How Green Becomes Wood

"Oh, cool." Sloan said, "I've lived here all my life, I don't know any different. But it is a cool town name. When I go to state, people generally respond to like it's fun and quaint. And that house, actually, is younger than a lot of the other houses in the neighborhood."

"I was really just trying to be nice." Kim said, a bit indignantly, and Blair smiled even more brightly as she tried to figure out how to save the situation without anyone else at the party noticing there was even a situation happening at all. Thankfully, Dark happened to walk by, and hearing just enough of the conversation said:

"Hello, Kim. I forget, have you met my baby yet?"

"I have not! Is she here? You know how much I adore babies," and she followed Dark away from Lex, further into the party, much to the relief of Blair.

"I don't really have an issue with you not being married, by the way," she said, embarrassed, "I mean, marriage is wonderful, but it's not the fifties and we don't have to define ourselves by our men, and thank god for that, because Isaiah--Well, another time, maybe."
 
"You made it to state? Wow, you must be awesome!" Toby grinned. "I didn't know the house was young."

"They designed it and had it built," Alec piped up."

Toby tipped his head. "Really? Cool. Sweet architecture. I think that house is why Mom moved here or else she'd never have stepped foot in this neighborhood. As it is, I told her there was no way she was making it longer than a year. She laughed and said I was probably right, but if she can get the house fixed up, at least we can sell it and go wherever."

Lex shrugged a bit, relaxing. "I don't hate men, they've just never worked out for me, you know? I mean no disrespect to her or you, of course. Marriage is great, but if you can't even get a boyfriend to work out for more than a couple of months, why jump into that kind of hassle? I've got enough other problems, like trying to behave properly at a nice party." She smiled at Blaire.
 
"I'm alright. I'm not like some people I've met who are, like, training for the Junior Olympics or anything. But I am pretty good on the uneven bars." She smiled a little, shrugging one shoulder, "That's why we have a trampoline, actually. My mom said we'd never get one because they're dangerous, and I said it'd help me practice at home. And really that's the only reason why I wanted it, I wasn't trying to pull a scam. Although my brother certainly supported me just so he could bounce on it."

"No, honestly," Blair said, "I keep telling Sloan not to rush into marriage, because then you end up getting stuck. But I don't think I have anything to worry about there, because my daughter, bless her, but she really does not... She would probably have a boyfriend by now if she would put in a little bit more effort. Of course that's assuming she isn't already dating one of those two, she swears she isn't but..." She shrugged.
 
"Are trampolines really that dangerous?" Alec asked. He reached out without looking and caught Xander's arm as his brother slowly edged his way closer to the buffet table and pulled him back. "I mean, it's just going up and down. You can get those... net things around the sides, can't you?"

"It can be hard to be honest with your mom about the kind of guys you like," Lex said, nodding sagely. "And, hey, maybe she really isn't, but the seeds are there for later down the road. It's good to take your time and go slow. Otherwise, you end up a teenage mother with a crackhead boyfriend." She snorted in amusement. "Not the worst that can happen, but definitely up there! Am I right?"
 
"It's the metal poles that hold up the netting. You can crack your head open." Sloan replied, following them to the food, "It's a little bit too common to count as a freak accident. I just suggested we get one without netting."

Blair made a face, not knowing anything about Lex's history, "My child would never do anything like that, and if they did... Well, I don't know what I would do. I'd be very disappointed with her."
 
"Right on," Toby nodded. "Say, when do people start eating at these things?"

"Never soon enough," Xander grumbled.

Lex gave a slight nod. "I'm sure you would be," she said mildly. "Anyway, on to happier subjects, I suppose I should be... mingling or something?"
 
"We can eat," Sloan said, "I think everybody's here, now. My dad is probably going to start grilling soon. If we're lucky Mr. Dale will take over because my dad is... not great at cooking."

"Oh, yes, of course," Blair said, flipping her short hair over her shoulder, eyeing her guests before trotting Lex out to a few more groups of people who existed at various points of the normal, cool, awful spectrum.

