Reread done, time for another Analysis!
You tilt your head questioningly. You're certainly not going to complain about the bribery, but you're not sure why they believe it necessary at all.
Why First Person subjects here?
"'Of shadows and flame, of treasure long buried; of shifting the blame and the mothers who worried,'" Administrator quoted. "'Of the nature of monsters and the monsters of nature; of—'"
I wonder what the rest was going to be...
Or maybe people just never share the prophecies about their next lunch? she hoped. Please be something that innocent.
"Of shadow and flame: of treasure long buried" - the dungeon (Evidenced by Taylor's comment about it from within the Dream)
"Shifting the blame - mothers who worried" - fairly obvious
"Monsters - monsters" - what people are like & Friends/Dungeon creature origins
Worth noting that the Shard-space is an actual physical dimension, so Taylor has probably been literally constructing thousands of prototype Friends from the monster drops she stole acquired.
Stat growth isn't terribly surprising in the face of all that, though it's obviously weird as heck from everyone else's perspective.
Shard Space is comparable to Cyberspace from Megaman.
It's not real, yet not NOT real...
Currently, she is calling herself 'Dreamer,' but I find it likely she will switch to something else given time. It is too narrow a field to achieve Monarchy within a reasonable time-frame."
Ahahahaha...
What better person/Shard to take over the Network that the one who can provide Creativity they've long since lost...
Taylor's long-term goal won't be a focus of this story.
I can think of some ways to tie it in somewhat, with Taylor taking over after killing Zion.
That's
at least Two Years down the line, in story.
but also their long-term ambitions, goals, and fantasies.
SEE ABOVE
Dreamer seemed like a perfect name for the fledgling goddess who dreamed of leading a righteous revolution against the mad, cannibalistic Titan posing as their father.
And then she mandates that Every Shard Gets Therapy.
Via joining Hestia's familia.
(Between the Traumatized, Shards and Xenos, Hestia is going to have a LOT of individuals with Unusual viewpoints...)
...I want to cuddle the kitties.
They sound awesome and I've always thought big cats just look so much fun to cuddle if they were friendly enough.
So, you want something in between how friendly Dogs and Cats act...
The Dreamer had no choice but to somehow invent alien birth control.
"First rule: NO NEWBORNS WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT APPROVAL!"
Queen Administrator rather liked Aiz's apparent priorities. Her new examination of Host hadn't stopped her from scratching under the chins of Host's Friends.
Platonic Relationship HO!
(Like Izuku and Todokeri in the story 'Yesterday Beneath the Stairs'
Aiz giggled in the moment before a hand shot up to her mouth, her eyes wide. If Queen Administrator was interpreting the asymmetrically-armored adolescent's need for processing correctly, Aiz appeared surprised such a sound had escaped her own mouth.
Aiz probably would heal best with Hestia's help...
Aiz slowly nodded, an amusement-tinged expression of happiness tugging the corners of her lips upward
Picture this: Aiz trolling Loki, Probably with Taylor's assistance.
It said something that the parental Titans of their species felt they needed to regularly cripple their children just to keep them from producing major threats. Actually, it mostly said that the Titans were abusive assholes. Stupid crab buckets. If your rules required to to hurt your kids to keep them from hurting themselves and you, then your house rules and what you taught them both needed to be changed.
...
Taylor's title, later:
[Goddess Dreamer] - shooting PAST 'mother'/'royal'...
A chorus of awwws resounded around the hall. It seemed Tiona wasn't anywhere near the only one to want a baby bundle of murderfloof.
Taylor's first Clients, everyone!
Aiz so rarely came out of her shell, but when she did, it was always to charge at foes with sword held high. Or to punish Loki for the usual sexual harassment. Either/or, really.
She needs help.
Kami-mama powers, activate!
In Tiona's opinion, she really could use a bit more social backbone. The Sword Princess crumbled way too easily in the face of peer pressure.
Something I think she'll get, as a part of her relationship with QA...
...Or at least, that was Hestia's current understanding. She actually felt bad for enjoying the mystery of her children as much as she was beginning to. Every time she thought she'd kindled a plausible explanation, they went and demanded she light a new hearth. It was a lot of fun now that she'd started thinking of them as a mystery instead of an oddity.
Hestia's "laziness" was actually more of 'listlessness' - given reason, now she can't enjoy it.
"The Wicked Witch of the Void was watching a movie and texting while drunk-driving. Crashing her broomstick into the tornado and having a house dropped on her left some marks."
