Willow stretched out on her bed before curling her legs up under the covers and burying her head a little further into the pillow. last night she had had the weirdest dream in her entire life. One that beat the couch medicine induced dream about all of her friends being shoelaces and them all living in a giant boot. Giggling to herself she pulled the blanket closer to her chin. kidnapped by Aliens, please. Though she was sure that had she stayed dreaming just a tad longer Will Smith would have busted in to rescue her, all Men in Black style. She was so cutting The Mother ship out of her weekly run routine. All that fatty food before bed must have been messing with her dreams.

Rolling over she reached a blind hand out to fish her cell from off her dresser. She didn't have to be at work till twelve and judging from the fact that the sun wasn't blinding her she figured she still had time. When her hand grasped nothing but air the girl let out an irritated groan while pushing her self up.Rubbing at her eyes she turned to toward the direction of her dresser only to find it not there. In fact nothing in her room looked the same. It hadn't been a dream, dear god she really had been abducted by aliens.

Pulling her legs up to her chest she looked around the room that she was currently in. They had moved her when she was sleeping. Had they drugged her, the last thing she remembered was drinking that pink stuff from the green doctor. Then nothing. If they had drugged and moved her what else had they done to her.Tarring the covers off her body she proceeded to take inventory of all of her limbs. Everything was there and looked to be unharmed. Focusing on each toe she seemed to have full control over them. Good, they hadn't done anything that she could instantly tell. And she felt okay internally.

Letting her head fall back to the wall behind her she tried to take deep breaths. To calm down and not cry, she wasn't going to cry anymore. Besides at least she was alone right now. Unless they were invisible it didn't look like any aliens were in her general area. 'Okay Willow just stay calm. Freaking out isn't going to help you.' She was a little embarrassed by herself for the way she acted...last night? Of course not for snapping at Prince do-what-ever-he-damn-well-feels-like. No he deserved it, also if she managed to get another chance to hit him in the face she would probably take it. It was the tears however justified they were she wasn't a big crier, never had been. But she had cried hard enough last night that she was feeling the effects now. The sore eyes and the dried salt water on her face that made it uncomfortable to make any sort of expression.

Pulling the blanket back around her self she took true notice of the room she was in for the first time. A vase with very strange looking flowers, though they were kind of pretty too, and a change of clothes sat on a small table at the foot of her bed. The most amazing thing though had to be the window. It was a plain window- she was assuming- but it looked out in to space. She had never seen anything like it before in her life. Even growing up under an open sky that lite up like the busiest city at night. It was breath taking. For a moment she forgot that the reason she was looking out into space was because she was in fact on a alien space craft.

Pushing the blanket off of herself Willow slowly walked over to the window trying to get a better look. She hadn't been a big space fan in school, a number of her friends however would have given up both their kidneys to be staring at what she was seeing. Genetics had been her calling, still she could appreciate the wonder before her." Wow."

Prince Perseus Perseidae could not sit still for the life of him. He paced across the upper deck of the bridge, gritting his teeth and growling quietly to himself. Phaethon watched him with more than a touch of amusement. The royal generally did not get so up in arms about things. At least, not since the King had refused to abdicate the throne when Perseus had finally come of age. That happened all but one month prior to departing for Earth. Phaethon, the rainbow-haired pilot, had not yet seen the human girl. From the Prince's behavior, he could ascertain that her personality was either disagreeable or she had not taken to abduction. He also knew that, at the very least, she had be physically pleasant for Perseus to be interested in her at all. Phaethon could no longer resist sating his curiously.

They were merely floating through empty space now. They'd be passing Mars in about ten minutes, but the Asteroid Belt would not be upon them for some hours. Knowing this, Phaethon could place the Medousa on autopilot and wander. He merely needed permission to do so. "C'mere, Cerberos," he called, stretching a head to a panel at his left. There was a small wyvern-like creature curled up on top of it. Its beady red eyes regarded the pilot for a moment. With a single shrill chirp the creature floated up from the panel and draped itself around Phaethon's neck affection. "Atta boy! Sire?"

Perseus paused in his pacing, head whipping in the pilot's direction. "Yes, what is it?" he snapped impatiently. "Permission to wander freely?" Phaethon asked. The Prince hesitated. On the one hand, he did not want to leave the ship unattended. On the other, he wanted to be left alone to his lamentations. No woman had ever blatantly despised him before! He would have to turn on the charm later. What a hassle. "Fine," he consented, though his cross tone betrayed his mood. He waved a hand impatiently. "Hurry and go before I change my mind." The pilot practically leapt out of his seat and bounded up the steps to the elevator. Within a few enthusiastic minutes he'd arrived at the one-way mirror outside the prisoner holding cell. Ed stood outside, observing the human. She appeared to be fascinated with open space just as Aristotle predicted.

