A/N- Well, something new from me. That's a change. This is my first posted NBC fanfic to date (I think), so I hope it isn't another hideous flop. Anyway, the initial plotline of this story has been done a thousand and three times, but it kind of fascinates me. So this is my twist on it, written in a slightly different style so that people won't be bored to death with it. Please review. Reviewing is good.
-Ruri D.
*******************
The persistant, ever changing winds blew throughout the street, gathering long-dead, shrivelled leaves in their icy fingers, tossing them into the air in an erratic arial display. Though the effort was futile, there was no one there to see it. The streets were empty, hollow, despite it being the middle of a beautiful and rather mild autumn night. There would have, in normal circumstances, been a steady trickling crowd of Halloween folk through the cobbled streetway. The band would have normally perched themselves at the corner, playing their haunting tunes to the stray few that waited in awed anticipation. There may have been a fire display put on by the odd pyromaniac or the witches may have set up their small stall, selling their potions, wares and moon-dried herbs to those in need.
But that day, there were none of those things. Merely the wind, howling and throbbing through the laneways, into every crevice, every orifice, as if sensing the dull ache of quiet throughout the town. It was especially persistant outside of the town hall, pining even....
A weatherworn board stood before the doorway, dull and chipped brass letters that differed as every meeting came and passed announced what was unfolding inside. Yes, it was a town meeting alright, but it was very rare in Halloween Town to see every single one of its inhabitants show up of their own accord to one of those. Yet if there were anyone that hadn't been in the hall at the time, anyone to read the chipped letters and see the complete desertification of the city, they would have immediately realised why everyone had taken such an interest to that weeks town meeting in particular. Their was no question about it.
Halloween folk were naturally curious people, and why shouldn't they have been? Their holiday thrived on secrets and surprises, it was their entire basis of life; all they had accustomed to, all they had known. And there were so many things lurking right before their noses to be so very curious about....
*****
"Calm down! Everyone, please!" Jack cried over the ruckus of the crowd, whose rippled conversations were overpowering and strong. Though they were being unbearably noisy due to their unleashed curiosity, Jack couldn't help but be rather pleased with the turnout. There had been so many people attending that seats had become scarce and, finally, standing room only had been available. He knew this meeting was going to be a success and maybe, if all went to plan, it would both quench curiosity and burn all grudge-provoked opinions at the same time. But where were the little guests he expected? Finally, the large crowd heeded their Pumpkin Kings' words and, agonisingly slowly, the conversation died to a harsh whisper, and then to silence.
"Thankyou. I'm incredibly pleased with the turnout of this meeting," he grinned, straightening his jacket and carefully clearing his throat. The crowd sat in anticipated silence. "Now in the past, I know that we've all had some sort of 'thing'," he used his bony fingers to accentuate this motion, "against our guests that will be here today. Even I, who is expected to be fair and just to every member of Halloween Town equally, had a bias of sorts to them."
"But they're just bad, Jack! Once, they rooted up all of my beautiful garlic cloves and then hung them above one of the vampires' front stoops!" a witch with flaky, green-tinged skin piped defiantly from the back row. A tiny vampire toward the middle of the group also stood, an irritated glare plastered on his face translucent face.
"Do you know how many allergic reactions vampires get from even the smallest amounts of garlic, Jack? Do you?! I couldn't go anywhere near my house for weeks! Those little pipsqueaks are good-for-nothing menaces and nothing more!" he cried, folding his arms in defiance. A small, rippled whisper of agreement circulated thoughout the crowd. Jack frowned.
"Listen, please!" the noise burned out slowly, almost reluctantly, before extinguishing completely. Jack sighed, placing a bony hand to his forehead, attempting to place his words carefully before speaking them. "I know they have followed through and executed some awful plans in their time, but you must take into account that these are children we're talking about. Children like to play tricks and make mischief, I know I did!" he cried, grinning slightly as small, brief recollections of his mischievious childhood filled his mind. "Besides, I suppose not having many children around in the first place found them awfully isolated, to the point where they may have thought they only had themselves for company and no one else."
