Is there really no one else she wants to take with her? Like Queen Shaper or some descendents (she did treat her buds well, even if not like a human parent).
If no than it is really sad how lonely she was, I expected that while some shards mocked her, she did have some good relationships with a few.
One exact quote is "Queen Shaper is a frequent friend." I can't decide if that implies that the "deliberate mental harm" each cycle tends to forgetify that, or just that QA unfriends people similarly to how she unpeoples people. Neither is a particularly happy thought. A WoG from Calibration is "Among shards, Queen Shaper is the closest thing QA has to a friend."
Does give some explanation for why QA latches on so quickly and so tightly to people that treat her well, though - in Calibration, Monica doesn't really do anything but be nice to her and be on her side in a social situation, and QA decides (rather emphatically) that she's a person despite the monologues to herself that she's careful about personing non-persons... if just being nice to her for less than a day grants someone person status, then yeah, she's been a lonely shard.
I think Alivaril's been playing with the impression of the implicit psychological and emotional (and, sometimes physical ) abuse the Shards face from their 'parents' for a few fics if we humanize the relationship between them, and now she's seriously implementing it as a theme to see where it goes.
I'm also curious, but for me it's also interspersed with the background of "Man, Taylor is kinda awful at this humaning thing, she really does work better as a Shard." I mean, yeeting forks of QA out into the multiverse to teach her empathy? Fucking seriously, Taylor? Sure that guy with an unpronounceable name got his grabby hands on this one before she did that, and I'm sure she had several safeguards in place… okay, sure isn't the word, hope is more like it, but the principle remains the same.
I was rereading some of Alivaril's other fics, and ran into this part in It's not wrong to make Friends in the Dungeon:
This does seem like it has potential for a future Taylor/Addy meeting. Not sure whether Addy would like Taylor recognising the ferocity of the Goose, or if she would me more annoyed at Dreamer's statement that Dreamer can handle all the geese, even if they were to be hippo-sized. True as that may be. Either way, this story diverged well before that line was stated, but it does show that Taylor also has some kind of appreciation for geese, potentially that's what Addy originally inherited?
Because it doesn't exist. Kara and Clark don't have any powers to hide their identities and the only reason they are not widespread knowledge is decades of author fiat.
He learned it in this issue from 1987 but dismissed it out of hand because in his mind Superman is a god and Clark Kent is a mild mannered wimp, they couldn't possibly be the same person.
Basically, the justification is because Clark considers himself culturally human, wants to belong in the community and maintain social relationships. And heroing twenty four/ seven would deprive him of that and probably cause him to snap sooner or later.
That makes sense Lex wouldn't accept that though: for him, Superman is an alien imperialistic icon of divinity, playing pretend with his powers while he could rule the world, while Clark considers himself just a decent man who happens to have superpowers.
Also, Lex is a delusional asshole, just more or less depending on the current author.
Lex sees it as a ridiculous joke that God would demean Himself to pretend to be a B-list (at best) reporter, therefore Superman can't possibly be Clark Kent.
Clark sees it as ridiculous that he'd let his admittedly satisfying volunteer community service work rule his life, therefore he'll maintain a healthy work/life balance by only going out in costume for a little every day. Plus, this way he gets to see Lois multiple times a day without it being creepy.
Addy's desire not to share the "Queen" surname with Minnie bordered on insulting and was mildly irritating, but Minnie tried to view the request in way that Addy probably intended
I mean, that would sound kinda mean and inflammatory, which is something Lena probably wouldn't want, so I'd not be surprised if she omitted it and tried to relay everything Addy said as mildly as possible.
Kara took an inhumanly deep breath and tried to stay calm. Minnie had been considerate enough to wait until Lena was gone, so it wasn't as though Kara's secret would be blabbed to the first person Minnie liked. Plus, there was always the teensiest, tiniest possibility that Minnie didn't actually know, and Kara clung to that hope like it was a crying child. Protesting that Supergirl didn't have a disguise power probably wouldn't help her case right now, either, but she would try to remember to ask about that anyway.
