Shock took her items and started to head for the door. She noticed "Corvin" had wandered off, but paid it no mind until he deliberately ran into her. Shock gave him a soft growl after she steadied herself, only to stumble forward and nearly drop the salve. Fortunately, Carver caught it.

Probably more for his sake than hers, because he knew she'd kill him if she had to buy more. Shock gritted her teeth in a grin as she "accepted" his help.

"Think nothing of it," she said with an icy undertone.

She dusted herself off and snatched the bottle from him.

"I haven't shown you the lair, yet, have I?" she asked, just loud enough for Agnes to hear. "There's all kinds of fun to be had there."

Where she could strangle him in private.

'Corvin' tilted his head to the side again. "What kind, of fun?"

Agnes crossed her arms. "I don't think so, dearie. It was clearly an accident, and he has already apologized for it. I understand you have a reputation to uphold, but he hardly deserves your vengeance for a mistake like that."

"Vengeance?" Carver took a step back and looked between Agnes and Shock with wide eyes. "I, do not, understand. I thought, you wanted, to be, my friend?"

Agnes sighed and waved for Shock to be on her way, now that she had what she needed. "Oh, don't mind that, dearie," she told 'Corvin'. "Shock's concept of friendship is a bit... different, than most. Now," she said with a slight glint in her eyes, "is there any sort of thing that you would like to buy from us, today? Or are you still just getting your bearings?"

Carver took a moment to keep looking confused and worried about Shock just a bit longer, then let his attention be directed back to the shop keeper. The innocent unsuredness of his smile hid a smug satisfaction that his plan was working. 'Corvin' appeared too awkward and affable to be a possible risk to the witches and their inventory.

"I, do not, know," he said. "What sorts, of things, do you have?"

Agatha popped back out into the open. "Why don't I show you?" she suggested excitedly. "Rather than just listing everything off, I mean. The rest of the citizens already know what we usually have in stock. It's only fair that you should get a feel around, yourself!"

"My brothers and I have all sorts of fun toys that we'd love to show you," Shock said sweetly.

She gave a pointed glance to Agnes.

"Who said anything about vengeance?"

Carver was really starting to get on her nerves. It took some effort to retain her decorum.

"Of course I do," Shock said. "We don't let just anyone come to the lair."

She smirked at Agnes, then turned to be on her way.

"I'll be seeing you soon enough, Corvin."

The shop bell jingled as Shock headed out. The second she was free, she dropped the act and headed for the lair. First, she had a scorpion nest to tend to. Then she needed to figure out how to get Carver back for tripping her.

Carver gleefully allowed the Agatha to give him a tour of the shop's stock room. The young witch was so busy looking at the shelves and boxes for things she could point out to 'Corvin' for future note, to notice him brushing just a little too close to the merchandise.

Not that he knew, but she was also a little bit distracted with a devious plan of her own. What she had seen peeking out through that door had given her an idea...

Once the tour was complete, they had a pleasant parting, in which he promised to come to the Witches' Shop first if he ever needed anything.

About an hour later, he carefully climbed down the ladder into the lair and looked around for Shock, in case she was waiting to pounce on him.

"Anybody ready for a trouble report?" he called out cheerfully. "I brought presents!"

Lock was still with Lillith, and likely wouldn't be back for another day or two. Barrel had been in the kitchen working on dinner and poked his head in from Oogie's chambers.

"Presents?" he asked with a grin.

Shock's voice echoed from the scorpion room down the hall. Between the stunt at the Witches' Shop, and tending to scorpions that were feisty against her for once due to their bad tempers from infection, she wasn't in the mood for games.

"Is someone looking to keep me from kicking his ass?"

Carver snickered and called back sweetly, "Now, Shock, why would you want to kick your favorite monster's ass?" He put a hand over his check dramatically, not that she was there to see, and added, "I'm so hurt! And after all I did for you today, too!"

Shock finished with her current scorpion and set it in the new sanitized tank with the others she'd carefully nursed to keep track. She then headed out to the casino to find out what Carver wanted.

Barrel, in the meantime, grinned at Carver.

"Something go down?" he asked.

He stepped aside when he heard his older sister coming up behind him to let her pass. He wished he had some popcorn, because it sounded like Carver pissed her off.

Shock, however, knew "favorite" tended to be thrown around when any of the other three had something she wanted.

"Such as?" she asked.

This had better be good.

"Well for one, I demonstrably proved that Corvin is completely unaware of your reputation as a trickster or a Bitch, friendly to a fault, and too naive and awkward to be a threat. Second, I gave the witches an irresistible chance to get on the good side of a potential new customer who is obviously unprepared to haggle worth a damn."

He snickered and reached into his pockets as he continued. "After you left, Agatha gave me full tour of the storage room. Wasn't keeping an eye on me, either. After all, Corvin is far too innocent and nice to think of taking what doesn't belong to him, and clearly too much of a clutz to actually succeed if he even tried."

Carver pulled a out a bottle and dangled it from two fingers. The nearly transparent liquid inside shimmered with pearlescent sparkles that swirled about in suspension.

"Soooooo," he sang with a grin, "Who's your favorite monster?"

Shock crossed her arms as she waited for Carver's explanation. Her posture loosened with each word, and even the hint of a smile started to form as she picked up where he was going with this.

"Interesting," she said, in a gleeful tone that said she had already reconsidered kicking him around the lair.

And then he pulled out the bottle. Shock tried to keep her poise, but that her eyes widened even slightly gave away the gears turning in her head as she realized what Carver held.

That would make her trick work far better than she'd planned.

Barrel tilted his head in confusion.

"Sparkly water?" he asked.

Shock turned and slugged him.

"For all the times the witches let you in the back, you'd think you'd know an invisibility potion when you see one!"

