Applied Inventiontronics, Period 4 - Week 7

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

The desks were paired off again, each with a set of tools, and there was a crate full of completely modable spare parts.

Yes, kids, it is project time again, and Glitch was standing at the front of the class looking very delighted by the whole thing. Really, this was probably his favorite kind of class to teach.

"Alright, class," he said with a smile. "Today, you're going to build something out of nothing. Pick up some parts and start to put them together. Don't worry if you can't get it to work or don't have a set design for it. It doesn't even have to have a real function, if you can't find one, heh. The point of this is for you to get an idea of what it's like to start building something with these materials."

There may or may not have been a moment or two where he bounced ever so slightly, but those moments should be ignored.

"And don't forget that after next weeks break, you'll need to be ready to bring in your preliminary designs for your final projects."

Nothing like ending the lecture on something to strike fear into the hearts of his students, though that wasn't entirely intended.

[ooc: The OCD is a work in progress up!]

Comments

Spare Parts? (2/18)

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

Make something! Or, not...

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew wasn't paying much attention to the parts he was grabbing out of the crate. He was looking over towards Liir, trying to convince himself that Liir was just really busy and intent on his work and not avoiding him.

He also kept glancing up at the lights, wondering where that odd green tint around Liir was coming from.

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

His 'hiding' forgotten for a split second, he looked up to see who was watching him; perhaps the green gave you the magic to see just how many people were looking at you, let you feel it down to your bones. It felt that way, anyway.

But he looked up, eyes changed as well to a shining black that widened as he realized it was Andrew.

He almost startled himself out of his chair. Then proceeded to pronounce himself a dunce for calling attention to it. Finally, though, holding back the urge to raise a hand and keep quiet (just what he didn't need to do for once), he swallowed and let out a brief.

"Hi."

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew dumped all the parts he had collected back in the crate and walked over towards Liir.

That wasn't from the lighting. Andrew had a flash of anger. "Did Biff do that to you?" he asked, obviously upset. "Did he give you tea? I'm so going to the administration about this. It isn't right. You just can't go about painting students because you're bored."

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He shook his head almost like a shiver.

"Woke up like this," he said quietly.

"Sorry."

Andrew's proximity usually made his heart beat a little faster, but never in actual terror.

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

And just like that, he went from anger to extreme worry.

He squatted down in the floor next to Liir, reaching out to take his hand. "You woke up like this? Are you feeling okay? Does anything hurt?" There was a hint of panic in his voice.

All he could think about was the plague, how people had presented themselves with the obvious red patterned rash...

"How's your throat? Any coughing?"

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I'm not a leper," he said, schooling his tone to patience. It was so much easier to snap, so much easier to react with anger this way. And he was angry.

He breathed out, slowly.

"No, everything feels fine other than this... incredibly tasteless joke."

He realized only then that Andrew was touching him. Touching him when he looked like this and that seemed odd to him somehow, special. He ran his fingers along the palm of Andrew's hand but didn't remove his from the other boy's.

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka started by picking up a few circuit boards and a battery, and wiring them all together randomly. Partly because he had very little idea how electronics worked (and thus they were fun), and partly because there were limits to what one could do with clockwork (or so he thought, having never seen Ozian clockwork).

"What do you think?" he asked Liir, displaying his handiwork proudly.

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He looked at it for a moment before poking at the random wiring.

"How about something like this?" he offered, taking a pair of cogworks and setting them against one another.

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

"Awesome!" Sokka said, with a grin. He found a frame to house the cogs, and a motor to drive them, and connected it all up to his circuit board assembly. "Now we're starting to get somewhere!"

Exactly where, he had no idea.

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He looked at the mechanism.

"But what will it do? Perhaps a power cell? Like I put in for the--"

He tilted his head and looked at the connections on the circuit board.

"Why'd you hook them up like this?"

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Several answers went through Sokka's head -- "I dunno"; "It seemed like a good idea at the time"; "why, do you have a better way to do it?"

But what actually left his lips was "In order to modulate the dilithium phase inversion."

Thank you, Galaxy Quest, for increasing the power of bullshit.

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir looked sideways at him.

"There isn't any dilithium in this thing."

He might not know what he was doing, but he did know materials rather well. He'd done plenty of research on it.

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[by137.livejournal.com]

Closing his eyes with one hand, A.J. rifled through the crate until he decided on something and pulled it out. He lifted his hand, hovering it over his forehead as he took a peek, and then held out what looked an awful lot like a tailpipe for Jaina to see.

"Well," he stated, doubtfully, while peering in to see if he could have pulled out anything better. "I'm sure this is a great place to start..."

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[solo_sword]

"I think we can manage with it," said Jaina, though nothing was springing to mind. She leaned over to look into the crate to start sifting through the smaller parts that always got overlooked. "Let's see what we can connect to it. I think I've got a couple good little pieces here."

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[by137.livejournal.com]

"Anything," A.J. asked, tilting his head as Jaina shifted through it, "with like, a ring on it? Maybe something to slip over it if none of the connecting ideas work?"

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[solo_sword]

She held up a larger rubber washer. "That work?"

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[by137.livejournal.com]

"Heh," A.J. grinned. "I think it might. I was kind of hoping for something that maybe had something else sticking out of it, and we could also build from that." He paused, frowning, shaking his head. "I have no idea what I'm talking about, sorry."

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[solo_sword]

"You mean something we can build a joint or a hinge out of?" she checked.

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

Rodney began looking through the spare parts to see if he could find something with which to build a robot arm. He was just glad that Glitch wasn't requiring this to be a useful creation.

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[honoraryphd.livejournal.com]

"Is there anything in there that is similar to a hand?" Doom asked.

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

"Not exactly," Rodney shrugged. "But if all it has to do is high five, it won't exactly need an opposable thumb."

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[honoraryphd.livejournal.com]

"We need to weld a thumb onto it," Doom said. "It's just not as awesome without the thumb."

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

"Oh, how silly of me," Rodney deadpanned. "We wouldn't want anyone to be confused as to if it's supposed to be a hand or not." He held up a random piece of roughly thumb-sized cylindrical metal. "Will this do?"

Re: Spare Parts? (2/18)

[honoraryphd.livejournal.com]

"That should do just fine," Doom said as he found a longish bit of conduit that could be used as an arm.