11368/Easy as 1, 2, square root of 9

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Easy as 1, 2, square root of 9
Date of Scene: 27 May 2022
Location: Labs - Titan's Tower
Synopsis: Vic shows Maddie the prototype for her lightsaber hilt, and Bart comes along to check it out. They find that Vic's idea of 'easy' and Maddie's idea of 'easy' are very different.
Cast of Characters: Victor Stone, Madison Evans, Bart Allen




Victor Stone has posed:
    It's taken him a while, but Vic's finally made a prototype of a lightsaber hilt for Maddie. He's tried to make it something that'll be easy enough to teach the girl to put together herself, as least in terms of assembly; he doesn't figure she'll be able to learn metallurgy all that quickly. But he's got the blueprints and the prototype, complete with forcefields, ready. No power source for the actual beam, of course--whatever she's going to use to power it, they'll have to figure that out.

    He gives her a call and invites her to come over the Tower and visit the labs to see what he's put together. It's been a fun distraction from the weird state of the Tower lately, and he's really enjoyed the challenge. Not just making a lightsaber hilt, but simplifying the construction process and so on. Harder to do than it sounds!

Madison Evans has posed:
    You don't need ask Maddie twice - the word 'lightsaber' is more than enough to get her excited. So afte telling her mom she's off to visit Irie (she'll make sure to stop in on her friend to make it true) she jumps on her bike, and rides for the nearest public transit hub. She waits impatiently for a bus, and then for a hyperloop train, and then for another bus...! But eventually she's there, locking her bicycle up outside the tower as she makes her way to the lab.
    "I'm here! I'm here!" she huffs as she arrives. She'd already texed Victor her ETA - but she was out of breath - clearly she'd pedaled hard from the bus stop.
    "OH. EM. GEE, I can't wait to see it! How much can I customize? ...how am I going to customize it? Maybe I can get it inlaid with like... the Jedi Order symbol or something!"
    Whether it's coindicence or not - Madison's t-shirt shows Adam Savage from Mythbusters fame, dressed ina Jedi robe, and declaring, 'It's time for SCIENCE(fiction)!'

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen just happened to be at the tower checking in on things. He sees Madison rushing towards the lab, and decides it might be something he should check on. With what he has heard recently about Irie, seeing her bestie running somewhere is worth taking note of. HE gives Madison a moment and walks in a coupld seconds behind her.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic holds up what looks to be an entirely normal lightsaber hilt, unadorned. "Ta-da!" He grins brightly and holds it out to Maddie. "If you flick the switch there, the forcefield should generate, but there's no power source for the actual 'lightsaber' part yet. Check and make sure it's the right size, though? Not too big for your hands, and all."

    He considers Maddie's question. "You could customize it, sure. Adding some decorations wouldn't be too hard. I wanted to make sure it was something that felt right, and that you could take apart and put back together yourself." He waves to Bart as the speedster arrives. "Hey Bart! I've been helping Maddie figure out how to make a lightsaber."

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison //squeals// - actually squeals. It's loud, and a little high-pitched, and not altogether the most pleasant of sounds - but she quickly clamps her hands over her mouth and mumbles through them, "Sorry, sorry."
    She pulls her hands away from her mouth, but seems almost hesitant to reach out for the lightsaber as she asks uncertainly, "Can I... hold it?" Never mind that that is precisely what Victor had implied she //must// do. Only once he gives her a nod does she can't the divice, waving it cautiously through the air. "Yhis is SOOOOOO COOL. Ummm. So - does it function as a 'stunsaber' like this? You said something about the forcefield being able to do that?"
    So focused is she on the lightsaber - she hardly seems to register poor Bart's presence just yet.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will make sure he is a good ten foot from Madison, he has seen both future tech and the Star wars movies, so he is not taking any chances. He moves to the other side of Vic, and says "So, you going to make one of the little zappy balls to help her train with it?"

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic grins at Bart. "I mean, I /could/, although I was kinda figuring we'd do that in the Danger Room. Anyway, the thing doesn't really work yet. Whatever's going to power the core of the lightsaber--and I'm still not sure whether that's plasma or some kind of photon molecules or maybe work with interference with lasers--we don't have that. And I didn't put a big enough power pack in to make a stunsaber /just/ yet because I don't know whether the kyber crystal or whatever will be powering it. It's a prototype!"

    A pause, and he adds, "But the forcefield should probably tingle a little if you touch it, at least. You /might/ be able to bat a ball out of the air."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Oh! Yes! Please please please!" Madison says with the utmost enthusiasm, beaming between the two men. "I mean - the Danger Room is awesome - it's //a-maaaaaaazing// - but a remote I could take with me, and practice at home," and show off to her friends...
     As Victor describes the current strength of the force field, she looks at it, then at the two men, then reaches out slooooowly - to cautiously give it a poke, waiting to see if Victor will stop her.
    He doesn't, though, and she lets out a little squeak, and then a giggle. "Oh, that feels weird..."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen watches her nodding to Victor and said "Or Irie, and I can take turns throwing tennis balls at her when she least expects it." His smirk is not quite a distyrbance in the force as he teases a bit with the young jedi.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic rolls his eyes. "Okay, /first/, we've gotta see if you can take the thing apart and put it back together." He does not, indeed, stop Maddie from poking the thing. That's a big part of why he made it so low-powered at first. "You can't /use/ the lightsaber like a proper Jedi until you've put it together, right?"

