Who Says The Best Ideas Come From Movies? [Open]

[bonnypiperlad]

Despite having traveled with the Doctor and having been awake on Stacy for however long now, there's still certain aspects of 'modern' life that Jamie often finds himself fascinated by - even if it's something he's experienced before. Watching the moving pictures in the media library is definitely one of those things. There's so many to choose from

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[things_go_boom]

Lash had been meaning to get some training done, when she came in. The last thing she had expected was one(1) Scottish guy who happened to be the Ranger Leader doing, who-knew-what with that piece of floating technology, that, while cool, seemed unfitting to him.

"Uh, I always thought pink was more Kate's color," she offered.

[bonnypiperlad]

"Hey?" Jamie gives Lash a rather confused sort of look before glancing down at the board again. Sure enough, it's gone back to being pink again. With a sigh, he switches back to red.

"It was pink in the moving picture," he offers, by way of explanation. "At least, the one I saw the most of was. I must have been thinking of it that way again." He tries to get it started up once more, still with no luck, and there's another frown. "I don't know why it won't move, though."

[things_go_boom]

"What the heck is it?" she asks. "It looks like a piece of hovering plank or something. Does it have a g-diffuser inside?"

Since gutting Captain Falcon's machine, g-diffusers were the only type of hovering material Lash really knew about.

"Considering they aren't emitting anything like flames or gas..."

[bonnypiperlad]

"A g-what?" asks Jamie, still with that all-too-familiar confused expression on his face. He shakes his head after a moment. "No, it's supposed to be something called a hoverboard, and ye can use it to go places. It's like one of those skate-y-boards, but without the wheels."

He's only got a slightly better grasp on those, so hopefully Lash won't ask too many questions about what they're like.

"There was another type that did, with wee little engines on it. I guess it was supposed to be powered differently. I can show ye that one, if ye like."

[morphitudinous]

Billy is unusually energetic as he enters---his mind's running a mile a minute, as usual, but it's fueled this time by nervous excitement about what he's just done. He needs some time to think about it all, and preferably a project to get his hands on and focus with. Luckily for him, a convenient appearance of Jamie in this particular Sensorium provides both.

He supposes he'll be breaking the news soon, but they'd best address Jamie's problem first. That thing---hoverboard, his knowledge of science fiction movies supplies---isn't going to make itself a reality. It's a tricky logistical situation, making a hoverboard, but it's bound to be possible: Billy's built a flying car, after all!

"Hey Jamie!" Billy's quite happy to see his friend practicing more advanced work. "How's your inventing going?"

[bonnypiperlad]

To be honest, he's not so much practicing work so much at the moment as he is standing on the board and making faces at it. Billy's arrival provides an excellent distraction, and he looks up, greeting his friend with a smile.

"Billy! It's...ah, er, well..."

The smile turns rather more rueful as Jamie glances back down at the board again, then he steps off it. "Not going much of anywhere. I must have not thought it up right."

[morphitudinous]

Billy shakes his head fondly. No need to frown, Jamie, they'll get it right. He'll see! Billy steps closer, squatting in front of the hoverboard.

"Where'd you hear about one of these? I haven't even tried this. For a board this flat to have enough power to boost someone off the ground, it would have to have powerful engines...or it could be hooked to an outside system that generated power. They're difficult, but it can be done."

See? Billy was already off on one of his inventing rambles.

[bonnypiperlad]

An outside system...? Hey, that sounds familiar! "Oh! Aye, there was one that had these wee little engines on it, like ye would see on a flying beastie. Er, an aeroplane, I mean. And the others hooked their boards up to it so they could get over the water."

While this particular explanation of his might eventually help with trying to figure out how to work out how to build a hoverboard, it completely ignores Billy's original question. Jamie realizes this, a bit belatedly, and adds, "Ah, it did that in the moving picture I saw, anyway. I'd not be able to tell ye if that would work if we built it here or not, though. But if we could, I'd say it'd be useful."

[zouichi]

"What are you doing?" Zouichi asked, glancing at the wheel-less skateboard. "...an antigravity device? I didn't know you were a boarder."

Zouichi has never seen Back to the Future II, but it's pretty obvious what Jamie's trying to do.

[bonnypiperlad]

"Aye, well, Morgan showed me how to use one of those snowboard things a while back," he replies. Which doesn't make him a boarder by any stretch of the imagination, but he's at least not completely out of his element here.

