How Green Becomes Wood

Dark ran his tongue over his teeth, trying to figure out what it might've been but had to shake his head, "No, I have no clue. I am not sure I have ever seen anything quite like that before."

"Oh, thank you," Daizi said, coming nearer, "You seemed a bit quiet at dinner. Are you feeling okay?"
 
"She makes some really cool... things and stuff," Alec said, watching her. "And I'm pretty sure she's a tetras champion." Lex reached in to rearrange something, and the last piece slid into her car perfectly. The doors didn't want to close, but she got them. Toby glided past on his board, controlling it with perfect ease as he went out onto the emptystreet and then back on the sidewalk. "Did you ever try skateboarding?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. It's just really noisy with all the cars on the road today," Xander grumbled. He realizes he'd completely crushed the floor he'd been playing with and tossed it aside.
 
Dark watched as Toby flitted about, "No. I cannot say that was something I ever felt inclined towards. And I also, I think irrationally, expect them to be unable to support me. In my mind, I am too big for them."

Daizi turned her head to the side. It didn't sound that noisy to her, and she was more sensitive to it. But she had spent over a decade with her husband, knowing how he could be, and a couple months ago Xander's hearing was damaged, which may still be healing, and sometimes people were overstimulated, so she said, "I had wanted to find land that was a bit more secluded than this so we didn't have any car noises."
 
Alec rubbed his chin. "I imagine that not all boards would be the same," he mused. "I bet you couldn't use just any old board, but I also bet you could ride some of them. If you fell, though..." He looked Dark up and down, "there's a lot of you to fall."

"That would have been cool, but annoying for the commute to work," Xander agreed. He turned and started pacing through the garden. again.
 
"I think it is more embarrassing when someone my size falls. You are much closer to the ground." He inhaled slowly, kissed Ivy's cheek, and then asked, "Have you ever broken a chair at a party? It is mortifying."

"That's partly why we ended up here. We talked about living somewhere else, and building up our home when we retired, but we wanted to spend as much time in our dream home as possible..." Daizi explained, following after him, feeling so strongly how not okay he was but not knowing how to reach him, "Where do you want to live?"
 
Alec shuddered. "I honestly cannot even imagine how awful that would feel."

Xander shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from picking flowers or hand injuries and thought about the question. "Greenland," he stated. "Maybe Nuuk or Qaqortoq." He said both words with a shockingly flawless accent considering the fact that he still had a lot of trouble pronouncing Arabic properly, and he lived with two people who spoke it continuously.
 
"That is why we do not own plastic or foldable chairs." Dark said solemnly.

"Greenland?" Daizi asked in surprise, even more shocked that he clearly had it so firmly planned, "Why there?" She felt, unexpectedly, a bit hurt he wanted to move so far away from her, despite knowing exactly how hypocritical that was.
 
"Those aren't comfortable, anyway," Alec agreed. He turned away from the window and looked up at Dark. "So! Do you know what outfit you are going to stick me into, and are you going to tell me? Or do I have to wait until the right time?"

"It's quiet, peaceful, looks pretty, there's only, like, 55 thousand or something people who live there, and the southern edges are like gardens," he told her, taking another turn about the garden. "Plus, dog sleds. And seal hunting. And minimal cars."
 
"You absolutely have to wait." Dark said definitively, "You will not get to see it until it is all on."

"I thought you liked driving?" Daizi asked, keeping pace with him while remaining distance, "You saved up so much money for a car."
 
"Of course I like driving!" Xander grumbled, walking faster. "Driving is freedom and responsibility and awesomeness, but going places by boat and 4-wheeler would be cool and probably safer."
 
"In a 4-Wheeler?" Daizi asked incredulously, "Like an ATV? I'm not sure about that. There are a lot of cases of those flipping over and crushing the driver. That's why Cooger won't own one."
 
"Maybe..." Daizi said slowly, thinking a lot of car accidents were caused from the same reason, but thinking that didn't seem like her place to point out, especially not after what happened to their mother. "How does Alec feel about Greenland?"
 
"I dunno. Never really talked about it. It's not like it's something that'd ever happen for real," Xander huffed. "You can't even get to Greenland from America. You gotta go through Canada and hope the air traffic works that day. Not to mention visa junk. It's just not happening. It's just a dream. Dreams like that don't happen."
 
"They can," Daizi replied quietly, "I ended up here, didn't I? I don't think it'd be harder to move from here to Greenland. It won't be easy, but if it's something you want, I'm sure there's a way. Things don't happen, unless you work for them."
 
Xander shrugged and kicked at a dandelion that dared raise its head near one of the borders. "Dunno if I wanna work for Greenland. Don't know what Greenland is really like. Just know it looks awesome for tourists."
 
"Yeah, that's going to happen," Xander scoffed. He shook his head and started walking in a tight circle. "People like me don't go places. We don't go visit Greenland or Scotland or Egypt. We don't get scholarships or international vacations or highly recognized positions. When we go on vacation, we go a couple of cities over and look at cool rocks or trees or whatever. Stuff like that doesn't happen and it won't happen. Dreams are fine as long as you wake up and remember that they are nothing but dreams and real life is a hell of a lot crueler."
 
"People like you?" Daizi asked, "What does that mean? If you mean, 'people who haven't expressed an interest in college,' then, yes, scholarships seem unlikely, but Dark didn't exactly have a lofty beginning, but he's been able to travel, and you were able to buy your own car at 16, which is a lot more than some kids can afford, and since you don't want to get married or have kids, it shouldn't be too hard to save for an international trip." After a moment, she added, "And I'll take you to Egypt."
 
"Never mind. Forget it," Xander said shortly. "It doesn't matter." He turned and started walking back to the house. He wasn't even certain he understood what was making him so mad about this conversation, but he wanted away from it.
 
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