Teachers' Lounge - 2/21

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

Methos went looking for coffee, and found the teachers' lounge dark and cold. He didn't have anything on hand, so he started a pot of coffee and emptied the refrigerator onto the table. Foodstuffs in various stages of developing language skills are available for your, er, consumption.

Methos kicks back in one of the chairs with a cup of coffee and the notes for his Medieval History lecture.

Comments

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Looking for coffee, she finds him reading. "Hey, Adam. How's the beer coming along?"

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

Methos grinned up at her from his seat. "Ready to bottle in a few days. I've got it brewing in the supply closet in Humanities #2. So if you and Jack get locked in there again, at least you'll have something to drink. How was the trip to DC?"

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

"DC was great. Saw some old friends, talked handwavily with Gil about butterflies, and did the monument thing."

She poured herself a cup and sat beside him.

"I don't think we'll get locked in there again, and without a bathroom, beer might be the worst idea ever."

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

Methos considers briefly. "You have a point." He looks down at his notes. "Do you think I should resist the urge to called Richard I of England 'Richard the Lionhearted and Stupidheaded' or should I go for it?"

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

"If you can back it up, go for it." She looked at his notes, "and I'll give you a kiss for each time you throw the word 'warmonger' around. I'm really fond of that after the war memorials."

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

"All right, delete every instance of 'the' and replace with 'warmonger'. Is a warmonger someone who sells war, like a fishmonger sells fish? Or do fishmongers sell fish anymore?"

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

"They absolutely sell war....hey. 'The' is like the most frequently used article...how many kisses do you think you're getting?"

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

"Is it?" Methos says. "Fancy that."

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

"Imagine..." A wry smile and a sip from her cup, and she moves on. "So was he? Stupid?"

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

He considers briefly. "I suppose it's unfair for me to say so, sitting here in 2006 with the weight of history to back me up. But he was relentlessly single-minded, certain that he knew the correct thing to do to bring peace to the Holy Land." Methos digs through one of his books, and finds a reproduction of a panel of an illuminated manuscript (http://www.dhushara.com/book/death/lion.jpg). Handing it to CJ, he said, "He saw nothing wrong with executing 2700 prisoners in the city of Acre -- and we speak of men, women and children, not warriors. Salah al-Din was a far more chivalrous knight than he. I might perhaps be prejudiced, mind you, as I was in Salah al-Din's train at the time."

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

She touched it lightly, pausing on the faces, as she chewed on her lip. "Adam, how many wars have you seen?"

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

He looked at the book for a moment before shutting it on the images of hundreds dead or waiting to die. "Fought in, watched from the sidelines, rendered aid and comfort where I could... more than even I can count." He smiled at her wryly. "There are some things you learn will drive you mad if you try to keep track of them."

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

"I talked to Blair at the Viet Nam Memorial. He called it a well of sadness. I can't help but agree."

She passed the book back to him, and cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry."

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

The smile faded to one tilted corner. "So am I, and I think I've had more cause for blame than you. It's funny; teaching history like I have been for the last couple of months has immersed me back in just how history can be summed up by So-and-So fought Such-and-Such and beat him and took his land, repeat endlessly. And yet it shouldn't. I keep finding myself pointing out that while all the nobles were running around waving swords at each other, the vast majority of the population was cheerfully getting on with their lives. And they had far more children than the nobles who tended to get themselves messily dead. So, really, it's those people who are the fathers and mothers of the world." He laughed. "Not me. I just have the prime spectator position."

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

"So-and-So fought Such-and-Such is the reason history bored the hell out of me. I like listening to you, though. Even about that temple dancer."

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

He smiled again. "I can't help it. I love the sound of my own voice."

[[OOC: Off to bed I go...]]