Carmilla screeched again and launched herself at Shock. The trickster, of course, was prepared for this, and was ready to accept the hit for an opportunity to get one of her own in. The vampiress didn't try to redirect herself to avoid or block the knee to her stomach, intent on landing her attack at any cost. Two pale fists struck Shock in the chest simultaneously. If she had been a mortal, she would have gone down from crushed ribs; as it was, she was likely just going to have a mirroring set of bruises.

Carmilla dropped to one knee to clutch her stomach, still glaring at her opponent. "Just get a new hat! I'm sure one of the actual witches could make you a better one than that purple piece of crap, anyhow!"

~~~

Lillith looked up curiously. She shrugged and shifted into a bat so she could fly up and watch from his shoulder.

Lock let Lillith situate on his shoulder before he climbed up the second rope ladder to the bridge. He got up just in time to see the end results of Carmilla's attack. Shock kicked her off, and actually seemed content for a few seconds, as it looked like she'd won. Lock noticed that Shock was missing her hat, and at first assumed that it got knocked off in the fight.

Then Carmilla spoke. If Lock wasn't already chalk-white, he would have gone pale.

"...Oh, no," he said quietly. "She didn't."

Even from here, he caught the look of fury on Shock's face. With Carmilla down on one knee, the oldest trickster saw a wicked opportunity and grabbed for the vampiress's hair, making sure to grab near the root. Shock then forcibly turned Carmilla's head as far as she could.

"Unlike those cauldron-stirrers," she said coldly, "I don't need magic."

She stepped down on Carmilla's calf to keep her kneeling.

"Or did you forget why half this town fears me?"

Carmilla snarled. Luckily, her head was being turned so her face was toward Shock, which gave her a certain amount of flexibility. She took both arms and wrapped them around Shock's knees, twisting her body in the same direction until the trickster was lifted off her feet and thrown over Carmilla's back. The vampire followed through with the motion, slamming herself down onto Shock's chest before rolling on top of her. She straddled Shock's waist to prevent a repeat of the last time and gripped her unruly dark hair with both hands to pin her head.

"I'm not half the town," she hissed. "And I won't put up with your bonepile!"

~~~

"Hmph. And she lectured me about not behaving below my station," Lillith muttered. She didn't notice Lock's failed reflex to get paler, but she did notice his change in demeanor and tone of voice. She tilted her head curiously. "...What's wrong?"

Shock reached up under Carmilla's arms to make it harder to pull away, then grabbed her throat. By the tightness of her grip, she threatened to snap the vampiress's neck.

"Wrong answer," she said. "You're on my turf."

She dug her elbows into Carmilla's sides and shifted her hips to try to knock the vampiress off of her.

~~~

Lock didn't answer Lillith at first. He simply scurried up into the tree house before his sister could see them. Only when they were safely out of sight did he speak.

"There are lines even we don't cross with each other," he said, "and Carmilla just dashed right over one."

His tail flicked in nervousness. Lock moved a hand to stroke Lillith's fur, more for his own assurance than hers.

"It's not just a hat to her," Lock said quietly, "and if Carmilla actually destroyed it..."

He shuddered, and was already glancing around the tree house to make sure there was nothing around that Lillith's eyes shouldn't see. Fortunately, most of the prank preparations were down in a the living areas, and what few items of mischief needed for it up here wouldn't stick out among the mess of blankets on the floor and the miscellaneous items on the shelves. Lock glanced around the room, at how much had changed in just a few short decades. Memories of what it used to be, when it was more a playtime fortress than a makeshift bedroom, came to mind.

None of them wanted to grow up, and for a long time, they didn't think they could. And then, one day...their clothes didn't fit right, and the tree house, once more than big enough for the three of them, suddenly felt smaller. It only worsened when they saw the rest of the town stood still while they changed. Only Carver really came close to changing like they did, and that was solely due to her limb upgrades. Shock took it the hardest when they came to terms with their new reality, that they really wouldn't be kids forever.

It meant she had to grow up first.

Lock took a seat on the couch - one of the few pieces of furniture they left up here.

"I guess the easiest way to explain it is what it represents. That when you're living your worst nightmare, it helps when something familiar stays the same."

Carmilla, lacking experience and not knowing any maneuvers to handle this, let go of Shock's hair to try and pry her hands away from her neck. Unfortunately, that didn't really help, and worse, it simply made it even easier for Shock to gain back the advantage.

