Giving his mental neighbor a form… that was a tall order. He had no idea what to picture and he certainly didn’t want to insult by choosing a form that wasn’t close to what his guest felt would be appropriate. He couldn’t even get the names of the different races right, even after he’d been told. Given that, what made him think that he could get the correct skin tone, height, weight, and general look for a complete stranger.
He tried to picture a face and body that matched the sound of the voice, as well as mixing in as much of the priest as he could recall, despite the strange, fuzzy shadow that seemed to outline the ancient spirit’s body.
“Interesting,” the voice said, with barely a hint of the haughtiness it normally held. “And just who’s body am I inhabiting?” Kre turned and spotted a tall, athletic figure wearing the same exact same sort of white pants and shirt that the priest had been wearing.
“That’s… uh… well, it’s sort of how my friend Noj looks. In part, I guess. The rest is kind of based on how your dad looked.”
The figure looked up, “My… dad?” He straightened up to appear even taller and tilted his chin upwards. “Explain yourself. Which of these parts are hereditary?” He looked himself over, stretching out his arms and examining them up and down very carefully.
“I… uh… I suppose… his eyes maybe? Well, no. His were pitch black, strangely enough. Yours are more like normal eyes… like Noj’s, except black where his were blue. Same with the hair. His was light brown and yours is black again, but still slicked back like Noj wore. And I think you have his nose. Your dad’s, not Noj’s.
“Look,” Kre tried to explain, “I only met your father for a brief time, and he was strangely shadowy and all…” He waved his arms around his body and wiggled his fingers, “… woooo.
“I know that doesn’t make any sense,” Kre said, sighing, “but it’s really hard to explain. Suffice to say, you’re part Noj and part shadow father figure.”
Shadow Noj shook his head slowly and held up a hand. “Enough. I should have known better I suppose. I had thought that sharing your mind was painful enough, but to see how you babble so only makes it worse. Let us simply move on and we can discuss this later, when you are more collected.”
“One question,” Kre said, his voice soft as he tried to puzzle out how to say the words. “Just how old are you? That came out too blunt. I’m just trying to figure out how you sound so… mature, when it seemed like your father magicked you into the rock when you were a small child.”
“Oh boy,” Shadow Noj said, placing his hand over his face in a gesture oddly similar to how Noj usually reacted to Kre’s questions. “I suppose we’ll have to start at the basics.”
The figure looked around at the darkness around them and sighed. “I suppose you’ll have to do it,” it muttered. “Imagine for me, if you will, a place that you enjoyed sitting comfortably and talking to someone else.”