(Untitled)

[hear_the_voices]

A long, long, long time ago -- months and months and months -- Anna met The Man Who Likes Cake and Pie. And he gave her a present -- a little vial of something that would make any paint she added it to the right kind of paint for painting flowers

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[changeinasnap]

And hey, look, there's the guy now!

"Oh, nice," he says approvingly from a few paces behind, a half-eaten lollipop in hand. "Very nice. I like the shading there."

He gestures with the candy.

[hear_the_voices]

Anna beams.

"Thank you!

"It's working really well," she adds.

Though from the multicolored patch of grass in front of her, that's probably obvious.

"How are you?"

[changeinasnap]

Because she's just a kid, he doesn't say course it's working well, I made it. See? He can exercise restraint when he wants!

...sometimes.

"Not too bad at all," he says, flopping onto an unaltered patch of grass to get a better look at her handiwork. "Even better now that I see this getting put to good use. What about you, you doing all right?"

[hear_the_voices]

"I'm good," Anna says, carrying on with her grass painting.

"I'm in the sixth grade now, and we get to have our first dance for Halloween. I haven't decided what I'm going to wear yet, but Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and I think the dance sounds like fun, so it should be really, really great, don't you think?"

And then, remembering her manners, she holds out an extra paintbrush, in case he wants to paint, too.

[changeinasnap]

"Yeah I do," he declares, with just as much approval as he gave to the painted grass. "Man, I love Halloween. The costumes, the treats, the tricks..."

Seriously. Best holiday ever.

"Ah, and thank you very much!" he adds as he accepts the paintbrush with a trademark flourish. Reaching over, he dunks it in the container of red.

[hear_the_voices]

"Are you going to have a costume this year?" Anna asks.

That's her very favorite part of Halloween. Getting to dress up like someone else.

[changeinasnap]

Thoughtful, "You know, I haven't decided yet. There's way too many to pick. It's not Halloween yet where I'm from either, so, you know, I got time."

Eyebrow.

"Got any ideas?"

[hear_the_voices]

"Well, do you want to be scary or spooky or silly?"

It's important to narrow things down first.

"Or something else?"

[changeinasnap]

"Hmmmmm." He draws it out like some people savor fine wines, idly spinning the paintbrush in his hand. A few flecks of red splash off onto the ground. "See, now you're making me think I really oughta go for the gold and try all three at the same time. Be a challenge."

[hear_the_voices]

Anna gives this some thought.

"You could be a funny ghost."

That covers silly and spooky.

As for scary . .

"With fangs."

[changeinasnap]

Oooh! says his expression.

(In the grass, the tiny flecks of paint sprout legs and scamper away.)

"Really big fangs," he agrees. "Hey, maybe I could make lightning crash after everything I say, too. Go for the whole nine Lugosi-loving yards."

[hear_the_voices]

"Can you make lightning crash?" Anna asks.

Because that would be cool.

"And what's . . ." she pronounces the word very carefully ". . . lugosi?"

[changeinasnap]

"Lugosi! Bela Lugosi. Dracula? Don't watch that without your parents around," he thinks to add as an afterthought.

She hasn't done anything to deserve the nightmares she'd probably get from that movie.

"And of course I can. Check this out." He grins, a little sharper than before, before he clears his throat and lets loose with an impressive evil laugh best suited to mad scientists the world over.

Right on cue, a thunderbolt cracks across the sky.

...The completely cloudless, bright blue sky.

(Yeah, okay, he can admit it loses a little bit of impact that way. Sue him.)

[hear_the_voices]

Her parents certainly haven't done anything to deserve the nightmares Anna would get, either.

Mr. Lugosi is, however, forgotten in the evil-laugh-and-thunderbolt display.

She's not even bothered by the bright sky thing.

"That. Was so. Cool."

[changeinasnap]

"Hey, thanks. I thought so myself."

What? He's got modesty! He just chooses not to exercise it all the time.

[hear_the_voices]

"You do very cool things," Anna says.

"I bet you're never, ever bored."