fandomhigh | Magical Ethics: Week 3, Period 1

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magical ethics

Magical Ethics: Week 3, Period 1

"Good to see you all didn't freeze to death" was the greeting from Alysha as the bell rang for the start of the class. She had spent the weekend being really freaking annoyed that charms couldn't get the stove working again, and she hadn't been able to bake. The pies coming through from her aunties had been charmed up the wazoo, but she'd eaten 'em anyway and then gotten an enormous urge to call each and every auntie. Too bad her phone didn't run out of charge.

"Today we're talking about restrictions on power usage," she said after checking who was there. "Sometimes it seems stupid, you won't hurt anyone or use your powers for darkness, but maybe others will and suddenly there's a whole set of rules. Sometimes they're imposed by the government if you're in the type of country that acknowledges power usage, sometimes you're forced to hide any extra abilities you have because other people might feel threatened. It happens, and probably all of you have experienced some version of it."

"For instance, my family's rituals are always held in a particular part of the forest that is easily defensible by those not taking part in the circle. It's a mild restriction, but one my aunties impose on the family because outsiders don't know how to channel the type of power that was raised in ritual and really really didn't know how to handle the side effects. But also because too many outsiders come through and see parts of the ritual, they start to wonder what else might be going on." After they got done screwing their brain out with anything that moved. "And people poking their noses in can cause problems. On a heavier note, my family doesn't tolerate those who raise and hold power. We believe power is meant to be channeled and holding it leads corruption and evil." She shrugged. "Again, a restriction but one we place on others and take responsibility for enforcing."

"So what I want you to discuss today is what restrictions have you experienced - or know about if you don't use magic or other powers -, if you feel they're valid, and what type of limits you think should be placed on people who can do 'extra' things whether it's magic, super abilities, telepathy, or anything else you can think of."

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Tara bit her lip and squinted as she considered the subject. "I guess it's a little more okay, but it's still wrong?" she said at last. "They have the same right to be in the store that I do, so it's kind of rude to use my powers on them when they can't do it back and I wouldn't want them to do it back if they could."

"It seems kind of like overkill for something that would just as easily be fixed by saying 'excuse me,'" Zack added, peering Tara's way and smiling faintly. "Why resort to using powers on people when there's a way to do the exact same thing that won't leave them wondering how they wound up suddenly standing over there, instead?"

Tara bobbed her head in a nod, and smiled shyly back at Zack. "Right. B-but I've had disagreements about using powers versus doing things the regular way in general." There was a wee glance to Karla, there. "Like, why clean your room on your own when you could use magic instead."

"I think something like that might depend on the situation," Zack offered. "If you're in a hurry to get somewhere, but your room absolutely has to be cleaned, then a little bit of a magical jump-start now and then probably wouldn't hurt. But if it becomes a crutch... You know, taking the easy way when bending over and picking things up yourself doesn't hurt anything either? I never really could find the appeal to that. I don't know if there's anything really wrong about doing it. Maybe it helps you with control over powers that you might not get to exercise, or something like that, and a clean room isn't really hurting anyone... But sometimes, it's better to just suck it up and do things yourself."

"No, that's right," Tara agreed. "If there's a reason to use your powers -- like if it's telekinesis practice, or you're really in a hurry -- that's one thing. But to just use it casually ... it feels ... I wanna say decadent. Which -- decadent isn't wrong? But it's also not right."

"Maybe more like you're losing sight of what purpose the magic was intended to serve in the first place?" Zack gave a little nod. That, he could relate to. "We think along those lines on a different scale, in SOLDIER. While it never hurts to have an arsenal of spells to fall back on, of course we still have to be proficient with our sword. Just... conjuring something up and leaving it to do the dirty work for us? That defeats the purpose."

And it was cowardly, Genesis.

"Plus, if you always conjure something, what happens if you can't conjure? Do you just stand there and get killed?" Tara asked rhetorically. "Which is a long way away from using magic to clean your room or cut in line at the store, but."

Zack nodded a little, kind of thrilled, actually, that somebody got it.

"The sort of magic that we use has its limits," he noted. "You can cast and cast and cast, but eventually, you'll have to stop to recharge. If you depend too heavily on something like that, then right when you need it the most, you might not have it. And then what?"

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"Why?" Alysha asked. "Is it morally better to have done it by hand?"

"Kind of, and also magic can be, like,a drug for some people?" Tara said. "So ... if you use it for everything, you'll just do spells all the time, and you'll lose your sense of right and wrong. And that's where bad things happen."

[OOC: Pretend I ranted about stupid Marti Noxon and stupid S6 here. Thanks.]

