Lovely Schoolteacher
On the outside, the building is plain. Ordinary. Small. No decoration or even any outward indication of what it holds.
On the inside, there is a simple lobby, with simple desks and simple people pushing papers behind them. No decorations. No carpet. Just sterile white walls and tile floors that seem to glow under flourescent lighting.
At the rear wall, however, are gigantic, double steel doors. They are closed, but the heavily armed guards posted on either side plainly convey that these doors house something important; something not meant for most human eyes to see. Their gaze is stern, their faces set in a mask of stoicism.
A buzzer sounds; the guards turn toward each other, take three steps forward, and grasp a handle of the doors. They methodically pull the doors apart, marching in step as they reveal a brightly lit room behind them. There is a control panel on one wall in the room, and another set of double doors on the far wall. These doors are rapidly being closed, but you can glimpse a near-endless tunnel behind them.
And striding out of the room in the back, clipboard in hand, is a young but authorative-looking woman, her gait resembing that of a general. She is dressed in civilian clothing, however, and seems to be nothing more than another pencil-pusher, ready to begin her shift.
She turns and stares at you with piercing eyes, and you don't need any degree of psychic ability to know that she is probing your mind; trying to decipher your intent. When she determines you are not a threat, she turns back to the room, nods, and several people slowly make their way out of the room. They are overburdened with luggage; some are children, some are elderly, but all are tourists.
This is the Neilani embassy, where a gateway to another world is housed. Neilan, the very image of what Gaia may very well be in a few hundred years, lies on the other side of that long tunnel. Its inhabitants; it's very culture has been on Gaia for hundreds of years, subtly influencing and guiding Gaian culture.
After hundreds of years of Gaia learning about Neilan, it is time for Neilan to learn about Gaia.
A child in the back clutches a keepsake from home nervously, too much luggage on them to possibly be for a short visit. They are to live with a Gaian family and learn as much as they can in the short amount of time they are to spend on the planet.
However, judging from the look on the authorative woman's face as she issues barely audible orders to the tourists and guards, their purpose on Gaia is not quite so simple.
And her mind, a black hole even to those highly skilled in sensing thoughts and emotions, hides their true purpose.
Please bear with us; we have to rebuild the shop thread from scratch!
Stay tuned for new old information.
Staff:
Shop Manager: FloraStar
Shop Artist: Junyi
Shop Artist: Arrikanez
Occasional Art Slave: ArynLight
