips to crack against the Reapers. In battle they're surprisingly agile, able to spin around in a moment's notice to alternate between confusing and attacking the Reapers.
But any crew members watching can see the toll it takes on the Reefbacks. One Reefback in particular chooses to guide the crew back to the base by swimming along aside them. Thick, dark blood trails in the water behind it but it beats off any curious smaller predators like Stalkers. But its shell is cracked, its 'face' smashed in, and it gets no further than the Kelp Forest before it settles into a dense patch of creepvines for a final rest. It sends out a final cry that somehow feels like a wish for the crew to keep going on to the base, away from the continuing battle.
The rest of the pod manages to drive the Reapers back, though they too have their casualties. Still, the Aurora and the crew are safe for now.
Perhaps that was their only wish.
Direct any questions and plotting to the OOC post and have fun!
[Maybe Dave can hear the vague tone of annoyance at this jab at his battle reasoning.] Not when it would be tactically stupid.
[Strider Bullshit: the 'I have a sense of strategy' edition.
Anyway, Dirk speeds up behind Dave, doing his best to zoom past the crawlers. He ends up having to smack a few away from his face with the Fancy Santa, but at least it does that job.]
It looks more like a case of evolution than prototyping. It has all the features that suggest adaptations to a particular environment. [He paid attention; it was annoying him.]
[ SURE. SURE. let's see how sarcastic dave gets about this on the evac while he basically slumps into a puddle of strider. ]
Is it weird that I find evolution weird now. Like, what the hell even evolves in our lives at this point. We're test tube babies made by a dude who probably was literally rping a ghostbuster at the time of our creation, what actually EVOLVES these days?
That's definitely weird. On a larger scale, you could consider yourself a key component in an evolutionary process. It could be that the macrolevel of recombination and selection involved in producing new universes reduces microlevel evolution, like that which would normally spit us out, to something vestigial at best and detrimental at worst.
[Dirk can't help himself. This kind of speculation is in his genetics.
Oh my god words. [ WHY ARE YOU WORDS'ING AT HIM. The sad thing is he actually kind of understood that but wtf Dirk why is this a thing you're even saying to Dave. ] But our universe was a Sburb - Sgrub, whatevs - created universe, so where's the new alien sentient species here. Trolls made humans, what the fuck did we make? I hope we made something utterly ridiculous looking. Maybe we made like, a race of sentient platypi unicorns. With telepathy. Or, oh, they can talk by changing into different colors. That'd be rad.
[ They've flown as high as they can go, and Dave floats out of the elevator shaft, cautious but splitting his focus to Dirk. ]
[Why do you hate his words, Dave? You're breaking his heart. (No, Dave isn't. It kinda reminds Dirk of Roxy. )
He's glad to be out of that dark shaft, mostly because his nerves were crawling with the feeling of being watched and unable to hit back. They're well above the water level, so Dirk takes a moment to settle his feet on the steel as he scans the area.
End of the hall, probably. He'll walk.]
I love basically everything you're describing, except the probability that it inhabits an ocean world. Can Town isn't going to be here, right? The Mayor's going to pick a planet with land for Can Town.
[ Dave floats for a second longer before dropping down himself, glancing around cautiously and not seeming to be too on edge...except that he's tense and hiding it in a way Dirk probably could recognize by virtue of having similar body language at times.
Honestly Rose has primed Dave for all of Dirk's words but he needs coffee to deal with Lalonde bullshit sometimes and now that he has learned it is actually Strider bullshit he...still needs coffee to deal with Dirk and Rose Saying Shit at him sometimes, honestly. ]
He'll pick the greenest planet in the fucking universe. [ Dave feels like he can reasonably assure Dirk of this. ] He'll eat anything green, I think because he, like. Misses colors? Or never got a chance to see a lot of plants. Not sure which, but he's all about the verdant tundra.
[World of green, he's in. This is what he wants in his life. Give him all the nature, Mayor, and his loyalty will be yours.
Dirk glances at Dave behind the glasses and he sees it—he sees the way he himself masks wariness, and for a moment he sees himself forcing a poor, innocent kid to mask it the exact same way. Dirk adjusts his pace to keep at Dave's side.]
