Roof » Thursday, late evening

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

The urge was beginning to grow into something that was hard to resist. No longer could Alfons ignore the almost itching feeling in the back of his mind. Sometimes fleeting, sometimes glaring rather persistantly, it wasn't as if he really simply turn his mind's eye to something more imporant. Like, you know, school work. No.

He had to do it.

He had to build something.

The day before his departure from Munich he had met up with the men that made up his tight-knit research group. They had taken up a small collection, enough to have purchased him something they presented at that meeting. Each of them grinning widely, they informed him it was best not to open it until he arrived at Fandom. Ah, and what a surprise it had turn out to been.

That certain something lie in pieces around him as he sat not to far from the door that led to the roof. The pieces were part of a model rocket kit - one the men had assembled themselves. Even if it weren't quite to the scale that he desired, it did the trick of easing the home sickness (and desire to do something more than work with blueprints) inside.

Staring at the sheet of paper containing scribbled out instructions, a small screwdriver between his teeth, Alfons didn't much look like the rocket scientist he truly was.

[ open! because I'm bored and dear Heidi doesn't get out enough. ]

Comments

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

The twins wanted to make one last sweep of the roof to make sure that they had left no Setsuna posters up there. Instead they found Alfons.

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

The German boy happened to glance up from the paper in time to catch a glimpse of the two identical boys not too far from him. He merely blinked for a few seconds before he realized there was a screwdriver in his mouth, preventing him from speaking. With one hand, he took it out, waving it a small bit. "Um, hello."

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

"Hello. I don't believe we've met?" They tilted their heads to the side and came over to peek at all the stuff he was working on. "What's this?"

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

Alfons shook his head, "no, I don't think we have!" At least, he didn't remember the strange look-alikes. "My name is Alfons Heiderich, hello again," he said cheerfully, oferring a smile, "and this is a model rocket I'm working on."

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

"I'm Kaoru" One raised his hand, "And I'm Hikaru." The other did after. "A rocket? Cool. Will it really fly?"

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

He gave a nod to each of them as they gave their introduction. Hopefully he would end up remembering that. When their question came about, he looked down thoughtfully at the parts. "It should. That is, if I put it together the right way." Launching a rocket on campus probably wasn't the best idea... Not that it mattered then, given the thing was still in pieces.

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

Not-good-ideas were the twins favorite things to do of course.
"What kind of engine does it have?" Hikaru poked the pieces, being the more sciencey one of the two.

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

What a surprise, someone was actually interested in his stuff. The smile on Alfons' face grew as he watched Hikaru. "I am not entirely sure yet. This is the basic shell. I will have to come up with one myself later. Given the technology of now, compared to the 1920s, I may be able to experiment a little."

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

"Wow, the 1920's? You got to miss all that history to come here?" Kaoru was a bit stunned, not that he hadn't encountered anyone from the past before.
"Totally. They've got little one-use cardboard ones that are premade. You like making your own though, huh?" Hikaru checked over the directions.

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

Looking up to Kaoru, he nodded a few times. "Yeah, I did. Everything seems twice as, um... Foreign because of the time and place change I have done." He paused for a short moment before offering an explanation, "I am originally from Munich, Germany."

With a bit of shock on his part, he turned his attention to Hikaru. "Really? That sounds so... Different." He couldn't think of any other word to describe what he was feeling. People these days had it easy... "I tend to stick to my own creations because I study this sort of thing."

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

"Ahh.." Kaoru nodded.
"Really? Did you make full scale rockets back in Germany?" Hikaru brightened up a little. "I've only made little model ones and bottle rockets with baking soda and vinegar."

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

More nodding from Alfons. "Depending on how much funding we received, we were able to create a few things that could have eventually been used... Somehow. They were probably unlike what exists today." Funding was always an issue when it came to making something the size of a rocket. With inflation and a massive drop in the economy, it seemed ten times worse then it ever had. "I remember when I used to do things like that. My father delighted in teaching me such things from a very young age."

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

"Were you independants working on these? Or were you working for someone?"

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

"Mostly independent, I would say." If you don't count times that sponsors decided to hire them temporarily, that was. Rarely did it happen. "We were working to create the first rocket that has the ability to be ridden before I left. I still am, kind of..." The desk in his room proved to be bothersome when it came to working on such big sheets of paper.

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

Hikaru's eyes widened a bit. "Like a spaceship? Like the ones that went to the moon?"

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

"Spaceship? ...Went to the moon?" Um. U-um. Both of Alfons' eyebrows were reaching toward his hairline. "W-well, n-not exactly." He was vastly surprised, once again.

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

"Yea. Like the Columbia and Sputnik." Kaoru pulls out his palm-pilot-esque device and typed it in, bringing up pictures on the internet to show him. "See (http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-73/images/medium/KSC-95EC-1605.jpg)?"

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

Needless to say, Alfons gaped at both the device and, moreso, at the picture present on its screen. It was... Dear God, it was amazing. Although it said United States on the side, he was still quite amazed that scientists had managed to fashion something like that. At that point, he truly wanted to know how it worked.

"I... Well... Golly, that is amazing."

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

Hikaru grinned. "That's something you should look into. Unless you like doing it the old-fashioned way. These things are super powerful, they have to be since they're breaking through the atmosphere."

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

His eyes were still somewhat wide. "I probably should..." Breaking through the atmosphere, wow. "Wouldn't it technically be cheating, though, given that such technology hasn't been invented in my time? It almost gives me an unfair advantage." There he goes again, being logical.

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

"Well, that really depends on if you want to figure it out by yourself or not." Hikaru nodded and fiddled with a few peices of the model.
Kaoru had been quietly looking at Alfons and thinking. "Hey... are you related to Al? You guys look alike. You're name is even... sorta similar." He titled his head to the side.

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

Hmm, well, that was certainly true.

His mind was quickly taken away from that thought, however, at the mention of Al. Cheeks flushed red, he was quiet for a moment before answering. Bad memories, you know. "Um, no! No, we aren't related."

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

They nod. "That's also not unbelievable."

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

"I actually met him shortly after I arrived here. His brother, um... Didn't seem to appreciate me very much because of how alike we are in looks." His cheeks remained flush, red deepening a tiny bit as he remembered the moment in full. Yeah, that had been fun.

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

"Ah Ed. The shorty was mad because you look the same? That's not fair."

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

Alfons had to admit, it was hard to hold back a laugh over the shorty comment. "I know. I don't understand why, I did absolutely nothing wrong. I swear that I have met him before, but... He doesn't seem to remember me."

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

"Huh. Maybe it's another time-difference thing." Kaoru mused.

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

Alfons shook his head, "whatever it is, it only proves that this school exists to confuse the new people."

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

They both snickered. "That is what it does best." Pause. "So, have you ever blown stuff up with those?" Wicked grins follow.

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

Cue Alfons eyeing them for a moment or two before a small grin of his own showed up. "Perhaps." Oh, the memories of his younger years. "I foolishly decided to set one off indoors once. I ended up burning my hand on the match I used and tossed it, resulting in setting my old roommate's bed on fire."

...Oops?

[2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com]

...Did their eyes just glint?
"We may have to have some fun around campus then."

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

Alfons nodded right away, only partially noticing the evilness of the twins. "That sounds like it would be nice, yeah. Just... No setting anything on fire." With that he gave a laugh, finally going back to the hand-written directions for the rocket. "I wonder what the school would think if we were to set this thing off here?" Logic aside, he couldn't resist the second urge that usually came when building a rocket: The need to test it out. Even if the twins didn't join him, it sounded like too much fun to pass up.