Phaethon peeked in at the female. She was neither thin nor pudgy, neither pale nor tan. She had bed-tousled dark hair tied back in a messy ponytail. He could not see her face from this angle, but her clothes were peculiar in his opinion. "Hey, Oedipollophaestios. Do you think I could get in there?" Phaethon asked. Cerberos chirped as though in agreement. Of all the crew, the pilot resembled a human the most. Ed decided that "Willow" would be less intimidated by Phaethon, and as a result, she would converse more openly with him. If she warmed up to one of them, she'd eventually warm up to them all. Phaethon was inadvertently volunteering to be their ambassador.

The bodyguard said nothing, but pressed a button beside the door. The pilot took this as a yes. He stepped into the chamber, the door closing with a whoosh behind him almost immediately. "Hello! Willow, right? How are you feeling?" he asked cheerfully. He'd heard from Aristotle that the human had just undergone "adjustments" after being unconscious for two hours. She seemed healthy enough. Cerberos chirped again, shifting from around Phaethon's neck to sitting on his shoulder. "I would tell you to look out the window, but I can see that you already are! We'll be passing Mars in a second."

Willow had her hand pressed against the window.It truly was fascinating. I twas a shame however that if she ever made it home she wouldn't be able to tell Donna about it the astronaut in training would have flipped. If she made it home she planned on lying her ass off about where she had been. No way was she going to be labeled one of those nut jobs.

The whoosh sound that she had associated with the door on the ship brought her out of the awe like wonder. Her reflexes took over and she spun around shifting her body into a defensive stance. Muscles tightened as blue eye glared at the man standing in the door way. It wasn't the prince or the doctor neither of which she really wanted to see. Unless she was going to get answer to what they had had her drink.Thankfully it wasn't that four armed man she had seen when she had been brought on the ship. The person standing in front of her for all intent and purposes looked to be human.

He didn't appear to be dangerous and she had put so much strain on her muscles the night before that she wasn't sure she could the defensive stance much longer. Instead she stood to her full unimpressive height of 5'4 and let her back rest against the window. "Right. I've been better but fine considering."How did one normally feel waking up on an alien spaceship after being kidnapped? Crossing her arms over her stomach she took in the stranger.The only thing truly odd about him was the small dragon like creature perched on his shoulder.Had the alien creature not been so at home on him she would have though him another kidnappee, "You're one of them aren't you?"

Phaethon's brow drifted up at the sight of the girl whirling around ready to fight. That was a defensive stance, if he'd ever saw one. Not like it would do her any good. Every crew member was biologically made up of tougher material than herself. Moreover, they had all been trained in combat since childhood. And, considering that the majority of them were at least three human centuries old, that was quite a long. The pilot absentmindedly lifted a hand to rub underneath Cerberos' chin. The little dragon made a soft cooing sound. "Of course I'm one of them," Phaethon laughed. "In fact, I'm the pilot!" He glanced towards the window that was now being filled with Mars' massive red form. No matter how many times he'd been in space, he always enjoyed passing planets. They were breathtaking--big or small. "Don't worry," he continued, "The Medousa is on autopilot. We won't be crashing anytime soon."

The pilot moved over to the table at the foot of the bed, fingering the vivid orange and purple petals of the skelta flowers Ed had left for her. It was a nice touch, really. Without them, the room did look like a prisoner holding room with the bare minimum of furniture. With them present, however, it seemed almost nice inside. Homely. Well, as homely as spacecraft rooms could get. None of them had particularly fancy quarters, save for the Prince. If Willow had been more cooperative, surely the Prince would have let her stay there with him. It was to Phaethon's understanding that Prince Perseus intended to wed her upon returning to Argos. "My name is Phaethon, by the way." He flashed a smile towards Willow, his teeth astonishingly white.

