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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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"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."

Nathan waving a knife in the man's face while he illustrated his point verbally probably helped with that somewhat, as well.

"I can't say I'm particularly remorseful about that," he admitted, shaking his head and looking down to carefully crease his paper with his thumbnail. "People get so wrapped up in stories, swept away in the romance of it, they forget to consider that actual people lived those things."

"War is not at all like the movies," Steve agreed, "or even the books."

"The books are entirely too clean," Nathan sighed. And then, in a wry attempt to turn the conversation in a slightly less morose direction, he added, "and they smell better."

Steve laughed. "Yeah, they haven't quite captured the smell of a few hundred guys who haven't had a real shower in months."

"I was cavalry," Nathan shared. "We had plenty of smells beyond the unwashed soldiers to contend with."

Though in fairness, the horses tended to smell better than the men did.

Steve wrinkled up his nose. "We'd moved past horses by then. Granted, most of the guys had never driven a Jeep 'til someone gave them the keys, but that didn't stop them from trying."

"I'm mostly certain I've never so much as seen a Jeep. I don't think that would stop me from trying, either."

Cars were interesting. He had no idea how they worked, but that didn't mean Nathan wasn't intrigued.

New York boys with zero driving experience broke a LOT of Jeeps. So many Jeeps. "It didn't stop me either," he said with a laugh. "I got better?"

"Experience and necessity will do that," Nathan agreed with a chuckle. "I'd say you'd be surprised at what a person can pick up with time and desperation, but I can't imagine you'd be all that surprised."

"I learned how to drive a motorcycle, shoot a gun, parachute out of a plane..." Steve said.

"Well... I can do one of those. Though I could before I ever went to war," Nathan mused. "I did learn how to use a sword, though."

They carried sabers in the cavalry!

... He'd learned how to use one to far better effect in Japan, of course.

Japanese Art, Friday, Period Two

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