fandomhigh | Ethics [Tuesday, January 6, 2nd period]

Anakin walked into his classroom precisely on time and gave the students assembled there an appraising glance as the door clicked shut behind him. If you were late, you weren't getting in. "I'm Master Skywalker," he said in a voice that was intended to carry, "this is Ethics, and we're going to skip the introductions--I'll figure out who you are--and move straight to our first discussion."

He paced around the room, cloak flaring out behind him, as he handed out the syllabus. "Today's topic," he said. "Self sacrifice: knowing the difference between saving people and being a pretentious twit."

"Any time I ask a a group of people what they would do to save someone they love, they all blither on about how they would set the world on fire, lie, cheat, steal, kill, die, et cetera, et cetera. I've been at this school too long to believe that half of you haven't already been put into this situation and I'm in no mood to hear adolescent ramblings about how wonderful you were or might hypothetically be. We're going to ground it in reality.

"Last summer there was a woman who was in charge of this school. She had been placed in power legitimately, was allowed to punish in accordance with that power, and began pushing the boundaries of her authority almost immediately. She called students to her office, punished them for slights genuine or imagined, and began escalating the severity and frequency of her punishments, going over the line into what was no longer acceptable."

Anakin crossed his arms over his chest, the scars across his face very evident in the light coming through the window. "It eventually took a team of highly qualified adults to take her out. Today's topic: when do you draw the line? When do you admit to yourself that a problem cannot be solved, that to sacrifice yourself isn't a statement, it's merely pointless? How long does it take for you to realize you can't fix everything by yourself?"

He would hear the replies and choose his TAs from there.

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"And why aren't they?" Anakin asked.

"'Cause I'm not good enough," she said, with a shrug. "There's someone better at everything I know how to do. So I can help, but if you want a fix, then there's probably someone else who could help better."

Anakin's lips went thin. "If they've come to you, they think you can do it," he said. "Don't half-ass it just to prove this theory of yours right."

"I don't 'half-ass' anything," she said, eyes narrowing. "But in honest truth, in most things I'm nothing special."

"But not in all things," Anakin said. "And you don't have to be the best in the galaxy to be competent."

Not that Anakin had ever allowed himself to settle for competent.

"Oh, not all things," she said, "though I'm not entirely sure how many people need someone who is excellent with plants, and has a foul temper," and skill at possession, but she wasn't going to say that even though she tacked it on to her thoughts, "for helping people out. There's better fighters, there's better healers, there's even better scolders. So while I'm working on getting better, I'm still 'not much'."

Anakin didn't looked pleased by that answer. "We'll work on that."

"...we?"

Ino eyed him.

Anakin eyed her back. "You don't think I just talk to hear myself speak, do you? I teach. You learn. If you don't learn, I keep teaching."

"You teaching fighting, healing, and scolding?" Impishly.

Okay. Scolding she could see. He'd be great at that.

"Simultaneously, sometimes," Anakin deadpanned.

"Impressive," she decided, "you'll have to show me some time."

Ethics [Tuesday, January 6, 2nd period]

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