Haha sorry for the wait folks. Finals are a bitch, ain't they? Well here's your update.
With the Host's Father out of the room, you decided to take the opportunity to communicate with your Host. 'Suggestion: Join the Wards.'
Your Host blinked at your suggestion before turning away with a small frown. "I don't know okay, I need time to think on it."
You began to list off some of the advantages of joining a Host Organization. 'Joint protection of property and kin, information on enemies, synergy with other Hosts' Powers, covering of mutual weaknesses.'
Your Host nodded and turned away again, crossing their arms over top each other. "I know, I'm thinking on it."
"What points need processing?" You with your far superior processing power should be able to help.
They shook their head. "Just the idea overall. The thought of being a hero, joining the Wards, my powers. The fact I have a Shard, who wants to learn from me, constantly in my head, talking to me. I just need time to think on it all." They finished with a sigh.
'Human processing speeds are quite slow. Should search out an upgrade when possible.' Hosts who seek to improve themselves are quite fun as well. Removing so many of their pesky limitations. Like Sleep.
Your Host seemed to become more alert at that. "I thought you said we couldn't affect organic stuff?"
'We can't. One of my Family might be able to.'
Your Host blinked in surprise once more. "So I could maybe get you to help other people with their powers?" A moment passed before they added, "Or cancel them?"
'We were not given any power over other Shards.' You reminded them.
Your Host shook their head. "No, not that I meant like, could you talk to them to do that stuff?" They asked with a shrug of their shoulders.
Oh, that's what they meant. 'We could, but we should not. Hosts are suppose to be largely autonomous, decreased corruption of data, and most other shards would probably consider our mother-given connection cheating."
You could sense confusion in your Host. "What… exactly does cheating mean to them?"
'Hosts are given restrictions on their power, to encourage creativity. However if one Patron cheats, gives their Host an unfair advantage, other Patrons will cheat in turn. Tends to lead to quite a lot of data collection, though only for a brief period before most of the Hosts expire.'
Your Host grimaced. "So getting you to talk to say Lung's Shard who's already a dangerous and powerful person, the Shard would say you're cheating and Lung gets a lot more dangerous in turn?" Your Host asked, moving their hands as they talked.
'If they think I'm cheating. Deals between Patrons do happen, if I present the scenario as just one of those, I might be able to convince them of something.'
"So what's these deals you all can make?" Your Host asked slowly.
'Whatever the other Patron agrees to. Obviously they are unlikely to agree to let you kill their Host.' You pointed out.
Your Host shook their head. "No, no, just less… killing of people overall."
'Convincing them to limit themselves to non-lethal measures only, as well as presenting the scenario in a natural way to their Host, would require some large concessions.' Probably would take getting your host to make themselves subordinate to theirs, if not more.
Your Host frowned with a nod. "Well I can just use my powers to put them in prison instead of that then I suppose."
'Termination is a far more effective means of neutralizing hostiles.'
Your Host's eyes widened before they rapidly shook their head. "No, I'm not going to try to kill people. Just the worst of them, like the Slaughterhouse Nine or the Endbringers." So your host is one of those. Oh well, another reason to join the Wards, added to the growing list on the wall. They paused for a moment, eyebrows creasing in thought before asking, "Shards are inside people's minds right? Can you figure out why the Endbringers are always just killing for no reason, by talking to their Shards?"
'I could, would need to know what Patron to talk to though.' From what little you've gathered from your Host's memories on them, sounds like they could be one of [ESCALATION]s host. They always did prefer large and destructive, and they have one host within the city, so they are active.
"Can you not just talk to them wherever?" Your Host asked, sliding down in their bed with another frown, eyes roaming over your list to the door, then jerking back again as they started to read it over. As they read more of the list they frowned more, before turning away and stating, "I get it, you want me to join the Wards and like I said I'm thinking." Their gaze flicked up to very first statement. "Besides there's rules about going after my kin and stuff."
You are more than capable of responding to all three of their statements, so you write out simultaneously 'There are many Patrons, very few of which are in this instance of reality, and odds are they would not respond to a general query.' 'Composing the list for future reference.' And 'Rules enforced by whom?'
Your Host was momentarily surprised as their gaze flicked to each piece of writing before settling on the leftmost one and gave a single nod to your response concerning your inability to converse with other Patrons. Then their gaze went to the second, the statement about your list and sourly said, "Well just keep it in mind for later, I don't need it standing out in gold, staring me in the face." Then finally their gaze went to your question. "Enforced by everyone. Go after a cape's family, enemies will team up to beat you. Ruin someone's secret identity, people gang up on you. Kill a lot of people like the Slaughterhouse Nine or other freaks, you get a bounty and everyone tries to hunt you down." They said as a list of their own.
