Middle of camp, Saturday eveningish

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Time to both catch-up, and experiment.

"This may not work," Scully said to Claudia. "But I'm just honored to help."

The construction in question was getting larger as she watched.

[for notmyownage, but open for bogglers - all Claudia's cool idea]

Comments

[notmyownage]

Admittedly, Claudia was half in this just to get to play with the tools.

"It's the pinnacle of teenage geek achievement, yo." Claudia grinned. "Like a rite of passage." She tilted her head at their creation. "I think it needs more useless metal bits."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully gave this serious, grave, smirking consideration.

"I think you're right." She paused. "And a spork. A spork is usual, right?"

She handed over another metal collander from the pile. "Collander!"

[notmyownage]

"Ooo, we can use this for the flingy basket thing." That was totally the technical term. "And yes, I'm pretty sure a spork is traditional."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"We need more springs," Scully said, then paused. "And reflecting things." Part of her couldn't believe she was working on this. The rest of her needed to do this. "I think I have some doctor headbands here. From the clinic."

[notmyownage]

"With the big circly things? You know, I've always wondered what those were for."

Claudia was an engineer and a physicist. Not a doctor.

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Reflecting light toward the patient," Scully said, "before they light-pens. Which is why I don't feel bad appropriating the extras from the clinic for a small donation." She affixed one to the turning thing. "So, how's your week going?"

[notmyownage]

"Eh, the usual. Meeting people, teasing other people. . . . You working at the clinic sounds way more exciting than the book store I work at."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Who are you teasing?" Scully asked idly. "The only person who came in on Thursday was Ino. Did you know she can heal people by thinking about it? And Raven as well?"

[notmyownage]

"Jacob, usually. He's very teasable." Claudia grinned. "And, no. That's some powerful woodge right there. I'm telling you, people around here are tapping into something big."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Do you think that's part of it?" Scully checked, oiling one joint. "Ino said it was science, but that you had to learn it young. I need to look up chakras and qi now. But the energy can't just be from inside her... I think."

[notmyownage]

"Maybe it's like those languages that you'll never be able to speak perfectly unless you learn it when you're little. You know, the ones with sounds that don't exist in Western languages? Maybe it's something we're not trained to recognize, so we can't even properly see it."

[boho-to-be.livejournal.com]

Christian was on a walk through camp when he spotted the activity and stepped back, gawking.

"What on earth is all of this?" He sounded more impressed than anything.

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully looked dissatisfied, because she suspected this was probably the case, and hated it. "I want to learn more about it-- and Karla's as well. Although I suspect her abilities owe a great deal to her jewel and her biochemistry. They've all said it burns up a ton of energy." She snorted. "And aside from Ino, not science."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully smiled at him, squinting into the setting sun. "Trebuchet," she said with a grin. "Well. Eventually. Hello, I'm Scully."

[boho-to-be.livejournal.com]

"My name's Christian," he said, grinning back. (She was a pretty redhead, helping another pretty redhead. Smiles came easily.) "Trebuchets -- those are like catapults, aren't they?"

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"With more buckets," Scully said easily. "And longer angles of throw. So more accurate." She added thoughtfully, "No idea what we're aiming it at, yet."

[boho-to-be.livejournal.com]

"You might be able to hit one of the cabin roofs," Christian offered.

Not that he was suggesting such a course of action, of course.

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Got any suggestions?" Scully asked with a lurky smile, and affixing another screw in place.

[boho-to-be.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I'm sure you could pick one," Christian said. "I'm in Godzilla."

He walked over to get a closer look at the trebuchet. "Did you want help?"

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Sure. Grab a screwdriver, and more shiny stuff." Scully looked momentarily sheepish, then jutted out her chin. "Half the point is just adding on tons of extra to make it look 'cool'."

[notmyownage]

"Yeah, well, they've got kind of a limited view of what science is."

[notmyownage]

"Science!" Claudia cried melodramatically. "Well, more of an exercise in geekery. Either way, should be cool."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"I don't think it's taught at all as a subject in some places. Karla's grasp on it is an artist's. Which I respect, but yes."

Scully tilted her head. "Have you built one of these before?"

[notmyownage]

"Nope. But I know in theory how it works." Claudia shrugged. "It's all physics. And yeah, Karla was actually kind of offended by me insisting that her abilities didn't fall outside the realm of science. She didn't understand that science isn't, like, a force, but a way of describing and predicting the rules of how forces operate."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"That, yes," Scully said. "I'm sure I can explain it better at some point..."

Keep dreaming, Scully.

"We could aim this at the problematic invaders. Which, I'm now half-inclined to believe in, after singing flowers and teleporting luggage."