Three: A Night On The Town

Chapter Summary and Notes:

Skwisgaar makes a drunken promise to Toki.

If there was one thing tours were good for, it was self-destruction. If it was sex, drugs, or alcohol that you wanted, it was by all means obtainable. Whether the crowd liked you or not, you could always rely upon those three vital things. When you couldn't depend upon your bandmates for anything, you could count on at least two of said choices to transform the days and nights into a wondrous, colorful blur. Of course, if color wasn't your thing, there was always a guy on the next corner who could offer you something else.

For Skwisgaar, tonight was one of those nights. Nearly everything was in shades of black and white. The sky was black, with no stars or moon to be seen through the clouds. The sidewalk he was perched upon was a dark grey, as were the closed stores behind him. The cigarette from which he took a long drag before inhaling and succumbing to a fit of coughs was white. The bottled alcohol in his hand was colorless. He was armed with the means to color the town. He had nicotine and he had alcohol, which had begun to affect him quite some time ago. Excellent.

Lillehammer was very quiet when the day came to an end, he found. There was hardly anyone on the streets, except for those who lived the nightlife. A little further down the road, the bar at which he had just played provided the only noise. His evening hadn't gone quite to plan. The set had sucked, Tallak, Ingmar, and Egil did not show up, and Thorsten hadn't even tried to help him when the bartender cast him out onto the street. After all that, though, he somehow managed to feel pretty good.

That was probably due to his growing inebriation, and the fact that the cigarettes he stole from Thorsten only added to the rushing feeling in his head.

He took the cigarette up again, and crossed his eyes to watch the burning embers while he inhaled. He paused with the smoke in his mouth, wondering if he should allow its entrance to his lungs. Deciding that he really had nothing to lose by it, he did. And choked. Again.

This elicited a frown. Since when hadn't he been able to handle this? He'd smoked quite regularly when he was fourteen. Well, it wasn't as though he'd ever gotten addicted to the things. He never liked the feeling of the smoke crawling down his throat, and so usually avoided inhalation. Tonight was the most that he had ever actually smoked - out of the four or five cigarettes that he'd burned through so far he'd taken maybe seven actual puffs into his lungs. That was all fine in itself, since he wasn't aiming to get hooked. This entire undertaking was more of a stab at Thorsten, who he imagined would grow immensely pissed when he discovered his Elixyrs to be missing.

He slipped into a bit of a routine. Mouthful of smoke, then a mouthful of vodka. Occasionally, a cough. He was starting to feel the booze a lot more than he had after any other gig, which was odd, because he'd been drinking like this every night. Maybe it was the cigarettes, somehow. Or maybe it was because he sat alone.

He wanted to be by himself right now. In fact, he was nearly glad that the bartender had tossed him out. Sure, it was a little chilly, windy, and eerie, but he felt fine. The alcohol warmed him from within, and while intoxicated he felt nearly invincible. Besides, he'd already decided that if anyone tried to start some shit with him, he was going to poke them in the eye with the burning end of his cigarette. He knew it worked on warding people off, because he'd seen Thorsten do it a few nights ago to some unfortunate man in Kongsvinger. He frowned when he remembered that, had he not ducked, it would have been him with an eyeful of smoldering ash.

What he couldn't remember was what had evoked that behavior from Al Il El's frontman. Had he actually done anything? He wondered if maybe he'd revealed his concerns about Thorsten using cocaine before playing. It was severely limiting their capabilities, and nearly caused Skwisgaar to leave the stage at one point. He didn't think he'd said anything about that, but, then again, he was spending the majority of his time away from home either drunk, or something resembling it. Then again, so was Thorsten, and when he drank ... his anger was not very well directed.

When Skwisgaar realized that Thorsten had tried to injure him, he grew determined not to speak to him until their gigs were finished. It turned out that the only extra show they could get was in Lillehammer, rendering all of Thorsten's frenzied planning for a world tour useless. The dick in Bjørkelangen refused them, and Ringsaker 'didn't have any room to squeeze them in', which was basically a kinder wording of the phrase, 'fuck you', as far as Skwisgaar was concerned.

He failed to see how Al Il El was going to go anywhere, but Thorsten and Dag remained convinced. They didn't listen to Skwisgaar, who had experience in this type of thing. They just assumed that because they started up a band, did drugs, and somehow managed to nab the best guitarist around, they were going to make it big. But Skwisgaar knew better, and had given up on trying to tell Thorsten this. Wait a minute - could that possibly be why the bassist tried to blind him?

