For much of the trip, it was quiet, solemn, and inconspicuous. A bus had arrived to pick up the various children from their homes, stowing away the luggage into compartments underneath before chugging off into the heart of the nearest city, headed for a stellar station. Some of the students happened to be in the same vicinity, and met up at the station or in the very bus that had picked them up. The drivers were silent, as were the academy staff members who accompanied them -or rather, sat in the shotgun, obscured by the wall that separated them from the passengers seats in the back.

As the bus pulled into the station amidst a swarm of other decal-coated commercial vehicles, the students were beckoned off and handed individual tickets for a shuttle set to leave within the hour. Long ago, security required the monitoring and examination of each individual passenger one at a time, and thankfully through the development of more powerful scanning technology, getting through the line was as simple as walking under a small archway and proceeding on one's way without any slow in speed.

The ship was on the smaller end, clearly owned by a private organization and painted with fanciful decals reading, "Second Academy Stellar Shuttling" on several sides. More and more students funneled in, brought to the station by multiple buses arriving from various towns and cities of the state or country. The once silent mouths began to pick up in chatter, voices of excitement and friendship filling the air with an aura of good feeling.

Of what was revealed to the students by staff, the most interesting point was that the academy was located in space, owned by a corporation facilitating its operations. Floating amid the inner ring of the solar system's asteroid belt, it was far and away from the traffic of other stations in the system; promises of solace and peace were frequently thrown out by staff. The shuttle lifted off, and even as the body of students shifted into the void of space, their hearts were energetic and warm. The captain announced the flight time and the menu for their several-hour flight, and a congratulations to each one of them for enrolling.

Some slept, some stared out their window, but most conversed among each other, making friends as quickly as possible so as not to be the few that were alone day one. As the hours passed, the density of asteroids began to pick up until the outside world had become a mine field of misshapen space rocks filled in with a web of darkness. An announcement came over the speakers, and the students hushed themselves to listen.

"This is your captain speaking. Shuttle will dock at the Second Academy port within a few more minutes. Due to the dangers of asteroid collision, we will apply physical shielding to the shuttle windows to avoid breakage. Please return to your seats if you haven't already done so and sit tight. Glad to have you on this flight today," the captain stated.

The cabins darkened as metallic plates shifted over the windows to space, and lights on the floors and ceiling lit up to provide adequate sight for the students. After fifteen more minutes, the ship could be felt as it slowed and finally impacted the port delicately. As soon as the vehicle halted its movement, the students unbuckled themselves and stood up to retrieve their suitcases, backpacks, and duffel bags. Hissing air announced the opening of the shuttle's doors, flooding light into the dim cabin. Students filed into the white tunnels, following the "Elevator Entrance" signs posted along its length.

Eventually the entourage found themselves in a large room not unlike a move theatre. Rosy cushioned seats ran along curved floor levels between a pair of stairs, overlooking a small stage at the base. Behind the seats, at the top, a large glass panel looking into the elevator's angled shaft displayed a holographic message in bright red letters.

"PLEASE BE SEATED"

The students followed its demand and sat themselves beside friends or far-flung empty areas depending on their sociability. It took a few minutes, but once the last passenger followed suit, the room's doors closed and the elevator lurched into movement upwards, ascending into a mechanical darkness behind their line of sight. A whine of some engine outside the room picked up in speed and loudness as the elevator rushed onward.

For a few more minutes, the students were once more left to their own devices.

In one of the upper rows sat a lone hooded figure. She wore a tattered hooded cloak with a black T-shirt and dark grey cargo pants. From the very beginning of the trip, students seem to keep their distance from her, as she seemingly held an unapproachable atmosphere. Not to mention the deformations of her face kind of scared some of the students. Many quietly assumed that this is the way the strange girl wanted it to be, since she hadn't made much of an attempt to socialized with anyone on the ride here, but the truth of the matter was the exact opposite.

