Lightbulb Moment (Akira & Marnie)

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle sullenly continued to work on her shop project as the other students worked cheerfully (or at least talkatively) around her. She couldn't really talk because it would ruin her concentration and she was currently doing very well in not destroying her lamp so far and she wanted to keep it that way. Her left eye (still black and bruised) ached a bit and she closed it and sat up, popping her fingers and stretching them for a moment before taking a rather deep breath and continuing. Their first shop project was a lamp, it couldn't be something cool and made of metal, no it had to be wood. She hated wood. At least the wiring was easy. The teacher had explained it, diagramed it out and Axelle had picked it up almost immediately, it was taking her longer because she had to second check even the slightest move she made.

Once the wires were set and properly placed she sat back and reached for her already cut pieces of lamp post. She would just need to hammer them together, shed hammered things a hundred times or more. But today, she didn't want to do it. Ever since her accident she found herself paralyzed with fear doing things she'd done before with no ill effects. She sat there and stared at her hammer for a long time before putting it down and taking a deep breath. She could hammer her lamp together, she was in control, and she wouldn't smash the table to bits if she tapped the nail down. She picked up her base wood again and brought the nail into place and using techniques taught to her by her grandfather began to gently tap the nail into the wood, setting it firmly in a matter of strokes. Relieved with her work she set about using the next nail.

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira looked around the classroom and then at all the pieces for his lamp. All the students knew what to do, expect for Akira. Once again he came to class late so he missed the teacher’s directions about the wiring. He knew what to do with the wood pieces. It was simple. The wood pieces would fit together like a puzzle.

There was still a diagram about the wiring on the board. Akira did his best to follow the diagram. It took him some time. He kept looking up to the board and then to the wire mess. There was no way a lighbulb would turn on. Akira ran his hands through his hair in frustration. Could have had avoided this by simply getting to class on time. Well, on the bright side he showed up for class.

Akira needed help. He looked around the classroom looking for someone to ask. Might as well ask the people working at the same table as him. “Sumimasen, be could someone help me with the wiring?” Akira asked with an embarrass smile.



***
sumimasen- excuse me

[Marnie Sullivan]

Marnie hadn't even begun to assemble the wooden segments of what was supposed to be her lamp project. Instead, she was staring alternately between the diagram on the board and the heal of wire in front of her that most certainly did not resemble it. Believe it or not, the project had started simply enough - during the teacher's instructions, Marnie thought she had followed along pretty well. But a couple of tangles later she was hamstrung by her own frustration and, well, here she was.

Marnie glanced a couple of times at the classmates sharing her table, debating whether to ask for help. She knew both Axelle and Akira and didn't want to appear stupid in front of them, but neither did she want to fail the assignment. Fortunately, Akira was willing to bite the bullet first.

"I could use some help, too," Marnie spoke up timidly. On the one hand, from what she'd seen, Axelle appeared well practiced in the techniques they'd used in class so far. On the other hand, the redhead appeared to be in a sour mood, and perhaps wouldn't take well to pleas for assistance. "I think I got the connections mixed up here and here, but I'm not really sure."

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle looked over when she heard a request to help, looking down at a collective mess of wires that looked nothing like what she'd put together on her own lamp. "Sure," she answered, voice perking up a bit at the idea of interacting socially in a manner that she excelled at. First she slid Akira's board to hers and and Marnie's to the other side. "Well, it's a nice effort all around but your wires are crossed here and there," she told Akira first since his problem didn't seem to be as large as Marnie's. "Oh, and you need to press that end down a bit more or else you're not going to get a good connection," she explained as she slid it back to him. "Give it another shot, here look at mine, it's a little easier to see what to do when it's right in front of you," she smiled.

"Now YOU," she indicated to Marnie. "You...need to completely start from scratch," she made a face as she gently disengaged the wires from the other girls' project and then untangled them. "Okay, since Akira is using my board, I'll just coach you through this okay?" she asked as she slid the now untangled wires and board back to Marnie before sliding off her stool and joining Marnie so that she could instruct her without leaning over Akira to do so.

((OCC: I have no idea what Axelle is doing, but trust that SHE knows and that should suffice...))

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira listened and watched very carefully to Axelle as she explained what Akira did wrong. “Ah, arigato.” Axelle had let Akira use her lamp as an example. He did what Axelle told him. He uncrossed the wires and created a better connection. Akira used Axelle’s lamp as an example. With in a few minutes his wiring matched Axelle’s.

He sat back and looked at his work. Akira did pretty well for coming in late and only using a diagram before he asked for some help. He felt good. He slid Axelle’s lamp back to her. “Thank you very much.”

Akira saw Marnie’s work. For some people this kind of stuff comes easy and for other people not so much. At least one of them at the table knew what they were doing and was nice enough to help the others.

***
arigato- thank you

[Marnie Sullivan]

Marnie listened closely as Axelle focused on Akira's project first. Maybe if they'd made similar mistakes, she'd pick up extra pointers as the redhead walked the boy through the fixes he needed to make. She was definitely a bit relieved - not only did Axelle turn out to be open to helping, but maybe if Akira's work wasn't so bad then maybe hers wasn't either?

At least, that was the hope, until Axelle turned to Marnie's "lamp" and shot it straight down. She slumped a little in her seat, disappointed, until Axelle made her way around the table with the offer of more assistance. Marnie pulled the returned equipment back to the table surface in front of her.