Just mostly.

"I thought if we could figure a way to make these it could be useful to get around the ship a little easier. Or maybe go to the parts of the city we've not been to yet."

[zouichi]

"Aha. Testing out a new design, then." Zouichi frowned a little at the board. "Useful, but I'm not sure it'd work out for everyone, especially nonhumanoids... or just people with bad balance."

"I've been exploring a little of the City myself. You know, I'm surprised they haven't gotten a teleportation system set up to get around. It seems like that would be much more convenient than the tram."

[bonnypiperlad]

"Aye, well, when ye first saw the board there were these handlebars on the front ye could hang on to, but they were taken off." So there are options, at least for the people with bad balance. Non-humans, however, could be tricky, and he's not really sure how to compensate for that. "I suppose ye have a point, though."

While he had clearly hasn't considered the idea of teleportation devices before, judging by the expression on his face, not only is something that's very appealing, it's something he's marginally more familiar with. Marginally. "Hey, yes! That would be a good idea if ye could set it up. The problem is, how would ye go about building such a thing?"

[farfrom_tree]

If there was poking around to be done and other people's business to get into, well, Devlin was your kid.

And it looked like it had paid off for him, when he came into the sensorium to see Jamie standing on a very familiar device.

"A hoverboard? Sweet!"

[bonnypiperlad]

He turns a little too quickly at the sound of the new voice, and winds up wobbling slightly before managing to regain his balance. Perhaps it's for the best the hoverboard's not going anywhere just yet.

"Oh, you've seen them before?" It occurs to him this might be a good thing. If Devlin's familiar with them, maybe he can help him figure out what he's done wrong. "Do ye happen to know how they work, exactly?"

[at_a_peak]

"Yeah, hang on a second!"

Devlin set down the backpack he'd been keeping most of his "not getting myself into trouble, honest!" stuff in and unzipped it. He was forced to remove a couple of things--beads and souveniers from Happy Happy Fun Land, a light-up ball and metallic glove, and some specially formulated fish food he'd made himself (it was peanut butter-based)--before he could finally pull out his beloved hoverboard.

He switched it on and set it next to him, allowing it to hover in midair. "Trying to figure out how to ride one?"

[bonnypiperlad]

While Jamie looks at some of the things with interest - the light up ball, specifically - his eyes widen when Devlin pulls out the board. He had assumed that there was another reason for the hunt through the backpack, not that the lad would have a hoverboard of his own with him.

"Hey, would ye look at that!" he exclaims, moving closer so he can get a better look at the thing and only just barely managing to restrain himself from poking at it with a finger. Glancing up, he nods. "Aye. To start, anyway. Maybe see if it's possible to make one. I'd not realised anyone here had a real one, though."

[newyorkbynight]

"That depends on what you're trying to do," pointed out Elisa as she entered the sensoriums behind Jamie, giving the board a curious look. She'd seen the movie that had inspired the invention, but it had been a long time ago and she didn't make the connection. (The strange things that had started to occur in her everyday life after meeting the gargoyles tended to be enough for her, now. Even if she had time for fiction, it wouldn't be necessary.) "What are you trying to do?"

[bonnypiperlad]

Keep his balance, apparently, as he shifts position and winds up teetering on the board uncertainly for a few seconds before steadying himself. "I'm trying to make something called a hoverboard," he replies. "I thought it'd be a wee bit easier getting around the city with one of these."

Giving it up as a bad job for now, he steps off and back on to the grass he's imagined beneath it. "Och, well, I don't know what business I have trying to figure one of those out, anyway. Have ye been able to track down Goliath yet?"

[newyorkbynight]

"It's a good idea," she acknowledged, although, personally, Elisa would stick to walking even if Jamie's idea caught on. She had no problem with flying - gliding, technically - but it was different when you were in the arms of a trusted friend. "Maybe you could talk to the people in engineering about? They should have a few ideas."

"I did, thanks to your directions. He's been helping me settle in."

[bonnypiperlad]

"Aye, I planned to. But it'll be better if I've something to actually tell them about." Right now, it's just the idea, and while that's all well and good, if he could show them what he meant, that would be much more ideal.

But he can get back to that a little later on. Right now, he reaches up to grab the board and turn it off. "Oh, hey, does that mean you're going to be living in the city, then? It's a sight better than the crew quarters, I've found."