How Green Becomes Wood

"It's really cool!" She replied, tipping her head back to really make the most of the feeling. It wasn't loud up in their air, they weren't whipping around like they were on a rollercoaster, it was all gentle, but the breeze and the height, "It feels like we're flying! Oh, close your eyes, see how it feels when you can't see it!"

~~

"Yes, I very much enjoy getting to parent my children," Dark replied cordially, "My apologies. Babysitting." He stretched out every syllable of the word and nodding his head as though he were learning this for the first time, "Thank you very much. Have a pleasant afternoon." After she was gone, he turned to Alec and laughed exactly once, "Do you feel properly babysat?"
 
Xander laughed. "We are flying!" He did close his eyes as asked. "Oh, wow, this is even better! This is awesome! Awesome!" He didn't have any other words. He was practically as giddy as Alec.

~~

"Did you really just play the 'English isn't my native language' card?" Alec giggled, trying to control himself and maintain his manners. "Ba, that was so cool and so hilarious!"
 
"I'll take your word for it," Daizi said, raising her arms straight up to feel the wind breeze through her fingers, grinning not just at the experience but at how excited her son was. "I wonder if this is what it is like to be like... Superman, you know? Or any of the people he saves."

~~

"I did, and I will do it again," He replied, a genuine smile, one that anyone could see, crossing his face. It was a rare occurrence, but he did have a nice smile. "What an absurd thing to tell someone. I have heard it before, not said to me, but it is never anything other than ridiculous." He waved the hand which was not currently being worked on, "Babysitting! Because fathers cannot possibly care for their children, right? Walla!" He huffed, putting his hand back down, and explaining to the nail tech what he wanted briefly. He decided his ring finger he wanted to be a gradient from the black to the blue rather than a completely blue nail or a blue French tip.
 
"Totally one of the people he saves, except I hope we don't get dropped and caught again. I always thought that looked really painful," Xander said. He kept his eyes closed and waved his hands in the air. "Freeeeeeeedom!"

~~

"Absolutely. Walla, indeed!" Alec snickered. He turned to watch the nail technician working. "Wow, that's such perfect work! Phenomenal! I like the gradient idea. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like that, too, but opposite of what he's doing. Blue to black instead of black to blue."
 
Laughing hard at Xander's cheer, she decided to yell it with him. Why not? There was nobody up there except them to, and it was freeing. Why not yell about it?

~~

The technician working on Alec's hands agreed to do what he asked, and Dark looked over, "Did you still want to see if she could do a tropical scene?"
 
Daizi's cheering spurred Xander on, and he yelled it again with her, loving every second. This was the most fun he'd ever had with Daizi! Possibly with either parent ever, but especially Daizi. Although horse ride came in at a close second.

~~

"Could you do some nail art? Something... beachy?" Alec asked shyly. It felt weird to ask so much of her even though it was literally her job.
 
Daizi only laughed harder, and continued to yell it more. The flight was, unfortunately, only for about ten minutes, but as they were brought down, the operator dipped their legs into the ocean, and since Daizi couldn't see it coming, she shrieked once in surprise, but then laughed harder as they were slowly and carefully pulled back in onto the boat.

~~

The nail tech said she could and then confirmed with Alec exactly what he wanted, suggesting either black palm trees, fish scales, or sand, but said she was able to do a lot, indicating to her nail polish stamps and stencils. Dark confirmed with his technician he did not want any added nail art, but when it was pointed out to him the colour he chose was magnetic, he did agree to have the colour be magnetized, because he thought the colour shift with the subtle silver pigment was intriguing.
 
"Hey, I didn't sign up to be fish bait!" Xander complained when his legs hit the water, but he was still grinning. That was the best time ever! He was still grinning by the time they reached the shore, and he guided Diazi to where they needed to stand out of the way and remove their life jackets.

~~

Alec asked for fish scales on all of the fingers except for the ring finger, and he watched her work with delight. He had no idea what magnitation was in nail polish until Dark got his, and he couldn't help oohing and ahing over it.
 
"Are you sure?" Daizi asked, needing to stop to catch her breath she was laughing so hard, "Maybe some of the words we didn't recognize in the waiver said otherwise!" Upon removing her life jacket, she stretched deeply and scratched beneath the straps of her bikini top, not liking how the life jacket had pressed them into her skin and being glad to be rid of it. "That was really, really fantastic."

~~

Dark occasionally looked over to compliment how Alec's nails were coming, and occasionally looked to the other side to make sure Ivy was still sleeping--he had no idea what he would do if she woke up and needed something urgently--but mostly he sat perfectly still for the technician while chatting with Alec. It was nice to get to spend this one-on-one time with him. Or, mostly one-on-one. He thought it still counted even though Ivy was there, since she was asleep. Some people definitely stared at the pair of them, but Dark sat proudly, because he liked having painted nails, and that was the only thing which mattered. They were his hands, and he could do with them as he pleased.
 
"That's true, it might have been," Xander snickered. He looked away as Daizi adjusted her top and turned his attention to watching the next group get on. "I think I found my new favorite sometimes sport. How about you?"

~~

Alec didn't even notice the looks. He was having fun chatting with his father about fun things and getting his nails done. Once in a while he checked on Ivy, not at all begrudging her presence. It was far more low-key than paragliding, but it was exactly what he wanted to do.
 
