Jojo’s eyes flutter open to the sounds of singing birds and rustling leaves. A gentle breeze tussles her hair, and strands of grass tickle her skin. She yawns, rubs her eyes, and pushes herself up into a sitting position as the world comes back to her.
Then, she remembers where she is, and what just happened.
“Penelope!” She bursts to her feet and looks frantically towards where she last saw the girl. There’s nothing there but grass. “Penelope?”
“Over here.”
Jojo whirls around and sees Penelope, bloody and beleaguered, wandering around the once-dead tree and stuffing feathers and magic stones into her bag. Jojo gasps and rushes over to her, barely needing to think about it before releasing a wave of healing magic and curing her wounds.
“Penelope, are you okay?” Jojo asks. She grabs the other girl’s shoulders and tries to look into her eyes, but Penelope averts her gaze. “What are you doing up so quick?”
Penelope shrugs off Jojo’s grasp and goes back to collecting feathers. “I’m fine. I didn’t take all that much damage, and this stuff needed to be picked up.”
“Are you sure? You can rest if you need to. Here, let me—” Jojo reaches a hand out and imagines gathering up all the monster drops that still litter the area, and a second later they’re all gone, stored safely away in her inventory. Even she jumps at that, not expecting her ability to be so wide-reaching. “Oh. Heh, didn’t know it was that good.”
“Oh.” Penelope looks around at the empty ground, then down at the sack she’d been gathering stuff in. With a sigh, she ties the bag to her belt and wanders off a ways. “C’mon, we should get back to town.”
“Oh, okay!” Jojo says, hurrying to follow after her. “If you’re sure. Just let me know if you need a break, though, okay?”
“Mm.”
They walk in silence for a while as the gloom of dusk descends over the forest. The birds around them gradually stop singing, and the wind gains a biting chill.
“Geez,” Jojo says idly, “it really changes out here quick. The forest seemed to inviting earlier.”
“Mhm.”
“Now it’s, like… Almost spooky.”
“Yeah.”
“I wonder how much more dangerous it is at night.”
“Mm.”
Jojo frowns and grinds to a halt. “Okay, stop.”
Penelope slows to a stop and turns to Jojo. “What?”
Jojo narrows her eyes. “What’s going on?”
Penelope looks away. “I don’t know what you mean.”
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“You’re acting weird,” Jojo says. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Something is clearly wrong.”
Penelope scowls. “No, nothing is wrong. I’m not some kid who’s gonna throw a fit just because not everything worked out how I wanted, okay?”
“What? What do you mean, not everything worked out? Did something happen while I was knocked out?”
“No! I just—” Penelope sighs and runs a hand down her face. “I don’t think this is going to work out.”
“What isn’t?”
“This. Us. You and me working together.”
“Wh-What? Why?”
“Oh, c’mon! Look at your level!”
“Huh?”
Jojo checks her status.
“Oh, huh. I didn’t even realize.” Jojo shrugs. “I don’t see the problem, though.”
Penelope scoffs. “Didn’t even realize… You realize it takes most people years to get levels, right? And you got up to my level in a day.”
“Okay, but that doesn’t mean—”
“And you’re gonna keep getting levels! Way faster than I will. So, what then? I’m just some level 16, maybe 17 girl in a party with a level 50? 100? Some girl who can’t actually join you on anything you go to do because I’m too weak, so I just get left at home and forgotten?”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“Then you’d get me killed instead!”
“No! I wouldn’t, I—”
“Forget it! Just… Forget it, okay?”
“But Penelope…”
“No.” Penelope shakes her head and takes a few steps away, looking off into the woods. “Look, I… I’ll talk to my father. Get him to stay off your back. So you don’t need to worry about me.”
“But I—”
“Stop. Just stop.”
“No! I want to talk about this, I—”
“Seriously, just stop it. You’re not gonna—”
“PENELOPE! STOP interrupting me!”
Penelope turns back towards Jojo, somewhat shocked by the sudden shout. Jojo is standing there, fists clenched, shoulders heaving as she pants, face flushed in frustration. Neither says anything for a long moment.
Jojo takes a few deep breaths, and calms herself. “Sorry,” she says, “I’m sorry. Just… Just hear me out, okay?”
Penelope frowns. “Okay.”
“Alright.” Jojo nods. “Look, I… I get what you’re worried about. I do. But I don’t think it’s as likely as you think. I mean, honestly, I don’t want to be pushing myself to always be as strong as possible. I know you have big ambitions, and I think that’s great, but I don’t have those same ambitions. I just want to have an easy, nice life. That’s why I took those cheat powers in the first place! Not to be super strong, but just so I could be normally strong and focus on, like… Helping my friends. That’s why I wanted to be a healer, too! To help my friends! So… Can I do that? Can I help you? Can…” Jojo glances away, then takes a deep breath and locks eyes with Penelope. “Can I be your friend?”
Penelope breathes quietly as she takes it all in. She closes her eyes after a moment, crosses her arms in front of her chest, and thinks for a long, slow moment.
Eventually, she opens her eyes again and looks at Jojo. “It’s not easy to just trust someone to have my back like that.”
Jojo frowns. “I know.”
Penelope sighs and turns around. “So you better not let me down.”
