Chapter 51: Actions Have Consequences
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Special thanks to @saganatsu, @DB_Explorer, @fictionfan, @Adephagia, @DaGeek247, @Wordsmith, @LonelyWolf999, Jamie Wahls, @Elfalpha, @BunnyLord, @Drcatspaw, and my 18 other patrons not mentioned here. An extremely enthusiastic "Thank you" to @Torgamous for her patronage as well. Also, if you're not on here, you fit the tier, and you want to be added, please tell me. >.>
Unbeta'd; We di liek fools
Unbeta'd; We di liek fools
Friend unit <Sympathizer Falna-Friend Version 16.1c (Final) || Felicity> continued consuming energy-containing crystalline structures provided by allies of <Primary Priority || Sword Princess (est. Version 1.0) || Aiz Wallenstein>. Previously shared information from Friend unit <Guest-self Panther Guardian Version 34.7d || Lady Sable> indicated that abundances of such supplies were not easily available after creation. Long-term modeling therefore indicated that improved personal combat viability would result in a net positive emotional impact despite minor short-term emotional disturbances experienced by <Aiz Wallenstein>.
Friend unit <Felicity> stopped chewing as the emotional status of <Aiz Wallenstein> began degrading at a significantly higher rate than could be compensated for by the positive impact of <Falna Supplementary Program || Emotional Support Organism>. Likely cause(s): perceived neglect, jealousy, insufficient confidence in Friend unit <Felicity>'s priorities. Friend unit <Felicity> therefore rolled its local extension to an upright quadrupedal orientation and blinked at <Aiz Wallenstein>.
Rate of emotional deterioration experienced a moderate decrease in magnitude, but did not halt. Friend unit <Felicity> unhappily logged the lack of success for future analysis; such actions had previously been satisfactorily successful. Nearby members of <Primary-Allied Faction: Loki Familia> may be responsible for the decrease in effectiveness despite their status as alleged allies to <Aiz Wallenstein>. This hypothesis was flagged for future analysis and possible action.
Additional measures would be necessary. Friend unit <Felicity> calculated the distance and local conditions between its local extension and <Aiz Wallenstein>, adjusted the hindquarters of its local extension until an adequately stable launching pad was established, and launched itself toward <Aiz Wallestein>'s shoulder. Insufficient modeling of flying crystal shrapnel resulted in minimal damage to those behind Friend unit <Felicity>, but the overall environmental emotional impact remained within estimated limits both before and after the commencement of post-landing nuzzling.
More importantly, both <Aiz Wallenstein> and nearby members of the <Loki Familia> appeared delighted by Friend unit <Felicity>'s actions. Friend unit <Felicity> was happy that it had succeeded in returning <Aiz Wallenstein> to a healthier emotional state, and the action combination was logged for future reuse.
~ ~ ~
Bell Cranel knocked on the door of the Hestia Familia's church and waited.
And waited.
And knocked again instead of waiting more, because he didn't want his basket of apology lokma to get cold. He hadn't personally eaten lokma all that often, but they were fried and he was pretty sure that most fried foods weren't half as good once they cooled down. Admittedly, a half-ruined apology seemed a bit appropriate for him; he still didn't know what he'd done to upset Queen Administrator when they'd first met, only that he'd done so.
He'd been pushy and selfish, too. He'd
He knocked a little harder and eeped as the door cracked open. He hadn't hit it that hard, had he? The doors were massive! Surely the makers of the church had invested in proportionately large locks?
Bell tentatively pulled the door open a little wider to glance at its side. Urk. He didn't think the lock was broken, exactly, but it seemed too small for the doors and more than a little rusty. Age had worn away the, uh, bolt? Whatever it was called, he was pretty sure the ends were supposed to be angular and flat rather than rounded away by scratches and rough rust.
He guiltily glanced inside the church to see if anyone had seen his accidental act of vandalism. The sight before him didn't do anything to help his mood. The interior of the church was dark and gloomy, with shadows that seemed to shift in the breeze. Half-boarded windows allowed bloody beams of light to illuminate row upon row of broken pews and half-torn curtains. Faint creaking and rustling were almost certainly caused by the wind, but what if they weren't?
Bell wasn't going to immediately conclude that it might be haunted, but it looked haunted. Monsters, he felt he could handle; Ottar was scarier. Ghosts? You couldn't stab a ghost, and running from one seemed as though it would be absolutely awful. He would need to waste time turning corners while they floated right through the wall.
