Norgan Hall (SMI)
Sloping down before you is a large class room. A series of shallow steps lead straight to a lectern, standing upon a small dais. Behind the dais the entire wall is tiled with large sections of grey/black slate. On either side of the dais are sturdy wooden tables. Along both sides of the steps are tiered rows with sloped top tables and benches on one side, forcing the sitters to face the lecturn.

There is a +view-able 'Plaque' near the doorway and a +view-able 'Blackboard'.

Contents:
Void(#4141DJOUbp)
Glass Dragon(#15520V)
dye basin
test tube rack(#17858V$)
Obvious exits:
Common Room

Desh enters from the hallway.
Desh has arrived.

Taria enters from the hallway.
Taria has arrived.

Taria slips into the back, and listens in intently.

Annik is at the front of the room, setting a few objects on a table. She seems to be aware of apprentices arriving, but doesn't pay much attention yet.

Niobe enters from the hallway.
Niobe has arrived.

Kai has arrived.

Niobe deftly and gently coaxes Kai down from their shoulder, and onto another perch.

Desh makes his way in, bearing a freshly cleaned slate and some chalk. He glances about for a place to sit, and settles in at the very front.

Niobe enters, with hide and pen, sending Kai to perch on a window sill. She settles down in a seat next to Desh.

Annik finally turns around and smiles. "Evening, everyone. I'll be starting soon."

Kai chirrups sweetly and looks at Taria.

Annik watches as the last apprentices scurry in and sit down. "Okay, looks like we're all ready. I'll be giving a fairly short lecture on the basic procedure of sand casting, and then we'll go to the workshop, and I'll let you all try it out."

Niobe grins, and murmurs softly to Desh, "I can't wait for the hands-on!"

Desh scratches his cheek, murmuring, "Yes... it ought to be very educational."

Annik stands by the lecturn and begins. "Sand casting is just one of many casting techniques. It has been used for numerous turns and is a fairly easy process to put together since the main thing that is needed, sand, is widely accessible. Sand casting is used to get extremely fine detail in a finished piece. It mainly consists of mixing sand and oil, then packing the mixture into a mold, making an impression in the sand, and pouring molten metal into the impression."

Niobe scribbles notes in her own shorthand, already entranced.

Desh's forehead wrinkles further with thought as he listens, making his own notes.

Annik continues, "There are two different ways to cast using sand. There is flat plane casting if you only want one side of the object to have a shape, and the other side would be flat. The other method is three-dimensional, which enables you to, of course, make a completely three-dimensional object. Flat plane casting is a simpler way to cast, but three-dimensional can be used to make a greater variety of objects."

Niobe nods writing more. It would follow...

Taria nods, mentally filing the iinformation away, but is otherwise still, intent on hearing what the craftmaster has to say.

Desh keeps writing, quickly, and looking up at Annik as she speaks. He's practically radiating eagerness.

Annik steps over to the table. "Now, for either method, you start out with a mold. The mold is the container in which you pack the sand mixture. There are generally two parts to a mold; the cope and the drag. The cope is the 'male' half and has pins that fit into the holes which are in the drag, the 'female' half. When doing flat plane, only the drag is used. For three-dimensional, both are needed." She picks up both objects as she describes them.

There's some new terms for Niobe. Scribble-scribble.

Desh starts drawing a diagram cheerfully and labelling bits.

Annik puts the cope and drag back onto the table. "After tightly packing the sand into the mold, some parting powder must be lightly sprinkled over it." Here she picks up a container full of powder. "Parting powder keeps the sand from sticking to your model, which makes the impression, and it keeps the molds from sticking to each other. You'll also need to dust your model with parting powder. Your model can be any little trinket or toy you have."

Niobe gets a sudden inspiration, and grins wickedly at Annik's words.

Desh raises one hand, a piece of chalk thrust up into the air.

Annik looks at Desh and nods. "Yes?"

"This parting powder..." Desh ventures, arching his eyebrows. "How does one make it? What's in it?"

Kai bugels loudly from the rear of the room, eyes whirling orange. Chitter-SQUEAK! No-no-no!

Niobe winces. Keep your crazy thoughts to yourself, she chides herself.

Annik opens her mouth to answer, but first peers in Niobe's direction. "Please keep your firelizard under control, or don't bring him into class." Back to Desh, she smiles and replies, "There can be a few variations, but usually talcum powder works fine."

