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Brian was having less fun. He stood before the bench, the tools laid out before him, and a shapeless chunk of wood in the vice. His bravado and new-found confidence had evaporated once he realised that the first test he would face was not with a person but with a piece of oak. He was supposed to make this into…. something. Anything. Despairing of his previous efforts, the teacher had given him a completely free hand. "Just do something with that" allowed him plenty of scope to be creative, but not the guidelines that he longed to follow.

It also didn't really help him that all of the other students were just getting on with their work – he was beginning to be more self-conscious about not having picked up a single tool yet. And he needed to do much better, so that he maintained his overall grade – especially after failing last semester.

As he looked at the array of hardware in front of him, he thought back to Saturday, and some of the conversations he'd had. He'd learned nearly as much then as he did in class. What would the others do here? Most specifically, what would Bender do? This was his realm, after all. Well that one was simple to answer at least – John would make something he was familiar with – like a baseball bat, or a box for his stash……. And then it hit him. He could do the same. Not drug-boxes, but something just as familiar to him. He knew numbers and shapes. All he had to do was measure, and then…

Brian pulled some paper from his pocket, and grabbed a pencil from the bench. After a couple of minutes, he smiled, and reached for the nearest chisel.