LePouvantail

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Shock watched her carefully, looking for any tells that Carver might be hiding anything. Her face returned to its usual smirk when she was satisfied.

"Hope she had fun with all our toys, then," she said. "That's a lot of dedication for such simple vengeance. I'm actually impressed."

Shock headed back to the main lair.

"We'll see if Lillith tops it."

~~~

Once everyone was settled and dressed, it was time to get started. In order to maximize citizens being hit with the fog, they'd have to strike when most of the town was up and busy. The weather almost perfectly aligned, being overcast with a hint of natural fog. It wouldn't obscure them, but it would make the tainted fog juice less noticeable at first. The biggest challenge would be getting the bottle to the rim of the fountain without a curious citizen moving it.

Shock already figured out a way.

In the preparations, a few pumpkins had been arranged around the fountain. All she had to do was plant the open container in a pumpkin, and knock the pumpkin into the fountain. Placing the container had to be done early, when the square was still empty. It was also going to take a bit more concentration to knock it over, but Shock could manage.

It was Carver's job to plant Agnes's broom in a crook near the main gate, as well as hide the fog juice bottle before heading to the pumpkin patch. They were going to milk yesterday's "accident" so no one would see anyone actively carrying the broom in, or see one of the trickster siblings carrying anything.

Lock and Barrel prepped the water balloons carefully, filling them just full enough to be weaponized with water, then using an eyedropper to insert a bit of the forget-me-lot serum. The rubber end of the balloon created a seal while the eyedropper was in, long enough to tie a string around the end to keep it sealed, remove the dropper, then tie the rubber end properly. They wore protective gloves while doing this. The buckets would have to be carried by hand to the pumpkin patch and the graveyard watch for stragglers.

With the boys taking their task, Shock walked with Carver to the square.

"If there's any early risers, I'll distract them," she said.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Barrel heard Carver's laughter up the slide, and let out a frustrated cry, which of course only made everyone else laugh even harder. Lock took Shock's suggestion to make some ghost toast, and allowed Barrel to wallow in his frustration. The two of them then left Barrel alone to cool off, as they needed him to focus today.

When Carver eventually joined them, Lock only made one demand for the pajama pants, but didn't push it further, at least, not right now. He'd have time to either steal them back or fight her for them once they got some more important stuff out of the way.

As Shock made her way to the kitchen to dump the bowl in the sink and put the milk away, she caught Carver's signal and gestured for them to go into Oogie's old bedroom to talk. As Lock was still eating and Barrel was assuring himself that at least the salt and pepper shakers on the table were still there, and he could still make something partway decent in the meantime, neither of her brothers paid them any mind.

The second the door closed, Shock crossed her arms expectantly.

"What is it?" she asked.

She'd picked up a bit on the pumpkin creature's demeanor, and the subtlety to not get the boys' attention. Shock listened. Her face darkened for a moment.

"That's all she did?" she asked.

Carver was right that she found the whole thing hilarious. But only if Agatha was just out to give Barrel some payback. The witch wasn't stupid, and knew her herbs and plants. If Agatha found this room, and the remainders of the forget-me-lots - and more than that, the sheer amount of them - there were only so many possible conclusions the teen witch could draw.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Whatever was going on downstairs, Shock was now more interested in that than trying to go back to sleep. She grabbed the edge of the slide and swung her legs up into it so she could quickly join her brothers. Carver was free to join her. A moment later, she was in the kitchen, where Barrel looked worried and annoyed, and Lock was trying to hold back more laughter.

"It's not funny!" Barrel cried. "I can't cook without them! Nothing will taste as good!"

"Wait, someone stole from us?" Shock asked as she caught up to her brothers. "Who would fucking dare?"

Barrel looked slightly relieved to see Shock, at least for now, was taking this seriously. Lock barely composed himself to explain.

"Yeah, but wait until you see what and why!"

He clutched his sides as his tail pointed to the spice cabinet. Shock quirked a brow, but pulled the cabinet open to see. Once she saw the note - and especially the little hearts dotting the "i"s - she lost it even harder than Lock. One, she never expected Agatha to stoop to their level, which in and of itself impressed her. Two, the hearts were a completely different level of passive-aggressive, given the teen witch's crush on Barrel. While Lock found the whole thing funny too, Shock doubted he understood the depths of just how badly Barrel screwed up in Agatha's eyes - and how clueless the youngest trickster really was about how badly he screwed up. She used the cabinet to brace herself so she didn't fall over.

