Because there's nothing else to do

[Rendaz "Flammy"]

The mechanics classroom door was opened widely to reveal a rather cluttered room. Shelves were stacked with all sorts of materials, metal, wood, fabric, plastic, anything that one could possibly use to build a machine. Some of it had even spilled across the floor - the ladened shelves unable to sustain all of them.

Crouched on the floor was the mechanics professor, his trademark hat missing from his rather bald head. He seemed to be in deep concentration, gazing down at what appeared to be some sort of wooden catapult. Although it was pulled back, it was unloaded. It was then he made it even tighter, until it was almst at its breaking point.

He frowned, finding that there was not much else to do after his catapult was virtually completed. It was a nice distraction, but of course, as soon as it was over, the pains from his chest came straight back. "Ugh," he groaned, reaching out for his nearby coffee mug. He frowned upon seeing that it was empty, despite the fact that he already knew it was empty. In fact, he had checked several times in the past half hour in some crazy hope that it would somehow fill itself. Of course, he'd been disappointed every time.

Dumping the mug straight back, he slumped down, his red eyes staring angrily at his catipult, as if it was somehow to blame for his mistfortunes.

[Valentin]

Valentin had a sour look on his face as he made his way to the mechanics classroom. Visiting the know-it-all professor was not something he'd planned on after the first meeting over assignment one. But here, he was, trying to quell his unhappy expression as he rapped his knuckles quietly on the wooden frame of the open door. Ears flipped forwards curiously as he poked his head inside.

"..Helloo? Professor?" The faun's eyes scanned the clutter quickly, eventually spotting the mechanics professor crouched on the floor amidst some of the mess. Despite himself, Valentin's gaze betrayed his interest, curious to know what Rendaz was working on. He quietly cleared his throat and waited to be noticed.

[Rendaz "Flammy"]

When staring at his catapult failed to reap anything of benefit, he gave the doorway a bored glance, just as Valentin had arrived. Squinting his eyes, his lips curled into a displeased frown. "Eh? What're you wantin' boy?" he snorted, the annoyance in his tone left undisguised. He halfheartedly flicked his tail in a beckoning gesture. "An' stop lurking around in the corridor, honestly."

He picking up a leather ball, tossing it around in his hand slightly before dumping it on the catapult, ready to fire. "Build a weapon, that's todays assingment," he muttered, half to himself. Glancing back at the faun, he narrowed his eyes. "Want to play a game?" he sneered, grinning mockingly.

[Valentin]

Valentin returned the frown with one of his own and his ears drooped uncertainly. He glanced briefly behind him, as if hesitant to abandon the safety of the corridor, before finally moving into the room.

"I.." He would have answered as to what he was there for, but became distracted by the leather ball and Rendaz's muttering. His brows creased, a bit confused, and he kept glancing nervously between the catapult and the professor. He was looking forward to the new assignment, and already had something particularly epic--in his opinion--in mind. But, of course, that's not to assume the professor wouldn't verbally tear it apart when it was completed. The thought left a sour look in Valentin's eye. What was so impressive about a catapult at any rate?

He did his best to appear brave and indifferent when Rendaz addressed him again but his voice lacked strength. "..What sort of game?"

The faun wasn't comfortable with the mocking expression the mechanics professor shot at him. It made his nerves wary, but he took another step forwards.

[Rendaz "Flammy"]

Rendaz rolled his eyes with Valentin's hesitating - it wasn't as if he was planning on biting his head off. Besides, he preferred his meals cooked rather than raw. And why did the faun keep looking at his catapult like that? Surely he must be familiar with one? To say the least, Rendaz was unimpressed with his behaviour, and didn't try to hide this fact as he replied. "Gonna stand there gawkin' all day?"

He looked to the catapult again, then raised an arm to point at the shelf it seemed to be aimed at. There was a tower of tin cans, arranged in some sort of pyramid. "Wanna test your aiming skills?" he grunted, pushing the catapult in his direction with his foot. "The arm's attatched with a hinge. If you unhook it, it should fire." He paused, raising an eyebrow. "But I'm sure you knew that already," he said, although it was unclear if it was mockingly or not. He leant his head back onto the desk, watching with interest how the cautious faun would fare.

