The Centre of Attention (Alex and Umbra)

Alex was sitting on the edge of the bed in the private room he was renting for his lodgings while in London. He had thought about buying an apartment but in the end he preferred the security of knowing that he wasn't too far away from people. Creatures and wizards alike tended to avoid making a scene when there were lots more people just around the corner.

He was sharpening one of his favourite weapons, a silver tipped spear, when he caught sight of a figure out of the corner of his eye. This was not unusual for him, he'd caught glimpses of a shadowy figure following him a couple of times now. He'd searched the lore and hadn't come up with anything conclusive so decided that the best bet was to just figure it out himself... by looking at it with his own two eyes!

Activating his berserker state for, literally, two seconds, Alex spun round to look at the shadowy figure faster than any regular human should have been able to. Cutting the berserker state immediately still left him feeling dizzy for a few seconds but when his vision cleared he saw the shadowy figure, dead on, in all of it's muted and fuzzy glory,

"What in the world...?"

Umbra, as normal was looking at her human, Alexander, he was sharpening the same weapon that he normally did, and she had decided that she would make her presence known again, she was always there but she didn't often show herself, or sometimes she merely waited in the lodgings he was using, letting him be without her for some amount of time.

When he turned however and seemed to place his sights dead on her form she gasped and felt a jolt run through her, immediately her body felt suddenly more...there. It was a sensation that she couldn't explain, and her horror was realised again when she noted he had seen her.

ACTUALLY seen her.

"O mi! Quid est hoc?! Vidit me ... vidit me! Quare?!" she cried out, aware her voice would sound completely different to humans and she jerkily moved away from Alex, trying to get out of his feild of view, but her body felt so...heavy.

(Translation: Oh my! What is this?! He saw me...he saw me! Why?!)

Alexander had seen some of the stranger sights in the world as a hunter of creatures and dark wizards but to see a blurry black shape slowly become more solid, more THERE, was a new level of strange even for him. He gripped his silver spear tighter in a cold kind of fear, the type that heightened your senses instead of dulling them.

When she tried to speak it was in a language he didn't understand but he could tell she was frantic by her tone. How the hell was she even talking? And how the hell did he know that it was a she? Must have been the pitch of her voice,

"What the hell is going on here?!" he demanded in confusion, trying to mask the fact that he was bricking it here. There was nothing in the Lore about a creature like this! He gritted his teeth, "What are you? Who are you?"

Umbra didn't seem to be able to move and she could feel herself growing more and more heavy by the second, and before she could stop herself she could feel certain parts of her...growing, opening, shifting...changing whatever the correct term would be but...suddenly she was aware she had...eyes!

When she heard him speak in the human dialect she struggled to pick out words that made sense to her, and she couldnt help but forget all of her loose human as she panicked about what was happening to her, she felt herself becoming more...more human by the second? Were these joints?!

"Nescio quid accidit mihi nescio ...! Quid fecisti!?" (I don't know...I don't know what's happening to me! What did you do?!) she called out

Trying to calm down, she took a deep breath and pointed, very vaguely to her mass, which was condensing by the second into a more human, manniquin like form;

"Est nomen meum Umbra." (My name is Shadow.)

This was getting beyond weird now. The creature, she, she was growing things at a rapid rate. Body parts were changing, shifting, to become more distinct, to break through the fuzziness. He saw that she had eyes but they were also strange. Blurred almost. It was next to impossible to pick out a colour for her eyes.

He couldn't tell what she was saying but the language sounded vaguely familiar, like he should have at least some idea as to what it was. God he hoped not though. If it was one of the obscure creature languages he might not even have the voicebox to reply,

"Calm down!" he told her firmly, not wanting either to attack or be attacked out of panic. He made a calming motion with his hand and slowly put his weapon down, "Calm... relax... I've put my weapon down..."

She seemed to calm down and that seemed to affect her body. Within an instant she looked like... like a manniquin. She had a body and it was what would be recognised as human in shape but there were no features. Other than her eyes of course. He struggled to pick up what she was saying but he did recognise the word Umbra,

"Umbra... shadow..." he paused before pointing to her, "You are... Umbra? Umbra. Yes?"

Umbra blinked and she saw that Alexander was making a motion with his hands, he placed his weapon down and she felt herself becoming more and more calm each moment she stood still, if she let the sensations wash over her, maybe she could understand what they were, why they were happening...

Making the same motion with her hands, Umbra gently took a cautious step forward, and she gasped quietly, she...she had legs? Her mass was split now? Oh everything was so new her head was beginning to spin and she couldn't believe what was happening, she had never had legs before...