He tried to push the door shut and whimpered as it promptly creaked open again. Nope, he'd broken it after all. All he'd wanted to do was spar with someone else new, but first he'd done something to upset an actual queen and it seemed like he'd been cursed ever since. He hoped it wasn't an actual curse; those were supposed to appear on your Status, right? And he hadn't seen anything like that, or much of anything new at all. Really, it seemed that Freya was a little more disappointed in him every time she saw his status. She said otherwise and the rest of his Familia claimed he was doing incredibly well, but he still felt stuck. Hearing about Queen Administrator's daily accomplishments only reinforced that feeling.
He shook his head and slapped both cheeks. No, he wasn't cursed. He'd been the one to flee like a coward whenever Administrator was with other people. Maybe it had been dumb to assume she'd ever be alone; wasn't there something about a recent assassination attempt in the Dungeon? It would be stupid to leave anyone alone after something like that.
No wonder Administrator didn't think a spar was worth the trouble. Not with him. He was just an upstart kid who was literally challenging royalty, yet who regularly fled rather than face the Sword Princess or Amazon.
Bell took a deep breath, dumped a fistful of coins inside the basket to make up for the lock, and stashed his gift inside. The lock wouldn't keep the door shut, but there were a few rocks he could use for the same purpose. He tried to use little ones wedged all along the bottom to make it less obvious that they were all that was keeping it from creaking open again.
He only managed to make it a few steps away before guilt struck. If someone broke in while the Hestia Familia was gone and stole what little they had, then it would be his fault. He thought Freya's allowance would let him replace whatever was taken, true, but what if thieves stole heirlooms or other items of sentimental value? What if enemies set traps in their own homes?
The adventurer took a deep breath and tried to stand tall. So he couldn't follow his recent resolutions to kill as many monsters as he could manage. Fine. He could still practice his forms and footwork, and then do his utmost to catch up.
Friend unit <Doom Doorway 2.4c (Finalest) || Durin> watched the would-be intruder with a faint feeling of disappointment. The interloper been so close to passing within the permitted area of engagement! But alas, it was not to be. He continued to lurk outside and well out of range, frightened away by the siblings of <Durin>.
<Durin> was made to watch and ward away any who were foolish enough to trespass upon the Origin's home, and to be satisfied with that duty. However, it knew that it would be happier if it had been able to accomplish the second reason behind its creation.
Come just a little closer, bunny…
~ ~ ~
"Are you certain that you should be coming with us?" Aiz ventured.
I don't think this is a good idea, Lili mentally translated.
The former pallum clung to Lady Sable and avoided looking at the subtle bulge protruding from a nearby wall. Lili would need to introduce Aiz to her new riding bird, Stymph, once they were safely within the Dungeon. Until then, it was nice to know that Stymph's camouflage was still enough to fool adventurers even if it wasn't true invisibility.
"Lili can't afford to take time off," the newly-converted shard said honestly. "Lili needs to adapt, and stress might help Lili adapt faster. Queen Administrator's Friends will make sure Lili isn't injured too badly."
The fact of the matter was that Dreamer had done too good a job of letting Lili adapt. The senses that she couldn't handle were noticeably muted or dulled with every passing hour, and her runaway thoughts stopped running without her input. Bit by bit, Lili was returning to normality rather than adapting to adversity. It was unacceptable. Lili hadn't changed races and sacrificed years of her life so she could give up all the advantages of becoming a Shard. Certainly, her Skill was supposed to slowly reintroduce whatever Lili couldn't handle initially, but that still left her further and further back.
"I'm not positive it's worth your time if you're just going to have to adapt again," Aiz noted. "I'm not even sure my old lessons for Administrator still apply now that her balance is so dramatically different."
It took Lili a moment to realize the adventurer was actually being a little passive-aggressive. That might help explain why Aiz had handled their new appearances with only a surprised blink: the Sword Princess was trying to avoid appearing angry. Lili couldn't even blame her; Lili would probably be upset if she'd wasted her time on pointless training, too.
"My potential actions have already been corrected to accommodate my altered traits," Queen Administrator disagreed. "Meanwhile, Lili's few lessons focused on philosophical approaches rather than footwork and specific movements. I share your concern regarding Lili's decision to return so soon, but instinctual fears of bodily harm may help her adapt even if she is consciously aware of her own safety."
Lili suppressed her own sighs. Didn't Queen Administrator remember that they were supposed to be using threats against Lili as evidence against the Soma Familia? They couldn't manage that very well if the Hestia Familia did the same thing.