"But they're always back in that Treehouse of theirs. They don't socialise, they rarely come to town to do that. The only time they do come is to make trouble," the demon with the harlequin face cried, clearly angered. Firm nods in approval to what had been said covered the small hall. Even the mayor's head tilted ever so slightly in agreement to the words. Jack sighed for the second time that night.
"Only a few months ago they were with Oogie Boogie! What do you expect from them? Look, the point is that Boogie is gone now, and I know that for a fact," he nodded firmly, his mouth a tight, grim line. "He had a hold on them like nothing I've ever seen. They are children. Children respond to being taken underwing and- since Boogie was the only person that did that to them- he was the one they pledged their allegiances to. They were isolated from us and now that he's gone, they probably don't know any better." There was a contemplative silence from the crowd for a few long, thought-provoked seconds. Jack considered that perhaps, just perhaps, his words had sunken further beneath their skin....until the witch from the back row stood, rather noisily and cried in bitter sardonics;
"Oh boo hoo! That gives them no right to steal my garlic!"
"Or pour deadly nightshade onto the food I was selling!"
"Or put a snake in my saxophone! I breathed in and my stomach was hissing for weeks!"
The defiant, sharp cries from his audience continued, louder and stronger than they had ever been. He shook his head to the noise. It was worse than he had imagined. It would take a lot more than he had first estimated to break down the thick and heavy walls of bias and grudgery inside every one of the people sitting in that audience before him. He sighed helplessly.
'Except maybe Sally,' he thought, grinning every so slightly as he spotted her, looking rather odd and uncomfortable seated between loud, bickering demons with her head hung low, hands thrusted deep into her lap and a firm frown pulled taut across her ragdoll face. She seemed to be the only one in town that saw it the way he did. Then again, she'd always seen things the way he did, hadn't she? Even when no one else would have ever understood. His mouth formed a tight, determined line. By the end of the night, these people would see differently, a little more forgiving, perhaps? And he wouldn't stop until they did.
"Stop your infernal cacaphony and listen to me!!" he cried vehemiously in the loudest, most fearsome voice he could muster from his bony throat at the spur of the second. This time the noise did not taper off reluctantly slow, but merely shut off in the time frame of a nanosecond, as if someone had pressed the stop button on a loud and rather obnoxious record player. Jack breathed in the silence for a second, savoured its smell and sound, before continuing.
"They're children! They'll eventually grow out of it if you give them the chance," he calmed to a certain extent, his eyes sliding to Sally as if for comfort. She shot him a reassuring smile as his eyeline found her own. He turned away quickly and continued. "I came to realising we know very little about this trio, even though we all seem to hate them so. That's why tonight, instead of me attempting and failing to change your mind like this, they're coming for themselves." He shot the crowd a stern, if not terrifyingly manipulative look. "And you will treat them with the respect that you treat anyone else in this room. With the respect that you treat me."
"So where are the little mischief-makers?" The wolf-man called from his seated position, arms crossed in a sardonic huff and his voice tinged with an identical tone. Jack nodded understandingly, though if he'd had lips, he may have been chewing one nervously, hoping that his kind words aimed at the trio weren't all in vain.
"They'll be here. They promised."
"But bear in mind, Jack, that promises are made to be broken," a small and rather scratchy girls voice cut through the whispers in a pitch that differed greatly from the wolf-man's low, husky tones, yet achieved an identical, if not further amount of interest. The crowd immediately tilted their heads backward, turning toward the large, heavy wooden exit door located behind them. They were greeted with a mischievious smile and an oversized, angular witches hat. Immediately the whispers began to circulate once more, this time in a more desperate pitch, as the girl entered, hands neatly folded behind her back and the large and slightly lopsided grin on her face reminding them warily in every way of the identical one she often bore after another intricate and horrible trick had been executed.
