Day 3 - restless A note about Sin’s pronouns: Sin refers to themself with male pronouns, as does Jay. Scott and Anya use gender neutral pronouns. Chris, Gordon, and pretty much everyone else uses female pronouns. Sin actually prefers male pronouns, but feels bad correcting people. --- Doctor Arian was the creator of the Paragon Counter, the machine that could heal and resurrect. He was a Healer, a gifted individual with the powers to help others, and when Arian built the machine he used magic, letting some of his powers flow into it. His granddaughter, Anya, was the only other Healer left, and Arian hoped that she would continue with his work and on pass on the line when he eventually died. Anya didn’t care about any of this. She never wanted to be a Healer, but it was in her blood so she had no choice. Or at least, that’s what her grandfather told her. He never asked Anya what she thought about it all, whether she thought she had a different purpose in #life. But she did. Anya wanted to leave the island, go to the mainland, and have a normal #life. She wanted a normal job where she didn’t have to use her powers (although she might use them occasionally, if it made things easier). She had always dreamt of being a professional swimmer, and maybe helping out at an animal shelter in her spare time. One day, when she was in a particularly bad mood, Anya told her grandfather all of this. Arian just laughed, and told her that jobs like that didn’t exist. He reminded her yet again that the mainland was a dangerous place, and he was just ensuring Anya’s safety by keeping her on the island. “People don’t trust magic users,” he warned her. “Remember what happened to your parents? They were burnt at the stake for using magic, regardless of the fact that they were only helping people.” “But that was centuries ago! Times have changed, Grandfather, and people have changed. You know as well as I do that magic is much more acceptable now. Just look at Jay! He built a career out of it!” Anya tried pleading with him, but Arian simply shook his head and ignored her protests. It’s not that she didn’t want to help people. Anya had been brought up being told that she was born to help people, and that’s pretty much the only thing she knew how to do. But like any teenager, she got bored. She was bored of being told what to do, bored of using her powers for the same thing over and over again, bored of the tiny island she’d lived on her whole #life. And she was lonely. The only person her own age she’d ever met was Sin, and ze never stayed for long. In fact, the only people Anya had met at all were patients, Sin, and Jay, who was technically a patient because he only turned up when he was injured or dying. Anya finally decided that enough was enough. It was her 16th birthday, and she was determined that she was old enough to leave the island. Jay and Sin were stopping by to say hello, and Anya had a plan. “Happy birthday, kiddo,” Jay grinned, ruffling her hair. Anya glared at the older boy and swatted him away, before turning to Sin with a smile. Sin returned it, and pulled Anya into a hug. “Happy birthday,” ze said, then stepped back and handed her a small rectangular box wrapped in silver paper. Anya eagerly began opening it, but Sin stopped her, saying “Open it when Arian’s not around, he’d kill me if he found out what it is.” Anya felt her heart flutter with excitement, and said in a whisper, “Is it something from…the outside world?” Sin laughed. “Sometimes I forget you’ve never left this island, then you say things like that and remind me. Yes, it’s a piece of modern technology from the mainland. It’s mobile phone -” At Anya’s blank look, ze hastily added “- a communication device, but I’ll explain what it is and how to use it later.” Anya thanked zir, slipping the box into the drawstring bag she carried everywhere. Noticing that Jay and wandered off to talk to Arian, she decided to put the plan into action. “Soooo…you and Jay are going back to the mainland later, right?” Anya asked as casually as possible. Sin blinked at her, thinking that Anya was clearly up to something because that was the least casual question they had ever heard. “Well, yeah. We live there.” Anya nodded, pretending to be lost in thought. “Right, right. Hey, here’s an idea. Why don’t you take me with you?” Sin sighed. “Look An, I know you really want to leave, but your granddad has a point. You’ve never left the island before, and you probably wouldn’t survive in the real world. You wouldn’t be able to handle it.” Anya glared at her friend. “I thought you’d be on my side, but you’re just as bad as him!” She huffed and folded her arms like a toddler, and Sin almost expected her to stamp her foot and pout. He coughed, trying to hide his smile. Jay and Arian started heading over, so Sin nodded at them, mentioning to Anya, “Why don’t you ask your granddad? I know you haven’t bugged him about it for a while. Maybe he’ll think you’re old enough now you’re sixteen.” “I doubt it,” she muttered, but Sin pretended not to hear her. Arian had a smile on his face as he approached. “Anya, my dear,” he began. “Jay and I have been discussing your birthday present. It’s a joint effort from the both of us, although it was mostly his idea. I know you’ve always wanted to leave this island and see the world, and I think you’re finally old enough. You can go and stay with Jay and Sin for a week on the mainland. Just a week, to see if you’re sure about leaving. I trust Jay to keep an eye on you, and I trust you to stay safe.” Anya stared at her grandfather in shock. “Thank you,” she managed to choke out, stepping forward to hug him tightly. “Thank you so much.” She pulled away to look at Jay. “Thanks to you as well.” “Ah, it’s nothing,” Jay grinned, looking slightly embarrassed. Anya hugged him anyway, before turning to Sin. “Did you know anything about this?” she asked, although she could see that Sin was as surprised as she was. Sin shook zir head. “I had no idea. They clearly don’t trust me enough to tell me,” ze shot a mock glare at Jay, who smirked. “But it’ll be great to have you around. I can’t wait to give you a tour of The House.” Anya couldn’t believe that this was it. She was actually going to leave the island. It felt like this was the first step to achieving her dreams, however cheesy it sounded. So she hugged her grandfather again, and whispered into his chest, “This is the best birthday ever.”