fandomhigh | 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.]

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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."

Applied Science | Monday, 8/31 |Period 1

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