Fandom High School

Amaya was....distracted today, having spent most of her morning struggling with far too many things. For one thing, she had to get things ready to head back to Daventry, but all the while, she was also getting some really good ideas that she wanted to start in on, but had to remind herself that it would have to wait until she got to the Daventry shop and set up there, and then she'd have fifteen hundred gold coins that gave her the freedom to work on whatever the flip she wanted! And all the while, contending with the urge to actually make something now instead of later, there was the issue of telling Irene about her leaving for a bit right after all that talk about how that's what people do, they leave, there's no getting around it.

Was a part of her honestly just considering going and not even saying anything? Yes. Absolutely. Without a doubt. But another part of her knew that she couldn't do that. Not to Irene. Not now. Maybe not ever.

But on the other hand...

So, yeah, Amaya was feeling really glad this was the last class of the semester so she didn't have to focus too much on trying to actually teach anything, and she really hoped everyone's final projects would prove to be a good distraction from all the things distracting her.

"So!" she said, nodding, and giving her fist a little punch into her palm as usual. "We've reached our last class, and that means it's time to show me what you've worked on for your final projects in creating a Rube Goldberg-esque devise: something that employs a good deal of mechanics both complicated and simple in an overly elaborate way to perform a relatively simple task. I'm really excited to see what everyone's got, so let's just get right into it. Any volunteers to go first?"

"Last week," said Amaya at the start of class, with her usual nod to the students and a pound of her fist into her palm to show that she was ready to get to business, "we worked with simple machines. This week, we're working with much, much more complicated ones. And a whole lot bigger, too!"

Which would explain why they were in the Danger Shop instead of the usual shop classroom, just to make better use of the space that mostly consisted of a wide, open field overlooking an ocean on one side and a very tall stone wall on the other. Around them was mostly a collection of lumber and tools and other various bits and pieces that easily held the suggestion that they were going to be constructing quite the machine indeed. And if you know Amaya only a little, and considered that there were things like heavy rocks and pumpkins also scattered around, you could probably guess where this was going.

And if you didn't? Well, she was going to take care of that in the next breath.

"Trebuchets!" she said brightly. "Putting some of those simple machines into good use in a big way. Now, usually, I teach this class in the fall, which makes this particular lesson perfect for flinging pumpkins around Halloween time, but there's no reason flinging pumpkins with a large siege weapon can't be an all-year-round sort of thing. So, today, we're going to learn how to make a trebuchet and then enjoy how to use a trebuchet for the rest of class. Sounds pretty good, right? So let's get right into it!"

Amaya had definitely been on this island long enough (too long, maybe, even) to finally figure out what was going on this week by the time she'd smashed her thumb for the third time yesterday, and she'd gotten to a point where she had a handy solution that she found herself pursuing with eagerness rather than reluctance. So there was definitely a part of her brain floating around the idea of just making it a free period this week.

However, she did also remember those times when solutions were a bit less pleasant and/or few and far between, so, out of sympathy for those like herself who preferred distraction above all else in those cases, she was definitely holding class.

It was going to be incredibly simple, though, but hopefully a good way to work out some of that pent-up frustration without too many injuries as a result.

"Well, guys," she stated, with a nod, "this week, we're just going to practice an important skill for any shop class to learn, and that's....construction. Kind of. Listen, we've got hammers," she held up the one in her hand, "we got nails," she held up the fan of nails in her other hand, "we got boards," a gesture toward the lumber waiting beside her. "Let's just have at it. Bonus points if you actually managed to build yourself something here today, but there's no expectation of that, because there are two different variations of the concept of nailing something, and if you can't do the one, might as well do the other."

And, quite frankly, Amaya planned on getting around to both. She always was a fan of multitasking.

"Hey, everyone!" Amaya announced at the start of class before hefting up one of the makeshift mini-forges from....several weeks (actually, a month) ago onto one of the worktables. "Remember these?"

It had been a while, it was totally fair if you didn't.

"Well," she continued, "today, we're finally getting into learning how to use them! Specifically, for their most basic function, which is going to be melting down metal to pour into casings or molds to form into different shapes as they cool. In other words, we'll be making metal biscuits, which I don't recommend actually eating, unless hard aluminum is something that's already a part of your normal diet. You can see we've got ourselves a few buckets of old and empty aluminum soda cans here," she gave one such bucket a little kick to make the contents rattle slightly, "which we'll be melting down into our metal. So not only is it pretty neat, but it's also a good way to recycle. Just remember, safety first, so please make sure you've got some heat resistant gloves while you're working and some goggles wouldn't be a bad idea, either.

