SystemofEleven

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Agatha took a couple casual loops over the town near Jack's house, appearing to have merely gone out for a jaunt while she checked to see if Shock was outside the house. Seeing nothing, and certain the trickster wouldn't have had time set something up and leave yet, she landed and headed over to the fountain. Her intention was to get Carmilla's attention whenever the vampiress arrived.

Carver noticed the witch's arrival and mechanically waved, quickly switching into his 'Corvin' mannerisms. "Hello. It is good, to see you, again."

Agtha smiled and waved back. "Hi, Corvin! How are you?"

"I am, good I, think. Barrel, asked me, to help him, catch rats. I scare, them out of, their holes," he told her proudly.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Agatha nearly dropped her broom when the door bell rang three times in quick succession. Then she jumped into a flurry of activity. She started to run toward the door, then stopped, spun around in indecision for a moment, and ran toward the back room.

"AUNT AGNES! AUNT AGGIE!" she hollered. "The alarm went off!"

"We heard, dearie!" came Agnes' voice from a few feet past the back room door.

"Go on and watch," Aggie added, walking into the main shop area. "We'll watch the shop."

Agatha grinned and jumped on her broom. She zipped up through the hole into the living area and into her room. She skidded to a stop by her bed and grabbed her phone. She dialed as fast as her knobby fingers could manage. She didn't wait for pleasantries; as soon as the line connected, she blurted out, "CARMILLA! Something really funny is about to happen around Jack's house! I don't know if I have time to explain. Just get down there, fast!"

With that, she hung up and was gone with a woosh.

---

Lillith stared at the phone blankly for a moment, then looked over at Carmilla, who was practicing some vocal exercises. "So... I guess Agatha's excited about something. She just said to get down to Jack's house, and hung up. She didn't even check which of us answered, first."

Carmilla finished the exercise completely before replying. "Well, then. Sounds like I should practice while I walk. You coming?"

"I have to meet up with Lock first, then I will probably swing by to check it out. And I recommend you fly. She sounded like she was in a rush."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver grinned. "Sounds delicious, thanks! I can definitely find an excuse to wander that direction."

He shot Lock a thumbs up, then turned to Barrel. "Want to help me find more stuff to eat, until then?"

---

Meanwhile, Agatha was sweeping the shop with her broom, trying to keep herself occupied. The store had been empty her whole shift thus far, and she was beginning to get itchy for something to happen. Anything. She'd even put up with one of the tricksters coming into the store to cause trouble, at this point. The silence was driving her across the ceiling.

The youngest witch glanced at the bell on the door every now and again. How long had it been since she got Jack's permission to set up that activation charm outside his fence gate? How much longer did Shock need to prepare for... whatever she was planning to do? Her fingers twitched on the broom handle a bit.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"The square?" Carver quickly shoved a struggling little mammal into his mouth and snapped shut before it could turn around and escape. He waited for it to risk exploring the throat tunnel into the rest of his body before continuing. "Why? Something going down?"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver lifted up his left leg and gave it a good shake. The racket scared off a couple of birds that had just started to feel safe enough to get close to the ground.

"Finkelstink refused to put an access hatch in to get the pepper out and soak my vines more than two at a time. So I ate a bunch of his tools. Now I'm looking for other stuff to eat for him to find when he finally realizes how much trouble an inconvenience can cause. Obviously he's used to spiders and stuff being in the lab; they don't take up much space and don't interfere with his precious projects. But three or four rats all desperate for freedom, running out the hatch and hiding in his machines? That should get some kind of reaction."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

'Corvin' was out chasing birds and rats again when the boys came through the pumpkin patch. He waved them over when he saw them, and walked to meet them halfway. His legs rattled loudly as he stepped, the left one a little bit louder from multiple objects moving about inside while the right one seemed to have only one particularly thing knocking around. He gave a quick look around the patch to make sure Behemoth wasn't within hearing range before speaking.

"Hey, could one of you guys help me catch a rat or two? I tried to sneak up on them in the mulch pile, but they heard me coming and scattered. They're too fast for this body, and I can't even use my head as bait anymore," he grumped.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver didn't look back as he left. He carefully placed the phone next to its counterpart in the kitchen, tossed Igor a bone biscuit, then went to go spend the day in the pumpkin patch. He wasn't quite sure how comfortable it would be in his current body, but he definitely didn't want to lieinbed listening to Finkelstein holler for hours on end, either.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver just snickered at him. "Have to catch me to ground me, Dad. Maybe you can spend this time thinking about what I've said. I told you, I'm gonna do an experiment. Let's see what happens when you have your autonomy taken away."

He turned to walk toward the door, not bothering to look back as he waved. "You can count yourself lucky, though. I wanted to try putting your brain in a jar, hooking it up to some disembodied eyes, and making you watch your body get used as a puppet. Those 'brats' are the ones who talked me out of it. You should thank them the next time they grace you with their presence."

He paused for a second, then stepped over to the small table with the Finkelsteins' main phone. He bend down to unplug it, carefully wrapped up the cord to prevent tangles, and carried the whole thing away with him. There was another phone in the kitchen, if the Doctor really needed it. He'd just have to get out of his chair and drag himself on his belly all the way down the ramp. The pumpkin creature snickered again, knowing it would take something incredibly drastic for his creator's ego to allow him to 'lower himself' like that.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver grinned as Finkelstein did exactly what he was hoping for. Just as the Doctor was passing by, he swung the arm down and jammed it between the spokes of the wheel closest to himself.

The motion of the wheel yanked the arm down, backward, upward--and smashed it into the electric motor attached to the back of the chair's underside. The force of the motor wasn't enough to do significant damage from the collision, but the arm blocked the wheel from continuing to turn, and thus prevented the chair from moving forward.

Before Finkelstein could react, Carver shoved the arm the rest of the way across the bottom of the chair, threading it through the spokes of both wheels. Then he stepped back to examine his work where he was out of range of retaliation.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"No, I didn't. You never asked what I wanted, and you never listened when I tried to tell you. And you know what? I'm done trying to tell you. You can just use that big brain of yours to figure it out."

Carver stalked forward at a slight sideways angle so that there would be juuust enough room for Finkelstein to try and make an escape right as his creation got close.