FEBRUARY GENERAL MINGLE | OTA

[oneandmikleonly]

[February is a quiet month -- well, sort of. There aren’t any dramatic new developments, such as flaming ships falling from the sky or sudden base-wide plagues. In fact, your character might be finding the ongoing Purrspine migration kind of soothing instead.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of work to be done -- biomes to explore more thoroughly; add-ons to the base and island; clues and items found in previous months to put together; science and magic and good old heavy lifting to apply; sea creatures to chat up -- or, perhaps, some Valentines to plan for!

What are you up to, Subnautica crew?]

((as always, please check out the monthly ooc post to see what’s going on! feel free to use this post for whatever activities/missions/shenanigans you desire.))

Comments

precursor translation | labs/library; open

[oneandmikleonly]

[There’s a bit of alien translating going on in the labs, although it’s as slow-going as learning a new language typically is. A large section of the tables has been cleared of experiments and replaced with books pulled from the library and sheets of scrap paper that are scribbled on all over. Mimi’s ever-valuable Precursor rosetta stone is being passed around the table as notes are jotted down and sections of text are tediously put into a more understandable language. There’s no flurry of activity associated with this task, only the vague and unhappy grumbling “That doesn’t make sense” and “What does that even mean...”

But there are worse ways to pass the time, surely. Are you helping decode? Bringing snacks in for a snack break? Or just peering over someone’s shoulder?]

ota

[superseding]

[ Languages are not Hotaru's forte, so she's here as support more than anything else. She comes bearing a tray with tea and snacks, which she sets out of the way of all the paper and books. ]

Please take a rest when you have the time. A refreshed mind is better than a tired one.

[ Of course, she is only 50% sure that she's heard and even less sure that she'll be listened to. No one on this base likes to rest much, she's witnessed. ]

[mistimed]

[SHE HEARD YOU, HOTARU. Food makes her listen.

Horō is taking her time with the translation. The codex and Naomi's notes make the process simple, if tedious, but she'll roll back to the same phrase two or three times again, with and without the notes activated, trying to gather as much knowledge as possible.]

Salutations, Hotaru. Thank you for the food. I am well equipped to handle a long vigil, but I am quite famished. Please have some as well.

[Preferably quickly, because Horō just stuffed a snack into her mouth and is letting it hang partially from her mouth, handlessly eating it bit by bit as she continues playing with the data.]

[superseding]

Salutations. I ate some before I came, so eat as much as you want. I can bring more later.

[ Somehow, the way Horo eats is incongruous with her image, but Hotaru doesn't think it's a bad thing, just an idiosyncrasy. ]

Are you making good progress?

SHE SAID SALUTATIONS TOO....GOOD GIRL

[mistimed]

I see. You are very generous.

[In that case...two more snacks. At once.]

Yes. It would go much faster, except I am attempting to learn the language for myself. I believe it may be helpful later.

[...Another snack.] Did you make these yourself?

she wants to humor the robot

[superseding]

Oh! If you do become fluent, a lot of mysteries could be solved.

[ Hotaru shakes her head. ]

I didn't make all of them, only some of them. Some were pre-made, and others were extras left out for anyone to take.

[ She is glad Horo is a healthy eater, though. A nourished mind is a ready one. ]

she's a good good girl

[mistimed]

Yes, that's what I am hoping. But it is not an easy task. Even with a very knowledgeable tutor, it took me some time to learn another language before.

[And for once, her thoughtfulness is enough to make her stop eating. She puts her hand down, swallows what remains of her current snack, and looks back at the codes.]

Regardless, all of the information we have about the language is based on the scientific research this woman conducted. There will be many missing pieces. [Hotaru's snacks, of course, are the best, being the freshest, and she'll make a beeline for more of those after she finishes speaking.]

lava base hunt | lava vents; open

[oneandmikleonly]

[Desperation and a desire to help have spurred on the crew dedicated to finding the Emperor and her children--time is now of the essence, and thousands of years is quite long enough to be stuck inside of an alien base. Those who can fit into the submarine squeeze on in, and those who do not need its protection to swim into the hot lava vents are wished luck before they embark on their mission.

It’s a large area to explore, even having already mapped some of the area previously. Even within the submarine the heat is stifling and the close quarters don’t help anyone’s mood. Those on the outside, should they be lacking a strong resistance to heat, aren’t faring much better, but at least they’re not stuck in a sub.]

