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It's not wrong to make Friends in the Dungeon (Danmachi / Sanctioned [Worm])

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@Alivaril
You can't just leave us on a cliffhanger like that, man! Taylor has finally entered the fray, and she's also high as a kite, which means that not only are the following shenanigans going to be hilarious, the aftermath will be just has hilarious once Taylor sobers up a realizes that her first impressions with everyone were embarrassing beyond belief.

I do have one small criticism, though: Taylor's childhood really wasn't bad at all until her mother died. Which was around...11 or 12 years old, IIRC? And she didn't have any body image/self-esteem issues until then.

Anyway, I hope that when the immediate shenanigans settle down, Taylor starts doing nice things for Hestia. Because she knows from firsthand experience just how important a responsible, attentive, loving parent is to a child, and she knows that Hestia clearly has a lot of work cut out for her.
 
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Bet: What comes earlier, someone trying to kidnap DreaTaylor, or someone seriously annoying Taylor? I bet on 'kidnapping'.
 
There's some part of me that wants to post that triple Q mashup with 'We all lift together'

But that isn't really on topic here so...

Can Dreamer edit to her body to put the sonic voice thingy? Also would something akin to Kirishima's(from MHA) unbreakable form be viable? Since it seems to just spontaneously skin by a LOT

Then again, why bother with an unbreakable alternate form when you already have a near unbreakable body?
 
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Chapter 42: Powered by Spite
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    • Special thanks to @saganatsu, @DB_Explorer, @fictionfan, @Adephagia, @Just_A_Knight, Mr. Silver, @DaGeek247, @ChaoticSky, @Wordsmith, and my sixteen other patrons not mentioned here. An extremely enthusiastic "Thank you" to @Torgamous for her patronage as well.

    Beta-read by @Vebyast.

    Author's Note: The color of Aiz's transitions will be gold instead of silver from here on out.

    EDIT: Oops, left in beta notes. Ignore those and refresh the page if you see them, please!


    ~ ~ ~​

    Lili had been expecting Dreamer to be a quiet, lethargic child prone to hiding behind people and generally avoiding any social contact. The reality didn't check any of those boxes. Dreamer only ever stopped talking when she breathed; even when her face was covered with the borrowed fabric of one of Lili's tunics, she still kept talking. Even Hestia looked a little overwhelmed, the goddess silently standing off to one side and wringing her hands as she watched Dreamer's war on silence.

    "—And I know that I'll need to alter the Guild records and maybe the ledgers of the Drunkard's Familia, but that's an easy fix and there are so many nice things I can give you in exchange for just a little regression. I know I'm breaking game balance worse than an emm-emm-oh designer, but seriously, society glorifies bad self-care habits in the name of working hard so I say the stupid adventurer's back-blessing deserves to be jailbroken even if that sounds kinda victim-blamey when I say it out loud—" Dreamer took another deep breath. "—And you don't need to worry about ending up like me; we can keep your reasoning intact if that's what you want. Me being like this is a combination of mental damage, the puppet-brain working as intended, and maybe some drugs that can be considered the medicinal kind if you tilt your head and squint a little. But only a little, because it's not like there are doctors specializing in shard mind damage around here and all the actual specialists are amoral headcases so self-medication is basically required no matter what's said by pushy alcoholics!

    "But anyway, do you want magic? I can do magic. Or skills. Or both, especially if you go really young. Your soul's story is way underrated and there's a lot I can do with it. You don't like being a pallum, do you? I've noticed you glaring at the biggest and bulkiest adventurers as we go by. If you don't want to be as little as me, I was thinking we could make that cat-person disguise of yours into the reality; they're approximately as dexterous and we wouldn't need to work very hard on a cover. I can even take the blame for disguise magic."

    Dreamer paused to breathe again. Hestia stepped forward, placed one hand in the small of Dreamer's back, and began steering the bouncing child upstairs.

    "You shouldn't overwhelm people until they feel compelled to agree, Dreamer. Especially not when it comes to life-changing decisions. Why don't we go wait for our visitors while Lili thinks about it?"

    Hestia glanced back at Lili and mouthed, 'You don't need to change. I'm really not convinced this is a healthy coping method.'

