fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, September 2, 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. "I'm Master Anakin Skywalker," he said in a voice that was intended to carry. "You may address me either as Master Skywalker or Professor Skywalker. This is Ethics, and we're going to skip the introductions--I'll figure out who you are, if I don't recognize you already--and move straight to our first discussion."

His cloak flared out behind him as he handed out the syllabus. "Today's topic," he said, pointing to the top of the page, "is self sacrifice: knowing the difference between saving people and being a pretentious twit."

Anakin wasn't a great believer in softening his language.

"Any time I ask a a group of people what they would do to save someone they love, they 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 five years now and realize that half of you have probably already been put into this situation. I'm never in a mood to hear adolescent ramblings about how wonderful you were or might hypothetically be."

He leaned back against his desk. "What I want to know is what would make you walk away. When do you decide that the risk isn't worth the cost?"

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He thought about his mother, probably the only person he'd even consider such a question for. "Perhaps," Wesley said slowly, thinking about it. "I - I'd like to think so, at least. Though I suppose in the actual situation I might be surprised by what I'd do."

"What about you?" he asked. "Are there people that you would sacrifice yourself to protect?"

"My mom," which would explain why Scully's mind had gone there, really. "My best friend." She frowned, biting her lip. "I'm fairly sure that if it was someone younger and helpless, that it would be instinct." Trying to keep Kevin Cryder from falling into a garbage shredder, for instance, had required a certain amount of risk. She sighed. "I'd like to think it was anyone who needed it, but honestly, it would probably just be playing along until I could get loose or get away and get someone else out of there too. I have a hard time picturing pure sacrifice situations."

Wes nodded. "Yes, I assume that would be my strategy as well. Though with the exception of my mother, I don't really have many people who I would be particularly compelled to protect." Or really any people, but that would just sound lame.

Scully was trying to separate what she'd do as a (former) FBI agent, and what she'd do now that she was an individual without back-up or a government agency's resources. Especially one who was much younger than she'd been the last time she'd been in a life-or-death situation. "I know what I'd want to do, what my ideals demand. Whether I'd manage to do it now..." She grimaced. "I vote for not being placed in that position any time soon."

"Yes, quite," Wes agreed. "Being trained to protect someone and actually laying down one's life for her are two entirely different things. One nice thing about no longer being a Watcher is not having to make that kind of decision anymore."

Scully thought about that, and had to admit, "It's a lot less stressful..." Ahem. "And there's other ways to help people, or deal with problems. Not everyone has to be on the front lines."

Ethics [Thursday, September 2, 2nd period]

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