saddeserthermit: (obi-wan: with anakin neutral)
saddeserthermit ([personal profile] saddeserthermit) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2015-01-20 12:07 pm
Entry tags:

Ethics, Tuesday

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."
princessarcasm: (aw yeah)

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[personal profile] princessarcasm 2015-01-21 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
"Amy, and I was thinking the same thing," she replied, grinning. "Unless you think the teachers' lie-detecting magic will probably set off alarms or something."

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[identity profile] nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com 2015-01-21 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
"If they do, then we'll offer ourselves as a case study in the downsides of lying," Eleanor suggested. "We lied, we were found out, and we bare the shame of it. As such, we'll never do it again. Thus enforcing their lesson for the day."

Eleanor, that was not even remotely the point.
princessarcasm: (staring)

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[personal profile] princessarcasm 2015-01-21 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm in," Amy agreed. It didn't sound very plausible, but on the other hand, these guys wore robes and did magic, so she wasn't sure she needed to bend over backwards trying to be a model student here. "You wanna go first? What was your inspirational story of coming clean?"

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[identity profile] nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com 2015-01-21 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
Eleanor was really hoping they didn't get caught. But even being yelled at by the two teachers seemed preferable to talking openly about any of her secrets.

"I lied to my boyfriend about being half-dolphin," Eleanor decided. "I feared he would reject me if I told him the truth. As we were kissing, he ran his hand over my gills -- no, dolphins don't have gills. Blowhole?"

Eleanor made a face. "That sounds ... far more vulgar than I intended this story to be."
princessarcasm: (random fact)

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[personal profile] princessarcasm 2015-01-21 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
Amy did her best not to laugh and get the teachers' attention, and instead nodded somberly. "Yeah, that sounds like a tough one," she said. "But I bet the newfound honesty just brought you two closer together, right? You really are an inspiration."
Edited 2015-01-21 03:41 (UTC)

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[identity profile] nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com 2015-01-21 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
"He was angry at first, because of the lying," Eleanor said, trying to seem somber. "But he understood my fears, and forgave me. The power of love, I would imagine, which is compelling and mighty to behold. Now he calls me meta for Flipper as a pet name."

If Joker ever tried that, she would slap him. Which might actually kill him, so, bad idea.

"And how about yourself?" she said. "Confess to me your misadventures with dishonesty. I am sure you have an equally scintillating tale."
princessarcasm: (Default)

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[personal profile] princessarcasm 2015-01-21 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
"I do, actually," Amy said with a vigorous nod. "I pretended to be a guy in my online gaming profile so the other players would respect me. The guilt got to me, though. That and I wanted the guys to stop calling each other sexist slurs. Some might call me a feminist hero," she concluded.

No, Amy wasn't a gamer. But she had seen a documentary about this very subject, so she was stealing the story for herself.

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[identity profile] nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com 2015-01-21 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
"I would," Eleanor decided. "You twisted those boys' preconceptions about girls and their abilities to play online games. Did your new friends see the errors of their ways, once you informed them of your true gender?"
princessarcasm: (guessing)

Re: Pair Up and Discuss

[personal profile] princessarcasm 2015-01-21 05:37 am (UTC)(link)
"There was a mourning period when they had to weep over the erosion of their prejudiced opinions," Amy said matter-of-factly, "but eventually they realized I was right. One of them said he never realized female thumbs had that kind of agility, and now he's considering joining a co-ed basketball team."

She was getting better at this lying thing. Though it helped that she had admitted right off the bat that it would be a lie. There was less pressure to keep up the ruse.
Edited 2015-01-21 05:39 (UTC)