Re: Training Begins -Day 2 (Thread Closed)

[Merrihop]

Sunny allowed Keir to correct her grip without protest, nodding an affirmative as she grasped what the proper way to hold the lance was, "Ok I think I get this part..." She looked puzzled at the lance, but tried to mimic what the others were showing her, "I still appreciate it. You guys are sweet to help."

After a moment or two, she glanced up at them, apprehension spreading across her face "Er... we're not going to practice hitting each other again, right?..."

[KeirStryker95]

"No problem," Keir smiled at her noticing she had the grip right. "And don't worry. We won't do that. I'm sure the Commanding Officers have something else they think you'd be better at. Not that you aren't good enough to do the attack and defense training, but you get my idea."

He thought back to all that they had done together, and nodded to the others. "Would one of you like to take over for the next part?" Keir smiled, moving out of the way.

[tobi3B]

"Haha No Sunny, at least not yet, we should show you how to hold the lance proper. It´s mostly for ceremonial happenings. The hitting things will come later." Angus grins at the little Marten " but you are more our scout so if you see something that needs hitting run to us and direct us to it."

[Merrihop]

A wave of relief washed the worry off Sunny's face and she sighed, "Ok that's good... I'm not sure I'd be that good at the attack and defense things anyway, really, but I hope I can at least be useful."

She glanced at Angus and giggled, "I'll remember that. I guess that's why they have all different jobs. I've never really fought before."

[Akkarri]

Lex barely turned her eyes to keep Steel in focus, though her ears were sharp, allowing her to track most around by the sounds they made. However she felt that the eyes were easier to notice for being attentive. She though would occasionally leave her eyes close for several seconds, yet whenever she opened them while Steel spoke she seemed to have her eyes on point.

She kept her breathing slow and controlled for the time being, even in the sun, there were ways to reduce the effect of it, and she had learned some level of control. Besides, with how previous encounters seem to have went, she figured it wouldn't be a good time to say anything at all, just listen. Do not talk unless spoken to and solicited for an answer. However the time standing still does provide one with some discomfort, causing her to need to flex muscles with little to no movement, just to remain limber, though occasionally such things may cause their own noises, such as the pop of a joint.

[DeanFox]

It’s not bleeding through it can’t be.  Calm down, think! Closing my eyes to steady my nerves preparing to open them and look again it’s not bleed through or washout it’s a slightly different shade both the yellow and the white, or I missed some probably both as I had to wait a few days for these colors to come in and that meant spending the night before departure dying out the pink.  Poor Summer, she felt so bad dying us all pink, and me being referee.  After all it wasn't her fault the bottle wasn't clearly marked.  Opening my eyes I begin checking again and I can tell where the pink was thank goodness I didn't take the balloon to the face just to my side. Either way short of shaving it away then letting it grow out I’m just going to have to just keep my shirt on and hope it’s in my head.  Looking around the latrines she’s gone… Well that makes sense she shouldn't have to waste her time with me I’m now in base ops.   But… watching her dragging a thing by the tail, okay you Idiot never run afoul of her again just like the old story if the Indian chief and the braves.  Here I am worrying about being pink and having a bald ring, and she's off defending the camp.  Packing away the cleaning supplies to stand in the doorway debating on a quick sprint for my tent and the second uniform there in.  Managing to get there without seeing a soul is tricky but doable grab and hurry into my uniform and even quicker backtrack to the latrines but, if I get caught… or lose my towel…

[Rotors91]

At Keir’s call to help out, Razor raised his hand, bouncing on his finned feet a bit like an excited pup. “Oh! Oh! Me! Meeeee!”. Grabbing a lance for himself, he moved towards the marten with a wide grin, “Alright, so like, bein’ minions, we might git the chance ta escort important peeps ‘n shiznit, we  gotta like, carry our lances all fancy like, ya know, make ourselves look good..Though, I honestly don’t know you can improve on perfection such as mahself, but hey, a good minion follows orders right? Right.” His voice grew deeper in an attempt to mimic Tigermark. It was quite terrible. “Now recruit, ready your lance like Keir showed you, and I will teach you how to look like..an escort”

[Tigermark]

Tigermark was keeping an ear cocked in the Recruit's direction as he slogged through the messages on his pad. Sunny was beginning to get over her fear and begin to learn. As he'd figured, the four male recruits were more than willing to teach the cute little marten what they'd learned earlier. Then Razor stepped up and volunteered to show her the present lance escort carry, and it was all the tiger could do not to burst out laughing at the stern imitation the shark did. TM was not one to usually take himself too seriously, so he didn't take offense at the mimicking. Sincerest form of flattery and all that.
He continued processing his messages and forced the grin off his muzzle.

