SystemofEleven

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver shrugged. "Fair enough. Still, she might surprise us," she said, referring to Agatha. "People do weird things under unusual or unexpected circumstances, and she is definitely not expecting Barrel to use her for something like this. Or the thing that comes after."

Her two lower right eyes squinted upward as she smirked. "Wanna make bets on whether Lock changes his mind on that after he gets what's coming to him?"

Carver was rather glad that she didn't have anyone to answer to like that. The Doctor was horribly uncreative in his punishments and she was well prepared for them. Sally would be disappointed, but understanding. The Pumpkin King... might be problematic, but at least she didn't have any personal stakes in gaining his approval. She had accepted a long time ago that nothing she could do toward that end was worth doing; most of the people in Halloween Town has written her off, and Jack was no different.

---

Agatha lit up. "Oh, that's lovely! So many people buy potions without even considering learning anything about the process!"

Aggie reached over to pat Agatha's hand calmingly, but kept a calculating gaze on Barrel. "Reading a spellbook, eh? Not usually the best place to start... Books on herbs and ingredients are better. Need to understand what you're working with before you start trying to put things together."

Agatha nodded. "Some spellbooks will call for monkshood, others want wolfsbane, and some want aconite. It's all the same plant, but if you're not already familiar with the terminology, it's rather easy to get mixed up." She refrained from bouncing in front of her aunt. "But you cook so much, you probably already familiar with most of the names and basic interactions, anyway. I bet you'd be a great potion maker!"

The teen witch batted her eyes at him. "I could help, too, if you'd like..."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver nodded along as they laid out the plan. "I can pull out the rest of my daphnius potion before everything goes off. Be chatting about crafty uses for it when the smoke spreads. Pretend to trip on the way out, spill some on me. It'll make a lot more sense for why I'm visibly limping."

She tilted her head thoughtfully. "What if they decide to use the brooms to evacuate?"

They continued discussing details and contingency plans until they were sure they had all their bases covered. Once they were certain they could handle any unexpected difficulties, Barrel shoved the last two waffles into his throat, saluted, and made his way out of the lair. Carver and Shock gave him about a ten minute head start, then gathered up most of the scorpion products and made to follow.

As they walked, the pumpkin creature cocked a grin at her best friend. "So," she asked cheerfully, "which loverboy do you think is gonna have a harder time after all this goes down? The oblivious one who's completely unaware he's effectively betraying the girl who likes him, or the cheesy horny one who's gonna break all the rules his girlfriend upholds?"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver had a vine tucked through the cage door into her chest cavity, rummaging around the various tools and trinkets inside. She reached with the tip of another to tickle Loki's chin. He hissed and snapped at her with a claw, defending his treat. Carver grinned and pulled her vine back, then turned her focus to Shock and Barrel.

"Can we run through the exact plan and backups one last time? If we fuck this part up even a little bit, nothing else works. I'd rather not have to improvise more than necessary. How are we going to get all three witches in the front of the shop at once, with their brooms?"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith pretended to ignore his protests as she made her way to the cavern. She kept an ear out for any passersby who might notice the little tied up imp being carried about in his boxers; it wasn't by any means likely that they would run into anyone, but it wasn't impossible, either. When they reached the cavern, she propped him up against the wall and patted his head.

"I'll be back shortly. Wait here like a good boy, and I'll bring you back a treat."

She ran a feather-light fingernail along his inner thigh, kissed him deeply, then gave him a little wave as she walked away with a smirk. Her "errands" wouldn't take long, and with her vampiric speed, she'd be done and back in less than ten minutes.

Not that he needed to know that.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith used his pants to tie his ankles and his tail together, then stood and stepped daintily away from him. "Oh, I'm taking you to the cavern, but the unspeakable horrors will have to wait." She got dressed slowly, just far enough in his line of sight that he knew what she was doing, but not so much that he could enjoy the show.

"I have some errands I need to run first. I'll just drop you off and let you stew for a bit while I do that."

She tucked the rest of his clothing into the basket, hooked it under one arm, then hauled him over her shoulder and carried him off.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith hissed a little bit in frustration, then slowly bared her fangs in a grin. She adjusted her grip on Lock's wrists so as not to injure them, then launched herself off of him and past his hands with her vampiric speed. She kept them pinned far enough up that any significant re-positioning would be difficult for him. Her free hand was now well within reach of their belongings.

A quick search of the picnic basket turned up nothing. She gave his arms a slight yank -- just in case he tried anything -- and grabbed her boyfriend's clothing. There they were; back pants pocket. She pulled out the hand cuffs he had so graciously brought with him. Then the countess was back on top of him.

She rolled him onto his stomach and cuffed his wrists behind his back. Leaning forward, she gave his ears a short nip. "Now then, what shall I do with you?"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith faltered for a moment, but quickly regained composure and growled, "That's not going to work this time..."

She pulled his wrists above his head and rested her full weight on him. He was nearly smothered beneath her chest. She kept her knees underneath herself just in case she would need to use them, and reached toward the picnic basket with her free hand. Unfortunately, it was just outside her reach for the time being. No matter. She was pretty sure she had him where she wanted him. She took a moment to enjoy the... attention he was giving her with his tail.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Try he might, but there was nothing he could do. He might be able to nearly match her in strength, but he was half her size and she'd gotten him off-balance. She threw him off of herself. Spinning to her feet, she grabbed him around the stomach and tossed him to shore. The vampiress didn't wait for him to right himself before rushing over to try and pin him again.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith was surprised enough to go down, but her eyes flashed as she immediately began trying to think of a way to get back on top. She pulled her wrists upward to the limit of his tail's reach. She lifted her head up to hiss in his ear: "Bold of you to assume they'd be for anyone else."

Considering how much shorter he was, Lock had to sit higher on her stomach to pin her shoulders. This let her with plenty of room to move her legs, and she took full advantage of it. She swung a knee up to either strike him on the backside or make him dodge. As she did so, the fanged countess snapped a bite in the air just in front of his face to get him further off balance.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith immediately dropped to straddle his waist, reaching to grab his wrists as she did so. The lake was shallow enough here that as long as he didn't roll over or turn his head too far to the side, he wasn't in any particular danger of drowning.

"Why bother with handcuffs?" she purred. "You go down easily enough, I don't need them."