Thinking about it, Roxy probably won't mind if Hello Kitty gets a bit damaged along the way. She's going to end up with a laser third eye anyway.
It's been an evolving concept, but the basic idea is a tribute to her love of mutant cats that simultaneously raises the concept to its most logical conclusion while also functioning as useful back-up in an emergency. At this stage in development, I'm essentially working on turning this little doll into X-Men Kitty.
[He appreciates Dave's warning about how much time they have, but holy shit does Dirk plan all of his gifts months in advance. He is a maniac.]
[Huh, does Rose do that? What a good kid. It's always a little weird to see where traits 'ended up', as if biology was destiny. But with Sburb, maybe it was.]
If we are, I'm going to have to start planning now. December 4th?
Yep, I am the older ecto-twin, it is me. I mean, not really, since we were created at exactly the same fucking time, but I've got a day on her meteor-wise and when you are the older twin even by bullshit shenanigans you do not let that fact slip away unsaid into the ether. I think that's on the sibling rulebooks somewhere.
[ Although Rose...acts older...usually...........
Dave keeps walking, looking for Computer Shit in a vague kinda way. Are blackboxes black??? ]
[So Dave is December 3rd, like Dirk. Like Dirk's Bro. Dirk had always liked sharing a birthday with his Bro; it felt like another connection with him. A date that reached across the centuries to link them both.]
Do you think she'd be interested in celebrating with Roxy? We could do it at midnight for the four of us. You know, pass our day on to the girls. I can't imagine Roxy being against a family birthday party, she's probably going to take every excuse to spend time with you two she can get.
[(She's not the only one.)
Dirk stops at one of the doorways. No blackbox, but he does see something that might be a console. He signals for Dave to follow him in.]
I think she'd be down with it? Probably less like, obviously enthusiastically than mom, but I think that is a thing that could be said about just about anything.
[ Can any of them beat Roxy in an obvious enthusiasm-off? ]
I don't think either of us will turn down the whole time spending thing? Rose might be a mysterious pain in the ass about it sometimes but the only thing she never let me tag along on were her dates, sooooooo.
[ .................why did he ask to tag along on her dates. Dave is just following Dirk inside the room, eyeing the console but allowing Dirk to handle the whole. Computational part of this adventure. ]
Dirk takes a moment to fiddle with the console until he can get it to kick on. No password, so no problems there. Since there's no wifi, he can't directly copy the files onto his sunglasses: tragic. Instead, he starts setting aside the pieces he can recover.
While he waits for Dave to answer this question. ON HER DATES?]
does he have an explanation for this. ADMITTEDLY HE WASN'T LIKE, SURE THAT WAS WHAT THEY WERE DOING. ]
I didn't know she was goin' on a date with her fangy alien lesbian lover the first time I asked, to be fair, but then after that when I was bored she wouldn't let me tag along after they def started dating.
[ so he asked. even after the dating happened. DAVE?????? dave may have inherited your clingy bullshit because rose sure as fuck didn't get that. it's dave, dave is the one who is a barnacle even when it's really awkward. ]
[sorry you got some of the shittiest parts of dirk's genetics, dave.]
From my experience with romantic relationships, which admittedly is composed of either a personal total disasters or humanity's pop culture legacy, most people don't let their siblings tag along on dates.
[He has no right to say this, he's the clingy loser in his group.
Dirk opens up the files to see what he can get. Passenger list (105 total: engineers, miners, mercenaries, medical professionals), three year plan to mine and terraform the planet. All lifepods deployed contained living crew. Engine is a Dark Matter ion drive V8, lots of mining equipment including a manner robotics unit. That could be good for salvage later.
And the black box...
Was in the front of the ship. So either it's been destroyed or scattered in the ocean. They're probably SOL there.]
That's all kinds of bullshit, I'd totally let Rose come on one of my dates. [ He. Pauses. ] ...I mean, she'd basically focus on making things as awkward as fuck for kicks, and also I doubt my date would actually allow that to be a thing, but hey.
[ Dave will just. Lean over to peer over Dirk's shoulder at the data, reading it as he goes. ]
[Dirk turns. He looks at his brother-son. This is really important. A life lesson may need to be imparted here.] Dave. What do you think is supposed to happen on dates.
