fandomhigh | Rube Goldberg and You, Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Rube Goldberg and You, Wednesday, September 6, 2023

"Meep meep meep meep meep mee!" intoned the felt teacher standing in the center of an absolutely enormous, overly complicated, machine that took up most of the Danger Shop. "Meep meep meep meep meep meep!"

There were accompanying gestures, though how helpful they might be were anyone's guess. The explanation, such as it was, went on for several minutes as Beaker walked around the room, pointing to parts of his machine--a chandelier, a giant net hanging from the ceiling, and then to wall of crazy in the back of the room that held a map of town and Stark Industries circled in red with multiple strings leading from it to the school, the lighthouse, the beach--

"Meep!" Beaker concluded grandly. Yes! You would spend the semester coming up with an overly elaborate machine designed to break you into Stark Industries' Maker's floor, a space Beaker was specifically banned from ~~for good reason~~!

"Meep meep mee," Beaker said, fishing a golf ball from his pocket and holding it up. Now to see how this first Rube Goldberg machine worked!

The ball went through several tubes, knocking over dominoes and setting various other sections whirling, spinning, and ticking, all heading to the center to light the, yes, indoor fireworks.

Those of you who'd taken Beaker's classes before were probably already looking for cover, huh? Good. Because the machine worked!

...and so did the fireworks.

Welcome to Beaker's class, everyone.

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Regretting everything!

Gonzo the Great

Amaya Blackstone

Illyana Rasputin

Beta

Gray

Miguel O'Hara

Dwight Hendrickson

Sam Eagle

And then dive for cover.

Gonzo knew Beaker pretty well. So you would think that Gonzo would know what he was getting into in this class.

You'd be right!

He was just also exactly the kind of weirdo who found this class utterly delightful. He listened in rapt attention to the whole thing, clearly not having the least issue with the meeping.

When the fireworks went off, he let out a boisterous "WAHOOOOO!"

Edited 2023-09-06 16:00 (UTC)

Amaya was definitely torn, between having a particular feeling in her gut that she had a good idea already of how this was going to go, and just wanting to watch in fascination and appreciation for the workings and how all the pieces of the machine were going to fall into place and fit together, and...

She was just going to trust her quick reflexes and the fact that she never had an issue with handling a little extra heat, really, to help her out when that final moment came.

Illyana was already starting to slowly inch towards the wall, so that at least she'd have a solid surface against her back once everything went to heck.

And when it went to heck, Illyana ducked, throwing up her hands, and a portal opened directly above her... sending all the rubble and fallen fireworks raining down on Limbo instead of on her head.

Beta felt like she had a pretty good idea of how this was going to go, yeah. Statistical analysis of Beaker's previous classes had, one could say, a very clear trend.

She was already halfway toward cover before the ball reached the end of the track, which didn't preclude her letting out a yelp as she flung herself gracelessly under a desk when the fireworks went off.

Miguel webbed the other end of the desk to give her more cover.

"Odds he'll manage to blow up even this place?"

"Disturbingly high." Beta gave him a grateful look. "I would say impossibly high anywhere but here."

She shook her head.

"Because this place is an outlier and should not be counted."

Of course she knew the Spiders Georg meme. It'd enjoyed a nostalgic resurgence during the Clawback years and came up a lot in the holos from that era, and she was nothing if not a connoisseur of pre-apocalyptic Earth pop culture media.

"We do seem to specialize in the impossible," Miguel agreed.

"Though thankfully few spider-eaters."

Look, he'd been here long enough to hear all the prominent spider memes.

Please, this kind of thing was why Miguel was here!

It was also why he was wearing his UMF under his street clothes.

And snickering as he dove for cover.

Dwight was really beginning to wonder what force had it in for him so much that he ended up signing up for this class. His encounters with Beaker, even from that first one so long ago in the damned hole, usually were not the best. He was definitely making the mental note to pull out the UMF shirt Miguel had gotten him... it was going to be essential for this class obviously!

Edited 2023-09-07 00:08 (UTC)

Sam was here because he'd been told he was signed up for the class. This did not mean Sam was here voluntarily.

"You are a menace," he yelled as he ducked under a desk.

Well, now that the example Rube Goldberg machine is in several dozen pieces, start experimenting on your own! Make something very complicated in order to achieve something simple.

...maybe not involving fireworks.

Beaker's machine was incredible! But Gonzo did have some notes, which he was planning to work into his own machine.

For one, it was utterly lacking in death-defying loop-de-loops. And rings that were on fire.

For another, why let a golf ball have all the fun when you could launch yourself through your machine?

Amaya had her suspicions when she spotted Gonzo there in the class, but once he set himself up to be launched by his improvements (which she noted, and couldn't help but nod in approval of), well, then, that right there sealed the deal, didn't it?

"So now there's another one, huh?"

It might not have sounded like it, but she did mean it as a compliment.

"Another what?" Gonzo asked, as he settled himself into his contraption.

That was actually an excellent questions, because the required somehow knowing how to effectively classify...whatever Beaker was, something that Amaya had decided long, long ago she was absolutely not qualified to do.

"....thrill seeker," she decided, because you know what? Tell her she was wrong. She'll wait.

"Oh yeah, for sure!" Gonzo agreed. "Though I should hope there's more than just the two of us."

"Of the particular variety that involves being launched from things," Amaya specified, with a nod toward Gonzo's current location.

And, she assumed, the uncanny ability to recover from said launching without needing a nice trip to the clinic.

Or the seamster.

"Those're a bit rarer."

"Meep meep meep mee!" Beaker said, giving Gonzo two Muppety thumbs up.

"Wow, thanks!" Gonzo called back. "Hey, you want to help pull this lever for me?"

Don't do it, Beaker. It's a trap! Not by Gonzo himself, but by the narrative!!

Oh, but Beaker was always a casualty of the narrative! He was definitely going to help pull that lever.

The lever was stuck.

"Here, hang on, let me try this over here," Gonzo said, going to fiddle with something a little further down the line.

And unsticking the lever.

And sending Beaker hurtling through the death-defying loop-de-loop and ring of fire.

"MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep" shrieked Beaker as he flew.

"Hey!" Gonzo shouted after him. "You're ruining my machine!"

"Meep!" Beaker agreed just before he slammed into a wall.

"I am being punished for something," Sam grumbled.

When he's not on fire!

First day of school!

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Rube Goldberg and You, Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Sign in 9/6

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Listen to the lecture!

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Experiment!

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Talk to Beaker!

OOC