One may think, at this point, ‘Shouldn’t they start their journey? Tinz has a way of traveling, and surely they can find a healer if they search hard enough!’

You’d be correct! They could be venturing out into the grand unknown by now… but something was biting at Tinz, something kept him at home. Whether it was the previous years upon years he’d spent there making him unable to leave, or the anxiety of leaving in the first place, he laid in bed facing the ceiling. His past wasn’t an easy thing to let go of, and in the back of his mind he imagined maybe he never will.

Magnolia’s laughter interrupted his dreary thoughts, and he peered over. She was doing whatever she did these days; he’d lost track of both how long she’d been there and just what it was she’d been using in his room. She wasn’t exactly unwelcome though, he enjoyed the company. Not that he’d ever admit that.

Ferry sighed heavily like dogs tend to do and flopped one paw on top of Tinz’ stomach. She was laying next to him, somehow not breaking the bed. With the lack of blankets and pillows there was plenty of room for her. He gently petted her with a sigh himself.

He looked over around his now extremely messy room. He needed to clean it. Red eyes scanned over the shelves, the piles of haphazard blankets, the books… the Holy Pen on top of the books that he hasn’t touched ever since making that notebook. The notebook itself was on a second pile of books next to the first.

Without warning, Tinz shot up with wide eyes.

“MAGS.”

“Sorry, what?” The Mags in question looked over, half paying attention.

He began furiously pointing at the pen.

“I don’t remember the details of how that damn pen works,” he began, “But you need knowledge for it to work right?”

Magnolia sipped on her drink, a slushie she bought earlier that day. “Yeah, you need at least basic knowledge on stuffs. Why?”

“If I learn healing, and apply what I know about medicine and technology, wouldn’t I be able to create… something with it?” 

Magnolia blinked, about to sip from her slushie again but only stared off into the distance with her mouth open.

“THERE’S NO WAY YOU JUST THOUGHT OF THAT!” She pointed at him with a huge grin.

“Right?!” He gripped at the air in front of him like he was shaking someone’s shoulders.

“I don’t know how well it’d work but damn, dude, I guess we’ll find out!” she mused, afterwards taking a huge sip of her drink. “I kinda wanna pick apart your brain now for thinking of that.”

Tinz grimaced. “Maybe some other time. I kind of need it.”

He stretched and hurriedly stood up to grab the pen and studied it. It was exactly the same as it had been, built with dark wood and golden accents. He took a seat on the floor, chin in hand, to think.

“Why did you choose me, anyway?”

The slurping noises stopped.

“What do y’mean?” Magnolia replied; Tinz was sitting behind her, and she didn’t swivel her chair around to meet him.

“For the pen. There’s plenty of people that would be better for this sort of thing, I guess,” he sighed, spinning the pen in his grip. Magnolia set her drink down and silently pondered.

“You seemed fun. Everyone else I looked at would use it to make money, or go crazy with power. You looked like you’d actually have fun with it,” she said seriously. “And I for one know I was bored being in Heaven with those drags all day everyday.”

Tinz simply hummed in response. He didn’t quite mean for the mood to become sour. Ferry yawned in her corner of the bed, blissfully unaware of the tense air around them.

“Well,” he started. “I think I’m glad to… have this chance I guess. Thanks,” he mumbled the last part. Finally, Magnolia turned around in her seat, quite quickly too.

“You– Did you just thank me? FOR ONCE?” She grinned. Tinz got up and laid face first in his bed.

“No. I didn’t. Go away,” his voice was muffled. Magnolia spun in her chair.

“Tiiiiinz thanked meeeee for oooonce in his liiiife~” she sang, earning a somehow well-aimed pillow to the face. She let it fall to the ground, smile still in place. “Well, we have kinda a plan now don’t we? Let’s go adventure!” she exclaimed, pointing an excited finger in the air. Tinz rolled over, facing Ferry. 

“...I guess in the morning,” he begrudgingly agreed, opting to ignore Magnolia’s celebratory wooping.