[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/250324/b71cf5ab5cebec9b4e857200f7c42a8b.png[/img]

[img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/250324/dc185f5e06aa08f3af9fbb79b4040da5.png[/img]

[color=EBA536][b]Location:[/b][/color] [color=E579FF]Top Deck[/color]
[color=E579FF][b]Race:[/b][/color] [color=EBA536]Dark Elf[/color] & [color=E579FF]Human[/color]
[color=E579FF][b]Class:[/b][/color] [color=EBA536]Artificer[/color] & [color=E579FF]Rogue[/color]
[color=EBA536][b]Interactions:[/b][/color] [@Helo] Ezekiel; [@Princess] Callandra
[color=E579FF][b]Mentions:[/b][/color] 
[color=EBA536][b]Equipment:[/b][/color]
[hider]
[color=EBA536][b]Scratch[/b][/color]
Medical bag
Tinkerer's kit
Arcane spindlelock (shortened) musket
Spindlelock pistols x2
Hand axes x2
[color=E579FF][b]Val[/b][/color]
First-aid bag
Tinkerer's kit
Spindlelock pistols x2
Steel daggers x2[/hider][color=E579FF][b]Attire:[/b][/color]
[hider]
[color=EBA536][b]Scratch[/b][/color]
Dark brown, knee-length coat
Black waistbelt
Grey button-up shirt
Dark brown trousers
Heavy leather boots
[color=E579FF][b]Val[/b][/color]
Off-white shirt
Red ribbon tied around left arm
Brown hooded coat
Brown trousers
Leather boots
Goggles on her head[/hider][color=EBA536][b]Gold:[/b][/color] 85
[color=E579FF][b]Injuries:[/b][/color]
[hider]
[color=EBA536][b]Scratch[/b][/color]
NA
[color=E579FF][b]Val[/b][/color]
Shallow cut on her right side, just below the ribs[/hider]
[/center]

Pain.

That was the first thing [color=EBA536][b]Scaerthrynne[/b][/color] felt. That was the only thing he felt. Every part of him throbbed with a dull ache, as if he’d been torn apart and put back together by a terrible dollmaker. A sharp sting stabbed through his ribs when he sucked in a deep breath, a breath that felt like his first in years. Something heavy was pressing down on him. Whatever it was, it prevented his chest from rising fully, forcing him to breathe in short, shallow gasps. 

Then, he remembered the explosion. The man-in-white. The bomb. The blast. Vallena jumping away.

Vallena!

[color=EBA536]“Val,”[/color] he tried to cry out, but he couldn’t get enough air for anything beyond a strained croak. Groaning, he pulled his arms free – nothing was broken; that was good – and gave the debris sitting on his chest a good shove. They didn’t budge, and so he pushed with even more force.

Only then did he realise that his fingers weren’t pressing into wood or metal. This debris wasn’t cold, like a broken piece of hull. It wasn’t hard, like a metal girder. No, it was soft. It had warmth to it. His fingers could sink into it; could feel the stiffness of well-starched fabric, the smoothness of polished buttons.

Polished buttons. Callandra. 

And now Scaerthrynne remembered everything. She had thrown herself over him; had used her own body to shield him from the worst of the blast. [color=EBA536]“Fuck,”[/color] he breathed, his own discomfort momentarily forgotten as he quickly, but carefully, rolled her off of him and sprang up to a crouch. The griffon’s frenzied, maddening screams didn’t go unnoticed, but he ignored them for now. He couldn’t do anything about it for now, and it was an animal that wanted to be free. Hunting was likely the least of its concerns. 

[color=EBA536]“Val!”[/color] He hazarded raising his voice a touch. 

Still no response. A pit started to open in his stomach, and he could feel his heart starting to slide into it. 

[color=EBA536]“Vallena!”[/color]

[color=E579FF]“S-Scratch?”[/color]

At last, a response. Weak, terrified, and frail, but a response, nonetheless. Scaerthrynne let out a relieved sigh as he laid Callandra out on a small patch of flooring that was free of debris. He looked up, through the dim light, the mangled remains of various cargo, and fallen girders, and saw Vallena stumble her way over to him. She had a hand clutching her side, over a dark, crimson patch on her shirt. Blood seeped through her fingers in trickles. Tears cut clean channels through the dirt and grime staining her face. 

[color=EBA536]“Carefully, Val.”[/color] Scaerthrynne took two big steps, all the while keeping low, to close the distance. She took his hand in a limp, listless grip, and neither said nor did anything as he sat her down on an intact crate just beside Callandra’s feet. [color=EBA536]“Val, I need to take a look at your wounds,”[/color] Scaerthrynne said slowly. Vallena kept staring ahead, her little body trembling and her breaths shaky. [color=EBA536]“Can you lift your shirt up for me, Val?”[/color]

The girl didn’t respond. She was in shock, most likely.

[color=EBA536]“Guess it’s up to me,”[/color] he murmured with a shake of his head, and gingerly peeled her hand away from her wound. She didn’t react, but he winced. The fabric was soaked through. It felt sticky beneath his fingertips, and it squelched when he pushed the shirt up just enough to expose the cut. Long and fresh, it looked like a slender, slitted eye staring angrily at him. 

