October 23rd


The soles of Astrid's sneakers slapped against the sidewalk of Jay Street as she made her way towards Hamish's house. The text message she'd received that morning had been cryptic, and her curiosity had been raised as her best friend wasn't usually in the business of being mysterious:

The costume's about done,
feel free to pop over after
you've had lunch with your
parents, if you're free :).

The house with crimson trim and burnt-orange boards came into view and she quickened her pace, the eager anticipation as to what her best friend may've assembled spurring her on.

She rang the bell and waited, the door opened a minute later by the burly mass of man that was the Chief of Berk's Police Department, and father to the self-christened 'talking fishbone': Stoick.

The bearded man's face broke into a broad smile. "Astrid! Hamish didn't say you'd be 'round."

"I didn't know I'd be either until he texted me earlier. He wants to show me the costume he's been working on for Halloween."

"Ah." there was a particular tone in his voice, and dare she note, even the hint of amusement in his eyes? "I don't think you'll be disappointed." he added as he pulled the door open, providing her entry into the front hall.

"Mrrrroow." the welcoming call announced the arrival of the big black bundle of fur that was the Haddock family mascot. They had never quite determined if Toothless was a Maine Coon, or a Norwegian Forest, all they did know was that he was a stocky feline with fur to spare.

Astrid knelt down and gave Toothless a scratch under the chin, and he lapped up the affection, before rubbing himself against her shins. She eventually broke off the spoiling attention to make her way to Hamish's room, pausing before the closed door of his bedroom to knock against the woodwork.

"Come in." his wood-muffled voice instructed, and she stepped inside. A guitar sting sounded from the speakers of his laptop, followed shortly by a horn riff accompanied by drums and in quick succession, a keyboard.

"Wow."

He grinned, that was the response he was hoping for. "I just hope I get more of that reaction next Saturday."

"…If there's something strange in you neighbourhood
Who you gonna call?..."

She circled him, taking the costume in; for over a week he'd been utterly silent about what he'd chosen, and she could understand why. Had he not been able to get it finished in time, it would've been disappointing to know what it was in advance. She was no expert, but his Ghostbuster costume looked really good.

"I can't believe you put this together in a week."

He nonchalantly shrugged, a mildly infuriating gesture, as if it'd taken him no effort at all to assemble the ensemble, even though she knew it had. "You know how enthusiastic I get when I get involved with something."

She smiled, she sure did. "So go on then, give me the breakdown."

"Okay." he nodded. "The nametag and Ghostbusters logo shoulder patch were from eBay, I didn't feel I could make anything I'd be happy with in the time I had available, and I didn't want to spend time on that which I could be using to make the Proton Pack… the backpack. Dad and I went into Providence and I got the suit and boots from an ex-army store. The elbow pads and goggles were from Walmart, which is where I got the backpack these straps came from." he gave one of the green shoulder straps a slight tug.

"..I ain't afraid of no ghost
If you're seeing things running through your head
Who can you call? Ghostbusters!..."

"The Pack is assembled around the backpack, the biggest part of it is made out of two cereal boxes, while the round section with the four circular cut-outs was custom-made, as was the L-shaped piece by my left shoulder." he began to fumble with something on the Pack. "I also got these at Walmart."

A moment later, the four round holes on the large round section lit up with chasing red LEDs, while a box with a rectangular hole cut into it lit up with blue animated lights.

She began to beam at the work he'd put into his costume. "It's amazing." she admitted.

"Thanks." he gave her an amused smile, followed by a curt nod. He then carefully shrugged the Pack off of his back and laid it down on his bed, turning off the lights as he went.

"Are there any lights in the… 'rifle'… part?"

"There are, I just need to install some batteries so they'll light up." he elaborated. With the Pack laid out on the bed, she could take in even more of the detail.

"Did you make those labels yourself?" she enquired, knowing well enough that if he wanted to, he could whip up replicas of whatever he needed with his computer graphics skills.

"I didn't have to, thankfully. There's a whole website dedicated to making replicas of this stuff. They've even started working out how to make copies of the props from the Paul Feig film."

Astrid, Hamish, and their mutual friend Fiske had gone to see the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters, and while their impressions had been mixed, they'd agreed to disagree when it came to their various criticisms.

"I might have to get you to help me with one of the costumes from it sometime." she nodded. "So apart from the batteries, are you all ready for the party?"

"I think so." he beamed, a beat later he asked: "How's yours coming along?"

"I think it's done."

"What are you going as?"

She echoed his shrug from earlier. "A Viking warrior."

He looked a little disappointed. "Oh come on Astrid, a Viking warrior, in a town whose whole theme is Vikings?"

She gave him a playful whack on the arm. "I wanted something easy to put together, we're not all handy with building and sewing."

He rubbed the sore spot on his arm. "Fine, but next year, we're doing something a bit more original for you."

"So there'll be a next year?"

He gave another shrug, this time with a half-smile. "There'll be a party somewhere next year, and I know you'll drag me to it if I wanted to go, or not."

"Yep." she smiled, and rested an arm on his shoulder. "No choice about it." she smirked, and he shook his head in playful defeat.