[i]Bones[/i]. She knew. Barrel swallowed hard. How did he keep getting himself into these messes?

"R-right," he said quietly.

He quickly racked his brain for something to trade with. He couldn't give her anything else in the basket, as he needed them to get the rest of his groceries when he was done here. And he didn't have anything else on his person except his slingshot, two rocks for ammo, and plenty of candy. There had to be something in the lair he could--

Wait. There [i]was[/i] something he could give her. There was a death scarab on his shelf. They weren't worth nearly as much as scorpion venom, but they were hard to come by, and highly prized by many Halloween Town citizens. Barrel grimaced. He'd been saving it for something special.

On the other hand...his other option was to let Shock pick up the tab. And she'd want to know why he cost her her wares. [i]Again[/i]. And he knew better than to lie to her, because she had a way of wringing the truth out of him.

Barrel let out a small sigh.

"...All right," he said. "I have a scarab beetle I can give you, but I have to go home to get it."

He lowered his voice.

"To keep Shock happy."

He met her gaze and grinned, but there was a glint in his eyes and a tight edge to his smile more reminiscent of Lock and Shock's deviousness. It was often easy to assume Barrel was the odd one out in the group, with his more lax demeanor, rotound figure and round face compared to Lock and Shock's spiky thinness, and being the least troublesome on his own, but once in a while, his relationship to his older siblings shone through clearly.

Like when he knew it was a time to not be messed with any further. Especially when he had his older sister's wrath on the line.

"And nothing makes her [i]happier[/i] than a perfect trick. Which I [i]didn't[/i] mess up."

Barrel's face and demeanor seemed to soften. He actually giggled.

"It'd probably be funny if someone else did, though."