Humans weren't very good at being excluded, it seemed. Queen Administrator was perfectly content to spend dinnertime with the Crafting Club and collaborate on beetle-based Friends until Symbie finished integrating the new datapad into Host. QA's happiness levels suffered a significant drop shortly after completion. Apparently, while the process was ongoing, Queen Administrator had received a trio of messages from the older of the two Rokusabes in Perth Valkyrie Academy. QA learned the human's personal name in the process:
Yukari.
To: Taylor Hebert
From: Rokusabe Yukari
"I found Anna. She acknowledges that you may not have intended to flirt with her, but she'd really appreciate it if you didn't call her near-perfect, superior, etc. in the future. She vehemently disagrees with the assessment. She does admit she'd be interested in further collaboration, though."
To: Taylor Hebert
From: Rokusabe Yukari
"Trust me, it's for the best; she was found alone up in Alaska with signs of this being a recent change. 'What if I'd been better' is a common refrain among such survivors. This information is classified; do not distribute it, and do not ask her about it."
To: Taylor Hebert
From: Rokusabe Yukari
"I can see that the Crafting Club has basically kidnapped you — I'd like it if you told me how THAT happened — but for future reference, it's really rude to skip out on other people without saying goodbye beforehand. Koujirou and Setsuna were interested in getting to know you better."
Queen Administrator frowned. She understood Anna's problem and had frequently encountered it among shards who'd regretted the underutilization of a given host, felt they'd misapplied resources, or recently had Broadcast loudly harass them. They usually recovered within a few Cycles, though. She had no idea how long it would take for Anna Sanchez to realize that perceived inadequacy could simply be countered by further improvement. Unless humans handled such things very differently? QA supposed it might be different among species who simply couldn't compensate for lost chances given sufficient time.
"Why the long face, Pure-chan?" Asia asked.
Tamara raised her arms and curved them in a gesture likely intended to ask if further hugs were necessary. Queen Administrator hastily shook her head. It'd taken her almost five minutes to escape last time and the resulting attention from other non-hosts was mildly embarrassing. She didn't know why Host's body felt embarrassed, only that it did.
Rather than swarm Queen Administrator with a barrage of concern she would need to address individually, the rest of the Crafting Club continued to work on the head-sized beetle-Friend design originally provided by Queen Administrator. Their decision not to overwhelm her presented yet more proof that they deserved personhood.
"Is nobody else worried about this?"
"Nah, the little antennae look like they'll be all cute and expressive n shit."
"We're basically making a swarm of shield drones, though."
"It'll be
fiiiiine~"
"That's what they said when Indra appeared."
"Okay,
wow, not funny."
"I wasn't
trying to be funny. Antagonists have a habit of imitating human forces and miniaturized shielding could—"
"—Could give Command a chance for widespread deployment before Pure-chan actually needs to face Antagonists in battle?"
"…Okay, fair enough."
"And I'm not sure
shield is really accurate when the field is really only good against lasers."
"Yeah, kinetic projectiles and high-energy plasma will punch right through."
"I really do think we should collaborate with the Electronics Club on these, though. Tying code changes to Taylor's ID is
brilliant."
"The only reason it works is that the ID self-modifies upon copying attempts. Mildly improved drones aren't worth the integration time and complexity increase."
"Besides, Type-18s could still spoof their sensors and jam command attempts even if direct subordination would be tricky."
"Propulsion systems might be salvageable, though."
Queen Administrator frowned and decided to ignore the other worthy-Valkyries for the time being. She'd send them a better Friend template after handling emotional maintenance.
"The girl I complimented, Anna Sanchez, has allegedly requested that I avoid acknowledging her superiority," Queen Administrator relayed.
"Additionally, she has not directly responded to my messages; context suggests that she may be displeased."
An as-yet unnamed CC member straightened and turned a strange smile on Queen Administrator. QA suspected it may have been the one who previously admitted to enjoying the company of members of the Gardening Club, but wasn't certain. Before the human could even open her mouth, Tamara held up her arms in an X shape while Asia leveled a displeased glare toward the unnamed human.
"No," Asia said simply.
The unnamed female pouted and turned back to the CC's discussion. Tamara and Asia soon relaxed and turned their attention back to Queen Administrator.
"Different people come from different backgrounds," Tamara explained. "She might become uncomfortable when other girls compliment her, have had a manipulative boyfriend whom praise reminds her of, feel that she doesn't deserve it, have
lost someone who used to compliment her, dislike the idea that she might be better than other people…"
"Adolescence is a rocky road at the best of times; it's best to just let her therapist handle it," Asia added. "Speaking of which, what did you mean by 'superiority?' Did you mean appearance, or...?"
