Name: Koko
Province: Redgrass
Distinguishing Feature: Sharp Ear for Gossip

>>1052746
>>1052771
Yeah it's a fun mental image

>>1052746
>The idea of an archipelago hive with a bunch of short neuomono having a queen that even snow neumono would consider large is hilarious!
Supporting the idea of a giant queen with a tiny hive!

>>1052789
Agreed

Long Live The Queen 1/7 Ryka 2022/12/29(Thu)05:37 No. 1052827 ID: 0b790f
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[Quality chosen: Northern Archipelago]
[Gained feature: Calming Empathy. Ryka has naturally relaxed empathy, helping keep neumono around her from getting too worked up, and helping her mask some of her other emotions. She can also exude it forcefully to help de-escalate situations.]
[Bonus feature: Inner Bigness. Ryka may only be tall for a cerulean neumono, but she has the muscle density and hardiness of someone far larger.]

My name is Ryka, I'm a first-generation rogue.

And I'm currently in the middle of my magnum opus.



Arvenia, the Lost is a play considered to be one of the greatest classical works amongst neumono. Most of us would know it from the seminal adaptation by Tolen Bridgeburner many years ago, but while the exact origin is debated, the story traces its roots deep through our history, back even before the uplift of our species. It's a story that lasted through purges, blood, and death. It's art that stayed alive until aliens wrote it down as text, and Tolen once more granted it meaning by imbuing it with Empathy. But Arvenia, the Lost didn't stay with us just by chance. It resonated with nearly every hive that saw it, and I think I know why.

It's because it deals with the fears almost all of us share.
It's because it gives us an opportunity to safely face what we pretend we can't see.
It's because it's a story about becoming a rogue.

At least, that's my opinion.
But I've based on that opinion the better part of several years, adapting a one-man version of the play viewed from a modern lens.

The basic plot is rather simple; it's a play in three acts plus a finale. Act one, Arvenia manages her hive's weapons. They come to depend on her, then discover a plain of bountiful food and abandon hunting completely, leaving her without a purpose in the hive. To many neumono, this delves into the fear of uselessness and the shame of being a burden to your hive, one of the worst feelings a neumono can spiral into. My adaptation highlights the painful reality of empathic transformation, framing Arvenia as a severe case of instrumentality syndrome--becoming less useful to her hive because their expectations of her don't include the ability to adapt based on their hive's circumstances.


Act two. Arvenia and her hive begin to drift apart as she's beset by the dissonance of losing her role in it. Without weapons needing maintenance, she eats less and stays at the periphery of her hive, and they pay her less attention in turn. One day, her hive eats without her from a fruit tree that proves to be poison, and she becomes the sole survivor. Wandering listlessly, she travels to a hive of other neumono, who reject her in totality and chase her off. The themes are clear: remain vigilant and never lose your caution, the neumono in your life cannot be replaced, and they all depend on each other for safety. For any neumono, to lose your entire hive, for your family to be torn away from you, is the worst tragedy they can experience.

But what could possibly describe becoming a rogue more than the loss of your entire hive?

I doubt it needs mention, but my highlights this act focus on feelings that rogues find intimately familiar.

Rejection.

Long Live The Queen 2/7 Ryka 2022/12/29(Thu)05:38 No. 1052828 ID: 0b790f
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Act three. Hounded by the neumono, Arvenia enters the caves and meets a Predator. The story at this point is pure metaphor; faced with terrible tragedies, Arvenia contemplates the merits of living as she converses with what is Death incarnate. To live, or to die? To persevere through senseless tragedy with no guarantee or even suggestion of happiness on the other side, or surrender to the Predator, whatever form it takes? Their dialogue is laced with meaning as the conversation takes Arvenia from numbness to anguish, from anguish to contemplation, and finally to an acceptance of her life as a whole, even with all its grief. The scene ends with her rejection of the predator as she concludes that so long as there is life inside her, it will be worth it to keep living it.

My adaptation here lies close to the original. Arvenia's conversation with Death is so universal, I suspect this is what led to aliens collecting the story to begin with. My alteration comes in the empathy of Arvenia's anguish--to pretend to share its depth and specifics is impossible. But I can offer mine. Filtered through the character, if I am genuine, it will serve the story far more than simply acting this scene with an attempt to mimic Arvenia--and in a world of metaphor, there is nothing separating the audience from the performer from the character.

