How Green Becomes Wood

"I suppose I do have flowers on the back of my hands," Dark said, looking down at his hands, "I do not really have anything against butterflies or anything, I simply prefer moths."

"I remember being a little kid and screaming the first time a butterfly thought to land on me. At that point, nobody had warned me that an one might try to." Daizi laughed, pulling her husband lightly along. There was a lovely bridge by a fake waterfall she liked, and she wanted to show it to the twins. If you reached far enough out, you could touch the water.

And that is exactly what she did, once they made it there, and then immediately flicked her hand towards Dark to hit him with little waterdroplets and laughed, "Do you know," she said to the twins, "they say it's a magical, wish-granting waterfall, this one."
 
"Really?" Alec demanded excitedly, hurrying over and leaning in close.

Xander eyed the waterfall mildly. "Uh-huh. That's some magical piping and fake rock they've got there." He leaned ab it sideways to get a good look. "Fake rock mixed with real rock is an excellent magical formula."

"What does it do?" Alec asked.
 
Daizi chuckled while Xander pointed out how the waterfall wasn't a real one and therefore couldn't possibly be real magic, and said, "Magic is all about intention and energy," and then she reached into her bag for spare change and distributed it amongst the four of them, which was encouraged by the botanical garden, "and how embarrassed would you feel if you missed your chance."

Since Alec was more intrigued, she rested her arms on the guard rail, and told him, "A minor magical act like a wish speaks a desire out into the cosmos, and through that things can happen. Little things, little alterations. Wishing someone back to life or for world peace or big, difficult things like that are too big to be altered by a coin tossed into the water, but littler things? Passing a test, making a team... those things can be swayed if enough thought is applied, and sometimes important things like finding or maintaining love or finding contentment..." She shrugged, "I'm not going to say all it takes is making enough wishes and your problems are solved, but if you speak things out enough into the Universe, sometimes the Universe will listen."
 
Alec hesitated, looking at his coin. "I don't think I believe in a universal awareness... thing. If it does exist, would it be offended if I did this?"

"I doubt it," Xander said dryly. "It sounds mostly like just positive intention, anyway. Can't go wrong there." He didn't think he quite believed it, either, but surprisingly, he was more open to the idea than his brother.
 
"No, 'it' won't be offended. I don't think it can be offended, I don't think it's conscious, I don't think there's some great deity up in the sky actively deciding to grant us wishes or not, I think it's out there in the void. It's like an echo, you know? It's like refraction." At the very least, she seemed to believe deeply in it, and if you were to ask her, it worked, but she also spent a good deal of her free time working with manifestations and other little rituals. Every full moon, she'd fill a glass of water and 'set her intentions,' then leave it in the moonlight all night to 'charge it' and then drink it in the morning, and it was just another of her little habits.


"And if you do not believe in it," Dark said, casually turning the coin over in his fingers, "It is fun to pretend."
 
"Alright, I suppose that's harmless enough," Alec agreed, smiling at Dark. He looked at his coin and frowned in concentration. What would he wish for? Daize had said to keep it small, reasonable for a coin's worth of "magic." Right now, he had all he needed, more than he'd ever dreamed of having. Wait, there was one thing! He closed his eyes and wished without words, "That the talent show will go well for everyone!" Then he gently tossed it into the water with a little plink!

Xander shrugged and looked at his. What should he wish for? There wasn't much he needed that wasn't a massive wish, and the smaller things seemed silly to wish for. He still wasn't sure about this, but he supposed real or not, it didn't really matter what he wished for. If it was fake, nothing would happen. If it was too big of a wish, nothing would happen. So, he closed his eyes and tried to wish for the first thing that popped into his head. Two thoughts simultaneously climbed on top of each other in his mind. "A feeling of belonging," closely followed by, "A father who's proud of me." He half dropped, half threw the coin in shock at his own thoughts.
 
Despite everything Daizi had said about wish sizes, she held the coin, leaned over the water, and wished the twins would come to see her and Dark as family--as really their family, not just "the closest thing." She still didn't want to replace their mother, but, well, they felt like her kids. They were celebrating Mother's Day with her, Alec had given a gift, weeks ago she had battled for them, and they were talking about the future so... they felt like her sons. Perhaps one day she would tell them, and hoped she would find a way, to share with them just how much they had come to matter to her. Often, Daizi tried to check herself, saying, it hasn't even been a full six months since they moved in, but that didn't really feel fair. If five months from the time her baby was born she was saying, 'oh, I mean, I like her,' people would find her cold. Five months was still a long time, it was a long time to speak with them every day and to do her best to care for them properly, even if sometimes she faltered. "I only want them to see Dark and me as their family," she thought, and then took her husband's arm, seeming as casual as she would if she had wished she would get to sleep in a borrowed t-shirt that night, even though she did so every night.

