fandomhigh | Shop Class; Tuesday, First Period [09/03].

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Shop Class; Tuesday, First Period [09/03].

Despite the fact that it had not at all been an issue all the previous times she'd taught this class, Amaya still couldn't shake that slight feeling of 'is this really a good idea' of having shop class first thing in the morning, where a bunch of sleepy kids might be operating heavy machinery, but it gave her an excuse to have a huge samovar of coffee available to them, about half of which she was probably drinking herself. Not that she was barely early for her, she just really liked coffee.

"Morning, everyone," she greeted the class with a nod and taking note of familiar faces and new ones, "and welcome to Shop Class! I'm Amaya Blackstone, your instructor, and I've been teaching this class for way longer than I care to admit." Which wasn't even that long, but, to be fair, teaching was something she had once upon a time filed in the Never Gonna Happen, Bud cabinet, so this was all still a bit weird for her. "Please, help yourself to some coffee if you like. It's early and we're working with heavy, dangerous, and sharp things in this class a lot, which means you'll likely want to be good and awake unless you maybe were planning on losing one or two fingers. Speaking of which, that's our first order of business: safety. We have a wide range of personal protection materials that you will be required to wear for most of these projects, no ifs, ands, or buts! If there is an issue regarding any of them, we'll get it resolved, but I expect everyone to have at least their eye protection and a pair of work glovves in this class, sometimes an apron when we're working with hot metals and a hard hat on occasion. If you've got steel toed boots, that's not a bad idea, either. Today, it'll be just gloves and goggles, because we'll be working with a jigsaw, which is a tool we'll use quite a lot in the class.

"Now, the jigsaw can be pretty simple to use if you're used to working with machines like this, and pretty easy to pick up on if you're not as familiar." With that, she gestured them all to follow her over to one of the lathe work stations and started in on showing them how to use it, easily able to shout her instructions over the sound of the whirring blade as she demonstrated.

"We've got both hand jigsaws and table mounted ones; the first will give you a little more freedom, but the second is a bit more controled. Feel free to use whichever you're more comfortable with, and if you're a little squeemish about either, let me know, and I'll walk you through it. Now, since it's the first week, our project using these bad boys is going to be cutting out letters for a wood sign with your name on it, and, once you've finished, we're going to use those as a way to introduce ourselves. And here's the best way to do that."

So she went over the process, explaining that she'd be using her A as an example: start with a stencil for your name, writing it out as big as you like, either onto the wood directly or, if you like, on paper, and then you can glue it down so it sticks and you can use that as a guide as well. Then time to saw those letters out! She did the outside of the A with the table-mounted saw, and then demonstrated with the hand-held to get the little bit out of the middle of the A. "Once your letters are all cut out, we've got sandpaper to make the edges all nice and smooth, and you can hit them with a little varnish if you want them to look a little shinier, and, while that's drying a bit, you can cut out what you'd like to use for a base to mount the letters on. Sand up the board a little, then we'll get out the wood glue to attach our letters. Usually, wood glue'll take a bit to dry, but I've got you covered. See those clamps over there by the heat lamps? Should be able to fit these signs right under there, clamp it all at once, and the heat'll make it stick quicker so we're not waiting all day. And, if you find yourself waiting for the others to finish up theirs, there's some paint and things you can decorate them with, if you'd like.

"Any questions? If so, please ask, because a five second question is much easier than a five finger accident. But, if not, let's get started, shall we?"

[[ ocd is up! ]]

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With your name!

Wayne

Norman Babcock

Mae Borowski

Shuri

Grog Strongjaw

Simon Spier

Okuyasu Nijimura

Especially if you've never seen a power tool before in your life.

But also even if you have, because it's good to have a refresher and it's just rude otherwise.

And Amaya'd be more than happy to field any questions if you've got them, because she likes talking about this stuff even more than she likes ensuring the safety of the students they put in her charge.

Also? Coffee!

Norman was still paying rapt attention, still taking copious notes. Sure, he'd taken these same notes multiple times before, but that wasn't going to stop him from doing it over again. It was, after all, only polite.

... And this stuff really was the only practical life skill he'd learned on the island so far. He was clinging to that.

Grog had definitely never seen a power tool before in his life.

Amaya was his new favorite person, and while that could change with class tomorrow, it was true for now.

Coffeeeeeeeee.

Simon had avoided drinking it most of the summer while he was home, because he didn't really want to deal with his mother making that A Thing about Growing Up (or possibly trying to stop him because of stunting his growth or whatever, but it being A Thing was more likely). He was going to take every opportunity to make up for that now.

As for the lecture, he was pretty used to being safe around power tools because his dad was fond of them, but listening to Ms. Blackstone, he was pretty sure his dad could use a few tips on safety himself.

There's a wide variety of woods to choose from, and plenty of jigsaws to go around. Just make sure you've got your safety equipment on first, and then have at it! Get to making those letters! And apologies to those of you with longer names!

Well, now, this seemed simple enough. Wayne had even done a good deal of woodworking recently, on his trip home last week, when he just up and rebuilt the entire produce stand because Katy mentioned it was looking a little junky.

