[sub][hr][/sub][color=C4A09D][CENTER][h1][b]S Y E D[/b][/h1][/CENTER][/color][sub][hr][/sub][sub][hr][/sub]
[indent][color=silver][color=C4A09D][i]Goodbye Auntie,[/i][/color] Syed thought to himself idly, [color=C4A09D][i]looks like I won't be back for a while, huh?[/i][/color] The intimidating sight of the shuttle that was supposed to take him to his new life way up beyond the clouds was the final nail in the coffin for his confidence. It really drove home just how huge of a journey this was. Of course he'd known that when he first agreed to the offer, it didn't get bigger than space after all, and at various points along the way to the shuttle he'd had the same inkling, but staring at the titanic feat of engineering that was a spacecraft and knowing he had to get on it? That was an entirely different kettle of emotion.

For the hundredth time Syed shot a nervous look to the man beside him; tall and dark, hidden behind a uniform suit and dark shades. He was an American, a handler that had picked him up from Vancouver General and then accompanied him on his flight to the States, and from there to a local Parahuman Department where he'd had to stay until the next shuttle to The Promise was available. Fortunately it wasn't a long wait, but Syed had never left the Metro Vancouver area, much less somewhere as far as the United States, and now to actual space? A whole wealth of new experiences he hadn't expected had left him reeling, he still hadn't managed to recenter himself and now the next step was already upon him!

He wasn't ready. [color=C4A09D][i]What am I going to do?[/i][/color] He fretted, not at all put at ease by the handler's blank stare and steady stride.

Syed had been poked and prodded, teased and tested, interviewed and interrogated, whole slews of uncomfortable preparations for this trip. He'd long ago regretted his decision and attempted to back out, but that wasn't an option anymore; both he and his aunt signed the appropriate forms, though she'd been on painkillers and he'd been told the trip was the least troublesome option. Now he knew it meant least troublesome for [i]them[/i], because they got to wash their hands of him completely, meanwhile Syed reached greater depths in his understanding of the word uncomfortable. He wondered frequently at what point discomfort became torture, he was fairly sure his current anxious state fit the definition of tormented perfectly.

In the end, Syed didn't 'do' anything, he just followed along, continuing to listen to direction like some kind of well trained dog, to distracted and nervous to even consider causing any sort of trouble. Though whenever the staff asked his name, the handler had to answer for him. His tongue was in stasis mode. Again.

Then the man left him without so much as a gesture of goodbye, simply turning around and leaving him with a group of other young parahumans to be ushered like sheep into the shuttle. After that things went a bit... weird. He mostly disregarded the chatter in favor of staring blankly ahead, focused on things only he could feel. The rush of energy all around him was... It was hard for Syed to think of the currents as just energy, their movements and pulses were so much like living creatures he was still privately convinced that the currents were alive, so when that explosion of power generated by the liftoff roared around him, it felt almost like he was sitting atop some draconian titan preparing to eat him. He went very pale, very quickly, and quickly joined the ranks of the Vom Squad, throwing up what felt like every meal he'd eaten in the last month, and then a bit of dry heaving because not even being empty pleased his stomach.

Finally there was orientation, and food that he mostly couldn't bring himself to eat. Sometime later he snapped back into focus, his discomfort from the buzzing energy currents and whatever weird gravitational forces were keeping him upright passing just in time to regain actual clear and intelligent thought for the introduction of the AI, which was... so cool. It was probably the only part of this whole thing that was actually exciting without even a little bit of wariness attached.

Of course what little comfort he drew from that went tumbling out the window and directly into the cold void of space when a figure fell from the sky- or rather the ceiling. Thankfully said figure, who was a self-proclaimed madman as far as Syed could tell, didn't land near him. Syed was just beginning to doubt the intruder was real, thinking this was probably the first in-person example he was going to get of another parahuman's power, an illusion designed to undermine the authority of their new handlers, when the guy was grabbed around the ankle, leading to said grabber getting kicked in the face. Not an illusion then.

Syed surprised himself, cracking the barest hint of a smile at the byplay. He wished he could kick people in the face who touched him unexpectedly. It was a true case of Tom and Jerry-esque cause and effect. The smile was quick to fade though as the situation... escalated? [color=C4A09D][i]That kick couldn't have hurt [/i]that[i] much could it?[/i][/color]

The room lost all sense of control in short order, the kicked boy's companions were checking up on him, feeling vaguely like a nest of kicked snakes to Syed's senses, meanwhile a large majority of the new students and personnel vanished in pursuit of the troublemaker. Oddly it was comforting in a sense, he'd worried this would be a cold and oppressive prison in the void, but it was clear to him now that there was a precarious balance that was almost normal. The parahuman students were more powerful and volatile than he'd first believed, not to mention their numbers, and the authority figures were stony, but not tyrannical. He could see them fulfilling their roles as teachers. Most of them anyway, a few were more scowly and he couldn't meet their eyes.

Syed took the opportunity to fade to the background; the students who'd been sitting next to him had eagerly followed security out of the room, leaving him alone, and the rest of the room's focus was elsewhere. He had some space to breathe, finally. If everyday was like this he might actually manage to make it through to the end. For the first time since arriving, the tension between his shoulders lessened, and he felt he might actually bring himself to speak - if he wanted to, which he didn't.

What he did do was relax enough to really study the group at the center of it all, the two girls were hot currents to his senses, and he wasn't entirely sure if the magic hair was real or some kind of mind-trickery brought on by his ability to sense her energy getting it's wires crossed in his brain. The boy was... different. Syed had no other word for it, his energy was just... different, not like a human's, but not [i]not[/i] like a human's either, if that made sense? Unconsciously he stood to get a better look with his eyes, taking a step closer before realizing what he was doing and freezing up, hovering at the distant edge of the trio's claimed space. Hadn't there been a fourth there earlier? Not important- he needed to evac ASAP: retreat, retreat, retreat!

His expression remained blank, apart from biting his lip that is, but the way he stood with his arms crossed and a few slow-careful steps back revealed his nerves. Needless to say, his tongue was frozen again.

This is why he never let himself relax, because as soon as he got comfortable he went and put himself somewhere he didn't want to be. It's also why he needed to stop listening to his powers, it only ever distracted him...

Speaking of distractions, how 'bout that AI huh? He withdrew his phone and responded to the AI's message:

[indent][indent][sub][color=C4A09D] < hey cara, sorry to bother u, but i just wondered if this stuff is normal here??[/color][/sub][/indent][/indent]
Oddly, while he'd never bother another human with his worries and desire for assurance, he thought of the AI differently. Perhaps he had some preconceived idea about them, or maybe his power's effect on his perception of things had something to do with it, but Syed rather thought Cara sounded very friendly and unlikely to be offended.
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