"Not that it ever crossed our minds to decieve you, Jack," A boy entered behind the girl, removing his porcelain demons mask and bearing an identical grin to his comrade. The whispers hushed slightly, yet the wary glares did not fade. Jack shot the boy a bemused glance, tapping a bony finger to his chin in thought.
"Yeah, we'd never do that, Jack."The second boy finally appeared, slamming the heavy exit door sharply behind him. The sudden and intense noise of wood against scraping metals caused many to jump slightly in their seats. The hazy, suspicious whispers agonisingly grew to a more grand scale as the trio were calmly approached by two rather large and burly demons, demanding they hand over any tricks or surprises they had stored deep in the folds of their clothes before they even attempted to fully enter the building. After a brief search of their pockets and socks, only one firecracker was found and confiscated (much to Lock's dismay) and the three children were encouraged to approach the worn and chipping stage where Jack patiently awaited their arrival. They stepped rather undaintily onto the platform, and Jack curtiously bowed in their presence.
"You're a little late, but I'm glad you decided to come," he spoke politely, dropping to one knee to speak face to face with them. Though he realised, a little late, that even at a quarter of his full height, he was still at least a skull and a half taller than the tiny trio. He turned to the crowd, they were immersed in private, suspicious conversations, occasionally glancing to the stage and shaking their heads in mock disapproval. He sighed. "Though I'm afraid this lot aren't going to be a very forgiving crowd for you."
"Forget it. We ain't here for them," Lock threw his hand vaguelly in the whispering crowds direction, his voice droned steadily in its usual pitch, a well-blended mix of bemusement and impatience, "we're here for the candy you promised us if we came," he muttered, his eyes glinted hungrily. His cohorts nodded in agreement not far behind his back, the mischievious glint also sparking in their eyes. Jack nodded, though couldn't help a faint, if not watery smile to shine through his features.
"Of course. But I've decided you'll recieve your little.... incentive... after the meeting is over. I'm sure this won't trouble you though, will it?" Jack wasn't a fool, he knew their ticking, manipulative little minds all too well. He knew they would have nabbed the candy and made a bolting dash toward their treehouse, giggling insanely and taking with them all the answers to the curiosity and grudgery they had created over town. No, he was the Pumpkin King, he knew all of the tricks in the book, and he wasn't intending to fall for something so simple. He relished in their horrified, hidden glances to one another; they had just fully realised that to obtain their promised and saught-after reward they must first give to recieve, something they had always managed to cheat their way out of doing until now. The thought repulsed them. Their own game had been turned around....
"Jack.... you stink," Shock muttered grudgingly, unwillingly accepting her temporary defeat as she folded her arms tightly across her chest and lowered her eyeline to the worn floorboards below her. Jack laughed, standing to his full height once more.
"I'm sure I do. But on a more serious note, they'll probably ask some interesting and rather interrogating questions. You only have to answer what you want, though, don't feel pressured. The whole purpose of this excercise is to get them to understand you just a little more than they already do, and perhaps vice versa. If you're polite and compliant, you'll get your candy after everyone is gone. Trust me." All three shot a vehemious, poison glance in his direction; he merely laughed. "Don't look at me like that, you agreed to do this in the first place."
"Yeah, that was before we realised how much of a do-gooder you really are," Barrel muttered beneath his breath. The trio stifled their insane giggles. Jack smiled and slowly turned away. He had heard Barrel's little joke, but decided against retaliating. He was in too good of a mood to mess up now.
*
After what seemed like a lifetime to the gossiping audience, their Pumpkin King turned toward them, holding out his hands before him to signify that he required full silence to speak. Once again, the whispers slowly tapered into silence.
