Well, as far as problems go, having a backlog of story to catch up on is rather a good one. Back to back updates!
She let Cinder Ella fade away and tried the proper doorknob of their home. Unlocked. Even when they were home, Hestia should consider either locking their door or replacing it with a Friend. A high profile meant a higher number of people thinking of doing terrible things to them and theirs.
"I would prefer to make Friends for that purpose," QA admitted. "Standard dishes cannot check for possible poisons."
"Or clean themselves!" Lili added from atop their couch.
I really do like how Lili is just all for Friends, not even Friend
shenanigans, per se—though she's perfectly okay with that too—but simply as something entirely reasonable as she sees it, in a way that is genuinely hard to deny. Yes, some of these Friends are peculiar, but Friends offer genuinely practical solutions to realistic concerns, and Lili recognises that. To her, the weirdness factor is basically just a
non-factor, because she considers the matter from the perspective of having an understanding of the alternative. She's just accepted that the world is a bit different when that world is the one of her new family, but that different is not inherently bad, and for opening up new options can be in fact a very real upgrade.
I'm curious how Hestia is going to meet that perspective. In QA's case, much of her desired Friend shenanigans can easily come across as simply too much and unnecessary in addition to unsettling. Lili, however, encourages Friend-making and can give it a direction more in line with relatable human (well, and human-like) concerns. The issue with the door makes
sense. The door is left unlocked. That's... kind of a thing to not do? What if someone desirable to keep out just opens it and waltzes right in? Previously, that wasn't much of a concern for Hestia, but where Hestia didn't really
have anything to steal or whatever and offered little reason to trouble her for her general irrelevancy on top of being a goddess, that's no longer the case, and Lili knows all too well what
that kind of world is like. Locking the door is the reasonable thing to do, and Friends are practically an app analogue; whatever it is, there's a Friend for that, or will be the moment the need is realised to prompt creation of one. Friends are just all kinds of convenient for their nigh-unlimited versatility, and there are lots of things that could do with doing.
I also wonder if perspective might be an even further consideration, though. QA herself has an alien perspective that doesn't value things the same way a typical human might in many regards, so walking on a carpet that is also a living thing or eating off of the like is perfectly fine with her. To Lili, at least up until she turns shard, even if she's intellectually aware that things that look like inanimate objects are in fact creatures, it doesn't really have the impact of such if she simply can't tell; a plate is a plate, and it may be a plate that is a plate that has situational perks that are really handy even if odd, basically no different than just some enchantment. Hestia, however... well she's a literal goddess. That might be meaningful. Sure,
most of what makes a divinity divine isn't being actively employed, but the gods are fundamentally different in nature than mortals, and that comes with being godly; it might be a bit difficult to ignore the fact that random inanimate objects all over the place are nothing of the sort if it's really,
really obvious that something's off despite the mundane appearances, maybe. Coupled with Hestia simply never having lived a life like Lili's, the same matter might seem quite different between them.
"I'm fine!" Lili refused, the phrasing tasting alien on her tongue. "I'm stronger than I look!"
When was the last time that she'd used the first person without being beaten for it? Nobody cares what a Supporter thinks, adventurers had jeered. There wasn't even any sort of a reward for hurting Lili like that; they were simply cruel for the sake of being cruel. Oh, altering her speech ultimately proved to have a number of other benefits, but she shouldn't have needed to adjust in the first place.
So, uh... that... kinda got dark. Ow.
Really glad Lili's with Hestia now, because she damn well needs and deserves it. Ironically enough, though, it does lend some exploitability; she really does have a point about her circumstances offering some benefits even if it would have been better to eschew it all entirely. Tiona's bit at the end really emphasises yet again the fact that the "pseudo-pseudo-hosts" can become something more more than typical mortals, and so the ever-greater scrutiny to be pointed towards the Hestia Familia could make for quite the challenge that may cause considerable trouble. Lili's past, however, really does kind of make her
fit as QA's sister. Hestia herself has noted the way how Lili and QA sort of parallel one another in their expressiveness, albeit through differing means, with QA typically stuck in dull monotone whilst Lili has a mask of fake cheer obfuscating anything. Lili's past also makes her of similar opinions and views to her sort-of and not-
just-"sort-of" sister, too, as is quite evident on the subject of Friends. It might cause some further problems, though.
