How Green Becomes Wood

"Do they not have them in Australia? They're special sneakers with little wheels in the heels so you can skate in a pretty low-key way." Sloan explained, "I always wanted them as a kid, but my mom said they were too dangerous. Which s kind of insane, considering I was literally already in gymnastics."
 
"Huh. They sound fascinating," Peter said in interest. "Are they as good as actual skates?"

"They always looked really cool," Alec said.

"No they didn't, they made people look ridiculous," Xander argued.

"Well, I thought they looked cool," Alec said with a little nod.
 
"I thought they looked cool too. Not cool like how Dauntless in Divergent looked to me when I was 11, but like... Understated cool. Cool in a 'I really don't care,' way." She shrugged, "They don't work like actual skates, you aren't pushing yourself off, they're more of a gliding thing."
 
"Huh. Maybe I'll have to get myself a pair," Peter grinned.

Alec smirked at Xander and turned his attention to his sandwich and cookies. Xander rolled his eyes and ate the cookies first.
 
"I'll get them with you. You can pop the wheel out and replace it with just more shoe bottom, so you don't have to roll if you don't want to. But if you crack your face open, you can't tell your parents it was my idea."
 
Peter laughed. "Deal! I have no idea where to even find those, but when I do, I'll let you know."

"Soon we'll all be rolling all over the school!" Alec cheered. "Well, you will. I prefer walking. Skating is fun, but I like walking."
 
"The only wheel you're interested in using for transport is the cyr wheel, huh?" Sloan teased, "No skating, not cars, only one giant wheel to get you from place to place. What about a scooter?"
 
"Mmmm, I could do a scooter," Alec agreed. "Skating is fun inside the arena, but it's just not fun without safety rails. Scooters are pretty nice, though."

Xander looked at him, puzzled. "You've never been on a scooter."

"No, but it looks fun, and I'd totally try it," Alec replied.
 
"We'll have to get you a scooter. Or run a whole battery of tests to figure out which movement devices you like and which ones you don't." Sloan said with a tiny grin, "But it's nice to know we have one cautious person amongst us. What about you, Peter? What side of the spectrum are you closer to?"
 
Peter took a sip of his drink while he considered it. "I think I'm more in the middle. I'll happily try these wheelies, I have actually flown a plane, I look forward to driving - on either side of the road! - and I used to enjoy skating quite a bit, but I'm not going to be taking a sports car out for a drive in the country and testing how fast it goes." He paused and added with a mischievous smile. "Well, at least not without a copilot."
 
Peter grinned. "It's a long story, but it boils down to I knew somebody. Well, my parents knew somebody. That somebody owned a small plane, and his son, my sort-of friend, talked him into taking us both up, and he taught me how to fly it. Not land, just fly. Flying is easy. Take off and landing, not so much. But I got to fly it a handful of times when my family visited them."

"Sort-of friend?" Alec asked.

"We didn't get along. Our parents were friends," Peter said.

Xander waggled his sandwich. "Are you ever going to complete your training?"

"Nah, I'd rather waste my money doing different eco-unfriendly hobbies," Peter chuckled.
 
"Sometimes I imagine your life before now included playing polo and changing into a fancier suit before dinner, like in Downton Abbey." Sloan said, staring almost bewildered at him, "Like, my family isn't poor or anything, but I don't think we know anyone who knows anyone who knows a plane. I don't mean to make fun, I'm sorry, I just--It's wild, to me."
 
"I've never played polo," Peter said with a chuckle. "But have you ever heard of a fly-in community? They're really weird - in my opinion, of course. It's an entire community where everyone owns a small, personal plane and a hanger to put it. Now that's wild. A lot of them are stock brokers and similar. I don't know what it is about the stock exchange, but a lot of the people working with it have some form of flying hobby, even if it's just model planes."

"Maybe they feel trapped in their jobs despite the money it makes them and flying represents freedom," Alec sugested.

"Not a bad interpretation," Peter admitted.
 
"I just can't imagine that," Sloan said, genuinely floored. "It must be like a whole different world. I mean, can you two imagine something like that?" She sighed, resting her chin in her hand, but then looked at Peter with a raised eyebrow, "That definitely sounds like flexing with their money, though, a community where everyone owns a plane. I thought the really rich didn't do that."
 
The twins both shook their heads. "Well, I can imagine it," Alec admitted, "but it feels more like I'm imagining some kind of fictional world."

"That's usually stockmarket rich and similar, not old money rich, although one or two of them might utilize those kinds of facilities if they wanted to. Normally, there's just no point," Peter shrugged.

"The difference between 'really' rich and 'stupid' rich?" Xander smirked.

Peter nodded. "The two are not necessarily exclusive, but you don't keep generations worth of wealth by being stupid." He hesitated. "Which is how some of the royal families did manage to lose generations worth of wealth, and the other old families took notes."
 
"I think you have to be 'really' rich to make classifications between different kinds of rich," Sloan said, tapping her fingers against her cheek, "Like, I'm pretty firmly middle class, but..." She shrugged, dropping her hand and looking out at the rest of the lunchroom, "Is it weird being in public school rather than, you know, one of those fancy private schools?"
 
"Actually, I haven't been in a fancy, private school much," Peter mused. "I've been to... five? I think five. Or was it six? Anyway, a small number of different schools, and most of them were a bit more upper class, but only one was actually a full private school. I like public schools better. I gotta admit, I miss the uniforms. The last school I was in was a public school that had uniforms, and while I get that a lot of people don't like them, it was sure nice not to have to worry about what to wear the next day. One less problem on your plate!"
 
"Five private schools, or five schools overall?" Sloan asked, looking over her shoulder again, but this time with a more specific purpose. "You should talk to Milo about moving so much. He's been all over, right? That's what I've heard, anyway. It might be nice for him to talk to someone who also is used to packing up."
 
Peter followed her gaze. "Five schools overall, and I don't think our situations were quite the same. If it happened to come up in conversation, I wouldn't mind talking to him about it, but I don't see that happening soon."
 
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