How Green Becomes Wood

"I am not sure, off the top of my head," Dark replied, "but there may be. And there are always other events which are less," He gestured a hand about the room to indicate the museum/aquarium space, "She would love to have a day out with the three of you, though. She loves spending time with you."
 
"Gardens are nice, especially when it's okay to touch the flowers, and they have a nice smell," Alec remarked thoughtfully.

Xander indicated a machine where you put a penny in and out came a squished souvenir. "Hey, you want to go get one of those? If we go to a bunch places like this, we could collect a bunch of them."

Alec hopped up. "That's a great idea! We can get one for Ivy, too, for when she gets older." He shuffled through his pockets for a penny and started walking toward the device. "Ba, shall we bring you back one?"

The man Xander had noticed earlier at the sea lion event and his two kids shuffled over and sat at the table next to where Dark, Ivy, and the twins had taken up residence. The man, clearly flustered, was trying to get his five year old and seven year old to sit in their seats properly.
 
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"That does seem like a very interesting collection," Dark said, going into his wallet and pulling out the needed coins for the family, "I would be glad to have one, so we all do." Then as the twins scurried off to the machine, Dark held Ivy in is lap so she was facing him, speaking very seriously to her while still being playful enough to make her grin and laugh. When the other father and his young kids sat down, he--incongruously being exceptionally sweet with his baby while also looking large, goth, and intimidating--glanced briefly at them, before he redirected his own attention to his daughter.
 
The other man's two kids saw what the twins were doing, and they instantly started up a ruckus of demands, wanting desperately to also get shiny coins. The man growled and grumbled and tried to scold them into quieting down but ultimately gave in. He gave them the coins for the machine and warned them not to go any farther than said machine before sending them off on their own.

He groaned and slumped back in his chair. "Kids!" he said with an exasperated chuckle to Dark. "Stuck with them for the day while the wife has 'me time.'" He snorted. "Not that she'd ever let me have 'me time,' but whatever. What about you? You get stuck with them, too?"
 
Turning his broad shoulders to face the other man, surprised someone was speaking to him, but he answered, "No, I am not stuck with them. I wanted to spend the day out with them." As he said this, Ivy pulled herself up to stand and flopped full force against Dark, peering at the stranger at an angle where only her eyes and the top of her head could be seen.
 
"Heh, yeah," said the man, not appearing to fully believe Dark. "They can be cute, especially when they're that age," he nodded to Ivy, "but then they grow up into little demon spawn. I love them," the statement was made rather flatly, something that was expected, "but sometimes it'd be nice to get five minutes alone, you know? Ah, well, they're a good investment in the future."

Over at the souvenir stand, the two kids had shoved their way in front of the twins, but now they couldn't figure out how to work the machine. Their voices were gradually growing louder and louder until Alec interrupted them both with a loud, firm, but not angry, "Too many voices for too few ears!" That gave the kids pause, and Alec lowered his voice to just above a whisper and asked them what they needed. Instinctively, the two kids lowered their voices, as well, though it was still louder than Alec's, and told him what they wanted. Alec then helped them decide who should go first and helped them put in the coins. He held up the smaller of the two so they could see what happened when Xander turned the crank, and both kids stood in quiet awe of the machinery.
 
Dark's expression didn't change as he looked at the other man, not really knowing how to respond to that. It wasn't like he had much experience with older ages. At the same time, his reaction didn't make him particularly comfortable, so he simply replied, "I suppose that is why they have parents, so someone can teach them to not be demons." Glancing over at his sons by the penny machine, it looked as though his sixteen-year-old handled them without too much trouble, after all.
 
"Yeah, kids," the man sighed, leaning farther back. "Can't live with them, can't live without them!"

The two young kids came hurtling back, holding their crunched pennies high for their father to see. He leaned forward and painted on a clearly fake smile as he looked them over and told the kids how awesome it was.

The twins followed a few minutes after and showed Dark their pennies. "You're in luck," Alec told Dark. "We had four pennies, and there were four options to pick from! You get first pick." They laid the pennies on the table on display for Dark.
 
"I am quite happy to live with them," Dark replied while Ivy squeaked at him and tugged on his beard. When the twins came back, he was more than pleased to direct his attention away from this stranger. Sitting upright to look at the pennies he told them, "How am I meant to pick? I want you both to have your favourites." He examined the different designs and then lifted one with jellyfish on them, "This one should be Ivy's, I think, with how much she loved them. Although she liked the sea lions very much, I think we all enjoyed them, so it would make sense for her to take the penny for what she showed her own interest in."
 
"Alright, Ivy can have the jelly penny," Alec agreed happily. "But, Ba, we want you to pick first."

"Yeah," Xander affirmed. "You should get to pick your favorites first once in a while. Which one do you want?"
 
"Hm." Dark replied, looking at them again, sliding the jellyfish penny to the side. He really liked the sea lion pressed penny, because he loved that memory he had shared with them. But he figured Alec might like that one with how much he enjoyed the show. If there was an eel, he'd choose that, but there wasn't. Finally he picked up the sawfish coin, designed to show the face which had startled him so much, "I like this one."
 
"Ooo, good one," Alec praised. "I thought you might pick the sea lion, but that would have been my second pick for you."

Xander chose one with the giant mantaray. "I'll take this one."

Alec happily picked the sea lion. "Yay! I was hoping for this one."
 
Dark smiled, pleased he had correctly noted which one Alec would have wanted, taking out his wallet to put his and Ivy's pennies safe inside,"I would have chosen an aljarith if there was one. Or a beluga. But this was such an odd creature I like him."
 
Dark chuckled, stitting back, "We have all these pressed pennies. Xander, let me see the manta ray one. The touch tank has stingrays, so I can flip it and if it lands with ray-side up we will go to the tank and if it lands ray-side down, we will go to the penguins."
 
"Maybe not, but if it does not flip well I bet I can spin it." Dark replied, taking the penny. He did a few test flips and when they had a clear bias he instead spun it like a top. It spun well, for longer than he was expecting and then toppled unimpressively ray-side down.
 
"Yes! Penguins!" Xander grinned. He started cleaning up his area. "I want to see if they really do waddle."

"I guess penguins are pretty cool, and the touch tank isn't going anywhere," Alec said thoughtfully. He cleaned up his area, as well, and helped Dark with Ivy.
 
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