fandomhigh | Ethics [Tuesday, November 18, 2nd period]

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Ethics [Tuesday, November 18, 2nd period]

Today the students, who would be returning their fake children, would be greeted with the sight of Anakin holding his seventeen month old daughter Juliet as they entered the classroom.

Well, restraining her. She was really interested in all of the stuffed Ewok toys. "I know many of you expressed a lack of understanding with what I was aiming at with this assignment," he said, waving his hand in the Force and grabbing one of the stuffed animals for the toddler, who squealed with appreciation.

"In many schools in this country and in this dimension, being assigned fake children is part of your health classes in order to instill a level of responsibility and understanding of cause and effect. In an ethics course, it is equally important to learn how you would react to being placed in such a situation. My best friend, who had never in his life dreamed of being placed with the responsibility of a child, was given one when the mother died unexpectedly."

And a nice spin on his Dark Side fall that was.

"Many unexpected offspring are brought into the universe through untamed lust," he continued, "which is why the droid babies come out during that class. But for me--and hopefully for you--the important lesson to learn were how you did dealing with the unexpected. Did you communicate well with your partner? Did you avoid the responsibility of the assignment entirely? Did you spend your week pointlessly hating me? What did you learn this week?"

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What did you learn this week about dealing with the unexpected?

[OOC: Handwavey is fine.]

"I originally reacted poorly," Elphaba said. "While I'd like to blame my attitude on the peculiarities of the week, I know that it was just how I normally react. While probably not the lesson intended, or perhaps maybe it was, I realized that even when you're dealing with a responsibility you don't care for, it's still a responsibility. Just because it doesn't matter to you doesn't mean it doesn't matter to someone."

Anakin nodded. "Did it ever start to matter to you?"

"I don't think so," Elphaba said. "Try as I might, I couldn't get attached to her. I kept thinking of Melena as a tik-tok and not as a child. I did what was required so that both she and I could exist, but I found myself awaiting returning her more and more with each day."

"Fair enough," Anakin said. "Some people aren't cut out to be parents."

Many would argue that included him.

"I don't think that's a fair assessment," Elphaba said. "Knowing it wasn't a child made it impossible to be a parent, I think."

"That I can endure anything if I make it a science project." Scully yawned. "And take notes." And that robot babies were not enough like real babies to leave her in memory-induced tears all week, as she'd feared. "And that robot dolls make a great conversational piece."

"Conversational piece?" Anakin replied a bit warily.

"Everyone wanted to know what they were, and how they worked, and why I had them." Scully put her hand over her mouth to stifle another yawn. "Explaining about them lead to some interesting talks. Last week especially." Muzzily, she added, "If you hold the Frohike upside-down, he giggles. And the Langley doesn't like loud noises. You did a really good job with making them individual entities, sir."

He gave her a tiny smile. "I like to tinker."

"Very impressive," Scully conceded. She was quiet a minute. "I didn't want to do this assignment... for reasons I don't want to get into. I was--" Scared. Hurting. Angry. "--anxious." She blinked at the dolls, then back at Anakin. "They aren't like real kids in one inescapable way, though." She sighed and put her head down. "You can give these back and not worry about them after."

Anakin smiled at Juliet sat in his chair, happily whacking the Ewok doll into the desk. "It's a lesson, not a lifetime commitment. The droids will be memory-wiped and put away for next semester."

"Oh good." Scully sighed, last worry allayed. "Here's the paper I wrote on them. The Appendix covers forms of birth control available to teens our age in this dimension." She was talking to the desk now, nearly asleep. "I think I covered the possible courses of action post-pregnancy pretty well too...." Yaaaaawn.

"Coffee helps," Anakin replied with a small smile. "And after a while, you learn to operate on four hours of sleep."

Scully waved her fingers at Juliet, and then smirked at Anakin. "Here's hoping that when she has a little siblings, they're twins." She could wish that much on him now, right?

"Her older siblings are twins," Anakin said.

Re: Answer the discussion questions [11/18]

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Re: Answer the discussion questions [11/18]

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Re: Answer the discussion questions [11/18]

showmetheproof.livejournal.com - 2010-11-18 18:51 (UTC) - Expand

Someone was torn on whether she was glad the assignment was over or not.

"Being locked in a room with an unhappy child is not enjoyable no matter if it's human, animal or... Ethics baby," Cassidy said finally, still not grasping exactly how the machinery worked. "Ranira was well-behaved as far as babies go, but I have to admit that I am just not ready for the responsibility of parenthood yet."

She had just gotten used to the idea of one day being responsible for the lives and well being of a Court.

"Then that was a lesson well learned," Anakin decided.

Squall considered the question.

"I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know," he decided.

"How very teenager of you," Anakin said a little sourly. "It's a delight to teach students who already know everything."

Squall snorted.

"I dealt with the unexpected well. The robots were annoying. It was difficult to quiet them once they started crying. I successfully cared for them without giving in to the urge to break them. I don't want children of my own." He shrugged. "None of those are particularly surprising. What were we supposed to learn?"

"Squall did all the work. I was too, um, distracted last week, and I totally forgot until I saw Elphaba's." Have a little shrug, Anakin. "Honestly, I would have forgotten about the babies somewhere, so it's a good think Squall got them." She knew it was like asking to be called on her mistake, but she supposed it was better than not saying a thing. As much as she didn't care about the babies, she did care about the course.

Anakin stared at her. "You were so distracted you forgot about an assignment dealing with responsibility?"

Zatanna reasoned it was only normal to wish she could hide under her desk and be done with it. She didn't do that though. "You were handing babies in the week where everyone was thinking about making them...okay, maybe not directly. Sir. And I have negative parent skills whatsoever. So they were better off without me."

"I dealt with it satisfactorily," he replied. "Organized care for the twins, made arrangements with Leda, cared for them properly." The data record would bear this out that he behaved towards them dutifully; there was no cooing after the first night, and he treated both of them a bit distantly, as one should for magic constructs devised for an evil plot (minimal cursing, too). It wasn't like they were puppies or kitties or something to which one could grow attached.

He would also argue that it was not pointless hating of Anakin for a week.

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