~~~

Lillith watched Lock, examining his body language. She nuzzled up against his cheek in an effort to comfort him, then stared at the treehouse wall, as if she could look through it at their respective sisters.

"What do you mean, worst nightmare?"

She may be a denizen of Halloween Town, but the use of the word "worst" made it obvious it wasn't an entertaining kind of fear he was talking about.

Shock took advantage to reverse their positions. She dug her knee into Carmilla's stomach and shoved it directly under her ribcage, making sure to hit points that already bruised before positioning herself. Shock adjusted her grip to be uncomfortable, but only loose enough to show Carmilla that this was the closest she'd get to mercy, that she wasn't going to outright break her neck and leave her to heal it for months.

"You should be afraid," Shock said quietly, "because the only reason your head is still on your shoulders right now is because it isn't worth the headache I'd get from Jack later."

She dug her knee in further and shifted her stance to ensure Carmilla's flailing wouldn't give her any advantage. She twisted the vampiress's neck both to cause her more pain, and to prove she was holding back.

"Now get the hell off my property, and stay out of my way until next week, or I might just decide that Jack's wrath is worth it."

Shock stood up, but kept her grip on Carmilla's neck. She lifted the vampiress by her throat and threw her towards the hill leading back into town.

~~~

Lock glanced to Lillith. He debated for a moment, as this was a personal secret, not only for him, but his siblings as well. And pondering on it, he decided he trusted Lillith.

"Nothing leaves these walls," he said sternly. "No one but Carver knows this, so if it gets out, we'll know."

Lock flicked his tail.

"No one in town is like us, Lillith. And I don't just mean different monsters. I mean that literally, no one else ages like we do. A lot of older monsters knew us when we were kids. That part's not really a secret. Ask Jack or Mayor or hell, maybe even your dad. We were little kids for most of our lives. Like literally, almost a full century. All of this--" he gestured to his body, and then around the tree house, "-- it's still kind of new to us. And freaky. And not in a good way."

Lock gently pet her fur again.

"For a long time, it was torture, knowing that things weren't going to stay the same. We didn't know what to do about it. We were growing up when everyone else we knew...weren't. We've come to terms with it, sort of, but having something that can grow with her, that doesn't change...it made the transition a little easier for Shock. It's one of the few things we still have from childhood that feels...untouched, I guess is a good way to put it. We've outgrown or had to get rid of so many things in what to us is a really short time. Destroying it is just a reminder that nothing lasts. That things have to change for us when they don't change for anyone else, and we can't stop it."

He gently nuzzled his head against hers.

"And the worst part is being in that stasis as kids for so long...I think it permanently did something to us. It feels like...like we should still be children. That there's a part of us that can't grow up, not really, and sometimes, that part tries to take over. So every day is sort of a mental battle between what we were as kids, and what we are now. We all just handle it differently."

Lock crossed his arms and settled back into the couch. He also listened carefully, as he didn't hear anymore screams from the fight. He specifically listened for the rattling of the bridge. If Shock was headed this way, he wanted to give Lillith time to either hide or take a window out, if they didn't just run for the slide and go down into the lair entirely to avoid the remnants of her wrath. He suspected Carver and Barrel already got the hell out of dodge, as he didn't see either of them when he climbed up.

"What Carmilla did was make that battle worse. Shock's off-balance right now, and it's going to take her some time to function again."

Carmilla gasped like a drowning fish as Shock pushed into her stomach, still gripping her neck. When Shock finally shoved her away, it took the vampiress several moments to steady herself and stand back up. She glared, but slowly started walking away, clutching her torso with one hand and rubbing her neck with the other.

Carmilla may have been stubborn, but she wasn't stupid. Whatever had happened, Shock wasn't just out to fight. She hadn't been attacking out of anger or sadistic entertainment. There had been hatred in those eyes. And Carmilla would never admit it, but that scared her in a very unpleasant way.