Tiona noted the oddity of Lili's disparity before and after going shard. Being a high-level adventurer, Tiona is able to pick up on shard things in a way impossible by regular people, and to her perception, Lili is now "spewing magic with every word", but maybe-pallum wasn't earlier. Combined with the new apparent renard form and not necessarily accurate common knowledge about the fox-folk, that might have some awkward consequences. Lili is also apparently a maybe-renard and shows evidence of having hidden her nature.
Everyone knows that renard are very magical by the standards of the mortal races, and that common knowledge is backed by actual statistics, too. Renard are also rather mysterious and extremely rare as a race, and much sought by those of ill intent. Renard are in fact so rare that there is all of
one other one in all of Orario... at least as far as most people know. There may be more, and probably are, but they're not making themselves known, because
everyone knows that they're special and desirable. There's a non-zero chance that the somewhat self-stupefying rumour mill of Orario might "discover" and convince itself that renard are not, in fact, actually renard as people think of them at all, but rather the Shard-Spirit people in disguise, occasional wanderers from whatever distant land of theirs is known to be somewhere unknown and distant. It fits the supposed facts oddly neatly, and renard aren't about to come forth and bring attention to themselves correcting everyone. The one open renard that is in fact "just" a renard is herself someone with a fantastical background and extremely potent magic that made her an ever so valuable pawn and sacrificial resource.
Mostly close enough, although Lili didn't construct that weaponry. She found the anti-meteor defenses (AKA the "crossbow") that came with her shardware and began aiming it at herself.
Lili already has everything that she needs to be a thoroughly terrifying shard. Regular shards are both restricted during Cycles in any case, and the Entities themselves seem...
dumb. Lili certainly doesn't lack for creativity, and unless Dreamer changed things, Lili has, at the very least just with the sort of "default" shard package, a giant cannon of doom that works by some kind of principles suitable for destruction, an advanced sensory suite, the ability to think
a lot, some kind of flight intended for planetary descent, communications ability, and perhaps a whole host of "minor" features for things like altering a host's physiology for establishing an uplink and/or adjusting their thinking, energy storage and transfer, dimensional shenanigans, and such.
Lili also has Dreamer and QA both primed to encourage her for leveraging her new potential to effect, too, and she herself seems as though she might be
especially receptive to genuine positive reinforcement, as well. Combined with Lili seeing perfectly evident need to act for things like the security of herself and her new Familia when they don't realise that which she considers obvious to herself, I think Lili might be very busy in the near future, and Hestia might need to get a few more jars.
"Don't you guys think this is getting to be a bit much? That pile has to be worth at least a million valis by now."
"""No."""
"Who needs cash when you have cat?"
Mm, reasonable argument.
Slightly more seriously though, this has considerable potential to be delightfully amusing. Felicity is Aiz's Friend, but I think the Loki Familia as a whole might have gained a mascot. They're also in a good position to perhaps actually be able to legitimately get away with that, too. On the one hand, they undertake some of the most dangerous work to be found, and Felicity might not be suitable for that, but on the other, Felicity has the nifty perks of being immortal and becoming stronger by consuming Magic Stones... and Loki Familia can
do Magic Stones. They're not hurting for money and can routinely rake in vast quantities of Magic Stones practically on a whim if they so desire—as Aiz herself has been doing, and mirrored by others as well now—and feeding them to Felicity really could be considered an honest investment in any case. In canon, they dropped a
fortune in a new set of weapons for their top crew; throwing a million valis at Felicity all the time to turn her into the team mascot in truth is entirely within their means as a luxury, much less when its a genuinely good idea.