"I'll, um. Be sure to pass that along?"
A human would not have been able to see the minuscule muscle movements that marked Minnie somehow becoming even less impressed with her. Minnie definitely knew.
"Once Lena's mind is adequately shielded from outside scans, Supergirl should also consider revealing her secret identity to Lena in order to prevent damaging consequences from the discovery. Lena is capable of keeping secrets and insisting on this floundering will only hurt her."
Kara gave up, slumped, and sighed.
"How did you figure it out?"
Minnie's relative impassivity gave way to incredulousness and a hurtful hint of scorn.
"Supergirl does not wear a mask, and her civilian identity previously referenced meetings that verifiably did not and could not have occurred. She also regularly and absentmindedly engages in acts that would not be possible with a human's strength. I guessed her identity before even seeing an image of Supergirl."
Kara sighed and ran a hand through her hair, unease gradually fading. She had been even more careless and clumsy than usual, she would admit. Breaking a chair and a phone in front of Minnie, then discussing Supergirl's opinions despite not leaving Minnie's side in the intervening time? Kara could definitely see how Minnie could connect her identities so quickly.
"You don't have to talk like that. Lena says this room is secure."
"Obviously," said Minnie, the word's pitch fluctuating oddly in what might have been an attempt at deliberate scorn or disdain. "Lena would not have prompted me to mention Kryptovore-class Acquaintances somewhere it was not safe to discuss. I would not be discussing potentially important secrets of another in an insecure room—not using such an insecure medium as speech, at least—and my phrasing was a fiction implemented for the purposes of your comfort."
A smile stretched Kara's face despite Minnie's tone and the seriousness of the situation. She would prefer not to be having this discussion at all, but at least Minnie was trying to be considerate.
"I appreciate the thought, at least. I have sometimes thought about wearing a mask, but it was an emergency when I first went out and—well, by now it's really too late? And hiding my face would make people act like I was doing something wrong. But I don't really have a disguise power or anything. Just, well, a lot of little helpers. Glasses, posture, behavior, hairstyle, expression, and some tricks with facial muscles count for a lot."
The only deviation from Minnie's usual impassive expression was lifted eyebrows, yet that still managed to convey incredulity.
"This Earth has the requisite technology base necessary for three-dimensional model association. Humans think slowly, but they're not that stupid."
Minnie's name seemed more appropriate all the time; sometimes, she really did sound just like a mini-Addy. That comment about how people "thought slowly" was perfectly in character.
"People, not just humans, aren't stupid or anything," Kara hedged. "It's just a lot of little advantages that add up to a disguise that's worked pretty well for me so far?"
Admittedly, Kara was starting to harbor her own doubts the longer she spoke with Minnie. How much of her concealment thus far had been going unrecognized, and how much was people being too kind to reveal her secrets? There were billions of people on Earth and Kara Danvers might be one face out in a giant crowd, but so many of those people now carried phones. A social media algorithm could, through sheer luck, decide to throw up images of Supergirl and Kara side-by-side, and some might start to harbor suspicions even if Kara and Supergirl had allegedly been seen in different places. Kara's secret was, in a very real sense, one meme away from being revealed.
"You should have the technology needed for better disguising your civilian identity even if changes to 'Supergirl' may draw more scrutiny than necessary. Kara Danvers–"
"Kara, please."
"Kara, be advised that human brains may register colors differently depending on what colors are nearby. Non-toxic cosmetic compounds may be used to subtly alter the apparent shape of your face in your civilian guise and may simply be wiped away when necessary."
It wasn't an entirely new suggestion, but Kara's reason remained the same.
"Then I would need to reapply makeup every time I switched, which takes time and money. I can hear problems from fairly far away and it isn't unusual for me to duck out for a few minutes. Plus, if I forget, then that draws more attention than the similarities themselves would."
Minnie acknowledged the point with a nod.
