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#1001380 Wed 14/10/20 01:05 UTC
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The classroom was a somewhat large room that quite possible had at one point been for displaying art or some sort of gallery, however now one wall had been replaced with a full sized monitor and a number of comfortable chairs which had a built in docking station for their pads, which they had been told to take with them. For this class, all of the new arrivals were together. Standing near the front of the room, waiting calmly with her hands folded in front of her, was Grey.

They had been told to arrive at 9:30.

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Ben

Freshly showered from his early morning run and meal, Ben stepped into the room at about 9:20, pad in had and nodded to Grey as he found a comfortable seat and relaxed, cracking open the water bottle to rehydrate and wait for the others.

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Cadence

Cadence walked with the group of 'new arrival' girls. While Three wasn't a large number, there was still strength in numbers... as if that actually meant anything to Cadence. Anonymity was what she sought in numbers. She was unlikely to find that either, but it wouldn't be for the lack of trying. She found a seat in the middle of the room, trying not to make any statements. School was school, right?

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Ben

He looked up as the girls entered, nodding to them as they found seats. Ben gave Cadence a smile.

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Lamar

Lamar sauntered in, looking for a desk with a good view, taking a moment to see where everyone was sitting. This was something of a new experience, but the context seemed to be clear enough. The insouciant shapeshifter appeared to be taking his education very seriously, though if that was a default state or a consequence of having been out of the mainstream was another matter.

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Grey:

She looked up at the ones arriving early.

"Good morning."

She smiles slightly.

"Just to inform you, your registrations were processed and went through without further issue. Ben, I have some information for you when class is over."

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Peri

She walked in with Cadence, and sat near the back of the room, trying very hard to disappear into her chair.

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Anne

She accompanied the other girls and took a seat in the middle of the block of chairs. She made sure she was far enough away to avoid accidental touching. She didn't worry about being close to the screen, close to a window, or close to an exit. None of that mattered at the moment.

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Cadence

Inwardly, she was relieved to hear that her registration was accepted. As much as she still felt unconvinced she truly deserved this chance, she didn't want it to be taken away from her at this point either. But she was still determined to do everything she could not to touch the power again either.

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Ben

He nodded to Ms. Grey at her information and sat back in his seat to listen to her lecture or whatever method she was going to use to teach them. He suspected the information had to do with his request about the family employees and looked forward to it. He wanted to make sure that they were taken care of and could move on.

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Grey:

“Good morning. I’m not going to try to pretend this is ‘normal’ class. Obviously I’m not normal, you aren’t normal, and none of this is normal. But what I do want to do here is get a baseline on your views. On how you think things work, and how you think they should work. So my basic first question is this: what do you believe the ethical responsibilities of a powered individual are, and do they differ in any way from those of unpowered individuals?”

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Anne

She wasn't going to be the first one to offer any kind of commentary. Not because he mother was a complete and utter nutter, but mostly because she didn't want to be that one kid. Besides she had never really been in school, and so she was only guessing at the protocols involved. She waited and listend and hoped she wouldn't get called on. She glanced down quickly to make sure she was wearing clothes.

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Ben

"In what regard do you mean? Inwhat we should do or what we shouldn't do?" he asked.

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Cadence

Cadence felt she was the least qualified to offer an opinion on ethics, one way or the other. Despite her heartfelt opinions, she had taken an action, a no win scenario action in her opinion, and people died. She didn't know how many or who, or how they came to be the hostages of her biological mother, Alchemy.

She sat there, within the heart of an awkward quiet... until the one boy, who named himself as Ben at the previous meeting, asked questions o clarify. yeah, she couldn't have done even that in her situation. Instead she kept her eyes on grey and tried to keep a neutral expression.

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Lamar

Looking around and seeing largely silent or questioning faces, Lamar shrugged and contributed,

"In terms of the foundation to both, I'm inclined to the golden rule and the wiccan rede. 'Treat others as you would seek to be treated by them', and 'so long as it doesn't harm others, do as you will'. There's a lot to build on that, but that seems reasonably fundamental for a starting point."

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Grey:

“Let me expand, Ben. Everyone is capable of effecting the world around them to some degree. Capable of influencing others, and bending at least some of them to your views. Some people, however, have an enhanced capacity. They can influence events and people at a level other people are simply not easily capable of. Does having that enhanced ability carry with it additional responsibilities above and beyond those of people who do not have those capacities?”

She looks at Lamar.

