fandomhigh | Magical Ethics: Week 1, Period 1

Alysha was attempting to look like a real grown up teacher-person as she sat carefully behind her desk, waiting for all the students to arrive. At least she hadn't ended up teaching art. No matter what her dad had said about her skills with macaroni and glue, Alysha was totally confident that art was not for her. Ethics on the other hand, was pretty much hilarious given the Gales' approach to making the world bend around them. Usually not literally.

She stood up once all the seats were filled. "Good morning, everyone," she said with a tiny smile. "I'm Alysha Gale, and this is Magical Ethics. If you're in the wrong class, you probably should leave now. If you're not awake yet cause it's too damn early, get more coffee next week."

"In this class, we're to talk about the ethics of magical use. Do people who use magic or have innate powers or who can simply do things that others can't have certain obligations to the rest of society? Should magic users be treated differently? Should they have different kinds of rights? Just because you can create water out of thin air, is it your responsibility to do it when people are dying of thirst? If you can fly, is it your responsibility to catch someone falling?"

Alysha raised an eyebrow. "Now from what I know of the school here, I'm guessing a lot of you are going to have different opinions on all this stuff, and that's totally cool. Have different opinions, argue, and actually talk about this shit - stuff. I don't give a crap if you're tactful, but keep it civil or leave. If you leave, come talk to me in my office hours or after class. I'm not reffing anyone dropping their gloves in here." That only happened at home when her cousins got overeager on the hockey rink.

"Right," she surveyed the class, flexing her fingers and barely keeping from retracing the charm on the desk to allow her to hear any whispering in the classroom. "I'm told introductions are traditional on the first day, but whatever. We'll get to all of that. For now, I'd like you all to pair up and talk about what you think about this whole idea. What's ethical magic usage? Can you make a rain of frogs just for kicks? Can you change someone's mind to make things easier for yourself? For your country? Try it out and see where you all disagree. I'll be walking around and listening in. After class if Edmund Pevenise and Tony Foster would stop by to have a chat, I'd appreciate it."

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"Peanut butter and jelly," Tony decided. "That's healthy, right?"

"There's peanut butter and jelly pop tarts?" Because that's what's really important here.

"Sure," Tony said. "In case making a PB & J is beyond your cooking skills."

"PB and J it is then." Now she was hungry. Hey restored appetite, score.

"Okay, rain of toads not ethical, rain of PB and J Pop-Tarts, ethical," Tony scribbled down notes. "What about changing someone's mind with magic?"

"Not ethical." Leda said at once. She'd never been exposed it herself, but her strong aversion to having other people make her decisions for her had armored this particular ideal. "It's tantamount to rape."

Okay that had come out a bit strong.

Strong, but not inaccurate. Tony nodded. "Yeah, don't fuck with people's brains. That's messed up."

And the more serious topic was bringing back her previous mood. "There's just...certain things no one should be able to do to another person."

"I agree," Tony said. "Minds should be left alone. What about for your country? Does that change things?"

"My 'country' would make that kind of thing too unpredictable to safely try. Spells and machinery don't always work the way we want them to in Bordertown."

"I know I'm not good enough to mess around with someone's head," Tony said. "But even if I was, and if it was something big, like to stop a war..." He considered it and shook his head. "It'd take a lot of people to make Canada go to war. It'd have to be a mass brainwipe, and I don't think there's anything to justify that."

As far as Leda was concerned, Bordertown was her country. And there was almost always some kind of skirmish going on between gangs there. It'd been a while since there had been anything close to war though. She thought maybe it was good that neither magic or technology were fully dependable. It kept both the Elves and the Humans honest.

"I don't think even then. Though it's hard to picture B-Town going to war with anyone."

Magical Ethics: Week 1, Period 1

Re: Pair Up and Chat [1-5]

Re: Pair Up and Chat [1-5]

Re: Pair Up and Chat [1-5]

Re: Pair Up and Chat [1-5]

Re: Pair Up and Chat [1-5]

Re: Pair Up and Chat [1-5]

Re: Pair Up and Chat [1-5]

Re: Pair Up and Chat [1-5]

Re: Pair Up and Chat [1-5]

Re: Pair Up and Chat [1-5]

Re: Pair Up and Chat [1-5]

Re: Pair Up and Chat [1-5]