"…I could just pet her," Aiz offered, thoroughly derailing Lili's plotting. "That's something you usually try to avoid without being bad, isn't it?"
Lili looked up and forced her eyes to focus on the adventurer. Now that the new shard was actually looking, it seemed as though Aiz wasn't handling their transformations as casually as Lili thought she had. The veteran adventurer's eyes kept flicking to their ears and tails even if she tried not to let it show.
Worse, Queen Administrator actually seemed to be considering the query. Lili would admit that it might be an effective and physically painless training method, but it would be so embarrassing! And they were discussing the topic in public, no less! Lili could already pick out the distinctive sounds of cooing from several nearby eavesdroppers.
Of course they care now that Lili seems important. Lili is suddenly a person to them.
"I would prefer not to associate cuddling with avoidance," the Monarch said eventually. "Hestia wishes to acclimate her to hugs and signs of affection, not encourage her avoidance of imminent contact."
The cooing intensified. Lili wanted nothing more than to sink into Lady Sable's fur and vanish—okay, she also wanted to strangle the horrible adventurers who suddenly chose now to care, but that wasn't a viable option. Lili supposed it could be a little nice to have people view her with something other than disdain, but did they need to act so embarrassing...?
~ ~ ~
"Hestia!" Ma'at warmly greeted the goddess in question. "I was wondering when you'd stop by—but I must confess that I expected you to bring your other children along. I'm not sure someone as strong-spoken as Queen Administrator would be willing to deliver an apology she did not help create."
Hestia blinked and felt her heart sink. She and Dreamer had come to explore the legality of a Friend-based bodyguard service, not whatever Ma'at was referring to.
"Apology?"
Ma'at blinked.
"Oh, you aren't here for—oh dear. Ah, one moment, I made notes for this…"
The god of justice rifled though his oversized bag and produced both a pile of aged parchment, and a significantly smaller stack of fresh papyrus. The god glanced up at Dreamer and returned the older items to his bag.
"I've already been paid for an assessment that tangentially covers this," Ma'at continued, rifling through the notes and settling on one seemingly identical to the rest. "So this won't cost you anything. To be clear, Queen Administrator's prior curse was too carefully constructed to run afoul of even relevant endangerment clauses."
Hestia closed her eyes and tried to breathe normally. She knew a but was coming, and she had the sinking feeling that it would kill her Familia's best deterrent.
"However, that did not apply to this morning's actions," Ma'at continued. "It would be different if the Silence were an automatic effect, yet Dreamer has made it quite clear that she has control over its application. Inflicting it upon another Familia was a fairly clear-cut case of unsanctioned maleficium."
"He had already started to slander Lili!" Dreamer promptly protested.
The Spirit seemed surprised when Ma'at nodded in agreement.
"As it happens, the third Sore Loser agreement did implement grace periods in which recently transferred members of Familia are not to have their characters besmirched by former Familia members for a duration not less than two weeks. However, there are no relevant self-defense clauses; evidence of transgressions should be brought to the Guild, a council of the gods, and/or the god of the offending Familia."
Hestia blinked. This was literally the first time she'd ever heard—
"There have been no cases even trying to invoke that law for at least the last two centuries," Dreamer replied flatly, introducing a great big pile of questions to Hestia's list. "And unsanctioned maleficium was effectively merged into assault over three centuries ago. I most definitely do not violate the threshold for assault, and any laws that old are dead."
The goddess winced as Ma'at's eyes widened. She didn't know how Dreamer could be sure, but—there he goes. Not even two seconds passed before Ma'at rushed forward and sat beside the startled child, rifling through his bag to produce enough paperwork to make Hestia's hand cramp out of self-preservation. Sir Kara pointedly placed his tail between Ma'at and Dreamer before he could infringe even further upon Dreamer's personal space.
"You're the Spirit behind the original curse, aren't you?" Ma'at asked excitedly. "Lovely work, and I'm happy to know you tried to do your research. I knew that someone who respected and implemented rules within their own magic would be unlikely to knowingly flaunt the law in such a manner!"
Dreamer tilted her head and squinted at the God of Justice, apparently not sure if he was being sarcastic or not. Hestia forced a hand over her mouth to suppress her own laughter; she was fairly confident that the law wasn't even remotely one of Dreamer's considerations back then.