Desh's head bobs, and he makes another note. "Thank you." He glances at Niobe, murmuring, "I do not think placing Kai in a mold would be wise."

Kai has finally settled back down again. He flies over to Niobe, landing on the back of her chair, and worms his way around her neck, quieting after her mental apology.

Niobe frowns, and looks nervous. "Yes, ma'am. Sorry."

Taria grins sympathetically at Niobe, and adds. "Best try and keep him away from Penny too." though the gold is off doing her own thing somewhere currently. Then she shushes lest she catch the CM's attention needleslly

Niobe nods at Taria, thanking her with her golden-brown eyes.

Annik continues with the lecture, setting the powder down and wandering back towards the lecturn. "Next, press the model into the sand. For three-dimensional casting, put the model between the cope and the drag, put them together, then open them and carefully remove the model. Also, make sure there is a channel, or sprue, so you can pour the metal in. Sprinkle a very small amount of parting powder into the impression."

*click clack clack click* Desh's chalk moves over his slate. He erases a few bits of line with his fingers, drawing ina sprue and labelling it in his tilting script.

Niobe keeps scribbling, making her own mini-diagrams and labeling them. Oy! Ticking off your Master was hell.

Annik walks slowly around the dias as she talks. "Now you'll be ready to pour the molten metal. Remember to take all the safety precautions that you have been taught! There's a reason you're not allowed near the forge before passing the safety tests. If you're doing flat plane, it's a good idea to place some kind of flat block over the mold so that the bottom of your finished piece won't be rounded."

Desh's hand shoots up again.

Annik pauses as she sees Desh's hand. "Yes, Desh?"

Taria mutters something then. "Glasss handles different than metal." to a nearby apprentice who's looking kinda confused over that.

"Are any kinds of materials inadvisable to use for a flat block on a flat plane?" Desh inquires.

M-hm! Better than scraping something flat. Niobe grins at Desh, who takes her place in asking Annik so many questions.

Annik shrugs faintly. "Depends on what metal you're using. Obviously, you don't want to use another metal that'll melt and stick. For lower temperatures, a wooden block is okay, or for higher temps, a block of hard stone is fine."

Niobe raises a hand.

Desh's head bobs. "Thank you," he says, scribbling more.

Annik nods and glances at Niobe. "Yes?"

"Would you want to avoid wood with a high concetration of natural oils? Since the higher temperatures might ignite the oil - or any fumes it might give off?" Niobe likes to play it pretty safe around fire, that's for sure.

Annik nods and replies, "Yes, you do want to be careful with any wood around the forge, of course."

Niobe shrugs a bit, hoping it wasn't a dumb question. Scribble-scribble.

Annik steps up onto the dias by the lectern. "Let the metal cool and harden, then quickly use a pair of tongs and quench it in some water, if necessary. Once the metal is completely cool, get rid of any rough edges, or stuff that's not supposed to be there. After some filing and polishing, and when it looks like you want it to, you'll be done."

Annik grins and asks, "Now are there any other questions?"

Niobe raises her hand again.

Annik smiles and inclines her head. "Niobe?"

Niobe says "Are there certain metals that work best with this technique, or are all metals fair game?"

Taria nods. "Like mercury for example, that wouldn't take to well to the process would it Craftmaster?"

Desh grimaces.

Annik shakes her head. "Most metals that you'd normally use are fine. Precious or base - doesn't really matter, except for how you want your project to turn out." She ignores Taria's comment.

Niobe nods. "Thanks, Annik," and she writes more.

Annik smiles again. "Any more questions?"

Desh shakes his head, finishing his writing.

Niobe chortles a bit as she makes a big note: 'Don't use mercury. Or Firelizards.' She has to slap a hand over her mouth to keep from snorting out loud with laughter.

Desh glances over at Niobe curiously, raising his eyebrows. He happens to catch sight of the big note, and his lips quirk up slightly at the corners.

Annik grins and says, "Okay, if there are no more questions, I'm going to give you all a quick test. Who can tell me what the two parts of a mold are?"

Niobe raises her hand.

Taria lifys a hand casually.

Annik nods at Niobe, indicating for her to answer.

Niobe says "Cope and Drag - male and female sides."

Desh consults his slate.

Annik nods and asks, "What is the first thing you do when sand casting?"

Desh's head bows as he peers at his slate again, forehead wrinkling with concentration.

Taria's hand is still raised.

Niobe peers intently at her own notes.

Annik looks at Taria now. "Yeah?"

