How Green Becomes Wood

"Sushi is supposed to be eaten with the hands," Xander remarked. He tried to situate the chopsticks again. "Maybe eating with your hands is just better all around."

"No offense, but I prefer my fork," Alec replied.
 
"That is true, originally," Daizi agreed with a sly smile, "how unfortunate we're having Chinese rather than Japanese."

Dark lightly shook his head, "A fork is fine, stabbing with a chopstick is not."
 
"Why not? A fork is just a stick with four pointy bits instead of one," Xander pointed out. He pretended to stab the chicken again but decided to spar Dark and tried using the chopsticks again properly. The piece wobbled between the sticks uncertainly, but he finally succeeded in getting it to his mouth.
 
"You can scoop solids with a fork, also, yet you would not use a fork to eat ice cream," Dark countered, "but look, you practice and you improve." As Daizi chuckled, Dark looked over at Alec, "And, by the way, to answer your question: It will be a little easier to access my work bag, but I think I will miss hearing your conversations in the morning."
 
"I always care what you have to say." Dark replied with a little shrug, "and it is nice to have some time every day to talk to you both. But," he held up a finger, "now you will both be able to sleep in a little later. That is exciting for you both."
 
"Well, that will be up to you, now you are driving yourself. I only care you do not arrive late." Dark replied simply.

"That is one thing that was nice about going to boarding school, living on campus meant I never had to ride on a school bus," Daizi sighed, not struggling with her chopsticks at all.
 
"No late arrivals, got it," Alec nodded.

Xander took a chopstick in each hand. He pinned a piece of chicken between them and awkwardly maneuvered it up to his mouth. He nearly made it, too, until the piece escaped and spiraled off to land on his shirt and roll down to his lap.
 
When the little piece almost hit the floor, Enkidu immediately was sitting at Xander's side, staring up at him with desperate eyes.

Daizi leaned and rested against Dark, not really knowing what else to say, and feeling more than a little worn out, despite doing her best to shake herself out of it.
 
Xander sighed and flicked the piece to the floor, letting Enkidu have it. Might as well, and now he had a lovely trail of orange sauce down his shirt. He gave up on the sticks and picked up a fork. He finished eating in no time flat, and Enkidu was not lucky enough to have any more pieces come his way.

Alec chatted about the band's preparations for the upcoming talent show and the things they'd been doing to sort out the musical score. They finished eating, Xander took a last look at his new car, and then headed up to their room after helping Dark clean up the kitchen. At least eating takeout meant fewer dishes.
 
At the conclusion of the meal, Daizi took Ivy to nurse, and then passed her off to Dark so he could, finally, have his time with her, although he choose to stay around her, choosing to give up one one-on-one time with his daughter to make sure his wife was okay, although since it was his turn to put Ivy to bed, he did get a little bit of time with her, and Daizi went to bed early.

For the first hour or two, Dark sat up, keeping an eye on her, until he, too, lay down beside her and went to sleep.
 
The next morning, the twins were up at their usual time and arguing over whether or not to take the new car pretty much since they the moment the got up. Xander pointed out now was the perfect time to discover any hidden defects while they were getting dressed. Alec pointed out the fact that Cooger would have spotted anything serious and that the car still smelled. Xander argued that some defects were hard to see while they were heading down the stairs. Alec reasoned that, yes, it was a good test drive, but if the stained seats stained his seat, he'd be stuck wearing dirty clothes while they were making breakfast. Xander pointed out that all the stains were old between bites of breakfast. Alec remarked that they'd have plenty of time for test drives after school and not risk being late while he packed their lunches. Xander finally conceded that they'd ride with Dark this morning as he gathered up their backpacks. Alec was pleased with his decision and promised to help clean the car while pulling on his coat. It was a bit nippy that morning.
 
When Daizi woke up, she had a low, irritating headache, resulting from how much she had cried the night before, so when she came down for breakfast after feeding Ivy hers, the very first thing she did was take some ibuprofen and sit down next to Dark and listened quietly as the twins discussed who they would ride with. It was nice for Dark when they decided to ride with him, especially now that he knew those days were very much numbered.

"Is Tobey in the talent show?" Daizi asked in a soft voice as three boys were all just about to leave the house.
 
Alec paused and considered. "I don't know," he admitted. "I don't think so since he didn't know about it until a couple of weeks ago, and I don't think there's many tricks you can do on that small of a stage with a skateboard. I'll ask him."
 
"I know that I'll need a ride there," She explained, "so if he is performing, I would ask Lex to take me, but if he is not, I will ask Aunt Ciara or Sally, since I know they're both going."
 
"That's true!" Alec gasped. "I'll ask him and find out for you. I wonder what Lex would think of the talent show?"

"Not much, probably," Xander said, heading out to the car. "Who goes to a school talent show to see kids you aren't related to."

"Good point," Alec agreed. "Bye, Mama! See you after school!"
 
"I am not too stressed about it, since I know people who are going regardless. Have a nice day." Then she kissed Dark goodbye, and Dark kissed Ivy goodbye, and he led the twins out to his car while Daizi brought Ivy to the couch for storytime. Maybe she'd call Sally later, to talk about what happened, or one of her other friends. Someone she trusted who wasn't quite so... involved.
 
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"Do you think Toby's going to be in the show?" Alec asked Xander once they were all in the car.

"Dunno. Kind of doubt it. I mean, I think he competes, but what're you going to do on a little bitty school stage? If he doesn't just break right through it or something if he does a jump," Xander remarked.
 
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