[IC] Banding Together in Halloween Town

[LePouvantail]

Sobki got a bit into the groove and allowed Carver to take him and twirl him in their vines. He glanced around the room at Carver's suggestion. Admittedly, there wasn't a single person here he wouldn't mind landing on - even Chad - though he'd probably turn down Carmilla, as he was pretty sure she wouldn't reciprocate.

"Sure," he said. "Sounds fun."

Lock smirked as he glanced up at Lillith. He immediately sensed potential trouble, though it took a back seat as he found some eye candy.

"I'm game if you are," he said. His glance shifted to Sobki. "And if you don't mind if I land on your ex."

Barrel kept dancing. He grinned at the suggestion. Like Lock, he also sensed trouble. Unlike his older brother, it sounded more like something he might want popcorn for.

"Sure," he said.

Shock excused herself from the dance to get another glass of pumpkin lager. While she knew trouble was brewing as well, this wasn't really her brand of it. Nevertheless, she allowed their guests to choose whether to join or refrain while she poured her glass and got a feel for the room.

"Count me out," she said at last.

She grabbed a few scream cheese bites to munch on while everyone else got settled.

[SystemofEleven]

Chad grinned and chugged some more beer. “Now that’s getting into the party groove! Count me in!”

Agatha hesitated. On the one claw, she could use it as an excuse to kiss Barrel without having to try and navigate his preference for nuance and subtlety. And it might be nice to get a small chance with Halloween Town’s favorite heart throb.

On the other claw, she didn’t want to potentially interfere with whatever relationship Sobki was in currently, and she definitely didn’t want to cheat on her own boyfriend, even as part of a game. And what would happen if she landed on Chad? She grimaced slightly at the thought.

But… It did provide a potential opportunity to finally cross a relationship benchmark with the person she most wanted to.

But what if Barrel wouldn’t want to sully the experience of their first kiss with the casualty of the game? What if he was saving it for something special? Was he already planning a particular set up?

Agatha fell quite silent for a long moment as her thoughts drifted to all the possibilities of such a plan. A dark tunnel, perhaps? The air filled with the fluttering noise of bats dancing in the air around them, a curtain of poison ivy and African strangler vines parting before them…

Lillith gave a glance about the room. Like Sobki, she didn’t particularly see anyone among the normal Halloween Town teens that she would have any real issues kissing. Chad was a different story. He might be reasonably good looking by mortal standards, but she was far from mortal with far different standards, and his low level of physical attractiveness was further washed away by his abysmal personality. Of course, she was perfectly capable of reaching forward to tap the bottle away at a speed he wouldn’t be able to track with his eyes…

The elder vampiress shrugged. “I suppose I see no harm in playing.”

And she definitely saw no harm in her current boytoy rubbing teeth with her old one. The two of them had parted ways amicably, and Sobki was still the heartthrob of everyone in their age group (or at least those who swung that direction) for a reason. Lillith knew the two boys wouldn’t mesh well enough to go particularly far, but she would still very much enjoy watching them at the starting line.

When Barrel chimed in with the most casual, “sure,” he smiled like he knew something no one else did. Agatha’s thoughts stopped in their tracks for a moment.Then they suddenly went into overdrive as she began to connect all the pieces. Of course! This was his plan! He must have set the whole thing up with Carver ahead of time.

Tricksters have to be subtle, Agatha reminded herself, so he prefers carefully applied nuance. A grandiose display of romance wouldn’t be in his style, but manipulating a supposed game of chance to guarantee a kiss from his sweetheart would be.

Of course, that would only work if she was playing the game with him. So his casual response must have been intended to indicate it was alright!

Feeling rather proud of herself for having caught his hint, the teen witch took a moment to calm and compose herself before trying to make an equally casual, “I’ll join.”

Carmilla scowled as she surveyed her options, and bit down the jealousy that her sister had the whole room of her choosing, while she… had Agatha, which would be weird given their friendship, Carver, who she might consider just for this, and… Shock.

