How Green Becomes Wood

"It's easy to be sappy when you're happy with the people you care about," Daizi chriped, eagerly defending her husband. She knew, also, part of why he was in a sweet mood was because since they had been talking about birthdays, he was probably thinking, somewhere in that head of his, about the birthday they were praying they'd get to celebrate later in the year. She stretched upward to kiss his cheek, and then grinned, feeling rather pleased to be the gross, sappy couple.

"If it would please you, you are welcome to do as you wish, next year," Dark replied, and from a genuine, and very unexpected place, added, "although I am surprised you would want to do something for my birthday."
 
"Why wouldn't we want to?" Alec asked, genuinely surprised by the comment. "We're both very happy you're alive, and we like you. You've also been the only thing we've ever had for a positive father figure."

Xander looked away and mumbled, shifting awkwardly.

Alec glanced at his brother. "Right?"

Xander cleared his throat, not at all comfortable with all the emotions flying around lately. "Right. It is an excellent thing you aren't dead, and it's an even better thing to have you teaching us how not to be dead."
 
"Oh..." Dark swallowed, "thank you." He didn't really know what to say to that, but even with his subtle expressions it was obvious he was touched by the sentiment. Being called a father figure, and a positive one at that, was so much more than he ever expected to hear, especially not after only a brief four months, and he didn't quite know where to place the feelings it stirred up in him. He felt Daizi's hand on his back, and was grateful for her quiet support.

After a little bit of silence, while he tried to assemble himself, he said, softly, "I am very honoured to get to teach you how not to die."
 
Xander looked down and picked up Alec's piece of bark shaped like a dog. "Right. Yep. Anyway, here, Daizi, Alec wanted to give you this." He held out the bark to her and quickly tried to bury himself in figuring out how to operate his new phone.

"That was mine to give!" Alec protested. "But it is very interesting, isn't it?" He went along with his brother's very obvious and awkward attempt at changing the subject.
 
"Oh!" Daizi reached out and took the bark, "Thank you, Alec." She turned it over in her hands, feeling the roughened areas and the smooth ones, and a smile spread across her face, "is this shaped like a dog? That's so cute. Dark spends so much time shaping wood, and nature did it all on its own, isn't that something?"

Dark looked down at the little dog-shaped piece of bark and sighed, "I could make that, if I wanted to."

"Not as easily as the tree could," She teased.

"I could do it faster than the tree could," He replied, not actually jealous of a tree, "and I could make one able to wag its tail. I think I have made wooden dogs before, actually, I am sure I have at least one in my carnival."

Daizi shook her head and playfully nudged him, "Thank you, Alec, I think this is very cool."
 
"You're welcome!" Alec said happily. He knew she had likely experienced everything he had shown her on this trip, but he enjoyed it on te off chance that perhaps she hadn't. That, and it made him feel like he was including her. He hoped she took it that way. He liked seeing how she reacted to the different things he found.

"You've mentioned this carnival, and Cooger did once, too," Xander mumbled around a bite of sandwich. "He asked if you'd added us to it yet. What does that mean? Are we supposed to be clowns or something?"
 
"Well, for a long time I have been crafting a miniature wooden carnival. When I was younger I swear I would open a real one, some day, which I never did, obviously, and I would not want to anymore, but I like my little one. And I add people to it, because a carnival is very sad to look at when it is empty. Most of them are fictional, just standard looking folk, but I like to make the workers at the carnival people I know. Tarot is the fortune teller, Cooger is the strong man, Miss McGann, the music teacher, I have her on the music stage playing violin. I... have made you both, as patrons. I was not sure where you fit best, then. I still do not." He rubbed the back of his neck, hoping it didn't sound creepy. Normally he didn't care, but they had just said they thought of him as a father-figure, and he didn't want to jeopardize that.
 
Xander considered that and gave a nod. "Huh. That's cool. Wooden animals probably cause much less mess, too."

"What about the principal? Is she there?" Alec asked curiously. "Did you keep our hair red? Are there tiny elephants? I like elephants, but I wouldn't want to meet one."
 
"Once they are completed, yes, but before then, I have to do a lot of dusting," Dark replied, "I do not have Bernice, because she is awful, I did keep your hair red, but no there are not elephants--that is more of a circus thing than a carnival one. I have a petting zoo, so there are goats and those sorts of animals, and those pony rides where you sort of just ride around in a circle, but I do not get more exotic. It is a classic one, though, so I maintain the freakshow."

"You should make them your conjoined twins, they're inseparable anyway," Daizi suggested, "it was acceptable for American Horror Story, and you have some of the other classic acts."
 
"What's the freakshow?" Xander asked.

"What's a conjoined twin?" Alec asked at the same time.

"That's when they're stuck together," Xander answered Alec as Alec spoke over him to answer his question.

"That's where all the strange-looking people got put like the bearded lady."

They paused and looked at each other warily as if waiting to make certain the other wasn't going to speak simultaneously again.

"It's a cool carnival," Xander said slowly, still eying Alec.

"I didn't think about carnivals and circuses being two different things," Alec said once Xander had finished.
 
