Vincent laughed as well, and scratched the back of his head.

"Ah, yes, I suppose we are." he admitted.

"I'll be back in a minute." he told her.

He then disappeared from the room for about 2 minutes, before he returned with a tray of tea... notably, Hollie's favourite... as well as some cookies.

"Can't have tea without biscuits." he reasoned.

"Now... while you partake... care to explain what happened? Including why you look like hell?" he asked further.

"...that explains the tome." Vincent said, looking at the pen.

He then looked at his sister, and started to piece vague things together.

"So they were reunited." he said.

"And you had to forcibly separate them." he went on.

"Willing to bet it was at the Unit, too." he then added.

"Figured." Vincent responded.

"Shortly after you had the place put on lockdown, Kiah called me." he told her.

"I've been pondering it sense, forming my own ideas and conclusions." he went on.

"This shows that one of them was correct, anyway." he said.

"How is this Illias?" he asked her.

"Contact with that pen and tome is never beneficial in the long run, to massively understate it."

"Sad." Vincent responded.

"It's always sad when someone is lost to the maddening influence of arcane mana." he sighed.

"...well, what now for you?" he asked.

"Specifically, what do you plan to do with the book and tome?" he asked further.

"If they are ever together, the result will always be chaos."

"Very well." he replied.

"Without the mana, it will be useless." he said.

"And the book is nothing without the pen." he went on.

"What of IT?" he asked.

"Do you plan to keep it, even though it will be nothing more than a standard tome?"

Vincent nodded in response.

"All right." he replied.

"I'll keep it here, then." he told her.

"You should consider getting yourself looked at." he then suggested.

"You really look worse for the wear." he commented.

Vincent raised an eyebrow when she said that.

"...all right..." he said.

He then sighed, and shook his head.

"Maybe now we've finally seen the end of the cursed artefact duo." he commented.

"Can you imagine what would have happened if Vanessa got her hands on them?" he asked.

"I don't think it's an exaggeration to say she'd be nigh-unstoppable."

Vincent just nodded in response.

"Indeed." he replied.

"Just.... indeed." he said.

He then sighed again, and looked at the pen that Hollie had.

"Such a cursed item." he commented.

"I'm... surprised that it came into contact with the tome, especially when you had Sharp protecting said tome."

"......mm." Vincent muttered.

"I see." he said.

"Well, I'll put the book away shortly." he told her.

"The sooner that pen is drained of its mana, the better." he said further. "...but will you do that before you get yourself healed?" he asked her.

Vincent nodded in response.

"All right." he replied.

"You go and get those done, then." he told her.

"...." he was then silent, before approaching her and giving her a gentle hug, so as not to aggravate her injuries.

"Take care, Hollie." he said.

"I love you."