"Good," Tiona said firmly. "And transfer Lili to one of your Friend's backs, would you? She can't be comfortable and we're earning all sorts of weird looks."
Actually, it isn't really that bad. Lili was more worried about her clothes tearing.
Lili as a catgirl was picked up by a bigger cat by the scruff of her neck and found it okay. So she had a cat's instincts that this is how a mother cat moves her children around and to just be still for it.
Maybe QA can pet her ears and Lili will just sit there and purr.
Special thanks to @saganatsu, @DB_Explorer, and my ten other patrons not mentioned here. An extremely enthusiastic pair of "Thank you"s to @Torgamous and @fictionfan for their patronage as well.
To the distributed entity known to others as "the Dungeon," wakefulness was not a binary state of being either awake or asleep. It had a number of stages and continuous divine interference forever dragged it back to the lowest levels of dormancy. However, throughout its long lifespan and the shifting levels of awareness, it had kept ahold of a single distinct goal: to see and admire the starry skies without interference. The ancestors of those who now stalked the Dungeon's halls had interfered with that using everything from fires and smoke to magical lighting. The Dungeon had been close to purging their interfering selves when overwhelming power had swatted its extensions and imprisoned the Dungeon's core. Slaughtering the now-loathed interlopers had been added to its list of priorities at that time.
Oh, the Dungeon had also wanted to spread all across the world and numerous other goals, but those were not objectives it could cling to while mostly trapped in a single place and almost wholly dormant. Seeing the stars and achieving vengeance against the divine were both easier to remember while trapped and mostly unconscious.
But right then, it could cling to another, newer goal: Finding the Other. Its awareness had been jolted when something tried to speak to it in a manner it could almost understand and converse with, an entity close enough to touch. Still, almost was not enough and its attempts at communication failed. The Dungeon had nearly wholly lapsed into sleep when two (or three?) extensions that were not its own entered it and refused to so much as receive the Dungeon's commands, let alone acknowledge or heed them. The sheer shock had dragged it back to a level of awareness that allowed a certain level of coherent thought, if only briefly. It could use that reprieve to swat many of the invaders within its halls, but it had done so in past centuries and more always arrived. That which awoke it took priority.
The extensions of the Other had now left it alone, but it could still feel the impression the Other had of the Dungeon: curiosity. The Dungeon embraced that idea and decided to reciprocate the best way it knew how: through imitation and contrast. Curiosity was a fine motivator, but there needed to be a major difference as well. The Other's confirmed extensions were black, so its scout would be the opposite.
Within the twenty-fourth floor of the Dungeon, an unnaturally white hand covered with crystalline blue scales broke the surface of a wall as its newly-created owner dragged herself free. Four goals pounded in her inquisitive mind and formed the cornerstones of her still-indistinct personality:
Stay alive.
Seek knowledge.
Find and speak with the Other.
See the starry skies.
That first goal would likely be somewhat difficult. The porcelain-skinned, crystal-studded humanoid figure had barely taken two hesitant steps away from the shattered wall that birthed her when a stag-based monster impaled her on one of the two swords acting as its horns. She was able to shatter its skull and kill it with a few desperate kicks, but that still left her with a giant blade running through her chest.
Assessment of concept 'pain:' undesirable, the unnamed being decided. Seek solution next.
Sounds as though the Dungeon was inspired by QA to spawn a pseudo-avatar that embodies the Dungeon's primary thoughts/goals at the time of it's creation.
Which in a way sort of makes QA the father?
Either way, this new creature is a blank slate beyond the goals it was given; it's learning and experiencing things for the first time. And since it has learned it doesn't like pain it will probably go to extreme lengths to avoid it as it has no concept of moderation/restraint/prudence.
Special thanks to @saganatsu, @DB_Explorer, and my ten other patrons not mentioned here. An extremely enthusiastic pair of "Thank you"s to @Torgamous and @fictionfan for their patronage as well.
To the distributed entity known to others as "the Dungeon," wakefulness was not a binary state of being either awake or asleep. It had a number of stages and continuous divine interference forever dragged it back to the lowest levels of dormancy. However, throughout its long lifespan and the shifting levels of awareness, it had kept ahold of a single distinct goal: to see and admire the starry skies without interference. The ancestors of those who now stalked the Dungeon's halls had interfered with that using everything from fires and smoke to magical lighting. The Dungeon had been close to purging their interfering selves when overwhelming power had swatted its extensions and imprisoned the Dungeon's core. Slaughtering the now-loathed interlopers had been added to its list of priorities at that time.
