ArchivedLogs:On Your Level

On Your Level
Dramatis Personae B, Kaine, Kisha
In Absentia	2015-02-11 "But think of the research unconstrained by budgets, ethics or international law!"
Location <XS> Workshop
A large barn-like building situated at the far end of the gardens from the mansion proper, this makerspace functions as a classroom for many of the more hands-on classes. An expanse of workshop space, it is subdivided into smaller segments for the different types of activities: Woodshop, Welding shop, Machine shop, Electronics, Bike shop, Screen Printing and Photography, Fabric Arts, and the Rapid Prototyping Lab with a trio of 3D printers. The space comes complete with a large host of tools available for use, although many of the more dangerous require prior clearance from administration to use -- students with appropriate clearance to use them can gain access to locked equipment with their student IDs. From sanders to MIG/TIG welders to soldering stations to industrial sewing machines to its own darkroom, though, this space is well equipped for teaching students how to /make/. Class has finished for the day, if only recently. There's a bustle around the school with extracurriculars still underway. Possibly B should /be/ down in the pool with the swimteam but -- isn't. Not at the moment, anyway. Instead the tiny blue sharkpup is tucked into the workshop -- possibly ze's /forgotten/ that class is over for the day because ze's still over in the carpentry section from hir last class. For those who /know/ the sharktwins it's glaringly easy to tell B from Shane. From the sharply winged eyeliner gleaming in very metallic silver bright against hir blue skin, to the clothing (skintight black skinny jeans liberally adorned with zippers and straps, /very/ clunky-stompy silver-and-black boots, a red corset-like top with elaborate black embroidery, lacy sleeves running up past hir elbows) to the rather intent look on hir face as ze plays with a glowing holograph in front of hir. For those who /don't/ know the sharktwins, well. Tiny blue shark. In /appearance/, at least, identical to hir brother. Despite the image in front of hir /being/ holographic her webbed fingers manipulate it as though it were a solid construct. For once it's not any kind of robot ze's working on -- there's a lot of carved pieces of wood on the table and in the projection ze is fitting them together into a chair of some sort. On the table beside hir is a cobalt blue metal dragonfly -- it looks like maybe a toy or a statue of some sort, still and quiet as B works. Vroom Vroom Vroom goes the drone! Or at least it does if it's Bob and Kisha is on her way for some after class science time. The helpful machine springs into life and begins to unpack his owners tools on one of the workbenches. "Ah home sweet home," Kisha mutters to herself as she swings open the door. "After a day wasted in class it's finally time to do something worthwhile with my time." As usual she's wearing her tech'd up aviator goggles and is bundled in an overly large Russian surplus coat. Kaine heads in quietly, adjusting his hair which is currently held up in a messy bun. For once he isn't dressed casually. His blue jeans are still slim fitting, but he's also wearing a white dress shirt and a black vest. He stops near the back, looking around the workshop. Kisha and B catch his attention, and he brings his hand to wave slightly, webbed fingers wiggling. "Hey Kisha, Shane." His hands move to his pockets and he casually heads over towards where they're standing. B's nostrils flare befor ze ever looks up, a small closed-lipped smile tugging at hir lips when Kisha enters. "The trick is once you get your required credits out of the way you can do whatever you /want/ with your classes." Though after this, a small frown: "... though I guess it takes a while. To. Get those out of the way." Ze only /actually/ looks up on scenting a newer unfamiliar smell, huge black eyes blinking up at Kaine in a brief startled-surprise. "Uh --" Hir head tilts slightly to one side, and ze releases the holographic plank ze has been holding. "... Hi." Hir head turns slightly, eyes shifting to Kisha as though gauging how hir roommate is going to react to this newcomer. The almighty Bob, looking rather like a bomb disposal robot the size of a ride-on lawn mower with a sleek matt black case that seems a little more armoured than it needs to be goes into stand-by mode once the tools are out. "I usually do whatever I want during the classes I have anyway," Kisha admits with a rueful grin. "It's not like my power is obvious when I am using it. I can tune in to whatever takes my fancy at any moment in the day with no-one the wiser." She picks out a few choice tools and begins to take a few parts off Bob. "That is Kaine. He like repairing things. I think Rasa suggested he might be interested in the club?" Kaine pauses a moment, before looking towards Kisha. "May have. I know you perked up at the mention, but seemed kinda disappointed when I said it was mostly only tools and vehicles." He rubs his jaw lightly, stopping to look over the room. "This place is cool. Always finding new stuff." Though his gaze is soon back on Kisha, "Probably take me a while to get on your level though." He motions towards Bob. There's a small flutter of B's gills that quiets down at Kisha's introduction. "Really? Huh." Hir lips twitch faintly again. "Nobody's