ఇ MARCIA SONIA MULBAH. 51. they/she. On the cusp of the best decade and self-confidence of their life, focused on the lost art of personifying a long walk on the beach. Currently working at Azure Spa as the boss and head massage therapist. Cat mom to Persian siblings Bahati & Zuri. Can be found on a long walk on the docks, enjoying a Mai Tai under an umbrella at the shores, or channeling their inner teacher at Harmony Healers. Relaxing and restoring one sliced cucumber at a time. Single.
ఇ "Alright, you got me. Where we headed?" Marci puts her wide-brimmed hat on and her sunglasses before she pauses at the street's corner. She has out the pamphlet where all the town specials are in one pretty paper. She may or may not have made it herself to keep track of the specials. "I got one hour to kill and a hunger that can't be tamed. I'm kinda feelin one of those Paws lattes for sure. But you get to pick the food." Marci tends to take charge of ... literally everything and this is their attempt at not doing that for once!
Nick wasn’t too sure what he’d been thinking when he agreed to help chaperone 6 ten-and-eleven-year-olds on what was advertised as a ‘fun beach get-together’ for all the kids, but that day had come. Fortunately, two other parents within the group who were helping out, although they happened to be mothers who were lifelong close friends, and as a result, Nick felt incredibly awkward. Was there some sort of unspoken rule in society where parents had to befriend one another if their kids were friends? It was one of those moments that made them reflect on how it was when they initially moved to Merrock with Parker seven years ago, and how everyone seemed to know each other. Fortunately, the town ended up being very welcoming, but this was a whole other thing entirely. At least the other kids were nice to his kids, that’s all he needed.
Regardless, though, they made sure to place their belongings a few feet away from the other two, and silently regretted coming to the beach in the first place. It didn’t help that it was rather crowded, either, though he did manage to find enough space to put down his beach chairs and bag. Perhaps this was fine. Their kids could have fun with their friends and they could (hopefully) tan. He watched as his kids hurried towards the water after they applied sunscreen (much to their frustration, but it was far better to be safe than sorry), and moved to sit on one of the chairs.
At the sound of someone approaching on their right, they looked over, nodding once in acknowledgement before smiling slightly. “Were you also roped into chaperoning a massive multi-family get-together? Or…hell, do they still call them playdates in middle school? Is that embarrassing now?” he glanced towards his kids to ensure they were safe before turning back to the person. “Hopefully you have a far better reason to be here than I do. I mean, I’m glad my kids are socializing, but I just feel out of place.”
ఇ Now the beach has always been Marci's second home. It never fails to rejuvenate her nor provide her with some good ideas, and with summer winding to its middle ground, she found herself in need of some fresh ones. The sand feels great between her toes, white sandals dangling in one hand and a heavy beach bag draped across her other arm, humming a tune by Journey as she glances along the shoreline for a place to lay down her towel. After a trek up the small hill, the familiar voice of Nick reaches them, and they tsk at them and shake their head. "Hecks to the no. I am chaperoning nobody except myself." A point toward her kerchief and the floral mumu over her bathing suit.
"Unless you do need a hand. Then give me a holler. I think they still call them play-dates for sure. I know I would. Embarrass the heck out of your kids while you still can, they won't be in that non-argue stage for forever." Marci smiles to herself, setting down her towel. She fans it out with a great flourish, AZURE SPA written in cursive in the corner, white font on a pink cotton terry. "Now you can socialize with me. I'm here for rays and inspo. I feel like Azure's 'gram is stagnant. Especially for July." Marci had posted the typical, somewhat expected holiday posts with the red white and blue products and the potential for sales on cucumber facials. But to her it does not feel like enough. (Rarely does it.)
She lets her bag flop onto the towel first. It's so overloaded with items it falls right over. "You need some rays Lennox, sit down and relax a spell. That beach chair is half in the shade of somebody else's parasol." Marci squats down to retrieve some sunscreen and begins to reapply it to her arms. She is in the business of making sure relaxation is achieved. No worried frowns on a towel at the beach on her watch, not even with babysitting kids. She has two eyes and one of them can easily be used for their safety.
family: Dad, Auntie Sangai, who they're closest to
relationship status: Single
filling connection: Volunteer at Harmony Healers
personality
Aries sun: natural-born leader with an abundance of energy and motivation. You possess a strong sense of self and aren't afraid to take risks. You are fiercely independent and crave freedom.