"But why?" Karla asked. She's been listening for Tara's answers specifically, since it was something they'd spoken about before. "I understand that your magic comes from asking other...beings...for favors, but that's not how my magic works. It's an ability I was born with, it uses my energy, it's under my control. If I wanted to put all of my books away with Craft while I did something else--be it fold clothing or watch the teevee--why should that be wrong? My Craft is just as much a part of me as my hands. Why does it matter which I use to do what?"

"Saying I ask other beings for favors sounds like I'm sacrificing goats," Tara grumbled, not entirely under her breath.

She tapped into the powers. That was entirely different.

Raising her voice, she added, "No, no, it's different for you if it's not a taboo in your world. Just -- it is in mine, and I get it. But there's just no such thing to you as 'too much magic'?"

"Sorry," Karla said, trying not to grin at the goat thing. "But I'm not sure how else to put it." That had been what she'd said, anyway, during the meeting.

"But of course there's too much magic. If I draw on my Craft too much, I could shatter my Jewel. Or I could die as my organs cease to function because I was using my body to fuel my Craft. But that's a lot of magic all at once and if I'm getting to there, it's not because I was using Craft to clean my room." She was thinking about the Karla in the other-Fandom, so gaunt and unhealthy. "Unless there are some incredibly dire circumstances, I'd only get there if I was ignoring myself and what I needed to function."

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Huh. Okay, that really really - wow ~~wtf Marti Noxon wtf~~.

"So what you're saying is that using magic too much can make a person a psychopath?" Alysha asked, trying to make sure she got that right.

She was never, ever telling the aunties about that.

Tara nodded and shoved her hair out of her face again. "I -- there are steps? It's not like you float a pencil one day and, bam, the next you're summoning demons to end the world. But -- yeah. That's what I'm afraid of."

So many questions and none of them were really appropriate for a teacher, and no matter what she looked like, Tara wasn't a younger cousin to be quizzed.

"I'm comfortable with a lack of summoning demons," Alysha said, a bit dryly. For one thing, that would mean she'd have to move to handle it, and that wouldn't be great. "I'm interested in the limitations there, but that's probably a topic for another time."

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"Which is a whole other issue," Alysha agreed with a bit of a grin. "The reactions of the people who are affected by being randomly teleported or having a frog drop on their head or - I don't know, a dragon flying overhead. Should they be considered in formulating how powers should be used? Or does one simply try 'not to be rude'?"

Edmund didn't interrupt as he didn't want to be rude, but there was a small amount of uncomfortable glowering over in his corner at the grin and the fact that that question even needed to be asked, Devil's advocate or no.

Alysha raised an eyebrow at her TA. "You look like your'e trying not to say something."

"That will probably happen often," Edmund admitted, attempting to avoid looking embarrassed at being called on.

Zack couldn't help but wince a bit at the mention of the dragon. Yeah, he had a bit of experience with randomly appearing dragons, himself. He wasn't necessarily a big fan.

"If you're using magic on somebody, then I think common courtesy means that you should at least take a moment to think about how it's going to affect them. Just the same as if you're doing anything, really. What's the difference between teleporting someone out of your way, or just giving them a rough shove? Either way, they're probably not expecting it, and chances are that they were standing where they were for a reason, right?"

There was a pause, and then a sheepish sort of smile. "I'd be kind of worried if there was a frog falling on my head out of nowhere, but that's mostly because where I grew up, frogs can turn people into frogs, too."

Griff had been busy glaring at Tara for her example here. Up until he heard that bit.

"So you'd rather a teleport shove someone out of the way than take a hop around them? I think you're all a bit dim if you're assuming the teleport would bother moving the other person in the first place when it's far easier to move themselves around an asshole in the way."

"That's... what I was kinda saying," Zack said, blinking at Griff. "There's no reason to do something rude to somebody when you can just... go around, or say 'excuse me,' or something like that."

Was it something he'd said?

"I might be missing something, but wasn't the person standing around like a tool being rude in the first place? I mean, the teleport's expected to save him from a train but never rudely jump around him?" It was a subject rather close to Griff and he didn't mean to jump all over Zack, really.

Zack raised an eyebrow, and then he shrugged.

"I don't think it would be rude to move around a guy, no. I mean, I can take a running jump over somebody, if I really want to, and it doesn't affect him any. It's actually picking the person in the way up and putting them somewhere else without warning or without their consent that I figured would be a little... Something." He shrugged. "Sure, they're standing around and being rude, but that's no excuse for kicking them out of the way, either, I don't think."