How Green Becomes Wood

"Maybe. But that doesn't stop you from sort of... maybe not quite longing for, but having some level of wistful feelings towards how you would've reacted to something pleasant, if it happened when you were small. Or how you would have reacted if it happened, and your life then was different enough for you to have truly enjoyed it. I mean, talk about running through life! Dark and I were born in the 90s. Since we don't know his exact birthdate, it's possible he was actually born in the 80s. But next year it'll be the thirties. Ivy won't even be in 70 when it's the 90s again." She picked up a fistful of sand and let it fall out between her fingers, "I'm not all that bothered by getting older, sometimes I think I was born to be an eccentric old lady who teaches kids things their parents don't want them to know and who shouts at strangers, but looking back, I feel like I was a kid not too long ago." Until the sand had all drained out of her palm, she was quiet, but then her face lit up in such a truthful, joyful way, "But that's why I like having kids, and why I'm so thrilled I finally get to be a mom. You and Alec and Ivy all get to do new things. You and him may not believe in enchanted rings, but Ivy doesn't yet, either." She thought for a minute, and then asked, "What if we kept them?"

~~

"You should drink water," Dark told him, looking him over to see how pink Alec's skin was, "I should too, probably. I hope Daizi and Xander are, wherever they ran off to. It's too hot not to be hydrated."
 
Xander pondered this as he ran his thumb over the rings. "I don't see why not." He shook out the necklaces and then hung them over Daizi's neck. "There you go! Now you're a real tourist." The rings he tucked carefully in his pocket before he stood up and offered her his hand. "I'll wash them off when we get back. Do you still want to check out a tide pool or two or head back?"

~~

Alec was slightly pink as the sunscreen had worn off, but he wasn't too bad. He went and fetched two glasses of water. "Here you go!" he said, offering Dark one.
 
"Do you want the one with the waves or the one with the leaves?" Daizi asked, getting up. Part of her wondered if they should have left them for some child to find, but... she liked the idea of both her and Xander having something to share. She couldn't hug him, but this was like that. Maybe it would feel the same when he saw her wear something that, out of everyone in their family, only they two had. "I think we still have some time before dinner, I don't see why we can't find at least one tidepool."

~~

"Thank you," Dark said, stretching out his legs and taking a sip of water. "When are you going to make your sandcastle? I know you were excited about it."
 
"I think there's one just ahead of us and to the left," Xander told her. "How about the waves? Maybe the water symbolism will help calm down my internal fire. Symbolically." Barely symbolically.

~~

Alec grinned, delighted Dark remembered. "We almost did yesterday, but then decided to roam instead. We're going to make one either this evening or tomorrow. If Ivy's good, we might even make one with her. We'll just have to make sure she builds with sand and doesn't eat with sand."
 
"Perfect," She said, vaguely dusting the sand off of herself as they went along. "Do you have one of the necklaces on, too? You can't leave me to be a tourist all on my own, you know. I like you keeping the waves. And I spend so much time in my garden, the other one makes sense for me." She made an active decision not to speak symbolically, then, suspecting he wasn't interested in hearing about the metaphor of her wearing a ring engraved with symbols of life.

When they reached the tide pool, she crouched down, touching her finger tips into the water, but not going any further, "Is there anything in it? You don't need to guide me, I just need to know if I'm going to get hurt if I touch."

~~

"What do you think, Hummingbird?" Dark asked, looking down at his daughter, "Will you be good and help your brothers make a sand castle?" When she squeaked and flopped over, Dark frowned, dusting Ivy's newfound curls off of her forehead, and then looked back at Alec, "You may want to build two, and only grant her access to one."
 
Xander nodded. "The leaf one makes perfect sense, but, no, I didn't keep one of the necklaces. I guess I could wear one if you want. I don't mind." He squatted next to Daizi and peered into the water. "I'm not sure. I've never looked into a tide pool, so I'm not sure what to look for. Lots of rocks and... fuzzy stuff. Kelp or algae or whatever. There aren't any jellyfish around here, right?"