Oh, the Dungeon had also wanted to spread all across the world and numerous other goals, but those were not objectives it could cling to while mostly trapped in a single place and almost wholly dormant. Seeing the stars and achieving vengeance against the divine were both easier to remember while trapped and mostly unconscious.
But right then, it could cling to another, newer goal: Finding the Other. Its awareness had been jolted when something tried to speak to it in a manner it could almost understand and converse with, an entity close enough to touch. Still, almost was not enough and its attempts at communication failed. The Dungeon had nearly wholly lapsed into sleep when two (or three?) extensions that were not its own entered it and refused to so much as receive the Dungeon's commands, let alone acknowledge or heed them. The sheer shock had dragged it back to a level of awareness that allowed a certain level of coherent thought, if only briefly. It could use that reprieve to swat many of the invaders within its halls, but it had done so in past centuries and more always arrived. That which awoke it took priority.
The extensions of the Other had now left it alone, but it could still feel the impression the Other had of the Dungeon: curiosity. The Dungeon embraced that idea and decided to reciprocate the best way it knew how: through imitation and contrast. Curiosity was a fine motivator, but there needed to be a major difference as well. The Other's confirmed extensions were black, so its scout would be the opposite.
Within the twenty-fourth floor of the Dungeon, an unnaturally white hand covered with crystalline blue scales broke the surface of a wall as its newly-created owner dragged herself free. Four goals pounded in her inquisitive mind and formed the cornerstones of her still-indistinct personality:
Stay alive.
Seek knowledge.
Find and speak with the Other.
See the starry skies.
That first goal would likely be somewhat difficult. The porcelain-skinned, crystal-studded humanoid figure had barely taken two hesitant steps away from the shattered wall that birthed her when a stag-based monster impaled her on one of the two swords acting as its horns. She was able to shatter its skull and kill it with a few desperate kicks, but that still left her with a giant blade running through her chest.
Assessment of concept 'pain:' undesirable, the unnamed being decided. Seek solution next.
Sounds as though the Dungeon was inspired by QA to spawn a pseudo-avatar that embodies the Dungeon's primary thoughts/goals at the time of it's creation.
Which in a way sort of makes QA the father?
Either way, this new creature is a blank slate beyond the goals it was given; it's learning and experiencing things for the first time. And since it has learned it doesn't like pain it will probably go to extreme lengths to avoid it as it has no concept of moderation/restraint/prudence.
Aiz tilted her head questioningly. Queen Administrator honestly wasn't sure if the adolescent had chosen that direction so she could touch Sir Kara's head with her own or if it was simply chosen automatically. Given the events of the day, QA was inclined to think the additional contact wasn't an accident.
One the one hand, that's kina just how Aiz Aiz's. Someone says something, question-and-headtilt. One the other hand... cats. I think it's less a question of whether or not Aiz did it deliberately as opposed to tilting towards the good Sir Kara automatically because a kitty was that way.
All conversational participants awkwardly stared at one another for several seconds before Aiz finally began to walk toward the Hestia Familia's home. QA noticed the swordswoman frequently glancing back at Host's Friends, but the verbal tic seemed to have temporarily(?) vanished.
Assuming Bell's introductory encounter with Aiz still occurred with her saving him and making such an impression, I have to wonder if Bell is going to awkwardly end up inordinately jealous of Lili after learning of Aiz's cat obsession... which in turn has me wondering how Aiz will take Lili's false appearance, as well as react to learning it to indeed be false.
The Supporter immediately slipped out of her nearly-empty backpack with the ease of long practice and
Wait wait wait. Hold up. "Nearly-empty", Lili? You sure? Because I've seen your backpack, and that thing runs solidly on anime logic, and I'm pretty sure that in-universe it relies upon the divine magic of the gods themselves to so much as balance, and that your opinion of the weight is "not too much" no matter what it is. I've seen you lugging that thing into, out of, and all throughout dungeons, and it sure looks like the difference between "nearly empty" and "full to nearly bursting" is precisely zero. Are you sure you don't, I dunno, have a school bus or something forgotten in the corner?
Still, she was a little confused. Her current identity was new and she'd yet to even steal anything with it! Why would someone be grabbing her already?
