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The Thing watched the small figure cautiously as it stumbled towards it. It looked human, unarmed and unassuming - but the Thing did not trust appearances. It expanded its presence, casting most of the cave into darkness and made the walls resonate with an unearthly growl.

'Oh, there you are!' said the human 'Nice to meet you!'

The Thing stared, as best as one can stare without physically existing eyes. This was not the reaction it expected.

'Who are you, mortal?' it bellowed.

'My name is Dr Ali Rana, I'm here on behalf of the Budapest Supernatural Investigation and Immigration Office. I'll need you to answer a couple of questions.'

This gave the Thing a pause.

'...The what now?'

Ali, unperturbed, sat down on a rock just outside the circle of darkness the Thing drew around itself.

'You see' he said 'We're basically an immigration office, we keep record of all supernatural entities who wish to settle here. I'm just here for the paperwork.'

Upon arrival the Thing expected to be met with an army of mages, staffs blazing, no questions asked, not a mousy little man with a notepad. It had to be a trap. The human turned to look at the entrance of the cave.

Aha. He's expecting something.

'Tell me, mortal' the Thing growled 'Why should I need your permission to stay?'

Ali looked up at It.

'It's not my permission. Think of me as an ambassador of the neighbourhood council.'

Ali threw another agitated glance at the entrance.

'What are you waiting for?' the Thing grumbled 'Reinforcements?'

'Ah no' said Ali 'I'm just checking the Sun. I'm waiting for it to set.'

'And what happens then?'

'A strawberry jam sandwich, unless I forgot to pack it.'

The Thing manifested an eyebrow just so It - he - could raise it.

'It's Ramadan, I have to fast until sundown' said Ali. The Thing waited for him to elaborate, but apparently Ali felt like this explained everything. The Thing hummed and made a mental note to look into human customs.

Ali looked at him.

'I'm sorry, what was your name again?'

'Grhow-hroluuk'

'Ah, okay, thanks! Grhow-hroluuk. They don't really use this 'rh' sound the Shadow Realm Standard, where exactly are you from?'

Grhow-hroluuk inched a bit closer. He folded in on himself, compressing his form into something more comprehensible for the human brain.

'Are you trying to tell me you speak Standard? What else?'

'Oh... Hungarian, Urdu, English, some Spanish, a little Persian, tourist-level Gujarati... from your side there's the Standard, I read Ancient Gak well enough, but can't really pronounce it and uhh... Ammak-amic. I mean I understand it if I'm spoken to very slowly and clearly, but I can't reproduce it for the life of me.'

'Tell me about it' Grhow-hroluuk rumbled 'Their conjugation is a nightmare. Also the tenses! I swear they have more tenses than actual words!'

'Right?' Ali sighed. He pulled up his clipboard. 'Would you mind helping me fill this out?'