How Green Becomes Wood

"Cool," Xander said and started helping to clean up, finishing off any leftovers that dared remain. It was not long until the kitchen was tidy and clean once again.

Alec came trotting in, holding his phone triumphantly. "It was at the bottom of my school bag! And Uncle Tristan said I could take today off if I liked in favor of pumpkins."
 
A little before lunch, Cooger drove up and parked his truck in the driveway. As always, he invited himself inside, a misshappen pumpkin under his arm and an canvas bag full of unknown items over his shoulder, "Can't believe you didn't invite me earlier! How're y'all?"

"We did not know the weather would be perfect until we woke." Dark answered, going to the door and greeting his friend in their usual way.
 
Alec was already yelling out Cooger's name as he dashed across the house to greet him. "UNCLE COOGER!!!" He slid across the floor and ran into the wall, grinning. "Pumpkin time! Are you ready to stab some gourds in the back?"
 
"Hey kiddo!" Cooger replied, setting down the pumpkin before squeezing Alec up in a hug, "Good to see you! Wouldn't miss this for the world. 'Course, I heard we also gotta rake up all those leaves. I'm starting to think your dad just wanted help with the yard work."

"Who's that?" Daizi asked from the living room before bringing Ivy to greet her uncle, forcing him to set down even more things so he could hold his niece who shared her brother's enthusiasm at seeing him.
 
Alec laughed and hugged Cooger back until he was set down. "Absolutely! So, after getting them raked up, we'll spread them around again! With abandon!" He stepped back to make way for Ivy.

Xander popped his head in and called, "Hey, am I the only one raking today or what?"
 
"What, I don't get to say hello?" Cooger laughed, extending a fist bump to Xander, "Just let me put my stuff away, I'll be there in a moment."

"Who said you could start without us?" Daizi teased, grabbing her shoes as she headed to the back door. As much as she preferred to go barefoot, it was too cold.
 
"Hello, Coog," Xander greeted, giving him a fist bump. "There. Got your hello, let's rake, rake rake!" He disappeared, heading outside. "Come on, Mama! The leaves are falling as we speak! It will be an awesome pile!"

"Wait for me!" Alec cried, chasing after him.
 
"I'm coming!" Daizi laughed, following them out while Dark helped Cooger put away the few things he had brought over before the pair of them went outside, carrying Ivy (who had already been dressed in big, warm clothing) and all gathered in the backyard, both men looked around the garden.

"We have to make sure it is far enough from the trees and flowers," Dark said.

"But we can't put it too far away from the trees, or else it'll be a pain to rake the leaves."
 
Xander handed Daizi and Alec both rakes. "Rake for you. Rake for me. Rake for you. I got one more rake. Who wants a rake?"

Alec waited until Xander was distracted before very lightly poking him with the rake handle.

"Hey! None of that until after the leaves are up!" Xander scolded, poking him back just as gently.
 
Daizi handed her rake to Dark, "Give the other one to Cooger, I think it's easier for me if I help pick up the leaves rather than rake them, and anyway, someone needs to keep an eye on your sister."

"Tryin' to get out of the hard work, eh Tarot?" Cooger teased, passing Ivy back to her.

"Spend ten minutes trying to keep her out of trouble and tell me about hard work," She grinned at him.
 
Alec cackled. "Alright, Mama. Have fun playing with Ivy and not letting her eat leaves!"

Xander waited until Cooger had his hands free and then tossed the rake to him. "Let's get raking!" He started doing just that, eagerly attacking the leaves and chasing them to a random spot.

Alec followed suit, attacking the leaves with vigerous joys.
 
Daizi grinned, going to the back door and letting Enkidu outside before sitting in the grass with Ivy, doing her best to keep her occupied while Dark and Cooger raked the pile with a similar enthusiasm as the boys, chiding and teasing each other the entire time, just as they liked to do. Enkidu, delighted by the excitement, ran around the backyard chasing after them and occasionally biting a mouthful of leaves because everyone else seemed interested in them, so he wanted them too.

Of course, since Ivy saw all of the playing, she tried to crawl after them, and as she went jingling, Daizi had to chase her down, dropping handfuls of leaves over her which caused peals of laughter every time.
 
As the pile was nearly complete, the boys got distracted, and instead of raking the leaves into the pile, they started raking up leaves and throwing them at each other, drowning each other in a shower of the itchy, dried vegetation. It quickly turned into a leaf storm as they flung the leaves around, mainly at each other, squealing, cursing, and yelling at each other.
 
When the sounds of the raking were done, Daizi took Ivy to the leaf pile while she and Dark tried to show her how to add leaves to the pile. She still couldn't quite throw, but she was able to see what her parents were doing and successfully dropped the leaves into the pile, grinning at how much praise it got her.

Cooger, meanwhile, just started chasing after the twins, throwing leaves, before eventually getting close enough to say, "Y'know, looks to me like your folks are preeeetty distracted."
 
Alec and Xander paused in their own battle long enough to look. "Indeed, very distracted," Alec agreed, gathering up a massive armful of leaves.

"Very, very distracted," Xander agreed, getting as much as he could carry.

"Lead the way, uncle!" Alec invited.
 
Cooger chuckled under his breath, trying not to be too noisy as he picked up as many leaves as he could and crept up behind his oldest and dearest friends. Daizi was still adding leaves to the pile and helping Ivy pick them up while Dark held Ivy steady on her feet so she didn't topple over.

Once he was behind them, he didn't bother announcing "now" before unleashing the assault, not wanting to give them any warning before it happened. Poor, sweet, baby Ivy was caught in it, but luckily it only made her laugh and topple over into the leaf pile, which only made her laugh more when she felt how it crunched beneath her. Daizi squeaked in surprise before she began to laugh and huddled over like she was protecting herself from a tornado. Her instincts told her to run away but not wanting to accidentally step on Ivy or run straight into the assault.

Dark, though, immediately turned around and started throwing leaves back at them, partially trying to shield his wife and daughter.
 
Alec took up one side of Cooger and Xander the other as they gleefully pelted their parents and sister with leaves, keeping up the onslaught as long as they could until Alec slipped and fell right into the leaf pile with a flomp. He missed Ivy by a wide margin qnd lay wheezing in laughter. Xander promptly started burying him.
 
Cooger turned coat and started burying Alec in with Xander while Dark rescued Ivy and helped her to bury Alec.

"Oh, tifla," He told her over the sound of all the laughter, "If ever there was a time for you to learn to throw, this would be it." He wanted to get Cooger and Xander back, but if they weren't laying down, Ivy couldn't do much. Although... He took a handful of leaves and rose to his feet so he was above them both and then handed the leaves to Ivy. Since she had learned the game was in dropping them, soon she too was able to shower her brother and uncle in crunchy red leaves. "And see, my darling girl, Alec and Xander and Uncle Cooger all have red hair, so now you can barely see them at all. Right, Ivy?"
 
"Hey! Not fair giving her a height advantage," Xander complained, trying to brush the leaves from his hair. "And I can't even attack you because you're holding the baby!"

Alec surfaced from the leaves and shook his head vigorously. Leaves went flying, but still more stayed stuck in his hair, giving him the look of a rumpled shrubbery. "It's actually kind of peaceful under there," he remarked. "Like a cathedral. I think. I've never been in one, only seen the pictures and read the descriptions." He then reached over and shoved a handful of leaves into Dark's sock.
 
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