Son of a bitch, it was.

Since he was no longer speaking to his other band members, the ride up to Lillehammer had been nearly intolerable. Whenever they met a vehicle larger than the one they were driving, Skwisgaar nearly hoped that Dag would veer into the other lane and just end it all. It wasn't as though he had a death wish - far from it - but at the time, a hospital bed or coffin seemed much more bearable than sitting in silence in Thorsten's shitty van. So, as soon as they arrived in the lively, bustling Norwegian town, Skwisgaar left them. They weren't due to play until the next day, since they had counted on stopping in Ringsaker that night and left it available for the gig that never happened.

To Skwisgaar's pleasant surprise, his aimless wanderings unintentionally brought him to the place near the bus station where he and Toki had played together. He knew there were incredibly slim odds of actually finding him there, but the location made Skwisgaar think beyond himself and of the little boy who had kept him company during his last time in town. Craving some sort of interaction outside of Thorsten and Dag, he then took himself to Toki's church, in hopes that he might be there. The place was for the time abandoned and, without human presence, appeared incredibly run down. A little deterred, though refusing to return to his bandmates, he continued searching. It became a sort of game for him as he tried to slip into the Wartooths' mindset, but it was incredibly difficult. He didn't know the reverend and his wife at all, and he didn't know very much about Toki. He did try to find the record store the boy had briefly spoken about, but it proved to be a lost cause. When he discovered that he was only moving in circles around the town, he decided to call it quits. Besides, he had the next day as well to look for the small boy before taking the stage.

Skwisgaar didn't feel too awful about not finding him. He tried his hardest, after all. Though his conscience didn't bug him about it, the entire situation still kind of nagged at him. He would have liked to have company outside of Al Il El, if only for a little while-

He jumped slightly as someone sat down next to him and yelled in his ear, "Hey! I thought it was you sitting here-! Um, what are you doing?"

"Uh ..." Skwisgaar looked up at his closed fist, which he had poised to strike the intruder with the butt end of his cigarette, as planned earlier that evening. However, when he realized that he knew who was disturbing his solidarity, he slowly lowered his weapon and did not bother to explain himself. Besides, there was a more pressing matter to attend to for the time being. "... Toki?"

The boy's eyes lit up when he realized that Skwisgaar remembered him, even when the Swede was quite far-gone in the ways of alcohol. "Ja! What are you doing here? I thought you said you weren't ever coming back!"

Skwisgaar paused. He thought about how odd it was to be found by the young Norwegian when he had just been thinking about him. He didn't answer Toki's question, but reposed it. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know, sometimes when my mother and father go to church I get bored, so I come here," Toki fervently explained. "I like to listen to the music, but they never let me in."

Skwisgaar chuckled pessimistically. "I know how that is. They won't even let me in, and I played there, earlier. Hey, you want some?" He offered Toki his bottle of Russian import.

Toki regarded it cautiously, and then shook his head. When his mind registered all of what the Swede said, his eyes widened and he spoke in a hushed tone, "You played there, tonight?"

"Ja," Skwisgaar confirmed bitterly, and shrugged. "You didn't ... hear it, did you?"

Toki shook his head again, and it was apparent to Skwisgaar that, unlike him, Toki was quite saddened by this. "No, I just got here now and saw you, so I thought I'd say hi. What are you doing out here? Where's the rest of your band?"

Skwisgaar nodded huffily back towards the bar. "In there. I got booted out, and they just laughed at me. I managed to get Thorsten's keys off him so that I could get my coat from his van-" Skwisgaar jiggled his pocket, indicating that he still had them, "-And then I found these-" he lifted his bottle and cigarette up to show the wide-eyed boy, "-So fuck them, you know?"

"Erm ..." Toki diverted his eyes from the angry blond, slightly uncomfortable. "I guess so."

Skwisgaar didn't notice Toki's uneasiness. "Ja. I'm going to be in shit when Thorsten finds out I have his keys. I thought about taking the van for a little joyride, but this is working out just fine." To further demonstrate his point, he took another sip of Vodka, and took a long drag from the cigarette, being very careful not to get any down his throat. To sputter and choke in front of the other boy was not acceptable. When the last vestige of smoke had left his mouth, he took another drink in order to kill the taste.

