How Green Becomes Wood

"Yeah," Cooger said with a little smile on his face, "It's what he's wanted for a long time. Sometimes, Tarot'll call their kids her goslings, and you see it when Ivy goes walking after her dad." Then he looked over to Daizi, who was standing, now, at the end of the dock, "She said something about wanting to get as far to the water as possible. She made it seem very important, but I don't understand why."

At the chicken coop, while Ivy stared in amazement at the birds, Dark began looking around, seeming a bit confused.
 
"I can see it," Lex said approvingly. "With even one gosling, it's pretty adorable." She watched Daizi for a minute. "Okay. I have no idea what that means, but I support whatever it is she's doing." As Toby came to Daizi to show her the turtle he'd caught, Lex noticed Dark. "What's up with him? He looks like he lost a gosling, but she's right there."

"Dr. Dark, ma'am! I caught a turtle!" Toby called, going to Daizi to show her. He wanted to show someone, and she was the closest someone.
 
Cooger glanced over at Dark, who was standing with that look in his eyes. "Something wrong, dude?" He called out.

"Did the twins go inside?" Dark called back, before glancing towards the car to see if maybe they had forgotten something inside of it.

"What kind of turtle is it? And you can just call me Daizi," She told him, turning slightly to keep a bit of distance between herself and the turtle, "Some of them bite."
 
Lex glanced over her shoulder. "I don't think so. I didn't notice them go past me, but I'll check." She pushed herself up and looked inside the cabin. "Nope, don't see them. Maybe they are down by the pond?"

"It's just a map turtle, ma'am," he assured her. "He won't bite unless he's really thinking he's done for." The little brown and green turtle flapped its legs vigorously, but it was no threat.

~~

The twins, meanwhile, were sitting on a log, resigned to their fates and footsore.

"Maybe we can build our own little cabin out here and live on mushrooms and nuts," Alec said as he idly scratched Enkidu under the collar. He stared up at the trees waving their leaves.

"Could work," Xander agreed, staring at the tree-strewn forest floor. "We could dig down, get a half-in-ground house."

"Decorate with leaves and flowers," Alec sighed. "Dog food is going to be an interesting challenge."
 
Dark rubbed his hand over his face, and then said, "Come along, Tifla, we should go to the shore and see if we can find your brothers." He began to walk away, gesturing for her to follow, but Ivy made a grumpy noise and refused to go. "Ivy, yalla."

"No!" Ivy whined, sitting down and looking at the chickens.
 
"I would appreciate it if you would," Dark replied, "I would not be worried, except Alec has the worst directional skills of anyone I have ever met. And from the look of things, they have my dog."
 
Lex chuckled as she handed Cooger her soda can and crossed over to join Ivy. "I'll keep an eye on this little one, then, and you go see where your boys have gotten off to." She crouched down near Ivy and pointed at the chickens. "What's that?" she asked her. "Do you know what it is?" She kept her voice lighter, but not full baby talk.
 
"Thank you. Ivy, you stay with Ms. Lex, okay?" Then he walked to the shoreline, going up to his wife and Toby, "Have the twins come past here? Interesting turtle."

"Not that I noticed, but if they didn't say hello they might've gone past me, why?" Daizi asked.

Ivy rocked forward onto her knees and pointed at the birds, pecking around at the ground, "This?"
 
"It's a map turtle," Toby said proudly, presenting it to Dark. "They're hard to catch. I think I saw them go off that way," he said, gesturing vaguely toward the woods beyond the cabin. "I didn't really see where they went after that."

"Yes, this," Lex nodded. "This is a chicken. Bawk bawk, chicken!"
 
"Hm." Dark said, looking towards the woods, then he took out his phone, "I will call them, then."

"Why?" Daizi asked.

"They wandered off with Enkidu, I just want to know where they have gotten to," Dark answered, dialing Xander's number.

Ivy giggled, reaching her hand out to try and touch one of the birds when she saw Millie strut confidently in front of the coop. "This?"
 
Xander didn't pick up because he'd left his phone in the car. He hadn't thought he'd need it here at Cooger's house, and reception could be kind of spotty in places, anyway. Alec had brought his phone for pictures, but it was currently sitting on Cooger's couch, where it was doing a very good job holding down a cushion.

"This is a goose. Honk! Goose," Lex told Ivy. "This goose's name is Millie. Millie the goose. She lives with the chickens."
 
Dark sighed, glancing towards the treeline, "He did not answer."

"Our children are going to be the death of us." Daizi said flatly, "Surely they are just walking the trail?"

"Probably, yes, but I wish they would learn to tell us." Dark said, "I think some of us should look for them, just in case they got turned around."

Ivy looked up at Lex with a confused look on her face, then back at Millie. Pointing at the white bird, she said, "Baba?"
 
"You think they're in trouble?" Toby asked, worried.

Lex bit her lip to stop the laugh that bubbled up inside her. When she felt it was safe to open her mouth, she said carefully, "No, not Baba. Just a goose. Millie is goose. Baba is goose. I have no idea how to explain that to you, but I will have to give your parents a hard time.

~~

The twins hadn't thought to tell their parents because it was just supposed to be an in and then back. It was not supposed to take long. It was not supposed to be far. Yet, here they were, sitting by an old log, carefully constructing a scale model of what their little survival shack would look like because they had no idea what else to do. They'd tried yelling out a couple of times, but there'd been no answer. So, they sat, showed Enkidu some sticks, and used snails and bugs to populate their little house.
 
Dark shook his head, "I do not think so, but Alec gets turned around easily. You can come look, if you like."

"I'd go, but I figure it's a task for people with eyes, since someone needs to stay with Ivy." Daizi said, somewhat disappointed and somewhat amused, but not particularly worried her sons were in any great danger.

"It is not like it is dangerous, I am sure she would love the trek," Dark comforted her, eyeing the woods. His confidence made Daizi laugh, rather to his surprise. "What?"

"If those boys wandered off onto trails Cooger hasn't explored yet, how am I going to navigate them with a baby on my hip?"

"By following directly behind me and using your very helpful off-roading cane." Dark said stoutly.

"Sure, Goose," She laughed.

Looking back at Lex, Ivy very clearly did not understand, but lacked the language skills to inquire further.
 
"Yeah, I'll help!" Toby agreed quickly. "I'll be glad to."

Lex tried again. "This goose, honk-honk. Baba goose, uh, tifla." She couldn't think of what sounds Dark would make that Ivy would recognize.
 
"You should tell your mother, though," Dark added, despite Toby being an adult and technically not needing to, "and make sure you have your phone with you. It would be foolish of us to lose more of our group to the woods."

Then, walking with Daizi back to the cabin, Dark said, "I think my sons and my dogs are out in your woods somewhere, want to come help look? You know them better than any of us."

"Your sons are some kind of retribution."

"So I have learned."

Ivy stared blankly at Lex and then said, "Baba?"
 
"Right," Toby agreed. He trotted back to the cabin and went over to the chicken pen. "Hey, Mom? The twins went missing, so we're going to go looking for them."

"Alright," Lex agreed, looking up from the chickens. "Am I on Ivy duty, or should I come with?"

"I dunno," Toby admitted.

Keeping a close eye on Ivy, Lex stood and walked as far off as she dared, still with easy dash-and-snatch range. "Daizi? Do you want me to keep an eye on Ivy?"
 
"I was going to stay here," Daizi said, after Dark led her back to where their daughter was, squatting down and holding out her arms to Ivy, "Galavanting through the woods sounds like a lot of fun, but I thought, if we're looking for someone we can't find, the people looking should probably be someone who can see."
 
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