Barrel shoved her back.

"I don't know everything they have in stock!"

"Because you only ever focus on what you can eat!"

Shock pushed him again, then turned to Carver. There was no way the pumpkin creature was going to just give her such a valuable item.

"And what does my favorite monster want for it?"

"Oh, I'm sure I can think of something," Carver purred. "But for the moment, let's just call it a favor owed. No holds, no caveats, no restrictions. When I call it in, you do what I say."

He twiddled the bottle in between his fingers. "But if that doesn't seem quite fair to you, I could always just keep it and make my dad think that all of his equipment has gone missing overnight..."

Shock internally grimaced. She could only imagine the sorts of nondescript favors he might ask for. But she also knew that Carver knew exactly what he held in his hands: all the bargaining power. This was her one chance to make it worth his while before he changed his mind, and who knew when one of them would ever get their hands (or vines) on an invisibility potion ever again?

"...Fine," Shock said. "I owe you. No tricks."

She showed her hands, then held one out expectantly.

Barrel watched them carefully, though when Carver mentioned he could "think of something," something in his mind clicked. That's why Agatha refused the scarab! She probably needed him for trouble in the future! Getting any of the trio to owe such a favor, without a backstab, was even rarer.

He started to ponder about what Agatha could possibly want when she called it in, with a bit of amazement at her bargaining abilities.

Carver cheerfully passed her the bottle, being much more careful with it now that it officially wasn't his anymore. Once that was done, he reached into a different pocket.

"Catch."

That was all the warning Barrel got before a small vial came flying toward his chest. He waited for the biggest trickster to have it properly in his hands before telling him what it was.

"Adderpepper juice. Small amount in a hot sauce makes the tongue burn and tingle. Large amount makes everything burn and tingle all the way through, causing the body to try and flush it out as fast as possible. Save it for a day when the bathroom is Lock's responsibility."

Shock took the bottle, and once it was in her possession, her devious joy radiated from every fiber of her being. Jack would never know what hit him. She grinned as she watched the swirls in the potion.

Barrel hardly came out of his thoughts long enough to catch what was thrown to him. He looked at what he held, and his grin widened when Carver explained what it was. Lock liked spicy foods. He would never know what hit him.

"Speaking of Lock," Shock said, "what'd you get him?"

"Now, why would I spoil the surprise?" Carver said sweetly. "I only explained the juice because Lock isn't here to hear it. You two will just have to wait."

He waved and made his way toward the ladder. "Now if you'll excuse me, 'Corvin' is going to go get familiar with Behemoth. After all, I'm going to be living in the pumpkin patch for a while..."

Shock stuck out her tongue at Carver, but quickly realized this meant she or Barrel - maybe both - might be a future target. Barrel groaned, though it took him a moment longer to realize it too. The hot sauce had potential to be fun. If Carver gave Lock something to retaliate with, then he'd have to be careful.

Unless...

Barrel grinned. Lock didn't know what he had, or that he got his gift first. He could always wait for Lock to make the first move, then retaliate. It gave him a small thrill just thinking about it.

Shock turned to head back to the scorpion room.

"Have fun," she said simply.

Despite knowing there was the potential for Lock to pull something against her, nothing was going to bring down her good mood now that she could all but guarantee her trick would go smoothly. She sniffed the air a bit.

"...Is something burning?"

Barrel quickly noticed too. He'd been so interested in trouble that he forgot about dinner.

"My crackers!"

He quickly rushed into the kitchen to pull them out. He let out a long sigh of relief that they were salvageable. Shock cackled, but otherwise didn't antagonize him. Rotten fish stew by itself was still pretty good, but she had to admit having oyster shell crackers with it made it better. It went even better with a smidge of her little brother's misery that he'd almost ruined them.

~~~

Behemoth was at the mulch pile in the pumpkin patch with a shovel. He carefully turned it to ensure an even breakdown, and to make sure every part got good and rotten. He prided himself on his pumpkins, and good mulch was the secret.

The rhythmic motion of the shovel scraping and turning soothed him. Bugs hissed and chirped in the late afternoon air, broken up by the occasional caw of a crow.

'Corvin' wandered into the pumpkin patch and looked around for birds to chase. Behemoth could get very focused on his work, but his work involved making sure nothing was awry in the field so he would definitely notice the newcomer eventually. The pumpkin creature didn't want to come across too strong by approaching his old friend first. Needed to make it seem like he belonged there, not that he came looking for something...

Carver spotted a crow perched on a pumpkin stem and made his way over to it. He pounced in its direction and made a metallic roar that resonated in his chest as the bird flew away. Two other birds popped into view as the sound startled them into flight as well, and Carver ran after them to make sure they didn't land again.

That roar was cool, though; he'd have to remember to make use of it next Halloween.

Behemoth turned at the roar and looked up in time to see the crowd fly over his head. He then headed for the source of the noise. It didn't take long for him to see the new monster in the pumpkin patch. He'd never seen it before. More than that, he knew a walking scarecrow when he saw one.

"You scare good," he said. "Crows won't peck pumpkins."

Carver waved at the birds a little bit more, then turned to face Behemoth. "Thank, you," he responded. "My name, is Corvin. Hello."

Behemoth slowly offered his hand.

"I am Behemoth," he said slowly. "I grow pumpkins. Tend to them. Make them big."

He beamed with pride and pointed to the enormous pumpkin in the middle of the field.

"That Big Pumpkinhead."

'Corvin' took the hand when offered. "It is, nice to, meet you." He nodded solemnly at Behemoth's further description of his job.

"That is, a very big, pumpkin head," he responded with a smile, sounding suitably impressed. "How did, you make it, grow to that, size?"