~~~

Lillith listened quietly. At some point, she shifted back to pull him into her lap and cuddle him, but she wasn't really sure when that had happened. When he finished speaking, she stayed silent. That was a lot to digest. Now that she was thinking about it... Yeah, none of the other denizens really grew or changed, ever. The tricksters grew more in four years than Mummy Boy or Corpse Kid had in nearly fifteen. Jack had only ever worn one outfit that she had seen, and even Lillith herself never really changed her appearance either until she had started dating Lock. She had just... never really thought about it. Aside from all the preparation for each Halloween, the passage of time wasn't... really something she noticed. Every day was just like every other. All the same people, doing all the same things, in all the same ways--

"What about Carver?" she asked. "She changes all the time. And I'm pretty sure she used to be shorter, too. ...Is that why she spends so much time with you?" She tilted her head curiously, which looked rather less cute than when she was in bat form.

Shock watched Carmilla until the vampiress was completely out of sight. She reached up to move some hair out of her face, then dusted herself off. A satisfied smirk crossed her lips. Every cut and bruise she'd gained in that fight was worn like a badge of honor in her victory. The adrenaline rush gave her a high, but she knew it wouldn't last. The grimness of reality would soon set in. Until then, she intended to ride the high for as long as she could.

Her victory assured, Shock glanced around the outskirts for Carver and Barrel. All she saw was scarred ground and upturned dirt and grass from where she and Carmilla threw each other around. Shock also realized she didn't see the remnants of her hat, either. She quickly put two and two together. They must have taken it. Whether they did it to simply get it out of her sight, or to try to fix it didn't matter right now. Shock glowered, but tried not to let her thoughts get in the way of her victory.

That she felt incomplete and not entirely herself.

She then made her way back to the tree house, as she figured Lock and Lillith were probably still searching the lair for their instrument components. Good. Shock didn't want to see Lillith or be seen by anyone else right now.

~~~

Lock actually laughed.

"The opposite, actually. When we started growing, Carver wanted to grow with us, so she actually got Finklestein to give her enhanced limbs."

He settled down, and was about to say something else when he heard the familiar rattle of wooden boards. Lock quickly moved a finger to his lips and pointed towards the slide. He slid off of Lillith's lap and ran to it with a gesture for her to follow. The implication was clear: after the brutality of what little of the fight they witnessed, they shouldn't be here, and especially not the one monster in town who looked exactly like the one Shock just defeated.

Carver put the bowl on the floor and soaked her lowermost vines as if it were a foot bath. She didn't have a nervous system to naturally cause jitters, but she bounced her leg a little. She'd seen Sally do that when they both still lived at the lab, and had learned through imitation that the motion gave her an outlet for anxious energy. She unraveled a vine from her arm and subtly offered it to Barrel to hold.

"But you can fix it, right?" she asked. "Not just use the pieces as part of something new?"

That was how a lot of the repairs Sally had made for the trio over the years had had to be done, and Carver wasn't sure if doing that to the hat would just make the whole situation worse.

~~~

Lillith was curious about why Carver would change herself to such a degree just to match them -- sure they were her friends, but Lillith pretty much only changed her clothes for Lock, and she was dating him -- but didn't take a lot of time to ponder it as her boyfriend ushered her out of the tree house.

Barrel shoved the muffin in his mouth and devoured it in two bites. If anything, Sally knew food helped to calm him down. He accepted Carver's vine and sat closer to her so it wouldn't be as easily noticed, then sipped at his pumpkin juice. That his hand shook as he held the cup said more than enough.

Sally nodded to Carver.

"It will probably be a slightly tighter fit than she's used to, but yes, I can fix it."

"Good enough!" Barrel said.

He lowered his cup.

"Why will it take so long, though?" he asked.

"I have to hand-stitch it," Sally explained. "I'm worried my sewing machine might be too rough on some of the edges."

She tried to give him an assuring smile.

"But they'll hold better than the old threads."

Barrel just nodded and clutched Carver's vine a little tighter. He already decided that maybe they should find something to do in Halloween Town for a while. Perhaps a few hours. Maybe all night, to be safe. Perhaps see if the witches needed help, or pay Behemoth a visit in the Pumpkin Patch. They haven't done that in a while, have they? And then come home with an offering from the Crypt Cafe if she wasn't asleep by the time they eventually made their way back to the tree house. Barrel quickly took another sip of pumpkin juice.

Carver managed to look a bit relieved, but she was still fairly clearly on edge.

"Thank you," she said to Sally, then turned to Barrel. "Want to grab some food and go hide in the pumpkin patch for a few hours, until she's cooled off a bit?"

