BEnar - 19 03 2009 - Teaching in the Kiln
RW Abbey: Kitchen Yard
Boasting a decent view of the Abbey's orchards and gardens, this
space is mostly a work area, displaying well trampled grass and the
occasonal bare spot. An especaily worn spot is the path that leads
between the kitchen gardens and the vineyards.
There are also a variety of workshops around the edge of the yard,
the wood-shop, the cooper for making barrels. The small smithy
where the abbey's tools are made, the potters kiln and the buttery.
Evening, the sun is dropping down behind the abbey build and the shadows are slowly lying across the Kitchen Yard, most beasts have stopped what they where working on and headed towards cleaning up for supper. Benar is still in the kiln however, his habit hanging off a hook and dressed in pair of light trousers and an open vest he is sweating as he lifts a large wooden paddle oput of the kiln and carefully moves towards a wire rack set up on a table-top along one wall of the open fronted Kiln.
Eithne has spent a lot of time outside today. The orchards, the pond, the walltop - this is just the latest. She comes to stop outside the kiln, peering in with her ears tilted upward curiously. "Good evening, Benar... what're you up to?"
Benar waves his tail in greeting and carefully sets the paaddle down on the table. On it are 4 large beige coloured pots. The sort of dishes one would use to put a soup or a cassarole in when serving it at table. "Ah Eithne hi... just waiting for these to finish is all." he gestures at them, panting slightly in the heat as he pushes the Kiln door closed. "Is one of the few skills I have."
"Ah.. pottery. I think I've seen some of the work you've done so far, Benar, you should be very proud of the skill." She folds her hands into her habit sleeves casually, tail moving side to side. "What else do you make of clay, besides pots?"
Benar steps outside the kiln to get some air, slipping his vest off and fanning himself with his tail. "Mmm anything really... i'm not so good at decorating things. But I can make anything. I made a small box for Sister Sunrose as a thankyou gift. You name it i can probably shape it given some time to practice."
"Oh did you? That's sweet of you.." Eithne glances around, and finds a bench to sit on, smoothing down her habit as she does so. "I'll keep it in mind if I need a gift for someone... How have you been, by the way?"
Benar stretches slightly and then upends a dippr of water over his head, "Hot... it gets roasting in there even with the front open to the outside. But i seem to have wound up spending too much time with dibbuns. I had to get away from them for a bit. And that fox Flicktail.. .now.. i am not one to judge... ok I am but I'm not meant to be but he gives me the creeps. I mean I thought I was over my aversion to foxes but he... just makes my fur bottle out."
Eithne gives a slight chuckle as Benar upends the water over his head. "Yes... I can understand the need to get away. Some of the dibbuns around here strike me as rather, uhm... odd. So - I don't recall you saying one way or another. Are you not going to Ruingate?"
Benar walks over and sits besides the younger cat on the bench. "Mmm no not me. I couldn't handle it... all those beasts enslaved and me not allowed to do anything... I just fore-swore being a soldier. Only way I am ever touching a weapon again is if Martin calls for me" he smirks at that, clearly never expecting that to happen. "Of if the abbey is attacked and I must help defend it.... I swore to become a beast of peace so I am staying."
Eithne gives a slight nod. "I understand... That city is not very, ah.. beneficial. To anyone hoping for a peaceful lifestyle. I've been back and forth with myself for the last two days, deciding whether I'll go or not... I certainly don't /want/ to," she ends with a chuckle.
Benar chortles and nods, "Aye... well i am sure people will have great stories to tell when they get back. So Eithne.. would you be interested in giving it a go." he points at one of the potters wheels. "It is quite fun."
Connor pages, "I had Bane eons ago up there. Eligius and Dyle, who didn't last very long. And then Mael (a mouse slave)." to you.
Eithne blinks a little, eyeing the wheel and then Benar's face. "Well... sure. But I have /no/ idea how to do it, keep in mind..."
Benar grins, "I'll guide you through it, come over, sit on the stool. I'll get some clay."
Eithne gets up to go sit as directed, eyeing the potter wheel as she rolls up the sleeves of her habit. "Is this.. messy? Should I spare my habit and take it off?" She has a shirt underneath it.
Benar eyes his own habit hanging on a peg, "It is a bit messy and wet." he says, "So yeah hang it up." he gets a dipper of water and wets the wheel. "See the peddle? Just start to press that down nice and evenly to get it spinning.
Eithne stands up while pulling her habit up over her head. She hangs this up as well, and eyes the wheel cautiously when she sits again. "Alright..." Her foot is placed against the pedal and she presses it experimentally.
As the pedal is depressed the wheel spins, it is a stiff wheel which is an aid in regulating how fast it turns. Benar meanwhile has opened a cupboard and scooped a paw ful of wet sticky clay out of a bucket. He strolls back over and laughs, "FInd a steady rhythm.