( Mini Metal Muffins! )

"We've got a little more time, so feel free to melt down some more cans and use a variety of the pans to try something else or try melting down what you've made this first time around and do a second pour with a purer metal. Don't forget to save a little time at the end to empty out the ashes in your forge before you leave as well, and let me know if there's any questions, of course."

Amaya stood at the front of the classroom, not with her usual excitement for a project as she usually was, but, instead, with a deep sigh and a shake of her head.

"Apropos of absolutely nothing," she insisted as a way to get things started, "we're doing a project today that's going to utilize a lot of the tools and skills we've learned up to this point and learn how to make metal roses."

It was such a shame, really, that such a cool project was always tied in with such a terrible holiday, but....it was a cool project, and the students did seem to like it, and it was always a bit some good advertising for one of the more profitable items at the shop, especially this time of year.

"Now," she said, smoothing into that whole advertising part for a moment, "these are similar to the ones I actually make every year in my shop, but those are created and hammered out in the forge. These skip some of those steps and will utilize other tools, like metal saws, drills, and welding torches, to created an equally stunning result. Metal has a reputation for being tough, strong, and durable, but hopefully, this lesson shows you that, if you only know how, you can bend it to do some pretty impressive stuff fairly easily!"

There was a slight pause, the sort of pause of a woman who wished she could just go back to being oblivious to the metaphor inherent in her work.

"Anyway," she said, shaking her head, "I'll walk you through the process, let me know if you've got questions, and then it's time to gear up and get started on your own!"

Amaya was definitely a morning person who might have actually preferred her classes being a bit earlier in the day, but she was feeling very grateful for the fourth period time slot today! But she was also pretty excited about the lesson today, too, so she was going to eagerly get right to it.

"Now I know last week's class wasn't the most...productive," she said, "and I know I didn't go into depth with a lot of the tools like I would usually like to under....less difficult circumstances, but a lot of them are pretty simple, and I hope you got the general gist of everything regardless. If you have any further questions, you know I'll be happy to go over them, and we've got one more big tool class today before we start getting into individual projects proper, but trust me, this is a good one. Because today, we're going to be talking about welding!

"For those of you unfamiliar, welding is, essentially, when you take heat and fire to fuse pieces of metal together! It's a pretty simple concept, really, where the heat melts the metal, and, when it cools, they form together. There are a few different ways to go about welding, but one of the most popular and easiest....and what we'll likely use most in this class...is the welding torch and there's a few different variations of those, as well, and we'll go over some of them and how to use them, and then we'll....well, get to use them!

"But," here she grinned a little, looking over the class to see if anyone knew where she was already going with this...a pointed look at Beaker assuming he was there omg when she passed over him might help if you weren't actually sure, "...before we get into any of that, we, of course, have to talk about safety! Welding can be a lot of fun, but it can also be pretty dangerous if you're not careful, with risks not only from the fire and the hot metal, but for your eyes, as well, and even your lungs, as the chemical processes can release harmful gases and vapors into the air. Metal work is pretty serious business, so you've always got to be careful if you want to keep doing it in any capacity!

"And once we're done with all that, you'll have the rest of class to work on your welding. We've got a lot of scrap metal here, and so see what you can weld together to make something interesting! I'll show you how to make a scrap metal dragonfly as an example or jumping off point, but the only limit is your own imagination!

"Well," Amaya amended, a beat later, "and I guess what we actually have for scrap metal, but you get the idea. Right, then." She nodded, pounded her fist into her palm. "Let's get to it."

"Afternoon, everyone," Amaya greeted cheerfully from the front of the class again that week, "and I hope you're ready to get right back into it, because we're going to be learning some pretty important stuff that'll become useful all throughout the class these next few lessons, so pay attention and be attentive, because we're working with real equipment that can cause some real trouble, and I've said it before and I'll say it again, but I've yet to send someone to the clinic, and I don't want that to start now."

Yes, those numbers were a bit padded by the fact that most of the injuries sustained in class had been done so by a Muppet, but she had Graham in her class before, too, so she felt that sort of balanced it out somehow.