The Norwegian considered him, and then brought his knees closer to his chest. "If you're going to get into trouble, why do you do it?"

Skwisgaar's hazed brain tried to formulate a response, but he ended up shrugging. He thought the more appropriate question was why he remained where Thorsten would see him when he eventually burst angrily out of the bar. As that thought came to Skwisgaar, he tried to stand up. It proved to be difficult, and after waiting a long moment for the ground to stop moving beneath him, he managed to catch his balance on a looming streetlight. "Shit. Come on, Kid."

Even though the extent of Skwisgaar's intoxication was quite extreme, he still managed to catch the shakiness in Toki's voice. "Where are we going?"

The Swede shrugged again. "Nowhere in particular. Anywhere but here. Why don't you show me around a little bit? You must know this place pretty good."

Toki flinched as the empty bottle Skwisgaar flung into an alleyway shattered noisily. Hesitantly, he followed the blond as he began to stumble down the street. He grew slightly less weary when Skwisgaar put out his half-finished cigarette and then threw the rest of the pack into a trashcan. He jogged lightly to catch up, and then asked, "Are you all right?"

"Never better," Skwisgaar bitterly ground out, and then hiccupped. "I'll be sober in a little while. Do you live around here? You must live around here ..."

Toki shook his head. "No, I don't. I don't live in town. I just come with my parents when they're at church, or else I ride in."

"Ride?" Skwisgaar repeated, confused.

"On my bike," Toki smiled. Next to his guitar, it was his most favorite thing. "It's a little too far to walk. It takes a long time."

There was a long pause while Skwisgaar's mind tried to process a question. "So, you come into town for church, but you don't ... go to church?" That was odd. Skwisgaar had been under the impression that when parents were religious, they raised their children to be the same.

"No, not yet," Toki shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'm not allowed in until I'm fifteen. My mother teaches me things at home, though. She's getting me ready for it."

A single, pale eyebrow rose on Skwisgaar's forehead. "You don't sound very excited about it."

"I'm excited!" Toki immediately denied with a frown. "I've been waiting for years to-"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Skwisgaar waved him off. "I've just never heard of such a thing, before."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know, usually the parents'll take their kids in to, uh ..." he trailed off as he tried to think of the right word. With his fogged mind, though, he could not recall the verb 'indoctrinate'. He shook his head roughly, causing a throb of pain. "Never mind." Of course, if the boy's mother was instructing him in the home, indoctrination could definitely be coming into play.

Skwisgaar slowly came to a stop, and groaned lightly as he placed a hand on his stomach. He grimaced as he felt a mighty tumble within. "Urgh, I think I'm going to be sick. Hold on a minute, all right?"

Toki squeaked as Skwisgaar deviated from the street, held his long hair back, and then vomited between two garbage cans in a dark alleyway. When Skwisgaar had relieved his stomach of what ailed it and reemerged, Toki was pale, wide-eyed, and fidgety. "Are you okay?"

"It's just the booze," Skwisgaar waved him off. "It happens all the time." A sudden thought struck him as he pondered Toki's cluelessness. "You've ... never been drunk, before?"

Toki shook his head, and then took to following him again as they carried on. "No, my mother says that drinking is what bad little boys do. I'm not a bad boy; I'm a good boy."

Skwisgaar smiled crookedly, and sloppily ruffled Toki's hair. "That you are."

The Norwegian didn't take it as an insult, as it was intended to be, and so beamed. "That's why I'm going to Heaven. Where are you going? Do you know?"

"Nowhere," Skwisgaar shrugged with the smallest of scoffs. "I don't believe in that crap." He added as an afterthought, "No offense."

Toki smiled again, a little arrogantly this time. "That's okay. That means more room for me to play, and more time to pal around with the angels."

"You mean like Gabriel and Michael?" Those were the only two names that Skwisgaar could recall from so long ago, and with his slowly sobering mind. He remembered something about St. Peter, but he didn't think the guy was actually an angel. He knew for sure that Jesus wasn't. He was a much more important guy, or something.

"No," Toki frowned. "I mean like Abaddon, Eurynomos, Baal, Lucifer-"

"Lucifer?" Skwisgaar repeated in surprise. He didn't recognized the first three names, but that one he definitely knew. "What's he got to do with your church, or beliefs, or whatever?"