Because some of it should definitely be private from your sister. And me and Roxy for that matter, although obviously you can come to both of us if you want advice or something, but it still isn't something you would want family watching.
[ Are we. Are we talking about dates? He guesses they broke the whole. Personal questions barrier a while back, but. ]
I mean, me personally? Playing hopscotch and ring around the rosie. Stealin' Rose's game guide and drawing dicks on it. Hanging out with the Mayor.
[ #ROMANCE
#APPARENTLY
dave strider's sweet apparently canon moves: dumbass dates. surely he has at least one normal thing in his repertoire - ]
Oh, and movie nights. Mixing music. [ okay at least those ones sound like they aren't completely stuck in gradeschool. good job, dave. ] That kinda thing.
[He can't even deal with this. He's so concerned???? Dave. He doesn't care about whether or not Dave is going on dates and what exactly he does on them. But does he not know what most people, quite possibly including his sister, do?]
I have no idea what Rose and her troll girlfriend got up to, nor do I particularly care. But most dating features, at some point, some content that's rated somewhere between PG-13 and R, and not for violence or fucking language. The sort of thing that defines an entire genre starting with Lysistrata and ending only when the Batterwitch's genocide finally terminated the atrocity of the American Pie franchise.
Oh my dick I'd obviously leave if they started mackin' on one another!
[ BUT FOR LIKE. THE ACTIVITY PORTIONS OF THE DATE, WHY COULDN'T HE BE THERE FOR THOSE because rose doesn't have a need for constant attention like you dave but instead has a need for near-constant privacy... ]
Also of course no one ever taught me about dates, unless you count shouty troll tirades as bein' 1-on-1 teaching. Otherwise, we have my good friends the movies and also intuition to thank.
No one wants someone else to be there when they start that, which could be at any time whatever else they're doing on the date. A third person is not conducive to the entire atmosphere of intimacy, romantic or otherwise.
[Well, some people do find it just that, but honestly he doesn't want to talk about that right now, or ever, with Dave. Especially because of what Dave said about Bro's ventures.
Dirk just... rubs his forehead with the heel of his palm, and then turns off the computer. He got as much out of it as he could anyway.]
You can come hang out with me the next time Rose goes on a date. Or you could hang with Mayor or whoever, but it isn't like I'm going to be trying any romantic ventures any time soon, if ever, so consider my schedule perpetually open to you.
[ Okay, ignore all the other parts which. HONESTLY DAVE...KNOWS...ROSE DOESN'T WANT HIM ON HER DATES but look, how many other people did he have to hang out with. Whenever Karkat was mad at him and hogging the Mayor he had Rose ROSE WAS IT.
This is another one of those moments of low-key disbelief and delight. Dirk actually wants to spend time with him. This has yet to stop being surprising and different although at least they have moved past "all awkward all the time" to "only awkward about fifty percent of the time". ]
Okay, I'll take you up on that. [ He's not really a super huge fan of spending time alone, as it turns out.
Dirk is probably going to live to regret this offer. ]
[Dave does seem a bit happy, if in that low-key way of his. Which makes Dirk feel a little relieved. Even if he was offering in an effort to protect his poor ectodaughter's romantic life, it would be a lie that Dirk has already undermined for him to say that he wasn't just as disbelieving and delighted that Dave wants to spend time with him. Out in that postapocalyptic sea, he spent a lot of time thinking about what it would have been like to just have his Bro around to watch stupid movies with and play video games.]
Okay. Okay, cool.
[Yeah. Cool. He's cool. They're cool. They are low-key and cool and not two children starved for fraternal bonds.
Back to business.]
So I got everything I can out of the databases, and I'd guess we're not going to find the black box. One thing that jumped out is that this looks like it was an Earth terraforming and mining expedition.
[Which means... humans? Did trolls make humans and humans just made MORE HUMANS? That'd be so disappointing.]
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subnautica2016-05-01 12:35 am
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[Strider Bullshit: the 'I have a sense of strategy' edition.
Anyway, Dirk speeds up behind Dave, doing his best to zoom past the crawlers. He ends up having to smack a few away from his face with the Fancy Santa, but at least it does that job.]
It looks more like a case of evolution than prototyping. It has all the features that suggest adaptations to a particular environment. [He paid attention; it was annoying him.]
