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Applied Inventiontronics, Period 4 - Week 2

As students walk into class, they'd see Glitch standing behind his desk with notes in hand. They were mostly in his hands because the desk had a pile of Papay fruit on it next to the sign in sheet, free for the taking.

"Hello!" He seemed a lot less visibly nervous this time, which was probably a good thing. "Today's lesson is about power sources for inventions. A big part of even thinking up what you'll invent is deciding on how to make it go, and, well, there are a lot of options here."

Glitch looked down at his notes, then back at the class.

"One of my favorites to start with is wind-ups and clockwork. You turn the key or lever on the outside, and it winds a thin piece of metal, storing energy. When it un-winds, it turns gears that turn other gears that make a part of it move. There's also things that are powered by steam and heat, with turbine or piston engines, but they're a lot more difficult. And bigger, too. Using the force from water or wind to turn the gears can work on something big or small."

Another glance at his notes.

"Uhm, let's see... Electricity is a good one, so long as you take care to wire everything properly. Grounding yourself when you test it is a good idea, too." There might have been a slight shudder then, at the memory of some very unwelcome electric shock. "You can also use chemical reactions to power something, like that little drinking bird shaped doohickey. Wouldn't recommend that one unless you're already familiar with them. Chemicals, I mean." The clarification threw him off for a moment. Where was he? Oh, yes. "The last one I'll mention is magic. If there's a safe way you can find a way to make your invention work with that, then you're free to do so."

It took a few moments of shuffling the papers before Glitch got to the one he needed.

"Now, I know that a lot of people here come from different worlds, so today I'd like you to do two things. First, if there's a power source from where you come from that wasn't mentioned, share a little about it with the rest of the class and answer each other's questions about them. Second, make note of which ones you think you'd like to use in your invention. If you don't have an idea for that yet, then just take note of the ones that interest you."

He sat down at his Papay fruit covered desk and waited for the discussion to begin.

[ooc: ~~Wait for the~~ OCD is up, as usual!]

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Andrew glanced around again, pulled out his paper from last class that he had covered with random stick figures all wearing various types of jet packs, and passed it to him.

"I think it would be cool to fly," he said.

"Ooooh," A.J. enthused as he took the notebook for a better look. He really liked Andrew's stick figures. He was very appreciative of stick figures. "Pretty cool. Pretty freakin' ambitious, too," he added, handing the paper back, "I gotta admit. Very, very cool, though."

And a lot more than what he had, that was for sure.

"That's about all I have, though," Andrew stated, frowning at the page. "I'm pretty useless after the conceptualization phase."

He looked at A.J., a little hopeful, and asked, "Know anything about aeronautics?"

"Oh, yeah," A.J. deadpanned with a wry grin. "Study it all the time. I'm an expert." Dropping it, he tilted his head at Andrew. "Come on. Do I look like I know anything about aeronautics?"

"Well, you know, you were in charge of the set and tech crews for the play. How am I supposed to know what kind of awesome knowledge you've got floating about that head of yours," Andrew said with a grin.

"...True," A.J. allowed with attempt at a modest tilt of his head that wasn't at all modest with that grin on his face. "But, unfortunately, my fine knowledge of engines and the like are restricted exclusively to things that stay on the ground."

And then a thought hit him. "You could talk to River, or something, though, maybe. She's got that spaceship she maintains."

"Do you think it's okay if we get help from students outside of class?" Andrew asked, brightening at the prospect.

"Oh, I know it is," A.J.'s head bobbed in reassurance. "In fact, Professor Glitch, I think, really encourages it. Or, at least, that's what he was telling me last week, when I was having trouble brainstorming."

Not that it did him any good, of course. Yet. He'd find the right inspiration eventually, though, he was sure of it.

Mostly.

Andrew nodded, though he still felt kind of anxious about the whole thing. "Maybe it's a bad idea, though. You think? I mean, it has potential to, um, explode."

He scratched his head. "And I would probably fail if that happened."

"I think if you bear the brunt of an explosion," A.J. reasoned in a mutter, "you should at least get an A for effort. Seriously. It definitely is on the dangerous side of things, I gotta admit, but how cool would it be if you actually pulled it off? Seriously."

"It would be seriously cool," Andrew admitted. "And I'm sure someone has the technical expertise to help me out."

He smiled at A.J. and said, "If you want to help, you can. We can work in a group, right? But, I mean, if you're doing your own thing, that's totally cool, too."

Turning a little red in the face, A.J. bit his lip and admitted, muttering, "I still have no idea what I'm going to do. At all. Complete blank. I'm pretty sure we've each got to have our own thing, but I don't see why helping each other would be a problem. If anything, maybe helping you out will help me finally think of what I'm going to do..."

"Of course," he added, grinning, "that means you'll have to help me with mine if I ever think of anything."

"Inspiration will strike," Andrew said in what he hoped was a reassuring way. "You are like the wickedly creative type, after all."

His grin widened. "I would love your help. And of course, anything you need from me in return -- I'm so there."

"Awesome," A.J. said with a light, nervous sort of chuckle over Andrew's comment. He was supposed to be the wickedly creative type. So then why the hell couldn't he think of anything? "We got ourselves a partnership."

Andrew mocked spitting in his palm and held it out towards his partner. "I didn't really spit," he added, just in case.

If the expression with eyebrows raised toward the ceiling was any indication, it was a good thing that Andrew mentioned it. Taking the other boy's hand in a slightly high-five type handshake, A.J. just laughed, turning red for actually thinking for a moment that he had actually spit. "Oh, man," he said. "Do people really do that?"

Andrew grimaced slightly. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking partner, like howdy partner, like in the westerns, and it's something you see in westerns, and so I spit. Well, mock spit."

Andrew shrugged. "So, no. People don't really do that."

"I guess I need to watch more Westerns," A.J. admitted with another chuckle. Although, now that he thought about it, it vaguely seemed like something Mark might do. But he had a feeling that, for Mark, it would have nothing to do with Westerns at all.

"So do you want to get together sometime and, I don't know, brainstorm or something?" Andrew asked.

"Would make sense, wouldn't it?" A.J. grinned. "When're you available? I got work Wednesday, but other than that, I'm pretty open...."

He paused for a second, looking thoughtful and desperately searching his memory to make sure he didn't accidentally forget another appointment with Ino. Because he didn't exactly feel like dying this week.

"...Nope. Open. And even Wednesday, it's not like the diner stays very busy, so you could probably come in then, too, and we could work."

"I work Wednesdays at the Magic Box," Andrew said thoughtfully. "But I could probably sneak out for a bit around lunch time. Do you think that would work?"

He didn't think Mr. Giles would mind.

"Makes sense, meeting at the diner for lunch. I can totally hook us up with food that way."

Yitzhak probably would mind, but Yitzhak probably wouldn't notice, either.

"Great! I'll totally be there." Andrew felt a flood of relief knowing he wouldn't be doing all this by himself.

[ooc: And I flee for a few hours!]

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Applied Inventiontronics, Period 4 - Week 2

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