So he set to work with the determined focus of a man who liked nothing better than setting out to make something and then successfully making it, made just that much smoother by the fact that he knew these sorts of tools and worked with them on the regular.

This class would be good for him.

This class would be his Zen.

Norman had, true to form, made two of these cutouts, because he had a first and a last name, and he was confident enough now with the jigsaw that he figured he might as well go for broke and do the whole thing. He considered making a few more for his friends, just as nice little surprises, but there really was only so much time in a class period and he wanted to make sure he had his actual assignment nice and sanded and painted up, too.

Maybe he'd ask Amaya if he could come in after classes to work on this stuff, again. He always enjoyed that.

Mae's name was nice and short, which was good, because it was definitely going to take her multiple attempts to make it at all legible.

At least she was still having fun? That was what that maniacal laughter meant, right?

Hey, Amaya would much rather that kind of maniacal laughter be present when Mae was just cutting through wood rather than something else.

Sorry not sorry, trees.

Grog felt so badass with the gloves and glasses on, and he was totally ready to--carefully--fire the jigsaw up when the one small flaw in this assignment hit him.

"Uh." Yes, it was embarrassing to not know what letters to cut out, and he suddenly felt a lot less cool.

And, well, you knew what they said: the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and Amaya had definitely been excited to see where all that big energy was headed, only to watch it come skittering to a halt. Her head tilted a little and, after looking around to see that everyone else was mostly on their way to getting started without a hitch, she headed on over to Grog's worktable.

And it really hit you how big he was once you were giving him your undivided attention and standing much closer. Still nothing on a bridge troll, but that'll still be a crick in your neck after a long conversation.

"Everything alright?" she asked.

He really wanted to use all that big energy for something good!

"Uh, well, you see, I'm not from around here." That, at least, wasn't an outright lie. "So I don't know exactly which of the letter things I should be cutting out."

He was fully prepared for her to laugh, but maybe she'd think he was just not used to Earth writing or something?

"Well," noted Amaya with a faint grin, "I don't think anyone's really from around here much at all, but, either way, there's no problem there at all! You could basically cut whatever you'd like, as long as oyu feel it represents you enough to introduce yourself by. Want to cut just a circle? Go for it! Maybe a shield, or a sword? Whatever strikes your fancy, really!"

Daventry, for the most part, was a fairly learned kingdom, but it wasn't uncommon to come across someone who really needed to rely on the pictures. And around here, who even knew how most people managed to magically seem to use the same or similar alphabet, even?

"Or, if you'd like," she offered, "I could show you what your name would likely look like in the letters that they use here? And then, that way, you'd even have the sign to keep as a reference for next time."

Edited 2019-09-04 02:29 (UTC)

The thought of cutting out a cool-looking sword was tempting but... "Could you show me what my name looks like? It's Grog, it's not very long." He knew that much at least!

There would be plenty of time for cool-looking sword things later, after all!

"Oh, Grog's not very long at all!" Amaya said, though she was wondering who was running around naming their giant children after the cheap swill they served pirates back in Llewdor, and also biting back any questions of whether or not he happened to have a sister named Brandy. "Here," she reached for one of the large pieces of paper available if anyone wanted to make stencils before cutting, and also a pencil.

"So then what you're going to have for the letters they use here is going to be a G--" and she wrote that out, followed by the others at pace, "an R, an O, and another G. Just like that! The Gs'll probably the hardest, so it's a good thing you've got two, so that means extra practice."

She held the pencil out...and a little up...for him to potentially take. "Did you want to try writing them out bigger for the sign based on my letters there? Just copy 'em down just like that, only bigger."

She offered up another grin. "Can't imagine bigger'd be much a problem for you to handle, eh, Grog?"

Simon took a breath as he geared up with the goggles and gloves, then stepped up to the mounted jigsaw to get started. He'd used one before, both at school and at home, but not enough to really be confident with one.

In the end, some of his lines were a little shaky, but he had a perfectly acceptable name cut from the wood.

"Alright," said Amaya, once it looked like everyone was pretty much set with their signs, "now that we're finished, you can show it off to your classmates as a way of introducing yourselves! Go ahead and take turns going around the room, show us your signs, and tell us a little bit about yourself. Whatever you'd like. Why you're interested in this class, what you might hope to learn, future ambitions and hopes and dreams...whatever you'd like to share. Who'd like to go first?"

"M'Wayne," Wayne said, standing squarely as he held up his sign that did, indeed, say Wayne, in simple block letters, no fuss, no muss. He lowered it again. "I like making things."

And that was it.

That pret'near covered it.

And you know? Amaya didn't think she could have said it any better herself! She kind of had to admire that kind of straightforwardness.

"Well, then, you're definitely in the right place, Wayne," she said. "Welcome aboard. I can already tell you're pretty confident with this kind of thing, so here's to hoping I can find something that'll still teach you a little something new."

