I very slowly surfaced into the world of wakefulness. I could sense that I was awake, but didn't want to open my eyes. I could still feel Sonia pressed against my chest and I slowly extended my arm over her and found her hand. I noticed it was furred, so I moved up her arm to learn that it was only her hand that was currently shifted. I smiled and stroked the fur on the back of her hand. After a few seconds of this, a strange sound could be heard.

I opened my eyes suddenly to see that Sonia was still peacefully asleep (or at least, she looked at way,) and there was a peculiar rumbling sound emanating directly from her. I moved my head in closer and realized that I could feel a sort of vibrating. I propped my head up on my hand and the sound stopped as Sonia opened her eyes. She quickly flipped over onto her stomach and buried her face in her hands.

"What was that sound you were making?" I asked curiously.

"What?" Sonia already sounded slightly irritated, I wondered if that had anything to do with me kissing her last night. I regretted nothing.

"That constant rumbly sound. Why were you doing that?" I rephrased.

"Probably because I was sleeping," she shrugged in response.

Huh, I'd have to see if I could find anything out on the pad later. I'd avoided using it as A) there hadn't been time and B) I figured it'd just be easier to ask her directly once I'd learned that she could talk, but if she was going to be secretive then I might as well bust it out. Then again, the pad has very limited information on anything to do with Terra to begin with.

I fully sat up and started to get out of bed. I walked over to the mess area and started brewing some of my Xandarian coffee. We didn't often get much of it on the Elector but I always got second dibs after Yondu. Fortunately for me, the Captain didn't have much of a taste for it. The smell quickly roused Sonia as she let out an enormous stretch, flashing her pointed teeth and nearly shredding my spare pillow.

"Hey! Watch the claws!" I called.

Sonia shot me a cross look before rolling off the bed and landing firmly on the floor. I sighed and sat down to study the maps of Dervani. Yesterday's area turned out to be a bust, I had to find a new place for today. It was probably best to stay near the places where the moss had been found before. It was possible that some had grown back since then. I looked up from my map as Sonia sat across from me. She eyed the pad warily.

"So, that thing is going to tell us where we're going today?" she asked.

"No, I'm telling it where we're going," I explained, I watched as she slowly turned her head to face where I'd set the rest of the coffee. "Hey," I called. As her head whipped back over to me I saw that her eyes were mostly gold. "Go grab a cup, but be careful. If you've not had Xandarian before it might throw you for a loop."

Sonia narrowed her eyes in my direction. "What's in it?"

"Um, coffee?" What did she mean? I gave her questioning stare as I watched her slowly get up and walk over to the counter. She apprehensively poured herself a mug of coffee and stopped to sniff it. She stopped short at my look of confusion.

"I can't detect anything foreign." She reported, still refusing to drink.

"Good gods, do you think it's fucking poisoned?" My shock echoed around the interior of the ship. I understand that she must have had reason to believe in the possibility of poison or drugs, but I thought I'd earned a bit more trust than that.

Upon my shock, Sonia tilted her head back and downed the entire cup in one go. Did she feel bad for suspecting me? Was I ever going to be able to understand her better? I sighed and selected a point on the map displayed on the pad. As it locked onto that point and sent it to the main computer, I grabbed my mug and headed up to the flight deck. I settled into the main pilot's chair and double checked the area I'd selected and then started to maneuver the ship towards it.

Sonia came up shortly after, she had changed back into her own clothes. I was surprised to find myself slightly disappointed by this fact. She soundlessly crossed the main deck and stood behind me as we hovered over the trees, looking for a landing spot. I could feel her almost vibrating with energy, probably shouldn't have let her have that coffee after all…

After we landed, Sonia bolted out of the door without my leave. I was rather irritated about her not waiting for my order, I was her superior, by a lot. I just wrote it off to her drinking all my coffee, and watched her bound away into the treeline.

"Wait! Don't run off again today! You have a mission!" I reminded her, irritated.

Instantly she reappeared behind me, causing me to halfway draw my gun in response.

"I'm waiting for you," I could see her panther ears poking out of her thick black hair, which was starting to get pulled out of the braid already. her eyes were pure gold, but she didn't look scared or angry, just… exhilarated.

"Sonia….?" I reached for her slowly, now quite sure which way she was going to move anymore. "Did you want to try looking for that moss now? We need to find some today."

"Oh yeah, sure," she replied, before extending her claws from each hand and climbing up the tree faster than I've ever seen a Terran move. I saw her go out on a branch about 40 or so meters up, and from what I could see she looked to be mostly shifted. She looked very strange.

Sonia came down from the tree a minute later.

"I think I caught a whiff of it," she shook her head, "But I'm not positive, the fog's too thick to even begin to tell where it was coming from."

"Is there anything you can do?" I asked, I wasn't quite sure what else to say, and she seemed too spacey right now.

"Hang on," Sonia put up a finger and then took off through the trees before I had a chance to respond.

I let out a sigh and held back a groan of frustration. This doing whatever she wanted was going to have to change if she wanted to remain a part of Yondu's crew, I might be more lenient but there was no way that Yondu was going to put up with it in front of other crewmates. I'd talk to her later tonight, at least there was no one around to see. Come to think of it, when was the last time I just got to act however I wanted with no prying eyes? The solitude of this planet and this mission suddenly hit me and soon I wanted to run around after Sonia.

I was still staring in the direction she ran and was about to follow her when she reappeared a little to my left. I was a little more prepared this time, so I didn't draw my gun.

"I figured it out, Kraglin," Sonia said, as though she hadn't even left. She charged over and grabbed my hand and pulled me into the brush.

With Sonia as my guide, I was able to make my way through the trees. It didn't take long for me to realize that I would have become hopelessly lost on my own. I probably would have been okay if I'd been setting up tracking points from the get-go, but it didn't even cross my mind to do so with Sonia here. I got a slight chill down my spine when I realized the danger we could be in if my faith was misguided, or my auto-call couldn't work for my M-ship.

After we'd walked a few miles, Sonia looked around wildly. I felt my heart sink as my fear became our current reality.

"You're lost, aren't you?" I sighed.

"What? No," Sonia said distractedly, although it seemed as though the coffee'd worn off by then. She was much more on guard and less sporadic. "The scent dissipated."

"Dissipated? How?" I looked around, as though I'd see the Dervish moss growing right next to me.

"I'm not sure. Kraglin, have you ever harvested it before?" Sonia asked me.

I shook my head, "No, we usually buy it off suppliers and then move it through different parts of the quadrant, why?" It was moss, right? Just grew on trees and shit. So it shouldn't be that hard to find.

Sonia seemed a little lost in thought as she prepared to change forms. I sighed and bundled her clothes, resisting the urge to totally stare at her and suddenly I was standing next to her huge panther body.

Sorry for the slight delay, had a weird past couple of days.
~F2tM