Carver didn't think she needed to specify which "she" they would be hiding from.

Sally came over to her little sister. It said enough that she didn't ask for a favor in exchange for repairs as she often did with the trio, nor did she ask the specifics of what happened. She leaned down and gave Carver a quick hug.

"I'll get it back to you as soon as I finish," she said.

Barrel finished the rest of his pumpkin juice. He was still just as antsy, but looked a lot more relieved.

"Thanks, Sally," he said, before he turned to Carver. He actually managed a small smile. "Y-yeah, sounds good. Maybe we can see if there are any weird pumpkins that can make a cool head later!"

Sally smiled and ushered them to the door. At least their moods had improved.

~~~

It said enough that Shock wasn't seen in town for a few days, and in the following week, Lock and Barrel weren't up to their usual trouble. Whenever one of the trio was off-balance, the other two often focused more on damage control than mischief until their usual dynamics picked up again. And after what happened that week, the trickster brothers were actually somewhat behaved because they simply didn't have the energy for their usual antics. To help ease some of the tension and make their larger task easier, Barrel subtly clued Lock in to where some of the instrument pieces were hidden so his older brother had one less distraction on his mind.

Shock put a lot of her focus into setting up their prank. Several of the forget-me-lots became fine powder under her forceful hands. Barrel made sure to get the sundew sap and fog juice from Agatha as soon as he could, and conveniently made meals with alligator eyes for a few days. Lock checked Town Hall to make sure there were no upcoming weddings. He didn't think there were, but after he knew for certain, he knew no one would notice the wedding broom missing from storage.

The relative peace in Halloween Town wouldn't last, especially when Shock decided to join them again. Sally's repair job was immaculate; no one would ever suspect the hat had ever been damaged. The oldest trickster had some cuts and dark bruising on her face, stomach, and what little other skin showed from under her clothes, yet she walked tall and proud, practically brandishing her injuries. An astute citizen might pick up that Carmilla, who had a bit of bruising herself that couldn't completely be hidden with powder, most assuredly had things to do in the opposite direction if her path happened to cross Shock's. Lock and Barrel might or might not have subtly clued her in first if they saw her before their older sister did.

Lock cancelled that week's practice, but decided to pick it up again the following week, just to make sure things were as settled as they could be. He wasn't sure if Carmilla and Lillith would join them - he wouldn't blame them if they didn't - but it was the closest thing to a peace offering he could give them. Even after all that, Shock hadn't revoked her permission, which even he found surprising.

One thing was for certain: they weren't going to practice "Siren Song."

For her part, Shock was in a much better mood. She was still getting used to the tighter fit, which was slightly aggravating, but the fact that she looked and felt like herself again said enough on its own. Barrel tapped out a beat as he waited. He didn't bother with popcorn for this practice, and suspected Carver wouldn't either. Lock had the theremin set up again and was sitting down and calmly tuning his guitar. His tail twitched a bit nervously as he shot a glance to the window to look for the bats.

Carver had spent most of the next couple of weeks gathering the remaining ingredients, helping quiz Barrel on his potions homework, and slowly whittling down Doctor Finkelstein's stock of glue remover. She left two bottles though, so if the Doctor or Jewel happened to need some, they would be less likely to notice the depletion and make more -- or worse, ask questions. She would get those last bottles the morning of The Thing.

When Sally told her the hat was finished, Carver thanked her profusely and left it somewhere she knew Shock would find it. She didn't want to hand it to her directly, in case the eldest trickster got mad at her for taking it to begin with. Or just needed to vent some remaining aggravation that it had been damaged in the first place. She didn't suggest any sleepovers for more than a week, either, and spent more time than usual in the pumpkin patch helping Behemoth spread fertilizers and pull weeds.

By the time the next practice came around, things were mostly back to normal. Mostly. They were... a lit more peaceful than usual, but no one was really complaining about that. Lillith took the announcement that practice was on as a sign that it was safe for her (and more importantly, her sister) to be on their turf. Carmilla still refused to admit she was intimidated by Shock, but nevertheless didn't push for more time singing as anything other than backup.