Daizi grinned, enjoying her lunch, "We've got a lot to teach you both. I've always liked the idea of the Side Show, which is another word for the same thing. I mean, not actually, not the real ones, which were exploitative and based on prejudice and fear of people who are different... But I like to think of a version of them where it was a place where people who didn't feel like society would ever accept them could go and find people who loved them just the way they were."

"And yet you loathe The Greatest Showman," Dark replied, mostly teasing. He agreed with her sentiment, and she knew it, so instead of being offended she just laughed.

"Well that's because the music is pop-y and it's supposed to be about how the people who worked for PT Barnum were special, but they're not really given their own personalities, and the entire film is acting like PT Barnum himself wasn't exploiting them for profit. Ours would be genuine. And the magic would all be real."

"Ours is not like that, it is just also wooden," He replied, and then to Alec said, "a circus is held under a big tent, and it is a big performance. A carnival is the one with food, games, and rides, and some have mini-performances, like the old sideshows and more frequently today, music. We will go to one this summer when they pass through, they are wonderful."

"The games are all rigged, though."

"And yet I still win."
 
"We went to a carnival once. It was fun." Alec said wistfully, smiling at the trees as he remembered.

Xander brushed the crumbs off his shirt and pants. "I snuck us in through a hole in the fence and you whimpered the entire time we were there because you were scared that if we got caught they'd make us join the group," he grumbled.

"Yes, but it was still fun," Alec replied. "Are we ready to keep going? How far do we go? How far can we go?" He stood up and started wandering in a circle around them.
 
"We can keep going," Daizi said, but didn't move from where she sat, "we're about halfway through the trail, I think, and it loops. We're nearly at the stone bridge, though, and you three all must cross it, even if I cannot."

Dark finished eating and began packing up what he could with his wife leaning on him, eventually saying, "Tarot, if we are going to finish this walk, you are going to need to move."

"I know, I'm just tired..." She yawned, but nonetheless disentangled herself and helped him pack up, "you should carry me. At least part of the way." Daizi picked up her cane and took Dark's arm. She knew she'd wake up if they just started moving again.
 
Xander and Alec exchanged glances. Something still didn't seem right to them, not right at all.

"You know," Alec said, "my feet are getting rather tired. If we're half way along, why don't we turn around while we're still feeling like we can get back to the car?"

"You mean before your energy runs out and I have to carry you," Xander said. He started helping to clean up, giving Dark a hand.

"Exactly! There's no way you're strong enough for that," Alec grinned.
 
Daizi waved her hand, "Don't be silly, if we're halfway to the end, then that means it's the same distance regardless of if we go forward or back. The trail loops, we're not walking it twice."

"You three can sleep in the car, anyway," Dark said, taking Daizi's arm. She seemed adamant to keep going, not wanting anyone to think there was something wrong with her, and in any case, she was right--regardless of if they turned around or kept on the trail, the length to get there would be about the same, "but I cannot carry all of you to it."

"I dunno, I'm pretty sure you're legally the strongest man alive." She chirped, and once everything was packed up, continued on their walk.
 
Xander and Alec shrugged. "Alright, if you say so, but what's so special about this bridge?" Xander asked, walking along behind them.

Alec walked on Daizi's other side, not touching her, but near enough she could probably sense him or hear his footsteps. He didn't wander away to find curious objects anymore, choosing instead to stay right by her side.
 
"It's a test of courage," Daizi replied, turning back towards Xander as she walked along, "it's, what, the width of one person? Not more than two."

"It is about one and a half wide, walking side by side isn't really possible," Dark helped to explain. He still strolled as casually as before their picnic, with one hand in his pocket.

"And it has a big drop to either side. It's probably eight feet, from what I understand. I'm not going to force Dark to guide or carry me over it, but it's sad he doesn't feel comfortable, because it's really such fun." She was aware of Alec beside her, but didn't think much of it. Daizi considered him to be much more sensitive than his brother, so to her, that was enough of an explanation.
 
"I can do it, no problem," Xander said with a shrug.

"Why do you have to prove your courage? I would say you've proved it a lot," Alec said, still not sure he understood.
 
"Because it's fun." Daizi replied, matter-of-factly. That was enough for her, she liked the adrenaline of it. She also liked the trust exercise of needing to rely partly on her husband to cross it, because she wasn't quite brave enough to do it alone, although she thought she could.

Dark removed his hand from his pocket and then pointed ahead, "See, there it is." It wasn't a necessary exercise, the trail didn't require anyone cross it, but it was enticing. It was not perfectly smooth, because it was not a single cut rock. The bridge was jagged, with moments where you would need to step up or down, although never particularly dramatically. It arched up, slightly, and to either side of it was a deep pit.
 
"Yep, that's a bridge to nowhere," Xander said, looking at the stone arch. Or, kind of arch. It was more flat than a full arch like most people thought of, but still enough of an arch to consider it arched. He stepped closer and peered down. "And that's a pit. What is the point of this? Who builds a bridge to nowhere over a pit?"

"I think it sounds like fun," Alec said brightly, though he stayed right next to Daizi. "The bridge, that is. There's a chasm, why not try to cross it?"

Xander shrugged and started walking across easily, glancing on either side as he did so. He was too practically minded for aesthetics, but bridges were made for crossing.
 
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