"Collige, immo ego sum tranquillitas." (Calm yes, I am calm) she muttered quietly, as she took another stumbling step forwards towards the bed, could she even sit down when she got there?

Gently, she gave an experimental nod of the head, only she seemed to do so in a much more violent manner than most humans even though she didn't realise it herself, the sensations were all too new for that.

"Etiam umbram, id est me. Tu es Alexander Lovinson, mea humana." (Yes, shadow, that is me. You are Alexander Lovinson, my human. ) she stated slowly.

Alex was glad that she seemed to be trying to understand the word calm. Or maybe she was just acting calm as she tried to figure out what the hell he was saying. Maybe it was both. But it didn't matter, what mattered was that she was actually being calm.

He could also see that legs were a novelty to her because she'd almost tripped over her own toes twice now. Alex wasn't even sure how that was possible but apparently it was. He blinked when he almost understood her,

"We are both calm..." he smiled slightly, "That's good."

When she nodded her head it was rather sharply for someone who seemed to think she was being calm. But, then again, if legs were new to her then a head would be too. He raised an eyebrow when she said his name,

"You know my name?" he asked before pausing, "How do you know my name?"

Umbra wondered how she was going to explain how she knew Alexanders name, it would be hard because she did not know much human language only a few phrases that she had picked up from Alexander himself and she did not think that they were appropriate in this situation.

Making her way over to the bed she looked at Alexander, her eyes focusing on his own and she extended herself to touch him and saw what was her 'hand' for the first time, her eyes widened and she couldn't help but stare at it for the longest time.

"A manu? Ego autem quid? Deus ... Nescio quid agatur. Crura, manus, arma ... capite?! Fuero mutatus!"

(A hand? Why do I have a hand? My god what is happening...I don't understand. Legs, hands, arms...a head?! I am changed!)

Her attention went back to Alex and she seemed shakey, the edges of her body were shaking more than they were before, and could tell that it was because she was distressed her energies were being misplaced with her irrational state.

"Novi vestram nomen quod sic. Uhm ..." she began before continuing, looking down at Alexander "Meam vobis humana. Vos. Meum. Humanum. Intelligitis?"

(I know your name yes. You my human. You. My. Human. Understand?)

Alex was rather curious as to why a shadowy woman who seemed to have problems adjusting to the fact that she was now solid, knew his name. There were possibilities and quite a few of them were rather disturbing and involved shadowy creatures watching him while he slept.

When she reached out and touched him he had to admit that her skin felt... different. It wasn't better and it wasn't worse but it didn't feel totally human. Of course she was completely amazed by her hand,

"So... this is all new to you as well?" he teased her lightly, nervously, "Nice to know it's not just me not having a clue here."

She was blurry. Okay, she was blurrier. That made more sense. Or what little sense there was to be had since he was talking about a shadow woman. He blinked a little bit,

"I am human..." he paused and frowned, "I am... yours? You think that I am yours? Your human? So what are you? Are you my shadow? You. My. Umbra?"

Umbra tilted her head to one side, this was a new experience and she tilted it a little too hard and it leant completely to one side so it was on a ninty degree angle, before turning it back to the right position again with no difficulty whatsoever, it would seem her mass wasn't THAT fixed just yet.

Hearing him ask a question, Umbra wondered what it was that he had said, was he commenting on the sheer newness of the situation at hand to both of them? Because then he and her would feel completely the same...she felt completely confused by the situation but tried to move past it.

"Haec insolita mihi sermonem intelligere vellem. Hoc facilius esset explicare..." she sighed gently.

(I wish I could understand your speech, it would make explaining much easier)

When he spoke slowly, and clearly, Umbra could sort of understand him and she nodded her head again slowly this time and she tried to think about how she would continue to speak to Alexander about who she actually was.

"Vestra sum umbra persona. Oculis habito in margine. Et apud te semper."

(I am your shadow person. I stay on the edge of sight. I stay with you, always.)

Alex's eyes widened slightly when she twisted her head at an inhuman angle. Okay so she was beginning to look human, that didn't make her human. She was a lot less solid, a lot more like a liquid than a human being was it seemed.

He could sense that she was getting as frustrated as he was with this language barrier. Hopefully he'd pick it up soon because sign language was very limited,

"Pain not knowing what we're both saying..." he commented quietly, "But we get the gist right?"

When she spoke one part of her sentance stood out. It was something that he'd stumbled upon when searching through the lore. Something he'd written off as nothing more than a muggle fantasy. He sat back down on the edge of his bed and looked at her,

"Umbra persona." he repeated before nodding, "Shadow person. Yes? You are... with me yes? All the time?"