Queen Administrator considered the question. Without Anna before her, it was difficult to articulate all the elements QA found pleasing. QA would need to relay surface details and hope she could recall the rest.
"Approximately," she agreed.
"Anna's form and behavior appear optimized for Valkyrie Frame usage and sustained combat deployments. On the trip over, she continuously adjusted her balance to be better capable of rapid maneuvering should our transport be attacked. Her pathfinding algorithms and execution achieved the optimal balance between rapid movement and excessive energy expenditure. Her Innovation abilities exceed those of the Crafting Club."
"Hey now," Asia objected.
Queen Administrator held up a hand to request a temporary hold on supplementary conversations. She knew from experience that human interactions had a tendency to veer away from the primary topic should she allow interruptions.
"Her reflexes are impeccable."
"Reflexes?" Tamara interrupted.
Queen Administrator consulted her mental list and decided it hadn't been an interruption after all. Those were all the elements she was allowed to articulate; Anna's suitability as a host touched upon forbidden subjects.
"I attempted to nonlethally attack Rokusabe Yukari after she implied Symbie was defective," QA admitted.
"Anna blocked the blow, and I subsequently learned that Yukari could have personally done so. It was a failure of threat assessment that will not occur again. However, Anna and I were able to productively collaborate on a sensor design after a period of displeasure and I have already been instructed not to attack humans again."
The other members of the Crafting Club went conspicuously silent and expressed a variety of unidentifiable emotions. After a slight delay, they looked to one another in the manner that likely reflected private communications.
"I don't think there'd be many Valkyries comfortable with the idea of being 'optimized' for combat," Tamara eventually ventured.
That's part of the problem.
"But even if you think they should be," Asia quickly added, "all of what we said about compliments still remains valid. If they don't make someone happy, then you shouldn't bother with them. Shouldn't bother complimenting them, I mean. The people might be fine."
"Why don't you try gifts instead?" the still-unnamed Gardening appreciator simultaneously asked and suggested. "We
are the Crafting Club, you know. You shouldn't give anyone a pet as a present
unless they're int—"
Tamara clamped her hands over
Queen Administrator's Host's ears, ignoring the whine of clashing Impeller fields. Host's body flinched. QA considered rolling away or extruding Symbie, but ultimately decided against it. Symbie's sensors still allowed uninterrupted observation of the ongoing conversation and humans attacking each other was apparently still discouraged even when all involved parties were warriors.
"You are
absolutely not finishing that thought," Tamara hissed. "Taylor is
fifteen, and no, I don't care what depravities you engaged in at that age. You should be ashamed of yourself, Kaja, and don't you dare turn
that into an innuendo."
The now-named Kaja smiled. She didn't look as though she regretted whatever sin apparently had half the Crafting Club viewing her with varying degrees of anger and disgust.
Archival note: Ask what Kaja did wrong so that future enemies may be framed for it.
"You already did it for me," Kaja claimed. "As I was saying — get your hands off Pure-chan's ears, Tamara, I'll behave — pets generally make for poor presents. People are primed to view perceived neglect with guilt, animals aren't as adorably attached to you if you're not the one feeding them, etcetera. You could do it if you talk to her first, though."
"You just want to one-up Santiago," Asia loudly whispered.
"You don't?" Kaja fake-whispered back.
Queen Administrator mentally translated their words into proper communications, determined that
'one-up' referred to a desire to demonstrate superiority, and decided that the academy may have more conflict than anticipated. They merely encouraged it against rival sub-factions of humans instead of other students. She still didn't think it was enough, though; despite Santiago's creation, the Crafting Club clearly hadn't viewed combat unicorns with interest until QA approached them.
"If 'Santiago's' unicorn models frequently develop self-damaging growths, then we should not aim to merely create a better version; doing so would be pitifully easy. A combat-viable model would be a better demonstration of our superiority."
Tamara choked on her food as her body apparently tried to simultaneously eat and express amusement. Queen Administrator felt an uncomfortable stab of pity for humans. Their lack of control over their own bodily processes ensured that they couldn't even consume nutrients safely.
"I can't decide if we've created a monster or art," Asia murmured, then reverted to a normal volume. "Taylor? The idea of a viable combat unicorn is amusing, true, but I don't think it's worth pursuing to that extent. Really, drones in general can't match up to a Valkyrie in her element. They're good for reconnaissance, area control, and killing low-level Antagonists, but they're little better than skeet against stronger foes. Besides, do you really want your Emotional Support Companion to come home covered in Antagonist bits or to even get killed?"
