LePouvantail

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Jack stood up again to try to catch Carver as she fell from Clown's grasp. Lock ran forward then.

"Carver!" he cried. "Carver, stop!"

He knew what this meant to her. But they were already in trouble, and he didn't want to see her get into more of it. With Clown trying to find his face and Jack having caught her cage from the front, Lock ran up to embrace her cage from behind. He slipped the ends of his fingers through the bars to tighten his grip. He was more than a little relieved that the other monsters had her vines in their grasps, because it would be harder for her to fight him off.

"I know," he said in an attempt to talk her down, "You already threw his brain out. There isn't much more you can do to him."

There was. As a trickster, there was a whole lot more she could do with his near-lifeless corpse, but right now, he hoped Carver would be just irrational enough to not realize it, but still reasonable enough to consider throwing the brain enough trouble for now and settle down.

Lock moved his tail up to gently caress one of her vines and try to soothe her. He also glanced up at Jack, who was both trying to assist in restraining Carver, and processing her words. He didn't speak for a moment in order to give Carver a chance to hopefully settle down now that one of her friends came to assist her.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Over the course of the day, Shock spent her time in the shop, using the old-fashioned cleaners that slowly ate away at the glue, with the occasional chipping away at the pieces. While waiting for it to set, she assisted with organizing and cleaning while the witches caught up in potions and orders. Barrel helped Behemoth and Wolfman pick and haul pumpkins and brought them to Carver. Lock spent a lot of the day up on the rooftops and in tight spaces hanging up decorations and securing banners.

At Carver's screech, Lock scurried across the rooftops to investigate. Several other monsters on the streets came over as well. By the time Lock arrived and started climbing down to assist, Cyclops and the Corpse Dad were righting the chair and trying to help Dr. Finklestein. Clown had wheeled up and used his extendable arms to grab Carver and pull her back while a banshee pried her vines from the evil scientist. Just as Lock hit the streets, Jack arrived on the scene. The middle trickster hung back as the Pumpkin King went straight to Carver.

"What's going on?"

He glanced between Finklestein and Carver, and tried to piece it together. Obviously, she attacked him, but even this was odd behavior for her, when she was normally content to play a trick, then run off with her friends. Briefly, Jack recalled Sally's comment about none of the tricksters escalating their trouble this close to Halloween before. It allowed him to keep a level head, even though his tone was more stern than he meant it to be, his face a mix of worry, concern, and a bit of anger at the evil scientist's current predicament.

"Carver."

Jack allowed the other monsters to assist Finklestein as he approached the pumpkin creature. He got down on one knee to be more at her level.

"I can already see what happened," he said, as he forced his tone to remain level. "Why did you do this?"

Lock hung back and partially hid behind the nearby well. His tail nervously twitched as he debated stepping in.

Why so many 18+ marked roleplayings?

For me, I basically treat 18+ like I do an R rating for a movie: it probably means sex, but it just as likely means content you wouldn't get away with in a PG-13 movie, like harsher language, torture, more graphic deaths, more mature themes like exploring the darker side of humanity to their worst aspects, etc. It also means my partner(s) is probably an adult, and someone I can likely do those things with.

My 1x1 has this tag in case anyone gets curious and reads it, because at its core, it's based on two PG fandoms, but we took the PG limits away so we could better flesh out the world and characters and not hold anything back. It's a courteous, "anyone familiar with these fandoms knows to expect the basics of them, but also to be aware that the characters and situations involved will be more mature than what you're familiar with."

Some of the plot points we have planned are going to put some of the characters through the wringer later, and we've already explored a few aspects that wouldn't fly in the original canons (like, yes, implied sex). There was also a brawl where one character beat the absolute shit out of another (we're talking, "almost broke her rival's neck and held back" levels of violence), has faced zero consequences for it, and won't get any comeuppance. She will, for all intents and purposes, get away with it when in both original canons, that kind of thing would be one, not be nearly that violent (and more likely played for laughs instead of drama), and two, punished eventually.

