[IC] Banding Together in Halloween Town

[LePouvantail]

Shock glowered at Carver.

"Because if you steal my hard-earned work, a smashed pumpkin head is gonna be the least of your concerns."

She kept up the bickering.

"Like hell! I set them on the table, and said, 'Hey, Carver, grab these?' Maybe you should carve some ears on your next head, because obviously, you're deaf!"

The shop bell rang again. Lock strolled in, with a small shoulder bag hanging across his chest and a smirk on his lips.

"Hey, Shock - who's your favorite brother?"

Shock stopped her bickering with Carver, briefly glanced at Lock, then shot a glare at their little brother.

"Definitely not Barrel," she sneered.

Barrel guiltily shrunk back. Lock quickly assessed the room. His tail twitched, nervously at first, then subtly pointed down twice.

Are we blown?

Shock kept up her glare at Barrel, then crossed her arms. She tapped her fingers on the side Lock could see.

No. Difficulties.

Lock frowned and turned to Barrel.

"What now?" he asked.

Barrel started to speak, but Shock interrupted him.

"Later," she said. "Let's just get this overwith."

"I'm sure we can still work something out," Agnes said, now that the argument ran its course.

Lock strolled up to the counter. With Barrel as the target for Shock's ire, he practically beamed as he slid between Shock and Carver, and gave Shock his most devilish grin. He recognized a chance to get one up when he saw it.

"Like I was saying," he said, as he casually leaned back against the counter. "Who's your favorite brother?"

Behind them, Barrel looked visibly relieved. It seemed the plan was still on after all!

"What do you want, jerkface?" Shock asked.

"Oh, just a favor in the future for saving you a trip," Lock said.

He pulled the bag up to the counter and opened it to reveal the small bottles of scorpion venom. Shock reached to grab one to give to Agnes. Lock quickly pulled the bag back.

"Uh-uh," he said. "Not until you say it."

Shock glowered, but crossed her arms again.

"Fine." She gave a pointed glance at Barrel, smiled sweetly, and used her most pleasant tone just to twist the knife and show her youngest brother exactly how much he screwed up. "You're my favorite brother, Lock."

Barrel shrunk back even more and looked properly ashamed. Shock turned back to Lock.

"Now give me the venom!"

Agnes didn't even bat an eye at any of it. She just waited patiently for the tricksters to finish their personal business, as at least they weren't arguing and were getting back on track again. Just business as usual with the sinister siblings and their pumpkin pal. Lock gently pulled the venom vials out of the bag. Shock snatched one and set it beside the jar of claws that weren't being counted in the overall exchange. Lock slid away from the counter.

"Thanks for the favor, sister dear!" he said cheerfully.

"Don't mention it," Shock said through gritted teeth.

Lock gave a passing glance to the "new arrivals" display on the way out, and pretended that something caught his eye.

"Whoa. I've seen shrunken heads, but shrunken skulls? Carver, did you see these?"

If he remembered correctly, Loki should be on the shelf behind him, waiting for a signal.

[SystemofEleven]

Once Lock came in and derailed the bicker train, Carver turned back to the counter and began putting her miscellaneous items back into her cage. She made sure to re-organize its contents a bit, being just a tad slow and methodical about it, but not so much so that the witches would likely notice or care. She needed it to take long enough that the daphnius potion was still on the counter by the time the smoke went off. Speaking of which...

Carver tapped the root vines that functioned as her feet in a similar manner to a humanoid impatiently rolling their fingers. Most of her signals had to be necessarily modified from the trio's basic system, but they did the trick. Bonus, it helped to break up any patterns the other citizens might notice in shared body language shortly before hijinks ensued. This one would be rather obvious to anyone who bothered to consider it a signal in the first place:

Places!

She jerked a single, thin vine toward Barrel, then Agatha. It quickly coiled up and relaxed, as if she were simply working a kink out of it. This one was her own special sign, and her target knew exactly who she was sending it toward.

Dumbass...

Carver gave Barrel just enough time to get over to his assigned position, then signaled for Loki to break open the swamp smoke.

[LePouvantail]

Lock lingered near the front door, where he planted the wedding broom. He couldn't bring it inside, but it wouldn't look out of place just sitting by the front door of the witches' shop. Once the smoke went off, he'd grab it under cover, then run to Carver to "assist" her. He just picked up a shrunken skull to look at in the meantime.

