Little bit about Song of Shadows (working title)

Okay, so the main character is Cata Falk (I amuse myself sometimes...) who is not related in any way to my cleric D&D charactere, Catafalque, though Nocturne bears a slight resemblance to that particular scythe bearing minion of evil. Anyway. Cata is working her way through college by doing clerical stuff at a small law firm...the work is menial but the pay isn't bad and she really likes her boss. I'm still a little fuzzy on the details of her meeting Umbra and becoming Nocturne...that'll come to me eventually.

Umbra is Latin for shadow, but it can also mean ghost; that's basically what Umbra is- a ghost or shadow of some sort. Cata still has her own shadow when the sun is shining, but she also has Umbra- if you look closely, you can see the two separate shadows, but unless Umbra is actually moving around, it's impossible to tell it's there.

Nocturne is the arse-kicking defender of justice or whatever; it should be noted that Cata, Umbra, and Nocturne are three separate entities- Nocturne isn't just Cata's alter-ego. She's a completely different person. (Well, they aren't that different...Nocturne has a less spastic sense of humor, and she's a bit quieter than Cata, but otherwise they really are very similar.) I think Nocturne uses Umbra as a channel of some sort to enter the real world and occupy the space that is Cata. That's why they look so similar; Nocturne fills in the space that Cata leaves when they switch places. Not too sure on the background behind this, of course...I'll figure it out later.

Zyn Margols is slightly older than Cata; he's a journalist for a local paper. Very twitchy. Sunburns easily (he's a redhead). Both he and Cata come from rather abusive backgrounds- for Cata this means she's more on the offensively defensive side (sarcstic, antisocial, etc.) For Zyn, this means he's very high strung and something of a wuss. His childhood was not happy, not at all. He really, really likes Cata, once they get to know each other; she, of course, is too busy oggling her boss to notice.

Imbrium is a ghost shadow like Umbra (Latin for tears, as in mare imbrium on the moon- thank you, Piers Anthony), but Imbri is somewhat less benign. Imbrium has almost absolute control over Zyn, and rather than channelling someone else into Zyn's space, he takes over on his own and wreaks four different kinds of havoc throughout the city. Imbri and Umbra have some sort of history together, as do Nocturne and the guy Imbri is supposed to channel- they're all connected, but again, I haven't really gotten that far.

Arii Vahine is one of Cata's coworkers; people obey her unquestioningly, and she really is the most beautiful woman in the world. After Cata tells her to bug off and make her own cup of coffee, they become best friends- Arii is also connected to the ghost shadows somehow, though right now she doesn't have one of her own. She doesn't really need one, though...if some random minion of darkness were to attack her, she'd just tell it to go away (while reaplying her eyeliner), and it would slink off with its tail between its legs.

Glen Roberts is Cata's boss...and he's just very confused. Cute, but confused. He might be gay, but I doubt it. He's probably just confused. Beyond providing a convenient target for attackers and a bit of eyecandy, I'm not sure what he does. Run a law firm, I assume- but he seems to be rather lazy and laid back, so I'm not sure how he manages this. It's a mystery. (Maybe the ghosts are responsible. Maybe he's just lucky. The world may never know...)

Those are the four main characters and their parasites...Cata and her minifridge full of Dr Pepper have taken up residence in a corner of my head; Anya is grumbling about the loss of her couch and Tyler wants something to drink. *shakes head* It's only a matter of time before all of my stories run together, you know. My characters would probably start a huge, apocalypse-inducing fight, before getting bored and wandering off to play poker. cha'...