Does it suck for people under 18 sometimes? Yes, but that's life. There are some things you just need to be patient and grow into. We've all been there.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Shock took the lead as they walked back into town, her footsteps carefully calculated to not only make sure she stayed in Jack's sight, but to delay having to face all of Halloween Town for as long as she could. She admittedly hated crowds and staring eyes, and undoubtedly, Jack was going to announce their punishment and make it known so there was no way any of them could worm their way out of it.

The rest of Halloween Town would keep them in check until their punishment passed.

Barrel moved a hand up to gently pet Carver's vines, both to assuage her, and for his own comfort. Lock trailed behind them, wishing he could hide between his siblings. His tail dragged the ground and occasionally shifted into a nervous twitch as he walked. Zero floated beside him with a soft whine. Lock hardly dared to give him an occasional pet. Jack just calmly walked behind them as they went up the hill and back into town.

The main gate opened. Everyone in the square turned, having been waiting for Jack, and only half-expecting him to come back unaccompanied. By the time they stepped into town, Shock had composed herself back into her normal arrogance. She walked tall and even gave a subtle smirk as the crowd parted to let them through to the steps of Town Hall. Barrel pulled his hands down and shoved them in his hoodie pockets as he followed his sister. Lock just crossed his arms and looked properly disgruntled at being caught.

Many whispers, murmurs, and hisses went through the crowd, mingled with confusion at the whole situation, and some relief that Jack - so far as they knew - talked the culprits into coming clean.

"Great trick, wasn't it?" Shock said deviously as she passed by.

That earned a few nervous giggles from her brothers as her comment earned them some more glares and muttering. Lock, Shock, and Barrel took their places at the steps of Town Hall, with Shock taking a subtle step just behind Lock to put more distance between her and the crowd. Let them assume it was to make sure her little brother couldn't hide behind her. She then crossed her arms and glared. Jack stepped beside them and addressed the town.

"As we suspected, the culprits have been caught," he said. "Furthermore, I have confirmation that the clock is correct.

That earned many cheers and sighs of relief. Just to keep up appearances, Shock shrugged.

"It was--" she started.

"--Fun while it--" Barrel dared.

"--Lasted," Lock finished, with a flick of his tail.

The three of them softly cackled, just enough to be heard over the crowd. None of them dared full-on laughs. Jack held up his hands for silence. The crowd settled down again. Lock, Shock, and Barrel let their laughter die down, though Barrel still occasionally let out a nervous giggle.

"While I commend the cleverness of this trick, it's also set us back a few days. To make up for that lost time, Lock, Shock, Barrel, and Carver will be assisting with the preparations."

He gave a distinct glance to Shock.

"Starting with the brooms in the witches' shop," he said gently, "so they can focus on other things."

Shock shrugged. That wasn't too bad.

"And since we can't seem to find the glue dissolver, it will have to be through old-fashioned means, without damaging the walls or ceiling. But I'm very sure Shock is up for the task."

Shock perked.

"But Jack--!" she started.

"--And should any of the glue dissolver happen to reappear," he said calmly, "our current arrangement will be immediately revoked."

Shock quickly went quiet again. After that scare at the tree house, she wasn't going to step out of line and risk actually missing Halloween. Jack glanced around the square.

"Lock is pretty good at getting into smaller, tighter nooks," he said thoughtfully, "so he'll be assisting with the decorations."

Lock just flicked his tail, but otherwise said nothing. Jack turned to Barrel and Carver.

"Which leaves you two on pumpkin duty," he said. "Barrel to haul - without eating them - and Carver to help carve them."

Barrel just nodded.

"O-okay, Jack," he said.

"And once they finish those," Jack said, before he turned to the rest of the crowd, "I'm certain we can all find ways for them to fill their time in the remaining days before Halloween."

Lock, Shock, and Barrel all groaned, but otherwise didn't dare to complain. They were already halfway buried in quicksand, and they didn't want to risk becoming completely submerged. Jack calmly addressed them again.

"You're dismissed," he said, with a hint in his tone to get started.

Barrel quickly stepped down and headed for the pumpkin patch.

"Drop Carver off on your way," Jack said casually.

Barrel stopped at one of the pumpkin carving stations.

"Sorry, Carver," he said quietly.

Shock scoffed and just headed for the witches' shop. Agnes and Agatha followed behind her. Lock simply waited for further instruction as where to start. Jack would first allow volunteers to assign him to a task, and failing that, would make an assignment himself.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"O-of course I--!"