"That said, today's going to be all about wood! Now, wood is not my preferred medium; it's with metal that I really shine, but I've been doing this long enough and wood is a common enough element in my bread and butter that I can still share a thing or two about it! So, what we'll do today is go over different types of wood you might work with and what kind of projects they're best suited for, as well as some common techniques and tips in wood working. Once we've got that out of the way, it's on to talking about the variety of different saws available in the shop and how to use them, although we will be focused on particular with a hand saw, the jigsaw, and the circular table saw. Which is a lot, but it's important, and important thing to remember when it comes to building anything is that a solid foundation is the way to go, and you'll never regret taking the time to really work out the finer details before really getting into the fun stuff.

"So, now, to begin with our materials...."

"Well," said Amaya, with a nod and a certain sense of freeing relief that came with finally being past the dreaded mistletoe day...until next year, or unless the island decided to be a real creep about it and hit them with a double shot of it this year, but Amaya did know where all the mechanical what-fors and whatevers underneath the island were located, she'd been there, she would go down and fuck that shit up with a wrench in a hammer if it so much as tried...

....no, she probably wouldn't, but she liked to think that she would.

Anyway! Class!

"You made it to the end of the semester," she continued, "almost, anyway. We still have one more project, and that's for the two of you to put together your own version of a Rube Goldberg machine like we went over last week in class, with at least five different elements to it. You have the first part of class to work on and build your machines, and then, at the very end, you'll present them and show them off. Pretty simple, right? Any questions before we begin?"

"Well, kids," said Amaya, greeting the class with her usual nod before launching into the lesson for that day, "we're coming up on December, the last month of the year, the end of the semester, and the approaching of colder weather, and, since sometimes things can get a little haywire around here during that time, this next project is something that started out as an inspiration one year from one of the school trips and has turned out to be something that could be useful.

"Now," she continued, "I'm not from somewhere with electricity," a nod, again, to the person in the room who was incidentally exactly where she was from, and therefor, same, "but it's something I've gotten pretty used to having on hand. Sometimes, though, something happens where even the electricity around here is a no-go. Most places around here have got a back-up generator or two to keep things going along smoothly, but there are also ways to make your own generators, as well, and that's what we'll be learning today. Specifically, a thermoelectric generators. Because all you really need for one of those is just a few parts, a tub of water, and some candles.

"What we're essentially doing, then," Amaya continued with her explanation, because science!, "is creating energy based on the temperature difference between the heat from candle flame and the cool water in the small tubs we'll be using. This should be powerful enough to charge a phone or perhaps a few other small but useful devices in an emergency. And I'm sure some of you could easily modify this to create more power to help energize something with a bit more oomph, too."

So the students would find a handout of instructions on their workstations as well as the materials they needed, as Amaya led them through the steps: starting with a handful of thermoelectric plates, which would generate electricity as it heated up one side while cooling down the other, and sticking them to the bottom of a container for the cold water. They'd be using bread tins, because they really did work pretty well, using thermoconductive glue and then saudering the black and red wires that stick out from the plates together, closing the circuit, and protecting the wires from creating a short circuit against the metal pan with some electrical tape. Then on to hooking up a voltage regulator to stabilize the energy passing through the plates, which would also serve as the plug-in point for their devices. They'd be mounting it over the tin with a strip of aluminum to keep it out of the water. Place the strip, hook up the wires to the regulator, another bit of aluminum over the plates, and onto the stand! With more aluminum!

And now to test it out! Line up the candles underneath, pour some cold water into the tin, let the thing get juiced up, and give it a try!

"Now, as the water warms up, it'll need to be refreshed, because the difference in temperature is key to what creates the power," Amaya offered as she finished up the demonstration. "Using snow or ice is actually more effective because of this...so next blizzard that sweeps in and knocks out the power, you should be all set! And if you make a big enough one, I'll bet you could even make it snowman proof!"

Because, yes, that could be important!

"So, let me know if there's any questions, and, if not, let's get to work!"

Hopefully, the boys would remember to bring back in what they'd made during last week's whittling class for this week, but, hey, if not (did they forget? Lose it? It disappeared yesterday under mysterious circumstances? It didn't survive either of them being even smaller children over the weekend?), well, there was plenty of material to whip something else up, so long as it was quick, because there was plenty to do that day.

"Welcome back," Amaya greeted them with her usual nod. "We're going to be digging our mini-foundries back out again today, and there's a lot to do with this week's project, so we're going to get right to it. Now I asked you to bring back in whatever it was you whittled last week, because today, we're putting them to good use through a process called sand casting. That's when you make a mold out of tightly packed, slightly damp sand for founding whatever little pieces you'd like with the pattern you've made. Not necessarily the best way to cast an item, but definitely an effective, quick, and fairly cheap way to do it, and hopefully a little bit of fun, too.

