[IC] Banding Together in Halloween Town

[SystemofEleven]

"All I've seen is Hanging Tree. Not sure if Lock hit them yet, though."

Carver elbowed Lock in the side. "Hold still. I'm gonna let Shock deal with you when she gets here."

[LePouvantail]

It would only take another moment or two for the oldest trickster to arrive. Shock carefully flew over the graveyard. Of her brothers, she expected this sort of thing to happen to Barrel, if it happened at all. She spotted Hanging Tree over by the old crypts and maneuvered carefully to avoid him. It didn't take long to spot Lock and Carver.

Lock kicked at the pumpkin creature's legs.

"Brought their attention to what? Damn it, Carver, help me out here!"

Shock flew down beside Lock and Carver and hovered at about their level.

"Seriously, Lock? You couldn't focus for two damn minutes? Spot your girlfriend, and suddenly can't think with the right damn head?"

Lock managed to wrestle himself free aside from a few vines around his ankle.

"Hey, don't look at me!" Lock cried. "I was just minding my own business when--wait, when did you get a broom?"

Shock smacked him upside the head.

"The witches' shop, you dope! We traded it for the wedding broom!"

Lock snarled at her and tried to swipe her back, but Shock drifted out of range. Still, the mention of the shop and the wedding broom jogged something. Why did he remember gluing a broom to a wall all of a sudden?

Shock turned to Carver.

"Where's his stash?"

Hanging Tree was still here, and she could at least make sure he and his hanging men were affected.

[SystemofEleven]

Carver released him and looked around for his bucket. "I don't know. I was rather distracted trying to convince the twins nothing unusual was afoot..."

She headed over toward where he had been standing in confusion when she initially found the group. Some searching quickly turned up his stash of balloons, and his slingshot lying nearby. She quickly brought them back to Shock.

"Need a second shooter, or would you rather I keep an eye on your brother?"

[LePouvantail]

Shock took the bucket when Carver retrieved it and carefully hung it on the front end of the broom. She also placed Lock's slingshot on top for easy access, as hers would be difficult to retrieve from her boot while still controlling the broom. She had Carver take a few balloons in her vines, just in case anyone else entered.

"Watch Mr. Amnesia for a moment. I'll be back."

Lock took a seat on a nearby tombstone. The thought of the broom glued to wall seemed to spark something, and he didn't want to lose it. It was important, and so was whatever they were doing that required Shock using the broom they stole. His tail twitched in contemplation. This, and the strange water on the vampire twins...they were all connected. How?

Shock took off again with care. She found Hanging Tree quickly, balanced herself carefully, then bombarded him and his Hanging Men from above. She was gone before they could comprehend the sudden mysterious rainfall. Shock made a quick swoop of the rest of the cemetery, then came back to Lock and Carver.

"I think that's it," she said. "I didn't see Lillith or Carmilla. They probably headed back to town."

[SystemofEleven]

Carver positioned herself so she could keep both Lock and the gate in sight at once. To keep herself entertained, a few stones were picked up and juggled.

"Still can't believe you fucked this one up," she said conversationally. "We've only been planning it a month."

[LePouvantail]

[...]

[LePouvantail]

Lock glanced at her, frustrated.

"I still don't know what you're talking about," he said, "except I did something to the twins, kissed Lillith, and that somehow got their attention to whatever we're doing."

He crossed his arms and flicked his tail.

"...And something about the witches' shop. I remember that."

Lock glared at Carver.

"So if you're going to go on about what I screwed up, at least tell me what the hell this is all about."

He glanced over at Shock as she returned.

"Probably," he said. "They both flew that way."

[SystemofEleven]

"Remember when you asked if they'd been bobbing for apples? You're the one that got them wet. They immediately forgot about it, but then you decided to draw their attention back to it. You're just super lucky I gave you a plausible excuse and changed the subject." She tossed a rock at him. "And I'm not saying any more about it until we get back to the tree house, where there's no chance of people wandering by and hearing the plan before the last bit falls in place."

