How Green Becomes Wood

Dark strolled easily behind them. Because it was bright he was bright out, he wore a pair of black sunglasses which completely obscured his eyes and added to the aura emanating off of him. Although he noticed the stares, he did not really acknowledge them, but when Toby began to wave, he inhaled slightly and asked his sons, "I suppose we should go say hello."
 
"It would only be polite," Alec said, waving back.

As Xander walked up, Toby grinned at them. "Yo, Mr. Dark! You came too! Xander, Alec! Hey, guys, these are my neighbors. Mr. Dark's super rad."

There was a mumble of various greetings from the other guys, who looked a bit more guarded with a clearly capable adult in their midst.

"Did we miss anything?" Xander asked Toby.

Toby shook his head. "Nah, we're just getting started. We're waiting for Rock."

One of the other guys snorted. "Rock wouldn't be on time for his own funneral."
 
"Marhaban," Dark greeted, reserved as usual, "Xander invited me, and since he invited me, I came." He cast his gaze around the crowd before asking, "Is your mother going to be here, Toby?" He was curious about this Rock, and if it was his given name or not, but by the glances and mumbles the other teenagers gave, he doubted they would be particularly inclined to divulge such precious information about him.
 
Toby shook his head. "Nah, not for this. This is just a PvP, nothing special. He says I dissed him, so now we gotta battle it out."

"How'd you do that?" Alec asked curiously.

"Dunno," Toby admitted, scratching his slightly stubbly chin. "But he says I did, so I guess I did."

Behind Toby, a couple of the guys elbowed each other, snickering. They were clearly used to Toby's spacey ways, and Alec had to wonder if Toby had been at fault at all.

"There he is! Finally," one of the taller guys complained.

Alec and Xander turned to see an old dented motorcycle pull up and a slightly pudgy fellow got off. He pulled off his helmet, revealing a very flat face, a buzz-cut, and a misshapen nose. He glared around at the others as he pulled his skateboard out of his backpack and stomped over toward the group. He stopped a safe distance away and glared at Dark. "Who's this? The ref or a funeral director?"
 
"Right." Dark replied slowly, "I hope things go well for you, in that case."

Like everyone else, he turned at Rock's arrival, taking him in slowly and trying to gauge if he had seen him before. Considering the boy didn't recognize him, Dark guessed he hadn't. "We will see how the day goes." He said sardonically, and then asked Xander, in Arabic, for the first time trusting the teen would simply understand him, although he did make a point to use simple words, "Did you invite me in case they fought? Say yes or no if you do not know the words." He remembered some comment about cooling hot heads, but had not paid it much attention at the time.
 
"It was a humorous," Xander said quietly, meaning joke and getting the wrong word.

"Hey, Rock!" Toby grinned, hopping up from his seat on the table. "Nice to see ya!" He started to reach out a hand.

"Don't play friends, Cadet!" Rock growled, smacking aside Toby's hand. "I should punch you into next week for what you did, but we'll settle this skater style. Let's hit the pipes!" He turned and stocked off.

Toby scratched his head, puzzled. "What did I do? He won't tell me."

"Never mind, Toby. Just go show him how it's done!" cackled one of the guys while two others called for the park to clear.
 
Dark nodded, somewhat relieved, although his apprehension lingered. Whatever Rock felt Toby had done clearly wounded him deeply, Dark worried what would happen if this petulant person felt he had lost their 'duel.' He scratched his chin and then asked his boys, "Should we sit? I am sure there is much for us to see."
 
"You'll have to roust someone if you want to sit around here," Xander said, glancing around. There weren't many places to sit. A couple of benches and a couple of picnic tables sat spread around the perimeter. Most of the other fellows were either standing or leaning against the railings. A couple sat on the edge of the bowl.

Alec grinned, though he looked nervous. "I think this is too exciting to sit!"

One of the older skaters stood on the edge of the bowl and yelled, "Okay, guys! Let's see what these two got! Remember: Play nice! This is skills! Not braun! Ready!"

The two skaters moved to what Xander and Alec could only assume was the start position since it didn't look much different than the rest of the area. They got ready, held steady, and when the older skater gave a yell, they pushed off and turned into twin blurs.
 
"Did they all come because of the duel or is it a coincidence?" Dark asked, having no experience with skater culture outside of a hit s0ng. Still, he stepped back apace to be certain he wasn't blocking anyone's view and watched the competition with his arms crossed. It was fairly impressive, although he had no idea how to tell who was winning.
 
"Most of them are here for this," Xander said, standing with hands in pockets and an almost bored look on his face. His bored expression couldn't quite hide the gleam in his eye. He wasn't totally familiar with how skating was rated, either, but he loved competition!

"Wow! They're going so fast!" Alec gasped.

The two skaters rocketed down and across the entire park while the watching crowd screamed their encouragement. Both were fast, but Rock was just a little faster. Speed wasn't everything, though, and the stunts Toby was pulling off looked better even to laypeople like Xander and Alec. He skidded across the rails, jumped hurdles, and propelled himself up the walls into gravity-defying flips. Rock could do most of what Toby could, but he just couldn't quite pull off some of the things Toby could do. The worst came when he slipped off a rail and lost his board, stumbling briefly before quickly regaining it and taking off. He didn't lose much speed, but the crowd voiced its disproval. They were close! They hopped into the tallest ramp and pulled off a few more dazzling stunts before finally sliding off and finishing right under where the older skater had stood watching. Race over!
 
"They are," Dark agreed, stone-faced but ultimately impressed. It wasn't something he had ever considered learning himself, but watching it he understood why there were competitions. Daizi would be fascinated by the anthropology of it, had she been there, and would likely have been unable to resist interviewing the participants.

