513/Attempting SCIENCE!

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Attempting SCIENCE!
Date of Scene: 14 March 2020
Location: Science Lab - Happy Harbor High School
Synopsis: Christine Gets Some Help In Chem Lab From Riri
Cast of Characters: Christine Lake, Riri Williams




Christine Lake has posed:
It's the last period of classes for the day; which for Christine means Chemistry. While normally a good student in her other classes, Chemistry is her weak point. And today is a lab experiment in Boyle's Law: measuring the pressure and volume of a gas at a constant temperature. It's a recreation of Boyle's original experiment, and right now Christine is just looking at the instructions and the materials in front of her, trying to go step by step but not quite getting things set up correctly.

Riri Williams has posed:
Riri Williams is kind of a know it all.

At least where it comes to course work and school. She's almost bored by it, really. Science? Pssh, she can science in her sleep, and lazy her way into A's without even drying. A fact that the instructors are well aware of. The fact that she's got a higher level of education than any two of them aside, She has a Masters in Engineering from M.I.T. at 15, they know precisely where her weak spot exists.

Dealing with people.

So as she makes her way into class, backpack worn on both shoulders, hat pulled low, earphones in playing music from her cellphone in her pocket of her overalls, she's directed over to Christine to help her.. "No." She says initially, glancing at the other student, and defiantly back up at the teacher.

Negociations devolve and end with We'll just tell Tony, then.

So that's how Riri Williams became Christine's impromptu tutor. "I need to know what your baseline understanding of the scientific process is."

Christine Lake has posed:
Christine looks over at her impromptu tutor, giving a weak smile. "Well...it's not great," she admits. "How I understand it is, you follow the instructions, see what works or doesn't work, figure out why or why not, then report. My problem is..." Christine places the plastic syringe in the bottom wood block, attaches it to the holder, puts the plunger in, then places the top block on the assembly. The idea is for the top block to provide weight to create a constant pressure inside the syringe; but the block's weight actually pushes the plunger down inside the syringe, slowly falling until the plunger is fully depressed.

Christine sighs again as the aparatus fails yet again. "I'm following the instructions. I just don't know what's going wrong..."

Riri Williams has posed:
Riri looks over the experiment spread out infront of her with a frown, "First off, this is a subpar place to conduct this kind of experiment..." But they have to work with what they've got, "The important thing with Boyle's law is the constant pressure at the open end of the syringe." She points out, "Essentially, you're creating a seal here..." Holding up her own in one hand, but in such a way that she can block off the end with her finger completely. "Creating a constant air pressure inside the syringe where air cannot escape." Demonstrating by pushing on the plunger with the palm of her hand to show that it doesn't move slowly.

"The theory of the experiment is to prove Boyle's law of pressure of a gas is inversely proportional to its volume.. Which is a long way of saying: If gas has no where to go, it becomes akin to a solid by definition of its mass index." She leans forward and takes Christine's plunger out from between the blocks, "But I've found your problem." Repeating the process as she had with her own, holding it and pushing the plunger with her finger over the hole. Air escapes at one side. "There's a small hole here." Pointing it out.

She hands Christine the plunger she brought from her own workstation. "Do it with mine."

Christine Lake has posed:
Christine nods along with Riri's explanation, then frowns as the hole is pointed out. "Well, that's mean..." she mutters. Repeating the set-up using Riri's syringe, everything starts working as the instructions indicate. "Alright!" She's smiling wide, and she turns to Riri, giving a nod of appreciation. "Thanks alot. I never would have thought to see if the equipment was flawed. I thought I was just doing the experiment wrong. You're a lifesaver." She holds out her hand in greeting and adds. "Oh, I'm Christine, by the way. Thanks for the save, here."

Riri Williams has posed:
Riri looks at the extended hand, mouth twisted to the side thoughtfully. Her response to the appreciation is a solumn nod, a short clipped thing, and a raised brow. "You should always test the equipment for flaws. Your experimental data could be corrupted through no fault in your process, which then becomes a fault in your experiment. Failure to know whether you're working with broken equipment is no excuse." Deadpan, almost distant, scratching behind her left ear.

She finally reaches out to take Christine's hand. "Riri." She is far to intelligent to be here. But that's not why she's here! She's here for the social element of school, not the educational.

Christine Lake has posed:
"Nice to meet you, Riri." And Christine does seem to be genuinely happy to meet the girl, even if the feeling isn't completely reciprocal. She pays attention to Riri's lecture on checking the equipment to ensure proper results, and nods along. "Right. I'm guessing you're kind of good at the science stuff. Especially the way you talked about Boyle's Law." Christine give a little self-abasing shrug and smile. "I mean, I can understand it, but it takes me a while and a couple read-thrus of the material. But! I'm a wiz at history, if you ever need help with that." She smiles brighter and starts to record results in the workbook page. "So, where are you from, Riri? I'm out here from San Francisco, myself."

