fandomhigh | Ethics [January 5, 2012, 1st period]

"Good morning," Anakin said, sweeping into the classroom. "I'm Anakin Skywalker and this is Ethics. If you're in the wrong place, now's the time to get up and flee."

If you were in the right place, it wasn't bad advice either, depending on Anakin's mood. He paced in front of their desks as he spoke, Jedi robe swirling behind him. "Most classes this week focus on introductions, but there are a few familiar faces in the classroom already and I'll figure out the rest of you as we go along. Fandom, as you might have realized already, is a multi-dimensional nexus where beings from many different places and times come together." He made sure to look each student in the eyes as he spoke. "As such, what you may feel to be moral and immoral might be completely different than the person sitting next to you. I encourage discussion, even heated discussion, but it must be phrased in a constructive way. Responses like 'yes, but that's dumb,' 'yes, but you're dumb', or punching someone are not constructive."

He'd had all of those reactions before, of course, but this wasn't about the ethics of the Ethics teacher.

"We touch on unpleasant subjects in this class, some of which might not be all that hypothetical to your life's experience," he added. "If you prefer not to discuss a particular scenario, just let me know by shaking your head and I'll skip you until the next week."

Anakin clasped his hands together. "Now, let's begin: if you had to choose between killing one person in order to save five others, or doing nothing even though you know that doing nothing means that those five people would die before your eyes, what would you do? And what do you think would be the right thing to do?"

He glanced down at his notes. "Oh, yes. Finally, could Mr. Hawkins and Miss Gabrielle please see me after class."

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"No need," she assured him. "It's an obvious question and my line of thinking wants to go there. I'm just not letting it."

"I'm keeping that thought locked down very hard," he assured her.

"Good. I'm sure there are still people around here who have to know, so I know he'll probably find out at some point. But wow, that does not need to happen now." And, finding out from someone he was wary of at the moment would probably be bad.

"I'll do my best to hold off that news for as long as possible," Anakin said. "He's confused enough."

"Yeah, he can at least get some settling in time," Jaina said. "Does he know about me?" Since she was so coming back and all.

"Yes," Anakin replied, "but I think I forgot to mention Luke and Leia."

"I'm sure that'll come up. There's Tahiri, too... We really have a messed-up timeline here." Like this was news.

"We really do," Anakin agreed with a sigh. "Poor kid."

"He'll be okay," she said. "The rest of us managed."

"I'll try to be patient with him," Anakin promised. "I don't want to scare him off."

"I never knew him to scare too easily. Fact is, I wouldn't be shocked if he's coming to you sooner than later, once he adjusts," she said.

"I hope I have the answers he's looking for," Anakin said.

"I'm not even sure what questions he'd ask," Jaina admitted.

"Why I did it?" Anakin asked. "Each of you has asked eventually."

"Then the answers he'd be looking for would just be the truth. Has anyone reacted badly when you told them?" If she'd been calm about it, she was sure Anakin would. She was the family hothead.

"I haven't told Leia yet," he hedged.

"That one would all depend on how you did it," Jaina guessed. "If you handle it like you did with me, it'd probably be fine."

He chewed on his lower lip. "She's heading to Hoth soon," he said. "Do you think it would be easier for her to hear before Han gets put into carbonite?"

She paused. "That might be a question for Luke," she said finally. "I can make guesses, but I don't know much about how she actually reacted at the time."

"I should probably not try to do a poll of all the Lukes," Anakin decided.

There was a slight pause.

"That this is a sentence I can say in all seriousness..."

"And here I was just thinking that it'd be a horrible hypothetical question to ask my mom..."

Other families did not do this.

"Oooh."

No, Anakin.

"I can not ask her that," Jaina told him.

There was a long pause.

"...probably not," he finally admitted.

"It'll be fine. The fact that you're thinking about things like timing is good. But I really would talk to Luke, see what he thinks," she said.

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