How Green Becomes Wood

Milo looked over at Alec and then awkwardly stretched back up, just so he could get a better view, but now he felt like he was on display, "I like when all of the lights turn on. Bright lights like that are wasted when they're only used for Christmas."
 
Milo took off his glasses for a few moments so all the colours blurred together and tried to listen to all of the sounds happening around them. It made it feel sort of like an abstract painting, he thought, it was the carnival distilled into its simplest elements. Bright lights, the smell fried food, and the sounds of laughter and screams over happy music.

Then he put his glasses back on, "Do you think there are so many stories about evil carnivals because if someone screamed because they were in danger, nobody would hear it?"
 
"You look really different without your glasses," Alec remarked. "I don't know if I could pick you out of a lineup without them."

"I could," Xander muttered without thinking, looking down over the side of the car to watch the people down below.

To Milo's question, the pair simultaneously replied, "Yes."

"And people don't trust clowns or masks," Xander said.

"And they tend to be laid out in a confusing maze," Alec added.

"Way too easy to lose sight of the people you're with."

"Not to mention, they want an excuse for why their children want to run away to the circus."

"Something evil afoot is easier to deal with then 'we're bad parents.'"

"Or even just the idea that kids want to stretch their wings. Parents don't have to be bad for kids to want to leave."

"Plus, historically, nobody trusts transient people. Like Gypsies."

"They don't like the name Gypsy, it's considered derogatory. It's Romani."

"Oh, like the Romani, then."
 
"They put a coating on my lenses that thins them out but they're still stupid thick," Milo said, holding onto the bar and looking down at the carnival, "I'm glad I don't live in the 70s, I'd probably be stuck with BCGs or those glasses that make your eyes bug out."

As he listened to the twins discuss why Carnivals were easily really spooky, it didn't occur to him to even think about Dark's love of them or that that the sort of nefarious sense of something wrong going on underneath the visible parts of it was a big part of it, because he didn't know enough about Dark to really pay much mind to his adorations. But, had Dark been in the cart with them, he would've been rather pleased the twins had finally reached that level of understanding about his obsession.

"I like mirror mazes," Milo said, "They're pretty unnerving, but I think they're a lot of fun."
 
"They're fabulous!" Alec agreed with a grin.

"Of course you do. It's the one time you can actually find your way around," Xander grumbled.

Alec smirked at him. "You're just jealous." Strangely, despite or perhaps because of Alec's inability to ever get his directions correct, he was shockingly good and fast at the mirror maze, and many mazes in general as long as he didn't try to follow a map. It was the one time his ability to lose himself actually worked in his favor. Somehow.

Xander crossed his arms. "I don't like not knowing where someone is coming from. Big deal." He hated the feeling of being utterly lost and of not being able to tell where other people were in relation to him.
 
"If you always follow the right-hand wall, you can navigate any maze really quickly. That's what my dad taught me to do, when you're in a burning building, that's how you make sure you check every room, too." Milo told them as they approached the end of the ride. "It kind of takes the guess work out of it, though."
 
"What if you get confused and follow the left, instead?" Alec asked.

"Oh, hey, look, that person's wearing a hat that actually looks like a ship," Xander pointed out.

Alec elbowed him and nearly bumped into Milo by accident.
 
"I don't think it matters," Milo answered, holding on tighter to the bench because it rocked when Alec nudged at Xander, "the point is that you follow every wall. It's just most people are right handed, I think."
 
"Sounds really tedious for a maze," Xander stated.

"I dunno, I think it sounds like a brilliant idea!" Alec grinned.

Xander shrugged. "Real good idea for smokey houses, I'll give it that."

"What was your favorite game?" Alec asked Milo. "Mine was the ring toss, I think."
 
"Is it more tedious than constant backtracking and getting turned around?" Milo asked, taking a look at Xander for a moment, "I think my favourite game was the one where you squirt water at the target and it causes the thing to ring the bell. I think Sloan could do the ladder game well." That was the only game Dark couldn't play, because since it came with a likelihood of falling, even if you knew the tricks, he thought it wasn't a smart move for someone recently recovered from a broken rib.
 
"Sloan would be amazing at the ladder game," Xander agreed, choosing not to answer the other question. "The squirting one was pretty cool, yeah. You were pretty good at it."

"We were fantastic at them all!" Alec cheered, raising his arms briefly.

"Stop rocking the car," Xander grumbled. "It's not a swing."

"I can't help it if I'm still over the moon with how awesome today has been," Alec grinned.

Xander considered and shrugged. "Fair enough."
 
"You're always welcome to come with us," Alec offered, hopping off after Xander and heading out of the way to where the could reunite with their parents.

"Seriously, you've seen our dad. He loves sharing his love of these kinds of places," Xander agreed, leading the way. "The more the merrier."
 
"How many carnivals do you go to in a year?" Milo asked with a wry smile, following Xander to where Dark, Daizi, and Ivy were waiting. They were very cautiously putting Ivy back in her stroller--the calm movements of the Ferris wheel had lulled her to sleep, and they decided waking her now would be more of a headache than if they just let her sleep.
 
"I dunno," Xander said thoughtfully. He waited until they were a little closer to ask Dark, "Hey, Ba? How many of these fair things do we go to? Or would go to if everything worked out."
 
"I do not know," Dark answered, thinking about it for a moment, "Part of what makes them special is how seldom they come. I would not go on a road trip to visit as many as possible. Typically only one or two come through town each season."
 
"That seems right," Xander said with a nod.

Alec wandered over and leaned tired lying against Dark. "What's next? Have we seen and ridden everything?" he asked, trying valiantly to sound eager. Part of him still wanted to keep going, but his energy was running out.
 
Dark looked across at the rides he enjoyed and might have preferred another go on before leaving, but then he looked down at Ivy asleep in her stroller and the tiredness creeping in around Alec's face, and he said, "No, I think it is alright if we go home. We have done all there is to do."
 
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