She nodded to Shock. "Good. Hopefully the leftover fog should clear out the last of any suspicions they might have."

[LePouvantail]

Lock stared at Carver for a second. All right, that sounded plausible, especially when Shock asked about his "stash" and took a bucket of water balloons. He caught the rock and threw it back at her cage.

Shock nodded as she hovered on the broom. She then clicked on the walkie-talkie.

"Barrel, do a final sweep and head back to base," she said. "We'll meet you there."

"Got it," Barrel replied.

Shock then turned to Lock and Carver.

"You two head back," she said. "I'm gonna do a final check."

She gave a pointed glance to Lock.

"Straight home," she said with a glare. "You're lucky the twins won't remember this, or I'd clobber you right now."

Lock glared back and stuck his tongue out at her.

"Fine, Your Majesty," he said.

Shock glowered at him.

"And don't you forget it."

Lock stared her down for a few seconds, then slipped off the tombstone and headed for the tree house as Shock took off again. He pulled out his cigarette pack as he walked with Carver and paused only long enough to light one up. All of this memory bullshit was stressing him out, and he knew he'd need to have some of the edge taken off by the time his older sister got back.

Shock swept the graveyard a final time, then went to the pumpkin patch to relieve Barrel of any extra balloons. Any stragglers she caught from above would find themselves drenched. The rest of her ammo was relieved in the further residential areas of town as a secondary assurance that not a soul in Halloween Town aside from the four tricksters remained unaffected. Shock then headed back to meet the others at the tree house.

[SystemofEleven]

Carver followed Lock back to the tree house, staying a few steps behind him. She didn't think he'd forget again now that the fog had cleared, but she wasn't completely certain he wouldn't if he zoned out during the walk. Once they go there, she filled up on popcorn. She was definitely going to need that later. Once she was all set up, she flopped down on the couch.

"So, loverboy, would you like a reminder of exactly what you nearly screwed up? Or would you rather wait for Shock to come explain it?"

[LePouvantail]

Lock tossed the old cigarette into the ravine once they got there and climbed up the rope ladder first. He then lit another cigarette as he turned to Carver.

"Might as well explain now so I know why she's going to chew my head off when she gets here."

[SystemofEleven]

Carver nodded and leaned against the wall casually. "Long story short, we mixed up a memory-wipe potion, combined it with some fog juice, and dumped it into the fountain. You and I were put on straggler duty in the graveyard, using water balloons to catch anyone who wasn't caught by the main fog in town. Since nobody would remember getting hit, nobody would connect their amnesia with our presence or actions. Shock turned the Halloween count down to zero, and we were going to let everyone think they'd gone scatter-brained and missed Halloween."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "But since you wiped your own memory getting too close to Lillith, you didn't know that, and pointed out the water stains to them. You drew attention to the fact that they couldn't remember what had happened five minutes prior, meaning there's a reasonable chance they might have realized something was up."

[LePouvantail]

Lock took a drag as he listened. As Carver spoke, a few more pieces clicked into place. He started to recall a few details, such as the prank preparations, and even this morning. He pondered on it, and just let the information come to him. By the time Shock and Barrel rejoined them, he at least had a decent grasp of the whole situation, and was starting to remember his side of things.

Barrel climbed up into the tree house first. He looked pleased with himself, as things has gone well in the pumpkin patch, and he was beaming about what little he heard went down in the graveyard. Sounded like Lock messed up big time. Lock worked on his third cigarette as the pieces of his encounter with the vampires began to fall into place.

Shock entered last. She flew up into the tree house on the broom, then gently landed on the middle of the room. Lock flicked some ash as he waited for the inevitable and brought the cigarette to his lips again. Barrel was still beaming until he picked up on his older brother's demeanor, then his smile began to fade. It worsened when Shock set the broom aside, crossed her arms, and glared at Lock. Barrel decided to join Carver as Shock set her sights on the middle trickster.

