How Green Becomes Wood

"All we have left is the spinning-table ride before we have done all of the rides we need to be certain to get through before eating," Dark said, "so probably that one, and then we can eat and play some games."

Daizi took Dark's arm, "I think the safety equipment is gravity, but I love that ride. Sometimes Dark and I would sneak into the same little compartment, even though I'm sure it's incredibly dangerous. But it's too fun! If I had proposed to Dark, instead of the other way, I'd have done it here."
 
Alec frowned at Daizi. "I am very disappointed in you two, playing around like that and likely giving other kids a bad example. Not to mention the danger you put yourselves into."

"But let's be real. Did we really expect anything else of them?" Xander pointed out.

Alec hesitated and then nodded. "You have a point."
 
Daizi laughed, "The other kids... We were doing it last year! But I don't think it's any more dangerous than the people who flip upside-down, and anyway, what's the point of being together if you don't let yourselves just have fun. We aren't buisness partners, marriage isn't just about owning a house and sharing a bank account. It's not worth anything if we don't just enjoy being stupid with each other."

"We really have been together a long time," Dark said, his voice especially warm and soft, "I cannot even..."

"What?"

"No, it is only that... How many carnivals do you think we have been to together?" He asked, pausing slightly to the side of the midway, careful to not block the path.

Daizi didn't take more than a second to think before saying, "Oh, hundreds."

"Right, and so... It is easy, then, to talk about our big dramatic and edgy youths, and to talk about now, but all those middle years?" He began walking again, holding her more firmly as he went, "Besides our difficult moments," by this he largely meant their miscarriages, but other problems and pains too, "it has all been so... Right, it hardly phases me. Where else would we be but in the same space on a Carnival ride, even if we should not be?" He smiled at her, his whole face illuminating, "It is so much better to be comfortable with you than battling everything like we did when we were kids... I do not know, seeing you, in this place, waiting for me by the exits..."

Dark lightly shrugged his shoulders, and she rested her head against him, "I'll never be far from you, Goose..." Then very quickly, she whipped her head around towards the twins, "And I don't care if you think we're being too sappy, we're in his favourite place, it's only right to feel nostalgic!"
 
"Oh, I fully expected you to say you'd done it just last year, and I still stand by my 'other kids' statement," Alec said blandly. And then he realized that Dark and Daizi were slipping off into their own world. It was rather sweet to see.

Xander rolled his eyes, but he made no effort to interrupt them or comment as they talked about all the carnivals. It was kind of nice to hear that they'd had something other than horrible and boring days. Carnivals were a good thing to remember.

The pair of them drifted back a few steps to give Dark and Daizi the illusion of privacy while they looked around and watched the other rides, or what they could see of them. It was getting more crowded now, though it was still easy enough to move about. They didn't even really notice when Daizi half scolded that she didn't care about the sappiness.
 
"Alright..." Dark sighed, "I suppose, next ride, then?"

"Don't worry dear, I'll be waiting for you by the exit. And then we can have a snack, play some games, and you won't have to be parted from me at all," She intentionally tried to sound dramatic, as if that brief ride would seperate them for years and years only for a blissful reunion, but it didn't really work, because Dark's response was only to kiss the back of her hand and say:

"Good." Then he turned to the twins, making sure they were still following him, to say, "This is going to be the fastest spinning one, because it relies on the strength and stamina of the riders, really, and... Well. You can guess what that outcome will be."
 
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The twins, realizing Dark and Daizi had finished their talk, closed the gap between them.

"What is this one? And why do so many rides spin in some way or another?" Alec asked curiously, sticking close to Dark's side.

"Because there's only so much a person can do in a straight line," Xander said, trailing just a step behind.
 
