LePouvantail

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Jack stood dumbfounded for a moment, taken aback by Carver's bluntness. Sally quickly put her sewing down and pushed herself from her seat. She moved to Carver and got down on one knee to better be at her level. Sally gently placed a hand at the back of her cage and took a few vines in her other hand. The parts about being guilted over life given, over not turning out to be the type of creation the doctor wanted, hit home with her.

It took another moment, but Jack slowly approached Carver. He let her speak uninterrupted. In his mind, he saw Lock's face, heard the middle trickster's voice as he tried to plead on his friend's behalf. "It's complicated," he had said.

And he was right. Jack knew Finklestein was particular about his creations and their purpose. But even he hadn't been aware of the depths of these complications. Lock, Shock, and Barrel were hardly upstanding citizens, but hearing this...Jack suddenly better understood why Carver spent so much time with them. They weren't just kids her age. She was one of them, no questions asked.

And close enough to them that she trusted them with these details of her personal life long before he knew.

Jack carefully set a hand over Carver's cage as well, then slowly dropped to one knee too.

"...Then it sounds like maybe he needs to hear it from someone else," he said gently. "Someone he'll listen to."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"Mmm-hmm."

Jack was at the shop entrance with his arms crossed and a disappointed look on his face.

"Sally's right," he said. "There are better ways to handle it."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Uh-oh, Sally thought.

She tightened a stitch. As Jack sent her here, she sensed something terrible went down.

"Carver, I know he isn't the easiest one to get along with, but there are better ways to handle it."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Sally finished the current pass on her sewing machine before turning back to Carver. She gave her little sister a slight frown.

"What happened now?" she asked, gently.

She picked up a needle and thread to start on some of the smaller tears to mend so she could better talk with Carver without having to be heard over the sewing machine.

"I think so," Sally replied.

She glanced at Carver, and her current lack of legs. She had been there when Carver ran off earlier, and saw a different pair of pants around her leg frames, which meant her normal pants were probably at the tree house.

"Once you can acquire them," she said gently.

It would be easy enough to go over herself and ask to retrieve them, but after the prank Carver and her friends pulled, and the fact that Carver was staying with them tonight on Jack's orders, it was probably best to leave them be for the moment.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Sally was hard at work on some last-minute repairs. This was always her busiest time of the year, as many citizens wanted to look their best fir Halloween. She was working on an extremely difficult repair job for one of the werewolves, with the garment marked in several places of which tears to keep, and which needed repair so it didn't fall off. Sally glanced up when she saw the pumpkin head and heard Carver address her.

"Finished already, Carver?" she asked.

Word of the fiasco with the doctor hadn't quite reached this part of town just yet. Sally made another pass on her sewing machine to strengthen a particularly difficult tear.

"Nothing too much," she said. "I'm just working on Wolflady's favorite dress."

She held it up to show Carver the numerous little notes pinned all over the dress, with, "Keep", "Sew", and "Strengthen edges" to keep it all straight. Judging by the remaining "Sew" notes, this was probably her last job of the day.

"It's easier to get the difficult orders out first."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

With everything settled, Jack directed the Corpse Dad to assist Dr. Finklestein in getting back to the lab, as the electric controls not working meant manual assistance. He then turned to Lock and Carver.

"Lock," he said, "finish that last box of decorations, then you can head home. Carver, head to Sally's shop. I'll join you two once I finish my rounds."

Lock nodded.

"Sure thing, Jack!"

He turned to Carver.

"See you around," he said, with a flick of his tail and a look of uncertainty.

Lock forced up a smile for her, but it faded as he turned away and went to do as Jack said.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Jack crossed his arms and gave the doctor a stern look.

"What I witnessed says otherwise," he said, in no mood to argue.

He then turned to Carver.

"That's enough of that," he said.

