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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"And what if the self-sacrifice wasn't just your life?" Anakin replied. "What if it was to compromise your principles instead?"

Kennedy... looked kind of offended, actually. "What, like I'd ever do that?"

Yes, she had principles. Try not to faint. ~~Wait, wrong Whedonverse franchise.~~

And this was where it got dangerous for Anakin to know you outside of the classroom. "Say Tara was held hostage. They give you the choice of either renouncing your gender preference or killing her outright. What do you do?"

Aw, man.

Aw, man. Low blow (metaphorically, of course), Anakin. And a good one.

"How is that even a fair question?" Kennedy sputtered. "I mean, yeah, I'd say I'd do it, but come on, it's not even-- I mean..."

And there went coherence.

Anakin smiled ~~evilly~~.

"Sometimes dying is the easier choice, isn't it?" he said.

Yes. Yes, it was, but Kennedy wasn't about to outright concede she'd lost the argument.

Besides. If she really, really thought about it? It wasn't even a question. "I'd do it for her," she answered, gritting her teeth.

"What if they swapped Tara out for a school bus full of children?" Anakin asked.

Okay, now Kennedy was getting annoyed on several levels, and annoyed enough that she couldn't quite sort out why. Maybe just the idea of Tara in that kind of danger had touched a nerve; maybe it was that he kept pushing with the questions; maybe it was that thinking about the answers made them less clear-cut than she'd been so sure they were.

"God, what do you take me for?" she snapped, completely forgetting (or possibly not caring) that she was talking to one of the most intimidating teachers in the school. "I'm not the kind of asshole who'd let a bunch of kids die if I had any say in it."

His lips quirked up a bit. "Temper," he replied. "What if it was a busload of criminals?"

"Aw, man," Kennedy bitched, backing down just a little. That one... gah. She ran her hand through her hair. "But they're human beings, so... I guess I couldn't..."

Her shoulders slumped. "Yeah, I guess I'd save 'em too."

"There's no right or wrong on these," Anakin said. "I'm just trying to get you to think."

He paused and then added, "Oh, and you're going to be a TA for me."

"There's always right and wrong," Kennedy insisted, though a touch less certainly than she was used to sounding. Because there was, dammit, it was just, um. Sometimes fuzzier in places.

Like a slightly moldy peach.

Okay, ew.

And hang on a second. "Wait, what? Me? Why?"

"There's generally a right and a wrong and a huge swath of gray in between that teenagers forget to account for," Anakin replied. "And because you're putting thought into your replies and I want to reward that."

Being his TA was a reward, yes.

A reward. Right.

...Anakin was probably Constance's favorite person in the world right now. Kennedy could swear she could feel her Watcher grinning smugly.

She shrugged, uncomfortably. "Hey, I sort of grew up that way, all demons-bad-people-good. And then I got here, and everything got whoa-blurry that way. So, uh. Thanks?"

"You're welcome," he said with a nod.

"Great," Kennedy said, deadpan. "Go, me."

Wherever he was now, Drake was probably smirking, too.

Ethics [Thursday, September 2, 2nd period]

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