Shock went back to her exchange with Agnes. Carver wasn't to signal until she had her payment so there was no risk of losing it in the commotion. Loki crawled along the shelves and occasionally glanced to Carver. He stopped by a bottle, looked at the pumpkin creature, and watched her vines. Anytime one of Carver's "finger" vines curled, he moved to the next one. When he saw two vines cross, he stopped and waited like a trained ghost dog for her signal.

Barrel saw Carver's "stretch" signal, and barely caught himself from saying anything. He turned back to Agatha and Aggie, now that his siblings and Carver were nowhere near the swamp smoke and unable to be accused of wrongdoing.

"So now that that's settled," Barrel said to Aggie, "can I take a look and see if there's anything else? I'll, uh, come back for it later."

He turned to Agatha with a grin.

"I mean. I have a reason to come back now."

Behind him, Shock finished her exchange and closed the backpack. Aggie moved a hand to her chin.

"Well, I suppose--"

A loud shattering sound filled the shop. Within only a few seconds, a noxious, opaque green fog filled most of it. The second the bottle hit the ground, Lock ran for the front door. In the sudden confusion and the thickness of the fog already, he doubted any of the witches would notice him or the shop's ringing bell as they'd all be focused on his siblings. It only took a few seconds to take a breath, grab the wedding broom, and get back in.

"What in the--" Agnes barely managed before the smoke reached the counter.

She started to cough. Shock moved a hand to her mouth and gave a few fake coughs in solidarity, though she kept the smoke somewhat at bay with a handkerchief she'd palmed from the backpack.

Just a few more seconds...

Barrel quickly moved to usher Aggie and Agatha out.

"Hurry! This way!"

[SystemofEleven]

Barrel grinned at the teen witch. "I mean. I have a reason to come back now."

@LePouvantail

Agatha nearly swooned. Before she could think of a properly flirtatious response, however, the sound of shattering glass and the spread of noxious smoke derailed all conversations. Visibility dropped quickly in the shop. She gripped her aunt's arm as she blindly fumbled with the edge of the counter to find their way around it. A large hand found its way to her back -- and Aggie's other arm, but the younger witch couldn't see that -- as Barrel helped to guide them toward the door.

When they reached the outside, Agatha jumped up to hug Barrel around the neck, still coughing. "My hero!" Then she quickly pulled away and made a show of brushing off her dress and politely clearing the rest of the smoke out of her lungs with a few small, much more dainty coughs. Right. She couldn't act too affectionate toward him. Had to let him keep his pride in front of his siblings... She turned to assist Aggie.

Having no lungs to be bothered by the smoke, Carver closed her eyes and focused on her outward senses. She could use her eyes for a common sort of sight, but even without eyes -- or a head, for that matter -- she had a certain awareness of her surroundings. She didn't need to see to know it was the shortest trickster who pressed a broom into her grip. That meant it was the wedding broom. She quickly grabbed her godzilla glue and unraveled her vines. When they weren't curled and twisted around each other and her metal framework, her arm vines were a good four feet long: easily enough to reach the ceiling and glue the broom in place.

The next broom she received went up her cargo pants, against her leg frame, and tied there with the vines from that leg. She grimaced -- she had prepared herself for this, but dammit, she liked these pants -- and broke the bottle daphnius over herself. The stain quickly hardened the fabric and a few small patches of vine where it soaked through too much. A yelp and some curses later, and Lock was helping her limp back out of the shop. She scooped up Loki and tucked him into her cage on the way out; Shock would not be merciful if he got hurt or forgotten in the confusion.

[LePouvantail]

As a little more swamp smoke filled the shop, Shock set her backpack down, then reached across the counter to grab Agnes and usher her towards the door. With the smaller witch out of the way, Shock ran back to the counter and dove behind it. It didn't take long to find the brooms. Shock grabbed them, quickly stood them upright, and felt for the smallest one.

Perfect.