[Valentin]

Valentin shot the professor a narrowed glare and moved further into the room. "Yes, I know how a catapult works."

He kept one ear trained on Rendaz as he approached the little catapult and came to crouch down in front of it. He knew he had at least decent aim, but was terribly nervous with the professor watching him. He felt like he had to be on guard around him, recalling to mind their first meeting in the kitchens when he had threatened to have the faun for a meal. Walking into this room unaccompanied felt a bit like waltzing into a wolf's den.

Trying to focus on the target pyramid while keeping his senses heightened, Valentin adjusted the catapult just slightly and played with the arm a moment to try and get an idea of the amount of tension it held. He frowned while he worked nervously, trying not to take too long lest Rendaz grow further impatient with him. Finally deciding it was good enough, the faun flicked the hinge and the arm shot forwards, propelling the leather ball into the tower of cans. The ball hit the top right corner of the structure, managing to force a good several cans of it to the ground with much clanging and clattering, but the bottom row and some higher on the left remained stacked.

Valentin frowned disappointedly and his ears flipped back sharply with annoyance. He glanced sidelong towards Rendaz, prepared for the harsh depreciation he was sure would follow.

[Rendaz "Flammy"]

Rendaz was rather silent as he watched the faun fumble around; half of him expecting him to break the catapult, the other half just wanting him to get on with it. After what seemed like eternity, the catapult was fired. Rendaz merely blinked as the cans crashed to the floor, dully surprised that he'd managed to hit them at all. It was hardly impressive though, only four petty cans had actually been hit, the other six remaining in much the same position.

As Valentin glanced at him, his expression remained bland, only a hint of a frown showing. He didn't feel like pointing out Valentin's obvious failure, not when he probably already knew himself. "Well?" he snorted. "Y'gonna pick them up?" Without waiting for a response, he picked himself from the floor, walking over to scoop the cans from the floor, grunting slightly. As he stacked them again, one could notice the cans notably more dented than before, balancing awkwardly on top of each other. Kicking the leather ball towards the student, he turned his nose up at him. "This time, I want you to hit the one with the target on it," he instructed, standing back. However, when looking at the pyramid, none of the cans seemed to have any sort of mark on them that made them stand out.

[Valentin]

Valentin was a little surprised when Rendaz only offered a slight frown and minimal words before going to pick the cans up himself. The faun gaped for a moment, considering responding sharply, but let his jaw snap shut again as he rolled his eyes. He would have picked them up after..

He scooped up the ball when it rolled closer to him and reset the catapult while he listened to the following instructions. But when he looked up again to aim, his brow furrowed with confusion. There was no target. A quick glance around didn't reveal any other cans with targets that weren't a part of the pyramid, unless he was still just not seeing it. So his gaze eventually shot to Rendaz questionably.

"Professor... What target?" His ears dropped again, feeling like it must be a stupid question. What was he missing? His eyes shot over the can again but no target magically appeared.

[Rendaz "Flammy"]

Valentin's confusion was expected; Rendaz peered at him in a snide manner as he began to glance around the room. He inspected his claws boredly, only looking up when the student questioned the target. He delayed his answer to glance at the pyramid stack. "...A red cross," he stated, motioning diagonally with his finger a cross shape, knowing full well that his answer would only serve to confuse the faun even more.

Leaning on a nearby desk, Rendaz watched with interest on how Valentin would cope. He knew that he would have two options in his case, one of them being to try and shoot down all of the cans. Or he could give up. There was a much easier way around it, but it was a way that Rendaz doubted that the faun would consider. "Need some help?" he taunted, but nonetheless sincere in his offer.

[Valentin]

Valentin was confused. He frowned at the professor and studied the pyramid for another moment. Surely, he was missing something that would prove obvious afterwards.. Or maybe not. For all he knew, Rendaz was just being a jerk and there was no target at all. He understood that the only way to be sure to hit the right can was to hit them all, but he also knew he wasn't likely to nail that. So when the mechanics professor asked if he needed help, Valentin actually considered the offer. His pride won, though, and with a huff and a roll of his eyes, he hastily decided to just shoot at the pyramid.

