(Continued from here)

"Oh, no, believe me, I won't hold it against you. It doesn't really matter to me." At which point, Rasmus realized he was slumping his shoulders and sat up straight. He wasn't being invasive, because, you know, he thinks that's rude, and Rasmus doesn't like to be rude, even if he is quite the curious person.

"I mean, you can even tell me later, when you're ready, if you want. Or, like I said, I can forget it." He shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me." Though, he was kind of hoping she'd tell him later.

"But I want to tell you, I do!"

This wasn't going to be easy. She was already getting a little frustrated. Didn't this guy want to know? There was only one way to find out.

"You want me to tell you, right?"

She'd already turned off her car, now they were just sitting there.

"Well, I guess, but I'm not making you tell me or anything," he looked out the window for a minute. "I mean, it's not like it's a big deal or anything, and I don't want to be rude or anything."

"But if you want to know why don't you just ask?"

The set of rules he was sticking to were obviously foreign to her. Sure, she wasn't one to be rude to someone, but what's the point of wanting to know something and then dismissing it because of something as simple as seeming intrusive?

She made the decision that he needed to be more assertive.

"Ask."

Right. If he didn't want to be rude he'd have to ask. Ha ha ha!

Hey, that's not fair! Rasmus almost pouted. She was cheating.

"What do you mean by 'initiate'?" He asked, curiously, but you could tell, somewhere, almost drowned out by that Swedish accent, that he seriously was trying to be polite and she was aking it hard for him.

Right, well. She hadn't really expected it to go that quickly. She hadn't even had time to think about what to do after he asked.

There was really no way out of it. She had to tell him. Or at least, hint about it.

"Wha...um..d'you ever, um, notice things that don't seem to quite be...natural?"

She'd probably feel really stupid if she found out he already knows.

"Mhm. All the time. M'brothers could lift things... without having to actually touch them. That was weird."

...but there was another question he wanted to ask. "What does that have to do with anything, though?"

"Wait a second," feeling very confused, "So you already know about magic?"

Yes. Earlier prediction has been proved. Victoria now also feels very stupid.

"Yes," he admitted, not very surprised, "why?" In a minute, Rasmus will feel stupid, too Because he didn't know that the words initiate and magic went together in a pair like that. Hand in hand, sort of.

She shook her head and smiled, nonetheless. It was funny, actually. She even giggled a bit.

"Because they're the same thing."

She got out of the car, got into the back seat and pulled out a blanket and the bottled goodness. Those metal merry-go-rounds get cold, you know.

He laughed too, even if he was slightly unsure of why he was actually laughing. But it was still funny, somehow.

"I see. Don't I feel stupid now." He gave her a sheepish smile, and opened the door to get out of the car as well.

"Well," she began, getting all nice and comfy on the playground, "we were both stupid, so I guess that makes up for it, huh?"

She smiled softly, a faint curve of her lips in the darkness. She was glad that he was getting back to the happier person she first met. The person in the inbetween times seemed so..withdrawn and sad. She hoped she could bring the smiling side out of him more often.

He stepped out of the car, nd gently shut the door. It made little noise as it closed, and he made his way to the playground with terribly slow, careful steps.

"I guess. But now I know something new, so i wasn't that big a waste of... dignity. Or something." The smile faded, but a grin remained on his babyish face.

"Or something," she shrugged.

"So," grabbing a coke and opening it with her leatherman, "What can you do? I mean, if you can?"

Rasmus made him comfortable on the ground. He liked the ground, actually. It was comfortable, despite how uncomfortable it looked.

"Nothing, really. My brothers were the only gifted ones." He shrugged, sort of sadly. He was sort of jealous.

"What about your parents?"

"I don't know. My mom doesn't know. Never did. I have a feeling it came from m'dad, but... like I said, I didn't know him. I wouldnt know."

"Oh." and that was pretty much all she said aside from a muttered apology. It was probably better that she let the subject drop, she didn't want him withdrawing again.

She sat back on her elbows and watched the sky, thankful for such a clear night to view the stars.

"D'you watch the stars much?"

She shouldn't have to apologize for that, but somehow it made Rasmus feel better she did. Because safe people didnd't want to hurt him, or pry into business that wasn't their's.

He looked over at her, with a silent sigh. "Honestly, no. Never did like the dark."

If she'd known that before she wouldn't have insisted he come. It was his own fault anyway, he didn't say no.

In anycase, she felt sort of bad for having drug him out here with no light other than a streetlamp a ways down the road and the stars above them.

"In that case," she pushed her hands together and a slight blue-ish glow emanated from them. Slowly, she pulled them apart and where there should have been air was a candle about two inches thick. She set that on the ground, in a spot where the wax wouldn't get on anything important, and rummaged through her bag for a matchbook. She found one and lit it.

"Here you go, light on demand."

"Hey! Wow, that's cool. I wish I could do that." He stared at the candle, in which he knew she hadn't taken with her, and wasn't there before.

