Shock just rolled her eyes as she made her way out of town.

"At least I don't need a potion to make it sound good," she said.

She shot a glance over her shoulder at Lillith as she walked.

"And I'll make fun of him whenever I damn well please."

It didn't take too long to reach the tree house. Having outgrown it, the birdcage elevator had long since been taken down and replaced with a rope ladder in lieu of a front door. The rope ladder stretched down through a large hole in the bridge and into the ravine. Shock walked over the rickety footbridge without a care until she got to the ladder, then scaled down it until she reached the large, round window that lead into the lair-turned-sound stage. It was faster than going up into the tree house proper and using the slide, and they were already running late.

After some careful maneuvering, she crawled in through the window and used the second rope ladder to get inside.

"Took you long enough," Lock said.

Barrel was tapping out a simple beat to warm up.

"Even [i]I[/i] got here on time," he said.

"Talk to your girlfriend," Shock said, far from in the mood for this, "or rather, her [i]pet[/i]."

She climbed down about four rungs, then jumped to clear the rest of the way. Lock glared at her, not really in the mood to fight either, but knew he had to somewhat keep the peace.

"I know you and Carmilla don't get along, but can you at [i]least[/i] save it until after practice?"

Shock rolled her eyes and came over to test the microphone.

"[i]Fine[/i]."

Lock just nodded, then glanced up to see if he could spot the vampire bats. He did a quick once-over, smoothing down his red T-shirt with its ripped sleeves, made a quick adjustment to his belt, and with it it, his dark pants. Lock then shifted his stance to appear taller and more confident, helped with a small boost from his boots. He waited until the vampires reformed, before giving a decided smirk to Lillith.

"[i]There's[/i] my little leech," he said, keeping his tone careful with excitement to see her, but also in control.

Shock just shook her head. What was it with the love-bats and their cutesy nicknames?