[Worm]

---- T H A G H N E E L ----

Neel was confident, even though sometimes anxiety made her bite her tongue. She laid on her back, looking up at George who was huffing her chest up and down. A smile, until Zeke mentioned gen ed courses. She sat up quickly, hands already stringing through hair. Right, classes. She'd forgotten that the main reason she was here was for school, not for socializing. Though, in the few days she'd been relaxing, she'd also managed to set up a few plants under a "Solar System" box, which kept them lit and timed according to their appropriate location for optimal growth. Funny enough, it was created by someone from Kanna and provided for many Kraileck families, including Neel's. There were various upgrades and expansions one could get, of course for a nominal fee.

Neel had the basic startup kit, mainly to show Zeke how it worked. It was a small 4" cube. With the press of a button, it opened up to a 2 x 4 area of a lighting rig. When the plants were still seeds, they were primed in the small 4" cube. Neel had 4 small vines blooming now and ready to transition to their sapling phase. Neel made sure to keep the space next to her bed, against the wall, dedicated to the plants. In the drawers beneath her bed, she kept supplies and self defense weapons. The machine only needed energy capsules to provide solar light and an attachment to water, which was hooked up through a series of portals. It was a device about the size of a usb which attached the "Solar System" to a water supply.

Neel, still trying to process the thought of classes beginning, scrambled through her files on her wrist implant. SchoolSchedule.exe Click. "Well, hey. Looks like I'm taking robotics too." Neel sighed, not too worried about the gen ed course. But Zeke kept rambling about it. When he answered his phone to his mother, Neel thought it might be time to check her saplings.

She opened the cube over the small space she'd cleared. She tapped the top of it twice and it jumped up, the fours seeds still squished together as if they were inside the cube still. Neel spread them out a bit and pressed her head against the floor to check out their root systems. They looked really healthy, so she smiled in satisfaction. She stood, hearing Zeke go on about the hoverboard. Which, she wasn't going to go out of her way for anyways. It amazed her how his parents were so naive when it came to their son. She had to wonder how it was growing up without a lot of paternal influence. When he mentioned Neel's name, she plopped on the bed with her elbows propped and head in hands. She listened to him compliment her and to be honest, it didn't feel bad. It was when he mentioned her gender that it felt a little strange. She didn't care if he was gay, it just didn't strike her until that moment. She blinked a couple of times, looking up at George, still fast asleep and rolling on her back.

When he hung up with his mother, his comment made the moment feel starker. She gulped. "Wow dude. That's - ridiculous." She giggled, biting her tongue again. She wanted to mention how he called her pretty, but decided not to. "I would never be able to get away with that." Neel smiled, warmly now at Zeke. "What other classes do you have?"

---- M E E Q A ----

She had several nights where she laid in bed, wondering what Magali was thinking. It was strange really. Right now, she was clinging to a pillow, looking up at the ceiling when Magali asked her about her courses. She was daydreaming, something she often did when she wasn't dancing. She wondered what it was like on Magali's home planet. Would it be as quiet and somber as Magali? She rolled over to face the beautiful girl's. "Yeah. Robotics." She smiled, focusing on Magali's heartbeat. "Tell me you've got it too!" She chuckled and swung her feet, her webbed toes splayed out.

"I really don't want to take it by myself. I'll probably flunk... Like I did last semester." She blushed in her ankles, turning them a peachy pink. "I mean, luckily I've got Intergalactic Dance II, I loved that class." She looked over Magali's bed and saw the drawings and paintings she'd done of Meeqa. She wanted her to draw her whole figure, in its entirety. She wanted the girl to draw every fold, every crevice, every lump on her body. Because she loved how she was portrayed. Magali made Meeqa see herself in a brand new light, something she wanted projected all over her. It was consuming her, really. And she didn't know how to say it.