How Green Becomes Wood

"It is a kind thing for you to do, but... it seems he has more projects than he has time." Dark said charitably, not sure how much was proper to reveal about the depth of the issue, "We believe it would be better for him, and his brother who he shares a room with, if his collection stopped being added to with such regularity."

~~

"Thank you," Milo said with pride in his eyes, handing the rest to them, "That entire first reel was just from their ceremony, so there's a lot to go to. I think they came out really well. The decor helped a lot, without context they look sort of magical, I think."
 
"I see," Tristan said with some hesitation. He was a little conflicted. He was perfectly fine with parents not being okay with children bringing home loads of what might be called "junk," but from his admittedly biased viewpoint, it sounded as though they wanted to curb a child's interests and passions. That didn't seem to line up with what he knew of Dark and Daizi, but having grown up under a parent whose word was absolute, up to and including what interests the child was allowed and not allowed to pursue, it rubbed him the wrong way. Still, Dark and Daizi had every right to say what was and was not allowed to come into their house, and some of the stuff Alec took home was, admittedly, junk. Even trash. "I can tell him no, of course," he said, fighting to give the benefit of the doubt rather than make biased assumptions, "but is this a conversation you will be having with him? It sounds as though you have not told him about this."

~~

"You took a lot of pictures," Xander said, looking through them carefully. "Probably a good thing."

Alec took half and started flipping through. "Such talent, skill, and effort! You are very good at this."
 
"We've tried," Daizi said, "but he isn't really in a place to listen. And, honestly?" She hesitated for a long while and in the silence an unspoken debate between her and Dark could nearly be heard, "It is at a point where if you want to sit in their bedroom, he has to clear space. When we learned he had accumulated so much, Dark tried to talk to him about potentially sorting through what he has, maybe donating what he has fixed up or getting rid of the things that he has had for months without beginning to do anything with, he was... The idea seemed stressful to him, overwhelming to him."

Dark inhaled and then further explained, "To be clear, Tristan, we are not asking you this because we do not like him fixing things up. I am a maker, so Xander, but right now he is doing less making and more keeping. He does not have the space for anything more to keep. When he speaks about his bedroom, he refers to it as having paths, because the rest is items he has accumulated."

~~

"Since I was hired to do it, I didn't want to accidentally miss anything," Milo shrugged, a bit embarrassed by the praise, "I'm excited to see the pictures from the rest of the party, I haven't started on those yet."
 
Tristan grasped the severity of the situation then and gave a tiny nod even if they couldn't see it. "Ah. I see. That is most unfortunate. Thank you for explaining things to me. I will do my best to avoid allowing him to take anything home until you give me your blessing that it is all right to do so again. I should be able to come up with some ways and reasons to not rouse his suspicions too much. Thank you again for explaining. I would not want to be an enabler that way."

~~

"Mind if I come watch some time?" Xander asked. "Unless it wouldn't be professional since it's your job this time."

"If these ones are just the ceremony, I cannot wait to see the ones of the party!" Alec grinned. He handed them back to Milo. "You should start a portfolio if you haven't already."
 
"Thank you." Dark said, relieved he had agreed to the request. "I hope that will make it easier to handle the rest of the issue."

"It was a really kind thing for you to do," Daizi added, "Giving him those things. Even though it ended up feeding into a larger problem, but... Well, I suppose in a way it helped us to know about it more quickly than we would have otherwise."

~~

"Yeah, you can come if you want to," Milo replied, "I think it's probably professional enough, since your the client's son and all. I hadn't really thought about starting a portfolio before, but... I don't know. I guess I could. For the future."
 
"It would be better to deal with those types of problems sooner rather than later," Tristan agreed. "Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help. With either twin or Ivy, though I must confess I have no idea how I could help with Ivy. Back-up babysitter, perhaps? Or item provider. I think I have proven I am very good at providing items." There was humor in his tone at the last words.

~~

"It's not a bad idea," Xander agreed. "You should think about it, at least. When do you want to meet for pictures?"
 