But Shock didn't get to finish as Carver piped in. From the alcove's roof, Lock glared down at the pumpkin creature. His tail flicked in annoyance as he slid down the edge to land on the bridge behind Shock.

"I did not get distracted!" he exclaimed as he stomped his way towards Carver. "She was fast!"

"Hey!" Barrel cried as he reached behind him to shake Carver's cage. "That had nothing to do with the forget-me-lots!"

Shock untangled her leg from the rope ladder so she resumed her original position, then quickly started to climb off of it.

"Would you all knock it off?"

But even she couldn't get her brothers under control again. Jack simply watched them all with amusement. Zero flew back to Jack and hid behind his legs as the tricksters turned on each other.

"You're the one who--" Lock started, as he grabbed for a handful of Carver's vines before she could turn them against him.

"--Wanted to put the countdown clock back!" Barrel finished.

He took Lock's lead and also grabbed for Carver's vines.

"BARREL!" Shock screamed.

"WHAT?" Barrel screamed right back, before he realized what he'd just said. "...Oh..."

Jack simply gave them all a playful smirk. He gave a casual glance to Shock.

"Of course you did," he said, simply.

Most of Halloween Town would have cowered at the glare she shot him. Jack, however, was used to it. He calmly placed his hands behind him as he spoke again.

"I expect the four of you to report to the square immediately."

"Or what?" Shock demanded.

"Or none of you will be going out on Halloween."

That got Lock and Barrel to freeze for a minute.

"Come oooooon, Jack!" Barrel whined.

"It wasn't that bad!" Lock said.

Shock crossed her arms.

"How are you gonna make us?"

Jack remained calm.

"Shock..."

Lock and Barrel both timidly tried to talk their sister down.

"Sh-Shock..."

"No, really," Shock said. One corner of her mouth lifted into a smirk. "We're not little anymore. How's he gonna--"

"Shock," Jack said sternly. That time, he narrowed his eye sockets. Any residual humor at the situation he might have had left quickly dissipated. "Last chance."

"Or what, Jack? What are you gonna do?"

As children, Jack merely had to make a scary face to get them to behave for five minutes. Now that they were older, he did his best to reason with them and stand firm when they tested their limits. This time, he knew to burn the hydra's neck before it could regrow. Jack rattled his bones in a threatening manner. His face distorted into a monstrosity the likes of which none of them had ever seen before. The air around them grew deathly silent and still as the skies darkened for a moment. Even the very Halloween wind came at his command to knock Shock back onto the bridge. Zero yelped and flew behind Lock and Barrel, who had curled up in a terrified pile with Carver.

"I confined your master down there," Jack said in a voice that legitimately gave the trickster siblings chills. "You don't think I can't handle you too?"

The darkness broke away. The wind died down. Jack returned to normal. Shock pushed herself up and tried to compose herself, but she couldn't pull up her normal cockiness in time to hide her terror.

"The square," Jack said calmly. "Now."

Lock and Barrel quickly scrambled to their feet. It took Shock another moment to stand, but she hesitantly made her way across the bridge without another word.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"Never," Lock and Barrel agreed.

Both of them grinned brightly. Shock twisted the rope ladder to make it twirl. When her back faced Jack, she mockingly leaned backwards and wrapped one leg in the ropes to keep herself positioned there.

"...Although..." she said.

"Although...?" Jack asked, as he leaned down closer to face her.

"Forget-me-lots are tricky to deal with," Shock said with a devious smirk. She shot a glance up to Lock. "There might have been an incident."

Lock's tail twitched as he picked up on it.

"It's possible that--"

Barrel grinned even wider.

"--We don't know either!"

Jack glared at them. He tapped his foot as he pondered it, then smiled. He turned his attention to Shock specifically.

"A trick of this magnitude is nothing less than a work of art," he said, "convincing the entire town we've missed Halloween. So surely, a mind that thought of something this clever also thought of every possible contingency?"

His smile crawled a little more as Shock narrowed her eyes into a glare. Jack knew he had her - or more accurately, her pride - caught in the spider's web. There was no way she'd let herself look like a fool on front of her posse.