~~

"Sandcastles are meant to be destroyed, like block towers, but maybe you're right if we want to get even one picture of it," Alec chuckled. He glanced outside. "I wonder what Xander and Mama are doing and when they'll be back?" It was the first time he'd brought them up like that.
 
"I think you should. What sense is there in me being the only one who looks like a proper tourist?" She teased, and then hesitantly put her hand a little bit deeper into the water, "I don't know if there are, actually. But I don't think jellyfish live in tidepools, they're fairly shallow for something that prefers to float around. But I don't really know anything about them, other than people who really care about them don't like them being called jellyfish, because they aren't actually fish." She moved to put her hand further in, but then pulled it out, now concerned she was going to be stung. "You've gotta be my eyes here, Xander."

~~

"They typically are not meant to be destroyed until after they are finished being built." Dark retorted, but then looked out the window like Alec, "I am not sure. You can call them, I believe we instituted a rule to keep each other updated about where we are."
 
"I'm trying, but I'm not sure..." Xander leaned over and squinted. Hesitantly, he reached in and dragged his hand through the water. "No jellyfish! Or whatever they are supposed to be called. All I see is- Ah!" He jerked his hand back at the sight of movement. "Oh, sorry, that's just a crab thingy. And I think I see a snail and... Oh, tiny fish. They're so little they look like extra water glitter. I don't see anything dangerous unless you poke the crab, but it's trying to hide in its shell and not be noticed."

~~

Alec considered. "I'll give them a couple more minutes before I call," he decided. "When are you and Mama going out tomorrow?"
 
"Oh, good," She said, putting her hand back into the water and cautiously touching the rocks and life inside, startling slightly when some fish swam between her fingers, "Imagine if you had to do this with your eyes closed. Your brain really doesn't want you to put your hand in places you do not know what is inside of."

~~

"We are going out together on Thursday," Dark corrected, setting the bag of chocolate aside, "and we are going out in the evening. We are getting dinner, so you and your brother are on your own that night. Other than that, she has told me nothing."
 
"Makes sense. Sometimes, I don't want to put my hand somewhere even knowing what's there," Xander replied.

Daizi's cell phone chirped. It was a text from Sally. She'd just seen the video of Ivy crawling and was doing the text version of squealing excitedly but in a ladylike manner.

~~

"Oh, right," Alec nodded. "Are you excited to go?" He took the bag and went to replace it in the refrigerator.
 
"Someday I'll put together a box of objects and blindfold you to give you the real experience of being blind." Daizi teased, but when her phone went off, she sat back, dried her hand on her shorts, and asked Xander if he was okay with her checking her phone. Her text-tones were always simply the name of the person texting her, so she knew it was Sally, and therefore she doubted its urgency, and therefore she didn't want to take out her phone and seem like she wasn't valuing Xander's time.

Upon getting his permission, though, she couldn't help but laugh how the robotic text-to-speech voice interpreted Sally's message, and she quickly replied with one equally excited and proud.

~~

"Do you know," Dark said, finishing his water glass and then getting it up to rinse it in the sink, "I do not believe Daizi and I have had a date night where we left the house, just the two of us, since Ivy was born. Since before Ivy was born. We have had time alone together since then, but it has been nine months since we have gone out simply as a couple, rather than as a family." He adjusted Ivy on his hip, letting her tug on his beard. "I am very excited."
 
Xander smirked as he watched Daizi replying to Sally, and then Sally reply to Daizi, the pair of them seeming to work each other up. Oh to be a little baby where the smallest thing you did resulted in this much celebration and joy! At least Daizi was happy now and not suffering in any way that he could tell, and Ivy was quite the character.

Sally begged Daizi to let her know when they were home and available so she could come over and witness Ivy crawling on her own. She did ask Daizi what she would do if Ivy decided crawling was boring and skipped straight to walking.

~~

"What makes a date night different? Why do you need a date night and not just the alone time?" Alec asked curiously, sitting next to Dark. "I understand why you need at least some alone time together, but why a special date night, too?"
 
