How Green Becomes Wood

"No, hey..." Daizi murmured, rubbing his back, "Alec..."

She was about to say more when suddenly a great booming exclaimed, "Well what on earth are y'all doing here?!" Both Dark and Daizi turned and looked up to see none other than their dear friend looking at them, hands on his hips, looking shocked with a big dumb grin on his face.

"I could ask you the same question," Dark replied, standing up so he and Cooger could give each other a tight hug.

"No you can't," Cooger replied, "I thought you'd combust if you'd ever walk into a place like this. You too, Tarot." He turned to the hostess, "Hey, Carol, I think I'm good actually."

"Hey Cooger," she smiled, genuinely, "We're here with Declan, he just popped out for a cigarette. Xander went with him." Her smile faltered.

"Oh. That's dumb, you shouldn't take a kid out smoking with you." He paused, and then grinned all over again, "You look great by the way, really healthy. How's the baby?"

"She's doing well."

"I'll bet, Dark sent me that ultrasound picture. How about you little man, how are you doing?" He held out his large, calloused hand to Alec, "How's the Sage? Gotta lot on your mind by the looks of it. Mind if I join y'all? Couldn't possibly have a nice meal alone knowing my brother and the rest of the gang are all here." He didn't wait for the answer and sat down at the end of the round booth, planning to get up when Xander and Declan could sit down and then sit on the other side of the stranger.
 
Alec nearly jumped out of his skin at Cooger's voice, but he couldn't help a smile as he accepted the handshake. As overwhelming as Cooger could be, he also radiated warmth and no small amount of joy. It was hard not to like him even if it was sometimes hard for Alec to endure his personality.

Declan returned only a moment after Cooger arrived, Xander trailing only a step behind. They had to stay close due to the narrow confines of the restaurant. Declan looked like he was going to say something, his expression serious, but that look turned into puzzlement when he saw Cooger. "Oh, hello."

"Hey, Cooger," Xander greeted, much more at ease with Cooger. "What are you doing here?" To Declan, Xander said, "Cooger is basically Dark's brother."
 
"There's a lotta that question going around, ya know?" Cooger said, standing and shaking Declan's hand, "I just happened to be here on my own and just happened to be around and ran into my favourite people, and I thought, why eat alone, right? It's good to finally meet you, man."
 
"Nice to meet you," Declan agreed, shaking Cooger's hand with a warm grin. He did not try to do as some men and try to give a ridiculously strong handshake, just a normal if firm one.

Xander scooted into the seat, making his way around to Alec. He reached out automatically and found his hand suddenly in a vice grip. He looked at Alec, completely confused. What had him all worked up? Alec made no indication that he wanted to talk about it, content to sit in silent, his shoulder practically melding into Xander's.

"Right," Declan said, turning from Cooger. "Okay, this is damn awkward with another new person, but I guess it's gotta be said now or it might not be said. Daisy- Sorry, Daizi, it really is just the way I talk, so I'm sorry if it offends you, but I will try to watch my words better around you if it gets you so upset. Mind, it's a lifetime habit, so I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best." He gave a slight nod and hitched himself awkwardly into the booth.
 
"Thank you," Daizi replied, looking downwards a bit, "And I'm sorry too. It can be hard to not get defensive about some things."

"There! See, lookit that! I don't know what that was about, exactly, but it's all solved and we've all apologized and we can all move on!" Cooger said cheerfully, with only the slightest look to Dark, but he just shrugged his shoulders and let it go upon seeing the slight wave Dark gave back, "Now." He said, turning towards Alec, "Little Sage, your eyeliner looks really good today. That's awesome. Now, Declan, are you drinking? I know Tarot's not, but Dark could probably be persuaded. It's not like he can get too drunk to drive anyway."
 
Alec smiled at Cooger. "Thank you, I've been practicing."

Declan chuckled. "A couple of drunken mistakes ago, I might have taken that as a challenge, but I'm older and wiser now. I'm just going to have a pale ale." He eyed Cooger speculatively. "Are you in construction work? Automotive?"

Xander gently pried Alec's hand long enough to shake feeling back into his hand, careful to keep the motion under the table. Then he let Alec take it back and whispered, "What's wrong?"

Alec shook his head. "Nothing anymore. Just... it's a lot."

Xander nodded. "Yeah. Least Cooger's here now. He'll keep them all from fighting."

Alec sighed. "I hope so. I don't like how stressed everyone is."

Xander bumped his shoulder gently. "They just need to get settled, like us when we first moved into their house. It'll work out, you'll see. They'll see Declan's not all bad. No more than me, anyway."

Alec glanced at Xander, but let the comment go.
 
