Lock took the deathline for what it was.

"Y-yeah," he said. "Maybe it's better to wait until next week."

He flicked his tail.

"Give everyone time to adjust."

Shock turned to Agatha.

"Be careful which ones you send out," she said, with the faintest hint of sweetness in her tone. "Mortals can't hold their arsenic, after all."

Barrel caught that note of sweetness along with his sister's agreement to give the spices away, and knew [i]exactly[/i] what she was doing.

"Hey!" he cried. "You're [i]already[/i] punishing me for--!"

Shock quickly reached up and clamped her hand over Barrel's mouth. Even with her gloves mitigating some of the sharpness, Barrel felt her nails digging into his skin. He gave a startled, muffled cry and grabbed Shock's wrist to try to pull her vice-like grip from his cheeks, to no avail. Shock's tone became even sweeter as she made him face her. Her glare combined with her sharp smile sent Barrel shuddering as he realized how badly he nearly screwed up.

"Why don't we see if Behemoth found our little [i]present[/i] in the pumpkin patch?" she asked. "Since we couldn't play tricks last night, I'll settle for [i]other[/i] trouble."

Barrel wondered what trap they set up, then realized as his sister pulled him away from the group that she was making an excuse to bow out and keeping him from saying anything else. He whined, but since he couldn't pry her fingers away, he had no choice but to go with her. Shock shot Carver a knowing glance as she passed by, to keep an eye and ear out for any damage Barrel might have caused. Lock watched them go, then flicked his tail.

"He screwed up one of her pranks the other day," he said truthfully, and to try to draw the girls' attention away from Shock and Barrel. "Shock's still a [i]little[/i] sore over it."

Lock carefully nuzzled against Lillith, making sure to tactfully choose his movements and avoid triggering something in her mind.

"Better him than me."