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Is it weird that I find evolution weird now. Like, what the hell even evolves in our lives at this point. We're test tube babies made by a dude who probably was literally rping a ghostbuster at the time of our creation, what actually EVOLVES these days?
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[Dirk can't help himself. This kind of speculation is in his genetics.
His nonsense genetics.]
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[ They've flown as high as they can go, and Dave floats out of the elevator shaft, cautious but splitting his focus to Dirk. ]
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He's glad to be out of that dark shaft, mostly because his nerves were crawling with the feeling of being watched and unable to hit back. They're well above the water level, so Dirk takes a moment to settle his feet on the steel as he scans the area.
End of the hall, probably. He'll walk.]
I love basically everything you're describing, except the probability that it inhabits an ocean world. Can Town isn't going to be here, right? The Mayor's going to pick a planet with land for Can Town.
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Honestly Rose has primed Dave for all of Dirk's words but he needs coffee to deal with Lalonde bullshit sometimes and now that he has learned it is actually Strider bullshit he...still needs coffee to deal with Dirk and Rose Saying Shit at him sometimes, honestly. ]
He'll pick the greenest planet in the fucking universe. [ Dave feels like he can reasonably assure Dirk of this. ] He'll eat anything green, I think because he, like. Misses colors? Or never got a chance to see a lot of plants. Not sure which, but he's all about the verdant tundra.
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[World of green, he's in. This is what he wants in his life. Give him all the nature, Mayor, and his loyalty will be yours.
Dirk glances at Dave behind the glasses and he sees it—he sees the way he himself masks wariness, and for a moment he sees himself forcing a poor, innocent kid to mask it the exact same way. Dirk adjusts his pace to keep at Dave's side.]
Thinking about it, Roxy probably won't mind if Hello Kitty gets a bit damaged along the way. She's going to end up with a laser third eye anyway.
[Hello Kitty: equipped to Puppetkind.
Dirk is going to have his brother's back.]
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[ For that matter - ]
Huh. I'm pretty sure you have a few months to worry about that, bee tee dubs. We're pretty early on in the year.
[ It feels like it, anyway. He's not sure of where the fuck they are, but when is always an easier question. ]
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[He appreciates Dave's warning about how much time they have, but holy shit does Dirk plan all of his gifts months in advance. He is a maniac.]
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Ok, and I thought I put in a bunch of effort getting John his ridiculous Conair bunny. Wait, holy shit, you're Rose.
[ They do the same ridiculously elaborate gift shit. ]
Oh my dick everything makes sense now. Are you two gonna get into a passive aggressive gift effort war, because if so I'm runnin' for cover.
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If we are, I'm going to have to start planning now. December 4th?
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[ Although Rose...acts older...usually...........
Dave keeps walking, looking for Computer Shit in a vague kinda way. Are blackboxes black??? ]
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Do you think she'd be interested in celebrating with Roxy? We could do it at midnight for the four of us. You know, pass our day on to the girls. I can't imagine Roxy being against a family birthday party, she's probably going to take every excuse to spend time with you two she can get.
[(She's not the only one.)
Dirk stops at one of the doorways. No blackbox, but he does see something that might be a console. He signals for Dave to follow him in.]
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[ Can any of them beat Roxy in an obvious enthusiasm-off? ]
I don't think either of us will turn down the whole time spending thing? Rose might be a mysterious pain in the ass about it sometimes but the only thing she never let me tag along on were her dates, sooooooo.
[ .................why did he ask to tag along on her dates. Dave is just following Dirk inside the room, eyeing the console but allowing Dirk to handle the whole. Computational part of this adventure. ]
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[Dave??? DAVE????
Dirk takes a moment to fiddle with the console until he can get it to kick on. No password, so no problems there. Since there's no wifi, he can't directly copy the files onto his sunglasses: tragic. Instead, he starts setting aside the pieces he can recover.
While he waits for Dave to answer this question. ON HER DATES?]
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[ LOOK............
does he have an explanation for this. ADMITTEDLY HE WASN'T LIKE, SURE THAT WAS WHAT THEY WERE DOING. ]
I didn't know she was goin' on a date with her fangy alien lesbian lover the first time I asked, to be fair, but then after that when I was bored she wouldn't let me tag along after they def started dating.