interested in the club. It's not really a very good club..." Hir eyes focus in on hir work, as ze quietly rearranges a piece of the prototype-furniture. "There's not really many people on Kisha's level. I think you'd need some kind of brain transplant for that? She's kind of in her own category of awesome." "You're just being modest. If you've heard anyone saying 'B to the future' that's because of B here. Who invented hoverboards and is probably going to be wealthy enough to buy a bigger mansion," Kisha points out, making a few more adjustments and then hauling the robot arm off Bob. "I think Doctor Doom was above my level though. I still wonder if maybe I should have taken up his offer and become his student. But that line of thought usually ends with 'or his test subject'." Kaine nods slightly, only to pause and look back at B. "Not Shane then? Sorry about that." He flashes an apologetic smile. "But that's really bad ass. "The extent of my tinkerin' is trying to put cars back together, or fixing a wonky chainsaw. Be pretty cool to learn how to do at least some of this stuff though. At least enough to do it on a hobbyist level." "About what?" B looks confused at this apology. "We have electronics and welding and woodshop and all kinds of things. If you feel like learning how to -- anything. There's probably a class for it." Ze shrugs a shoulder, rocking back to half-sit on a stool at hir table. "I feel like anyone who gets involved with someone /named/ "Doctor Doom" is kind of asking for trouble? You totally should come work with me at Stark, though. As far as I've seen, no creepy nonconsensual experimenting. Though he does sometimes try to give me booze." "Yes but think of the research unconstrained by budgets, ethics or international law! Working for Stark does sound interesting, but I don't know what I would do there. Probably can't work on the brain linked computer stuff as I use myself as a test subject and his lawyers would have heart attacks," Kisha muses, all the while pulling bits off the mechanical arm. "I should build some of the tools into Bobs arm. Like the rivet gun and an appropriate targetting system. A little booze isn't a problem for me. My dad shared vodka with me at practically every family celebration since I could hold a cup." "I suppose you'd have to continue those experiments in your free time." Kaine says towards Kisha. "But the applications of technology like that are amazing. But I suppose it has the same drawbacks as a sentient artificial intelligence." He pauses to think a moment. "I have a few ideas about it, but I can't speak intelligently on the subject because I know nothing of coding, or what's already been developed." "There's not really any /valid/ drawbacks to sentient AI except people's own bigotry. Even if you entertain fears they're going to surpass us or take over it's not like humans have been stellar at managing the world already." A swipe of hand shuts down B's holographic display. The dragonfly on the table wakes up more visibly with this, a very quite humming as lights in its wings switch on. "I'm pretty sure TonyStark's lawyers have heart attacks routinely, he's pretty much crazy. I guess it'd be a little heart attack-i-er if it were a high school student and not -- him, though." Kisha shrugs. "I'm basically /always/ participating on those experiments," she points out. "My hat has a scanner that picks up my input that controls the computer that is hooked up to the goggles giving me an augmented reality display. It doesn't look as awesome as holographic controls but it has a few advantages. I can run overlays with schematics, maps and all kinds of handy info. In theory I could even look up pop culture references that I don't get." "Fair enough." Kaine says to B with a slight nod. "As I said, I don't know anything about it." He reaches up to untie his hair, gaze falling onto the dragonfly. "That's cool." It's not clear if he's talking about the dragonfly, the goggles, or both. "Don't like being ignorant, gonna have to spend my free time looking all this stuff up. My take some online coding courses between regular classes too." "In theory." This seems to amuse B, a small hint of laughter in hir voice. Ze gathers hir things into a neater state, setting hir current project aside for later. "We have actual coding classes, too? They might be a good place to start if you don't know anything since there's some that are pretty -- introductory." One shoulder hitches up in a small shrug. "I should get to the pool I think I'm late." Ze tugs on a jacket, red and laced up the sleeves in black ribbon, before grabbing hir bag. The dragonfly lifts itself into the air to follow after. "Well in practise it would just result in my looking at cat pictures with bad spelling on them," Kisha says with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I started out with the school computer classes and to be honest I did cheat and ask Tony Stark for help one time. He made some suggestions for improvements and rewrote a few bits. But once I had the basics down I taught myself the rest through trial and error. Of course it helps that I have a lot more free time to do that sort of thing." "Yeah, I'll likely sign up for a class or two of it." Kaine says after a moment, nodding to B as ze starts to head out. "Hopefully I'll have the patience for it." Kisha hmmmms. "I'd advise speaking with a teacher