Kalk Zelo sat in her seat and sighed. "I don't blame them.." she thought to herself, staring at ground out of boredom, "I'm still creeped out slightly by my own refection, but eh, not like I had much say in the matter..... Still... is everyone really that weird out by my face? It hasn't even been the first day and I'm already getting some BS from this, in a school that was supposed to be for people like me anyway! Ahhh whatever, I guess I can simply hope the year will get better..... At least I'm out of my hell hole....." she gave a small huff and slowly looked around. Little groups of friends were already starting to form among the students as people made friends and chatted. She saw some potential friends to make, but not many. It didn't matter to her either way ultimately. She was simply happy to be finally away from home in such an amazing place.

Kalk gave a small shrug and leaned back to relax. She figured they had some time to kill before the staff came to introduce them to the school, so she figured she would enjoy it while it lasted.

Brooks had been looking to find a friend group to join but everyone seemed so nervous and excited. Their emotions were overpowering and it gave him a headache. But in the back of his head he could feel something. A weird mix of emotions. Some loneliness and happiness mixed together. How peculiar. After sensing such an emotion, Brooks couldn't help but try to locate the source. Pressing his fingers to his temples, he closed his eyes. Blocking out all of the emotions aside from one. "There you are." He whispered as he slowly scooted seat by seat to the source of these emotions. Brooks didn't want to be called out for not sitting down so he made his way to the person at a slow pace. His black jeans and t-shirt never really suited his personality but he liked the colors so it didn't matter much to him anyways. When he finally got to the person he looked over at her. "Why are you so happy and kinda lonely?" He asked smiling. Brooks was never one for social protocol. It never occurred to him that he was possibly being rude.

. "Why are you so happy and kinda lonely?"

Kalk's eyes slowly opened as she turned to face the source of the question. She had been dozing off out of boredom and hadn't noticed the individual approach her. Now sitting next to her was a young boy, probably in his early teens, smiling at her waiting to get an answer from her.

" 'Why are you so happy and kinda lonely?'.... an odd question for someone to ask.... who is this kid anyways? I don't really remember him from the trip over here... ahh whatever... I guess I'll indulge him." she thought to herself. A small smile came on to her face and she slowly opened her deformed mouth. "I'm happy for being..... here... at this school, but I haven't..... made many... friends yet. It's not..... very easy for.... me to make friends.... as you can tell.....by my face.... and voice...." she said slowly. Her voice was slightly raspy, and it seemed like she had to pause every now and then to take a breath. Talking was always so taxing for her, a curse as she saw it. A girl that had much to say, but couldn't properly do it. Regardless, after such a long time, she's grown used to having to put up with the shortness of breath. She stared at the boy next to her with curiosity, questions flowing through her mind about who was this person.

Eva was sitting alone on one of the upper rows wearing some normal black skirt and shirt. She was holding her legs against her chest and was leaning on her knees with her chin. To her this entire trip had been very stressing and awkward. Almost no student had talked to her and the ones that did seemed to constantly be distracted by her gas mask. She didn't try to talk to anyone else though since she had no idea what she would say to some random student. Another awkward thing was that she didn't really see a lot of students her age. This meant that she had just been sitting silently and thinking to herself the entire trip. She was looking at the mass of other students who were mingling with each other and wondered if it would be a good idea to try and make some friends. Looking around she saw some other students were just like her sitting alone, maybe she would have more luck with them.
"Huuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh I wish I was still at home," her speech coming out slightly muffled thanks to the mask. She may have been an outcast, but at least back then she knew how to handle everything and how to react to it. Now she had no idea what would happen. The biggest problem was that all of them were just like her, having special powers. She then decided that after the lift stopped she would probably try talking to someone.

Brooks giggled at this peculiar person. "Well I'll be your friend. I don't see why people wouldn't like to be friends with you." he said as he further analyzed her emotions, his voice leaving his mouth flowing effortlessly adding a calm and warm aura around him whenever he spoke. Trying his best to decipher bits about her personality through her emotions. Sometimes old emotions are caught up in peoples heads and he can tell which emotion they experienced most. Allowing him to see certain things about peoples' personalities. Brooks smiled again. "My name is Brooks. Brooks Moore. I can tell you are a nice person. Whats your name? Whats your power?" He asked away. He could never really control his curiosity more than his other emotions. The girl looked fairly nice. Brooks didn't care much about her face. Just a thing that happens. Everybody here is different anyways. In his eyes, that made her even closer. The more different the better.