"Okay, clean start. Here we go," she muttered, attempting to psych herself up for another try. Across the table, she could see Akira making decent headway on his own project, and she grabbed a pair of pliers without waiting for Axelle's first instructions. Sure, somebody at the table had to be the last one to finish, but Marnie had never been a fan of being that person.

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle leaned over the other side of the table and pointed to the main wire that Marnie would need to start with. "Okay, attach that over there," she instructed as she patiently directed Marie through setting up her board. A few minutes later and with no tangled wires or electric shocks Axelle smiled. "And you're done!" she declared as she sat up again. "Not so hard, but admittedly that diagram is kinda fugly," she said with a sidelong glance at the board. "I've just wired things before."

"Anyway Akira are you done too?" she asked because she wanted to finish this project so she could have a new lamp to put in her room later, or to give to her grandfather.

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira looked up to Axelle. “Hai, thank you.” He was very grateful for the help. Akira looked to the board and nodded his head. Yeah that diagram wasn’t the best, but it did get Akira pretty far and on the right track.

Now that the wiring was done, next was the easy part. Putting the wood pieces together. That would be easy, right? What could go wrong?

He looked to the other lamps at the table. All the lamps looked like they could work. Friends bounded over lamps for shop class. “Marnie-san, how’s your lamp doing?”

[Marnie Sullivan]

On top of the redhead's patience, Marnie was grateful that Axelle was coaching her through it rather than just rewiring the whole mess for her. Sure , she probably wouldn't even be allowed to do that if she'd wanted, but this way Marnie felt like she was actually learning something. It helped stave off the sense of uselessness the tangled heap of wires had been giving her.

"It's doing a lot better, that's for sure," Marnie replied. On the one hand it still rankled a bit that she'd needed so much help, but on the other, now she could move on to putting the wood bits together a lot faster. Surely that would be more fun, right? "Thanks, Axelle."

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle took her lamp back to her part of the table and picked up the wood bits again. "No problem," she smiled as she gently began putting the pieces together so that she could create the base and the shade for her new lamp. "What color are you guys going to paint the base?" she asked curiously after connecting another piece to the base according to the instructions they'd been given. She'd have to sand it all later but she wasn't worried about that just yet. “I kinda want to make mine purple…” she added.

[Akira Koizumi]

“I think I’m going to pain a design on it. Not sure what kind of design yet.” Akira picked up the wood pieces. He started to put the pieces together. All was going well for the first two pieces, but the other pieces…

The other pieces didn’t fit together. Akira tried putting them together in all different ways. They didn’t fit. When Akira was cutting the pieces, he must of cut them wrong. Really? First, he was some trouble with the wiring. And now he was having trouble with his wood pieces. This was karma getting back at him for being late to class. Hopefully nothing goes wrong when he adds the design.

[Marnie Sullivan]

"I was thinking yellow," Marnie chimed in. A nice buttery yellow to match her bedspread. If her lamp was functional enough to use rather than throw away, anyway. Plus, plain yellow would be boring... maybe she should add some kind of design, like Akira mentioned.

But that could come later. Right now it was time to actually build the dumb thing. This time, Marnie was determined to follow the teacher's instructions to the letter - no more embarrassing mishaps. She wasn't even using a hammer and nails, so it wasn't like she'd be able to miss a swing and destroy something. Nope, she was just using harmless wood glue. She could manage that, Marnie figured.

Until she was tracing a delicate line of glue down one edge and the cap came off, barfing glue onto her hands and multiple wood pieces.

"Oh for god's sake!" Marnie spat in frustration. What a wreck!

[Axelle Flint]

Axelle turned around just before Marnie's glue barfed on her and her wood and Akira was realizing that his wood wasn't exactly the size it needed to be. She sat there staring at them both for a moment before she slipped off the stool and went to get large tongue depressor out of one of the drawers that was sometimes used to help stack projects. She returned and handed it to Marnie. "Scoop the glue off with that, it'll be easier than using a towel," she suggested as she looked at Akira. "Can I see your wood pieces?" she asked curiously, he might not need to cut new pieces if only one was off. His lamp might be a bit shorter but it would be easier in the long run.

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira hid his smile when the glue attacked Marnie. He didn’t make Marnie feel bad. Maybe Marnie should carry a good luck charm. Akira always had three on his person but they didn’t always bring good luck. Like now, he wasn’t doing too well in shop class. The only one who was doing well was Axelle.

He handed the wood pieces to Axelle. Here he thought that put the lamp together was going to be easy, but nope. “I think I’ve might of cut them wrong.” If Akira made a big mistake, he would have to start over with the wood pieces. At least he could look forward to the painting part.

[Marnie Sullivan]

Well thank god for Axelle and her tongue depressor, because Marnie had definitely been about to run for tissues to clean up her mess. Which seemed like a bad idea, upon further reflection. With sticky hands, Marnie hastily scraped gobs of glue off her wood pieces and onto a spare sheet of paper – not need to let her mistake spread to the table.

“Be right back, I need to go wash my hands,” she told the other two, once her wood pieces were as clean as they were going to get. Jumping up from her seat, Marnie hurried to the trough-like sink along the classroom wall to scrub glue from her hands.