markofthewise | Sokka the 61st

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Sokka the 61st - [Action/Voice]

[When Sokka opens the journal, he does it with a very specific purpose and yeah, maybe it's New Feather season and the aftermath of some dumb experiment, but he has some news that he's been sitting on for awhile. News that only two or three people outside of the Avatar house are even aware of. So today, around lunch period at school, Sokka heads around the building, facing the playground, to make an announcement he'd been putting off for a bit. Not because he didn't want to make it, but it was hard to do it with people being all ragey with the Malnosso. Maybe a few days of New Feathers will have cooled them off?]

Hey everyone. So... this is actually a few weeks late, but uh, that experiment kind of got in the way and New Feathers showing up and... anyway. Forget all that.

If you guys happen to see Suki around town, say hi to her for me. After all, she's the future Missus Thunderaxe. [He allows that to sink in a bit.] Because, you know, we're engaged now. Just saying. Nice pretty necklace and everything. One of my best works, if I do say so myself.

[Yeah, yeah. He's feeling good about that, okay. Like, solid. Whatever that means. Anyway, he decided that tonight he is making dinner. That means he's going to the grocery and stocking up on steaks. He wants to make steak burgers, because he's heard about them (somewhere) and they sounded awesome. From Luceti he had decided he liked steak and he liked hamburgers, so a combination? Gotta be a winner. Nevermind that he's just getting regular old steaks and plans to just put those on a hamburger bun. He'll realize the bones are gonna be a problem later on.

He'll make his customary appearance at the smithy to help New Feathers with weapons. He'll also be around school during the appropriate times for that. In the evening, after his dinner fiasco, he'll be down by the river, on the southern end of town, making some modifications to see if he can't make it sea worthy. Like adding a sail. He's pretty unsatisfied with the results though. Looks like he may need to just make a new boat from scratch. Which necessitates another voice post in the evening. But only after excluding a certain pirate. No offense, Jack, but he wants his own boat.]

[Filtered from Jack Sparrow]

So... ship building. Anyone want to help make one? A big one. Not huge, just... sea worthy with a nice strong sail. And good for bringing in lots of fish, too. Any help would be good. Just materials would go a long way.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'll have you know I managed to raise a family and still keep a regular schedule at the smithy.

[He's referring to the experiment, of course. But it's still applicable! Even if he got married, he'd still stick around.]

[Don doesn't really want to talk about that. During the experiment he managed to oversee most of the magitechnology in Luceti and also carry on an affair with his foster brother.]

Can you look at something for me?

[Well that's abrupt, but okay. So that gets a nod.]

Sure, what's up?

[He gestures you into the side room he's been using. Taking up most of it is a bell. Of the sort you might hang in a tower. Except instead of a clapper, it has four weights trailing on chains attached to the rim.]

The real problem is how to get it up and down.

[Yes, he will go directly to the real problem, assuming that you have already inferred all the necessary background information.]

[That is a fancy bell and Sokka gets a good look at it, but hasn't really figured out what it's for, just yet.]

Up and down where?

... In and out of the water.

Oh. [Okay, now he's trying to picture that. Give him just a second.]

((ooc: ... so, since Sokka is a lot better with this kind of stuff than I am, what exactly is Donnie working on here?))

[Take your time, Sokka. Don knows you have a knack for brilliantly simple solutions, and he could use one now.]

((One of these days I'll stop being cryptic. It's a diving bell. Generally raised and lowered by a pulley system, but Don is hoping to find a better power source for this than several strong people turning a winch.))

[This isn't something he's encountered before, but he's getting a general idea of what this is for.]

So you let this sink underwater, with someone in it, right? So... I guess you already plan to have a pipe or hose or something to pump in fresh air, right?

[He wishes he had a plan like that. But he despairs of building a working air pump when he can't even manage a simple motorcycle engine.]

[He shakes his head.] It will capture air when it's lowered. Like a cup in a bathtub. It's the best I can do.

Well it'll probably be a little exhausting, but we could always just hand pump it. Maybe even from the inside. Hmmm... or maybe there's a way to make it automatic... some kind of suction or something.

[This isn't really something he's put a lot of thought into yet. But while he hasn't even thought of any other potential balance problems from just going the cup route, he already recognizes the need for fresh air. He steps up to the bell and taps the outside of it.]

Either way, you're going to want fresh air in there. You just need a lip on top that the old air can escape through, but without flooding the bell.

[The more modern hose-fed designs are better. Why had he gone with the older air-pressure type?]

[Oh, right. Fifteen months of having his inventor's spirit broken by archaic technology and the near-total inability to create anything better.]

Do you really think we can do it?

[In a way, Sokka feels his pain. His inventive streak was severely squashed by the realization anything new was already long invented. Two inventors both in the wrong place.]

Sure, why not? In fact, maybe we can use the same principle of a hot air balloon to rise and descend. [It's a stretch, he knows that, and would make this a lot more complicated. But... maybe it could work? You never know until you try.]

... You want to heat the air inside the bell?

No, we don't need to heat it. Air is already lighter than water. So if we pump enough air into the bell, gravity should do the rest of the work for us, right?

[True, but -] You'd need to pump it with enough force to overcome water pressure at depth.

... much as I hate to use something that isn't science or technology, there's always Kippin. Wind powers don't sound like much, but you focus it into a small pipe with enough pressure and you can get a lot of force there. But I guess it depends on how deep this thing is going. Lake or ocean?

[This suggestion almost makes Don want to kiss you. Until he remembers that he can't be on the surface forcing air into the hose and at the same time be underwater helping Robert swim. ~~And also that you're engaged to a girl.~~]

I don't think the lakes are deep enough to need it. If anyone has a ship that can carry it, I'd like to take it to the ocean.

[Winry says turtle kisses are overrated anyway, so he's good.]

Well, actually, I was hoping to start work on a boat. Mostly for fishing. I guess it would have to be something bigger to use something like this, though.

[Winry is a turtle heart breaker.]

[Don nods, casts around, finds the book he was looking for, and opens it to show Sokka a diagram of a full-size sailing ship carrying a diving bell. Side schematics show the rigging of the pulley system, the swinging crane arm to move the bell on and off the deck, men turning the capstan to raise the bell, and other instructive scenes.]

I think we're going to need more help.

[Going from the diagram, yeah... definitely.]

... well the others can probably help with this. [Hiccup springs to mind. He seems pretty resourceful and this is, conceptually, simple stuff.] But uh... why exactly are you making this?

For people who can't swim.

[You see, he has only recently learned that such people exist.]

[... so a person can't swim, so you put them at the bottom of the sea in a metal bell? Errr...]

Are you sure that's a good idea?

[This is the Turtle who personally jumped off a bridge with an untested hang-glider.]

I'll make sure it's safe.

Yeah... oh, right. So you must be able to hold your breath for a long time? I mean... that's a turtle thing, right?

Edited 2011-05-10 14:01 (UTC)

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