Nearish to the food, Dark and Daizi were in a conversation with one such person:

"I mean, really, Dark," one woman, about his age, was saying, "I'm sorry if this is weird to say, but you are very good looking."

"Thank you."

"I mean, very."

Daizi smiled, "Thank you."

"Almost," The woman squinted at the two of them as a couple, "too good looking."

Dark inhaled, taking Daizi's arm, "Okay. Always a pleasure, Katherine."
 
"Finally!" Toby and Xander said simultaneously, and they both rushed for the tables of food.

"Well. Glad to know their priorities," Alec said mildly. He glanced at Sloan. "Shall we? Before there's nothing left?"

Le smiled and nodded and tried to say nothing but the bare minimum. This was a weird place. She was beginning to think Toby was wrong about her not even making a year. At this rate, she wasn't going to last the month!
 
"I can understand it to an extent," Sloan said, following after them, but keeping a close eye on her mother. She took special care not to take any food until she was certain other guests had started eating first and not until after making certain her mom was not indicating that she should wait. "Make sure you avoid that mac-and-cheese," she warned them, pointing to a dish, "It's got raisins."

To be fair to the neighborhood, they weren't all awful. But the problem was not everybody in the neighborhood came, because everybody knew about the exhausting neighbors, so a lot of the good ones stayed home. Thankfully, not all did, and occasionally Lex was given a sympathetic eye roll, or someone would shoot a look her way to see how she reacted to some out of pocket statement, and looked relieved when they saw she didn't agree with it. There were even a few who were extremely interested in her business.

"If you get up and running," One neighbor had said, "You should apply to be a vendor at our local Ren Faire. I bet you'd make a killing."
 
"Ew," Alec said, wrinkling his nose. "Why would anyone want raisins... No, I don't even want to know. You know who would be really funny to see here tonight? Peter's mom." Alec restrained himself and got what he felt was a polite portion size of the things that looked the best to him and stuck near Sloan. He could practically feel her discomfort and hoped that a friend might help.

Xander and Toby somehow managed to get a sampling of virtually everything onto their plates. Everything except the raisins. They fit it all onto their plates and found a corner to stand happily chowing down and ignoring everyone else. Food was life!

Lex tipped her head curiously. "What's a Ren Faire? I think I've heard the term, but I've never really heard much about it. Must travel in the wrong circles."
 
"Peter's mom could probably handle it better than most of the adults here, could. She always seems refined." Sloan said, finding somewhere to sit. Her brother, Benny, went running across the yard after one of his friends, and once he caught up they play-fought in the yard, yelling something about him being a jerk and a liar, and the pair of them (soon joined by a third friend who was trying to catch up while also holding all of their drinks) laughed loudly. She watched them for awhile, "I think a block party where every house is set up differently and you aren't confined to one place would be more fun."

"Oh, they're literally the most fun. Last summer, we went on a vacation where we just traveled the circuit," She said brightly, "basically, like, they're these outdoor festivals that are kind of like a music festival, kind of like a circus, kind of like a craft's fair, all in the middle of a costume party where people show up dressed like they're from the renaissance or the middle ages or, you know, like an elf or a fairy or a wizard. And typically there's jousting and stage combat and comedy shows, and like... The crowd gets trashed on ale and mead. Like if you've never gone, you need to go at least once, you don't even have to dress up."
 
Alec found a spot next to her and watched Benny curiously. "When I read about block parties, I thought they were supposed to be on the street, you know? And take up like the block or something with games and stuff. I was kind of surprised to learn that at least here, it's backyards only." He glanced at her. "Will there be games?" He looked past her. "And I think your dad is having issues with the grill."

"Huh," Lex said with a slow grin. "I don't know about elves and fairies, never been a fantasy geek myself, but that does sound like my kind of party! Especially the stage combat. When is it?"
 
"No, you're right, that's what they're meant to be," Sloan nodded, "And would be, I'm sure, if we had one. This is just a backyard barbecue, and it sucks a lot more. I meant that, like, at the block party we'd be able to wander further away and not be in eyesight of everyone." She followed Alec's gaze, "He's going to burn every burger, you know."

