Welcome to Gaia! ::

“No.” RoChan glared at herself in one of the many mirrors that hung in a corner of the shop, clear blue eyes flat and emotionless as she said the words with the same amount of enthusiasm. A silver cell phone was in clutched in one of her fair her hands while a straw broom occupied the other. A string of curses and intangible yells came from the receiver before the caller disconnected abruptly and the magic shop was once again filled with silence save for the soft tick tock of a large grandfather clock. With a heavy sigh the blue haired dragon closed the cell phone with a snap and shoved it into the back pocket of her jeans. Thousands of reflections mimicked her actions except a select hand few, for instance the mirror on her right continued to chatter away on the phone her expression coquettish. The reflection above it was moving out the room giving its prediction to RoChan’s next actions. Not one to disappoint the dragon swiftly made her way out of the mirror room and back into the main part of the store.

It had been somewhat of a surprise to her when she received a call from Aphismet in regards to her star scope. RoChan had all but forgotten the excitable half body and his guardian for some time since the end of the beach party yet not so much. The shop had made it well known for some time now that it was expecting the two. A new shipment had come in consisting of developer, film, and photo paper. There were a few other things as well that tied in but she merely placed them behind the counter as instructed awaiting the time to take them out.

Because of the nature of the store, and her employees, the dragon had effectively kicked the lot of them out for the night. After all these weren’t ordinary visitors coming to the shop… which was all the more reason why Gato was more than pissed that he had been kicked out. As the blue haired woman swept the floor around the Nicks and Nacks the insisted on piling on the floor the door bell rang rather nosily.

Since it was an obnoxious, vigorous ringing, RoChan made the assumption that Gato had found his way back to the shop in his fury. Tightening her grip on the broom the dragon marched up to the door and swung it open with a bit of force, causing a small gust of wind that moved the Dust Bunnies out of their basket. "Gato, for the crying out loud I’m not going to die!” Blue eyes focused on red irises momentarily before her pink lips formed a perfect circle. “Oh! Welcome! Welcome to The Great Design.” She motioned for the duo to enter.

Closing the door behind the two she give a dismiss wave towards the white haired boy’s comments. “It’s just the way things are.” The dragon gave the young chef a mysterious smile before ushering them further into the shop.

The soft lighting of the interior kept various corners dark and hidden from curious eyes while other areas seem to shine brightly inviting the onlookers. As Rivner looked here and there curious to the wonders of the shop RoChan kept her voice light as she responded to the scorpion frei. “It’s an antique shop.” She vaguely explained before moving past them towards the back of the shop.

A light giggle was heard behind one of the glass cases as she drifted past the two guests. A large human bone sat on display behind the display case tucked carefully into the shelf while a tiny gold plaque that read ‘Funny Bone’ decorated the bottom of the wooden case of the humerus bone. It shook with laughter and RoChan tapped the glass to quite it down before moving past the counter.

“The camera is already set up in the backyard.” The dragon waved them to follow and disappeared behind a curtain of string pearls. They clicked against in her absence creating a strange sort of melody of harmonious voices. Past the curtain everything was rather normal and looked like any part of a normal home. The long hallway connected to the back door, on the left was a door with a sign marked storage and a few spaces past it a flight of stairs leading to the living quarters above the store. On the right was a door leading to the bathroom and the basement. That door was locked with several padlocks and a large hand written sign was nailed to the natural wooden surface reading ‘DO NOT ENTER!’

RoChan patiently waited by the door for her two guests a bright, innocent smile on her young face.

Stepping into the backyard was like stepping into a different reality and well, technically it was. The land behind the shop was much too large and too grandiose to fit into the space behind the shop. Large trees were scattered here and there, but the most impressive was an oak tree whose branches seemed so heavy that they touched the soft grass much like a willow tree. A small pond with a curving red bridge was nestled beneath one of the massive branches and while there were other more curious places hidden within the expansive grounds, they required further investigation from the shops residents.

Stepping down the wooden steps onto the large deck carefully, RoChan felt a bit of relief as she moved away from the interior of her home. The two guests were not here for the shop’s main purposes and that alone made her more nervous than she liked. It was unusual to even have such visitors but it wasn’t as if she could move the massive camera to other locations safely.

The blue haired woman gave Aphismet a strong pat on his back, letting her hand linger on it as she directed him away from the shop. “You’re free to explore the backyard if you like but,” She bit her bottom lip momentarily and pulled a strange charm from thin air. “You might want to take this just in case.” Leaving the protective charm with Aphismet she moved towards the camera with the large telescopic lens.

“Alright,” She turned to look at the excitable torso already forgetting his name, again. “First what do you know about F-stops and shutter speeds?”