I may not be Arvenia, but I can show her pain by bearing my own. Besides, this is performance art.

Long Live The Queen 3/7 Ryka 2022/12/29(Thu)05:39 No. 1052829 ID: 0b790f
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And lastly, the finale. The part I'm currently on.

Arvenia emerges from the cave having accepted life, whereby she discovers that the predator has killed the other neumono hive, and finds their creche full of children. She decides to raise them herself, becoming the queen of a brand new hive.

It's the part that takes the audience, who you've drawn through the emotional pits with empathy by this point, and brings them back up to feeling okay again. Arvenia, the Lost is not a play you go to in order to feel happy, but without the catharsis of this ending, I imagine this story would leave everyone feeling too depressed for it to have lasted. Having a queen, a hive, and the feelings of a possible future ends the play on a high note, and conveniently lets the viewer slip back into their own life again, away from the fears it presents.

I really like this story. There's not much that resonates with both hivers and rogues, and Arvenia, the Lost is one of them. Why I like it, though... It's because of something very subtle, but it's something that's incredibly important to me.


It isn't a story about how a rogue can become a queen.

It's a story about how a rogue can be a queen.


"When the light rises, I will feed you. When it falls, I will keep you warm. The storms we will weather together, and when the world is cold I will call you my family."

Long Live The Queen 4/7 Queen Ryka 2022/12/29(Thu)05:40 No. 1052830 ID: 0b790f
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"Blaghlablea zarblablarbram flragblrghl"

Did we just have a stroke?

oh god she's dead

Good quest everyone. See you all tomorrow.

Uh... Is that how Hive formation normally works? Everyone has a collective seizure? Maybe we should talk to a Neurologist...
Either way, regain your calm, this situation calls for clarity and action.

That's one way to form a hive.

Let's hope it wasn't recorded for posterity, otherwise that final bit there is going to get brought up for the remainder of your days.

Good news: The rogues in the audience loved your play!

Bad news: They loved it so much that they actually believed you to be their queen and so all of their empathy caused you to develop into a queen.

So, yeah, you've got a hive now!

If performing your play about becoming a rogue made you a queen, then frankly I think you’ve done a terrible job.

This can only lead to wonderful things

>>1052846
Not unless the audience is implied to be the children, then it's method acting.

Side effects of becoming a queen include a sudden increase in size and an increase of responsibility for your new hive.

>>1052837
A large portion of the neumono simultaneously realigned to the same mental wavelength, SOMETHING is going to happen in the head of the one at the center of it. It'd probably feel like having a crowd of people suddenly occupy your head all at once. Like a network overload or something.

Method Acting: What can't it solve?!

*Standing applause while crying* Excellent! Bravissimo! It was flawless! The blabbering at the end always gets me. ALWAYS!
This play has no right being this perfect!

You're gonna have one hell of a headache when you wake up.

And you're probably gonna be pissed when you discover none of your clothes fit you anymore now that you've had a growth spurt from becoming a Queen!

>>1052973
It's a gradual thing based on the hive's empathy assuming the Queen should be bigger, not an automatic growth spurt.

Long Live The Queen Queen Ryka 2023/01/01(Sun)03:28 No. 1053039 ID: a01d89
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Okay... so.

The first thing that occurs to me is that I'm lying in a bed.

This in itself isn't that weird. I've slept a lot of places. Hotel rooms, parking lots, stairs, billboards, trunks, rooftops, and permissive restaurants to name a few; laying in furniture that was actually designed for it is comparatively normal.

What's less so is that I can't remember how I got here. I'm still in my costume. The smell of perfume fills my nose as I breathe, an unfamiliar scent from the normal must of my living space. I can hear the sound of muffled voices in the distance--maybe behind walls or something. And empathy, too, both close and further away. I try to go over what I can remember before I open my eyes or let my emotions rile up.

Woke up, checked weather. Packed costumes, got dressed. Ate a half-serving of breakfast, Arvenia's gnawing hunger is poignant and comes up several times so--Fuck, I'm hungry--uuh, checked in with the venue to ensure there were no complications, put on makeup, and...