This time, of course, he missed entirely. He cursed quietly under his breath and shook his head disappointedly. So much for that plan. He probably should have just refused to shoot since there was no visible target. Maybe that was the catch, but it seemed weak.

[Rendaz "Flammy"]

As he watched him, his claws tapped on the desk impatiently - the only noise that seemed to fill the tense silence. As the faun rejected his offer, he only shook his head. His hand was raised to his forehead as Valentin missed completely - an embarrassment that he could've avoided.

He didn't say anything as he strode over towards the still standing cans. He peered behind them, then selected a can from the bottom row, causing all those above it to tumble to the ground. When the dust finally settled, he turned to face Valentin, regarding him with a rather unimpressed gaze. "If you stopped blundering into problems straight-on..." He turned the can around, revealling a red cross shape painted on the other side. "...And started looking at them at a different angle, then you might find what you're looking for." He dropped the can to the floor, snorting. "That is your flaw." With a shake of his head, he returned to his former position at the side of the classroom. "Pick them up, then," he snapped, glancing once again at the coffee mugs on the desk, noticing again with annoyance that they hadn't magically refilled. Returning his watch on the faun to make sure he didn't inadvertently set off a bunch of fireworks in his classroom, he gave a very slight smirk. "Why did you enter my classroom?"

[Valentin]

The faun watched Rendaz carefully when he pulled a can from the stack and began speaking--and grimaced when the verdict was delivered. Hie eyes veered off to the side stubbornly, but what Rendaz said hit home because he knew it was true. Valentin knew he had a bad habit of making things difficult for himself because he was balky at times. The fact that he didn't argue was enough to indicate that he could not rightfully disagree, although he did look displeased with Rendaz's words.

Val pushed himself back onto his hooves and made his way over to the mess of cans on the floor, gathering any wayward cans between his chest and his forearm on the way. Somewhat absently, he began re-stacking the pyramid while shrugging in response to Rendaz's inquiry. He still looked annoyed, but he was glad for the subject change.

"I want to build a generator." He mindfully didn't look up at the professor as he kept stacking. "Not to power the castle or anything, I know that would never work without wiring the whole place." He shrugged again, realizing awkwardly that he probably should have planned it out more before bringing the idea here. Rendaz would probably think him incompetent. "I thought in one of the empty sitting rooms.." He chanced a glance up at the professor.

[Rendaz "Flammy"]

At Valentin's silence, he smirked, assuming his little lecture had somehow made it through that stubborn skull of his. He wasn't prepared to insist otherwise, and hoped that it would stop the faun making similar mistakes in future lessons. A likely story... He watched him return the cans to their rightful positions, watching his annoyance with an amused expression.

At the following statements, Rendaz listened intently, resting his chin on the back of his fingers. When Valentin looked up at him, Rendaz was staring expectantly down at him as if he was expecting him to continue. When no such thing came, he spoke up. "That ain't a bad idea at all," he remarked, looking rather uninterested. "But what are you wantin' me to do about it? Build it? Give you the materials? Gimme something to work with here."

[Valentin]

Valentin's ears perked up hopefully when the professor said that it was't a bad idea, but flipped back down when he asked to elaborate. He diverted his gaze again, back to the cans, and he shrugged.

"Well, no. I want to build it, too. But I don't have enough materials, either." He paused to chew on his lip a moment, not sure how to ask for help. "Just.. I don't know, I thought maybe, with you being the mechanics professor and all, you'd have some.. Idea or something. For it." He grimaced at his own stumbling. Completing the pyramid again, he found nothing else to divert his attention, so his eyes found the professor again.

"Would you help me? Build it, I mean. Find stuff for it. I'm not even sure what it would be used for." He glanced quickly around the room as if it might contain an answer.

[Rendaz "Flammy"]

Rendaz didn't say a word as Valentin fumbled, grinning with satirical amusement. When he finally finished, he stepped forward towards the faun, looking thoughtful. "Well why didn'tcha say so?" he snapped impatiently, huffing.

