voidtreckerexpress | (open) pottery palooza

Entry tags:

(open) pottery palooza

Who: Madoka and you!
Where: The two merged booths in the quiet coach.
When: 1 & 2 Nebula.
What: Madoka could use some help with putting something together - and she's organizing a pottery activity for art month!
Warnings: Probably nothing, will edit if necessary!

( a. nebula 1 - ikea pottery wheels. )

[ Madoka sure is around at first on the day - especially when it comes to greeting new people on the platform and checking up on all the people who are sad because of the people who are leaving.

But at a certain point, it's almost as if she disappears. Checking anywhere in the regular spots won't let you find her. She's not in the kitchen, she's not doing chores.. but if one were to wander through the quiet coach, they might find Madoka there in the lab-turned-temporary-art-space. She's kneeling on the ground next to pieces of what might look like a pottery wheel, though you have to squint a little. They're all taken apart.

And the girl herself? Well, she seems to be having a really, really troubled expression on her face as she looks at the parts. She takes a few and tries to put them together, but they immediately fall apart again, dropping back on the ground as she yelps. Or.. well, you can't hear the yelp, since it's the quiet carriage, but it's visible on her face.

Please help this poor child. ]

( b. nebula 2 - pottery activity! )

[ By the second day of Nebula, surely everyone has spotted the posters all over the train. Though Madoka seems to have put a note next to them that wasn't there yet yesterday, reading: ]

Come do pottery sculting today at the quiet coach! You don't have to bring anything, just a smile! :)

[ Anyone who does go to the quiet coach will find Madoka there in the same space as yesterday - except now with two actually put together pottery wheels, and a huge smile on her face and a wave as she greets you.

Maybe you didn't even come here on purpose, and you were just passing by.. But alas, you've been trapped.. You can't just ignore that happy greeting and not head inside to participate, right? Are you that cruel. ]

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[ Madoka nods at him. That doesn't sound like a bad idea.. ]

Okay, let's take all of them out. [ But as she's doing so - grabbing parts out of the suitcase and starting to put them next to each other on the ground, one by one, she's quickly starting to realise something here. After all, they still don't have an art carriage, and the makeshift two-quiet-rooms-smashed-together space they're using right now is..

Well, not exactly big. So with the parts lined up like that, it's quickly getting full in there, to a point where Madoka doesn't even know where to put the next part. ]

Oh, there's no space anymore..

Right!

[Okay. Just space them out, and line them up and...uh...] Nyhhhh....shoot. Maybe we c'n balance some on the tables..? I mean we can't run outta space usin the counters and stuff right?

[Don't test fate Katsuya.]

[ ABSOLUTELY DO NOT TEST FATE.

Especially since it's not like the counter is entirely clear. There's other people using it for art projects, so there's some papers and stuff.. But Madoka is now trying to put pieces of the pottery wheel between what's already on there as elegantly as possible. If anything is knocked over or ruined, it's so not going to be her fault!

It takes a while, but then finally, after a few minutes.. ]

Phew.. I think that's all of it.

[ They're absolutely surrounded by a sea of parts. Especially since it's two wheels, so the amount of parts is doubled! ]

Alrigh'! We got two wheels, so we gotta split everythin' in two...hey did we at least get a picture of what these look like when they're done, or 's that guesswork too?

[In the meantime, he looks around for what's meant to be any power source- whether manually or otherwise, something is going to be keeping the wheel spinning, and that'll be a good start on figuring out how it fits together.]

No, it only had the parts in the suitcase.. It wasn't in a box or anything like that. [ And that's the sort of place you'd expect a picture of the finished product to be on, huh. Even Ikea includes pictures of the finished product, train! This is clearly unnecessarily cruel.

Not that Madoka leaves it at that. She wants to be able to help out too! ]

But.. um, you know what a pottery wheel looks like on the outside, right? Maybe we can at least separate the parts that look like outside parts from the parts that look like inside parts! [ Especially since it sounds like the inside parts are what they're going to need first. ]

Ehhh, we'll work with it then.

I think I know most of it though yeah; y' gotta have the dish sittin on somethin', and then th' disk sits on something in the dish so it can spin...

[They're so doomed.]

Well, the disks are over here.

[ Those are easy to find, even among this huge mix of parts. She grabs one of them. ]

And this kind of looks like it'd be the outside casing, right? [ There's even a hole at the top for the wheel itself to fit on! Now they just have to figure out what goes under it - that thing he was talking about, that makes it spin in the first place. ]

Yeah, I'd say so. Whatever holds it t'gether would have t' still let it move too, so....

Aha! [He has no idea what the part is called, but it's at least promising!] Lesse if this fits and....yeah! ...I mean we...still need all th' bottom stuff, but yeah!

[ At this point they're just treating it like they're putting a puzzle together, huh.

But maybe it's the only way they can approach this, without any idea of how the technology inside of a pottery wheel works, or without an example to work off.. And it's exactly with that in the back of her mind - and the knowledge that if they don't do this, they might just never be able to put even one together - that Madoka carefully suggests: ]

Maybe you should just grab more pieces and see if they fit too..?

I mean 's as good a start as any...we'll have t' look carefully f'r anything that gets screwed t'gether though, see? [He holds up what looks like it might be a little foot to keep the whole thing from moving around or sliding.] There's a screw on this bit, so whatever it goes into will have a hole f'r it that we can't just click t'gether. We'll have t' eyeball that kind of stuff.