Daizi promised she would do so, and then explained through text, I think I'd react about the same, at first. When we realized how much more she could reach, then we'd probably both get a lot more nervous, I don't think any of us are ready for when she is able to get to things we picked up off the floor. I don't know how Enkidu will react to her crawling, either!

Then, to Xander, she said, "Should we go go back to the rental? I don't want to force you to hang around me listening to me brag about Ivy, and I'm sure your brother misses you. If you want to stay out longer, I'll tell Sally I'll call her later, I didn't expect we'd text this long, I'm sorry."

~~

"It feels different." Dark told him, rubbing his thumb gently against Ivy's arm, "When you stay home, all of the distractions are still there. You still think of the chores you need to get done, you think about the baby sleeping in the other room, and if she is doing okay, you think of the teenagers in their bedroom, and if they're doing okay, and how much longer the sick rat is going to live, and a million other things, so sometimes, even though you are alone together, you forget to be together. Those worries may not go away when you leave the house, but it is much easier to say, 'Yes, but we can do nothing about it now,' and focus on each other."

He took a few more moments to think about it, looking down at Ivy's hand as he compared it to the shape and colour of his own--he had started to tan, too, he noticed--and then he said, "And Daizi is my best friend. I love her, and I love doing things with her."
 
Xander shrugged. "It's alright. We probably should head back. I bet Ivy's missing you as much as Alec's missing me." He stood and brushed himself off as best as he could before turning toward the rental. "This was pretty fun, though."

~~

"I think that makes sense," Alec agreed. "I hadn't thought about the home distractions and such. I guess it's a lot harder when you have so many more distractions to worry about."
 
"This was fun," She said as she got up, unfolding her cane, "I like getting to spend time with you. I'm really glad we were able to."

~~

"It is also nice to just... spend time with someone you care about and make memories with them." He looked over these unfamiliar walls, thinking about his walls, but then just shook his head and stood up, "I think I need to change her, but I will be back out here in just a little while."
 
"We should totally do it again sometime," Xander agreed, leading the way, but going slow to make sure she could handle it. He pulled on one of the strings of colorful beads as he walked. "We don't have parasailing back home, but I bet we can find something."

~~

"Alright, do what you gotta do!" Alec called cheerfully. He sat looking out the window at the ocean and waiting patiently for Xander.
 
"We might be able to find a good bridge to bungee jump off of," Daizi told him, wondering why they were walking so slowly, but figuring he saw something in their way, "Although Dark would probably have a heart-attack if we brought that up to him. His wife and son jumping off a bridge might be too far for him. Or we could go ziplining. I can do ziplining."

They weren't too far away from the rental, so soon enough, Daizi felt the concrete of the small patio beneath her cane, and she slid open the back screen door, leaving her sandy shoes outside but still tracking sand into the home.
 
"Ziplining would be awesome!" Xander agreed readily. "We'll look into ziplining later."

He left his shoes outside like Daizi and shook himself off as best he could, but, like Daizi, he still tracked a fair amount of sand into the house.

"Mama! Xander! You're home!" Alec crowed happily. He sprang up and ran to hug Xander first. He looked at Daizi's and Xander's new necklaces curiously. "Did you guys go to a parade I didn't hear about?"
 
"Xander found them very elegantly while we were on the beach," Daizi replied, touching the beads around her neck, "Now that I think about it, they might be cursed, but we'll deal with that when the time comes." Once it sounded like Xander was free from the hug, Daizi wrapped up Alec, "How was your day? Do you like how your nails came out? I wish I could see them!"
 
Xander glanced at Diazi and bit back a smile when she said he found them "elegantly."

"I like them!" Alec told Daizi about the necklaces before being enveloped in a hug. He happily hugged her back. "I got blue with silver fish scales! And one finger is tipped with black." He stuck out one hand for Xander to see while still being hugged. "It was the best time ever!"

"Sweet nails," Xander approved.
 
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