Loki herself might see it as a matter of prestige, too, come to think of it. All of the gods of Orario knows that Friends are, effectively, a highly desirable rare collectible, and one that they can't get no matter how much they want it. Loki, however, both is a smug shit who would
love to rub it in everyone's faces if she got one over on everyone else in their social squabbling and, in fact,
has one of those ever so sought Friends that can only be given rather than taken or bought, and as an accessory to her shiny Sword Princess no less. Lisa may somehow inexplicably be feeling Loki's smugness right now. I imagine that the budget for Loki's pride is rather considerable if she herself has any say in the matter... which she does. The better Felicity is, the better.
"Neener, neener, look how awesome my precious Aiz's Friend is! Oh, what's that, how do you get one too? You don't, because you suck!"
Mana Burst: Inefficient annihilation magic. Releases a burst of magic to indiscriminately sear all living non-shard entities in a small sphere around the attacker. Artificial Friends qualify as "shards" for the purposes of this spell.
"Lethal safety."
This seems very appropriate for Lili. Falna-derived magic is based on the caster; whatever they can do, it's uniquely
them. Lili is a very insecure and fearful sort who has all too understandable reason to want to keep people away. Her new family is an exception to that, but everyone else, as Lili sees it, is either obviously out to get her or can be expected to try if given the chance. I wouldn't be surprised if Dreamer exerted some kind of influence on the spell that Lili got, but all the same, Dreamer is also working with an existing system, too, and it would appear that that system delivered apt results.
I'm also curious to see the exact results of Mana Burst, too, though. For one, it's called
annihilation magic, and the explanation of that description certainly sounds as though it could be spectacularly violent. It's also called specifically
Mana Burst, though, and inefficient, on top of seeming perhaps a significant act in any case. I find myself wondering if maybe it might be especially taxing to use... and if maybe she spins to emit an azure blue blast, honestly. The specifically
living criteria might also be a problem, too; though it may be a very good "Everyone fuck off!" spell, it doesn't look as though it could be expected to do anything about the likes of, say, arrows, or such—though there could be some kind of physical blast as more of an incidental effect, admittedly—and undead are a think in the Dungeon, which may indeed qualify as non-living by whatever targeting parameters the spell uses, though with Dreamer and shard perspective as possible factors, undead may just qualify as simply a different form of life.
Regardless, though, I'm kind of expecting something to swallow Lili whole at some point only for the giant monster's entire midsection to just
vanish as she bursts out with a vengeance.
I think even by god standards, pulling that sort of sh*t is considered beyond the pale. Gods can be massively selfish and lacking in morals, yes. But even they generally have limits. Otherwise, Orario would be getting repeats of Evilus every couple of years.
The gods do seem pretty lackadaisical overall—the whole
point of Orario as far as any of them but Ouranos are concerned being a chance to get away from the dull tedium of the heavens—but the also come across as none the less simultaneously having their own odd sense of duty and/or pride where their responsibilities are concerned, as well as simply a considerable degree of self-interest, and I think the eternal souls of mortals are prominent in that. To a god, the unmaking of a mortal soul could quite easily be regarded as personally and professionally offensive, not just wrong, but wrong and
stupid.
I suspect that that has a a way of curbing the likes of Evilus indeed. Evilus was/is a collection of aptly dubbed gods for whom their inclination and role as gods is to just be in it "for the evulz," professional assholes who enjoyed their work, effectively. At the same time, however, that means that basically
anyone else is opposed to them by default for one reason or another, because those evil gods are themselves more or less arbitrarily opposed to
them on every level regardless of respective stance since they're out to make everything worse for the sake of making everything worse. Even if a given god may not
necessarily be opposed to the destruction of a soul, well, they are in fact massively selfish, and promoting a culture that frowns upon anything conductive towards Evilus's aims is to their benefit.
That also might develop into something of a self-reinforcing social pressure, too. If something like the absolute and irrecoverable breaking of a soul is regarded by the people of Orario as something appropriate for Evilus and those gods are held as universal enemies to be opposed utterly on principle, then regardless of a particular deity's stance on the matter, they might be greatly motivated to distance themselves from it so as to avoid the negative consequences that might befall them if suspicions of being in league with Evilus were to be levied against them. Being
too much of a self-centered jackass is dangerous for a god's reputation even if it might be convenient.