. "Well I'll be your friend. I don't see why people wouldn't like to be friends with you." the boy said to her. Kalk simply raised an eyebrow in surprise at this. "My name is Brooks. Brooks Moore. I can tell you are a nice person. Whats your name? Whats your power?" he continually asked, not missing a beat. Kalk giggled a bit at the boy's energy and sighed. She was glad she was able to make friends with such a warm person, something fairly new to her.

"Curious one..... aren't you...? That's fine.... I like it...... when.. people ask...questions..... My name... is Kalk Zelo........ my power..... is sort of.... complicated..... but I can..... heat and cool...... anything I....... touch....... What about..... you....? What is....... your power....?" she said pausing to give her hoarse voice a break. Brooks seem like a nice person in her eyes, but something nagged at her. It was as if her skeptical mind had a few red flags go up about this person. It was something she simply could not put her finger on. Thus she decided to put the nagging feeling in the back of her head. She focused on her question, curious to see what sort of power Brooks possessed.

Desmond sat on the shuttle alone in his own seat. Teeth, the symbiote currently hiding under his skin, was urging him to take careful examination of the situation, paranoid that one of them might attack. The voice was deep and mutilated, like a sick man trying to speak. Desmond held his duffle bag on his lap, inside were his clothes, a pouch of sedative pills for the symbiote, and a special container to trap it in if it got out of hand. Teeth didn't like the fact that its host had so many things to hinder or contain it, it trusted Desmond to not sedate or trap it for no reason. The two had been together since birth and had a mutual respect for each other, Desmond knowing how helpful it was and Teeth knowing that without a compliant host life would be a lot harder, that and Desmond needed Teeth. Without it he would suffer migraines and night terrors, the symbiote was a blessing and a curse.

Desmond looked around at the various other kids on the bus and noted an odd looking girl, she was wearing some sort of gas mask and he wondered what the hell that could be for. He gave a short whistle to the girl and spoke "Hey, girly. What's with the mask?" She was one row ahead of him on the opposite side of the shuttle. "We should not trust that girl, she could be dangerous to us..." Whispered the symbiote in Desmond's mind, its demonic voice sounded familiar and was almost calming to Desmond. He brushed off the fact that she could be dangerous, he was certain that whatever she had up her sleeve that they could take it.

Eva was still lost in thought about everything that was happening to her. What with her being torn from her usual life and flung right into space to a school she knew nothing about. Her musings were caught short when she suddenly heard a whistle near her. "Hey, girly. What's with the mask?" She looked up and noticed a brown haired guy looking at her. She was fairly certain he had said that to her since there weren't a lot of students in this part of the lift and she was the only one with a mask on. Though it could just be she hadn't seen someone else with a mask on yet. She decided that she could try and talk to this guy. There wasn't really anything to lose from it. "Uhm well my mask is to prevent the acidic vapors I exhale to escape. I'm not really allowed to take it off for anything besides eating."
Eva looked away a bit and wondered if she should say anything else. She always got quite shy when talking to random strangers. She figured that introducing herself could prevent this conversation from ending like all her previous ones, with awkward silences. Looking back at the guy she said:"Uh my name's Eva by the way. What's yours?" She decided to not ask about his powers yet. Though she was a bit curious since he looked perfectly normal.

"Kalk Zelo." Brooks mouthed the name a couple of times with a curious look on his face. He grinned and started talking again. "Wow what a cool name and that power sounds fun! That would be cool. Can you cook with that power? What I'd give to be able to bake a cake with a single touch." Brooks had gotten so caught up in talking that he forgot about Kalk's question. Brooks shifted around uncomfortably for a second as he tried to figure out how to describe his power. "Well I guess I'm sort of a broken siren with the powers of an empath mixed in." He explained. "Like my voice can be used to manipulate the mood of whoever hears it but it's really weak so that ability is easily broken. Then I'm also an empath. You know. Feeling what you feel and all that jazz. Mom says my powers should grow stronger but I feel like they never will." Brooks confessed.