"I think because it is an easy mechanism to make and then replicate. All of these rides are basically assembled and torn down in a day, and spinning rides are essentially just wheels with extra steps, and wheels are easy. You know, Ferris Wheel, Carousel, the swinging chairs... All really just fancy wheels." He looked at the carousel as they walked passed it. It wasn't something he himself ever rode anymore, because not only would a 6'8 man riding a merry-go-round look ridiculous, they had a weight limit he was fairly certain he had surpassed. But when his daughter was born? Then he'd be able to stand next to her and help her sit on the little horses.

Hopefully it was something the twins had begun to understand--that there were just always going to be some things he would be more excited to the child-on-the-way than the two he had presently, and it was because, well, the twins were old. Riding on a carousel could be fun for them, maybe, but not magical like it would be for a toddler. There were just some firsts that mattered more with someone so young.

And it went the other way, too. Most children at some point in their young years express the sentiment that they'll live at home forever, but his daughter expressing that sentiment wouldn't be anything like when Xander expressed it.

"I'm really excited for sunset when we all ride the Ferris Wheel," Daizi said, "Have you seen it? How does it seat?"

Dark peered into the distance, and then said, "They are the baskets, not the bench seats."

"Oh good! So we can all sit together, then!" Daizi beamed, "but I get to sit beside Dark. It's only fair."
 
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"We wouldn't dream of splitting you up," Alec told her with a faint smile.

"If we tried, you'd just either crush us between you or sit on one of our laps," Xander said dryly. "That would not turn out well at all."

Alec snorted. "What an image." He paused and looked back at the carousel. A group of kids filled most of the seats, laughing and cheering as it went. "Can you imagine what it must be like to come to the rides at that age? It must be so much more exhilarating! And it's pretty exhilerating at this age, anyway."

"I'd still want to ride the rollercoaster," Xander replied.

"You would. Where's this next twirly-whirly?"
 
"No, I'd probably just cry," Daizi laughed, "but I'm very hormonal, so I'll probably cry anyway."

"This is why it is good I am not very emotional. Between the two of us, we make one normatively emoting person," Dark said as if it were scientific fact. In response to Alec's question, though, he shook his head, "Even as a child I never really felt so carefree and joyous. Adults lose that wonder in themselves as they age, but they miss it so they have kids so they can experience it second-hand."

He lead them, then, to the next ride. The theming was cute in theory, big red apples with a big worm making up the central connecting pillar... But for some reason the manufacturer gave the apples big faces, which, despite being intended to look sweet and inviting, in practice really looked like they were contorted in horror as people climbed into their mouths to play with their tongues.

Even Dark, with his love of carnivals, squinted at it and said, "Do you think it is meant to be existential horror? It is almost Kafka-esque, now the apple eats you."
 
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Alec stared at the apple ride with no small amount of horror. "Um... I think I would much rather skip this one," he said, edging closer to Xander and taking his arm. "It does not look fun at all. It looks like something out of a nightmare."

"I think I might have had that nightmare," Xander agreed. He stood fast against the horrors of the happy apple, but trepidation glinted in his eyes. "We can face this thing, right?"

Alec shook his head. "Most rides are more terrifying than their designs. This one already has me unnerved. I'd rather skip out on Kafka apples."
 
"Kafka apples?" Daizi asked, "Okay, babe, you've got to explain this one to me."

"Oh, it is quite simple really, the carts on the ride are designed to look like apples, but the way they are designed makes them look like they are in agony, and we all get to sit right inside their gaping maws."

Daizi tipped her head back and laughed at whatever she could conceptualize this to mean, "See, now I really wish I could ride them! Oh, Alec, you have to go, for my sake! Be my representative!"
 
Alec gave Daizi an uncertain look but slowly nodded. "I suppose I can do that," he agreed reluctantly. He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. "We can ride the Kafka apples. Right?"

"Right," Xander agreed with a firm nod. "We can ride in an apple... and hopefully not have nightmares about getting eaten by fruit tonight. Let's go!" He moved over to stand in line with Alec right beside him.
 
"And you have got to keep the family strong if we do not survive it," Dark said, eyes glimmering.

