How Green Becomes Wood

As the twins walked past the art room, the teacher came bustling out, "Oh hoho, who is this I see? Xander and Alec Cun-ning-ham? Fostered children of my dearest deepest friend Mr. Dark, my mentor, our greatest history teacher? On your way to class?"
 
"Yes, sir, it's time to get back to classes and learning and growing after a nice break to rest our brains," Alec said cheerfully as Xander hung back. "Did you have a good break, sir?"
 
"Sir!?" Mr. Major looked like he had been shot and put his hand over his heart, "Sir! But I'm hardly grown at all! Have I aged terribly this break? Am I ancient!? You've not seen me since last year, so much time has passed! Well I thought I had enjoyed a good break but apparently I have fossilized during it! But, listen, I read a fantastic book on Capybaras during these cold weeks, and! I thought, they shall be my new muse!"
 
"Capybaras are possibly the most gentle creatures in the entire world!" Alec grinned. "They look so sweet. I would love to see one in real life someday, but I feel that way about a lot of things. Have you created anything yet that I may see?"
 
"They are simply fabulous!" He confirmed, "and I've worked, I'm always working, working, working..." He shrugged, "But the winter is so dreadful, there is inspiration everywhere but yet it is so blah, do you understand? Goodness, it's so gray. And there is beauty in gray, and always has been, but I haven't solved the issues in the works I've been working on." He sighed dramatically, and then clapped his hands and looked at Alec, "How is my dear dear friend? These halls are not the same without him! The teacher's lounge has gone cold, simply cold!"
 
"He is doing amazingly well. I think he shall simply cry when he has to return, burdened with the idea of leaving his two loves alone in the house without him," Alec told the teacher. "I know he misses some things, but nothing can compare with his new bundle of joy. Shall I tell him you are awaiting his return in hope that he shall sweep away the winter greys?"
 
"Oh, yes, tell him! Certainly tell him! Oh, but don't, he owes me nothing!" Mr. Major sniffed, "Frankly I cannot cope with how he did not introduce me to that enchanting wife of his until your delightful little trio had your performance! Brutal! Criminal! Augh! And I suspect that baby shall be twenty before I meet her!" He sniffed, shaking his head, but then grinned brightly, "But! He sent me a photograph of her when she was born! Which is more than I got of his wife! Now, you should scurry off to class, let me write you both a pass. But! I shall give them both to your brother!"
 
"You strike me to the core, but you speak wisdom," Alec sighed, one hand on his heart. "I thank you, Mr. Major, for your kindness, and I shall urge him to allow you to meet our newest member before she is of legal drinking age."

Xander had to basically chew on his tongue and force his eyes to stay rigid for the entire segment, but he did manage a polite thank you and a nod to Mr. Major concerning the passes. This was all too much for him, but Alec seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself.
 
"Oh, please do. I adore babies, but, well, poor moi, my sister had no children! So I so rarely get to interact with babies. And me, I shan't wed, for my true love is art! Till later, Younger Cunningham! If you see Miss McGann, tell her I said, 'Tag, you're it!"" With a quick flourish he wrote out the passes and handed them both to Xander before turning and dramatically greeting other students of his.
 
"High school is weird," Xander stated, tucking the passes safely in his pocket.

"Yes, but never boring!" Alec giggled before setting off again.

Xander stayed right behind him in his wake as the pair made their way to their first class. Alec kept his eyes peeled for Miss McGann, determined to do as Mr. Major had asked. In no time at all, they were in their seats, and the school day began in earnest.
 
At lunchtime, Sloan rushed to grab their 'usual' table before anyone had a chance to usurp their spot. It wasn't the most desirable table, but it was away from all the trashcans and had decent proximity to the window so they weren't struggling with purely florescent lights. Most importantly, it was the one they had been sitting at since last year, and she refused to abandon it.

When she saw the twins, she waved so they knew where to sit, and when they approached, "I regret wishing school would start up again."
 
"Has it been that bad of a day?" Alec asked, sliding into his usual spot and giving Sloan a sympathetic look. "I don't think it's been too bad for us. What happened?" He opened his lunch box and started sorting out his food items.

Xander sat next to Alec and glanced around. "No one else uses lunch boxes anymore, do they?" he remarked.

"I don't know why not. It's a lot faster than the cafeteria line," Peter said happily as he came to sit next to Sloan. "How was everyone's first day back?"
 
"It's not even that bad, although my math teacher is weird. I'm just damn tired, I forgot how much it sucks to wake up this early, and I already have probably an hour's worth of homework tonight." She opened up her lunch, "technically mine is a bag, not a box, but I just hate the cafeteria food. Almost none of it is edible. How was your break, Peter? They don't have long breaks like that in Australia, do they?"
 
