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Ben Skywalker ([personal profile] momslilassassin) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2014-05-06 10:01 am
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Practical Mechanics [Tuesday, May 6, 2014]

A redheaded young man with a neatly trimmed beard, dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt, sat on the desk in the front of the classroom and let his legs swing as he waited for the class to arrive.

"Hey," he said with a slightly nervous smile. "I'm Ben Skywalker and this is Practical Mechanics. I graduated from Fandom two years ago, so I know that the experience in this class can range from 'we use carts and oxen at home, what's a car?' to 'I accidentally blew up a small moon and that's why I got sent to this stupid school', so I'm only going to base my critiques of your stuff on your own level of skill, not anyone else's." He glanced around the room. "Please don't use this class to try to blow up a moon. I've seen that sort of device before, so I'll recognize it and trust me when I say that you don't want to go to this particular principal or dean to explain."

He chewed on his lower lip. "I worked for two years at Stark's while I was here, I build droids--tiny and not so tiny robots--in my spare time when I'm not working on schematics for my own spaceship. I've also been stranded on a world where I had to use spare parts of a couple crashed ships to escape, so trust me when I say I know the value of practical mechanics. We'll get to the good stuff in a few weeks--there will be explosions, just not planet destroying ones--but today we're gonna start out small." He pointed to the first student on his left. "Okay, let's do the introduction thing: name, age, and the coolest thing you ever built."

He waved his hand at the piles of cardboard, compasses, exacto knives, pencils, wooden skewers, tape and mousetraps in the center of the room. "Today we're gonna build a better mousetrap...car. These are powered soley by the snap of power you get when the trap releases, so those of you who aren't familiar with how electricity works aren't at a disadvantage. You have a half-hour to conceptualize and build your cars, and then we'll race 'em against each other." He grinned. "It'll be astral."

Re: Introductions!

[identity profile] halfbad.livejournal.com 2014-05-06 12:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Nathan quietly thought about the question for a second. It wasn't something he'd ever considered since he hadn't really needed to know how things worked. Technology tended to give him headaches, after all.

"Maybe a watch? Or a clock?" Celia had clocks back at the cottage and while telling time wasn't a thing he could do, he'd spent hours watching the hands click and move when there was something else to do.

Re: Introductions!

[identity profile] halfbad.livejournal.com 2014-05-06 01:01 pm (UTC)(link)
"Okay," Nathan agreed, nodding. "I'll buy a new one if I break it or lose any of the pieces."

Or got frustrated with himself and ended up tossing the whole thing in the trash in a fit of impatience.

Re: Introductions!

[identity profile] halfbad.livejournal.com 2014-05-06 01:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"All right," Nathan agreed with a nod. "I'll see what I can do."
Edited 2014-05-06 13:25 (UTC)