"Better than a flashlight any day, huh? Geeze. Thanks."

"Oh you're welcome, no problem!" It was always nice to get a compliment and this one made her positively glow. He actually meant it, was genuinly grateful. She didn't really get a lot of compliments, not sincere ones, anyway.

And he said geeze. That was so cute! She let out a giggle and smiled a bit more.

"Thanks, though, it was really nothing."

"That must be hard, huh? I bet lotsa people think it's neat." He was still kinda staring in semi-amazement. His brothers could only do destructive things... but generate candles? Now, that was certainly cool, by his standards.

"Nothing! What? Are you crazy? None of my other friends can do that!" Notice how he said 'other friends'? That meant that he'd not only considered her safe, but a new friend. Becoming Rasmus' friend was a very big accomplishment.

"I guess it's neat to the people who know...I don't know, I've never really asked before."

Was it really that amazing? Sure, she didn't know of anyone else who could, but there were other things more interesting than what she did. But it sure blessed her that he was getting such a kick out of it. It was sort of like watching a kid who's just met his favorite TV star...only older.

"Hard? I don't think so. I've been doing it all my life, almost. It's only hard if I'm trying to make something difficult, like something organic and complicated. You'd be amazed at how difficult it is to conjure a can of cold beans."

"Yeah. Well, at least I think it is. You know, I can't do anything like that. I'm not really talented." He gave a half-smile, and he didn't sound too sad that he didn't have any talent in that department.

"A can of cold beans? Really? I'm surprised you could even conjure that." He gave a shrug, and stared up at the stars, pointing up at them and figuring out in his mind which constellations he knew.

"You know what's really pretty? The Northern Lights..."

Stars. That's why she liked coming here. You could almost see every star in the sky. There weren't a lot of lights to obscure the vision.

"You've seen them? I've always wanted to. All I've seen are pictures and things."

The atmosphere was friendly and relaxed, exactly what she liked at the end of a day.

"Yeah. Up at my aunt's. She did a lot of traveling, and we would just watch the lights for hours. It was really nice... and quiet. Sorta like now." He gave her a relaxed smile, and settled his lands in his lap, and he was sitting crosslegged.

He stared up at the sigh, and let out a calmed sigh.

She didn't give a verbal reply, figuring that all that needed to be said could be said without saying anything. At that point, it could. All communication could be done through smiles and facial expressions.

She laid back, tracing the outlines of whatever constellations she could figure out with her finger. She was content, happy that she could help provide the calm that he needed. She gave him a look that told him so.

He fixed his sitting position, so his knees were to his chest and he wasrestesting his elbows on his knees, his chin in his palm. "Hey Tori.. don't you think this is... a private area?" He'd began the question with something different in mind, but instead, obviously settled for something else.

"Hmm?" Obviously not understanding the question, "What do you mean?" She sat up and rested her chin on her knees, wrapping her arms around her shins. Her head was turned slightly to the side, curiosity winking in her eyes.

Of course, there were a number of things he could possibly mean, a few of which her mind was considering. But they weren't probable so she waited for his answer.

"I..." he turned his head away so that she couldn't see his face turned a scarlet red color. "I just meant that we shouldn't be here, is all. You know, if it was a private ara. Because, you know, most schools... are private areas. Or... something. You know." What a way to say soething, huh?

That was all? Why get so flustered?

"I've never had a problem with it before. Normally no one's around so late at night. But if you think we should go..."

She left it open because she wanted him to say something. If he was only uncomfortable for that reason alone, then he'd tell her. But if it were something else, she wanted to know.

"I don't know... I just.. eh, I don't know. I don't feel good about trespassing. Or something." There was also something else, too. Even if she was so much older than him, he kinda got weird around certain girls. Nevermind the fact that he hasn't really sat down and had a long conversation with a female, other than his mother, in a while.

Certain girls? Don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. If that 'or something' had anything to do with it, chances were it was good.

But she was innocently unawares, making things a little more fun for us, ne?

"Well would you rather go to Redway or something? The roof of my building's nice too. It's noisier, but still a nice place to go..."

It was probably intended as a good thing, but you never can tell with Rasmus...

"Oh, uhm, no... eh. Nevermind." He gave a shrug." "Just forget I said anything about it."

"You're sure?" concern leaked into her voice, "I don't want you to be uncomfortable..." That would have made her feel bad.

"Uhm, yeah, quite sure. Don't worry about it."

"Oh, yeah, ok." What now?

"You want a coke?" she held one out to him.

"Uhm, sure. Thanks." He took it, gratefully.

And tried to open, but really couldn't. "Heh. Could you open this for me?"

"Of course!" She took the leatherman out of its pouch on her belt and opened the contraption of knives and other things to the can opener. Voila.

"Here ya go. Want anything else? I've got some chips in the car somewhere. You didn't exactly eat back at the diner."