fandomhigh | Applied Science | Monday, 8/31 |Period 1

Entry tags:

applied science

Applied Science | Monday, 8/31 |Period 1

Oh, hey, a new semester! That meant Tyler was on time, actually put on a tie, and -- in honor of the early hour -- had a huge tank of coffee and stack of cups on a back table.

"Hi," he said as the class filed in, gesturing a little with the coffee mug that probably would not leave his hand in the next 15 classes. "Welcome to applied science. I'm Tyler Durden. Tyler works, Mr. Durden works ... not a big fan of 'hey you' in the classroom."

"Usually I make soap the first week, but this doesn't feel like a day for it." By which he meant he wasn't quite ready to repeat the class yet, and was saving it. "So today, we're talking about one of the most basic concepts in physics -- simple machines."

"Basically, a simple machine is a mechanical device that changes the direction or magnitude of a force -- the simplest mechanisms that use leverage to multiply force. A simple machine uses a single applied force to do work against a single load force. Ignoring friction losses, the work done on the load is equal to the work done by the applied force. They can be used to increase the amount of the output force, at the cost of a proportional decrease in the distance moved by the load. The ratio of the output to the input force is called the mechanical advantage."

"Six things are classically considered simple machines." He moved over to stand in front of a counter of such, holding each up as he talked. "The lever, like this hammer. The wheel and axle. The inclined plane, or ramp. The screw. The wedge. The pulley."

The lecture continued for a while, then: "Today we're going to introduce ourselves -- name, grade, and who you would fight if you could fight anyone, living, dead or imaginary -- then try to see how each of these simple machines are useful by trying to build something." He nodded to a student in the first row. "You first. And I need a TA or two." Not looking at Ino ~~if she was there~~, there. "Talk to me during the introductions or after class if you're interested."

[OOC: TAs have been chosen OOCly.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

.... Everybody on the bloody island was a telepath. That had to be it.

//Mine goes one-way. I can speak, but I can't hear other people, even if they do figure they're thinking loudly. Unless they can project this way too, at least.//

He tapped his finger against the short end of his miniature see-saw. It was fascinating. Truly.

"Ohhh. That explains it." Dinah nodded, and grinned at him, less confused now. "I'm a touch-telepath. I can't hear you or be heard unless I'm touching you. Which, don't worry, I don't try that on people without an invite. And not that often even then." She shrugged, and added, "Emma and Karla say I'm really loud with the projecting, so it's probably just as well." The lack-of-talking and the -- okay, bandages?-- made more sense up close, where she could see the burn scars on his cheeks. Maybe he could talk, but it looked like it might be really painful. So why not go with the easier option, then?

She poured a half dozen marbled down her little ramps, watched the levers flip and pour them down to Lava Land. Muahaha!

Possibly that part got cackles out loud.

Edited 2009-08-31 17:05 (UTC)

Jonothon watched the little marble cascade out of the corner of his eye, and then he looked up at her for a moment, thinking on that.

//Are yer a mutant, then?//

Dinah blinked at him, then remembered Jamie, and smiled. "Yeah, I guess so? I mean, it's called meta-human back home, but yeah, I've got touch-telepathy, and telekinesis. I inherited weird DNA from my mom." The dreams were too weird to mention, and rarely mattered anyway. "My big sib was from somewhere they called it being a mutant, though. That's what's up with you? Not magic?"

//It'd be simpler if this was just bein' magical, gel.//

It would. He could very distinctly remember that he'd never seen any such thing as anti-magic protests in the streets back home. There were no initiatives about to exterminate Wiccans of anything of the sort.

"Maybe," Dinah said, brow furrowing, "Maybe not. A couple people here are from places are where magic is illegal, or at least, really feared." She shrugged, and said, "Or don't know what they're doing with it. That's why I'm here. To learn how to control it." She gave him a curious look. "You?"

//Me what? Why am I here, or where am I from?//

Jono wasn't about to volunteer more information than he was specifically asked for. He wasn't exactly the most sharing individual, lately.

He tore the corner from a piece of paper in his notebook and rolled it into a little ball between his fingertips.

"Dealer's choice," Dinah said, then lifted half her marbles with her TK, and dropped them down the ramp again. Muahaahhaahahah! Thud thud thud thud thud. "Or neither, if that's too awkward. Some people really don't wanna be here."

