fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, September 13]

"Today we discuss lying," Anakin said as he closed the classroom door precisely on time. "Everyone lies. 'Of course that doesn't make your butt look big.' 'You like her, I like her.' 'I'm totally okay with you moving on.' 'Everything's fine, why do you ask?' It's how the world goes around because no one wants to be trapped in a conversation where someone whines at you for hours on end about how awful their life is."

He looked around the room. "Trust me. Everyone's life is terrible. They're just not telling you about it. Be grateful."

He reached onto his desk for a piece of paper. "Today we're conducting an exercise to see how well you pass this particular social ritual, then we'll discuss whether you think it is necessary. We're playing two truths and a lie. I'll tell you three things about myself and you have to decide which one is the falsehood. Then you'll all tell three things and we'll see how well you can either read each other or keep things hidden."

He gave them a small smile. "I'm very good at this." He schooled his face to absolute neutrality, put his mental blocks up to bar the Jedi in the room from gaining an advantage, then recited: "I've never been beaten in one-on-one space flight combat. I'm not afraid of anything. I named my children after people I met in Fandom." His eyes challenged them to call him out. "Who's next?"

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Aravis didn't have to think too hard. "The former. The two I faced against were the ones who took me," she said softly, "but I did not kill them. I knocked them out and left them with enough supplies to get home. None of us killed any of them."

"You're shading it," he said just as softly. "They made you feel helpless, so you returned the favor. I've been there myself."

"And what's so wrong with that?" Aravis asked, a defensive edge creeping into her voice. "They were horrible. I gave them a taste of what it was like before knocking the consciousness from them."

Anakin stared through her, seeing something far away. "Because you can get a taste for it," he said. "You can start to believe that your feelings are the only ones that matter, your brand of justice the only that should be inflicted."

He shook his head and focused back on her eyes. "You carried a blade. With that comes responsibility. Causing deliberate harm to another soul...taints your own."

"He should not be allowed to treat anyone the way he did," she said, very softly.

"No one's saying that he did," Anakin replied just as softly. "And I'm not naive enough to believe that a nation who tried to sell you as a political pawn would provide justice to anyone. But you don't have to sink to his level." His eyes locked on hers. "You're better than that in a way that has absolutely nothing to do with titles."

She nodded. "I didn't. I just...defended myself.

Anakin watched for a long moment before nodding. "Very well," he said. "How are you sleeping?"

She shrugged. "Not particularly well."

"Does sleeping with a light on make it better or worse?" Anakin asked softly.

"I haven't tried," she admitted. "Probably worse."

Anakin nodded. "And how long can you have your eyes closed before the walls start coming in?" he asked.

"Walls?"

"Before you start feeling enclosed, like you can't breathe."

This might've just been an Anakin thing.

"That doesn't happen unless -- " Aravis cut herself off. That was private. "Um, that doesn't happen when I close my eyes. I just start imagining everything that could go wrong."

The look in Anakin's eyes meant that he had filled in the blanks at the end of her sentence. It was the heartbreak of a father with a daughter her age.

"That sort of thinking can drive you mad," he said softly. "Do you have something that can remind you that you're here and safe? Something you can touch?"

He paused for a moment. "When you were taken...it wasn't from the dorms, right? I can take to Principal Washburn about security if it was."

She shook her head. "The woods. I have my dog." And Seely, but again with the privacy.

"I was thinking of something slightly more portable," he said quietly. "When I was a student here, my girlfriend was attacked by vampires. She found it easier to get through the nights by having a necklace to focus on. It was also good for times when something reminded her and she didn't have her puppy to hold on to."

Aravis shrugged, uncomfortable. "I think I'll be fine. It's getting easier."

Anakin's blue eyes were sharp as he looked at her. "It's all right if it's not," he said. "Being stubborn only works for so long."

Aravis nodded. "I'll be fine," she repeated.

"I realize I'm not the most...sympathetic...person," he said quietly, "but I do know a bit about feeling helpless and trapped."

Aravis raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Anakin nodded. "I wasn't always a Jedi," he said softly, "and Tatooine didn't used to be just vaporator farms. It was run by gangsters who traded in drugs, guns, and other beings."

He gave her a look, trusting her to make the connection.

Aravis did, and immediately looked somewhere between sympathetic and guilty, hand going to her lower back self-consciously. "I'm sorry."

Re: Talk to Anakin!

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