Visibility shifted in and out as some of the smoke continued to spew from the bottle, but the open shop door let it out as Barrel got Aggie and Agatha out, then Agnes found her way not long after them. Shock grabbed her backpack again and ran to the curved orange blob she recognized as Carver's head before it completely disappeared into fog. Time was of the essence now. Shock sidestepped Carver to where she knew Lock waited and handed him one of the two taller brooms. Lock took it and pulled another bottle of Godzilla glue from his own bag and placed it as Shock quickly hid Agnes' broom in Carver's cargo pants.

Carver yelped, which left her free to glue the final broom. Shock had to feel her way back to the other side of the shop, but as Lock "helped" Carver outside, Shock pulled her own bottle of glue from a side pocket on the backpack and secured the final broom.

Outside, Barrel awkwardly patted Agatha's back when she hugged him.

"No--" he coughed a bit himself, "--p-problem!"

Agnes came out next, and was more concerned with clearing her lungs for the moment. All of them heard loud cursing and soon after, Lock emerged, with Carver using him as a brace. Shock was right behind them.

Aggie patted her niece's arm.

"Thank you, Agatha," she said.

The taller witch glanced around at the group that escaped the shop. A small crowd had started to gather, having seen the swamp smoke spewing from the shop. Aggie put the crowd on the back burner for a moment.

"Is everyone all right?" she asked.

Clown with the Tear-Away Face wheeled up on his unicycle.

"What happened?" he asked, before spotting the trickster trio. "Did they--?"

Shock coughed, then glared at him.

"No!" she exclaimed. "We weren't--"

Barrel picked it up next.

"--Anywhere--"

Lock cleared his lungs, then finished.

"--Near it!"

A few of the vampires walked over, as well as the Cyclops and the Melting Man. All of them were decidedly skeptical of this claim.

"Th-they're right," Agnes said, now that the fumes had cleared. "Shock was--" she let out a long, forceful cough, but it seemed to clear the rest of it right out, "--d-doing an exchange, Carver was with her, Lock wasn't..."

She took a breath. The smallest of the vampire brothers came to assist her.

"Barrel was with me," Aggie confirmed. "I don't know how it happened, but a bottle of swamp smoke fell over."

With the witches confirming Lock, Shock, and Barrel's innocence, the crowd immediately looked more at ease. They'd go easy on them. This time.

[SystemofEleven]

Carver leaned on Lock, scowling at the crowd. Her pumpkin had to stretch almost to its limits, the way the back corners of her mouth were folding down. She could see, even with a slight relax in their posture, that most of the onlookers were still suspicious despite the witches vouching for them. How dare they always assume the worst of her and her friends! Just because they were right most of the time, didn't make it fair.

Agatha piped up in their defense. Well, one of their defense. "Barrel came in to talk about--" she coughed as she remembered he was hiding that from the other tricksters. Luckily the smoke made for a good excuse. She quickly finished, "recipes. When the bottle broke, the first thing he did was help me and Aunt Aggie get out safely!"

Aggie and Agnes nodded in agreement.

"Whatever, they're not gonna believe us, anyway," Carver griped. "Let's go somewhere else. We're obviously not wanted here."

[LePouvantail]

Barrel shot Agatha a charming grin, then reached into his hoodie for a candy. He unwrapped it and stuffed it in his mouth.

"I can be good sometimes," he said with a shrug.

"Are you children--?" one of the vampires started.

"We're fine," Shock said.

"Well," Lock said. "Maybe not Carver."

The tricksters all let out a small cackle at their best friend's "misfortune." Shock then glanced to the remnants of the swamp smoke still filtering from the shop.

"Death, that stuff is noxious."

She perked as a devious, thoughtful smile crossed her lips.

"Delightfully noxious..."

"Don't get any ideas," Clown told her.

The Melting Man gurgled in agreement. Shock's smile became sweet as she held a hand behind her back. She daintily placed the other hand over her chest.

"Whatever do you mean?" she asked as she crossed her fingers behind her back.

That got a glare in return. They all knew she knew perfectly well what Clown meant. They all also knew she was lying through her pointed teeth.

Lock let Carver lean on him, then stuck out his tongue at the crowd. Shock brushed down her skirt and reached up to fix her hat.

"Carver's right," she said. "I'm going home."

