Ethics [Tuesday, November 25]

[sith_happened]

Today the desks in Anakin's classroom had been pushed along the walls and replaced with cushy pillows and blankets. There was a giant table in the front of the room creaking with the weight of Thanksgiving treats. Fear not--it was all ordered in. Anakin wasn't a fan of ovens.

"Today we talk about sloth," Anakin said, holding himself even more carefully and clearly uncomfortable with the very idea of relaxing. The students were certainly not expected to be held to the same standard. "Originally, sloth was described as 'an uneasiness of the mind'," Anakin continued. "Apathy. Melancholy. Joylessness. And importantly, the decision not to do anything about it."

He shrugged. "The modern view understands that the mind is slightly more complicated than that and sometimes it is impossible to will yourself not to be sad. Instead, this sin focuses on the failure to utilize your talents and gifts."

He gestured at the table. "This Thursday, there is a holiday celebrating sloth--or at least the lethargy that comes from overeating. Millions of people in this country will spend time ignoring their relatives and watching football. It's a national holiday." He shrugged again. "I don't pretend to understand it."

He lit his lightsaber and began slicing the turkey, mostly because he would never, ever, ever get away with that at the Thanksgiving he'd be going to. "So today, embrace your inner sloth and eat until you're ready to take a nap. But first find a fellow student, tell them one of your talents--and no one is allowed to cop out and say they don't have one--and how you use it here at school."

Comments

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

Firekeeper sniffed cautiously at the food, reminded of the conversations from last night. Picking only those items that didn't seem to be too heavily seasoned, she looked around for someone to pair up with.

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

Ella filled a plate with lots of stuffing, turkey, gravy, and cranberry sauce, then wandered over to Blysse. "Do you have this holiday in your world?" she asked, fairly certain the answer would be no.

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

"Am not," Firekeeper nodded. To be fair, it was entirely possible that a holiday like this one existed in her world and she just wasn't aware of it.

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"Us either," Ella said. "We celebrate the harvest, but not like this. It seems overwhelming."

Not that fear of being overwhelmed stopped her from taking a generous bite of turkey with cranberry relish.

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

"New Kelvin have harvest festival too," she offered. "Is much dancing. Derian dressed like a carrot."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"Like a carrot?" Ella couldn't help but giggle. "Why did he do that?"

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

Firekeeper couldn't help but grin at the image herself. "To get our friend Citrine back," she explained, expression sobering. "She was... not well. Runned away to be with her mother, who was not very nice person. She was dancing in festival. We thought, if we is looking like dancers, maybe we can sneak close enough to get her to come back."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"Did it work?" Ella asked, now very interested in the story. "That was a kind thing to do, for your friend."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

"Did not," Firekeeper shook her head. "But Torio- the Healed One- seed us try. And he see also that Lady Melina only pretend to love him because he is ruling New Kelvin. So, later, he help us sneak in to Thendulla Lypella and make things right."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"At least that's good, then," Ella said, not knowing the names but following anyhow. "And it's dreadful, what fools some girls make themselves over a man with a title."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

Firekeeper nodded, reminded of Elise's thankfully brief engagement to Jet. "I not understand it much," she admitted. "How human Ones is not chosen for skill, only borned into right family."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"People want the title and the money, and the person they'll be sharing breakfast with for the rest of their lives is a minor detail," Ella said firmly. "My stepmother's been flinging both her daughters at anything royal, no matter how poor a match. I have no idea how Char -- he's our prince -- puts up with the nonsense."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

"Hawk Haven had much of that, back when Earl Kestrel first find me," Firekeeper admitted. "He only bringed me to human lands because he think maybe I am lost princess," she wrinkled her nose, showing her distaste for that particular thought.

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"Ew," Ella decided, assuming Blysse must not have been a princess because she wouldn't be at school if she were. "I'd never want to be a princess. Their lives seem to be all duty; they've no will of their own, and people never talk normally to them."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

Firekeeper nodded. "Not wanting this thing either," she agreed. "Am happy enough being wolf."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"Is that your talent?" Ella asked, remembering they had an assignment. "Being a wolf, that is."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

"No," Firekeeper shook her head, looking troubled. "Is no more talent than you being human girl is."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"but you were born human," Ella said gently, then paused. "Weren't you?"

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

"Was," Firekeeper admitted reluctantly. "Was fire. Human parents die, mother ask wolves to be taking care of me."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry," Ella said. "My mother died, but that was only a year and a bit ago."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

"Am sorry too," Firekeeper offered, unsure if that was the right thing to say. Condolences weren't exactly something she had a lot of experience with. "Am not really remembering my human parents, I was so small when it happen. But you- remember your mother?"

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

Ella nodded. "She and our housekeeper raised me, really, my father was always traveling. She was a wonderful lady."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

"Is good, then, that you are here to remember," Firekeeper said with a small smile. "She deserve remembering."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"She does," Ella agreed, then glanced at the clock. "We still haven't discussed our talents, you know."

Re: Get food and pair up! [11/25]

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

Firekeeper followed Ella's gaze. Not that she could actually read the clock, but she got the hint. She frowned, trying to think of a talent she had. The conversation with Ben last night came to mind.

"Being wolf is not talent," she said finally. "But being wolf and knowing how humans speak is making it possible for me to tell humans how beasts is thinking." It was most definitely not the other way around, since as far as she was concerned, the language of beasts was her native one.