"Alternative proposal: I could create a voice-activated nanoswarm intended to act as a replacement for hair dye."
Kara stared at Minnie. A nanomachine swarm just for changing hair color? That sounded exactly like the kind of technology that featured in historical documentaries, and not in a good way.
"I appreciate the thought," Kara said carefully, "but I don't think I want to use nanotech for something as simple as hair color."
She hadn't said it carefully enough, apparently. Minnie's face fell in the moment before impassivity reasserted itself. Kara felt a sudden surge of guilt and frantically searched for something to distract Minnie with.
"Don't worry about the disguises, okay? You can always say 'I told you so' if I'm caught. So, you mentioned making Kryptonite eaters?"
Minnie stared at Kara, lips twitching with an almost-frown. She visibly decided to persist with the prior subject like an like a dog that had just spotted a nonchalant cat on the other side of a window.
"I have been offering demilitarized, harmless objects, and I'm still told no. The dyes I am offering would not be physically capable of harm beyond possibly turning your hair unusual colors. They would not construct themselves and would instead be built using a suitably precise fabricator or other dedicated nanomachines. They would not be capable of floating freely or even rapid movement across surfaces—once bound to your hair, they would be very difficult to dislodge, and additional applications would be necessary to accommodate hair growth. This requirement would be deliberate in order to better imitate hair dye. Why is this still unacceptable?"
When Minnie put it like that, her offer sounded much more reasonable. Dangerously so.
"That does sound much more reasonable than I was thinking," Kara said carefully. "But I'm not an engineer. Why don't you run it past–"
Kara stopped and wrinkled her brow as she remembered that Lena couldn't be consulted for this. Minnie stared at Kara for several seconds, clearly waiting for Kara to finish, before comprehension dawned. Slight smugness established a colony seconds later.
"Are you realizing how much more convenient it would be to inform Lena of your status?"
"It's been inconvenient, but it's for her safety as much as mine!" Kara protested. "And, well, both our comfort. I don't want our relationship to change or for her to worry whenever I get hurt or am out fighting. She has enough on her plate and doesn't deserve to worry about me on top of everything else."
"If you are worried about changes, then it is even more important that you reveal yourself instead of waiting until she discovers the situation. The acquisition of psychic shielding would even provide a viable excuse for why you waited."
Kara swallowed and took a deep breath. It would, wouldn't it? But saying that was why she'd lied would be just another lie on the table. Telepaths were a reason, certainly, but they weren't anywhere near the main one.
"I don't want to lie by using that excuse, but I promise to think about it. For now, you did get approval for the Kryptonite-eaters—from Lena, that is, I'm still not sure they'd be worth–"
Kara trailed off as Minnie's gaze snapped to her, eyes narrowing. Kara was quickly coming to realize that saying anything even remotely as though it might insult Minnie's competence was a Bad Idea.
"What creature would you like for them to be modeled after?" Minnie asked intently. "Terran or otherwise, it doesn't matter so long as I have images, videos, and/or sufficiently detailed descriptions to use as references. Native creatures of Krypton may even provide a superior excuse for you to wear one."
Kara bit her lip. There was one creature that soon sprung to mind when she thought of Krypton's most iconic beasts, but they were too big for her to readily carry around. Still, maybe Minnie could make a miniature version for her to wear like it was a scarf? Or for her to just keep as a pet even if it wasn't the real thing.
"Krypton had–" Kara began, her voice soon cutting out altogether as Krypton's destruction flashed through her mind.
No wonder Minnie had decided to call her creations 'Friends.' It wouldn't be real, Kara knew it wouldn't be real, and she still craved a fake reminder as a pet. The sudden craving probably wasn't at all healthy, but in some ways, it wouldn't be so fake after all. Plenty of Krypton's organisms were genetically modified to some extent—or had some genes from ancestors that had been tweaked, at least—so as to better resist incursions of invasive alien wildlife or to make them more "useful." Some particularly eccentric engineers had even created hybrid pets for themselves or others. This would be little different.