“Whoa, whoa! Easy there, sweetie.” RoChan said around an amused laugh putting her hands up as if to stop the rush of questions. “Those stars aren’t going to get up and walk away you know.” Rivner’s enthusiasm was literally rolling off him in waves and it was infectious. It was enough to dispel the rest of her uneasiness and simply smile at the excited torso. “Taking these pictures is a matter of patience. So don't be surprised if you don't take many.” Deciding to forego the explanation of F-stops and shutter speeds, RoChan moved to the ravean’s next question.

Motioning to the frei, the blue dragon pointed to a place beneath the scope. The amplifier was resting comfortably and securely on the pedestal of a sturdy looking tripod. The pedestal itself was already title in an angle so that the scope would face the stars but it was the two knobs that protruded from the base that RoChan was interested in.

A slim finger pointed to the closet knob to the scope. “This knob changes the angle of the pedestal. Currently it’s about 135 degree angle but you can change it for more or less.” She then pointed to the second knob that was furthest away from the camera scope. “This knob changes the pivot on the base so you can rotate it.” Her blue eyes turned to Rivner suddenly very serious and devoid of their usual mirth. “Don’t try to adjust the angle and pivot on your own, ok? Though the body is fiberglass, the scope is actually very heavy.” Somewhere, behind her words, was the warning that if something broke both he and his guardian would be working off their debt in her unusual store.

At times RoChan’s sharp hearing was both a burden and a blessing. The dragon blushed pink in embarrassment as Rivener complained that he was strong enough to move the scope without her assistance. She could almost hear the pout in his voice at her jab at his masculinity and instantly she felt childish. “Er, yes, yes… I am sure you are. Sorry, I wasn’t implying that you weren’t you know… strong or anything it’s just that…” She muttered a bit before stopping her rambling with a deep sigh.

Moving with the frei so that she could continue with the basic functions of the camera, he repeated his question on how many pictures he could take. The blue haired woman gave him a sort of confused, concerned look. He was focusing on this question for some reason she could not understand and seemed to need to know the answer with some sort of urgency. However, it wasn’t something she could really answer.

“Well… a picture can take anywhere from a minute to five minutes depending on the settings of the camera, prep time, etcetera.” She pointed to a dial on the right of the Nikon base and tapped it lightly. “This controls your shutter speed which you’ll probably be varying between three fourths of a second to freehand of two seconds. I suggest bracketing the shots since this is going to be your first time. It’s also your shutter button and if you push it down lightly, your light meter. Green circle means excellent picture settings, red circle means bad, and a red line means there’s an eighty percent chance the picture will turn out alright. Try for green but don’t worry about it too much since you’re going to be bracketing.”

Again RoChan avoided the question Rivener wanted answered the most by moving to another dial, this time on the ring of the scope. “You’re F-stops are here, of course, and the second ring is your focus. There's a little circle divided in two at the center of the view finder that will need to have the center line be straight as possible. That's how you know your image will be focused.” Moving behind the torso and a bit to the left RoChan then pointed to a knob higher up on the sky scope. “That knob controls the depth of the lenses. You can get some pretty up close shots of things.” RoChan grinned like a proud parent and tapped the scope gently with the palm of her hand. “This baby’s pretty powerful so don’t be afraid to explore and dive in.”

A piece of stray dark hair seemed to float out of place and the dragon carefully reached for it a strange far away look crossing her face. Placing the stray lock back with its brethren RoChan patted Rivener’s head motherly, softly combing the stray strands back into place with thin fingers. “Don’t worry about how many pictures you can take. Currently there is a roll of film with thirty six pictures available but I have more rolls.” A strange mystical smile covered her fair face and her blue eyes glittered as she removed her hand. “Take as many as you like until your curiosity is satisfied.”

With that RoChan took a large step back and opened her arms to the camera a sign that Rivener could now play with the camera.

Stepping away from the camera and Rivner, RoChan wondered if her words and instructions had made any sense to the creature. Perhaps if there was more time in the future she could teach him more about the finer aspects of taking pictures, but for now it was simply to get associated with the camera and purely enjoy it. Still she was curious as to what kind of pictures he would take. Pictures were a way to see the world through someone else’s eyes and glimpse at how they perceived it a little.

The blue haired dragon took the time to appreciate the contraption a bit herself. The star scope had its own little story like the many other things in her shop. It was one of a kind in its own way.

RoChan snapped out of her reverie by Riv’s voice as he pointed in a direction above her. “Alright.” She move quickly so as not to make the floating half body wait too long and made sure that it faced the general direction he had wanted. She could faintly see what appeared to be a small red star and she aimed for it knowing that it would probably excite the creature to see the small planet.

Once again RoChan moved out of Rivner’s way before addressing his guardian (whom she had almost forgotten was there). “Would you like something to drink…?” The dragon smiled sweetly and hoped the white haired male would not catch onto the fact that she had forgotten his name entirely.