fandomhigh | Practical Mechanics [Tuesday, May 20, 2014]

Today the workshop smelled like compressed wood, cardboard and Swedish meatballs.

Guess who'd gone to Ikea before class, kids! Go on, guess.

"Today we're gonna learn about hacking furniture the same way a programmer hacks a computer," Ben said. "We're going to take a standard piece of furniture and make it astral."

Or extremely wobbly, depending on the student's skill at putting things together. "Now you've been here long enough to get an idea of the standard layouts of bedrooms and common areas, and you've probably noticed at least one thing you wish you had that looked better or functioned more efficiently or was powered by rockets--"

Ben.

He grinned. "Anyway. I've put up pictures and opened up a website here to give you ideas, and I've also stocked a bunch of the more common furniture types that people tend to use to take apart and make better. If you're a compulsive rule follower, you can also just make the furniture the way the directions say to, then paint it or varnish it to make it look less generic. I'll take the pieces you guys don't want and use them to decorate my office. Unless you make a rocket-powered desk chair: that I'll give to my partner."

Ender was a lucky guy, huh?

"Oh and go ahead and snack on the food I brought too--it's impossible to leave that place without hot dogs, cinnamon buns, ice cream and meatballs. I don't understand it, but I'm not going to question it either."

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Celia chose a Billy for herself, mostly because she was frankly running out of space for the books she had already collected during her time in Fandom.

Was it cheating to use her magic? He hadn't said she couldn't, after all, so Celia laid out all of the pieces and scrutinized them for a long moment before looking at the directions.

And around that time she realized that magic wouldn't really help her, anyway, as the directions had no words.

She managed to get the bookcase upright, at least, standing back with her hands before her as she manipulated the pieces. But it didn't really matter if she'd used her hands to actually put it together, or her mind -- either way, she'd put the bottom shelf on backwards, and the whole thing would have to come apart.

"Damn it," she cursed softly, sighing as the stupid...plastic bolt things unscrewed themselves and fell on the floor. She'd have to do almost all of it over.

"Need some help?" Ben asked.

"Why does this furniture hate me? Why do the directions have this little man instead of words?"

So...that'd be a yes.

"Because Sweden is an odd, frustrating country," Ben offered. "All right, where'd you get stuck?"

"My lowest shelf is upside-down, but I think if I just...flip it, it'll be all right. And I think I have too many plastic bits,," she said, showing him her extras. Which were...extra. Get used to that mystery, Celia.

"No, they give you extra," Ben said. "We'll give it a good push to make sure it doesn't wobble, of course, but I think it's okay."

"Why would they give me more than I need? Is it a test?" Celia was instantly suspicious, not to mention frustrated that she'd tried to find the hardware's home when there wasn't one to speak of.

"I think it's so they don't have to count to make sure you haven't been shorted," Ben said.

Practical Mechanics [Tuesday, May 20, 2014]

Re: Put together basic furniture

Re: Put together basic furniture

Re: Put together basic furniture

Re: Put together basic furniture

Re: Put together basic furniture

Re: Put together basic furniture

Re: Put together basic furniture

Re: Put together basic furniture