Desh's hand moves upward, then lowers again. Too late.

Taria smiles. "Aside from basic saftey precautions you mean ma'am, mix sand and oil for the mould.

Annik nods, smiling. "Then after that, Desh?" she asks, without even asking for hands raised.

"Pour the sand into the mould," Desh says, slowly.

Annik raises an eyebrow at Desh. "Pour? Would there be any better way to put the sand in, than to just pour?"

Taria mimics pressing down motions whenshe thinks Annik doesn't have her eyes on her.

Desh blinks a few times, then looks down at his notes. No help from the back of the room when you sit at the very front. "Ah. You must pack it in."

Annik nods and asks, "Next step?" while looking pointedly at Niobe.

Niobe says "Dust the sand/oil mix with talcum powder?"

Annik waves her hand in a gesture that seems to mean there's more to the answer. "Otherwise known as what? And is the sand the only thing you have to dust?"

Niobe grins. "Oh, parting powder.�

Taria looks at Desh then before lifting her hand.

Annik is still looking at Niobe, waiting for her to answer the rest of the question.

And then adds... "Oh, dust the mold, too - so the sand mix doesn't stick to /it/." Niobe answers again.

Desh shifts in his seat, peering at his slate.

Annik smiles at Niobe. "Correct. After that?" she asks Taria.

Taria grins. "Put hte model into the sand, and sourround it with the cope and drag. ." she notes softly.

Niobe's brow wrinkles thoughtfully at that.

Annik nods and looks at Desh. "Then?"

"Pour the metal down the sprue," Desh says.

Annik raises both eyebrows this time. "Not with the model still inside, I hope?" she asks with a bit of a grin.

Niobe winces a bit. Oy! She forgot that, too.

Taria falls quiet, still participating in the class, but not offereing any more comments than sh's asked for.

Desh grimaces. "Oh. No. Remove the model carefully, and then pour."

Annik chuckles and looks at Niobe. "What are the last steps?"

Niobe says "Let it cool and harden - quenching it, if necessary. After it's completely cooled, remove the sculpture from the cast, and get rid of any bumps or ridges with filing and polishing."

Annik smiles and nods. "Good. So who's ready to go cast something?"

Niobe chuckles. As if Annik ever really needed to ask!

Desh nods firmly. "I feel I am ready."

Kai burbles softly, his large eyes whirling slowly as they unlid.

Just in case Annik is feeling very literal today, Niobe waves her hand languidly.

Annik grins and starts for the door. "Then meet me in the metal workshop. There are some little trinkets there, or you can go get one of your own."

You push through the swinging doors and walk into the common room.

You open the door and walk out into the meadow, shutting the door behind you.

You head through the giant entrance into the Hall.

You open the western door, and are greeted by a blast of hot air and a dull roaring sound as you enter.

Metal/Glass Workshop
This huge sweltering room houses the forges for the metal workers and the ovens used by the glassworkers of the smithcraft. The forges are against the west wall of the room. Opposite the forges, along the eastern wall, the glass workers have their ovens. The low, almost silent, roar of the ovens and forges is a constant background to the other sounds of activity in the room. Piles of fine sand are heaped against the wall. Next to them stand various tubes and long pieces of glass.
A makeshift barrier of heavy wherhide separates the two halves of the room, a necessity if glass work is to survive in a room shared with flying shards of metal. Benches laden with various projects are scattered somewhat randomly across the room. Most of the projects have no discernable form yet, other than being a mass of twisted metal or an unfinished piece of glassware.
Contents:
Forge
Obvious exits:
Work Hall

Desh comes in from the Work Hall.
Desh has arrived.

Niobe comes in from the Work Hall.
Niobe has arrived.

Niobe appears clasping somethin in her hands. "I forgot to ask about size issues, Annik."

Annik smiles and nods towards one table with various tools, and another with small objects. "You're free to use any of those. The sand is already mixed, in that large container, and the metal - pewter - is ready when you are." To Niobe, she says, "The cast should be fairly small, ideally something you could wrap your fingers around with one hand."

Niobe nods, and smiles. "Ah, good. I thought something too small might not be useable." The young woman holds up a wooden carving of a dragon rearing up off of hind legs - wings just beginning to spread.

Niobe says "It's only a short handslength."

Desh heads over to the table, peering at the trinkets there. He selects a short stick and eyes it.

Annik glances at the carving. "That should be fine." Including the rest of the apprentices, she says, "So, cast your item, and show it to me when you're finished."