Queen Administrator tried to shift her features to express exasperation. Judging by the sudden onslaught of giggling around the table, her attempts were unsuccessful. She ceased the attempt and aimed for mere disagreement.
"Valkyries are just manned drones. Additionally, Friends coated with the dust of robotic enemies are adorable. It indicates a prior demonstration of loyalty by removing foes capable of harming their mommy. The only downside is possible inclusion of this powder into respiratory systems."
Nearly all of the present Crafting Club members stopped their activities to look at Queen Administrator with raised eyebrows.
"Well, that's a take," Asia murmured.
"No, not really," Tamara disagreed. "It's like saying that the 'gifts' cats bring home are cute, only applied to Antagonists instead of mice or whatever."
"Or to bringing cutlery," Kaja agreed. "My partner couldn't breathe, I was laughing too hard."
There was a brief pause.
"Don't you mean–" an unnamed Crafting Club member began.
"No, she didn't, and don't encourage her!" Tamara hissed, her face bright red with anger. "Do we have to get Pure-chan a restraining order?"
"She has to hear about the nerds and the knees sooner or later," Kaja claimed, notably not answering the question.
The fraying willpower of the collective Crafting Club finally broke. Several of those present turned red, although QA noticed that the apparently furious individuals
weren't louder than the others during the subsequent outburst. Queen Administrator may have been misinterpreting the facial recoloring.
"Get out."
"Seriously, Kaja, what did we say about you being allowed to corrupt her?"
"Her life has enough romcom shenanigans without you adding to them."
"Taylor? Please just ignore everything that comes out of Kaja's disgusting heathen mouth."
"And don't say it's something she needs to know, because she doesn't."
Kaja opened her mouth, hesitated, and shrugged.
"Fine, fine, I'll behave. But on a
totally unrelated note: Taylor, it's been nice meeting you, but you should probably go and meet your roommate before it gets too late. Tamara, I'm guessing you'll—"
"Yeah, I'm going with her," Tamara interrupted. "Taylor, I get that you seem to value combat-readiness and efficiency, but please
try not to be too harsh on your roommate? Some of those in your year-group might have combat experience, but most of them are going to have only been Valkyries for a short period of time. You should try to encourage them instead of attacking them."
"'Be the change you want to see' and all that," Asia added.
"Humans aren't made to tolerate drastic changes in short periods of time," Kaja noted. "You're better off easing them into things so they don't get too uncomfortable. You can help them make progress, just don't try for too much at once, yeah?"
There was a lull in the conversation as several members of the Crafting Club, Tamara included, looked suspiciously at the recently-unfavored Valkyrie-human. Several seconds passed before Tamara voiced what was likely the majority opinion.
"You're pushing your luck," Tamara accused.
"I prefer to think of it as..."
Kaja trailed off as Tamara tried pulling Queen Administrator away with the crackle of opposing Impeller fields. The shard shrugged the Valkyrie off and shook her head.
"I still have yet to finish eating."
Tamara immediately flinched and stepped away from Queen Administrator. The Valkyrie appeared far unhappier than such an alert should justify and QA honestly didn't understand why. At least the subsequent apology seemed to indicate that such displeasure wasn't entirely aimed at QA.
"Sorry. I'll be back with dessert, I guess."
"Strawberries?" Kaja suggested innocently.
Queen Administrator did not understand why the suggestion garnered glaring from half the table. Was there some arbitrary local restriction against consuming strawberries? She hoped there wasn't. Host hadn't gotten to eat them very often, but they were an ingredient in multiple foods QA had previously enjoyed.
~ ~ ~
Half an hour later, Queen Administrator stood in the doorway to her shared bedroom and examined the interior. Half of the room was dull and devoid of any significant decorations. The other half—even the bed!—was very,
very pink, complete with a pink-haired adolescent. Queen Administrator was fairly certain that was not a natural human hair color. Still, QA had no intention of questioning her roommate's cosmetic choices; unlike Host, QA preferred conspicuous colors over the alternative.
"Hello, roomie!" the human cheerfully called. "Taylor, right? It's nice to meet you! I'm Monica. Looking forward to tomorrow?"
Queen Administrator tilted her head and tried to make sense of the question. Humans couldn't perceive time; they couldn't align themselves to face a specific date.
"I do not understand the question," Queen Administrator admitted.