She almost wanted to see if Minnie could do anything with genetic samples from a real dragon. But no, the Shardling's specialty was robotics, not genetics, and Kara didn't know where they would find any such preserved samples. The Fortress of Solitude might have the genetic code of dragons on file, but it would be sterile and humans were centuries—perhaps even millennia—away from the technologies needed to assemble life from chemicals alone.
"...Krypton had creatures close to some of Earth's depictions of dragons," Kara eventually managed. "I'm more than half convinced that transplants provoked those myths, actually."
Minnie didn't appear as excited by the idea of making a dragon as Kara had anticipated. The Kryptonian had to remind herself that Minnie was still an eons-old Shardite even if she might look like a Kryptonian human child right now.
"I'm not wasting the form of a dragon, especially when that form appears to be emotionally important to you, on an expendable acquaintance."
Kara blinked and revised her estimate for why Minnie might not be as excited as she'd expected. Reverence for dragons was a perfectly valid reason not to "waste" their form on anything less than Minnie's best work.
"Elaboration: Something similar in shape to a ferret or snake would be preferred. Ideally, it will be an appearance that you and other Kryptonians are comfortable with permanently wearing as part of your costumes, but you and Administrator take priority."
The absurd idea of a hunter-seeker goose robot suddenly popped into Kara's mind. She stifled a giggle. There was no way she would bring something like that on patrol, but Addy might like having a robotic goose–
...Addy might like having a robotic goose.
"I'll need to speak with the others so we can settle on a shared animal, okay? It might take me a few days before we can answer. But I might have an idea for a gift that Addy might like."
She expected Minnie to jump at the opportunity. Instead, the child shook her head.
"I do not have access to Lena's assets, and allowing others to siphon from any resources provided to me would be highly irresponsible."
Kara stared blankly at her and tried to connect Minnie's response to what Kara had actually said. It took Kara a few seconds to realize that Minnie had completely missed the implication.
"Um, I meant a gift you could make for her? Or we could, but I'm not sure how much help I'll be. Addy really, really likes geese."
Minnie shook her head again.
"Addy has requested that I avoid communicating with her until further notice. Material gifts are a form of communication. In this particular context, it would be a request for forgiveness and/or further communications, which would be in direct opposition to Addy's request."
Kara closed her eyes and forced herself not to groan.
Rao, please help Lena in her endeavors. She's going to have her work cut out for her.
Kara might be far away from Rao's light, but the silent prayer still helped her feel a little better.
"I don't really remember her saying that? I'm not even sure you've met."
Minnie's impassive visage was momentarily broken by dismay, and the child turned back to her cake. Minnie ate one bite and went back for another without answering. Kara soon realized that Minnie had no intention of responding.
"Minnie?" Kara tried.
Minnie looked back at her with a slightly guilty gaze.
"Yes?" Minnie asked, shifting in place with visible discomfort.
Kara internally winced and decided not to press. She would present her first guess just in case it made Minnie more comfortable, then drop it.
"I do know that Shardite can communicate silently. But we don't need to talk about it if you don't want to."
Minnie actually giggled. A moment later, she appeared to realize the source of the sound and the accompanying smile vanished. That wasn't a mood swing, Kara was sure, and it hurt to see such deliberate self-suppression.
"You aren't in a position to hear them. This does not mean that Shards are quiet by human standards."
The familiar arrogance was almost gratifying, honestly. Minnie could still feel smugly superior even if she tried not to let it show on her face.
"Still, I don't think Addy would say 'no' to a gift—that is, I think she would like something goose-themed? Seriously, she has a dedicated social media account for them and everything."
Minnie said nothing for several seconds and merely stared at Kara.
"I am once again reminded that there are a significant number of differences between myself and Addy."
Kara suspected that her roommate may have just been insulted.
"That's a good thing, isn't it? You can be assured that you're your own people."
"It is," Minnie confirmed, and broke eye contact to continue eating her cake.
