riverview | Second Stanza: audio UN: Marsh.

[Gyda's voice comes out sounding amused.] Because not everyone has that tradition. We don't even have candy where I'm from.

Which means it definitely needs to be a tradition here.

Yeah, but there's enough people here that it should already have been.

Trick or treating and cabbage night.

Maybe no one thought of it before. I don't think there are enough children here who even know of this tradition.

Is cabbage night when you pelt homes with cabbages?

Well, they're gonna know now.

[Bev will make flyers if she has too.]

And sort of.

So...could you tell me what exactly goes on during cabbage night?

Well, it's kinda like the night where you do things like egg houses and put toilet paper on them and soap windows. It's a good way of getting back at people. They used to call it cabbage night because it's when people would go and steal any cabbages left in the middle of the field at night.

You'd have to be a fast runner to do that and not get caught.

Back home, if there is any food left in the field at this time of the night, it is left for Odin and his Horde. They roam the skies at night and abduct anyone they find alone. Some of the farmers will leave a small portion out in the field to appease them..

You ever participate in cabbage night?

I am a fast runner. But yeah I have. Most kids back home have.

[And it’s not like she has adult supervision or anything like that.]

Does Odin really fly around?

Not himself. He rides on horse back, those who follow him are all said to travel in the storm clouds at night. They say you hear the hoof beats or the sounds of dogs first.

All of the gods are likely to travel, but Odin is known as the Wandering god. He wanders the land as a grey cloaked form, and ravens circle above him, bringing word of everything they see or hear.

Sounds like Santa.

Except that no one goes outside during October and November to wait for the Hunt. To be outside and hear their call is a bad omen, and those unlucky enough to be caught are drawn into the hunt and forced to ride for eternity.

That does remind me. I think you get part of your 'Santa Claus' from Odin. As scary as he can be in early winter, in December around Yul, he and his horse visit homes with children. Midwinter, we leave our shoes out by the heart fire and place carrots inside them for Sliepner, and the next morning they're filled with small gifts.

I learned about how you celebrate Christmas. A lot of your so called 'christmas traditions' start from ours-like leaving gifts, but with stockings instead of shoes. You also have the christmas tree, which comes from the tradition of the yul log.

I don't know...and I don't like it, but it would be nice to do something that has nothing but candy involved.

Yeah, no more ghosts or insane asylums or turning into your freaking costume.

[Not that being Spidergirl wasn't fun, but it's the principle of the thing.]

Ghosts and insane asylums are so over done anyway.

They really are. Just give us candy and have a party not like the one that was at the beginning of the Month. There needs to be a middle ground!

[And candy.]

How about candy everyday? I think that's fair middle ground.

Good candy every day.

[she sounds like a kid, and that just makes jason feel tired. kids have enough to deal without throwing being dragged here into the mix.]

What makes you think candy here would be any less scary than ghosts?

[Yeah, that name seems fake.]

Because it's candy, obviously. And I've been eating it for a month already.

[And blowing all her money on stupid stuff.]

[correct; it’s aggressively fake.]

And you trust complete strangers to give you candy that isn’t poisoned or otherwise weird? You must be braver than the Marines.

People are different here than at home. Besides, if someone did that, then the guard would get them.

[Bev is trusting in that.]

Don't you have trick or treat back home?

[jason wishes he could believe that. he has basically no faith in people, and his world and experiences have given him no reason to alter that outlook.]

Lots of tricks, not many treats. Not the kind you’d want anyone dropping in your pillowcase if you wanna keep all your fingers, anyway.

[Bev’s eyebrows are currently in her hairline.]

Where the hell did you live? A war zone?

Close enough. My neighborhood was called Crime Alley for good reason.

Oh damn. Derry’s bad sometimes but it’s not that bad.

Yeah, well, you know what they say - what doesn't kill you will probably try again another time.

[jason ... nobody says that but you.]

Um, I'm pretty sure all the crazy ghost stuff is normal here.

Like the portal. And this being a moon.

...I'll make sure there's lots of candy at the Cantina if you want some, I'm sure some other kids from Earths with trick-or-treating will like it.

But why does it have to be so much and so scary?!

[Look, there's good fun and then there's this shit, Lola. This shit is a lot.]

Okay, I'll come and get some there then.

I dunno, I just try to avoid the extra haunted places and not talk to ghosts I don't know.

*Which is all of them Lola doesn't know enough dead people to really talk to anyone.*

You should also get some real food too.

Real food is overrated.

[Come on Lola. You’re not her mom. Her mom’s dead!]

You can't make me believe there's no real food you actually like.

*That'll just make her try harder.*

There's gotta be something.

What kind of real food do you make?

The Cantina mostly serves tex-mex? The drinks are a bit more of everything. And I have to cheat with some of the ingredients cause we're on an alien moon.

But I can cook pastas, pizzas, sushi, roasts, steaks, a couple alien dishes I can't pronounce but are kinda good, poutine of course. I've had to fend for myself while dad was at work, and when I got here nobody on my entire floor could cook so that kinda fell on me...

Why?

Sushi? Really?

[Sushi in. Maine in the 80s wasn’t a thing so she’s been avoiding it here.]

Tex-mex. Is that like Taco Bell?

It's not that hard to figure out, once you know how to cut things and roll things.

*And then you can hear Lola making a face.*

If you've never had real Mexican food.

... I trick-or-treated a little last year.

I dressed as a cowgirl. Maybe we should go again this year, too.

Cool. We'll have to. There's enough of us!

[She nods, smiling a bit more confidently.]

What would you like to be?

... Something scary?

Or something pretty?

I don’t want to be something scary. There’s enough of that already.

I went as Spidergirl for a little while but got stuck as her.

[Laura's eyes widen a little.]

Stuck?

[Oh, don't tell her the city is doing something strange with Halloween; she hates its surprises, sometimes.]

Times change. Can't remember the last time it was ever that simple.

[Where he's from, at least.]

How long have you been here?

Couple months. Speaking more from personal experience back home.

Huh. Well I’m talking about here. Derry sucks but we have trick or treating.

You could always be the one to start it here. Doubt anyone would complain too much about it.

Second Stanza: audio UN: Marsh.

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