"You almost cost us this whole thing," she snarled. "Fortunately, I spotted Lillith and Carmilla in the square on my way back, so they shouldn't be a problem."

Lock's tail flicked in irritation.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault!" he cried. "Lillith dodged my hit!"

"Yeah, after you got distracted!"

"Nuh-uh," Lock said as he flicked a bit more ash. "What Carver told you was utter corpse rot! She wasn't there! Lillith cornered me before I could reload. I kissed her to distract her so I could smash a balloon on her head."

"So this whole thing is because you're a lousy shot?" Shock asked.

"They're affected and won't remember this, so shove it." Lock took a forceful drag, then pointed to Barrel. "At least my screw-up was an easy fix!"

"Hey!" Barrel exclaimed.

[SystemofEleven]

Carver refrained from munching on her popcorn. Lack of a stomach meant she could ingest the same popcorn a few times over before it became ground up too finely to reuse. That said, she was going to need as much as possible to get through the hysterics once somebody noticed the countdown board.

"Bite my rusty metal ass!" she snarled at Lock's corpse rot comment. "I'm not the one who had to be reminded what the water balloons even were!"

[LePouvantail]

Lock glared at Carver.

"Oh, like you'd do better against Lillith's speed!"

Shock glared at him.

"Regardless," she said, "you still screwed up!"

Lock glowered as he sucked on the cigarette. A thought came to mind, and he smirked as he slowly let out the smoke.

"Actually..." he said, "this could be a good thing."

Barrel reached over to take a handful of popcorn, intrigued. How was his older brother going to worm his way out of this one?

"A good thing?" Shock asked. "What can possibly be good about this?"

Lock glanced at her, then at Carver.

"How long was my memory wiped," he asked, "and what brought it back?"

Shock's glare darkened, then softened as she realized what Lock was getting at. This was something they hadn't actually considered.

Or tested.

"...Filling you in," she said.

"I also pieced some of it together myself," he said, "when I saw and heard certain things."

Lock took a final drag to finish off the cigarette, then snuffed it against an already damaged part of the wall, where a few other round, cigarette burn marks were etched into the wood.

"And I can tell you, even with reminders, it takes time for a monster to remember something, but once it's triggered, it'll start reversing the forget-me-lots' effects. I still don't remember everything, but it's coming back."

"You also only had a small dose," Shock said. "It'll probably take longer for the rest of Halloween Town to get their minds back in place."

"True," Lock said, "but if they see or hear something familiar enough, even by accident--"

"--They may start to remember sooner than we want them to," Shock finished.

She paced the room a few times as she pondered it.

"...Then we need to strike--"

"--As soon as--" Barrel continued as he picked up on it too.

"--The fog clears," Lock finished.

[SystemofEleven]

Carver tapped her pumpkin thoughtfully. "On the other hand, for most of the monsters, there is virtually no difference from one day to another. They do almost the same thing, over and over, on repeat, with only minor variations from year to year, or as a reaction to our... interference. If we don't do anything out of the ordinary, they may remember what they were doing -- just because it's what they always do -- and still not recognize that something is off."

She grinned slowly. "We may not even need to strike. Werewolf checks the countdown just past midnight like clockwork. We just need to be around to watch."

[LePouvantail]

Shock turned to her and pondered that as well.

"The fog should be clear by then," she said, "but you might be right. The best thing we can is observe--"

She shot a glare to both of her brothers.

"--And not screw anything else up. Got it?"

Barrel shrunk back with a gulp and a nod. Lock rolled his eyes and flicked his tail.

"Fine," he said.

