Well, he's pretty sure that's gonna get followed up on. Jay makes a commendable attempt to rein it in, though, so...good on him, or whatever. It's almost impressive.

Tim resists the urge to roll his eyes at that and keeps walking. They could technically take the mana pools to Denny, but Jay has all the looks of someone who's still adjusting to the circumstances, and adding magical teleportation to those circumstances is liable to make things worse.

Besides. They're both used to long treks through the woods. Even if these ones are considerably more tropical than your average kudzu-riddled Alabaman hiking trail.

"A lot can happen in two years, all right?" he says. "Look. You said you called and left a voicemail. I, uh...I never got that message."