Romancing The Umbramancer 1

I open the door and am slightly stunned by the sight that greets me. Skylar is dressed up, and she looks incredible. Not that she doesn’t always look incredible of course, but this look has a different appeal to it than her usual simple attire with no makeup.

She’s wearing a white, low cut and long sleeve top. Her ample cleavage is visible, leaving little to the imagination with just how big her boobs are, and just how nice it would be to shove my face into them. Managing to tear my eyes away from her tits, I take in the rest of the simple but gorgeous outfit that she’s wearing.

The white top is tucked into a red pencil skirt that ends around her mid thigh. She’s wearing black mesh stockings and black high heels. A simple shining silver necklace along with a silver nose ring are all the jewellery that she has on. She’s wearing very simple makeup, with natural colours to accentuate the simple colours and beauty of the look. Her long, wavy blonde hair cascades down her body, all the way to her hips, in a simple but gorgeous mid part.

The entire outfit accentuates the natural colours of her hair and eyes, while perfectly showing off her perfect hourglass body shape. Her hips curve outwards, stretching the fabric of her skirt almost taut. Her shapely legs and thick thighs fill out the stockings nicely, and the entire outfit is nearly skintight while still being socially acceptable. She is absolutely stunning.

If I hadn’t already been cemented in wanting this woman, she would have convinced me right then.

While I am very blatantly checking Skylar out, I’m not the only one. For her part, Skylar is looking me up and down, seemingly quite happy with what she’s seeing. I can see a slight bit of colour rushing to her cheeks, but none of the intense blushing of before. That little reaction is enough for me, given how good of a poker face she usually has.

”You look incredible.” I start off, deciding to just be honest about my feelings. She smiles happily at me. “You do too. I love the goth style. It’s a bit different from your usual outfits though?” I shrug, faking a confident smile. “I decided to dress up a bit. Gotta look nice after all.” Skylar chuckles. “You look nice anyway, regardless of whether you dress up.”

I hear Mia and Ivy coming up behind me, and I turn back to them, stepping aside so the umbramancer can see. Mia whistles, surprised, when she sees Skylar. “Damn girl, you look good!” “Thanks Mia.” She replies, smiling. “You look amazing Skylar. Have fun, both of you. Stay safe!” Ivy comments. “We will.” I respond. Going with instinct, I offer my arm to my date. We link arms and begin to walk to the barrier exit.

“Love you honey!” Mia calls, and I turn and call back. “Love you too babes!” As Skylar and I get closer to the barrier exit point, a question strikes me. “How does that make you feel by the way?” “What, you saying ‘I love you’ to each other in front of me?” She asks. I nod, curious as to her answer. “It feels weird. Like I should be jealous, but I’m not? I’m not sure how to explain it.”

We exit the barrier, and parked right in front of us is a relatively new Toyota Camry, red in colour. Skylar takes out a set of keys from her purse and unlocks the car, getting in the drivers seat. “Huh, I didn’t know you drove.” I comment, getting into the passenger seat. She gives me a small smile. “You never asked.”

“I should get my licence.” I say, the thought striking me. “You should. It’s useful for getting around.” “Where are we going anyway?” “You’ll see. And don’t start with that ‘are we there yet?’ stuff.” Skylar jokes. Immediately, I take the opening. “Are we there yet?” “We haven’t even started driving!” She laughs, starting the car and putting on her seatbelt.

The drive to wherever it is that we’re going, is filled with pleasant small talk. I find out a number of a small but interesting facts about Skylar, including that she has a preference for cold weather in the same way that I do, that she was allergic to dairy before her innate ability manifested fully, and that she has a pet cat. That last one prompts me to ask to see pictures of it, and she stops on the side of the road to oblige. Her cat is called Lily, and she’s adorable.