"Once again, I ask you to be polite. And refrain from bombarding them with a hundred questions at once, wait your turn. And you three," he turned to face the trio onstage, whom of which had been whispering between one another and had turned vaguelly to face their Pumpkin King. He shot them the sternest look he could muster. "You're to tell the truth. No lies, no tall tales, no sarcasm-"
"No candy," Shock muttered to the boys as Jack continued his stern speech. They rolled their eyes and nodded in a small, defeated agreement. They didn't have anything to get them out of the jam they found themself in, not even Lock's back-up diversion plan, which was now confiscasted, deep in the pockets of one of the two burly guards standing stiffly by the exit door. By the time they rather dully and reluctantly accepted they had no way of escaping, and realising with a pained reality, that if they lied or stretched the truth a little to make it more interesting, they wouldn't recieve the candy, Jack had long finished his rounds and had taked refuse a little further backstage, scanning the crowd for particularly desperate eyes, for someone with the hungry look of curiosity and the twice as hungry need to quench it. His eyes finally settled on merely one person that failed to hold a look of grudgery blended callously into their curiosity. Sally.
"Sally, did you have something that you wanted to say?" Jack asked quietly, on the boundary of tenderness. Sally tore her insistant gaze from the trio and fixed it onto Jack, smiling greatfully. It had been then that the whispering began once more. Suspicious and spite-filled whispering, more often than not circulating from the groups of older female witches. Overcome with the embarrassment of the entire town watching her with hawks' eyes and the vague, suspicious whispering ("Of course he'd pick Sally first. She's his little ragdoll now...", "Haven't you heared? Those two have something together, if you get my drift.", "I heared she's stayed at Jack's house overnight, that little ragdoll hussy. I betcha she wasn't just baking muffins for him...") she lowered her already introverted gaze, blushing profusively.
"No Jack, it's nothing," her voice was faint and thready, and barely surpassed a whisper as she, like Shock had done before her, studied the floor beneath her booted foot with a mock curiosity. Lock tutted impatiently, turning to the ragdoll with arms crossed and his foot tapping callously against the cold wooden floorboards beneath him.
"Look lady, we don't got all night here. Are you gonna ask us one of your interrogating questions or are ya just gonna sit there and blush while everyone makes fun of you and Jack and our time is completely wasted?" his cohorts giggled slightly at his impatient retort, the ragdoll blushed an even more violent crimson. Yet the crowd abruptly ceased their harsh whisperings as they realised that even the trio onstage had heard quite well what they had been conversing between eachother. Nervous eyes turned to a stern and unamused looking Jack. They hoped he hadn't heard too much.
"Well...I-I was just wondering if you three were born here, in Halloween town," Sally spoke, oddly defiant to Lock and the crowd as she replied. All gazes in the room locked onto the trio, who had, in turn, turned to eachother, their faces spelling disbelievement of the pure irony in Sally's innocent question. Their faces lit up with mischievious grins as they realised an embarrassment was in order.
"Sally, Sally, Sally. I thought you would have remembered, of all people, when we first came to Halloween Town..." Shock grinned, placing her hands innocently behind her back and winking to her comrades, winking to comply with her plans. Sally cocked her head slightly to one side, she had naught a clue what the little rascals were grinning so insanely about.
"But that must have been way back when you were first created, though, wasn't it Sally?" Barrel added, a mischievious grin spread like spilled tea across his face. Sally wrinkled her brow, closing her eyes in the thoughful, anticipated silence.
"What? I.... I don't-" she muttered, raising a hand to her forehead and hastily pushing away a small strand of deep red hair. The raging blush had now returned, strong and true, to her cheeks. She knew what they were grinning so insanely about now. She knew the story they had in store.... and that they were intending to embarrass her senseless before a crowd that were already on a certain platform of dislike for her. Lock pushed Barrel uncurtiously to one side, dominating the conversation in his usual fashion.
"Nah, she probably wouldn't remember, guys. She was pretty dumb back then- she didn't even know how to read properly yet. But we do owe her a lot...A whole lot..." he trailed off, grinning, turning to his accomplices. The entire hall seemed to shift their insistant gaze to the ragdoll in an unleashed curiosity. What were the little pipsqueaks talking about? Did she know?
