#look......

“Keep an eye out for traps,” Erik tells them, stepping lightly as they make their way through the dungeon. Eleven seems to have picked some stealth tricks up from him, finally, his footfalls no longer as heavy as they had been when Jade had first met them all. The twins make their way through, Sylv practically dances their way through the trees, and even Rab manages to cross unscathed. This should be a breeze.

So, of course, Jade’s right foot steps right into a breakaway floor. Thankfully, it seems designed to be more of an inconvenience than a detriment, since it doesn’t send her free-falling to the floor below, merely leaving her sprawled on a mound of dirt resting just under where this false floor had been. Simple enough, all she needs to do is push herself back up off the ground and onto her feet.

And then, the instant she attempts to step back onto solid ground, she finds herself back on the floor, her foot having given out entirely under her weight.

“Oh, goodness! Jade, are you alright?” Serena rushes over in an instant, and before Jade can even respond, she finds herself lifted off the ground. (That’s…impressive, to say the least.) “Before we do anything else, we need to find a place to rest,” Serena tells the rest of the group, sounding like more of a leader than Jade has ever heard out of her before. “My magic can do some of the healing, but she can’t get back on her feet right away without risking further injury.”

Under any other circumstances, Jade would object to this treatment; she’s far from fragile, given how much of her life she’d dedicated to fighting. But seeing Serena, so used to fading into the shadows, not just lift her like she was nothing but also take charge of the group…well, to be crass, that’s pretty hot.

“Pardon?” Serena asks, face flushing red, and Jade is suddenly, painfully aware that she said this out loud. Oh dear.