Cancer moon: highly emotional and intuitive. You strongly connect to your family, put a lot of importance on home life, and value close relationships. However you may struggle with mood swings and can be easily influenced by how other people are feeling.
Virgo rising: You come across as intelligent and analytical. You pay close attention to detail and have a strong work ethic. However you may appear critical of others and even reserved, but it comes out of the desire for perfection and being efficient.
Overall: Marci is super assertive and super sensitive. She struggles with wanting to be independent and wanting to get close to people. The need for perfection turns on her too and acts like an inner critic. She needs to work on finding a balance between the need for being efficient and being kind and seeing the glass as half-full.
portrayed by Retta; penned by Moss.
full biography / background
triggering / sensitive content warning: cancer, breast cancer, medical.
Miracles are truly all around you if you bother to look. From birth, Marci was reminded of how much of a miracle she was: although ultimately her birth mom left her dad, and she was raised by him on his own, she was never left much for wanting. He took her out on the crab boats in Maine, taught her the importance of keeping your balance (literally!) and maintaining focus, and how all your strength truly comes out of a place within you. Dinners were quiet, life was slow, and Marci was given the space to blossom into the person that she truly was, as opposed to the expectations imposed by their extended family, or judgements that their birth mom's family made against them. Having lived in Merrock all his life, her dad insisted she be raised there as well, and with these jaunts on the crab boat, she knew she didn't have to move very far, as her mom believed, to uncover her purpose in life.
However, this did not come without challenges. Her time in high school was spent in and out of classes, taking on baseline work on the boat to help her father bring in more money and prepare for the off seasons. It was an uphill battle to get it all done in a single day, an endless task list she never seemed to check off, and yet, this taught her work ethic that still resonates with her to this day. Why wait to get it all done? Why say you can't do it when you can? Although it took her a couple extra years, she graduated from high school and moved onto the community college with a full-blown plan to follow in her father's footsteps. What she didn't see coming? The change in passion. Crabbing wasn't her own passion; it was an act of service. She took a cosmetology class as the last-ditch available extracurricular for her schedule — and it dawned on her how much she loved it. It called her back to memories that once were in a blur: doing her classmates' hair in the restroom, fixing prom makeup, hearing a friend say that helped so much after combing their hair to calm them. She never thought of turning it into a career, but as had been taught to her, she said: why not?
With the encouragement of her father and her Auntie Sangai — who is her father's sister and she is closest to of their extended family — she adjusted her course trajectory to prepare to head off to cosmetology school. She snagged a place at the Aveda Institute in Maine, and in her mid-twenties, jetted off to gain more hands-on experience and expand her horizons. At this point, she still wasn't sure what exactly she wanted to do with it; this led to her piling her plate a bit higher than she should. She took on massage classes on the side, aromatherapy, alternative medicine — and when the body aches and headaches started, Marci just attributed it to burnout. It wasn't until the dreaded lump she found, during getting dressed for class, that she investigated it further. This led to a diagnosis of breast cancer — and the upending of her entire life.
The next decade was spent in and out of hospital, remissions, self-care, and genuine hard questions thinking back on her life. What had she done with it? Had she not been paying enough attention? Why did she lose contact with all those friends or get so upset at something small? She calls this her "dark years," for in her mind, it was genuinely spent in the dark, with far too much self-reflection. It took until the age of forty for her to be declared cancer-free and low-risk; and she found that she felt rather lost. Not even a lack of purpose, but just bewilderment. She'd come so close to not even having a life. What now? Her past once more comes into play, for during the pain of the treatments, she went to her regular masseuse (who was also her mentor) at Azure. The aromatherapy, the pressure point techniques, and the calmness of the business sparked an idea in her, a way she could give back.
Since she had moved back to Merrock halfway through her "dark years" to be closer to family, she put the rest of the certificates on hold for later and honed her focus to eventually work at Azure. This led to her then making enough money to purchase it from the previous owners who wanted to get out of the business. Now, after owning the place for five years or thereabouts, she feels much more settled in her purpose and keeps trying to look toward the future. She gives back to Merrock through these services when they gave so much to her and her family. As an avid traveler before her move back, she has plenty of stories and tall tales to tell you all about the world out there, retreats and spa resorts and taken vacations. She is always willing to be the listening ear to those who feel alone in the world, and while her father and auntie are still living, she plans on turning her focus toward the next big adventure. What could that be? Only time will tell.
