How Green Becomes Wood

"Surely the majority decides," Sloan replied, leading them all to play a bit of trampoline dodgeball. Afterwards, they went to bounce on the regular trampolines, and as she was showing off her ability to do flips, somebody's unattended child walked right in her path. Noticing them at the very last moment, she basically had to throw herself out of the way to prevent from landing on a child.
 
"Yikes! Sloan, are you okay?" Alec asked. He hurried to make sure the child was okay and carefully guided them toward the separating strips, reminding them to watch out for other jumpers.

Xander went to Sloan. "That was real cool up until the end. Are you okay?" he asked, worried about how she'd landed.
 
Holding up her hand in a thumbs-up gesture, Sloan replied, "Yep." Then as Claire got down beside her--having struggled between concern and amusement--she sat back up, pushing her hair back, "I have to say---still not the worst fall I've ever had."
 
"I don't think I want to know what the worst fall was, but, wow." Alec shook his head. "That was an incredible recovery."

"It's like kids want to die sometimes," Xander huffed.

"I don't know about bringing Ivy to a place like this now," Alec admitted nervously.

Xander shook his head. "It'll be fine. At the very least, we'll both be watching her, so it'll be two on one."

"Right. We might have a chance then," Alec said dryly. He looked at Sloan. "Ready to stand up?"
 
"Yeah, I'm good," Sloan said, accepting Claire's help up and shaking it off, "Nothing's broken, nothing's bleeding, and I didn't hit my head."

"That's the good thing about being at a place like this, they design with the expectation people will fall," Claire said easily.
 
"I just thought we were going to go to the cafeteria here," Claire said, holding up her hands, "I'm really fine with anything. I'm not picky."

"Claire's worst nightmare is being told to pick where we eat," Sloan whispered to Xander like it was insider-secrets.
 
Xander heaved a sigh like a martyr. "Why is it no one can ever pick where to eat? It's like I collect indecisive food people."

"Be nice and just hope the cafeteria is cheap," Alec teased him. "I'm happy with the cafeteria. I hope it's good!"

"It'd better be good," Xander grumbled, heading in that direction with Alec hopping after him.
 
"I've never been to a waterpark," Alec mused. "What's it like?"

"Wet, I bet," Xander said. "Let's eat!"

He led the way to the cafeteria and ordered first before standing aside and letting the other three figure out what they wanted. True to his word, he paid for lunch without complaint. A bet was a bet, after all.
 
"Oh they're great," Claire said, and spent a bit of time talking about her favourite water park in the area while they got their food. Both she and Sloan enjoyed themselves as the conversation changed throughout their lunch. As they said, the food was good. It wasn't restaurant quality, but it was the exact sort of cheap, filling food you wanted at a place like this, and even though it wasn't gourmet, it was worth eating there instead of debating about where else to go.
 
Xander quite happily filled up on pizza and breadsticks. He mostly listened to the conversation, but he occasionally interjected a thought or opinion.

Alec talked animatedly, enjoying talking with Sloan and Claire. He listened intently when they spoke, and asked a lot of questions. These were the kinds of things he most loved to do with friends.
 
After the end of lunch, Claire and Sloan asked if there was anything left at the trampoline park they wanted to see, but agreed it had been a very lovely trip out. Claire especially was glad to have been invited, since she had never gotten to really hang out with Alec and Xander like this, except for Sloan's birthday.
 
The twins walked them to the parking lot, and Xander made sure both Sloan and Claire were in their vehicles before he and Alec went to the van. They were both utterly exhausted, but it had been such a fantastic time out! Claire was a lot of fun. Alec slumped in his seat, daydreaming. Xander glanced at him now and then but let him sit in silence on the way home instead of bringing up what he very much wanted to bring up.
 
Claire and Sloan arrived differently, since they lived in different neighborhoods, but Sloan was absolutely planning to text her friend once she got home.

Meanwhile, when the twins stepped inside, Ivy was crying loudly. At the stairs, on the side of the gate before them, Daizi was sitting with her, speaking calmingly to her and Dark was sitting on the other side, gently asking her to stop wriggling, but from the angle it was uncertain what exactly was happening.
 
When they arrived home, Alec texted Claire they'd arrived and Xander texted Sloan and asked if she'd gotten home safe. Neither of them thought about either Sloan or Claire when they walked in the door and heard Ivy wailing. They quickly put away their coats and shoes and tapped the salt before hurrying in.

"What's going on?" Xander asked.
 
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