"A tour? Yeah, I'm down for that."
Giving a nod, Constanze left a Stanbot at the wheel before walking down the stairs below the deck, gesturing for Sucy to follow her.
As the 2 of them walked below the surface, Constanze wondered what exactly she would say first. Maybe talking about how the ship stays afloat? Or what about the heating mechanism, or the machine shop, or…
"By the way, you know where the bathroom on this thing is?"
Maybe they should start with the basics.
After that, Constanze led Sucy to the 2 bedrooms across the hall. The first one was quite barebones, only having a clothes hook on the wall and a nice double bed tucked into the corner. Honestly, with how little floor room there was, it could have just as easily been mistaken for a closet. Still, Constanze figured that since she'd be spending most of her time in the machine shop anyways, she could afford to skimp a little on her bedroom.
"Huh. And you built this all by yourself?"
*nod*
She'd had the help of Stanbots, but Constanze liked to think of those as more of an extension of herself than separate entities. Then again, didn't that also make the entire ship a kind of self-extension? But if that were true, then-
"Neat. Can you show me the next room?"
Right. Other people exist. Constanze opened the door to the next room, smiling to herself a little as Sucy swung open the door.
"Honestly, I'd be ok with a closet, so I don't… think…"
Sucy's voice trailed off as her relaxed smile was replaced with a look of utter awe as she took a moment to take it all in. Her heart started beating faster, her eyes went wide, and a goofy grin began to spread on her face, and it was immediately clear:
Sucy was in heaven.
A spill kit, a fire extinguisher, a fumehood, a button that, when pressed, would fill the room with sunlight, this was practically any alchemist's wet dream. Except it wasn't a dream. It was right in front of Sucy.
But none of that was the best part.
The best part was the array of magical and nonmagical ingredients right at Sucy's fingertips.
Jarin root, spider eggs, mandrakes, dragon's teeth, others that Sucy had never even seen in person before lined the entirety of one of the magnificently sized walls, the 100% pure samples of every substance on the periodic table serving as the cherry on top.
It took a minute. No, scratch that, Constanze probably counted up to at least half an hour as Sucy to inspect every ingredient, breaking out into maniacal laughter every few minutes after reading a particularly rare material.
"You have a Basilisk's tongue?! Where did you even get that?"
It was like watching a child in a candy store if you replaced all the candy with dangerous ingrediants and chemicals that could end life in a split second.
But looking at Sucy, you would never tell the difference.
Sucy returned to Constanze, trying to come up with something, anything to say in this moment before:
"H-how long did this take?"
Huh. The Sucy that Constanze knew would probably choose death over stuttering. Still, even after the initial euphoria had worn off, her hands were still twitching and her entire demeanour was gittery as Constanze could've sworn she saw Sucy vibrating.
In response to the question, Constanze simply pulled out a calender with every day on the previous month having labels such as 'fight dragon' or 'find out how to nullify radioactive decay'.
"You know, I might've said no to coming on this trip - not that this isn't amazing."
Constanze merely shrugged and drew a picture of the fortification potion on her whiteboard, eliciting a shrug and nod from Sucy.
"Yeah, figures. Can't say no to that. And once I have some Forge Serpent bile, it'll be nothing but a cakewalk to make more of it! I can already taste the limitless potential of the potion…"
A dark aura appeared around Sucy as she said this while giggling to herself but it abruptly subsided as she appeared to realize something, saying:
"By the way, shouldn't we take the ley line?"
A slight sense of smugness began to grow in Constanze's mind as she quickly drew a massive circle, labelled it as 'Stanship', then a tiny one labled as 'ley line', though she would add a little bit more detail before shoving it into Sucy's face-
"Alright, alright, I get it, no need to label radiuses."
Constanze's eyebrows narrowed as she erased the drawing, writing down 'radii'
"Raydee?"
Constanze shook her head.
"Ray-dee-eye?"
Well, that was quicker than expected. Giving a curt nod, Constanze simply wrote down:
You should be able to make your vomit potion now."
Gesturing for Sucy to follow her, they exited the room, pointing down the hall at a room before pointing at herself, then the door again.
"Gotcha. I'll head in there if I need you."
Constanze pointedly strapped on her safety goggles, prompting Sucy to amend:
"I'll head in with the proper PPE."
Satisfied, Constanze headed into the shop, closing the door behind her. Maybe it was spending too much time around Akko, Amanda, or Jasminka, but seeing the pure childlike joy on Sucy's face when she'd looked at the chemical had ignited something inside of Constanze. And as she looked at a familiar water gun sitting on a table in front of her, she sighed, a certain realization washing over her:
She wanted to see that look again.
###
Lunch time had arrived and while Constanze was standing outside Sucy's room with a slightly concerned look.
Through the blast/heat/corrosion resistant gas, Constanze saw a lab coat and safety goggles clad Sucy reclining as she watched a light blue liquid slowly drip into a small test tube. That, however, wasn't the concerning part.
The concerning part was that the moment that Constanze touched the door handle, her hand caught ablaze.
In that moment, Constanze thanked the heavens for deciding to fully fireproof Sucy's room.
One water and healing spell later, Constanze changed into her fire resistant mechanic's wear along with a welding helmet for good measure before knocking on Sucy's door.
However, when the only response that she received from Sucy was a simple shaking of the head, she figured that it would be a good idea to just leave her lunch in front of the door.
###
"Oi, Constanze?"
Wiping the sweat from her brow, Constanze lifted her eyes from her work to the door behind her. Opening it, she was greeted by a Sucy who proudly held up several glass flasks with light blue liquid inside. Wearing a proud, toothy smile, she handed one of the flasks to Constanze, saying:
"Wanna give this a try?"
Constanze's eyes narrowed, prompting Sucy to wave her hand dismissively.
"Relax, it's not a poison. Here, I'll let you choose one of these potions for me to drink."
Cautiously, Constanze poked at one of the bottles, and in response, Sucy took the potion and emptied its contents into her mouth. Gulping it down, she waited as Constanze scanned her for any signs of something being wrong before shrugging and taking one of the others and drinking it herself, trying to ignore the look of anticipation on Sucy's face as she watched the bottle empty.
When Constanze swallowed, a chill ran down her spine before her body temperature settled at a more cozy temperature. Slightly confused, she raised an eyebrow at Sucy who merely grinned as she said:
"Why don't you feel your forehead?"
A slight sense of anticipation started welling inside of Constanze and as she felt her forehead, she didn't notice anything for a moment until a stroke of realization hit her:
She wasn't sweating.
This revelation must have shown on her face as shown by Sucy's grin growing wider as she said:
"Typically, I'm limited to cold resist and heat resist potions -both of which do not mix- but, with a couple of modifications, I've managed to combine them. Here, come with me."
Without a second thought, Constanze followed Sucy as she dashed to the top of the deck. Sucy shed her lab coat, only wearing her Luna Nova uniform as Constanze followed suit, and as they stood on the deck, kilometers above the ground, in subzero temperatures, neither of them felt so much as a shiver touch them.
And even when met with the magical view of the ocean shimmering in the sunset, the only thing that Constanze could focus on was the wild grin of the girl standing next to her.
And in that moment, Constance realized why she wanted to see that smile more.
While Constanze took pride in her work, to see her actually smiling was a rare occasion. The same went for Sucy. The only grin that would usually come out of her would be while poisoning or putting down someone else.
But is Sucy Manbavaran could grin like a child from the simple joy of brewing a working potion, what's to say that Constanze couldn't do the same?
And in that moment, she did just that.
