Algren's Office [Saturday]

[shiroi_tiger]

For all of the questions that Algren had been dreading about his class since he'd learned of the influx of parents this weekend, what he had woken up this morning worried the most about was, what in the world was he supposed to wear? He had all of one modern outfit, worn until it was more or less threadbare now (thus putting his interest in this

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[itwaslogical]

Amanda had her mental list of all of Spock's teachers, including that one he didn't want her to talk to; maybe Professor Algren could tell her where to find his co-teacher, though. It would never occur to her to be embarrassed by any subject being taught to her son.

"Professor Algren? I'm Spock's mother." She smiled warmly and offered a handshake. "Amanda Grayson. It's a pleasure to meet you."

[shiroi_tiger]

"And a pleasure to meet you as well, Mrs. Grayson," Algren replied, standing and clasping her hand in that handshake she'd offered. "Please, take a seat. Might I offer you some tea?"

Tea was much, much more pleasant to discuss than the history of sex, wasn't it?

[itwaslogical]

"Thank you, that's very kind of you." Amanda beamed at him and said, "Call me Amanda." Maybe he was doing some kind of re-enactment? Or possibly she didn't know the 21st Century fashions as well as she'd believed. She'd read up a bit before coming here, but she could have missed something. "Spock spoke highly of you when I asked him about his teachers. But he didn't specify which course you're teaching?"

[shiroi_tiger]

Algren was actually somewhat impressed that any of his students had anything to say about him beyond the fact that he turned red very, very easily. It almost helped him to relax somewhat was he formulated a reply that wasn't the actual name of the course.

There was no way on this good Earth that he was going to say the actual name of the course. Ever.

"It's a history class," he replied. "A comprehensive study of gender roles and more throughout Earth's history."

Very comprehensive.

[itwaslogical]

"Oh, excellent. Spock concentrates on the hard sciences so much sometimes, I get worried he'll miss the value of more soft academic studies," Amanda said, taking her tea from him. "And he's had a basic grounding in Earth history, but that's not the same thing as learning it from someone from Earth itself. He isn't having any problems in class, I hope?" Such as, say, with your co-teacher, whom he tried not to mention to his mother at all?

[shiroi_tiger]

"He's... handling the subject matter with what I can only properly describe as an impressive sense of maturity that I've never seen from a student before."

Which was to say, he was possibly the only one in the class who hadn't giggled, snickered, or attempted to hide under his desk yet.

Creative truth-telling at its finest, Nathan. Well done. Keep up the good work.

[itwaslogical]

Amanda beamed a smile that said That's my boy, isn't he special? and took a sip of her tea. "That's so good to hear. Not unexpected! But good to hear." She put her cup on the saucer. "Do you know, is he making friends? Getting along well with the other students? It was ... more difficult for him, on Vulcan."

For the first time her smile dimmed, looked worried. "I suppose it's not obvious in a classroom, but-- they're not teasing him, are they? He's fitting in?" Asked by a mom whose kid was always the smartest and the most different and the one they demanded recite all the digits of Pi on the playground to prove he was Vulcan. Little brats.

[shiroi_tiger]

And Algren's eyebrows furrowed a little, at that.

Every parent's fear, he supposed, was that their child should meet with some adversity while they were away from home. He'd only been teaching academic subjects to these students for most of a year, now, but he'd already seen enough cause for that sort of worry.

"None that I've noticed," he confessed. "Though I imagine he's found that this school and the students within are quite accepting of differences in others, to quite an extreme degree. I think it would be safe to say that on this particular island, the one thing that everyone has in common the most is that they have very, very little in common. They seem to embrace that fact."

[itwaslogical]

Amanda's smile was even more relieved now. "He tries not to worry me," she confessed. "Always telling me he's fine, and everything is well. We wanted him to get more exposure to cultures outside of Vulcan for the potential academic rewards, but also, well. To make it a little easier on him." She firmed her lips, and said, "I'm very glad to hear that it was the right decision." She smiled again and asked, "How long have you been teaching here? And what do you like most about it?"

[shiroi_tiger]

Algren's own lips quirked into a faint smile.

"Myself? I've been teaching here since the onset of the spring semester," he replied. "Nearly a year now. And I would have to say, what I like the most about this job is that," he got to hand kids foamy bats and call it an educational exercise, "the students have the capacity to teach me just as much, possibly more, than I've been able to teach them. Each one brings their own insights to the classroom."

But mostly the foamy bats.

[itwaslogical]

"I used to teach, myself. Linguistics. I always loved it. Especially when I learned new things from my students." Amanda paused, and looked thoughtful. "Of course, sometimes it was fun to give them the most ridiculous assignment I could and see if they could actually make something out of it. But only when it was getting close to Finals week and I wanted to strangle them."

[itwaslogical]

"I used to teach, myself. Linguistics. I always loved it. Especially when I learned new things from my students." Amanda paused, and looked thoughtful. "Of course, sometimes it was fun to give them the most ridiculous assignment I could and see if they could actually make something out of it. But only when it was getting close to Finals week and I wanted to strangle them."

[shiroi_tiger]

Oh, Algren liked this woman.

"Linguistics, hm? Are there any languages in particular that you favor?"

Algren had a couple up his own sleeve, after all.

[itwaslogical]

"Vulcan, for off-Earth languages. Although no non-native can speak it perfectly, it's simply physiologically impossible. For Earth languages..." Amanda tapped her fingers against her teacup, then smiled. "Russian, or Japanese. The formality of Japanese is so perfect, sometimes. It's like every sentence is a prose poem. Russian is just fun for swearing in, if you really need to."

[shiroi_tiger]

"I know no Russian," Algren confessed, and then, with a bit of a wry smile on his lips, he added in clear, formal Japanese, "I have had the pleasure of spending time in Japan recently, however."

[itwaslogical]

"You speak the language very well, in my estimation," Amanda said in equally formal tones, but with a delighted smile. "It's subtle, and not easy. How did you find it, in this century?" she asked, then added, "I might not have mentioned, although I assume you're familiar with the phenomena-- Spock and I are from approximately two hundred years in the future."