A night of exploring and light chatting

     On a gorgeous night, Marion decided that it was about time she took a look at what happens at night on Sulani. Do more people come out at night while it's cooler? Could she find a magical pool that would turn her into a mermaid?

    Who knows!

    But it was the fun of adventure and trying something new!

    She was down by the beach when she ran into Paka'a again, finally catching their name. They were happily walking the beach with a friend of theirs, so Marion introduced herself.

 

    "Hello, it's so nice to meet you Nataly," Marion said cheerfully after being introduced to Nataly Story, who has an interesting name. 

    "It's nice to run into you again Marion, are you settling into Sualni well?"

    "I am! Thank you Paka'a, I'm having such a wonderful time here, this world is absolutely beautiful!"

    Nataly groaned and rolled her eyes pulling out her phone and looking up the first thing that popped into her mind, fund facts on squids. Anything was more interesting to her than this lame idle chit chat.

    "I heard you called Kalamainu'u a llama." Paka'a snickered.

    "I was trying to say her name! I was just bad at it! I wasn't calling her a llama, I swear!"

    As Marion and Paka'a continued to chat about what seemed like boring nonsense to Nataly, she huffed and stomped off, "Whatever, I'm out of here."

    Marion felt guilty, but Paka'a promised that Nataly was just like that. Don't stress about it.

 

    Marion sighed. "If you say so. I still feel bad, you were on a walk with her." She looked around covering a yawn. "Hey... would you mind directing me to where I can get some coffee?"

    Paka'a put their hands to their mouths and made a siren sound, "Emergency coffee break! The time is getting to late! To the bar." They laughed as Marion looked at them confused.

    "I said coffee not alcohol."

    "Don't worry, the bar I'm going to show you has all kinds of delicious drinks, including coffee." 

    Clapping cheerfully Marion cheered, "Than off we go! To coffee!"

    "You're such a sweetie Marion, and before we go on a coffee adventure let me make sure. You're positive you want to stay up, and not just go home to a pillow calling you?"

    "Yes I'm sure, to adventure!"

    The bar was nice but sent Marion into another culture shock. There were ghosts here. Ghosts. Walking around, talking, ghosts. Not only that, but it seemed like everyone could see them. 

    That was all she needed to know. Magic is alive in Sulani. It filled her heart with joy. Nothing could discourage her from this thought path. She was going to find the mermaid magic. She was going to become a mermaid. Her dream was going to happen.

    "This is some wonderful music isn't it." A stranger said with a huge grin, seeing the smile on Marion's face.

    She nodded in agreement, "Yes, absolutely." Though she hadn't been thinking about the music, she was thinking about the magic. 

    They had a short conversation and she learned that his name was Rua Vainu'upo. But she quickly broke off the conversation when she learned that he was evil. She is good, and can't handle anyone who is evil, but it would seem so rude to just dismiss his evil ways and try to just focus on his other interests. 

    There would be to many fights. She just couldn't do it. The best thing to do was just walk away. Don't cause any issues.

    He shot her a look when she broke off the conversation, but he didn't seem to want to risk anything. 

    The way the man standing at the door was watching their conversation, she had a feeling he was the bouncer of the bar that made sure no fights broke out. The atmosphere around the two of them had definitely changed when she tried to slip out of the situation. Others had probably picked up on it,.

    She wouldn't be surprised.

    Mele showed up as she was getting ready to go home. Her new friend gave her a hug and had some exciting news for her. When they had been talking the other day. She had been nervous about a job performance review that was coming up. It kept feeling like there was something different about it compared to usual reviews. 

Marion had quickly reassured her new friend. Now she was running into her again with the great news that she had been promoted to the head Mixologist!

She stopped to chat with some of the other residents showing up for their morning coffee. (Yes, the sun is coming up by the time she was finally heading home to sleep.) There was something familiar about the woman that had come to grab her morning coffee before heading to her vendor job booth. 

Whatever it was though, Marion couldn't put her finger on it. But she was incredibly pretty and Marion enjoyed their short conversation.