How Green Becomes Wood

"She sounds like a raven," Milo said with a little smile. The look in Xander's eye when he talked about his family fascinated him.

Sloan thought about it for only a moment, "I just want to get out of the suburbs. It's like... purgatory. I don't know where I want to live, I just know where I don't want to be."
 
"That would make sense considering her parents," Xander drawled with a smirk. "Da thinks she's always going to be tiny, but there's no way. She's at least going to be as tall as Mama."

"You should totally take a road trip with a friend or two!" Rumy grinned. "Explore the possibilities!"

"That sounds... a little dangerous, but I guess okay as long as you don't go alone and be sure to take a couple of level heads," Sherri said cautiously.

"And you can always come spend some time on my farm helping me out so you can see if you like it," Rumy winked.

"You mean get free help on your nonexistent farm," Sherri pointed out.

"Says the person admitting to wanting to steal my work for her own gain," Rumy laughed.
 
"With how tall he is, she probably will always look tiny to him," Milo pointed out. "Just not as tiny."

"A road trip would be great," Sloan said, "maybe after graduation... I used to say, with a... friend, of mine... former friend... I guess... that we'd run away to New York City together.
But the thing about a trip is that it ends and you need to go back to wherever you were running from."
 
"You should see him next to Peter. Should have seen his face when he first met Peter. Peter said he was pretty sure Da and he wore the same expression for different reasons."

"True. Or you can just settle down. Or get supplies for the next leg of your journey," Rumy pointed out.

Sherri gave her a look before saying to Sloan, "True, but after a trip, you can hopefully gain some clarity after getting some space from whatever caused you to run in the first place. There is nothing wrong with a tactical retreat."

"True. Sometimes they are the best way to win a battle." Rumy stood up as a new song came on. "Lunachicks! Fantastic! Hey, do you wanna have that dance now?"
 
"Does Mr. Dark have facial expressions?" Milo asked casually, but then his eyes went wide and he turned quickly to Xander when he realized what he said, "I didn't mean anything by that, there's nothing wrong with it, or anything, and I'm not trying to be mean to your dad or something, he just always seems to have the same intense look to him, but I've probably just been catching him at the wrong time, I'm sorry."

She shrugged, struggling to think of how she was meant to explain the way she felt to two girls who were practically strangers--- but then, she didn't have to. "You know the Lunachicks?" Sloan asked, standing up with Rumy.
 
Xander waited patiently for Milo to finish his worried apologies. "He does, but they're tiny. You gotta know what to look for, and he's not exactly open. I thought he was like a full mask when I first met him."

"Sure. Not real well, but I know some of their more popular stuff. Like Jerk of All Trades, Don't Want You, and Light as a Feather," Rumy said cheerfully. "Sherri?"

"Nope. Go have fun. I'm going to go see if there's anything left to eat," Sherri assured her friend.

Rumy accpeted her answer, unsurprised, and headed for the dance floor. "Ready to go?"
 
"Oh," Milo said, frowning and trying to think of one clear expression he had ever gotten from Dark, but failed to think of one, "How long did it take you to be able to read them? I think I would've thought I was making some horrible mistake every day or that he thought everything I did was unforgivably annoying.".

"I really like their song Subway, but it's probably not a particularly fun one to dance to," Sloan said, and then smirked at Rumy "I only dance for fun, though, so don't expect perfection from me."
 
"That's pretty much how Alec felt the whole time. I thought I was just another burden to bear by another person. Then we started learning that he's just... reserved," Xander said. "On the other hand, Daizi wears her heart on her sleeve, but her face takes a bit of getting used to."

Peter came wandering over and collapsed onto the couch across from Xander and Milo. "My feet are screaming murder right now!"

"What fun is perfection?" Rumy laughed. She took Sloan's hand and pulled her into an energetic dance. Rumy was a pretty good dancer, but it was clear that she, also, just danced for fun. At least Sloan's feet were safe!
 
How was he supposed to respond to that? She definitely had a specific look to her. It was... different. "I think everyone is beautiful," Milo murmured, "in their own unique way." He looked at Peter, "You were really dancing hard."

Sloan gladly danced with Rumy, trying to maintain some respectable level of distance, because they were still strangers, but it was fun, and why not let herself just enjoy dancing with a other girl? And Sloan wasn't a bad dancer by any means, because although her training wasn't in dance, she was very familiar with being aware of the beat of a song and what she could do with her body.
 
