[Hopetoun] Tea Time

11th of Ashan 721

A small island with an active volcano, Faldrass is the home to Saoire's school and to the Faldrass Induk.

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Vega Dweeb
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[Hopetoun] Tea Time

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11th Ashan, 721.
"Right, Shon," Vega said, to her cousin. "I want you to help me as much as you can. There's ten of them. Ten. Can you imagine?" Shon smiled at Vega and nodded. "Yes, there are. They heard about the arrows. It's a good thing, Eva." Vega nodded. "Yeah, I know. But it's jus' a bit full on." Shon nodded. It was rare that she was so nervous, but he was also very aware that Vega was better, psychologically, each day. This place and the people here were part of the reason for that, he knew. The sense of community, of belonging somewhere, that was important to Vega - or Eva as he knew her. She'd felt it in Storm's Edge, but Shon and all her family knew just how much of a toll being in Rharne had taken on her. The ceaseless war had ground her down and Vega needed to relax, to rest - to heal.

But she was who she was, and she needed to do that while moving. While growing. While doing things.

And so, Hopetoun had been - as it turned out - exactly what Vega needed.

So, the feisty redhead wanted to give back to the place in every way that she could. Therefore, she'd taught fletching and it had seemed to work well. After that success, she'd agreed that she'd do more - and now they were making something else. She didn't doubt that it would be useful, and she hoped that they'd like it, and that it was useful. More than that, though, Vega hoped that it built it on the sense of community. This place had good people, and she wanted to help them grow as a settlement.

Up to this point, Vega had not worked out that the flag which had been sent to her as a gift had any kind of special properties. So, she'd been heartily impressed with the way that the people here could learn, the speed at which they picked stuff up. To-trial, she was going to teach them how to make a box, a cabinet with drawers. She'd put together the crates with supplies for each one, Shon had helped her.

Shon didn't know that Vega was pregnant - and she considered that this was probably a very good thing. He'd have fussed in the worst way if he knew and Vega considered it a blessing from Xiur that none of her family were, as yet, aware of this child. She had the box with her, as a template for them. Walking into the clearing in Hopetoun's main area where - it turned out - there were twelve people. "I thought it were ten?" Vega whispered to Shon and he shrugged. "I thought so, too. Do you want me to send two away?" Vega looked at Shon as he said that, but she shook her head. "No, it's fine."

It was fine, right?

She was impossibly surrounded by friends, impossibly married to an impossibly wonderful man and - impossibly - she was pregnant. And if all of those things were were true?

Then, she could teach twelve people.

Right?
word count: 533
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Vega's skin has a reflective metallic sheen with a red glow. Her eyes still swirl biqaj colours, but one colour is always bright red which glows like fire. She has a bright red glow in her chest, situated directly under the mark of a heart (Daia mark) in the middle of a glowing silver dragon on her chest (Xiur). She's unnaturally warm to the touch
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Vega Dweeb
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Re: [Hopetoun] Tea Time

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11th Ashan, 721.
Twelve of them.

Right. Well, she could do this. "Wotcha," Vega said. She looked around with a smile at the people and, even as the nerves hit her she realised something. She knew them. Each one of them. She knew who they were, names and their relationships one to the other. She knew them, and that meant that they were just people. Just people.

And people? People she could deal with.

"I know I've already done it, but I'm righ' scared about the idea of bein' a teacher," Vega said. "An' honestly I don't know how to be. But, Darius has been so kind to let us stay here, an' what he's buildin' here? It's amazin'. What you're all buildin', what we are." Vega grinned. "It's enough that I figure maybe what I need to do is not be a teacher, but I can show you what I've got here, an' how to make one?" She gestured for them to come forward as she put down what seemed to be a tall box. "This is Shon, you know him. A'right, lets get started. Pull yerselves around."

Vega showed them the tea-box. It was a box Sort of example of the sort of thing - not exact, though, cos sand etc. Image which opened, the lid on the top flipping back and then either side opening up. Underneath the main section, there were drawers, and either side of the largest central section were smaller compartments. "This is what we use for storin' our tea-makin' stuff. So, the kettle goes here, an' we keep it in the orange sand. So, if we're in a camp, the water stays warm." Vega gestured to what she was explaining. "In each of these drawers, there's a different kind of tea. Spoons, here, an' cups in here. None of it sticks out so we can keep it covered an' flat when it's bein' transported in our cart. It has maximum amounts of stuff in it, it takes minimum space."

Once they'd all looked at the tea box, Vega spoke again. "I brought this, an' I'm goin' to teach you some of the methods for makin' this, for a reason." Looking at them, she explained. "We have real criteria. Me an' Arlo, we travel. We've got a cart, an' the space is limited." This was important, as far as Vega was concerned, and they needed to know this. "So, that's the first thing to do. Think about what you want. What space do you have for it, but also," she said, gesturing to the parts of the box in question. "What do you need to use? This is for makin' tea, so I need a kettle, an' I need cups. But I need spoons, an' I need a place to put the bag once it's steeped. A plate or two, maybe, in case I want some cake in there, or somethin'?" She gestured to Shon. "An' spare cups an' plates in case Shon decides to visit."

