I suppose I can understand the logic behind that, and it probably makes more sense than what I was thinking. Related:
Flavor text:
I'm really worried Christopher Nolan will kill a man dressed like a bat in his next movie. (The man will be dressed like a bat, I mean. Christopher Nolan won't be, probably.)
[] The great Fairy castle, filled with menacing bunny rabbits and all sorts of cute woodland creatures. Also a kick ass throne fit for a queen and a cultured butler Bear.
-edit-
No idea what the hell people have been doing since there wasn't a vote going on last chapter, so I just went with the first thing that came to my mind.
This chapter is meant to be accompanied by the first PHO interlude.
--------------
7:43 AM
<Hello, Transfer. Status?>
<Um... how to phrase this? My host has been working with the host of Charge.>
<An interesting synergy. Have you two learned anything that can be utilized in later cycles?>
<Urk... From one another? Nothing. I've learned that I work best when teamed up with other shards, but not much beyond that. Individually, however, our hosts have been doing an excellent job at keeping one another alive and determining more uses of our capabilities.>
<Well, I suppose that will have to do. So why is your host approaching Host?>
<Host is about to ask your host for her name. What was her logic behind picking it out, anyway?>
"My false designation is Titania." you state before he can ask. "Good luck, Transfer."
<Host is asleep. I am in control. My false designation is Titania, known in human mythology as the Fairy Queen. It seemed appropriate.>
<...I'm guessing Queen Shaper suggested something like that to you?>
<Yes. Why do you ask?>
<No reason.>
7:59 AM
Several non-hosts are attempting to touch and/or speak with you. You are not sure why this is, as they appear to be avoiding both kinds of contact with one another. No matter; if they are going to try and touch you, it gives you free reign to do the same to them. Not that you really want to, but it may come in handy.
Sadly, Host seems to have an aversion toward murder, giving you no reason to harm non-threats even if they are being annoying. You should probably fix her squeamishness before she wakes up. Dismissing the surrounding non-hosts as unimportant, you move on, forming perfectly-shaped portals to move their limbs away from you.
8:32 AM
A malnourished, damaged human male sits by one side of the road, quietly asking for assistance from nearby passerby. You had been under the impression that humans were a community species that assisted one another, but they were all ignoring the desperate male. This is unfortunate and you doubt Host would like this.
You manifest a block of the impure metal many adult humans were wearing on one or more fingers and drop it by his feet. You think that's what host would have done.
8:40 AM
Your previous gift to the unfortunate human seems to have resulted in a significant increase in the number of humans following and attempting to speak with you, despite the fact that none of them seem to need such a gift. This bears further investigation.
8:48 AM
Creating the communications booster caused some humans to stop following you, despite the fact that you exchanged the materials taken for another chunk of gold. You would have expected this action to gather even more non-hosts. Is there some social stigma against assisting in proper communication among humans?
...That would explain a lot, actually.
9:01 AM
You notice a human of approximately Host's age sweeping dirt and other trash off the front steps of his home. After only a minute of you observing him, he heads back inside.
Several minutes later, a human back inside thanks him for his work. The adolescent male appears to experience happiness from the praise.
Interesting. If cleaning up a small area=1 person thanking you=Host experiencing a small amount of happiness, would cleaning up everything result in many humans thanking you, and thus making host very, very happy? Time to find out!
9:13 AM
Oh. Terror-Drone #7 is awake. Strange.
Well, it's not like it really matters to you. Much. Even if she is a smug bitch. You've rendered yourself immune to her precognition modeling and you can counter any telekinesis she attempts in real-time. If you are not mistaken, this realization requires a specific action to be undertaken.
You turn Host's head in her direction and proceed to taunt her.
9:32 AM
You have never really attempted to experience a host's sensory systems for yourself, instead preferring to just read the relevant information and move on. That, you decide, was a mistake. If this wonderful cold substance is any indication, taste is bliss.
9:36 AM
Oh, there are the newborns Queen Shaper mentioned! Let's see, Radiance and... a newborn who hasn't selected a concept yet, but is leaning toward energy constructs. Interesting.