Like all the other members of the crew, he was surprisingly handsome for an alien. That was another requirement on the Medousa. Only the finest, physically and mentally, could be hired. "I was a bit curious, so I came to see you. I haven't seen a human for at least a hundred years," he informed her. Unlike the rest of the crew, Phaethon had traveled extensively. Unexpectedly, the little wyvern floated off of the pilot's shoulder towards Willow. His eyes followed it with interest. It did a couple of fast circles around the female, chirping. Phaethon seemed surprised by this. "Oh! And that's Cerberos! He seems to like you." The rainbow-haired pilot laughed goodnaturedly and shook his head. "He doesn't usually take to strangers. Consider yourself lucky! You can touch him if you want." The creature did a loup-de-loup just over her head. If the human female thought about it, she would be astonished as well...But for a different reason. Their entire conversation had been in a language other than English.

Blue eyes drifted away from the human looking alien that now stood by the flowers to the little dragon creature flaying around her. The thing, Cerberos, was pretty cute for an alien dragon.The last time she had touched an alien had been when she had reached out to prove to Perseus that he was a deluded whack job. That hadn't turned out so well. But she was curious, Perseus's skin had felt cold and scaly like a reptile would the dragon's skin feel like flesh? It was worth a shot to see.

Reaching out Willow let the tips of her fingers run along the dragon things head.She would admit if only to her self that she was a little scared of what she was going to feel, or if the thing was going to turn around and bite her.Animals on earth did that all the time. Rubbed up against you asking for love and when you bent down to pet them they used your arm as a scratching post.

"He's cute." Willows brow scrunched up and a look of confusion crossed her face, it had to have been her imagination but it didn't sound like she had said he's cute., "Cute...cu.." Blue eyes widened as realization dawned on her. It hadn't sounded like she said he's cute because she hadn't. At least not in any language she knew and she knew three fairly well and enough of a fourth to know she hadn't been speaking Russian.

"Oh my...what did they do to me." The last part held mostly fear, a little confusion and some anger. Yeah the doctor had explained that the liquid was going to help her breath with out a space suit but he hadn't said anything about her ability to speak. And since Phaethon hadn't been looking at her like she was some kind of retard Willow could only assume she had been speaking what ever language they used on his planet. "He messed with my brain." The tears were building up in her eyes again and she would be damned if she cried. They had drugged her and messed around in her head, because she couldn't think of a single way that she would be fluently using a language she didn't even know existed with out some neurological tweaking going on.

It took Phaethon a few seconds to realize what the human was going on about... At any rate, she sounded legitimately upset. But when it became clear that Willow referred to her spontaneous ability to speak Argese, the pilot began laughing. Humans were really sensitive over everything, it seemed. "Oh, that!" he said with a grin. "Aristotle would have told you beforehand if he was not so certain you'd refuse. That adjustment is performed on everyone in our galaxy. They put the Aural Translator in, about yea big..." He indicated his left pinky nail. "...Without even operating. It's a really simple, clean, safe procedure that allows you to instantaneously know the 30 Standard Languages of the universe. And you can have it taken out at any time in less than two minutes. Don't worry about it!"

The pilot plopped down onto the edge of the bed and began kicking his feet around while whistling. He appeared to have almost boundless energy. "I have one, too," Phaethon said. "No one has the time to dedicate to learning 30 languages, fluently. Here, I'll show you." The pilot switched languages, choosing a second planet from Andromeda--Oechalia--to use as an example. "The transition is seamless. It's about as easy as speaking English is for you, or any other language you know. I always thought it was neat." He switched back to Argese, then. "But I've always been a fan of languages. Traveling was part of the reason I decided to become a pilot in the first place." Apart from being endlessly energetic, Phaethon was also relentlessly chatty.

Truthfully, he simply had a friendly nature... And an inquisitive one, at that, seeing as within a few moments he would be interrogating Willow on every aspect of her life. He bounced up from they bed and whistled again--this time with more purpose. The dragon had been cooing as the girl rubbed him, but at the sound, it had perked up. It floated back to its owner and perched itself back on his shoulder, albeit reluctantly. Phaethon cleared his throat. "So, Willow--that is your name, isn't it? Tell me about you! How old are you? What do you like to do for fun? What is your favorite food? Are you hungry? I'm sure we could try to make something for you. It'll probably look unappetizing at first, like any other foreign food, but just give it a chance, ok?"

She felt tired all over again despite the fact that she had just woken up.It was the kind of tired she would get after soccer and Tae Kwon Do lessons. Willow just felt mentally exhausted. Leaning back till her back rested against the window she let her body slid down so she was sitting on the floor. Knees brought up to rest her chin on as she petted the dragon.Blue eyes stared down at the floor while she took in everything that Phaethon was telling her. It still didn't curb the feeling of being violated. why couldn't any of these...people get that. You can't just kidnap someone and mess around with their brains and expect them to be okay with it.