( Sand Casting! )

"Let me know if you have any questions, I'll be checking in on you as you work, and let's just get to it!"

So the thing about having a very small class was that it was kind of noticeable when one of the students wasn't there. Because one of the students was literally half the class.

"But he is here!" Graham cheerfully informed her, lifting up his arm to prove it. "He's just a bat!"

The bat on his arm who was allegedly Guillermo let out a few sleepy squeaks, because he was already starting to feel much more nocturnal.

"He just said hello," Graham translated, helpfully. "This has been really helpful for me brushing up on my bat language!"

And Amaya was just going to take a moment to massage her forehead and try to reroute her plan for the class, because she was about to send them into another multi-class unit, but, somehow, she didn't think teaching a bat how to whittle would be very effective, but that whittling lead into some other things, so she took a moment to consider what they haven't really worked on that wouldn't leave Guillermo in the lurch for the next few classes.

She dropped her hand and considered Graham for a moment. "You wanna learn how to do pottery?" she offered.

"Boy, do I!"

Would he have said that to practically anything Amaya proposed? Probably. But he also followed it up with, "Will Guillermo be able to do pottery, too?"

And Amaya sighed, because she knew this meant she'd be spending the first part of class trying to put together a bat-sized pottery wheel, but you know what? Maybe the squirrels could also get some good use out of it. "We'll see what we can do," she said. "Innovation is the name of the game, right? Let's make some pots."

"Well," Amaya greeted the class with a grin and a pump of her fist to rally them into shop=-class-mode, "welcome back! Hope you all had a good time on the trip, but now, it's time to get back to business, back to the workshop, and into making some stuff! Usually, I like to do a project a little inspired by what we may have seen while abroad, and I've definitely got something for you guys there, but it's also October, and there's two particular projects I like to do this time of year. Today's ight not seem like much, we're we're not handling any heavy equipment today, but what we're working on will be heavy, and it'll really pay off next week. Hope you haven't been skipping your arm days, because today, we're working with pumpkins. But not just any regular old pumpkins...."

( Concrete Pumpkins! )

But that was all she was going to say about that.

"Might be a bit overkill, too," she added, with a faint grin, "but this could also be a good chance to get in some practice with those handheld jigsaws, right? Let's get to work!"

Ohhh, boy, was Amaya feeling glad that they'd moved her class to a late period this semester! That meant she had at least a little more time to sleep last night's whiskey and counteract it with plenty of coffee before she headed in and was half-tempted to do the whole movie day thing. After all, she'd had whole classes about using movies for inspiration before; she could legitimately have it lead up to a project! But she also had genuine lesson plans for this class, and it made sense to shift over a slightly less demanding on to earlier in the semester, anyway.

"Morning, boys," she greeted the class with a...very small nod. "We've been working our way through several different machines that we'll be using throughout the semester, and we've even made some of our own, and today's going to continue on with that. There's just something real satisfying about getting an idea about something, figuring out how it works, then putting it all together and making it do something. But before you can really do that, you've got to really understand machines on a simple, fundamental level, though the six kinds of simple machines that'll help make more complex ones along the line.

"Now, a machine is basically just a mechanical structure that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an intended action, and a simple machine is what you use to change or direct that force and movement, a.k.a. all the little moving parts that make up the big moving machine."

And here, Amaya lifted up the examples of each simple machine that she had on the worktable in front of her as she went through them. "You've got your levers, wheel and axle, pulley, inclined plane, wedge, and screw. Basic stuff you see every day, but the key to making machines is understanding how to do them right and understanding how to put them all together effectively.

"Which is pretty much what we'll be working on today. You've got full run of the whole shop and the materials available to you to try things and experiment and really get to understand these simple machines and how they work...especially together. If you have questions, of course, I'm here, but I really want you all to just try thing out and really use the class period to get a little creative with these basic elements. See how they work together in combination; find out what works and what doesn't. Try to see if you can put together a way to make all the elements work together in one machine by the end of class. Find out if some materials work better than others. Find out what the limits for pressure and force might be for this machine or that one. And keep all these things in mind for throughout the semester, because it may one day come in handy.

"Sound good? Good! Remember: safety equipment when needed, don't hesitate to ask questions if you got 'em, and let's get to work!"

