Forgive the lateness of the hour-Millitimed

[like_quicksilver]

When Gyda pokes her head in through the door, there's a wide smile on her face and for a moment she can be seen in homespun clothes, reminesent of her home in Denmark. She disappeared a moment then came back a few seconds later, a wide smile on her face and carrying two canvas bags over her shoulder, along with an envelope and a peanut covered caramel apple wrapped in clear plastic.

The smile falters only a little when her 'costume' changes into something else. She looked down in surprise. "Ms. Bar, I already have a costume."

A napkin appeared on the table infront of her 'Clothes from home don't count, Gyda''

She frowned, supposing that made sense, but even so. "They do if people think so?" Another note 'Not in here, dear'.

That resulted in a huff (even if the costume looked fun), but only for a second as the combination of sugar and excitement took over once more. "Whatever...could you make sure Athelstan gets the caramel apple next time he arrives? And I'd like the leather photo album I'm still making" The apple disappeared and the book reappeared.

Her speech came out fast and hyper. She laughed and dumped the bags onto the table, revealing the contents to be a ton of candy, while she also opened the envelope. There was no way she could eat this much on her own, not even within a few days, but she could sort it out for friends. "Loot!"

Prior to the holiday, she'd deliberately cut herself off from artificial sugar (for reasons she couldn't really give, but she wanted it to be special), and now the combination of sugar and excitement had taken over.

Ask nicely and she'll give you some candy-or not and just take some, there's plenty to go around.

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[gods_that_haunt_me]

Floki follows shortly-- through his own door, of course-- and seemingly in Gyda's wake he finds himself clad head to toe in leather and brass buckles and a long swishy coat, topped off with a top hat and goggles. But what is most remarkable...is his hair.

He has so much of it and it is long. Just as long as Rollo's, even! Alas, however, it is not his own and merely a wig that has been affixed to his head, but still. Hair.

Floki stands there staring at his clothes and gawping at the long mane draped over his shoulders.

"Why- how have I been dressed so?"

[like_quicksilver]

He was in her line of vision when he entered Milliways, so she was just able to see Floki as his clothing changed. Gyda stopped from her candy sorting (determined by who might like what) to gape for a moment, before the wide grin once more appeared on her face.

"It's Halloween." She answered, still energetic. "It's a festival when people dress up and children and young people go door to door asking for candy, and people scare eachother for fun."

The latter part she found from experience, not from what she was told. Rather then just wait by the door, some of the owners hid in costume to scare trick or treaters and play other pranks. Once she got over the shock, the anticipation made it all the more fun.

"They don't actually celebrate Halloween in Isreal, because its origins are neither christian, jewish or islamic." That actually made her laugh. "So Ganymede and I traveled in his airplane to his home in America, where Halloween is widely celebrated.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Floki just blinks at her, because he's...really distracted at the moment.

"...What?"

First things first. He waves a flaily hand at all the colorful packets piled on the table.

"What is all of this?"

He picks up a Reese's peanut butter cup and sniffs it.

"Tiny sweets? This is what you collect for-- Hollow-ween?"

What a strange sounding festival, but if tiny sweets are involved, it can't be that bad.

[like_quicksilver]

She nodded, still feeling the high from a lot of sugar. "On Halloween evening, children and young adults dress up and go door to door getting sweets. Those who don't have candy have pranks played on them."

Thankfully to the doors they visited, there wasn't a need. "I think the holiday started from some of the tribes in Ireland. It was their Winternight, but now instead of offerings to the dead, it's candy to trick or treaters, and people scare eachother with jokes and pranks and dress in costume."

[gods_that_haunt_me]

He utters a short laugh.

"An odd custom, but appealing!"

Of course his trickster nature would find it so.

"And this is what you wore tonight, going door to door?" he asks, gesturing at her outfit, the likes of which he has never seen before.

