How Green Becomes Wood

Ivy giggled, pressing her face against the glass and before she could be corrected, turned around with a huge grin, the blue light from the water shading half of her face, "Baba!"

"I see them, Hummingbird," Dark replied, the wonder on his baby's face making his heart nearly overflow with the love he felt for her. Giggling, Ivy turned back to the class and tipped her head back as she watched them float peacefully. "Do you like the--. ...Them. Ivy? They are very beautiful."
 
Alec sighed, melting a little. "Ba, Ivy, you two need to stop. You are being criminally cute. You're not supposed to upstage the animals."

"Not to mention you have at least three people who look like they'd say on the spot if you asked them to marry you," Xander drawled, keeping one eye on the other aquarium patrons who were watching them.
 
Dark looked over his shoulder at the boys and then back at Ivy, gently pulling her back into his arms and giving the top of her head, "It is time to move on, Tifla," He cooed softly to her, standing back up, "But maybe we can return later, okay?" Cradled in his arms the way she was when she was much smaller, rather than held on his hip like she more frequently was these days, Ivy still grumbled, wanting to continue to look at the jellyfish, but Dark shook his head and said, "There is so much more to see, my darling, and your brothers deserve to see what they like also." He raised his head and looked at Xander, "Tell me more about the signs you were reading. They sounded interesting, I do not know much about fish."
 
"Maybe we could vet her a jellyfish lamp," Alec suggested. "Then she could have jellies whenever she wants!"

"Well," Xander said slowly, pleased if slightly surprised Dark was pulling Ivy away, "according to the jellyfish sign, they aren't really fish, so the people in the know just call them jellies."

"I wonder if they refer to the different types as flavors," Alec mused.
 
"Maybe," Dark agreed, "Or I could replace her mobile. What do you think, my darling?" He asked, kissing her tummy, unbothered by any of the looks he got as he talked and cuddled her and then he stopped, looked at them, and said, "Jellyfish!" Then, with a soft, content exhale, said, "I think the type of jellies Ivy liked would be apricot."
 
"Yes, Jellyfish," Xander smirked, knowing Dark hadn't remembered the name. "Come on. Let's go look at the swamp things."

"Turtles!" Alec squeaked excitedly. "Look at the turtles!"

"There are five types in the tank, all native to the area," Xander said, reading the sign. "There's signs over there. Each type has its own picture and info. Nice."

"Let's see if we can find all five," Alec urged. "Ivy, can you see the turtles?"

"There's a few other animals in here, too," Xander said, reading farther down the sign.
 
Dark adjusted how he held Ivy so she could see the tank, "Do you see the turtles? Do you see solhovah? Where are they?"

Ivy looked at the tank, not seeing anything at first, but when a turtle swam by she jumped like she was surprised and then pointed at the turtle, squeaking excitedly.

"Very good, my daughter," Dark said, bouncing her, "How many more turtles are there?" While she looked in the tank excitedly, Dark looked at his sons, "I feel like I am on Sesame Street."
 
"All the cartoons show turtles popping out of their shells," Alec mused.

"They also show people getting blown up with no consequences, so I'd say they aren't to be trusted with facts," Xander remarked dryly. "Oh, there's a bog turtle!" He pointed out the dark, greenish turtle slipping thorugh the high grass.

"I spotted the spotted turtle!" Alec said, pointing out the near-black turtle with tiny yellow spots along its carapace. "So, these five are pandemic?"

"Endemic," Xander said, checking the sign again. "There's thirteen species total, but not all of them like swampy areas like this."
 
"I think the turtles in Cooger's lake are box turtles," Dark said, looking over the sign with the turtle facts, "He always calls them the Turtle Mafia so I do not know more about them. I stop to move turtles across the road, though. When I can."

Ivy squeaked, touching the glass and looking at the turtles swimming by.
 
"That's good. Apparently, some turtles can shred your tires if you run them over, or even tip your car if you're going fast enough," Xander remarked.

"That's a nice little bit of revenge for the turtles," Alec giggled. "I don't see the last couple."
 
Dark leaned in and looked carefully for a few moments, and then pointed at the glass, "There, I see a bit of orange. Is that the wood turtle, do you think?"

"Ahb," Ivy gurgled, looking where he was pointing while, as she usually did, dug his fingers deep into his beard.
 
"Yeah, I think that's it," Xander agreed, glancing between the orange lump and the picture. "Yep, that's it!"

"Turtle, Ivy! Turtle!" Alec urged. "Look at them swim!"

"As awesome as this is," Xander finally said, "if we keep up this pace, it'll be tomorrow before we leave if we want to see everything."

"We could do half and come back for the other half another day," Alec suggested.
 
"We were given the pass so we can come back more often, but I think we should try to see as much as we can. At the very least I promised your mother I'd take Ivy to see the sharks." Dark told them, pulling away from the turtle tank.
 
"Sharks!" Alec grinned, marching ahead.

"We have octopi first," Xander said, spreading the map on the stroller's canopy so he could see it as he pushed the stroller. "And a couple of other things. Then the sharks."

"When is the touch tank?" Alec asked, walking next to Dark.

"After the sharks, and... oh, hey, we're just in time for one of their events," Xander remarked.
 
"Sea lions," Xander replied.

"Which ones are those?" Alec asked. "They aren't the super scary ones that eat penguins, right?"

Xander showed him the picture on the map. "That type. Some males have manes, I guess."

"Cool! Think we can watch that, Ba?" Alec asked.

Xander showed Dark where the event was on the map and the time it was showing.
 
"I do not see why not, we are here, after all." Dark replied easily, "We will just have to remember to keep an eye on the time so we do not miss it. At some point we also need to remember to eat, but there is a cafe here."
 
"I hope it's good and not overpriced fish sticks," Xander grumbled skeptically.

Alec pointed ahead. "There's the octopuseseses! Man, that's hard to say. Oh, there's different type. No way! That one's a dumbo eared one!"

Xander leaned over to look and said without thinking, "Man, that thing's fricken cute."
 
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