[KeirStryker95]

Keir chuckled to himself, and curious to see Tigermark's reaction to Razor's imitation, looked around for him. When Keir did finally see him, he was facing half away from the group, watching them out of the corner of his eye. Seeing that he was still busy, Keir turned back to others and copied Razor with the present stance and movements, remembering to keep the lance perpendicular.

"Oh, an when doin' the present Sunny, One thing that is important, is to keep the lance perpendicula to ya shoulda. This way, it keeps it from marring ya face. Us mates already had that 'appen to us. Thank Guizmont (The Dark Wolves' God/Higher Being (similar to the Pagans' Wyrm/Fate) from my novel, if I can use that here) that the lances weren't plugged in!" Keir laughed as his restraint on his accent fell away, feeling a bit looser around his friends.

[Solitair]

"Well, for what it's worth," Alec told his superiors, "I'd like to volunteer for testing sometime."

Ruben's eyes widened, and he tried to look past Lukas to give Alec a befuddled look. "Um, scuse me, you wanna try again and ask me what I think first, bro?" he asked.

Alec chuckled and scratched his head. "Oh, um, sorry. Of course I'd have to put it to a vote with Lukas and Niko first."

"Assuming that our unique nature wouldn't complicate the test results and make them inapplicable to the average fur, of course," Lukas added.

They came to a silent accord to table the issue for the moment and finish their lunch, at which point they received their new orders. All three of them looked at Gu Jiao, though Lukas glanced at the other members of R&D to gauge their reactions. One or two of them may have displayed apprehension at the idea of working with a group, but Lukas wasn't one of them. Life had forced the idea of cooperating with different minds on him, and he wouldn't be able to walk if he hadn't gotten good at it. What was one more mind added to the team?

The brothers got up and moved to the tent with Gu Jiao, sitting across from him. "The mistake that my brothers and I made during the solo exercise was the development of ideas that violated the Overlord's core, ethical principles. In addition, they may well have proved overambitious, so I believe we should shoot a bit lower than a monitor into a person's dreams. I propose that we design a visual prosthetic to replace an eye in the event that someone is rendered blind."

"What about that artificial intelligence you talked about during the solo phase?" Alec asked.

"Yeah, aren't humans close to making that eye thing anyway?" Niko added. "We all saw those plans on the web."

Lukas shrugged. "Very well. The idea of a rudimentary AI that can be taught like a child is also on the table, though this idea has less practical applications at the moment and mostly serves as a bar-raising exercise. Gu Jiao, do you have any other ideas for a project?"

[TheSphinx]

Garran took up a noteblock and began walking up and down, writing. Sometimes he wondered at low voice, talking between itself. He was planning the disposition of a set of cameras. The idea was to use them to capture the user's hands, and then using a software to track the movements. Then the only thing left would be making a code easy and intuitive enough that anyone could use the map without training.

He continued sketching for a bit. The idea was good, but...

"Oh, the heck with this."
Garran took some duct tape and made a square on the floor. Then fetched some broomsticks and planted them at the four corners, sticking them together. The workspace was defined.
Now... string. Where could he find some string?
"Girls? Do you know where can I find some string?"

[Coyotecanuck]

"Yes sir" Ian nodded and turned to see where he was pointing. Recognizing Archeus from the day before, he walked over to the group. "I hope none of you mind having another group member?" he asked.

[Archeus]

Archeus looked up to see another recruit approaching. "Why hello again Ian. Good to see you. And yes I'm thrilled to have you in our group. Have a seat and I'll bring you up to speed." Archeus reaches around to get her briefcase and digs out the sketches and her preliminary notes. "Here ya go. take a gander at this."
"Doctor Silver asked us to come up with a project we could work on as a group. I thought this would be a good place to start. It is a Dynamic Mapping System."
Socks and Garran had already started brainstorming on the fluid dynamics and interface hardware. I was in the process of researching a soft membrane to help contain the product while being energized. If you have any ideas by all means feel free to throw them in. I would also encourage you to talk with Garran and Socks and get their input as well. Off hand I know the device will need a power supply designed. And we may want to build a model of the device to hand in with our finalized proposal. So that's what I know to this point."

[Archeus]

Archeus looked over at Garran. "Oh String. I believe there is a cabinet back by the bookshelves Marked [Supplies] you may be able to find some in there.

[TheSphinx]

"Behind the bookshelves. Good. Thanks!" said Garran running to the cabinet. So, string. Red, good. Green, no... blue! Wonderful.
And a measuring tape.
And a goniometer.
And, from the shelves, a book about pattern recognition.

