How Green Becomes Wood

When they got there, one of the few members of Sloan's team who also went to the school was standing by Sloan's locker, doing her absolute best, but struggling with it. With it just being her, trying to hold up her paper and tape it without collapsing on her was giving her some trouble, which was compounded by the fact Sloan had a top locker, and she was only about as tall as Peter, so she couldn't reach the top-most corners of it to tape up.
 
Xander stepped up without a word and caught the paper before it could fall again. He helped smooth it out while Alec stood back and told them when it was straight. Alec then reached the top corners to tape it securely and patted it all down.

"That looks really good!" Alec said softly, almost whispering even though he had no idea why. "Nice job!"
 
"O-oh, thanks," The girl said, stepping back while the twins handled the base wrapping layer. She smiled a pretty smile at Alec, a slight gap between her two front teeth, "Thanks for helping, too. The um-the paper, that's just the basic part, I also brought bows and pictures and things. Were you also planning to decorate it?"
 
"We were, but you got here first, so we should follow your lead," Alec assured her, not wanting her to think they were going to take over. "We should probably hurry before Sloan gets here. What do you need first?"
 
"Oh, well," She bent down over the totebag she had brought full of supplies, "I really wasn't sure. Part of me had wanted to do a classic Happy Birthday design, like a present, but then I also thought maybe I'd do it more aesthetic. I put up the wrapping paper rather than the brown packing paper, so I guess I should stick with the Birthday theme."

She reached in and pulled out a small printed copy of Van Gogh's Sunflowers painting she had framed in lace, "But I have stuff like this. It'll probably clash on the paper, though. I don't want to waste your stuff, either, though, so whatever works, I think?"
 
"Let me go grab our stuff, and then we can possibly try to combine it," Alec said. He took the keys from Xander and dashed for the door.

Xander stood, hands in pockets, staring at the wrapping paper. It was nice wrapping paper. He tended to have a bit of RBF, but he was only trying to think about what they might have that would go with the wrapping paper.
 
"I really don't want it to look bad," She sighed, taking a step back, "at least the wrapping paper is a solid colour. My mom tried to convince me to go with polka dots, but that seemed like... a lot. It'd be easier if Sloan was a maximalist." Turning her head to the side, the took out a visibly homemade birthday banner, and held it up at an intentionally slanted angle to the locker, "Or a minimalist. But we've got to strike a balance."
 
"She likes color and, um, whimsy," Xander said cautiously, trying to be helpful. He'd never done this before. He hoped it'd be okay for Sloan's sake.

Alec came trotting back with what they'd created. "Here we are! What can we use from this? Oh, I like that banner!"

The wrapping paper he'd chosen was no quite a solid color, though it looked almost like it from a distance. It was striped with wide green stripes and very narrow silvery-white ones. He'd drawn out various symbols and items that he thought she'd like and then cut them out of white paper and put them on the wrapping portion. Friendship bracelets, markers like she used on her shoes, various gymnastic-related themes, a couple of her favorite movies, and the logos of a couple of her favorite bands. He'd created a yellow flower by cutting out several layers of yellow and orange paper and then glued them together at the center. That he'd put at the top. Here and there, he'd delicately written on the wrapping paper little birthday wishes and Hallmark-style phrases hidden amongst the pictures.
 
The girl looked over it before rubbing her face with her hands, "I can't believe it didn't occur to me to just---decorate the paper before hand. That looks really good. Damn. I feel dumb now."

She looked back at her own work with slumped shoulders, her long, sleek hair falling messily over her one shoulder, "I kinda feel bad I got to work here before you showed up, yours probably looks better than what I had prepared." She frowed, going into her totebag, "I did print out photographs with her, though. So I guess there's that."
 
"No, please don't feel bad!" Alec said hurriedly. "I'm just surprised this thing didn't rip in transit. If it had, and you hadn't been here, this would be a different story. As it is, I bet we can transfer a lot of this onto your paper, and we should absolutely put the pictures you got up there! Here, let's lay out what you have, and we'll start tearing things off of our banner. If we're careful, they should be fine, and we have more than enough to work with so it's okay if a few get damaged. How about we start with your pictures, and do you mind if I use the flower I made?"
 
Brightening quickly, she went into her totebag and handed Alec a pair of scissors, "Here, I've got these. Probably a bit safer than tearing it. And absolutely add the flower! I think it's really cool."