Niobe grins, and then her sites settle on Desh. "Wanna work next to eachother?"

Long distance to Desh and Niobe: Annik is going to test your descing on the spot skills. RP casting, and write up a short desc in, say, the next 20 minutes. :)

Desh pages to Annik and Niobe: Whee!

Desh inclines his head to Niobe. "Certainly, Niobe. Ah - I am glad to see you are not going to cast your firelizard." He moves to the large container of sand and picks up a container.

Annik walks around the workshop, keeping an eye on the apprentices as they begin to work.

Niobe sets down her carving, and takes up the powder, dusting her two halves or the mold with talc powder. "Achoo!" is her answer to Desh. "Got it up my nose, doggonit."

Next, Niobe goes over to get a couple of big handfulls of sand mix, then starts to press them into her dusted halves of the cope and drag.

Annik goes to assist a junior apprentice as the young lad raises his hand.

Just a bit more sand is needed. Press-press. Done. Niobe dusts her hands off on her apron, and then uses the talc to lightly dust the oily sand.

Desh follows along, dusting his cope and drag and... well... stick, and neatly pressing the sand into the mold with the kind of anal-retentive carefulness that puts him a ways behind Niobe in terms of progress.

Niobe then presses her wooden dragon into the female half. "Oh! Don't forget the sprue!" she mumbles to herself, setting that up as well, then pressing the male half of the mold against the wooden statue. Once pressed firmly together, she carefullt opens it, and removes the wooden model - setting it aside again.

Finally, she takes it over to the molten pewter, eye protection on. She sends Kai away from her to his own safety, and checks her apron and hair - and gloves. Carefully the molten metal is coaxed out of its crucible, and into the casting.

Niobe sighs, waiting for quite awhile, and decides to quench the metal, to speed up the cooling process. The large pail of water hisses, bubbles and steams as the hot metal boils it. But it fianlyy cools completely.

Desh tries to sprue his mold, verrrry diligently. He removes the stick and carefully closes the mold. Then it's eye protection and hot metal. If he was careful /before/, you'd think he was handling the World's Tiniest Premature Newborn now.

Annik stands back to watch again, keeping a careful eye on the forge.

Argothe comes in from the Work Hall.
Argothe has arrived.

Argothe saunters in and watches the apprentices try thier hand. He nods briefly to Annik with a slight smile.

Desh finishes pouring pewter into his mold, neatly setting his equipment aside. He then peers down at the mold expectantly.

Annik grins as she notices Argothe. "Hey. They're progressing well," she murmurs as she walks over.

Argothe rolls his eyes, "I used to say that to you all the time, ", he pause and grins wryly, "Even when they were only doing a werry-brained job of it.", he finishes with a slight hint of a chuckle evident in his tone.

Niobe finallu opens up her mold, and withdraws the dragon, immediately beginning to file off any imperfections.

Annik chuckles quietly. "So? They need the encouragement. And some of them /are/ doing quite well."

"How goes it, Desh?" Niobe mutters, still filing the last of the imperfections away.

Desh steeples his fingers, eyeing his mold. He glances over to nod politely to Argothe, then looks to Niobe. "I am waiting."

Niobe sets the flie aside, and takes a polishing buff to the pewter. This darling must shine!

Niobe blinks at Desh. "Oh." And she polisheds even harder - faster - breaking out in a sweat.

A younger apprentice at the far end of the room suddenly lets out a loud yell. The journeywoman next to him /shrieking/ shrilly, "I tol' 'ya to pay more attention an' not to get yer face too close to the mold while you pour it. Ya' sharding werry-brained fool.", she says as she yanks the dimglow to a barrel of water while sending another apprentice to tell the healer that they're on the way.

Desh laughs lightly, peering over at her. "I suppose I cannot point any fingers at you for being overly--- oh, my. Yance seems to have hurt himself."

It seems like hours to her, but Niobe finally manages to bring up a soft shine over most of the statue. At the shriek, she flinches and looks over. "Oh Shards!"

Niobe is sweating palpably, and her arms quiver a bit from the exhertion. "Yance, you said, Desh? Is he gonna' be okay?"

Annik jumps a bit at the yell. "Shells," she mutters as she hurries over to the injured apprentice. "Calm down," she tells the journeywoman. "You can scold him later."

Desh shakes his head. "I do not know. Perhaps some rudimentary first aid training would be a good idea, so that I /would/ know. Hmn."

