How Green Becomes Wood

"Terabithia!" Claire said, backing up and keeping an eye on the rope.

"And she died at the end," Sloan pointed out, despite believing in her friend. Claire ran and jumped towards the rope, just barely missing it when it swung more than she had guessed.

"No wait," She said, hurrying out of the pit, "Let me try again, that was just a test!"
 
Claire took off her shrug and handed it to Sloan, so the palms of her hands weren't covered, and made a second attempt. This time, she did successfully catch the rope and after shrieking in delight and allowing herself to swing a few times over the pit, jumped off and landed on the other side, rolling when she did. "I did it!" She cheered from the other side, "Now you all have to make it over! One way or another!"
 
"Woo-hoo! You did it!" Alec cheered. "I'm next!" He ran down to where claire started and stretched a little. Then, with great determination, he took off running. The trampoline gave him decent height, and he just barely managed to grab the rope. He yelled in shock and delight as he swung around and forgot to let go until the rope was moving away from his intended destination. He just barely missed the other side, but was able to climb out of the pit without much trouble.

"We did it!" he cheered to Claire, raising his arms in triumph. Then he turned and called, "Your turn, Sloan!"
 
Sloan watched the rope for awhile, Claire's shrug tied around her waist, a bit warily. It was moving a lot more than it had been when they first approached the pit. After watching for awhile, she ran and made the jump, catching hold of it fairly well, although the look of relief on her face made it clear she was as surprised as anyone. Then she climbed a bit higher up the length with ease, waiting until it was swinging in the right direction, and leapt off. Even with the planning she had taken, she nearly missed the platform, but Claire hurried over and caught her by her two hands, stabling her onto it.

"Thanks," Sloan said, giving Claire her shrug back.

"That's what friends are for, I couldn't let you drown," Claire grinned.
 
"Nicely done, Sloan! I'm really impressed by your rope control," Alec told her. Then he called over, "Your turn, Xander, come on!"

Xander watched the swaying rope for a moment. Then he turned and walked to the end of the ramp. He took a moment to set himself and then took off running. At the last second, instead of jump, he stopped short, catching himself beautifully and with no windmilling about. He tucked his hands into his pockets, turned around, and let himself fall off the edge of the platform into the foam.

"I think that's cheating," Alec giggled as Xander surfaced and made his way over.

"She just said however, she didn't say we had to swing," Xander drawled, accepting Alec's help up.
 
Claire laughed at Xander playing, "That's true, I just said we had to get here one way or the other! And now we all have."

"Now what?" Sloan asked.

"I dunno, I didn't think we'd get this far." Clarie said, hands on her hips.
 
Alec grinned and looked around. "Well, what do they do in Terabithia? Adventure? Imagination? What kind of world is here in this trampoline park?"

"A bouncy one," Xander stated.
 
"I think if I had to imagine a world in the trampoline park, it'd be something to do with pirates," Claire said with a nod.


"Or fairies," Sloan added, thinking about hoping on flower petals like in Barbie: Fairytopia. Then they both glanced at each other and simultaneously said:

"Fairy Pirates."
 
Xander frowned. "Say what now?"

Alec squealed and gave a little bounce, clapping in delight. "Absolutely yes! Can we pick names? I want to be Flame!"

Xander's brow wrinkled, and he mouthed the word, "Flame?"

"Claire, do you agree with me that Sloan should be the captain?" Alec asked.
 
"Sloan is absolutely the captain!" Claire said easily, squeezing Sloan's arm, but then she glanced at Xander and said, "But I don't know if we really have to play pretend like we're just little kids. I mean, Sloan here is already an adult, we can't embarrass her too much! There's so much else we can do, if we escape the pit a second time."
 
"Oh? Like what?" Alec asked. He was a little disappointed to not play pirate fairies, but he understood not wanting to make a fool of oneself. Maybe Claire had even better ideas!
 
Sloan glanced at Xander, "Let's just wait. He has to learn eventually."

Looking between the two of them, Claire asked, "Does he always march off like that in a place he's never been to?"
 
"Most of the time. He's excitable," Xander said, picking more foam off his shirt. "Does it in places he has been to with about the same efficiency. You know, Slo, Mama's been talking about getting a leash for the Mini. Maybe I could get one for him. Might be useful."
 
"I think it's this way," Claire said with a little laugh, heading that way with Sloan following behind her.

As they headed towards the turn table, Sloan pointed to a netted area, "There's a battle beam, you get to pick up a foam bar and try to knock your friends off and onto the trampoline."​
 
"A battle beam?" Xander asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Oh, that looks like a lot of fun to try to beat!" Alec said, pointing toward the turntable.

"Battle beam," Xander said.

Alec ignored him. "I say we try the turning table thing."

"But," Xander groaned, tugging on Alec's arm, "it's a battle beam!"
 
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