The griffon screeched.

Vallena’s head twitched up. [color=E579FF]“G-Griffon…”[/color]

[color=EBA536]“It’s just angry the Captain had it caged down here,”[/color] Scaerthrynne replied quickly. [color=EBA536]“Don’t worry, Val. Give it enough time and it’ll break open the main cargo doors on its own and fly away. It just wants to be free.”[/color]

Or, it could rampage towards them, or it could be in a murderous rage.

[color=E579FF]“I-I’m scared,”[/color] Vallena whimpered.

[color=EBA536]“It’ll be alright.”[/color] 

He didn’t know that.

[color=E579FF]“W-What if…Scratch, what if I…”[/color] He could feel her tears falling onto his hand like rain. [color=E579FF]“I-I don’t want to–”[/color]

[color=EBA536]“Shush,”[/color] Scaerthrynne said and straightened his back to look at her. [color=EBA536]“We’ll be fine, Val. I promise.”[/color]

She looked back at him, her eyes wet and puffy. [color=E579FF]“R-Really, Scratch? You promise?”[/color]

[color=EBA536]“Yes.”[/color]

Now he just had to make it happen. 

He went back to examining her wound. On a second glance, it wasn’t that bad. It certainly looked and bled far worse than what it actually was, a shallow cut just under her ribs. [color=EBA536]“You’re alright, Val,”[/color] he said in a calm voice. Or as calm as he could manage for the situation. With a gentle touch, he pressed his fingers up and down her sides. No softness, no swelling. No broken ribs. She would be sore for a while, but nothing more than that. [color=EBA536]“Just a scratch. And what do we do with scratches, Val?”[/color]

She looked down at him and blinked. [color=E579FF]“S-Scratch? Isn’t t-that you?”[/color]

Scaerthrynne gave her a smile. A rare, genuine, smile meant for the eyes of only a few. [color=EBA536]“There’s the smart mouth I know.”[/color] Relief, barely hidden, laced his words. He reached out and brushed loose strands of brown hair away from her face. [color=EBA536]“But I meant the sort of scratches that bleed. How do you treat them, Val?”[/color]

[color=E579FF]“S-Sagerose spirit to clean, first,”[/color] she said and gulped. In a steadier voice, she continued. [color=E579FF]“T-Then wrap in a clean bandage?”[/color]

[color=EBA536]“Clever girl,”[/color] Scaerthrynne said. [color=EBA536]“I need to go take a look at Venn now, alright? That means I’ll need you to take care of your own wound for me. Can you do that, Val?”[/color]

Vallena gulped again. Then, she nodded hesitantly. Once, then twice.

[color=EBA536]“Good girl.”[/color] Scaerthrynne stood up and ruffled her hair. For a brief moment, he simply looked at her. Never had he ever seen her this frightened before, now that he thought about it. She’d always been a happy girl, a confident – maybe overly-so – and oftentimes cheeky girl. Of course, they’d run into danger before, and of course, they’d frightened her in their own ways. But this, this was something else entirely. 

He sighed, leaned over, and clumsily pulled her into an awkward hug. She gasped in surprise, but quickly looped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his shoulder. [color=EBA536]“Don’t get used to it, Val.”[/color]

She sniffed. [color=E579FF]“Okay.”[/color] Then, she let him go. [color=E579FF]“W-Will Venny be okay?”[/color]

Scaerthrynne looked away. [color=EBA536]“I’ll do what I can for her, Val. Look after yourself, first.”[/color]

But when he returned to Callandra, he wasn’t sure if there was even anything he could do for her. Had he a proper surgery, he might be able to pull off the miracle he needed, but he didn’t have that. He didn’t have even half of that – the airship’s medical amenities were enough to treat your typical infections, sicknesses, and broken bones at the best of times, and now certainly wasn’t such a time. Logic dictated that the best, if not only course of action was to leave her. By the looks of things, he needed to get to the engine core as soon as possible, if he wanted to have a chance of keeping the airship afloat.

But Callandra had saved him.

[color=EBA536]“You idiot,”[/color] he muttered beneath his breath as he looked at her broken, battered body. [color=EBA536]“You massive, total idiot.”[/color] Taking off his medical pack, he set it on the floor and hurriedly pulled out a series of syringes. These were his last resorts. The things he’d use only when nothing else worked. With Callandra's plethora of broken bones – and those were just the ones he felt while moving her – and the high possibility of severe damage to her organs, Scaerthrynne had a feeling that he might need them.

But for now, he still had one option.

[color=EBA536]“You!”[/color] He called to the man-in-white in a hushed shout. [color=EBA536]“Man-in-white, Eyepatch, whatever your name is, I need you over here, now.”[/color] He beckoned him over, and used as much authority as he could in his voice, as strange as it felt to him. He’d never had to do such a thing before, but with Callandra down, and the airship in distress, he had to take charge. [color=EBA536]“What can you do for her?”[/color] He asked flatly. [color=EBA536]“We need to get out of here as quickly as possible, and get to the engine core, so tell me right now. Can you heal her, or not?”[/color]