Ugh. Why did a part of her enjoy that option?

The purple bitch’s current outfit really wasn’t helping. Well, either that, or it was helping, but her personality was working heavily against it. Those shorts barely covered what they needed to, and the high top socks… tended to drive one’s gaze in a particular direction.

Yech! No! Not going there! Carmilla shook herself and tore her eyes away before anyone could notice where they had wandered. There was no way she was going to get pulled in by that!

...Hhhnnnnnnng. But maybe if she landed on Shock, she could get the whole thing over with and be able to shake herself out of it easier in the future, after knowing from experience how bad it was.

...But what if it wasn’t bad? Would that make things worse going forward? Wait, no! There was no way it wouldn’t be bad; it was Shock! How had her thoughts even gotten that far?

When the oldest of the trio decided to sit the game out, the dilemma pretty much solved itself. Regardless of how she felt about the trickster being the only solid option for her, the removal of that option left her with no reason to play.

“No, thank you. Not worth my time,” she sniffed.

Carver waved the tips of his vines at Shock and Carmilla. “Alright, then. You two can hang out in the corner and have a pleasant conversation with each other while the rest of us play.” The pumpkin creature put the slightest emphasis on pleasant conversation.

The younger twin’s eyes widened, before she quickly snapped, “Fine! I’ll play your stupid game.”

Carver smiled innocently up at her. “Whatever you like.”

Agatha blinked in surprise at that turn of events. There’s really only me and Carver for her to kiss. I’m not sure she’s into Carver, and if she landed on me, it’d be a courtesy to just turn it down. Unless…

OH! Right! With so many people playing and watching, Barrel wouldn’t have a way to manipulate the game without getting caught. But Carmilla could, using her supernatural speed.

Of course her best friend was in on it!

[LePouvantail]

Sobki took initiative with Chad and led him to part of the roulette wheel to sit beside him, and thus take up a spot so no unlucky ghoul would end up stuck there. As there were sixteen segments, it was easy enough for each player to pick one to sit on and leave one panel as a gap between them so they could clearly see when the bottle went between two players.

Barrel offered his empty Frankensteiniken's bottle to use for the game and set it on the small platform in the middle of the wheel where his drums usually sat. He then got a glass of cider, some snacks, and took a panel on Chad's other side. If he tried to move, Barrel would insist he stay put. Once the blond boy was situated, Barrel arranged his snacks on the panel next to him, but away from Chad.

Lock lead Lillith to take their seats next, though he gave an admirable glance to Sobki on the way. His body felt a bit warm, but Lock attributed it to excitement more than the punch he had. He had Lillith sit by Barrel solely to break up the pattern of boys. It would also allow Agatha to sit somewhat across from Barrel, which he was sure she'd appreciate - and would amuse the shit out of the rest of the group. Once situated, Lock crossed the spare panel to nuzzle against Lillith. His tail twitched with excitment.

Shock waited for Agatha to take her seat so she could strategically place herself behind her. It wouldn't do to risk the other witch getting even a hint to her powers. She casually pulled herself up on the small stand with the skeleton sticking out of it to get a good view of the game. She also made sure she could see the bottle so she knew where to direct it for the ultimate trouble.

When Carver suggested Carmilla hang out with her, Shock gave Carmilla a devious grin and even patted the (admittedly small, which in and of itself was an insult, as there was no way Carmilla would fit) space beside her on the concrete platform. The younger vampiress's sudden change of mind sent her into a bout of wicked laughter.

"You're risking Chud over me?" she said sweetly.

Shock took a sip of her pumpkin lager.

"I'm offended," she continued, though without a single iota of seriousness. "Surely I'm better company!"

That got her brothers to laugh too. Shock did take pride in being the worst monster in town. She waited for Carmilla to take her seat between Agatha and Carver, before she spoke up again.

"Since I'm not playing," Shock said, "I'll save us all some time and pick who gets first spin."