The last thing I can remember is the lines at the end of the play. What happened to me? Did I get drugged somehow? I don't feel sluggish... if anything, I feel exhilarated, but that's probably just from the performance. Something's definitely different, though... my empathy feels like it's leaking out of me somehow. It's hard to describe--it doesn't feel bad, it just feels bigger, like it's a blanket covering more than just me... but I'm not fully in control of it all, like--

"R-Ryka...? Ryka, are you awake?"
[Empathy Layer 1: Overwhelming Joy]
[Empathy Layer 2: Concern]
[Empathy Layer 3: Anxiety]

I recognize that voice. Nellie. I've known her for a little while, she's the contact at the playhouse I was performing in. Small cerulean/redgrass little thing. She helped me with the scheduling, and was supportive when I told her about my project. I open my eyes, and hear murmuring around me. I see four (wow?) more neumono with similar empathy just in my immediate vision, all sitting close to me or lying against the edge of the bed. In short order they feel like they very badly want to speak to me, but they're indicating to Nellie with their empathy that they're ok with her talking for the moment instead, clearly not wanting to overload the conversation.

Now that I think about it, this whole scene strikes as very nice to me. Everyone's in tune with each other and cooperating, considering each other's feelings and working towards what everyone thinks is best, together. I don't think I've felt this since...

Wait.

Nellie's empathy doesn't feel like it did before.

She feels like me.

All of them do.



Oh, fuck.

I bolt upright, broadcasting alarm for a moment before calming down, but they definitely felt that.

"Ryka?! What's wrong, are you okay?" Nellie says.
[Empathy Layer 1: Concern]
[Empathy Layer 2: Overwhelming Joy]
[Empathy Layer 3: Anxiety]

"Just--just give her a minute, you saw what she was like before." Says one of the other neumono, a green male one.

I... I need to think through this. This may be the greatest thing to ever happen to me, but there's just so many implications to this, and not all of them are good.

confirm the situation, ask those present what happened.

>turned queen, so many implications to this
Such as? Has anyone ever acted their way into becoming a queen before?

>not all of them are good
Maybe not. You're all like to have challenges aplenty and there's bound to be many different types of Neumono involved who converted - likely rogues, but maybe not all, which will be a concern if their former hive comes calling. You'll have to find out who they are and balance any conflicting interests to prevent yourself from having too many points of internal contention. You'll need to take stock of priorities, figure out how you - how everyone - is to make their way from here, but...

>turned queen
But those concerns can be addressed, and in this moment you are like Arvenia having just picked up a bunch of children, even if many are likely to be adults. You've now become the story you told - and you need to create a continuation worthy of the tale.

So let the empathy and responsibility of it sink in. Sit up in bed and try to act your royal self - with a decent smidge of your regular self. There may need to be hugs, given the - and express this with bemusement - incredible vote of confidence for your play this happens to be. State something along the lines of if the work produced by your lived experience and art can be the foundation of a hive, you're not going to turn away from it.

Then get the lowdown from Nelie and the others. Is everyone okay? How many were there? Were everyone rogues? You'll have to meet them all, get their names, but you'll take questions and come with more of your own for now. How long were you out? Whose bed is this?

Well..
Great your new family with a light-hearted joke. Get some smiles going. There's quite a bit of logistics ahead but try and enjoy this moment.

>>1053042
I would say more don't act at all. Do your best to keep a steady head to be sure. But those in your hive will be interacting with you very VERY regularly now, it behooves you to be honest with them. Otherwise I agree completely. Confirm details of what just happened and take stock of who alls in your new family, have everyone introduce to each other more in depth.

Take a moment to calm yourself. Thank them for taking care of you and ask them what happened after the end of the play.

Quick! Go to the orphanage and adopt all the kids who are too old for normal hives to think they have a good enough chance of adapting, before your easy hive adoption period wears off! Or all the ones that click with you well or something. Or I don't know maybe call the orphanage and have them bring them to you? Anyway also probably the government has guidelines for this, maybe some sort of supports, so I'd get on that if I were you first.

Oh first thing give everyone a hug though!