I think that might be reflected in Ishtar's actions, actually, oddly enough. She was indeed willing to go through with an act that her nominal peers could be expected to decry as a transgression beyond measure, but she was committed to the deed for something that could be argued to be worth it. If she had succeeded in shattering the soul of her captive renard and put the fragmented soul to use as hoped, then, by her reckoning, she would have been in a position to be able to afford to not care about the views or aims of any of the other gods. To Ishtar, I think she might have viewed it as something of hers well spent.
Combine that with Freya's frequent, flagrant abuse of power to prey on smaller Familia and steal the adventurers that catch her eye, and it's not surprising that Orario is currently a very nasty place to live. In a place like Orario, it takes the people at the top actually giving a damn to prevent the strong from preying on the weak, and that's not really the case at the moment. The Guild only has so much leverage, after all.
Worse still, Freya's ideas about helping share a lot in common with QA and her dear parents with strife as an excellent motivator. She actively goes around setting up trouble in need of being overcome, which, given her influential position, is just a
wee bit unsettling. Granted, she may actually have a pretty good idea of what people can take without breaking, but she also doesn't really seem to hold success as a priority so much as just the attempt at it.
It will be pretty amusing to see people trying to lord over Dreamer, she is probably the most dangerous entity on the planet right now because the gods are not allowed to use their power (under the threat of being banished back to heaven), a limitation she isn't under, as long as she doesn't touch a god's power, is she even limited from touching gods? Does anything stop her from trapping Apollo in a Grey Boy time loop, a sub dimension or another such thing if he annoyed her.
Yeah, a lot of versus debates don't really take into account how much a given party might actually fight in some hypothetical match-up. Maybe they
could do something, but are they actually going to? More "middling" beings might very well be more relevant even if they aren't the most powerful if beings of greater power can't or won't act like it. Dreamer has very little real limitation, and that's backed by a willingness to actually act... though not
too much, all the same. It might be a good thing that she has somewhat limited concerns and places considerable importance on minor things like napping.
The idea of her doing something clever about troublesome gods is quite the intriguing notion, too. She's not canon Taylor, but she none the less can be given the benefit of the doubt for an ability to be clever about overcoming challenges. Taking out gods directly isn't an option, but indirectly rendering gods simply unable to exert influence somehow might be much more viable. Someone who is, say, trapped in stasis, for instance, isn't dead, but they're just isolated in time and unable to interact with a future moving on without them. Some spacial warping shenanigans that are effectively just a more mathematically complicated wall might be quite serviceable at making anything trapped within simply
out of the way where it can't do anything to matter regardless of what might be going on on the other side of the partitioning.
Somewhat off-topic now that conversation has halted anyway: Yes, Lili's new colored text
did make me realize that Lili would make a good planeswalker. I'm pretty sure that y'all would castrate me if I made a quest like that, though, especially since I'd probably wind up using some of the same settings I did for Ignition.
EDIT: Probably wouldn't share a universe, though.
All I'm hearing is that Ignition should definitely get Lili somehow. Maybe apocrypha omake, maybe sidestory, maybe canon as someone whom Jade meets, but most definitely as a part of Ignition getting reignited, yes? Hm. She's a girl, she's magical, and she recently stumbled upon the capacity for wonky dimensional shenanigans, in addition to being Lili. Yup, checks out, totally companion material or awkward accidental competitor in need of help and able to unexpectedly help out.
In hindsight, is making Lili's 'screw everything in my immediate area' spell chant two words long the best decision?
/halfserious
While the point has been brought up that Dreamer has a more relatable human understanding, she does none the less agree with shard preferences in some respects. I wouldn't be surprised if the chant was deliberately selected as something short and easily activated for Dreamer being wholeheartedly of the opinion that that was only proper. If her new sister needs to annihilate things that are too close, then easily unleashed extreme firepower is the answer! It's not cheating, honest! After all, she can make up rules as she goes along.
