[IC] Banding Together in Halloween Town

[LePouvantail]

Shock carefully kept the other witch in her sight as she worked on getting more glue freed from the rafter. She caught the surprised blink. Good. It seemed she had the old bat's interest, and that she could get this overwith quickly. One jar of scorpion tails wasn't too much work to make up for, as they were the easiest to procure, and if it kept Aggie from prying, it was a pittance to keep her secret safe and let the old bat simply assume she was hiding a different prank. It was also a decent starting point in case Aggie wanted to haggle, which she expected as a possibility. And best of all, it would throw off the true worth of the secret - that it was big enough to hide, but not quite worth the venom.

Because if Aggie knew what she was actually being bribed for, Shock wasn't sure there was a price that could satisfy her - or guarantee she wouldn't just tell Jack anyway.

"Fine," Shock said, as she reached to take the wedding broom. "I'll bring it tomorrow."

She readied herself for a counter-offer.

[SystemofEleven]

Aggie pulled it back, just out of her reach. "No, you will finish cleaning it off here. If it were the real broom, I would have no reasonable excuse to allow you to take it out of sight, let alone out of the shop. If you want this secret kept, you will continue as you would if everything were completely above-board."

She slowly offered it back to Shock.

[LePouvantail]

Shock glowered, then snatched the broom from Aggie's hands. She set the broom on top of the shelf beside her, where it would look like she just set it down after getting it free.

"I meant the jar," she said, "but I'll take that as a deal."

Shock allowed herself a quick smirk as she picked up the acetone. Aggie just lost her moment to haggle further.

[SystemofEleven]

Agatha stared mutely at Barrel's bare chest, trying to figure out what to say. He definitely had some flab in the gut area, to be sure, but he was not, in fact, a flabby guy. His skin wasn't pulled tight over bulging muscles, but the muscles were still very definitely there. She wondered how much he could actually lift.

Carver smirked ever so slightly and tapped out a message as she spoke. "Yeah, well, Agatha here didn't trust me with the detergent, but she did offer to help out." I'll replace one of your spices if you pick up that full trash can and hold it over your head with one hand. "It was her idea to come to you, though." Two, if you ignore that you're doing it.

Agatha blushed and shrugged; she was grateful that Carver was giving her credit for being helpful and talking her up to Barrel, but she was afraid he'd get turned off to her if it got layed on too thick. She didn't want to look like she was trying too hard. Or that she'd forgotten how he'd stared into her eyes earlier.

...Or that she'd stopped being mad at him for staring into her eyes to get her to forgive him.

Damn it...

[LePouvantail]

Barrel took note of Agatha staring at him. Even outside the shop, she kept an eye on him. Did he still have something on his body from the food fight...? He glanced down and inspected, then casually brushed off his chest just in case. As he looked up again, he noticed Carver's tapping.

"Figures," he said with a shrug.

As Carver instructed, Barrel casually lifted up the trashcan without a second thought and held it up with one hand. Fine. This was nothing to get some of the spices back.

"But I can use the break anyway."

He smiled at Agatha, then set the trash can back down.

[SystemofEleven]

Agatha's eyes glazed over as she watched the feat before her. Well, it wasn't a massive feat, but it was still impressive, and had the added benefit of making his muscles just a bit more... visibly accentuated. Was he showing off just to impress her? Or to test how well she could maintain a stable level of subtlety and nuance?

"IIIIIII ummm... Well, ahhhhhhhh...." As the witch tried to figure out what would be the appropriate response to this situation, she didn't even notice Carver trembling beside her.

The pumpkin creature pulled her head off to prevent the laughter from breaking out and giving herself away. Still shaking a bit, she made a show of examining the back and underside of it for signs of rot.

[LePouvantail]

Barrel casually approached Agatha, with his eyes going down to his stained hoodie still clutched in her hands.

"So, um..." He awkwardly tucked a hand behind his head. "...You were gonna help me with that?"

Barrel shot Carver a quick glance. What was so funny?

[SystemofEleven]

Carver slowly brought herself to a calmer state, but continued to examine her head. Leaving it off allowed for the potential of suddenly breaking out in laughter again without having to think of an excuse to pull her head off twice. She could put it back on quickly enough if she needed to say something to divert the conversation. Plus, she did have that pumpkin stashed for a new head; it'd be a good idea to know approximately how much time she had to work on it without her current head turning to mush before the new one was finished.