ROFL.
What an analogy.
(Sneaky Taylor, telling QA what happened to Mother, via methods QA wouldn't understand...)
If the Queens Administrator wouldn't push themselves,
Typo?
She broke within half an hour.
"When did being lazy get boring?" Hestia wailed.
When you were
needed.
unnecessary pre-berry memories
... whut...
AN: I swear the apparent reference to red chocobos was totally coincidental. A happy coincidence and one I found amusing given the prior thread mention, but a coincidence nonetheless
Link to where in the thread that was?
Also, where's YOUR reference?
but Aiz wasn't interested in the monarch in the other meaning of friend.
Who says being 'partners' has to be romantic?
One of her only viable explanations for their continued hostile behavior was the greater Dungeon's desire to prepare her for the two-legged invaders, to force the proxy to kill her would-be brethren and feast on their cores.
With an actual Xenos in the Familia, recruiting others will happen a lot easier!
(Bell would be a good ally for integrating them... sort of like canon)
Scholar no longer seemed like the right word for shard-Spirits; Hestia didn't think there existed a term for whatever they were.
uncreative Scientists.
There was no way Bell could keep up with Administrator, of course,
You
sure?
Personal strength was one thing, but why should that matter when it had nothing to brace itself against?
It'd been quite a while since Aiz saw her goddess so thoroughly flabbergasted.
Admit it Aiz, you're enjoying that look!
"Aiz, we're bringing in Administrator. She's not safe where she is and if we're her Familia, everyone could be allowed Friends."
"Fiiiine. But I'm not stopping the others from pestering Queen Administrator for Friends of their own, got it?"
"Who knows, maybe we can use the logic of 'siblings of a cousin equal more cousins,'" Loki added. "I wouldn't mind having cat fur everywhere if it meant getting a small army of immortal battle-kitties to help keep you safe."
Again, first clients for Dreamer!
The influence Loki has would help Dramer get established...
Handing a strength-dependent weapon to a pallum, one of the physically weakest demihuman races of all? It was utterly absurd.
Munchkining is a Hebert specialty!
Even if that might actually work, Lili was not a dwarf. What was next, suggesting that the Supporter wear heavy armor?
…Merciless gods. She's going to do that, isn't she?
Aiz fits RIGHT in with the Heberts...
The Goddess of the Hearth no longer even wanted to find out who or what Terpsichore had been.
Actually, that one isn't bad.
She was a Muse.
Pulse, the Dungeon's agent tasked with locating the Other, slowly found herself transitioning from annoyance to resentment. The other defenders had yet to cease their attacks on her person
When did they get the name Pulse?
Creatures that colorful should not be capable of injecting venom into their enemies and condemning them to a slow death, she felt.
Um... colorful was often translates into Poisonous - or disgusing them as ones who are.
Poison Dart Frogs. Enough said.
Hestia shook her head furiously and halfheartedly glared at the Goddess of the Forge. Thanks to Hephaestus, Hestia couldn't enjoy being lazy.
The flabbergasted expression appearing on Hephaestus's face was priceless, Hestia decided.
looks like Hestia has some common ground with Loki - enjoying Trolling people!
That was from a Spirit blessing someone else.
You know, Kami can be translated as 'Divine/Heavenly/High Spirit'...
It's a tier of power.
After all, the Crozzo ability seems kind of like a scaled down version of the Falna - providing just one large skill, rather than the widespread benefits of the Falna.
Also, the Crozzo were focused on Quantity over Quality.... which may have had issues.
Like if Magic Swords are powered in a similar means as Spirita (from Tales of Xillia)...
We will not be victorious by attempting to do 'the same thing, only better.' We will succeed by doing something else."
*Grins*
(also... the IRONY...)
Dreamer rested her head in one hand and groaned. Why couldn't the waking world be simple?
That's what makes it fun!
At that point, Hestia honestly just felt numb to all the weirdness — and in general, if she was going to be honest. Being a parent was exhausting.
Embrace your new Normal, Hestia!
What was even the point of awarding Monarchy for expertise or ruling through consensus if an effective Newborn had not only managed to achieve the goal of shards so easily, but via breaking their rules?
And the award to highest jump in Network Status goes to-!"
The Cycle had been rendered obsolete.
Yep.
"Is she ever not? Seriously, girl is just as bad as Aiz."
Ah, I look forward to their future [platonic]! Relationship...
