How Green Becomes Wood

"I can probably help you with history," Sloan agreed with a nod, "Just let me know when you want to have me over."

~~

Daizi fought back a grin, "It still might, if during the summer it keeps her awake. But so far it hasn't been too loud... Although," She adjusted Ivy, who was looking carefully at her own hands, "It would be helpful if, when you're working on a day Dark is home, if you let him know when you're about to start." The nature of the sound didn't really trigger him, but sometimes, when Lex started on the weekend, she noticed Dark jump at the first hit or two. It wouldn't do him harm to have some warning. "And I've been working remotely, with her. I suppose I'm halfway to being a stay-at-home mom. It's... weird, I think. I love getting to be home with her, and I definitely prefer she be with one of her parents rather than a nanny or in daycare, but it's also a bit isolating. And," she covered Ivy's ears, "sometimes a bit boring." She released Ivy's ears and wrapped her arms around her, even though she was in the sling and fully supported, "but I like that I'm not missing anything. I just wish I had more friends who weren't busy during the day---but since Cooger has been overhear working, he's visited a lot during the days, too."
 
"How about this Friday?" Becky asked eagerly. "You can come for dinner and stay for the studying, or come after dinner if your family would prefer that. We can make it a sleepover! It'll be fun!"

~~

"I'll do my best. Once the renovations are done, I should have a more reliable schedule, something more like a 9-5 job, so then it should be more predictable. I'll think about some kind of signal, maybe, until then," Lex mused. She smiled at Daizi messing with Ivy lightly. "I never had that experience, myself, but I can imagine that as good as it is, it has its downsides." She rubbed her chin. "You know, if you ever have a day where you're like, 'If I don't get out of the house, I'll go crazy,' you can give me a holler. I can give you a ride somewhere. Or I can take Ivy for an hour here or there if you're desperate for alone time. I can get really wrapped up in my work, be it smithing or renovations, so having the occasional interruption would be good for me."
 
"I can probably do that," Sloan replied. "I'd have to ask my parents, but I doubt they'd say no. I mean, they may be annoyed I'm having two sleepovers in a row, but I still think they'd be okay with it."

~~

Daizi paused, rubbing her thumb against Ivy's arm, "Really? You would do that? I wouldn't want to put you out of your way," when Ivy cooed and kicked her little feet, Daizi apologized, "We wouldn't want to put you out of your way. I appreciate it, but setting up the car seat if we want to go somewhere is a hassle, and she's very friendly but she can still be a lot... I wouldn't want to bother you. I mean, she puts everything directly into her mouth."
 
Becky let out a happy little cheer and clapped her hands. "Awesome! Thank you, Sloan! This means a lot to me. But, hey! This gathering isn't about me. Hey, everyone!" When the others turned to look at Becky, she held up her cup. "Three cheers for our resident flipping champion!"

"Hip-hip-horray!" Alec joined in enthusiastically while Peter added his more quietly. Xander lifted his cup with an amused smirk.

~~

"One thing you gotta learn about me, Daisy, is that I never offer anything I don't one-hundred percent mean," Lex said cheerfully. "I doubt you'll be calling me at three in the morning because you want a soda, so I'm happy to offer. Really, with my ability to get lost in my work, it'd be good for me." She paused and frowned. "I've been saying your name wrong, haven't I?"
 
Sloan blushed and looked away, mumbling out a thank you. It was one thing when the stadium was clapping for her immediately following a routine, but it was different when they were in a little restaurant, and her friends were proud of her.

Milo awkwardly raised his glass and mumbled a quiet, "....yaaaay...." because being silent felt weird, but loudly cheering was an actual nightmare, and he wanted to be supportive, too.

~~

"Alright," Daizi agreed cautiously, although at that point she still expected to never actually take her up on the offer, "you'd probably have to come over to our home if you watched her for a little while, though, she's just getting ready to get into everything." And Lex's house was still being restored, "and... yeah. It's Daizi, actually."
 
Xander glanced at Milo and chuckled quietly. He'd been talking to Milo a little under the louder chatter of their friends, but mostly he was focused on his burger and shake.

"She is the swingingest gymnast in town as we're concerned," Alec grinned, saluting Sloan. "A true areal artist!"

~~

Lex swore and then immediately apologized for swearing in front of Ivy. She carefully repeated the name until she got it right. "Daizi. It's a nice name, it's just my brain doesn't like making an effort sometimes," she apologized. "Let me know if I get it wrong again, okay?"
 
"Thanks," Sloan chuckled, taking a shy sip of her milkshake, "I try. And I really appreciate you all coming out to support me. Even if I did almost fall on my face."

~~

"It's really alright. I know it's similar to an English name. I'll be sure to correct you, but don't beat yourself up if you get it wrong." Daizi assured Lex, "But be glad you do not have to try to pronounce my husband's name."
 
"The key word there being 'almost,'" Peter pointed out. "Catching yourself like you did was incredibly impressive, and you learn more from mistakes and all that."