“We are capable of doing unto others on a level that many of them are completely incapable of doing unto us. Were I to wish it, I would be capable of going through life with adoring and for all intents and purposes willing servitors. I am sure you can likewise think of ways, indeed have even seen ways, abilities like yours could be used in a power play over others. That goes for the rest of you as well. What implications does having that ability have on how we should restrict and police it’s use? When you have means as potent as those you - we - possess, it is quite easy to fall into justifying your means by your intended ends.””

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Ben

"Well, that is a good question. Lets look at it from the viewpoint of taking powers out of the equation. Take two people opposed to each other on getting a law passed or stopped. Lets say one of them is an innate speaker with charisma and personality that makes people like or admire him. The other person, with an equal passion for their position, just doesn't have that ability. Is kind of cranky and abrasive. Does the personable man have an obligation not to use his charm or smooth talking to get the law passed the way he wants? No, and no one would ever suggest that he does. And no one would pass a law forcing him to use his powers of persuasion to pass laws that were not in his interest. He has free will and as long as he doesn't break the law then it is just too bad for the cranky man that the law is passed against his position."

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Lamar

“The abilities or incapabilities of others don’t factor into the equation of the golden rule. We treat others well, because we would wish to be treated well. If I have a bazooka and someone else has a popgun, the defining part of our relationship should not be what we’re packing, but that neither of us should be willing to shoot the other at all, because neither of us would want to get shot ourselves. Likewise the rede, ‘so long as it doesn’t harm others’ being more important than the blanket permission. In your example, you would be harming those you made your thralls, and I would be harming the subjects of my powerplay.”

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Anne

She liked the sentiment that was being espoused. But in her experience it was do as you wish. She hadn't. Well, actually she had. She had opposed her mother, and acted against her. In the truest sense of do what you want, she had. The outcome of what she did resulted in death. Her goal had been to stop death. Did that make it ok?

The Hole existed because heroes didn't want to kill the villains. Was incaration better? She honestly didn't know.

When it came right down to it, she acted because she felt she needed to. Was she just a rebellious teenager?

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(Moving to another post, we can get in a round but making sure in this round Susan gets a shot)

Grey:

“Interesting theories. Live and let live. Power doesn’t matter. Respect others. Golden rule. Has that been your experience in life so far, or is it something you say to yourself because it sounds like it should be right?”

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Ben

"I never said power doesn't matter. Power, in one form or the other, is the grease that makes everything run. Political power, economic power, social power or our own unique brand of power. Some powers can be very beneficial for any number of people and for a lot more than running around in tights and punching people. Silly. My own gravity powers have countless applications that can be useful and profitable. Frankly it is only limited by the imagination of the person." he said, shrugging.

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Lamar

“There lies the corollary to the Golden rule, the flip side of the coin that comes up in daily life. How others treat you is how they should expect to be treated. Sometimes your conduct is of necessity on the other half of someone else’s equation.” Responded Lamar.

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Anne

"I think you are missing the point." She bursts out suddenly. "We have police forces in the mundane world, and prisons. We have The Hole in our world. We have already met some of the policing agents. I get how people should act, but the reality is, people speed on the freeway because they can. They don't when they get a ticket. Does it make it right to speed and take the additional risk? No, but people do it anyway. Ours is a system based on punishment not necessarily on what people should do.

"Philosophy is wonderful and necessary, but reality is an entirely different beast."

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Cadence

This was all very uncomfortable.

There was the back and forth and Grey did her stirring thing... Anne's statement seemed the closest thing to something Cadence could relate to, even if she was taking her ~cousin's~ words out of context.

Reality is an entirely different beast. Until you are faced with something real everything else was just pretend.

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Peri

She was silent, not having much to say at least at first. She wasn’t used to actively participating in classes.

Eventually she spoke up, though.

“The school I went to. My old elementary school. Five years ago its roof collapsed because of someone with powers. It’s still not fixed. The kids are still in temporary classrooms on the playground. But when someone with powers sent a meteor to crush part of the mayor’s mansion, repairs started the day after.”

She shrugged.

“If there was a earthquake that made the roof collapse, or which knocked down a wing of the mayor’s mansion, or if it just happened because of the building aging, the result would be the same. So who’s responsible? Nyx for rotting away the roof’s supports, or the city for not rebuilding the school?”

She picked at the skin by her fingernails.

“So the way I see it, power is power is power, if it’s money and influence, or technology, or weapons, or our kind of powers. It doesn’t matter. Just because we were born with it doesn’t mean we’re special or different.”

She had a brief panicked look flash across her face. She’d not meant to say anywhere near that much.

“Or something. I don’t know. Sorry.”

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