SystemofEleven

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver woke up shortly before the other two went to bed. She was in the pail fairly close to the fire the last time Sally came in to check on her, and appeared to be doing markedly better. She did thank Sally for the consideration, but otherwise mostly kept quiet. It was more of a calm quiet, though, which was good. She soaked for a good hour and a half. Once she was done, and well after Sally and Jack had apparently fallen asleep (or at least had stopped creeping about the house), she boiled up some water to scrub the pail out. She kept herself occupied for a few hours reading some of Sally's more... adult literature -- she found them entertainingly stupid, but assumed it was probably less ridiculous to people who actually experience those impulses -- before going back to sleep.

The next morning, she acknowledged Jack's apology with a chill shrug. "Like I said, I don't mind carving pumpkins. I'd probably switch heads way less often if I had a problem with it. I just hate when I don't have a choice, and my dad rubs it in my face. But... Yeah. He can't rub it in if I'm doing something else, so... Thank you."

---

Doctor Finkelstein was still in bed when Jack arrived, as Jewel refused to pick him up and put him in his chair until she had fully examined his head and brain for injuries. Also the chair still wasn't working.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Once Jack left the room, Carver looked around, debating what to do next. She really wanted to take a nutrient soak, but she wasn't sure if Sally had enough stocked up, or where to find a tub or bucket she could use. And she didn't really want to talk to either adult, even just to ask. Eventually, she settled on curling up in Zero's bed. He was confused at first by this strange behavior, but quickly decided he was fine with it. The little ghost dog covered her with his blanket body and gave her pumpkin a helpful lick before settling down for a nap.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver wrapped all of her lower vines tightly around her chest. After all that, she was all talked out for the moment. She shrugged again silently, still not willing to look at his face. She was going to receive a pile of blood clots for this later from someone, but right now she didn't have the energy left to deal with anyone. Not even really Sally.

Well, maybe the other tricksters, but that clearly wasn't going to happen any time soon. Maybe a full-body fertilizer soak would be a good idea...

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver spun her head to look at Jack and scowled at him. "With all due respect, Pumpkin King," she snapped, "you have no idea what he puts me through, so you have no right to tell me how I should or shouldn't handle it. You don't have to spend every moment of your existence trying to convince him to treat you like a person."

She suddenly slammed her mouth shut. That was... not supposed to actually come out. She felt safe enough venting at Sally, who at least had some experience being in a similar position and didn't have the authority to lock her away for eternity for speaking out of line. Jack was the opposite. She didn't feel comfortable with him, he had no personal experience to give him perspective, and -- as he had pointed out -- he very much could punish her with permanent imprisonment if he felt like it.

...On the other hand, she'd just violently attacked a disabled person and pulled his brain out, in public, so there probably wasn't much worse of trouble she could get in. Might as well say her piece anyway, since she'd already started.

Carver turned and glared into the big standing mirror. "He was taunting me about my punishment work. Pointed out I was just sitting at a table, carving pumpkins and not talking to anyone. Said it was nice to see me 'finally functioning properly'. He's constantly acting like I owe him something for giving me life, but he never lets me forget that he never wanted me to be alive in the first place! He wanted me to be some mindless machine so he could take my carvings and use them to win the jack o'lantern contest himself, and he's perpetually shocked and angry that I didn't turn out like that."

Her voice broke, and a part of her was glad to be incapable of producing tears because she wouldn't have been able to stop herself if she could cry. As it was, she couldn't even stop talking now that she'd started. "When I was little, I thought I was supposed to be a kid just cuz of my size. And I saw Corpse Kid and the two grownups he called parents, and I thought that was what the Finkelsteins were supposed to be for me. Jewel was surprised and confused by it, but she was at least content enough to run with it. But him? Hell no! He was just pissed I had any kind of thoughts to begin with."