Alright, we're fine, this is surprising and odd but it's not bad news, just weird and maybe good news.
Time to make use of your usual self-control and calm yourself, you're in a hive now so your emotions are linked to that of your hive so you'll need to stay calm in order to keep your hive calm.

First order of business, a recap. Ask Nellie what happened after you passed out, and who was affected.
Also make sure to assure her that you're fine, just catching up to the surprise everyone else must have felt.

The most important thing we need to do is stay strong, we can't afford to have our own freak out session when what we need now is strength and action to reassure our new hive.

>>1053039
Ask everyone if they enjoyed your play. I mean, yeah, it's pretty obvious they did, but it's nice to hear them say it out loud.

Now you need to figure out what you all have to do. Specifically, where will you all live now? Do you need to go tell city hall so the government can provide a building for your hive to live in?

>>1053039
Now that you're a hive, this means you've all gotta move in together, right? Does anyone know where we can find a place big enough for all of us?

well, a good first step would be to ask what all has happened while you where out, and who is in this new hive, let out SOME of the elation, to answer them, then if you're all fine (and you're a neumono you're probably fine)... than it's time to meet the hive personally

Long Live The Queen Queen Ryka 2023/01/03(Tue)04:16 No. 1053138 ID: 34c09b
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>What implications?
Rogues or not, these neumono were fully-fledged people before I showed up. If you ask rogues what they'd give up to be in a hive again, their answers can frighten you, but it hasn't escaped my notice just how much power I've gained over these people for doing essentially nothing. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

>Move in together?
>Government assistance
Finances are going to be difficult... I don't care if I sleep on a bed or on the streets, but that's not going to work if I'm responsible for more than just me. Right now, I live in a musty one-bedroom apartment, which can't even comfortably fit two people, much less however many rogues I actually formed a hive with. I... never thought I'd actually be in this position, to tell the truth; I don't know what government assistance is available.

>Has anyone ever acted their way into becoming a queen before?
No, not that I know of. Spontaneous hive formation is extremely poorly understood to begin with, and it's drenched in pseudoscience and misinformation, but if it was simple as pretending to be a queen really hard, I don't think there would be as many rogues in the galaxy. People can't not have tried that, right? You cannot convince me they haven't tried that.

>Calm down
>Don't freak out
>Make sure they know you're fine
It occurs to me that what I feel is going to start having a bigger impact on those around me than I'm used to... I'm going to have to figure that one out. Good thing my empathy is so relaxed! I can already feel the alarm fading, and everyone else seems to be calming down again in response, though they remain crowded in around me. Let's just start where we can, go from there until we need to do something different.

>Enjoy the moment
Believe me, I'd love to. The emotions in the room are making that easier, but there's so many thoughts swimming through my head right now that it's still difficult, and I'm pretty sure I'm still in some kind of shock. Still... you're right. Worrying about them right now isn't helping us.



>Confirm the situation from Nellie
Okay, that's a good step one. She almost doesn't need to, though. I can feel their empathy flowing through me and back out through each other again. It's more than just a dead ringer for mine, it's functionally identical.

"Nellie. What happened after the end of the play?"

"Oh thank god, she's lucid again." Says a snowy cerulean neumono in relief, leaning over the bed to look at me. I don't recognize that one, but she was holding in more tension than the others. It's good to see it melting away.

Nellie glances at her, then back to me, and in efforts to get closer, she climbs onto the bed, drawing back the curtains to let some light in. It's difficult to miss her smile, even if she's radiating some definite anxiousness too.

"Well it was amazing, for one thing! I know you showed me some snippets when we were marking out the scenes, but wow, I was not ready for that. You had me in tears during the second act, and that conversation with the predator! It was like you were Arvenia!"

[Shit yeah, she was.] Comes the empathy from the snowy cerulean, which sparkles a wave of amusement in the group, though it does nothing to impede Nellie's exuberance.

"But... after that, well.. It was the end, and... I don't know. It all went so fast. I just remembered feeling like for the first time ever, I actually understood the play. Like, I got what you were doing with it, and I loved it. It was like everything suddenly made sense"

I am listening to her, but I can't help but get a little lost in the moment. Everyone in the room is a similar combination of extremely happy, amped up, and anxious. I can't really blame them. The way things are looking, they're going to have a hive now.