    "But New-Sister has serious self-confidence issues!" Dreamer argued. "She might feel better if I made her a demihuman-shaped Friend-body or gave her more overpowered blessings. Besides, Rabbit-Escalation is just going to lurk until Sympathizer shows up and rabbits! I should make Subjugator's former victims some Friend-rabbits. Except no, then people will be actively trying to breed them and self-replicating rabbit-Friends would be the most invasive—"

    The door shut on Dreamer's chattering with a definitive thump, leaving Lili alone with her thoughts. Despite the pallum's reflexive hatred of Dreamer's proposal, she had to admit that it was growing on her for a number of reasons that she couldn't actually share with Hestia. The primary motivator was sheer spite. Disguising herself as a younger child had often proved to be a useful cover, and even if she didn't need to steal from people anymore, she imagined a younger appearance would still be useful. Zanis could reveal her true age whenever he felt like it unless her appearance was actually accurate instead of a disguise. With altered Guild records, Lili could render any claims about her alleged true age into inadvertent lies and undercut any claims of thievery at the same time. After all, who could trust the head of a Familia who supposedly spent so much time drunk that they didn't even know the true age of their Familia members?

    She didn't want to go any younger than ten or so, but Lili suspected that an even younger age would turn it into a far more suitable sacrifice. Plus, the younger Lili appeared to be, the less willing Orario would be to accept an offensive against her. It was stupid, but people seemed to have an easier time ignoring a lifetime of abuse culminating in a damaged teenager than recent abuse against a child.

    Lili had been an elf, a pallum, a chienthrope, a cat-person and a human; she knew better than most that an external appearance wasn't necessarily an accurate reflection of what occurred on the inside. She probably shouldn't think too hard about that, though; if she started becoming too comfortable with the idea, then the sacrifice might be less effective.

    So, she'd come at it from the other direction. She shouldn't think about why a young age might be good, and should instead consider why the resulting blessings might be worth it. For starters, Terpsichorus had managed to more than double the values of the Strength and Endurance Lili had gained from a lifetime working as a Supporter. Even one more skill of comparable power might be worth undoing a few years, and Dreamer had been using the plural form. Lili might not want to become a kid for the sake of doing so, but for the sake of power? It truly was a tempting offer. People often called humans the 'weakest race,' but Lili thought that was only because there weren't very many pallum in Orario. Pallum were even weaker. Even Captain Finn of the Loki Familia was lauded as becoming strong despite the flaws of his race instead of being aided by their strengths.

    Lili hated being small and weak. She'd learned to work around those flaws, but if she could change species entirely? Few pallum wouldn't jump at the offer, and Dreamer had dropped it in passing. Lili would need to find some manner of race compendium to determine the best one to change to — besides Spirit, of course, although she doubted that was an option — but there were enough well-educated individuals in Orario for them to have a respectable number of bookstores.

    No, Lili didn't care about reliving her childhood. She didn't want to spend her entire life craning her neck to look up at people, though, and there had always been a part of her that dreamed of power. Lili could easily see why Dreamer had such a name; Lili had only just met Dreamer and the pallum was already considering upending her life to pursue long-dead fantasies.

    ~ ~ ~​

    Aiz watched the white-haired rabbit boy hurry away from the Hestia Familia's home through narrowed eyes. She wasn't sure what business Freya had with the Hestia Familia, but their chosen messenger seemed intent on avoiding Tiona and Aiz. That might not say much given Loki's dislike for the Goddess of Beauty, but what little it said wasn't good. It was too bad; he was cute and Aiz might consider petting his head if she wasn't worried about Felicity's jealousy.

    Aiz was still surprised that she'd managed to conceal Felicity's existence from everyone in the Familia save Tiona. True, Loki seemed to be enjoying the ongoing concealment, but few members of the Loki Familia still possessed baseline senses. Aiz would be surprised if the subterfuge managed to last until the end of the day.

    Tiona reached the church doors first and and immediately used their knocker. Barely two seconds passed before the thump-thump-thump of enthusiastic feet heralded the door being dragged open by a pint-sized renard wearing an oversized brown tunic as though it were a dress. Aiz almost asked if something had happened to Queen Administrator before she stopped herself. The facial structure of the five(?)-year-old might look similar to a mini-Administrator, but the golden hair and eyes were a perfect match for Aiz herself. The ears and tail didn't fit either of them, but Aiz didn't have enough time to think about that before the girl began speaking.

    "Hi Mama!" the child said happily, spewing magic into the wind with every word. "I'm supposed to tell you to take responsibility for your actions. What does that mean? You seem more responsible than Impersonator."

    Tiona picked a suspicious time to begin coughing; Aiz was confident it was intended to conceal surprised laughter. Aiz herself could do nothing more than stare for the five-odd seconds it took for her brain to work beyond its numb shock. Illusions and mischief were both stereotypical staples of renard and Aiz would give this better than even odds of fitting such a situation.