Lock set his hand on what passed for Carver's shoulder. When Jack turned away, he gave Carver a tight, but affectionate squeeze as a reminder to not push her luck. She wasn't going to the lab tonight, and if she behaved herself, maybe Jack could ensure she wasn't grounded for the next sixty-or-so Halloweens. While Jack was appeasing both sides, he was clearly more on Carver's, at least for the moment.

He would have been a lot harsher with her if he wasn't, especially after her petty throw of that pebble.

It didn't stop Lock from snickering at her smart remark about the doctor's shared brain, or adding to it.

"That's how we know he was, at one point, a gentleman."

Jack shot him a glare.

"Lock," he said in warning.

Lock quickly behaved himself again. His tail flicked in agitation.

"J-just kidding, Jack!"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

More at ease now, Lock carefully set Carver down. He still stayed near his friend, however, especially as the doctor began to come to. He still had half a mind to grab Carver and just run for it.

Jack quickly got between the evil scientist and his creation.

"Enough!" he said, with a stern ferocity that silenced the crowd around him. Jack then turned to Dr. Finklestein. "At least for tonight, Carver is staying with me."

Before the old man could protest, Jack's tone became more authoritative.

"For both of your sakes," he said. "I don't think it will do either of you any good to be in the other's presence at the moment."

He shot a quick glance to Carver.

"Especially with tempers flaring the way they are."

Jack then turned back to the doctor, but made it clear he was addressing creator and creation as he spoke again.

"I think you can use the time apart to clear your heads and revisit this in the morning.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock tightened his tail around her vines in solidarity.

"Jack," he said, "it's--"

Not what it looks like? More than it seems? Lock glanced to the staring monsters on either side of him and Carver. Like any of them would believe him. He looked back up to Jack and met the Pumpkin King's eye sockets.

"...It's complicated," he said quietly as he held Carver close to him. "She didn't--!"

Lock paused again before he could tell an obvious lie. Carver meant every word, and every witness around them knew it. He took a careful step back, though his legs trembled with the threat to run for it. His tail released Carver's vines to weave through the bars of her cage and make it more difficult to pry her away from him.

"Please, Jack!"

Jack's expression softened.

"I know," he said, in an attempt to assuage the both of them. "That's why she's going to stay with me tonight, so we can sort it out."

He got down on one knee to be more at Lock and Carver's level.

"Okay?" he asked.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock just kept his grip on Carver for the moment and let her rant.

"Rig him up like a puppet," Lock said with the faintest smirk. "Make him dance."

He rested his head against hers, and once her vines were released, he gently wrapped his tail around some of them to metaphorically hold her hand. He continued to speak in solidarity to keep her focused on him and not her creator.

"Jam his wheelchair controls," he suggested. "In the swamp."

Jack only grabbed at her vines when she threw the pebble.

"Carver," he said gently, "that's enough."

He kept his grip only tight enough to restrain them as he pondered on what to do. Carver was normally one of the more mild-mannered of the trickster group, and her words of resentment spoke of far deeper issues, ones that told him enough that it was probably best she didn't go home tonight.

It was probably also best that she not stay with Lock, Shock, and Barrel, either. While her friends clearly supported her - and while Lock's tone at the moment was clearly meant to be more humorous than troublesome - Jack knew just how much more devious Boogie's boys could be. He especially didn't want this rant getting into Shock's ear, because the oldest trickster would most certainly be willing to help Carver plot out her vengeance and cause trouble against the doctor once their punishment was over.

"...I think it's best that you stay with me and Sally for tonight," Jack said, once Carver settled down.

She might not like it. He didn't care. It was the only way she wouldn't be going to the evil scientist's tower tonight. That, and he knew Sally could relate with her and help her to better handle this.

Lock started to protest, but stopped. When Carver wasn't facing him, he mouthed a quiet, "thank you" to Jack so the pumpkin creature wouldn't see. He didn't really want Carver going to the lab tonight, either, because he wasn't sure Dr. Finklestein would ever let her out again after this. Lock just held Carver's cage in his arms for the moment and kept his tail around her vines. He tightened his grip a little to better assure his friend of his presence and support.