fandomhigh | Prophecy in Theory and Practice, Tuesday Second Period (11/27)

Entry tags:

prophecy

Prophecy in Theory and Practice, Tuesday Second Period (11/27)

The usual arrangement of breakfast food and hot drinks was laid out, and as soon as all were present, Aziraphale began his lecture.

"Today's topic is on the ethics of prophecy. Specifically, the difference between 'knowing' and 'telling'. Some people believe that a seer is obligated to share his or her information, especially with the subject of a prophecy, or when the outcome of the prophecy is negative. Others feel that knowledge of the future is like any other kind of knowledge, and is the property of the seer to do with as he or she desires.

"What I want all of you to discuss is this: Are seers obligated to inform the subjects of their prophecies? Are they ethically responsible for the outcome of a subject's actions, once informed? Or, are they ethically responsible for the outcome if a subject is not informed?"

Once the discussion was finished, Aziraphale handed around a set of runes to each student, along with a handout on rune casting. "Your hands-on activity today is to practice rune casting, either for yourself or for a partner."

[ooc: ~~Please wait for the~~ OCD is up and class is in session.]

Class Roster
Syllabus
Class Requirements
Linkdrop for previous classes

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She had her head down, bruised cheek against her forearm. It was just ugly. And she was kind of tired so she was resting.

Neil sat quietly at his desk, taking notes but it was sort of an automatic gesture, not anything deliberately focused.

In fact, he looked fairly unfocused as he stared ahead, his expression worried and slightly withdrawn.

"Hey, man, you okay?" Chris asked quietly, leaning close to Neil.

Neil jumped a little, as he hadn't heard Chris come over but then he relaxed and gave the other boy a wan smile.

"Hello, Chris." Neil said and he looked down at his hands. He was really grateful for Chris and his family for having him over for Thanksgiving. It might have ended up really confusing matters but Neil had seriously appreciated it and now ... well actually now it seemed weird not to talk to Chris like a friend.

"It's ... things are, weird with Andrew right now."

Chris nodded. "I noticed that you guys seemed a little off over the weekend, but I thought maybe it was just a reaction to the absolute insanity."

"No, the insanity was kinda nice," Neil said with a quick grin.

Then he sobered and plucked at the edge of his notebook.

"I ... wasn't here, at Fandom when ... I mean that week when Bart died. I'd been called home and then couldn't get back till after everything had happened."

"Oh."

Chris looked down at his desk for a moment. "And you're feeling bad that you weren't here for Andrew?"

"Of course," Neil said quickly. "I can't ... well, I sort of can imagine ... I mean."

Stumbling over his words, Neil pounded his fist on the desk and looked away at the wall for a long couple of minutes, trying to work his words into some sort of coherent language.

"When I next saw Andrew, he was an adult. More Fandom weirdness on the heels of Fandom weirdness. He was ... really different than he is now. He was ... cold, actually he was kinda cruel."

Chris grimaced. "That future may not be set in stone," he said. "Fandom weirdness has a way of dredging up the most bizarre potential scenarios."

Taking a deep breath, Neil began to pluck at the edges of his notepad.

"He was really bitter about my not being here when Bart died but at the same time, he seemed to not really care about Bart just that he could say the words and make me uncomfortable. Also ... " Neil paused, took a breath and forcefully folded his hands over themselves. "He made pointed mention of what a shame it was that we'd never done ... err the deed, before thing went bad between us."

Looking up at Chris, Neil's expression was miserable.

"It was the way he said it, Chris. It was like ... he was breaking up with me, right then and there."

Chris frowned. "But... you have the power to change that," he said. "If you and Andrew... stay together... you can change the outcome of whatever path led him to where he ended up."

He sighed. "Have you talked to him about what happened?"

Neil shook his head.

"No," he said honestly. "He asked me about it but, I didn't think it was a good idea to say anything, you know in case in an effort to not make it true he made it true or worse if he wanted to make it true and well..."

Neil glanced over at Andrew, his expression softening.

"I just couldn't tell him how ... evil he seemed. I can't even really reconcile it with myself."

Sighing, Neil leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

"Also," he began in a much quieter tone. "Us, Andrew and I, I never meant for something like that to happen. I didn't want to get close to anyone but ... he snuck past and I ... he's important to me. Maybe this was meant to be a reality check, to remind me not to get so close."

"Why wouldn't you want to get close to anyone?" Chris asked, giving Neil a concerned look.

"And maybe... well, maybe you can talk to him about it without telling him how evil you perceived him. Just tell him that his future self said things about your relationship that made you uncomfortable but that you'd like to try to stop them from happening."

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves

iftheseshadows.livejournal.com - 2007-11-27 16:09 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves

neurotic-witch.livejournal.com - 2007-11-27 16:16 (UTC) - Expand

After a while, Andrew got up and came over to take a seat next to Neil. He didn't say anything, not knowing how to start this conversation.

For awhile Neil was equally as quiet but eventually the uncomfortable awkward got the better of him and he looked over, shyly, towards Andrew.

"Morning."

"Oh, hey, morning," Andrew replied, speaking quickly. "So interesting class, right?" Andrew wasn't looking at Neil.

His leg was bouncing with nervous energy.

Neil couldn't help grinning a little bit at the characteristic bounce in Andrew, even if it was a bounce for the wrong reasons.

"Mmm," he said, thinking back to what Chris had said at the beginning of class and then sighing deeply.

"He ... he told me that things fall apart between us," Neil said softly. "It was like, he was telling me that you were breaking up with me."

Not perhaps the smoothest segue in the history of conversations but heeelloooo, teenage boy here.

"Who?" Andrew asked, completely confused and not allowing himself to think clearly.

"You," Neil responded.

"Oh. I thought you might say that." Andrew shifted around uncomfortably.

"Do, um... do you, um..." The words were getting caught in his throat.

"Do you want to break up with me?" Andrew still couldn't bring himself to look at the other boy. He sat there, hands balled into fists, already flinching against the words he expected to hear from Neil.

"I ..." Neil began and then he looked down at his hands, shaking his head in the negative though the only words he could find to speak were, "I'm scared."

"Well, um..." Andrew didn't know how to react. "Maybe I should go ahead and just move back into my room. I'm crowding you." Neil hadn't answered the question, had he? Was that his was of saying yes? Did he want to...

"I'm so sorry." Andrew stood up but he didn't walk away.

"That's not what I meant," Neil said sharply, standing. His expression was stricken as he looked at Andrew and hopelessly confused.

"You don't... you weren't ... you just don't understand!" He continued, growing more and more agitated.

Looking as if there were words waiting to explode out of his mouth, Neil open and closed his left hand as if he was wrapping his fingers around the grip of something but in the end he could only close his eyes, shakes his head as if it pained him and then bolt.

Pushing free of the comfortable desks and chairs, Neil hit the classroom door already at a run and dashed out without so much as a nod towards Professor Aziraphale.

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves

wannabe-pan.livejournal.com - 2007-11-27 21:29 (UTC) - Expand

If Lana had listened to the radio, she would currently be home hiding under her covers. Luckily, she hadn't.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only