Desmond gave a friendly smile to the girl, he could tell she was a bit shy and nervous and he thought it best to be friendly. Especially if she's got acid spewin from her mouth. "I'm Desmond. Freeman. That acid thing sounds pretty cool though. Bet it's a pain though, to have acid in your breath." He could hear Teeth's voice. "We are one Desmond. We cannot be introduced as a single entity. Tell her about us" Desmond hesitated before continuing, fearing that if his secret got out then they would separate him from his symbiotic gift.. "I uh-well my...'power' is being bonded to a symbiote. Another living thing. I call him Teeth." He held out his arm as the symbiote's black flesh emerged and covered it. "I call him 'Teeth' because he has large teeth. I'd show you but, I think I might get in trouble for having him." The symbiote went back under his skin and there was no trace of it. "And he comes with a whole host of powers" He smirked a little, quite proud of his gift. He looked around and made sure no one had seen his arm turn black.

Nikki & Micheal Biyung.

Immediately, the very second that Nikki sat her behind down on one of the chairs in the mid-row; an array of insects came out of her outfit and quickly and quietly mounted themselves at key areas on the ship. Because of her ability, Nikki can sense what they sense, so they acted as her little personal cameras. They were mounted in so many positions that Nikki could see the entire ship at once. But they were so inconspicuous that they would only be noticed by someone looking for them. Everyone was just talking to each other, the only one that really got her attention was the little girl with the gas mask. They didn't realize how bad the situation really is. But to Nikki, space is a cold and unforgiving place that she didn't want to be. In her chair she curled up into a fetal position, wrapping her arms tightly around her legs, "Micheal, I don't like it here..." She said her voice saddened. She looked down at her clothing, Nikki nor Micheal were the types to dress spectacularly. She was wearing a black hoodie, with a grey t-shirt and grey sweat pants of a similar shade. She had on black nike sneakers with their symbol in white on the sides. Her attire was dirty, covered in parts from insects.

Micheal, who was sitting next to Nikki, sat there with his hands on his knees and a blank expression on his face. He didn't like the idea of this school either; but it's out of their hand. There were no options or they wouldn't be going up into space. If there's a chance for them to get out by playing by their rules; then so be it. Both of them are very logical and tactical, and morality, pride, and emotion was a factor that'd get thrown out the window the very second it became inconvenient. "Don't be afraid, we'll be fine. Just keep in mind that if we play by their rules, we leave here."

A brown recluse spider crawled up Nikki's hand and rested on the back of it. As Nikki nodded her head and said, "Right... Let's just walk straight into the slaughter-house in the stars and hope we come out of this alive." She said sarcastically.

One thing was clear; both of them have a small swarm of insects under their clothes. They had to bring something along for Nikki to use, though they didn't know how long it'd last unless the place had a green house. Since a space station lacked all the. There might be cockroaches there... If not: Nikki and Micheal are sure as hell about to introduce them.

"I don't suppose there is any way I could convince you that this is my inhaler, is there?"

Inexplicably, the customs agent seemed unamused. Cormac had just spent the past hour and a half with security exploring the contents of his luggage. Turns out, they tended to be a little wary of strangely clad people in trench coats carrying large amounts of power tools onto a flight. His numerous sub-dermal implants had also warranted some scrutiny. The object currently in question, incidentally, looked nothing near anything resembling an asthma inhaler. The device, roughly 30 centimeters in length, looked vaguely like some sort of strange cross between an energy gun, a spray can and a calculator. It had several small metallic canisters protruding from the back, presumably fuel of some kind, and a large battery built into the handle. Several buttons, triggers and switches of nebulous purpose were also built into its handle, and it bore no immediately apparent indications as to what exactly it might be intended for. It was promptly discarded into a nearby box, joining a set of strange dodecahedron-shaped contraptions, an exotic looking multi-tool, and the magnetic zip gun he had fashioned out of a mechanical pen earlier.