"So," said Amaya, as class got started, and she stifled just a little bit of a yawn because someone had an ermine in their apartment to get used to for who even knew how many days, "we've been working on familiarizing ourselves with a few of our more commonly used pieces of equipment, but what if I told you that, today, we'll be working on making our own equipment?

"Now," she continued, "this one is a shop class classic, and it's a lot of fun, and could maybe even be useful one day if you find yourself wanting for a foundry without much space for one. Then you're in luck! Because today, we're learning how to make a
mini one!

( Mini Foundry Day! )

"And that's pretty much it! Good work today! If you'd like, I've got some metal spray paint in a few different colors if you want to give your buckets a little personal touch before you leave; we can leave them to dry so they're good and ready the next time we get the chance to use them. Any questions before we go?"

Amaya had to admit, it felt good to be back in the old shop classroom again, even it it seemed that, by the size of her roster this semester, the interest in it might be dwindling a little. "Morning, everyone," she greeted them, nodding a little, uncertain if it could still be called morning by now, but she usually wound up in an earlier period, so it was just habit at this point. "And welcome to shop class! Usually, it being the first day and all, this is where we'd do introductions, but one of you, I already know," with a nod toward Graham, "so by process of elimination, that probably makes you Guillermo," with a nod toward him assuming he was there. "Nice to meet you, I'm Amaya, I'll be teaching how to make stuff this semester.

"With just the two of you, though," she said, "that means we have the potential for more than a few group projects, so here's to hoping you like each other, because you'll probably be working together a lot. And for the individual project, probably against each other a lot, because I'm a sucker for competition. But we'll save that for the later weeks. Today, I mostly want to talk about two things: safety and getting to know some of our equipment. The safety bit? That's pretty simple and sweet, but more important than anything else you'll learn in this classroom. Safety always comes first. I don't want to see either of you working with at least gloves and goggles," she gave her own a demonstrative tug and tap, "and potentially more protective equipment when the project calls for it. This isn't the Danger Shop, it's just Regular Shop, which means No Safety Protocols, and I've never had to take one of my students down to the clinic before, let's not change that now."

She went on a little longer about other key points of safety, before turning to pick up and hold aloft something that seemed to almost promise to be the antithesis of everything she was talking about: a jigsaw.

"And this," she stated, "is a jigsaw, and a 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 controlled. Feel free to use whichever you're more comfortable with, and if you're a little squeamish about either, let me know, and I'll walk you through it.

"As for the actual project, I thought we'd jump right into a classic shop class project, but with its own Fandom-style twist, and get you boys started on some squirrel houses, which is a lot like a birdhouse, only it's for squirrels you don't want being too nosy about your business."

She started to hand out copies of her blueprints and instructions, and then got out the prototype she'd made in advance as she explained. "The idea behind the squirrel house, other than being a good introduction to using saws and drills, is to have a little place to entice the radio squirrels into when you might want some privacy or to ensure that someone you say or do doesn't make the broadcast. And if you didn't know it already, then here's your lesson that the best way to bribe those squirrels into secrecy is with a little bit of booze. So you'll notice the interior here is set up almost like a bar, where the squirrel can mosey on up inside, and we're going to include this little feeder bottle-like apparatus where you take one of these individual-size bottles of booze," she held one up as an example--rum, of course!, "put it in upside down like thus, and now the squirrel can go inside, go up to the bottle, and have himself a little drink while you go about your business without its tiny little nose all up in it.

"I'm having you guys attempt to build this from start to finish," she informed them, "which means following the blueprints carefully to trace out the pattern on the wood, and then using these table saws to cut them before we put them together. But I do have some ready-made pieces if that's not working out too well for you. Since these table saws are dangerous, let's take a second to go over how they're used. And remember, gloves and goggles whenever using any of the equipment. Safety first!"

So there was another quite demonstration, this time of the table saw, and then her attention shifted to the students.

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

"Morning, everyone," Amaya greeted the students with a nod as usual, santa hat firmly in place, because she knew already from repeated attempts that the blasted thing wasn't going anywhere.

"Not so much hard work with our hands today, though, but rather with our heads. We're coming up on the end of the semester, so next week will be your final project, and today, as well as last week's class, are build-ups to that. It's the concept of simple machines like those we covered last week that are what's going to help you out next week. I'm looking to have you all put together a contraption of simple machines. The rules are pretty simple: I want you to take some time and think about a simple task. Could be switching on a light. Tying your boots. Toasting your bread. Something really mundane and basic...and then I want you to try to think up a machine with at least five moving parts to perform that task.