She took a drink of her lager as she pretended to think, then looked around the circle.

"And I think..." She looked to Sobki, solely to get a few hopes up, then Lillith for a bit of discomfort, as she was taken, then Barrel to rile Agatha up a bit, before cycling back to Chad, "...our little party crasher can go first."

The tone in her voice and evil smirk on her lips said all it needed to:

I want to watch every one of you suffer.

Shock waited for Chad to take his spin. The first time, she didn't have to do anything, as it landed back on him on its own. But on his second attempt, Shock waited for the bottle to start slowing down. As all eyes were horrifically glued to the bottle in anticipation and not her, she was a little less subtle than usual as she carefully directed the bottle to slow down with the threat of landing on Carmilla, barely inch its way to Agatha, then finally clearly land between Agatha and Carmilla, and thus spared them both from Chad's lips.

[SystemofEleven]

Chad grinned and reached out to give the bottle a hard spin to the left. It spun quickly, taking several moments to slow down and giving almost everyone in the circle time to wonder how likely it would be to land on them. Carver played a few scenarios in their mind while they watched the bottle decelerate as it passed Agatha and Carmilla, but it didn’t stop on the pumpkin creature and even managed to inch past Sobki. It stopped with the spout pointing almost directly at Chad.

“Boooo!” Two voices rose at the same time. Chad lifted his beer to his lips, expecting to have to wait until his next turn to get another shot, but Carver continued.

“That’s boring! Let him get one more try!” She winked with the eye Shock had made in the middle of her head. “I don’t wanna see him try to kiss himself, but I want someone to pucker up!”

Considering whose party this was -- and how much the trio enjoyed everyone squirming in dread -- no one tried to argue with him.

Chad tried spinning the other direction and a lot more gently this time. It made its way around the circle once, twice, and was on its third rotation when it became clear it was going to stop soon, well before it got back to the boys. Chad’s eyes lit up and he leaned forward in anticipation as it slowed down approaching Carmilla.

The vampiress hissed and clenched her fists. She pulled her feet under herself, preparing to smash the bottle and storm off if it stopped on her.

Luckily, despite slowing to a crawl, it managed to continue past her. Chad was less ecstatic about the possibility of kissing Agatha, but still quite happy to do so.

The teen witch gritted her teeth, but by some miracle, the bottle seemed to hit some kind of rough spot in the wood. With a tiny plink it came to a momentary halt and then rolled backward a few inches, finally coming to a complete rest squarely in the panel between the two ghouls.

“Awwwww…” Chad leaned back with an attempt at keeping his pout ‘manly’. “Too bad we’re all spread out so much. But next time, I’ll definitely land on someone!”

He quickly switched back to his usual dopey, upbeat attitude and cheerfully passed the bottle to Sobki.

Carver was pretty much the only one who considered commenting that no one specified that he couldn’t spin again if it landed between two people, but she quickly decided against it. He would catch on if he kept spinning over and over with no result, and wouldn’t be as effective as making the others dread his turn coming back around again -- or possibly almost landing on him themselves.

Agatha sagged with visible relief. What luck that the seemingly smooth surface had just enough of a rough spot to save--

Carmilla slumped back into a proper seated position and silently held her half empty wine glass toward her best friend, making a pointed look at the bottle of vodquila.

Oh. Right! Agatha smiled at her. Carmilla had joined the game to make sure she and Barrel got their first kiss, after all. Of course she wouldn’t let Chad land on her! And if the cost of that help was a bit of something to make the game more tolerable, then well, it was the very least the young witch could do. Agatha poured as much as the glass could hold.

Sobki took his turn and with a quick flick of his wrist, sent the bottle spinning. The bottle spun for a good several seconds before it landed between Chad and Barrel. He shrugged.

“Guess that’s my turn,” he said. He passed the bottle to Carver.