"Well, you know, people always say that Lucifer and Satan are of the same make, but that isn't true," Toki stated matter-of-factly. "That was a lie, made up by Yahweh and Satan, because they work together in ruling the afterlife. You know, Yahweh takes care of the one Heaven, and Satan rules over Hell. Lucifer took his best pals to create a new Heaven, where Yahweh and Satan couldn't rule over his people. Yahweh is a mean, jealous god, but Lucifer is a nice one. If you're bad, you go to Hell. If you're only an okay person, whatever, you get to go be with a mean guy who doesn't treat you any better than the devil would. If you stay on the right right path, you get to bypass Yahweh's heaven, and join Lucifer and his pals in eternal paradise!"

"... Huh." Skwisgaar commented, quite literally blown away by this young boy's twisted belief system. "I can't say I've ever heard that before."

"Wouldn't doubt it," Toki shrugged his statement off, and was beginning to brim with excitement again. His voice shook ever so slightly, and his cheeks were flushed. "It was my father that Lucifer first visited on Winter Solstice. He came to him right after I was born, and told him the Truth. I'm very special," Toki gloated. "My fifteenth birthday party is going to be so much fun!"

Skwisgaar was unsure of how to respond to that. The fact that this little kid was spewing off such rubbish as though it were true amused him to no end, but it was also slightly chilling that Toki and his family worshipped some askew version of the devil. He eventually replied with the only question he could think to ask. "How old are you?"

"Thirteen," Toki brightly told him with absolutely no hesitation. "Only a year and a half left now until I'm finally let in! I've already started counting down on my calendar. What about you? You must be pretty old. You sure are big! Wowie!"

To elaborate on this point, he craned his neck to look up at the towering Swede walking beside him. Skwisgaar laughed openly at this gesture, and then shoved his hands into his jacket's pockets. "Nah, I'm not much older than you. I just turned sixteen a few weeks ago."

Toki furrowed his eyebrows as he did some quick math in his head. "Only three years older? You're almost three feet taller than me!"

Skwisgaar laughed again. He was tall, yes, but he wasn't that tall. He'd reached six-foot-five at the end of April and was still going strong. He was, at most, a foot and a half taller than Toki, but that would probably change when the Norwegian fully hit puberty. As far as Skwisgaar could tell, he hadn't. Besides being short, his voice hadn't deepened and his face remained clear of any sign of stubble.

"You'll get taller," Skwisgaar told him. "You'll get about as big as your parents. I'm taller than my mom, so I guess my dad was tall ..."

He trailed off, and sealed his lips against any such further information that might make a bid for escape. Toki, however, being an observant youth, caught his slip-up. "Your father is dead?"

The Swede had always been a fan of giving vague answers. He shrugged in what he hoped came off as an apathetic manner. "I don't know."

Toki began to bite his bottom lip in confusion. Skwisgaar wondered momentarily if the young boy was unaware that not all families were complete. "He's alive, but you never see him?"

No, Toki didn't realize that there wasn't always a mother, father, and son to fill a household. "That's right."

"Why not?"

Skwisgaar shrugged for two reasons. One, he wasn't entirely sure himself, and two, he really didn't want to talk about this with some kid who wouldn't even get it if he were to try and explain. His mind raced for a way to veer off this topic, and he hoped that it wasn't too obvious that he was avoiding the subject when he posed his next question to Toki. "So, how's your guitar playing?"

Their eyes met, and the younger boy looked away bashfully when he realized that Skwisgaar's father was a touchy subject. Out of his growing respect for the Swede, he dutifully answered. "It's okay. I can play a little better now, but I'm still nowhere near as good as you."

Skwisgaar smirked, and raised his chin a little higher. So, he'd left such an impression on Toki that he still remembered how good he'd been? "That's good. So, you're saving up, or something?"

"Yes, I'm going to buy a guitar just like the one you have," Toki stated proudly. "I've wanted a Flying V ever since I saw one in Oslo. They're so cool, right?"

The Swede smiled at the fact that Toki was asking him for confirmation. "Ja, they are. In all honesty, it wasn't my first choice, but I like them."

This baffled the Norwegian, if his newfound shortness of breath and wide, unblinking eyes were anything to judge by. "What else could you possibly want?"