Turning around, he saunterd towards his desk, where a small, dimly lit lamp lay. Wires were fixed around it, both of which were attatched to a potato. He snorted quietly when he looked at it. "I assume you're looking for somethin' a little bigger than this?" he joked, brushing it off the table with the back of his hand. It fell to the ground with a 'thud', the lamp becoming unattatched and fading out.

Walking towards a cupboard, he opened it, revealling a few sheets of metal as well as an assortment cylinder tubes. With a heave, he carefully pulled from from the cupboard, trying to avoid putting too much stress on his chest. "So where're you planning getting the energy from?" he asked, still concentrating on removing the cupboards contents. "Solar energy? Pff. Wind turbines? As if..."

[Valentin]

Valentin was still eying the professor warily when he made his way over to the desk. The faun wasn't sure why it was necessary to knock the potato onto the floor, but he followed Rendaz to the cupboard. He ears perked up when it was opened to reveal an assortment of materials. When Rendaz began pulling things out, Valentin quickly stepped forwards so that he could help should the professor require any.

"Ahh.." He hadn't really thought of where to get energy from yet, but he hastily ran the island's options through his head to try and come up with an answer. "Maybe a mill of some sort? The currents could be used." He seemed a little disappointed that a couple options were shot down before he'd had a chance to suggest them. "..Turbines aren't out of the question. They're a bit more primitive, but we don't have too many options on the island. What would you suggest?"

Valentin noticed that Rendaz looked like he was being careful, but he didn't know of the professor's injury. "Do you need any help with that?"

[Rendaz "Flammy"]

Rendaz didn't have in mind exactly what materials he was looking for; he was merely searching through his supply for inspiration. Most of it was unclean, and rather dusty too, some dented. Huffing, he placed them to his side, not offering a glance up at Valentin. "Maybe," he shrugged, frowning. "Turbines may work in the higher altitudes such as the mountains... But too far a distance for my liking. Who'd manage 'em? I ain't hikin' up there every time it stops workin'."

He tossed a tired glance at Valentin at his offer. "As if!" he snorted, heaving himself up again. "I ain't needin' no help from anybody." He gave a glance down at the metal, frowning. After a moment's hesitation, he raised his foot to divide the pile of scrap material into two, which were moderately equal. "That one's yours," he said, pointing to the one nearest to the faun. Bending down, he picked up his own, straining slightly, holding it underneath his arm on one side. "You wanted it in one of the sittin' rooms, yeah?" He tapped his foot on the claw impatiently to go. "We can come back for more stuff that we need," he quickly pointed out, doubting Valentin's ability to realise that.

[Valentin]

Valentin hurried forwards to struggle with his own designated pile of materials, thankful Rendaz wasn't trying to carry the entire load on his own. He managed to balance the metal over both of his arms awkwardly and tried desperately to look like it was no issue at all so that the professor wouldn't think he was weak.

"I could manage them! I wouldn't mind going up there for that, and they would be safer from the students." He could image now some of the more rambunctious students messing with their power supply and breaking stuff. It might be better if it was a bit of a task to get there.

"And Shiver-!" Pauses because before he finishes, maybe asking Shiver wouldn't cooperate. "Well.. him or someone else. The new Gym professor, maybe. Someone might know where the good currents around the island are. We could turn some of the old boathouses on the shore into water mills."

He heads towards the door, supposing they could choose a sitting room at random. There were so many of them anyway. He looks to make sure Rendaz is coming, or to follow if the professor would prefer to lead.

[Rendaz "Flammy"]

Rendaz gave Valentin a skeptic glance at his suggestion. For a moment he paused in consideration before shrugging. "Do what you will with the stupid turbines, but if ya get tired of runnin' up there, don't come cryin' to me."

As soon as the name 'Shiver' was mentioned, he made a face, almost immediately rejecting the idea of that creature helping out at all. He was well aware of his unreliability. Changing the subject to the gym teacher instead failed to lighten his expression, he didn't hold much high regard for her either. He said nothing as he moved towards the door, barging past Valentin, opening the wooden door with a hard slam of his tail. "Come on," he hissed, gesturing for him to follow.

((I suppose this calls for a new topic? x3))

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