With a nod, Vega continued. "So. Have a think, think about what you want to make, but more than that. Think about how you're goin' to use it an' what you need it to hold." It was important, she knew. "Work it through in your mind, use it. An' jot down or make a list of everythin' you might need. " Glancing at Shon then, she nodded to him. He returned the gesture. "Right, Shon an' I'll get movin' around."
Last edited by Vega Dweeb on Fri May 07, 2021 2:49 pm, edited 1 time in total. word count: 600
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Vega's skin has a reflective metallic sheen with a red glow. Her eyes still swirl biqaj colours, but one colour is always bright red which glows like fire. She has a bright red glow in her chest, situated directly under the mark of a heart (Daia mark) in the middle of a glowing silver dragon on her chest (Xiur). She's unnaturally warm to the touch
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Vega Dweeb
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Re: [Hopetoun] Tea Time

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11th Ashan, 721.

"What if there's nothing I want to make for me, but I'd like to learn woodworking?"

The settler who asked that had been at her fletching lesson ~ a Sev'ryn male. Vega was glad to see people here who'd been at the previous session - it meant that at least she hadn't sucked so badly, she thought. "That's a good question," she said with a smile. "An' the answer is, make somethin' for the community. " Thinking about it, she gestured. "Seed boxes, composters, storage boxes, that sort of thing." He nodded, thoughtfully. "We can hopefully improve an' trade these things too - so maybe make some idea for a gift." He grinned. "A sewing box!" Vega nodded. "That'd be great. "

They took a few more moments as they all came up with ideas. Then, they spent the time they needed to designing. Planning. Vega looked at Shon and smiled, and he nodded. It was going well, he seemed to say."We need to make sure that you've got all your pieces. Now, there's a design in that box, for a tea box, an' a few others. Lets have a look." She watched them, then talked through each part of the tea-box. Explained each piece. "Ok. Everyone ready?"

She saw that they were, heads were nodding and people seemed happy. "A'right. So, one of the things that people maybe find surprsin' about workin' wood is jus' how much time you spend in preparin'. Think about the item, really consider it. An' then, you need to meet your wood." She grinned, but she was serious. "We need to work out the grain of the wood, an' it's jus' like strokin' a cat." She remembered that was how she'd been taught it. "If you stroke a cat from the end of the tail to the head, you'll end up with scratches an' bleedin'. You want to stroke a cat, you go with the fur. You want to work wood, you go with the grain of the wood." She showed them. "An' if you don't, you'll end up with splinters an' scratches."

Gesturing for them to do the same, Vega made her way around the group, making sure that they all had the grain the right way. Shon was also there to help them, and he called her when people he chatted to had questions. It was a good way to work. When they were all ready, Vega nodded. "So, most of what we do in woodworkin' is one of two things. We either shape bits of wood, or we join bits o'wood together. We're going to start with shapin' because joinin' involves shapin'." They each had a box of supplies, and Vega pulled out a short, wide cylinder of wood. "If you've got a shape in mind, you start at the piece of wood. Look at the base shape of the piece you've got. Think about where it's goin' in your design, an' what people are goin' to see."

Then, she showed them the small cylinder of wood from her set. "So, here we go. I'm goin' to mark this, where I want the design to be. So, my Papa, who taught me woodworkin', he told me that the trick was to measure twice, cut once. That works. Measure it, make sure that you've marked it where you want to an' then, we start." She showed them then how to shave the wood first with a large set of tools, and then moved to medium and then smaller sets. How shaving gave broad strokes, gave a basic shape, then each tool made it more and more fine. Every time, Vega demonstrated, then walked around and watched them as they did, correcting their technique.

"It's good. Make sure that you do somethin', check it, then do another. It's easier to correct a mistake if you spot it early." So, she got them looking at that, every time. "It's a longer process than you'd think," one of them said as Vega checked her work. Vega nodded. "It is. But it'll be worth it in the end, for sure."

They continued to work on this piece, with Vega helping. "You are all doin' great! These are lookin' good!" After they'd all finished, Vega said. "Right. We'll take a break, an' when you come back, we'll do sandin'."


word count: 752
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Vega's skin has a reflective metallic sheen with a red glow. Her eyes still swirl biqaj colours, but one colour is always bright red which glows like fire. She has a bright red glow in her chest, situated directly under the mark of a heart (Daia mark) in the middle of a glowing silver dragon on her chest (Xiur). She's unnaturally warm to the touch
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Re: [Hopetoun] Tea Time

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Review Rewards

Name: Vega

Points awarded: 10xp

Knowledge:
Teaching: Large groups can be intimidating
Teaching: Answering questions help your students.
Woodcraft: Planning your piece.
Woodcraft: Make sure you have everything in place before you begin
Woodcraft: Mark, measure twice, cut.
Woodcraft. Is fundamentally shaping, or joining.

Renown: 5 (For teaching a class in Hopetoun, being a positive, encouraging presence)

Skill Review: All Skills used appropriate to level

Notes:
This could have been a fairly straightforward skill solo. Could have been...but you elevated it to something a bit more. Explaining what the settlement means to Vega and all the internal reasoning for what she does really added to the story and transformed it into Vega creating relationships instead of just teaching.

I enjoyed the npc element to the solo, and you have a very good sense of knowing how to balance just how much focus the npcs should have, never allowing them to overshadow the pc. It can be tricky - especially with several npcs.

All in all, a great read! I'm enjoying how much Vega is appreciating her current life and circumstances!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this review, feel free to PM. Enjoy your rewards!

Avalon

word count: 202
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