"I'm sorry," the agent responded exhaustedly as courteously as she still could, "But I'm afraid I'll have to confiscate it until one of our techs can examine it further."

"How about if I told you it is a can of hair spray?" he asked pointlessly, a childish grin on his face.

"Ugh..."

=+=

By the time that the technicians finished examining his various contraption, nearly two and a half hours had passed, and most of the other students had already arrived. They had finally decided to allow him to carry most of his luggage onboard under the condition that he moved them onto his non-carry on luggage, which was slightly annoying. Certain items had been confiscated however, including his "inhaler", his signal jammer and several other enigmatic devices which were deemed too dangerous to be taken onboard. No matter, most of the things that they had confiscated weren't particularly hard to fabricate, and didn't really have any hard to find components. They had also elected to have him remove his trench coat while onboard, especially upon finding out about the built in taser woven into the fabric. Despite his protests, they had also refused to let him carry his multi-tool and dremel on board as well, although they did permit him to carry a few manual pliers and screwdrivers. Not optimal, but it would do, he supposed. He could always use his lighter as a welding tool, if push came to shove. Not that he really intended to weld anything inside a pressurised craft with limited oxygen regardless, but he liked having options. Fortunately, they had failed to notice the retractable taser prongs on his smartphone, as well as the 2000 mW laser embed underneath the camera's flash. Despite having arrived several hours in advance of the other students, he was among the last ones admitted onboard, and the vessel began preparing for departure shortly after he was seated. He had chosen a seat on the edge near the outer wall, sacrificing safety and ease of exit for privacy, comfort and a nice view. He had been in space a few times before, coming with his father as he went to work on the lunar helium³ harvesters, but for some reason, he never tired of the experience. As the spacecraft slowly began to lift off, he decided to pull out his tablet, figuring he would exploit the satellite internet connection while he still could.



Cormac gave an imperceptible sigh as he watched the signal bars slowly fade from his screen. Although the establishment would probably have some sort of means of communication with earth, it would probably be very slow and inefficient, and might not be accessible to students. Not that that would stop him, but he hoped he would be able to stay in touch with the other chatroom members. For many years now, they had been the closest thing that he has had to friends. There really wasn't a lot to talk about with your peers when all they cared about was parties and drinking. Sure there had been a few people in his classes he could talk with, but never anyone with whom he could share technological discussions. In more ways than one, that chatroom had been his home more than his actual real life residence. His mother was always distant and pushing him to be more "normal" and less "weird" and all his father seemed to care about was his work, and only in an economical perspective. His siblings were scared of him, and he had no real friends to speak of. Although he didn't think that going to this school would miraculously change everything, he found himself cautiously hoping that maybe he might be able to find his place there.

"I suppose we'll find out..." he mused silently as he put on his headphones and began gently resting to the sound of the music, staring absently out at the tranquil void of space. He slept for most of the journey, occasionally waking up to check on the progress. A few times, the person sitting next to him tried to initiate conversation, but he quickly brushed him off. Eventually, the journey ended, and they docked onto the station. They quickly picked up their belongings, which in his case consisted of a large, oversized green duffel bag and a metal framed army backpack, and they were ushered into an elevator room vaguely reminiscent of a movie theater. After a cursory analytical glance at his surroundings, he elected to get seated towards the back, and began absently tinkering with a small, spherical device which he had taken from his bag.

121… 123… 124… 125…

March repeatedly tapped the screen of his smartphone, keeping the little red bird in the air as it flew past all the pipes.

173… 174…

When he finally messed up the timings of the tap, the bird crashed into a pipe and a ‘DUN’ sound played as the words ‘GAME OVER’ blinked on the screen. Its soooo boring, he thought. March had not really bothered to mingle around during the course of the flight. Which was strange, considering under normal circumstances, he would have definitely done so. Not only as entertainment, but to gather some contacts and to start building a network. He didn’t know anyone here afterall and he was pretty sure most of them were in the same position as him.

Instead, he had decided to nonchalently observe everyone else.

