The hivemind is conquering for me?

After celebrating with Lena for awakening her second power, one that pairs extremely well with her current, we donned our clothes and robes, and we all headed out to the bar for breakfast. There was no rush, classes started at ten and it was currently seven. Plenty of time to enjoy each other’s company for a while.

Once the food arrived at the table, Janine, who was sitting next to me, leant over and whispered something in my ear. ”Apollo, we should start kissing in public. To sell the act and stuff. You initiate. In a moment, I’ll just wait, make it seem casual though.”

I internally shook my head. This Sepiidan was playing a dangerous game, I warned her if she kept this up I might gobble her up and she is seriously risking it without a care... But that said, I did see her logic. She was my Sepiida on paper after all. People tend to do things with their Sepiidans.

Rubbing my hands together, I looked at the thick juicy sausage in front of me. It was practically bulging against its casing. I couldn’t wait to feel it in my mouth...

I began cutting up the specialty sausage and took a bite off my fork. ”Oh fuck yeah.” The flavours overwhelmed me, prompting me to slam the table with my hand. Janine smiled at my antics. ”Is it really that good?”

I cut off another piece of the sausage and extended the fork over towards Janine. ”Open wide.” I said playfully and Janine did just as I asked. What she somehow didn’t expect, from her surprised yelp into my mouth, was the bait of pushing the fork forward, only to replace it with my lips at the last moment.

The kiss was short, sweet and to the point, though I did feel Janine’s tongue brush across my lips for a moment, which felt a little electric, but nothing more in public. With her eyes still closed, Janine’s mouth was a little agape, so I shoved my sausage inside so she could finally have a taste.

She then opened her eyes and looked at me, speaking muffled. ”Oh Wow. That is good.” Before I could reply, I felt a tugging on my right sleeve and turned to Orchid, who struck a crit against me with her pleading eyes as she held her mouth slightly open, clearly wanting the same treatment.

Feeling love sprout within me at her cuteness overload, I did what she clearly wanted, especially as she didn’t make a fuss about the innocent kiss. ’Good girl.’ I relayed to her softly while simply pecking her lips, but it was enough that I felt her entire body shudder in unbridled delight.

”Well that was adorable.” Lena said from the other side of the table, having just watched all that. ”Are you guys all lovey and sappy like this often? As cute as it is, I’d rather not be the third- fourth wheel in this case. She said politely.

I shrugged my shoulders. ”I’m not sure? We just sort of go with the flow. But don’t ever think you are the fourth wheel, I’ve only known you a day, but we are friends, just tell us if you want us to stop and we will.

Lena then looked at Janine and her eyes narrowed playfully before looking back at Apollo.

”So, you and I are actually best friends then? as only best friends could be that comfortable around one another. Right?”

Janine’s eyes then turned hostile as she glared into my soul. In some quick thinking, I chuckled while wrapping my arm around her. ”Well, You are definitely my best Human friend. That’s for sure.”

Lena’ smile then widened to uncomfortable margins. ”Ha! Yes. Then it’s official! Etched in stone! If you thought I was weird up till this point and have not said anything, It is too late for you to change your mind about wanting me around now, buttercup. You are stuck with me now bestie! Ahahaha! Oh and don’t worry, I don’t actually care about the whole smoochin’ thing, you do what you want. I just wanted to see what your response would be. We might be besties, but I’m still figuring you out.”

”Fair enough.” Is all I had to say, I liked her energy very much so having her around was no bother.

...

After getting filled to the brim with meat, thanks to the second breakfast I just had, I was sitting there patting my stomach when a familiar sound of commotion came from the entrance and with said commotion was my friend.

Nerissa walked over to our table and spoke. ”The pulsar is here. I had someone install it as well, we just need the homeowner to be present to activate it.” I nodded my head immediately. ”Good, we should do that now. Lena, you wanna come back to mine for a bit?

The woman then shook her head. ”Tempting offer, but I think I’m going to go and change into some new clothes and wind down a bit from the excitement of the last day so I can focus in class. As I do have some ’attention issues’ as the doctor so claims... Stupid ass, wish I could burn that toupee of his head... I also have to go and report this awesome new Psionic power! Oh I love it! I can make my fire even hotter! This is going to be so much fun! Anyway, See you in a bit!”

Lena then literally skipped away whistling a jovial tune. I watched her up until she left the bar before turning back to Nerissa. ”Yep, let’s go.”

...

Arriving back home, there was now a weird satellite contraption on the roof. Using my incredible powers of deduction, I assumed it to be pulsar. It looked a little out of place against the rest of the clean roofs in the surroundings, but it also didn’t scream. ’Mega high tech anti reconnaissance device... Of doom.’ So I was not fussed.

Standing by the front door was a man, most likely the installer and judging by his military uniform and metal augmentations, he was a high ranking techno mechanic or something. ”Archon Lambdason I presume?” He spoke in a deep modulated voice.

I nodded my head at him.

”The pulsar is set up. Honestly, I have never seen one before, this is some serious high tech right here son. How you managed to get this is beyond me. Nevertheless, here is a manual on how to use the thing. Please give it to the most tech savvy among you as it’s quite technical and they will need to dumb it down for you. That wasn’t a jab at any of your intellects. Even I struggled and I’m a techno mechanic. Here is a basic remote for the thing. If you lose it... Don’t. For now, only press the yellow button at the top. That will activate and de-active the pulse. Do not fiddle with anything else until someone has read the manual. I implore you. Oh and one more thing. Do not set this thing anywhere close to its maximum setting, it will make your building up to illegal levels of civilian counter recon. I don’t want to have to come take this thing down, it likes it up there, I got a hunch... Ok that is all. Goodbye and read the manual.”

The man then walked away without a care in the world, leaving me holding this massive manual. Tech was not my strong suit. At all. Same for Orchid. I then looked between Janine and Nerissa and put on my strongest puppy dog eyes.

Janine seemed to catch onto this early and managed to look away in time, Nerissa on the other hand. ”Sure, I will read through it. From what I have seen, this tech is actually very ingenious for modern tech.”

Passing off the evil book of boring technology jargon, I looked down at the remote also in my hand and clicked the yellow button. My hair stood on end for a moment after I did so. Something changed in the surroundings, but it quickly went away.

Orchid clearly felt it as well and so did Nerissa as she looked around and nodded. ”Very nice. Quite potent. Would take a designated hacking team to get through this at this point and not quickly. We can go inside and release the others now.”

That put a smile on my face. Seeing those two in their flesh and blood and fire and metal was much different than them being in my Origin. It would also ease up some burden for a while as they were heavy on the mind. ’Especially with the black hole in there sucking so much Psionic energy constantly to maintain itself...’ I thought.

...

”Oh, my universe. As much as I enjoy living inside your Mindspace, it does feel good to stretch my legs and smell you.” Onyx said, while acting as a living backpack, nestling her cheek up against my own as she did.

Nerissa meanwhile, addressed Sol, her curiosity getting the better of her. ”What is it like? Living in another’s Mindspace? I still cannot fathom the amount of trust Apollo has in letting living beings live inside there... the danger you theoretically are and the damage you could inflict...”

Sol didn’t take Nerissa’s words as an insult, the young Psionic entity was simply curious about Apollo, something she understood all too well. ”What is it like? Young one, I have existed always. And in all that existence, never have I felt the sweet surging sensation of belonging and home as I have Inside of Apollo’s Mindspace. That is what it is like. It is my home.”