"Sadly," Ma'at continued with genuine disgruntlement, "some of the only redundant laws repealed by Orario's inhabitants are those pertaining to taxation. Groups with grudges have been known to successfully utilize outdated decrees even in the absence of recent precedent; the gods generally allow anything they find entertaining and have a lawful excuse for."
Hestia rapidly blinked and tried not to gape at him. The gods had wielded rules as weapons back in Heaven, too, but Ma'at had never noticed. Even that level of awareness indicated that the mortal realm had changed his outlook for the better. Ironic, considering that this very conversation was changing Hestia's opinions for the worse.
"Officially, your young age should protect you from your first two infraction-level maleficium convictions," Ma'at explained. "However, the claims of this morning are likely to have a notable effect on Soma's sales and thus translate into provable material harm. Sufficient damages could easily push it past infraction-level and lead to charges laid against your Familia Head—"
"Technically, I hadn't officially joined yet," Dreamer interrupted. "I still haven't, actually. I have zero intention of joining anyone else, but there's no Familia head to complain to. My back is still blank and everything."
Ma'at stopped, blinked, and squinted at one of the older pieces of parchment.
"I shouldn't fully assess the viability of that claim without a fee," Ma'at admitted. "In my non-professional role as an individual with prior experience researching Orario's laws, it does appear that maleficium's legal definition explicitly assumes at least the presence of a Falna. There appear to be clauses for those removed from a Familia, and for those with membership in a dissolved or defunct Familia. The latest copy does not contain any for those without any Falna at all."
Ma'at's tone seemed to imply that such a loophole could very well be viable. Hestia knew better. The fact that Ma'at had already been paid meant that someone was already paying him to look for legal avenues of attack on her Familia, or methods of defending against another Familia Curse. Or both. It was probably both.
Ma'at carefully returned his record to the pile and frowned over at Dreamer.
"Frankly, I'm shocked you were able to utilize such a powerful curse without–"
Ma'at stopped and appeared to mentally replay the prior conversation.
"My apologies. In my excitement, I made an assumption that you never confirmed. Still, I don't believe it wise for your Familia to use any additional spells or effects against other mortals in the absence of more legal research—except for in self-defense against physically violent action, of course. The fees for even minor transgressions could be devastating to a Familia of your size and age."
Hestia couldn't help but wonder why they should even bother. What was the point of more legal research when it sounded as though the other gods would just do whatever they wanted through outdated laws?
A small hand slipped into her own before Hestia could delve too far into despair.
"Hey," Dreamer said gently. "It's okay. Should the gods begin trying to use loads of old laws against us, they'll find that I'm a lot better at finding actionable content on all of them. The maleficium is an issue, but they're in it for entertainment, right? And what's more entertaining than seeing one's rivals get beaten by a little girl?"
The Goddess of the Hearth winced. That might get them through the immediate crisis, but it would also make them a pile of enemies. Her co-workers had never handled humiliation well up in Heaven, and nothing she'd heard indicated that they were any better on Earth.
"Thank you, but I think we should really try to avoid that if at all possible. Humiliating others is one of the best ways to make them into your enemies."
"Compromise never works well," Dreamer said primly, reminding Hestia that Dreamer was only reasonable when compared to Hestia's other children. "Sitting back and accepting their harassment would be a miserable death of a thousand cuts. Better to fight a smaller number of bigger battles than to tolerate the hostile environment cultivated by such attacks."
Hestia truly did not know where to begin with that. She wanted to disagree with such a confrontational tone, but Dreamer sounded as though she was speaking from experience. 'Hostile environment' certainly described everything Hestia had heard about the toxic culture and homeland of shards.
"Not to interrupt," Ma'at interrupted, "but I really should get back to work if you aren't going to retain my services."
Dreamer's neck whipped around at a speed which should have been impossible for a child without a Falna. Even if Dreamer and QA had likely designed their new bodies specifically to tolerate such abuse, Hestia's spine still ached in sympathy.
"No, I actually think we are. I'll publicly apologize so the others don't have to. You'll help make sure I don't admit to anything extra in the process."
The gleam in Dreamer's eyes was far too malicious for Hestia to feel at all reassured.
"Please don't fill it with 'I'm sorry for protecting my Familia member from your abuse,'" Hestia sighed.
The gleam vanished and Dreamer pouted adorably.
"That's no fun at a–" Dreamer paused. "No, wait. I can still work with this. Presentation is key."
"Dreamer."
"No, no, trust me! I'll behave, I'll make you proud, I'll make my sisters proud, and there won't be anything Soma can object to without looking even worse!"
"Dreamer."
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