How Green Becomes Wood

Milo wandered in after him, turning around the somewhat small, round room to try to take it all in before looking at anything individually, "She did all of this?" He asked, "That's really cool. She's got a cool job."

"She lobbied hard to get this set up," Pryce recalled, scratching his chin, "I was still just an intern at the time, and she made such a fuss about it. We had a really nice banquet in the museum the night it open, she got to give a speech and everything."
 
"Oh, yeah, she wrote a book about it, too," Xander said, starting on one side and starting to work his way around. He knew most of this by now, but it was different seeing it in a formal display like this. "A few books, I mean. Alec has one that's kind of his favorite. But, yeah, this is totally all her work, and I bet she loved giving that speech. It's such a win."
 
Milo read the signs carefully, really taking his time to engage with all of it, especially since it was what his friend's mom did. He was too ashamed to voice it, but he found himself a little surprised that Daizi could do... all of this. With how she dressed and, well, her... condition, he did sort of just... presume. Not that she didn't do anything or that she hadn't earned her degree or anything, but this was way more than he thought. "She even has books about this?"

"We sell them in the gift shop," Pryce said, "That's not me advertising, mind you."
 
"She's a decent writer, but long-winded for me," Xander confessed. "Mind, I say that about pretty much any book that's nonfiction. At least she makes it sound interesting even when using every word in the dictionary. Oh, nice, there's the Jewett City Vampires, that's my second favorite right behind the Egopantis." He smirked as he read over the description.
 
"I like the tone she uses," Pryce said, "She is similar to Erik Larson in the way she uses prose, and she works hard to tell a story without sensationalizing anything."

Milo looked at the walls and pointed to one sad, ugly creature, "I like that one." He said, "The squonk."
 
Xander shifted to look at the picture. "The hemlock forests of Pennsylvania. Johnstown has a whole Squonkapalooza? Huh. Sounds interesting. First written account in 1910." He paused and looked over the various creatures. "You know, you could just about design a whole road trip going from place to place and hitting all the 'Squonkapaloozas' that they have for different cryptids."
 
"I think I'm too used to being on the road to enjoy something like that. I don't really go on vacations, but if I did, I think I'd like to fly somewhere and go absolutely nowhere else the entire trip." Milo replied, reading the little information available about Squonkapalooza, "but I think I can relate to a creature who cries itself into a puddle when it's threatened."

"Johnstown isn't too far away, actually," Pryce told them, "Dr. Wahid and her..." He paused, trying to find a way to refer to Dark while maintaining the professional form of address Xander had initiated, "Personal Assistant and traveling companion to conduct ethnographies at the festival. It was a lot of fun, from what I understand."
 
"Fair," Xander admitted. "Would you go to Johnstown for a palooza and then hang out? I totally would. Especially if I could ask someone to give me the insider tips." He made a note to ask Daizi about Johnstown later.
 
"I guess so," Milo said, "but my mom is coming to get me in a week. I don't know if we'll have the time, or when the palooza is." But he couldn't look at Xander as he said this, knowing how his friend didn't like to be reminded he was leaving.
 
Xander shrugged it off, pretending like it wasn't a sad topic. He didn't want to make Milo feel bad. "Eh, I doubt it would actually happen anyway. It was just a thought. Oh, hey, I don't know that one." He pointed to another cryptid and moved on, refusing to bring the mood down.
 
Milo went over to look at the other display, and after they saw everything there, Pryce took them to one more guided room, which did include paintings of ballerinas, selected for Milo's interests, and then he said, "Well, that's all I was asked to tour for you, so now the rest of the day is yours. Just text Dr. Wahid when you're ready to go, and she'll come get you, okay? It was great showing you two around, but I've gotta get back to my real job now."
 
"Thanks, Doc, this was a great tour," Xander told him. "You're a pretty good guide. I mean, guy." He said it with a straight face. Then he turned to Milo. "Right, so, now that we're not being babysat, let's see how many rules we can break before getting kicked out. Think we could steal your favorite painting? Or do you need to pick a smaller one?"
 
Xander sniggered and took one last look around the art hanging on the wall before wandering ahead in a random direction. "Nah, she wouldn't lose her job. Likely because she'd be the one to catch us and turn us in after a harsh, lengthy scolding."
 
"I don't know," Milo replied, stopping to take a picture of a couple trying to replicate the pose in one of the statues they passed by, "She lets two kids in, gives them special privileges, and then they steal? That'd look bad on a performance review."
 
"Hmm, good point," Xander mused. "Alright, then, how about some minor graffiti on a wall or something? We can cut out some circles from black paper and prop them on a statue so it looks drawn on." He was completely joking.
 
He turned and looked at Xander strangely, and although he knew his friend was joking, he still asked, "Why are you so intent on defacing your mom's job? Do you go around the school looking for how you can mess that up too?"
 
Xander glanced askance at Milo. "Defacing my mom's job? Dude, it's a joke. There's no way I'd actually hurt anything - though the paper circles might be funny if they didn't just fall off - and not because it's her job. This stuff's important, you know? It's just that that's the kind of crap teens are 'supposed,'" he made giant air quotes around the word, "to get up to. And I'm like the only jerk in school that doesn't mess with the place."
 
"I know you're joking," Milo said, walking with him, "but, you know, it's kinda funny that the joke is, 'what can we do to mess up my mom's office?' Like, it's funny that that's the joke you went to. Not in a bad way, or anything, it's just. Different, I don't know."
 
Xander considered this. "Good point. Well, if it was her actual office office, not out here, she wouldn't mind a small prank. She's like that. Always up for a joke. As long as, you know, it's okay for a professional setting and we keep in mind she's blind. Swapping scents around is one of the best jokes I've thought of."
 
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