Eventually we park outside a strip of restaurants. We get out, and Skylar leads me down the road for a couple of minutes before stopping out the front of a seafood restaurant. She turns to me, holding my hands and looking into my eyes. “I talked to Mia about what you like for food. She told me that your palette is pretty limited when it comes to food, but she also told me that you like seafood. I hope you like this.” She says, smiling up at me.

It’s easy to forget with the confidence and presence she usually projects with her demeanor, but Skylar is a lot shorter than me, at 157cm to my 172cm. Her smile is broad and honest, carefree in a way that I’ve been seeing more and more of from her over the past two weeks. Her eyes twinkle with honesty and care. The urge to kiss her is incredibly strong, but I hold myself back. Not until she says it’s okay.

Instead, I smile happily at her. How could I not, when everything about her radiates happiness that she’s spending this time with me? The relaxed and gleeful joy that the maiden of shadow is displaying, is so far in contrast to her behaviour around others. I feel honoured that I get to see this side of her. She’s adorable. “Of course I like it. You picked it after all.”

Her grin widens, and she leads me inside. Walking confidently up to the restaurant host, holding my hand, she speaks as he looks up. “Hi, I have a reservation for two under Whitley.” The guy nods, and taps away on the monitor in front of him. “Right this way ladies.” He says after a few seconds, turning and leading us to a booth.

We sit down and the host hands us a pair of menus. I don’t need to take a whole lot of time to read it, since I’m pretty sure of what I’m going to order, but I skim over it anyway. We make our choices quickly and call the waiter over. “Fish and chips please, with a glass of moscato for the drink.” I order politely.

Skylar raises an eyebrow before ordering herself. “Prawn linguine, and a second glass of moscato please.” The waiter nods, making notes on a pad before making his way back to the kitchen. “I didn’t know you drank.” She says casually. I shrug, smiling. “I usually don’t. Never even been drunk, and not keen on the idea. I do like a moscato on special occasions though.”

“This is a special occasion, is it?” She asks flirtatiously, taking a sip from a glass of the water for the table. My heart racing, I feign confidence and respond in kind. “Why wouldn’t it be? I’m on a date with an amazing, kind and gorgeous woman.” A slight flush makes it’s way to Skylar’s cheeks, but she holds it back for the most part. I move on quickly before she can reply.

“Last year, when I was still doing my best to create stability for myself, I worked a job in housekeeping at a hotel to make ends meet. It wasn’t a super fun job, but I got to see some interesting stuff. Guests sometimes leave behind things, and if nobody claims them, the cleaning staff keep it. Somebody left behind a small bottle of moscato once, and I got to keep it. I tried it out of curiosity, and I didn’t mind it.”

Skylar shakes her head at that. “You went through it a bit, didn’t you?” “Just a bit.” I snort. “Wanna tell me about it?” She asks, her eyes twinkling with concern first and curiosity second. “I don’t wanna bring the mood down.” I reply truthfully. “It’s okay, you can tell me. I won’t judge.” She says, flashing me an honest smile. I sigh, smiling back.

“My parents kicked me out on my 18th birthday for being trans. They weren’t very nice, and I didn’t have a great childhood. Got bullied a lot in school, didn’t have a lot of friends, ya know, that kinda stuff. When I got kicked out, I had nobody around to support me at all. I had my own savings from the job I’d worked since I was 14, and that was about it.”

“I’m sorry Gem. I’m glad you’re doing better now.” She says, putting a hand over mine. I smile at her and wave off the apology. “Don’t worry about it. Ironically, it was the best thing that they ever did for me. I’m a lot happier now, and have an amazing group of people around me.” Skylar smiles at me, once again radiating that carefree happiness.

“Actually, that does sort of lead into something else I was wondering. It’s a bit personal though, is that okay?” She asks. “Sure, go ahead. I’m an open book.” “How did you figure out that you were transgender?” The memories that flash through my brain hit me like a freight train, and I sigh contentedly, leaning back and smiling. It’s one of the only distinct happy memories I have from my childhood.