Agatha snapped her head slightly to the side as she pulled herself out of her daze. "Um, yeah. Right. Ahh... Did you want me to clean you up, too, or just... just the clothes?" She tried to rip her gaze away from his chest, but found it slipping downward again as she spoke. "The spells aren't, um, too different. One just takes a bit... longer."

[LePouvantail]

Barrel stared at Carver gor a moment. Upon watching the pumpkin creature examine her head and find some rot, he wondered if it was to keep herself from laughing, or if maybe she actually did need to examine her head.

Maybe both.

He turned back to Agatha.

"I guess you could do both," he said, after pondering a moment, "but if you've only got time for one, then clothes. I've got more hauling to do in the pumpkin patch, and I needed a bath tonight anyway."

[SystemofEleven]

Agatha watched a drop of pumpkin juice slowly roll down the youngest trickster's chest as he spoke. She opened her mouth to say something back, but suddenly found herself imagining Barrel in the trio's trademark bathtub, with just enough suds to hide, errr... particular parts of his otherwise naked body. She continued staring, but it was less at Barrel now, and more through him. He had been replaced in her mind by a vision she couldn't shake off.

Carver stopped examining her head and tried to get a "feel" on the witch. Usually when Agatha was directly addressed, her almost aggravating level of politeness was enough to pull her back to the present and force a response. She should have gotten over Barrel's shirtlessness by now. Why...?

[LePouvantail]

Barrel took note of Agatha staring at him, and looked a bit discomforted. The blank look in her eyes almost reminded him of his siblings when he said or did something too stupid for words. He followed her gaze, then quickly brushed off the pumpkin juice and wiped it on his pants.

"Erm, sorry about that," he said. "Guess I didn't get all of it."

[SystemofEleven]

Carver suddenly remembered wording Barrel had used and connected the dots. She tried to resist but was unable to prevent herself from falling over in a fit of silent laughter. She hugged her head to her chest and flopped her vines against the ground in uncontrolled hysterics.

The flailing motion finally snapped Agatha back to the present. "Bbbhuhh? What.. What's going on? Is something wrong?" She looked down at Carver, wondering the the pumpkin creature was in pain or having some kind of breakdown. No response was forthcoming.

[LePouvantail]

Barrel looked at Carver too, just as confused for a moment, until he recognized Carver's spasms as laughter.

"Either she got a sudden case of squash bugs, or something's hilarious."

He shrugged his shoulders, as he couldn't see anything particularly funny when he and Agatha were just talking. Barrel turned back to Agatha, then glanced back down to his hoodie. He awkwardly hung back a bit, as he wasn't used to being this exposed in public.

"So, um...were you going to help me, or...?"

[SystemofEleven]

Agatha stared at Carver in confusion for a moment longer before clearing her throat and focusing back on Barrel. "Right! Um, sorry, I... got distracted."

She reached behind her hip for her material components bag... and found nothing. She looked down, then muttered a few cut non-swears under her breath. "Sorry," she told Barrel with a groan, "It looks like I forgot the stuff I need to cast the spell. Do you want to come back with me to the store?"

[LePouvantail]

Barrel smiled.

"Sure," he said.

It got him out of work for just a little longer, and he wasn't about to turn that down. He walked with Agatha back to the shop. The bell rang. Shock had taken a break from chipping glue off the ceiling, and was calmly sitting on top of the shelf with the wedding broom and rubbing the handle down with acetone to clean it off. She glanced over to see who had entered, rolled her eyes, then went back to work.

Aggie was at the counter, where she could both keep an eye on Shock and wait for her niece. She gave Agatha a knowing smile, but there was an edge to it that showed her niece was in more than a bit of trouble.

"I take it that it was quite an emergency to leave the shop unattended," she asked calmly, "while there are...guests here?"

Her eyes glanced up at Shock, who simply stuck out her tongue at the old bat, then went back to her task. Barrel stopped in his tracks. He looked at Aggie, then Agatha, then back to Aggie. He tried to think of something, since Agatha was doing him a favor.

"She was...um...helping me?" he asked as he reached behind his neck in a nervous scratch.

[SystemofEleven]

Carver kept rolling around on the ground in laughter while the other two walked away. After they were gone, she managed to get herself under control and got back to work. And much as she wanted to watch the train wreck continue with Barrel and Agatha, she couldn't get away with slacking off anymore and the witches might figure out she was up to something if she followed along, anyway. She'd get details from Shock, later.

