Wind
giggled a little at Marie’s attempts to remove her hand from its icy
prison. “Sorry again, Marie. Anyway Inky, we got a little hint from Miss
M-

“-GYAAA!!!”
he shrieked suddenly as his own hand clapped over his mouth, smacking
his face with a loud *slap* in the process. It appeared his hand had
moved of its own volition, not Wind’s.

“Ok
ok ok geez. Ok, we just uh… heard… I dunno we’re dead we know things
ok?” he amended awkwardly. Then, Inky’s demeanor caught up to him, and
Wind’s brow furrowed a little in confusion. He didn’t sound too happy
about these recent developments. He wanted to ask, but he was kinda
afraid of hurting Marie’s feelings in the process. What he really needed
was a distraction… oh wait! Buttercup was hanging out in his hat today!

“Oh,
so I can’t introduce you to all the other ghosts yet, but you should
meet Buttercup! She’s our little Luma companion-” he reached up to lift
the band of his hat, allowing the butter yellow Luma to squeeze
out. “-say hi, Buttercup!”

“Oh
there’s another one of you now? Hello Miss Marie!!!” she squealed,
zipping out to spiral around the blue paint blot in greeting. While
Marie was busy with Buttercup, Wind sidled up to Inky, lowering his
voice so that the two girls wouldn’t hear them.

“So what’s wrong with you? You don’t seem too happy that Marie’s here…”

“No, it’s fine,” Marie grunted. “Just…gotta…get…”

She trailed off, putting her focus back on removing the icy glove. Man, it didn’t want to leave her hand!

Both blobs flinched at the sudden slap! The Repairman nodded understandingly at Wind’s recovery.

“Ah. I see.”

Marie gasped at the sight of the Luma, almost completely forgetting about the ice for a moment.

“Aww, hi there, Buttercup!” she waved with her frozen hand. “Oh! Heh, lemme take care of that real quick…”

She began pulling on it again.

“Anyway,” she grunted, smiling at Buttercup, “you are just…so…cute! Where ya from?”

The Repairman sighed, looking up at Wind.

“…No, it’s not that, I mean, the company would be nice…”

He turned towards his tool cart, and rested where his chin would be on one hand.

“…But did she have to be an assistant?”

PEW! Marie was finally free from the ice block, which flew high into the air…

She breathed a sigh of relief before looking back up at the Luma.