Besides sucking some air in between his teeth when Rock came off his board, Dark had no discernable reaction to the competition. Still, when the race was over, he watched the older skater closely to see who was declared winner. To his untraimed eyes, it should be Toby, as he never stumbled. The stumble was a deduction, certainly.
 
"Alright alright alright!" the older guy yelled to quiet the cheering. "It was a close one! Hard to judge that! The winner of the competition by a nose is... Cadet!"

The crowd broke into cheers that drowned out Rock's screams of protest. Toby grinned and raised his board up to celebrate before dropping it and hopping on to ride it up to the top. The crowd split up, and several started competing against each other, challenging each other to races or performances. It happened so fast that Rock barely had time to get up and out on the opposite side before skates and board zipped by.

"That was weird," Alec stated. "Is it over?"

"Nah, now there's several others taking their turns, but it's not an actual challenge like it was between Rock and Toby," Xander told him. "I didn't think Toby'd be announced the winner."
 
"He stayed on his board," Dark pointed out, as if it was obvious and as if he knew the rules, "That certainly carries the most wait, would it not?" He looked over at the various skaters, curious about the sort of tricks they did. Admittedly, although it was interesting, it didn't hold his attention very well, and was a bit glad this wasn't the scene his kids had entered into. "At least the win was not challenged. At least, not yet."
 
"Rock's over there screaming, but I don't think anyone is paying attention," Alec remarked, looking across the concrete park.

Toby was being congratulated by his friends, but he wandered over after a bit and gave them a grin. "Hey, Mr. Dark, what'd'ya think? This is your first time, right?"
 
"So long as he maintains his tantrum to his corner of the park, I have no complaints." Dark said flatly, turning away from Rock's meltdown almost dismissively. It wasn't his problem anymore. When Toby walked over, he tried to assume a less austere posture and said, "It is my first time, yes. I thought it was rather impressive, although I must admit I do not understand the scoring system."
 
"Oh, it's easy!" Toby exclaimed, and he launched into a detailed explanation about what moves were worth what points, adding in several times that out here, the cooler the better. The cooler and more complicated the trick, the higher your uncounted points. He used his hands to demonstrate the moves, talking more animatedly than the twins had ever seen before as he tried his best to ensure Dark understood everything about the scoring and the moves involved.

As Toby talked, Rock made his way around the bowl and started stomping up toward Toby and the twins. "Hey! Hey! You cheated, Cadet! You can't have won! I'm waves better than your posser butt! Come on! Let's go again!"

"Leave off, Rock!" shouted one of the skaters from where they sat checking their rollerblades. "Take the loss before you get kicked out."

"No way am I losing to some brain-dead loser who don't even have to be a pot head to lose his brain!" Rock shouted as he tried to get closer.

Two of the other board riders got up and shouted Rock down. "You leave him be!"

Rock realized he was being seriously outnumbered by guys were were very much on Toby's side - the Toby who mostly looked lost right now - and tried a different tactic. "I bet he bribed Numbers!"

That caused a gasp. It seemed he'd gone too far. Xander stood next to Dark watching, seeming to be amused rather than worried. Dust got kicked up like this all the time, but they'd settle it among themselves. He'd never been a part of the scene, but it was free to hang out at parks, so he'd watched a lot of skaters over the years. He'd seen two guys get into a fist fight one day and then be best friends the next. Rock was an outlier, but the skaters seemed to really care about Toby and Numbers. They'd deal with it.
 
Dark looked cautiously at the dispute then warily at his sons. This really wasn't his buisness, and he wasn't interested in being yet again in the responsibility of diffusing it. If it was his children on the line, it'd be different, but unless his neighbor's kid was ganged up on, which seemed unlikely, or someone pulled a knife, he really didn't want to get involved. It wasn't that long ago he had a rib broken, he had no interest in playing hero for some stranger. Although, admittedly, he couldn't help but wonder why he had been invited.
 
"Alright, alright! Break it up!" called the older guy as he stormed over. "None of that here, got it?" He waited until things settled down, and then he gave Rock a hard look. "You asked for a competition, and you got it. You lost. Accept it, or walk away. I'm not dealing with you're sh** today, Rock. Got it?"

Rock glared back, but finally stormed off.

"Sorry, Numbers," Toby apologized.

"Nothing to be sorry about, Cadet," the older guy told him. "WHo are your friends? I don't remember seeing them around before."

"Oh, these are my neighbors! Xander, Alec, and Mr. Dark!" Toby told him proudly.

"Nice." Numbers looked them over. "Do you skate or board?"

"Nope," Xander said as Alec shook his head.
 
"Yeah, sorry about that. Hot heads and all that," Numbers said with an easy shrug. "Any of you interested in learning?"

"The board? Really?" Alec blurted.

"Sure, why not?" Numbers grinned.

Alec hesitated. "I don't have any kind of... wheeled device."

"Here, you can use mine!" Toby offered instantly, holding out his board. "You should totally give it a try! It's okay if you don't want to, but you might have fun. Here, elbow pads. I never minded knees, but elbows hurt!"

Alec bashfully accepted, and Numbers gave him a helmet before calling out, "We got a newbie here! Okay? Newbie!"

Alec tensed, anticipating mockery, but instead a bunch of the guys and gals just called back acknowledgment and cleared a bit of space. Toby and Numbers went with Alec to an easier part of the run and started showing him how a board worked.

"Won't drive a car, but he'll jump on a board," Xander smirked, leaning against the railing as he watched.
 
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