The pumpkin creature took it and yanked the two ends in opposite directions. It came close to stopping on Chad, but ended up passing him and coming to a halt between him and Sobki. The mouth on the back of Carver’s head pouted as they passed the bottle to Carmilla. Chad would have been fun to mess with -- would he be more weirded out going for the fanged mouth at the front with no lips and three distinctly inhuman eyes, or the kissy lips at the back with a nose which, at such a close visual range, was still clearly designed around the shape of a “man hammer”? And as to Sobki, well, it might have at least been an interesting experiment to see what monsters get out of kissing heartthrobs.

Carmilla looked at the bottle silently, wondering again if this was worth it. She looked around at the circle of waiting teens, then turned to glance at the only person not participating. Shock fluttered her fingers in a cheeky wave.

The vampiress downed half her drink, gripped the bottle tightly, and gave it a hard twist.

[LePouvantail]

Lock and Barrel both watched the bottle with keen interest. Of the two brothers, only Lock held any semblance of dread of it landing on him. He doubted Chad would go for it, but on the chance he did...he was pretty sure that wasn't the kind of show Lillith would want.

And also, the cheap beer might taste better than Chad's lips.

Barrel, on the other hand, enjoyed the trouble fix from everyone else's growing horror. When it slowed down, both tricksters grinned and waited with keen interest to see which unlucky ghoul would have to pucker up...and then it landed on Chad. Both of them frowned, but grinned at Carver's suggestion.

"Yeah!" Barrel agreed.

"Spin! Spin!" the brothers cried together.

If anyone considered trying to call it as Chad's turn, their hopes would be dashed with the boys' support. Shock calmly sipped her drink and ate up the rest of the group's misery at Chad's second turn. At the blond boy's declaration that he'd get to kiss someone next time, she hid a smirk behind her glass.

Not on your pitiful life, she thought.

Even she wasn't that cruel. Still. The tension in the air with each of his spins filled her with wicked glee. Sobki and Carver's spins both ended up being boring. Shock pulled her glass down with a neutral expression on her face. Carmilla's turn was next, so she could definitely liven things up a bit.

All three of the tricksters laughed as Carmilla downed another drink before taking her spin.

"Working up some liquid courage there, Carmilla?" Lock asked.

"It'll definitely make her more fun to talk to," Shock said.

That sent her brothers laughing again.

"Probably working up enough for when she lands on Carver," Lock said with a playful wink and a small nod to the pumpkin creature's fanged mouth. "Don't worry, she doesn't bite."

Shock took advantage of Carmilla's fury to nudge the bottle as it slowed towards Agatha. It creaked past the blank segment until it just barely landed inside Lock's. Lock gave Carmilla a few seconds of horror as he glanced at her, glanced up at Lillith, back at Carmilla, back to Lillith, then finally looked back to Carmilla.

"Pass," he said. "If you've kissed one, you've kissed both."

He nuzzled up against Lillith and grinned.

"Besides," Lock said. "I think I picked the better twin."

[SystemofEleven]

Carmilla glowered at Lock’s comment, then turned to Carver. Carver winked with their middle eye - or did they simply blink? - and grinned. With a scowl, Carmilla took a sip of her drink to somewhat hide her disdain.

The bottle slowed down as it approached Agatha. Carmilla eased a bit as the bottle slowed down. At least she could give her best friend a quick peck and be done with it. Unless the tricksters made it a rule to be a kiss on the lips? She wouldn’t put it past the boys to snog each other for the chance to make someone else uncomfortable… But it kept moving.

Please stop on the empty panel, Carmilla chanted internally. Please stop on the empty panel.

It didn’t stop on the empty panel. The bottle crossed the barrier and very distinctly pointed to Lock before it stopped.

Carmilla stared at Lock intensely while he pretended to deliberate, almost daring him to try it. Bad enough that he was a guy, but a trickster and her sister’s boyfriend? Not going to happen. She’d wring his little neck and turn him into a wall decoration. Maybe hang him over Lillith’s coffin as a reminder to pick better boyfriends. Yeah. Make both of them regret dragging her into this stupid game.