Riri Williams has posed:
"Chicago." Riri says of her own former place of residency, scratching behind her ear with her eyes down on the table. Her other hand is in her lap beneath the table, picking at the seam of the overalls left leg, "I like science, yes. Science is what it is and changes very little without good explanation or logical evolution of idea.. It's a constant. I like constants." Looking sideways, from beneath the shadow of her hat, at Christine. "If you want to help me with History, I would not say no." She's doing alright in the social sciences, but not nearly so well as the actual.

Christine Lake has posed:
"No problem at all," Christine reassures Riri. "Just let me know when you need the help. I've got cheer practice after school for an hour & a half each day, but I'm free in the evenings and on weekends, mostly." Becasue of course, someone this upbeat is going to be a cheerleader..."I've heard Chicago's a pretty neat city. All I've heard about is the pizza and the sports teams, but I'm sure you guys have more intersting things there than just those. I mean, San Francisco's got lots more than just Chinatown and Cable Cars." She laughs softly, trying to be loud and disturb the other students. "So, besides science, what else are you into, Riri?"

Riri Williams has posed:
"That's basically all Chicago has." Riri says in an attempt to sound conversational, maybe even comical, but she has no timing or change of inflection to indicate it. Pulling at the brim of her hat, of course she's a cheerleader. "I.. Uh... I like anime and music. I've graduated from M.I.T. with a masters in engineering, making me the second youngest college graduate behind Michael Kearney... He went on to great success as a game show contestant..." useless information. "What about you?"

Christine Lake has posed:
"Oh, sports, movies...pretty typical stuff," Christine answers as she finishes writing her observations up. "I watch some anime, and I kind of like it. I mean, you really can't live in San Francisco and *not* get exposed to anime." She laughs a bit, hoping to help put the other girl at ease. "I like a lot of the high school and romcaom style series. Not so much the big robots...macha? Or the really creepy and gory ones. And my mom tried to get me into Sailor Moon, since she watched that when she was younger." She holds out her hand and wobbles it. "It was okay. Not something I loved, but okay. How about you? What are your favorites?"

Riri Williams has posed:
"Sailor Moon." Riri says after Christine has finished. She says it so matter of fact and demure that it sounds more like a period or a lowkey exclamation point. If she weren't grinning, a shadow of a grin anyways. "One Punch Man. Berserker... Uhh.. Gundam Wing. Obviously Dragon Ball.. Sword Ark Online." She bobs her head, "A couple of the more remote shows like Highschool of the Dead." Clutching her tablet to her chest with both arms, "Maybe we can hang out sometime and watch anime." Tony did say she had to get out of her shell.

Christine Lake has posed:
"Sure!" And...she sounds genuinely interested. She's not just saying yes to humor Riri or blow her off. "I like your clothes," Christine adds after examining Riri again for a bit. "It's really retro-industrial, yeah? Like, World War 2 and Rosie the Riveter. Ummm...what's it called? Dee...Dieselpunk? Is that it? Anyways, It's really cool and unique."

Riri Williams has posed:
Riri looks down at herself, then up at Christine.. "Yes, I suppose that's accurate. I was just going for comfort. I like 90s style clothes and cultural color schemes, though." Which is why most things she wears are in green, black, and yellow. Not like she's hiding it. She actually grins, not that force grin thing she's been doing trying to look normal. "Thank you. I am not a huge fan of yours, but you wear it very well." Also brutally honest, but some people like that.

Christine Lake has posed:
Christine smiles, not taking offense. "Hey, everyone has their own style and tastes. It would be pretty boring if everyone dressed alike, yeah? Same clothes, same colors, same cuts. Sam thing for books, movies, and TV." She shrugs a bit. "I mean, I don't see differences as a bad thing. More like an attempt to try something new. I mean, you've already graduate MIT, right? So you obviously don't need the education here, like the rest of us. But you're still here to try things that are different, right? Maybe you like some of them, maybe you don't. But you're trying new things, and that's good. At least, that's how I see it."

Riri Williams has posed:
"Not by choice." Riri points out, "I'm being forced to go here. Tony thinks that it will help ground me to be around kids my own age... I think it will alienate me because I'm almost always smarter than them." Which isn't a jab at the other students, it almost sounds like she means it as a jab at herself. Intelligence as a self induced insult. "I guess I /am/ trying new things, but I don't always think that it's as beneficial as people say it is. There's no constants in it... just wild, ever shifting, variables that make very little sense to my future..." Pause, quiet, looking down. "I guess.." Weak attempt to cover up how rude that could have sounded. "I should probably get going, though. I have statistics next period and I'm giving a presentation that I need to prepare for." She side glances at Christine, "It was good to have met you."

Christine Lake has posed:
"Yeah," Christine says after Riri lets things out. "I've got another friend that likes stability; hates variable. He's pretty smart too. I guess...sometimes, when you're smart, it's hard to accept things you can't predict or control. Not when you've already got so much you *can* control already. I guess the lesson that the rest of us learn is: you can't be in control of *everything*; so sometimes the best you can do is just make it up as you go." She's still smiling, still friendly. And Christine nods when Riri says she's going to give a lecture on statistics. "Okay, I'll see you around..." Before Riri leaves, though, Christine scribbles on a piece of paper and passes it over. "Give me a call when you want to hang out or need help with history, okay?" And then she starts packing her books up.