How Green Becomes Wood

"Oh don't ask me questions like that, I've got no earthly idea," Cooger grumbled, making a face. "I might've already mentioned you to my parents and they want to meet you, because who wouldn't, but I don't know if a big family holiday is the right time for that. At the same time, Dark, Tarot, and the kids all get invited which might make things easier."
 
Lex snickered at the expression on his face. "Either a big family holiday is the best time or the worst time. I might get lost in the crowd, or stir up some kind of civil war by doing the wrong thing at the right time. How about we skip this year, and maybe the parent meeting thing can happen at another time? Nice and organic, no rush. I don't think we're going anywhere any time soon."
 
"That's probably for the best, but if anyone asks, you're visiting your folks. I invited you and you were busy. My nephews are always on my ass about what I should be doing even though neither of 'em know what a relationship is like."
 
"They are good boys," Lex laughed. "Silly, but good. Alright. I'm visiting my folks." She paused thoughtfully. "Actually, I guess there's enough time, I could arrange to go visit them in person. Hmm. Is that a good idea, or would I end up wanting to put my head through the wall," she mused.
 
"They're great boys. And Dark and Tarot are very, very encouraging of them voicing their opinions. But I don't think they've perfectly figured out how to tell when those opinions need to be voiced." Cooger chuckled, finding it mostly more amusing than annoying, "That there is a question I can't help you with. I haven't met your folks, only heard the stories of what happened when you invited them over..." A thought crossed his mind, then, and he looked at her for a few moments before shaking it off and deciding it wasn't worth mentioning then.
 
He looked at her again and shifted a bit uncomfortably, "Just... awkward relationship stuff, I guess. It just occurred to me, thinking about when you had the whole brood over, I had forgotten: You had to, uh, give certain members of my family a warning 'bout your brother, didn't you? What am I meant to say if I end up meeting your brother and I'm asked about my family? 'Cause that's what they are to me. They ain't just my friends."
 
"You tell the truth and however much of it you want to," Lex said without flinching. "A lot of my family are what I'd call 'diet racist,' and it's just stupid stuff that they genuinely don't mean anything by, and usually they'll try to change if you tell them they are being stupid, but that brother of mine... No one agrees with him. My mother tries to treat him like a kid still and tells us all to go easy because he's been through a lot, but only my sister actually does. The rest mostly ignore him. A couple will call him out. No one believes he really is joking no matter what he says."
 
"Okay," Cooger nodded, "And what if there's some sort of event where both our families would be there? Dark and Tarot can take care of themselves, even though I wouldn't want them to have to, but there's a little girl I know, and I'm probably getting ahead of myself 'cause I think it's really only holidays and big parties that bring that many people together, but..." He paused, nodded to himself, and said, "Yeah, I don't think I'd be able to be easy-going if I heard someone make those sorts of comments about my niece. She's just a baby now, but I'm imagining her as a little kid."
 
"I would never put Ivy in a situation where she'd have to deal with that," Lex said bluntly. "The odds are pretty good that your family and my family will never fully be in the same room together for that long, but I have no intention of protecting my brother if he gets out of line. I'll do my best to prevent s**t from happening, but if it does, you are more than welcome to thrash him. If I don't reach him first. He knows I won't put up with that, but he does like to push boundaries. Thinks being a 'war hero' gives him immunity to everything."
 
"Good." Cooger nodded, "I doubt they'd let her be in a position like that either. It's just something I hadn't thought about before. Guess it's different when you think about stuff like that happening to a little kid. I mean, you're from New Jersey, I'm sure you remember what it was like in that area in the early 2000s, it was hard enough watching people my own age learn to deal with that." He shrugged, glad that if nothing else, they'd never have to deal with that situation, "If your brother's a big military type, it's probably real important we keep him and Dark apart."
 
"Agreed. If my brother is stupid enough to start a fight with someone like Dark, I'm tempted to let him and see what happens, but Dark's heart is so tender I wouldn't want to for his sake," she sighed. "Lucky for all of us, he usually lives in Jersey where he can mooch off my mom."
 
Cooger chuckled at his friend being called tender-hearted, "He'd be fuming if he heard you say that. You're taking away his edge. But he's not always great at withholding his opinion around bragging soldiers."
 
"I don't blame him," Lex chuckled. "He's a good guy, deep down, my brother, but he's got a couple of faults that kind of drown it all out. When we were kids, he was the type to try to defend the kids getting bullied or saving stray dogs when kids threw rocks at them. As an adult, I once saw him take off his own shoes and shirt for a homeless guy in winter. That's the kind of guy he is. But, then he'll get around people of a certain ethnicity or a soldier subject will come up, and he'll open his mouth." She sighed and shook her head. "It'd be easier if he was a jerk all the way around."
 
"Iraq during that last skirmish before everything was officially pulled out, stuck around during the pull out and was one of the last people out," she replied. "Later, he was stationed in Iran, but there wasn't any active fights or battles going on during that time. Then another pull out. Maybe he just feels unfulfilled, like he never actually got to finish the job or something, I don't know."
 
"I'm sorry," Cooger murmured, pulling her into his side for a moment and then stretched, "Yeah, I was just about to check it, actually. It's probably about ready, and the mashed potatoes are definitely soft enough to mash."
 
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