Office #18, All Day Monday

[tyler_gone]

A new semester and new class meant Tyler should probably actually go to his office and do work, especially since he still needed to brush up on his own history before he could inflict his knowledge on anyone else.

Mostly, this meant he was paging through A People's History of the United States and counting how many ways people who didn't look like him had gotten screwed over. The answer seemed to be "a lot."

The office door was open.

Comments

[tyler_gone]

"Parts of it, yeah," Tyler said, and walked over to his bookcase to pull out a volume on military history. He flipped through it to find the color plate he wanted. "Those," he said, dryly and probably obviously, "would be airplanes. back then they only carried a few people. They got a lot bigger."

[shiroi_tiger]

"I see." Nathan stared at the images for a moment, taking them in, nodding slowly. "Something else for me to catch up on, apparently."

He sighed, and then nodded. "Definitely a class on its own, then. I'm almost hesitant to ask what came next."

Almost.

[tyler_gone]

"Tony would be better than I am at explaining the technology behind it," Tyler said wistfully. "Anyhow, we saved the world, so we partied. And then the stock market crashed. People starved, families fell apart, there was no work, it was bad. That's another class, I think."

[shiroi_tiger]

"One hell of a party," Nathan noted, "if it prompts an entire class on the hangover."

Hangovers could be killer like that.

"Obviously they pulled out of it, since."

[tyler_gone]

"They did, because we managed to get into another war," Tyler recounted. "Germany had this fuckhead leader called Hitler who tried to take over half the continent, Italy had a fuckhead called Moussolini, and Japan's emperor ... you get the idea. Anyhow, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, so we jumped in."

"Wartime spending," Tyler added dryly, "is very good for the economy."

[shiroi_tiger]

"Nothing like war to convince people to get up and do something," Nathan scoffed, while in the back of his head he was taking mental notes. Germany. Italy. Japan. Huh. "Not only do the weaponsmiths make a pretty penny, but there are plenty of job opportunities for enterprising gravediggers and undertakers as well."

[tyler_gone]

"The fighting was in Asian and Europe so on this side it was all munitions factories, but you have the idea," Tyler answered. "We even convinced women it was their patriotic duty to go make the guns so their husbands and boyfriends were free to go get killed. Rosie the Riveter. We won that one, too. Made a weapon no one could match."

[shiroi_tiger]

"A bomb that could destroy a city?"

Tony had mentioned that one, yesterday. Over drinks. Nathan still hadn't quite managed to get his head around it, yet.

[tyler_gone]

"The atomic bomb," Tyler nodded. "Tony had a relative who helped develop it, if I understand him right." This science, he could explain even if his player couldn't, so he did so briefly. "We dropped it on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. There are probably some pictures in this book, but they might be on the gruesome side."

[shiroi_tiger]

Algren was decidedly quiet for a very long moment.

"It would seem that the more I learn about this day and age, the less novel it is to find myself here." He nodded toward the book and then held out his hand.

He could handle gruesome.

"What next?"

[tyler_gone]

"This part might sound familiar too, then. War ends, there's a decade where everybody competes to wear suits, move out to the suburbs and squirt out kids, war in Korea...." Tyler was trying not to break into "We Didn't Start the Fire."

"President gets shot thrilling conspiracy theorists everywhere, civil rights movement, which means black people get treated almost like they're human. Lots of big things, not sure which one to pick for a class." He considered this thoughtfully for a moment.

[shiroi_tiger]

"It all sounds important," Nathan noted, furrowing his brow a little. "Peace, war, anarchy, and change. I don't suppose there's any way to touch on all of it?"

He wasn't exactly in a position to weed out what was the most important event when they were playing a rousing round of 'catchup in thirty-minutes,' really.

[tyler_gone]

"And Russia went Communist and that terrified us. And there was another war, in Vietnam," Tyler said, staring at the ceiling. "It all matters. I could just pick a year and explain that. 1968's a good one. A couple of assassinations, new military strategy in Vietnam, civil disobedience back home. That would fill an hour."

[shiroi_tiger]

"A class on 1968 it is, then. That would leave three more sessions, wouldn't it?" Nathan frowned as he opened the book and flipped through it. Entirely too much to take in, and only a few days before classes started. Which, really, was essentially the way he'd grown accustomed to doing things anyhow. "I assume that means two more lessons, and then another test."

[tyler_gone]

"Two lessons then another test," Tyler agreed. "This is going through so much so fast, it must be hurting your head. I dunno, maybe ... maybe the worst and best of the presidency. I hope. The guy who was president in 1968 was a crook, and he got taken down in the early 70's. That's a whole big crisis, Watergate."

[shiroi_tiger]

"Watergate." He'd stop repeating everything that Tyler said as soon as the novelty wore off, really. That just might take a while. "I shouldn't be too surprised that there was a cheat running the nation, I suppose. For the most part, it's difficult to be surprised by corruption and war. They happen often enough."

And then some.

[tyler_gone]

"No kidding. The numbskull who got elected in 2000 managed corruption and war," Tyler said. "Don't ask about those wars, we'll be here until midnight."

"But the new guy seems like he might be a right choice. Was in my world, anyhow, but my world's a little off from this one. If he hasn't screwed the pooch by April that might be my last class."

[shiroi_tiger]

"It would be good to end a semester on a positive note, wouldn't it? Especially after the century that you got stuck covering. Several huge wars and economic collapse. America is about overdue for a guy who isn't bound and determined to take her apart, really."

The pictures in the book were fascinating. And appalling. And fascinating.

[tyler_gone]

"Yeah. If he's not worth a class, I'll talk about something else. Turn of the century, collapse of communism, whatever. There was a terrorist attack in 2001 but I think that would be too touchy for a lot of students, especially ones who haven't seen it happen and zomg I am not writing that class." Tyler took a deeper breath; he'd been talking a lot.

"But a civil war vet might appreciate why the new guy's a big deal, however he does." He edged a magazine toward Nathan. "We're past due for hope."

[shiroi_tiger]

Nathan glanced at the paper for a moment, gave a brief nod, and was about to settle back on the book he'd been flipping through when he looked again. And this time it held his gaze firmly.

Living men sometimes had a way of being far more captivating than decimated bodies.

"... Really?"

The book on history was all but forgotten now, and the magazine was in his hands as he read the cover story. And then opened it. And read the article. He wouldn't be long, really. This was just...

He smiled, then. And nodded as he put the magazine down again.

And maybe, for a moment, he even let himself look a little proud.

"I hope, then, that this is a class we'll get to keep on the syllabus."