That they even showed up was a small relief to Lock. He smiled at the vampires as they arrived, and was even extra polite to them. Shock just gave Carmilla a small smirk, but didn't start up her usual sniping. She was still quite satisfied from kicking the vampiress around and winning their fight. That Carmilla had wisely avoided her since only added to her good mood. Barrel hardly had any trouble with the drums. If anything, practice that week went as perfectly as it could.

With the band back together and mostly getting along again, and the prank preparations in its last stages, Lock convinced Shock to hold of for just a few more days. He and Lillith had been together for five regular years. With how he and his siblings aged, though, it was slightly over a year of their growth period. Time was always strange to them, to just know that after a certain amount of time passed, they'd gone to the next age. The Halloween following this one would mark his seventeenth year. Barrel would be sixteen, and Shock...

Lock tried to shove that thought back. That she'd be the first to actually reach adulthood, and it wasn't something he wanted to think about.

Instead, he thought of that haunted clearing by the lake in the Hinterlands where they planned to meet. Of a long walk and a midnight swim, then a retreat to the hidden cavern nearby where Lillith could be protected from the sun, and the both of them could be protected from prying eyes. He got Barrel to make some blood pudding to take with him, and carefully packed Lillith's gift: a small bottle of nightshade perfume.

Lock held the basket with his tail as he climbed up the rope ladder. The cutlery and dishware wouldn't be as nice as the ones Lillith brought when she did this, but they were spotless, and he picked some of the few plates that weren't chipped or cracked. He shifted the basket to his arm once he reached the bridge. Shock, Barrel, and Carver were up in the tree house playing cards. He smiled a little as he heard laughter from Carver and Barrel because Barrel played a particularly brutal move against Shock. Shock cursed him out, but that they started the next round without any further violence said all it needed to.

Things were back to normal, and as he headed for the Hinterlands, Lock was better able to put his focus on the date.

When Lock reached the clearing, Lillith wasn't there yet. Fifteen minutes after the scheduled meeting time, she still hadn't arrived. Just as he was about to go looking for her, she stepped out of the trees. The vampiress was carrying a small silver object in one hand. She had put a lot of work into smoothing her facial features to form a mask of polite decorum, but Lock knew her well enough to recognize the small signs that she was upset and a angry.

Lillith was punctual, which already set him on edge. Seeing her upset after being fifteen minutes late only made him more worried. Lock left the basket by the lake shore and quickly ran up to her. He reached up to place his hands on her waist, only because he couldn't properly reach her shoulders. His careful touch said enough that he was worried.

"Lillith!" Lock said in relief as his tail flicked behind him. "Hey - what's wrong? What happened?"

[[Ignore this; edit went wrong and duplicated a post]]

Lillith took his hand and led him silently back to where he'd set the basket. She sat down on the ground and made an inviting motion for him to sit in her lap if he wanted to.

"I'm... I'm angry, but I'll... get over it." She sighed. "Carmilla's revenge for us skipping band practice was to... significantly damage one of the gifts I got for you. I didn't notice until I pulled it out of hiding to come here."

She growled quietly under her breath, then ran her fingers through his hair to help calm herself. "It's... It's not even the gift itself. I can replace that. She just... She spent a whole week winding me up, trying to predict what she was going to do to me. Then we found out our instruments..."

She tightened her fist around the little box. "I thought that was what she had been building up to. I relaxed. I was glad to just have it over with. We had a good week, a good practice... And then this."

He walked with her when she directed him. Lock ran his thumb over the back of her hand to try to ease her. He sat down beside her when they reached the basket, and took in the feel of her fingers through his hair. His tail twitched, then crept over her waist. A part of him was actually impressed with the effort Carmilla put into her vengeance.

"Classic bait and switch," Lock muttered.

He was only too familiar with that kind of sadistic pettiness. Shock liked to pull similar stunts. Sometimes, he felt their sisters deserved each other. Lock leaned against Lillith. If Shock hadn't beaten Carmilla as badly as she did two weeks ago, he might have been more tempted to get her back. Lock ran the tip of his tail over Lillith's waist and nuzzled against her.

"Well, I'm not going to let her ruin our evening," he said. "Whatever it was, I'm just glad you're here."

He perked a bit.

"...What was it, anyway?"

Lillith likewise leaned against him. She slowly relaxed and let the little silver box fall quietly from her hand onto the ground. She continued petting his hair.

"I said I can replace it, so obviously, I'm not going to tell you." She winked at him. "Shall we set out the meal?"