[like_quicksilver]

She made a face. "No, for trick or treating, I wore clothes from home, along with my sword and shield. In modern times, everyone thought it was a costume. Ms. Bar however thought it didn't count once in milliways."

Hence the change in costume. "It was funny though, I am norse and was walking around like one of their own. The children and adults we were walking with, they knew I was visiting, they just assumed it was from their own time in our country."

She smirked and took the envelope, opening it to show him the pictures. "My foster father has a small airplane to travel to his vineyard and we used it to travel across the sea and sky to celebrate Halloween in America-I took pictures."

The photos she showed him were of various areas of the plane: where the passengers say (the seats could only be for 10 people), to the controls and pilots. A few were of the views outside the windows, the country side from up high, the city as they passed by, the sea and nearly meeting the clouds. More then a few of them had Gyda there as well, posing and pointing for humor.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"They thought you were pretending to be a Viking even as you were dressed in your own clothes," he snorts with a chuckle. "What a fine way to parade around under the guise of one's self!"

He then comes closer to peer over her shoulder at the photos. There are many things he still has questions about, as he takes one of the photographs and examines it with great interest.

"How were these images made? And you are in them! And so high up above the land and sea! I have heard about the air plane but never imagined it could take you among the clouds."

As he shuffles through the photos, he asks, "Ganymede, then--you are living with him?" His tone implies that the young man seems like an unconventional choice.

[like_quicksilver]

She made a dismissive gesture even as she grinned. "I thought it was funny. Everyone thought it was a good costume and some of the others wished to get into a short fight with me just to show off." She couldn't think of a better compliment.

"Oh, I never showed you my camera. It's a modern device used to take pictures, you point it at something, click a button, and then you plug it into a computer to print it out. I've been collecting all sorts of pictures and putting them in this book." She patted the leather bound book before her. Inside where pictures of her home in Tiberius, the area around their home, pictures of town as well as their day trip to Jerusalem. There are also pictures of Ragnar, Athelstan and a few of her family in milliways-and some of herself just making silly faces at the camera.

She nodded at his question. "Some time ago I wrote a notice on the board, asking for a foster family. Ganymede's..different," That's as far as she'll say on the matter. "But he's kind and never shown me harm. He's also good friends with father and doesn't mind that I keep to our gods. He knows what it's like to go from one world to the next."

All in all, she was certain she wouldn't get a better option.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"The machines of the future seem more infused with magic than anything else," he muses, still flipping through the photographs.

"I met Ganymede once. I think he deemed me unusual, but the feeling is mutual," he adds wryly. "As long as Ragnar approves and as long as you are happy in your new home. You deserve a good life."

[like_quicksilver]

"Ganymede has pictures of chidren he's fostered in the past," Yet another reason why she chose him. "Some of them are very faded and others are only in shades of black, grey and white. I think it's like any other invention, more advanced as time goes on."

Like boats, thanks to Floki their boats were more advanced than even when her father first started to raid.

"And I am happy. I'm going to a modern school, and there are other girls my age to talk with," She smirked. "Most of them speak hebrew and english, but I'm getting better at both and the mistakes can be funny."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric still has his Halloween dress on, glittering and gold. "Gyda, you look lovely."

[like_quicksilver]

She looked up, her eyes wide at the dress. "Sinric, happy halloween!"

She searched for something he might like. "Take some of the candy, I can't eat this all myself!"

The group they walked with had walked for nearly half an hour, long enough to go through several blocks worth of homes. That didn't include the bag of candy she snagged from the brutes who tried to nab their bags-only for her to take one of their own.

[thewidewideworld]

"Thank you, that's very kind." He selects a piece wrapped in imperial purple, happy to discover it's chocolate inside. "You do have an awful lot of it. I take it your raid was successful?"

[like_quicksilver]

"I did cheat a little and wore the clothes from kattegat, along with my shield and training sword, but Bar thought that wasn't a proper costume." She still thought it was though.