Niobe puffs a bit. "Sounds good - if we ever have the Sharding /time/."

"Perhaps if I stopped eating lunches..." Desh muses.

Argothe shakes his head slowly while watching what happens across the workshop, "Some of 'em /never/ learn of listen ", he mutters under his breath. He raises his voice to a more normal level looking towards Deesh, "Unless he got some of the liquid metal in his eye he'll just have a fine set of scars.",he says in an encouraging tone. Then he pauses and glares up and down at the apprentices, "Maybe some of you'll remmeber to do /exactaly/ what Master Annik or anyone teaching you tells you to do.", he says with a meaningful glance towards Yance and company.

Niobe nods softly. "I do it because I got burned once when I was younger - before I came here. I /never/ want to get burned again."

"It seems quite unpleasant, and I would like to avoid it," Desh remarks. "What would happen if he got the metal in his eye?"

Annik watches as Yance is escorted out of the workshop on his way to the infirmary. "I'll tell Wen to have him go through the safety exams again, and to be extra strict this time." She sighs quietly, shaking her head. "Alright, let's back to work."

Niobe twitches a bit, but her face remains emotionless. "I'm sure he'd be blinded permanently, for one thing."

Niobe sets out to keep polishing her statuette again, though with less forcefullness than before.

Desh peers at his mold, and then picks it up carefully with his tongs and quenches it to hasten the hardening process.

"I'm not a healer so I couldn't really tell you other than most likely, yes he'd either be blind in the eye, if only one got hit, or lose it or them entirely.", Argothe turns to Annik, "Always someone who dosn't listen or thinks they know better.", he says with a sigh, "At the very least these others will pay /much/ more attention to the safety procedures having seen /that/ just happen"

Desh removes the mold from the water and waits a while longer before opening it and removing his pewter stick. He eyes it speculatively. "This will be difficult to file - the surface is very uneven. Perhaps some artistic filing, even."

Niobe continues her polishing, listening to the Masters talk.

Annik nods at Argothe. "Yeah, the visuals do tend to get to them more than what we lecture. Yance'll have to visit some of the other classes and show off his scars, and tell them all about his painful experience."

"If you're going to go that road, Desh, why don't you try different grades of files? It'd give the pewter different visual and tactile appearances..." Niobe offers to her fellow Apprentice.

Argothe tilts his head slightly and looks thoughtful for a moment, "If you can convince the healers to let his do it /before/ it's healed and allow the bandages to come off for a little while to show them it'd really stick..", he says in a thoughtful tone then grimaces, "Not that I'd want to put the poor lad through that sort of thing...", he says, his voice trailing to silence ant the end.

Desh arches an eyebrow, then nods to Niobe. "A very good idea, I think." He moves off to collect a file and sets to work. It's awkward, and he doesn't know how to use one very well, and he keeps eyeing it speculatively, and occasionally switching files.

Desh ditches his filing after a time, and begins polishing. This is what he knows how to do, yes!

Niobe looks at Desh's efforts, while buffing her statue. "The only reason I know how to use some files is because I worked with my mentor, for so many Turns, carving and faceting and polishing gems and jade figurines." A look at the glowing pewter under her hands makes her smile and stop. "Polishing is the most boring thing - and then filing and grinding."

Argothe moves over to where all the files as stored and snags some from the top shelf. They're all rather small as well as circular. He set's them on the table between Niobe and Desh. "Here, these are perfect for getting the small nooks and suck,", he says with a smial.

Niobe smiles at the man. "Thanks, Master Argothe! Maybe these will work better, Desh," she shrugs. "My hands and fingers are a little too sore to keep going anymore."

Annik nods absent-mindedly as she watches the apprentices. "You should all be very close to finishing now. Raise your hand when you're done, and I'll come around to check your work."

Desh inclines his head. "Thank you, Master Argothe." He reaches for one of the smaller files, working again on the bits where tiny broken branches began splitting off from the stick.

Annik chuckles quietly at the apprentices, amused at something she's not explaining at the moment.

Niobe sighs, and calls out to Annik. "I'm done, Annik. My hands are crying for mercy."

Annik moves over to Niobe. "Okay, show me what you've got."

Argothe rolls his eyes, "Master Annik. I guess I made a mistake when I steped down by requesting that I be ranked a a journeyman. It would seem that everyone, as well as myself as used to me being a Master...", he says in a slightly embarassed tones, his face flushing a bit as his sentance trails off to nothing...

