LePouvantail

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock let her, and rested his head on her shoulder. For now, he was content and comfortable. He glanced to Agatha as he slid his tail behind Lillith and gently curled it around the back of her legs.

"Beats me," he said. "Knowing Shock, something wonderfully unpleasant, but since we like Behemoth, nothing too serious, so I wouldn't worry about it."

He perked as he listened to Carver explain the prank on the Finklesteins. Slowly, his mind put two and two together as he realized the nondescript prank that backfired on Shock had to be this one, as Carver hadn't caused any trouble there since. The corners of his mouth lifted into a grin, before he started laughing so hard, he almost fell off of Lillith's hip.

"No wonder she was so pissed!" he exclaimed. "Go big or go home, right Carver?"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

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 exactly what she was doing.

"Hey!" he cried. "You're already 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 present in the pumpkin patch?" she asked. "Since we couldn't play tricks last night, I'll settle for other 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 little 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."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"Ow!" Barrel cried. "No it's--!"

He quickly realized what Carver was getting at. He thought.

"I was just...um...gonna offer to take them off her hands?"

Lock perked as he tried to calculate the days quickly.

"Um..."

He gave Shock a quick glance for help. Maybe she better remembered, because it definitely slipped his mind. Shock realized it too, but made no indication of such.

"...I, uh," Lock said, then suddenly twitched his tail as he thought of a way to salvage this. "...Well, with Halloween being over already, what else is there to do?"

He nuzzled against Lillith as she pet his hair.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock grinned and happily walked over to his girlfriend, though he knew to be careful. He stood beside her and avoided nuzzling against her in case it brought anything back, though his tail flicked in annoyance at Agatha.

"If they didn't hear the fight we got into last night."

He chuckled. Shock and Barrel joined in for a second, though Shock sobered first.

"We didn't get a chance to play tricks last night," she said with a scowl. It became a smirk as a thought seemed to come to mind. "Though, the day's still young. Any volunteers?"

Barrel looked to Agatha.

"What's this about spices?" he asked.

Lock and Shock both forcibly refrained from rolling their eyes.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"Those are highly restricted," Shock said with a smile.

"Wonder why," Lock said, his own smile matching hers.

Shock got the rest of the cards and threw them in the box.

"Certainly not because of anything we did."

The two of them turned to Carver.

"Go for it," Lock and Shock said together.

Shock headed for the slide once the game was cleaned up.

"I'm gonna get something to eat," she said, "and then we'll head out."

~~~

It took a while for the tricksters to get ready and head into Halloween Town proper, but they made sure to act just as dejected as yesterday. Shock pushed Clown out of her way on the way in, just to cause some ruckus, but otherwise, she and her brothers didn't go out of their way to cause too much trouble.

The skies were overcast, and not many other citizens were out and about. The Corpse family passed by without incident. With business being as slow as it was, Agatha was actually out today, talking with Lillith and Carmilla near the steps of Town Hall, where the twins could safely be shaded for a moment and not have to hold up their umbrellas indefinitely. Lock made it a point to quickly hang behind his siblings so they could pass by and hopefully not risk reminding them of yesterday.

"It's just the strangest thing," Shock overheard Agatha say. "I don't know where they came from, but I've got a bag of spices in--"

She turned to the tricksters.

"You three!" she exclaimed. "Mind explaining how our brooms ended up stuck all over our shop?"

Shock stepped forward first.

"Got any proof, Hagatha?"

Agatha placed her hands on her hips and pouted.

"No, but who else could it have been?"

Shock smirked and shrugged.

"Beats me," she said. "Maybe the gremlins decided to change things up."

Barrel looked her over, and was already wondering if there was a way to trick her into giving him the spices. Without alerting her to why he wanted them, of course.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Shock got up and fixed her clothes. She retrieved her hat from where it fell on the floor, then kicked a few loose game pieces away from her.

"We observe," she said, "and see who remembers what. I want to see how long those idiots actually think they missed Halloween."

Lock scooped a few more games pieces and shoved them back into the box.

"Sounds good," he said.

Shock looked around for wherever her boots got tossed the night before. She recovered a few more game pieces and unceremoniously dumped them into the box before she continued her search.

"And if things are starting to come back, well...we certainly don't know what happened," Shock said.

"Might want to stay away from the witches' shop, then," Lock said casually.

Shock found one boot and pulled it on.

"Right," she said. "I don't think they'll tie the brooms to this, but they might remember it was us, and work back from there."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock utilized the commotion to slip away. Barrel hardly comprehended what happened, and by the time he disentangled himself from Shock and Carver, hunger overrode his desire to fight. He left the girls to it as he headed for the slide.

Shock found her arms pulled behind her back now that Carver had taken back the advantage. An attempt to kick the pumpkin creature away only allowed her friend to ensnare her ankle, with the other being caught in Carver's vines as she fell to the ground again. Shock curled her legs in and managed to deliver one final kick before Carver completely immobilized her.

"Screw you!" she cried upon getting Carver's message.

Nearby, Lock had dusted himself off and had settled himself to watch the results unfold.

"Not sure she could," he said, then pondered it. "Although..."

"Shut up!"

That only got Lock to laugh. Shock tried to twist herself free, only to find herself more tightly ensnared. After several moments of struggle, she was finally forced to concede.

"Urgh! Okay, uncle!"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Shock found herself thrown off-balance, and the only reason she didn't completely crumble to the floor was due to Carver's vines now ensnaring her chest. She tried to stand on her one free foot...only for Lock and Barrel to come tumbling over.

The brothers bowled into the girls, leaving the four of them a tangled mess of squirming limbs and trying to crawl over each other to get away.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

One moment of shock was all she needed. Shock pulled her wrists free before Carver could ensnare them again, and grabbed for a handful of vines in each hand to keep Carver from completely trapping her. She then brought up a foot to kick Carver's cage.

Barrel finally woke up enough to acknowledge what was going in, and grinned.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"Better - ngh - hope she...wins," Shock said as she tried to keep Carver from latching on again, "because you're - gah! - next!"

"Me?" Barrel asked, confused. "What'd I do?"

"You only pinned her under your heavy corpse all night!" Lock answered with a grin.

Barrel glowered at him.

"I'm not that heavy!"

Lock poked his stomach.

"Could've fooled me! How many pumpkins did you put away yesterday?"

Barrel threw a punch at him. Lock, in a rare moment of appreciating his shorter height, ducked down in an easy dodge, then slid a leg to trip him. Barrel fell back into the floor - and into several of the leftover game pieces Lock hadn't bothered to put away. He kicked his older brother, only for Lock to repay it with a tackle. The two of them tumbled over towards Shock and Carver.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

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 precisely 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 worse 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.