...Just thinking that word. 'Hive'. For the longest time, 'Hive' for me was a word to apply to others. It was something they could have. Never something that I could. Not ever again. I can feel some tears welling up inside of me, but I cried that river dry so long ago that I don't think they'll come out that easily.

"...And I just felt this connection with you and this pressure inside my head started happening and I got a little woozy, and then I realized that you were going off-script and just kind of... babbling up there."

"I... what?" I don't remember that.

"Yeah, you.. It wasn't speech, you were just kind of making noises." Says a neumono in the backpack in front of me.
[Suppressed second-hand embarrassment]

"Then you fell over. And we realized what was happening, and ran up there to try to protect you." Says the one in the cap, looking up at me. His empathy is surprisingly neutral, though the happiness is still radiating through him.

"Protect me?" I asks, looking at him. He pulls his cap down over his head a bit more.

"...Not all of us are as stable as us. Lots are outside, too, but we didn't want everyone crowding you, and we seemed affected the least."
[Can someone else?]

The female that interjected with the joke takes over. "When people finally realized what was happening, it was chaos. Rogues started pouring in to get closer to you, past the aliens, past everyone. Hivers were trying to get out, I think some of the aliens got injured. And... well, some neumono can be complete bastards, you know. You're... you're our queen. We can't... We weren't gonna let anything happen to you." She was putting up a tough front earlier, but there's a lot of sadness and vulnerability surfacing in her empathy while she says that. Clearly she can be real when she needs to. The one in the cap nods firmly, and Nellie just looks kind of sad.

"Police were called in. They pulled a lot of the rogues away... It didn't seem safe to stay out there, so we brought you back here to my place because it was the closest. It's only been about an hour or two since then before you started making sense again." She says. [Anxious]



Rrgh. Of course rogues that learned about this would come charging in. It's a large open-air amphitheater and neumono are tough, of course they would try their hardest to get into empathy range. The disparity between life in a hive and life as a rogue can be enormous, and the joint government has always been poorly equipped and riddled with systemic insufficiencies when handling us, and that's when it's trying. It hasn't been that long since the answer to a neumono going rogue was killing them.

I've met the rogues that live here. I've talked with many of them. Some of them do fine. But not all rogues are equipped to live that way; they pine, constantly, for what they've lost... some of them embrace the Predator. Even for rogues, intentionally hurting someone over this is going too far for most, but when the stakes are so vast between living as a rogue and a hiver, can I really judge them for not being cognizant enough to avoid injuries? Especially if they're used to our regeneration, and are operating on blind panic for what could easily be a once-in-a-lifetime event?

Would I really not break someone's toe if I knew that it could bring me to an imagined paradise?

>Thank them
"Thank you for protecting me." I say, looking them over. I'm genuinely [Grateful]; by all accounts it sounds like I was helpless for the past few hours. "I'm still feeling a little shocked at saying this, but I'm Queen Ryka." A wave of happiness courses through the neumono in the room, and out into the ones outside as well. Good, I was hoping that would happen if I said that. "I haven't met all of you yet, and I don't know how well you know each other. We're going to have to do this again later, but we should do quick introductions."


In short order, I'm introduced to this gang of 5.


Nellie. Cerulean-redgrass female, first-generation rogue. She's pretty small. My gauge for her is that she's friendly and quick to help, but I've noticed she can seem kind of insecure at times. She's better with people than she gives herself credit for.
Rupert. A cerulean male on the taller end, an orphaned rogue that was apparently raised by human aliens. He's wearing a backpack and seems to have a sturdy head on his shoulders, but out of all of them, he seems the most uncertain of what's going on.
Lett. Jungle-cerulean male, second-generation rogue. His empathy is unusually even and mild, I wonder if he has a similar thing that I have going on. Apparently he was a pickpocket, which is pretty impressive for a neumono for a variety of reasons.
Kiara. Northern-archipelago female, like me, and apparently she's another second-generation rogue. She has the most spunk out of all of them, I'll give her that, and her empathy is stronger than the others. She's clearly had to get tough to get to where she is.
Rotali. Cerulean female, she's just about the smallest neumono I've ever seen, and I don't think she's said a word this entire time outside of introducing herself. I remember seeing her in the audience, though. She might be shy. I noticed that she's been taking glances at my costume and what remains of my ablative makeup.


