Ethics, Tuesday

[saddeserthermit]

The vast majority of the glitter had long since left Obi-Wan's hair and clothes, but there were scraps still left in his beard and in the folds of his robes. Luckily, not enough that it went trailing everywhere as he stepped into the class... but there was still more of it fluttering to the ground than he felt was dignified to admit to. "Last week," he said, "you suffered the stuff of a teenager's nightmares: being unable to lie. It would be prudent to reflect on that, I feel."

Anakin made a barely perceptible grimace at that. He wasn't big on reflection in general, and on examining involuntary word vomit in particular. "Sometimes we're keeping things to ourselves for a reason," he offered. "It's like ripping off armor to share personal stories with people we might not have voluntarily chosen in other circumstances."

"But the consequences of telling such lies can also be grim," Obi-Wan said. Not that he was looking at anyone in particular here. Anakin. "It might not be the best course of action to default to."

Because "Soooooo, I kind of got married?" would have gone over so well back in the day, Obi-Wan. "Perhaps not," he said with a seemingly unconcerned shrug, "but it is an understandable one. We won't ask you to tell us your secrets unless you choose to reveal specifics."

Yes, because that marriage had turned out to be such a brilliant idea. And who knew what consequences could have been averted had Anakin at least-- well, never mind that. "Instead, we want you to find a partner to speak with," Obi-Wan said. "Share a lie you once told that you decided to give up, and what motivated you to do so. Then discuss whether your reasons to keep the lie were valid - and whether the consequences of giving it up were as grim as you suspected."

As opposed to letting it wait until you'd already turned to the dark side over some visions you didn't tell anyone besides a Sith Lord about.

Well, it wasn't like anyone else knew Palpatine had been a Sith Lord either. Anakin shot Obi-Wan a look, then added with the mix of frustration and resignation that came from a decade of living in someone else's pocket, "And if you were lying about how badly injured you were, know that was always a bad choice."

'Not knowing Palpatine was a Sith Lord' was fairly high up on the list of things Obi-Wan spent a great deal of time kicking himself about, as it transpired. "Never lie to a healer," he agreed. Was Anakin talking about lying to anyone else about that? Pffft, surely not.

Anakin shot the class a "You see? You see what I put up with?" look, then waved his hand. "Go ahead and pair up and talk about what you learned, even if it's 'I shouldn't do a radio broadcast without access to quality duct tape.'"

Obi-Wan furrowed his brow and reached up to pluck some glitter out of his beard. "A radio broadcast...?"

Lie, lie, lie, Anakin.

Yes, kids, watch your ETHICS TEACHER lie bald-faced and without the slightest remorse to his co-teacher. "Nothing important," he declared. "Not your concern."

Obi-Wan shot him a quizzical look. "If that is what you believe to be true," he said mildly. "Class, please proceed."

Comments

Pair Up and Discuss

[saddeserthermit]

"Share a lie you once told that you decided to give up, and what motivated you to do so. Then discuss whether your reasons to keep the lie were valid - and whether the consequences of giving it up were as grim as you suspected."

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[spin_kick_snap]

This was a tough assignment. Kathy was dreadful at lying and so did her best to keep to the truth more often than not. Which meant that the lies she did tell were usually kind of personal. You know, the kind she wasn't keen on sharing?

That, or entirely inconsequential, which seemed to go kind of contrary to what the lesson was supposed to be about.

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Of course Elsa made a beeline for one of the people in the room who already knew her big secret, today. That one that was nice and near to where she was sitting, so that anybody who didn't couldn't grab her along the way.

"Hi," she said, with a sort of shaky smile. "Would you like to partner up?"

For this really hard assignment? Please?

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[spin_kick_snap]

"Absolutely," Kathy said, trying not to look too relieved at getting a chance to partner with someone she knew. If she did end up talking about one of her few serious lies, at least it would be with a friend. "I was worried I might have to pull a 'look over there, a distraction!' on someone and run away."

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Elsa looked rather relieved, herself.

"I was more worried that I was going to have to try to bribe somebody to let me have their partner," Elsa admitted. "I'm afraid I don't have many big exciting lies to confess."

