How Green Becomes Wood

After an hour or so of Daizi playing whatever music she wanted to put on, as was her right and responsibility as the person riding shotgun, she swiveled towards the rest of the boys, "Let's play a game. I'm going to say a category, and then one by one we're all going to choose a song to play that we think fits it. Let's start with songs that always make you want to dance."

If the twins agreed to the game, she also went through: songs that make you want to just take off running through a field, the song you always put on when you're sad, the song you think someone would think of you if they heard, what song makes you think of Alec (she went through the rest of their names, and of course the person who they were playing songs about weren't able to submit one for that category), the song that would play during the credits if your life was a movie. When she ran out of ideas, she offered to let someone else pick the categories.
 
The twins glanced at each other and shrugged. They agreed and started listing off songs. They both said "Safety Dance" for song that makes you want to dance. Xander didn't have an answer for the field one, and Alec said "Changing Days by Rose Betts. Neither had an answer for a song they thought someone would think of them. They then argued over what song would represent what person for quite some time. Alec thought "Hard Times" would make a good end movie credit song, but Xander thought something far harder and rockier would be better.

After they finally got tired of discussing that, Alec started posing other categories like colors and seasons and places. Like what song made you think of the beach or the forest.
 
Whenever the twins argued with each other, Daizi laughed and pointed out they were allowed to have different answers. Alec's movie wouldn't be the same as Xander's, they didn't have identical lives, after all.

Dark included his answers, as well, suggesting Welcome to the Black Parade as the song people would think of him when they heard it and Daizi suggested Rainmaker by Emilie DeForest as the song that always makes her want to dance.

Between the different themes and needing to wait for each song to finish playing before they could put on the next one, the rest of the drive went by fairly quickly, since they had something to really focus on and soon enough, they arrived at the hotel.
 
Once they reached the hotel, the twins wandered around to stretch for a bit and then turned their attentions to helping out Dark and Daizi take in their stuff. They didn't need all of it, of course, but a baby needed a lot of essential items for an overnight stay. Alec took Ivy when Daizi was ready, giving Daizi a bit of time to decompress before taking Ivy back. Xander kept an eye on things and vaguely helped keep her entertained but didn't do much with her directly.
 
Daizi was a bit glad to have some level of a break, so she took a walk down the hallways while Dark, exhausted from hours of driving, took a heavy, bearlike nap on the bed he was longer than while they waited for food to be delivered.

Ivy was only glad to be, at last, free of the carseat, and she gleefully crawled around and looked for things she could get into. The empty hotel room trashcan was a great source of entertainment.
 
Alec kept a close eye on her, but it didn't seem like there was much she could get into to either destroy or hurt herself, so he let her have as much freedom as she wanted. Xander stood near the window looking out, not really paying attention to the others as he watched for the delivery truck and lost himself in his own thoughts. He wasn't sure why, but the memory of the girl at the last stop kept surfacing. Why was it bothering him so much? It was just a fast little thing. He didn't need to be concerned about someone else's problem.

When the food arrived, Alec went to answer the door. The young woman at the door had her already tight shirt tied up to turn it into a belly shirt, but her pants looked like vintage bell bottoms. When she gave him a look, Alec realized he'd been staring just a little too much and quickly told her he loved her pants. (Not a lie.) He tipped her from his own money and brought in the food after making triple certain Ivy was safe.
 
Dark was just waking up when food was delivered. The room set up meant he couldn't see whoever delivered the food, but he could see Alec, and he watched this curiously, a bit groggy and his hair messy. The smell of the food, though, made it easier for him to sit up, "Xander," he said, once the door was shut, "do you want to go find your mother and tell her dinner is here?"
 
"Sure," Xander agreed. He picked up the trashcan and righted it for Ivy to knock over and made sure he had his key before heading out into the hall.

Alec set the food on the tiny little desk and washed his hands before digging in to try to find each person's order and separate them out.
 
At that moment, Daizi was around the corner, having gotten slightly turned around while stretching her legs, and was checking the braille on the hotel room doors to try to figure out the correct direction to go. Although she wasn't concerned, she was a bit frustrated at the situation.

Taking a big stretch which flexed out the muscles on his shoulders and back, Dark got out of bed and wandered over to Alec to help. On his way, he bent to scoop up Ivy with one arm, causing her to squeal. "Do you need help?"
 
