The trebuchet on the campgrounds, Tuesday afternoon

[notmyownage]

The trebuchet was nearing completion. Soon it would be time for ammunition trials.

But, well, sometimes Claudia was impatient. Which would be why, despite having not yet perfected the counterweight system, she was loading the sucker up with some water balloons -- it'd taken some doing, but she'd finally managed to double up on the balloons so they'd have a chance of surviving the force of the fling and make it to their target.

Time to give this baby a test run.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

The first balloon burst halfway up the arc of the fling, sending water all over the trebuchet and its operator. The second flung off backwards into a tree -- but at least the balloon survived.

This was way better than trying to figure this stuff out on paper.

[ooc: bleah, work. Open for distractination!]

Comments

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

Peter was on his way back from his afternoon class when he spotted Claudia.

"Something tells me we're having trouble with the ammunition," he declared, amused. He approached closer, a smile on his face.

[notmyownage]

Claudia was loading up another -- possibly somewhat overfilled -- water balloon. "And with the delivery system," she agreed cheerfully. "I could always tell people it's supposed to be a giant sprinkler. . . ."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"You know you're supposed to get other people wet, right?" Jacob asked, looking way too amused at Claudia's state of wetness.

[notmyownage]

"Patience, young man!" Claudia set another balloon in to fling. "You think the space station was built in a day?"

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"I don't know," he shrugged and decided approaching the trebuchet from the side was the way to go. "Maybe it was a prefab space station."

[notmyownage]

"See, they tried that, but they couldn't find parking for the truck they lugged it out on. FORE!" Claudia hit the release on the counterweight. The basket set to grab the balloon missed completely, flopping around empty in the air, while the balloon rested pristine on the base of the trebuchet. "Well. That was anti-climactic."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

Jake couldn't help but laugh. "I can throw it at you if you'd like to go the easy way," he teased.

[notmyownage]

"Please, this sucker has the potential for way more range than even you could probably pull off." Claudia climbed onto the base of the trebuchet, looking from the weight to the basket to the balloon to see where the alignment was off. "Besides, I'm already wet. You're the one standing all dry around a girl armed with water balloons."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"And yet, I fail at feeling threatened," he smirked and was going to not so sneakily snag one of her balloons. "I wonder why that is."

[notmyownage]

"What, you don't think I'll throw it? Or you don't think I'd hit you if I did?"

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"I don't think I care," he snorted, tossing the balloon from one hand to the other. Maybe if she waited long enough, he'd end up getting himself wet.

Not dirty, dammit.

[notmyownage]

If Claudia was really skilled, she'd throw something at the balloon in his hands to make it burst in mid air on him.

She was not that skilled.

"Even if it's been flung at high speed from a giant machine?"

Yeah, so the trebuchet clearly wasn't at the point of such precision yet, but it would be, dammit.

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"You're going to need more than a giant machine to worry me, babe," he said in a mock deep voice. It'd have worked better if he wasn't half laughing by the end of it.

[notmyownage]

Claudia's shoulders started shaking. "Did you just call me 'Babe'?"

Oh, that was priceless.

"See, now I have to drench you."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"I wanted to see what it's like," he snickered and held up his balloon in response. "You can try."

[notmyownage]

"Oh I can, can I?" Claudia flung the balloon that had been sitting on the trebuchet at him. She ought to have known the tinkering would devolve into a water balloon fight at some point.

A water balloon fight for science!

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

Jake didn't even try dodging, simply closing his eyes as the balloon hit him and then there was drenched boy. Slightly cooled down boy, but he was laughing.

"Awwwww, see you can," he chuckled and lobbed his balloon at her. Fair was fair. Even if that meant he was out of ammo already.

[notmyownage]

Claudia was already drenched, so one more balloon didn't make much of a difference. Still, there was, like, pride to be maintained here. She tried to dodge behind one of the trebuchet's supports, which was kind of too narrow to be an effective shield even for a bean pole like her.

"And now the upper hand is mine!" She crowed, grabbing a balloon from her stash and lobbing it at him.

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"You wish!" This time he turned sideways, letting it hit his side and then he was moving quickly to her side of the trebuchet, making a dive for her ammo.

[notmyownage]

Dude was kind of fast, wasn't he? Claudia let out a shriek she would deny making later, also grabbing for the water balloon supply, with every intention of pulling it out of his reach.

Yeah, that wasn't likely to be successful.

[bamf-tastic.livejournal.com]

Sometime after classes were over, Kurt appeared on a nearby rooftop, holding two water guns and peering off furtively at the edge of the trees (http://community.livejournal.com/fandomhighdorms/1925863.html).

Then he noticed Claudia and teleported next to her. "WHOA! Is it done? Is it working??? Please say yes!!!"

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

It didn't seem to be as Jacob was able to grab another balloon from the stash. Really, there was no art in aiming when they were this close, but like he gave a damn. It was all about the drenching.

[notmyownage]

"Uh." Claudia tilted her head. "Almost kind of?" She noticed his water guns. "You have a target for me to try for?"

[notmyownage]

It wasn't as though he could miss, at that range. Claudia shrieked again, then returned fire.

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

And it wasn't like any of them were actually dry anymore. Still, it wasn't half as fun if you stopped the fighting, right?

And it was a legit counter to try to push her back from the pile of balloons.