<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #4080FF">"Well, some of us were up wicked early, when it was still chilly outside,"</span> she replied. She didn't miss the smug look on his face, but laughed it off along with him. <span style="color: #4080FF">"Thanks, but that's okay. Not like it's heavy!"</span> To be honest, his vaguely old-fashioned behavior was endearing. That, and his Southern accent, which seemed to be more pronounced the more relaxed he was. She bobbed a small curtsy as he held the door open for her, and passed him with a <span style="color: #4080FF">"Thank ya, suuuurrh,"</span> in the most ridiculous, drawn-out way she could manage. <br/><br/>It wasn't a long walk to Aquarium Station. A shame, really. Alannah wasn't fond of aquariums. They felt wrong in ways zoos didn't. Still, it was the closest, and it would be ridiculous to go to any other station when they had to pass through it on a train, anyway. The ride was 15 boring minutes of residential areas, and a brief trip by bus to where Crescent Avenue met Winthrop Parkway. The sharp tang of salt and - well, ocean, which was a wholly indescribable smell all by itself - greeted them along with the breeze. Cold, but pleasant on a day like this.<br/><br/>Alannah pointed across the street. <span style="color: #4080FF">"If ya like, we can go down over there and walk by the shoah."</span> She threw him a sideways look, embarrassingly conscious that she was still wearing her uniform. But hell, you don't go back to your place to change when you've just offered to show someone around. You just don't. That's rude. <span style="color: #4080FF">"I was thinking we follow the rocks to Grovah's Cliff. It's a nice place. Little pahk around there, too."</span> She knew it well. The park provided plenty of bushes to hide your clothes in when you had to go swimming for a whole day, and it was always abandoned at night, despite all the families that lived around there.</div>