"Well, they're actually twice a year, there's the smaller Pirate-themed one in may, and then there's the big, classic one in October. And, really, a lot of people assume it's going to be super nerdy and weird, but it's like Halloween with a turkey leg." She replied, "Last time I was there, I saw a man light his nipple on fire."
 
"Hmm. Well, it's a good thing there are so many side dishes that I couldn't possibly dream of eating a full burger," Alec said, watching him. "You know, what's stopping us from planning a kids - well, teenagers - only block party later this summer? That could be a lot of out-of-hand fun."

Lex snorted into her cup of juice and had to grab a napkin with a lot of apologies. "Alright, then, business or no, sign me up!" she said cheerfully. "I'm guessing from the sounds of it they might be expecting medieval and fantastical themed, I don't know, daggers and paperweights and stuff?"
 
"I think a teens only block party would just be us three and now Toby, I guess." Sloan replied, watching her dad make a mess with the burgers for a little while longer, "But I guess it could be fun."

"Yeah, stuff like that. I've seen goblets, letter openers, cake toppers, bottle openers... I mean, really, I've seen a lot of really cool stuff, and as long as it's even vaguely on theme people will love it! I hear vendors who end up at really popular faires can make a lot of money doing it. You just gotta make sure you're really charging what the stuff is worth, a lot of small vendors undercharge accidentally."
 
"There really aren't that many kids along this block, are there?" Alec sighed. "I don't mind hugely, I get my socializing at school, but it's kind of weird."

"Thanks for the advice," Lex said. "This is really eye-opening. I'll have to do some experimenting with what kind of goods I can make that would make the people happy."

A younger man, probably early twenties, wandered over toward Daizi. He didn't live on the block but was a cousin of one of the attendees and was just visiting. "Hey! You must be the witchy lady my cousin was telling me about," he greeted her. "I'm Alfred." He extended his hand.
 
"We used to have more, but the thing with houses like this is that people tend to stay here until they die. About a year before you moved in we had more teenagers, but they've all been going off to college lately. But we've got younger kids in the neighborhood, if you look. I guess technically Benny is going to be in high school next year, and a few others, too. I forget to count them, because in my mind they're still middle schoolers. We have more grade schoolers, now."

Daizi turned towards him, temporarily unaccompanied, since Dark had gone inside the house with Ivy to change her, "I've been called worse," she said warmly, "I hope your cousin was telling you good things. I'm Daizi, it's nice to meet you." Obviously, she did not shake his hand.
 
"Hmm, fair. Fair." Alec glanced toward Xander and sighed. "They are having a cheek-stuffing contest. Trying to see which of them can fit the most... what is that? Olives, I think? How many olives you can fit in your mouth?"

Alfred hesitated a moment before dropping his hand. "Sure, sure, good stuff, though it took her ages to figure out you couldn't see her when she waved. Guess you can't see?" He leaned forward, peering at her glasses as he craned his neck. He was still technically outside her personal bubble, but he was pushing the boundaries.
 
"They've certainly hit it off well." Sloan said, watching them and trying not to make a face, "I can fit exactly half of an olive in my mouth because I think they're disgusting. It's kinda weird to see him immediately get along with someone. It's nice, though... I remember every time I tried to speak with you last year, I practically had to put on armor."

"Um, no, that is correct. I am. Completely blind." She replied, not knowing he was entering her space, but feeling a bit weirded out by his question... but she knew nobody really knew how to behave around people with disabilities.
 
Alec nodded. "Xander has definitely softened, but I think it's also a bond of food. Xander loves food. Toby apparently loves food. It's a match made at a buffet! Also, I've yet to see Toby actually ask any personal information or share much. It's all about what awesome thing is happening in the moment. It's all very 'rad.'" He smirked at Sloan.

"Really? Like totally and completely? Wow, that's fascinating!" he blurted. He leaned back and waved a hand in front of her. "You really can't see a thing? Like what I'm doing right now? You can't see this?"
 
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