fandomhigh | Firsthand History- Monday- 1st period

Today the class was in a Danger Shopped outdoor concert venue. No way was Kitty taking them to the real one without chaperones. But it was crowded and still kind of muddy, and there was music, so.

"Welcome to Woodstock," she greeted them. "This is Monday, August 18, 1969, the end of one of the biggest events in music history. The sixties were a pretty big decade, and hippies were a very big thing. They were very big into peace and love and pacificism, and also illegal drugs and free love which you will not be getting in class. That summer, a free concert was put on in upstate New York, not actually in Woodstock, which gave way to the attendance of four hundred thousand people. This is nothing. This is only about thirty thousand here. A state of emergency was declared for the county, people came over from the Air Force base to help keep things peaceful, and that was probably good because things weren't even finished before the festival started, and they were way underprepared for how many people they got here. Also the festival was supposed to only be three days, but rain delays meant that the very last performer didn't go on until 8 am Monday morning. And that's what you're going to see today.

"So find a spot, relax, and enjoy Jimi Hendrix. If you're from here and now, it'll make your parents and grandparents so jealous."

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Hyacinthe would agree that would do it, if he had any idea what 'a Boov' and 'cloning' was.

"I've noticed cats rarely do what you wish of them and will most cheerfully be where they are most wished gone," he said. "So that, at least, seems to be a point of similarity."

Hey, Tip was actually very used to explaining things that were well known concepts in her world. Maybe some day she'd explain them to him.

"Cats as a universal. I like that." Peridot would beg to differ, but then she always did. "So a thousand years ago, huh? So is your world run by a feudal system of lords, or. . . ?"

"Feudal lords?" Hyacinthe made a mental note to look that up on the Wikipedia on his phone. As he did with so very many things. "Terre D'Ange has a ruling family, as many countries do. The de la Courcels are directly descended from Blessed Elua himself as are all of the noble families. Each of the provinces has a duc that rules in the king's stead, as well and various aristocratic families if you're looking for lords and ladies."

So . . . that'd be a yes, then. As far as Tip could tell. And a system that had the whole 'destined by god' crap that most of the Christian world had tried at one point or another, too.

Gross.

"We've got some countries that still have kings and things," Tip said. "But in most places in my world they're just ceremonial now." Actually, in several places in her world, they'd been dethroned by Boov and never replaced, but that was neither here nor there.

Ha! Trying bringing up the concept of serfs and see how hard Hyacinthe laughed. Ditto the concept of Christianity. Hyacinthe's world was...special.

"Ceremonial?" Hyacinthe looked shocked. "Who rules instead? Is it a collection of warlords, like Skaldia? Or more like the ruling families of Caedicca Unitas? Wait--no, I heard of a Senate here. So more like Tiberium?"

And then he paused, sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I really need to memorize all the names of the countries that this world knows."

"Or just stop expecting people to know what you're referring to," Tip suggested. Because, yeah, she couldn't even guess about any of those. "We kinda . . . have rule by committee," she explained. "We ask for volunteers and then we -- meaning all the citizens of the country who are old enough -- vote on which of the volunteers we want to do the job. Then we do it all over again every couple of years to make sure that the people doing the ruling have to actually listen to us, and can't just get into office and do their own thing." She shrugged. "That's the theory, anyway. It's not a perfect system, but letting people chose their own governing bodies makes more sense to us than just assuming someone'll be good at being in charge because they were born to the right people."

"I forget," Hyacinthe said, a touch sheepishly. "'Tis just what the countries have been called for my whole life and 'tis hard to remember that 'tis not the same everywhere."

Even on an island of wonders, the idea that he was in a different dimension entirely was hard to wrap his head around. "Where are they trained to lead?" Hyacinthe asked. "Those born to rule at least have the benefit of being raised to it, learning statecraft at their parents' knee."

"College," Tip said. "A lot of the people who run for office are lawyers, so they've had to go to a lot of extra schooling. Plus they can get started at the local level, on city counsels and things, or by running for a position at their school when they're growing up. You can have people from all sorts of backgrounds and learning experiences working together, so you don't just have one theory of how it 'should' be done. I mean, in theory. Again, not perfect. But I'm not sure a 'perfect' system exists."

Hyacinthe had no idea what they taught at university. He'd never thought he'd go to school once his lessons at the local temple of Shemhazai had ended.

"The ancient Hellenes are said to have come closest," Hyacinthe said, with a shrug to convey that he had no idea what their cultural equivalent for this world was. "Though even the shining city of Athens refused to allow women or slaves a say. Any system that has slavery and excludes others cannot be called perfect."

"Hey, we have an Athens, too," Tip said, smiling. "And yeah, the ancient Greeks -- also known as the Hellenic Republic, I think -- were one of the bases of the whole democratic system. But yeah." She grimaced. "Someone who looked like me wouldn't have been allowed to vote in my country for the first, like, hundred and fifty years. And even now a lot of areas do their damnedest to keep my people from voting, anyway." One might have hoped that the Boov invasion would make a dent in systemic racism, but if anything, it just made the assholes dig in harder. "Still, it's nice having a government that at least pretends its open to changing with new ideas. Culture in my world moves really fast. If we didn't reelect our leaders every so often, they'd never be able to keep up."

"Errr..." Hyacinthe was leery of asking the question, but she had brought it up. "What is wrong with the way you look? I think you look quite lovely," he added quickly.

"And you're right," Tip said, pleased. "But according to the people who founded my country, I'm too dark by at least half." Since she was biracial. "They liked to keep black people as slaves and pretend they weren't really people. Because humans are terrible."

Hyacinthe held his own arm out and compared it to Gratuity's. She was far darker than he, but his own swarthy skin made his stand out against pure-blooded D'Angelines and gave away much of his heritage immediately.

"Where then might I rate?" he asked. "For I am lighter than you, though darker than, say, Cosette. I ask because your skin is a rich, warm brown, like the heart of an ancient oak tree. I would hardly call it black, though admittedly, skim is a shameful reason to enslave someone anyway." Shrugging, he added, "Not that I can think of a good one, in truth."

Firsthand History- Monday- 1st period

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