"Well of course we do, Lock," Shock eyed Sally, reading the unnerved look on her face like a book. She was an extremely manipulative little girl. She had learned how to use ones emotions to her advantage; Oogie Boogie had always said it was one of her redeeming qualities when he was still around. She quickly turned to Jack too, whose stern frown had now become a faint, if not unleashed curiosity as he leaned warily against the podium that had been placed carefully sidestage. He wasn't going to stop them, he was just as curious as everyone else. He didn't know this story; neither did anyone else in the room... except, of course, for Sally. She smiled and breathed deeply. "She was the person that introduced us to Oogie Boogie in the first place."
A gasp rippled across the crowd and they sat, rooted to their spot in anxious silence, waiting for the trio to continue.....
*************
A/N- Yeah, I think I'll stop there. Please review. I enjoy reviews.
-Ruri D.
*******************
The persistant, ever changing winds blew throughout the street, gathering long-dead, shrivelled leaves in their icy fingers, tossing them into the air in an erratic arial display. Though the effort was futile, there was no one there to see it. The streets were empty, hollow, despite it being the middle of a beautiful and rather mild autumn night. There would have, in normal circumstances, been a steady trickling crowd of Halloween folk through the cobbled streetway. The band would have normally perched themselves at the corner, playing their haunting tunes to the stray few that waited in awed anticipation. There may have been a fire display put on by the odd pyromaniac or the witches may have set up their small stall, selling their potions, wares and moon-dried herbs to those in need.
But that day, there were none of those things. Merely the wind, howling and throbbing through the laneways, into every crevice, every orifice, as if sensing the dull ache of quiet throughout the town. It was especially persistant outside of the town hall, pining even....
A weatherworn board stood before the doorway, dull and chipped brass letters that differed as every meeting came and passed announced what was unfolding inside. Yes, it was a town meeting alright, but it was very rare in Halloween Town to see every single one of its inhabitants show up of their own accord to one of those. Yet if there were anyone that hadn't been in the hall at the time, anyone to read the chipped letters and see the complete desertification of the city, they would have immediately realised why everyone had taken such an interest to that weeks town meeting in particular. Their was no question about it.
Halloween folk were naturally curious people, and why shouldn't they have been? Their holiday thrived on secrets and surprises, it was their entire basis of life; all they had accustomed to, all they had known. And there were so many things lurking right before their noses to be so very curious about....
*****
"Calm down! Everyone, please!" Jack cried over the ruckus of the crowd, whose rippled conversations were overpowering and strong. Though they were being unbearably noisy due to their unleashed curiosity, Jack couldn't help but be rather pleased with the turnout. There had been so many people attending that seats had become scarce and, finally, standing room only had been available. He knew this meeting was going to be a success and maybe, if all went to plan, it would both quench curiosity and burn all grudge-provoked opinions at the same time. But where were the little guests he expected? Finally, the large crowd heeded their Pumpkin Kings' words and, agonisingly slowly, the conversation died to a harsh whisper, and then to silence.
"Thankyou. I'm incredibly pleased with the turnout of this meeting," he grinned, straightening his jacket and carefully clearing his throat. The crowd sat in anticipated silence. "Now in the past, I know that we've all had some sort of 'thing'," he used his bony fingers to accentuate this motion, "against our guests that will be here today. Even I, who is expected to be fair and just to every member of Halloween Town equally, had a bias of sorts to them."
"But they're just bad, Jack! Once, they rooted up all of my beautiful garlic cloves and then hung them above one of the vampires' front stoops!" a witch with flaky, green-tinged skin piped defiantly from the back row. A tiny vampire toward the middle of the group also stood, an irritated glare plastered on his face translucent face.
"Do you know how many allergic reactions vampires get from even the smallest amounts of garlic, Jack? Do you?! I couldn't go anywhere near my house for weeks! Those little pipsqueaks are good-for-nothing menaces and nothing more!" he cried, folding his arms in defiance. A small, rippled whisper of agreement circulated thoughout the crowd. Jack frowned.