    "We live with Loki, a trickster goddess," Aiz informed the child, expecting that to be sufficient explanation. Experience with pranks was inevitable after sufficient exposure to Loki.

    Tiona forced her laughter to subside and waved one hand airily as the little renard crossed her arms and pouted.

    "Hey, don't be a killjoy," Tiona told Aiz, still snickering, before turning to the child. "That was a good one; if you'd done it back at the Twilight Manor, you'd get all kinds of chaos. So what's your name, squirt? You the newest member of the Hestia Familia?"

    The renard opened her mouth to answer. Queen Administrator spoke first, the monarch stepping behind the child with Friends in tow. Aiz could also see Hestia lurking anxiously nearby, but Lili was nowhere to be seen.

    "This is Dreamer, my favorite little sister," Administrator explained impassively. "As she does not currently have any clothing that wasn't borrowed, we had been planning to go purchase clothing for her prior to any adventuring. She normally has black hair and eyes."

    The monarch seemed oblivious to Dreamer's open-mouthed, wide-eyed surprise at the word favorite. In the background, Hestia seemed to be covering her mouth to muffle a delighted awwwwww.

    "Dibs on shoulder-rides!" Tiona said quickly. "And maybe call in Anakitty, she should know some tailors that know how to work around tails. There aren't many renard around, though; their tails might be harder to work with than cat-person tails."

    Administrator blinked at the amazoness and tilted her head to one side. Dreamer took the opportunity to close her mouth and change the color of her various fuzzy body parts (and eyes) from gold to black via a bubble-like wave of shimmering magic. Aiz distantly noted the lack of an associated chant and wondered if it was just color she could change or if the magic possessed more utility than that. Still, it wasn't as though a mere color change was anything to scoff at; with a black palette, the familial resemblance to Administrator was rather stark. Even a mere color change did wonders to conceal it.

    "We do have Friends to ride," Administrator noted. "Why would you need to have Dreamer ride on your shoulders? It is unnecessary."

    Tiona waved one hand and began to reach for Dreamer. Aiz's eyes sharpened as the child flinched away, a motion that only seemed to go unnoticed by Administrator herself. Fortunately, Dreamer seemed to recover and voluntarily stepped forward before Tiona could withdraw.

    "There's nothing that says I can't ride Huntress while she rides a Friend," Dreamer deflected. "And Sympathizer's Friend can ride on my head if we want to get a tower going. She can balance on me just fine and I know I — I mean, I know she likes high places like most felines."

    Aiz felt Felicity poke her cute little head out from behind Aiz's neck, yawning toothily. Aiz automatically took the opportunity to place a goblin's Magic Stone in the kitten's wide maw. It was the closest she could get to poking Felicity's adorably itteh-bitteh tongue without disgruntling the kitten.

    A moment later, Dreamer's nickname caught up with Aiz's memories. The Sword Princess's eyebrows twitched upward as she recalled Felicity's other name: Sympathizer's Falna-Friend. That meant Aiz was probably supposed to be Sympathizer, and Tiona was obviously Huntress from context. Aiz still wasn't sure who Impersonator was supposed to be, though. She doubted it was Lili, so maybe it was someone from their homeland?

    Between the unusual name and the magic Dreamer exhaled with every breath, Aiz strongly suspected that Dreamer was the one to bless Felicity. Aiz wouldn't even be surprised if Dreamer was the Shard-Spirit that had cursed Ishtar's Familia; Spirits were already rare enough, and Loki was proof that dangerous things could come in small packages.

    "You won't make me dress like you, right?" Dreamer demanded from atop Tiona's shoulders. "I'm okay with some lightweight stuff, but wearing the sort of stuff you do at my age would just be creepy."

    Tiona spluttered and halfheartedly headbutted Dreamer's stomach, her hands gripping Dreamer's legs to keep the girl from falling off.

    "Hey, your culture is the one that thinks mere skin is — actually, you are way too young for us to be having this conversation. Yeah, I know what kind of frilly stuff I expect you're looking for."

    "All the frills," Dreamer agreed. "It's been a while since I got to wear stuff like that. But anyway, I think you're okay to wear whatever you want. It's just me I think it'd look weird on. And don't forget to drag New-Mom along; I think she's been getting a little overwhelmed lately and feels as though she needs to stay back."

    Hestia jumped and wildly waved her hands from the church doorway.