Lili, I'm not sure how to break this to you, but, uh... well adding or removing ears and a tail doesn't really, er, do much, y'know? Especially with the exact same outfit, and one that usually has such features concealed in any case. I'm just saying, it might not have been QA's peerless observational skills that gave you away. But that's okay! Because now your new big sister can help with that... assuming that you can hear her over the sound of all of Orario collectively shrieking in alarm at the prospect.
Lili met the monarch's emotionless gaze, tried to combine it with the monarch's words and the Supporter's own precarious situation, and utterly failed to find any sane explanations.
She's actually insane, isn't she? Lili thought distantly.
"You can't just kidnap kids off the street, Administrator!" the famous amazoness gasped out.
...
"I am still on the street," the mad monarch revealed, still moving away from the Tower of Babel. "Additionally, I'm bringing her home. That is adoption, not an abduction."
...
The Hiryute twin managed to regain some semblance of control and hurried after Queen Administrator.
"Okay, but—" another giggle escaped the veteran. "Really. You literally can't just steal people like that. Are you trying to make Hestia forget about your nation's child-rearing habits by bringing one home? Because I'll tell you now, it won't work."
"One: As slavery appears to be illegal in Orario, she is not legally a slave. Therefore, I cannot steal her," Queen Administrator returned. "She is clearly unhappy in her current family and shows considerable potential. If they will not appreciate her, then the Hestia Familia will. Two: No, I am not doing this for the sake of avoiding that inevitable discussion."
Logic. Big Sister Administrator has it. She's such a good role model. Lili will learn so much.
What potential? Lili had tried to be an adventurer and found herself wholly unsuitable for it. She couldn't help but imagine all the different ways something could kill her or a situation could go wrong. That was fine when she was a Supporter, but potentially fatal when she was supposed to actually fight her enemies instead of only avoiding them. Admittedly, Lili felt she was a good Supporter, but her life showed that nobody cared about Supporters unless it was convenient for them.
And what kind of "child-rearing habits" were so bad that the Goddess of Hearth and Home felt the need to discuss them? Was Lili going to be made to fight giant cats? Surely Hestia would prevent that, wouldn't she?
This is a curious piece. Lili very much does do a quite excellent job as a Supporter, and there's a great deal of overlap with more typical adventurers; for all that Supporters are not intended to be the vanguard when delving into the dungeon, they can still easily find themselves in trouble all the same amidst the horde of monsters and dangers of every sort. Higher-level adventurers require higher-level Supporters just for them to keep up in the more dangerous levels; adventurer or not, anyone above Level 1 got there for a reason, and "Supporter" can cover... anything that isn't dedicated front line duties, really. They aren't all necessarily pack mules in more demanding parties. Need a healer? A scout? Someone who knows how to repair equipment in a safe zone? Get yourself a Supporter. Someone with the title can do it, whatever it is.
In Lili's case, she can perform the role of the party's rogue even before factoring any shenanigans by Taylor, or the like. She simply knows her way around the dungeon pretty well, for one, but she also is a literal thief with the skills and experience to match (and even the race by typical D&D standards), which itself could see her possess an eclectic assortment of "acquired" gear, too, and part of said gear happens to include a convenient similarity with QA in that she favours a little wrist crossbow; it's a piddly thing, but she's very precise with it... and QA did just look into poisons, too. She has a spell of her own in her shapeshifting/illusory ability that she already puts to somewhat creative use, as well. All in all, it sounds an excellent "supporter" setup for someone who fights smart and perhaps rather dirty, and all the better as a Supporter if she has a Friend of her own; a pair of primarily ranged combatants with some clever tricks up their metaphorical and literal sleeves, a guard for them, and a pair of offensive combatants is basically a full party all by itself. For that matter, QA and Taylor even double as the party cleric rather accurately, too, between a support spell and (possibly indirect) presumable healing ability in the near future.
I am curious how this could develop in the future, though. Freya having Bell in her own Familia rather than watching from afar could change things for Hestia's Familia, but Freya also has an obsessive interest in QA/Taylor as well anyway, and Lili may draw her gaze as well for the deviations. In canon, Freya undertook actions that shaped Bell's skill set, but would she be inclined to so act here for QA and Taylor (and how would that work if she did)? And how might Hestia herself factor, too? She supported Bell in canon, but how might her support actually play out under these circumstances? Matters are fairly different, but it would be ironically apt if Lili ended up with Bell's iconic knife, given her rogue styling.
