SystemofEleven

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"The ladder is in my way." Carmilla spoke in that short, tight manner of a customer who expects an employee to jump to serve them in any regard. "You need to move it."

Agatha glanced up from her magazine to watch them in case a fight broke out. Given Shock's recent attempts to help her with her relationship, the witch didn't want to jeopardize the trickster's good graces. On the other hand... Carmilla was a customer, and Shock was in the way by her own fault...

Agatha decided to keep quiet for the time being and avoid taking sides unless the two started a brawl.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith took great satisfaction in keeping Lock on his toes for the rest of the day. She avoided giving him any completely useless or impossible tasks, given that the town was behind a few days and didn't have time to waste just to satisfy her spite, but she did have him run a few errands that weren't... explicitly necessary.

The vampiress never said anything to him except to give him orders and didn't acknowledge anything he said to her, either. She was determined not to let the trickster sweet-talk his way back into her good graces. He wasn't getting off the hook this time, no matter how cute his face was or how skilled he was with that tail. She wasn't falling for it this time. Nope.

---

The bell above the door jingled cheerfully as Carmilla stepped inside the little store.

"Welcome to the Witches' Shop! Best bargain in town!" Aggie's chipper voice reflexively called out from... wherever she was. Ah, there. The tip of her pointy hat poked out from behind a shelf visible through the door to the back room. She didn't wait for a response before shuffling back upstairs.

Agatha was at the counter flipping through a Ghoul's Life magazine and periodically sending Shock thoughtful glances. The younger witch waved to Carmilla. "Anything I can help you with?"

The countess shook her head. "No, thank you. I'm just here to pick something up. I know where it is." She stepped over to the ladder, where Shock was lazily poking at the glue holding a short broom to the ceiling.

Carmilla cleared her throat expectantly.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith's eyes flashed as she dropped the act. "Never pulled anything too big this close to Halloween, you said. Halloween Town has nothing worry about, you said. Unwitting mortals, you said!"

She stared coldly at him and pushed back to drop him tail-first into a bucket of pumpkin guts.

"You lied to me. And you just missed your last opportunity to apologize for it."

She turned into a bat and held herself in place well out of his reach. "Go deliver those jack-o-lanterns."

She didn't wait for a response before flying away.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith raised an eyebrow as he moved toward her. When he got close enough to reach for her, she gently -- but very firmly, using a touch of vampiric strength -- grabbed his face and held him at her arm's length away.

"Last time I let you get close to me, you hit me over the head with a memory-wipe water balloon," she reminded him sweetly. "You should probably just stick to prep chores for a while. Wouldn't want you getting into any more trouble now, would we?"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith was flying overhead, taking advantage of the bat's eye view to help assess the layout of the decorations and make suggestions for slight adjustments. Everything mostly looked fine; she had managed to get out of rehearsals and was pretty much just trying to look busy. After a while, she landed near the pumpkin carving station.

"The alley behind the cat hovel could use some more jack-o'lanterns," she told Lock. "Be a dear, and go deliver those."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Agatha saw Shock watching them both, and it occurred to her that Shock had been the one to trip Barrel, resulting in him being positioned just perfectly to do the soul gaze. Had the two of them planned that?

...No, Barrel had been doing heavy lifting all day and his sister had been in the shop, so they couldn't have talked about it without Agatha seeing. And they couldn't have predicted where Barrel would be helping out, so they couldn't have planned it out last night.

So the tripping was definitely not a dual act. But had Barrel just taken advantage to try and get her to go easy on him... Or had Shock tripped him in an attempt to trigger a Meat Cute moment?

...Carver had been pretty forthcoming with advice on how to approach him. Shock had to protect her reputation as a bitch and therefore couldn't be openly helpful. But she did care about both her brothers...

Was it possible that she and Carver had thought up something like this to help move things along, and Shock had just taken advantage of the moment?

Agatha squinted at the eldest trickster. Shock was in a decidedly better mood, now... And if the witch hadn't been too mad at Barrel, this would be a point to start congratulating herself. The trip had been executed exquisitely...

Bones. She'd probably just ruined a carefully laid out plot to finally get them together!

But the attempt had still been valiant, so Agatha probably still owed a thanks. Hmm...

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Agatha nearly snapped at them both to watch it! as Shock knocked Barrel into the counter, but found herself dumbstruck as he suddenly pulled himself up and gazed directly into her eyes. Darkness echoed behind his pupils as they stared at each other. Her insides felt like eyeball jelly. She struggled to remind herself... There was something important...

"Um...anything else?"

Oh, right. She was mad at him.

Damn it.

Of course he had to pick that moment to gaze into her soul. Never when they were flirting. Only when he was in trouble, and she couldn't just give in and kiss him because that would mean she'd have to forgive him first.

...DAMN IT.

Agatha scowled and pushed him away again. "No. It's fine. Go... help somebody move a log, or... something."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Agatha turned to try and give Barrel an innocent look, but with Shock's loud cackling from the metaphorical gallery, she lost her composure and began to snicker as well. The tallest trickster's stumbling attempt at defending himself only made the situation worse. She almost felt sorry enough to forgive him.

Almost.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Agatha took wicked glee in having him move it from one place to another for the next few minutes, slowly beginning to grasp at straws as she resorted to increasingly contrived excuses. Finally, she seemed satisfied with its location and waved for him to leave. Right as he got to the door, however:

"Actually," she suddenly piped up, "you know what--"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Agatha tilted her head so the brim of her hat would hide her smirk from Shock as she still refused to face Barrel directly. Just as he got the box balanced and stable on the stack, she made a tiny gasp. "Wait, are those fresh dead man's hands? Those need to sorted and processed. Put them over there."