[IC] Banding Together in Halloween Town

[LePouvantail]

Shock gave her a strange look. Why did she think they borrowed it? Well, Aggie probably wouldn't guess the main purpose was to get the hell out of dodge from the fog juice, but she was sure the witch at least considered the sort of things any troublesome teenager might get up to if they had possession of a flying broom.

And then Aggie mentioned magic talent.

Shock carefully examined the older witch's face for any further insinuation. Her magic was a secret she had carefully hidden for decades. Like hell was she going to admit to it.

"...That explains why it took so much effort for such a simple job," she said, to try to get Aggie off the subject.

[SystemofEleven]

Aggie leaned forward against the counter. "And what simple job might that be?"

She didn't suspect that Shock had any actual magic, else there would be a lot more of it involved in their various pranks. She did, howeverm suspect there was something else going on with it.

[LePouvantail]

Shock narrowed her eyes.

"It doesn't matter," she said, "because it's done."

She headed back for the ladder so she could get the rest of the glue bits off the ceiling and finally be done with this task.

"Your brooms are more trouble than they're worth."

[SystemofEleven]

Aggie smiled at her icily. "If things stopped mattering just because they were done, there would be no need to receive punishment for any sort of misbehavior after the fact. You're already in hot water for the forget-me-lots. You do not want to find out what Agnes could and would do to you if she finds out you used her broom for trouble."

The witch let out a quiet cackle that did actually manage to be a little bit creepy in a not-good way at Shock's second comment. "Perhaps you should keep that in mind the next time you consider 'borrowing' one."

[LePouvantail]

She climbed up the ladder to get back to her task, but kept Aggie in the corner of her eye.

"Or what, she'll turn me into a toad?"

Shock actually looked a little uncomfortable at Aggie's cackle, but once more, she quickly regained composure. She started to wipe some acetone on the residual glue pieces.

"Lesson learned," she said, making sure to match her tone with just as much ice.

More than Aggie knew. If any monster saw her flying, and flying well, it wouldn't take much for any of the witches to put two and two together. While Shock could probably feign ignorance of her magic if caught, knowing she was capable of it at all would have every monster in Halloween Town concerned and seeking counters - and that would hinder their trouble greatly. The levitation spell alone let them get away with a lot more than they could have when left to their own devices.

Shock was suddenly more grateful for Lock's forget-me-lot mishap, and how it forced her to be more careful when flying. It kept her most precious secret safe.

[SystemofEleven]

"Oh, nothing so simple as that for someone as special as you, dearie."

Aggie stepped out from behind the counter and casually walked over to pull the fake broom out of its hiding place. She chipped at the glue residue with the long crooked nail on her thumb.

"Would you like to wait and find out, or would you rather answer my questions now?"

[LePouvantail]

Shock kept Aggie's movements in her line of sight. When the older witch pulled the wedding broom from where she hid it, she grimaced, but was relieved her gamble paid off. For a moment, she was quiet.

"...I needed it to drop the fog juice," Shock muttered, mostly to get Aggie off her back. "That's all."

[SystemofEleven]

A slight shift in the position of Aggie's hat showed a significant rise of her eyebrows. "You managed to fly the broom over the fountain, pour in a bottle of fog juice, and get away before the fog caught up with you?"

She supposed Shock could have just flown the broom to an area with fewer eyes, dismounted, and then booked it on foot. But in that case, it would have been easier to simply dump it in manually and then run from the start. If anything, a non-witch would have been slowed down by the broom.

...Well, Shock had said it had been really difficult for something that was supposed to be simple. Perhaps she just overestimated how complicated broom-flying could be.

Or maybe she had stolen it for something else, and was trying to cover up that using something she'd already been caught for as an excuse.

...And in either case, how had she managed to escape the fog in the first place? The witch wasn't sure whether to be impressed, or suspicious.

[LePouvantail]

"I didn't pour it," Shock said. "I dropped the open bottle."

Which actually was true, sort of.

"Easier to make sure I hit the target, and get out of range, since I was already up."

She glared at Aggie.

"Like I said: simple task, difficult execution."

[SystemofEleven]

Aggie returned to her place behind the counter and set both brooms out of reach, near each other. ""I'm surprised you didn't just get one of those little four-propeller helicopter toys and remote drop it in. No chance of getting caught in the fog radius if you're already fifty yards away when it goes off."