[ so he asked. even after the dating happened. DAVE?????? dave may have inherited your clingy bullshit because rose sure as fuck didn't get that. it's dave, dave is the one who is a barnacle even when it's really awkward. ]
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From my experience with romantic relationships, which admittedly is composed of either a personal total disasters or humanity's pop culture legacy, most people don't let their siblings tag along on dates.
[He has no right to say this, he's the clingy loser in his group.
Dirk opens up the files to see what he can get. Passenger list (105 total: engineers, miners, mercenaries, medical professionals), three year plan to mine and terraform the planet. All lifepods deployed contained living crew. Engine is a Dark Matter ion drive V8, lots of mining equipment including a manner robotics unit. That could be good for salvage later.
And the black box...
Was in the front of the ship. So either it's been destroyed or scattered in the ocean. They're probably SOL there.]
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[ Dave will just. Lean over to peer over Dirk's shoulder at the data, reading it as he goes. ]
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Because some of it should definitely be private from your sister. And me and Roxy for that matter, although obviously you can come to both of us if you want advice or something, but it still isn't something you would want family watching.
[Who cares about dead crew. Dirk is Concerned.]
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[ Are we. Are we talking about dates? He guesses they broke the whole. Personal questions barrier a while back, but. ]
I mean, me personally? Playing hopscotch and ring around the rosie. Stealin' Rose's game guide and drawing dicks on it. Hanging out with the Mayor.
[ #ROMANCE
#APPARENTLY
dave strider's sweet apparently canon moves: dumbass dates. surely he has at least one normal thing in his repertoire - ]
Oh, and movie nights. Mixing music. [ okay at least those ones sound like they aren't completely stuck in gradeschool. good job, dave. ] That kinda thing.
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[He can't even deal with this. He's so concerned???? Dave. He doesn't care about whether or not Dave is going on dates and what exactly he does on them. But does he not know what most people, quite possibly including his sister, do?]
I have no idea what Rose and her troll girlfriend got up to, nor do I particularly care. But most dating features, at some point, some content that's rated somewhere between PG-13 and R, and not for violence or fucking language. The sort of thing that defines an entire genre starting with Lysistrata and ending only when the Batterwitch's genocide finally terminated the atrocity of the American Pie franchise.
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[ BUT FOR LIKE. THE ACTIVITY PORTIONS OF THE DATE, WHY COULDN'T HE BE THERE FOR THOSE because rose doesn't have a need for constant attention like you dave but instead has a need for near-constant privacy... ]
Also of course no one ever taught me about dates, unless you count shouty troll tirades as bein' 1-on-1 teaching. Otherwise, we have my good friends the movies and also intuition to thank.
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[Well, some people do find it just that, but honestly he doesn't want to talk about that right now, or ever, with Dave. Especially because of what Dave said about Bro's ventures.
Dirk just... rubs his forehead with the heel of his palm, and then turns off the computer. He got as much out of it as he could anyway.]
You can come hang out with me the next time Rose goes on a date. Or you could hang with Mayor or whoever, but it isn't like I'm going to be trying any romantic ventures any time soon, if ever, so consider my schedule perpetually open to you.
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[ Okay, ignore all the other parts which. HONESTLY DAVE...KNOWS...ROSE DOESN'T WANT HIM ON HER DATES but look, how many other people did he have to hang out with. Whenever Karkat was mad at him and hogging the Mayor he had Rose ROSE WAS IT.
This is another one of those moments of low-key disbelief and delight. Dirk actually wants to spend time with him. This has yet to stop being surprising and different although at least they have moved past "all awkward all the time" to "only awkward about fifty percent of the time". ]
Okay, I'll take you up on that. [ He's not really a super huge fan of spending time alone, as it turns out.
Dirk is probably going to live to regret this offer. ]
no subject
Okay. Okay, cool.
[Yeah. Cool. He's cool. They're cool. They are low-key and cool and not two children starved for fraternal bonds.
Back to business.]
So I got everything I can out of the databases, and I'd guess we're not going to find the black box. One thing that jumped out is that this looks like it was an Earth terraforming and mining expedition.
[Which means... humans? Did trolls make humans and humans just made MORE HUMANS? That'd be so disappointing.]
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