She relaxed for a moment when he said, “Pass.”

Then he said that there wasn’t any difference between herself and her sister, but that Lillith was also somehow better. She immediately wound back up again, much to the cackling amusement of Carver.

Carmilla bristled and sneered at Lock. “Leave it to a guy to confuse quantity with quality.”

Chad, on the other hand, was so shocked by Lock’s pass that he missed everything Carmilla had said and almost talked over her. “Dude, why’d you pass?! You could have completed the set!”

Then he paused, and leaned in with a poorly concealed whisper. “Unless you think maybe you’re not a good enough kisser to convince her to be part of a twin sandwich? I can give you some pointers if you want. Go for gold, bro!”

[LePouvantail]

Lock's tail twitched in amusement.

"I did go for quality," he said, "unless you're saying your sister isn't?"

"I'd say he picked the quality twin," Shock agreed.

Her wicked grin widened at Carmilla's disdain. Barrel, amused by Carmilla's reaction, just giggled where he sat.

Lock's head snapped to face Chad. His tail twitched again, though this time, with clear annoyance. That annoyance increased with Chad's insinuation that he didn't know what he was doing. Barrel, as he sat beside Chad, snerked at his brother's expense. Shock glowered at Chad from behind a sip of pumpkin lager. Sobki, sensing danger, leaned over and gave Chad a soft slap at the back of the head.

"Not cool, bro," he said.

Lock narrowed his eyes at Chad and scowled.

"Because they aren't a 'set'," he said. "They're two completely different monsters who happen to look alike, and I'm dating the one that likes me."

Shock started to say something, only to snicker at the insinuation that Lock needed Chad's help to woo over Carmilla. She quickly took another sip of her drink to save face. As funny as it normally was to take hits at Lock's ego and rile up Carmilla, she didn't want to give Chad any credit. Barrel was halfway through a set of giggles before he followed his sister's lead.

Lock's scowl slowly became a pleasant grin.

"And because it's more fun to fuck with Carmilla this way."

That got a chorus of laughter from his siblings, with Shock in particular happy enough to let loose after reigning it in.

[SystemofEleven]

Carmilla vaguely noticed herself feeling a little buzzed, but was too focused on not murdering half the people in the room to really care about watching her limits. She was caught in a situation where any response would be the wrong one. Her grip tightened around her wine glass. It didn’t shatter, but a few cracks appeared at her fingertips and began to slowly spread along the surface.

Carmilla, not wanting to draw any further attention to herself, downed the rest of her drink and put the glass down behind her where the others couldn’t immediately see the damage she had done. If anyone noticed the cracks later, she could feign ignorance and insinuate they had already been there; all of the dishes belonging to the trio were in some damaged state anyway, so it wouldn’t be too unbelievable.

The burn of the vodquila-tainted wine and act of hiding the glass distracted the vampiress long enough to bring her rage back into check. At least enough to not attack the tricksters on their own turf, anyway. She still remembered the incident with the fucking bear tazer. There was no level of drunkenness that would drive her to risk another experience with that.

Agatha looked at Chad with a grimace of disgust. She glanced at Barrel, thankful her boyfriend was completely beyond such gross ideas. She remembered the flowers he had left for her after their first date. Ethereal remnants of their lovely gray petals seemed to fall around her as she envisioned the two of them holding hands and walking towards the moonset. She hummed quietly as she basked in the image, already forgetting the blond boy’s existence for a moment.

Lilith turned Lock’s head toward her own and gave him a passionate kiss. It lasted several seconds longer than humans would be able to go without stopping for a breath. Then she turned slowly to Chad, running her tongue over her fangs as she smiled. “Darling, you have nothing to teach him. You could barely hope to match him if you practiced for another hundred years.”

She pulled her tongue back in to bare her fangs properly at him. “As to a twin sandwich, the only way that might ever happen is if we decided to drain your probably alcoholic blood together. Otherwise, we have no interest in acting carnally in each other’s presence.”