Daizi laughed politely at his joke, "We'll be sure to keep you in the loop and ask if there's anything we need. Thank you. And luckily, Ivy right now seems to be doing okay, although we're a bit concerned about her going stir-crazy as she adjusts to being indoors. She doesn't remember cold weather."

~~

"You're more busy than I am," Milo shrugged, "So I guess whenever. I want to have them done not too long after the ceremony, though. I don't know what's a feasible timeline and I don't want Mr. Dark to think I'm taking advantage."
 
"Bundle her up well enough, and I'm sure she'll find some joy in the cold weather, too," Tristan suggested lightly. "I cannot imagine a toddler over the winter trapped in the house. I wish you luck and patience!"

~~

"He won't think that," Alec assured him.

"Probably not," Xander agreed, "but that's a good business practice. I'll check my schedule and clear something ASAP. Text you later?"
 
"Once it snows, I'm sure. She's used to going to the park regularly, so that's an adjustment," Daizi told him, "I'm guessing she'll be walking by December, so... We'll see how that works out for us."

~~

"Yeah, text you," Milo said, taking the photographs pack and sticking them in his bag.

Meanwhile, Sloan was over at her locker, checking her hair in a little magnetic mirror she had on the inside of the door.
 
"I wish you the best, and let me know if there is something you think I can help with," Tristan said. He paused as someone tapped on the little cubicle divider around his desk. "I should go. Unless there is anything else?"

~~

"Thanks for the sneak preview!" Alec grinned.

Rumy came over behind Sloan and leaned against the lockers, folding her arms loosely, looking at Sloan's face in the mirror. "You look fantastic," she told her.
 
"No, that is all. Thank you, Tristan. Have a nice day." Dark said, lingering just long enough for Tristan to say goodbye and then hung up himself.

~~

"Oh, thanks," Sloan smiled, catching Rumy's eye in the mirror before shutting her locker and turning around to face her, "I've actually been thinking of changing my hair. I can't decide though."
 
Tristan turned his attention back to work, but in the back of his mind, he was wondering how to gently break Alec of the newly formed habit of taking stuff from the shop.

~~

"I think you look great right now, but I've never been one to turn down a fun change of hair," Rumy said, grinning as she waved a strand of her own black and fuchsia striped hair ar Sloan. "Are you thinking cut or color?"
 
"A long wolf cut would look banging on you," Rumy told her. "You could keep it long enough to tie back, or maybe cut short enough it doesn't matter. Money pieces... They aren't my fav look, but they would give you a nice frame, yeah? Really draw out your best feature. Be easy to do, too, and you wouldn't have to worry about the length issue." Rumy hesitated and then drew a hand through her own thick hair. "Hey, I was wondering, do you want to maybe catch a movie this week? Or weekend, whenever you have time. There's this really cool art film about famers in drought areas playing. It's supposed to be mad beautiful and depressing, but it's that or Jurassic Planet Five. There's, like, no good movies this fall."
 
"If I got a short wolf cut my mom would kill me," Sloan said dryly, touching the ends of her ponytail, "I'm conflicted about the longer one anyway. I like money pieces, though, I think they're cool. Plus if I bleach them blonde than it's easy to change them to different colours if I felt like it. I could make them match my outfits with those temporary dyes." Looking back at Rumy, the subtext completely going over her head, she said, "Sure, sounds cool. Although are the options really just another Jurassic Planet movie or the suffering of farmers? How am I meant to choose between my two favourite things?"
 
Rumy laughed, not realizing Sloan had missed the point and just happy that she was so cool about it. "I mean, well, there are two kids' movies showing, too. One has something to do with a red dog and the other is a Barbie movie. Like, Barbie number five-hundred-and-sixty-seven, I dunno. I bet they are both ridiculously good, like, way better than they have any right to be if you want to go to one of those."
 
"Sweet. See you then. Oh, and my treat since I asked you, just to get ahead of the argument on the day of," Rumy said with a wink before walking off.

Alec was still talking about Milo's photos as he and Xander walked past Sloan. Alec gave her a quick happy wave, inviting her to walk with them if she wanted.
 
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