Blacksmithing Basic; Monday, Second Period [05/08].

[special_rabbit]

Well. All Amaya had to do was take a glance at her roster for this workshop to know that she was really in for an interesting one this time around, wasn't she? If anything, though, that...dubiousness of how effective these next seven weeks was going to end up being only inspired her to resolve to just focus on being professional and technical, the latter of which was, thankfully, a big part of this topic, anyway.


"Morning, everyone," Amaya nodded in greeting, once everyone had made it to the forge and it was time to begin. "Now, I know you all already sort of know the drill: if you haven't taken this class before," which she was pretty sure each of them actually had, at some point, or at least a similar class of hers; she'd done this for a while now! Sometimes it all blurred together!, "you're at least familiar with what I do here and a little bit of how it works. But it's probably been a while for most of you, so we're going to use today to do a little bit of an overview before we start jumping into our project next week."

Ahem.

'Little.'

( Amaya Blackstone talks about Blacksmithing, aka Please to Enjoy this Novel about Blacksmithing. )

She then held out the bit of metal with the fanned-out end for them to see and set down the hammer, grinning a little proudly, no matter how many times she'd done this exact same thing. "There's many, many more techniques ahead to learn, but those are the basic ones that'll give you a good start. And I know that was a lot of talking, and, if any of you are like me, talking's not nearly as good for learning as actually doing is. So today, we're going to go ahead and have you get a little bit familiar with the basic elements, the forge, the hammer, and the anvil. To save time, I've got extra rods in the forge right now, so we'll take turns, and I want you each to spend a little time striking the rod and trying to get one of the techniques we discussed: give a try at drawing, tapering, bending, upsetting, or spreading. Your choice. And then we'll see how you did, and I can use that as a way to gauge where we're going next, based on your skills.

"So!" She nodded. "Who'd like to go first?"

Underwater Basket Weaving and Other Aquatic Arts!; Monday, Third Period [05/08].

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Having enlisted the assistance of a few hopefully trustworthy squirrels, Sidon had sent out messages tucked away in pretty little blue shells to be delivered to those who had signed up for his class this summer prior to their initial meeting time:

Salutations! And thank you for signing up for Underwater Basket Weaving and Other Aquatic Arts! I am looking forward to teaching you! Please note that this class will be meeting down by the BEACH, unless otherwise stated! And please dress accordingly to having some fun in the sun and surf! I cannot wait to see you all there! We will all have a most wonderful time! Sincerely, your TEACHER, Sidon, the Zora Prince!

And then, as such, they would all know to be directed to the beach for this lesson and future ones, or, if anything, would just naturally assume as much and manage to get the right beach, since these things were very rarely actually specified. It shouldn't be difficult to figure out which one, though, based on the rather large and looming red shark creature waiting with shining yellow eyes and a bright and eager grin filled with teeth and sparkle.

"Hello!" he began, exhuberantly, when it was time to begin...or when he felt he couldn't' stand waiting any longer for any potential stragglers. "Good day! Salutations!" He boomed, opening up his arms joyously as it was always exciting, wasn't it, to start up a new class?? "And, most of all, welcome! To Underwater Basket Weaving and other Aquatic Arts!" His fist pumped eagerly across his chest. "If you've signed up for this class, wonderful! I'm looking forward to teaching you the thrilling ways of the waves! And if you have not signed up for this class and just happened to wander onto the beach wondering what all this hubbub was about, well, then, welcome to you as well! The more, the merrier, I say! Now, this will be a class that focuses on activities done in the water, and so if there are any issues in that regard I should know about, please do not hesitate to bring them up! But rest assured, you are embarking on this journey with the best swimmer in all of Hyrule and perhaps well beyond, so have confidence in the fact that you are in very safe claws!"

He gave a flash of said claws for emphasis with a joyful laugh, and then snapped into a ready pose, knees bent, fists curled, as if to display just how ready he was to take on the task of instruction!

"Before we get started with today's lesson," he said, "which will, of course, be the titular Underwater Basket Weaving, let us first introduce ourselves! It is, of course, tradition, and also my favorite, so let us begin!

"As I'm sure you know by now, I am Sidon!" Another mighty pump of his fist, his grin big and bright (and if you listened closely over the waves, you could hear a faint tinkle from the light gleaming off his fangs!). "The Zora Prince! I come from a land called Hyrule, which is very far away, and I used to be a student here myself>! And I am positively elated to share with you all everything I know about how to make the most of your oceanic, sea-faring, and lake loving experiences! I am a champion waterfall diver back home, one of the strongest swimmers my world has ever seem, and I quite enjoy spending time in the water, although that does come with the territory of being a Zora, as we are an amphibious race that feels most at home when wet! And hopefully you all will, too!

