smash_logs | The man who tried to blow up the universe will teach you about JUSTICE

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The man who tried to blow up the universe will teach you about JUSTICE

Who: Cyrus, Jupiter, anyone who still takes this goddamn class
What: Another ethics class--this one a bit more on-topic than the last
Where: Regular place
When: Monday, 1 pm
Warnings: Jupiter can and will threadjack at any given time. That's her job. Be nice to the teacher's aide...or else.

Promptly at the hour, Cyrus closed the door. There wasn't any cause to guard the room, as anyone who misbehaved would face his officer. She was sitting on his desk, legs crossed at the knees, looking out over the room.

He took in the sight of his students as they stared at her, at their desks, out the window...Yet he would command their attention soon enough.

"Class, this is Jupiter. She will assist me in my duties as your teacher. That said, today we will discuss more...practical ethics. Perhaps the previous lesson was beyond your scope..."

He walked to the front center of the room and cleared his throat before starting. "We are from varied places, some from other worlds entirely...Yet one thing we all have in common is that we are, wherever we go, bound by the law of the land. Laws are as disparate as those who occupy those lands. In some you may tithe to the king or religious leader. In another you may be required to serve in the military. In another you may have your reading material censored before it reaches you... They will claim that all laws are in the best interests of the people. However, clearly, this cannot be true in all cases."

There, Cyrus started to pace as usual. "How do we determine what is a just law? Is it action? Intent? The end result? If the king demands money to build infrastructure, it is clearly not the same as if he demands it for himself."

His head tilted, eyes unfixing as he spoke. "There are situations where even the most justifiable law must be broken. The traditional example presents a starving child who steals a loaf of bread. Setting aside for the moment the social troubles that must plague that area for that scenario to occur, ought the child be punished for theft when it was an act of survival? Ought the merchant surrender the loaf knowing that it will lessen her profit and cut into her own survival?"

He had to clear his throat again; his voice was beginning to rasp. While he was technically well, there were lingering details of his illness. "There are...risks involved in opposing unjust law. Any who protect their greed do so irrationally, and are often violent in doing so. And yet those injustices cannot be permitted to exist. They, simply, must be opposed. But is there too great a cost in the act of opposition? Where do we draw the line? What must inspire us to be willing to lay down our lives for the greater good?"

Glancing to Jupiter for a moment, but not long enough to catch her expression, he finished with "And of course, the overarching question of what must be done to establish true justice in the world...but that is for another time. For now, in order to see the big picture, we must consider what stands between us."

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He didn't react at first, standing still with the same expression he bore when he asked in the first place. Finally he exhaled, long and low, and muttered "yes, you would believe that..."

After a moment, that stony expression changed. His eyes tightened and he leaned forward over the desk. "You have been away from the world. Those of us who live in society know the importance of these issues, or we ought if we have been paying attention. You will learn full well, if not from me then from merely your stay here. And then you will return to me with an answer."

Well, he'd wanted an interesting response, and this certainly was interesting. Uxie appeared wholly unintimidated, turning his sleepy face up to the man leaning over his perch. It may have been hard to say that a being whose eyes were always shut could be studying something, but without a doubt, Uxie was studying Cyrus closely.

"You're used to people doing as you say, aren't you...? Ah, teaching here must be so terribly frustrating for you. I hate to discourage you, but I'm afraid I won't be doing any such thing; you have no authority to order me to do such bothersome tasks." And with that, he stretched, curling up on the desk as if for a catnap.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, but... you should be more respectful toward your coworkers, Cyrus."

A muscle in Cyrus's face, by his eye, twitched. "Yet in this room, you are a student. You are my student. And I will treat you as any other. That means that refusal to attend to the lesson will be punished."

Perhaps not the most logical thing to say to a being who could wipe out his memories with a glance, but he wasn't going to give this thing special treatment.

Goodness... these were Cyrus' methods? No wonder he'd chosen to extract that chain so violently. How funny to think that a man who claimed conquering emotions was the key to avoiding unnecessary conflict was so easily provoked into dropping threats. All for such a trivial situation, too... clearly, this was the sort of man who had a "do as I say, not as I do" approach.

