SystemofEleven

Banding Together in Halloween Town

She poked him in the side of the head. "Sun's down. Wasn't up early 'nough not t'get caught. No point not sleeping in now."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith groaned and made a lazy attempt to knee him, but he was so short and high up that she didn't make contact. She didn't stop petting his hair, but she didn't want to be awake yet and she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep if he kept moving.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith grumbled and sat up, but only long enough to nudge him closer to the center of the coffin and lie back down on top of him. She played with his hair fumblingly, still half asleep.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver nodded. "Of course. Thank you!"

She waited for Sally to get the basket, waved again, and then left to go pick flowers. There were only two dwarf corpse flowers blooming, but some chunks of a full size one would easily fill out space and still get the job done. Next came the henbane, then a random assortment of forget-me-lots and other various wild flowers that would go well with the corpse flowers. If anybody asked, she wouldn't have to explain the forget-me-lots specifically and just pretend they were all meant to go together.

She dropped the forget-me-lots with Shock, threw together two bouquets with the dwarf corpse flowers as the centerpieces and the extra chunks tucked between the other plants, and then went home to set them up in the two highest-traffic areas of the lab.

Jewel found her making sure the second bouquet sat right in the chemistry flask she'd grabbed as a vase. Their conversation was short; Carver fed her the same story about "noticing" the blooms, then begged off to go return the basket and henbane to Sally. She didn't bother to ask permission for a sleepover, as she was counting on the Doctor being too distracted to argue with either of them anyway.

A quick trip to Jack's house -- she was relieved when Sally answered the door -- and then back to the treehouse. She climbed up the ladder and down the slide, because why not.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"What? Noooo," Carver said sweetly. "I hadn't even thought of that. But, you know, if that happens anyway... The good Doctor will be less likely to come down to the tree house and try to drag me away from a sleep over."

She shrugged and dropped the more obvious act. "Shock and Carmilla had another fight at band practice, and if he shows up and gets shot in the eyes as a form of stress relief, he'll chain me up for a week as retaliation just because he can."

Which wasn't a lie. But nothing said the pumpkin creature had to pick only the one type of flower while she was out. She could easily weave one web to catch two flies going different directions.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"No, thanks." Carver shook her head. "I already joined Shock and Barrel for lunch after band practice."

She waved at Sally as she came out of the kitchen.

"Hey, Sally. Could I borrow your basket? I was out walking, and noticed a couple of corpse flowers blooming. I'd like to pick some to spruce up the lab a bit, but they're a bit big for my cage." She smiled up at her sister and tilted her head ever so slightly to the side, as she had done often as a small and guileless young child.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver's vines tightened around her cage a little bit, but she kept her expression steady. She always knew there was as much a chance of the Pumpkin King opening up as there was of Sally; she just always hoped it wouldn't be him. Most of the trouble anyone could prove she was involved with revolved around Dr. Finkelstein, so she didn't get into trouble with Jack himself very often, but she knew he was always suspicious of her because of the company she kept. Just like everyone else in town. Unlike everyone else in town, Jack had the power to actually punish her if he deemed fit.

"I was hoping to borrow something from Sally for a while. Is she home?"

---

Agatha didn't meet his gaze as she checked him out. She let Agnes wish him a horrible night, wandering back to the store room to find something to shelve as soon as her charmed quill finished writing up his receipt.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Shock nodded. She didn't need one herself; she doubted the graveyard garden would have too many, and if there was more than expected, well...she and her brothers hid a few things around town just for such occasions. It always helped to have a trick-or-treat sack at the ready.

"Good thinking," she said.

~~~

The door opened a moment later. Jack Skellington, being the tallest person in town, habitually looked down to see who had graced his doorstep.

"Carver!" he said cheerfully. "What an unpleasant surprise!"

He made a welcoming gesture for her to step inside.

"What brings you here?"

~~~

Wait...so she didn't want to cause trouble? Damn.

"Uh...you're welcome? I think."

Barrel watched her leave. And admittedly, was relieved. Now to plant something really nasty, then head back to the counter to purchase some ingredients...

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"Fair enough." Carver nodded and followed her out. "I'll see if Sally will let me borrow her basket. I doubt there's enough to fit in behemoth's wheelbarrow, and I'm not particularly interested in the possible effects of carrying them in my cage."

She headed out of the tree house and took a circuitous path to Jack and Sally's house. She didn't bother sticking to the shadows; the Doctor's goggles both filtered out the flashing light of his experiments and gave him excellent night vision. But so long as she stayed off the beaten path and didn't get too distracted to notice him if he did happen upon her, she could easily outrun him if necessary. Short she may have been, but her mechanical legs made up a solid two-thirds of her total body length.

She carefully relaxed her features into a cheery expression. A quick tug on the door spider sent a shriek echoing through the house.

---

Agatha deflated at the disappointed "Oh." She had laid the last part on pretty thick; she may not have outright said it, but she hadn't been very subtle, either... She figured she'd lost her chance. Too direct. Stupid of her; Carver had warned her about that, after all. Barrel quickly snapped back to being upbeat and pretending to help. He really was trying to let her down easy. All she had to do was pretend she'd been talking about someone else, and he'd let her back out with her dignity intact. He was so nice...

"No, that's okay... I already asked someone else. I don't think.. I don't think he's falling for it. Thanks for... for not being mean about it."

She sullenly headed back to the counter, leaving him in the back room by himself.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver lifted one side of her brow ridge. "You're not usually one to make off-handed displays of your magic, so I'm guessing you're planning on using that in a surreptitious manner during said prank? How do you plan on tricking the whole town into thinking they've missed -- Ooooh! You're planning to mix it in with the spooky fog on Halloween, so nobody remembers the event?"

She widened her mouth as far as it could go, twisting the ends almost two times over to make it fit. "I'm so in!"

---

'We'? 'Him'?

"Well... I meant to do it myself..." she said slowly, wondering if perhaps she'd said something wrong. Maybe he was trying to let her down easy? But he seemed so excited... Was he trying to suggest a threesome? No wait, he didn't seem like that type.

Barrel leaned up against the wall, the picture of a high school boy trying to be casual while flirting with a girl. He was definitely interested. So probably just teasing her then, or playing hard to get. She just had to double-down.

"Well, I was thinking of a particular customer who, despite having a rather poor reputation, has... found himself with certain privileges that his siblings don't have."