//I'll take here over where I was at before,// Jonothon allowed, setting his little paper wad on the long end of his lever. //Wasn't expecting to be sent here, but I haven't been given reason to complain just yet.//

"Cool. I love it here. I hope you end up liking it." And another little pulley screwed in place to pull the marbles up, yes. "The teachers are great. And the classes aren't like the usual classes. This is probably going to be one of my more normal ones."

//Ben already mentioned the classes to me.// Jonothon wasn't looking up, again. He was quite focused on carefully aiming his little contraption toward the wastebin. //So far, the most surprising thing about this place is how many people don't seem to care either way about what I am.//

It was a large number. Granted, most of them hadn't seen his face. But still.

Dinah snorted. "Uh-hunh. A really small number might not be? But most of the students without abilities or magic either don't care or wish they had them. It's too much trouble to hide it around here, so I don't bother." She stopped to watch him with his contraption, and asked, "Not so much where you're from?"

//Last I heard, they were working on germ warfare to try to rid the world of the 'mutant threat,'// Jonothon noted dryly, flicking the short end of his lever to send the paper ball sailing toward the trash bin.

Which stops Dinah cold, horrified. "Are you messing with me?"

Jonothon didn't answer. Jonothon just tore another corner from a sheet of paper, and proceeded to wad that up too.

The look he gave her while he was rolling his second paper ball, however, suggested that he was dead serious.

Dinah swallowed, probably looking like she wanted to be violently sick. "There was a cop, in New Gotham..." She shook her head, hard, and asked, "Can they do that?"

Jonothon shrugged.

//I don't know if it was any particular 'them' or not, luv,// he conceded. //What I know is that there's a virus out there wot kills mutants.//

Paper ball number two also went sailing toward the trash.

//The big ruddy mutant-hunting robots, on the other hand, they did that.//

Jesus. Dinah had never been so glad not to be from somewhere before in her life. And that included Camelot; at least there was a tiny chance she wouldn't get caught being 'magic' there. Dodging robots and plague would've been way more than she wanted to handle.

"Holy crap. I'm glad you're here. And not there. And..." Okay, tactless, but true. "Who's the they that made the robots? Can't someone stop them?" She shook her head. "No one even knows we exist, mostly, where I'm from. There's not that many of us that we get treated as anything more than an urban myth most of the time."

Jono shifted his weight uneasily from one foot to the other, and got to ripping off another piece of paper. He could fling paper balls across the room until the bell rang, and then run like hell from this topic. That would suit him just fine.

//They would be humans. And if the Sentinels were that easy to stop, the several thousand people on the planet with powers probably would have up and done so by now.//

Paper ball, airborne.

Which was beyond holy crap into Oh. My God. Dinah swallowed, and looked down at her machine, not in the mood to drop more marbles into imaginary lava now. "Sorry it's like that," she mumbled. Then took a breath, rallying. "It's not like that here. At all. And everyone fights together when stuff attacks, but so far, no one's died."

//Brilliant news.//

He was going to run out of paper, at this rate.

His first class in the new school, and he already wanted to find some dark corner to glare out at the world from. And then he'd never come out again, damn it.

Dinah grimaced. "That came out totally wrong, didn't it?" She sighed. Nice way to figure out you'd become waaaay too acclimated to Fandom; traumatizing new kids on accident. "You don't have to fight. The dorms are safe. Really, really safe." She was quite a minute, then said, "It doesn't happen that often. So." She hit the lever on her ramp, watched the marbles pour down the ramp, and diverted them around the Lava Bowl with her TK. "Forget I said anything."

Oh, Dinah wasn't the source of Jonothon's trauma by a long shot. She just seemed exceedingly skilled at dredging it up.

//Consider it forgotten.//

The next paper ball? Completely missed. Jono heaved a bit of a mental sigh before picking up his makeshift catapult and heading across the room to collect the mess he'd made. He lifted a hand as he went. Little wave good-bye.

//Nice havin' that little chat with yer, luv.//

Edited 2009-08-31 19:24 (UTC)

"Back at you, Jonothon." Dinah was as relieved as much as sorry about being relieved to end that really disturbing chat. "Talk to you laters."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Applied Science | Monday, 8/31 |Period 1

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]

Re: Simple Machines [8/31]