    He nods to Bart. "But that's a great idea. And--oh, we've been trying to figure out how to power the thing, and I've been thinking... Wonderland exists, right? So maybe somewhere out in the universe there's an actual galaxy far, far away that has kyber crystals. Barring that... I dunno, miniature arc reactors?" He makes a face. He doesn't entirely like that idea; that's a dangerous thing to leave lying around. "I feel like I need someone to bounce ideas off of."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "...tennis balls hurt! At least - as fast as you guys throw things!" Madison protests - her expression deeply horrified. It doesn't last, though, as she trains her attention back on Victor. "Right! Okay. You show me how," she suggests - handing it over to the man before adding, "We'll find a way to power it. I know it. I think this is //meant// to be," she insists.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over to her and says "You would block them as a goal." He tells her, "Plus would not throw them at full speed, just use the speed so you did not know which direction they were coming at you from." He offers. He looks over to Victor, and says "There are a lot of places out there folks of earth don't know about yet, but don't think I ever heard of them. Not saying they aint there, just not something I know about

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic nods. "Remember how last time we were talking about--oh! Bart! I'm thinking Madison might make a good Titan. I think she should be a prospect, at least. Anyway... the Titans have all different levels of ability and toughness. We're used to having to be careful with people with our powers. Bart and Irie wouldn't throw a ball so fast it'd hurt you."

    He takes the lightsaber and puts it on a workbench, then goes to pull out a set of tools. Maybe /Vic/ thinks the tools are easy to use, but 'easy' is relative. Vic was homeschooled until he was 13, by a genius scientist father, so he was fiddling with lab tools before most kids know how to read. What he presents Madison with is maybe more of a journeyman electrician's kit than anything really /beginner/.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Oh," Madison says - as if that hadn't occurred to her. Because it //hadn't.// "Oh. That makes sense! Okay then. I bet you'll still make it sting, though," she remarks, sticking out her tongue briefly.
    She moves in close to watch Victor work with his tools, a curious look on her features to see what he's doing. "I was just expecting like.... screwdrivers and such. Though I suppose it should be 'spanners' - that's what they seem to call all the tools in Star Wars..."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen nods, and says "Of course we would got to give you a reason to block it, the zappy bot stung." He reminds her a bit about that. He will move over to look at the tools, and picks one of the more advanced one looking it over and hmms. He will make a slight calibration on it, and hands it back to Vic "That should improve your tolerances"

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic takes the tool as Bart hands it to him and blinks. "Oh, hey, that's... thanks, Bart. That'll be pretty useful."

    Then he blinks at Madison. "There's screwdrivers. See... here." He points out a range of screwdrivers on a rack underneath the pliers and wire-cutters. Insulated screwdrivers, so they /do/ look kind of odd. "You should put on the gloves, there, it'll keep you from getting electrocuted."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "I mean, yeah, but..." Madison lets out a sigh at the thought of her friend pelting her with fifteen tennis balls at once. It would //suck//.
    "I'm opposed to electrocution," the teen adds, picking up the gloves and slipping them on. She picks up some of the tools, turning them over in her hands, and then setting them back where she found them. "Okay. You'll have to teach me everything because this looks.... complicated."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will nod over to Vic, and says "No problem, I noticed it was close to something used in my shop class before I came back." Said shop class was VR but still "I just thought I would help if I could." He looks to the two, and hmms "I should probably leave you two to it to not be a distraction."

Victor Stone has posed:
    "You're not a distraction, Bart! Heck, maybe you can help with..." Vic rubs at the back of his neck. "I mean, that's not... /complicated/, right? That's the kit I got for my 10th birthday." Yes. 10th. The sort of thing a professional electrician might use.

    He considers this for a long moment. "Oh. /Oh/. You... have probably never even cut a wire before, huh? Well, damn."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Not yet, no," Madison admits. "I get to cut wires? Nice! Teach me how!" she says eagerly - bouncing up onto the tips of her toes. Vic certainly couldn't ask for a more enthusiastic student, at the very least.
    Then towards Bart she adds, "I don't mind if you stay. But if you already know how to do all this stuff - well. I guess it might be boring for you. I'm not bored, though!"
%

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen hmms and looks between Madison and Vic, and gets an aha look on his face, and he is off, and a moment later he is sitting at one of the computers in the lab (Probably the one Irie uses so it can take speed typing) he has a stack of books with him this or that for dummies, the other for beginners. He starts going through them at speed, and after just a moment, he is standing next to the mini disk writer, tapping his food at only a few miles an hour, not enough to make a dent in the floor at least.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic pinches the bridge of his nose for a moment. He's trying to think about how to teach someone to cut wires. "This is why I got into sports," he grumbles. He's remembering being entirely new to school and being the weird nerdy kid until he joined the football team. At least with football he was learning alongside the rest of the guys, and his interest in science wound up translating into practical outcomes. Nobody thinks you're the weird nerdy kid when you can help them get a better spin on the ball.

    He shakes himself and goes to stand next to Madison. "Okay. First of all... yeah, gloves on. That one's a wire cutter." He glances over to Bart. "What're you up to?"

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison waggles her gloved fingers at Victor, and then picks up the wire cutters. "You should always make sure the battery is disconnected first. Right? I mean- does it even have a battery? Is a 'battery' too simplistic a concept for this?" Bart seems to have faded back to the background for Madison, as she focuses all of her attention on the task at hand.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "Also only have one hand in the circuit at a time, that way if it grounds out on you, it goes through your arm and down your leg into the ground, not across your chest back into the circuit, safer that way." He will get the disk and offers it to Vic "Here, I figured this might give you some more insight on dealing with a beginner, and my typing it so you could down load it would be quicker than you having to read it.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic grins at Bart, kind of sheepishly. "Thanks," he says, and promptly goes about downloading the information so he can see what's actually considered... "beginner." He frowns thoughtfully and then nods to Madison.

    "You're absolutely right. Okay, so, the battery's screwed in over here, so let's start by /carefully/ using this screwdriver--the non-magnetic one--to loosen it..."