fandomhigh | Ethics, Thursday, September 1, 2016

"Hello, and welcome to this year's Ethics class," Anakin said, glowering from the front of the room. Don't you feel welcomed, kids? So welcomed.

"In this class, we will discuss a variety of topics concerning morality and ethics," Obi-Wan said. "Our goal is not to coerce you to give us the 'correct' answer, mind you. We are looking to help you establish your own moral code, and define its boundaries."

Anakin nodded. "And then learn to live with the consequences of the boundaries you've established. What might seem clear-cut in a classroom setting is seldom that easy to figure out in a real-world scenario. It's fine to say that you wouldn't steal anything, but when you're out of shampoo and your roommate's is right there--"

"--it may well seem tempting. Easy. And not a crime at all," Obi-Wan said. He cleared his throat. "We always like to start our first class with lies. Or rather, a lie and two truths."

Anakin smiled at Ahsoka. "And while we're aware that some of you have had specialized training in discernment, it's not always as easy to see the truth as we'd like." And Mr. "Secretly Married For Years" would know.

"I will go first," Obi-Wan said lightly. "I was once known as the Negotiator. I was born on an ocean planet in an underwater habitat. I once beat an enemy by surrendering."

Anakin smirked slightly at Obi-Wan. "I've saved Master Kenobi's life ten times," he said. "I drink my caf with sugar and blue milk, and I have four children."

Obi-Wan caught Anakin's eye as he was smirking and rolled his eyes. "And now it is your turn," he said, turning back to the class.

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Peridot considered for a moment, and then shrugged.

"I'm a technician and certified Kindergartner, I have enough status to have a Pearl under my command back on Homeworld, and I spent several months under the impression that all human appearance modifiers were called pants."

Thanks for that one, Dante.

"What do you mean by 'under your command'?" Ahsoka had a bad feeling about this.

"Well... You know, as a servant," Peridot explained, shrugging. "Homeworld runs on a sort of caste system, based on Gem type. Quartz are warriors, Peridots are technicians, Pearls are... pretty, mostly."

She still had a lot to learn. Sigh.

At least there were worse ways she could have phrased it?

"That... mightn't be the best example to use," Ahsoka said carefully, with a few subtle glances in Anakin's direction, because if she could draw that inference...

... This was gonna go well, wasn't it?

"But... why? It's what they're made for," Peridot replied, reasonably. "If they aren't doing that, there isn't exactly much point in making them at all. They aren't exactly good for anything else."

Except for betraying Homeworld, perhaps.

Peridot, no, you made it worse.

"People are more than what someone decided to make them for." Now in addition to her increasing concern about how euphemistically servant was being used, some of Ahsoka's actual unresolved issues with the troopers were in play.

That... actually gave Peridot a moment's pause. She might have dismissed the idea out of hand, but her conversations with Ender last semester had been... eye-opening in terrifying ways. She could begin to guess at what the issue was, for once.

"But... they aren't," she hedged. "Not on Homeworld. Straying from what we're made for is more than just frowned at."

In hindsight, maybe the Pearl hadn't been a good choice of lie.

More than Peridot knew, since Ahsoka couldn't (more importantly, wouldn't) exactly explain why it choosing it in Anakin's class was an even worse idea than in an Ethics class in general.

Though she could at least try the latter. "But you can see how claiming to be in a position to control someone who doesn't have a choice, even if it's untrue, might be unwise?"

Peridot was silent for a few seconds, carefully piecing together her reply.

"After... some time spent around organic beings who put such a strong value on individual will and an ability to choose one's own path, I... might be able to comprehend how what I said could be recieved... poorly."

It wasn't quite the same thing as saying she was wrong. She still had a long way to go before that. But she was making an attempt to meet somewhere in the middle.

Still not great, no. But progress, for Peridot.

Ahsoka wasn't ashamed to admit that right that moment she was more concerned with heading off potential in-class explosions than convincing Peridot of the rightness or wrongness of her views, one could take time, the other not so much.

She let out a slow, relieved breath. "That's all I wanted you to think about."

Seriously, Ahsoka was pretty much a hero, here. Because Peridot would have merrily barreled onward into deep trouble without the intervention, without even considering that she might be in the wrong.

As it stood, she was pursing her lips and furrowing her brow in thought, but she nodded all the same.

"Then... I will. That isn't a misstep I want to make again."

At least, not this far away from Homeworld.

Anakin sent her a little nudge of gratitude through the Force.

Ahsoka nudged him back the same way. She remembered Kiros and Zygerria, and the handful of times she'd been more worried about him... well, they'd involved believing he or Obi-Wan were dead.

Anakin was looking decidedly twitchy as he shamelessly eavesdropped, yeah.

Sorry, Anakin, Peridot~~'s mun hadn't been thinking~~ still had a lot to learn about what was and wasn't appropriate in non-Gem societies.

When she noticed the twitchiness, she at least had the good grace to look somewhat chagrined about it.

"As Master Kenobi said, we are trying to inflict our own morality onto your individual universes," Anakin said tightly, "but phrasing that sounds like slavery can be...judged harshly."

Look at him growing as a person! Sort of!

Peridot looked somewhat awkward at that, if... still a little itchy about the whole conversation.

"Gem society works completely differently from the way things are around here," she said, after a moment to really chew on her own words. "Except for the Diamonds, we could all be thought of as the possessions of some other Gem in a station above us. I'm still... still trying to understand what that means, to other species."

She made a little fidget with her weird little floating fingers. It had never occurred to her that it might be wrong. Just that it was the way it was.

"I still don't completely comprehend what's wrong about it," she admitted. "But I want to learn."

"I hold office hours on Tuesdays ~~when his mun remembers~~," Anakin offered. "This might be a discussion better held there."

Peridot nodded her agreement.

"Perhaps so," she allowed. "It wasn't my intention to upset anybody here. But if you're offering to explain what about my words was abrasive, I want to know."

Peridot was problematic in new and exciting ways. But nobody could ever accuse her of not wanting to understand and learn.

"Kindergarten?" Obi-Wan said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "That is an educational facility for younglings, isn't it?"

"What? No!" Peridot looked positively scandalized. "Gems don't have children the way organic species do. Kindergartens are where we're made."

Ethics, Thursday, September 1, 2016

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