This bold pewter sandcasting is a statue of a dragon rearing up off of hind legs - wings just beginning to spread, as if to take to the air. Powerful haunches bunch and flex with muscle, holding the perpetually inert dragon frozen in half-flight - its mouth open in a roar of defiance. The lithe beast is strapless and riderless, it's head canted up and out, tail curled to balance it in mid-leap. Bits of sail membrane are visible, the webbing and blood vessels showing up in intricate detail due to different gradations of filing and polishing, as are the multifacets of the eyes. This brightly polished, multi-tonal statuette would look nice on any desk or in any collection. On the bottom of the statue's base is a small 'N,' deftly filed to denote the caster.

Desh's lips quirk a little, and he finishes his filing job. He's... overfiled, really, but what can you do? He starts to polish once more.

Annik glances at Argothe. "Aww. Everyone used to call me Master when I was still a Journeyman. Take it as a compliment, I guess." She turns to look at Niobe's project. "Hmmm. Looks good," she murmurs.

Desh keeps polishing, then raises his pewter stick.

Argothe frowns once Annik's not looking his way as his face flushes more and he mutters something under his breath, the tone of which dosn't sound all that pleasant.

Niobe murmurs a thank you to Annik, then turns to Argothe. "Uh - why did you step back to being a Journeyman, M... Journeyman Argothe?"

Annik takes a moment to study Niobe's project some more. "Very well done," is her mere comment before she moves on to Desh. "Finished?"

Desh's head bobs, and he hands his stick to Annik for inspection.

A pewter stick,knobby and filed bizzarely. It's less than a hand long, and someone has filed it down - or perhaps it was carved before - so it is all planes and unnatural angles. The pewter stick is about as thick all around as a finger, and has several smaller broken off growths, as well as some tiny knobs that are curiously blunted by the peculiar filing job. It is very well polished, though.

Argothe's brows furrow a bit as he /glares/ in Niobe's direction, but he dosn't say anything, just keeps muttering under his breath

Niobe starts, and looks torn between crying, and swearing at the rotten bastard! But she just shuts up and pointedly looks away, cursing inside her own head at Argothe.

Annik smiles as she turns Desh's stick over in her hands. "Hmm. I think you need some more practice on your filing, but otherwise it is well made." She doesn't seem to be paying attention to Argothe or Niobe, but her ears must be working because, out of nowhere, she mutters, "Argothe, when did you get to be so quick tempered?"

Desh takes his stick back, peering at it with a doleful expression. "Quite a bit of work filing."

Argothe rolls his eyes a little and speaks quietly, in a level tone, "I've always had a quick temper Annik, when I was the CraftMaster I couldn't allow that to reflect upon the Hall.", he lowers his tone a bit more, "I'm still not used to this and it's embarassing to have been a sharding fool in the choice of my rank.", he says, sounding immensly shameful and embarassed.

Desh turns his stick about, murmuring, "I do not see why you could not simply be reinstated as a Master, then. There is no doubt you have earned it."

Niobe still listens, but her anger has the best of her right now. Best to be quiet, insted of yelling at the fool.

Annik flashes Desh an encouraging grin and walks over to Argothe. "I don't think you're a fool," she says gently. "Far from it, in fact. There's nothing wrong with being a Journeyman, even after being Craftmaster. Why do you think I stayed at Journeyrank for so long? It was fun."

Argothe quirks half a smile, "And I got tapped to help Allory with administration back when I walked the tables.", he pauses and rolls his eyes, "Then she decides to retire again and the other Masters gave it to me...

Desh begins to clean up the equipment he used, puttering about and glancing back at Annik and Argothe every so often with obvious curiosity.

Annik smiles, nodding. "And you did a great job. You never did get to do much journeying, so when you told me that you wanted to step back down, it seemed completely reasonable to me."

Niobe woodenly follows Desh's example, not wanting others to have to clean up after her mess. But she still has that anger glowing in her eyes like a beacon.

Argothe says "Twelve Turns...Shards Annik I don't even know how to be a journeyman...""

Desh frowns slightly, and leans over to murmur quietly to Niobe while they're cleaning up.

Niobe nods stiffly at Desh, and she whispers something back...

Annik nods understandinly. "So if you're uncomfortable with it, that's okay. You know you can ask for your Master's knot back any time. I want you to be happy with your position, whatever it may be."

Kuroyi comes in from the Work Hall.
Kuroyi has arrived.