Despite the nonsense those men had fed him and his parents about this place going to be a wonderful new envrionment, March had already heard some disturbing rumors about it. Him and all the other supers were merely being impronned far off where they couldn’t harm anybody. A giant jail in the middle of space.
Stashing his phone in his pocket, March yawned as he headed to the back of the elevator room he and the rest had just been ushered into. I guess I should start talking to the others already….

Looking around, March found his target. Using a tone that made it sound like they were old friends, March called out to the boy. “Hey gizmo, whats that ball thing you got over there?”

Although it might not have appeared as though Cormac, seemingly engrossed in tinkering with his device, was not paying much attention to his surroundings, that could not have been further from the truth. With the aid of his auditory augmentations, he was subtly eavesdropping upon the conversations of dozens of different groups at once, while absent-mindedly striping the contraption of its components. Most of the students appeared to be introducing themselves to one another, sharing their names, impressions of the school and aspirations for the year to come. Most notably, however, he overheard several people detailing the specific nature of their abilities, such as a boy at the front with tactile retro-cognition and a young girl wearing a gas mask who exhaled acidic chemicals. Generally speaking, however, most of the students he observed appeared to be Class C, S or B metahumans, meaning their abilities tended to be either physical or parakinetic, rather than cognitive or metaphysical. Almost automatically, Cormac found himself devising contingency plans for countering their special talents in the event of a direct confrontation, simply to pass the time. He doubted he would ever find himself in a situation where he would actually need to use them, but he never knew...

As he was contemplating the newly acquired information, he spotted a young adult roughly his age looking towards him. He immediately took notice of several dozen insignificant details about his clothing and the way he held himself, concluding that he was probably an outgoing and sociable person. The man had pale Caucasian skin and bore long, lightly curled orange-blonde hair, falling slightly past his neck, tied in an unassuming pony tail.

“Hey gizmo, what's that ball thing you got over there?” he called out to him, using an excessively familiar tone, as though they were old friends.

"Gizmo?", he asked himself internally. "Really?"

After waiting a few awkward seconds to emphasise how profoundly unimpressed he was with the person's artificial familiarity, he responded. Now, a lesser, more immature person might have used the opportunity to make the obvious Freudian "ball" innuendo, but not Cormac. No, he was above such petty, childish antics. He was a person of a higher moral caliber, he aimed towards much more elevated levels of discourse and had no time for crude or disrespectful...

"Either an ioun stone, a very lame excuse to start a conversation or the world's least comfortable sex toy, take your pick."

Yeah... never mind...

As the transport lift slowly ascended, Kirill was something of a bundle of nerves. He tapped on his knees, an anxious expression etched into his face as he looked over the rest of those that would be attending the Academy with him. They chatted and idled among themselves and as much as Kirill wanted to join in on the conversations, he found himself just a bit too overwhelmed. He had never been to space before, mostly out of a lack of interest, and was a little unsettled by the experience. The thought that all of these were individuals that had unique abilities like himself was also quite nerve-wracking, though he also found the idea to be rather fascinating. He very much wanted to know what all of their powers are, how they worked, and how they would interact with each other.

Though he found them fascinating, he wasn't terribly pleased by some of the powers. The symbiote disturbed him, as he figured that its host was either under its thrall or had been beaten into some sort of Stockholm-syndrome situation to accept it. The insect duo was also on the creepy side, but more because he found their powers and methods of using them to be unsanitary. Hiding bugs in your clothes and spreading them around? Gross. Kirill tightened his tie and ran a hand through his hair to assure himself that he was far cleaner. The acid-spewing girl didn't seem much better in that respect, but at the very least she had the common courtesy to keep her foulness to herself.

However, the person that really caught his eye was the boy tinkering with some manner of curious, spherical device at the far side of the room. Kirill was quite amused by his machinations, and though he found himself bewildered a bit by him, was drawn in even more by the complexity surrounding his processes. His sarcastic attitude seemed a bit childish, but Kirill had long since stopped expecting better from people his own age. He planned on striking up a conversation with him in just a moment, but for now was content to observe the conversation between the boy and another that had just approached him.