Dark also didn't listen to Daizi's advice. He closed his eyes, and wished his baby would live. Well, he considered it a little wish, anyway, even though it was technically life or death. He wasn't asking for a resurrection. Right now her doctor kept telling them how well everything was going, how healthy the baby was, and how the baby was developing exactly as expected. So really, he was just wishing that nothing would change, and he believed if he had said about their dog, who was perfectly healthy, it would seem little, so... When Daizi took his arm, he smiled, because she just looked so content, and so lovely, and she just made him feel so comfortable. Sometimes he thought about that fight Daizi and Xander had back in December, and how he had claimed one day their marriage would sour, and then Dark would look over at her and be hit with these waves of love and admiration, feelings that only ever increased... and he would feel just so... sad for him. Not being able to trust in something so real... Maybe he should have used his wish to see if he could help Xander learn about the existence of true love, but it was too late, so he supposed he would just have to prove it himself.
 
Xander casually pushed his hands into his pockets and strolled off away from the waterfall, stopping a short distance away from the waterfall to study a flower. It was some kind of frilly thing in the red family, and there was probably a sign designated what it was, exactly, but he didn't actually care about the flower. No, he was trying - and failing - to not think about his wish. It wasn't that he was dissatisfied, far from it! This was the safest and most at-home he'd ever felt in his entire fifteen years of experience, and yet... he did not fully feel as if he belonged. Why? Of all the families to belong to, something like Daizi and Dark should be perfect, and yet he couldn't help feeling somewhat disconnected. Alec, on the other hand, Alec looked like he fit right in. He was in complete awe of Dark, and obviously admired Daizi. Why could Alec fit in and not Xander? Maybe, and Xander couldn't help a slight smirk at the thought, but maybe Xander was the one who wasn't weird enough. He had actually found a group of people where he was too "normal" to fit. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. He'd rather look at the flowers and hope this trip ended fast so he wouldn't have to think about it at all.

"Is everyone finished?" Alec asked, glancing between Dark and Daizi. "That was kind of fun, and I haven't died in a comedically ironic manner, so I suppose I haven't offended anyone or anything. That's always a good start!"
 
"I believe we are," Dark said, and finished crossing the bridge arm-in-arm with his wife. Sometimes they wondered if they'd walk separate from each other more regularly if Daizi could see, because helping to guide her through unfamiliar or variable locations as definitely a part of why they always walked together as they did, "Do you like that one, Xander?"

Daizi hummed, holding his arm loosely, "Isn't it funny how both times we've gone out to visit somewhere natural, there is some curious bridge to see?"
 
Xander glanced at Dark before looking at the flower and really seeing it. "Uh, yes. It's a good red and not too frilly," he said, nodding casually. He had no idea what else he was supposed to say about a flower. "It smells nice." He took a sniff. "I mean, interesting. It smells very interesting."

"I just thought you liked bridges. They are a fun transitional thing," Alec said.
 
Dark took Xander at his word, because he had no reason to suspect Xander was staring at the flower as some sort of distraction. They were at a place specifically designed to let people look at flowers, and it wasn't like Xander didn't seem to maintain a relatively strict image of masculinity. The kid was afraid to express liking horses out of fear it was 'girly,' so it wasn't particularly weird to find him stammering about liking a flower.

"I do like bridges," Daizi agreed, "and they are transitional. You know, the act of connecting two places while not existing in other, they're a physical manifestation of liminal space. But, in this case," She laughed, "it's just a coincidence, I only suggested coming here because I knew the flowers were in bloom. The bridge had nothing to do with it."
 
"The flowers are really pretty. I'm just glad I don't have any kind of allergy," Alec admitted. He turned to Xander and stepped closer, reaching up to give his sleeve a light tug. "That one looks like your kind of flower!"

Xander squinted where Alec pointed. "The black one?" he asked uncertainly. "It looks kind of frilly."

"I think it looks spiky," Alec said. The pair moved closer to the flower and found the unobtrusive sign giving the flower's name. "The Black Dahlia. Apparently it's actually a very dark shade of red."

"That's a deep red," Xander admitted. He touched one of the petal tips cautiously. "It is kind of poky on the edges."

"But soft inside. It's just like you!" Alec grinned.