[imsorey]

[the sub is small, but even then it's too small to fit through some spaces--spaces they're not even sure they need to get to in order to finish all of their searching. luckily they don't have to check every nook and cranny in the sub.]

Hey, Sanson, can you try that space down there? If it doesn't go through then we can leave it alone.

[lamortespoir]

[ Sanson has a relatively small repertoire of abilities, but he's glad that they can still be of use. He can't do impressive feats of magic, but maybe this is enough. ]

I will go take a look.

[ If he can't materialize on the other side, it's likely a dead end. In a second Sanson vanishes as he shifts into spirit form, letting himself phase through the sub and down to the crevice below.

Sorey should be able to feel his presence, how he circles downwards for a good two to three minutes before returning to the sub and appearing on it again. Since he didn't materialize outside, he's still try. ]

It seems to have a route down, but there was not enough space for me to phase back to look at it.

[oneandmikleonly]

Hm, if you don't have enough space we might want to try and find an alternate path. This is complicated...

[they've got sensors and things on the sub, but some things just still aren't entirely comfortable for boys who hadn't known computers existed a year ago. Mikleo leans over to mark the crude map he's drawing instead, noting that there is a gap but not something large enough to pass a vehicle through...]

Unless you could feel any gaps? Maybe if it's safe to break through the rock at a weak point...

[imsorey]

[peering over Mikleo's shoulder at the map, his eyes searching for a place to guide Sanson]

We shouldn't need to make a way through if there was one in the first place, but given how long ago that might have been...things could have shifted or caved in. Sanson, can you tell how far down it goes at all? Like if there's a place to phase through past that point? If we know it keeps going in we could try to open up the path to get us through, or find an alternate route that connects to it.

[lamortespoir]

[ That sounds like a reasonable idea. ]

I would leave the blasting to the both of you, as I still lack the strength. But I hope we do not have to come to that. I will look again.

[ Phasing out of the physical plane, he dives down through the rocks. Most of them are clustered quite tightly, so it takes him about three minutes to reply, telepathically this time - ]

There is an open space deeper down. It seems to be a cavern, where I can occupy it. It seems to have an entrance, but it opens to the south.

decontamination station | base/island; open

[oneandmikleonly]

[With the threat of the Carar looming over them as the crew begin to go out of their way to locate contaminated areas and animals, a way to prevent the disease from spreading within the base again is essential. The more technologically-and-constructionally-savvy members of the crew are enlisted to help with the creation of scanners and decontaminators for the water base and island base.

All of the information needed to make scanners is readily available at the clinic, which lists all of the known information on the Carar and its various strains. Decontaminators will take more time, but the vaccine used to make the Carar go dormant is just as readily available for testing and implementation. If there’s one place the disease shouldn’t spread by the time this is done, it’s the base. URSULA and the drones are always available to assist, and if you want to hand someone a welding torch, well, that’s probably fine too.]

planet cleanup | WHEREVER; open

[oneandmikleonly]

[There’s a lot of man-made stuff lying around Iniidae’s oceans and biomes: abandoned bases galore including the ones in the Shroom Caves and Grand Reef, the main Aurora wreck, the Narcissus wreck, various large chunks of the Aurora scattered when it crashed, smaller campsites and caches left by crews of ships like the Degasi and Nostromo -- heck, it’s possible not even all of the Aurora lifepods in the Kelp Forests have been entirely cleaned up from where they landed.

At least the objective here is easy. If it’s just wreckage that doesn’t do much good where it is? You might find yourself out with a dismantling party in a plethora of robotic diving suits and the Seamoths, taking salvageable material back to base to be used in other projects and disposing of the rest cleanly.

If it’s too big to remove entirely (the Aurora wreck) or can be useful as a stopping point left as is (the deep bases, perhaps?) Then you might find yourself doing a kind of weird undersea gardening/building combo instead, carefully repairing the structure and also applying living plants and coral to the outside to integrate it more into the Iniidae landscape.]

[intranslatability]

[ one of the benefits of being a cyborg with military upgrades and enhancements?

you can lift. you can lift quite a lot.

so that's what ada is doing at the wreck of aurora, taking her time to pull out the heavier, twisted scraps of metals and debris to clear a path for others. (after getting the go signal to pull out said debris. don't want to wreck the already fragile and ruined infrastructure as it is.)

at some point, she accidentally cuts her hand open when getting some scraps out of the way. the too sharp edges of the scrap slices through synthetic flesh, exposing the strange machinery and wires that were hidden just beneath the deceptive surface.

ada wastes no time in showing her displeasure in this. ] -Shit!

