The hivemind is conquering for me?

I contemplated on whether or not to explain my thinking, but decided against it. ”I think it’s best to just not talk about it to be honest. It’s an outcome I don’t want from the bottom of my heart and simply discussing it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

Gabrielle nodded. ”Very well, I won’t pry, but from the context I have inside of my head, I think it is very smart and mature of you to see these possible outcomes that come with a lifespan greater than what we are supposed to have. Like did you know for example, our average lifespan as humans used to only be eighty years? That is crazy compared to what it is now, being a century and a half, it’s almost double.”

I whistled genuinely impressed. ”Honestly, I can still barely fathom living that long, never mind beyond it. I mean, my life is already so full of activity. I have so much going on constantly. And with the rate I draw in trouble... I see great antics in my future.”

Gabrielle walked around for a while longer. I found out her actual role here was as a teachers assistant as she was able to get me entry into the lecture halls thanks to that credential. There wasn’t much impressive about them, they were just rooms to listen to whatever you were being taught.

There were ,however, training rooms, medical wards and the aforementioned restricted zones Leanna told us about. The urge to call on Onyx and have her take a look around was great in my mind as her stealth against Psionic beings was practically omnipotent here. Or so I thought as she was clearly reading my mind and responded to me.

”Actually, my universe, I fear If I leave your Mindspace within this building I would be found out. And while I could kill a great majority of the entities here, there is something warning me not to tempt fate.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise hearing that. Onyx had managed to kill a praetorian after all, even if it was an ambush. So if she was weary about leaving in this building. That left me... Intrigued.

”What’s gotten you all curious?” Gabrielle asked, causing me to snap towards her. ”You could tell I was curious about something? Honestly... EQ is the real superpower.” My response somehow worked in warding off Gabrielle’s question as she followed up with.

”You struggle to read people’s intentions? Their emotions?” I nodded my head in agreement before adding. ”Yeah, kind of. I am getting better at it, but the majority of my childhood, I was basically raised in a cave. Sure I had my family surrounding me at all times, but my family tends to be a lot more direct with their emotions. I have never had to pick up on nuances. Like with Kathrine for example. I never would have started anything with her if she didn’t explicitly state at the start of our relationship that she was into me and wanted to ride me. I need a straight up declaration of intent or I am just going to see other parties as friends. Stuff like that.”

Gabrielle took this information in like she was a word sponge. This was critical information about her son. It was adorable that her son was so open about his life to express this to her, but it was also a weakness. Someone could exploit this if they were careful about it. She would say nothing for now, but she will be watching over her son and when the time is right, teach him how to better read people.

With Gabrielle staying silent for a moment, I continued. ”And like yesterday. I spoke with a techno-mechanic, Jocasta. The one that is chummy with King Sigismund. Now, while I am still not entirely sure as her flowery words could be just that... I am pretty sure she propositioned me for sex.”

That piece of information snapped Gabrielle out of her train of thoughts, prompting her to ask. ”Lady Jocasta was here? Yesterday? Why? From my sources, the king is currently defending the newly acquired territory from the Coalition, he would need her by his side to reign him in.”

”I’m not sure about the last part, but she was here to collect my friend, Ronnie and take him as her apprentice. I told her when we met at Queen Elaine’s party that he could speak to machines and she was instantly interested.”

Gabrielle listened and nodded her head along as the facts came together. ”Well in that case Apollo, I don’t think she was propositioning you, I think she was just being nice.” I sighed in relief upon hearing that, before replying. ”Oh thats good. When she said to come to Vallerand for ’bisensuous collaboration’ that sounded like she wanted us to do it. But perhaps I am simply mistaken then.”

Gabrielle’s eye twitched as she suppressed her rage. Another one of high status was trying to get their grubby mitts on her boy... She needed to protect him for his own good. She had to... Or she would never get a chance to get closer.

...

As we were walking around for a while, I suddenly felt a tug on my jacket sleeve. Turning my attention to the tugger, I was greeted by a lovely Sepiida with ram-like horns caressing the side of her face.

”Hello.” I said with a friendly smile and the Sepiida seemed to freeze up and just stood there idly. I looked around confused for a moment before I spotted a gaggle of other Sepiidan’s in the distance looking towards me. When I met their gaze, they began giggling to themselves before I looked back down at the one in front of me, whose eyes were uncomfortably wide.

”How can I be of help, miss?” I asked, prompting the Sepiida to lift up her arm and in her hand was a piece of paper. ”For me I presume?” The Sepiida did not respond with words, her mouth was gawking, but she nodded her head.

I was not uncomfortable with her behaviour, well maybe a little, but with Talia’s explanation as to how I am perceived by Sepiida, it was instinct for them. I then proceeded to take the note from her small delicate fingers and opened it.

I read it over once before chuckling. ”You are all very bold. I will give you that. What if this woman was my girlfriend? This note would spell trouble for you.” As I said that, Gabrielle took the note from my hand and read it as the Sepiida in front of me managed to utter out a few words.

”She’s not. She has been here for months. We see everything.” Her mouth then went gawk again while her hands danced around the hem of her dress, clearly wanting to say more, but struggling.

Her words instantly piqued my interest, but I did not let it show. I then took the note back off Gabrielle before putting it up in the air for the gaggle in the distance to see before putting it inside of my back pocket.

I then placed my hand on the Sepiidan’s shoulder and brushed it gently and with a whispery voice, I stated. ”You should go back to your friends now before your husband comes along and sees his beautiful wife chatting with big ol’ me.

The Sepiida wanted to say her husband was on an expedition, but her body had seized up from the touch and her brain was currently rebooting.

Seeing the nice lady not leaving, I decided to leave instead and walked away after a little wave to the other Sepiidan’s who returned the wave in kind. After we made some distance from them, Gabrielle frowned at me and asked.

”Are you really keeping that list? I won’t judge your bed habits, but cuckolding Psionic wielders is probably not a good idea. Especially with Sepiidans, the shame one gets for having their Sepiidans cheating on them is... Well it’s a big deal and has repercussions.”

My eyebrow raised at Gabrielle. ”Who said I was going to sleep with them? Like we said earlier, I have enough sex as is. I just didn’t want to throw it away in front of them. I don’t want to be mean to them. Sepiidans are incredibly emotional creatures, I don’t want to be the reason to upset a group of friendly strangers. I would rather just politely ignore their advances.”

Gabrielle took my words seemingly at face value as she nodded in understanding as we walked for the building’s exit. Meanwhile, I was thinking about the list and what I witnessed yesterday...

’This, I could use this to great advantage. Honestly... These humans are too speciest to the point of negligence.’

In recent times, Sepiidans are seen as dumb sex crazed women who only want what is said on the tin, but I knew better. I knew their history, like a lot do, but most seem to forget about a very simple fact...