"Now then!" He beamed excitedly down at them all. "Who would like to go next? I would very much like to know all about who you are: what your name is, where you're from, what your experiences with water and water-based activities might be, and also how you feel your strength as a swimmer may be. That will be very useful knowledge for future classes, although don't concern yourself if you find yourself to not be a very strong one, as I will help you out and more than make up for it ! Let's go, then! You there!" He gestured eagerly toward the traditional random person. "How about you start us off? And then we will get to the baskets once everyone's gotten to know each other more and we've begun our aquatic journey into friendship and fun!"

Pizza!, Monday, First Period

[carbsliftthespirit]

Raiden was teaching? Raiden was teaching! He was pretty nervous about it, because, come on, how was he gonna teach anything, but the subject was his favorite subject and area of expertise, so...how bad could it be?

"Good morning, everyone!" he said cheerfully, and loudly, because...Raiden. "I'm Raiden, and you're here to learn about God's most perfect food, pizza! It's a little early for lunch, so I brought breakfast for everyone, and today I thought we'd start with the beginnings of pizza. Well, not the very beginnings, for that you'd have to go back to the very first time some genius put stuff on top of a flatbread, but the first recorded pizza, which looked very unlike what we think of as pizza today.

"Bartolomeo Scappi was a chef in the papal court during the Renaissance, and in 1570 he published a cookbook, his Opera dell'arte del cucinare, which included not one, not two, but six pizza recipes," which Raiden was now handing out to the workshop. "Now, you'll notice that these don't really look like what we think of as pizza. They're not topped with mozzarella--only two of them even have cheese in them at all. There's no tomato sauce, because tomatoes are a New World food and Europe hadn't really figured out what to do with them yet. There are a lot of spices, and sugar, because that was the flavor profile of the day, right? 'Look at me, I'm rich, I can afford cinnamon.' But this was pizza, as the Italians of the Renaissance thought of it.

"So we're not gonna try making this today, because...it's not really that much like modern pizza, but we are going to try it, because I also made pizza sfogliata--that's the pizza sfogliata a un’altro modo in your handout. Keep an open mind, because it may not seem like pizza to you, but it is delicious. I mean, it's full of butter. How can it go wrong?

After he'd given them enough time to try the pizza sfogliata, he asked nervously, "So? What do you think? Can you see how this eventually became what we think of today as pizza?"

Sam Eagle Presents WeirDONT'S: How Not To Be A Weirdo, Monday, Period Five, 5/8

[but_mostly_america]

Sam was standing in the front of the classroom well before any students arrived. There was an American flag prominently displayed on the wall behind him (because of course there was) and a podium decorated with patriotic bunting for him to speak from.

At precisely the scheduled beginning of the class Sam cleared his throat and began to speak.

“Welcome students to Sam Eagle Presents WeirDON’TS: How Not To Be A Weirdo. I, Sam Eagle, will be your instructor for the next 7 weeks. At the end of our time together you should be well-prepared to not be a weirdo. Perhaps some of you are already prepared. I certainly hope so! The world has far too many weirdos as it is. This island has too many weirdos. Perhaps even more than my usual workplace!”

“It is my hope,” Sam continued, leaning forward over the podium, “that all of you will become decent, wholesome, well-adjusted members of society!”

Except you, Beaker. There was no hope for you. Not even a little.

“To begin our class this week we shall introduce ourselves! Forming community is important! I would like all of you to introduce yourselves to your classmates and to me. Share an interesting fact about yourselves! An interesting and normal fact! Nothing weird. Let us begin!”

Galactic Field Trips, Monday

[unusual_sith]

"Welcome, everybody!" Lana greeted them at Portalocity. She was out of her usual Earth clothes and back into her more usual grey and green armor. "I hope you all got my email this weekend, but if not, you should be fine. Please keep an eye out in future for my mail; I'll be letting you know in general the type of climate and area we'll be going to, so you can dress appropriately.

"Today, though, we're going to Odessen. It's my home these days, when I'm not in Fandom, and its climate is fairly similar to here at the moment. The people there are the heart of the Eternal Alliance - we banded together from disparate groups to defeat a despotic ruler, and some of us decided we preferred that to war and stayed together. We'll be touring the base today; I'll introduce you to a few groups, and you can spend some time there, and provided Portalocity is as good as they say, we'll return about when we left."

Their portal came up and she waved them at it. They came out on a platform above the forest jutting out from a building built into the side of a mountain. Some of the people moving around them gave them a second glance; some nodded at Lana, some nodded at guests they recognized from previous visits. Most of the others ignored them.

Lana nodded to them to turn around and take in the view. "Welcome to Odessen. You can opt for a few things here; you can visit the Force Enclave and speak with other Force sensitives; you can visit with the military; you can talk to our requisitions department - which is to say, smugglers; you can speak with our scientists; you can meet with our administrative staff; or you can visit the agricultural section. I'll introduce you to each of them first. Please be polite, but beyond that, you'll find the people here either reasonable, or surrounded by people that will encourage them to be so." Forcibly, if necessary.