"There's actually a term for this sort of thing on this world," which still amused Amaya to absolutely no end. "They call it a Rube Goldberg machine, a device intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an overly complicated and complex manner. Named after a cartoonist who was known to feature these kinds of machines in his work.

"Now, I've gone ahead and tried to recreate some such devices for examples" because of course she would, "figuring they might inspire you guys. Take some time to look them over, see what they do, and maybe bounce some ideas around for simple tasks that could use a complex solution. It's mostly brainstorming today, maybe get a little work in if you have an idea and want to see how it works. You'll have the class period today and the start of class next week to work on your machines, or, if you need a little extra time, just let me know and we can have you come in extra if you need. So! With that said, let's have a look at what these here machines can do to start getting the machines inside your skulls," she tapped a finger against the side of her head, "working! Then you've got full run of the shop once you feel you're ready to get cranking them out.

"And, hopefully," she added, giving the tail of her santa hat a slightly irritated flick over her shoulder, "these won't get in the way too much."

"Morning, everyone," Amaya said, grinning faintly as she nodded her greeting to her students, clearly a little excited about today's project. "Since it's the turkey holiday coming up here in a few days, I figured we'd take a little break from the bigger projects and do something that's a little more thematic and will allow you to stretch your imagination and use some of the skills we learned earlier in the class, mostly welding with probably a little metal manipulation, bending, and cutting thrown in there, too. Or heck! Even woodworking, if that's the way it steers you!

"As you can see," she said, gesturing toward one of the worktables piled up high with what looked like she'd spent the previous day scouring the junkyard for pretty much anything that wasn't bolted down or rusted through, "we've got ourselves a whole heap of moddable scrap metal, and we're going to try to put it to use making a few metal turkeys! And, as you can see here," she gestured to another table, "I made a few examples so you can get your own ideas on where to start and how to get going, but, I assure you, once you do, it all tends to come quite natural and you'll have a vertible flock in no time!

"I think the two of you," another stout, proud sort of nod, "have got a good grip on things, so let's just gear up and get right to it! Unless you've got any questions, of course."

"Alright, you guys," Amaya greeted the students with a nod and a faint smile, a look that said she was ready, as always to get to work. "Last week, we dabbled in a bit of pottery, and I'd say it went fairly well, and I've got a few things lined up for the rest of the semester, but today we're going to focus on a classic project for this class we haven't touched on yet, and that's the good old puzzle box! That means we're back on wood and a lot of defined parts and pieces, so that means using the scroll saw, which both of you seemed to have had a pretty good grasp of. Still, if for whatever reason today's not your day for working with the saw, I've got some precut pieces, as well. But let's get right to it.

( Puzzle Box! )

"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!"

"Now," said Amaya, once the class had relocated itself to the Danger Shop that morning, "I know we don't usually do this, but, with this activity in the past, we've had to work with flinging things toward the Preserve or the ocean, which doesn't quite have the same...impact as if we had a nice big open field. Island like this, that sort of thing is in short supply, but, thankfully, we have the next best thing, and that's the danger shop."

And there was no lack of open space around them right now! They were in a large, open field, and surrounding Amaya was a collection of supplies, weights, the usual tools, and a whole lot of pumpkins. So many pumpkins. She seemed to have absolutely no problem obtaining a ridiculous amount of pumpkins. Where there was a will, there was a way, and the real curious part now would just be how she'd managed to get them all into the danger shop.

Because all the supplies and pumpkins, including some concrete ones from last class, were real; the only thing that wasn't was the space.

"It's Halloween here in a few days," she continued, "and what I've made into a new tradition is taking all these pumpkins that are everywhere, having you all build up a trebuchet, and see just how far we can get those pumpkins flying! That's right! It's time for pumpkin' chuckin'!"

Look, it involved trebuchets and projectiles, what more did you want?

"So I've got some instructions here on how to build the trebuchet, which we all know is the superior seige weapon, as well as all the materials and tools you'll need. Since there's just the two of you and it's a bigger project, I'd like you to work together. That'll make the job a lot quicker, too, which will give you more time to test it out, vary the weights, and see just how far we can chuck these pumpkins, and get to see how well they smash....especially those concrete ones we made last week! I'm here, of course, should you have any questions, but I think I'll just let you all get to work. Time's a wastin'! These pumpkins aren't going to chuck themselves."

Well, they might, because Fandom. But at the current moment, it looked like it was entirely up to the students.

