fandomhigh | Shop Class; Monday, First Period [09/17].

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Shop Class; Monday, First Period [09/17].

"Good morning, class!" Amaya greeted the students with that usual chipperness that seemed way too unnatural for first thing Monday morning. "We're working with the machines today, so grab some coffee if you need it. And I hope you had a chance to work a little with chainmail over the last week, because we're going to start class with a chance for you to show off what you worked on and bring up any issues you may have encountered. Let's go ahead and start with...you."

And when the last student finished, she nodded her approval and gave the air a little pump of her fist. "Nice work, guys ~~hopefully~~. Onto the next! Today, we're going to try our hand at a codex type of puzzle box. We'll be working with wood and a lot of defined parts and pieces, so that means using the scroll saw, but if the power saws still make you a bit squeamish, I've precut some pieces and we can go from there."

Please still be squeamish, Beaker.

"Now, our first step is to measure and cut and sand our pieces, which is all pretty self-explanatory, and I've got dimensions and instructions printed out here. Be sure to label your parts, too; that'll make it much easier when it comes time to start putting them together. We're using two different kinds of wood, too, so that the contrasting colors provide a simple aesthetic for the box, but also helps to keep all your pieces straight.

"Once that's done, we're taking the smaller pieces like these," holding them up for demonstration, "and we're putting them into the column, like this, alternating the colors. Glue the pieces together, drive in a screw to reinforce the column, sand it down once the glue is dry. Five pieces to a column, so you should have three by the time you're done.

"Now we build the inner column. I've provided instructions for a single step box or a five step box, do whichever you feel is more your skill level. We're gonna stack the middle layers on the top layer turned upside down, and make sure all the little tabs are aligned if you're doing the one step solution. Glue 'em together, reinforce it with a screw, set the bottom layer, attach, and mark on the box the alignment for the solution, and you've got yourself the inner chamber! This is the point where you can sort of mark whatever image you want the box to present when the correct solution is found, be it a letter, a picture, whatever you'd like.

"If you're doing the five steps, make sure to stagger your tabs by 120 degrees. You're going to create a centered inner tab and an inner tabbed ring, glue together, and repeat, for all five of the layers, then screw in your reinforcement and finish on the bottom layer and the lid.

"Now we've got to align all the rotating rings, with the notches facing down, and be sure to number them as you go, to help keep everything in proper order. Align the first step first, then the second, third, fourth, you get the idea, and this is where you can get a little creative on the designs for the five step solution.

"At this point, we should be ready to test the fit, make sure everything's working as it should before we finally glue and screw it all together. If it's not quite working, well, back to the drawing board, and try to figure out where you went astray. But if everything does fit, great! Place the outer column, stack the rings, glue it, an' screw it. If you've got the time, you can polish it up or add some other decorative accents, too.

"Again, I've got the instructions written out to follow along with, but if there's any questions, I'll be right here. Let's get to work!"

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Looking puzzled.

Norman Babcock

Prompto Argentum

Beaker

Jason Lee Scott

Did you work on any chainmail over the week? What'd you make? How'd it go? Any issues to address or ask about?

"I was going to try to make a couple of bracelets," Norman said, holding up his wrist to show off a finished one banded in purple, white, silver, and black. "I managed to make two? And then, uh..."

He reached into his bag and pulled out a chainmail ball.

"... I kind of fell into a groove and wound up making like eight of these."

They were something small and fiddly and kind of addictive to do. So sue him.

"When you hit a groove," Amaya said with a grin and a shrug, "you hit a groove, nothing wrong with that. That's actually pretty good, Norman. Getting into a rhythm like that and producing a number of things consistently is a good sign that you grasped the concepts and understood them well enough to keep at it. Nice work."

"Thanks," Norman replied, giving a grin and a shrug of his own. "And, uh, if anybody wants a ball..."

He had way too many. Please somebody save him from himself.

Free sway, eh? You definitely wouldn't have to twist Prompto's arm on something like that.

"Hey, man," he said, lifting a be-chainmailed hand with a grin, "I'll take one if you're offering."

"Sure am," Norman replied, grinning crookedly and throwing one of the little balls in an easy underhand toward Prompto. "Here, enjoy."

He had no idea what to do with them. He'd just... you know... made a bunch.

"Sweet, thanks!" Prompto laughed a little as he caught the ball easily. "I wanted to make one of these, too, but, man, this glove! Waaaay more involved than I thought it was gonna be!"

But he'd gotten it done, that was the important part, though it looked like maybe he could have spent a little more time on it still, as one of the rings left marginally open on his palm caught on the ball as he caught it. Something he didn't realize had happened until after he moved his hand...and the ball moved with it. Even after a little shake in an attempt to dislodge it.