Regarding the cats, though, I wonder if Lili might actually be rather on point about them. Even if they aren't hostile, really, I imagine that they could be excellent training "partners". People fight monsters in the dungeon; sparring with Friends is practice for fighting monsters, and actually rather safe, however much it might seem otherwise. Too, Lili is rather small and is going to get a Friend of her own if QA has any say in the matter, and said Friends are perfectly rideable even for larger people, so she might indeed learn to fight with a kitty rather than against by means of a bizarre hybrid of cavalry and rodeo training.
"Aww, Tiona! Did you hear what she just did? It was so cute!"
...
"I shouldn't explain," the royal rookie decided. "It would sabotage her efforts. Suffice to say that I will gladly help my excellent soon-to-be-sister gain her freedom."
Yes, yes, QA definitely picked out the perfect little sister. She's already trying to leverage control over others, manipulate matters to her own advantage, and incite conflict so as to better herself. She's perfect!
One short explanation to Hestia and Lili should have the goddess's reluctant aid, too.
Both of them wore unchanging smiles that were more than just a little off and hinted at terrible lives to those who didn't know Administrator. Given as the child likely didn't have Administrator's excuses, Hestia was understandably worried about that.
Given Hestia's purview, I don't think she's going to be at all reluctant, actually; she might be upset, sure, by for Lili, rather that at her, and not at all reluctant. For that matter, Lili may be in store for way more support than she had ever dreamed of getting if Loki decides to throw her weight around to help and Freya favours her, though admittedly I could just as easily see Freya attempting to use the War Games as an opportunity to set a challenge for QA and Taylor to overcome.
"This is Lili. I want her in the Familia. She already has one, but Tiona and I are going to fix that."
"Queen Administrator kidnapped me!" Lili chirped, the dead words sounding suspiciously like a cry for help.
"You're not planning on killing them, are you?" Hestia asked tentatively.
There was an uncomfortably long silence. Lili's fake smile didn't waver in the slightest; disturbingly enough, her eyes even looked hopeful as she turned to look up at Administrator.
...as I was saying! Yeah, Hestia is completely on board with this. She's not on board with the plan, per se, because QA's methods are direct enough in this matter to be unfortunately predictable, but she's not going to let this go. I am curious how actually going through with helping Lili will affect Hestia, though; Hestia herself hasn't really been in a good position, honestly. She has consoled herself by telling herself that she doesn't need much in the first place, but prior to meeting QA/Taylor, she was living all by herself, mooching off of a friend to stay in the basement of an abandoned church with no Familia and little livelihood. Now, though, she has to quite, quite special adopted daughters taking the adventurer's life by storm and thriving like no others in history as they make a name for themselves, however much they worry her senseless at times... and then here comes this new would-be addition to her Familia, a child in need whom she can help, a way to make a meaningful difference that matters to her. And if she ends up snatching her away from an ill-suited life by besting one of the other gods? That's a shot of self-confidence, right there.
"Yeah, how about we not do that," the amazoness drawled. "There are plenty of ways to get someone out of a bad Familia without resorting to violence. Doing that will just get you blacklisted with the Guild, banished from Orario, and probably kicked out of your Familia. This place thinks itself too civilized for such things."
"Not if we leave no witnesses or proof," Queen Administrator argued.
That was definitely hope in Lili's eyes, Hestia noticed. Just who have you brought me this time, Administrator, and what did Soma's Familia do to her?
"We're witnesses!" Tiona said, clearly sharing Hestia's exasperation and concern. "Gods can sense lies, remember?"
"My Friends have no voices with which to tattle. They can do it for us."
"And when they leave black hairs all over the crime scene?" Tiona demanded.
"My Friends do not unintentionally shed fur."
Hestia clearly needed to cut this off before she ended up with cats leaving bloody paw-prints all over the church.
"But the point is moot because what have I said about murder, Administrator?" Hestia demanded.
"Wait, this seriously isn't a one-off?" Tiona muttered.
How did it go? Can't kill people because it's morally wrong, not because it's impossible. Reasonable argument is not a good way to try to convince QA to change her mind. If anything, it has a non-zero chance of convincing the opposition that their argument is irrational, unreasonable, and stupid.
"But what if I want to resort to it? They hurt Lili."
Hestia closed her eyes and quietly whimpered. It didn't help that Lili had looked as though she'd prefer that solution, too.
And in that moment, Onee-sama was not "just an Adventurer" to her anymore.
"Killing all my problems just causes more problems to rise from their ashes," QA summarized. "Very well. We will attempt peaceful methods first."
"And then you're coming home if those fail!" Hestia stressed. "There are other ways!"
