Lock and Shock both cackled with glee.

"I'm surprised he hasn't tried to hunt you down already," Lock said.

"Eh, it's still early," Shock said. "And it's not like he can do anything now."

"Even if he could," Lock said, "we could always just push him into the ravine."

He gave Carver a playful slug.

"Besides. He hasn't seen [i]anything[/i] yet."

Up ahead, Barrel arrived first and went down into the lair to sulk. Lock and Shock figured they were on their own for dinner tonight, as the youngest trickster knew there was [i]no way[/i] this kind of screw-up could be even remotely smoothed over with a good meal. Lock offered, as Shock was undoubtedly still pissed about the loss of her wares, and it didn't hurt to get on her good side when Barrel was currently the subject of her ire.

The two of them climbed down after Barrel, Lock to practice guitar and work on new music, and Shock to head to the back room to check on her scorpions and put Loki back in his tank. Barrel had taken the bedroom and flopped dramatically back on Oogie's old bed to bemoan his fate until he inevitably got hungry and/or bored enough to go cook something to feel better...and to get started on his punishment when Shock wasn't in the room to breathe down his neck.

Loki remained curled around Shock's ear as she reached for a jar of beetles and retrieved a particularly fat, crunchy one to give to him. She then set a hand under her ear for Loki to crawl into.

"You were perfectly [i]troublesome[/i] today, Loki," she said.

The beetle pitifully struggled between her fingers. Loki hissed and snapped at it to try to catch it. His stinger shot for the beetle. Shock playfully pulled it from his reach, mostly to keep his hunting instinct and reflexes honed. After a moment of this game, Shock let the stinger hit the beetle, having done this so many times that she had no fear of being stung. Loki then took the beetle in his claws and crawled back into his tank when Shock gently lowered him in.

Shock smirked. Loki had been one of the easier ones to train, and the most obedient. Ironic, considering his name, but when given the right command, he more than did his namesake justice. She then did a quick check of her other tanks. She trusted Lock and Barrel to properly feed the scorpions, clean their tanks, and extract their venom when needed. She didn't expect either of her brothers to know all the ins and outs of maintaining a proper environmental balance, looking for signs of declining health, separating mother scorpions into their own tanks to eventually be devoured by her spawn, determining which were ready for harvest, and several other inner workings she cultivated over the years to keep her stock cared for and maintained.

Loki crunched down on the beetle, before he spit out a few digestive juices to properly eat it. Shock made one more round to get back to him, tapped on his tank, and pressed a finger against it. Loki crawled forward to tap the tank on his side in a mock high-five, then went back to his meal. Satisfied, Shock pulled off her backpack and turned to Carver.

"Gonna get those pants patched?" she asked.

It probably wouldn't be hard to get Sally to work her sewing magic. She quickly put away the empty jars and vials to clean later before heading back to the old casino.

As the two ghouls passed by the bedroom, Shock gave a sharp knock the doorframe to get Barrel's attention.

"Moan all you want, but you'd better get today's tanks and venom done before bedtime."

Barrel only groaned harder. Shock rolled her eyes and headed back for the main room. A loud thunder clap sounded as the two ghouls returned. A quick flash of blue lightning flashed and left strange shadows on the walls. Lock and Shock both looked at Carver and nearly fell over from laughing 

"Guess he discovered he's been [i]locked out[/i]," Lock said.

"And found his glue remover missing," Shock finished.