"I really liked your play." Rotali adds simply to the end of her introduction. [Happiness][Shy][Anxious]

...Why is everyone so anxious? I think I've demonstrated that I'm alright at this point. Am I missing something...?

>Go to the orphanage
There aren't many neumono that fit that bill, actually. Most are adopted by one of the big hives, or by rogues trying to become queens. Other races might have a stronger presence there, but we're pretty good about this. Truth be told, if there were any rogue neumono orphans, they probably would have been part of the group that stormed the amphitheater.

So how big is the hive? Just these 5 or are there more? If so are we talking around a dozen, dozens, god forbid hundreds?

Then I guess find out what kind of resources everyone has, what skills people have, where people live, if they need to be close to you or can stay away for awhile to find out if people are going to have to move or if they can stay where their at, guess we will also need a way to make money so see what everyone does for a living... wow their's a lot of things we got to check on now that we're basically a mini nation now.

>>1053138
The most obvious anxiety ping was related to the police and rogue situation, if it's an ongoing situation there's probably some tensions that might boil over outside? Probably best to ask anyway.

>>1053140
also yeah, can you tell how big your new hive is from empathy alone? if not, probably a good idea to ask.

>Not sure how I feel about gaining power for nothing
They are as much setting a course for your life as you for them! Maybe the exchange there isn't even, but you can certainly work towards making it more equitable in the long run.

>Stampede, violence, protect you,
Well... if nobody died at least that's good, but the aliens don't fix up like neumono does, so those sorts of charges are going to cut harder against you if you get the blame for what went down, especially if you speak in defense of the rogues. Which you're probably gonna, given how much you get how they felt.

>The stable ones
Wonder whether asking Nellie and Kiara to act as a sort of communication / negotiation team might be a good move - one's got the social skills and the other seems to have the spine to not let the first get bowled over.

Rupert and Lett - though Rupert more so - are the fishes out of water here. They've never been part of a Hive and could use a rundown of how their life has changed. That said, they both seem capable - Lett being a pickpocket probably means he's, well, more available to drop everything in his life to stay by your side. Rupert having been raised by aliens probably has had a fair amount of stability in his life for a rogue and might have picked up an education and a skillset, you should quiz him more on that.

Rotali is... clearly a big fan of your work. Maybe her love of your art and her aspirations can be channeled towards something. Shame becoming a Queen will probably put a hamper on your acting career. Or maybe not.

>Why is everyone so anxious?
You could ask if there's anything threatening or time-sensitive that you need to be aware of. It could just be an underlying fear that this whole situation - and Hive - is fragile, but maybe there's something else going on too, like authorities that want to be met with ASAP, or there's a standoff outside against cops or the remaining rogues still, or there are people hurt outside who need tending, but refuse to leave your side.

It could even simply be a lack of a unifying cause - other than how badass of an actor you were - for your hive to believe in and look to the future towards with you that's starting to sink in as a sort of low-level worry. Like - "We have a Hive and a Queen - now what?"

>Challenges
If there's no immediate crisis, confer with your new family about the current challenges facing you all. For one, there's the stampede fallout. That probably needs addressing in some way - no way some your new hivemates weren't hauled off by police as well, right?

For two, you've got a fresh Hive hanging about and crowding the inside and outside of a tiny apartment - clearly that's not sustainable. To some extent you all will need to continue one's regular life for now - going to work (or going to quit from work), getting rest and medical attention (goodness, you probably have wounded, given what went down) and to make sure one won't be as missed from wherever one hails. Obviously you're not sending everyone home this instant - you want to meet them all - but arrangements must be made, whatever network of contacts one has can be contacted and you should probably look into getting a bigger place for that typical communal Hive lifestyle ASAP. You need a base of operations. Or a home, if you will.

Thirdly, the wild rumour of you being able to integrate rogues at will, or whatever it's ballooned into by now, should be... softened considerably. You've no idea how it happened - you just acted your heart out and then woke up a Queen in bed.

