Peter sat down and stole a marshmallow, which he didn't even bother to roast before popping in his mouth. "Thanks," he said, smirking. "You know, I think a person could probably get away with spending nothing on his own snack supplies on this island."
"I don't know where all the food comes from, half the time," Sookie admitted with some amusement. "I usually just go into a common room and there's stuff already there for me to bake or cook. In this case, this was all in my cabin's kitchen. It's like magic."
"I suppose I have," Peter said. "There are still big questions." Like whether or not he'd let himself move in with Walter, or how much he really bought the 'magic' thing. "But for the most part, I'm learning that some questions are better unasked."
"Sometimes around here, they just plain don't have answers, but for whatever it's worth, I've been here a year and a half," she offered. "I can probably offer some answers, at least on anything island-related."
"Those at least are the ones easy to understand," Peter said. "I mean, the gremlins are just some sort of evolutionary offshoot, same with the teal dear. Thankfully I've not encountered anything particularly inexplicable yet. At least, not outside the 'magic' reserves."
"They used to say disease was caused by evil spirits," Peter said. "And that gods held the sun in the sky. Magic is just forces we haven't had the chance to explain, yet."
"So I'm guessing you haven't seen a witch yet," she noted thoughtfully. "I mean, some of us have scientific explanations -- there are mutants, and stuff. And some of us are magic. I'm not sure what group I fall into."
"Maybe magic is the explanation," Sookie proposed. "Or maybe that's what we're all comfortable calling it. Or maybe there is an explanation, but it doesn't fit into the science of your world."
"I don't like the idea of something that just 'is'," Peter said. "But there always has to be an explanation. You know how when you're young, you'd ask a question and your parents would just tell you the answer was 'because'?" He smirked.
"There's always something after the 'because'. Even if we don't understand it yet."
"No, I get that," she agreed. "But have you considered that, say, the ability to wield magic might be because of a physiological or genetic thing that you don't have? Or that maybe it just part of someone's makeup?" she asked. "'Magic' is a real broad term that we use to explain a lot of things, but it has different names in different worlds, and different explanations. It's like saying all the telepaths are the same when we're not. All the magic users most likely can explain what they do."
She smiled a little. "Unless they're me, and they don't know why they can do what they can. I have no clue, personally."
"That's actually exactly the point I'm getting at," Peter said, smiling. "I don't mind magic as a quaint slang term to describe a category of abilities. I just don't like self defining magic as working because of 'magic'."
He paused, thinking how to ask his question. "But you've always been able to do it, right? It's not like you were bitten by a radioactive lemur or something and then pow, special powers."
"Telepathy, yeah, I've always had," she said, figuring that was easier to answer. "But no one else in my family -- or anyone I know at home -- can. But I manifested a new ability over the winter, too. Not because I was bitten by a radioactive lemur, though." She smiled at him. "Maybe you've got powers or magic lurking in you, too, that you don't know about."
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"There's always something after the 'because'. Even if we don't understand it yet."
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She smiled a little. "Unless they're me, and they don't know why they can do what they can. I have no clue, personally."
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He paused, thinking how to ask his question. "But you've always been able to do it, right? It's not like you were bitten by a radioactive lemur or something and then pow, special powers."
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