How Green Becomes Wood

"Well of course not," Dark replied, pulling the bar down after they had already settled, "we have to be using bodyweight, if we did not cram in together, we would not have the power. There is another like this, I think they have it here, with a turn table. You have more space in it, and trust me, I get it going quick."
 
"That makes sense," Alec said happily. "How fast do you think we can get this thing going?"

"Not fast enough," Xander smirked, wiggling a little to test how much room he had to lean. "They should be starting it up soon, right?"

"There's two more people getting on, but I don't think it'll be much longer," Alec said, pointing to a teen couple that looked like they might be on a date.
 
When the riders had all gotten on, the operator came around to check everyone was sitting properly and secured. Once they were, he started the ride. Luckily, Dark knew the ride well enough that he was able to conduct them in when and in what direction to lean, and quickly they became the fastest spinning cart on the track.

The car with the teenage couple was certainly being used for purposes other than spinning, but besides them, everyone was certainly trying to get theirs going.
 
Alec couldn't help screaming. He had never considered himself a screamer, but he'd never found himself smooshed up against the side of a little round car thing going what felt like two-hundred miles per hour. He wasn't even sure if he was having fun or terrified for his life. He was too distracted by the sensation of his eyeballs trying to recede back and touch his brain.

For his part, Xander gave up trying not to let himself fall to either side and let himself lean, laughing historically. Faster and faster! He clung to the suddenly flimsy feeling bar for fear of getting ejected into space, but he was having too much fun to care beyond that. Terrified fun, but fun as he felt himself getting crushed between Dark and Alec.
 
Dark was familiarly unemotive, or was relatively speaking. He had a slightly goofy smile, but that was all. Although he was also focused on making sure he wasn't accidentally goint to squash the twins when they leaned that way. They certainly spun less when they were going in Alec's direction than when they were going in Dark's because of it.

All too soon, the ride came to an end, and the bar raised to let them out. Dark stepped out lightly, dizzy but handling it, and he held his hands out to the twins to help them up, "And how was that?" He asked, "Not a bad start to the rides, yes?"
 
Alec still held tight to the bar even when it raised. "Has it stopped? I can't tell," he said queasily as he watched the world continue to spin around them. "I can't feel my feet."

Xander kept one hand on the ride as he slowly stepped down and worked his way around. "That was the best!" he grinned, snickering shakily. "Not really sure if I'm facing in the right direction or not, but I want to go again!"
 
Dark went around to Alec, gently taking him by the arm and pulling him to his feet as if he weighed nothing, "Are you alright, Alec? You look a bit run through after that."

Holding him securely, he walked towards the ride's exit, "We still need to try the others, you do not want to get worn out before trying them all, or as many as you can."
 
"I think I liked it, but I am not sure," Alec admitted, shamelessly leaning on Dark for both support and direction. "I don't feel sick! That's good. Just dizzy."

Xander walked beside them with only a slight weave in his steps. "Where's the next one? Let's go!"

"Let's sit until the world stops spinning so we can actually enjoy the next one," Alec pointed out.

Xander hesitated a moment. "Yeah, alright, that makes sense."
 
"We can go see Daizi," Dark suggested, "until your brains stop swimming. Have you been on rides like this before? I know you said it was our first carnival together, but I thought you had also said, although it was a long time ago, how you had really only ever been on the little kid rides before."
 
Xander nodded. "When we were real little, we went on a couple of dorky kids rides, like the caterpillar train that goes just barely faster than walking speed and wiggles a bit. That's it. So dull."

"This was our first real ride," Alec told Dark. "Like really for real. We tried to sneak onto rides before, but we were always underweight... and maybe under-paid, if you know what I mean."

Xander shrugged. "They shouldn't make it so easy to sneak in if it's such a big deal."
 
"You really do not want to break those sorts of rules," Dark said, sounding very much like his usual, serious self, "I would if I could, there are a lot of rides I would love to go on, but I cannot, because I am too tall. I would sneak onto them, if it were possible, but if you do that, you run the risk of injury, or worse. And on rides like these," he gestured towards the tilt-a-whirl, "they are built to be set up and torn down, so many of them are a bit rickety and old. You can really only barely trust them, which is why I like them."

Daizi stood waiting for them where they left her, and when she heard Dark's voice through the crowd, she smiled brightly and asked, "How was it! I'm certain I heard Alec screaming."
 
"Fair enough, but it's not really something you think about when you're a kid," said the incredibly mature teenager.

Alec hurried toward Daizi, putting one hand on her arm. "It was awful! Horrible! An absolute torture!" He grinned. "I can't wait to try the next one! And the one after that, and try them all, and then ride all of them all over again! With a pause for food, of course."

"How's the guard rail? Still standing firm?" Xander teased Daizi gently.
 
"Oh its as flimsy as ever," Daizi replied, giving it a shake for good measure, "Just like we want it to be at a carnival." Turning out towards the twins, she added, "and good, I'm glad you had a horrible time! That's why we came here, after all. So what's next?"

"Whatever they would like to ride, I suppose. As long as I ride everything I am not too tall for by the time we leave, I am more than satisfied. And in between, we need to play games, of course." He replied, taking her arm again.

"And eat, if I'm too pregnant to ride anything, I'm definitely not too pregnant to, for once, actually be interested in all of the absurd fried foods they sell here," Daizi laughed.
 