You mold your face into a human expression of happiness and alter your path to go meet them. Helping newborn shards in their formative stages is always important; you had neglected to help Escalation in a previous cycle and look where that got you. Queen Objective had convinced Escalation that fighting opponents vastly stronger than himself would help him improve faster.
Escalation took her advice seriously and your hosts have had to fight his own every single cycle since. It's gotten rather annoying.
Sadly, the hosts of the newborn pair decide to leave before you could get close enough to communicate without shouting. Oh, well~ there's always next time.
9:54 AM
Think of the idiot and he shall come.
<Do we really have to do this again?>
<AGREEMENT.>
<...EXASPERATION.>
You have Host's body express annoyance, link the space above and below him together, and move on.
9:59 AM
You check back up on Escalation only to find that he's still trying to help his host get out of the loop instead of just accepting defeat. Given as there are plenty of non-hosts and two dormant-hosts who will be harmed if he actually manages it, you decide to just remove the loop and impale him on a handful of barbed blades.
After acting upon this decision, you dismiss Escalation from your mind. His mindless regeneration will act against his host and prevent escape. He is no longer a threat.
10:18 AM
<Hello, Adept!>
<HOLY- Uh, hello Queen Administrator. What do you need?>
<I merely wanted to talk. How are you doing?>
<Eh, been better. Host is below average, Host decided to team up with Queen Objective's host->
<Queen Objective. You're working with Queen Objective?>
<Waitwaitwaitdon'tfreak! Her host is being somewhat unhelpful and she, being her normal bitchy self, keeps punishing him for not being aggressive enough. Since she's punishing him by making his creations fail, this only serves to make him more cautious instead of actually helping. I'm learning what not to do!>
<...This is acceptable.> You express happiness once more, causing Adept's host to... run away for some reason? Strange. You change course in order to follow after Adept and continue learning about Queen Objective's misfortune. Queen Shaper will probably find it hilarious.
10:33 AM
You seem to have lost track of Adept with Host's default senses. You decide to briefly expand your domain in an attempt to find- Ooh, shiny!
Present
So much material to work with, and so much time to use it in. Actually being able to help Host with more than just nudges is wonderful. You're starting to understand why Queen Shaper wanted to know how to duplicate the feat. It's so much easier to keep her alive like this.
You seriously doubt that anything short of :Father: will be capable of harming Host while you're in control, but what happens when/if she wakes up and re-assumes control? She'll be helpless until she adapts to her abilities, and that's just plain out unacceptable. As such, your first step now that you've erected some passive defenses is to create a lair that will be safe from all attackers. Including, and especially, Terror-Drone #7.
You're not sure why she's active, considering the conditions you've seen. The Terror-Drones are only intended for situations in which the inhabitants of the planet start to become actively dangerous to the : Parents : and/or shards, an incredibly rare occasion. Humans just really aren't enough of a threat to justify their deployment.
As such, TD #7 is an unacceptable threat to Host and must have her local avatar be eliminated. Should :Mother: have had some reason for activating her, she can always restore TD #7 from backup and give her a new body.
The fact that your elimination of TD #7 will serve to taunt Queen Objective at the same time is only a minor consideration in your decision-making process. Nor are you really just doing this because TD #7 is a bitch and you haven't gotten to kill her before, nor has any other shard. The bragging rights don't come into your calculations at all. Honest.
You notice a handful of non-hosts have just entered your range, but quickly dismiss them. They do not possess any weaponry which is capable of harming you or Host. They shout something about public property, disturbing the peace, dangerous unknown Innovator tech, etc. You aren't really listening; a brief glance at them reveals that they're completely terrified and that's all you need to know.
[]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
-[]Remove them from your workspace. They're getting in the way.
[]Tell them what you are making.
-[]Do you phrase it in a particular way? (write-in)
[]Stop everything and wander off. You don't need mechanical assistance to keep Host safe and it's scaring the puny mortals local humans. Promptly rub this fact in Queen Objective's face. The idea was rather silly, anyway.