Umbra couldn't help but feel some sort of relief when Alexander seemed to understand roughtly what she was saying even if he didnt really understand fully, maybe she would be able to pick up some of the human language when she was with him...while she figured out what this thing was that was happening to her.

"Sic nos ideam quod dicimus. Forsitan anglicus doceat me?" she asked, and her tone rose lightly, in what she would understand as hopefullness.

(Yes we get the idea of what we are saying. Maybe you can teach me english?)

When he seemed to understand what she was, Umbra gasped lightly and smiled brightly...wait...she had lips now? She was...she was getting features? What sort of features would they be, were they even visable to him? Visable to anybody?

"Scitis me! Etiam denique Ego sum umbra persona. Sed ego vobiscum non videbitis me. Vigilabo ego vos saepe ... admodum pulchra es mihi." she muttered happily as she moved to sit down on the bed, but gasped as she fell through the frame, matress and duvet.

(You know me! Yes yes! I am a shadow person. I am with you always but you never see me. I watch you often... you are very beautiful to me.)

Sitting on the floor, the top of her head poking out of the matress, Umbra mechanically stood up, flinging her upper body up as she raised her lower half, controlling her newly found limbs. Umbra gazed at the bed longingly.

Alex was beginning to get some idea of what she was saying, mainly because of how she was saying it. She was thankful that she was being understood even if it wasn't fully. If he had to guess the last half was lamenting that they couldn't understand each other fully but at the same time hoping that they could soon,

"Maybe we will understand each other better in the future." he told her with a smile before nodding, "I think we will actually."

When she smiled it was an odd sight. He could tell that she was smiling because he could see her teeth as her lips moved back. But what was strange was that her teeth were only a slightly lighter shade than her lips and skin,

"Yes... yes I know of the shadow people." he told her, aware that she seemed to be very excited by this, "So you... you've been near me yes? Around me?"

When she literally fell through the bed, he was more than a little freaked out but it quickly left him when he saw how she was looking at the bed. Taking her hand in his, he gently guided her down onto the bed so that she was sat beside him,

"There you go Umbra..." he told her with a smile, "Comfy yes?"

Umbra was now excited that he might be able to understand who she was, what she did, and she was happy beyond belief that he did what he did as his job for a moment in time, it meant that they could...they could move forwards in this conversation maybe she could even ask him some questions?

"Etiam fui circa te Alexander."

(Yes I have been around you Alexander)

While she was stood up she moved to the foot of the bed and she motioned for Alexander to stay still, and she moved to the corner of his vision, standing there like she had done so many a time before, maybe he would understand now.

"Hic habito, ne forte putaretur ... videret quid accidit mihi est, quia vidisti me?"

(I stay here, you are not supposed to see me...maybe that is why this is happening to me, because you have seen me?)

When she was moved to sit on the bed, Umbra blinked both at the contact with someone else again and at the fact she was sitting down, she could almost feel an odd sensation, a wetness on her cheek and she couldn't explain it. But she did feel herself growing more faint.

"No .. Non vis ulla! Alexander ... exspecta me, invenient me iterum!"

(No... no I don't want to go! Alexander...wait for me, find me again!)

When Umbra, for he had decided that was her name and he'd use it, spoke again he could only imagine that it was in agreement with his statement since the tone suggested it was not a negative response to his comment.

As she made her way to the edge of his sight he caught onto what she was trying to tell him. She, as a shadow person, was meant to stay on the edge of his vision. And yet he'd been able to look at her dead on. Maybe that was what triggered the change in her? Being seen fully for the first time,

"You are not meant to be seen?" he asked, curiously, "Maybe me looking at you... makes this happen?"

When she was sat down beside him he was surprised to find that she was warm to the touch. He slowly wrapped an arm around her shoulders to hug her slightly when he noticed her tear. What surprised him was that she was suddenly becoming less solid,

"I'll wait for you Umbra!" he promised her as she began to fade, "I'll see you again!"

Umbra felt herself loosing her shape, becoming less defined and everything that she had just developed was slowly stripped away from her and she couldn't help but feel like she was dying, like she was loosing the new identity that she had just been beginning to discover, that she had just been beginning to enjoy.

Would this mean she was human? If she looked like a human? Would she be able to act like one, to eat like one...could she become...something she had been desiring to for her whole life.

"Gratias ago vos." she whispered

(Thank you)

Reaching out an arm towards him, Umbra felt another wet tear roll down her cheeks, before she dissolved completely into thin air, becoming invisible once more, as she waited for the energy to reappear again.