"The Gravitron!" the twins proclaimed in unison. "That's what's next!"

"Then a bite of food, like a treat," Alec told Dark. "Something nice and sweet!"

"And then a roller coaster!" Xander demanded. "I want to ride a real one for once!"

"And then one of those tall swing twillers!" Alec grinned.

"And then food. I want a corn dog," Xander nodded in agreement.

"Then we should do something you can definitely fit in," Alec told Dark. "And maybe a fun house or something. We can all go in one of those! No, wait." A gaggle of screaming children ran past as he said, "Mum wouldn't," mostly drowning out his words but not quite, passing as he finished, "be able to see anything. That wouldn't be fun for her."
 
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"You are really jumping up on intensity," Dark commented, and looking off into the distance, pointed at what appeared to be a massive circle, "If you want a rollercoaster, that is your best bet: The Ring of Fire. If you watch, the car does a big loop in it. Anything more than that, they cannot safely build up and tear down."

"I'm very excited for the food, or she is, anyway," Daizi confessed, slightly embarrassed. But even with the screaming crowd, she swore she heard Alec call her 'Mum,' and again she froze. She held Dark, who this time heard it too, a bit tighter, and when she opened her mouth to say something about it, Dark intentionally interrupted her:

"I worry how she would do on the moving floors, but there are certainly other activities we can all do together."

This was a challenge, "No, I can do it, you just need to be careful guiding me. I don't care I can't see myself in the mirrors, I'm pretty sure I look distorted enough anyway," Anytime Daizi made a comment like this, Dark felt immense relief that she was able to laugh at herself. He had met some women who, by her time, were much more sensitive about their expanding figures, "even though I can't see myself, they're still a fun maze, right?"
 
"I think we should do them in whatever order you pick," Alec told Dark. "After all, you are the expert, and this is our first, so, teach us, please, wise one!"

"He's got a point," Xander nodded. "You can tell us how best to get the most out of our day. Snacks had better be included."

"And the games!" Alec gasped. "Would the games be better off enjoyed while it's still light?"

Xander frowned and looked around the still brightly lit booths. "That a good point. You don't really need to see much when you're on a roller coaster, but, then again, the games are probably lit up. So, what's up first, ringleader?"

"Ringleaders are in the circus," Alec reminded him.

"Then lead on, whatever the carny equivalent of a ringleader is," Xander shrugged.
 
"I think it is just a barker or the proprietor. But there is really no wrong way to do it, regardless of what we do, the games will still be rigged and the rides will still be rickety, but that is the point, right? Although, yes, the games are better when it is light out. But we said the spinning rides first, before we get hungry from lunch, so: Gravitron, the spinning wheel ride--It is called a different thing at nearly every place--and probably Music Express. Then we can have lunch, play some games, and hit the rest of the rides? Does that sound good?" He took a quick glance around the carnival trying to scan across the midway for any particularly good games or rides he hadn't noticed on their walk to the back end of the grounds.

"I love you, Goose," Daizi grinned, leaning into him. His passion had always drawn her to him, she didn't care if the twins found it sappy. They were in his favourite place, and he was sharing it with their kids, how could she not be moved by him? "Dark is excellent at the game where you need to hit the mallet on the pad to ring the bell, he almost always wins. And I'm surprisingly good at the water gun game, I think it's because there's actually very little aiming."

"I love you too, Darling, and between all of us, we will practically fill our house with new cheap and worthless items! Even more than last year,"

"And we are not dumping everything in the nursery, because the nursery is not a mini carnival."
 
"The nursery could be a mini carnival," Alec remarked innocently while Xander strode purposefully ahead.

"There's the gravitron thing!" Xander announced and pointed as if he was an explorer of uncharted lands. "The line isn't bad, but it's longer than the tilt-whirl. Come on!"

Alec trotted to catch up with him, the pair of red-heads jostling their way around a small family reunion that just had to congregate in the middle of the road. Alec apologized to one of them, a young man who looked to be about eighteen, stepped back right into their path without looking, causing Alec to run into him. The young man gave him a glare and didn't move, forcing Alec to awkwardly edge around him and hurry to catch up to Xander. Neither of them thought much about it, their eyes on the prize: the great gravitron! In all its metallic glory!
 
"It can't be!" Daizi laughed, "We already bought forest themed wallpaper! There's no going back now!"

When the twins hurried around the family, Dark said, "Woah, hey, boys: The line starts back here!" He turned over towards the family and apologized, and also added, "They are excited, it is their first time," before getting into the line himself. It was long enough that Daizi could wait with them for a period of time, which was nice, since it meant they were able to spend more actual time together.

"See that's another problem with me not being able to ride," Daizi sighed, although she was still very much enjoying the day, even though she hadn't exactly done much, "Normally people just sort of let me skip the lines, even though I have no problems with waiting."
 
"It doesn't look much like a line," Xander said, eying the clump of people as he and Alec returned to Dark.

"Sorry, there's so much space between them and the next person, I thought they weren't in line," Alec apologized, hurrying to stand close to Dark. "Sorry."

"Nah, you're not at fault," Xander assured him. "These lines are just messy. Everyone's excited. And don't worry. Next year, you can ride, too, and skip us past all the lines."
 
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