"I'll periodically check to make sure it's safe," Shock said, with an indication towards the broom. "Once it clears, we'll go from there."

~~~

It took several hours for the fog to completely disperse. Shock used the broom to keep a safe distance, not only from the fog, but prying eyes. Remembering what Lock said about memory triggers, if someone saw her and questioned it, it could lead to further questioning. On her final check, she avoided the main gate and instead flew close, hid the broom, and climbed up the brick wall to peer over.

Everyone was going about their business. No one had noticed the clock yet. Shock then went back to the tree house to get Carver and her brothers. After stashing the broom again, they all went back into town to legitimately assist with preparations, making sure to be in or near the square. They also worked to keep their fellow citizens from taking a close look at Town Hall.

At long last, a frantic, desperate howl echoed throughout the town. It took all of the tricksters' effort to not laugh, and instead, they came running with the rest of the town to see what was up.

"What's going on?" cried the devil.

All three witches came running from the shop.

"There isn't a full moon!" Agnes cried. "What's he howling about?"

"It sounds urgent," Aggie said. "Hurry, Agatha!"

Agatha trailed behind her aunts and quickly joined the crowd. The Mayor and Jack both rushed out of the doors of Town Hall.

"What's all this?" Jack asked.

Wolfman desperately pointed to the countdown clock. Thanks to Shock's tampering earlier, it now read, "365 Days to Halloween" once midnight had passed.

"It's Halloween!" he cried with a frantic growl. "We missed it!"

A wave of panic surged through the crowd.

"No scares?" cried Clown.

"No blood-draining?" the vampires exclaimed in chorus.

"No tricks?" Lock, Shock, and Barrel said in fake solidarity.

Jack stared at the clock.

"I--how could this happen?"

[SystemofEleven]

The Mayor spun his head to the frowning side -- or tried to, anyway. In his panic, he overshot and spun all the way back to the smiling side. He blinked in confusion, recognizing that something wasn't right about that. Then he tried again. It took him two more attempts before he regained enough composure to control his faces. Carver lost a bit of her own composure and snickered quietly at him, but quickly became serious again.

Frantic chattering broke out across the crowd as various citizens tried to figure out how they managed to forget Halloween or what to do now. Werewolf and his black cat both started grooming themselves to self-comfort. Agatha puller her hat off and started twisting it in her hands as she looked to her aunts to guidance -- though they were a bit busy clinging to Jack's legs, begging him for a solution.

Eventually Jack managed to get the whole crowd to settle down and sent them off to their homes. He wasn't sure how this had happened, but in the mean time, they needed to begin preparations for next Halloween.

[LePouvantail]

Lock, Shock, and Barrel barely managed to hold in their laughter. In lieu of it, Shock threw a mini tantrum decrying it wasn't fair, Barrel started pulling candy from his hoodie to munch on to "comfort" himself, and Lock just buried his face in his hands as his tail twitched in a frantic mess behind him.

They kept it up as they headed back to the tree house, as some of the ghosts, shadows, and other incorporeals trailed with them for a time to make their way back to the graveyard. Once in the safety of their home, Shock lost it first.

"You were right, Carver! The Mayor's head almost came completely off!"

Lock fell over as he howled with laughter.

"The looks on all their faces!"

Barrel's giggles joined in the chorus.

"Even Jack didn't know what to do!"

He stopped for a moment.

"Well...I kind of feel bad about that..."

Shock scoffed.

"Jack will bounce back. I bet when he recovers, he'll think this was great!"

"We're going to-going to be in so m-m-much trouble when he does!" Lock exclaimed through another round of laughter. "W-w-worth it!"

[SystemofEleven]

Carver took her head off and shook violently while Shock tantrum-ed. She nearly tripped a few times as she followed the tricksters back to the tree house. Anyone else might think she was trying to hide that she was crying, but the trio were familiar enough to recognize she had been incapable of controlling her own laughter beyond a certain point, and was preventing herself from making any noise that could give it away.

She flopped onto the couch as soon as they got in, but Shock beat her to the break down as she had to get her head back on first. The pumpkin creature offered vines to high five them all as she cackled.