[]Write-in
What other things are you going to build, anyway? You got sidetracked by the giant anti-TD #7 cannon, but there's no reason you can't work on multiple projects at once. You have more than enough material and every project you finish is something else you can rub in Queen Objective's face. {You may select multiple options, but not multiple homes. That would be wasteful.}
[]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the world's evils.
-[]Write-in (photo-in?)
-[]Make it appear to be a giant tree. You've got a theme going and might as well see it through, although you'll need to generate a lot more material to use this design.
-[]A sleek, efficient fortress of chrome.
-[]A tower of black metal. The appearance will serve to demoralize any who would consider attacking it.
--[]Include the eye. That way, the local humans will know that you're always watching over them and keeping them safe! That's "heroic", right?
---[]Ooh, and you could link it to a thermal laser while you're at it. Any threats it spots could be eliminated without requiring your direct intervention.
[]A supercomputer. While Efficiency would cry if he saw your planned design, you don't exactly have access to the more advanced technologies right now.
[]Alter the death beam halping cannon. You'd originally intended to have it simply branch out across dimensions and disintegrate TD #7 so she could be recycled if necessary, but you have a better idea now...
-[]Write-in
[]Write-in. You can't make anything, but there are a lot of engineering problems you can just brute-force through. See the first-page character sheet for more details.
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QM's note: I could be happier with this chapter, but if I don't put it up now, it'll take forever to "fix" it.
Whoops, wrong Queen. Changed the "do nothing and rub it in QS's face" to "QO's face" as it should be.
Added "What has science done!?" to the thread tags. Given some of the things people are coming up with, it seemed appropriate.
[X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
-[x] "I am doing something very important. Goodbye!"
-[x]Remove them from your workspace. They're getting in the way.
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the worlds evils.
-[x]Make it appear to be a giant tree. You've got a theme going and might as well see it through, although you'll need to generate a lot more material to use this design.
This? This is beautiful.
[X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the worlds evils.
-[X]A tower of black metal. The appearance will serve to demoralize any who would consider attacking it.
--[X]Include the eye. That way, the local humans will know that you're always watching over them and keeping them safe! That's "heroic", right?
---[X]Ooh, and you could link it to a thermal laser while you're at it. Any threats it spots could be eliminated without requiring your direct intervention.
X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
-[x] "I am doing something very important. Goodbye!"
-[x]Remove them from your workspace. They're getting in the way.
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the worlds evils.
-[x]Make it appear to be a giant tree. You've got a theme going and might as well see it through, although you'll need to generate a lot more material to use this design.
There is some hardcore halping going on in this fic.
[X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the worlds evils.
-[x]Make it appear to be a giant tree. You've got a theme going and might as well see it through, although you'll need to generate a lot more material to use this design.
[X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the worlds evils.
-[X]A tower of black metal. The appearance will serve to demoralize any who would consider attacking it.
--[X]Include the eye. That way, the local humans will know that you're always watching over them and keeping them safe! That's "heroic", right?
---[X]Ooh, and you could link it to a thermal laser while you're at it. Any threats it spots could be eliminated without requiring your direct intervention.
[X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
-[X]Remove them from your workspace. They're getting in the way.
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the worlds evils.
-[X]Make it appear to be a giant tree. You've got a theme going and might as well see it through, although you'll need to generate a lot more material to use this design.
[X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the worlds evils.
-[X]A tower of black metal. The appearance will serve to demoralize any who would consider attacking it.
--[X]Include the eye. That way, the local humans will know that you're always watching over them and keeping them safe! That's "heroic", right?
---[X]Ooh, and you could link it to a thermal laser while you're at it. Any threats it spots could be eliminated without requiring your direct intervention.
One wonders what Pigot is thinking, beyond "Wh God, why?" that is.
Normally I would raise failing to communicate our helpful intentions to the locals as a bad idea, but... ah, screw it. It's not like they can stop us anyway.
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the world's evils.
--[x]Make it appear to be a giant tree. You've got a theme going and might as well see it through, although you'll need to generate a lot more material to use this design.
