How Green Becomes Wood

"Woah, what's that supposed to mean?" Daizi laughed, knowing full well Xander didn't mean what she intentionally chose to take from his comment.

"I think technically it is not a pony, it is a miniature horse," Dark said, "and I have no idea if they can be house trained. Oak is a good name, though. Or Hawthorne."

"I love earthy names like that... I guess it makes sense, I have a floral name, technically."
 
Xander flopped back into his seat to sit properly once the horses were farther out of sight. "I mean that ponies are super wide, way wider than a dog," he said, holding out his hands to demonstrate. "They are like walking barrels on sticks."

"Maybe there are some thin miniature horses," Alec suggested.

"I doubt there's any that skinny," Xander replied. "When are we going to get to this trail thing?"
 
"Soon," Dark said, and sure enough, in about five minutes they pulled into a gravel parking lot on the edge of a small forest. There were a few other cars parked, but not many, somehow nestled amongst the planned and constructed areas of their town.

Daizi stretched, getting out of the car, and then slung a tote bag decorated with an embroidered Ouija board over her shoulder, "We're going to do the Sinkhole Trail, it's nice. I'd love to do the Deer Run Trail into the Trout Lily Trail, it takes you by the lake, but... Well, it's a more difficult one, and you might want to build up to it." Unfortunately, she didn't know what she'd be able to do by then, when they were 'ready,' but also she knew she was avoiding her favourite, more difficult path, for her sake, too, as a precaution.

Dark gently took her by the arm, and explained to the twins, "The sinkholes are prettier than you might be imagining, we are over a karst system, so they are limestone, not just pits of mud."
 
"Sinkholes? Aren't those those things that swallow cars and stuff when they pop up out of nowhere?" Xander asked, getting out of the car and closing the door.

Alec scrambled out with his small backpack of things like water bottles and a couple of towels. "I think it sounds like fun! I don't think we're in good enough shape for anything harder, anyway."

Xander snorted. "Speak for yourself."

"Fine, I'm not in good enough shape to do much more than a bunny hill difficulty," Alec stated as he started walking.

"Bunny hill?" Xander repeated.

"It's a skiing term."

"You've never been skiing in your life."

"The comparison stands!"
 
"Sure, but these have already popped up, so there's not a concern there. I believe they were formed when the roof of caves collapsed, not from the ground above the rock wearing away, but either way, it was a long time ago," Dark explained, "we have been coming here for years and there have not been any changes. And the State Parks service keeps a good eye on all of the trails."

"There's one that has this bridge of rock over the hole, and it's not even that narrow, I don't think, and I love making Dark guide me over it." Daizi grinned, feeling quite prepared with her cane designed for nature walks rather than for paved surfaced.

"Yes, I will not be doing that this time," Dark said firmly. It wasn't totally clear if he was holding her arm because he loved walking with her or if it was to help guide her. It was probably about 50/50, but he didn't even know what was the larger driving force, "I cannot take the pressure of it. It is far enough of a fall that you would break something, and at this moment in our lives?"

Daizi chuckled, lightly squeezing his arm, "You make a good point, Goose," They passed through the line of trees and entered the trail itself. The forest was just beginning to shake off winter. The evergreen trees remained unchanged, but the rest were in various stages of budding, blooming, and fresh leaves. Light streamed in from where the branches were still bare, leaving little pools on the trail, "We've never gone skiing either, but you know, Alec, it isn't too difficult to build up endurance for hiking. At least not if you find you like it."
 
Alec and Xander exchanged confused looks. At this moment in our lives? What did that mean? Did they mean because of the twins' presence? But that didn't make total sense. How should the twins be affected by her breaking something? Other than the obvious, of course, but something about that statement seemed to indicate something deeper than the obvious. Those two had been acting strange, which for them, was quite a feat!

"I haven't gone official hiking before," Alec said, moving on with the conversation. "There was a school field trip once where we were supposed to do some kind of hiking, but I was sick that day and had to stay home."

"It was fun until the groups started splintering off into bullies and bullied," Xander grumbled. "One kid almost fell off a cliff because his 'buddies' were 'joking around.' At least that time they didn't get away with it! But it kind of spoiled the trip."
 
