How Green Becomes Wood

"I can go get her crayons," Daizi said, getting up with a stretch. She was certain Alec had his own, but they had bought ones sized and shaped for the motor skills of a tiny toddler hand. They were thicker and didn't have colour labels. After getting the box from the shelf, she went to grab the printer paper.

Ivy, pouting, walked over to the backdoor and pressed her face as far up against it as was physically possible.
 
Alec hurried upstairs and put his things away quickly before coming downstairs. He hesitated to bring his own crayons, worried that maybe they wouldn't work for Ivy and then she'd be frustrated, but ultimately decided to bring down a few of the main colors. Hopefully, she'd be happy with her own crayons and not want to play with his with their smaller size and wrappings.
 
"Ivy, come look!" Daizi said, taking one of her crayons and, keeping one hand on the paper, scribbled. She couldn't normally make 2-d art, but Ivy was just going to scribble too, so just this once, she was completely ready to get involved.

It took a little bit, but eventually Ivy turned away from the rain outside to look at what her mother was doing, and then slowly came creeping over, still making grumpy little noises, but being too curious to stay away.
 
Alec plunked himself down near Daizi, leaving plenty of room so Ivy could see what they were doing, and started scribbling, as well. "I think there is now a toddler-sized face print on the door," he snickered quietly. Then, at normal volume, he started singing about the colors. "My favorite color’s blue, how ‘bout you, how ‘bout you? My favorite color’s blue, how ‘bout you, how ‘bout you?“ Then in a squeaky voice, "Red! My favorite color’s red, I like red, I like red! My favorite color’s red, I like red, I like red! Colors, colors! What’s your favorite color? Colors, colors! What’s your favorite color?" And he kept going, changing his tone to make a different "voice" for the different colors as he colored simple shapes in whatever color he was singing about.
 
"Yes, I am going to have to clean it," Dark chuckled, looking at the smudge on the door. All things considered, he had been taking the inescapable toddler messes fairly well.

At first Daizi thought Alec was asking her about her favourite colour, which she found odd. When he continued, though, she chuckled about the misunderstanding, "I want to actually try and draw something. What should I draw?"

Now at the table, Ivy stared at what they were doing for awhile before asking, "Share?"

"Of course you can colour too," Daizi assured her, handing over a crayon.
 
"What are you going to draw, Ivy? I'm drawing a red square. See?" Alec showed her as he carefully drew a red square and drew a few squiggles to fill it in. "I feel like I'm on that show with the blue dog."
 
"Blue's Clues?" Dark offered. "She likes Blue's Clues."

Ivy watched Alec draw his red square, and then picked up a green crayon and then just went to town scribbling on her piece of paper. Meanwhile, Daizi flipped her paper over to the blank side and drew a vaguely round shape, hoping she coloured it in fully. Then, she put her finger over the spot, the waxy feel of the crayon making it easier to find.
 
"I was wondering why you had arrived home later than usual," Dark said, taking a sip of tea. It was almost strange to see, but he was just enjoying being cozy. Without needing a mild breakdown first.

The first four legs of the spider, Daizi managed to get attached to the body. It was easy, she brought the crayon until she could feel it with the fingertip she left on the spot, and then drew the legs out from there. It was when she shifted her finger to try to get it back onto the body, though, that her play went awry, and the remaining four never quite connected to the body, although, interestingly, three of the four legs managed to make it back to the same general spot.
 
Alec nodded as he started to make spirals. "It was raining pretty hard, and I think he almost said he could bike, but then he agreed to accept a ride for the first time ever. Xander's offered literally every single day. I think Xander was incredibly pleased he finally got to do something helpful. Then we got to talk Disney movies, which was fun. He thought maybe Alladin might be a good choice." He said the last sentence very deliberately, watching Dark's expression.
 
"That's really nice," Daizi said, moving her hand away from the spider and attempting to draw a crescent moon. This one went arguably better, but she didn't connect the top points of the moon, "I'm glad you were able to help him."

Dark exhaled at the topic of Aladdin, and under his breath said what the correct Arabic pronunciation of the name would be.
 
Alec grinned, not at all disappointed by his father's reaction. "I told him it likely will never be shown in this house. Oh, and we were discussing our giant, shool-wide project! Okay, it's not that big, but it sounds more dramatic that way. It's a career assessment thing, and a paper asking where we'd like to see ourselves in 5 and 10 years."
 
"I would generally prefer my daughter not watch a movie which calls a fictional version of Baghdad barbaric and dresses most women like they're from an orientalist harem," Dark said. It was representation, technically, but not something he considered particularly positive representation. It was hard, though, because he also knew he wanted his daughter to have a princess who looked like her, the way other girls did.

"I always hated those," Daizi said, "Have you thought about what you're going to write?"
 
Alec smiled at his father, amused, but sympathetic. Maybe someday there would be a better Arabic Disney movie, or maybe they'd find an actual Arabic movie to show her with a princess. "Sure! It was easy. I already know where I want to start. I don't know if I'll stay on that path, but it is something I want to try. First, I want to reach a position where Uncle Tristan feels he can let me run the shop alone so that he can have it open on his bad days, even if it's for shorter hours if I'm in school during that time. Second, I want to go to college for business and explore the possibilities of opening a small business of my own!"
 
Both pausing for a moment to process this, Daizi first said, "I thought you wanted to do something in the arts?"

"It is a very good goal, though," Dark said, "Small buisnesses are important. Do you know what sort of buisness you might want to own?"
 
"I haven't decided what business yet, and maybe it's not actually something I'd like. I'd love to do the arts and things still, but probably as a hobby or three on the side," Alec said. "I'm not sure if I want to pursue them as a career, but I have time to change my mind. Maybe I'll find a way to do a small business that has something to do with the arts!"
 
"When the music and arts festival happens, you should talk with the vendors there," Daizi suggested, "They're all doing small buisness to some degree, they may have good advice for you when you're just figuring things out."
 
"That's a good idea. Thank you!" Alec accepted readily. "I just remember some of the stuff Ba has said about turning your hobby into a - that is a really fun spider, Mama - hobby into a job, and while I really love the arts, I don't want to spoil that love by turning it into something I depend on financially. I guess I could take a page from Becky's plan and marry rich." He chortled at the thought.

Kiki caught sight of the crayon wiggling in Ivy's hand and started trying to bat at it, climbing onto the papers as she did so.
 
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