Barrel casually strolled behind his sister. Lock "helped" Carver out of the small shopping area and into the main square. All three of the siblings moved with indignance, at least until they passed the main gate. Once they felt they were in the clear, all three of the siblings burst out laughing.

"That went better than expected," Lock said.

He let Carver go now that they were out of sight.

"Yes," Shock agreed. She gave a small glare to Barrel. "Even though someone went off-script and cost me."

"I'm sorry!" Barrel exclaimed. "I panicked!"

"We literally rehearsed it right before you left!" Shock cried.

Lock grinned. Ooooh, this was worth the wait!

"Cost you?" he asked Shock.

"We now have high-quality spider eyes and are out some claws and venom because Barrel couldn't just stick to the damn plan."

"I said I'd pay you back!" Barrel whined.

"I hope you like cleaning cages and extracting venom, then," Shock said with a glare, "because that's your job until you make up what you cost me!"

Barrel thought of all the tanks in the back room, and more than that, the numerous scorpions they contained. He let out a long groan as he realized he couldn't take any shortcuts, either, because his older sister would have his head if even the tiniest thing screwed up her carefully-maintained scorpion nests. It was going to be months before he collected enough venom to make up not only for the loss, but the interest Shock would undoubtedly tack on out of spite.

Lock casually strolled up beside Barrel.

"Maybe next time, bring the flashcards with you."

Barrel shoved him away.

"Shut up!"

Lock punched his arm.

"Make me!"

Barrel gritted his teeth and glared. Shock let them bicker, then turned to Carver.

"Where's Loki?"

[SystemofEleven]

Carver grinned, enjoying both the high of having pulled it off as well as getting to watch the antics of the trio on their own high.

"On the upside, at least he remembered which witches he was supposed to be talking to," she snickered.

Loki was hanging out in the comfort of Carver's cage, casually squeezing a foam sponge with his claws. At the sound of his mom's voice saying his name, the scorpion let out a grainy "chirrrrrukk?" and brought his face up to a space between the bars. Carver obligingly opened the door and let him crawl along her vines toward Shock.

[LePouvantail]

That got Lock and Shock to snicker. Barrel scoffed and pushed himself forward so he could get to the tree house first.

"Eager to get started already?" Lock called.

"Shut UP!"

His older siblings only laughed harder. Shock stopped laughing only when she heard Loki chirp. She held out her hand as Loki followed Carver's makeshift path to her. Shock cradled her pet in her hand and ran a finger along his shell.

"Who's my real favorite?" she asked.

Loki gave a contented hiss.

"Hey!" Lock cried.

Shock smirked at him as she lifted Loki up to her ear. Loki curled back into place and contentedly nipped her ear with his claws and pinchers. She then turned to Carver.

