SystemofEleven

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carmilla's expression turned from one of concern to a scowl. "It doesn't look half bad, for something you did on accident. If you were capable of styling hair like that on purpose, you wouldn't have an excuse for how much of a disgraceful mess yours usually looks." She crossed her arms and refused to look at Shock's admittedly improved locks... only to accidentally find herself staring (well, glaring) at the trickster's bare shoulder. She shifted her gaze again, and wound up angrily appreciating the patch of skin between Shock's shorts and thigh-high socks.

Carver snickered in the younger twin's direction. "Careful, there," they told her. "You and your bestie are going to end up sharing lamentations, one of these days."

"What are you-- HEY!" Carmilla turned and snapped at her. "It's nothing like that!"

Carver nodded sagely. "True enough. She's got a wider range of chemicals going around."

"Shut UP!"

The pumpkin creature cackled and redirected his focus, waving to Sobki. "Upgrades are gonna come in a bit. These are just designed to have upgrades added without having to start from scratch every time. Shock's been working with Jewel to make sure everything is going to be as awesome as possible!"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith's surprised yelp was strangled from within as all the muscles in her throat tightened from the electricity that shot through her. Unfortunately for Lock, her hands likewise locked up, preventing him from escaping as the current flowed into his as well. Unlike a normal static shock which was generally limited to a tiny burst, the eldest trickster was able to absorb and hold onto a significant amount of electrical energy. And as such, it took a few seconds for it all to fully discharge into her victims.

Carver let out a hooting whistle, followed a long cackle. His limbs dangled limply off three edges of the couch, but he lifted up a couple vines for an air five.

Carmilla reached the bottom and turned around just in time to see Shock step back, allowing Lillith to finally relax all of her muscles drop Lock to the floor. The older twin then daintily collapsed, herself. Right on top of her boyfriend.

"Lillith!"

Carmilla dropped the bags onto the nearest couch -- and thus, on top of Carver -- and rushed over to her sister.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith flew down into the lair, over to her boyfriend, and landed in humanoid form directly in front of him. She started to lean in for a kiss. It did not take long for her to realize she was bending over quite a bit more than usual, however, and she stopped shortly before their lips actually met. A quick curious glance downward found the problem.

"No boots today, my little devil?" She didn't give him a chance to answer. She lifted him up and kissed him at her own level.

Meanwhile, Carmilla continued muttering to herself as she maneuvered herself down into the lair with one arm.

Neither of the vampires noticed the faint sparking beneath the skin of one particular trickster lurking in the shadows.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith and Carmilla were the first to arrive. Barrel hadn't specified exactly what time the party was supposed to start, so in preference of arriving fashionably early than fashionably late, they reached the tree house shortly after sunset.

The older twin flew down to the window in bat form. "Hello! May we come in?"

"They'd better let us in," Carmilla grumbled from the bridge. She shifted the too paper bags into one arm so she could make her way down the ladder. "Otherwise I'll just throw all these bottles in and see if they can catch them. And why am I the only one carrying anything?"

"Because I asked you nicely. You can pretend to have put up a fight all you want, but you might as well wait until you can be heard by someone who might actually believe you."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carver, true to their style, got to the lair first and helped set up -- taking advantage of that process to hide a few more cameras to get multiple shots of any potential shenanigans, from different angles. Once that was done, he proceeded to flop across one of the couches and luxuriously drape all of his vines over the entire piece of furniture.

"Yo, BARREL!" she hollered toward the kitchen. "You remembered to get more popcorn, right? I haven't had any in AGES!"

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith nodded and waved as Barrel left, relieved that he had caught on and been relatively subtle about the presence of alcohol and invitation to bring wine. She then turned to Vlad and politely requested to take a bottle or two of blood wine.

It took a bit of persuasion, but eventually her father acknowledged that one bottle diluted in another [public? shared?] beverage likely wouldn't cause anyone to become inebriated enough to cause too many problems. He also trusted Lillith to keep herself well below her limit, and ensure everyone at the party maintained a certain level of decorum. Carmilla... Well, he at least trusted her not to get out of hand in front of other people.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith blinked. That was... marvelously unspecific. "Would pumpkin punch be alright?"

Carmilla shook her head at Barrel's question. "I think I saw him a few days ago, helping his father place a trail of mysterious claw marks and smeared handprints around the residential district."

Vlad nodded with an approving smile. "By the time next Halloween comes, those marks will have started to grow moss and the prints will have faded, leaving observers to wonder if the danger has long passed or might still be lurking about."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lillith shook her head, withholding a sigh. Of course he got popcorn. There was a not-insignificant chance that the main reason Carver invited Carmilla was expressly for the purpose of spectating drama. She decided to focus on something else.

"Is there anything we're expected to bring? I can guess from your groceries," --and his general personality -- "that there will be plenty of food. Shall we bring any refreshments?"

There. In the event there was going to be alcohol at the party, this left an opening to ask her father to bring a bottle of the only kind of alcohol the vampiresses would be interested in partaking. And in the event Barrel got so distracted by the idea of eating that he forgot about hydration, she could ensure there would be something to drink besides water.

Carmilla gave a tiny "harrumph" but held back from saying that if fireworks flew, it would be because Shock launched them at her guests. "I suppose I could make an appearance, at least."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Carmilla rolled her eyes at Barrel's attempt at repeating a word he didn't know; luckily, the utter lack of features in her eyeballs made it subtle enough that she could get away with it.

Lillith smiled politely, but raised an eyebrow. "Both of us? Are you quite certain that Shock won't have any issues with my sister's presence? I seem to recall it mentioned that no one is welcome at your home unless all three of you welcome them."

Said sister paused. The only reason she was allowed in the lair at all was that her exquisite singing voice improved Lock's band. Would she be welcome for an event outside of band practice?

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Vlad listened while Barrel rambled on about food. On the one hand, if any of the tricksters -- or Carver -- ever started a description of a party by mentioning the presence of the two most responsible teens in town, and then immediately went into a list of foods available, he would have suspected them of going out of their way to avoid talking about whatever illicit activities they were actually planning. On the other hand, this particular trickster was Barrel, who famously thought with his stomach.

The vampire leader stroked his hairless chin. Any gathering held by the trio was almost guaranteed to have some sort of mischief involved. If that mischief were particularly major, however, they likely wouldn't have sent the most easily distracted of their number to the riskiest place on their guest list.

"Hello, Barrel."

No one had heard the twins come in from a side door. Of course, their footsteps never made a sound, so that was hardly unusual.

Lillith glanced at the bag in Barrel's hands before continuing. "Is anything the matter, Father?"

Vlad shook his head. "No, my daughter. Eet appears dat de trio have extended an inveetation to you."

He gestured for Barrel to give that invitation properly.