"Mama," Xander called as he approached, keeping his voice moderate so he wouldn't bother the other guests. "The food's arrived, and I think Mini is trying to throw herself away by crawling into the trash can."

"No, I think I've got it," Alec assured him. "Should we try to fit around the table, or put towels on the beds picnic style?"
 
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Daizi jumped when Xander spoke, having heard footsteps but not expected it to be someone she knew. "Her crawling really is going to be trouble, it's it?"

"I do not think we even have enough seats to crowd around the table," Dark said, smoothing his hair back, "eating on the beds is fine. Towels are a good idea, I had not thought of that."
 
"Yeah, and she sure took to it fast. I thought it'd take longer, like sitting up," Xander remarked. He turned tonstart walking back toward the room. "I guess you could put her on a leash."

"I'll go get them," Alec said, proud that Dark thought it was a good idea. Two years together, and it was still a matter of great honor whenever Dark praised even the smallest thing.
 
"I think I will when she starts walking," Daizi said, following him back to the room, thankful for the echoing halls, "I know that's made fun of a lot, but if I have her out in public and it's just me, I think it'd be safer if she couldn't run away."

"We should feed you on a towel," He told Ivy, looking down into her face. "You have very pretty eyes, my darling. But you are a very pretty girl."
 
"Better looking silly than have something bad happen," Xander said flatly. "I think it's a good idea even for sighted people." He opened the door for them and stepped inside. "Found her. She was trying to do a runner."

Alec rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm sure she was. I have towels out on the bed so we can have dinner!"
 
"I just know people already expect me to be overprotective with her. It's hard to tell sometimes if I'm actually being the proper amount of cautious or if I am being extreme." Daizi admitted as she stepped back inside, "Hey, I might've been. Maybe the stress of preparing for another long car ride tomorrow got to me, or I booked a second room so Dark and I don't need to play tetris to be able to both fit on the bed." As she went to the bed, she stumbled over the edge of it, stubbing her toe.

"Travel would be much easier if I were more compact," Dark admitted, resisting the urge to hurry over to Daizi to help guide her, knowing it would just make her mad. He did still ask, "Are you okay?"

"Yes." She groaned, finding the edge of the bed properly and sitting on it, "I'm very excited to be back in a familiar space. That's the real reason why I can't run away."
 
Alec winced. "That looked like it hurt. Don't worry! Tomorrow, you shall sleep in your own bed!"

"That'll be nice," Xander sighed. He moved over to help Alec ferry stuff onto the beds and then plopped down. "This vacation has been awesome, but I miss Enkidu."
 
"I miss him too," Daizi sighed, "and the rats. Poor Adrienne... I've been afraid this whole time she'd die while we were gone. Cooger has been sending me updates... I don't know what Melinoë will do, they're so bonded..."

Dark leaned over to squeeze her shoulder, "We will figure it out."

"And Ophelia! She was only eight months old when we adopted her, she's younger than the other two, and rats can't be alone." Daizi explained, caring so deeply for her little pets.
Sometimes she would carry around on her shoulder, "Ivy likes watching them so much."
 
"At least they have had such a good life with you, Mama," Alec tried to assure her, touching her arm. "I know you'll miss them so much, but I'm glad they got to live such happy lives and bring you such joy."

"It is very sad," Xander said soberly. He didn't care much for the rats. He thought they were cool enough as animals, and he did care that Daizi was upset, but he'd lived with rats too many times to like seeing them as a pet. He just avoided them.
 
"They're just so sweet," She said, taking a shallow breath, "Just little pocket puppies. I wish so badly they had longer lives. Do you know they giggle when you tickle them? It's just so high-pitched we can't hear it."

"I miss Desdemona," Dark said with a solemn nod of his head, "Of all the rats we have had, I think she is still my favourite."

"Oh yeah," Daizi smiled weakly, "That's the one who would always crawl into your shirt right?"

"I would read a book with her snuggled up."

"She liked to groom you."

"I think she thought I was a particularly untidy giant rat."

Daizi laughed lightly, "It's the beard."

"Probably." He chuckled, "My dear Desi."
 
"Oh, that's so sweet!" Alec said, smiling. "I can understand why you'd miss her so much."

Xander, for his part, decided not to say anything at all for fear of saying the wrong thing. Just because he didn't like rats didn't mean he couldn't see how much she was worried about them. So he focused on his dinner and just listened in case he was called upon.
 
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