His green stomach gurgled. He was in town, working. Which meant slight of hand was involved.

The mansion was nice enough. He'd moved there after quitting his job at Jaager. It had been a shame. He'd made sure to say good bye to any important people. But such was life. He couldn't stay connected to That. Pay had been good, but he'd given his notice and hadn't yet found something new. So pocketing pocket money, it was! The mansion offered a place to stay as well as food, but it didn't offer any allowances. Come to think of it, he'd never had an allowance in his life.

Pickpocketing is hard work. He'd worked up an appetite. And oh look, there was a bakery on the street across from him. Elliott crossed the street when the light was right, and entered the shop. A green man, tall, in blue jeans and an ironic band t-shirt, he looked quite the sight with his antennae and red eyes.

Those red eyes settled on a display filled with green and yellow frosted cookies shaped in the form of little UFOs. There were tear drop shaped green frosted cookies with red gum drop eyeballs that resembled him. He almost wanted to laugh.

"I never received any money for someone using my appearance," Elliott smiled at the baker behind the counter. He gestured at the selection behind the glass, obviously joking, and added offhandedly. "Take me to your leader. Tell him I'll take the lot." TI take them off the shelf, mind you. Having cookies with his appearance floating around was bad for business. The bakers business. He wasn't the handsomest alien in the city. That probably went to Javier at the butcher's or Santos at the flower shop downtown.

He had funds for all those cookies. There were probably about a dozen, altogether, and he'd just nabbed a wallet full of green. Any extras could be gifted to the kids at the mansion.

Also. There is nothing weird about wanting to eat your own face. Nothing at all.

Shock-A-Con.

Henry's assistant Tony had come into the shop that morning with a black red shirt with the words splattered across his check in red letters. He had begged his uncle Henry to let him out of his shift for the day because he had gotten tickets to the local Sci fi fantasy convention. Henry had let him leave with a few forced words of roughness. He added in some phrases about his nephews lazy generation for good measure.

After that Henry had started baking for the day. He found himself making cookies of various designs, UFOS, Aliens, Dragons, Shields. He made cupcakes with icing that looked like galaxies in space. And donuts, always make donuts, At a little after 10 he got his first cosplayer. It had been a woman dressed as an elf and she had ordered some cookies and a coffee before excitedly calling her friends and telling them about the "cool bakery that was in in the convetion."

Henry had spent the morning in a busy blur and by the time the shop mostly emptied he had flour stains on his apron and the tip jar was stuffed. He made a mental note to split some of that with Tony. The kid had inspired him after all. Henry went and poured himself a Coke and went back to he bind the counter. He adjusted the handkerchief he wore around his mostly shaved head. He dusted off the shoulders of his black tee-shirt and then smacked some flour off of his jeans. He hopped up onto his stool, letting his slip on shoes dangle and started sorting funds in the register.

It was then that Henry heard someone speak. He looked up to see a man in an alien costume admiring the cookies that bore his appearance. He made some jokes as he got Henry's attention and the Baker let out an honest bark of laughter as he rose and grabbed a box to put the cookies in.

"Good one man. And that's a heck of a costume you got there. Guy who came in earlier looked more like a mess of tin foil and green paint." Henry noted.

He started placing the cookies in the box and tried to keep polite conversation.

"How long is this convention anyway? Is it just like a weekend thing? Cause if I keep getting business from you people like this I'll start making cakes for tomorrow with spaceships on them." He joked.

He looked at the man and couldn't help but be impressed. The makeup job was perfect, Henry couldn't see a single line where it was smugged. And whatever contacts the guy had on, man they had the vacant creepy red glow going on. It just looked so real.

At first, he didn't get it. He wasn't aware of a convention so all he got from it was "alien impersonators...? What?" But then it clicked. The man thought he was in costume. He wasn't in costume. The thought that someone thought he would fake being an alien... well, it made him horribly morbidly amused. Elliott laughed at the man's joke. He laughed at the ridiculousness of it. And mostly, he laughed because he figured it would be rude not to. Good joke, well made for the information made available to him. Not his fault he stood in the presence of a modern day ALF. With less eating of cats.

"Heheh, thanks man." Elliott smiled amiably. "It takes a lot of hard work learning to look this good. Nice to be appreciated." He was running with it. Because why not? The man seemed nice.

His cookies started getting boxed. It was going to be a wonder for them to survive the trip home. They looked delicious.

The man commented about the convention again, and Elliott chuckled. "You know, for some of us, this is a way of life. I'd say, it'll probably last the weekend. I forget what the fliers say." Which was true since he'd never seen a flier at all.

Elliott shrugged and told him his honest opinion (since most of what he'd said so far was a simple lie). "These cookies are hilarious. They'd probably sell well even without an event. Like the weird animal cookies from that one baker at the end of that Harry Potter movie, Fantastic Beasts?Those cookies were fun."

His ex-girlfriend had made him see that fantastic beasts movie in theaters like twenty times. Normally wouldn't have been his thing, but... he'd liked the weirdness. Felt fitting for the world. Even if he'd never seen a single Harry Potter.