"Definitely a sleepover night," she said. "We wouldn't want you grounded for phase two."

~~~

Back in town, the swamp smoke finally cleared enough for the witches to go back in and investigate. Only the one bottle was broken from their stock,along with the remains of Carver's daphnius potion. So far, nothing else seemed out of place. Aggie checked the shelf with the swamp smoke for anything that could have knocked the bottle over, Agatha checked the shelf Lock was near, while Agnes went to the counter to make sure Shock hadn't palmed anything on her way out. Nothing had been stolen, there were none of the trickster's gadgets on the shelf, and the only thing out of place was the shrunken skull Lock must have hastily shoved back on the shelf before fleeing, so how...?

Agnes noticed first that the brooms weren't behind the counter. Agatha spotted the first one hastily tacked on the wall not far from where Lock had been standing. And Aggie quickly looked for the other two.

One on the opposite wall, and the last took a few minutes, but it was way up on the ceiling. Aggie was almost impressed. How'd they do that that quickly?

It didn't matter as all three of them realized how well they'd been played by the trickster trio.

[SystemofEleven]

Carver joined in laughing at Barrel as he left. She wasn't worried about his sour mood; even if there wasn't about to be the Trick of the Century to get him going again, he'd eventually get them back. Everyone in the group always did.

"I will never turn down a sleepover, but I'm rather curious to see how he would attempt to ground me..." The pumpkin creature pulled a key ring out of her cage and casually twirled it around the tip of a vine. "Seeing as I changed all the locks in the lab this morning."

---

Agatha spent most of the rest of the night sulking in her bedroom. Her aunts closed the shop early, and Agnes had wordlessly bought her an extra large tub of candied crocodile tongues as soon as they were finished cleaning up the broken glass. Aggie may have been known as the more social of the two older witches, but her sister was much more in tune with teenage emotions and drama. The only thing worse in a pining young woman's heart than rejection, is for a lack of rejection to be nothing more than a tool used by the other monster to get what they want. Agnes silently made a bet with herself how long it would take before their niece cycled through the sobbing into a throwing-things-at-the-wall rage.

Once everything was all cleaned up and Agatha was settled, the two elder witches made their way across town the the Finkelstein property. Jewel let them in, and after a quick explanation of the situation, the Doctor was (relatively) happy to give them some glue dissolver from his supplies. Relatively, of course, because one of his creations had been involved in the incident. Even if there wasn't any real damage done, it still reflected back on him. The ladies waited down in the entry and chatted while he rolled himself upstairs to retrieve the dissolver.

Jewel would later think to herself that she was not at all surprised to find out he had discovered the cabinet raided, its entire contents gone. Her husband, on the other hand, was perpetually unable to fathom how sneaky and rebellious his creations could be, and was shocked at this turn of events.

Igor watched his master begin to vibrate with rage, and helpfully pulled a nearby switch. Blue lightning shot out of the tower into the sky with a thunderous roar just as Finkelstein raised his fists and screamed into the void, "CAAAAAAAAARVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

The witches glanced upward, then toward each other, and simultaneously nodded.

"Well, we could use the exercise, anyhow," Aggie said.

"Won't hurt us to to use out legs to get around for a few days," Agnes agreed.

"Have a lovely morning, Jewel."

"Do come visit us at the shop sometime."

With that, the witches left.

[LePouvantail]

Lock and Shock both cackled with glee.

"I'm surprised he hasn't tried to hunt you down already," Lock said.

"Eh, it's still early," Shock said. "And it's not like he can do anything now."

"Even if he could," Lock said, "we could always just push him into the ravine."

He gave Carver a playful slug.

"Besides. He hasn't seen anything yet."

Up ahead, Barrel arrived first and went down into the lair to sulk. Lock and Shock figured they were on their own for dinner tonight, as the youngest trickster knew there was no way this kind of screw-up could be even remotely smoothed over with a good meal. Lock offered, as Shock was undoubtedly still pissed about the loss of her wares, and it didn't hurt to get on her good side when Barrel was currently the subject of her ire.

The two of them climbed down after Barrel, Lock to practice guitar and work on new music, and Shock to head to the back room to check on her scorpions and put Loki back in his tank. Barrel had taken the bedroom and flopped dramatically back on Oogie's old bed to bemoan his fate until he inevitably got hungry and/or bored enough to go cook something to feel better...and to get started on his punishment when Shock wasn't in the room to breathe down his neck.

Loki remained curled around Shock's ear as she reached for a jar of beetles and retrieved a particularly fat, crunchy one to give to him. She then set a hand under her ear for Loki to crawl into.

"You were perfectly troublesome today, Loki," she said.

