Nailah hesitated as she read about the glass blowing workshop. The prospect of transforming molten glass into delicate art both intrigued and intimidated her. This definitely wasn’t in her repertoire of hobbies or even remotely close to any skills she possessed. Still, she mulled the idea over, considering it potentially as a place to make new friends and find other Dark Mirror Senshi if the opportunity came up. It wasn’t like she was overly busy so there really was no good reason for her not to attend. Going alone didn’t bother her either, she could always just chat up the others who were attending the class.

She envisioned herself crafting ornaments and beads, or maybe even a vase. She wasn’t quite sure what would be the easiest to craft considering she knew absolutely nothing about glass blowing. Thankfully, the workshop's beginner-friendly atmosphere was reassuring, if she only ended up with an ugly hardened pile of glass, at least it was something. However, she needed to go in with a plan at least. A few days before she decided to look into maybe some techniques and figure out what it was, she wanted to craft. Nailah was pretty sure she wanted to attempt a vase of some kind to send to her father as a gift.

On the day of the workshop, Nailah arrived determined and feeling prepared. The artisans welcomed the attendees, explaining the fundamentals of glass blowing and assuring them that every misstep was part of the learning process. As she approached the molten glass, she tried to carefully follow the instructions, applying the techniques she had seen online and listen to the advice of the instructors. She had not been prepared for how hard it actually was, she definitely did not have the lungs for this kind of work. The instructor tried to encourage her, but it was hard to feel good about the blob of liquid glass turning into another blob instead of a vase.

Her attempt at crafting a graceful vase gradually transformed into a series of awkward maneuvers. The glass twisted and turned in unpredictable ways, resisted her attempts to shape it with precision. The more she tried to salvage her blob, the more it seemed to mock her, taking on a wonky and misshapen form. In the end, what started as a simple blob of glass turned into quite the unattractive piece of blob with a hole on top. She wasn’t even sure it could hold itself up. Nailah couldn't help but laugh at this thing she’d created.

Despite her initial disappointment, Nailah found a certain charm in the ugly thing. With a smile, she decided to keep it and send it to her father anyway. His birthday was coming up and it would look like she’d actually tried harder this year to get him something handcrafted. Or maybe he’d think it was some high-end piece of art. Either way, she’d spoken to a few people that maybe would lead to something else later down the line. It hadn’t been a total catastrophe being here after all!

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