"Aa, Cyrus, you're being awful scary," Uxie replied, lifting his head once more. "No wonder the students put up so much resistance... you're trying to punish them for disagreeing with you. You overstep your bounds: you have no authority to decide who is or isn't a student here, and I believe you'll find the headmasters would agree with me. I'm not a disagreeable creature; I'm willing to overlook this conversation, but please... try not to patronize your equal like this."

Equal... an awfully generous term, in Uxie's opinion. If Uxie were the type to let his pride get the best of him, it would be terribly tempting to simply obliterate that high-and-mighty attitude. Along with everything else, of course.

"I punish no one for disagreement, as long as they are able to back up their words. You, however, are not paying attention. Surely the Being of Knowledge would know the importance of keeping the mind on its studies."

Truthfully, he had no idea that Uxie was a fellow teacher. He had assumed that because Mesprit was a student, Uxie was as well, and internally winced at making such a basic mistake.

And Cyrus was perfectly mistaken there, too; it was very rare for Uxie to choose not to pay attention. And he had been thoughtful enough to provide a justified response -- he was not part of society, and thus had neither right nor reason to try and influence society's laws.

To be fair, though, Uxie had little interest in the lecture itself. He wasn't here to learn about ethics. What piqued his curiosity was the man delivering the lecture, and how he chose to make his point. Certainly, he'd learned something from Cyrus, even if it wasn't exactly the intended message. It would only be polite, then, to thank him for that knowledge, wouldn't it?

"Ah... Cyrus... I believe I see what you're doing." Uxie dropped his head, settling back into his comfortable curled-up position with a sigh. "You're trying to provide your students with a real-world scenario, aren't you? By threatening to punish me despite it being outside your authority, you were showing the class an example of power being abused. Had I not opposed that, I would have been made to suffer unjustly. Isn't that right...?"

Frankly, Uxie doubted that had actually been what Cyrus had in mind. But it did make him look a little less foolish for trying to punish a teacher, at least. "Goodness... it's so wonderful that you're working this hard to show how relevant your teachings are to everyday life."

It was nothing of the sort, Cyrus growled internally. All who partook of his lessons were his students, regardless of their positions elsewhere in the school. Being that Uxie was in his classroom, he believed it to be well within his authority, and well-deserved to boot. But he wasn't about to push farther, and calmed himself with thoughts of his impending divinity.

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Tell me, what is it that you teach?"

Impending divinity and ripping the essence from Uxie once again, that is.

"Advanced Psychology. I'm afraid my classes won't begin until the new term has started, unfortunately." No use trying to hide it; it wasn't as though it would be that hard to find. Class lists were easily obtained. "Ah... do you perhaps have an interest in the subject?"

"A minor interest," Cyrus admitted. There was no use in hiding that either. "I would think that you would find the subject of ethics fascinating, especially considering that you claim not to have had much contact with the outside world. You yet possess experience enough to speak on the subject of psychology?"

No. No he doesn't. He can read all the textbooks he wants but he doesn't have experience with people so he should leave the teaching to me.

...But it would be in very bad form to voice her thoughts, so Blacky kept quiet in her little lurker's corner.

Just be glad Uxie can't read your mind, Blacky.

"I possess as much experience with matters of the mind as you do with ethics, Cyrus," Uxie replied. Whether Uxie was claiming that he did in fact have sufficient firsthand knowledge, or admitting he had none and simply adding in a subtle dig at Team Galactic's terrorism and Pokemon abuse... he left that up to interpretation.

Cyrus glared at the being for a moment before his expression cleared. It was mocking him. He did what was right, what had to be done, and this thing had the nerve to imply he was unethical.

"And how much is that?" he asked casually.

If there was one thing Uxie had little tolerance for, it was people who asked pointless questions. There was no need to dignify that with a reply; Cyrus was sharp enough to know when he was being insulted without Uxie pointing it out for him.

Uxie simply fixed Cyrus with a sardonic smile, as if to say "you already know the answer to that," then lowered his head once more with a sleepy yawn.

Deplorable. He turned heel and stormed off, unwilling to involve Jupiter in this debacle. This was personal.

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The man who tried to blow up the universe will teach you about JUSTICE

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