"Like War Games," Tiona unhelpfully provided. "Or political pressure. Lili is level one too, right? That means Aiz might benefit from taking her on, which means we might be able to bring her in if all else fails. Don't worry, Hestia; I'll make sure Administrator behaves."
"Unhelpful" though Tiona may be, she raises some good points. Soma isn't the sort to particularly care in the first place, and his Familia acting in his name might likewise not care enough over Lili to make a fuss over the War Games, especially if they don't think Hestia's family to have anything desirable as a counter-demand should they win. Too, Aiz is some serious leverage. She's one of the favoured jewels of Loki's familia, and Loki is a major power of Oraria, one of the major powers. Aiz is "the Sword Princess" for a reason despite the gods collectively being petty, unimpressed jerks looking for a laugh and a slight to wield against one another, and Aiz just so happened to have both gotten a shiny new skill that offers absolutely explosive growth for mentoring new students and become obsessed with one particular pupil for her accompanying kitties. Loki has ample reason to want Aiz to associate with QA, and if Aiz can grow all the more and spend more time with the murderfloofs for mentoring Lili, then so much the better as far as all parties involved are concerned. For that matter, the hot relations between Hestia and Loki may even serve as a point in favour of the cooperation, serving as something that Loki can hold above Hestia's head. ...far, far above the pint-sized goddess's head. With Aiz likely having said something to prime Loki's anticipation of Tiona's news, I imagine that Loki will be absolutely ecstatic to hear about this, and thoroughly entertained besides. "What did I tell you, young lady." "*sigh* 'Stop trying to murder everything.' But Mom!"
A concern occurs to me, though. QA declared that she would attempt peaceful methods first, and Hestia bade her come home if those fail. Thus, should QA make at least two peaceful endeavours to secure her sister from Soma's Familia and fail... well Hesia had better be home at the time, or QA will probably move on to decidedly less than peaceful methods. She is a very logical and straightforward person, at least by her own rationale, and I suspect quite inclined to favour creative interpretation of the letter of the agreement over its spirit where Lili's wellbeing is concerned, and she may well not even deliberately try to rationalise it.
Worse still, Bell will be around Lili if Freya has any say about it... but not in the same way. In canon, he's basically Lili's pillar of moral and morale support, but now I think he's going to end up as perhaps something analogous to Gai to Kakashi for QA. Freya is the sort to "benevolently" try to set Bell and QA against one another as mortal enemies if she thinks that doing so would help them become all the greater for it, but Bell simply isn't mean enough to be a villain even if an antagonist, and QA is of a similar enough mindset to Freya to either be genuinely appreciative should Freya's motivation not be realised or find such downright endearing if it is, which could make for a decidedly weird relationship between QA and Bell. Lili might get loud and obvious "proof" that her big sister really is right about things, confirmation from a third party that QA knows what she's talking about and perfectly justified to act as she does, and quite possibly also Freya, too. Lili's big sister is someone very dedicated to her sisterly duties and very much seems to wholeheartedly love her little sister, and said little sister has someone whom she can finally trust and rely upon—justifiably idolise—telling her how things are... and then this cheery dork comes along spouting some earnest declaration too sappy to be real, wanting to fight her to fulfill his dream because she's right and empirically supported by the results of such conflict, and all the more by yet another person also apparently offering incarnate support of QA's ideology in Aiz. Hestia's objections are just her worrying about her Familia because she's a spluttering softie who cares. Obviously. The genocidal alien is right. Obviously. Lili's big sister gets things done and "everyone knows" that she's right, so she definitely is. Compounding the issue all the more, QA's responses to such behaviour are likely to instill something of a self-reinforcing feedback loop, too, because Lili is just the cutest when she does something right.
Adventurers are evil and should die because they're horrible people. ... She's genuinely completely insane, isn't she? ... Ha, I've suckered you now, haven— oh, right, insane. ... This girl has the right idea. ... Onee-sama would do anything for family...
Morons: "We have your precious goddess, muah ha haa!"
Everyone Else: "You imbeciles! Give Hestia back to them or we're all doomed!"
Morons: "What? Wh—" *Unsupervised Children*
...This is a rather interesting reaction from the dungeon and I'm rather eager to see how our new friend shaped monster (Dungeon Not!Administrator) turns out. Already from the start it/she seems to share the same almost robotic thinking that Shards have. Perhaps QAlor will soon have a friend in learning how to person.