~~

Lex almost said something and then paused to consider. "Come to think of it, I can't remember if I know his first name. I swear I was told at some point, but I don't remember." She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a tiny notebook and the stub of a pencil. "What is his name?" She flipped to a blank spot in the beat-up notebook and penciled in Daizi's name as well as Ivy's Just the first part of Ivy's name as she wasn't sure how to spell the rest of it and didn't want to ask.
 
"That's true. And I was able to walk after, which isn't something most of you would be able to say, I bet," She teased, pretending for a moment like the fall wasn't incredibly painful. "but really, any fall you can walk away from is a good fall. There's this one gymnast who fell on the uneven bars, landed on her knee, and broke her femur."

~~

"Ah..." Daizi said with a careful smile, "G.M. Dark is fine for him. He likes to make it easy on people, especially because our language have sounds which don't exist in yours. So you can understand why we put so much thought into Ivy's, so her name isn't too tricky to pronounce in any of her languages. Although maybe difficult to spell, since English says a Q needs to be followed by a U, right?"
 
"Ooo," Peter, Becky, Alec, and even Xander hissed in sympathetic pain.

"I'll bet it still hurt, but at least it wasn't that kind of hurt," Alec said with a wince. "You are a hero!"

~~

"G.M. Like the car," Lex said with a quirk of a smile, writing it down. "Yeah, I think that's the rule. There's probably an exception or two because there always is, but I don't know them."
 
"The video of it is horrible," Sloan agreed, "There's another one, Samantha something, who broke both legs in her routine. That one is worse, because you see her knees bend the wrong way... I really shouldn't watch those videos," she shook her head, finishing her milkshake, "You'd think it'd make me afraid of tumbling, but I don't know. It helps to know the worst case scenario."

~~

"And Qadira is Q-A, so I'm sure she will have quite a time correcting people on it. I am hoping when she gets older she uses Ivy-Qadira in its entirety. I know it's five syllables, but I've met a Mary-Katherine, and that's four." Daizi said with a little sigh, smoothing Ivy's hair again, "But she's too little, I can't give her such a big name yet."
 
"That sounds so awful, but I think I know what you mean about wanting to know the worst-case scenario," Alec said with another wince. "I prefer my world of sunshine and rainbows, but I see the benefits of peeking into the hurricane outside."

~~

Lex quickly wrote down how to spell the rest of Ivy's name and tucked the notebook and pencil back into her pocket. "I dunno. Then you'll all be in the habit of saying 'Ivy,' and it'll be harder to switch," she pointed out. "At least, I'd think it would be, but maybe I'm just a creature of habits that can't be beat!" She grinned and then nodded back toward the house. "It's been real nice talking to you, but I should get back to work. The kiln won't clean itself out, after all."
 
"I guess it feels like I need to fight harder when I know what can happen if I mess up and break my legs. I've actually broken my arm before, it sucks." Sloan said, stretching that arm in particular, "It's crazy how normal it is."

~~

"I'm sure it won't. Until we meet again, in that case. It was nice speaking with you." Daizi waved lightly, and then continued on her walk. Because she had stopped to talk, she shortened what was planned, but she had promised her poor, patient dog a walk, and he had sat so politely at her side, until he had grown frustrated and plopped down with a heavy uumph. He deserved to get his walk, at least in some fashion.
 
"Is that... is that healthy?" Alec asked nervously. "And typical of those kinds of things?"

"Relax, I doubt that gymnastics is anything like the cry wheel," Xander said.

"Cyr wheel!" Alec grumbled.
 
"Well, I mean..." Sloan shrugged, "If you're doing a lot of acrobatics, or really any sport, broken bones happen. Broken bones, blisters, sprains, concussions... It's honestly a miracle I don't wear a knee brace. I don't know anything about Cyr Wheel, but any acrobatic skill has a chance of getting hurt. That's just how it is." It seemed plausible Xander was going to react negatively to her being honest, but it seemed foolish to pretend like there weren't risks.
 
Xander scowled and crunched on his fries extra vigorously but didn't say anything. He had a lot he wanted to say, but he was absolutely determined not to ruin this moment. Besides, a tiny voice tapped his brain saying that perhaps it was best if Alec knew all the angles.

"Oh... I hadn't thought of that," Alec admitted. "I mean... it's a spinning wheel. I didn't think it would be dangerous, but... I guess even dancing is dangerous."
 
"Sure," Sloan replied, "but if it's something you care about, and something you really love doing, you do it despite the risks, you know? I've had some huge close-calls before, thank god for spotters, and if I were a different person, I probably would've quit long ago. But I'm not, so I didn't."
 
Alec considered the comment as he turned his milkshake around in his hands. "You know... you're right. It doesn't help anything to be afraid of getting hurt, does it?" He rolled his shoulders back and smiled at her. "I just hope I can be half as awesome as you some day."
 
Sloan shook her head, and not even seeming to realize anything particularly special in what she said, told him, "I'm already awesome like me. You should strive to be awesome like you."
 
Alec smiled, blushing just a little. "I guess that's the best part of having friends. You have people you can look up to! And who are always there to support you no matter what."
 
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