How Green Becomes Wood

"You are very welcome," Dark replied, waiting to eat until he was certain all of his children and Daizi had their plates. "Xander was playing hide-and-seek with Ivy earlier."

"Was he?" Daizi asked, "Did you enjoy that?"
 
"I got to have a chance for some deep thoughts while sitting under a blanket," Xander said gravely. "Soooo... yeah. Most fun, though, was watching Ba hide under a blanket."

"Aw, I missed that!" Alec laughed.
 
"Do not worry, with how much Ivy likes that game, you are sure to see it eventually," Dark replied sardonically, pretending like he didn't find it an extremely endearing game.

Daizi grinned into her cup as she took a drink from it, "One day she'll actually learn to hide and give you all a heart attack."
 
"I'd love to take the compliment, but I'm horrible at hide-and-seek. As soon as she learns to be silent when she hides, she could be right on the couch and I wouldn't know." Daizi said truthfully but light-heartedly.

"That is why we give her bells," Dark said, "I am thinking we should find a different way to afix them to her, though, since she is falling more. I saw a video where they had an ankle strap with them. It would save our fingers also, since we would not need to sew them onto her every outfit."
 
"Ankle straps could also be very, very cute," Alec grinned. He felt that Daizi would have more advantage than she realized, being so attune with Ivy, but he wasn't going to push the matter. It was for something far in the future, after all.

Xander finished eating and stood to clear his area. "I gotta get to work now."
 
"I do not think she needs them on both ankles," Dark replied, joking in his muted way, "She is not under house arrest."

"She was when she was in the NICU. Remember the little anklet they put on her so if someone stole her all the doors would lock?" Daizi asked.

"Ivy-Qadira, will you tell Mama you are out on parole?" Dark said, running his hand down the back of Ivy's head.

Meanwhile, Daizi turned her head towards Xander, "Get to work now? Isn't it late?"
 
"Maybe, but I've still gotta get some work done. I spent my usual time at work in here playing with the Mini," Xander told her. "Which was fun, but still. Stuff has to happen."
 
"I will, Mama, promise," Xander assured her. "But I got a commission to make a weighted doorstop in the shape of a bilby. I have plenty of time to make it, but I've never made something like this before, so I want to give myself all the time I can."
 
Xander frowned as he tried to figure out how to describe it. "It's this little Australian animal about the size of... I guess a cat? Maybe a little smaller? And it's shaped kind of like a kangaroo rat or a really stick-legged rabbit, and it's got these massive ears and this weird, long, skinny nose. I have no idea how I'm going to make the nose."

"Is that the animal Australians use instead of bunnies at Easter?" Alec asked slowly, trying to remember. "I can't picture it, but I remember the name."

"Yeah," Xander said with a nod. "Since rabbits are a menace, they use the bilby instead."
 
"Oh wow," Daizi replied, "I've never heard of anything quite like that before. Have you heard of a bilby, Goose?"

Dark sat silently, his eyebrows slightly knitted together, deep in thought, but after being addressed he looked up, "What? No, no never. Not to my knowledge, at least not by name, but the description is familiar."

"Will you show it to me when you're finished, Xander?" Daizi asked, "I wonder if one of our Australian friends secretly commissioned it."
 
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"Sure," Xander said, taking a moment to wash his hands before heading for the back door. "Be glad to. It might be from one of them, I dunno, but I figure it's best not to ask. I'll be back in an hour. Or two. No more than two."

"Have fun!" Alec waved. He'd looked up the bilby and was looking at pictures on his phone. He leaned over to show Dark the images.
 
"Have fun," Daizi replied, finally bringing the dishes to the sink.

Leaning over to see the pictures, Dark nodded, "I do think I have seen this once before. It is an odd little creature though. Ivy, do you see the Bilby?"
 
Alec showed Ivy the bilby and then started helping Daizi clean up and wash the dishes. "They are rather cool-looking creatures. I wish zoos could be more hands-on, though I know why they can't be in most cases."
 
"It is better for the animals, but it would be lovely to be able to show them to your mother," Dark sighed, lifting Ivy up out of her chair.

"I like the zoo more than aquariums at least, because land animals often make noises," Daizi said easily.
 
Alec went upstairs to do his homework, getting all of it done on time to turn in for the next two days. He didn't hate homework. It was fine. There was just so much else he'd rather be doing, and with no plans to go to some fancy college, he didn't see the point in trying to maintain perfect grades. Good grades, absolutely! He didn't want to fully skate through school, he wanted to know things, he just didn't want to spend so much time focused on it.

Xander finished up his work after an hour and a half and came inside. There was still a lot to do, but he felt satisfied with his progress so far. He'd made a paper model of the bilby, and everything was working out fine... except for the face. Even the tail wasn't too hard to figure out, and the legs were finicky but doable, but that face. He'd deal with it later.

The next day at school, the day was coming to an end and Xander was finalizing plans with Milo for an evening out together to go see a band playing at a little pop-up stall near a pumpkin patch. Alec was walking behind them talking to Becky about school work, and Austin was a little ahead of them going in the same direction but not really a part of the group. They were heading to their last class of the day.

As they were talking, the math teacher, Jace Dawson, walked up to them and stopped, forcing Xander to stop or to walk right into him. Austin paused, as well, as it was a rather awkward thing to do. "Mr. Cunningham, can you step into my classroom, please?"

"It's not Cunningham anymore," Xander reminded him patiently if confused, "and we're heading to class."

Alec stepped up next to Xander, looking between the teacher and Xander curiously.

"I'll write you a late slip, but I'm sure they'll understand," Mr. Dawson said grimly. He gestured toward his classroom, which they were just passing. "Now, please. Not both of you, just Xander," he added as Alec started to follow.

Xander frowned but nodded. He glanced at Alec. "See you in a bit."

"See you," Alec said quietly, suddenly very troubled.

"Don't worry!" Becky assured him. "Mr. Dawson is a scary stickler, but he's not nearly as mean as he looks."
 
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