How Green Becomes Wood

"We have time to do both," Claire said, "But, I don't really want to battle either of you two, because I'm barely over five feet tall, and I have a really unfair disadvantage."
 
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"You may be at a disadvantage, but I bet you could beat me," Alec assured her with a grin. "How about we do the turning thing? And then we can talk about possible battles."

Xander pretended to sulk but nodded. "Sounds fair."
 
"Maybe, but if we tried it, I think I'd have a better chance against Sloan, then the two of you could battle it out," Claire said simply.

"It'd be best two out of three if it was you and me up against each other," Sloan replied, heading to the turn table.
 
"Really?" Alec asked Claire curiously as he followed Sloan. "Why do you think you'd have a better chance against her? Is it just the height thing?"

"Never mind that. We can draw straws or something when it comes to it. Let's see what this thing's about," Xander said, waving to Clair and Alec.
 
"We're closer in height and closer in weight," Claire explained, "Plus we're both girls, so our body composition is more similar to each other's. There's a reason contact sports aren't co-ed."

"Are we all jumping together or are we doing one at a time?" Sloan asked, watching the contraption.
 
"Sure, that makes sense between two athletes in the same sport, but that doesn't mean you can't wollop me!" Alec said cheerfully.

"Let's all go at once. It'll take forever if we go one at a time," Xander said.

"Let's all go at once because it'll be way more fun that way!" Alec suggested eagerly.
 
"Don't be too eager to fight a girl," Sloan carefully teased, going into the ring but waiting at the edges of it before they all came in. It would only be fair if they started together.
 
"I'm never eager to fight anyone," Alec said. "Ready?"

Xander stepped up behind Alec and shoved him forward. "Ready!"

Alec squealed as he found himself suddenly in danger of the swinging arms. "Xander!" he yelled, running for his life.

Xander brushed off his hands. "Payback."
 
"You are the worst brother ever!" Alec shouted as he ran, hopping from safe circle to safe circle and trying desperately not to fall off onto the soft, spongy ground.

"Says the guy who pushed his brother into the foam to drown," Xander called.

"Why hold grudges? That's so immature!" Alec called, having almost made a complete round by now.
 
"Yeah, well, I was a lemure following the rest of the pack," Xander shrugged. He looked away from Alec for just a second to answer Sloan.

Alec sped up, going his absolute max speed. He reached out, grabbed Xander's arm, and used his own momentum to pull Xander into the circle. Xander said some words that parents would not like their kids hearing and instinctively reached out as he half fell into the circle. His hand grabbed Claire's shrug still tied around Sloan's waist. He stumbled into the circle and found his footing. Then he started either running from the arm or chasing Alec or both.
 
Sloan shrieked when Xander grabbed her but had no choice but to run in. If she had a second more to think, she'd have just untied the shrug, but she was already being tugged, so she went in and started running, "Alec, I'm gonna kick your ass for this!"

Laughing, Claire watched them for a few moments and then willingly joined in the fray, jumping over beam when it came around.
 
"This is not my fault!" Alec defended himself, trying not to laugh. "This is Xander's fault!"

"It's not my fault. You're the one who pushed me into the foam!" Xander retorted, hopping from circle to circle.

"But it wasn't my idea!" Alec yelled. "It was-" He stopped himself and shook his head. "But Sloan should be mad at Xander! Look out, Claire!"
 
"If you hadn't pulled him in, he wouldn't have pulled me in!" Sloan argued.

Because Claire was the last in, she was behind them a bit and they looped around to her. Despite the very good warning not to look back, when Alec yelled for her to look out, she turned slightly around on instinct.
 
"That's hardly my fault!" Alec said, looking at Sloan briefly. That meant he wasn't looking where he was going, and he crashed into Claire. It wasn't hard enough to do either of them any damage, but it did throw him off balance and sent him tumbling to the soft floor. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around the person he'd run into.

"And down they go," Xander said, swerving and just missing running into them.
 
Claire's eyes went wide and her face went pink, suddenly finding herself underneath Alec. She was pretty certain she wasn't hurt, but she also couldn't quite breathe.

"Aw shit, are you okay?" Sloan asked, moving out of the way of the moving beam, "At least you can't get hit from down there."
 
Xander tried to move out of the way, but the beam caught his leg, and he went tumbling.

"I'm sorry, Claire," Alec stammered his face red. "I didn't mean to!" He rolled off carefully and reclined next to her, under the beams height. "Are you okay?"
 
"Yeah, sorry about that." Alec grinned at her. "That was a pretty good jump, though! I'd say we had a good run."

Xander lay on his back, hands behind his head, watching the arm swing and listening to the conversation. He caught Sloan's eye and raised his brows. He might be a bit oblivious, but not that oblivious.
 
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