[ not again. she just got this fixed a few months ago too. ] Hey. Pass me my pack, will you? I need to get this patched up.

[superseding]

[ Hotaru does her best at undersea gardening on the Aurora. It's not something she's an expert at, but her time gardening on the island has given her more experience to try this out. She makes sure to be out of the way of most of the debris, but she's still close enough to hear Ada.

She opens her mouth to offer to heal until she sees the machinery and immediately switches gear. She finds the pack and offers it to Ada. ]

Here you go. Is there anything else you need?

[ Hotaru can do first aid, but does that apply here? ]

[intranslatability]

I suppose hoping you have some medical thread lying around is too much to ask?

... Thanks, by the way. I owe you one. [ see, eve? she can remember her manners.

she presses her hand over the wound- not to stem any fluids coming out, thank god, but just to keep it out of sight. wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world to see. (especially for eve who was getting twitchy just a few seconds ago. urgh.) ]

[superseding]

Oh! I do. Please wait a little.

[ Her healing magic can only go so far, and she can't always depend on it when she wants to be a doctor in the future. She's been taking lessons from Sanson and she's taken to carrying some first-aid supplies when away from the base. Cyborgs are out of her realm of knowledge, however.

Hotaru opens the pouch at her side and pulls out suture thread, offering it. ]

And it's nothing much. I'm just glad I can be of some help even if it's only giving you stuff.

[ex_resound725]

[PLANTS]

[To help heal things, they need things that grow. They need to make the area part of nature, however they can. So every day, Zelda goes out either to the base island or Floater Island to look for plants to collect and bring back.

Perhaps she invited you to go with her, and took you along on her Loftwing, if you can't fly. Or maybe you come across her on either island, squatted down in the dirt and looking at a flower. In either case, she might look back up at you thoughtfully.]

Do you think this might grow well on the base?

[MAGICS]

[Of course, gardening is not the only solution. That's why Zelda can be found, every day, standing in one of the magical hotspots of the island. Light glows around her as she draws the energy into herself. The serenity of a goddess is in her expression.

Perhaps she asked you to help her. Or maybe, you are going to scream and accuse her of being an alien. Either way, there is work to be done.]

plants;

[aspearing]

[ Alisha is indeed one of the people who comes across Zelda while she's caring for the flowers. She remembers greeting her when she'd first come here, and it's rather good to see that she's doing well. ]

I believe that they will, given the proper care. Do you need any help? [ She's only read about properly taking care of plants, but this could be the chance to properly use that knowledge to help do just that. ]

[ex_resound725]

Yes, thank you! [She smiles warmly at Alisha, remembering the girl's kindness from her arrival.] To heal the damage we do to the planet, we're looking for plants that will graft well onto the exterior of the base.

[aspearing]

I see. That's a lovely plan, and one that'll prove to help the planet even more over time.

[ She offers a smile in response. It's... an admirable plan, to say the least. ]

[ex_resound725]

I hope so! [Zelda straightens up.] We just need to uproot some of these without damaging the roots, and then we can carry them safely back.

precursor base mk ii | mountain island; open

[oneandmikleonly]

[The Mountain Island Base is more readily accessible with the Warpers calmed down, and even more accessible now that they have a key to let themselves in. It’s incredibly similar to the Lost Island Base, but the contents themselves are unique and worth taking note of. One floor is dedicated to the research of disease (likely one disease in particular); another is focused on researching the creatures of the planet. There are a few tubes containing sleeping specimens that don’t appear to be infected.

Another level shows a hologram of the planet as it looked in the past, with more islands dotting its surface; farther up there is a terminal to interact with and, for those hunting for information, a possible way to extract and decode more much-needed information.

The most concerning find of the base is the fourth floor, which looks to be full of weapons research. There is a variety of guns that are in stages of being perfected. The guns, though, aren’t as concerning as the hologram projections that show the planet glowing and that glow being honed into a laser-like beam that can be fired in any direction.

There’s plenty to see and to do--ransack the weapons floor, free the still-living animals, or maybe download all of the alien files and see how far they got with that Death Star project of theirs.]

((basic ooc mission info is here! please check in with the mods in the February OOC post rather than that one if you want to dig deeper on any of it.))