Monica closed her mouth and blinked. The human first aligned her head to look at Tamara before trying to respond.
"Are you—oh. English isn't your first language, is it?"
"I understand the definitions of the words," QA protested.
"They are simply nonsensical when used in that context."
"Protip: Use your datapad to look up anything you don't understand," Tamara advised. "English isn't one of those languages that you can always take literally. Anyway, hi; I'm Tamara, one of Pure-chan's designated protectors. Give me a call or stop by the Crafting Club if you're having any troubles with one another. Sorry about the automated message if you do show up; just ignore it. Do
not use Taylor as a baseline for how you should be progressing in combat classes or how Valkyrie Cores are supposed to behave, and Taylor, don't be surprised if you progress faster than everyone else. Got it?"
Queen Administrator immediately nodded to signal understanding. She wouldn't be surprised. She would, however, be rather disgruntled if she couldn't encourage others to go faster. Simple proximity and availability meant that Monica would make a good starting test subject.
Monica, on the other hand, did not immediately agree. Instead, her brow furrowed with apparent confusion. A second later, she grabbed her datapad and began swiping across the screen in a likely attempt to alleviate said confusion. QA took the opportunity to turn 90 degrees and back away from Tamara so that the shard could view both
non-hosts humans at once. It was strange to speak with Tamara without actually looking at her.
"So, I'm assuming she's supposed to be 'Pure-chan,'" Monica acknowledged, "but isn't it a bit early to make that sort of judgment call? Her public profile says she hasn't even gotten in any flight hours or sim time yet. Not that I'm the sort to get jealous if she
is pretty good, but it still seems premature to say something like that, especially if she's struggling with a new language at the same time."
"Pure-chan is a fr—er,
anomaly of nature," Tamara drawled. "Also, I'd like to emphasize that those are the flight hours we
know about. There's a reason that little plus sign is next to all her stats. Basically, personal circumstances mean there's a lot of mystery surrounding your new roomie. It's up to her to decide whether or not she wants to share those with you, but think of her as needing to adapt to a new Valkyrie Core more than being totally new. And, uh, try to get everyone to cut her some slack on the socialization front; it's not her fault she's a bit off."
Queen Administrator's nose wrinkled involuntarily.
"Technically, it is my fault," Queen Administrator corrected.
"There are no rules or unsolvable physical limitations preventing me from properly understanding human interactions or even from accessing past memories in general. My skills are simply insufficient at this time."
Both other humans established eye contact before deciding to engage in a rather obvious coded conversation. Monica tilted her head slightly, Tamara shook her head, Monica raised her eyebrows, and Tamara shrugged. QA honestly had no idea what that particular sequence was meant to communicate and she didn't appreciate feeling clueless.
"Yeaaah," Tamara began slowly. "I'm going to mostly let your therapist sort out that whole mess, but I will say that I don't really agree with basically anything that just exited your mouth. 'Not yet knowing how to do something' is a perfectly valid reason for not finishing it."
"Seconded," Monica added unhelpfully. "Especially if you're coping with amnesia or something else along those lines. That's like—"
The human stopped and lightly bit the skin of her lip. QA guessed that the low processing speed of humans made it difficult for Monica to find an adequate comparison before other conversational participants noticed the time lag.
"Like blaming
everyone for not inventing some kind of superweapon that can kill all Antagonists in one go," Monica eventually concluded.
Queen Administrator's mouth curved into a frown. She
knew it wasn't the same situation, but insufficient access to her archives made it difficult to contradict the two humans. In the absence of a proper argument, she elected not to engage at all and silently stomped over to her new bed.
"…Shouldn't you at least remove your shoes first?"
QA dragged
her Host's heels against the footrest, kicked off the offending items, and went back to ignoring everyone else present. She hated it when she couldn't tell people why they were wrong.
At least she'd get to see Anna in classes tomorrow.
~ ~ ~
"The first annual meeting of the Dating Advice and Matchmaking club is hereby called to order!"
"I'm pretty sure that's not what 'annual' means."
"Calling anything involving us 'orderly' is a bit of a stretch…"
"Especially when I haven't even unpacked yet. Do we have to do this, like,
tonight?"
"Hush. Now, our sisters-in-arms in Big Sister have—"
"Eww. Do we need to involve an intelligence agency
again? That takes, like, more than half the fun out of it. Where's the joy in taking candid photos when they already have cameras everywhere?"
"Look, we can either quibble about my sources or I can tell you about the hopeless maiden among the freshies, Pure-chan."