Desh's head bobs, and he murmurs, "That is correct." His lips quirk slightly, and he reaches out to pat her back gently, twice, before turning his hands back to his work.

Argothe mutters, "It took me a few sevendays to mention it, since I was embarassed...", he says in a moderately timid tone.

Niobe can't help but smile at Desh. On impulse, she gifts him with a quick peck on the cheek, and also returns to her labors, not as angry anymore.

Desh coughs slightly, seeming a little surprised, but he says nothing further as he caps a container of parting powder and spirits it back to its usual location.

Annik nods to Kuroyi as she notices his entrance, then smiles at Argothe. "You don't have to be embarrassed around me. I'm only your Craftmaster," she says, adding a joking grin.

Kuroyi very nearly sneaks in, notehides in hand. His hair is tousled, and a small yawn escapse him, evidence of where he's been the past few hours.

Argothe rolls his eyes and manages a grin. Then takes a deep breath, "Could I have my Masters knot back CraftMaster Annik.", he says running is all together and speaking quickly.

Desh's lips quirk slightly, and he looks away from Argothe and Annik to nod a polite greeting to Kuroyi.

Kuroyi walks up to the Craftmaster, "I'm sorry I'm late.. did I miss the class?"

Niobe notices all the looking around, and turns to see Kuroyi. The young woman waves at him, and then returns to the last bits of her cleaning.

Annik seems to have gotten into a mischievous mood all of a sudden. She smiles teasingly at Argothe and asks, "What'll you do for me?" Glancing over to Kuroyi, she nods. "Yes, but if you want, I'm sure Desh or Niobe, or both, could fill you in with some of their notes."

Argothe mutters to Annik, "There's one that should have seen what happened to Yance", he blinks, "I'll take a posting at Tillek so I'm out of your hair...."

Kuroyi nods, "Yes ma'am." He moves over to the two apprentices, fidgeting. "Uh.. so what'd I miss?"

Annik looks a bit taken aback. "Whoever said I want you out of my hair?"

Niobe murmurs, "Sandcasting, both class and practice. It was really fun."

Kuroyi nods, looking really disappointed. "I was working on those sheets of metal for my next project and just.. passed out. I really meant to come."

Argothe shrugs indolently, "Just figured that you might.", he pauses for a moment, "And a change for a while might be nice...."

Desh holds up a pewter stick. "I made a stick," he informs Kuroyi. He gestures toward a table. "My slate with my notes is over there."

Niobe nods, finally smiling a bit. My notes, too - if you'd like to look at 'em. And the dragon statuette."

Kuroyi nods, moving over to pick Desh's slate. "Would it be ok if I copied these down tonight before we go to bed? I'll give it to you at the dorm."

Annik looks almost annoyed now. "Well, you figured wrong. Besides, Malan and Raina are at Tillek already."

Argothe shrugs again, "I've been wrong before and I'll be wrong again.", he says in a neutral, polite tone.

Desh's head bobs in Kuroyi's direction. "Go ahead, if you like."

Kuroyi nods, "Thanks a ton, Desh. I owe you.. both of you," he includes Niobe, as she offered as well. "I'm gonna go get to work on these right away."

Kuroyi heads out to the cooler work hall.
Kuroyi has left.

Annik nods in agreement. "I know. But anyway, I hope you at least learn from your mistakes, and that 'getting out of your hair' isn't the right answer."

Argothe tilts his head, "Maybe not. I've never been posted anywhere though. I have been to all the major holds and halls as well as a number of the smaller ones, and the Weyrs of course, over the past twelve turns though. I don't know what the answer is."

Desh finishes cleaning up, frowning slightly as he regards Annik and Argothe for a moment. He looks toward the door.

Niobe sighs, finally finished. "I need some sleep," she murmurs to Desh. Quietly she walks towards the door, turning to wave to all the others. "Good evening, everyone." And she vanishes.

Niobe has left.

Annik sighs and lets her shoulders slump. "Neither do I." She frowns and seems more annoyed with herself than anything.

Argothe grins wickedly and chuckles slightly before his features take on a sympathetic cast, "Answering the unanswerable. THat's what everyone wants from the CraftMaster. Either that or Do the undoable."Those things are the main reason behing the decision to step aside.", he says in an understanding tone.

Desh slips toward the door, twirling his pewter stick in his hand as he goes.

Desh heads out to the cooler work hall.
Desh has left.