The beetle pitifully struggled between her fingers. Loki hissed and snapped at it to try to catch it. His stinger shot for the beetle. Shock playfully pulled it from his reach, mostly to keep his hunting instinct and reflexes honed. After a moment of this game, Shock let the stinger hit the beetle, having done this so many times that she had no fear of being stung. Loki then took the beetle in his claws and crawled back into his tank when Shock gently lowered him in.

Shock smirked. Loki had been one of the easier ones to train, and the most obedient. Ironic, considering his name, but when given the right command, he more than did his namesake justice. She then did a quick check of her other tanks. She trusted Lock and Barrel to properly feed the scorpions, clean their tanks, and extract their venom when needed. She didn't expect either of her brothers to know all the ins and outs of maintaining a proper environmental balance, looking for signs of declining health, separating mother scorpions into their own tanks to eventually be devoured by her spawn, determining which were ready for harvest, and several other inner workings she cultivated over the years to keep her stock cared for and maintained.

Loki crunched down on the beetle, before he spit out a few digestive juices to properly eat it. Shock made one more round to get back to him, tapped on his tank, and pressed a finger against it. Loki crawled forward to tap the tank on his side in a mock high-five, then went back to his meal. Satisfied, Shock pulled off her backpack and turned to Carver.

"Gonna get those pants patched?" she asked.

It probably wouldn't be hard to get Sally to work her sewing magic. She quickly put away the empty jars and vials to clean later before heading back to the old casino.

As the two ghouls passed by the bedroom, Shock gave a sharp knock the doorframe to get Barrel's attention.

"Moan all you want, but you'd better get today's tanks and venom done before bedtime."

Barrel only groaned harder. Shock rolled her eyes and headed back for the main room. A loud thunder clap sounded as the two ghouls returned. A quick flash of blue lightning flashed and left strange shadows on the walls. Lock and Shock both looked at Carver and nearly fell over from laughing

"Guess he discovered he's been locked out," Lock said.

"And found his glue remover missing," Shock finished.

[SystemofEleven]

As Lock playfully punched Carver, she playfully stuck out a leg to trip him. "Nah, if we do that, Jack will make us fish him back out again and nurse his ego as if her were physically injured, meaning you guys will have to be close enough to listen to his lectures for an extended period of time."

She followed them down into the lair and tagged along wth Shock as she got various things done. "Debating," she replied. "Kinda like the ragged knee look, but it'd make it harder to hide stuff up there." She cackled. "Though after this whole fiasco, I doubt anyone would trust me to go anywhere without being patted down, anyway!"

When they stopped by the bedroom door, Carver cheerfully piped up, "Maybe you can use the scorpions to practice sticking to a script!"

The lightning and thunder crash helped clear the atmosphere just enough for the last few RRRRRR's to be heard in the distance. Carver did fall over from laughing. "I didn't think he'd do it without me there directing him! Merry mayhem, I need to buy a whole box of bone biscuits for Igor before we set everything off tomorrow!"

[LePouvantail]

Lock stumbled forward, then pushed Carver when she stepped up beside him.

"Might still be worth it," he said.

When Carver and Shock passed by the bedroom, Barrel moved an arm over his forehead at Carver's suggestion.

"Shut uuuuup!"

In the casino, Lock recovered first.

"Might be a bit difficult," he said, "seeing as those are sold in the witches' shop."

That just got Shock to laugh even harder at the irony.

[SystemofEleven]

"Noooooo," she whined back at Barrel with a grin.

Carver groaned when she realized she probably wouldn't have access to Igor's treats -- or anything else -- for a while. She quickly perked back up again, though. "I bet Sally would be willing to get some for me! She can appreciate how controlling and dramatic he is, and this is probably the least troublesome thing I've done in a couple decades..."

[LePouvantail]

Lock grinned.

"You've got such a great big sister, Carver. Unlike some of us..."

Shock immediately stopped laughing.

"Take it back!"

Lock's grin widened.

"I mean, if I'm not your favorite anymore..."

He laughed as his older sister tackled him. Lock and Shock tussled for a few moments, before it ended with Lock pinning his older sister front first with her hands behind her back and his tail around her throat. Shock tried to kick or throw him off, but to no avail, and grudgingly conceded.

The rest of the day went as it normally did for the tricksters. Barrel got to the scorpion tanks, then made only himself a good dinner out of pettiness. Lock set up a practice session when his siblings and Carver weren't too busy, then made a quick, simple meal for the rest of them. Shock had them refresh tomorrow's plan: she'd handle the fog juice concoction in the main square, while her brothers and Carver used their slingshots for stragglers in the cemetery and the pumpkin patch.

When they were ready to head to bed, the three of them climbed up to the tree house. Shock always headed to the armory to change into shorts and a tank top. Barrel usually just threw off his hoodie to sleep in the old shirt underneath, while Lock traded his normal pants for pajama pants. Neither of them cared if Carver was in the room.

