How Green Becomes Wood

Daizi did her absolute best to not be gloomy while still emotionally supporting her husband. At dinner, both she and Dark tried to engage with Alec, and still spoke with the rest of their children, because if their words couldn't be accepted, they'd try to show with their actions they were not angry. Dark may have been silently fighting ghosts the entire evening, but he wasn't doing it angrily. He was just doing his best to cope with his own problems without further burdening anyone at all.

And that night, he did not sleep for a minute.
 
The next morning, Alec and Xander got ready for school and headed out. Alec still did not speak to either parent, but he did take the time to engage with Ivy for a bit. It wasn't her fault, after all. Xander made a point to actually talk to his parents even if he wasn't a morning person, mostly to make certain they knew at least two of their kids were doing fine.

At school, Alec followed through with his mental threat and did not turn in one piece of homework. Oh, he knew, deep down, that this was incredibly stupid, but stubborn anger won out. He was still bright and cheerful around others, determinedly so, and did his level best to hide everything he was feeling. He did not want to talk about it. Not to anyone.

After school, he requested Xander drop him off directly at work and not take him home. Xander cautiously agreed, and after he dropped Alec off, he watched to make certain his brother was actually going to work. There was no reason not to as far as he could tell. Alec seemed to treat work almost as a treat, a safe haven, and still loved going. He hadn't mentioned a single bad day other than the time when the hanging grid had fallen, but that was an extreme circumstance.

Xander went straight home and let his parents know what was going on.
 
Come morning, Dark was exhausted, having been unable to do anything the night before besides stare out the window, but he was more even than the night before. Still depressed. But not to the extent where someone may have needed to get the net. When Xander came home without Alec, Dark nodded, thanked Xander for telling him, and silently wondered how on earth he was going to fix this.
 
Xander hung out inside for a while before heading out to his shed. He left the door open despite the fact that it was chilly, making it clear he was availible for interruptions if they were needed.
 
Dark stayed inside, trying to act normal for Ivy. He was helping her socialize with Enkidu, which was great, because Ivy loved the dog but needed complete supervision when with him, and he was aching so much inside, it was really soul-filling to sit on the ground and pet his dog.

Daizi, forever, at some point did venture out, after pulling her coat tightly around her. When she came up to Xander's shed, she tried to knock on the door and stumbled inelegantly when there was no door to knock on.
 
Xander pulled out his extra stool and patted it so Daizi could place where it was. "If you want to sit, you can. I'm doing... eh. Okay, I guess. Nothing to worry about right now. Just not used to being... not the problem, if you know what I mean."
 
Xander looked up and smiled slightly. "Thanks," he said quietly. He looked down and fiddled with random items. "I finished the paper mockup of the bilby. I want to show you, but I don't think it's strong enough to move around much. The leather version should be done in a couple of days, I think."
 
"Yeah, I think I did. It involves a lot of punctures. Not full holes, just like... I dunno, halfway-through perferations?" he said hesitantly. "There's probably a name for it, but I don't know what it is."
 
"That could be fun," Daizi replied, not touching anything on his desk just in case, "I just need total supervision. But I always enjoy doing new things. I can't wait for it to be nicer weather so the two of us can go horseback riding for real."
 
Last edited:
"That would be nice," Xander agreed. "My time at the stables are going to be shortened a lot in wintertime. Horses still need to be cared for, stalls cleaned out, stuff like that, but there won't be as much to do outside."
 
"I bet the horses will be restless as it approaches the spring, then," Daizi mused, "Desperate to get to really stretch their legs again, you know? That's how I feel in winter, anyway. I don't really like the snow."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top