When Regina returns to the park with a second paper cup of cappuccino warming her hands, darkness has fallen, and a number of old-fashioned streetlamps light the path towards the Haunted House which sits awash in the glow of coloured lights angled up to make the brickwork bleed crimson. A small crowd has gathered outside, and an orderly queue has begun to form at the door where the hag- once more clad in her mask, and minus her purple boots- lets people in after slapping one of the neon orange bands around their wrist.

Unsure whether or not to join the queue, Regina lingers just outside the dome of light cast out by the attraction, before spotting a familiar figure slipping out of a side door to stalk amongst the gravestones. Heading slowly in that direction, she comes to a stop beside a large cross claiming to belong to a Mr Frank N Stein and offers Henry a smile as a way of greeting.

"Are you wanting to go in? You need to go around to the front. The queue looks bad, but it moves quickly. It's not so big inside as we were only allowed to use a couple of the rooms... It's good though!"

Henry assures hastily, his makeup making him look alarmingly gaunt, but offset amusingly by the jolly mustard of his scarf.

"I'm not sure it's really my scene."

Regina replies honestly, but she gestures to the gravestones surrounding them and comments amiably

"These are quite clever. The names, I mean. The sentiment... Less so."

"You don't like scary stuff?"

"Oh, I can stomach all sorts of horrors, but I admit Halloween isn't a holiday I've ever been too fond of."

"How come? If you don't mind the spookiness?

"I suppose I struggle to see the appeal in trespassing with the threat of tricking those that might not deserve it."

"Oh... I think most of us don't really do tricks, it's just something we say. It's tradition, you know? Some of the teenagers can maybe get a bit mean, but I'm not allowed to play any tricks or knock on anybody's door if their lights aren't on."

"Are you going knocking for candy?"

"Yeah. I said I'd help out getting things started in there, but mom said I could go now that everything's set up. I'm just waiting for someone."

"Your mom's taking part in there?"

Regina asks, gesturing towards the house. She presumes Henry's waiting for his little friend before he goes off to knock on people's doors, and her question is mostly a bid to stall him as she tries to decide whether to make a move on the boy now that she has him momentarily on his own.

"Yeah. She's not taking part in the scares or anything, but she helped pull this all together and set up."

"I see."

"It's a shame you don't like this kind of thing. It turned out really good."

Henry laments, and Regina sighs as she wishes her immediate response wasn't one of defensiveness born from a turbulent history the boy remembers nothing about and hides her inner turmoil with a smile.

"It does seem that way, I'll give you that. As I said, the creepy factor isn't for me, nor the trick-or-treating. However, the prize... That I can understand the appeal of."

She smirks as she pulls the bag of candy corn from her coat; her heart hammering fast as she sees her chance and decides to take it, and she addresses Henry's wary smile with a conspiring nod.

"I'm a stranger handing out candy in a makeshift graveyard; I know how it looks, believe me. That said, I was given these by an... Acquaintance... And I feel I should at least offer you a start to your night of candy-hunting after declining to tour the house you're clearly so proud of. Call it commiseration, and rest assured these heels are far too sharp to go chasing you through the mud or carrying you off somewhere should you succumb to any curse or spell I might have placed on these."

She shakes the bag in her hand pointedly with a smile that's just a little too wide; a little too hopeful.

Still, her reasoning seems to have worked on Henry, who offers her a grin.

"I'm a bit too old to believe in magic, sorry."

"Is that right?"

She asks as she pulls the ribbon from around the top of the bag of candy.

"Afraid so."

Henry agrees, holding out his hand at the Mayor's request.

"I-"

"-Henry, what are you still doing here, I-... Umm... Can I help you?"