How Green Becomes Wood

"More simple than her crib," Dark answered, "High chairs get messy so I need to be cautious about the relief I choose to carve. Otherwise keeping it clean will be impossible."

"Was he really?" Daizi asked, "We were worried she would be. It seemed... with everything else, almost predestined. At least Peter seems to be an easy teenager."
 
"Hmm, that's a good point," Jack nodded. "Have you considered maybe doing that stuff, I can't remember exactly what it's called, but it's like that clear... resin, I think? You could carve a relief and fill it with that stuff to make a smooth, cleanable surface."

Sally sighed morosely. "So far, at least. I may have to call you sometime for advice on raising teenagers."
 
"I have... not," Dark admitted, considering the idea seriously, "but I am running out of time. We are going to introduce her to solids, soon. Relatively soon."

"Are you trying to imply my teenagers have ever been difficult?" Daizi teased in a low tone so the twins wouldn't overhear.
 
"Hmm, that does put a time crunch on things," Jack commented. "From the little I know, the resin doesn't take long, but actually carving the thing would, I'd imagine. Well, whatever route you're taking, I look forward to seeing it!"

"What? No! Never those two angles," Sally giggled, her voice low. "They never have ever caused you any reason for sad emotions. Not once!"

She moved the conversation on to other happy topics, telling Daizi and later the rest of the table funny stories from her work. Jack countered with his own funny stories, but Ciara had none to add. She seemed genuinely interested, but still reserved.
 
"And I am sure you will see it." Dark told him.

When the conversation returned to the wider group of adults, Daizi did everything she could to keep Ciara included, being sure to ask her questions. Dark was glad most of the table was talkative, because it meant he did not need to be, although he, too, was occasionally asked a question or prompted to give his opinion by his wife. She was good at that, and as a result, when Ivy began to cry for her own dinner, and Daizi had no choice but to excuse herself from the table, because she knew how the twins felt, and guessed how Peter would feel, and it was just easier to go elsewhere. There was a bench by the entrance, which she knew about because anytime they went anywhere now, she had Dark point out good spots for her to nurse.

When the dinner was over, and Dark had paid the bill (to his pleasure), but waited until Daizi rejoined them to even begin making a goodbye.
 
When Daizi needed to excuse herself, Sally willingly offered to go with her, and then spent the time happily, but quietly chatting with Daizi while Ivy nursed. Sally was of the culture where you did excuse yourself to nurse for public modesty, but women often went together to keep each other company, and some women even considered it one of the most peaceful times of their day. At least, that's what all the women around her and popular opinion said. Either way, it didn't bother Sally one bit, and she was glad to get Daizi aside for one-on-one time just to talk.

Once all was done and they were gathering their things to leave and Ciara and Jack were both thanking Dark for paying, Peter handed Xander a CD. "Oh, here's that album I was telling you about. I know it won't be your thing, but give it a chance?"

"Alright," Xander sighed, accepting the disc, "but if I hate it?"

"Perfectly fine," Peter assured him, "as long as you listen to tracks 2, 3, and 11, okay? And I mean really listen to them. See you after Spring Break!"

Xander grumbled but agreed while Alec looked on curiously and then hugged his aunt. "Thank you for coming, Aunt Ciara! And for talking. It meant a lot."
 
Daizi felt immensely grateful Sally came to sit with her. As meaningful as nursing was for her, she hated having to excuse herself as if she were doing something taboo or dirty. Dark tended to sit with her, but for some reason, it felt wrong for both halves of their marriage to 'abandon' the party. Sally joining her meant she didn't have to feel completely isolated, which stopped something she loved and valued from becoming a chore. There was a lot she hadn't been able to do for Ivy, or for any of the ones who had come before, prior to birth, and this made up to it. It made up for it.

Back with the group, Daizi went up to Ciara, after allowing Alec time to make his own goodbyes to her, and warmly said, "It was great getting to see and speak with you, Ciara. One day we really need to spend time together when it's not quite so busy. And thank you again for driving us." She propped Ivy up, and made her wave her hand, "Say goodbye to your Auntie Ciara, Ivy!"

Dark made his goodbyes in his usual, somewhat stiff fashion, although he did mean what he said. But really he was glad to be going home, this had been a good deal of socialization, and he was finding he had a lot on his mind.
 
Ciara smiled and gave Ivy a little wave in return. "It was a pleasure spending time with you. All of you. It would be nice to do this again, yes."

Peter said goodbye to the twins, Jack and Sally said their farewells to Ciara, and they all headed out to their cars. The evening seemed to be winding up quite well. The twins followed Dark and Daizi out, tired and happy.
 
The drive home was peaceful, and there wasn't anything that needed to be done. It was Spring break, they were allowed to be at home, they were allowed to rest. Yes, Dark still needed to grade, but at least he could do so at home. He could grade a paper with his daughter in his lap. He could grade a paper while listening to his wife sing and strum on her harp. The evening after the talent show, there were heavy thoughts on his mind, and he didn't know what to do with them, and he took some quiet time alone in his shed to be alone, and to think. But the weekend was still.

Since it was Spring Break, Daizi had scheduled their special trip for a Tuesday. A slower day would be best for what she had worked up, because it meant the museum was less hectic. She had kept her plans mostly private, even from Xander, but once they were entering the side door of the museum she said, "I'm going to introduce you to my friend Pryce, he works in Natural History, and I'm going to let him show you around. I hope you're both excited."
 
