onepassingnight | [007 ☿] Dream a little dream

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[007 ☿] Dream a little dream

[It's been a rainy dream, as Mizuno Ami (aged seven) walks home. Her backpack looks quite plump and full, probably due to the extra books she brings to have something to focus on during lunch.

Some things distract even her.

Ami hops across a few small puddles then, after a quick thought to decide it's alright, she hops across a much larger one. She sails through the air- and clears her target! All dry. She giggles in satisfaction.

The rain has stopped by now and there's a playground nearby, where the ground and equipment are somehow dry enough to use. Ami has a long time before Mama will be home, and she knows the people who live around here and play at this spot.

She can finish her homework after dinner (and she really will). Right now, she really wants to play. She climbs carefully into the seat of one of the swings, which turns out to be a touch too high for her and she pumps her legs but barely gets up momentum.

She might need a little help. She could also use a friend to play with.]

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Alright! [Despite her precociousness, Ami won't end up being good for much more than acting like an assistant: bringing this or that, holding a critical piece in place, following instructions.] I'll read them all over.

[He leaves, and returns after a little while, followed by a hovering robot dragging a cart filled with bits of machinery and strange tools. He's carrying a large mechanical fish.]

I still had one of the old koi-bot chassis, so I figured we'd just start with it and make alterations as we go along.

[Ami looks the bot over from several angles as though considering something rather profound. Finally, she makes her pronouncement.]

It's really nice. And we can do the rest together. Can we paint it blue?

[He beams. He rarely gets compliments on his bots.] Sure thing. We can do that last, so our working on it won't mess up the paint job.

[He lays the koi-bot on the ground and starts picking through the stuff his Jack-bot brought.] Let's see, we should... hmm. Brain first or body first?

The brain is more important, so we should do that first.

[This is the sage wisdom of Mizuno Ami as she crouches carefully near the ground to look at the koi-bot more closely. Your bots are cool, Jack, so expect more compliments soon.]

[Someone else thinks his bots are cool! Glee! Back when he still hung out with people, he was always being told how stupid and useless everything he built was.]

Hm. [He nods.] It'll make the brain simpler to put together too. [He lays down a drop cloth and sets out the brain components.] Right. Let's see. We need the basic parts... motherboard, cpu... and then the brain half of the different functions... Hm. This is going to be the complicated part.

How about I put the brain together, and you take notes? I'll try to stay slow so you can see what I'm doing.

I have paper and a pen. [Ami slips these out of her school backpack, closes it carefully afterward, and voila! She is ready to take notes.]

I'll write down everything you say.

You always start with the motherboard--that's what all the other parts of the brain plug into. [Then he starts showing you which parts plug in where, while explaining what he's doing. The little chips are all sorts of different colors too, to help tell them apart.]

[Ami takes her notes in careful Japanese. She uses the lines of the paper to keep her printing (http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/231/image1vk.png) neat and tidy, not allowing it to drift this time, and she makes a very serious face as she draws each line correctly.]

[The brain-building goes by relatively quickly.] That's all we can do without building the body. The final step is soldering the connecting wires to the motherboard and the different parts of the bot.

You can help with building the body. We're just screwing components together and into the chassis now.

[Oh, this is good. Ami can handle the screwdriver - not very well, but well enough to get the job done. And it will let her feel like she had a part in building the bot.]

I can do it!

[He grins. It's great to have such an enthusiastic helper! He hands you a screwdriver and a wrench.] One for screws and one for nuts. Bolts can be screwed in by hand.

Let's start with the arms. That way we can make sure there's enough room inside for them to retract fully. [He gets the pieces for the two of you to work on.]

One for screws, one for nuts. [She repeats it to make sure she has the instructions down. She takes the pieces carefully, tests them in her hands to make sure they're sturdy, and gets to work.]

[He nods approvingly. He keeps an eye on what you're doing, but aside from letting you know which parts get connected, he mostly lets you do your half of the work on your own. The body work is pretty simple, right?]

[As long as she has clear instructions to follow, she can do anything! Ami screws up her face in concentration and pieces together the bot bit by bit. She can already hardly wait to show it off.]

[The bot's coming together nicely! You've done a good job so far.]

Alright, we should connect the brain to the bot's "nervous system." I should start the soldering. Do you want to help after I show you how it works? [His sense of child safety is great!]

[Hey, she's allowed to use the oven at home. As long as she's careful. And she even has adult supervision right here! It's fine.]

Can I watch you first, please? I want to make sure I do it right.

Alright. Let me place the wires when it's your turn, to make sure you're connecting the right components.

The wires get set up like this, and you hold the soldering gun like this. [He demonstrates.] Oh yeah, that bit that does the soldering, that's really hot. Don't touch that. Learned that the hard way.

[She holds the gun carefully once he gives her the chance to, lips pursed in concentration.]

I won't touch it. I'll be careful. [It turns out to be a bit much for her despite her reassurances, and the gun wavers dangerously in her hand.]

[He notices that this might not be working out. You're kind of his friend? Yes. So you hurting yourself at his instigation... probably a bad idea.]

That's probably a bit heavy for a kid. Tell you what, let me help you support it. [He reaches for the gun.]

[With his hand to steady it, the work goes much easier. No danger of being hurt or burned now. Ami keeps working very earnestly, though she smiles quietly to herself. It feels like working on a project with Papa - something she'd really like to do some day.]

Thank you. It's working a lot better now, I think.

Great! Once we're done with this, we can paint it. I'll have to cover its eye sensors with something. Don't want to blind it.

We can use paper. That way, the paint will only get on the paper if some spills.

[Ami leans back a little to admire her work so far. It's an accomplished feeling, seeing the end result start to take shape and knowing she had a hand in it. Knowing she made something.]

Yeah, paper'll work. Paint will definitely get on it though, because we're using spray paint. It's the only way to paint robots. It'll give the paint job a nice smooth finish.

Will it be shiny? [Apparently, Ami is a normal little girl after all.]

If it's shiny, it will look more like a fish swimming through water. [Or, the daughter of an artist who thinks about these things.]

kk! <3

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See you tomorrow :)

kk! sleep well!