"Neither of us grew up anywhere around forests, and then we were sent to our boarding school in a city, so it wasn't until Cooger brought us home to visit his family that we ever went on a hike like this," Daizi explained, taking a deep breath to smell the trees, "trails like this are definitely far easier to traverse than my sand."

Dark listened to Xander's story and shook his head, "That is why I detest when I have to chaperone field trips. I only do the museum one because there is a lady who works there who I think has feelings for me, and so it makes it worth it. All other field trips I have ever had to chaperone are an awful experience: I was selected to help with a trip to a Civil War Reenactment, and my group got far to into it in just... the worst ways."
 
"What kind of a tree is that?" Alec burst out, dashing ahead to look at a tree, his long grey coat flapping like wings around him.

"That would be a leafy tree," Xander called after him. "When did they do the Civil War trip? And why? I seriously don't understand people's obsession with that one. It was all kinds of layers of deep-fried shit served up on a platter of gold-flaked lies."
 
"I believe that is a sycamore tree," Dark called out, "but I could be wrong, I do not really know anything about trees. And they did it three or four years ago, as for why? Who knows, I am not even American, your people's obsession with that war is beyond mysterious to me. I do not even teach American history, I was entirely lost."

"Oh, wait, hush, I can hear a blackbird," Daizi squeezed Dark's arm, and after she had her few moments to listen, she said, "it's really a beautiful day, isn't it? I'm glad we're all out, and together. You and Alec have really come a long way from waiting for the snow to thaw so you could scamper off." She sighed, and for a moment felt all of her suddenly-fragile emotions well up, but she was able to take a breath and move past it quickly.

Dark glanced down at his wife, but signaled she was okay, and he said, "We should have brought Enkidu, he is probably fuming to have been left behind."
 
Alec continued to move around them, sometimes dashing ahead and sometimes falling behind. He had to investigate everything he saw, like a puppy, and occasionally picked up random objects out of curiosity. He poked a mushroom with a stick for a little bit and then brought a pinecone to Daizi for her to feel.

Xander stayed walking by Daizi and Dark, enjoying the pace. Both he and Alec had grown several inches in the last couple of months. It seemed their bodies were trying to make up for lost time. "Why don't we do more with the dog? It seems like its just kind of there most of the time. Unless it wants Daizi to pet it.
 
Daizi graciously felt the pinecone. It was not a new sensation, but Alec was excited, and she was going along with it. To answer Xander's question, she said, "Because he's a little baby boy who hates getting his paws wet, so with the snow, and then the melted snow, he has absolutely hated going outside. Now that it's drying up we'll take him out more, and this summer we'll bring him to the beach. He suddenly doesn't mind wet paws anymore when he can swim."

"We probably would have brought him today, but I am still not sure how you and Alec feel about him. He would be in the backseat with you both, so if you are still uncomfortable around him, it would be unpleasant for the three of you." Dark added. He noted how both bows were taller than they had grown visibly taller and made a mental note to bring them to get new clothes soon. Immediately after, he thought about how that would be a thought he would continue to have for... a long time, as they reached their full heights, and soon with Daizi, and if everything went well--but he couldn't start thinking that far ahead.

"Let me know when you're both hungry, we have lunch packed."
 
Xander snorted. "Baby," he muttered. "I guess he's alright. He's just a fuzzy dog that doesn't have much to do with us, and we don't have much to do with him. I don't even know where to begin with a dog."

"We just got here. No way should we stop for lunch!" Alec protested, only hearing the last bit of the sentence as he brought Daizi the smoothest rock he'd ever found. It was rather shiny and gleamed damply, but was unremarkable in color. Texturally, however, it was so smooth it was nearly polished.
 
"He is a baby," Daizi protested, he isn't even five years old yet, you know, and he was just a tiny little puppy when we adopted him, he was only seven weeks old, and that's younger than vets suggest you separate a puppy from their mom, but that's because he was a rescue and she wasn't doing well. I basically raised him in my arms, until he got too big. He'd have more to do with you if you ever said hello to him."

Dark smiled in his inward, subtle way, but even though his expression still seemed almost the exact same, after living with him for so long, his subtle ways of showing emotion were becoming slowly apparent, and he kissed the top of Daizi's head, "Pet him some time, he will then want everything to do with you."

Daizi took the rock from Alec, and was genuinely surprised by its texture, "Woah, this is very cool," she murmured, turning it over in her hands, "there's not a river on this trail, so it must have been brought in from somewhere else... Do you see this, babe?" She held it up to her husband, and then, with a goofy smile said, "It rocks."

