How Green Becomes Wood

Dark and Daizi both openly agreed with Xander's statement regarding Cooger being weird, but to be fair--they were both sort of weird too.

"You're welcome to it. And if you want to learn to care for any of the plants, I'd be glad to teach you, I find it very relaxing, and it feels very domestic on days when I come in from the garden to find Dark baking in the kitchen. It's very comforting."

Dark looked at the twins, "Do you know, Mr. Tate, the one math teacher frequently criticizes me for doing so much of the cooking and cleaning? He is convinced I am going to turn 'into a housewife' and claims I should leave all of it to Tarot."
 
"Isn't it strange how men always say to leave the cooking to the women, but most restaurants are owned and run by men?" Alec mused thoughtfully.

"They're also taught by their mothers to never touch anything because it's more trouble to teach them how to cook and clean than it is to tell them to stay out of the way," Xander drawled. "The whole chauvinistic movement was accidentally created by women who wanted to get things done without kids under their feet." He was mostly joking.
 
Hearing Xander's comment, Dark immediately turned to him and signaled for him to hush, not for fear of offense, but because although he loved his wife and was proud of how intelligent and passionate she was, she was also an anthropologist, and he knew perfectly well a comment that could set her off on a very complicated lecture.

"Well, you have to think about how it wasn't women who put ourselves in the kitchen in the first place," Daizi said slowly, "we were put there historically so men could seize the rights of reproduction. That's why the patriarchy developed in the first place. Before the advent of civilization, when we were hunter-gatherers, that was the last time we were truly egalitarian, and it's argued that we don't actually know the division of labour was men hunted and women gathered, it's very possible we our projecting our own understanding of society, which is patriarchally influenced, onto prehistoric societies. The problem with women is that the maternity of babies is easily discerned, obviously," she gestured to herself, "but the paternity is a lot more complicated, and in societies where kinship is largely dependent on who you are related to, having knowledge of such links is intrinsic, especially when inheritance is tied to it. Logically, then, inheritance should be handled matrilineally, and in some societies it is, because of the lack of ambiguity. This would necessitate, though, the transfer of ownership to be handled by women, which disadvantages men, so the necessary response was to tell women, 'okay, since you give birth and you lactate, and formula hasn't been invented yet, you should stay at home to care for the babies and the children, and men will work, and then, since men are working, it makes more sense to transfer power through them, since they're doing the earning anyway.' And that means--" She continued to explain the origins of 'women's work' as it relates to the patriarchy and ownership for a while, and Dark nodded along with her, because he fully expected this lecture as soon as Xander blamed chauvinism on women.

At last, she reached her conclusion, "And so ultimately, we if we utilize the framework Jessica Whyte has laid out in her work with Human Rights, but apply it to this situation, we aren't at the real root of chauvenism if we can still ask, 'but why,' and if we say, 'Men are chauvenistic because of their mothers wanting them out of the way,' we need to then ask, 'but why are mothers expected to be the ones doing the housework in the first place,' and the answer to that falls, as so many things do, on the shoulders of the patriarchy, which advantages men over all other genders."
 
Neither Alec nor Xander made it to the end of the lecture. Alec lasted longer than Xander and valiantly tried to listen and understand, but eventually he and Xander were wandering along a short distance away and admiring the flowers. It took them a bit to even realize she'd finished.

"You have put a lot of study into the subject," Alec said in an effort to be polite.

"You are a well educated woman who is definitely not trapped by the patriarchy," Xander said with a straight face.
 
"The research I'm working on now is focused on gender within insular religious communities," Daizi explained, "I'm in cultural anthropology, so I'm more focused on the present, but some of the archaeologists I work with are collaborating for ethnographic analysis, they're interested in the historical role of women in Medieval Britain, currently. There's going to be an entire exhibit at the museum on it."

She felt compelled to explain how you do not need to be in the home to struggle with the patriarchy and how it affected all people regardless of gender, but Dark politely indicated now was perhaps not the ideal time for it.
 
"Oh. That is very cool. Maybe we can see it," Alec said with his best smile.

Xander didn't say he'd rather be hit over the head with a rock. But, if it really came to it, he'd go for her sake.
 
"I think it will be really something special," Daizi said, extremely proud of her work, "It's not only about gender, it's all about private lives of the every day person, it's only my work that's on gender. Well, my team's work. We were supposed to present in October, like I mentioned awhile ago, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to go now."

That was hugely disappointing, but she was trying to feel casual about it. To an extent, she was hoping her doctor would give her permission to go, it wasn't like she was due in October, but as much as she loved her job and was desperate to go, she wasn't going to do anything risky.
 
"I hope you can still go. That's important work!" Alec said sincerely. "I mean... I suppose I can see why you wouldn't, but I still hope so. I think what you've done is amazing."
 
Dark gently disentangled Daizi's arm from his so he could hold her by the waist, "It is possible they can let you present virtually. I know it is not the same, but if the travel is not possible, we fortunately live in an age of more possibilities."

"I suppose it's better than nothing," She sighed, leaning against him, "although I shouldn't say better than nothing. Some things are worth the sacrifice. And there will be more opportunities, I doubt in a year I'll care at all about the presentation. My name still gets on the paper."
 
"You'll care," Alec and Xander said simultaneously.

"You are way too passionate about your work to not care," Xander said.

"Even with certain, uh, distractions," Alec added.

