[color=lightgray][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/xMR2Pm0.png[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/LEAJ15Z.png[/img][/center]

[color=C84E74]Location:[/color] to the CARGO HOLD
[color=C84E74]Interactions: [/color]  Scratch / Val [@Apex Sunburn]
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[color=C84E74]“Wouldn’t dream of leaving you behind, Val,”[/color] Callandra said with a soft chuckle, ruffling the girl’s hair fondly. [color=C84E74]“But I’m not sure solo expeditions are in the cards just yet. That cargo hold still remembers your last ‘accident.’”[/color] She gave Vallena a sly smile. [color=C84E74]“Besides, you and Scratch make the best team. Always better when you're together.”[/color]

[color=EBA536] “Captain sent you because he knew I’d tell Reiss to piss off, didn’t he?” [/color]

Callandra glanced at Scaerthyrnne, and his beautiful smile made her heart skip a beat. [color=C84E74]“Maybe he just knows I’m the only one you’ll actually listen to without biting,”[/color] Callandra replied, her smile tilting a touch coy. She glanced sideways at him, then added under her breath with a soft chuckle, [color=C84E74]“Though let’s be honest… we all know I’m your favorite.”[/color]

She immediately cleared her throat and looked ahead, ears just slightly pinker than before.

[color=C84E74]“Not that I’d, uh, assume things. Just… [i]statistically[/i] speaking.”[/color]

[color=EBA536]“Tell the Captain to keep his ‘something fermented’. I’m four-fifty. Four-fifty-one in a few months or thereabouts. I’ve to start watching my drinking. And I don’t need an extra lunch break. I’m busy enough to not be able to use it, anyway... If he really wants to give me something, he can allow Val to wander the cargo hold again. She’s not so much of an idiot that she’ll make the same mistake twice, and do you have any idea how annoying it is when I need her to fetch something from down there, only to realise that I’ve to go with her?”[/color]

[color=C84E74]“Four hundred and fifty, huh?”[/color] Callandra raised a brow, her lips curling into a teasing grin. [color=C84E74]“You wear it well, Scratch. Maybe it’s all the brooding that preserves you.”[/color]

She looked down at Vallena with a softened expression before returning her gaze to Scaerthrynne. [color=C84E74]“As for letting Val go in alone again… we’ll see. You make a good case but...”[/color] She gave Val a meaningful look—but not an unkind one.

[color=C84E74]“Still, she’s learning. And like you said—she’s not quite an idiot.”[/color] Callandra’s eyes sparkled as she looked between them. [color=C84E74]“Just...highly enthusiastic.”[/color]

Then with a smirk: [color=C84E74]“Which, I suppose, makes you the patient one. Gods help us.”[/color]

Then, Scratch leaned in a little closer to Callandra, his eyes narrowed. [color=EBA536]“You’re looking a little red. I thought I was the only one getting overworked on this ship. You’re not going to collapse along the way from fatigue, are you?”[/color]

His words only made her cheeks redder, and a bead of sweat dripped down from her forehead. [color=C84E74]“Collapse?”[/color] she echoed, tone dry—too dry. Her voice was steady, but her eyes sparked with flustered defiance. [color=C84E74]“Please, I’m made of sterner stuff than that. Unlike some people who claim they’re four-fifty but complain like they’re ancient.”[/color]

She cleared her throat softly and turned again, quicker this time, before he could see her smile growing far too wide for someone trying to seem unaffected. [color=C84E74]“You two, come along then,”[/color] she said as she led them to the stairwell, her voice regaining its crisp edge,though it wavered just slightly, as if still recovering from being looked at that way. [color=C84E74]“Let’s find out what mess awaits us down there.”[/color]

Her pace was confident, boots tapping steadily down the narrow steps that led toward the hum of magic and metal. And though she never looked back again, her hand subtly brushed the wall beside her to ground herself.

As they descended, pipes hummed gently overhead, the familiar hiss of elemental energy echoing softly through the ship’s inner workings. She led them down a narrow corridor, past orderly stacks of cargo crates and softly glowing runic seals, the air growing cooler and tinged with the faint hum of contained arcane energy.

They soon reached the entrance to the cargo hold: a reinforced hatch engraved with faintly glowing protective wards. Callandra halted, turning back to face them, her expression slipping momentarily as she met Scaerthrynne’s gaze again. Her pulse quickened irritatingly once more, his proximity affecting her composure more than she cared to admit.

[color=C84E74]“Here we are,”[/color] she said, her voice purposefully steady. [color=C84E74]“The cargo hold—whatever triggered the ping should be just beyond this door.”[/color] She cleared her throat lightly, shifting her gaze briefly to Vallena before returning, somewhat reluctantly, to Scaerthrynne. [/color]