"Tarot, I want a divorce."

She laughed and pressed her weight against him, "What? Doesn't it rock, it rocks, right? Babe?"

"Darling, I love you, but I cannot stay married to someone who could dare make that joke," He said dryly, but still he looked at her with all the love in the world.

"Well, okay," She giggled, "but I'm taking you for all you're worth, Gregory Melissa Dark."

"I am a teacher, I am worth almost nothing," He teased.
 
"Melissa?" Alec and Xander chorused simultaneously, sounding nearly identical.

"Your middle name in Melissa?" Xander demanded, stopping in the middle of the path.

Alec stopped, standing backward, staring at them both. "G. M. D.? Is that your real name?"
 
Hearing their shock and confusion, Daizi scream laughed and instinctively turned in towards Dark to bury her face as he stood there blank-faced.

"I was born and raised in Iraq and did not begin to learn English until I was thirteen. No, Melissa is not my real middle name, and my first name also is not Gregory. It is a joke she likes to play, she invents possible names fitting my initials."

With her face still pressed against her husband, in between muffled laughter, Daizi said, "I dunno Glacial Mackenzie Dark, anything's possible---!"
 
"Aw, come on, that's not fair!" Xander protested.

"I forgot your first name wasn't Dark," Alec mused, tapping his chin with one finger.

"Dude, we are twins named Alec and Xander. How much more embarrassing can you get?" Xander demanded.

Alec joined his brother and poked him in the shoulder. "Maybe it stands for Generic Man," he grinned.
 
"If you never say your name aloud to anyone, nobody can ever call you by it," Dark said simply while Daizi sparkled.

"Generic Man, that's an excellent one," She finally removed her face from her husband, although she was still quite amused, "I'm not sure if it's accurate, but I can't really say. Perhaps he does look exactly like the normative depiction of a man. My favourite, besides Gregory Melissa, is Goose Mongoose Dark," She actively avoided further discussions on why he did not reveal his name, and instead focused on offering more silly possibilities. She also used the moment to ask a question she had been wondering about, "With you two, did your mother know she was having twins, or was one a surprise and she split the name?"
 
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"If you hate your name so much, you should just change it," Alec said brightly. He moved away a little at Daizi's question and started studying the trees again. They were far more interesting than tails of the past.

Xander shrugged. "Heck if I know. She never said, and I guess we never thought to ask." He started walking again as he talked. "She never wanted us. I don't know why she didn't adopt us out, but she didn't. Didn't mistreat us none, she did her duty and all that and took proper care of us as best she could, but she never loved us. She didn't talk about stuff like that. Just fumed sometimes about a bald-faced lying bastard if she had one too many drinks and then started crying."
 
"I changed my surname," Dark said in response to Alec's suggestion, "'Dark' was not the name I was born under, which should not be particularly surprising. But as for my first name and my middle name? That is much more difficult, it would be undoing 37 years of my life under it."

Daizi nodded slowly as Xander talked, and did her best to once again suppress the rather strong emotions welling up inside her, because she knew if she didn't, it would be far too suspicious, and she wasn't ready for those questions, "She might have loved you," she murmured, "in her own way. It's a frightening thing to have thrust upon you, and more so if you're alone. And with two... I couldn't imagine," She unconsciously squeezed Dark's arm, it seemed like a nightmare, even with a dedicated partner, "I never met her, so I don't know, and I don't mean to put anything onto you, because however you feel about her and how you felt she felt about you is valid and important, but who can say what she thought in her private moments? But I'm sorry, still, for everything. It's an awful lot to go through."

While both Xander and Daizi spoke, Dark was silent, and he walked with his head down, until at last he said, "My parents never loved me either, and they were never afraid to express how little they cared."
 
Alec turned back to Dark. He stepped up closer and reached up, patting him gently on the shoulder, almost leaning into his side opposite Daizi. "Then it was their loss," he stated. "Your wound, but their loss."

Xander shrugged. "It doesn't bother me much. We just sort of existed together until we didn't. The worst bit was honestly her taste in men. But she'd leave if she figured out they were doing anything worse than teasing us. Eventually."

"It doesn't matter," Alec said. "It's the past. The past sorts itself out well enough."
 
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