The guy in front of Eva introduced himself as Desmond freeman. He went on to say her power was actually cool, but noticed it was a pain in the ass. She silently said:"You have no idea," to that comment. Not being able to be around other people without wearing a specially made gas mask or not being able to eat food like other people. Everything she put in her mouth melted before she had any real chance to chew or taste it. The only reason she ate was to stay alive since everything just tasted almost the same. Desmond actually explained his power without her having to ask for it. Her eyes flew open though when she saw his arm suddenly turning ink black and then turn back to normal again. A symbiote that can change his body and afterwards not leave a trace. If she were to believe Desmond he also got some extra powers from it. He seemed happy and proud to have this power. Eva couldn't stop herself from saying: "Must be nice to have a power you're proud of." When she realized she had said that she quickly thought of something to say to prevent him from leaving. "Uh don't worry I won't tell anybody about 'Teeth' as long as you would consider being my friend." "Wait why did I say that. Now it will sound like I'm blackmailing him. Oh no now he'll leave just like everyone else. Damn it well done Eva." She thought to herself laying her forehead on her knees. She knew she had once again ruined another chance at getting a friend.

"She is threatening us...she will expose us. We must kill her..." Desmond was a bit solemn as he tried to find the correct words to continue with. He wanted to show her Teeth's teeth, but they were in a crowded bus and that would cause quite a stir. He also wanted to keep the girl as a friend, the majority of his family resented him for being born with another entity as did many people, especially with his symbiote's murderous feelings. "I don't intend to get on your bad side. Teeth has quite the...temper and I wouldn't want him to go over board on you. When Teeth is in control there isn't a whole lot that can take us down. But I want to be friends so let's just keep it cool and civil. Yeah?" He could feel Teeth trying to exert his dominance over himself, the rage inside the beast was building. He'd kept the symbiote caged up for a long time and it wanted freedom. "Excuse me." He turned around and dug through his bag until he found the small bottle of sedatives and popped one into his mouth. Instantly he could feel the pressure of Teeth's dominance deflate and he gave a sigh of relief. He turned back to Eva "Sorry about that. Anyway, have you heard anything about this place? I heard it's some hardcore shit."

Shane heaved his suitcase into it's compartment on the shuttle. Sitting quietly amidst the clamour, he chose a seat next to the window. He had flown often, but he had never flown out of the safety of earths gravity well. His favorite part of the flight was always the liftoff and landing, and he had no plans to miss his first time leaving earth.
Taking out a camera and his colored pencils, he waited at the window for liftoff. Attendants walked up and down the aisles, helping students with their luggage, asking if they were comfortable, and singing the stations praise. However, their connection of it's remoteness with peace and solace irritated him. Nevermind that space was almost literally imcomprehendingly vast, and that ships thousands of miles away (at spaces' busiest) wouldn't be able to bother them through the vacuum of space. That they were ignoring the in-station ammenities that would actually provide that stuff, such as open space, pshychologists, or heck, a nice air recycling system, bothered him.
The shuttle began lifting off. He began clicking his camera at second intervals as the ground lifted away. The subtle differences that changed moment to moment to moment took his breath away. Parking lots filled with low cars turned into perfect rectangles filled with colorfull boxes. Details flattened away and took clutter with them. The layout of roads became clear, the flowers of highway interpasses blooming as shiny boxes glided along the track. This he had all seen. But as time wore on, and as the ground grew further away, a feeling in his chest bubbled up and took his breath away. He grinned out of sheer disbelief as the shuttle jsut kept it's arrow staright path to the heavens. Countryside gave way to clouds gave way to states gave way to countries gave way to The Earth. It was that last one that actually made him laugh out loud a little.
He looked at the slowly shrinking marble of earth for a long time, just letting the fact that he was in space sink in.
Eventually, he took out his laptop and uploaded the pictures. Not all of them were star quality, but most of them were still spectacular. He let his pencil rest on his sketchpad in front of it's screen for a while as he let ideas roll around his head, and then he began to draw.