How Green Becomes Wood

"I think it cheapens both stories to treat them as the same place," Sloan replied with a smile, chatting with Ciara for a little bit longer before joining her friends.

"She is crawling, yes, and she pulls to stand. Occasionally she tries to take a few steps while holding onto furniture, but she does not have excellent balance."
 
"We are both," Dark agreed, rubbing Ivy on her back gently, "but overall she is a good baby. This is about how we spend half the day, she loves being held. Right, Ivy?" He looked again at her, and hearing her name she raised her head and grinned, trying to pull his face closer, "This or playing. Eventually she will grow restless and want down."
 
"Be sure to tell me where you are, Ivy. I do not want to catch your fingers," Tristan warned her. His tone was light, but a new fear had unlocked for him. What if he accidentally ran into her? Or backed into her? Or ran over her fingers? Maybe he just shouldn't move until it was time to leave. He reached down and carefully locked his wheels.

Becky sidled up to Sloan as Tom, Peter, Alec, and Xander congregated. "Hey, you made it!"
 
"She wears bells," Dark told him, lightly jingling one of them, but he was unable to deny shared Tristan's anxieties. "For Daizi. But even at a party like this with so many people around, we would not allow her to play unwatched, so we would lift her before she had a chance to get anywhere she should not be."

"Barely," Sloan teased, "It was an arduous journey getting here, I thought I wouldn't survive the trip."
 
"That's good, that's good," Tristan nodded. "I am afraid that while I do enjoy watching the children around me, I have rarely had much direct interaction with them."

"I can imagine! The traffic alone must have been torturous!" Becky declared, pretending to swoon slightly. She laughed and watched as Sally went to Alec and Xander, holding Alec's face lightly in her hands as she declared how happy she was for them. "I wonder what it's like," she mused.
 
"I did not have much experience with children this young until her. Daizi's cousins have children, but I did not do much with them. I certainly never held them like this. But I also do not generally enjoy other people's children."

"What's what like?" Sloan asked, turning towards the other girl before looking at Sally and the twins again.
 
"Does the beard not hurt?" Tristan asked, gesturing to his own face as an indication. "A beard is another thing I am not very familiar with. Mine is a horrible, thin, scraggly mess that really cannot be called much more than 'chin hairs.'"

"Being adopted like that," Becky explained. "I mean, I had family weirdness with my mom and my dad and [can't remember mom's husband's name], but I've always had a pretty stable life. I wonder what it would be like to be so excited to get chosen like that and not have everything be just..." She waved her hands uncertainly, "predetermined, I guess? Like picking out a pet. It's a weird thought."
 
"Her pulling on it?" Dark asked, adjusting Ivy, "At times she pulls too hard. We work to teach her to he more gentle, I would rather her pull on my face than our dog's fur. Most of the time she just holds on." He would've scratched his beard had Ivy not been doing it for him, "I cannot say I wish our situations were reversed, as I am fond of it, but if I were not, I would feel otherwise. The maintenance required for me to not have a beard, is greater than the opposite."

Sloan shrugged, "I dunno. I mean, the thought of being picked out of a thousand others is endearing, but I'm not sure that's really what happened with them, you know? They showed up just as anyone does, just as teenagers rather than infants."
 
Tristan chuckled as he watched Ivy. "I imagine your facial skin care is slightly lessened, as well. Your beard maintenance is certainly apparent, even with the sweet little leaf there yanking on it. Or not yanking as you train her. Does she eat solids yet? Will she be joining us for dinner?"

Becky considered this and nodded. "Fair." She glanced around. "There are a lot of attractive people here tonight. I'm feeling positively Ugly Duckling!" She giggled and smoothed the yellow T-shirt she was wearing with her nicest jeans. The T-shirt had the image of a large, white daisy, and the jeans were bellbottoms with flowers embroidered on the hems, thighs, and pockets. With her hair up in a ponytail and only basic makeup on, she looked like a hippie inspired girl-next-door.
 
"I think beard care overwhelms the time it would take to do my skin-care routine lower on my face, but I suppose if I was shaving my face as often as would be necessary to remain clean shaven... I suppose my methods would need to be more intensive, yes." He mused, having not considered that angle, "She eats solids to an extent. With food she actually needs to chew she is doing better, but still needs them softer than what you or I would eat. I have looked over a bit of what has been brought, but for what I or my children have not cooked, I would need to know what is in them exactly before I fed them to her. And she is not allowed added sugar yet."

"You're fine girl," Sloan said, glancing around the party and not really getting what Becky meant. It was mostly adults in their mid to late thirties, and parents of her friends at that. Not exactly her type, "I like the flowers on your jeans, by the way. I like ironing on patches like that."

Around this time, Milo knocked meekly at the door.
 
"Is she going to have sugar in her birthday cake?" Tristan asked curiously.

"Thanks! But they're actually real embroidery," Becky said. "I picked it up last summer, and these are the best I've ever done! Just don't look too close at the left leg hem. That's where I started, and it's still a little wonky, but by the time I got to the pockets, flowers were a breeze!"

Sally was the closest to the door, so she went to answer it. "Hello, there," she said with a smile. "Are you here for Alec and Xander's party?"
 