A text last night oh so handwavily from Summer had left Amaya in a little bit of an emotional pickle (the worst kind of pickle! Even worse than bread and butter!), but, thankfully, she had a class that morning that she could throw herself into to help her ignore it, and so she was ready and raring to go with avoidy gusto!

"Welcome back, everyone," Amaya greeted eagerly. "I sure hope you're ready to get some more use out of those mini-foundries we made a little while back, as well as what we whittled up last week, and we've got a lot to squeeze into today, so we're going to get right to it. Now if you didn't bring what you whittled last week or you lost it," not looking at you, Troy, "that's fine. You can whip up something new real quick or I've got plenty of other interesting shapes you can use, but ultimately, we're putting them to good use through a process called sand casting. That's when you make a mold out of tightly packed, slightly damp sand for founding whatever little pieces you'd like with the pattern you've made. Not necessarily the best way to cast an item, but definitely an effective, quick, and fairly cheap way to do it, and hopefully a little bit of fun, too.

( Sand Casting! )

"Let me know if you have any questions, I'll be checking in on you as you work, and let's just get to it!"

"Morning," Amaya greeted the ckass with a nod and a grin, clearly eager to get on with today's class, because the unit they were current in was one that would never get old for her. "And welcome back. Today, we're going to get to put those foundries we worked on last week to the test and start to get a real feel for what foundry work is all about."

And that was molten metal! What wasn't to love?

"Today, we'll be making the good old standard metal biscuits, which I don't recommend actually eating, unless hard aluminium is something that's already a part of your normal diet. You can see we've got ourselves a few buckets of old and empty aluminum soda cans here," she gave one such bucket a little kick to make the contents rattle slightly, "which we'll be melting down into our metal. So not only is it pretty neat, but it's also a good way to recycle. Go ahead and grab your foundries from last week and I'll show you how we're doing this, and then you guys can just go at it. And remember, safety first, so please make sure you've got some heat resistant gloves while you're working and some goggles wouldn't be a bad idea, either.

( Mini Metal Muffins! )

"We've got a little more time, so feel free to melt down some more cans and use a variety of the pans to try something else or try melting down what you've made this first time around and do a second pour with a purer metal. Don't forget to save a little time at the end to empty out the ashes in your forge before you leave as well, and let me know if there's any questions, of course."

Based on the sheer amount of scrap metal around the shop that morning, as well as the welding torches waiting for the students at their stations along with their usual protective gear, it shouldn't be too hard for them to figure out what they might be up to today.

"Morning, class!" Amaya greeted them with her usual nod. "We're going to keep learning some of the basics of the equipment and the materials we'll be using a lot this semester, and this week's a big one for me, because this material is my bread and butter. Today, we're working with metal. Specifically, we're working on welding metal.

"Welding is basically using high levels of heat to melt pieces of metal into each other, fusing them together when they cool. We've got these nifty little hand torches," and, of course, she was going to pick one up and fire it off a little for display, "which is why we've also got these heavy-duty masks." She set the welding torch down to pick up the welding helmet that could almost look like a costume piece from a bad science fiction movie. "This process involves a lot of heat and light waves that can be bad for your eyes, as well as sparks and tiny sharpnel that'll likely be even worse for them! So safety first! This isn't the Danger Shop, after all, so we want to keep those trips to the clinic down to a minimum.

"We've got plenty of material to work with today, too, with all these scraps that can easily be put together into something with the power of welding! I've got some instruction sheets if you'd like to make anything in particular, but there's nothing wrong with letting your imagination take over, either. Make something entirely new, or try one of the projects on the she sheets. The point of today's class is to get you familiar with the process of welding and the equipment. Everyone, put your masks on." She even did so herself, but kept her voice strong even behind the muffled coverage. "It might be a little hard to see exactly what I'm doing, but it's important, because if you're watching me, you don't want to be staring directly at the flashes. I'm going to walk you through how to make a spider using mostly old spoons."

And she did just that, showing off the little guy when she was finished and passing it around so they could have a closer look at it. "So, as I said, all we're doing is basically melting the metal at the joints so that they fuse together and connect. If you look closely, you can see all those joints in the various pieces that make the spider. Pretty simple in concept, right? So it's just a matter of knowing how to shape and piece it all together to actually make something.

"IF you're not entirely new to welding or you have a particular idea," she concluded, "go ahead and weld together what you want, but if it's somewhat new, I encourage you to try the spider or perhaps some other simple projects, like a flower or a bird or a dragon. I've got instructions or I can help walk you through some of it. Or just experiment with some parts and putting them together and see what you end up with. Today's about the equipment and the material more than the final results, although I'm eager to see what you guys have to offer at the end of the class.

