Science Lab

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam was in her element--or, if one were speaking literally, a number of elements that made up the Earth's atmosphere and the pollution within the atmosphere--as she unpacked scientific equipment. Beakers, bunsen burners, lots of scratch and graph paper, and any other mostly moddable scientific equipment were being laid out, fresh from the packing material and ready to be washed and put away or used for experimentation purposes by students, faculty, or herself.

It occurred to her that she should have asked if anyone (like, for instance, her TAs) wanted to help as a lab assistant for the day, but the radio and anticipation of scientific discovery was company enough.

Ahhh, fire extinguishers. Better to be safe than sorry, she decided, as she set out seven of them of various types.

[ooc: Door is open, all scientists and friends of scientists or people who want to bug Sam are welcome! Will try to make this a weekly thing. Also, this is a *regular* high school science lab--whatever you'd find in your standard high school science lab should be here for experimentation purposes, but it's not for Danger Room Shop or explosives type activities, since there aren't any safeguards for that in this room. Yay for not doing science in dorm rooms?]

Comments

Talk to Sam

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Who is currently surrounded by lab equipment, packing peanuts, and newspaper strewn on the floor.

Re: Talk to Sam

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

After making a coffee run, Aly stood in the door of the science lab, shaking her head with amusement. "Why aren't I surprised to find you here?" she asked.

Re: Talk to Sam

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Because we've met?" Hopefully, that was still true, and this was still the Aly she remembered. "I'm sorry about Faithful."

Re: Talk to Sam

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

She nodded, offering Sam a cup of coffee. "Me too. But Faithful - he knew exactly what he was getting into. He wasn't even close to an ordinary cat."

Re: Talk to Sam

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Oooh, thanks," she said, taking the cup and a sip. "So this wasn't unexpected, then?"

Re: Talk to Sam

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"Alanna didn't expect it," Aly said quietly. "Faithful told me last time I saw him that he knew his time was coming up."

Re: Talk to Sam

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Poor Alanna. God, poor Faithful. "And your Dad? Did he know anything?"

Re: Talk to Sam

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

Aly raised an eyebrow, wondering if Sam really had heard what she was asking.

Re: Talk to Sam

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"He knew you were his daughter, so don't give me that look," she rolled her eyes. "You might have warned him, so he'd be there for Alanna."

Re: Talk to Sam

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"Maybe I'm too scared of you to tell anyone anything about the future," Aly said with a grin.

Re: Talk to Sam

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yeah, because that happens."

Re: Talk to Sam

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"Okay, maybe not," Aly agreed. "But no, I didn't tell him. Too many variables in what could have gone wrong."

Re: Talk to Sam

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam nodded her approval, trying not to look disgruntled that no one found her intimidating anymore. She also knew there was a limit on how many and what kind of questions she could ask. "Are you still teaching?"

Re: Talk to Sam

[the_merriest]

Rikku was just wandering through the halls, thinking and pacing and -- ooooooooh.

She was just going to stand here in the doorway, watching Sam set up sciencey stuff. Which probably seemed stalkery, but if it did, she'd apologize and leave. Dude. Duuuuuude.

Re: Talk to Sam

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam couldn't help stilling when she felt herself being watched. "Who's there?" She asked, already thinking of ways to use the X-acto knife that weren't opening a box. Her fingers curled around the handle.

Re: Talk to Sam

[the_merriest]

"Sorry!" Rikku eeped. "It's -- I'm one of your students? Hi! Sorry. I'll go? I was just ... watching? 'Cause. You're doing lab-stuff and ... I'm ... going now. Seriously."

Re: Talk to Sam

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

She relaxed instantly, setting the knife on the table, and turning to smile at Rikku. "Oh, hi. You don't have to go if you don't want to. I promise not to bite."

Re: Talk to Sam

[the_merriest]

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I, uh. We don't have ..."

She gestured vaguely, walking into the room. "Labs? We kinda make it all up. Just big rooms where we take things apart and put 'em back together, you know? And then a bin for all the leftover bits. 'Cause when you're making it all up, there are usually lots of leftover bits."

Ones you had to hope weren't too important.

She glanced around. "So ... what are you doing? If you don't mind me asking. Uh. It's cool if you do."

Re: Talk to Sam

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"You can always try the leftover bits somewhere else, right?" Sam had occasionally had leftover bits herself. "I'm unpacking equipment--I decided if I was going to give you a semester-long project, I was also going to have to give you a place to work on them--refine theories, trying them out, working to build them, all of that. Plus, if you'd like to come up with your own theories and experiments, you can do that here, too. The administration said it was okay. No explosives or whacked-out scenarios, though. There are other, shielded and protected rooms for that."

Re: Talk to Sam

[the_merriest]

"Like the Danger Shop?" Rikku asked, looking at the equipment. "Man, I don't know what half of this stuff does. What kinda theories should we come up with? I won't blow anything up, honest. I usually know it when I'm gonna blow something up, I mean, or at least I've got a good guess."

She grinned. "The best is keeping around a spare droid with some open spots on its wiring? And then trying some of the leftover bits on it. Does it run faster, or shoot flames at things? 'Cause if so, you know what that bit does now."

Re: Talk to Sam

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"You could also just practice some of the things we learn in class, or if you don't have time to finish the project we're working on," Sam explained, "and you honestly know before it happens? That's better than I can do a lot of the time."

She grinned back. "Please tell me you've met Anakin? Er, Professor Skywalker."

Re: Talk to Sam

[the_merriest]

"It's just 'cause some of my explosives follow a pattern," she said dismissively. "Like, if this one water element and a grenade cause a such-and-such, then a bigger water element and the same grenade probably causes the same thing, but with more oomph. And then sometimes I'm way off. I wish I'd had time to write it all down, I just tried to remember as much as possible and I've already forgotten some of it."

She needed a database. Oooh. Maybe she'd write one up. Except she kinda wasn't that great at databases, yet.

She bounced on her toes. "I have! I took one of his Ethics classes, and the Flight one, too. That was awesome."

Re: Talk to Sam

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"He's big into building stuff, if you catch him on the right day," Sam said, hoping she wasn't doing his reputation any harm. "You could probably write that information down using some of the explosive material? Not in here, of course, but you can dial the amounts down as much as you dial them up. For instance, have you considered using this compound on locks?"

Re: Talk to Sam

[the_merriest]

"Ooooh, no, I hadn't," Rikku said, leaning over and squinting. "It works on them? I should ... I should be taking notes, here. You're right, I should write down what I remember, and -- hmm. I don't want to waste my really rare items, but some of the more common stuff, I can just re-test."

She glanced up quickly. "Somewhere safe, I mean. The common stuff is always really light explosions anyway."

Re: Talk to Sam

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"I can't be sure until I know what compound you're using," Sam explained, leaning against the counter, "but possibly? You have rarer items? Have you tried synthesizing them in a sterile environment, because you might be able to re-create them, if we have the right raw materials."

"Light explosions are all well and good, but sometimes you need an Earth-shattering kaboom," she laughed.