It wouldn't be without an attempt to bite the vine in half, but Shock quickly realized Carver used one of her thicker vines for [i]precisely[/i] that reason. She struggled again to free herself, either from under Barrel or from Carver's vines, but the more she struggled, the tighter the grip, like a boa constrictor.

An impatient growl echoed in her throat, but the pumpkin creature had her right where she wanted her. Shock gave up and shifted only enough to make herself reasonably comfortable, then slowly let herself drift off again.

The sound of laughter woke her up after a time. Lock had come back and found the scene had gotten [i]worse[/i] in his absence.

"A little tangled up there, Shock?"

Shock turned enough to glare at him. She tried to retort, but then remembered the vine covering her mouth. Still, she settled on a muffled threat. It of course only made her little brother laugh even harder.

Her shifting and struggling combined with Lock's laughter got Barrel to finally wake, now that the last throes of REM had passed. Barrel yawned, sat up, then reached behind him to scratch his back. When he finally moved, Shocked pulled her legs free, curled them in and kicked him off.

One down.

She then shifted onto her knees, knowing she'd take Carver with her, then tried to slam the pumpkin creature into the floor.