"And you of all would have planned for such an...incident," Jack said. "Right, Shock?"

That she didn't have an immediate response told him everything. She knew - they all probably knew - the correct date.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Barrel let her position her vines, and felt her cage against the back of his neck. He put the drumsticks down and stood up. Lock smirked as he headed for the rope ladder.

"Then let's--" Lock started.

"--Go up--" Barrel continued, as he followed his older brother.

"--And wait for him," Shock finished.

The three of them grinned and started up the rope ladder. Lock scurried up, and then up the tree itself to climb on top of the overhanging roof that served as the elevator shelter when they were kids. He sat with his legs on either side of the slant and dug his feet into the shingles. Barrel came up next and took a seat on the edge of the ravine. Shock came up last and remained on the rope ladder leading up into the tree house, perfectly in Jack's sight.

The three of them then patiently waited for Jack to arrive.

~~~

Once he got the crowd under control, Jack headed for the outskirts of town, with Zero trailing behind him. Briefly, he recalled a similar urgency on that first Christmas Eve, when he needed to get to Sandy Claws. As he approached the tree house, he saw each of the tricksters' forms near the front, clearly waiting for him, which meant they knew he was coming. Maybe Carver gave them a heads up; maybe one of them was spying and came back to alert the other two. That didn't matter as he reached the top of the hill and slowed his pace so he wouldn't skid when he reached the bottom.

He saw Shock first, sitting on one rung of the rope ladder like a swing, her arms carefully entwined in main ropes as it swayed with her weight.

"Hi, Jack!" she said cheerfully. "What brings you to our humble little tree house?"

Jack sternly crossed his arms. Zero didn't notice his master's sudden disproving pose and flew up to Shock at her friendly tone. He playfully barked as Shock reached to pet him. Jack ignored it for a moment.

"I think you three--" Jack noticed Carver on Barrel's shoulders, then quickly corrected, "--four know perfectly well why I'm here."

Lock flicked his tail as he glanced down at Jack, then beckoned for Zero to come to him. Zero happily obliged as the middle trickster gave him a thorough scratch behind the ears.

"Why would we know that?" Lock asked, despite the obvious tell to their guilt that they were waiting for him. "We can't read your mind."

"Though it seems a lot of monsters lost theirs," Barrel said with a shrug and a grin.

Shock smirked.

"Seems to be going around."

The three of them cackled as though in on a private joke. Having gotten proper attention from Lock, Zero flew down to Carver and Barrel.

"Drop the act," Jack said. "I know about the forget-me-lots and the countdown clock."

At Jack's decidedly serious tone, Zero perked and glanced to him. Barrel ignored it and just ran his hand through the ghost dog's sheet. Shock pumped her legs to make the rope ladder sway even more.

"We wouldn't--"

"--Know anything--" Lock said with a grin.

"--About that," Barrel said.

"I think the near-empty forget-me-lot patch in the graveyard and the fact that Barrel bought the other needed ingredients is all the proof I need," Jack told them.

Barrel mockingly snapped his fingers.

"Darn," he said. "Looks like he caught us."

"Looks like," Shock said.

She never lost her sharp smile as she swung again.

"Great trick, wasn't it?" she asked, then leaned through the rungs to better face Jack. "Did you bring us a treat?"

"No."

Jack uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on his hips as he glanced from Shock, to Barrel and Carver, to Lock.

"I need you four to stop playing games for a moment," he said, "and tell me if the countdown clock is accurate."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Shock cackled at the mention of the calendar. That would give them a little leverage when Jack inevitably got here. She smirked at Carver's rant.

"And that gives us an advantage," she reminded her. "They trust you more than they trust us, which makes all of our trouble more effective."

She turned to head back into the lair.

"Never forget that, Carver. That they underestimate you is invaluable to us."

Barrel was working on a new set. Lock stood nearby, his arms crossed, but his posture loose, as their little brother was actually doing well this time. His tail even tapped against the floor in a beat.

"Practice is over, boys," Shock said as she entered. "Jack's coming."

Barrel stopped playing and grinned.

"We're in for it now!" he said.

Lock flicked his tail and shrugged.

"Guess the fun is over," he said.

"Maybe not quite," Shock said, with a knowing glance to Carver.

They could use their newly-acquired knowledge to fuck with him.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock, Shock, and Barrel were down in the lair. Lock was helping Barrel with drum practice, now that they were sure their trick wouldn't last much longer anyway. He actually took Lillith's advice and tried to be more patient, with...mixed results. Barrel switched between playing better and upping his antics to try to get a rise out of him. Shock was in the living room area with a comic book and ignoring them.

She perked when she heard something between Barrel's sets and got up to check behind one of the old torture devices pulled in here for storage. She listened a second time to be sure she heard it correctly before responding.

"All clear," she said.

In the room over, she heard Lock forcibly trying not to lose his cool as he once more went over the current set with Barrel. Shock frowned when she noticed Carver's missing legs. That combined with the lightning strike not too long ago told her enough. Carver had something to report, had to escape quickly to report it, and she had a decent guess as to what it was.

"They finally figured it out," she said.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Jack looked over the calendar. They weren't too unusual - after all, he knew Christmas Eve was December 24th, and had figured out the days quite easily - but most of the town relied on the countdown clock. He gave Carmilla a nod.

"But how would they even would know you had it?" Jack asked. "They're not normally welcome in Vampire Castle, are they?"

Vlad's frown deepened.

"On occasion, we have allowed Lock into our home, as he is Lillith's current lover. While he is supervised at all times when given an invitation, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume he's seen it in our daughters' room."

Jack nodded. He was still certain that Shock was the mastermind, but her brothers would assist her in any way they could - whether they wanted to or not. He let the doctor take the calendar, then went to Sally.

"I think we have a pretty good idea of what happened," he said.

Sally nodded, but frowned.

"They're not usually this troublesome before Halloween, though, Jack. Do you think--?"

She didn't get to finish her sentence as Dr. Finklestein's yell echoed up to the lab, complimented with Igor's delayed lightning.

If there was any doubt as to who was behind it, Carver's sudden absence only confirmed it. She had to know why they were there, and got out of dodge.

Jack turned to Carmilla.

"We'll figure out the dates later," he said softly. "I think right now, the town needs some answers...and afterwards, I need to pay a certain set of tricksters a visit."

