SystemofEleven

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver used one vine to shove the tape into her mouth and drop it through her throat hole into her cage. The rest of her vines shot out to wrap themselves around Lock's ankles, tail, and forearms. She had just enough to get two on each limb without costing herself control of her own body.

Lillith shot off of Lock's shoulder, successfully dodging both a vine that unwrapped itself from Lock's arm and a swipe from Carmilla, and flew up out of their immediate reach. She transformed and stood upside down on the ceiling. On the one hand, she wanted to defend Lock, but on the other, the two of them were significantly outnumbered and the tricksters did have a standard policy of fighting things out and then being best friends again five minutes later. It might be better to just let them get it over with.

Carmilla tilted her head up to grin maliciously at her sister, then turned away and helped Carver get Lock fully tied up and pinned down.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carmilla smiled sweetly when Lock looked at her, but continued to remain silent. When he marched over to the group with Lillith still in bat form on his shoulder, she slowly and calmly stood up. She glided to get right in front of him and stared down at them with an intensity in her eyes that only matched the sickly sugariness in her smile. She still gave Shock room to maneuver and taunt her brother, but made sure he would feel closed in by her presence and position.

Carver took advantage of the couple's position and point of focus to slip quietly behind them, preparing her vines to grab as many limbs as she could if either of them tried to fight or flee.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith's ears were most certainly not lowered in fear. She was from Halloween Town, after all, and loved a good fright as much as anyone. What she didn't like was knowing that something was coming, but having no idea what to prepare for. She could fairly easily escape if Shock tried to physically attack her, but that clearly wasn't the imminent threat. Carmilla wouldn't let the trickster do that -- but she wasn't even moving in preparation to defend her. So that meant whatever was coming had been green-lit by her sister.

Lillith was not scared. Her ears were lowered in suspicion, trepidation, and an internal debate about whether she actually regretted causing this. She didn't want to know what the two of them could think up if they actually worked together on a vengeance plot.

Carmilla watched her sister duck, inwardly satisfied for the moment, though not enough to call off the rest of the plan. She held out a dainty pinky and took another sip. The vampiress said nothing; it was quite possibly the only thing she could think of which could be arguably more disturbing than Shock being cordial.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith flew in behind Lock and landed on his shoulder. She looked back and forth between Shock and Carmilla, then slowly put her ears down and leaned against his neck.

Carmilla casually sipped her tea, holding back a smirk. She and her sister didn't fight publicly the way the trio did, and in fact rarely properly fought at all, but when they did, they didn't bother with short and easy methods. They hadn't hit each other since long before they came to Halloween Town. Lillith knew she was in trouble, and Carmilla didn't even have to look imposing to make her twin nervous.

Carver blinked slowly at the couple, like a cat expressing its undisturbable self-contentment and utter refusal to acknowledge any potential threats. "Welcome back. Did you have a nice date?"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith nodded along as he spoke, daintily helping herself to a piece of her pie. "Little bit of column A, little bit of column B, I imagine," she said in response to is comment about Barrel. "It's likely that he's less motivated to overcome any difficulty he has, because he finds it amusing to watch you get frustrated."

"As for me, we've been rehearsing for our Halloween performances, both here and in the mortal realm. We've had them all mastered since June, but the elders want to ensure we don't fall out of practice."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith closed her eyes and leaned up against his neck. When he rubbed that one part behind her ear, she flopped over sideways and hung upside down from his shirt. The little bat let out a trill that almost sounded like a purr.

After a moment, she switched back and returned to unpacking the picnic basket. Out came two goblets, two sets of rather fancy silverware, some small sandwiches for Lock, a blood pie for herself, some blood wine to share, and a short black candle scented with widow spider musk.

"So Shock has been working on something to terrorize the humans, Carver's been making herself a new head, and Barrel has probably just been eating his way out of an early grave. What have you been up to?"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith watched him -- and his hands -- closely as he spoke. She thought for a moment, then nodded and relaxed. "I rather pity whatever mortal she chooses as her target, then."

She set the plates on the blanket, then shifted into a bad and flew the short distance to his shoulder. "You still could have come out and said hello, though," she whispered with a bite to his ear. "Even if they didn't tell you I was there, you could have chosen to come calling."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith paused, two plates in her hands. "Something 'going on'?" she repeated suspiciously. "'Intruders peeking in'? Should I be on my way to warn the Pumpkin King about an impending explosion of some sort?"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith walked over to a pillar and pulled a basket out from behind it. "While you were taking your sweet time getting here, I was able to fly home and make us a picnic."

She brought the basket to the center of the chamber and started unfolding a black blanket.

"I tried to invite you out to the spiral hill last night, but Barrel told me you were too busy -- wouldn't even let me ask you myself -- and then Shock told me I wasn't welcome in your home." She gave him another haughty-almost-pout.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith smirked down at him, not that he could really see. "I teach you when you need to learn. You are the one who picked this week to turn into smoke. Not even a, 'Sorry, Lillith, I need some time to get my horns out of my anus, I'll make it up to you later.'"

She waited another moment before rising off of him.