[LePouvantail]

Shock glared at her. That...actually wouldn't have been a bad idea. She then returned to her work. Now that the broom was gone, the residual glue bits were easier to reach and chip away.

"You'd be surprised the lengths mortals go to, to protect their stuff," she said, "but why are you trying to give me ideas?"

[SystemofEleven]

"Oh, I'm not. I'm sure you could have thought of it on your own. Eventually." She smiled sweetly. "I just thought I would remind you that you don't have a monopoly on creative recourse."

She rolled a bleached knucklebone across the fingers of one hand. "So you might like to start thinking of a way to convince me not to tell my sister what you did with her broom."

[LePouvantail]

Shock got a few glue bits freed and set some more acetone on the bigger chunks of glue.

"It was all one trick," she said, "and you've already got your retribution."

She glared down at Aggie. The other witches were always looking for a bargain of some sort, and she was far from in the mood.

"It took me longer to get the brooms down than it did to take it and fly it, and I returned it undamaged."

[SystemofEleven]

Aggie gestured toward the spot she had pulled the decoy broom from. "If you really expected to get away without further retribution, I rather doubt you would have gone to the effort to hide the act of switching them back. Which leads me to wonder," she added, "whether it it really was all part of the one trick, or perhaps if you've something else to hide. Perhaps my sister, Jack, and I should do some more investigating, hmm?"

[LePouvantail]

She lifted the chisel to get another glue fragment loose. Shock was prepared to simply ignore the other witch and just keep working, but the chisel slid and scratched the rafter as Aggie mentioned further investigation. The older witch already got too close to her secret. And if Jack asked around, her story about hovering above the well wouldn't hold up when all anyone could confirm about her presence in the square was her smoking near the gate right before the fog started. And if there was nothing in her hands but a cigarette...

Shock didn't want to ponder much further, especially because if any monster did actually recall seeing her flying, it wouldn't take much deduction from there to confirm how the rest of the trick was done.

"...Do you ever stop talking?" she asked, in a final attempt to keep Aggie from prying. "I already told you: I needed you three off my back so you wouldn't notice it missing so I could drop the fog juice. That's it."

It was a gamble to try to get the older witch to drop it, to assume she didn't give a damn what any of them might find. But she was already pondering what it would take to keep the old bat quiet if it came to that.

"The only reason to switch them back is Agnes would notice her broom wouldn't fly if I didn't."

[SystemofEleven]

"Obviously. But why be so secretive about the second switch? Why not simply return the real broom once the trick was done and have a good laugh at our confusion?"

[LePouvantail]

Shock managed to pry a particularly large chunk of glue from the rafter.

"Maybe, since it's close to Halloween, I figured it was best to return it sooner than later when I'm already in trouble," she said, irritably.

[SystemofEleven]

"You're already in trouble, hmm? So what would be the problem of coming clean? Is it perhaps because this," the witch motioned toward the brooms again, "isn't actually part of what you're already in trouble for?"

Aggie might have let it drop already, but she found Shock's consistent non-answers and poorly reasoned excuses to be both fascinating and suspicious. The tricksters may have a knack for avoiding the consequences of their actions, but they were never shy about taking credit for their work. She wasn't so much worried that whatever Shock was hiding was dangerous or especially problematic, but she was becoming increasingly curious as to why the teenager was being so blatantly secretive.

[LePouvantail]

Shock grabbed the acetone and started another round of softening the remaining glue fragments. Fine. If it kept the old bat away from figuring out her magic, she'd run with it.

"I will bring you a jar of scorpion tails if it'll get you to shut up," she said.

[SystemofEleven]

Aggie blinked. Wow, that was a rather sudden turn. She expected, if Shock gave in at all, there would be some amount of haggling to get to a reasonable bribe. A whole jar, as a first offer?

The witch made a fair show of considering it. A part of her wanted to see how far she could drive the deal, but she wasn't a greedy fool. Shock was a hard push on a good day. Whatever Aggie might get extra would not be worth the wrath she got if she overstepped and Shock came out swinging.

"Mmmm... I think I can find a way to sweep this under the rug." A slight cackle escaped before she continued, "But you'll still have to get the glue off the double if you don't want anyone else catching on. I'll hide Agnes's until you're done."

Aggie passed back the wedding broom, and tucked the flying broom behind a shelf where the trickster wouldn't be able to retrieve it without garnering attention.