~~~

Back in the square, Jack was greeted with desperation by the rest of the town. Several citizens spoke up at once.

"What's going on?"

"Jack!"

"Did we miss Halloween?"

"What do we do?"

"Jack!"

"Is something wrong?"

"Were they involved?"

Jack held up his hands for silence. The crowd quelled down again as he positioned himself to be heard by everyone.

"After a bit of investigation, I believe I know what's going on. First and foremost, we have not missed Halloween."

That got a series of relieved sighs and chatter.

"But when is it?" Corpse Kid asked.

Jack frowned.

"I'm...not quite sure, just yet, but this next bit is more important. I need the graveyard's patch of forget-me-lots to be checked at once."

"Already done, Jack!" Agnes perked up. "I sent Agatha to go check while we were waiting for you."

"Excellent!" Jack exclaimed, before turning to Agatha. "What did you find?"

"There's a few new blossoms," Agatha said, "but it's otherwise been picked clean."

Jack frowned, but nodded.

"I'd imagine any patches in Hinterlands would be found in a similar manner."

"There's something else I remembered, Pumpkin King," Agatha said. "I sold Barrel some sundew sap last week, and some fog juice a little before that."

Jack's frown deepened. Sally had explained the forget-me-lot process on the way back to square. There was the proof that the trio was behind this. On hearing Barrel's name, the crowd started their murmuring again, a lot of it now mixed with anger as well as confusion. Of course those three had something to do with it! Jack once more held up his hands for silence.

Agatha's mention of Barrel triggered something in one of the vampires.

"Shock was on Town Hall's roof on the day of the fog," he said. "I remember asking her what she was doing."

"Probably watching for the best time to strike," Jack said. "A trick of this magnitude would require a lot of finesse and timing."

He crossed his arms.

"I can now say with confidence that Lock, Shock, and Barrel, at least, are behind this. Possibly Carver too. They tainted the fountain with fog juice laced with forget-me-lot dust, and changed the countdown clock. As to when Halloween actually is...I suppose I'll have to ask them."