SystemofEleven

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver smiled back at him as she waddled toward him, carrying two buckets of pumpkin guts and scraps. She had clumped her lower vines together tightly into short stubby "legs" that had just enough structure to hold her up and keep the buckets from dragging on the ground.

"Careful, Behemoth," she giggled. "If you get a bigger harvest every year, eventually you'll stuff the patch so crowded we couldn't walk around in it."

She set the buckets down, unwove her legs, and quickly removed her arm frames. It wasn't long before she was spider-climbing up his body to perch on his shoulders. When she was smaller, she would hold onto the ax in his head for stability, but her vines were much too long for that now. She wrapped her lower vines around his torso and some of her upper vines around his neck and forehead.

"How've you been? We haven't hung out much in the last month or two." Granted, that was because she was busy helping prepare for the Prank and keeping her parents occupied, but she didn't need to bring that back up.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Agatha actually managed a glare at Shock. "I very clearly said both." She subtly grabbed a potion from underneath the counter, just in case she needed to use it. "I suggest you get back to your task, and let Carmilla get on with hers."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carmilla turned to face Agatha as well. "I did ask her to move it. It's almost Halloween; we're on a time table already, and ten seconds isn't going to make much of a difference on how long it takes to get that broom down."

Agatha looks back and forth between them, eyes wide. Even if she ignored the favors they'd both done for her recently, either one of them would be utterly terrifying on the warpath. There was absolutely no safe way to pick a side. And if she didn't pick a side, both of them might come after her later. She took a deep breath and prayed her aunts would be able to patch her up after the smoke cleared.

"It doesn't matter who started it, you both made the decision to continue. And you both have things you should be doing instead of mucking around, blocking the door to the shop."

The witch did her best not to let them see her shaking. She really, really just wanted this to be over. Her aunts were so much better at playing the responsible adults when bickering happened in the store...

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carmilla fell backward, nearly hitting her head on a shelf near the door.

"Watch it!" Agatha finally called out. "Or you'll both be stuck here cleaning up any mess you make, together."

Carmilla stood back up and sneered at Shock. "That was her fault, not mine. I was already leaving."

She suddenly grinned, crossing her arms. "I rather doubt Jack would be pleased to hear you attacked me while you were already doing punishment work. I do rather enjoy the image of you tied up in the Pumpkin King's house while the rest of us go out on Halloween..."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carmilla growled and wedged a knee between Shock's legs.

"Yes, to wash your stench out of my clothing!"

She did her best to ignore her leg's position as she attempted to use it as leverage to throw the trickster off of herself.

"Have you bothered to bathe any time in the last decade?"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carmilla yelped in surprise. She started to fall, but her vampiric grace quickly compensated for the change in equilibrium. Not quickly enough though; just as she started to regain her balance, Shock yanked her foot entirely out from under her. The vampiress couldn't prevent herself from tumbling down the second time. The best she could manage was to roll into a position that would minimize her chances of getting hurt and set her up to stand again relatively smoothly.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carmilla finished making her purchase and wiggled her fingers toward Shock in a jeering wave as she headed for the door. She wasn't stupid enough to turn her back on the oldest trickster without keeping an ear out for trouble. And... Yes, there is was. A slight woosh as Shock flung herself at her.

The vampiress used her supernatural speed to step sideways and backwards at the last possible moment. Shock, unable to alter her trajectory, landed bum-first on the floor.

"You should take some dancing lessons. Might teach you a bit of grace and poise." Carmilla cheerfully hopped over the trickster on her way out.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carmilla casually pulled a couple items off the shelf and brought them over to the counter.

Agatha finally set her magazine aside and rang up the vampiress. She smiled and avoided looking in Shock's direction. "Thanks for your purchase. Come back any time!"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carmilla took a deep breath, then smoothed her features into a mask of genteel politeness. "Fine, I guess I'll just have to make myself able to go around."

She transformed into a bat and flew under the ladder. Once she got to the other side, she shifted back into her humanoid form. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room for her full size between the ladder and the shelf she needed to get to, and the sudden shifting shunted Shock's platform sideways. The ladder clattered to the ground. Shock managed to grab onto the broom to prevent herself from falling, and was left hanging from it.

Agatha payed enough attention as the ladder fell to know it was going to fall into the center of the floor, then quickly went back to reading. The merchandise wasn't in danger, and she still didn't want to get involved if she didn't have to.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry!" Carmilla batted her eyelashes up at the dangling trick-or-treater. "I guess, being blind as a bat, I miscalculated how much space there was over here. Such a shame..."

Agatha choked back a snicker and pretended to be engrossed in her magazine.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

She crossed her arms and glared up at her rival.

"In case you haven't noticed, you wouldn't be busy if you hadn't put that broom up there in the first place."

Actually, Carmilla didn't know exactly what was going on with the brooms, but she knew that removing it from the ceiling was part of Shock's punishment. It was easy enough to guess which trickster put it up there.

"And I need something off the shelf behind you. So move."