"She is," Dark agreed, "For the very first time. We have it ordered already, which is difficult to believe." His thoughts took him for a few moments, and he rested his cheek against his baby's hair before saying, "It is what we had been waiting for. Afterwards, we are still going to avoid letting her have it too often, but she will be allowed desserts when we have them."

"Really? That's cool," Sloan commented, "I've always wanted to try that, but I don't think I have the time to learn something new."

Milo looked down at her but felt he may as well have been looking up, "Um. Y-yeah. I'm, Milo, I'm their friend."
 
"That's nice. I try to eat healthy, but I could not image a world completely devoid of sugar," Tristan chuckled. "Then again, I do not have a soon-to-be-toddler to keep from sugar highs."

"Yeah, it does take time. Once you get decent at it, not even, like, good just decent, small bits are fast, but these took me a couple of months," Becky sighed. "Still, looks cool. Hey, if we, the people in this room, were the only people left on the planet, who would you date? Or would you rather die alone?"

"Milo?" Sally thought for just a moment before recognition dawned. "Oh, yes! You are the one with the camera. I'm Peter's mother, Sally Hollis. Come in. The boys are in the living room. Oh, no shoes in the house, and please touch the salt." She stepped out of the way, indicating the salt bowl."
 
"I worry about her teeth," Dark admitted, "The only thing she routinely fights us on is having her teeth brushed. When she has a limited sugar intake, I can be mildly less concerned."

"Uhhh..." Sloan said awkwardly and definitely would've choked had she been drinking when she heard that question, "I... I dunno. Um." She nodded towards Enkidu who was sitting against the downstairs gate, "I'd cuddle up with him, I guess. Uh... you?"


"Oh, I--I know, thank you," He assured Sally, doing exactly as he was told before nodding awkwardly to her and scurrying to the living room.
 
"Mildly less, yes," Tristan agreed. He paused then, not sure where to take the conversation from here. He did not normally struggle with small talk - it was a part of his job - but Dark was different.

Becky laughed. "Wow! Okay. I was not expecting that. Alright, sure. He is warm and snuggly. I'd take... Xander."

"Cute kid," Sally said in amusement as she watched him scurry away before going to ask Daizi if she could help set up dinner.
 
Dark watched Tristan for a few moments, and then after gathering the strength to be honest, he said, "I must apologize. The only time I know how to speak casually is if it is about Ivy-Qadira. You may ask my sons. It is not a skill I possess."

Would it break some kind of code to let Xander know that? Sloan guessed it probably would, but she also had a pretty good idea of how Xander felt about those things, "Really? It's better than trying to date his dad, I guess. Or anybody's dad. I think a pretty major rule is don't date your friend's dad and don't date your ex's dad. Or mom. Or grandparent. Why Xander?"

Dinner preparations were sparse, since everything had been cooked in advance, and Cooger was helping her. The pair of them were chatting in endeared amusement about how Dark was actually talking to someone at a party.
 
"I gathered that when we were working together," Tristan chuckled. "I am willing to listen to you talk about Ivy-Qadira, if you would like, but I do not know how to talk about babies, I am afraid. How about... You have a hobby, don't you?"

Becky snickered at that. "True enough. I think I would probably date someone's mother before their dad. Is it weird that I find that more acceptable? Anyway, Xander because I had a crush on him for a while - totally unrequited, totally tragic, totally dramatic - and because I think he's pretty capable, you know? I'd pick Peter second because even if he looks totally refined and all that, I get the idea he knows how to handle himself."

Alec spotted Milo first and waved. "Milo! You made it! Hi!"
 
"You have done well so far," Dark allowed himself to joke as Ivy began to squirm in his arms, wanting to get down to play, "I do woodworking. I have a shed in our yard where most of my work is contained, and I have been known to sketch from time to time. Do you have a just-for-you hobby? Or are your interests all financially viable?"

"It's probably all of the jokes about bedding someone's mother we all grew up hearing," Sloan replied, having no idea how to address her crush on Xander or if she should. "I don't think any of our friends are quite my type. And I've kind of been burned dating close friends."

"Hi," Milo said, fiddling with his camera, "Uh, congratulations! I assume it, you know, went well?"
 
"Woodworking? Really? Delightful! The smell of freshly shaved wood is quite heady, isn't it?" Tristan asked with a smile. "What style of woodworking do you do? Doors and trunks, artwork, toys... other types that I am not familiar with? To answer your question, I love all things flower-related. I did turn that into a business venture, along with building terrariums, but I also swim for body and mind. I sketch a little, but it is more copying still life as I see it before me in an academic way than actual artistry. I assume you designed your tattoos yourself?"

"Ugh, I know!" Becky groaned. "It either works out great, or it's a flaming disaster on a pile of rubble! There's, like, no in-between at all. It sucks because you'd think it should work out being friends and all, right? You think you know a person, and then they turn around and stab you in the heart!" She made heart-stabbing motions with her hands.

Alec nodded with a big grin. "So well! It was actually really quick and easy. The judge seemed happy to be there, the questions were super easy, and that was that!"
 
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