Well, the unnamed Xeno was deliberately made similar to QA, and she even carries a dream. She might fit in the Familia very well indeed. QA searches for crushed diamonds; that may not be entirely metaphorical.
That first goal would likely be somewhat difficult. The porcelain-skinned, crystal-studded humanoid figure had barely taken two hesitant steps away from the shattered wall that birthed her when a stag-based monster impaled her on one of the two swords acting as its horns. She was able to shatter its skull and kill it with a few desperate kicks, but that still left her with a giant blade running through her chest.
Why would the dungeon monsters attack this? The dungeon monsters don't fight each other constantly. So why didn't this unit get flagged as friendly in the same way?
Also I'm expecting QA to recruit her to the Hestia familia.
I mean, far as I can tell, Dreamer won't really care as long as she's entertained and there isn't blatant dark-as-the-pit suffering. She'd enjoy watching the world burn, but not a burning orphanage.
I wish I still had that gif of the guy with the folding chair and a tub of popcorn saying "'Dis gun be good". Taylor/Dreamer might start drinking about a quarter as much as the Fates, and QA is simply going to go full benevolent misunderstanding/Shard Realpolitik while everyone with any common sense is going to be staring in horror.
As far as the Dungeon, it obviously wants to flirt with QA! I mean, she got it's attention in a wholly unique way, to the point where it made a body to talk with her. It even has a passing similarity to a humanoid/anthropomorphized Shard! Totally crushing on her.
Why would the dungeon monsters attack this? The dungeon monsters don't fight each other constantly. So why didn't this unit get flagged as friendly in the same way?
In canon Xenos(sapient monsters) get attacked but I don't recall if it has been explained why yet. Author probably came up with a reason of his own for this fic.
Morons: "We have your precious goddess, muah ha haa!"
Everyone Else: "You imbeciles! Give Hestia back to them or we're all doomed!"
Morons: "What? Wh—" *Unsupervised Children*
I am curious how this could develop in the future, though. Freya having Bell in her own Familia rather than watching from afar could change things for Hestia's Familia, but Freya also has an obsessive interest in QA/Taylor as well anyway, and Lili may draw her gaze as well for the deviations. In canon, Freya undertook actions that shaped Bell's skill set, but would she be inclined to so act here for QA and Taylor (and how would that work if she did)? And how might Hestia herself factor, too? She supported Bell in canon, but how might her support actually play out under these circumstances? Matters are fairly different, but it would be ironically apt if Lili ended up with Bell's iconic knife, given her rogue styling.
Worse still, Bell will be around Lili if Freya has any say about it... but not in the same way. In canon, he's basically Lili's pillar of moral and morale support, but now I think he's going to end up as perhaps something analogous to Gai to Kakashi for QA. Freya is the sort to "benevolently" try to set Bell and QA against one another as mortal enemies if she thinks that doing so would help them become all the greater for it, but Bell simply isn't mean enough to be a villain even if an antagonist, and QA is of a similar enough mindset to Freya to either be genuinely appreciative should Freya's motivation not be realised or find such downright endearing if it is, which could make for a decidedly weird relationship between QA and Bell.
Freya's involvement is interesting: she is afraid of messing with QA and Taylor just yet because she might break them, but she also doesn't want them forming an impression of her based on second-hand data (e.g. from Bell). Freya still may interact via Bell given proper instructions if she thinks the instructions will be effective to prevent the second issue.
Why would the dungeon monsters attack this? The dungeon monsters don't fight each other constantly. So why didn't this unit get flagged as friendly in the same way?
As said above monsters attack Xenos. I'd guess at a parallel between Dungeon Entity and Worm Entities: when the latter exploit external agents, the former makes its own (quazi?)independent agents. So the Xenos can have their new, independent experiences and discoveries. And while not a direct extension like monsters, they are imprinted with goals, so directed as well.
Great. Now I'm going to be stuck thinking of her as Proxy-chan even after she picks a name, especially since it'll be a long while until the readers know that name.
Great. Now I'm going to be stuck thinking of her as Proxy-chan even after she picks a name, especially since it'll be a long while until the readers know that name.
Well you don't have to worry about that. We could totally call Dun-chan when we know her better. Because as we all know the dungeon has a center of yandere hidden behind many layers of kuudere.
As such she deserves a cute nickname that she can obsess over. Clearly.
EDIT: I just noticed this, but is Dun-chan an antropomorphic Friend made out of crystals and cuddles? Since the Dungeon based her on QAylor's Friends.
...what....oh, well shit, not certain this is going to go anywhere good