"Hey it's not a challenge," Cooger shrugged, "He's just all mass. Look at the absolute size of the lad," He waved towards Dark, "There's just too much mass. I mean he looks great, kinda makes a man insecure. We're the same age and all. Anyway, I am your classic all-around Handy Man. I can fix pretty much anything but computers. Cars, toasters, toilets, it don't matter. And I'll paint rooms, clean gutters, whatever you need. I'm probably going to help them redecorate a room in their house soon, because otherwise it'd probably just be Dark on his own, right? Unless these two," He winked at the twins, "Would want to help with something like that. You can have my card if you'd like. I'd ask you what you do but, eh, I already know. No secrets amongst brothers."

Dark and Daizi sighed, feeling relieved that Cooger had magically shown up. He certainly knew how to take the pressure off.
 
"Thanks, but I don't have need of a handy man. I don't own a house, and I'm my own mechanic on my bike," Declan chuckled. "That's a pretty good skill to have, man! You must have a lot of good stories to tell."

The waitress dropped by with their drinks, and Declan thanked her a touch brusquely, earning a slight glance his way from the waitress. Alec took his Dr. Pepper in both hands like it was the answer to World Peace, and Xander sipped his sprite casually.
 
"Well, if you ever change your mind, I'm not hard to find," Cooger said, and quickly waved the waitress down to order, apologizing for arriving late. She seemed to know him, and after she walked off he drummed on the table, "What were we talking about? Oh, right--yeah I've got some pretty good stories. And I'd tell a buncha them to the twins here if they'd ever agree to come see my cabin. They're basically my nephews now, and someone's gotta teach 'em how to make a proper s'more. Only an American an teach you that."

"That's probably true," Daizi chuckled, sipping on her blue lemonade. It tasted basically just like lemonade to her, so she privately questioned if she had been given the right drink or if the kitchen was laughing. It would be a pretty good prank, she supposed. Although, better if she had ordered a regular lemonade and they gave her a blue one, because isn't blue a colour dye your mouth will turn?

"And you see more stars out in my neck of the woods--and I mean that literally--than you do anywhere else. Yep, I'd take 'em out fishing on my boat, or out sitting on my dock if they're more comfortable with their feet on solid ground. They'd have the best weekend of their lives, or--Hey," He turned to the twins, "How 'bout over the Fourth of July? These two don't celebrate, it'd be a great time. Otherwise you'd just stay home."
 
"You're making me want to come stay at your place!" Declan laughed. "That sounds grand!"

"Fireworks and smores are nice," Alec volunteered.

"The last time I was on a boat, the guy steering the boat thought he could teach me to swim with the sink-or-swim method," Xander grumbled.

Alec shivered. "The lake was so cold!"

Declan grunted. "That's how my old man tried to teach me, too. I still haven't learned how to swim. But the fourth of July fireworks are the best!"
 
"Ah well you don't gotta worry about being tossed in the lake. I'd never do something like that, my folks are lawyers: I learned quick and young that if I do something stupid that endangers another person, they're not defending me in court, "but there's nothing like the fireworks even from the dock if you don't have a mind to trust your sea legs. I don't light off any myself, 'cause they scare the cats, and one wrong move means I burn the damn forest down."

Dark listened to the conversation and in a soft, distant tone said, "I do not like fireworks."

"Did you ever learn to swim?" Daizi asked the twins, squeezing Dark's hand privately.
 
"Can we do sparklers?" Alec suggested, smiling. "They are silent and so glittery!"

"We kind of learned to swim in a pool, like, keep ourselves from immediately drowning," Xander told Daizi. "I wouldn't say we're good at it, but we can doggy paddle and bob like the best. In a five-six foot pool."

Declan gave Cooger a light pat with the back of his hand. "Have you ever been to the desert? Like the Arizona desert? It's damn beautiful! Even going the speed limit on a bike, you feel like you're flying! And stars like you wouldn't believe! You don't get the reflection of a lake, but I'd say you can get probably the second best firework show out there without worrying about burning down a forest."
 
"That's good enough," Daizi replied, "a pool that depth isn't too bad. I can't wait to go to the beach this year though, I think it'll be really nice to feel buoyant. Dark had to learn to swim well, muscle is dense so he sinks fast."

"I have been through there," Cooger replied, "one summer the three of us rented a van and went on an awesome road trip. One night, when we were driving through Nevada, we were parked in the desert, and they were sleeping, or 'sleeping,' you can never tell," Daizi choked on her lemonade and Dark just stared at him, "and I was sitting on the roof of the van, and I swear to god I saw a UFO. Swear to god. So I can't go setting off fireworks in the desert, don't want to flag 'em down. Sparklers, though?" He turned towards the twins, "That's a deal."
 
Last edited:
Declan sniggered at Cooger's implication but let the comment go. "UFOs, huh? I gotta say, I'm pretty skeptical, but the world is weird enough even without them, so I wouldn't say I'd be surprised if one landed right in front of me." He paused. "Okay, I'd question it, but if it were not some kind of hallucination, joke, or mental breakdown, I'd accept it."