"An Explorer," Skwisgaar answered right away. "But they're so expensive, and I couldn't wait any longer until I got a new guitar. My old one was pretty much falling apart, and if I didn't buy one soon, I wouldn't have one at all. I like Flying Vs, though, so it's okay. When the time comes, I'll pawn it off so that I can buy an Explorer. Hell, maybe when you get enough money, I'll sell it to you."

Toki beamed at these words, and succumbed to a reverie in which he held Skwisgaar's Flying V guitar as his own. His own sigh of happiness commingled with the Swede's, as he too fantasized about his dream guitar. Skwisgaar remembered the first time he laid eyes upon it, in Kristiansand. He had stumbled upon the music shop only a few minutes after discovering the power that metal held over him, and spotted a Gibson Explorer in the display window. Though the guitar hadn't initially captivated him - he thought it looked slightly awkward in design - he took to them later on when he heard the sound they made and discovered how comfortable he was behind one. Fondness turned to obsession, which fuelled him on towards finally obtaining his preferred model of six-stringed glory.

"How much money would I need?" Toki asked as his daydream ended.

Skwisgaar pondered it. He was almost hesitant to tell Toki how much he'd spent on his Flying V, since it was probably an amount that the boy had never even fathomed before. The fact that he took great care of the guitar ensured that he would not ask much below the retail price, and raised the likelihood that Toki would not be able to buy it from him.

"Well?" Toki prompted him when he hadn't replied.

Skwisgaar rubbed the back of his neck, and regarded Toki carefully. "You do realize how expensive they are, right?"

The corners of Toki's mouth twitched downward, and he slowly nodded. He knew that the number Skwisgaar was about to give him wasn't going to be within his spending range.

The Swede slowed and turned to face Toki when he too had stopped. "I paid sixty-eight hundred krones for it."

Not unlike a fish, Toki gaped at him. He had expected a big number, but not that big! When his surprise had subsided slightly, a grimace succeeded it, along with a sad, drawn-out exhalation. "Oh."

"Ja," Skwisgaar kicked at the street. "It was a major purchase. It took me years to save up."

"How many?"

Skwisgaar studied the brunet, chewing on his bottom lip. "You're sure you want to know?"

Toki thought about it, and then nodded fiercely.

The Swede gave him a few seconds to retract his decision before telling him just how many years he waited to touch his Gibson. "Seven."

Skwisgaar could tell immediately that Toki regretted learning this information. The boy's shoulders slumped, and the his mouth contorted into one of the most pathetic pouts that he had ever seen. Toki's eyes fell to the ground, and he sighed miserably before muttering, "Oh. I've only been saving for a few months, now. I've got a ways to go, huh?"

Instead of confirming Toki's question, Skwisgaar opted to place a hand on his shoulder. This prompted Toki's gaze to return to him, and he gave him a watery smile. "You'll get one some day. Just be patient. It'll all be worth it."

Toki cheered up a little bit at his words of comfort. Skwisgaar patted him once more, and then continued on his way down the street. Toki fell into stride next to him. "I guess I'll be okay until then. When I get my guitar I sure am going to be good!"

Skwisgaar laughed slightly. "It'd be pretty sad if you didn't get any better at the guitar after seven years of practice. I mean, look at me ... I've been playing for seven years, and I'm the best guitarist around!"

This was usually the cue for whoever he was conversing with to roll their eyes, tell him that he was too arrogant for his own good, and leave him in favor for someone a little less aware of their artistic capabilities. Toki, being young, impressionable, and having taken to Skwisgaar like a duck to water, did no such thing. He merely smiled - rather smugly, because this was his best friend who was the best guitar player in the area - and nodded knowingly. "I've never seen anyone play the guitar like you. I've been trying to do the things you were doing when we played together that one day, but I can't. It's too hard." He frowned. "You play really fast, and my stupid fingers can't keep up."

Where had this kid been all of Skwisgaar's life? He always knew exactly what to say to stroke the Swede's immense ego and to feed his always-hungry pride. He grinned down at the kid, but Toki wasn't looking at him. He was still frowning - staring at the ground - and was chewing pretty steadily at the inside of his cheek. It looked as though he was about to slip into a miniature bout of depression over their previous discussions. Skwisgaar couldn't really blame him; being around such an excellent guitar player, learning just how far he had to go before finally obtaining the object of his desire, and all the other stuff probably didn't leave Toki feeling too good about his situation in life.