Xander had taken a little bit of effort to dress nice, mostly because he didn't want to embarrass Daizi in front of her coworkers. Would she care about that? Probably not. But he cared about it. He figured people always thought well of a mother who had decently dressed teens who behaved nicely. "Yeah, sounds good. Looking forward to seeing what's up," Xander said, hands resting loosely in his pockets.
 
"How do you feel about it, Milo?" Daizi asked, leading them to the elevator with the same ease she moved around her home in.

"I'm, um... excited..." Milo mumbled, staring at his shoes.

"Good," Daizi said, and lead them down a hallway to a little room, where a dark-skinned man in a t-shirt which read, I might be going fossil hunting, but it's not set in stone" and khakis was waiting for them. He stood up when they entered and hurried over to Daizi with a bright smile, "Ugh, there you are! Dr. Wahid, it's been too long since you've been in the office!"

"Pryce, since when do you call me Doctor Wahid?" Daizi asked, grinning.

"Since you haven't been through these doors in six months!" His eyes landed on Ivy, who was happily hoisted in her ling, "And look at the little thief! Oh, she's cute! And these must be the boys you told me about."

Daizi turned, "The red-head is Xander, he's my son, and Milo is his friend."

"Hello there, Xander and Milo, it's good to meet you both."
 
"'Sup, Mr. Pryce," Xander said with a little bob of his head. His eyes were on Pryce's shirt, and he was thinking of how he couldn't let Alec see it. Ever. "Thanks for doing this. Sir."
 
"Doctor," Daizi murmured by Xander's ear, even though she knew perfectly well he didn't mind.

"It's no problem, it's a lot more fun than looking into microscopes all day long, let me tell you. And I love getting to help out your mom, it was her recommendation letter that got me a job here, you know." Pryce said cheerfully.

Again, Daizi leaned in to give some explanations, "He was an intern with us.."

"So, what I think we're gonna do, if you're amenable--and if you don't want to do it, we don't have to do it, just let me know--is we're going to tour the special collections back here first, and then I'll take you to a few select areas, and then you'll just be set free to roam the public areas of the museum, alright? That sound good?"
 
"No way, seriously?" Xander asked, brightening. "That sounds awesome, Doc Dollar." He glanced at Milo then back to Pryce. "Is that where they keep the expensive stuff, the invaluable stuff, or both? Or just the breakable stuff that grubby hands always want to touch?"
 
"It's where they keep everything that isn't on display." Pryce said, "You can't touch any of it, I can't even touch most of it, but you're welcome to look, and I've been authorized to open drawers. I know that doesn't sound interesting, but it'll be cool when you see it. We keep the collections for research, more so than for viewing. Are you coming, Tarot?"

"Oh, no, but you'll come to eat with us after, right? I've got to say hello to everyone I've not seen in months," Daizi replied, "Have fun, you two!"

Milo just stared, still trying to process he was in the back rooms of a fairly well-known museum, and he followed dumbly after Pryce, who opened up a door and stepped into a fairly large room, full of shelving units and cases, similar to a library, except many of these shelves were full of boxes, rather than books, and some had large metal drawers.
 
Xander didn't say much at first, staring intently at everything as if trying to memorize it all. He asked a couple of questions, but only after reading anything that might possibly give him the answer first. After a few shelves, he finally asked, "Can we take pictures of some of this stuff?"
 
"You can take pictures of most things back here," Pryce exclaimed, "You can't photograph any human remains, you can't use flash on anything, and there are certain other items you can't photograph either, but I'll warn you." He looked at Milo, "You must be quite the photographer, huh?"

"Um..." Milo murmured, having not let go of his camera once, despite not taking any pictures because he had the same question as Xander, but was too afraid to ask, "Yeah."

"Yeah, I knew you were. Tarot briefed me on all of that, but I didn't want to seem like I knew too much about you." Pryce said with a little laugh, "It's on me that I didn't give you permission up front. Let me know if you want to see anything again to get a picture of it, alright? Oh, we do have a book bound in human skin, you can take a picture of that, if you want, it just looks like any leather bound book so it's not really a big deal."
 
"You have a what now?" Xander asked, doing a quick double-take. "Uh, yeah, I do kind of want to see that. Please." He glanced at Milo. "Come on, Stitch, you gotta get some good ones! I want some copies of those, 'cause I doubt this is ever going to happen again."
 
"You are your mother's son," Pryce teased, "Come on, I'll show it to you. It really doesn't look all that different than any other book. You probably wouldn't even realize, unless I told you. I actually learned from Tarot the practice of binding books that way is called, 'Anthropodermic Bibliopegy,' which is a mouthful. But they're not really like what you'd see in movies."

"Your mom works here," Milo murmured, hurrying after them, intending to indicate that Xander very much had a chance to see this stuff again, but he did take many pictures as they went along, now that he knew he was allowed.
 
"Yeah, but seeing as this is my first time back here, I think it's pretty clear I don't get to use this place like a playground," Xander pointed out in an undertone. "Hey, um, could you..." he hesitated only a moment before forming his question, "get a picture of me with the... book thingy? Anthropod derp bible peg thing. So, if it's not like the movies, Doc, what is it like? And have you done it?"
 
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