That last part wasn’t entirely accurate. There had been plenty of occasions where one of the twins -- usually Lillith herself, if she was being honest -- was fully prepared to start bumping headstones in their shared bedroom, and the only reason the other sister wasn’t “in their presence” was that she saw the bra go flying and left. Still, there was absolutely no harm in making sure Chad didn’t have anything to take as an invitation to watch.

Not that it really mattered. He didn’t register a word that came out of her mouth after seeing her make out with Lock. His eyes were glazed over a little bit as he grinned and muttered, “Hot...”

Carver cackled along with everyone else, holding back the greater volume of her glee to avoid letting on to the others that there was more to the current situation than a bit of sniping. After the group’s laughter died down, he toasted Barrel with his popcorn and shot a wink at Agatha with his right eye.

The motion brought the young witch out of her reverie. Right! The Plan! she thought. It was her turn next!

Agatha reached for the bottle to take her turn, spinning it a little too enthusiastically. She tried to force herself to appear calmer as the bottle spinned. Should she act surprised when it landed on Barrel? Or would he find that to be too non-subtle? Should she get up to kiss him, or wait for him to come to her? Did the rules specify? Did etiquette have a say in situations like this? She squirmed in her seat, planning her course of action for when it stopped.

After a torturously long few seconds, the bottle slowed enough for the players to start making guesses on where it might stop. It passed Barrel four clear times, each time so much slower than the last. Agatha let out a tiny squeal at the fifth rotation, where it creeped toward him -- only to somehow manage to pass the larger brother and stop on Lock.

Agatha stared at the bottle, aghast, dismayed, deflated, and just downright disappointed. Could it be possible she had been wrong? Had she been misreading the signals between Barrel and Carver?

Carver’s front mouth widened.

No! Of course! Agatha realized. It simply wouldn’t be subtle if she landed on him in the first round! She quickly recovered her mirth and cheerfully moved to refill her -- and Carmilla’s -- drinks, momentarily forgetting that the bottle had still landed on someone.

[LePouvantail]

Lock took Lillith's kiss with enthusiasm and returned it with equal passion. He threw his arms around her and tilted his head for easier access for the both of them. His tail wildly twisted and twitched behind him. When Lillith pulled away, Lock grinned, then nuzzled into her chest, solely to stick it to Chad what he had access to.

"Too hot for you to handle," he said.

"Worse than the poison puff," Shock said.

That got another round of laughter from the trio, and a laugh with an attempted stifle from Sobki. The trio were happy enough to let Chad think it was the poison puff, as it meant they could screw with him again at a later date. Barrel returned Carver's popcorn toast. After that, all of them settled down again as Agatha took her turn. When the bottle landed, Lock's only disappointment came in that he had to let go of Lillith.

He shrugged, waited for Agatha to finish topping off her drink, and leaned over the panel between them to kiss her cheek. It was a faint peck, just enough to be felt for a fleeting second. Lock then took his turn and went back to snuggling against Lillith.

Barrel giggled at how quickly his older brother kissed Agatha and then got back to his girlfriend. Sobki kept one eye on Chad, and the other on the bottle. Shock simply kicked her feet and waited for another opportunity to mess with the game.

The bottle spun a few times at a high speed before it slowed as it approached Carmilla again. This time, it creaked right by her and landed on Agatha. Lock looked up from his comfortable spot and shook his head.

"We just did that."

Before anyone could say anything, he flicked the bottle into another spin with his tail so he didn't have to get up again. Shock watched the bottle. Lock's lazy spin technique sent the bottle not only spinning, but spinning away from the roulette wheel's center. With a flick of her magic, she not only kept the bottle from spinning too far, but let it land on an interesting prospect, mostly just to see what would happen.

"Better pucker up, you two," Shock said to her brothers with a devious edge to her voice.