Fourth, and related to three, probably there will be questions from journalists and such. As an actor you should be media-savvy enough to know you should have some solid soundbites for them, as well as take advantage of the situation and the spectacle of an instance of spontaneous Queenification to promote... something. Yourself. Your new Hive. A good cause. Whatever.

>Future & acting talent
You could consider at some point put on a second performance of Arvenia, the Lost to satisfy rogue attention and drum up some extra money for your Hive. A lot of rogues might attend just in case lightning strikes twice - and it not doing so would lessen some of the pressure on you. Doesn't have to be an immediate thing though.

>A unifying cause
One thing is probably for sure. Whatever else comes, you're going to be a hive - maybe THE hive - that gives a shit about rogue rights. At least for a generation or two. You all know what it can be like.

If your new hive got the resources, you might be able form a fortresshaven for "rogues" by just buying some land or apartment in the slums equivalent, and build or renovate from there to make a rogue haven. Remember to look into the zoning or building permits; you really don't want to dig into an aquifer city plumbing or electrical.

So... what exactly are the resources, skills, expertise, and contacts your hive has?

>>1053138
>why so anxious
The distant fear of becoming a rogue again? They don't know how fragile this new Hive is, and they don't know how well they'll fit in. They could also be nervous about how well you'll perform as a leader.

First, clean yourself up a bit. Get presentable.
Then I think the first order of business is to take a census. Go out and meet your hive. Meet everyone personally, for everyone is important. Take introductions, etc. Delegate someone (perhaps Rupert, to give him something to focus on?) to do brief interviews to get an impression of everyone's skills and origins; depending on how many there are you could do that yourself. Then later, at a slower pace, you can interview each one personally and find out the details, get to know everyone better.
You'll need to decide on a name for the hive, as well as register it officially. Then you'll have to figure out what kind of business you'll be running. I'm sure everyone can support themselves individually for now, but it will do good for the hive's unity to have a central business to work for, and an ideal or goal to aspire to.

Hmm, should these five be your royal guard for now?

they could be anxious about any number of things, so it's best to just ask, assuming none of objections you'd really like to at least get up, and probably at least show your face to your new hive

Yeah, the first thing we need right now is organization and information, I have more of an idea on how to possibly handle all this once that's done with but for now it's best we make sure everyone knows everyone, then we can prepare a speech for the hive.

I will say, there seems to be a lot of diversion from significant change prevalent so far when that's what we really need. We can't really expect everyone to just continue their lives like nothing happened, so we'll need to get a little culty. By that I mean we need to act as a whole and essentially sacrifice our individual lives to make a collective one.
Basically what I propose is that everyone that's now a part of our hive and is willing to do so should sell anything they wouldn't take with them and consolidate a hive fund that we can put forward into a single building. Basically, we need to start fundraising and proving ourselves to be self-sufficient.

As shocking as this all is, time is of the essence and we must make use of this gift fully while it lasts.

Go out to meet with the ex-rogues outside and encourage them to share in the joy and comfort from this new chance you all now have.

After that, you should seriously consider going to the police station where the other rogues have been detained to get into empathy range and let them join yout hive.

>>1053228
>let them join yout hive.
I doubt we're actually still mentally "open", it sounds like it happened semi-instantly to those who were watching the play from the start during its climax.

The entire performance was about Ryka communicating Arvenia's thoughts and emotions and getting all spectating neumono to feel exactly like her, to the point that rogues ended up synchronized and attuned after the climactic lines.

Wait... We only affected rogues (or possibly soon-to-be rogues), right?

>anxious

Well, now that you're stable, it's sort of a sign that the clock is ticking, right? Or maybe even already run out. There might be another stampede when you go out. At the very least a lot of desperate people are going to be hurt. I don't know, maybe you can come up with something to say to people?... there might be a lot more than just these five who are in the room with you, too.

They could also be anxious just because this is a big life change. Everything's changed course and who knows to where, right? Maybe you can get someone from the police or government to talk to about safety and supports and stuff. Aliens, maybe. Does becoming part of a hive again make the empathic xenophobic response stronger again?

Just ask why they're anxious. Best to let out any worries now, while we're in a more safe and secluded spot. They make it sound like we've got a hive bigger than just the five of them.