The Return (Alex and Umbra)

Alex had been waiting for Umbra to show up again, even at the edge of his sight so that he might see a little bit of her. But instead he hadn't seen anything at all. He'd been tempted to stay holed up in his room at the Leaky Cauldron for another five days like after her first visit but had decided that he needed to get out of the room before he went mad.

So he'd come down to the club and bought a private room. The creatures hated him with a passion but his money spent just as well as any others and they would much rather give him a private room than let him be out with the others. He'd activated the sound-proofing spells and dimmed the lights so that he could sip his drink in peace as he thought about Umbra's visit.

As he sipped at his drink he saw something out of the corner of his eyes and he fixed on it quickly. Whether or not it was Umbra was unknown as it was too dark to tell.

Umbra was waiting, she had been biding her time until she could see Alexander again for a longer amount of time, the last meeting had not been long enough for her, she wanted to speak to the man that she knew so well, she wanted to ask him things she wanted to learn.

As soon as he entered the creature area she had wished he hadn't he could end up becoming hurt and she would be unable to help him at all in her form, what would she do then? Be assigned to some new child? She didn't think so.

When she felt herself being pulled forwards suddenly she realised that Alexander had seen her and she smiled gently, immediately she stepped forwards out of the dark and towards Alexander, the transformation much more instant this time, much stronger, she even seemed to have stronger features this time, she had hair, long hair...but she still seemed blurred as if her features weren't wholly defined.

"Salve iterum Alexander, dimitte absentia mea. Deinde convenientes volo esse fortiores."

(Hello again Alexander, forgive my absence. I wanted to be stronger for our next meeting together.)

Alex had been expecting Umbra for awhile now and he was glad that she had finally shown herself again. She was becoming a little bit of an obsession for him he knew. He had been trying to research how to make a shadow person solid permanently since he first met her.

When she stepped out of the shadows that she took her name from, Umbra was much more... defined, than last time. She had a nose that he could actually count as a nose. Her eyes were brighter too. What did catch him though was that she seemed to blur at the edges. Perhaps she wasn't quite done forming yet,

"Hello Umbra." he greeted her with a smile before smirking faintly, "Took your sweet time. I was all alone without you to talk to little shadow..."

Umbra could see that Alexander was smiling, and she too would attempt to smile and she let the corners of her mouth lift up very lightly before she fixed them there for a few seconds, showing him that she was feeling the human emotion of happiness to be in his company once more.

Tilting her head to one side, this time stopped by a sudden flare of pain Umbra rubbed at her neck and wondered why that was it had not happened last time she had attempted to do something like that, maybe something was different again from then to today?

"AloooNnne?" she spoke, trying to get her mouth around the sounds, it was so different to her language "Solus?" Umbra asked, trying to make links between their languages, to make it easier for them to speak.

"Non solus. Ego semper hic. Tu non solum me." Umbra muttered, walking, bendy legged still towards Alexander and looking at the seat next to him cautiously, blurring as she moved like those comics where people moved superbly fast and their edges blurred.

(No alone. I am always here. You just can't see me)

Alex was a little surprised by the fact that Umbra watched him smiling and seemed to have picked up the basics that quickly. Of course her smile was still a little bit strange looking because it seemed a bit forced, like she was trying too hard to get it to look right. Which, he supposed, she was.

When she tilted her head again, trying for the same impossible angle as before, she winced and he chuckled, shaking his head. He cupped her cheek and tilted her head back,

"Only move it a little. Big movements hurt yes?" he told her before blinking a little bit, "Solus? Alone... solus?"

She spoke again and he got the impression, from knowing what solus meant, that she had been there. It was rather comforting to know that she hadn't actually gone anywhere. He took her hand and helped her into the seat next to him,

"There we go..." he told her before wrapping an arm around her again, "This.... this that we're doing... it's called a hug. Hug."

Umbra gasped a little and she felt herself grow even more defined when Alexander touched her cheek, and she seemed to snap into focus for the shortest of times, so that he could briefly see her true appearance before she went back to being blurred, her heart was tremoring with the feeling she had just been subject to...it had been a shock but she wanted more.

"Etiam. Y...Yyyyes?" she spoke a little bit unsure of herself but having been around humans a lot longer than Alexander had been around her, she thought she should at least try to speak some of his language to him. "Solus. Aloneeee."

Now she was sitting down a larger and more natural urge to smile developed and she followed it through allowing a smile to grace her lips even for a short whil before they fell back to normal. Her usual neutral expression she wore lately, now she had features to perform expressions with.

Tilting her head to one side she looked at Alex's arm and gently touched it;

"Huh...huh...huhggggg?" she tried to sound out, looking thoroughly confused.

When he touched her cheek for the first time she seemed to snap into focus for just a second. For just a second he could have sworn that she wasn't a shadow person but an angel. Then the second was over and she was back to being blurred out of shape,

"Yes." he told her with a small smile and a nod. He made sure that his nod was slow and gentle in case she decided to nod again. When she made the connection too he grinned and nodded, "That's right Umbra. Alone is Solus."

When she smiled this time there was absolutely nothing forced about it and he couldn't help but smile back. It was a brief smile from Umbra but it's intensity made it worth the duration. He smiled wider when she tried to say it,

"Hug. Huh-ug. Hug." he told her, "Say it together. Fast. Hug."

Umbra was glad that they seemed to be able to communicate between themselves, it was a nice way to speak rather than having to use sign language all the time or simply guess what they were saying which was annoying at the best of times, Umbra liked to know, she liked to be certain.