Both of them caught that little note in her voice that she'd done it on purpose just to mess with them, not that either of them could call her out on it without ruining the trick. Barrel shrugged as the bottle's top pointed at him.

"Lock needs to be put to bed anyway," he said. "I'll rock him first."

Sobki glanced at Barrel and tilted his skull.

"Isn't he older than you...?"

"Yeah, but he's still the baby," Barrel said with a grin, "because we can hold him like one."

Lock flipped him off.

"Pick me up, and I'll kick your ass."

Barrel stood up and casually walked across the roulette wheel to get to Lock.

"You'd have to escape first, baby-legs."

Lock scrambled to his feet and bolted around the roulette wheel, with Barrel giving chase. Shock cackled as Lock tried to avoid their little brother. Sobki just readied himself to grab Chad in case he tried to interfere. They were on trickster turf, Chad had already insulted them, and that last remark about the twins had clearly tested what was left of their patience. While he was hoping the human boy would learn a thing or two, Sobki didn't think the lesson should come at the expense of getting involved in one of their bonding fights.

Lock's small, spry size made evading Barrel pretty easy - at first. The alcohol in his system made him slightly miscalculate an evasive tactic, and that was all it took for Barrel to catch him, forcibly cradle him, kiss his temple, then toss him onto the nearest couch.

As Barrel turned to head back to the roulette wheel, Lock got up and made good on his earlier threat. He jumped up and - on the landing - planted both feet firmly against Barrel's rump to knock him over. Barrel went down with a thunderous crash. Lock crawled over Barrel's back to put his little brother in a headlock, used his tail to bind Barrel's wrists together, and gave his little brother a painful noogie. Barrel tried to throw him off to no avail. Once Lock got him to properly submit, he grinned, reached down to give Barrel a return kiss on the temple, then let him go.

Shock, who had been laughing herself sick, calmed down enough to comment.

"Aww, you two really do love each other! You even kissed and made up!"

"Fuck off, Shock," Lock said, though by his smile and playful tone, it was clear he didn't mean it.

"Yeah," Barrel agreed. "Fu--!"

"Language!" his older siblings said together.

Barrel just pushed himself up and stuck his tongue out at his siblings - he had to shift his head to either side to give them both a proper view. He then took his seat as Lock settled down by Lillith again.

"All right," Shock said, in a "moving right along" tone. "Take your spin, Lillith."

[SystemofEleven]

Agatha mused on why Lock didn’t take either opportunity to kiss her. At first she wondered if he was just [/i]that[/i] in love with Lillith, but she wasn’t sure. Suddenly, she felt a lightbulb moment overtake her. He must be in on it too! He’s helping Barrel steal our first kiss, and just pretending he doesn’t want to take advantage of the spin as an excuse. She sighed blissfully, unaware that it wasn’t just an internal sigh. When Barrel started chasing and wrestling Lock, she had another thought that made her eyes widen a bit. I wonder how much of their fighting is just an act, to keep people from realizing how loving and helpful they really are to each other…

Chad grinned at the sight of the tussle. This was just like the stuff he and his frat bros got into during all of their ragers! Not that he could remember any specific parties off the top of his head at the moment, but that was irrelevant. He started cheering the brothers on with whoops and hollers, waving his beer around. “Kick his butt, big guy!” He spilled some of his drink in his lap as he pumped his fists in the air. Oblivious to the mess on his pants, he continued shouting, “Come on, Lock! He’s just a big pile of brawn! Use your dexterity, dude!”

Agatha somehow mentally blocked the other siblings cussing and only swooned further when they shut down Barrel from cursing. She thought to herself, Awww, his siblings are teaching him to use polite wording in the presence of ladies! “Now I see where he learned his gentlemanly behavior from...” She could almost feel the invisible hearts floating above her head, blissfully unaware that the thought had quietly escaped her mouth.