"Is it a sport?" Daizi asked, putting her sunglasses back on, but leaving her cane folded up and hung from her wrist, "I guess it would be. A competition would be interesting. I wish," She turned towards him, "I wish you, Dark, Alec, and I could play Chicken in the Ocean. That game where one person sits on the other person's shoulder, and you try to topple them over? But we can't, because we don't have anyone to watch Ivy. And I worry myself on Dark's shoulder's would be an unfair advantage, because we're taller. There's a lot I want to do. I'd like to go skydiving one day, too. They have you jump with someone who has done it before, and they pull the cords, so I think it'd be no problem for me to do it."

~~

What Dark enjoyed more than anything else, even more than the, admittedly, quite pleasant hand massage portion, was how peaceful it was. There was nothing to worry about, no fires to be extinguished, nothing was going wrong. And there he was, sharing a pleasant afternoon, having his nails painted like he hadn't been able to do in years. And he really, really liked how it was turning out.
 
Xander snickered at the idea of the four of them playing chicken. "I dunno about chicken, but we could maybe do skydiving, I guess. I don't see Alec agreeing to that. If he did agree to go up, they'd have to kick him out of the plane. I'd go, though." He glanced around. "Want to grab some ice cream on the sly? Then go find the other two?"

~~

"Your nails are looking so good," Alec said as the technician finished his nails. He'd been a little hyper at first, but like Dark noted, it was really peaceful. He relaxed, looking almost ready to fall asleep, himself, while waiting for his nails to finish. "We should do this more often."
 
"When we're in the water is the only time I'm strong enough to lift up Dark. It makes me feel like a powerlifter." Daizi said, hoping Xander would take that as silly, rather than something other than it was. Unfolding her cane, she smirked at him and added, "That is exactly what I was going to ask you. We probably have just enough time."

~~

"I do like them a great deal," Dark said, lifting his finished hand and turning it over, admiring the way it shifted and enjoying the single blue tip. Glancing over at Alec's hands, he smiled at the little hint of black, "Yours look wonderful, also. I would not mind doing this with you again. You know, when we finish here, we probably have just enough time to get ice cream before we meet back up with Xander and Daizi."
 
"Nice," Xander grinned. He looked around and then tapped Daizi's arm lightly. "Turn this way. There's a tiny shop that's barely bigger than a hole in the wall. They do sodas and ice creams. I spotted it yesterday when Alec and I were exploring." After a steps, he asked, "So, are you going to get into powerlifting so you can pick him up outside of the water?"

~~

Alec held up his hands, admiring them happily. As he did so, a couple of ladies passed on their way out.

"My husband would never be so supportive of our kids," murmured one to the other. "Especially when it is for something so controversial. So nice to see such a supportive father."

Alec smiled at Dark as they left. "Yeah," he agreed quietly. "It really is."
 
There was no chance she was going to mention it, but everytime he tapped her arm rather than just telling her to turn left or right was something she knew she'd remember. It was a surprise every single time, but she'd savor it. "I don't know. Probably not. He weighs something like 220lbs? 225? I'm not certain, really, but I know it means learning to lift more than my bodyweight by not a small amount. But it would be pretty handy in an emergency."

~~

Dark stopped to pay, and tip, as they left, and then continued pushing Ivy in her stroller out onto the street, but he stopped to squeeze Alec on the shoulder, "I am just glad to get to do these things with you."
 
"True, 'cause I'm not sure how we'd be able to move him if we had to," Xander remarked. "We need a rolling chair or something in case he hurts his leg or something." He slowed and remarked, "This store we're passing is a music place. It's very... hipster, I guess."

~~

"Say," Alec said brightly, "do you want to get some ice cream? And then go find Mama and Xander?"
 
"I worry about that a lot." Daizi admitted quietly, but didn't allow herself to linger on the thought, instead choosing to ask, "What do you mean by that? Is it a true, indie, 'I only visit single-location coffee shops' hipster or is it the poser kind of, 'I tattooed a mustache on the side of my finger' and whine about mainstream culture while drinking Starbucks and posting filtered pictures to Instagram kind of hipster?"

~~

Dark squinted down at Alec and then pointed directly at him, "You were not listening to me earlier. I already suggested that."
 
"I'm not sure, I think the second, but it might be the first," Xander reported. "Has a hint of hippie to the hipster, I can tell you that. Smell the incense?"

~~

Alec giggled. "I didn't think you'd remember! And besides, those nail polish fumes are intense. You can forget all kinds of things in a place like that and remember a few things that never happened."
 
"Most of the time it's the second," Daizi said, walking with one hand in her back pocket, "I can smell it, but that doesn't indicate too much. Do you want to go inside?"

~~

"You did not think I remembered? It was ten minutes ago! Fifteen at most!" He ruffled Alec's hair, "Ya hmar. I am only 39, how bad do you think my memory is, even with fumes?"
 
"Only if you want to. I thought you might like the music," Xander shrugged. "It was just on the way." He started walking again. "What was up with that finger tattoo, anyway?"

~~

Alec laughed and tried to straighten his hair. "That was surely closer to twenty, and a lot can happen in twenty minutes!"
 
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