.. so should I look for something with a hole of about that size?

[ Sure, it's not the exact point he's making, but Madoka figures that if they have to make a start with the rest of these remaining parts somewhere, it might as well be here! Especially when they don't have a better idea.

It's why she just picks up a random piece that does look like it has a hole that size, even though she doesn't know if the two would connect..

.. but maybe they should just try? It's not like they can break it, right?

(R-Right?) ]

Like this?

SSssssorrrta....

[Katsuya squints at the piece, frowning.] See, there's no ridges 'r anything in this one- so it's not meant for a screw, we need somethin' else here.

[Probably a dowel, if he thinks about it.] Since we have to twist this thing in, it'll have a path t' follow, right?

[ Thanks, Katsuya, this is why she has you here. Does Madoka even know what a dowel is? Of course not, she has absolutely no idea. So when he points out the part about the lack of ridges, she looks surprised - she hadn't even noticed that yet!

Which means her eyes grow slightly wider, both with surprise and amazement, before she nods. ]

Okay.. and what sort of path do you think that is..? [ She will listen to his wisdom!! ]

Y'know how a spiral looks? 'S like that. Uhhhh....aha-

[He finds a piece- probably one of the sides to the boxy bottom they'll get- and holds the end with a hole out.] Found it! See? Looks like it's got spots t' connect to other slats too.

Woah.. You're so good at this, Katsuya-san!

[ Guess who's all admitation right now? This girl over here. Madoka sits up, while still kneeling down on the ground, and she's staring at him with eyes that look like they're pretty much close to sparkling at this point. ]

I'm so glad you came to help me.. There's no way I would've been able to figure that out by myself!

Aww, save that kinda thing f'r when we have this together huh? Compared t' a gundam though...This'll be easy! [He declares, as if they aren't about to embark on the ikea challenge from hell.]

B'fore we start puttin' feet t'gether, let's see...AHA! Here's th' pedal- and it's got a wire comin from it, we'll have t' plug that into... ...prob'bly this...

[They need to get the electric bits set up, and go from there first...]

[ At least Madoka does have a good idea of her own. Considering that there are two pottery wheels, and considering that she's pretty sure they're the same and put together the same way, she's trying to grab the same parts he's getting and imitating him to put those together as well. It's more productive than her just staring at him in admiration, she figures.

And that way they can hopefully end up with two finished wheels at the end. ]

Is it not dangerous to touch the wires?

[ You have the older and more responsible one here, dude.. Hence why Madoka is looking at him for guidance even now, with her big puppy eyes. ]

The wires? Nahh, they're protected see? It ain't like they're cut up, or sparkin' right? They're made this way, so it's all good.

Th' wheel's probably gonna have the pedal down below where you'd normally have another wheel spinnin' though...probably gonna go under somethin' for protection too... [He mutters, slowly starting to piece things together out of sheer focus.]

[ Oh, so wires are safe as long as they look like that? It's not something Madoka knows either, but it says a lot about the sheer level of trust she has in the other that she takes in the information without protest or even a slight shred of doubt. If he says it's safe, then she's going to assume it's safe.

And then she's just going to keep copying what he's doing too, doing her best to try and put the other wheel together too. ]

You know, I really hope people are going to enjoy using these..

What, th' wheels? [At least they're starting to resemble something! Instead of...Ikea Monstrosity.] Course they will! I mean, we should make sure we got oven clay instead 'f anything that needs a fire-pit 'r somethin', but...

[ P-PLEASE DUDE, DON'T SUDDENLY SAY THAT.. Now Madoka is too worried about looking in the clay suitcase, she didn't even think of the train giving her potentially the wrong kind of clay...

She shakes her head though, trying really hard to not think of it right now.

No time for anxiety, Madoka! Not now! C-Come on! ]

W-Well, even if it's just something people could play around with, that'd already be a start, right..? [ Even if they might not be able to heat it into a hardened end result. ] I mostly just like seeing people get creative..

[Shhh! Shhhh it'll be fine...shhhhh...]

Yeah, I mean 's somethin' anyway, and as long as we got something to keep th' clay from dryin' out we'll be alrigh'....

[He grins, nodding.] It'll be fine..! Don' worry about it!

.. you really think it'll be okay?

[ Apparently Madoka just needs that reassurance from someone else. The downsides of being an anxiety bunny, really.. ]

I wouldn't want anyone to want to make something serious with this and get disappointed.. [ Especially when her intention in buying this was to do something good for everyone. ]

Yeah.

[Calmly, without the over hyped cheer, he smiles- and nods.] Yeah, I think they really will.

[They just have to get more clay after this.]

[ Time to spend all points on clay forever.

Because yeah, even though Madoka did buy quite some clay this time around, since she wants to demonstrate how to use these to people later on, it's still.. definitely not infinite.. ]

Thank you.. [ Sure, it's just his opinion, but Madoka seems grateful all the same - though perhaps a touch shyly, still. ] I guess I get a little nervous about this sort of stuff sometimes. I want to do nice things for people on the train, but I'm never sure if my ideas are any good..

(open) pottery palooza

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me scouring my pottery class memories from art school like:

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softly, lmk if these were supposed to be manual and I can edit (trains probs better w elec. tho,,,)

no, no, this is fine! c:

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