fandomhigh | Bringing Literature To Life--Through Violence! [Tuesday, Second Period]

Cindy was leaning on the desk when the class arrived, stirring a cup of coffee. More coffee and pastries were set off to the side for the class to partake if they were so inclined. “Morning class,” she greeted. “And welcome to those of you who are new. I’m Professor Cindy Perrault and this is Bringing Literature to Life--Through Violence.”

Max was standing at a loose sort of attention off to the side just a bit. Jeans and a slightly rumpled white button-down shirt were dressy enough for class, right? He grinned. "I'm Antillar Maximus. For this course you can call me Centurion." His grin broadened. "I suspect you can guess which part of the class is my forte."

Cindy raised an amused eyebrow at him, but didn’t argue. Not everyone needed to know about her weapon specialties, so Max’s statement could stand. “So, the way this class will work is pretty simple. The Centurion and I will be trading off classes; your classes with me will cover some famous battles in literature and then, in your classes with him, you’ll get to experience the way the actual battles and weaponry work.”

Hey, Max knew she could kick his butt, but that wasn’t part of her cover. And if he could help her build that up, he was happy to. “We’ll be doing some pretty physical stuff, so wear something you can move in. And let me know if there’s anything we should know about your physical condition.”

He grinned. “One of the things we’re hoping you can do is put together the two segments of these classes in your head. Understand how the reality of combat and the way it’s used in literature line up with each other. And how they don’t.”

“And we’ll get into all of that next week,” Cindy finished. “This week is for introductions and heaven forbid we skip tradition.”

Max nodded in agreement. “Yes. We’re very traditional in here, after all.”

Cindy snorted. “Damn right we are. So--introductions. First the basics: name, class, and where you’re from. Then the good stuff--tell us about how war is waged back home. Are armed clashed generally small battles, where everyone can see one another’s faces? Massive armies? Fleets of ships or tanks or what-have you? What kind of weapons are used? Or is warfare shunned entirely, and all problems are solved through diplomacy? Whatever you feel like sharing is fine.”

“At the same time, we want you to tell us a bit about how war is treated in stories. Is it a glorious example of individual prowess? Is it a warning against the horrors that people can inflict on one another? Are wars presented as glorious nationalistic narratives, or as a way of highlighting the evils of warmongering? Let’s all get a feel for how we think and talk about war.”

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"'Cause watching a bunch of nubs fight is really funny."

Sam was classy, she was.

"Nubs?"

Why did people always have to ask? To Sam, it seemed pretty self-explanatory.

"Dorks. Dweebs. Nerds. You know, too uncool to survive on their own."

"Ah."

"The sort of people who obsess over your show, then."

"Yep!" Sam said cheerfully. "The cool ones don't obsess."

She had a very clear cut -- and likely not terribly accurate -- view of the world.

Max nodded in understanding. "So starting a war between them is okay because they're weak?" Or was it because no one got killed?

"I dunno, kinda?" Now she felt bad about it. "I mean, it's not like they were going to hurt each other. So it was funny."

"So everyone had a good laugh about it after it was all over?" Max asked, nodding in understanding. Even though he suspected that not everyone had a good laugh.

"Sure." They'd actually left before it was all over. Leaving Carly's actual crush behind in the mob rather than trying to rescue him from the rabid Creddie shippers. But she was sure they totally all laughed about it, later.

"Is that how most people think about war where you're from?" Inconsequential fights between nubs? Interesting how different cultures saw things, huh?

"The ones that don't kill people, probably. I mean, some people are all 'woo! Let's kill people in the holy land!', but they're even freakier than nubs are. The rest of us just have fun playing paintball assassin and stuff."

"So there are basically two kinds of war?" Max asked. "The nubs and then the really freaky people?"

"Sounds right," Sam said. "It just really, really sucks when one of the really freaky people ends up elected president."

"Does that happen often?" Max asked. "And if they're getting elected, does that mean that people agree with them?"

"I don't know, I've only been paying attention for a couple of years."

Fair enough. Max just nodded. "But you're paying attention now." And not just to things in her world. Class, too, right?

"Yeah, sure." She got distracted easily.

Clearly Max was going to have to keep an eye on this one.

He could handle that.

Bringing Literature To Life--Through Violence! [Tuesday, Second Period]

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