Good thing he found that out now instead of later when it scratched against something else.

Norman, at least, was going to be nice, duck his head, and just grin instead of laughing.

Prompto's enthusiasm reminded him a little of Neil back home. All well-meaning friendliness, through and through.

"Looks like the ball likes your glove, too."

"I guess so!" Prompto agreed, laughing as he shook his hand a little more to no real result except jiggling the ball a little. Then he gingerly unhooked the ball, tossed it into the air to catch with his un-mailed hand, and then slipped it into his pocket.

Then tried to press the opened loop down with his thumb, his lopsided grin a little sheepish. "Hopefully, that's the only one I missed."

"Hey, if it's not, you'll find the rest," Norman replied, grinning crookedly. "Hopefully not by hooking it into someone's shirt or something. For something we all learned last week, though, that's still pretty great."

And now there might have been faint, proud blushing there, and Prompto picked at another ring. Man, everyone was so nice here.

Well, it wasn't like people weren't nice at his old school, either, but Prompto just noticed it more now and made himself not just run away from it and dismissive.

"Thanks," he said. "I actually spent a good amount of time on it, but I liked it. All the little fiddly work, just putting pieces together. Y'know. Well, I mean, obviously you do, if you kept making those balls. Did you really make that many of them?"

Norman laughed, maaaaybe a bit awkwardly, and then leaned down and pulled open his backpack to show off the contents.

Yup. That was a whole lot of chainmail balls tucked in among the cheezy zombie comic books.

"Yeah... Yeah, I really did."

"That's kind of amazing," Prompto laughed. "And, dude."

Don't even think for a second those comic books escaped Prompto's notice, either, Norman.

"You're totally going to have to let me raid those comics sometime when we're not in class."

There was no way it could even come close to Noct's collection, but that didn't make Prompto any less curious.

"Sometime when we're not in class," Norman agreed with a little grin. "If you don't mind zombies. It's, uh, kind of a running theme."

"I made....this!" Prompto slipped on the fingerless chainmail glove that fit over his usual gloves and held it up to show off proudly, wiggling his fingers a little. It alternated in colors from black to blue to silver, and he couldn't helping thinking it looked cool as hell. "I think I did pretty good, too."

Of course, this was the only one he'd managed to get without messing up after numerous failed attempts, but they didn't need to know about that. Or the fact that he had planned to make a pair, but, yeah...

And it wasn't that he wasn't any good at it, he was, when he set his mind to it. The problem had mostly been being able to just...set his mind to it.

"Meep, meep meep meep," Beaker began, holding up the melted wreckage of whatever he'd worked on over the weekend. "Meep meep meep--"

It seems to be an long, involved story that included at least one explosion, judging by the hand gestures.

But yeah, Beaker: not great at chainmail. Still.

"Well," said Amaya, a bit wide-eyed every time she looked at what Beaker held up and tried to deconstruct in her mind exactly what had happened and why fire had even been involved in the first place. She gave a tentative smile, a small pump of her fist.

"The important thing is..that...you tried!" Yeah, that was it. "And that nobody got hurt!"

"...nobody got hurt, though...right, Beaker?"

As always, Amaya's demonstrating as she explains, hopefully providing a better visual guide for these steps for the students to follow.

Work on your puzzle boxes! Figure out which one tiny piece you fit in wrong to make the whole thing not work! Glue half the pieces to yourself instead of to your puzzles box...Beaker.

Yeaaaah, Norman was definitely going with the simpler one-step solution puzzle box for this thing. Not that he wasn't feeling ambitious or anything, but he could only get so ambitious while also using a scroll saw.

He, uh, he kind of liked using the scroll saw, though. It was probably too late to change his mind once he'd started cutting wood, huh?

Was it a little overly ambitious of Prompto to dive right in and try to get the five step box under his belt? Maybe, but it was important to challenge oneself, right? And five steps was so much cooler, he could probably get it pretty easily if he just focused.

So...it would really be hit or miss.

Beaker was really trying, okay?

But he'd still glued a piece to himself.

At least he hadn't used the saw?

She's thinking it's probably a good thing she didn't go for teaching them how to rig one up with booby traps, but maybe another time, if they're good.

I got about halfway through writing out those instructions before I realized that I was far too sleepy and way not caffeinated enough to do this, so if it gets a little...wobbly toward the end, pretend it makes more sense and carry on.

*clings to coffee*

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Shop Class; Monday, First Period [09/17].

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Talk to Amaya - Shop Class, 09/17.

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