How Green Becomes Wood

"You're allowed to not like the way she spoke about it, though," Milo replied, his hands in his pockets, "You don't have to report it or anything, you don't need to tell your parents, but you can be irritated about what she said about your parent." That was one thing he had extensive experience in.
 
Alec found Milo's advice somewhat ironic, but it wasn't wrong. "True, but if I think about that without being able to do anything about it, then I'll just get bitter about her and fret. I don't want to feel that way." He shrugged. "For now, I'm just going to have to ignore how I feel. That, or never listen to her again, and she's not an awful history teacher in other ways."

"Whatever works for now," Xander agreed. "It sucks, she's edging into my black books, but it is what it is."
 
"Ignoring your feelings is always healthy," Milo very cautiously teased and then looked at Xander, "I was really confused about what you meant for a second, because there are Black Books in a game I play, and they're very different from that."
 
"They're sort of like... Lovecraftian," Milo began, "In the game, there are all of these evil gods, they're called the Daedric Princes, and Daedra means like... 'not our ancestors' because they didn't help to make the universe, and because of that they all have their own Plane of Oblivion, which is like having their own special part of Hell. One of the Daedric Princes is called Hermaeus Mora, who is the Prince of Fate, Knowledge, and Memory, and he presents himself as this large mass of eyeballs and tentacles, and he has scattered his Black Books, and if you open them up to read them, tentacles extend from the pages and grab onto you and transport you to his Plane of Oblivion, Apocrypha, but technically your physical body remains behind, only your mind or, like, soul, goes there, and if you manage to survive you unlock forbidden knowledge. And I think the idea is if you're weak in mind or you fail, you go insane, because the knowledge in Apocrypha breaks you and your mind cannot physically contain it." He swallowed and waved one hand, "But, um, you're the main character, so you just get power-ups like... being able to summon a Dremora Merchant to sell your crap without needing to go back to town."
 
"Wow," Alec blinked, impressed. "That's some game! It sounds really cool. Hey, you should tell our mother about it sometime. I bet she's say something like how many games are our modern version of storytelling and fables, and she'd love to hear all about it."

"Eyeballs and tentacles. Doesn't D&D have something like that?" Xander mused. "Like an all-see-er or something. It's a cool idea for a knowledge and memory god thing."

"And fate," Alec added.

"And fate. If it was the real deal, I bet Stitch here would win."

"Absolutely," Alec agreed. "He's got a pretty strong mind, but you'd absolutely either beat him or be right behind."
 
"I think you're thinking of The Beholder," Milo told Xander, "I don't know if I could survive Hermaeus Mora without going mad, but like... Whenever people in the community talk about what Daedric Prince you'd like to follow, I think... It's be cool to follow one like Azura, Goddess of Dusk and Dawn, or Meridia, who is connected with Life but... not in an Aedra way? I don't know she's kind of confusing, she just hates vampires. But like, it'd be cool to follow one of the ones who present as a beautiful woman, but I kind of know that I'd probably end up aligned with the tentacle guy."
 
"You want to follow the beautiful women? How very teenage boy of you," Alec teased, grinning. "Seriously, though, Azura and Meridia sound much cooler to follow than a tentacle guy. I think I'd want to follow the one who does Dusk and Dawn."

"I'll take the tentacle dude," Xander drawled. "Or whoever the most boring, homely person is, because I ganuntee that either they get ignored and have the most peaceful life, or they are the most powerful beings ever, or both."
 
Milo ducked his head, "It's just cooler, you know? They have cool giant statues and their planes of Oblivion are pretty neat." Then he looked at Xander, "They're Daedric Princes, so none of them are boring. And none of them are really ignored, because they don't really let themselves be ignored. Anyway, you'd follow Malacath."
 
"He's kind of complicated, because some people view him as the Prince of Lies, Deception, and Hypocrisy, but he's the Patron Deity of the Orsimer, who consider him the God of the Spurned and Ostracized. Because like... The idea if he used to be this different god, called Trinimac, who was an ancestor god to the Elves, during the time when the world was still being made, but then another Daedric Prince, Boethiah, who is like... Prince of Betrayal and Plots, tricked and consumed Trinimac, who was digested and corrupted into Malacath, and the elves who followed him, the Orismer, were twisted into becoming Orcs. They stay faithful to Malacath, who stays faithful to them, because they were both betrayed, and so Malacath keeps watch for the Orcs since they're kind of... In exodus, because all the other races have their own," He gestured with one hand, "Country which belongs to them, but the Orcs don't have that. I think some of the lore says that, like, Mephala, who is the Web-Spinner, and who is all about lies and deceit and secrets, helped Boethiah to betray Trinimac. Um, but basically, Malacath feels a need for vengence, and he enjoys conflict, but I said he's who you'd follow because of his role as the Daedric Prince who really keeps an eye out for the, you know, outcasts and maligned."
 
Xander's brows rose higher and higher as Milo explained. When he finished, Xander said dryly, "So, I'm a lying, cheating, plotting, outcast orc, huh? Glad to know what you really think of me, there, Stitch."

Alec muffled his laughter and managed to squeak out, "I think you're spot on, Milo. For the outcasts and things, the protector. Also, the orc thing." He had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing.
 
"No," Milo frowned, "I am not saying you are Malacath, I said if you were in that world and found yourself worshipping a Daedric Prince, Malacath is who would probably appeal most to you. The thing about the Daedra is they all have good sides and bad sides. The Daedric Prince of Parties is also the Daedric Prince of like... Alcoholism. Like, with Hermaeus Mora, yeah his whole thing is Forbidden Knowledge, but he knows most of his followers will die to achieve it, and he is unbothered by all that. He's ruthlessly pragmatic and will kill you if you try to assert your dominance over him. With the Daedra, you kind of have to make a choice of what you're willing to risk for the positive sides of their help. And I think the reason why Malacath is associated with lying and deception is he was the victim of all of those things, compared to like... Mephala and Boethiah, who relish in those things. Boeithiah is literally called The Prince of Plots, in Skyrim she literally makes you sacrifice one of your friends to her. You get Malacath's artifact just by helping out a group of orcs."
 
"Alright, I guess I follow that. I still feel like you're comparing me to an orc," Xander said.

Alec giggled and nodded. "Maybe, but that is still totally a god you'd follow."

"Yeah, it does sound about right," Xander nodded.
 
Milo looked at Xander, "If you chose to play this game, you would absolutely choose to play as an Orc. They get a power to once a day deal double damage and receive half damage, they get bonuses to their heavy armor skill from the start of the game, and they hang out in strong holds throughout the country where they basically say they don't care about what anyone else is doing, they're going to smith good weapons and armor, participate in combat sports, and not bother with what the world at large expects of them."
 
Milo thought about this for awhile, "Probably a Breton. They're the closest TES has to a half-elf, they have a natural aptitude towards magic, and have a natural resistance to it, which means they can cast spells more easily and take less damage from them. They're pretty adaptable, so they can be politicians, mages, bards, or whatever else without much stress."
 
"Cool! I'm a half-elf!" Alec said cheerfully. "So, if I'm half elf, what's the other half? Orc? Human? Demon? Vegetable person?"

"Clearly, we need to play more games or at least read more books if you're going to pull out 'vegetable person' before dwarf," Xander snorted
 
"It would be human," Milo replied, "but the mixing would've happened ages ago, not recently. It's not really fifty-fifty either, they're mostly human, they just have more elven ancestry than the other races of humans."
 
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