How Green Becomes Wood

"Oh that's fine, he's welcome to come over. Just let us know definitively as soon as you can so we can plan," Daizi said, while her husband said little: He was attempting to figure out if the school would even notice they had performed twice in two years, or if they woule care, but it was the sort of cynical thought which didn't serve anyone.

"I never did talent shows when I was in school," Cooger said, "but I kept trying to get a teacher agree to let me take them to the ground as a wrestling demonstration. Believe it or not, nobody ever agreed."
 
"We are? When did the Saturday thing ever come up?" Xander frowned.

Alec winced. "Oh. Peter and I discussed it after you left, and I was going to talk to our parents about it when we got home."

"Right," Xander grunted.

"Anyway," Alec said with a bright smile, "we'll decide on Saturday and then go from there. I wonder if Toby is going to do anything? Or Milo?"

"I doubt Milo since he does his best to avoid attention, and I don't know if anyone's even talked to Toby about it," Xander commented. "What's he going to do, anyway? Skateboard in a circle?"
 
"Lex says he enters into competitions," Cooger mentioned, "So he probably can do tricks or something." Dark looked down at Ivy, the gesture revealing what his expression did not. But he said nothing.

"I always think it's neat when people perform talents that aren't just singing or dancing. I mean, I can't really enjoy most talents that aren't music, unless you have a teenager performing stand-up, or something, but I appreciate the bravery in stepping outside of the norm." Daizi commented.
 
"Does he? I guess it makes sense. Anytime I see him outside of school, he's on some kind of wheels," Alec remarked. "I don't think you can really do anything sensory other than sight with skateboards."

"Maybe he'll surprise us, but I wouldn't be surprised if he comes up the day after without a clue what he missed. He's a bit of a space case," Xander remarked without any ill-will.
 
"I can agree with that," Dark chimed in, also without ill-will, "but I probably should not. At least not to you."

"I'm so glad I don't have to cope with balancing being a teacher, a neighbor, and the father of another student at the school. I can say whatever I want about my clients and it's perfectly ethical," Cooger grinned, leaning back in his chair.

Daizi chuckled, "It's great you didn't follow in your parents footsteps and become a lawyer, then, because god knows you can't keep a secret."

"Every lawyer is a workaholic, and I'm not," He replied, "and I kept my yap perfectly shut about the two of you while you were trying to be a secret. I work damn hard to keep quiet about the stuff y'all are pointlessly obsessed about keeping quiet."
 
"I'm choosing to ignore that," Xander grumbled. "Is there any soup left?"

"No," Alec sighed. "We cleaned out the bowl."

Xander glanced around the table. "Right. Cooger, your turn. Get sick or hurt yourself, but nothing too life-threatening."

"Xander!" Alec scolded.
 
"Woah, hey!" Cooger laughed, holding up his hands, "Why me? Last I checked, Dark hasn't been sick or injured lately either!"

Daizi frowned, "Don't curse my husband into falling ill, he's got a baby to take care of."

"You know, Darling, if you taught someone else to make the soup, then we would have been able to make it when you were unwell. If we had been able to make that instead of the red lentil soup, Ivy may have been born on time, and a lot could have been prevented." Dark mentioned demurely, stroking his daughter's hair.

"That's a great thought. Too bad about it."

"You hate me."
 
"Nobody hates you," Alec assured him. "The soup is just loved a little bit more."

Xander raised his brow at his brother. "Hang on, that sounds like a line I would say."

"You've started rubbing off on me," Alec shrugged.
 
"I know it is loved more," Dark said, playfully morose, while Ivy suddenly reached out and grabbed at Alec, since his hand came just within her reach, "Or at the very least it is honoured more."

"If I made it all the time, it wouldn't be special anymore. Then it may not help anymore," Daizi said, rising and beginning to collect the dishes.
 
Alec let Ivy have his hand, shaking it lightly just to keep things interesting. "Hmm, yes, honored, that's a good word," he agreed.

Xander stood and started helping Daizi with the dishes. "It's... pretty worth it," he mumbled. "Works well, too."
 
A little smile lit up Daizi's face as she rinsed out the bowls, "I'm glad. If it works, then it's done what it's meant to do. I'm sure terrorizing the rest of the family helped, too."
 
"Maybe a little," Xander admitted as he lent a hand. "That was a pretty successful prank, even if it did get one neighbor riled up." He paused, rinsing out the utensils. "I guess she comes from a pretty nasty place, always coming out with a weapon, but at least it's trying to protect people, not start fights."
 
"As long as she knows when the threat isn't real, I prefer her rushing out like that than what happened when the last person who lived there was riled," Daizi replied. "And it's good, I guess, to know that if something actually happens, it won't just be you and Dark rushing in."
 
Xander glanced back at Cooger. "She gets along well with Cooger, too, so I guess he's got a new friend next door. Not that I've seen Cooger not get along with literally anyone."
 
"I wonder how long it will take before Dark gets jealous that his friend is hanging out with someone else," Daizi hummed, knowing it wasn't genuinely something to be too concerned about.
 
"No, I'm kidding. He's a lot more confident in his friendship than that, and I don't think there's anyone alive who could rattle their bond. If anything he'll be thrilled because it will give him an extra reason to be in the neighborhood more often," Daizi comforted, turning slightly to listen to the conversation in the dinning room before saying, "Cooger does seem to enjoy her company, though. And that's good, because it means she probably is genuinely a good person."
 
Daizi hummed, taking that into account and storing facts away for later. "Well that's good. I don't think we needed another prissy neighbor. I really had been worried about who would move in after her. I truly have nightmares still about CPS or the FBI showing up, and it's been so long of being peaceful... but even though I'm not really dwelling on it..." She shrugged, "It's absurd our neighbor made a report about us to the FBI, and they deemed it genuine enough to come and investigate."
 
Xander hesitated before carefully pinching lightly at her sleeve. "It's okay. No one's going to do that again, and even if they do, they don't have a case. It's pretty obvious. And we got Aunt Ciara on our side. That's good for something, right? It'll be good now." He knew his words were rather pointless, but he had to say something encouraging."
 
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