She was tempted to inform her alien companion of that fact but figure it would be lost on him.His prince didn't seem the least bit sorry for kidnapping her, so why would the human looking alien sitting on the bed be sympathetic to the fact that a different alien had done something to her with out even consulting her. ' Face it Willow they can do what ever they like to you.'

Looking up as the pilot starting rambling, well when the dragon flew away from her.He reminded her of her brother, a ball of useless energy that's mouth didn't have an off switch. Plus he couldn't read the mood in a room to save his life. Phaethon seemed to suffer from the same condition. She didn't feel like playing twenty questions, ' remember no longer have any choices.' " Yeah I'm Willow. Willow Alys Hamilton. I'm 21. uh..I guess Chinese food that or Fry bread." Would he even know what that was. God she was never going to be able to eat normal food again.

She was going to refuse, lei about being hungry cause the last time she had drank something it had knocked her out and she woke up to find that they had put something in her. However as if this was a badly scripted cartoon show her stomach choice that time to let it's starved presence be known in the form of a loud growl. banging her head against wall behind her she looked back at him. "yeah I guess I am hungry."

"Twenty-one?!" Phaethon cried in surprise. "You're so young!" He laughed. "I suppose it makes sense. People age a lot more slowly in the Andromeda Galaxy." Still, it was a bit difficult for the pilot to believe or even fathom. He himself was around 325 Earth years. Regardless of his opinion on the matter, Willow did appear mature enough despite being less than a fraction of his age. A young woman, certainly. But decidedly a mature one.

She'd not yet answered the question about the things she liked to do for fun, so it would prove difficult to entertain her on the course of their journey home. The things the crew considered diversionary greatly varied to what even their own species enjoyed. Phaethon was just about to inquire about it again when a famished growl cut the silence. Now, the pilot's stomach never did that when he was hungry, but he knew that much about humans. He'd read log entries about it before.

The alien shot Willow a blank stare at the mention of Chinese food and "fry bread". He knew, very vaguely, about what Chinese food consisted of. Extraterrestrials did not travel to China as often as they did to Mexico or Japan, but he assumed it was similar to what the Japanese liked. "Noodles" and "curry" or "stir-fried vegetable" dished. This "fry bread" she spoke of, however, was entirely alien to him. Pun not intended. "Well," Phaethon continued after a moment, "We have something similar to Chinese, I think. At least, I can get you something similar, if you like that." He made for the door, then hesitated. It was only polite to excuse himself before just vanishing. "I'll be back." Ed, who'd been a silent and invisible spectator of the entire interaction, opened the door for Phaethon.

The pilot disappeared down the hallway to the ship's common area, and began reconstituting food in an electronic box. Within ten or so minutes, he'd returned with a tray of various things. The alien male laid the tray down on the edge of the holding room's bed--well, now he supposed it was Willow's bed-- and then seated himself cross-legged on the floor beside it. He was not certain what she'd think of the food, but it was worth a try. "These are like 'stir-fried noodles'," he said, pointing at one plate. A pile of long, tan gelatinous noodles sat atop it, resembling sweet-potato noodles from Korea. The noodles were seasoned with a brown sauce, and had various leafy and stem vegetables mixed into it... But they were not vegetables that Earth had.

"Some more pickled 'vegetables'," he continued, indicating a smaller bowl of vividly-colored, wilted greens. "This is a broth that you can drink, like human 'soup'." It was light blue in color and lukewarm with cut squares of similar vegetables floating in it. "And this last thing," Phaethon finished, "Is like an herbal tea... I mean, it's not made from anything you've had before, but I'm sure it will agree with your digestive system. Most of our plants are biologically similar to yours." A smaller, clay cup was to the side of the three dishes, faintly steaming. Like human tea, it was always served hot. Something resembling a spork sat on the noodles--a utensil with which Willow could eat. The pilot grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. "Andromedans are herbivores. I hope you find everything to your liking."

Blue eyes watched as he left her little room the door opening and shutting with what was becoming a familiar whooshing sound. Being alone gave Willow time to think about all the information she had been given so far. She was kidnapped by the prince of Argos a planet in the...Andromeda Galaxy. So wherever they were taking her had a monarchy type government. Those hadn't panned out so well on earth, though England still had a Queen.They all spoke 50 different languages via a chip that was implanted in them but without surgery a feat she was still confused on, oh and they aged slowly enough that some one who looked maybe a few years older then her had said she was 'so young'. That was all the info she had gathered from her interactions with her alien abductors.Well that and she was kidnapped for a diplomatic reason. How was kidnapping someone ever diplomatic?

