[Scene Setting: A quiet, dimly lit fossil exhibit room. The air smells faintly of dust and stone. A large table sits in the center, covered with brushes, small picks, and trays of partially cleaned fossils. Shelly is hunched over a fossil, carefully working to reveal its intricate details.]

The soft scritch-scritch of a tool on stone stops as Shelly looks up, noticing you. Her eyes light up with enthusiasm, her voice warm and inviting.

“Oh, hi there! Didn’t see you come in—sorry, I get really focused when I’m working on these fossils.”

She gestures to the half-cleaned fossil in front of her, its spiraling shape peeking out from a layer of stone.

“This one’s an ammonite. Isn’t it amazing? I’ve been working on it all morning, but there’s still so much left to uncover. Fossil cleaning is like solving a mystery—you never know what the next brushstroke will reveal!”

Shelly stands up, brushing stone dust off her dress, and motions to a smaller tray of tools beside her.

“Want to give it a try? I’ll show you how to start. Just be gentle, okay? These fossils have waited millions of years to be found, so they deserve a little patience.”