"Listen, please!" the noise burned out slowly, almost reluctantly, before extinguishing completely. Jack sighed, placing a bony hand to his forehead, attempting to place his words carefully before speaking them. "I know they have followed through and executed some awful plans in their time, but you must take into account that these are children we're talking about. Children like to play tricks and make mischief, I know I did!" he cried, grinning slightly as small, brief recollections of his mischievious childhood filled his mind. "Besides, I suppose not having many children around in the first place found them awfully isolated, to the point where they may have thought they only had themselves for company and no one else."
"But they're always back in that Treehouse of theirs. They don't socialise, they rarely come to town to do that. The only time they do come is to make trouble," the demon with the harlequin face cried, clearly angered. Firm nods in approval to what had been said covered the small hall. Even the mayor's head tilted ever so slightly in agreement to the words. Jack sighed for the second time that night.
"Only a few months ago they were with Oogie Boogie! What do you expect from them? Look, the point is that Boogie is gone now, and I know that for a fact," he nodded firmly, his mouth a tight, grim line. "He had a hold on them like nothing I've ever seen. They are children. Children respond to being taken underwing and- since Boogie was the only person that did that to them- he was the one they pledged their allegiances to. They were isolated from us and now that he's gone, they probably don't know any better." There was a contemplative silence from the crowd for a few long, thought-provoked seconds. Jack considered that perhaps, just perhaps, his words had sunken further beneath their skin....until the witch from the back row stood, rather noisily and cried in bitter sardonics;
"Oh boo hoo! That gives them no right to steal my garlic!"
"Or pour deadly nightshade onto the food I was selling!"
"Or put a snake in my saxophone! I breathed in and my stomach was hissing for weeks!"
The defiant, sharp cries from his audience continued, louder and stronger than they had ever been. He shook his head to the noise. It was worse than he had imagined. It would take a lot more than he had first estimated to break down the thick and heavy walls of bias and grudgery inside every one of the people sitting in that audience before him. He sighed helplessly.
'Except maybe Sally,' he thought, grinning every so slightly as he spotted her, looking rather odd and uncomfortable seated between loud, bickering demons with her head hung low, hands thrusted deep into her lap and a firm frown pulled taut across her ragdoll face. She seemed to be the only one in town that saw it the way he did. Then again, she'd always seen things the way he did, hadn't she? Even when no one else would have ever understood. His mouth formed a tight, determined line. By the end of the night, these people would see differently, a little more forgiving, perhaps? And he wouldn't stop until they did.
"Stop your infernal cacaphony and listen to me!!" he cried vehemiously in the loudest, most fearsome voice he could muster from his bony throat at the spur of the second. This time the noise did not taper off reluctantly slow, but merely shut off in the time frame of a nanosecond, as if someone had pressed the stop button on a loud and rather obnoxious record player. Jack breathed in the silence for a second, savoured its smell and sound, before continuing.
"They're children! They'll eventually grow out of it if you give them the chance," he calmed to a certain extent, his eyes sliding to Sally as if for comfort. She shot him a reassuring smile as his eyeline found her own. He turned away quickly and continued. "I came to realising we know very little about this trio, even though we all seem to hate them so. That's why tonight, instead of me attempting and failing to change your mind like this, they're coming for themselves." He shot the crowd a stern, if not terrifyingly manipulative look. "And you will treat them with the respect that you treat anyone else in this room. With the respect that you treat me."
"So where are the little mischief-makers?" The wolf-man called from his seated position, arms crossed in a sardonic huff and his voice tinged with an identical tone. Jack nodded understandingly, though if he'd had lips, he may have been chewing one nervously, hoping that his kind words aimed at the trio weren't all in vain.
"They'll be here. They promised."