"Hey, cheer up," Skwisgaar told him. "Like I said, things'll come around when they come around."

"I'm not sad," Toki shook his head. His tone wasn't put-out, but pensive. "I was just thinking."

"Ja?" Skwisgaar raised an eyebrow slightly. He knew what all Toki had on his mind, so he didn't really think it necessary to ask him to elaborate.

"Ja." It actually didn't have anything to do with what they'd been talking about so far that night. Not really. "Do you remember when we played together, before you went home on the bus?"

Skwisgaar nodded. Of course he remembered. Out of everything that had happened to him in the past few weeks, meeting Toki was the only thing that he held in high regard.

"Why did you really say no to teaching me?" Toki slowly asked. "Did you think that I was just some dumb little kid who wouldn't leave you alone?" His eyebrows arched, and Skwisgaar was sure that if Toki were a puppy, he would have scooped him up right then and there to take him home.

"Eh ... there were a lot of reasons," Skwisgaar skirted around his answer. He fully intended to give Toki the truth, yes, but the Norwegian's suggested reason was much too cynical to be ignored. "What makes you think I thought you were a dumb kid?"

Toki refused to make eye contact with him. When he spoke, it was at his shoes. "It's just something Ronk said, when I went into his store yesterday."

"What did he say?" Toki had hardly said anything, and Skwisgaar was already beginning to feel a strange animosity towards whoever this dildo was that hurt the young boy's feelings.

"Oh, well, nothing really," Toki's poor attempt at breeziness made it all the more apparent that he was hurting inside. "He said that he'd already told me I couldn't come around there anymore, and that I was weird. He said I was a dumb little kid that needed to grow up." His bottom lip trembled, but Skwisgaar didn't catch it in the darkness.

He himself was staring ahead, his jaw set and eyes narrowed. "He actually said those things to you?"

Toki nodded.

"Then fuck him," Skwisgaar immediately rebuked. "If he's going to be a dick, then he isn't worth your time." He had enough experience on this subject to expertly say so.

"I like him, though-"

"Do you like him being mean to you, Toki?" Skwisgaar asked, and then continued on when the little Norwegian desolately shook his head. "Then don't go around him. All he's going to do is hurt your feelings. He doesn't want to be your friend, as harsh as that sounds."

"But ..." Toki started to formulate an argument against what he was being told, but faltered. Skwisgaar was older, and wiser as a result. He probably knew what he was talking about. He sure sounded like it. So, instead, he ventured, "... You're my friend, right?"

Skwisgaar nodded before he began to really think about it. He wanted to cheer Toki up, but this was something that gave him pause. Were they friends? They'd only hung out a few times, now. He couldn't deny that he was growing to enjoy Toki's company more and more as time passed. He guessed that eventually they would be close enough to be considered friends.

Toki swelled along with his previously deflated self-esteem. "That's cool. We're good friends, you and I. Ronk is mean, but you're nice. Really nice. No one's ever been this nice to me, before."

Skwisgaar opened his mouth to ask about Mr. and Mrs. Wartooth, but then stopped himself. He still didn't want to talk about them. He tried to think of a cover for why he was about to speak, but it proved unnecessary when Toki carried on. "So, you said there were a lot of reasons why you said no about teaching me?"

Ah, yes, this subject. "Well, like I said then, I was having a bad day. I got drug up here by an old bandmate of mine, I was mad that I didn't have any money to get home, and I wasn't in the mood to deal with anything else, let alone giving out guitar lessons."

"Oh, I see," Toki nodded cheerfully. He had been worried that he was the one responsible for the other boy's irritation that day. But, Skwisgaar was already annoyed when they first met. "So, would you teach me to play the guitar? I know how we could do it, if you say yes."

Against his will, Skwisgaar became intrigued by Toki's words, not to mention their sly deliverance. Had Toki maybe been thinking about this for a while? Did he want to learn that badly from him? "And how's that?"

Toki's face lit up with excitement. When he spoke, he did it quickly, and rather breathlessly. "Did you see how much money we made, that one day? I mean, how much I made, and then how much you made? If you taught me on the street, I bet people would pay us as they pass. You could take the money we earn, if you want. Once I get good enough, I could start earning my own money-"

"Don't be stu - silly," Skwisgaar waved him off. "I'm not taking all the money. If you ever want to get that guitar, you'll need some of it, too. We'll split it evenly. I'd need transport money, and just a small portion of the leftovers to work my way up to affording an Explorer. You've got a longer way to go, so it's only fair-" Skwisgaar halted. Wait a minute. Did he just agree to all this?