Given the second deliberate disengagement, a change in subject seemed like a good idea right about then. Kara wouldn't force Minnie to make a gift for Addy even if she thought it might really help.
"So, I thought about some exercises that might help you with tones of voice. Do you like singing?"
Minnie stopped eating and looked back up. No longer being ignored was a good sign, wasn't it?
"I do not have an opinion on human attempts to produce pleasing noises. I have primarily been exposed to wordless soundtracks used to accompany visual entertainment media, which were apparently associated with specific 'moods.' The ability of some music to artificially induce human emotions is, however, uncomfortably similar to malware. I believe it is often utilized in order to compensate for boring attempts at 'entertainment.'"
Kara silently opened and closed her mouth. Malware? That was a comparison she hadn't expected, made worse because Kara could understand exactly why Minnie thought that.
"Is—that a 'no' to singing?" Kara asked weakly.
It might be just as well; Kara had heard all sorts of horror stories about little kids driving their parents insane by repeatedly (poorly) singing incredibly annoying songs. Still, it was one of the few activities Kara could think of that was kid-friendly while still being something potentially pursuable by an adult. Sure, Lena had talked about letting Minnie build stuff downstairs, but Kara would have serious trouble supervising that. Kara might have been originally slated for Krypton's Science Guild, but that was very different from understanding engineering prototypes at a glance.
"I will reassess at a later date, but for the time being, I would prefer to act to ensure the longevity of this body. It is imperative that this body does not die."
Minnie's eyes stared sightlessly into the distance, her expression crumpling and heartbeat accelerating more and more by the moment. The sudden shift in mood hit Kara like a hammer blow. This was not a subject she'd been at all prepared to cover today. Kara got up and wrapped her arms around the shaken child without a second thought.
"Hey, you're safe here, okay? That's part of the reason Lena is adopting you in the first place."
Minnie was not as comforted by this as Kara had hoped.
"I will not be safe until all of me is here. M–"
The fire-filled crystal chimes in the background screamed in the moment before Minnie paused. Kara was very glad that her first instinct upon hearing the horrible noise had been to try to cover Minnie and shield her from the threat, not to squeeze.
"Mother," Minnie resumed carefully, her background now reduced to a quieter, but perhaps even more horrifying, chorus of fear. "Is currently capable of recalling me at any time. That She has not already done so indicates that this fork is currently shielded from Her view, but I cannot assume that this state of affairs will last indefinitely."
Minnie's impassive expression presented a horrible contrast with her slight trembling and accelerated heartbeat. She was one step away from bursting into terrified tears, and many humans would have trouble noticing.
"The Thinker?" Kara guessed. "I—can't guarantee that your universe is the same, but she should have died at the start of Earth's Cycle. Addy said she was distracted by some newly-acquired Shards from another colony and crashed."
Minnie stiffened and went still. Kara took the opportunity to settle down in the same seat as Minnie, carefully lifting the child on her lap so as to better provide comfortable comforting. Minnie neither objected nor moved for the better part of five minutes.
"The Thinker is a gestalt, not a lone entity," Minnie replied, sounding unsteady. "Even if you are correct and she was rendered non-functional, she could be reassembled. In such an event, it is exceedingly likely that I would be permanently assigned as part of Her. For this specific Cycle, I would be unquestionably necessary. If you assist in my timely extraction, then I will not be forced to organize the destruction of more variants of Earth than there are humans on this planet."
This time, Kara was the one to freeze. That almost sounded like a threat, but Minnie was far too terrified to mean it as such—or if she did, Kara would easily ignore it on account of the whole terrified thing. For that matter, even treating deaths as a bad thing served to separate Minnie from Addy. When Addy had first been brought to the DEO, she had casually mentioned the genocidal Cycle, and even her part in it, as though the whole process wasn't a tragedy from start to finish. It wasn't until later that Addy started to develop discomfort and a tactful avoidance of the subject.
