fandomhigh | Japanese Art, Friday, Period Two

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Japanese Art, Friday, Period Two

Algren, clad in actual modern clothing today instead of the yukata he'd briefly contemplated wearing to class before deciding that might be laying it on a little thick, was looking faintly amused as he settled in for his lesson today. He'd set a low table in the middle of the room, all desks and chairs pushed off to the side, and there were cushions on the floor around the table so that students could sit comfortably. On the table were stacks of brightly colored pieces of paper, cut into squares.

"Ohayōgozaimasu," he greeted, giving a small nod once it looked as though his students had settled in. "Good morning, and welcome to Japanese Art. I'm Captain Nathan Algren-- Mr. Algren for the sake of this class will do."

Or Algren-Sensei, though that seemed a little too formal for the sake of a class of three. He shrugged his shoulders all the same.

"We'll be covering several different types of Japanese art over the course of this workshop, starting with the one most people have at least a passing familiarity with," he gestured to the paper, "and moving on into calligraphy, perhaps some theater... Japan has a vast and diverse selection of art forms to choose from, and we'll barely be able to scratch the surface over the course of the next few weeks. This week, of course, is reserved for introductions - name and if there's anything in particular you hope to take away from this class - and then we'll get into folding some paper."

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Steve's face lit up. "That would be swell. I haven't taken an art class in a long, long time."

"Well, then," Nathan replied, "it'll be good to have you aboard. I'll try to keep it interesting for you."

And for his students, sure. But also for Steve.

"You don't have to go to any additional effort on my account," Steve said. "I only know a little bit about Japan."

"I could teach you that, too," Nathan chuckled. "I have been living there for a few years, now. Though what they've been up to in the past century and a half is a little beyond me."

But only a little. He had read a history book or three since coming to the island.

"I can help with that!" Steve said. "I've had to catch up on the last seventy years, so I've got a lot of history books. I just haven't gotten through them all just yet."

"Oh yeah? And is there anything really important that I missed in there?"

Look, Algren had done a lot of catching up in his time on the island, but Steve looked so eager to help, he didn't have the heart to say so.

Steve chewed on his lower lip. "Well, they were involved in a world war."

And not on Steve's side.

And Nathan blew out a little huff of a breath.

"That, I have read up on," he admitted. "Somewhat."

He'd gotten to a point where 'important future history' had turned into 'guts-churning horror,' and he'd needed to stop.

"It's not an easy read," Steve vastly understated.

"History often isn't," Nathan noted, "though when you're reading it from the perspective of somebody who knows that it's a history that's yet to come, it adds an entirely new level of difficulty to the mix."

Maybe it wouldn't be his future. He'd likely be long gone by the time that particular war rolled around. But would Taka's children? Would her grandchildren?

"Particularly when so much of it is..." He groped around for the proper word for a moment. "... Frankly, unfathomable. Even for those of us who have seen war."

He'd always thought that he'd seen humanity at its ugliest. Humanity had a funny way of surprising him in all the worst ways.

Steve nodded. "I taught Modern American history my first semester here. It was...shocking, really, how much had gone differently from what we'd imagined the future to be like. It was a little disappointing, frankly."

"It isn't what I thought I was fighting for," Nathan replied. "I can't imagine it's what anybody thought they were fighting for. That it's a fight that keeps needing to happen..."

He frowned a little, and then shook his head and reached for another sheet of paper.

"Never underestimate humanity's potential for cruelty. Or their willingness to embrace it over and over and over again with open arms and a memory that's all too short."

Steve would be remembering Algren's words in a few days.

"I had really hoped they'd evolved past it," he admitted. "They have all of this technology that allows them to learn about anything, and instead they post cat videos."

Sound more like you're almost a hundred, Steve.

"Surprisingly, it's not the cat videos I'm concerned about," Nathan noted, shaking his head a little. "But it is still something of a waste."

Cat videos were never a waste, Captains.

Steve nodded. "We wanted people to be free," he said a little plaintively. "Why does that feel hopelessly old-fashioned?"

"I imagine that has at least something to do with the people who crawl out of the woodwork to insist that the things we stood up against aren't an issue anymore, even when there are victims of those things crying out to the contrary from every angle."

For starters, anyway.

"That's probably a good part of it," Steve said. "They've made themselves willfully blind to the truth."

"People have always been exceptionally good at that," Nathan sighed. "If believing the lie is easier, or if it stands to benefit them personally, they'll turn their back and ignore just about any horror."

Selfish.

People were selfish.

"The real reason people don't invite old soldiers to parties," Steve said with a wry smile. "We get maudlin."

"If only maudlin was the worst of it." Nathan gave his head a shake, but he was wearing a wry smile to match Steve's. "I'm certain I've terrified people on at least a few occasions. In my own defense, they generally had it coming."

Maybe don't ask a man who rode in Custer's cavalry how scalping worked.

"What did they ask?" Steve asked. "Some people have no tact whatsoever."

Tony "Everything Special About You Came Out of a Bottle" Stark, Steve is side-eyeing you in particular...

Nathan's brow creased a little, and he looked at Steve tiredly.

"One gentleman asked me the particulars of how scalping works."

Funnily enough, he traumatized the hell out of that man in front of yet another Tony Stark, who was apparently a great common denominator here.

Steve's jaw dropped. "What the hell."

Nathan's expression mostly just said, 'Yeah. Yeah, somebody went there.'

Meanwhile, his mouth said, "I told him. In great detail. He refrained from asking me questions from then on."

"Probably put him off eating for a while too," Steve said. "Serves him right."

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