"Any questions? If not, let's go ahead and grab some scrap and get to work!"

"Last week," said Amaya, getting right into this final class today because there was only so much time to work!, "we discussed complicated machines to do simple tasks and played around with the concept a little. This week, for your last class, it's your task to use the first part of class to build your own complicated machine for a simple task, and then, at the end, you'll get the chance to show them off and, hopefully, see them do what they were designed to do!

"And if not," she offered a snort and a grin, "then at least it'll hopefully be entertaining!

"So, unless there's any questions," she lifted her hands to pound a definitive fist onto her palm, "let's get to work!"

When you'd been around here as long as Amaya had and had been expertly repressing your feelings about certain things for even longer, you pretty much knew what was up with a week like this one straight from the get-go. And, true, while Amaya didn't currently have any apprentices that she had absolutely not been in love with or anything, how dare you, to distract her anymore, she did have a friend who was guaranteed to be pretty awkward about things and a guy who was guaranteed to invite her to watch movies at his apartment that had no TV. She also had one obligation in the entire week, and so she was smartly just going to find herself on a nice vacation anywhere but here until then.

And she almost considered extending that vacation and just asking Diaz to let her know when it was over. Tanalore was beautiful this time of year, after all, she had been enjoying so many drinks in coconuts...

...but she did feel kind of bad about just skipping out on a class like that, even though she knew, realistically, no one would care. So she was back that morning, and the students would find a note on the door to the classroom directing them back down to the shop.

"Well, kids," she offered, already thinking she'd made a terrible mistake, but a Blackstone didn't back out of mistakes just because they were terrible, they forged right on through! "I'm sure by now, you've noticed it's one of those weeks, and so there's a good chance you've got a lot of pent up energy that you may or may not know what to do with. And probably one of the best ways to take care of that energy just might as well be...explosives!"

A pause.

"Just kidding," she said. There was no way she was putting explosives into the hands of pollenated teenagers right now.

She was, however, fine with putting hot molten steel and big heavy hammers in their hands instead.

"We're going to do a continuation of our blacksmithing unit, if you couldn't tell, because sometimes, you've just really got to spend a good hour or so beating furiously on a long hard shaft..."

One of these days, Amaya would be better about phrasing. This was, unfortunately, not that day.

"...of metal," she concluded. "So that's it! Gear up, grab some steel, and let's see what you come up with by the end of the class!"

"Morning, everyone!" Amaya greeted the class with her usual nod, her usual eager smile, especially today since she was actually pulling a new project out of her pockets for them this week. She realized that the skill levels in this semester's particular class were a little uneven, but so far, everyone had been able to keep up to speed fairly well, so why not? It wasn't going to be much of a competition, but it could still be fun.

"After all the work we've been doing with metal, today's project might seem a little basic, but there's some hidden challenge in there all the same. As you can see," she gestured to the work table of supplies, which included a lot of glue, some PVC piping and...mountains of popsicle sticks, "we're going to be going a little arts and craftsy today, while still covering some important lessons about infastructure and building, because today? We're having a popsicle stick bridge competition.

"I think you're all easily at a point where you don't need me to go over the basics," she said, "and I think I'd rather have you learn a bit through experience and trial and error, anyway. The concept is simple: you've got most of the class period and these materials here to build a bridge that will span this width here," she gestured toward the space between the worktables, "and, as you work, trying rolling across these cars," another gesture to those materials, "across the bridge, each one heavier than the next, to see how well your bridge holds up, and if it doesn't, well, figure out how to fix the problem and make it strong enough to withhold it the next time.

"I've got a cooler full of popsicles to enjoy if you want while you work," she added, because she liked being thematic, "and feel free to try and get creative and interesting with your designs, but keep in mind, no additional materials or upgrades! You've got to stick with the sticks, the glue, and the pipe, no more, no less. And while this is mostly just a fun experiement to play around with sticks and different design features, I will say this: at least where I'm from? Actually knowing how to whip up a bridge with whatever materials you have on hand is actually a useful skill to have! I'm sure it's not a common occurance elsewhere, but it never hurts to have a little extra ingenuity in your pocket.

"If there are any questions or you need a bit of help to get started, you let me know, otherwise, I'll just let you guys get to it so you can start building some bridges!"