Carmilla raised an eyebrow at her friend. She knew the two of them were dating and that Barrel was rather polite about it, but that line of thought was a stretch that even outdid the Melting Man’s slow descent when the trio had glued him to the rafters of the Town Hall.

Lilith stared at Agatha, wondering where the thought even came from. When she noticed her sister’s comparatively understated reaction, she made a mental note to ask some questions later when they were at home. For the time being, she pursed her lips and took another sip of her wine.

Carver covered their uncontrolled laughter by pretending to have something caught in her throat tube. Obviously she couldn’t choke, but it was still a reasonable excuse to pound her metal arm frames against her cage and cover up the sound of both her guffaws and any further thoughts that Agatha might have brought to the surface. The momentary amusement was excellent, but it was incredibly lucky that it happened to come out while Barrel was distracted with a sibling tussle. He would have to consider toning down his manipulations for a while to make sure the overly romantic witch didn’t spoil the game by saying something to her supposed-boyfriend, accidentally or otherwise.

[LePouvantail]

Lock and Barrel both ignored Chad as they fought, then settled down. If Lock heard Agatha's comment, he either didn't acknowledge it or was too distracted cuddling up against Lillith to care. Shock heard, barely bit back her snickering, and hid her smirk behind another drink of pumpkin lager.

If only Agatha knew...

She watched as Lillith finished her sip of wine and took her spin. Barrel wasn't paying attention to that or Agatha, as that tussle with Lock worked up his appetite and he went for the snacks he had in the panel beside him.

The bottle landed as he slugged down another drink. Lock and Shock were laughing already. Barrel finished his swig, then looked down at the bottle. The few seconds' delay made his siblings laugh even harder as he realized it landed on him and that he was next to get a kiss.

It was a good thing he's already swallowed, or his spittake would have covered the platform. If Barrel wasn't already ghost-white, he would have paled.

[SystemofEleven]

Lillith gave Barrel a lecherous smile and set her glass down. She rose to her feet and sauntered forward, turning after a few steps to stand directly in front of him. She reached down and ran her fingers along his collar, before gripping it from the front to lift him so that he was slightly above her level. She slowly walked her fingers up his chest. With a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows, she leaned in so their faces were almost touching…

Then she pecked him on the nose, dropped him, and casually returned to her seat with a completely demure expression.

Carmilla smirked when she saw where the bottle landed. She wasn’t cruel enough to wish Lillith – or anyone, really – would have to kiss Chad, but the boyfriend’s brother was still an awkward roll. She took a quick sip of her wine while she waited to see how it would play out.

She choked on that sip a little as her twin suddenly switched into an incredibly lustful mode. Once she saw how the trick played out, she took a moment to clear her windpipe, then scowled and sipped again more slowly.

[LePouvantail]

Barrel gave Lillith a very confused look as she approached him. That look...was kind of what she gave Lock when either one of them implied trouble elsewhere, and truthfully, Barrel wasn't sure how to handle it. He gulped as she ran her finger over his collar, then yelped in surprise as Lillith pulled him up.

Shock was already trying to hold back her laughter. Lock just looked intrigued. Sobki was looking between the two brothers because Lillith was Lock's girlfriend, and that was sure to cause a problem - but he and Shock both didn't seem to care, so Sobki relaxed with the knowledge that this wouldn't cause an issue among the trio.

Lock and Shock both absolutely lost it when Lillith went from lustful to chaste and dropped Barrel. Shock laughed even harder when Carmilla choked. Barrel just sat there, confused at first, then horrified, as if he'd only just realized this game could backfire on him too.

Shock took a bit of mercy on her little brother.

"Your turn to return fire, Barrel," she said.

Barrel nodded. He quickly grabbed the bottle and span it to take his turn. He looked almost relieved when it landed between Carver and Carmilla. Since Carmilla wouldn't go for it, he could easily opt out unless Carver wanted to screw with him.

Which, honestly, he preferred over Lillith screwing with him. The older twin was usually so reserved and polite that seeing this side of her completely threw him for a loop.