How Green Becomes Wood

Daizi gladly talked with the whole table throughout the meal as though she was holding court. Dark said little, occasionally glancing over at the fig tree. The more he looked at it the more it tore at his mind. He wasn't sure why.

At times, Daizi would let the conversation with the wider group go so she could lean in and more quietly talk with Ciara, making a point to ask questions rather than merely talking at her. Even when Ciara gave short, vague, or simple answers, Daizi nodded and reacted as though truly interesting. It wasn't an act, either, she did genuinely want to know more about her, and worked very hard to not seem like she was interrogating her. Occasionally, Dark looked over at the two of them. It was wonderous to him how she managed to look so elegant and sophisticated yet while breaking rules of etiquette outright.

Cooger chatted openly, occasionally leaning over to talk to the twins and Toby, and often bumping his knee intentionally against Lex's while talking with her specifically.
 
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Ciara did keep most of her answers short and vague at first, but as the dinner went on, especially toward the end, she started to elaborate a little more. It was a bit more difficult for her to carry on a conversation like this outside of a professional setting because, as she realized more and more, she did not actually have much of a life outside of work. Work was something she could not talk about, and most of the rest of her life was relaxing and decompressing from work. She'd known this, she was not completely blind to her workaholic nature, but there was only so much one could add to a conversation when life outside of work consisted mostly of running errands, maybe reading a book, and watching one of maybe five shows and movies from thirty years ago, or listening to music from dead people. Occasionally, she dabbled in picking up a craft, but they always took too much time and effort to learn, in her opinion. Still, she did slowly respond more openly to Diazi's questions.

Lex loved the way Cooger's knee touched hers. It was so small yet so special and made her feel like she was the center of his universe. She kept warning herself not to act like a teenager, but... Damn, this man had her heart no matter how much she was fighting to keep it! It wasn't fair! Outwardly, she kept calm, focusing entirely on Cooger whenever he spoke to her, but also including others in her conversation, joining in with the teasing of the twins sometimes or making "grownup talk" with Tristan, Dark, and Daizi when she could. She and Tristan held a lengthy conversation about unkillable houseplants, and he agreed to come over sometime in the spring to help her plan out a backyard that was something more than a jungle tamed with a weedwhacker. He warned her he couldn't actually do any of the work to make any changes, but she assured him that was perfectly fine.

Tristan caught Dark's glances at the tree, and anxiety twisted in his gut. He had a basic idea of what Dark had likely lived through and could see the pain and darkness that lurked in the depths of his eyes, but he knew there was probably a degree of horror that he might never be told. That was alright, he didn't expect Dark to sit with him one day and lay out his whole life story, but he worried he'd gone wrong with the tree. He'd hoped finding a tree that more or less came from both Dark and Daizi's homelands would be a good thing, would remind them of good things, but maybe he'd guessed wrong and it was only bringing up bad things. Now he had the awkward decision of did he offer to take the tree back? Or just assume that if it was too much, Dark would get rid of it himself? Who knew, maybe destroying the tree would make him feel better. He tried not to dwell on it, but after a while, he did attempt to engage Dark in a conversation about woodworking. He didn't ask just the vague questions most did when they had no clue what to ask about. He started with simple questions but then followed up with more probing ones, like what woods were good for which projects and what different woods smelled or felt like, genuinely wanting to hear Dark talk about his passion.
 
Daizi was delighted to see how Ciara opened up but did her best to be cool about it. It was just nice to get to speak with her like this, and of course she spoke to her openly in return, answering any question which was posed. She wasn't quite as active as she once was, since she worked from home and had to focus so much on her children, but she still had a lot to say. And she was starting a new project at work which she was very excited about!

Cooger saw that look in Lex's eye and it made him grin brightly and maybe tease her a bit more. He liked it when she smiled like that. Especially when it was directed at him. It had been a long, long time since he last had felt like this.

When Tristan first started to ask about woodworking, it took Dark a bit to answer. It wasn't quite right to say he was hesitant. There was something else there. Gradually he relaxed and was able to say more about it, eventually mentioning his mini table saw and how excited he was to get to use it for the first time.
 