"I'm Norman," he held up his first name, "Babcock," he held up his second name, and felt a little bit like a showoff as he did so, but, look, "and I've been in this class a few times now? This is a great class, it's something I can take with me back home when I graduate next year, so I wanted to take it at least one more time just to make sure I'm really confident with this stuff, since I don't really have much else."

... That sounded kind of pathetic, if you squinted at it the right way.

"I mean, uh, picking up a trade is a good start for the rest of my life, right?"

"Ah, yes," said Amaya, grinning somewhat fondly, "Mr. Norman 'Force Me To Get Off My Keister and Not Repeat Too Many of The Same Projects for This Class' Babcock. Always good to see you back; you were missed last session."

Look, the kid's constant present in her classes made her feel like she wasn't just a hack at this whole teacher thing, so there might be a little bit of a soft spot there, so shoot her.

"But you're absolutely right. A trade is something you can take with you anywhere. Even if you're not doing it professional, it's something that can only make your life a little richer by knowing it. And this is the sort of thing you can just keep doing over and over and you'll just wind up getting better. And if there's anything you'd like to focus on a little more with that in mind, Norman, you just let me know. We'll see what we can do."

"Sorry," Norman gave a soft laugh and ducked his head a little, a bit sheepishly. "I'm not much of a gladiator."

And would absolutely hack an arm off in the weapons class, safety protocols or no.

"And thank you," he added. "I'll start thinking about that, and maybe by next week I'll have something I'd like to put a little more time into? I was already going to ask if it was okay if I used the workshop after class hours this semester..."

Even though the island wasn't actively attempting to eat him or anything, this time around.

"Of course, Norman," Amaya nodded and...okay, yeah, maybe there was a little bit of pride there in her grin, too. "You just let me know, and I can make sure it's open for you."

And, with her millions of projects and constantly adding just one more, she had more than enough stuff she could use the shop room for, too.

"Hi, I'm Mae!" She'd had to glue way more than three pieces to her board, despite how short her name was. She'd clearly had trouble with getting the jigsaw to turn corners instead of cut off the legs of the letters. "I'm from Possum Springs, which I'd be really surprised if you'd heard of, and I play bass guitar." She did a little air-bass riff using her sign as a prop.

Aw yis.

You know what, though? It may have taken a little bit more glue and piecing things together, but in the end, she still got there, and that's what mattered. Even if, after having her in weapons class, Amaya might be just a slight bit worried she may have found her next Beaker.

No one could ever replace Beaker, of course, but it was good to know she wouldn't be completely deprived of that one student who just constantly gave her blood pressure a run for its money.

"Welcome to the class, Mae," Amaya said with a small smile and a nod. "I'm really excited to see what you come up with going forward."

And she meant that, because she was pretty confident that it would be at least interesting.

Hey now, Mae almost never blew herself up. Electrocuting herself, on the other hand. . . .

"Thanks!" Mae said cheerfully. "It'll probably be totally metal."

Hopefully not in a way that meant "covered in blood".

Shuri's wooden name, while not perfect (she was much better with metal), had the panache of someone who definitely wasn't new to the tools. It was also painted and lacquered (though still a little sticky) with decidedly East African influences.

"I'm Shuri," she said, putting to the name, "and I'm a junior from Wakanda, a nation in Southeastern Africa. At home, I tend to do more work with metals, but I've discovered through Madame Blackstone's classes over the summer that I also enjoy working with wood." She smiled. "Just not quite as much as I like metal."

"Madame?" Amaya had to snort a little. "Now that's a new one. But I'm glad you've come around to working a bit with wood, Shuri, and, don't worry, there's plenty of metal ahead of us, too. Hopefully at least in some new and interesting ways for even a metalworker of your own experience."

Shuri grinned back. "I'm working on my brother to bring a sample of our metal from home for you."

"Uh, I'm Simon," he introduced himself, holding up his sign after a moment. "I think my dad may have actually signed me up for this class, because it's really kind of his thing more than mine? But I think it'll be fun, so I'll give it my best shot."

"Nice to meet you, Simon," said Amaya, with a nod and an encouraging smile, because, while it might not necessarily be his thing, he seemed to take to the woodworking well enough, and that's all she could really ask for. "And good to have you. Here's to hoping at least a few of these things wind up being more your thing than before, but you know what? Even if it doesn't, the important thing is that at you gave it a go, right? Can't say you didn't try."

Simon smiled a little wider at the encouragement and nodded. "I think this is going to be a year for trying new things," he said. "Might as well start here!"

"Well, then!" Amaya had to laugh a little at that. "I'm honored to get the chance to have my class be a part of those things. Fortune favors the bold, Simon. If there's anything you decide to take away from this class, I hope it's at least that."

All the woodworking and metallurgy and the occassional birdhouse would be nice to take, too, of course, but she wouldn't press the point.

She's there if you need her!

Content warning for body stuff, but I legit have a woodworker uncle with no fingers on one of his hands because of a saw accident. Growing up, though, he told us all that his mom sliced them off after catching him picking his nose.

That uncle's name, by the way, is Bob.

Because of course it would be.

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Shop Class; Tuesday, First Period [09/03].

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