"If this-if this doesn't teach you to-to stick to a script," Shock said through her cackles, "then I don't know wh-what-what will!"

"Guuuuuys!" Barrel whined. "I can't cook!"

Neither Lock nor Shock seemed to care. In fact, they both laughed even harder. Shock composed herself first.

"Make some ghost toast," she said.

Barrel gave up getting his siblings to take this seriously and grumbled as he went rummaging through the cabinets for simpler ingredients that required almost no effort. So much for that hearty breakfast. Shock just pulled open the pantry to get some cereal, then to the fridge for bat milk. This whole thing just put her in an even better mood, and settling for the easiest meal on the planet was hardly going to ruin it.

As she got to the dining room table, the thought crossed her mind that she might have lost the bet with Carver. They'd have to see how Lillith reacted to today's prank, but even Shock had to admit Agatha had already gotten a good start in that department.

Oh well. If she lost, then at least the other witch made it worth it.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock kept his grip on the blanket as Carver and Shock pulled it back. He let it go before they could potentially let go of their end and send him tumbling backwards. It wouldn't be the first time.

"You suck."

He listened to the tapping and frowned.

"Yeah, yeah," Lock said. "Barrel's working on it."

He gave Shock another kick, then got out of range before she could retaliate. Deciding to leave them to it, Lock went to gather his day clothes and get dressed.

Down in the lair, Barrel casually passed through the casino as he thought of what to make for breakfast. Paincakes? Rotten fruit bowl? Scrambled lizard eggs? Maybe some fresh spider eye muffins. They did have that jar now; might as well put it to use. He was trying to decide on scorpion legs or fried snake as a potential side when he noticed the spice cabinet slightly ajar. Without a second thought, he wandered over it to it when he noticed something strange. Barrel pulled the cabinet open to investigate...only to be met with the most horrific sight he had ever seen.

All of the spices were gone, with only a folded piece of paper on the middle rack, propped up like a tent with its note in full view.

The horrified scream carried all the way up to the tree house. Lock had barely changed into his pants and was about to pull on his shoes when he heard Barrel's cry carry up the pipe. Shock pulled the pillow over her head to block it out.

"Th' hell's he screaming about this early?" she asked, irritated.

"Sounds like something's wrong," Lock said, as he headed for the slide.

Shock perked then, and gave Lock an expectant look. Lock rolled his eyes at her, as he knew he'd be the one to go investigate. Foregoing his boots for the moment, he dove down the slide. A moment later, his and Barrel's excited, indecipherable voices carried up the slide, with Barrel's frantic tone punctuated by Lock's laughter. That got Shock to curiously crawl over to listen for a moment while her brain finished waking up.

"Sounds like something interesting happened last night."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock snapped his teeth at the vine nearest him in retaliation to Carver patting his head, but the pumpkin creature was already pulling herself back together, so to speak. He grumbled as he got the lights, being the last one standing. Lock then trudged to the empty space between Shock and Barrel. At least he got the favored pillow tonight.

Well...for the first hour or so, anyway.

After a few more lovingly exchanged insults among the group as their form of bidding each other good night, Lock, Shock, and Barrel all settled down. They often started with a little bit of space between them, but as they each drifted off to the land of nightmares, they began to shift and move. Every citizen in Halloween Town knew that in waking hours, the trio often found trouble, whether it was a prank, an argument, or just messing around. Few knew the same held true in their sleep.

Barrel started it tonight, with a gentle shove against Lock, who in turn smacked him with his tail in retaliation. Shock remained peaceful the longest, gently curled up near Carver while her brothers shoved each other around. She joined in when Lock shifted too close to her, and got a knee to his calves for it. Her foot found Carver's cage not long after.

Over the course of the night, limbs kicked and punched, blankets and pillows were tossed around and stolen, and bodies piled on top of each other. Only Carver - and Lillith, when she spent days curled up with Lock - had witnessed this nightly cacophony enough to know that the more the sinister siblings squirmed and retaliated in their sleep, the better their moods. Barrel didn't shift as much as his siblings did tonight, as he was still down from screwing up earlier, but that he still shoved his siblings around said enough that he was bouncing back from it. Only in the last part of the night, when the sleep cycle came close to its conclusion did the trio settle down again.

