The hivemind is conquering for me?

Willow reached up into a cupboard for a snack. As she closed the cupboard door, she was shocked to see a familiar woman sitting on the counter next to her. "Ooh! Oh Onyx, its just you. You scared me. Wait, how did you get in here?"

Onyx smiled coyly, not revealing anything. "That does not matter hybrid, what does matter is gaining the answers you seek. About what you are feeling and where your loyalties now lie." Willow gasped at Onyx's words. "How do you know what is happening to me?"

Onyx chuckled. "You are a Psionic being, which means you are actively supressing the information you should now know. If your transformation was not rushed, you would have been indoctrinated over time. That is not possible now. When Apollo leaves in a short while, make your way to Sophia's and ask to learn about the family. And do not resist if they attempt to capture you ok?"

Willow looked away for a second in thought. For some reason it made perfect sense to her to go and see Lady Sophia in regards to her problem. "Wait, why would they attempt to capture me?" She said in Onyx's direction, but the stalker had already dissapeared having completed the small task she decided to do.

…

An hour or so later as Rhea, Willow and I were having small talk, Kathrine finally entered the apartment holding two clothes bags. "Oof, what a day from hell. I can't wait to just lie down for a few hours during our flight."

She then walked towards me, ignoring the two girls who were sitting next to me and planted herself right between Rhea and myself and leant into my body. "MMh thats nice." She cooed as she nestled up against me.

Feeling slightly guilty at how tired she is I apologised. "Sorry if my actions earlier caused stress for you, it definitely was not my intention." Kathrine had her eyes closed a moment as she said. "What actions? Oh, you mean the security thing? That only took five minutes to clean up. No harm, no foul."

'Oh.' I thought relieved. After only being sat down for a moment, Kathrine sprang back up with renewed energy and held out one of the clothes bags towards me. "Here you go Apollo custom fitted as I know all your sizes. Try it on now!"

As I took the bag from Kathrine's hand, I peered into it and looked back at her with a look of confusion as I asked. "Are you serious?" Kathrine simply nodded her head with excitement. "Kat, I am not wearing this, I will look like an idiot."

Rhea grew intrigued by what was in the bag and snatched it to have a look inside. As she peered inside, she was expecting something funny, but when she saw something normal, she was confused by Apollo's statement. "Apollo wearing this is pretty common on Euc 1, nobles wear it as a symbol of the founding era. If Mom picked this out for you, that means everyone will be wearing one, even her."

Looking at Kathrine for confirmation, she patted the bag still in her hand and nodded. After a moment I sighed and stood up while taking the bag back from Rhea. "Fine I will go and try it on now, but I am not keeping it on until we need to wear it." I said and began walking to find somewhere to change.

That was when Rhea grabbed be by the hand and stopped me. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, where are you going? You should give us gals a live dress down don't you think?" She said as she not so subtly glanced down towards my groin region.

Kathrine smiled at her daughters antic. "Great Idea baby. Go on Apollo, put on a show for us? We are all big girls here, nothing we haven't seen before." Kathrine said as she sat back down next to Rhea and hugged her.

I sighed, but I was used to being seen as a piece of juicy meat, so I obliged without much fuss. After taking everything off except for my underwear and my Metal arm sleeve, my armour, I got boo's from the two redheads once I began putting on the outfit Kathrine got for me instead of stripping all the way. I cringed at how gaudy the thing was with every bracelet, dangle, belt and other accessory I placed onto it.

After fully dressing up, I turned to the trio of judges and extended my arms to either side of me. "So? What do you think?" It was Willow who was first to speak and she only said one word. "Handsome."

Rhea and Kathrine nodded their heads in agreement. "Truly you do look handsome Apollo, look at your self in the mirror, it really suits you." Kathrine exclaimed. Walking over to the mirror, I looked at myself and was surprised that I too had come around to what I was wearing.

I was wearing a white regal Toga with a golden leather gorget sewn in. Golden embroidery was also pattered loosely around the toga for a splash of colour. Around my waist I was wearing a golden cummerbund belt and on my right wrist, I was wearing a golden decorative vambrace that I would have my armour devour later to replace for convenience. I was also wearing a gold and white half cape that wrapped around the left hand side of my body.

As I admired my form, Kathrine came up behind me and took my arm as she began posing next to me. "So, do you like it?" She said, smiling profusely. "I suppose, though having to drape all this fabric over my arm is going to be annoying." I said gesturing all the loose cloth my left hand was supporting.

"Ah, I thought of that handsome. Your capes pin is strong enough to act as a fibula. Here let me." Kathrine said as she began adjusting my clothing. True to her word, she used the pin that attached my cape to my gorget to now hold up the cloth I was previously supporting and could now use my arm again freely.

"You will have to keep it down during our entrance, but after that you are free to put it back up." Kathrine explained and I nodded in understanding. "Now, there is one final piece we are missing. Despite all safety regulations, all nobles must have a weapon they have killed enemies of Spartari with present on their body. I see you do not have your Zircon with you. That is no bother, we can pick it up from Sophia's before we leave."

Getting to Zircon in a second, I had to ask Kathrine. "Why do I need a weapon with me?" Kathrine tutted to herself. "I forget where you come from sometimes handsome and just assume you know. If you were under 18, you would not need a weapon with you. However most nobles, despite not having to undergo conscription, do attend the military like yours truly. It is a sign of honour in Spartari and to kill an enemy is a great honour. As such, you bring a weapon with you that you have personally used to kill one such individual as you are now carrying a piece of Spartari's endurance against the evils of the universe with you and have the storied weapon to back it up."

"So you will be taking a weapon as well?" I asked. Kathrine nodded and replied. "Yes, although I will be taking a pistol and holstering it to my thigh, you wielding Zircon, a melee weapon. That will bring you a lot of honour and respect handsome. Especially considering your age."

I nodded my head as for an empire founded on the principles of war, that did make some modicum of sense to me. "So should we got get your sword before we leave? Or should I send someone to go pick it up for you?" Kathrine asked.

"Neither." I replied before I reached out into the air next to me and Zircon manifested in my grasp. I was not 100% sure why just yet, but after my fight in the apartment building and talking to Orchid about it while doing some very light training with Zircon, She had finally gained the ability to be able to store herself inside my Mindspace. I only realised when her usually transparent outline filled in while I was meditating and it began shaking its chains as though begging for me to investigate.

After much investigation and asking Onyx for her help to see if she noticed anything. I came up with one plausible reason for the sudden ability to do so. My sword was jealous that I used that Gladius instead of it so It manifested the ability so It would never be cheated on again.

As I began explaining what just happened to the overly excited trio in the apartment, I was unaware of Onyx in my Mindspace looking proud at what she had achieved. She had secretly been feeding Zircon a great amount of biomass each day in order to recover even more of the holes missing in its shadow. She had just recently managed to feed the sword enough to where the shadow was now whole once more and the first step of her promise to get Zircon a body once again had been completed.

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