Introduction
Introduction
The falling of the leaves announced the arrival of autumn and with that, it reminded Loki and Sylvie that they had already been living together for six months in their small house in New Asgard, still trying to adjust to this new and far different lifestyle.
It hadn't been easy for either of them, as a domestic life was the opposite of what Sylvie had had until now. They also didn't have any luxuries or many comforts, which didn't make things easy for Loki either. But they were both trying and slowly integrating to life in the town and also building a life together.
From the beginning of autumn, they noticed how the town was dressed with ornaments and peculiar colors, combining with the trees and sunsets of the season.
Their attention was drawn to the designs of skulls, ghosts, and witches with which the neighbors adorned houses and buildings. They also noticed strange planning near the cornfields, rumors about the house that had been abandoned for years, and some repairs in the local cemetery, but since they were not yet informed of all the customs that the Asgardians had in this new location, both kept silent and didn’t ask questions.
When October 31st came, though, and Thor's call was answered, neither of them expected that all their questions would be answered, and others would arise.
“Thanks for coming, guys,” Thor said warmly and politely, opening the door to his house to let them in. “It’s a very busy night, I’m surprised you don’t have any plans.”
“Should we?” Sylvie asked, surprised.
“Oh, well, after what happened for April’s Fools I thought you both would have this night all planned already…”
Loki and Sylvie exchanged confused looks while Thor closed the door behind them.
“What happens tonight?” Loki asked.
“It’s Halloween!” Love exclaimed, running down the stairs.
“Come, Love, say hi to your Uncle Loki and Aunt Sylvie,” Thor encouraged her, and she did, even if it was slightly begrudgingly.
“Hello!” she greeted with a wide smile, fidgeting in front of them.
“How is the lady tonight?” Loki asked and bowed for her, making her giggle.
“Up to mischief, I hope,” said Sylvie, giving her a sly, mischievous grin of her own.
“Now, now,” Thor interrupted the greeting. “Nothing of mischief here, okay?”
Love pouted disappointedly, while Loki and Sylvie huffed in outrage and looked away, arms crossed over the chest.
“But it’s Halloween!” Love complained. “We’re supposed to be naughty if people don’t give us candies!”
Sylvie and Loki exchanged a look at these words, half conspiratorial, half naughty, but fully curious.
“What is this… event the child is talking about, brother?”
“Why, Halloween, the very thing that all people in the town have been preparing for weeks!”
Loki and Sylvie just stared at him in silence.
"Have you not noticed the decorations?” Thor tried to remind them, but they kept their blank stare. “The hundreds of pumpkins?” he suggested, but the variants just shook their heads.
“Surely you saw the corn maze,” said Love, folding her arms on her chest.
“Oh, it was a maze…” Sylvie pondered.
“The costumes, the candies? Come on guys! You really haven’t noticed any of these?” Thor complained, bewildered.
“Oh, we did notice,” Loki started.
“We just thought it was a thing people do,” Sylvie continued.
“We didn’t think it was an event,” Loki finished.
“In that case,” said Thor, proud and stretching an arm to offer them a place on the couch. “Let me explain everything to you two!”
They accepted the offering and each sat on separate edges of the couch since Love had been fast and sat right in the middle, eager for the explanation, dangling her legs on the edge of the couch.
“Each year,” Thor started with his powerful voice in front of them. “Midgardians celebrate an ancient tradition called Halloween!” he informed them, emphasizing the name. “The goal of this event is to dress in the most horrible costume you fit in, then go door to door to threaten people into giving you candy. But the most important part of this night… is to have fun family time!”
“Yes! Yes!” Love yelled, jumping to her feet. “Let’s get the costumes!”
She ran to the next room and returned almost immediately with her arms loaded with strange looking clothes, dragging part of the bunch on the floor as she made her way back to the living room.
“Let me help you with that,” Thor rushed to her and took the costumes from her arms. “Here we have the costumes!” he announced, lifting the colorful pile in the air and then depositing it on the coffee table in front of the couch, where Loki and Sylvie gazed stunned at the scene.