Eithne's fingers flex, and she eyes the clay with some dismay. Her foot presses the pedal again, keeping the wheel slowly turning. "That looks.. alarmingly /slimy/, Benar."
Benar laughs, "It is wet clay, what do you expect." he wriggles his claws into it. "But you can use just your claws and fingers to shape it. I don't expect you'll end up clay to the elbows like I do. You're not going to make anything big first go." He watches the wheel for a moment then plops the clay in the middle nd walks behind her. "Now keep the wheel moving at the same speed." he leans over her shoulders, "May I?" he asks indicating her hands.
Eithne extends her hands near the clay, but hesitates, not touching it. The wheel keeps moving, spinning the lump of clay in a circle. "Sure," the cat says with a small nod.
Benar smiles and takes hold of her hands in his, "HOld them up above the surface and come at the clay gently frome ither side." he moves her hands in so her fingers touch the clay. "Just start to apply a little bit of pressure and you can shape it."
Eithne lightly touches the clay, making a face at the slimy texture of it. She presses - a little too hard, and the clay is pressed into an odd shape.
Benar chuckles and lightly uses his own fingers to move hers, pressing agianst the clay. "Sort of slide it up into a column."
What do you want to whisper?
Eithne's fingers move as directed, starting at the bottom, lightly pressing as the clay is spun between her hands. Her hands move upward and the clay is formed into a thick cylindrical shape. "Like this..?"
Benar nods his head, watching. "Yes that is it... see not too hard as long as you keep it in the middle and the wheel moving." He then uses his thumb-claw and pokes it into the top of the cylinder, he presses down, starting to create a hole in the middle and smooth the sides out from the insie, making it taller.
Eithne murmurs, "It actually feels kind of nice.." Her muzzle twitches in a slight grin, fingers flexing, then pressing a little more firmly. She watches the motion of Benar's thumb down into the middle, which starts the clay lump on its way to forming a bowl. Her own thumbs follow this, pressing in, while her hands are curved around the outside. "How long have you been doing pottery?"
You say, "Mmm lets see.... about...gosh.. must be nearly... mmm 8 seasons now...big and small." He rests his muzzle between her ears, watching her bowl take shape and then slowly, lifts his paws away, letting her take control of it completly."
Eithne's ears flit back. Her eyes are narrowed down at the clay and she doesn't notice right away that Benar's hands have moved away. "Wait .. wait, Benar, I still need your help!"
You say, "Don't panic Eithne." he moves his paws back in and stops the bowl wobbling, the rim has a wavy pattern to it now instead of being straight.
"You where doing fine until you paniced.""
"You should've warned me you were letting go," Eithne retorts. Her tail has thickened out a little and she bites her lip, letting the wheel slow down and then resuming a steady, careful press on the pedal. She moves her hands up to fix the rim.
Benar guides her hands, smoothing out the rim again, "Sorry... i'll warn you next time." he draws his paws back and shapes the base of the bowl so it will stand up flat. "Ok... we are about ready. This is the tricky bit. Keep the wheel moving."
"Okay... do I move my hands away..?" Eithne keeps the wheel spinning, not pressing with her hands but keeping them oh-so-gently against the pot.
Benar shakes his head, "Not yet..." he slides his paws down. "Ok move your hands now."
Eithne leans back and moves her hands away, but keeps her foot on the pedal, pressing it to keep the wheel going.
Benar is in the Kiln with Eithne, Eithne is sat at a potters wheel with Benar leaning over her and helping. He gently lifts the bowl they have made up off the wheel and usies his tail to hook the kiln door open and slides it inside before shutting it in. "There we go. We just let it bake now."
There's a rustling in the bushes, and then Magramba walks around the corner. "Hey," he says, looking around the yard. "I'm told this is where you can steal the best pies in the world."
Benar waves at Magramba and moves to wash off his paws in a bucket of water. "Mmm give that about an hour and i can take it out." He waves at Magramba. "Hey Magramba.. I'll have to leave you and Eithne alone I need to run to the kitchens a moment."
Eithne gives Magramba a grin and lifts her hands, which are all slimy and... clayish. "Hey! I've just been learning to make a pot.. thing."
Magramba spends a moment studying the stuff on the cat's hands, and then his eye is caught by what appears to be... a smithy. "Is that...?" One paw raises unconsciously to point. The squirrel blinks, coming out of his brief reverie. "What, a pot?"
Benar chuckles, "A bowl actually, it is clay Magramba." the squirrel pulls his habit back on and ties his belt around his waist. "I was showing Eithne how the potters wheel works."
Benar nods then and the grey squirrel bounds off towards the kitchens. "Show it to him Eithne." he calls out. "You can open the kiln whilst it bakes it doesn't do any harm."
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