before picking it as a class if you think you may struggle to stick with it," she suggests. "Better than failing or being stuck with something you hate. Which is probably what will happen to me when I have to make up my art credits." There is a disapproving tisk. "How have you been settling in?" "Pretty well actually." Kaine replies, attention shifting from the various tools back over to Kisha. "And I like to have something I can put my hands on and look over. So I should probably invest in robots classes to handle the construction, rather than the programming." "We don't have an official robotics class yet although we have one for artificial intelligence. There is an automotive mechanic class, welding, metal fabrication and electronics. All of which are worthwhile investments of your time," Kisha replies, holding up the aforementioned rivet gun alongside the robot arm. "And not forgetting chemistry and physics, which both have advanced placement options, plus all the assorted computing classes. Your advisor will talk you through all the choices at some point..." Kaine takes a moment to absorb the information. "Could always touch up on my welding and fabrication skills. Then it's really just a matter of rigging it up to move. Somebody else would have to handle the actual programing of it." He rubs his jaw a bit before moving over to stand near Kisha, clearly interested in Bob. "Or I'll just end up as a lifeguard. I'd be an excellent lifeguard." Kisha hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmms, then begins fitting the tool into the arm. It seems the arm was designed to roughly accomodate the rivet gun although she is hardly delicate in her ministrations. In fact a large hammer soon gets employed to 'help' the process. "Especially in the current climate. People would be too scared of your mutation to go in the water. Money for nothing," she points out. "I was a little disappointed when they said I couldn't take welding as an art course. Or that heat proof tiles do not count as ceramics no matter what they are made from." "Acting or music theory?" Kaine suggests. "If it's credits you need, wouldn't be a thing to sit through a few courses. Unless you're a senior. And they can stay out of the water. More room for me to swim around without worry about kids pissing near my gills." "Eh I will still just take ceramics and I guess lighting. One is at least gives me some practise in case I ever need to make a bowl and the other involves operating stage equipment," Kisha explains in between bouts of hammering. "I have no desire to act and I think hearing people talk about why music is music would put me to sleep. Which would in itself be an achievement as I haven't slept in years now." "I would be super bummed if I didn't sleep. Sleep is my favorite activity." Kaine shifts a bit to watch the hammer, hands disappearing into his pockets. "Guess you have your future figured out to a certain degree. Know I'd be working with Stark or Oscorp or something if I could do that. But as it stands, I'll probably open a shop and fix cars or something." "My future plans involve intergalactic conquest. But I plan on starting out fairly modestly and take over some of the less populated parts of this solar system," Kisha says earnestly. "But that is a way off for now. I don't get how anyone can enjoy sleep. It wastes so much time and you aren't awake enough to be aware of any benefits." "Because sometimes we need a bit to process information. Pretty much what sleep for me is anyway." Kaine shrugs a bit. "And I don't see the point in intergalactic conquest. Wouldn't even care for taking over European countries. Too much responsibility." Kisha chuckles. "The whole point of my intergalactic conquest is that there is /no-one/ out there to rule. I'd just have a huge amount of resources and space to work on whatever I like. For the record you can process information just fine without sleeping." "Well maybe I just enjoy sleep." Kaine says after a moment. "And there could always be people out there. Well, not people. Know there is bacteria on Titan. Could always be something else somewhere else." "Chances are they will be more pleasant company than most of the people on Earth," Kisha retorts dryly. Rivet gun in place she begins re-assembling the arm around it. Leaving all the bits which no longer fit in a pile by the toolkit. "Not that people here are especially bad. But alas there aren't enough to make up for the entire city of New York." "Definitely not enough to make up Barrow." Kaine agrees with a slight nod. "In retaliation, you should commandeer the music system at the dance and play Katyusha or Moscow Nights. Because I have a feeling most people will want to hear pop." Kisha glances up and blinks. "I have no idea what those things are," she notes. "And I don't do dances. Anyway I better get back to my room, I need to start working on the code for Bob to use his new tool accurately otherwise he might shoot someone unintentionally and then I would be in a remarkable amount of trouble." She begins packing up. "Although less than the person hit by the rivet. It's intended to hold girders together..." "Songs." Kaine says with a slight shrug. "I prefer the versions by the Red Army Choir. Unless you meant Barrow. Where I'm from, bush community out in Alaska." He looks towards the exit. "I need to head out too. Take care, probably see you around later."