How Green Becomes Wood

Dark smiled, proud of his handiwork and of the reaction it received, "It would take a long time to explain. In short, gears. The ferris wheel was the easiest, I do not like where the turnkey needs to be to make it work, but it is largely just a wheel. Tilt-A-Whirl was not too difficult, either. The carousel took some time to get to work as intended, especially because it is also a music box. I like making music boxes."

Still, as he looked at it, impressive as it was, he couldn't help but be gnawed by the feeling it still wasn't complete. He needed to add Alec, certainly, and one day the baby... Then later, the baby as she belonged. It wouldn't be enough, though. It would never be completed, it never could be. At least not in his eyes.
 
Xander couldn't take his eyes from the carousel as it turned merrily away. "This is the craziest thing I have ever seen," he told Dark. He reached down and gently tapped one of the tiny people on the head. "So insane. But you can't figure out where to put Alec?" He peered more closely at the tiny person. Was that one of his former classmates? He wasn't sure. But whoever they were, the detail work had to be seen to be believed.
 
"I cannot figure out who he should be," Dark replied, "The Illustrated Man, the Fortune-Telling Dust Witch, the Strong Man, the Fire-Breather, and...? I cannot make him only a musician. And I really like my band stand," he pointed to a stage where their music teacher was passionately playing violin, her skirt whipping around her similar to the mane on Xander's horse, "He fits somewhere, but I have not found it yet."
 
"I think you'll find it," Xander told him. "You'll know it when it hits you, right?" He squinted at the band stand. "The band stand is perfect. He doesn't fit them." He gave a little smirk. "How about a graffiti artist tagging the back of one of the stalls?"
 
He wrinkled his nose, "Certainly not. I thought about a caricature artist, but for one thing, it requires drawing a mini caricature, but it also does not seem... Enough. I want something where his fashion sense can feel relevant to it, but..." He sighed. Some part of him still regretted never being able to have the real one. His home was lovely, and he loved his life, but there was something romantic, and not in the traditional sense, about the traveling carnival, "I like them, I think, because carnies come from all over the world, and regardless of what they look like, or the things people have said about them, or the things they have been through, they all find a home together. And everybody loves a carnival, they are so rare, and so temporary." He tapped his finger against the fake grass. It was a dull thudding sound.

"It was the first place Cooger took me, you know. We had a day off of school in late August or early September, too late for normal carnivals to come around, but some things come late, and it was the first time I really liked being here," He smiled lightly while the rides came to their end, "so we started going to Coney Island a lot, when we could. So I need to find Alec his proper place. Because everybody has one, there. Everybody who matters, anyway."
 
"Not a caricature artist. He doesn't like drawing people, at least not yet," Xander said, shaking his head. "He can, but he normally won't. I guess fashion sense could be a clown. Or maybe... a tightrope walker? He's always trying to walk the line between what he wants and what other people want."

Xander crouched a bit to bring the carnival to eye level and looked through the front gate. "Where are you at? Are you the ring leader?"
 
"Not a ring leader, technically. More of a Barker, I suppose. But basically, yes." He pulled himself up, he had placed himself, at the moment, near Daizi's tent, which was unmistakable. He was dressed as expected, in fashions more similar to the Ring Master than the striped Barbershop Quartet look of a classic Barker, but maintained his usual, dark colour scheme. Everything in the carnival, despite it's lights, took on a darker hue than one would expect, without knowing him, "but I have my Illustrated Man act, too. A different present of myself." He went to the shelf and pulled the most recent version off the shelf, where he was stripped to the waist revealing his tattoos, "I would tell stories, I think, if it were real. I would use them to set the scene."
 
Xander reached out and fiddled gently with a bit of decoration, getting it to straighten a bit like it was being pushed by the wind. "Going to a carnival was the first time you really liked being here?" He gently nudged a flag with his fingertip. "Being here, at your place, was the first time I ever liked being here."

He rose, knocking off the knees of his jeans, and stretched. "You should record yourself telling a couple of stories and hide a tiny speaker in here somewhere. Like a music box, only it's you telling the stories you'd tell. If it was real."
 
His habit of being completely silent while he thought about what he was going to say, rather than responding immediately, or using filler sounds, had never left him. And now he stared searchingly at Xander, without a word. Dark's eyes traveled across the teens face, seeking a way in, so he could unfold everything and find all of the answers, "Xander..." He murmured, pulling a chair towards him so he could sit and be a little closer to Xander's level, or lower.