He returned to the unstable structure and found a coyote reading Archeus' notes. He raised an eyebrow.
"Hello there. I'm Garran." and offered the rig- hell, where could he put everything- the left hand. "Sorry, I have too many things." Garran smiled briefly.

[Archeus]

As Garran came up, Archeus stood up to introduce Ian. "Oh hey Garran, this is Ian. Silver just assigned him to work with us. Ian this is Garran White."

[Archeus]

Archeus pointed to Ian, "Over here is our other member." Archeus walked over to Socks. "Ian may I introduce Socks Fisher. She is a Jack of all trades and always has a keen eye for detail. Socks this is Ian our newest member.

[Akkarri]

Lex watched Commander Steel for the few moments he had to deal with the general business of the camp and security. As she listened to the indication of what Shard’s next assignment would be, she would respectfully shift her eyes towards and follow the commander. “What shall be our next assignment, Sir?” she would ask, sounding rather flat as she shifted a little to try and avoid a cramp in her footpaw.

[Socks the Fox]

Socks looked up from the notes she was working on, smiling and saying "Hi! If you need help getting caught up on what we have so far, don't be afraid to ask!"

She showed what she had to Archeus, saying "I'm debating whether we should use a solid, sealed tank or a flexible membrane to hold the ferrofluid. The tank would be easier to make initially, but the membrane would allow more interaction. What do you think?"

[Archeus]

Archeus reached out and looked at the drawings from Socks. Well yes I will say this looks pretty reasonable. And it goes along with my original thought to have a stainless container with a soft membrane cover. The base would house the magnets and sonic emitters. The soft membrane would allow the fluid to develop it's shape. While keeping it contained. So yes I agree the soft membrane looks like a good containment medium.

[DeanFox]

One last check of the latrines just to make sure she didn't bring my things with us, where is that cage anyway? Bingo! Quickly getting dressed my watch is not working again setting it aside for a moment I hook the special straps I rigged up to each other and drape my boots around my neck. Fiddling with my watch adjusting the date and time you can still smell the ozone from… no way! Peeling the backing I added to keep the band from snagging hairs away the guts come out the back, not the front like it did before I sent it off for repairs. “Okay!” Popping the heel off my right boot for my small tool kit I pop the back off. “I’d better be wrong.” Looking at the guts it all watch nothing abnormal at all just way unwound, one maybe two years newer manufacture, and English/ Spanish rather than English/ Japanese. “This isn’t my watch.” Putting the back on I wind it properly and listen to the happy little tick, not quite as sweet a sound as mine but for as long as it takes for me to send it back with a note as to what happened I’ll keep an ear on it. Checking my little toolkit for its contents nothing is missing and I put the tools away, where is that ozone coming from. I can deal with this later I’ve got to take the trash out and report to base ops. Taking the trash out I head for the garbage area and quickly drop it off and head back to the center of camp where everyone has assembled to return the cage to lady Bane.

[Coyotecanuck]

"Thanks" Ian took the offered notes and started to look over them. "A Dynamic Mapping System using ferrofluids? We'll have to make sure that the device is properly insulated, the magnets could cause interference with other devices."

He looked up as someone approached. "Nice to meet you Garran, I'm Ian" he replied, shaking Garran's hand.

Ian followed Archeus over to where another member of the group was working. "Hello Socks, Nice to meet you" he replied with a smile.

"It might be a bit difficult finding the right material to use for the membrane. If it's too soft it could easily be damaged and the ferrofluids would cause quite a mess, too tough and it will be difficult for them to form a shape."

[tobi3B]

Angus did stand next to Keir and mimicked his movements to show Sunny how it is done
"See Sunny if you grab the lance here you can get a better grip"

[TheSphinx]

Garran placed the various things on a nearby table, and scratched his cheek, thoughtful.
"Why do you want to use a membrane, by the way? It would make things more complicated, since it should be stretchable to adapt to different surface dimensions, and taking into account surface tension is already difficult enough without an elastic membrane. Wouldn't be the magnetic force and a bowl be enough? "

[Socks the Fox]

Socks pondered for a bit, before replying, "Well, the idea was to make it a bit less bulky and easier to actually interact with. A membrane wouldn't let solid objects sink into the fluid, which would let, say, a commander set figures to represent troops on a field. I'm still not a hundred percent sure though, since there are some issues, like if you have four pillars or mountains or something," as she sketched out an example.

Once she had a rough doodle down, she continued, "then the membrane would be supported between them, rather than sinking down into the valley like we would expect."

Socks sat back in her chair, looking at the doodle blankly, adding "I think maybe for the prototype we should just stick to a covered tank of the stuff."

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