Agatha stepped into the shop, saw Aggie, furrowed her brow, glanced up at Shock, then back at Aggie... Then her face when so pale she could be compared to a slightly green-tinted vampire.

"I-- It was-- There were--" she sputtered, trying simultaneously to find a reasonable excuse and to figure out exactly how she hadn't thought of the potential consequences of leaving. She looked at Barrel for help, but immediately realized... Right. That was how. She blushed deeply and turned back to her aunt. "Umm... Carver wanted to buy some things to wash Barrel's clothes after a food fight, but I... thought it prudent to not sell her anything after... the last couple of times. I just... stepped out to cast a cleaning spell, but I forgot my components bag."

"Prudent?" Agatha repeated with an icy pleasantness. "Are you able to be prudent from two places at once? I really must learn that trick from you, dear. I would have thought it easier to simply call Agnes or myself to assist, rather than leaving our guest unsupervised."

Agatha ducked her head and quietly apologized. She wasn't brave enough to ask if Shock had tried anything while she was out, or how long she had been left alone for.

[LePouvantail]

Barrel followed Agatha's gaze up to his sister, then back to Aggie. As he listened to Agatha explain, a grin slowly formed on his face, before a few giggles made their way up into full-on laughter.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "That's why Carver was laughing!"

His laughter was cut short when he realized the witches were staring at him. Even Shock gave him a side-eye.

"...Oh. Um. She said she needed to borrow my hoodie," Barrel said, awkwardly. "I just didn't know why until now."

The detergent was clearly an excuse to leave Shock alone in the shop for some kind of mischief. A thoughtful expression crossed his face as he looked at the stained hoodie in Agatha's hands.

"That also explains why she was so eager to buy me lunch."

Shock smirked as she shot a knowing glance to Agatha. Her smirk widened when she shifted her gaze to Barrel, who was now in on her game. Her lovestruck pawn had moved just how she wanted her to.

[SystemofEleven]

Aggie stepped out from behind the counter and wordlessly took the hoodie to examine it. After a moment, she handed it back to Barrel. "Soak it in warm water overnight and give it a good scrub with salt. That should prevent a stain from setting in. You can come into the shop before work tomorrow to get it cleaned properly." She smiled at him. "For a fee, as usual."

The older witch turned to her niece again. "You're lucky I noticed your absence before any trouble could come up in the shop. We'll have a discussion about this later. For now, go help Agnes in the brewing room."

[LePouvantail]

Barrel just nodded and took the hoodie. He pulled it back on with a quickly muttered "thanks", then turned to Agatha.

"Thanks anyway," he said. "I should get going."

He gave a quick wave goodbye to Shock, who lazily returned it before going back to her task. Barrel then headed back out to work. Now alone with the other witches, Shock started another round of acetone cleaning, but subtly watched Agatha from above. Her smirk lifted even more slightly now that someone else was in trouble.

[SystemofEleven]

Agatha winced and quickly shuffled out of the room. As she walked, her mind tumbled through thoughts as she processed the current situation. Her first instinct was to get angry at Barrel for using her again, but that didn't... quite make sense. The longer she had been distracted and kept out of the shop, the harder it was for Carver to contain her laughter. Barrel had shown off his strength when he saw them approaching, but he didn't even start showing signs of amusement until they returned and her aunt had begun scolding her. Was... Was it possible? Could it be that he really hadn't known she was being set up?

The teen witch silently took her place at the cauldron, ignoring Agnes' questioning glance. Now that she thought about it, all the times recently that she could think of where her feelings for the tallest trickster had been used against her, someone else had always instigated it. When she'd been distracted by her gaze locking onto Barrel's, Shock was the one who tripped him into her. Even when the swamp gas had gone off -- no, been set off -- he looked surprised and even a little bit worried when Shock and Carver had come in with the scorpion parts. He'd changed the subject real quick too, rather than playing it casual or something. Like he thought he wasn't actually supposed to be there...

Agatha frowned in thought as she stirred the current brew. Then she slowly smiled. Of course! He wasn't just helping her get out of the shop to get her out of the way, he legitimately wanted to make sure she was okay! His siblings had just... just manipulated the whole thing to make use of how much he cared for her! Her wrinkled little heart swelled with pleasure, even as it shriveled in suppressed rage toward Shock and Carver. She almost bounced in place. He liked her!