She stayed in her position on the floor while she worked it all out in her head, she had always found that being uncomfortable made it easier for her to think logically.Today she had found out that being scarred out of her mind overruled any logic at all. Pushing herself back up into a standing position, her stomach once again complained with the lack of food, she turned to face the window. At least they had stuck her somewhere with a view. Willow was pretty sure that was a planet she saw in the distance.Letting out a sigh she watched as her breath fogged up the window. The pilot said he was bringing back food for her but she was kind of scared to see what it was going to be.'speak of the devil' the whoosh announced that he had returned.

Taking a seat back on the bed near the tray of food Willow noted that this was the closest she had willing let her self be to one of the aliens.The food smelled great though if not a little oddly colored.Turns out she had a reason to be nervous.While the food before her looked good and of a much higher scale then her normal take out Chinese his last words had stopped her.Herbivores, she had been kidnapped by vegetarians.Turing not look at Phaethon she gave a nervous little laugh, "Your joking right. The body needs the protein and nutrients from meat to sustain self...or at least the human body does." No way had she eaten her last steak.

Phaethon blinked with confusion. He'd read that Earthlings ate meat, but Andromedan civilization was far more advanced in their mindset. Andromedans tended not to consume anything even remotely intelligent. Regardless of whether other creatures on their planet were less mentally capable then themselves, it seemed a cruelty to kill and consume them if they were consciously aware of it. Plants were different. Their mentally faculties and manner of consciousness varied a great deal. The few plants that could be communicated with were not eaten. It was simply a matter of respect to other forms of life. To the pilot, Willow's opinion sounded primitive--but Phaethon supposed he could understand the angle that she was coming from...At least from, a nutritional standpoint. He also thought that, to please Willow, Perseus and the rest of the crew would have to be sensitive to her upbringing and consequentially cater to her previous way of life.

"That is true, to an extent," Phaethon replied. "While meat does contain Iron, Protein, and B Vitamins, a high percentage of plants in Andromeda are excellent sources of those things. This meal, for example, consists of everything you require, nutritionally, for a day." He gestured to the tray of dishes. "It is simply a cultural predisposition of ours--to be herbivores. If you yourself are capable of abstaining, we can always have something imported for you." He smiled, albeit solemnly. "The supply would be limited, however. It would have to come from outside the galaxy. And none of it would be meat that you are used to anyway. Truthfully, it has been Earth millenia since we've consumed anything besides plant-based foods, so we do not suffer for lack of it. In fact, no one has experienced obesity or artery clogging in Andromeda for centuries."

Cerberos, the little dragon, had draped himself around Phaethon's neck again...And now he appeared to comfortably napping. "We can't really offer you any meat now, though, so this will have to do for now." the pilot finished. "At least try it. You might be pleasantly surprised."

Looking down at the food on the tray Willow decided she was to hungry get into a debate about the fact that eating meat didn't make you fat or unhealthy. Hell she was perfectly fit and she had more Pizza and Take out then anyone she knew. It was about a well balanced diet and exercise.On nights were she cooked for her self she'd grill some chick and have steamed vegetables.Other nights junk food.

Twirling her fork into the noodles she took a small bite to gauge the taste.They were good and the alien vegetable that had been mixed in with the noodles gave it an interesting taste.Swallowing the bite of food she realized just how hungry she was when it hit her stomach. The last thing she had eaten was two pieces of cold leftover prize for lunch the day before.She tried to remind her self that she couldn't just shove it all into her mouth since someone was sitting in the room watching her. So willow took steady measured forkfuls of the noodles, " They're good." Looking up at Phaethon when she had made it through half the plate. " Thank you."

Taking a moment to drink some of the tea.She had never been a really big fan of tea only drinking it with a bit of honey when she had a sore throat. It wasn't bad not something she would drink everyday but decent enough for now. At least it wasn't soda. After two sips she placed the cup back down and continued eating. She was sure that the pilot had only been trying to be nice when he talked about importing meat for her.But she was here against her will and normally people didn't go out of their way for someone they had taken.They were feeding her and her room wasn't a prison cell by any means so she would live with what ever food they gave her. She just knew she was going to end up craving Mcnuggets.