[West Wing] Now for something completely different... (Solo)

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Tock walked into class wearing a proud grin. She was imagining what her Granddad would say if he saw the wonder she had brought with her. She knew he would be proud of her. She had a tear in her eye at the thought, wishing she could have shown her creation to him. She had stopped on the way in and bought a new leather belt and apron. She didn't know the first thing about leatherworking, but she wanted a holder for her toy. She got to class early, before anyone else showed up, and set to work. First she cut the straps off the apron and tucked them away. Then she placed her device on the apron, and folded it overtop to take some measurements. She used a gouge to etch out the required shape and size, then flipped the apron over to the other side to repeat the measurements. Once that was done, she used a carving knife to cut the leather. It wasn't the right tool for the job, so the cuts ended up a bit jagged, but it would suffice. Once it was cut she used her gouges to poke small holes through the leather at points all along the edges except for the top. She then gathered some small metal clasps from the lab's spare parts and hooked them through the holes to secure the pieces together. Later, she'd have to figure out how proper leather stitching worked and sew the pieces together to be more solid, but she didn't know anything about that. Without proper stitching, the holder wouldn't be watertight, it wouldn't be very solid, and it looked about as amatuerish as could be. But the clasps should hold the pieces together, and that was good enough until she could make something better. She needed someplace to carry Grippy, and there simply wasn't any loop or pouch on her tool belt that would do the trick. Finally, she cut two small slits in the back side of the new holder, and fed the belt through them. Without the slits being properly reinforced, it was likely that the leather would start to tear in a few weeks or months, since the weight of the invention would be tugging on the leather and slowly stretching it out. But she didn't know how to reinforce them. She added it to her to-learn list. Leatherworking could be a useful trade. Once she was finished, she strapped the crude, lopsided leather holder to her hip, almost as if it were a sword scabbard. She slipped Grippy inside, and patted him proudly. "'At'll make an okay 'ome fer ya 'til I can getcha somethin' proper," she told it. She got no response... the construct couldn't understand language, and wasn't capable of emotion. It was technically "alive", but the reactions it was capable of were most closely related to something like a venus flytrap; a living thing capable of reflexive motion, but without any sentience. She then sat down on the table, her invention hanging off the edge at her hip, and waited for her classmates to show up. Actually, she just wanted to see Marcus show up so she could gloat.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

"Good morning class," Professor Beadle said as he waddled into the room. "Mornin', Prof!" Minerva said energetically, giving him a short half-wave. He stopped and looked at her curiously. She never said good morning to him. He must have been able to tell she was in a good mood. Everyone was finished their projects today. Jonas and Kyle's were, as expected, nothing worth making a fuss over. The size of a man's fist, each one could simply be wound up and released to roll across the table on small wheels. Minerva had seen better toys for sale in the market. Marcus's project was running smoothly, and he had spent the last couple of days, while Minerva was animating her project, working on painting and putting finishing touches on it. As models went, she reluctantly admitted that it didn't look half bad; it was useless, but when he wound it up, the parts all turned smoothly, the blades spun in a steady rhythm, and there were even some tiny, thumb sized 'workers' inside that shifted around as if working the mill. They didn't have working arms or legs, but moved about the room on small metal rods stuck through slots in the floor, which were powered by hidden gears underneath the surface. To a collector who liked such trinkets, it could net him some gold... except she knew he meant to keep the model and use it as a guide to begin planning a larger-scale version. Minerva watched very carefully as Marcus was demonstrating his completed work. She didn't care about the project itself... she was waiting for an opportunity to steal the show. She finally got one after Marcus used a screwdriver to make a minute adjustment, and set it down on the table. When he wound the model up again and started it off, the small vibrations the motion of the machine sent through the table caused the screwdriver to roll off, and clatter on the ground. Before he could move around the table to retrieve it, Tock called out, "Oy, no worries, bloke! I got 'er!" Grinning wide, she pulled Grippy from the leather holder, struggling a bit when it snagged on the poorly worked leather. She leaned forward and aimed the device, touching her finger at the certain place to extend the arm. Everyone stopped and stared as the gears spun and the arm extended without any apparent action on Tock's part; the movements of her fingers were subtle enough not to draw notice, and they could clearly tell she wasn't cranking the gears or anything like that. It took a bit of adjustment to get the gripper around the screwdriver on the ground. Arching her neck to watch what she did, she slid her thumb horizontally across the back of the handle to rotate the gripper just slightly on its connection, then slid her thumb down the vertical length of the handle to close the grip tight. She then used both hands to lift the extended arm up off the ground; it was lightweight, but holding something that long was awkward. She shifted her grip a bit, grinning despite the slight strain on her wrists, and aimed the device at Marcus. Then she extended it the last couple of feet until it was right in front of him. She let out a soft cackle when he stepped back, watching the device with a bit of fear. There was a slightly wild look in the inventor's eyes as she slid her thumb to release the gripper, dropping the screwdriver into Marcus's shaking hand. She then retracted the device, grinning, cackling, and bouncing on her seat on the table as she watched her baby fold back up. Holding the handle with both hands, she shifted it back to rest by her shoulder, the gripper aimed upwards. She slid her thumb in a quick back and forth motion twice to make the gripper open and close with a quick snap, snap!. A mad sparkle in her eyes she nodded behind Marcus and asked, "Ya need anythin' off the top shelf?"

[Arcane]

Rewards and Treasure! Experience Points +1 Drawing +3 Intimidation +2 Carving +2 Metalsmithing +1 Drawing +2 Gadgeteering +2 Animation +1 Leatherworking +1 Mathematics Lores Wax Casting: Venting Channels Metalsmithing: Aluminum Metalsmithing: Wax Molds Metalsmithing: Sand Casting Frames Jonas the Gadgeteering Classmate Kyle the Gadgeteering Classmate Professor Beadle the Gadgeteering Teacher Marcus the Gadgeteering Classmate Marcus the Rival Miscellaneous +Inventory: Animated Golem: Grippy +Inventory: Leather Holster for Grippy Comments Brava Tock... Brava! This is an excellent thread, I must say. I get a very steam-punk feel from this, especially with the school setting, the gadgeteering and gears, as well as your post background. I love steam-punk. Now, I gave you few points for mathematics since you seemed to use it at a secondary level. Mathematics can only truly improve when you purposefully work on it in a thread, through doing theoretical (but usually useless pragmatically-speaking) exercises. Simple counting doesn't work Regarding the new item you get, the project you've been working so hard on, it's up to you to elaborate on how it looks and what it does in your CS. Of course, please stick to what you've mentioned and done in this thread only. Also, I'm not too sure what lores I can give, since plenty of the stuff Minerva did is implicitly covered under the skills that she practised. Let me know if you want any other Lores and I'll add it if it's reasonable Also, please let me know if you have any concerns regarding this grading, whether you want revisions or whatnot. I am a very reasonable and friendly person - I won't bite! Also, I want to say that I love Minerva's personality. My favourite quote: "E jus' ain't got no vision...". At the rate that she's going, I expect great things from her. Finally to end off... "For Science!"