Blacksmithing!; Monday, Second Period [07/31].

[special_rabbit]

"Welcome back, everyone," said Amaya, with a nod of greeting to the class as usual, with a gesture toward the work table in front of her, where a series of pieces were laid out. "What I've got here to show you today are a few things that have used as technique called collaring, or sometimes joining, which is a method of joining two pieces of metal together by essentially wrapping another piece of metal around them. It created a pretty dynamic look, and it's often used for decorative hilts, fences, portcullises, sigils, and other things that want to add a little bit of fanciness and dimension. More importantly, it's a whole lot of fun to do, although it does take time, effort, and a good amount of tools, so let's not waste too much time with the intro and just get right into learning how to do it."

And so, the demonstration and explanation on how to perform the technique in question followed, with plenty of detail as Amaya worked through it, and then held up the results to show it off and pass it around for closer inspection.

"Now," she said, "these pieces," gesturing towards the ones waiting on the table, "are already pretty much ready for collaring, but if you wanted to get really involved in it, I've got a few that, if you want to incorporate the skills we learned last week with the guillotines, you can create your own notches for collaring before you get to it, but that's up to you. From here on in, it's just getting a feel for the techniques and seeing what you can come up with, so, unless there's any further questions, we can get to work."

The Care & Appreciation of Animals!; Monday, Third Period [07/31].

[in_sidon_we_trust]

There would certainly be no doubt about which animals the class would be talking about today, as, cheerful and boisterous as ever, Sidon led the way over to the section of the shelter with all the various cages and enclosures that featured the plethora of birds, many of them trilling and chirping and ruffling their feathers as they approached.

"If you haven't guessed it by now, my eager animal caretakers and appreciators," he said, "today is for the birds! As you can see, Furnado Animal Shelter is home to a wide variety of feathered friends, and that's what we'll be discussing today! Now, obviously, a bird as a pet would require a great deal of special considerations that other, more mammalian or reptilian creatures might not need, as well as some that might start seeming rather familiar. So, naturally, we will go over important information to keep in mind when keeping a bird, and then we'll get to know some of the birds themselves! Let's get into it!"

More Pizza!, Monday, First Period

[carbsliftthespirit]

Once again, the workshoppers would be stepping through a portal this week, this time to a street corner in Manhattan. "We've been to the oldest pizzeria in Italy," Raiden said, "so today we're going to the first pizzeria in America (but not technically the oldest): Lombardi's! Like the Antica Pizzeria Port'alba, Lombardi's has a little bit of a history before it found its final form. It originally opened as a grocery store selling pizzas in 1897, and transitioned to a pizzeria in 1905...a block from here, at its original location. In 1984 the restaurant closed for a few years before moving to its new location, where we stand today, which is why it's not really the oldest pizzeria in the country, even though it opened first. Oh, and one of the current owners has ties to the mafia, but we don't hold that against him, right?" Just casually announce that in the middle of the sidewalk, Raiden. "Anyway, let's go try some pizza!"

Exploring Alien Cultures, Monday

[unusual_sith]

The trip to Odessen was uneventful, but instead of the usual conference room, Lana led them to a staging area in front of hangars, off to one side so they were out of the way of the bustling beings of all sorts moving cargo and having spirited discussions.

A little being with glowing eyes, covered in a brown robe and with numerous weapons hanging off a belt came rushing up. He chattered at Lana excitedly.

"Yes, this is my class. Hylo is supposed to be speaking to us about Mirialans."

More chattering.

"What? No, I -"

He chattered and gesticulated widely, bouncing a little.

Lana sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Apparently Hylo was held up. Instead, Blizz will be speaking to us about being a jawa. And as I don't imagine any of you speak Jawaese, I'll translate."

Blizz perked up at that and scrabbled through his robes for a gadget, chattering as he made some adjustments to it.

"...work. See? Blizz do good!" came a tinny voice from the gadget.

Lana blinked. "So I see. That could be very useful."

"Blizz do many things for big boss. Big boss help Blizz, Blizz help big boss people. And now Blizz talk about Blizz!"

Lana waved at him to go on.

"Blizz is jawa," he explained to the students. "Jawa live mostly in big desert, but Blizz live all over in space! Even very cold place." He shivered. "Very cold wet place. But big boss need help, so now Blizz is here. Blizz start out as scavenger, like most jawa. Find pieces of things, sell pieces of things. But Blizz put things together, fix things. Learn more things. Fix entire clan's things! Make stupid roto-hammer for stupid Jreely. Make translator without droid attached." He waved at his device. "Less whiny."

Lana hid a laugh in a cough. "Tell them more about your people, Blizz."

Blizz shrugged. "Live in clans. Clan chief lead sandcrawler, Shaman lead fortress. Other jawa travel. Travel desert mostly, or other places. White cold place. Blizz make hot socks for Nu'na. Nu'na's feet always cold."

"Yes, thank you, Blizz," Lana cut him off before he could go on another tangent. "Does anybody have any questions?"