"But bear in mind, Jack, that promises are made to be broken," a small and rather scratchy girls voice cut through the whispers in a pitch that differed greatly from the wolf-man's low, husky tones, yet achieved an identical, if not further amount of interest. The crowd immediately tilted their heads backward, turning toward the large, heavy wooden exit door located behind them. They were greeted with a mischievious smile and an oversized, angular witches hat. Immediately the whispers began to circulate once more, this time in a more desperate pitch, as the girl entered, hands neatly folded behind her back and the large and slightly lopsided grin on her face reminding them warily in every way of the identical one she often bore after another intricate and horrible trick had been executed.
"Not that it ever crossed our minds to decieve you, Jack," A boy entered behind the girl, removing his porcelain demons mask and bearing an identical grin to his comrade. The whispers hushed slightly, yet the wary glares did not fade. Jack shot the boy a bemused glance, tapping a bony finger to his chin in thought.
"Yeah, we'd never do that, Jack."The second boy finally appeared, slamming the heavy exit door sharply behind him. The sudden and intense noise of wood against scraping metals caused many to jump slightly in their seats. The hazy, suspicious whispers agonisingly grew to a more grand scale as the trio were calmly approached by two rather large and burly demons, demanding they hand over any tricks or surprises they had stored deep in the folds of their clothes before they even attempted to fully enter the building. After a brief search of their pockets and socks, only one firecracker was found and confiscated (much to Lock's dismay) and the three children were encouraged to approach the worn and chipping stage where Jack patiently awaited their arrival. They stepped rather undaintily onto the platform, and Jack curtiously bowed in their presence.
"You're a little late, but I'm glad you decided to come," he spoke politely, dropping to one knee to speak face to face with them. Though he realised, a little late, that even at a quarter of his full height, he was still at least a skull and a half taller than the tiny trio. He turned to the crowd, they were immersed in private, suspicious conversations, occasionally glancing to the stage and shaking their heads in mock disapproval. He sighed. "Though I'm afraid this lot aren't going to be a very forgiving crowd for you."
"Forget it. We ain't here for them," Lock threw his hand vaguelly in the whispering crowds direction, his voice droned steadily in its usual pitch, a well-blended mix of bemusement and impatience, "we're here for the candy you promised us if we came," he muttered, his eyes glinted hungrily. His cohorts nodded in agreement not far behind his back, the mischievious glint also sparking in their eyes. Jack nodded, though couldn't help a faint, if not watery smile to shine through his features.
"Of course. But I've decided you'll recieve your little.... incentive... after the meeting is over. I'm sure this won't trouble you though, will it?" Jack wasn't a fool, he knew their ticking, manipulative little minds all too well. He knew they would have nabbed the candy and made a bolting dash toward their treehouse, giggling insanely and taking with them all the answers to the curiosity and grudgery they had created over town. No, he was the Pumpkin King, he knew all of the tricks in the book, and he wasn't intending to fall for something so simple. He relished in their horrified, hidden glances to one another; they had just fully realised that to obtain their promised and saught-after reward they must first give to recieve, something they had always managed to cheat their way out of doing until now. The thought repulsed them. Their own game had been turned around....
"Jack.... you stink," Shock muttered grudgingly, unwillingly accepting her temporary defeat as she folded her arms tightly across her chest and lowered her eyeline to the worn floorboards below her. Jack laughed, standing to his full height once more.
"I'm sure I do. But on a more serious note, they'll probably ask some interesting and rather interrogating questions. You only have to answer what you want, though, don't feel pressured. The whole purpose of this excercise is to get them to understand you just a little more than they already do, and perhaps vice versa. If you're polite and compliant, you'll get your candy after everyone is gone. Trust me." All three shot a vehemious, poison glance in his direction; he merely laughed. "Don't look at me like that, you agreed to do this in the first place."
"Yeah, that was before we realised how much of a do-gooder you really are," Barrel muttered beneath his breath. The trio stifled their insane giggles. Jack smiled and slowly turned away. He had heard Barrel's little joke, but decided against retaliating. He was in too good of a mood to mess up now.
