How Green Becomes Wood

"I had fun spending time with you where I'm able to focus only on you," Daizi replied easily. It wasn't a play she particularly loved, but the day was more than that, "I don't know if it really matters what we're doing. I have fun with you."
 
Xander wasn't sure how to respond to that, but he was touched. He made some appreciative noises and then escaped to go take a shower.

Alec plopped next to Daizi and asked more details about the play, curious about how it had gone and especially the part where Xander almost got called onto the stage. He could not wait for his turn out! No, it was not going to be to a play and music session, but spending time with his parents was a treat he never took for granted.
 
Daizi told him everything about it that she could remember, and Dark did his best to fill in the rest, mostly adding details about the visuals. After a little while, though, they had to get Ivy ready for bed.

Saturday was quiet and peaceful, and perhaps a needed day of recuperation before going out again. Daizi was alright, but Dark needed the at-home time to be ready for Sunday's adventures, which came quickly enough. As promised, Cooger arrived before it was time for Dark, Daizi, and Alec to leave, since they didn't want to risk a situation needed something but only Xander was home. Daizi was entirely certain if Ivy needed to be touched for some reason, like if she somehow managed to hurt herself, he'd be able to force himself to, but it was just easier and kinder to not risk putting him in that position.
 
Alec was ready exactly on time. He'd resisted the urge to dress up too much, wearing an older shirt with short sleeves under a nicer loose-knit sweater and a simple pair of jeans. It was the first time in a long time he'd worn all solid colors, but this way he could take off the sweater and not get it dirty with pottery clay, and he could then cover up the older shirt when it was time to go to dinner. He said goodbye to Ivy and Cooger and Xander before following Dark and Daizi out to the car.
 
Similar to Alec, Dark dressed in layers. Underneath his nice, crisp dress shirt, he had on a simple, black, tight-fit t-shirt he typically only worked out in. When they got to the pottery studio, he'd strip down to only it, but until then, he wore the full outfit, so he looked nice when they left the house. Daizi didn't put nearly as much thought into what she was going to wear, at first, only making sure she wore something that didn't have dramatic sleeves, but at Dark's polite suggestion, she grabbed a sweatshirt she could put on over, figuring she could just roll the sleeves up and call it a day.

After saying their goodbyes, they left, and soon enough arrived at the studio.
 
The studio was an industrial warehouse, and while the interior didn't disguise the industrial origins, it was painted white. The entire interior was a light, bright, white color with metal shelves creating different "zones" in the large, open room. In one area, a long, wooden counter divided the area in half with pottery wheels and stools sitting opposite each other the entire way down. In other areas, there were tables for painting, corners of kilns, and other large barrels and shelves of things that Alec had no idea could possibly be.

The teacher was waiting for them along with a small group of fellow pottery people looking for be taught the ways of clay, and they greeted the family warmly.
 
Dark had taken off his outer layers in the car, so he was now in his tight black shirt and pants only, and was guiding Daizi by the elbow. When he had booked this class, he was certain to mention her disability, so they could be prepared and have any necessary accommodations ready.

His greeting to the class was brief as ever, but Daizi of course smiled brightly as she said hello and was led to her spot.
 
Daizi and Dark were placed side by side at the end of the row and Alec across from them. Everyone was given an apron, and a prepared chunk of clay was placed in front them. The teacher moved among them instructing them on how to work with the clay. Alec happily dug into the wet, cool material and attempted to shape it appropriately.
 
Dark had done work with clay a few times before, just to make small, simple models of what he wanted to carve, never to fire or keep, so the feeling of it against his nails and cuticles didn't bother him too badly. And he did beautifully wedging and prepping the clay---it didn't feel too different from kneading dough, and it wasn't like he lacked the arm strength.

Daizi found it a bit trickier, but she did her best as she worked at it, pleased she had thought to put her hair up before getting started.
 
Once they had the basic shape of what they wanted to make designed and worked into the clay, the teacher gave them a few tools to try and showed them what each of the tools could do. They stopped by Daizi and helped her hold each tool and explained to her what it did, helping her to feel the results of her attempts.
 
Daizi appreciated the hands-on lessons, because although she could feel what she was doing, it was hard to mentally picture what the shape of the tool would leave on the clay. Beside her, Dark set aside his tools briefly just to watch, finding it intriguing to watch her learn like that. She was gentle when she touched what she had done on the clay, not wanting to smear it away before having a chance to to tell what it was she had done, and she was sure to ask lots of questions, trying to piece together the aspects of pottery without being able to actually see what she was doing.
 
Alec kept working, but he kept looking over at Daizi, as well, and watching her work with interest. He watched Dark's efforts, impressed as always by Dark's delicate work. It was so astonishing next to his massive size.

The instructor was quite pleased with how Daizi worked, and they set her up to practice with one of the tools before stepping back to let her work. They moved to her other side to get a different view, also keeping an eye on the person next to Daizi.
 
It was a different medium than what he was used to, and it was difficult to adjust to how much softer it was than the wood he was used to, but when he accidentally cut off too much, he was pleased to learn he could simply put it back. With his wood carvings, if he cut too deeply, he had to deal with it. Here, he could just fix it.

Heavily focused on her work, Daizi didn't notice the instructor's shift to the side, and turning slightly, accidentally jabbed the needle tool directly into their arm. Feeling the way it pressed into something which definitely was not clay, Daizi turned sharply, wide-eyed, figuring out what she had done, but not quite finding the words for it.
 
The instructor yelped in surprise and pain. It hadn't gone too deep, but it was a shock!

Alec jumped, slicing a hunk off his pot, and looked over. "Oh no! Are you alright?"

They backed away a step and carefully removed the needle from their arm. "I'm afraid flesh is not the most moldable medium to work with," they chuckled, carefully cleaning off the tool before handing it back.
 
"I'm sorry!" Daizi stammered, "I didn't know you were there!"

Dark wanted to reach over and rub her back, but her hands were covered in clay, admittedly finding it a bit amusing, but not showing much of a reaction at all. He wasn't sure exactly what, if anything, he should do. Really, he cared more about making sure Daizi didn't feel awful than he did about if the instructor was okay, they clearly hadn't been stabbed hard.
 
"That's alright. I should have told you I moved," the instructor said graciously. They checked their arm, and it was bleeding, but not badly. "I'm going to wash off my arm real quick. I'll be right back."

"Mama, are you alright," Alec asked as the instructor hurried away.
 
"At least it was a nice, clean poke. It wasn't like a nasty gash or, worse, a scratch. I hate scratches. They always hurt worse than they look," Alec said, attempting to be helpful.
 
"If you had ink on the tool, you would have given them a lovely tattoo," Dark commented, and Daizi lightly whacked him on the chest--not holding any tools that time.

"It's horrifying," Daizi mumbled, but picked up her tools and began working at her pottery again anyway, although she tried to be much more cautious.
 
Alec relaxed at his parents' banter, content that all was well.

The instructor returned and checked in on Daizi first before moving on to the other students. They made certain to be much more verbal about where they were and what they were doing when around Daizi. They gave more tips and help as they walked around, but mostly people did as they wanted.

Alec made a pot. It was a little crooked, but it was a solid piece! And he was rather pleased with the geometric designs he'd engraved in rings around it.

When everyone was finished, the instructor started carefully gathering the project along with the names and numbers of the makers of said projects. It would take a couple of days for everyone's pieces to dry in the kiln, and they would be called when their pieces were ready.
 
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