Namor & Clint | Friday Evening

[x-hawkeye.livejournal.com]

Namor attempts to help Clint study.

The scene was a mess of textbooks, index cards, and frustrated faces. Namor sat, cross-legged, between a few of these books. He also was largely in charge of the flashcards. It was a tough position, but he handled it with the grace and poise he normally employed in such tasks.

Which really meant that he stared down at the flashcard in hand and, baffled, asked, "How was this man 'The Great Communicator' if he merely attached himself to every conservative push of the American 1980s?"

This was not actually the flashcard question.

"I have no idea," Clint said, giving up entirely and collapsing onto his back. He tented his book over his face, eyes closed, and said, "He talked a lot and he was good at it? What's the actual question?"

"Name three of the conservative movements Reagan appealed to within his election campaign."

Clint was silent for a long moment. He took a deep breath, held it, then let it go as he said, "Nope. Not happening. I'm done. It's over. I quit. I totally don't care about Reagan."

"Reagan affected a lot of America's international policy," Namor offered in reprimand. "Plus: history is the foundation of our lives today."

"You are so full of crap," Clint said, blindly tossing a pencil in Namor's direction. "Besides, I've got all weekend to study this stuff. I know it was my idea, I was trying to be all responsible and stuff, but I'm over it. Totally over being responsible."

"I am literally quoting your textbook." It was held up in testament, but served as a handy shield against the rogue projectile. "You have a quiz Monday. Do you plan to suddenly learn all of this tomorrow?"

"Don't care," Clint said. In truth, he really should try to focus. History was his worst subject — worse, even, than English. At least Kyle talked in a way that made English make sense sometimes. There was pretty much nothing that could make History interesting to him unless it was specifically science or math related. "Ugh. I don't know. What were three conservative thingies that Reagan appealed to?"

"There are over ten listed here. You could name anything remotely conservative and it would be on this list," Namor said with a frown.

Half growling, Clint took another breath, then said, "Uh... yay religion, government sanctioned racism, and isolationism?"

Namor shook his head, "Yes. You actually had a movement called the 'white backlash.'"

"We are one classy country," Clint said, sarcasm practically dripping from every word. Then he pointed over at Namor, the book still covering his face, and finished, "And don't you forget it."

The flat stare Clint received was sincerely unimpressed, but its full power was diminished by the teen's shield. "No history is spotless. The important thing is to see the patterns," Namor hmphed.

"Right, cause if you don't pay attention to history, you'll repeat it. There's a famous quote about that," Clint said. "I have no idea who said it. Maybe Mister Guthrie will let me do a project on the history of something science related. I could totally rock that. Not so much dates and conservative politics."

"No." Namor's tone was surprisingly firm. He frowned, mentally calculating the best way to express his problem with Clint's quip. "It is a matter of perspective. Think of human history like a set of experiments. It is important to be able to trace each influence and variable when looking at your end result — the now — when looking to prepare a final thesis. You cannot just look at one set of data points when each individual experiment can change the one next to it."

"Right, but aren't you supposed to be able to look at all of history that we know and see the patterns so you can avoid repeating the bad ones?" Clint said. "I mean, if you repeat the same experiment multiple times and get the same result, you've proven your hypothesis and should move on to the next stage of development."

"It may not be a perfect metaphor." He said this casually, but his look of disappointment proved he thought it may have been close. "It is impossible to learn everything from history. Only the winners tell their stories — the point is to glean some understanding of humanity and where we've been. It is not about moving on with conclusive findings."

Lifting the book off his face, Clint looked over at Namor and said, "Right, the winners write the history books. But I'll bet you nobody ever tries to invade Russia again during the winter. Napoleon did it and then Hitler did it and they both lost their wars and their empires. It's a matter of perspective, I guess. I'll never understand why knowing what platforms Reagan ran on are important, but I get why invading Russia during the winter is a bad idea. I don't know what it's important that I know who was elected President of the US in 1888 as long as I understand our country's general position and policies in the world."

"My understanding of United States Secondary Education is that you're meant to see how America viewed itself; a fact strongly reflected in leadership. Breed patriotism." Namor shrugged as if to convey 'Don't know personally. Constitutional monarchy here.'

"Yeah, that's kind of irritating. They're not getting a patriot out of me if they keep making me memorize dates. They're getting a mildly irritated citizen who'd just as soon work in Switzerland as the US. Or maybe Canada. How's the scientific community in Attilan?" Clint let the book fall back over his face.

"Excellent," Namor stated with pride, "... for a tiny island nation with a population less than some of your states."

"Sweet, maybe I'll go there and invent a cure for cancer," Clint said. "After I've spent the next fifteen years in school, anyway. At least I'll eventually be able to focus on what I actually want to learn rather than this." He waved his hand at his textbook.

"Let that comfort you as you fail your quiz tomorrow."

Clint flipped Namor the bird before asking, "Right, what's the next question?"