She started laughing wryly. "I remember the first time one of my heads broke and fell off. I carried the pieces to them, expecting Mummy and Daddy to fix it. He just... looked at me with disgust, and told me to make a new one. After all, that's what I was for. Jewel tried to get him to at least act like he cared, but he just waved us both off and went back to whatever he was working on. Then she sent me off to get help from Behemoth, because she was too busy to."

She sniffled. It was a trick she'd learned from Barrel when they were kids, though he didn't do it on purpose, and she mostly did it out of habit and reflex now. Like tear ducts, she lacked sinuses to make sniffling necessary or even useful. But after a few decades, it felt natural when she was feeling particularly upset.

But she didn't like doing that in front of other people. Especially adults, and especially authority figures. So she quickly cut it off and switched back to anger and bitterness.

"Jewel tries. He doesn't. Four decades later, and he still won't accept that I didn't come out the way he wanted, still won't even attempt to take my thoughts and feelings seriously. So yeah, I think he deserves to have his brain pulled out and his body used as a prop for a week. It's the least he fucking deserves."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"Get along with? It's hell just trying to live with him! He's lucky Clown pulled me off him before I could throw his brain down the sewers." She crossed her arms and grumbled. "Not like he didn't deserve it."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver grunted. "He has absolutely no ability to read a room or stop himself from saying the worst thing possible. So I stopped him from talking. Or doing anything else..."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver climbed up to perch on one of the stools Sally used for doing fittings on the citizens who were significantly shorter than herself.

"I guess I might as well be. Jack sent me here. Apparently I'm sleeping over with you guys. Where I can be supervised by someone not stuck in a wheelchair," she added in a mutter.

She looked over the notes. "Makes sense. Easier jobs go faster, so it's easier to manage your time when you get down to the wire." She perked. "Oh! Speaking of which, I need some help with my pants, when you have the time. I spilled some daphnius potion on them and the friction irritates my vines, but I don't think the witches will sell me the antidote any time soon. Do you think you could cut that piece out and patch over the hole? I could make an attempt myself, but I doubt it'd be good enough quality to prevent me from having to come to you eventually anyway."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver waved to Lock and gave him a similarly uneasy smile before slithering away. Normally she'd avoid the middle of the street when she didn't have legs, as it was easy to get caught underfoot, but with everybody frantically running about trying to finish decorations on time, there were just as many people to the side. She hissed in agitation a few times as people stepped to close to her, or worse. After the second incident of being stepped on, she made a run for the nearest wall and climbed to a roof. Then climbed down, made a mad dash across another path, and back up another wall. Possibly doubled the necessary travel distance, but at least it minimized the risk of being trod on repeatedly.

Finally, she made it to Sally's shop. She ducked inside and quickly moved out of the path of the door in case someone else walked in later. "Hey, sis. What's up?"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Finkelstein sneered in response to Carver and Lock's commentary, but slowly started to nod thoughtfully. "Perhaps... You're right, Jack... You are the Pumpkin King. She clearly doesn't respect me as she should, but you are, physically that is, more capable of enforcing your authority if she gets out of line."

Carver returned the sneer with a bit of satisfaction. That was the closest she was ever going to get to an admission that her creator couldn't control her. Damn if he wasn't still going to try, desperately, at every possible juncture. But some part of him at least knew that it wasn't going to happen.

Not that she wasn't still angry and frustrated about his attitude and behavior toward her, but that tiny amount of gratification allowed her to finally settle down completely. She didn't look forward to whatever extra punishment Jack would inevitably give her, but a sleepover with Sally was better than going back to the lab, any day.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Finkelstein spluttered. "But, but you can't do that, Jack! She belongs to me! I made her, I know what's best for her!"

Carver waved the top edges of all six eye holes in such a way as to give an impression she was rolling them. "Oh please, you arguably don't even know what's best for yourself." His comment bothered her, but she'd already fizzled out of energy to be particularly wrathful and Jack wouldn't let her get away with more violence anyway. So instead she settled for her usual defense mechanism: snark. "It's like you gave Jewel all the functional parts of your brain, and kept all the useless parts in your empty brainpan."