"We'll figure it out," Xander said confidently. He grumbled and reached down to rub his ankle. "How big is this garden? My feet are starting to get sore."

Alec nodded in agreement. "But it has been very pretty and smells even better."
 
"I guess I should have said I won't regret it if I don't go, at least, not as much as I would if I went and something went wrong." They were right to presume she'd still care, and to an extent she supposed she felt like she shouldn't, ans felt guilty that she did. Which was ridiculous, considering how much time she was already planning to take off work.

When Xander said his feet hurt, Dark replied saying, "You need more exercise or better shoes."

"But we can leave soon, if you would like to."
 
"We've been here for like an hour," Xander pointed out, low-key offended that Dark would think he needed to exercise more. He actually probably did need new shoes, but he wasn't going to mention that. Instead, he just gave Dark a challenging glare. "Unless you think you're really in better shape than me?" He said to the fit, exercise buff of a giant who stood for multiple hours a day teaching children.
 
"An hour... is not a long time to walk if you are able bodied" Dark replied, and did not believe it was controversial to say so. When Xander challenged him, he shrugged his broad shoulders and said, "I do not think it is controversial." He spent at least an hour most day in their basement gym, taking only one rest day a week. And he, after walking for one hour, felt completely fine, which suggested an issue of stamina, excepting, or in addition to, bad shoes. He would check later.
 
Xander rolled his eyes and grumbled softly as he slunk off to look at yet more flowers. In truth, he was just straight-up bored. How big was this place? He knew he should be pouting like this. This was for Daizi, not him. He should be trying to encourage her to have a good time. Yet, knowing that he was likely messing up due to his attitude just made him grumpier, and he didn't know how to break from the spiral.

As usual, Alec stepped in for him. "Daizi, come smell this flower!" he called, standing next to a small, pink flower. "It's called a cottage pink dianthus, and it smells kind of spicy."
 
"If you would like to build your stamina, so you can walk for longer than an hour," Dark said, not mockingly, after thinking for a while, "there are various sports you may try. You might enjoy a martial art or some other fighting class."

Daizi crouched down to smell the flower and touched its petals, "It does smell spicy, that is very interesting! People have told me our house smells spicy, too."
 
Xander stopped and gave Dark an odd look. "You want me to learn to be able to hit people better?" he asked, utterly bewildered by the suggestion. "Considering my rap sheet, I'd think that's the last thing you'd want to do."

Alec smiled and he gently brushed his hands over the clump of flowers. "The more they are disturbed, the more they smell! And they are a pretty color. It's like... It's like a gentle warmth, like a cinnamon roll after it's cooled for a bit."
 
"Maybe not learning to hit better, but everyone needs an outlet. I make my carvings and I sketch, but why do you think I work out so much? Sometimes you just need to move," He spoke seriously and earnestly, making an effort to let Xander in and make him feel more secure. After saying what was important to say, however, he smirked down at him and added, "But you will need better shoes first, if you intend to keep up."

Daizi nodded, trying to comprehend Alec's description of colour, "They sound very comforting to look at..." She ran her hands over them and as the smell increased she said, "I wonder if they release more of a smell to warn other flowers they're being disturbed or if it is to attract pollinators."
 
Xander settled a little, realizing Dark was taking this seriously and not just saying things to say them. "I guess that makes sense," he agreed cautiously. "Might be interesting to try some kind of class. Nothin' too brutal, I guess. Alec wouldn't like that. But I guess most of those martial art types aren't too serious until you get higher up."

"I'd like to think it's the pollinators," Alec told her. "The idea that we might be making them upset is, well, upsetting." He smiled and leaned over to take in a deep breath. "I actually don't like most flower scents," he admitted to her, "but I like these ones."
 
"Tarot would not like it either. But if you are interested, I will gladly find options for you, and many offer trial classes so you can find which ones you like the best." Once he had seen a video with a little song saying take that feeling, put it in a muscle, and you take that feeling and you put it in a muscle, and you take all the feelings and you put it in a muscle. They can't see you cry while you sweat, and although he did believe he had better coping skills than the video suggested, there were days he felt it strongly, and the way Xander had challenged him made wonder if perhaps the kid could benefit from something similar.

Although, even though Dark would never admit it, some part of him, upon receiving the challenge, was fully prepared to show up and either race Xander or find something to hoist off of the ground. His instinct was to scoop practically six foot tall wife off the ground as if it were nothing, but it wasn't exactly a fair challenge, seeing as she was still so much taller than Xander. In any case, he'd rather have people believe he didn't have such base responses.

"I prefer to think of it as a pollinator too," Daizi replied, standing up again. She smoothed her dress and lightly danced her fingers over her middle. Now that she had her energy back, she was fully prepared to spend half the day here, but she was empathetic and said, "If you boys are tired, we can go home. I don't want to beat you into the ground."
 
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Xander didn't say anything at first, just studied Dark as if making certain he was for real and not pulling his leg. "Alright," he relented. "That's not the worst idea I've ever heard. Could give it a try. At least until I learn how to bench press you." He smirked at Dark, half in play, half in challenge.

"Oh, no! We're fine!" Alec reassured her. "We can take as long as you like. There are a lot of scents and unusual sensations to take in, after all. If you enjoy this, we can stay until we drop from starvation." Alec would rather literally drop from starvation than tell her anything otherwise.
 
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