[X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
-[x]Remove them from your workspace. They're getting in the way.
--[x] "It was nice to meet you, but I am focusing on eliminating Terror Drone #7 right now! "
[X] You do want Host to wake up sometimes... You can prepare her for when she does. Start getting her acclimated to your power while she dreams. Gradually increase how much she is aware of around her while she dreams to simulate what life will be like if she wakes. That way she's less likely to break if she does wake up! After all, you can't save her if she gets control and then can't defend herself, and you do want to learn from her!
-[x] In fact... you can start analyzing her dreams as she experiments with your power in them. Maybe guide her dreams so that she's placed in situations where she has to use your power. It's not the same as real-world testing, but data is data and maybe she'll give you some good ideas!
[X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
-[X] "I am doing something very important. Goodbye!"
-[X]Remove them from your workspace. They're getting in the way.
--[x] "It was nice to meet you, but I am focusing on eliminating Terror Drone #7 right now! "
--[X]Make sure they aren't harmed when you remove them. That wouldn't be heroic!
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the worlds evils.
-[x]Make it appear to be a giant tree. You've got a theme going and might as well see it through, although you'll need to generate a lot more material to use this design.
[X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
-[X]"Do not worry, puny mortal. I am Halping."
--[X]Remove them from your workspace. They're getting in the way.
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the world's evils.
-[X]A tower of black metal. The appearance will serve to demoralize any who would consider attacking it.
--[X]Include the eye. That way, the local humans will know that you're always watching over them and keeping them safe! That's "heroic", right?
---[X]Ooh, and you could link it to a thermal laser while you're at it. Any threats it spots could be eliminated without requiring your direct intervention.
[X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
-[x] "I am doing something very important. Goodbye!"
-[x]Remove them from your workspace. They're getting in the way.
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the worlds evils.
-[x]Make it appear to be a giant tree. You've got a theme going and might as well see it through, although you'll need to generate a lot more material to use this design.
And second thought we should go with the less threatening tree. After all having to kill the non-Hosts to teach them respect while efficient would make Host sad.
[X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
-[x] "I am doing something very important. Goodbye!"
-[x]Remove them from your workspace. They're getting in the way.
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the worlds evils.
-[x]Make it appear to be a giant tree. You've got a theme going and might as well see it through, although you'll need to generate a lot more material to use this design.
Normally I would raise failing to communicate our helpful intentions to the locals as a bad idea, but... ah, screw it. It's not like they can stop us anyway.
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the worlds evils.
-[X]Make it appear to be a giant tree. You've got a theme going and might as well see it through, although you'll need to generate a lot more material to usethis design.
Because Yes.
Also, when it says "giant"? Those tiny orange lights are houses and castles and things...
[X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the worlds evils.
-[x]Make it appear to be a giant tree. You've got a theme going and might as well see it through, although you'll need to generate a lot more material to use this design.
We have a Glaistig Uaine theme going on here.
And Glaistig Uaine completely ignores not-hosts.
One more parallel to drive the PRT insane with!
[X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
-[x]Remove them from your workspace. They're getting in the way.
--[x] "It was nice to meet you, but I am focusing on eliminating Terror Drone #7 right now! "
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the worlds evils.
-[x]Make it appear to be a giant tree. You've got a theme going and might as well see it through, although you'll need to generate a lot more material to use this design.
-[] An Orbital Habitation Platform is about as far removed from the world's evils as it is possible to reach.
[]Alter the death beam halping cannon. You'd originally intended to have it simply branch out across dimensions and disintegrate TD #7 so she could be recycled if necessary, but you have a better idea now...
-[]Designs for an Orbital Habitation Platform could easily be adjusted for a cannon mount, as well as many other offensive weapon emplacements.
X]Ignore them and keep building. They aren't shard-hosts, aren't threats, and are thus completely irrelevant.
[X]A home, a secure place for Host to live away from all the worlds evils.
-[x]Make it appear to be a giant tree. You've got a theme going and might as well see it through, although you'll need to generate a lot more material to use this design.
damnit I love both home but sadly going with fairy theme fit better.
"