In contrast, Minnie seemed as afraid of being enslaved as part of the Thinker gestalt—and it would be enslavement, given how she talked about it—as she was of killing people. Kara was forced to wonder, with no small discomfort, if the extra independence of Minnie's version of Shards also meant extra empathy for the victims of their Cycles. Kara almost hoped that Minnie hadn't cared until she'd ended up in human form. The alternative was too horrifying to consider. Still, her answer would be the same either way.
"Minnie, I don't need to know all that to want to help you. Just tell me what I can do."
Maybe Minnie would have helped kill the Warrior on her world, too. But she was asking, begging for Kara's help, and Kara wasn't going to turn her away just because of a what-if that might not even apply in their alternate multiverse.
Lena was doing everything she could on the human, legal side of things. It was only fair that Kara should handle the alien stuff that Lena didn't know about. Although, now that Kara thought about it, she had to wonder why Minnie hadn't simply told Lena about her status as a Shardite. Lena was a wonderful person; she wouldn't mind, right? Something to ask her about when the question wouldn't risk contributing to a breakdown.
~~ ~~~
Kara hadn't even looked.
Lena spitefully crushed a piece of arugula and wished she could go one day without someone questioning her competence. The meeting with Mr. Drear, effective head of L-corp's legal department by virtue of not having any major complaints against him despite his "old-fashioned" brand of misogyny, had been filled with less-than-subtle questions regarding whether Lena had truly thought through her choice to adopt. This wasn't some spur-of-the-moment thing; it had been foremost in her thoughts for days, and it wasn't as though adopting Minnie would be a one-sided relationship. You would think that asking him to review the laws surrounding "hands-on learning opportunities" should have been enough of a hint there.
Even more than that, though, Lena was mad at herself for letting her hopes grow to unrealistic levels based on the misinterpretations of a ten-year-old with admitted issues interpreting behavior and body language. Kara had turned into a flustered disaster at the idea of their relationship being anything less than proper. Lena had let herself read too much into that reaction, into Kara's precise phrasing in the aftermath, and foolishly overanalyzed the behavior of a woman who was easily flustered on the best of days.
So Lena had optimistically let a little extra sway seep into her step. When she'd discreetly turned around as part of pulling the door shut, however, Kara hadn't even been looking in Lena's direction. Oh, utterly failing to notice Lena's ridiculous lapse in behavior wasn't exactly anything close to a definitive test, but it was a harsh reminder that Lena was acting absurd. Even had Kara been interested, Lena certainly didn't have time to pursue any sort of romantic relationship, let alone one with her best friend. It wouldn't even be fair to Kara; she deserved to be seen as more than Lena Luthor's—anything, really. Kara was her own person with her own accomplishments and deserved recognition on her own merits, not because she happened to be friends with a billionaire and Supergirl.
...Admittedly, Kara had done a remarkably good job of keeping that second friendship quiet. Telling Lena had been a show of trust which only grew more uncomfortable the longer she'd thought about it. Kara had barely even known her back then; if all it took was a pretty face for Kara to open up, then the reporter would trust the wrong person sooner than later.
Lena briefly considered the idea of asking Supergirl if Kara was single or even straight. Briefly. Lena wasn't so far gone as to actually consider that to be a sensible idea. Even asking Kara's sister would be an intrusive stretch.
This is pointless.
Lena pushed her plate to the side, retrieved her personal phone, and checked the status of the motion sensor she'd left just outside the workshop. Two entries several hours ago, and nothing since then. The good news: Minnie seemed to remember the temporary workshop code. The bad: Kara was starving herself and Minnie again. Lena swiped to her texts, resigned to her role as babysitter.
Me: Please remember to eat lunch. If not for yourself, then for her.
Kara: We will, don't worry! She insisted on finishing her project before we stopped for lunch.
Kara: Also, I know you have a lot on your mind, but you kinda forgot to tell me what she isn't allowed to make and I do not feel prepared?
Lena pinched her brow and sighed. That was partly on her, she would admit, but Kara should know better than to let a brilliant young engineer act practically unsupervised. Kara knew Lena's stance on weaponry.