Sorting through a few of the photographs, she picked some of her favourites, many of which were from gymnastics, but there were some which were from normal hang outs or other parties, including one from when they were younger kids, probably from when they were ten or eleven, where they both had big, toothy smiles and were in matching pajama sets, "The thing is, most of the team are athletes, and not artists, and of the three of us who go to this school, Sloan is one of them, so I was nominated. They all said, 'Claire! You're artsy! You can do it!' They always forget I do pottery, I'm totally lost when it's two dimensional and not something I basically just set on fire." She laughed, "It'll be grand, though, it's the thought that counts, right?"
 
"It is absolutely the thought that counts! And pottery is really cool," Alec told her. "My mama loves three-dimensional stuff far more than two-dimensional. Anyway, I think you did a fantastic job with what you had!" He wielded the scissors deftly and soon had his former paper chopped to shreds.

Xander watched it go mournfully. He'd liked what they had, but he supposed Alec was right about this girl... whatever her name was, she was first, so it only made sense.

"By the way, I'm Alec, and that's my brother, Xander," Alec said, handing her a few pieces to put where she wanted.
 
"I like it," She said, nodding, "I don't really do sculptures or anything though, I like making bowls and mugs and stuff. It's not exciting, but there's something awesome about drinking from something you made."

When Alec introduced himself and Xander, she smiled a bit shly as she taped something up to the locker, "Yeah... I, uh, I know who you are. You perform at the talent show each year, and last I checked, there aren't other red-headed identical twin boys walking around the place, so." She shrugged, laughing lightly, "I'm Claire. I don't think I'm as famous as you are."
 
"Oh," Alec said sheepishly. "I forget how many people actually remember us from those. It's weird to have people who know us but us not know them. Sorry, I don't know you, but it is really nice to meet you."

"That picture should go a bit more to the left," Xander said as Alec held it up. "It's off balance right now."
 
She giggled slightly, "I bet it's really weird, yeah. I don't... I don't think I'd ever be brave enough to do something like that. I mean, you'd think with the gymnastics, but it's different, because at gymnastics you're pretty much only being watched by other gymnasts. It's okay that you don't know me, though, it's a pretty big school."

She stepped back to look at it from Xander's perspective, "I brought glitter glue from my mom's scrapbooking supplies if we want to make it more sparkly. But I guess," she tipped her head to the side slightly, "It might drip."
 
Alec's eyes lit up in excitement. "Glitter glue?"

"No," Xander warned. "No glitter glue."

"Come on. It's a birthday poster! It deserves to be shiny and glittery!" Alec pleaded, waving his hands.

Xander heaved a sigh and looked at Claire. "I have some paper towels in the car. We can use those to catch the drips. I'll be right back." He headed out to the van and quickly and soon returned with a full roll of paper towels.

Alec looked at him quizzically. "Why do you have those?"

"You and Ba combined," Xander said dryly. He held out the paper towels to Claire. "Glue away."
 
"It's pretty viscous," Claire said, picking up a boxed set of different glitter glues, "I don't think it'll drip down on the floor, but it might drip down from the intended designs. I thought this was probably neater than elmer's glue and loose glitter."

She passed the set of nine to Alec so he could pick his colour, "I like the holographic one the best. In the wrong conditions it's not all that special, but when the light hits it, it sparkles in rainbows."
 
Alec frowned as he studied the set seriously. Then he picked out the holographic one. "Let's do this one! I think it's pretty."

"You think all glitter is pretty," Xander said dryly.

"Because it is, but I think this one will be the prettiest in this instance," Alec replied.
 
"Well," She said, rocking on her heels, "If we're committing to adding glitter, is it worth showing restraint and only adding one colour?" She grinned at Alec, appreciating his excitement, "If it were my locker being decorated for myself, I'd use all of them, but since it's for Sloan..." After Alec chose the holographic one, she chose orange glitter, which went nicely with the flower and, happily, contrasted nicely with the background, "Just a little extra sparkle, without being overwhelming seems proper."
 
Alec looked at her in awe. "I love your style," he said frankly. "Absolutely! The holographic and the orange and perhaps this dark blue? I feel like three would really feel beautifully balanced." He picked out the blue and grinned at her. "Shall we?"

Xander eyed them both suspiciously. He hoped this wasn't going to get completely out of hand. "Three sounds like a good number. Those are good colors, too," he said, casually snagging the box of glue and moving it out of their reach.
 
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