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Ciara was happy to turn the conversation to Daizi's work. She didn't always understand all of it, but she understood a lot, and Daizi was very good at explaining things. Ciara would have been happy to just sit sipping tea and listening to Daizi talk about her work, both because it was interesting and because of Daizi's passion.

When Dark started talking about the new mini table saw, Tristan commented about the last time he'd gotten a new "toy" for work and how happy it had made him. He used that to then question Dark more about the mini table saw. He'd never heard of such a thing, and it sounded extremely handy!
 
Dark explained how he preferred making miniatures and how sometimes it was difficult to get the pieces of wood small enough for some of what he wanted to do. The mini-table saw, he explained, was better for those small cuts. It allowed for greater precision.

After dinner, Daizi went upstairs to change Ivy's diaper. They had a dessert prepared, but they wanted to give their guests a bit of time to digest before they gave them more food. In that time, they again let Ivy on the ground, but they had picked up and put away all the loud, exciting toys so she could start winding down for the evening.
 
Everyone complimented Dark and Daizi's cooking and thanked them for their work and effort. Lex enjoyed watching Ivy wander around. She was very much in Cooger's camp when it came to children. She loved and didn't regret Toby, but she was also quite happy not to have had any other children now or in the future. They were fun to enjoy when they could be returned. The twins were also slowing down, thanks to how little sleep they'd gotten the night before, but they were hanging in there! Ciara was trying to gauge when was the polite time to leave even though she was still enjoying herself.
 
Ivy crawled around to her tiny bookshelf and grabbed one of her favourite stories: a pop-up book about a vampire. It was one Dark read to her often, obviously, and after flipping through the pages on her own, she got up and waddled over to all the adults. Most of them were really occupied and not noticing her, so she happily went over to Ciara and nudged the book at her.
 
Ciara took the book and flipped through the pages. "Yes, this is a vampire book," she said, a little confused and unsettled by the vampire subject, but they were... cute vampires? She looked down at Ivy and started to hand the book back.
 
"Oh." Ciara took the book back and flipped to the front. "Very well. I suppose I can read this." She took a sip of tea and moved as far over in her chair as she could before tucking her crossed ankles neatly under the chair. "If you can climb up, you may sit with me."
 
Ivy grinned, bouncing on her toes, grabbing firmly onto the chair.

"She has not yet learned to climb up onto furniture, only how to climb down," Dark said, a bit relieved that particular milestone was a bit delayed, although not concerningly so, "Would you mind if I helped her?"
 
"You may," Ciara acquiesced. She waited until Ivy was settled in, and then she began reading the book in her serious way. She'd turn the book so Ivy could see the pictures clearly every time she turned a page, turned it more toward herself so she could read the words, and then turned it back so Ivy could take a last look before she turned the page again.
 
Ivy, like she always did, snuggled up into Ciara's side. She may not have known her very well, but Ciara came over often enough that Ivy wasn't scared of her. And it was story time! She loved being read to. She clearly paid close attention to the words but was adamant she be the one to lift the flaps. It was one her favourite parts.
 
The first page, Ciara attempted to lift the flaps, but once she realized Ivy liked doing it, she patiently waited while Ivy lifted each flap. She did not seem in a hurry, and while she definitely didn't look comfortable with Ivy, she didn't seem uncomfortable either. When the book finished, she closed it and held it out to Ivy. "The end."
 
While Ciara was reading (very much to Daizi's immense joy when Dark whispered to her about it), Dark and Daizi served coffee, tea, and desert to anyone who wanted some.

When the book ended, Ivy babbled up at her, still happily snuggled, and Dark very gently picked her up so Ciara wouldn't find herself coerced into reading another book. "Say thank you to your Aunt Ciara," He told her gently, making her happily babble at her aunt while snuggling into her father. Then he himself said, "Thank you for agreeing to read to her, she really loves books. And it definitely helped get her wound down, after what a big day this has been, that will certainly help her get to sleep more easily."
 
"You are very welcome, Ivy," Ciara told her seriously. "You are welcome as well, Mr. Dark. I hope you sleep well, Ivy."

Lex leaned over to Cooger and whispered, "I don't know her well, but I never thought I'd see Ciara reading a book to a baby like some British nanny."
 
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