Xander was faintly amused by Milo's response but not surprised. What else was someone supposed to say? Then he turned to Peter. "You're like a mini disco ball."

"Thank you," Peter grinned. Then he stretched mightily. "Man, I forgot how much fun these kinds of parties could be!" Then he smiled at Milo and sat up. "Alec told me you apparently play bass?" he asked.
 
"Wouldn't be be a giant disco ball?" Milo asked quietly, looking up at the disco ball hung in the room. Peter was larger than that, right? It wasn't so far away that it looked small, Peter was certainly larger than it. "Oh, um. Yeah. I mean. I don't know how well I play it. But I do practice on it."
 
Peter and Xander looked at Peter's shirt and then up at the disco ball hanging from the ceiling, considering.

Peter decided to move on first. "You should come jam with us some time just for fun. A good bassist is worth about as much as a good drummer. I don't think we have time before the talent show, and my family is heading to Australia to visit my grandmother for Spring Break, but maybe after?"

Xander didn't want to talk about how Milo wouldn't be there after Spring Break. That his mother was taking him out of school and dragging him off again. Couldn't she at least let him finish out the school year? He shook it off and tried to move the conversation away from that thought. "You're going back to Australia? Your dad's mum?"

Peter glanced at Xander and nodded. "She's not doing so well, so we're going to go visit her for a week. She and my dad aren't on the best of terms, but, you know, family."
 
"I would, but..." He shrugged, staring down at the floor, "I'm going to move back in with my mom right after spring break, so... We probably... won't be able to. I hope your grandmother is okay, though." He rubbed the back of his neck, "It is, um, a long flight, right?'
 
Peter frowned a little and started to ask about Milo's mother, but Xander caught his eye and glared. Peter, though confused, accepted the wordless demand/plea and allowed the redirection. "Yes, it's quite a flight. I'm not looking forward to it, but it will be great to be back in OZ for any reason. As for my grandmother, well, she's in her nineties and a triple great-grandmother - or will be when my cousin has her baby - so it's not entirely surprising, I have to say. Sad, but not surprising."
 
Milo didn't know what to say about that any more than he knew how to respond to Xander saying his mother's face took some getting used to. Well, sounds like she has a good run. felt crass. And he didn't really know Peter well enough to be able to judge what he'd be okay with hearing. "You have, a, um... big... big family then?'
 
"I don't know. I guess it depends on how you classify 'big.' I'd say it's more medium-sized but a bit strung out," Peter said thoughtfully. "More years between siblings than what seems to be average."
 
"Oh," Milo lifted his camera to take more pictures of the party, mostly so he had something to do instead of looking directly at people, "Xander knows about that, now. Right? The---the gap?" He clicked the camera and then frowned. Along with is camera strap, over his shoulder he had strapped a smaller bag which did look a bit like a purse, but as they spoke he carefully switched the roll of film, being careful to roll the first roll back into its cannister.
 
"The gap?" Peter asked, not understanding. "But they are twins?"

"He means between us and the Mini," Xander told him.

Peter snapped his fingers. "Right! Of course! Ivy! Duh. Indeed, Xander does know about that, and you and I know about being an only child."
 
"How do you know I am an only child?" Milo asked, looking with confusion as Peter. He was, but he couldn't recall ever telling him as much. But that didn't really matter, right? Why did it stand out to him? "They are fifteen years apart, so when Xander and Alec are thirty, she will just be fifteen. But when they are forty-five, she will be thirty, and the gap seems less weird then."
 
"Oh, sorry, Alec mentioned something in passing, I can't recall what exactly, and I made an assumption. Sorry if that was the wrong idea, mate," Peter apologized. "Yes, fifteen years is a mighty big gap, alright! It will seem less weird when they are older, but that will take some time."

"I am still here, you know," Xander grumbled.

On the dance floor, the song changed to "Down to Joy" by Van Morrison, a request from Sally Hollis, and Sally and Jack drifted out onto the floor to slow dance. Rumy grinned at Sloan and started for the sidelines, leaving other couples to slow dance to the gentle song.

"That was a lot of fun, Sloan. Thanks for the dance," Rumy told her as she caught her breath. "You are a beautiful dancer."
 
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