SystemofEleven

Banding Together in Halloween Town

All six of Carver's eyes suddenly widened. She had forgotten about that. They immediately turned downward and narrowed to slits as her vines suddenly unraveled from her arm frames and shot out to wrap around Lock's neck. "You will say nothing about it," she hissed, "or we'll both kick your ass until you can't stand up anymore!"

Lillith calmly let go of Lock. She wasn't sure what or who exactly he was referring to, but she had learned not to get in between any of the tricksters when they were ready to brawl.

Agatha, on the other hand, blinked and stepped back. She hadn't seen more than bickering and the occasional arm-punch from them. The sudden violence confused and worried her. She looked to the twins, hoping they'd know what to do.

Carmilla ignored the fight and continued on with the original conversation as if the four hadn't interrupted in the first place. "But you still don't know where the spices came from in the first place? That is strange. And why in a sack?"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith picked Lock up and set him on her hip so she could nuzzle him back. Carmilla rolled her eyes at the affectionate display.

"Of course," Agatha replied, though she frowned at Barrel's distress and Shock's behavior toward him. "Um... What present? Do I even want to know?" She didn't get an answer as the tallest trickster was dragged away.

Carver snickered as she watched them go. "He'll be fine. She's just gonna make him miserable for a few days." She turned back to Agatha. "If you're planning on getting rid of the spices, I'd be willing to buy most of them off you. I played a particularly large prank on the Finkelsteins and could use the suck-up points to keep from getting grounded. And a good way to my dad's cold, unfeeling heart is through his stomach."

Agatha narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "How do I know you're not going to use the spices to mess with the food you make him?"

Carver crossed her arms and leaned against a pillar with a smirk. "The prank I pulled before... involved corpse flowers. I made the Doctor get.. distracted enough to miss the timing on one or three of his SCIENCE projects. The amount of sucking up I need to do outweighs the potential fun of adding way too much of... I don't even know." She shrugged. "Barrel would be better at thinking of what spices would be hilarious to overdo, but he wouldn't anyway because he'd consider it culinary treason, or whatever."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Both vampires raised an eyebrow at Lock.

"That was a lot of hesitation," Lillith commented. "Are you sure you're up for practice? It's fine if you need some more time. Missing Halloween has... thrown more than a few people for a loop."

Carmilla tsk-ed, but didn't say anything. Certainly she hadn't had trouble continuing on with her undeath. She was, of course, angry and upset that all her practice had gone to waste, but Lillith was the only one who saw the tantrum when she initially found out, and she had been quick enough to move on once she calmed down. She had a date planned on November 3, and she wasn't going to miss it just because there had been the FUBAR of the century. Lock supposedly cared about his band as much as he cared about his girlfriend, so if he couldn't handle the situation, well that was a fault on his part.

Agatha shook her head to Barrel. "You and I both have plenty of spices. It would take a decade for us to go through double the amount." She shrugged. "I think I'll drop it off in the human world, if nobody else in town claims it. There are some shelters and things that would probably appreciate the variety."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Agatah pouted a bit more, then frowned thoughtfully at Barrel's inquiry. "Yeah, I found a sack of spices in my closet when I got up this morning. I can't think of any reason they'd be in there. I do a little bit more cooking than my aunts do, but I've never taken spices out of the kitchen, before. And the spices that belong in the kitchen were still there..." Her frown deepened. That niggling feeling in her mind was coming back.

Carver smacked Barrel upside the back of his head. "Can you think of anything besides food, you dolt? The spice cabinet at home is perfectly well stocked, you don't need any more." Hopefully that little tidbit would draw Agatha away from the memory of sending Carmilla to steal them. Very hopefully it would draw Carmilla away from the memory of actually stealing them.

Carmilla had a sour look on her face, but that may have just been because that was her default expression in Shock's presence. Then she suddenly smoothed it out to a bland pleasantness. "By the way, Lock, we're having band practice tomorrow, right?"

Lillith petted Lock's hair idly while she waited for him to answer.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

LIllith waved to Lock but didn't leave her shady spot to go over to him. Her smile told him she remembered nothing, though, and he was welcome to come to her.

"What do you mean, stuck all over the shop?" Carmilla asked.

Agatha crossed her arms with a huff. "When we closed up yesterday, we found our brooms glued down around the shop. Aunt Agnes's broom was on the ceiling!" She pouted again. "Still is. We can't find any of our glue dissolver." Something twinged at the back of her mind, but she brushed it away. She was too annoyed to try to chase a blurry thought.

Then she scowled. "I bet you three did it after Mr. Werewolf howled and everyone was busy freaking out!"

Carver puffed out her chest vines. "Hey! We were in the crowd getting upset just like everyone else! And then we went back to the tree house! Ask anyone who resides in the graveyard, they walked part of the way with us!"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"What I wouldn't give for an invisibility potion right now..."

Carver went to work gathering up the remaining scattered game pieces and money, periodically slipping one or two into her cage when the others weren't looking.

"Anybody mind if I take a fertilizer soak before we head out? I'll scrub out the tub after, I just have a feeling I'm going to need my energy to avoid my parents when.... either somebody remembers and tells them, or we have to fess up to prevent them from actually missing Halloween."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver made a note to kick Lock later, but calmly waited for Shock to give in. As soon as the yield was made, she released her friend and slithered away to carefully reweave her vines back into her frames. She motioned for someone to retrieve her head for her, not really expecting anyone to do so.

Once she was was all back together and her head was back on, she stretched her arms up and asked, "So, what's the plan for today?"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver ended up second from the bottom of the squirming pile of bodies, but luckily for her, Shock had ended up below her. Now that the intitial moment of shock had passed and she was fully awake, she was able to waste no time reassuming her dominant position. She unraveled all the vines from her arm and leg frames and tied up all of her opponent's limbs. She even grabbed onto Shock's hair to pull her head back, making it difficult for the oldest trickster to even move her upper body comfortably by the time her brothers had rolled off of them.

Once she was certain Shock wasn't going anywhere, she tapped out her familiar message: Say uncle!

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver grabbed onto the foot just before it struck her cage and yanked it upward to try to pull Shock off balance with her own momentum. Her own foot swiped out to hook the leg Shock was putting her weight on. She accepted contact from a few blows as she tried to get a better hold on her friend's torso.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver was only slightly disturbed by the movement at first, but immediately came back into consciousness as she was slammed back down again. Several of her vines came loose in the initial moment of shock, including the one used for the gag. Once she was aware of hr surroundings, knee'd Shock in the side before trying to wrestle her back down.