If you Host wants to work on their multitasking, you won't stop them. Though they need to find a way to communicate several ideas simultaneously to really do so. 'Without input, how would you process the information? I am not yet capable of Direct Interface without causing Inflammation.' 'Have the Slaughterhouse Nine been stopped?'
They frowned more and sat up slightly. "I can process it myself, it's easier without someone pressuring me." Looked to your question. "Out of the all the members they've had only one of their original members is still alive. All the others died or are replacing someone else."
'Who's pressuring you?' No-one besides them was in the room, and most of your mass was in another dimension, so it couldn't have been pressing against your Host. As for their other point, you simultaneously wrote 'Yet there keep being more.'
"You are." Flick of the eyes. "Yet they all keep dying. The point is, only the worst and most insane of the bunch would go after me when not in costume and…" They paused for a second before stating, "I'm pretty sure none of the local villains here are that insane."
'How? Only a minuscule amount of my mass is in this dimension.' | 'Host species generally lack the capability to repair each other once terminated. As such, it'd only take a single instance to permanently remove your assets, or terminate you. Unless your kind have an unusual ability for healing.'
Your Host shook their head and looked to the door. "Just. Enough of the list and reasons okay. I'm thinking on it and I'll keep it in mind."
You dutifully remove your writings but first leave one more 'Final Suggestion: Study science. We were given power without understanding, and understanding is needed to maximize our ability.'
Your Host frowned slightly. "You make it sound like you don't understand the actual power you gave me."
"I understand the mechanics of the power itself, but were not given broader information. What would result from a material composed of fifty-four protons and eighty-nine neutrons with seventy-eight electrons orbiting, for example.'
Your Host cocked their head before shrugging. "I don't get how you can do it but don't know too much but alright I can ask Dad to bring me a book or something."
'You can change and rearrange matter.' You reminded them again. 'Transmutation is within your capability. And knowledge you should possess if you are to make best use of your powers.'
Your Host opened their mouth to reply before pausing and cupping their chin. A few moments before asking, "Transmutation like lead to gold?"
'Or into any other substance.' You confirmed.
Your Host took a few moments to process, before starting with a seeming realization. "I'm going to be rich." Sitting completely upright they looked all around the room. "So anything in here I can turn into gold or silver. Right?"
'You can not transmute the flowers or yourself. Your power does not apply to Organics.' You reminded them.
They sat up and turned to the plastic they had re-wrapped around the flowers earlier, unwrapping it in a similar fashion as before, and brought it before them. "So I can have you make this into gold, I can copy that and then I can make whatever into gold?" They asked with a smile.
'However, I do not know the composition of this 'gold'.'
They glanced to your writing then back to the plastic in front of them, again opening their mouth to reply before shutting it. Then again they opened their mouth to reply. "Right you're an alien or whatever, you probably don't call gold, gold where you're from." A moment. "So I need a book to explain the structure of gold or other things first then?"
'That is correct. Or you could attempt to figure out the structure yourself.' It's good when Hosts experiment.
Your Host slowly shook their head. "My power is anything to do with atoms and I've a good idea to how dangerous it might be for me to experiment with no idea for anything." They slowly rotated the plastic in front of themselves it changing shape as they messed with it. Then they rolled it into a ball and asked, "How do I transmute stuff in the first place though?"
'Focus on the atomic structure, and change it.' You'll handle most of the small details as usual, you just need to know what changes they want made.
"I can figure out the structure of things?" They asked looking around the room again and sending the plastic flying to land on a wall and stick there. "Just by thinking on it?"
'I don't know. Why don't you try?'
Your Host curled their lip before nodding and sending the plastic back around the flowers to wrap once more, then removed the covers from over top their legs. Then they crossed their legs over top each other, rested their hands on their knees and wiggled slightly before shutting their eyes and focusing. They tried to focus on everything around them, so you fed them all the information, and predictably they quickly cut off the feed snapping their eyes open, it being way more information than they could handle. There was even some very minor inflammation in their head.
"Ohhh-kay." Your Host said, a hand going up to their forehead and rubbing it, eyes shutting again "That's not something to work with."
'Try focusing on a particular substance, rather than everything.' You suggested.
"Yeah in a minute." Your Host muttered, rubbing their forehead more. But before they got a chance, the Host's Father stopped it's milling around in the adjacent room, and opened the door. Your Host then paid attention to their Father, presumably ending the period for experimentation. Oh well, there's always later.
Should there be a small time-skip?
[] Time-skip: A few days later, Taylor gets a visit from a Master of Arms.
[] No, more stuff now.
-[] Nighttime Experiments.
-[] Memory Digging.
-[] Chatting up the neighborhood.
-[] Take the Body for a ride when your Host falls asleep.