“Love and I thought we could get some company this year, whether it was Valkyrie or even Korg, but since you both are here…. These are the costumes!”
While the variants leaned forward to take a closer look, Thor and Love busied themselves trying to untangle them.
“Here Sylvie, this will fit you!” Thor said, handing her some kind of onesie with colorful mane and a horn.
“Is this a unicorn?” She asked.
“And for you, brother, so you both match as a couple…” Thor handed Loki a similar looking onesie, yet this was brown with a darker mane.
“Really Thor, a horse?” Loki complained, flustered.
“You can be the unicorn if it fits you…” Thor spoke calmly, giving him the simplest solution.
“That is not-”
“I think it suits you perfectly,” Sylvie interrupted him, containing her laugh. “You share many attributes with horses,” she smirked, and kissed him on the cheek.
“What are you dressing as, Thor?” Loki asked, trying to change the subject.
“Keeping the theme of animals, and since you two are variants, that’s why the horse and unicorn… I will be disguised as a relative of horses and unicorns… A powerful and strong rhinoceros!” He said lifting the gray onesie with the horn on the head.
“I’m not sure these animals are all related…” Loki doubted.
“Of course they are! Horses, pegasus, unicorns, they are all related. This rhino relative is the Midgardian strong evolution.”
“And what will you be, Love?” Sylvie asked the girl.
“I’m gonna be the tallest animal on this planet… Can you guess?” Love challenged.
“A blue whale?” Sylvie asked, leaving Love and Thor stunned in their spot.
“Ah, Sylvie, Sylvie… You weren’t paying attention to that documentary the other night?” Loki said next to her, “The largest animal on earth is obviously the Lion’s mane jellyfish. Its tentacles can extend up to 30 meters.” Loki said proudly.
“I’m gonna be a giraffe!” Love exclaimed, lifting her onesie. “It has the little horns and the tail!”
“It’s really beautiful, Love,” Sylvie said adoringly, and Love squirmed with happiness.
“You know what would be better?” Loki asked mischievously. “For Love… to be a dagger!” He snapped his fingers and suddenly Love was dressed in a dagger costume. “Love is a dagger!” Loki exclaimed excitedly.
“No, no daggers, Loki!” Thor exclaimed and stepped next to Love trying to vanish away the spell. “She’s a child!”
“You let her fight next to you with Stormbreaker,” Loki answered unamused, vanishing the dagger costume.
“An ax is big,” Thor said, standing proud and tall, like giving Loki a lecture. “While a dagger is far too small, she could conceal it in her clothes and the next thing we know she is stabbing the mailman. So nothing of daggers.”
“It’s still an awful metaphor,” Sylvie whispered in Loki’s ear to his disappointment. “I love the costumes, so, what happens next?”
Love cheered excitedly, while Loki and Sylvie exchanged an interested nod.
“In the wake of this Halloween event,” Thor resumed. “The town had set up several activities to enjoy as a family. There’s the pumpkin carving, where you attempt to carve the most human face accurately on a pumpkin to then light fire inside it,” he said winking an eye at Love. “There is also the corn maze. It is a maze inside a corn field! People say it’s very difficult to sort out.”
“I think we saw something happening there a few days ago…” Sylvie recounted.
“There’s the classic treat or threat, a candy search. And as a more cultural activity, there’s a historical tour in the town’s cemetery. Maybe there’s some other activities around I wasn’t informed about but…We have to stay aware, I heard there’s a trickster on the loose. They moved some decorations from one house to another, barricaded a street with pumpkins, painted faces on the car’s windows and looked at what happened to the storm breaker!” Thor exclaimed, summoning his ax, now covered in green paint. “It’ll take me ages to clean it,” he said sadly.
“And what if… We don’t want to take part in any of what you just mentioned?” Loki asked, trying his most polite tone.
“Ah well, you can always stay at home handing candies to kids,” Thor answered cheerfully.
“There’s so much to do. Let’s do everything!”” Love exclaimed, jumping to her feet and running around the living room.
“I’m sure we can do a lot if Loki and Sylvie care to join!” Thor laughed. “So, what do you think, which activity do you want to try?”
