Rowen still enjoyed getting to wear his paladin costume at the Halloween carnival last Friday and again during school today. I've been a fan of paladins prior to them the "holy knight" character option in D&D due to their connection to Charlemagne as his most trusted knights in his Holy Roman Empire. While much of their story has been fictionalized and romanticized, it seems that Charlemagne took his title of Holy Roman Emperor seriously, and named his closest confidants "paladins" after a similar title given to the most trusted advisors of Roman emperors. These knights were those trusted to maintain order throughout his new empire and to report back to him about the status of the his realm. Earlier, Frankish kings had used a similar title for officials who acted as judges, so Charlemagne used his paladins for a similar purpose: they were a law unto themselves--as long as they remained loyal to the oaths that they swore to him. Rowen doesn't know that history; he just thinks that Paladins are cooler than normal knights ... he's not wrong.
Meanwhile, I dressed in a science officer uniform from Star Trek (the original series). I wore pointed ears to indicate that I was at least part Vulcan and had a small communicator. I had toyed with the idea of wearing contacts, but my glasses helped to hold my ears in place better. Midway through the school day, we had a "trick-or-treat" event. I passed out candy to gleeful high school students, many of whom had no idea what my costume meant (some of them asked if I was an elf). Students who knew better, but wanted to get under my skin would say, "Aren't you that guy from Star Wars?" or would throw up the Vulcan peace sign and say, "May the Force be with you." At these points, I would flip open my communicator (a trick that I had practiced) and say, "I'm sorry Captain, but there appears to be no intelligent life down here." My favorite bit was to wait for students to say "Trick or Treat" before giving them candy. If they failed to do so, I would say something like, "Based on my study of Earth culture, it is customary for people to say a passcode before receiving their sugary treat."
I handed out 196 individual pieces of candy during that event. I know this because I had two bags of with 100 pieces of candy in each (mini Twix, Milky Way, Snickers, and Three Musketeers bars) and I consumed four of them myself. I'd say that the day was a success.