    "No, I mean, it's fine—" the goddess said frantically.

    "New-Sister, Gue—Old-Sister, and myself have all thrown curveballs at your life more than twice daily," Dreamer interrupted. "I won't say using alcohol to cope is a healthy coping method, but it is a method, you need to cope, and you haven't gotten to use your preferred method lately. I would put the goood stuff in your tea to help if I wasn't afraid of it doing bad things to you. I honestly can't believe I didn't notice it before and I feel kinda bad for stressing you out. Sorry. I would offer candy, but I can't remember if I laced it or not. I probably did."

    Tiona looked halfway up and gave Dreamer a weird look. Administrator seemed oblivious and silently watched with her usual impassiveness, yet Aiz was more than willing to echo Tiona's expression. If someone had a tendency to use alcohol as a stress reliever, that was seldom something you admitted in the presence of complete strangers. Laced candy was also a bit—

    "You might want to lay off the drug humor," Tiona advised. "Orario uncovered a bit of a narcotics problem recently and a bunch of apothecaries known for medicines were found to be selling less savory products."

    Dreamer wrinkled her nose and frowned.

    "Subjugator really is why we can't have nice things," Dreamer complained. "Remind me to do something nice for her victims, please. I keep forgetting."

    Queen Administrator echoed her little sister's frown.

    "Please don't use 'Subjugator' as a supplementary title, Dreamer; it is already taken."

    Tiona perked up and tried to look innocent despite her blatant interest in Administrator's background. Aiz's attempt to jerk her head and indicate that they should get moving was ignored.

    "He died, though," Dreamer argued. "And besides, you didn't even like him!"

    "That is no excuse for improper communications. The idiot's name was Ishtar; imposing Concepts upon individuals is barely tolerable as it is. Duplicate identities are even more problematic."

    "Subjugator is a retroactive synonym anyway! He didn't live long enough to properly claim it! Besides, it's easier for me to remember impressions than names right now; we're not talking to any relatives, so we don't need perfect communications. Anyway, can we please go buy me something that actually fits? This argument is silly."

    Aiz crossed her arms and tried to think of some excuse to run off with her main student. Aiz didn't particularly want to waste time on shopping; she was rather hoping to approach or reach the Basic Ability cap for her various abilities before the Loki Familia's upcoming Expedition started. Avoiding the Expedition in favor of teaching Administrator would bring down all manner of attention down on the Hestia Familia's head. With a small child to look after — even one who might be capable of cursing entire Familia — they were already vulnerable enough. If the Soma Familia fed her the drink they were named for, Dreamer might not even mind being kidnapped. Many people would consider it fitting and unworthy of intervention: Queen Administrator poached one of the Soma Familia's members, so they'd poach one of the Hestia Familia's members. Aiz didn't want to waste hours shopping when they had that axe hanging over their heads.

    …She just successfully argued for escorting them until Dreamer's Friend-bodyguards inevitably appeared, didn't she? Darn. Maybe Aiz could make up for it by getting her own errands out of the way at the same time; nothing said the shopping trip had to be for Dreamer alone.
     
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    • Rhyne said:
    Rabbit-Escalation for Bell though? I don't really think you can compare him to lung....
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    His first interaction with QA was saying he wants to fight her, just like Escalation.
    Alivaril said:
    Queen Administrator stared blankly at the adolescent human male as one of her older memories surfaced without prompting. With light grey armor and white hair, he possessed a strong resemblance to an adorable Terran rabbit. Bell's attitude, though...
    Timestamp: Encryption method not recognized.Timeline: Invalid Start and End Variables.
    <CHALLENGE.>
    <Oh, I don't remember your voice. Are you a Newborn?>
    <AGREEMENT. CHALLENGE.>
    <QUERY.>
    <EXPLANATION. CHALLENGE.>
    <Ah. Queen Objective's work, is it? She always was terrible at giving advice. You do know that this wasn't what she meant by learning faster from fighting stronger foes, don't you? Host is a bit out of your weight class; you'll only get your host killed. They're supposed to have the opportunity to think of solutions and possibly win.>
    <...CHALLENGE.>
    <Oh, fine. I suppose being crushed will teach you something useful.>
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
     
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    I think I just realized why Bell ran away!

    If he still has a crush on Aiz, and he just saw Dreamer in her gold palette... He probably thinks he just saw Aiz's kid! Followed shortly by Aiz herself! And if gold palette Dreamer still has any resemblance to Taylor...

    I suppose we'll find out if a rumor starts spreading.
     
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