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[spin_kick_snap]

"Me neither," Kathy said with a shrug. "More like lies of omission, you know? I mean, I haven't told my family about what I can do or what this island is like and I don't really see myself coming clean about that, ohhh, anytime really."

It would have to be some kind of end of the world scenario for Kathy to confess being Banzai to her family or something.

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[nolizardhere]

Andros was not really looking forward to this assignment, as his lies were currently a protective shell around his vast well of grief and guilt. But his reluctance didn't make it any less the assignment, and he wasn't one to duck out just because something was tough, so he was looking around for someone to partner with.

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[not_a_moonie]

"Hi," Alana said, turning her chair to face Andros's. "Want to work together? I have basically no interesting lies."

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[thegreywaren.livejournal.com]

Ronan had a lot of secrets but didn't lie. So, this whole thing would be interesting if he managed to be social enough to not drive his partner away.

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[beautifulsenshi.livejournal.com]

Ronan, you were cute, so you were going to have a Minako come sit down next to you. "Does lying to my mother about my grades count? Because I only ever regret it when she catches me."

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[thegreywaren.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like a terrible lie," Ronan said, able to sound both bland and sarcastic all at once. "What happens when you get caught?"

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[beautifulsenshi.livejournal.com]

"Grounding," Minako said, looking like a sad puppy. "Taking away my video games and comics, no phone, no internet... kind of an over-reaction to a D, if you ask me."

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[wildandbrave]

Well, this would be . . . challenging. Not because she had some kind of network of lies to maintain (that would be her father, but she didn't know that either), but because she hadn't had to in so long that Cosette couldn't think of anything.

And sure, she could just say as much, but she didn't like the idea of not contributing anything in class!

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[pasunereveuse.livejournal.com]

"Are you coming up empty, too?" Celia asked, dropping into a seat near Cosette. "All my lies seem to be sins of omission, lately."

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[wildandbrave]

"Yes, I'm afraid I haven't lived an exciting enough life to make it necessary," Cosette said with a rueful smile. "Not since I was a little girl, and then only to avoid getting into trouble."

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[pasunereveuse.livejournal.com]

"Oh, really?" Celia asked, raising a brow. "Much the same for me, honestly -- when I was younger, there was a lot of lying to cover up what happens when a small, magical child doesn't have control over said magic. But that's not been necessary in a long time."

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[not-called-icky.livejournal.com]

Ichabod prided himself on not being a habitual liar. Of course there had been lies, and certainly lying by omission (not mentioning his fiancée to his girlfriend came to mind), but he wasn't sure what he would want to share.

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[notamascot]

"I pretty much don't lie," Kaylin said, sliding into a seat next to him. "But that's mostly because I'm terrible at it and everyone knows right away."

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[not-called-icky.livejournal.com]

"So what would you lie about if you could?" Ichabod asked, happy to concentrate on Kaylin's lies, or lack of them.

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[notamascot]

"Huh..." Kaylin let out a long breath. "I don't know. Maybe I'd come up with some good reason for why I was late for something. Mostly if I don't want someone to know something I just don't answer. What about you?"

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[princessarcasm]

Well, this was going to be joyful.

Amy was just going to be over in the corner. Looking shifty.

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

Eleanor noticed a blonde girl without a partner, and gave her a hesitant nod.

"Doesn't the question imply I've withdrawn some of my lies?" she asked. "Perhaps I'm still clinging to all of mine."

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[princessarcasm]

"Or I could be some kind of crazy superhero who never lies," Amy suggested. "There are probably some people out there who only tell the truth. Right?"

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

"Perhaps many people do, and we're both too cynical to realize what counts as reasonable," Eleanor said, offering a wry smile to the other girl. "Eleanor, by the way. I ought to make up a lie for this conversation. Or would that violate the very spirit of this exercise?"

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[thegc161kid.livejournal.com]

There really weren't too many lies that Alex had told before and there was really only one big one that only two people knew the truth. She tried not to think about that so much as she focused on how she was going to answer the class discussion.