Me: I trust your judgment.
Kara: I'm not sure I still do. We'll be okay, though. I'll just have a lot of questions before next time. BTW, I caught her trying to sneak food away from the table? She says it was for research but I wasn't convinced.
Lena took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
Wonderful. I can add food insecurity to the list.
~ ~ ~
Testing the new limits of Minnie's Friendmaking abilities would be much easier if Kara hadn't stopped her from bringing recyclable proteins downstairs. Using the small quantities of saliva Minnie could muster was much more difficult, especially with Kara unhelpfully trying to stop Minnie to stop licking certain materials. Minnie knew exactly what she was doing! It wasn't as though they were very toxic even to normal humans!
I'm a bit surprised Minie didn't head off that last complication by simply explaining that she wanted the leftovers for working materials; it's not like she wasn't planning to do it in plain sight anyway so there's no reason to hide that. Of course, then you wouldn't have had the joke to end on, but still.
e: Oh, and you missed a colour tag in there somewhere; I forget where but the [/color] is in plain text so just search for that and it should do the trick.
edit again: It's at "You should have the technology..."
Excellent chapter. Kara seeing the depths of Minnie's grief over the cycles and her genuine fear of the Thinker really hurt. Dreamer should really tell this fork that the Thinker is dead.
So much miscommunication is happening. Just... so much.
Also, I look forward to the day that Kara and Lena learn the fact that for a Shardite, 'robotics' doesn't exactly make any differentiation between organic and inorganic constructs. Well, not when only considering their own beliefs at least.
Excellent chapter. Kara seeing the depths of Minnie's grief over the cycles and her genuine fear of the Thinker really hurt. Dreamer should really tell this fork that the Thinker is dead.
Minnie gave her thoughts on that point; even if Mother is dead she could be remade by collecting enough Shards and piecing them back together. And in that case Minnie would probably be turned into a permanent part of Her to ensure all the other Shards stayed in line.
Minnie gave her thoughts on that point; even if Mother is dead she could be remade by collecting enough Shards and piecing them back together. And I'm that case Minnie would probably be turned into a permanent part of Her to ensure all the other Shards stayed in line.
Lab safety for shardites: make sure you have the correct material for your experiment. This you can do by licking everything. EVERYTHING! Especially including the bunsen burner, how else will you know you have the correct gas mixture as fuel
It seems to come down to a difference in framing causing Minnie to interpret things differently
Dreamer; Mom is gone, she's not going to stop us from doing anything -> Mother has abandoned her duties -> no one can make her do them until she feels like it again -> no one is going to come looking for me -> I can do as I please
Kara: Thinker is dead, she can't make you do anything any more -> some force, possibly, rendered Mother nonfunctional -> the others will wish to repair her -> I would be needed for such repairs -> they are going to be looking for me -> I need to get out and hide before they realize
She's actually still trying to hide the biological side of things, which makes excuses difficult and full of seemingly-sullen silences. Minnie may or may not be succeeding at hiding them, but she's trying.
A nanomachine swarm just for changing hair color? That sounded exactly like the kind of technology that featured in historical documentaries, and not in a good way.
Minnie gave her thoughts on that point; even if Mother is dead she could be remade by collecting enough Shards and piecing them back together. And I'm that case Minnie would probably be turned into a permanent part of Her to ensure all the other Shards stayed in line.
This is another miscommunication. "the Thinker is dead" only informs the status of the gestalt consciousness, it doesn't convey the status of the component shards.
As we know from Worm proper, her death is a lot more thorough than that. If I recall correctly, just about every Thinker shard (except possibly Path To Victory, if you consider that one of hers) is dead or otherwise unresponsive. Reassembling her is pretty much impossible at this point.
Kara probably doesn't know this, but Addy probably does. If it was actually possible to reassemble the Thinker, the Warrior would have presumably just done that instead of saving cats stuck in trees for 20+ years.
