The Systems Challenge

Sonya listened to Heather's breathing as it evened out and deepened. She wished she could go to sleep as easily as Heather, but it wasn't like she was that worried about it. Right then, she was happy that Heather could sleep.

Getting the dragon shape was a surprise, but it was also nice to get. Since training with Murdock and Tina, she'd only gotten one other shape, but that was more of a set shape rather than like with the dragon one. With the drawing of shapes, she'd drawn a few previously, but none were remotely close to the one she'd just gotten.

The only shapes she had that she felt had any use for combat was the dragon shape and the one she'd gotten before that: a wolf shape. The only thing was, she still hadn't figured out some of the abilities that she was confident it had. She wasn't sure if it was a dire wolf or a 'wolf' monster, since it was much larger than any other wolves she'd even seen, even in documentaries.

However, she'd only let Heather know about the dragon shape because she had let Heather know what she was doing in the first place. She wasn't sure if doing that had been a mistake, but she was tired of getting useless shapes like a dragonfly or a squirrel. While they could be useful for some reconnaissance, given her hearing and vision only improved in those shapes rather than becoming just like how those creatures' senses actually were.

Only, she doubted that she'd be able to bring herself to do anything like that in those shapes, since it wouldn't be too difficult to end up getting killed. Especially as a dragonfly.

She'd gone to Heather in hopes that maybe doing something like holding her hand while drawing it would help her luck. It was irrational, she knew, since that sort of thing really wouldn't have any actual effect on the result. It merely helped her emotionally when making the draw.

Sonya wasn't sure what to expect from the dragon shape, since she'd seen some fantasy shows, books, games, and movies that had dragons that could fly, while others had some dragons that couldn't. The only way would be to test it out for herself, but she doubted that she'd be able to really predict anything about it.

Especially since there always seemed to be something off with any of the shapes she'd turned into. As a dragonfly it had been that she reflected light like she was made of metal, as a squirrel her fur was incredibly shaggy, as a wolf her fur seemed to glow in the dark, and as a lizard her scales shifted to whatever color made her stand out the most wherever she was.

No matter what she'd tried, it didn't seem to help her avoid such issues. Which made her wonder if those things were set into the shapes she got, regardless of anything else. Although, she had learned about a few tricks she could do with changing her shape, even though that hardly helped with the primary issues with them.

Still, those issues would be best left for the next day. When she'd have the energy to see what she might learn about the dragon shape, regardless of what else she might learn about it that was a bit of a pain for her.

So, she pulled Heather against her securely and closed her eyes. If there was anything that she didn't like about the dragon shape, then it wasn't like she'd be able to do anything about it anyway. All she could do was merely hope that it wouldn't be as much of a headache as her other shapes had been so far.

Even as she did everything she could to fall asleep, she was still well aware of everything around her for a while. She could hear the wind blowing softly outside the window, the sounds of rodents making their way through the inn on their search for something to eat, and other ambient noises that let her know that there wasn't anything to worry about right then.

When she did fall asleep, Sonya couldn't say. Just that when she did wake up, it was from Heather pulling away from her. Not that Sonya was bothered by it. Heather had been her alarm clock since they'd woken up in this inn after Elin had helped them from whatever had kept them asleep for at least a week.

While she was pretty sure they'd been told how long they'd been 'asleep,' she couldn't remember at this point. She wasn't sure if it really mattered, but she felt like she should at least remember that much.

Besides, it was part of their morning routine to comb each other's hair before getting dressed. Sonya still worked as a waitress with Heather for breakfast, while she then would take off to work at some training. Although, today she wanted to see what she could learn about her new shape. She had a feeling that it would be an experience, if nothing else.

With that to look forward to, it felt like the morning just flowed by without her even noticing. When she was about to leave, Heather expressed an interest in joining her. Although, she had put it as 'joining Sonya another day' rather than that day.

If Heather had asked to join her then, she would have agreed right away, but with her asking about doing that at an unspecified time in the future, she wasn't sure how much Heather really wanted to join her. Although, she had to admit that with Heather being pregnant, she didn't think that if Heather did join her, that she'd be able to get as much training done, since Heather wouldn't be able to move as quickly as she would otherwise be able to.

When she left to go and meet up with Murdock and Tina, she was wondering how she should tell them what her new shape was. She didn't know what they'd say about it, but they had seemed rather supportive of her joining them in combat when she'd first gotten her wolf shape, but with a dragon shape, she wasn't exactly sure if they'd be as excited or not. As she hadn't really been able to figure out what they might like or not, as they didn't really open up to her very much.

When she arrived at the rendezvous point, no one was there. Not that she worried too much about it, given it was the first time that they would have been late, but typically when they were late, it wasn't by much. So, as time dragged on, she became worried and started to head over to the direction where Murdock and Tina typically came from. She hadn't been to their camp, as she hadn't been invited and she suspected that they probably wanted to keep it as private as possible.

Yet, she couldn't be sure if something hadn't happened to them, she went with the point that they hadn't specifically told her not to try to find their camp. It might be a little bit of a stretch, but she wanted to at least be sure that nothing was wrong.

However, she didn't expect to find their camp so close to the rendezvous point. In fact, it was barely twenty feet away, behind the bushes they'd always come out from behind on days they were late. Which at least explained why they weren't very late those other times.

This time, however, they weren't there. Instead, there was a note with a rock holding it down near the fire ring they'd set up.

Sonya picked up the paper and read the note. Even if they weren't from the same world, they'd already confirmed that their written languages were at least similar enough that they could write things out for each other.

What the note said was that they'd decided to head out to find another area to hunt monsters in. So, they left t the note because they didn't care to deal with any complications about telling her would bring. While there was more on the note, Sonya still crumpled it up and dropped it back on the ground. She'd read enough of the note and didn't care for the rest.

While they may have sugar coated their reasons, or whatever else they'd put on the note, the bottom line was that they'd left. While it wasn't completely unexpected, given they'd brought up the topic periodically, Sonya just wished that they'd at least let her know before. Rather than letting her know this way.

Still, it wasn't like she was completely helpless without others to help her. She'd merely preferred to work with others, even if it was to mitigate any chance that the next creature, or creatures, might have times where it could overwhelm a single person.

The only option would be to see how her new shape would turn out to be. Although, Sonya was hesitant to go hunting with an untested and unknown shape. Not when she couldn't be certain just how large it was, or any other fine details.

Which left just one option then. She needed to take that shape and see what it would be able to do. She hoped that it would really be useful, but at the same time, despite the discussion she'd had with Heather about it, she couldn't bring herself to get too optimistic about it. Not when she'd already had such issues with her others shapes.

Besides, delaying it would really only prolong the period of time before she found out about the dragon shape. Whether it would be weaker than she'd thought about already or if it was what she and Heather had been saying about what it would be, Sonya could only resign herself to get ready to change her shape by first removing her clothing.

She couldn't be certain that this step would be necessary, but she also couldn't be certain that shifting into that shape wouldn't be healthy for any clothing she might be wearing at that particular moment.

When she'd removed all her clothing, she set them neatly by a tree before focusing on the dragon shape. She then began focusing on what she knew that she needed to do in order to start changing her physical shape.