Xander thought about remarking on how when he'd commented on the inedibility of the cafeteria food, Sloan had nearly bit his head off defending the lunch lady, but he decided against it and let the comment slide.

"We do, but it's a bit complicated and not set up the same as here," Peter explained. "Plus, you have to remember that our winters and summers are mirrored to you."

"It's really weird to think about," Alec commented. "Having mirrored seasons. I don't know if I could do Christmas in summer. I'd have to do it in... what, June?"
 
"It'd still be December, but just hot out," Sloan replied, having totally forgotten her old fervent defense of the lunch ladies. She still believed it, ultimately, but she had food poisoning the last few days before Winter Break, and it had somewhat soured her appetite. "But Christmas is still at the same time of the year, it's just a different season."
 
Alec glanced at her quizzically. "I know. I was saying I don't think I could do Christmas when it's summertime. So I'd wait until it was wintertime."

Peter chuckled. "Some things are a bit weird, like a lot of the movies from elsewhere, but when it's all you've ever known, it's easy to get used to."
 
"Oh," Sloan pulled on her earring, "I misunderstood, I thought you were saying if you lived in Australia you'd have to do Christmas in June, not that if you did Christmas in Summer here you'd do it in June." She shrugged, "I'd like to live somewhere else, but I don't know where. I could go on Birthright and visit Israel, but that feels kinda weird because I'm not sure how I feel about that whole... buisness." She made a face, and then looked up at the twins, "If you think about it, our street could be a very intense geopolitical conflict." The thought amused her, but she wasn't sure if it crossed a line.
 
"I forget you're Jewish. It's such a complicated nationality seeing as it's cultural, religious, and racial all in one," Alec mused thoughtfully.

"Eh, we Irish are quite happy to leave you folk fighting while we get on with our daily lives." Xander grinned at her. "Unless you start something first."

Alec rolled his eyes. "Hardly. Anyway, I'm glad of one thing about school: a consistent schedule! It's nice to know what's happening when and where."
 
"I guess," She said slowly, "I've not really thought about it, I guess. My family has all been here long enough that we're all American, to me anyway. My dad's side has been here, since, like, Ellis Island was a thing. My mom's side is... more recent, but my grandma was born in the US, so..." She shrugged, but then squinted at Alec, "You came to my brother's Bar Mitzvah this year. How did you forget I'm Jewish? You went to literally the most Jewish event you could attend."

She sat back, finishing her meal, "That and Hanukkah, anyway. I guess it's good to have a schedule, but it's probably more important for those of us who have had big shakeups. I know I ask a lot and you never really tell me, but are you doing okay?"
 
It was strange, Xander thought as he munched on the geographically confused collection of food that was his lunch. Dark was all about not forgetting his heritage and practically paranoid that Ivy wouldn't know about it. Daizi seemed to be a little more relaxed, but still intent on making sure things were passed down. Daizi made more sense to him, but Dark? Dark's "heritage" was nothing but pain and suffering from every direction. Literally every feasible direction. If it were him, Xander would have given his former country, his heritage, the whole thing the middle finger and moved on. Maybe kept a couple of things alive like the language, but he didn't understand Dark's - from his perspective - near obsession with it. Daizi at least had a lot more positive associations and only the higher end of average pain, but that was more to do with her disability rather than her actual heritage. Meanwhile, Sloan, who acted like she was proud to be Jewish whenever confronted about it - including when people used a perfectly legitimate phrase like "grammar Nazi" - and didn't actually seem to be that connected to the Jewish heritage beyond certain things that seemed to be "the thing to do," like reacting to anything Nazi, Hannakahs, or Bar Mitzphas. Five minutes talking to Dark or Daizi - well, mostly Daizi - would reveal far more about their cultural heritage than he'd ever heard Sloan talk about. He figured that probably had something to do with how she was raised, but were her parents not as connected, too? What was the difference? Was it because Sloan was a teen? Was it the generational gap where it had been a long time since her family had come over while Dark and Daizi were direct immigrants? It was probably a complicated answer that he really, really didn't want to ask her about. Maybe he would ask Daizi wen he was prepared for a lecture or if he needed to distract her for some reason.

"We're doing fine," Alec assured Sloan. "A little ear numbed, but fine. Lack of sleep tends to make people a little cranky, but we manage. There does seem to be an ongoing thing where some people think Mr. Dark looks horrible and hasn't been taken good care of himself, and others assure him he's perfectly fine. I think it's somewhere in the middle, but he's a grown-up. He'll figure it out."
 
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