Third Floor Common Room [evening]

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

Given that the majority of her mechanical work had been going into Christmas presents until recently, Kaylee had found herself without a project until she happened upon an old toaster -- like, a really old toaster -- and a few other scrap materials of her usual variety.

When she took them back to her room and cleaned everything up a bit, she decided she'd rather have more space and the possibility of company while she took them apart. So Tuesday evening found her cross-legged on the floor and painstakingly taking apart the toaster with her new tools, and gently setting each piece in a designated area, using an order that probably only made sense to Kaylee.

The TV was on, of course, and she had it tuned to some sitcom that one would probably think she wasn't paying much mind to, until she laughed or yelled unhappily at the screen. Kaylee needed to calm down a little about the fictional characters, maybe.

[open like a common room!]

Comments

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

It wasn't her common room, but curiosity was such a part of Alice that it may well have been her middle name. Alice Curiosity Liddell. It had a pleasant sort of ring to it, if one could forgive the pun, for Pleasance was what had been usurped.

Middle names aside, there was a girl on the floor taking apart some device, and watching the television, which meant perhaps she wouldn't mind a very simple inquiry.

"What are you doing?" Alice asked.

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"Takin' apart a toaster!" Kaylee told her happily, waving her screwdriver merrily. "Hi!"

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"Hello," Alice beamed. "Are you really? That sounds marvelous. I have no idea how toasters work, although I've been advised that jamming a knife into the slots isn't the ideal way to rescue a lost piece of bread."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"Oh, no!" Kaylee exclaimed, shaking her head. "Don't do that. You can 'lectrocute yourself. Unless it ain't plugged in. I never done that but my mama always said I would get shocked if so."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"I believe that's what I was told," Alice nodded. "That it would be terribly shocking. I assumed it was a horrible pun, but the person who told me was quite insistent, so I haven't tested the theory, so to speak."

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

Kaylee nodded. "Wise of you," she replied firmly. "I always worry I'm gonna shock m'self sometime when I'm tinkerin'. Not that it's powerful likely but I worry nonetheless."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"What is it that you're tinkering?" Alice asked, seating herself on the floor and remembering not to fluff her skirt out. (As she was wearing jeans.) "Beyond the toaster, I mean. Was it broken, or are you upgrading it to some new form of toasting?"

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"I ain't even sure I'm gonna keep it a toaster," she admitted, playing with a coil. "I'm breakin' it down for parts. Mostly 'cause I was bored, really."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"Parts?" she grinned, leaning over to investigate. "Do you mean you could add toasting bits to another device? I should very much like a radio that also toasted bread. I could put one in my room and keep it for whenever I needed music or toast."

It would not have occurred to her to just, perhaps, obtain a toaster and a radio.

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"That'd be right useful," Kaylee said thoughtfully, her eyes wide. "I never thought of combinin' stuff like that. Like, stuff that don't go together. I made my boyfriend a blender that's also a choppy thing for Christmas but that all kind of is the same thing."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"Can you do that?" Alice asked. "Combine things like that. I wouldn't know what sort of frame to put around it, to keep it all together, but then, I haven't the least idea how any of this works to begin with. I tell myself that it's all magic of some form so I don't worry about it for too long. What kind of a choppy thing did you get him?"

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"It cuts up nuts and things," she said, going with that one first. "And anything you need in small pieces."

She pondered for a moment, and said, "You could just keep the original framework, an' then build whatever into it. It might need t'be a bit bulkier or you just get rid of anything spare, really."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"That sounds fascinating," Alice beamed. "Although I imagine it wouldn't pair so neatly with a radio. Cutting up nuts might be loud enough to drown the music out. I hadn't realized there were extra parts in a toaster. Terribly inefficient of them, isn't it?"

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yeah, it's all real unefficientical," Kaylee said, nodding solemnly. "Most stuff's got a ton of parts it don't even need at all. S'just a matter of finding what you can weed right out."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"Perhaps there are bits of a radio that could also be used to toast?" Alice suggested. "Different bits that could have extra purposes. That would be very efficient, and might help with saving room. Though you might end up with a funny-looking toaster-radio."