"Possumus plus discere verbis? Dic nobis ... proderit?" she asked cautiously, making sure that she asked before she tried another example with Alexander.

(Can we learn more words, it will help us speak?)

With a little bit of nervousness Umbra lay her head against Alexanders arm for a moment, finding it did not go through, she closed her eyes and found herself oddly peaceful despite all of the changes to her body, all the new feelings that she was being exposed to.

"Hug!" she stated with a small amount of conviction in her words "Amplectere!"

Alex was a bit relieved that words and meanings were beginning to grow clearer for the both of them because it meant that they would be able to better understand each other in the end. That was a goal worth striving for in his opinion because he wanted to be able to speak with her properly. He wanted to know more about her,

"Verbis? Is that... words?" he asked both her and himself before nodding, "We learn more words, verbis, then we can speak more yes."

When she laid her head against his arm he was a little bit surprised by the soft reaction before he remembered that she wouldn't really know what this kind of activity was usually reserved for. Couples. He did not have the heart to tell her. And more than a little part of him preferred the idea of not telling her,

"Yes that's right!" he congratulated her, "We are having a hug. It is nice?"

Umbra blinked a little bit and she thought about what Alexander just said, she focused on the word 'words' she supposed it was like 'verbis' in a way and she couldn't help but think that they were the same thing so she nodded her head gently, maybe he understood her and what she wanted.

"Etiam Nam et nos plus discere verba...words." she stated with a small nod "Discat primum sermo?"

(Yes we shall learn more words, which words are most important to learn?)

When he asked her a question she furrowed her brow trying to understand it, but she felt herself getting....could it be warm? She had never been a temperature before, and she could see that she was becoming more and more human in her apperance, like an old black and white photograph, yet still blurred.

"Nice....? Bonum? Est amplectaris res bona? Etiam Ego quasi amplectaris valde.)

(Good? Is the hug a good thing? Yes I like the hug very much)

Alex couldn't help but, internally, think about how cute Umbra looked when she was thinking really hard about the words he was using. They were getting better at understanding each other. He smiled a little bit as he thought about what she said,

"What words are... important?" he asked before nodding a little bit, and giving her a thumbs up, "Okay. Okay is good. Yes?"

He watched as she seemed to swim into focus a little bit more, even though she still seemed to be black and white in nature. She was also still a bit blurry at the edges but that should change soon,

"Yes a hug is bonum! Good!" he told her, remembering the word from somewhere, "I hope you enjoy the hug. I know I am."

Umbra smiled slowly and gently, she was glad that Alexander seemed to be able to help her learn what some of the human words she had heard and what they actually meant, although she knew it would take a long time for her to remember all of the words that she would need.

"O....Okay? Licuit? Intellego mihi, okay significat bonum!" she smiled excitedly, when she realised that she was going to be able to get the hang of things quicker now.

(I understand, okay means good!)

Tilting her head to one side again Umbra felt the familiar feeling of herself dissapparating and she tried to pull herself back together again after all she wanted to stay with Alexander longer, she wanted to ask him some questions.

"Quid fecisti hodie? Bene fecisti hodie? Uh....quid is uhhhh...w-whaaaat."

(What did you do today? Did you have a good day?)

Alex was glad that she seemed to be such a fast learner because if she wasn't then this would be one hell of a long experience, teaching her how to speak english. She was doing remarkably well that was for sure and he grinned at her,

"That's right! Okay is like good!" he agreed with her while still grinning, "You're really good at this."

She seemed panicked about something for a second but then the moment passed and she turned to him, asking him questions,

"Something about good and... day? Good day? I had a good day. Did you?" he asked her with a smile before grinning, "Ah! Quid! What. Quid is what. What made you panic?"

Umbra happily smiled when she found out that okay was actually like good in latin, she was going through lots and lots of words today and she would make sure to go over more in the time that she wasn't with Alexander. Tilting her head to one side, she ran through thw words.

"Multa novis verbis didici ego hodie fruuntur." she whispered quietly and she couldn't help but want to learn more and more "Quid aliud est maximus ...?"

(I learnt a lot of new words today, I enjoy it. What else is important?)

When he asked her if she had a good day, she thought it would be very hard for him to understand but she tried to anyway, with a small smile on her lips she spoke quietly;

"Non satis habeo ... cum ... non satis esse virtutem. Non vere dies." she explained "Sum evanescente iterum."

(When I run out of energy, I do not really exist. I did not have a day. I was dissappearing again.)

Alex had no idea what she was saying in the first sentance, mainly because none of the words sounded even similar to words he would use. But he could tell by the tone of her voice that she was happy about something so he took a stab in the dark,

"You like learning words? Verbis?" he asked her with a smile before pausing and trying to guess what she was saying, "Other important words? Hello. Hello is important."

He waved to her, "Hello. Is a greeting alright?"

When she seemed to think about it before launching into a long series of strang sounding words, he blinked. He had not expected this from a question about her day,

"Erm... so it wasn't that good?" he asked her, floundering in the dark slightly before he paused, "Will you stay longer? Be here?"

Umbra almost pouted when she felt like she was going to dissappear again she didn't want to, she wanted to stay here with Alex again, and she hoped that she would be able to work up more stamina to stay for longer next time, although she highly doubted that it would be any time soon.

"Neque ego nunc ... Usque ad proximam tempus Alex ..." she smiled gently, pressing a hand to his cheek "Tuto se, quoad perspiciamus."

(No I have to go again now, until the next time Alex. Be safe until we see each other again.)

She spoke softly while she felt herself ebbing away again, this time a lot more painful than before, as her features and her body dissappeared instead of just her shapeless shadowy mass that she had before.