In answer, she nodded, still riding the sugar high. "They make a terrific deal of Halloween in America, especially where we were. We traveled only for several blocks but we stopped at nearly every home."

It wasn't a raid, not really, but it was still exciting. "There were even these older boys who were hiding out, stalking younger children for their candy. They stormed in on us and grabbed a few bags, not mine, but I was still so angry I ran after them and tackled one to the ground." Some details she knows she's exaggerating, but that made a story interesting. "I actually ran and tackled one of them. I don't know if they actually expected this or it wouldn't have been so easy."

[thewidewideworld]

"That's hardly cheating." He smiles, shaking his head. "I have seen other people wear clothing of another age as costume. Why should you not wear the clothes of your childhood?"

He listens to her story, smiling warmly. "You truly are your father's daughter. Your mother's too, though I have never met her."

[like_quicksilver]

"I think because in milliways, I wear that clothing all the time." Not every day, and sometimes she wore it with a few modern garments, but even so she wore it.

She looked down, the smile faltering. "You would've liked her, those that met her always did, and even those who didn't respected her." And bed head was the worst. "I miss her, I'd like to tell her of my adventures."

Gyda pulled out the envelope. "I got to ride on one of those airplanes. It was small, but we traveled so high, over the oceans and near the clouds." She showed him the pictures she took. The interior of the plane was only large enough for a small handful of passengers, but the seats were comfortable and arranged so as to not be confining. A few pictures also showed the views from the windows at various heights, more then a few with Gyda herself in them.

[thewidewideworld]

"I'd like that very much, to hear about her adventure. I only know of her through Ragnar. He speaks of her with such a admiration."

He leans in close to admire the photos. "How exciting! I've heard of such things but I've never seen one. To travel so far, so fast. And to fly no less! What was it like?"

[like_quicksilver]

She nodded, the smile faltering. While she forgave her father, the subject of their divorce was still painful even after all this time. "The greatest was when she and father went to England. She told me she loved going on raids with father, and when Athelstan arrived..it took some trust..but she was able to sail to England and explore a new world."

That was as far as she was willing to explain. "Actually, after an hour or two it gets a little boring," That much had to be confessed. "It took..what felt like only a day to travel to California from Isreal, but that was still many hours on the plane. I spent most of the time catching up on the homework assignments my teachers gave me."

She still had some work left, but that's what milliways was for. "But, at a certain height, the country side looks almost like a sort of quilt, all shades of brown, green and lines of water. Then you pass over towns, and it looks like those small models you see with modern children. The only real bad parts is when you get to a certain height, it feels like something pops in your ears. It hurts slightly and I was worried I was going deaf, but Ganymede said it's normal and that chewing gum helps. There's also when the plane hits a..think it's called an air pocket or something, but it creates something called turbulence, which makes the plane shake for several minutes. I thought we were going to crash, but after it was over, it was almost exciting."

Mostly because they were still in the air.

[thewidewideworld]

"Only a day. It took me a year to travel from Byzantium to the Sinese Empire."

He listens to her adventures with a warm smile. "To look down on the world as the birds do. How wonderful!"

[like_quicksilver]

She shrugged, still smiling. "Night's even better, because all of the lights in the city. There's not much to be seen in the sky of course. Also, I slept most of the time back home, so not much to say. Ganymede said it was because of the sugar wearing off in my system-called it a sugar crash."

Sort of why she had all the candy on the table now. She never had any intention of eating most of it, but she knew others would like it. "You can take some of the candy if you want. I'm saving some for Athelstan, father..Floki might like some if he's around. Also I told some of the girls in my class I'd give them some."

There was certainly enough to go around. They did a lot of walking and visited a lot of houses and shops after all.

[thewidewideworld]

"I remember the feeling. The first time I drank too much honeyed wine, I was exhausted afterwards and fell asleep at my Master's feet."

He nods his thanks and takes another, leaving the rest for the to share. "I'm sure your friends and family will be very glad of such treats. It's good of you to share them."