By morning, none of the three were where they started the night before. Barrel was now resting against the wall, his body replacing all the pillows. One of the blankets tangled in his legs. Over the course of the night, Shock found her way to the middle of the group. She used Barrel's stomach as a pillow, had one of the blankets draped around her shoulders like a cape, and held the favored pillow under one arm in nightly victory. Lock was partially draped over her back, with one leg haphazardly draped over Carver's cage. The rest of the pillows were shoved in a pile under him, and the last blanket had been kicked completely away from the group.

Barrel woke first with a deep yawn. He lied back for a moment, then sat up, feeling a bit better than he did last night, but still uneasy at yesterday's flub. Well, today was the big day, so maybe after a good breakfast, things would be better. He immediately felt better at the thought of a hearty meal. Barrel shoved Shock off of him so he could untangle himself from the blanket and get up and get started. Shock simply muttered something in her sleep and shifted for comfort against the floorboards. She then pulled the blanket up over her head to block out the sun shining in from the windows.

Lock got up next. He crawled onto all fours, then arched like a frightened black cat. His tail straightened, and several loud, audible cracks and pops sounded as he worked the kinks from his spine and limbs. He grinned as he saw his sister, then yanked the blanket away.

"Time to claw out of the grave!" he said cheerfully.

Shock barely managed to grab the other end before he took it completely away. She tried to pull it back.

"Inamoment," she muttered.

Lock tugged on the blanket and shoved her spine with his foot.

"This was your plan," he reminded her.

Shock kept her grip on the blanket. She moved the favored pillow under her head and yanked the blanket back.

"'N th' plan can wait five more minutes."

Lock glanced to Carver.

"I think she needs more incentive," he said.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock again tried to pull his tail from Carver's grasp. Thanks to Shock, he didn't see Carver wrap her metal limbs around his legs. He tumbled to the ground with her just as the metal limbs tightened around his legs, preventing him from kicking her. Lock managed to grab a handful of vines, but it did him no good as the rest quickly immobilized him.

He squeezed tightly on the vines in his grasp in a vain attempt to get Carver to let him go. Lock growled and tried once more to break free. Across the room, Barrel grabbed another blanket and pulled it around him. Shock simply smirked as her little brother tussled with her best friend. She settled down, one arm against the floor to prop her head in her hand, her other hand rested in the crook of her elbow as she curled her legs in.

"Guess he's comfortable," she said sweetly.

Barrel giggled. Lock glared at them both, then focused on using all of his strength to try to break out of Carver's vines. After a few more moments of struggle with nothing to show for it, he gave in.

"Fine!" he cried. "Uncle!"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock pulled his arms free and immediately grabbed for some of her newly-loose vines to tie together. Unlike Shock a few weeks ago, he didn't even bother trying to tie them with knots upon knots, only to hinder her long enough to get to the vines on his waist. Lock tried to pull his tail free when Carver snagged it. One of the curses of having an extra limb: it was another grabbable appendage if he didn't use it to get the upper hand first.

He stepped away from the wall and shifted his hips to try to slam Carver into it from the side. On the other side of the room, Barrel took his usual spot near the slide and rested against the wall with his arms behind his head. Shock smirked and found one of the spare pillows. She tossed it at Lock. He barely moved an arm to deflect it and growled at his sister.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock growled as Barrel let him go to assist Carver. The second Barrel pulled off her head, Lock rolled forward onto his feet. He then slammed Carver's cage into a nearby wall to try to shock her into letting him go. He caught a nearby vine in his teeth and bit down.

Shock simply stretched and settled herself back into place. Lock had the favorite pillow. She grabbed the favorite blanket. Barrel had to step carefully as Lock tussled with Carver to avoid dropping her head. As soon as he got out of dodge, he placed Carver's head on a shelf where it wouldn't get broken.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock tried to pull his tail free, but between Carver and Barrel's teamwork, he quickly found himself ensnared.

"Don't you fucking dare!"

Shock smirked and went to one of the shelves for a pair of scissors. Lock glared and tried to kick her. Barrel helped Carver hold his leg still. Shock held up the scissors in Lock's view, snipped them twice, then moved to his pantleg...where she simply snipped off a long, loose thread.

"It's been bugging me," she said as she put the scissors back.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

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