The Senior Common Room is quiet, but at the far end stands a curious object: a tall mirror. Only part of anyone who approaches it appears. Heads appear without torsos, hands without arms, Blottisham’s spectacles float in midair.
Blottisham (staring, aghast):
This is… unacceptable. Mirrors are supposed to reflect the whole of reality!
Elowen (tilting her head, intrigued):
And yet… it only reflects slices. Observe how our perception must adapt.
Quillibrace (dryly):
Exactly. The cut has shifted. Reflection is now relational rather than representational.
Blottisham:
Relational? It is a mirror!
Elowen:
The mirror merely actualises a subset of potential. The cut — what is shown, what is hidden — creates awareness of both.
I. Partial Legibility
Blottisham (examining his floating spectacles):
I cannot tolerate partiality in optics!
Quillibrace:
Tolerance is optional. Observation is relational. One sees only what is cut by the system.
Elowen:
Even partial reflection produces insight: we notice what is absent as much as what is present.
Blottisham:
I notice… and I resent it.
Quillibrace:
Emotional response is part of the cut.
II. Emergent Perspective
Elowen:
As I move, different fragments appear. Each step shifts the relational pattern — a co-individuated dance between observer and object.
Blottisham (stepping back, hopping slightly):
This is dangerous! I might topple over!
Quillibrace:
And yet the system stabilises. Partial reflection does not collapse reality — it reveals dependencies and relational potentials.
Elowen:
Every fragment is a cut; every step is an actualisation. Even the mirror’s absence of totality teaches structure.
III. The Play of Observation
Quillibrace:
Notice also how Blottisham’s indignation amplifies perception. His frown, his gestures — all actualise further relational cuts in the space.
Blottisham (grumbling, muttering to himself):
I am being manipulated by a mirror… and by my own reactions…
Elowen:
And yet, awareness is emerging. Participation, reflection, and adaptation.
Quillibrace:
Precisely. The mirror teaches without dictating, revealing the interplay of attention, action, and emergent structure.
IV. Closure
(The faculty step back. Only parts of them remain visible in the mirror, yet laughter begins to bubble through the absurdity.)
Elowen:
Partial reflection is… enlightening. The cuts reveal as much as they conceal.
Blottisham (resigned, smiling faintly):
I still do not trust mirrors. But I… understand something.
Quillibrace:
Every system — reflective, vegetal, metallic — is structured potential. Attention, observation, and minor perturbation reveal the patterns.
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