Marble steps fell on the edge of concrete, black steps that led up a single sliding glass door, transparent overhead letters in glowing white: Nocturnal Maryment. Blacklight informed the blueness of the quaint cafe, leading down into the zig-zag lounge of round tables and booths. Small sets of stairs split each booth, connected to a bar where one bartender with luminescent blue hair slid drinks along the countertop. Dressed in black, skin-tight attire, the patrons of the fine establishment distinguished him as "Ned."
At the end of the lounge, every white light converged upon a small stage where poets aired serenity into a microphone:
If I walked into the sea, the great Wind,
Does it carry me solemnly, slowly?
Would it slowly and carefully hold me?
And uplift my corporeal soul of Sin