Xander rolled his eyes at his brother. "I do like the color. It's all..."

"Moody?"

"Mysterious."
 
"Daizi had Black Dahlias in her wedding bouquet," Dark said, stopping to look at the flower. Naturally, he wanted to say how beautiful and perfect that day was, because it was, and for him at least there was something transformative about it which he did not anticipate, but he knew the result of it, and sometimes it was probably nice to give the twins a break from the raw, all-consuming power of his relationship.

As they crowded around the Dahlia, Daizi released Dark's arm and crouched down to feel the petals, "My favourite flower is the dandelion, but I don't think if I was a flower I would be one, I like them exactly as they are and for what they are. Although I do feel sad that everybody just calls them weeds and acts like it means they're not as lovely as other flowers. Just because it wasn't intentionally planted doesn't make them worse," After taking her time interacting with the flower, Daizi stood back up and said, "But, speaking of this particular flower, have you ever heard of Elizabeth Short?"
 
"I never could figure out the difference between a weed and a... non-weed," Alec admitted. "I wouldn't know the first thing about weeding a garden. I would probably pull all the good plants. Or wanted plants, I suppose, since all plants are good in their own space."

"I never cared to know," Xander shrugged, turning away. "It looks nice, it doesn't look nice, it's green, it's other colors... I dunno. I don't get the point of gardening."

"You're just saying that because you were the only one in our class not to get a sprout in your cup," Alec said.

"That was the second grade!" Xander protested, walking on with Alec at his side. "And yours dies three days after it sprouted."

"That was really depressing," Alec agreed.
 
"It's nice to help things to grow, I feel very accomplished in mine. And, even if flowers didn't smell lovely, not too long from now, my current berry, blackberry, and strawberry bushes will be ready to pick, and that's a reason to garden even if you don't care for aesthetics," Daizi walked back to Dark, ready to move the group along, "although since current berries bloom in late June, early July, and blackberries between July and August, I'll probably have to have someone else do the actual picking. And blackberry bushes will prick you."

"I will help," Dark promised, even though he always did anyway.

"And you know, some of what we've planted are to help with grief. Our frail darling apple tree is a grief-tree, or a life-tree, depending on how you look at it, and back home in Cairo we have Paper Reeds for my mother and brother. That's very comforting, too," She sighed deeply, more wistful than sad, thinking about how the leaves felt against her fingers. The one for her mother had been there for as long as she could remember, "So, even if you hate gardening, if there is a plant you would like to add, I would be glad to help take care of it for you."
 
"That sounds extra depressing," Xander grumbled, trying to keep his voice low enough Daizi wouldn't hear. "Who would want a constant visual reminder of grief?" He glanced at Alec and realized his mistake.

Alec said nothing, just shrugged a bit. He addressed Daizi and said, "Maybe next year after we've had some experience with a garden not under snow or in a cup."
 
"The offer always stands," She said breezily. If it wasn't for the fact both of her hands were occupied, she'd have had one hand in the pocket of her dress. The option was the important thing, she never forgot about their own mother, or their grief. It was a longer, and more complicated, process than she feared either twin recognized.

"It will be nice when the apples grow," Dark added. It felt like second chances to him, but all he really said, "so many of the varieties at the store are devoid of flavour. I wish our climate could support a pomegranate tree, though."

Daizi sighed heavily, "Or an olive tree."
 
"Second chances?" Alec murmured, and Xander glanced at Dark briefly before meandering away, never getting too far from them. Alec shook off the thought and asked, "What kinds of fruit can you grow around here? I'd never really thought about it. I mostly see vegetable and flower gardens, not fruits,"
 
"Orchard fruit trees are the best around here: apples, pears, plums, those sorts. I want a cherry tree, we can grow them here. The berries do on okay, although our blackberries take the winter hard." She tried to recall other plants she had read about being able to grow and drummed her fingers against Dark's bicep as she tried to recall, "they aren't fruits, but I also like my little herb garden."

"Cooger grows mostly vegetables, because he really only cares about sustenance, and we trade our excess. There is still a lot we need to buy in stores, especially when the harvest season is over, but it helps." Dark explained. Cooger grew exclusively vegetables he liked and didn't bother with planting flowers: if he wasn't such an inexperienced cook and so attached to preprocessed food, he perhaps would have been able to truly live off the land.
 
"Cooger is weird," Xander stated, but he didn't necessarily mean it in a bad way. Cooper actually amused him to some extent.

"As soon as school is out, I want to spend more time in the garden," Alec said.
 
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