"You'll do it?" Toki seemed to think so, as well.

"Now - hold on a minute," Skwisgaar furrowed his brows in thought. "I have school, and Al Il El-"

"Isn't your school out now for the summer, though?" Toki asked. "The ones here are."

"Ja, it is. You're right," Skwisgaar nodded slowly. "But Al Il El ... I don't know how much we're going to be playing. I'm sure Thorsten will want to have the odd practice, but I don't see many gigs coming up, after how shitty our last few went."

"Well, that's okay," Toki told him. "If you're going to play with them, then do it. We could, you know, plan around it. The band comes first, right?"

"... Right," Skwisgaar hesitantly agreed. He actually wasn't too sure about that. He didn't feel as though Al Il El deserved to be a priority of his. He knew that Thorsten would pester him as frequently as ever when they returned to Eda. Whatever. Thorsten didn't have to know that he was skirting practice to pursue monetary ventures in another town. Skwisgaar would gladly tell him that, though, were he confronted on it. He would do anything to piss the frontman off, in the moment. It wasn't a good idea for his physical health, but he wasn't thinking about that right now. "So, when will we meet? Have you thought about that, yet?"

"Ja, I have," Toki cheerfully told him. "I come into Lillehammer for sure on Sundays, when my parents go to church. I could ride in, too. When else do you think?"

Skwisgaar pursed his lips in thought. "Well, if you want to progress quickly, I'd say that we should meet at least three times a week. Sunday would be good, ja, since I won't be in church. Maybe ... Tuesdays and Fridays, too? Would that work?"

"Any days will work!" Toki agreed right away. "I'll bike into town. Should I meet you at the bus station? Is that how you'll be getting here?"

"I don't have much other choice." Skwisgaar shrugged. "Ja, that should all work."

"Well, if you don't like riding the bus ..." Toki narrowed his eyes and bit his bottom lip in thought. "I could always come to your town-"

Skwisgaar stopped walking. Before he could catch himself he turned on Toki, his eyes livid, and hissed, "No! You're not coming to Eda!"

Toki flinched at the severity of his tone, and took a step backwards. His previously cheerful demeanor disappeared as it was replaced by confusion. He tried to think as to how he had offended the blond, but came up with no plausible reasons. "I'm sorry ... maybe not, then, Skwisgaar?"

There was something in the way Toki said his name that completely abolished his anger. Perhaps it was the innocence ... yes, that was it. Toki didn't know what his mother was like, and Skwisgaar wasn't about to introduce him to her. That would just be cruel, to bring Toki into the real world in such a way.

"Uh ... right," Skwisgaar's body relaxed as he realized that he'd somewhat frightened Toki, and he too apologized, embarrassed. "I didn't mean to say it like that. It's just ... ja. Let's do it in Lillehammer. You don't want to come to Eda. It's a crappy town."

Toki wanted to ask Skwisgaar what was really wrong with his home, but judging from the way he just acted, this wasn't a good idea. He'd learn nothing, and just serve to annoy Skwisgaar in the process. He didn't care anymore, what Ronk said - he wasn't annoying. He knew that, for sure. Why would Skwisgaar want to be around him, if he was? Skwisgaar was about twenty times cooler than Ronk would ever be, and he said that Toki was, too.

This thought cheered the little Norwegian up, and relieved him of the small amount of doubt and fear that he felt. As he commenced to follow Skwisgaar through the town, he carefully avoided asking any questions or bringing up any topics that could possibly bother the older boy. When they finally went their separate ways, Toki bade him good-bye with a small wave (he didn't think Skwisgaar would much appreciate a hug, however badly Toki wanted to give him one), and ran back towards the church to find his parents. It didn't bother him that Skwisgaar was so secretive about his home life, because they were best friends. That meant that Skwisgaar would have to tell him everything, at some point ...

And maybe, Toki thought, he would tell Skwisgaar a few things too.

Just so you know, this is the last chapter of They Who Inherited The Earth that will be posted on . All chapters after this one will only be posted on Dethfiction. They can be found there under the username Freya.