Alec nearly choked on his drink but just managed to save himself. Xander rolled his eyes with a slight huff. And grown-ups said teens were cringe!

The waitress returned, this time carrying most of their food, though Coogers was, obviously, not ready yet.
 
Cooger winked at Dark to let him know that, yes, he in act had known about that for the past fifteen years, even though Dark and Daizi were swearing up and down they "weren't together," but didn't comment it any further, instead saying, "You don't gotta be skeptical man, I'm telling you, I know what I saw. And like, there are some stories that are really compelling. You ever hear of Barney and Betty Hill? It'll make a believer out of you, mark my words. And hasn't the government or something confessed to not knowing what some flying objects are?"

"I do not know if I believe they have come here, I am more inclined to believe UFOs are very terrestrial, but, considering the scale of the universe, it only makes sense there is life elsewhere, even if it is only microbes." Dark added.

Daizi nodded, agreeing with Dark until his very last sentence, "I think intelligent life is likely. I wouldn't be surprised if there has been some high strangeness contact. There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy... There is much in this life we cannot see," Her eyebrows furrowed, "Aliens did not build the pyramids, though, and those theories are all rooted in racism."

"Shoot, brother," Cooger chuckled, "I sure hope all UFOs ain't terrestrial, because we all know what the implication is if they've all come from us. That's an even better reason to not light off fireworks in the desert. Dark'll tell you, you do not want the military bothering you. Individual soldiers? Love 'em and support 'em, but as an organized group coming at you? Authorized to come at you? With their black highlighters?"
 
"UFO just means Unidentified Object, meaning it could be anything from something out of this world or a frying pan someone used as a test in their trebuchet experiment," Declan pointed out. "Most UFOs that have been proven to be anything are usually just crap someone from this world put up there to begin with deciding to fall down. But all that aside, my main argument against ET is the lack of meddling."

"The lack of meddling?" Xander repeated.

Declan nodded. "You look at anything intelligent, humans, monkeys, even dolphins, if they find something in their turf, or discover something new, they all gotta meddle with it to some degree. It's curiosity, and you gotta have curiosity to get you into the stars, meaning you'd likely be curious enough to meddle with what you found out there."
 
"If the alien abduction stories are true," Cooger pointed out, "then that means there has been a lot of meddling." He stretched, resting his arm on the backrest of the booth, "and we don't know what the government's been meddling with that we don't know about. Look at MK Ultra, the CIA was doing a whole mind-control experiment, never said a word about it to us till they got caught, so who knows what they're up to we don't know about," He looked at the twins, "and that's not a conspiracy theory: they admitted to MK Ultra. That is fact."

Daizi was listening to the conversation, glad the conversation was just about aliens, and gladly enjoying her meal. Then, suddenly, as she brought her glass to her mouth to drink from it, she flinched away from it for seemingly no reason.
 
Declan chuckled. "Next you're going to be telling me to stock up on the tinfoil to shield myself from the rays, but alright. How does the government tie into ET?"

Xander didn't notice the flinch, intent on chowing down on his messy ribs and listening to the conversation between Cooger and Declan. He had no opinion to offer either way, but it was interesting to listen.

Alec felt her flinch and turned to Daizi. "What's wrong?" he asked softly, trying not to draw too much attention to her.
 
"No, nothing, I'm okay." Daizi replied, setting down her cup again.

"Did you forget the cup did not have a straw in it?" Dark asked gently, but... amused, with the sympathetic attitude of someone who had not only seen this many times before, but knew it would happen again, like when a person sees a basset hound puppy trip over its ears.

Daizi inhaled slowly, "...yes."

"Did you think the straw was going to poke you in the eye?"

"...yes." She was much less amused than he was, but after a moment still laughed at herself, while he patted her back, nodding.

Cooger missed their entire conversation, which was good because he'd tease her a little harder about it, not that she'd really mind. Instead, he kept focused on the conversation at hand, "Do you think the government would just not recognize aliens had came to earth? I mean, shit man, what did the government do in the movie, if you're fixated on calling them ET? What did they do at Roswell? And if they had the tech to get here when we don't even have the tech to put a human on Mars? Are you telling me they wouldn't be going obsessed with the aliens? Trying to get some of that for themselves?"
 
Alec smiled and touched her arm lightly. "I have poked myself in the eye before, and I'm sighted. I just wasn't paying attention, but I do now. It's not fun."

Declan waved a hand. "No, no, no, it's not because of the movie. Well, I guess kinda, but not really. ET is Extra-Terrestrial. Kind of a dumb name, but it's better than alien. An alien is someone without papers crossing borders. Aliens from Mexico or Canada or the US if they went somewhere else. ET is less confusing. And you I'd say are operating under the assumption that all the different branches of the government can get their collective asses together long enough to decide on anything. From what I hear, most think ET studies are a waste of time and those that are interested are obsessed with no funding."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top