Blacksmith Basics; Thursday, Second Period [05/26].

[special_rabbit]

"Morning, everyone." Amaya nodded her greeting once everyone had gathered in the shop. "I've been pleasantly surprised to see that you all, especially you, Irene, assuming she was there, have been showing up with the intent to learn and get to work." Which wasn't at all what she'd intended to say, especially with the personal call-out, but, well, that was what had come out of her mouth, so, apparently, she was just going to be rolling with it. "So let's keep that up today as we get started on the project to take us through the remainder of the workshop.

"Now, last week," she continued, "you had the chance to learn about some of the basic blacksmithing techniques when shaping your metal. We'll actually be switching to steel now, as well, not only to get a feel for how different types of metal react to forging, but because we'll be making daggers, and if you're going to be making a dagger, might as well try making it the best you can. Why daggers? Daggers 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. Within the restrictions of the class, a dagger's perfect, though, of course, if there's anything else you really had your heart set on building in this class, come see me, maybe we can work something out.

"But first? A recap, especially on tapering because that's what we'll be working on most today. Amaya pulled 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.

"There's also plenty more where that came from, so if you keep messing up to the point where the integrity of your steel is compromised, we can just start fresh with a new rod. Anything you'd like me to go over again before getting to the anvil? Or shall we just quit the yammering and start hammering?"

...yes, she was still stupidly proud of that one, and would use it as often as possible, shut up.

Yoga; Thursday, Third Period [05/26].

[died8yearsago]

"I honestly have no real solid plan for this class," Rosa admitted at the start of class, once everyone was there and gathered at the beach for another session, but she did not look even the least bit bothered by the admission. There was, after all, a good chance she would have said as much regardless of any truth-telling the island had in mind that day. "We're just kind of going with the flow, which is honestly way more yoga than an actual lesson plan would be. So if you wanted something more structured, maybe next time take your yoga with an actual yogi. For now, you got me, though, at least I'm cooler.

"Anyway," she should probably get to teaching something now, right?, "there's this thing called the Eight Limbs of Yoga that focus on different aspects of it, so we're going to look into a few of those. Today, it's going to be about Pranayama, which is basically focused, mindful breathing. And if you have trouble breathing....then I definitely can't help you there.

"But...let's start with a few sun salutations that hopefully you remember from last week to get warmed up, and then we'll start discussing various Pranayama breathing techniques and put them to use in some poses, then bookend it with another sun salutation sequence.

"Thrilling stuff, I know."

Driving: From Woe to Go, First Period

[ohvalleyofpenis]

Well, the danger shop was half set up today. There were indeed go-karts, but instead of a cool city set up, it was a... drive in theater. Because it was One Of Those Days.

"So, apparently it's a day of absolute honesty," Jaskier informed the class if they weren't already aware. "Which is concerning for some people."

Like his very angry, but still very attractive co-teacher.

"It's a thing this fucking island does sometimes which is only good for discovering which of your friends won't abuse your trust by trying to force you to talk about things you'd rather not." Who had opinions about days like these? Cara had opinions about days like these. "Also our class today was based around lying and deception so instead you're going to watch the movie we ripped it off of."

"But it's an entertaining movie at least! Not good, per say" Jaskier said, giving Cara some concerned eyes. "Oh no, you really are the female Geralt and that's why I like you so much."

THIS WAS TERRIBLE.

"I don't hate you all that much either," Cara said. "Now we're all going to shut up and watch the movie and not talk about things no one actually needs to hear."

Library, Thursday 5/26

[noonedecidesmyfate]

Belle hadn't spoken to anyone yet today so she hadn't noticed anything unusual when she arrived at the library.

Nothing unusual besides the usual unusualness of the library, anyway.

Nearly as soon as Belle sat down at the desk she saw an apple fly through the air and splatter against a shelf.

"That was uncalled for," she told whoever might be listening. "You've made a mess and wasted perfectly good food!" There was no answer. Belle shook her head and went back to looking at the book in front of her.

Unfortunately that was not the only flying fruit to be found. It was probably caused by gremlins but who could say for sure?