Lock found the trio's favorite pillow first and claimed it. They always fought over it, and it often changed heads in the night, but there was an unspoken agreement that the first to grab it got to start with it, and any method of gaining it first was fair game - like how Shock sometimes grabbed it before leaving the room to change, or how Barrel sometimes hid it during the day.

Shock joined her brothers and Carver a moment later. She kicked a few blankets away from her favorite spot on the floor, where a slightly uneven board stuck up and perfectly dug into her back when she rolled onto it. Such a delightful unrest it always brought, and with their big day tomorrow, she wanted to be as restless as possible.

"Do we understand the plan, geniuses?" she asked.

Lock threw his hands behind his head and rested against the favored pillow.

"I do," he said, then pointed to the youngest trickster with his tail. "Barrel might need some flashcards, though."

Barrel shoved him and stuck out his tongue.

"I don't have to talk to anyone this time!" he said.

"Can't flub up a script if you have no script," Shock said with a grin.

Barrel pulled a pillow to his face and screamed as his siblings laughed.

"I hate you all," he muttered.

[SystemofEleven]

Carver offered to help Shock get out of Lock's hold, snickering at the glare she received in response. When dinner came round, she grabbed a cookie of dried fertilizer for herself, stuck it in some water, and heated it up to a good soaking temperature. She alternated which vines had their tips dunked in and periodically re-heated it as they practiced and went over the plans. She kept a few vines clean so she could pat Barrel on the head whenever he walked past.

Come bedtime, she nabbed a pair of Lock's pajama bottoms. She likewise didn't care that they were in the room when she changed; she didn't have any parts that counted as private, and she didn't care about potentially seeing anyone else's. Not that she thought she was at risk of seeing anything from Barrel; he never took off more than his hoodie unless he was about to take a bath, anyway.

"Wow, Lock, I think you're getting shorter! These pants don't even go past my knee joints!" She waved a leg at him mockingly.

---

Meanwhile, Agatha had mostly gotten past her sullen snacking self-pity party, and was starting to allow herself a bit of anger. How dare Barrel use her affections against her! Pretending to be interested in spending extra time with her doing something she loved, being all gentlemanly and helpful, just to bait her out of the way so his siblings could cause mischief in the shop! Why if she wasn't such a nice person, she'd... She'd...

The young witch slumped back in bed with a huff. Well, she supposed it didn't matter what she would do, since she refused to stoop to his level.

...

Although...

Maybe stooping to his level was the exact thing that she needed to do. Make him understand how she felt, see things from her point of view...

Agatha got up and grabbed the phone from the other side of her room, carefully carrying it as far onto her bed as the cord would reach. It took her a moment to remember the number and dial it.

"Hello, I'm dreadfully sorry to disturb you so late, but I need to speak with Carmilla..."

[LePouvantail]

Lock glared at Carver as his siblings laughed on either side of him. He then went over to try to swipe the pants from the pumpkin creature.

"Can it, Carver!"

"I think she's right," Shock said, mostly to egg him on. She pointed to Lock's feet, where the ends of the pajama pants almost covered them. "You can barely see your toes!"

"I like them a little longer!" Lock said.

Barrel grinned now that his older brother was the target of mockery.

"Sure you do," he said. "Makes you feel a little taller?"

Lock reached up and punched his face.

"Tall enough to do that!"

Barrel punched him back into Carver, then grabbed the ends of Lock's pantlegs and pulled on them until they completely covered his feet. Lock kicked him away, then tried to pull an arm free to fix his pants and cover his boxers.

[LePouvantail]

[...]

[SystemofEleven]

Carver cackled, tempted to give him a second to try to figure out how to get the pants back while she was wearing them. When he turned to punch Barrel, she whipped out a vine to grab him by the tail. He quickly came tumbling back into her, and she helped pin his arms down with the rest of her vines while his siblings pulled on his pant legs.

"I think they'd make him feel taller if he hung them up, but when he's wearing them, they just make him look like he needs a mommy to go shopping with him and help him pick out the right size!"

The pumpkin creature carefully kept her comparatively soft head out of butting range as she added, "Maybe you guys should help trim them down, so he doesn't trip?"

[LePouvantail]

Lock tried to pull his tail free, but between Carver and Barrel's teamwork, he quickly found himself ensnared.

"Don't you fucking dare!"

Shock smirked and went to one of the shelves for a pair of scissors. Lock glared and tried to kick her. Barrel helped Carver hold his leg still. Shock held up the scissors in Lock's view, snipped them twice, then moved to his pantleg...where she simply snipped off a long, loose thread.

"It's been bugging me," she said as she put the scissors back.