Good! 

They can start with the air envelope then...

Ellie pays careful attention.

Checking everything is a bit more complicated than it looks, but not rocket science - there's mostly a lot of muscle memory to get down. Villanelle also explains the beginnings of why they have each system and how they function, and what problems might look like. 

Rocket magic, rather than rocket science. Mostly seems more intuitive.

And just hard enough to stay interesting. 

Plus it's actual magic. Which is just great.

True, true. 

And soon enough, they'll be done with the checks.

Ready for Villanelle to take them to sea? 

Ellie is.

Back to the navigation room, then - though Ellie can stay on the observation deck if she wants the best view. 

Choosing between watching Villanelle work, and the stars... That's a tough one.

"We can come back out here once we're in the Astral Sea..."

"Best of both worlds, then."

"The breakthrough flash is its own kind of pretty, but yeah overall."

"Then lead the way."

Onward! "Do you want a seat?"

"Is that recommended?"

"The transition can get really bumpy, yeah."

"Then I'll take a seat."

She moves a cozy armchair out of one of the side rooms.

"Thanks." She takes a seat.

And she takes the helm.

And Serenity glows a brilliant pinkish purple, flecks of light spreading through the globe like glittering motes that in a rush concentrate into rays - and the screens showing the outside begin to show streamers like an aurora moving around the ship, especially to the rear - 

And the ship hums, deep enough Ellie can feel it in her bones, and jolts -

The aurora is rapidly overwhelmed by light, and something shatters around the ship, and the air buzzes. The hair on Ellie's arms stands on end, and a shiver runs up her spine - there's a crackle like lightning in her chest, rising in her throat, echoing into her fingertips.

The globe is awash with bright light, though it isn't painful somehow - but it's enough that Villanelle is briefly a thin shadow to Ellie's sight - and then the flash fades, and the view outside resolves.

The Astral Sea is liquid light, an ocean of possibility. Billowing cliffs of stars and glowing clouds of dust flank their ship, and a dark portal - its jagged edges already collapsing inward - yawns behind them. The passageway is narrow and winding, and Ellie can't see very far ahead. The cliffs aren't entirely opaque, though, and strange shapes move in their depths.