For a while Khalid kept working, making adjustments to the design of his business card that included necessary information like his phone number and the fact that all sessions would be free of charge. He also opened a new window and began to put together a poster that could conceivably be tacked to the communal corkboard in the reception room, since while business cards were all well and good, they would probably never reach anyone he himself couldn’t. Unfortunately, progress on his mockups was slower than he would have liked, because he found it difficult to focus. For one, the right words didn’t always come, forcing him to pull up a web thesaurus or divert his attention from his laptop’s screen in order to circle back to his task from a different angle. But as he sat there, alternatively picking at his food and attempting graphic design, the more poignant concern was -as usual- his unique and precarious position.

After all, Khalid was now in public, rather than the security and privacy of his own domain. For all its advantages, room one-twelve was a decent enough place to survive, but not to live. That distinction meant little to the Shoggoth, but it meant the world to a human, and therein lay the problem. Its warm, humid atmosphere, rich with enough potent smells to make a newbie’s head spin, could not be tolerated for extended periods, and so Khalid spent the bulk of each day outside. If he managed to work his way through Umbra Rose Condos and out into the real world, he wouldn’t have to worry about things like possession and petrification, but the real world had its own problems, and Khalid for one didn’t feel at home in those streets, shops, and parks. There was nowhere that he belonged. One couldn’t get far out there without connections or money, which was half of why he’d found his way into Umbra Rose Condos to begin with. Wherever someone like him went, he’d need to be careful. That lesson had been beaten into him, sometimes literally. In here, at least, being careful just meant wearing talismans, growing wolfsbane, and frequently checking one’s blind spots–sometimes with a mirror.

So, it came as a somewhat pleasant surprise when, after a good ten or fifteen minutes at his computer, Khalid realized that the Building 3 Restaurant was still empty. Being in a public place without any people truly was the best of both worlds. He wouldn’t consider himself shy, necessarily, but an introvert never longed for human -or monster- contact. That said, he knew he was well within his right to fear the sort of company he could expect in Building 3. What to expect in Umbra Rose Condos, like monsters themselves, were no mystery if one could understand the patterns.

From his painstaking observations, Khalid knew that Building 1 housed the most human members of this unusual enclave, while Building 3 -with few exceptions- lay on the opposite end of the spectrum. They were presentable, identifiable, understandable. If not for animal ears, tails, pointy teeth, or weird eyes, many might as well be human. One could go to a strip mall in October and find Halloween costumes of all the ‘monsters’ who lived in Building 1. Not so for Building 3. Here there dwelled [i]monsters[/i]. Cryptids that would flummox even the most foil-clad conspiracy theorists. Species with names that could seldom be pronounced, let alone recognized. Khalid had discreetly noted down several entities that he believed were, in fact, one-of-a-kinders. Some residents were strictly nocturnal. Some couldn’t be seen with the naked eye, or moved fast enough to stay in one’s blind spots. These were the things that went bump in the night. The things with very particular behaviors and requirements. The things that weren’t in control, or weren’t self-aware to begin with, and whose presence here skirted the narrow line between ‘tenancy’ and ‘confinement’. Like the Shoggoth, they were the sort of things that really threatened mankind, and that really interested him. They were the things he wrote about.

Until now.

With a sigh, Khalid attached his completed files and sent the email. The Gorgon in Reception ought to be on duty at this time, so hopefully she would have everything printed out by the time he arrived, but if she found herself busier than usual thanks to a bevy of correspondences or complaints he could be patient. Getting there would be the tricky part, but if he meant to actually start talking to monsters about his problems, he knew he couldn’t shy away from casual conversations, even if he ran the risk of being found out. He’d rehearsed a variety of situations during his stay so far in case someone should ever confront him, but theory and practice were too very different things. [i]I’ll just have to believe in myself,[/i] he supposed.

…Still, it was hard to get moving, especially in the comfortable isolation of this restaurant. Khalid took a moment to inspect the Shoggoth, which was wrapping up its meal and had taken the form of a satisfied, bulbous mound. He checked its heat level by holding his hand close to its shifting epidermis, careful not to touch it. Still warm, but could be warmer. After a moment, the thin man cleared his throat. “Horace.” The mass shifted slightly at the word, instinctively projecting additional organs in his direction. “Are you full?”

[b]“F̵̩͛͝u̵̫̇̏͝l̶̞̣͒̚ḷ̶͑͂͝.”[/b]

The hairs rose on the back of Khalid’s neck. No matter how many times he heard it, he could never get used to that voice. [i]His[/i] voice, albeit a frightfully distorted imitation. That was about as good as the Shoggoth could ever do. Someone looking on might have thought that the Shoggoth answered his question, but that would be a rash assumption. The Shoggoth had no concept of language, or logic, or right and wrong. It could only take in, digest, and spit out a rough approximation of whatever it had been given. At least, that was his hypothesis. It was impossible to know for sure. The man swallowed. “Are you empty?”

[b]“E̶̤̞͋̃m̸͕̓p̴̫͉̄̔t̸̲̊ý̶͍̔.”[/b]

Khalid snorted as he rose from the table. He held his satchel open against its edge, near where the Shoggoth rested. It was time to go, but the Shoggoth wasn’t about to move. Not by itself. “Horace," he said. His talismans rattled, their eyes blinking open. [color=#3e933d]"In."[/color]

The Shoggoth stiffened. Then, after a tense second, the eldritch jelly slopped into the bag. Once inside, it relaxed in the warmth of the build-in heater, and Khalid tightened the buckles. His talismans were still again, their eyes closed. After putting his dishes in the return pile, he set off to make the journey through the complex to the front desk, his stride steady and self-assured. Even if, for whatever reason, today was the day, Khalid Alhazred would greet his fate with pride.