Even after saying his name, he still could not yet say a full sentence. A minute or two had passed, certainly. Dark hadn't acknowledged Xander's comment about the speakers, but at last he spoke, "I want you to know, having you here, even with all of the stress, has made me happier than I have been in a few years. I was not necessarily unhappy, but it was not like how I feel now, when I get to see you and Alec at breakfast in the morning, and when I get to make you dinner at night." He had not removed his eyes from Xander, he did not look down at his Carnival, nor glance away, nor look around the room, "I do not know what you have seen and suffered through. But it..." He fell silent again, thinking, "It does me a great honor to know my home, which is your home, gave you some comfort and... I want you to know, as someone who has seen and suffered, that once you find one place you like. You find so many more. So many."
 
The silence was starting to freak Xander out a little bit, and he could feel Dark's eyes burning into him. Then Dark started to speak, and his words seemed to burrow through to his heart. Dark was... Dark was honored? And earlier, Dark had said he was proud of him. Dark was the only adult to have ever shown real interest in Xander beyond the surface level, and now, despite everything, he was still here. He was still encouraging him. Still trying to support him in every possible way. He wondered if he'd ever get used to that, and kind of hoped he never would.

Xander cleared his throat, blushing to the tips of his ears. "I hope this doesn't mean you're encouraging me to go out and find these other places to get me out of your hair," he said in an attempt to lighten the mood. He glanced at Dark with a weak but sincere smile. "Because I'm not done enjoying this one."
 
"No, of course not," Dark replied, "it is only to say this will not be the last place for you, by any means. Once you find your first place, it is surprisingly easy to find more."

He pushed his chair back, still sitting in it, "Anyway, I can't have stories recorded for here. If I did, I would need to listen to the sound of my own voice, and I have stopped harming myself." It was a joke, if a morbid one.
 
"That's dark," Xander said dryly. "Alright, then, you'll have to write them down and have Cooger record them. Is that any less harmful?" He smirked at Dark and reached out, gently ruffling his hair. He didn't know why. It was something he did with Alec now and then, but it was just so tempting with Dark's head finally within reach! And it was fun to see the reaction.
 
"Maybe," Dark agreed with a shrug, "but it is true." He was about to respond to why it would be weird to have Cooger read out his own words, when Xander... Ruffled his hair?

Immediately, Dark flinched back, looking more confused than Xander had ever seen him, "ma hadha bihaqi aljahim!" He ran a hand through his hair, trying to fix it. He wasn't angry, just extremely bewildered, "What was that? Why?"
 
Xander burst out laughing at Dark's reaction and skipped back a few paces toward the door in case he needed to make a quick getaway. "I wanted to see what you'd do! And you're so solemn all the time, I couldn't resist." He grinned and pointed a fingergun toward Dark. "Looking rad with the new hairstyle."
 
"Nobody ruffles my hair," Dark replied, still looking bewildered as he tried to fix it. His hair was thick, wavy, and soft, and he was trying to put it back in place, "I did not realize that you becoming comfortable here meant you would turn into a lawless barbarian utterly bereft of all morality!"
 
Xander shrugged. "Sorry, that's the way of things. You peel away the fear, you get what's hiding underneath. Lawless barbarian seems to be my default setting. Besides, you keep your hair out of reach so much of the time, how can I not grab an opportunity when it's presented?"
 
"I do not keep it out of reach," He argued, "I am just taller than you."

At last, a miniscule smile pulled at the edge of his mouth, "You should be careful, you know, because I can throw up over my shoulder as if you weigh nothing. And toss you, easily."
 
"Only if you can catch me!" Xander challenged, dancing back out of arm reach. Dark was faster overall, but Xander was faster on the take-off. Plus, he was smaller and able to fit through much smaller spaces.
 
"Not in here," He said, taking a brief moment to remember the fragility of his shed, "but if you doubt me..." He stood, pushing back his hair one final time. For once he willing, and completely, met Xander's challenge, "We have an entire yard."
 
Xander gave him a "come and get me" grin and bolted out of the shed, making a dash for the house. He doubted he'd make it that far, but he figured it would be a good "finish line." He kept his eye out for escape routes, planning his sideways bolt when Dark got close.
 
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