Fun At Parties (Action, OTA)

[profrollo]

[Another New Year's party, another festivity Frollo's forced to attend. Despite his best efforts, the other faculty liked to include him in their reindeer games. Whether this came from goodwill or morbid curiosity about what the grouch would produce was hard to determine. The latest participant, one Ms. Merriweather, was aglow with end-of-the-year cheer.]

"Mr. Frollo! Fancy seeing you here! Have you heard about the season finale of Mad Men? It sounds like just your kind of thing; very moral, you know. Very critical."

"I'm not familiar..."

[That was not an invitation; nonetheless, she gushed and brought him up to speed.]

"So you see, it's a fascinating period piece about, you know, what things were like back then. What do you say?"

"I say it's not nearly so moral as myopic; merely a devilish distraction."

[Though truly he wished he'd, if not she'd, said nothing at all. Judging by her bewildered look, he figured he'd have to elucidate. Like one of his lectures. Well, if she insists.]

"From what you've said, it seems this televised drama belongs to the genre of 'Now We Know Better'. The characters will indulge, without irony, something shocking to modern sensibilities. The moderns will then indulge a chuckle or a cluck, per their wont, and congratulate themselves on having the good fortune of being born decades afterwards. Such morality is pandering and cheap. Why the sins of the past were, and whether they were truly wicked or merely unfashionable, is not thought of. Indeed, such entertainment is a loss to real virtue, deadening the present to its own vices in favor of jeering the dead's. I confess, I see precious little morality in that."

[Merriweather's shock increased. Goodwill lingering, she floundered for a way to continue the conversation.]

"Oh, well, I see. Um...what vices don't get much attention nowadays?"

[His eyes lightly gave her a once over, noting that she was slightly overweight.]

"Gluttony, perhaps."

[Her face reddened.]

"O-oh, well, my friend is over there, and we really need catching up. Ah, Happy New Years!"

"Likewise."

[Frollo was blessed with a severe baritone and a preacherly knack for sermonizing, so his lecture and the fallout drew more attention than just his poor interlocutor. Good; that'll teach them to share their inane recreations. And Frollo's nothing if not an excellent teacher.]

Comments

[femalepresenting]

Porrim is never one to shy away from a good moral debate. She floats into the professor's proximity, replacing the erstwhile girl. She was unfamiliar with the original topic - Mad Men - but she had some other interesting queries to bring to the discourse.

"Are you not a believer in objective morality, professor? Certainly some things transcend time period and are unforgivable absolutely."

[profrollo]

Another whose presence at these damned gatherings remains unexplained. He eyed her warily, but supposed his duty to educate extended beyond strict hours. Mostly.

"There is, to my knowledge, only one sin that will not be forgiven, one which I believe is beyond the ken of such media to portray, let alone understand."

Not that he's happy about the nigh-limitless forgiveness of the creed. He'd much rather think about damnation; now that's entertaining.

[femalepresenting]

"You have a flair for dramatic buildup, Professor," Porrim commented.

"Will we be enlightened as to the exact nature of this singular mortal sin, or is asking this question undermining the timing of the reveal?"

It was hard to tell if Porrim was being wryly sarcastic or sincerely curious. Perhaps it was a mix of the two. Porrim herself certainly didn't know.

[profrollo]

For his part, Frollo was simply wry.

"'We' will not. Forgive me; some evils require a comprehension of the good. You, happily, don't have the capacity, and thus don't need the elaboration."

Pearls before swine, in so many words. Rather than dwell on borderline snobbishness too long, he'll repair to the cultural critique.

"Regardless, I doubt one will find much success seeking the transcendental in sensational television."

[femalepresenting]

Frollo's blatant insult of Porrim's ignorance earns him a frown but is otherwise taken in stride.

"Have you met anyone in your life worthy to hear your unfiltered thoughts, Professor? Or has the only one that has gained the honor live in your reflection?"

[profrollo]

"Worthiness? Dear girl, it's only wisdom that seals my tongue." Largely of the CYA variety. He learned long ago in his diocese what kind of trouble unfiltered thoughts earned, to say nothing of how even the speech-loving AU might reconsider his tenure should he prove too feisty.

"As a professor, it falls to me to decide what is profitable to know and what isn't. The virtue of discernment must guard against the vice of vanity."

He took a sip of his drink, the glass concealing a sardonic smile. How he enjoys teasing.

"It may surprise you to learn that curiosity is a sin."

[femalepresenting]

"Ah, you have a particular fascination with profit, don't you professor? Or is it prophets that you're more concerned with?"

Wordsmith.

"I admit that I've been called sinful for a large number of things, but this would be the first time curiosity qualified me for it. Did it kill Jesus Christ on top of the cat?"

Apparently satisfaction took exactly three days to bring it back.

[profrollo]

"Not as such; most so called are cranks, though some of the later literature is colorful." Frollo counts it a mild misfortune he won't be around to see Revelations unfold.

"You don't say," he utters in droll deadpan. Her, a sinner? Quelle surprise.

He grimaces at the witticism. "No, that would be the Jews and the Romans, per Pilate. If you make light of holy things again, this conversation will die much sooner." Casual mention of deicide isn't his preferred topic. Sins always are.

"But I see the concept confuses you. Perhaps defining it as an inordinate desire for useless or profane knowledge will help." Not a sin he went without, given his more occult studies. Wasn't a former priest for nothing. He steepled his hands.

"Hence my silence. I advise you study the sacred before its contrary; perhaps through one of my classes. Though, given your flippancy, I wonder whether you've much interest."

[femalepresenting]

She was a sucker for punishment.

The professor seemed to take things very seriously for how many very outlandish things he said and with the even more outlandish way he went about saying them.

"I would admit to being curious, but would that disqualify me from your class?"

[profrollo]

"My charity's extended to worse." The long-suffering look betrays years of futilely trying to instill knowledge in the ignorant. The faith has a tradition of noble sufferers.

"Sloth, however, will. Count the cost, Ms. Porrim. To teach, my classes spare no effort. You'll do the same, if you wish to survive them."

How does he know her name? The student body is just one more thing for him to learn.

[femalepresenting]

It doesn't horribly surprise her to know he knows her name. She's the kind of meddling, pestering sort that gets noticed.

Anyway, he's pretty much straight up challenging her to do something, which makes the outcome unambiguously clear.

"I would never ask you to spare anything, Professor," she replied. "Sparing things isn't what the bible teaches, after all."

[profrollo]

At least none can say he didn't warn her. Frollo's classes are notorious for being as severe as himself. If she accepts, she'll certainly have a lot of room. Given her choice of major, it'd likely be an elective, something no sane person would take with their GPA at stake.

Frollo looks pleased. Not out of any disinterested joy of teaching, of course, but of the prospect of making a student's life almost as hellish as the fate he's so certain will come to them. Indeed, description of hell and how very, very deserving it is for its tenants will feature prominently.

"Your knowledge of that book is wanting. Let's see if we can't remedy that." Loath as he is to admit, deity spares a great deal, despite Frollo wishing He wouldn't.

"As you wish. I recommend you familiarize yourself with Aquinas or some of the decretals. We'll be covering much of the Summa, and it'd be dreadful if the subject was all strange."

Resolutely, he sits back is chair.

"That will be all for now. Good evening, Ms. Porrim. I'll be looking forward to your presence there." In the worst way.