"I would say there's a reason why women live longer than men, but I know I'd definitely go on those monstrosities if I could. But, seeing as I can't, of you don't survive, I'll be sure to raise this child on my own, to know exactly what sort of people her father and brothers were." She replied, willingly going along with the joke, making her way to the guard rail to wait for them.

"Fools?"

"Oh, absolutely. Fair thee well, my darlings."
 
Alec stared after Daizi and then looked back at the horrifying apple ride. "I have regrets," he said in a small voice.

"She's joking," Xander said with more assurance than he felt. "It's too late now, anyway. They're loading up. Come on!"
 
Daizi chuckled slightly as Dark led the boys onto the apple, "Weight distribution does not really matter here," He explained, putting his hands on the wheel, "It is all about leverage. And I can spin this wheel quickly, if you are both able to withstand it, and faster with help."

There was a hint of a challenge in his voice, although not a firm one: He didn't want to overwhelm Alec, who was more prone to dizziness than his brother.
 
Xander grinned. "Let's see how fast we can go!" He glanced at his brother. "Right?"

Alec hesitated, thinking, and then nodded firmly. "Let's do it! Let's see how fast we can go! But if I puke, it's your fault."

"Deal," Xander agreed.
 
"That is why we do it before we eat, and not after," Dark said casually, but with true mischievous delight. This was the man who, as a boy, was sent to detention so often and who in the early years of his adulthood, stolen a bride away on her wedding day.

When they were all settled in, and the ride began to turn, loosening the plate, Dark took control of it, and with his long arms and years of training in both strength and stamina, began to spin it as hard as he could get it to go alone. The plates were intentionally designed to be stiff, so as to not get people to spin themselves into oblivion, so even for him it took effort, but clearly the work was by no means in vain as they spun faster and faster within the plate, and of course he was careful where he put his hands so the twins could, if they chose, help spin it too.
 
Alec sat between the pair as he felt safer there. He had a nagging fear that he was going to be spun clean out of the demonic apple, even though he was fairly certain that literally impossible. He leaned back and braced himself as Dark started spinning the table. Or was Dark turning the actual apple? He wasn't sure. Either way, he found himself seriously impressed by Dark's display of strength. He hung on as best as he could, hunkered back, and closed his eyes. This may have been a mistake but he was determined to enjoy it as much as he could. Or at least not embarrass himself.

Xander watched Dark for a moment, tracking how he gripped, leaned, and pulled. Xander was not even close to Dark's strength and stamina nor was he likely to be for many years if ever, but he could copy his elder's technique. The spark in Dark's eyes had not escaped him, and he grinned in answering challenge. This was going to be fun! He grabbed the wheel and started pulling, copying Dark's technique as close as he could manage.
 
With the two of them spinning together, Dark was fairly certain they had it spinning about as fast as it could go. That wasn't to say it was the first time he had reached such speeds, himself and Cooger had a lot of combined power.

As they spun, Dark took enough time to say to Alec, "It helps to look at a still point," but besides that he didn't say much of anything.

Finally the ride came to a stop and they spun slowly a few more time before the energy built up in the apple had run out. Dark had been sitting in the middle, so he couldn't get out until one or both of the twins did, "Okay," He chuckled, "How was that? Did we survive?"
 
A still point? A still point?! Alec was fairly certain there were no still points left in the entire world! What kind of a still point was he supposed to look at? He supposed he was grateful Dark had tried to give him some kind of advice, but he wasn't sure how useful it was. He oped for keeping his eyes closed until the ride stopped turning. He wasn't sure he trusted himself to open his eyes or his mouth.

Xander held onto the wheel tightly after they'd stopped spinning, his eyes flicking slightly as he tried to orient himself. "I would very much like to please be removed from service, please," he said nonsensically. He'd made the mistake of watching the spinning wheel, and now he felt like he was going in one direction while the world was spinning in the opposite.
 
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