Blacksmithing Basics - Thursday, First Period [05/30].

[special_rabbit]

Sure, it was a little bit dangerous out there, but considering the crowd at the community center yesterday, Amaya didn't think it would be too much of an issue expecting the class to meet at the shop that day. If anything, she made sure to include in her message that class was a go at the forge that anyone feeling a little bit unsure about the trek should just let her know, and she'd send Yang to serve as a nice punch-happy escort. Might as well put the TA to good use, right? Right!

And once they were there, if they made it, escorted or otherwise, she couldn't help being particularly excited to greet them, depsite any awkwardness she might be feeling for no reason whatsoever and certainly not in any relation to any shenanigans from yesterday. Because they were back in the forge, which looked quite a bit different, sure, but it was still very much a forge, and that was the important part.

"Good morning, everyone! And good news! As you can see, we're back in business! Now, you'll notice my very nice stone forge has been replaced with...this," she gestured toward the slightly glowing repurposed shipping-tank-style monstronsity behind her, "...innovative piece, but we've got anvils, and we've got steel, and we've got fire, so that means we've got a class!

"We're going to take advantage of it, too, so today we'll get started on a piece and get started on the basic shape of your weapon, and then hopefully next week, we'll be able to spend the next couple of weeks" she knocked on the nearest bit of wood, "detailing or finishing. We'll be working with shorter pieces of steel, as we're aiming for a dagger at the end. Dagger's are smaller, so they won't take as much time to heat and forge, but they're also small, so there's more attention to detail and more attention paid to what you're doing because there's not a whole lot it's being done to.

But first, a recap, as Amaya pulled out a piece of steel she'd been heating in the forge and went over some of the finer points of tapering and rounding that would be useful coming up, being sure to go over the various angles and pressure point, surface contact ratio, so on and so forth, stopping occasionally so that she could really show the students the results of what she was explaining.

"And now the fun part," she said, gesturing to the steel and hammers, gloves and goggles and tongs on each of the makeshift workstations. "Actually making the knife. Now this should be a lesson in using the tongs to hold your piece while you're forging it, because the pieces we'll be using are too small to really hold with our hands. These pieces are still too big, though, so go ahead and get them in the forge to heat them up, and then you'll take turns trying to shape them. Be sure to watch the others while waiting, too; you might learn something just from watching. Case in point, while you're waiting, I'll hammer out the sort of shape we're looking for, and the way to forge the tang--that's the term we use for the handle, basically--so you can have an idea as you try to work it out yourself. Today is entirely just hitting and shaping, really, so let me know if you're having trouble and we can see what needs to be fixed, or if you think you've got it, just keep working, go in for a few more heats in the forge if you've got the time. And remember, the nice thing about steel and heat is that once you get it hot enough, it's malleable, meaning if you mess it up, just heat it up and try again, though if you do mess up, try and see if you can figure out how to just pound it back to where you want it to be, first. You might be pleasantly surprised."

[[ and open! ]]

Sparkly Destruction - Arts & Crafts That You Can Use, Thursday

[magnusrushesin]

So, giant, dangerous bugs meant your teachers were a little bit distracted with the extermination, kids. At least one gleefully going about it.

"I killed, like, ten scorpions and leveled up my dex," Magnus said proudly. "Way better at this than PuBG."

If Cara had ever actually played PuBG she might agree, as it was. "Yes, that. So we have less resources this week." Except for the glitter, because even now, in an irradiated wasteland, there was glitter. So much glitter. "So we have to improvise."

"Bottle caps," Magnus said. "They totally drop bottle caps. So, thats what we're working with"

It was gonna be a challenge for the kids to turn that one into weapons.

"There's glue." Probably best not to ask where it came from. "And nails, and various sticks." And again, so much glitter.

"I think the glue might be bug goo?" Well. Magnus ruined that one for you all.

Good job, Magnus. "It also might not," Cara said, unconvincingly. Good job, Cara.

"Fifty-fifty shot!" he added cheerfully. "Let's see what you make." Then gasped as inspiration hit. "Maybe a robot."

Practical Philosophy, Thursday

[endsthegame]

It was a tired-looking Ender they'd find at the pondside, sitting on a pillow on top of a blanket, taking big sips from a bottle of water.

"Apologies," he said. "My son kept me up all night, so I didn't find much time to prepare any grand questions for you today. Though I suppose you could look on the current state of the island as a question mark in and of itself."

No, he wasn't going to mention that he'd been here before, not to the class, and certainly not to Jane, who was mocking him quietly through the device by his ear. "As far as I can see, this is a potential future for this planet - a war and resultant apocalypse of some kind. So often, humanity tries to immolate itself - it's enough to make you wonder if we're all innately self-destructive somehow."

He shrugged.

"It's as good a topic as any."

And as good a way not to think of the Capital Wasteland as possible.