*
After what seemed like a lifetime to the gossiping audience, their Pumpkin King turned toward them, holding out his hands before him to signify that he required full silence to speak. Once again, the whispers slowly tapered into silence.
"Once again, I ask you to be polite. And refrain from bombarding them with a hundred questions at once, wait your turn. And you three," he turned to face the trio onstage, whom of which had been whispering between one another and had turned vaguelly to face their Pumpkin King. He shot them the sternest look he could muster. "You're to tell the truth. No lies, no tall tales, no sarcasm-"
"No candy," Shock muttered to the boys as Jack continued his stern speech. They rolled their eyes and nodded in a small, defeated agreement. They didn't have anything to get them out of the jam they found themself in, not even Lock's back-up diversion plan, which was now confiscasted, deep in the pockets of one of the two burly guards standing stiffly by the exit door. By the time they rather dully and reluctantly accepted they had no way of escaping, and realising with a pained reality, that if they lied or stretched the truth a little to make it more interesting, they wouldn't recieve the candy, Jack had long finished his rounds and had taked refuse a little further backstage, scanning the crowd for particularly desperate eyes, for someone with the hungry look of curiosity and the twice as hungry need to quench it. His eyes finally settled on merely one person that failed to hold a look of grudgery blended callously into their curiosity. Sally.
"Sally, did you have something that you wanted to say?" Jack asked quietly, on the boundary of tenderness. Sally tore her insistant gaze from the trio and fixed it onto Jack, smiling greatfully. It had been then that the whispering began once more. Suspicious and spite-filled whispering, more often than not circulating from the groups of older female witches. Overcome with the embarrassment of the entire town watching her with hawks' eyes and the vague, suspicious whispering ("Of course he'd pick Sally first. She's his little ragdoll now...", "Haven't you heared? Those two have something together, if you get my drift.", "I heared she's stayed at Jack's house overnight, that little ragdoll hussy. I betcha she wasn't just baking muffins for him...") she lowered her already introverted gaze, blushing profusively.
"No Jack, it's nothing," her voice was faint and thready, and barely surpassed a whisper as she, like Shock had done before her, studied the floor beneath her booted foot with a mock curiosity. Lock tutted impatiently, turning to the ragdoll with arms crossed and his foot tapping callously against the cold wooden floorboards beneath him.
"Look lady, we don't got all night here. Are you gonna ask us one of your interrogating questions or are ya just gonna sit there and blush while everyone makes fun of you and Jack and our time is completely wasted?" his cohorts giggled slightly at his impatient retort, the ragdoll blushed an even more violent crimson. Yet the crowd abruptly ceased their harsh whisperings as they realised that even the trio onstage had heard quite well what they had been conversing between eachother. Nervous eyes turned to a stern and unamused looking Jack. They hoped he hadn't heard too much.
"Well...I-I was just wondering if you three were born here, in Halloween town," Sally spoke, oddly defiant to Lock and the crowd as she replied. All gazes in the room locked onto the trio, who had, in turn, turned to eachother, their faces spelling disbelievement of the pure irony in Sally's innocent question. Their faces lit up with mischievious grins as they realised an embarrassment was in order.
"Sally, Sally, Sally. I thought you would have remembered, of all people, when we first came to Halloween Town..." Shock grinned, placing her hands innocently behind her back and winking to her comrades, winking to comply with her plans. Sally cocked her head slightly to one side, she had naught a clue what the little rascals were grinning so insanely about.
"But that must have been way back when you were first created, though, wasn't it Sally?" Barrel added, a mischievious grin spread like spilled tea across his face. Sally wrinkled her brow, closing her eyes in the thoughful, anticipated silence.
"What? I.... I don't-" she muttered, raising a hand to her forehead and hastily pushing away a small strand of deep red hair. The raging blush had now returned, strong and true, to her cheeks. She knew what they were grinning so insanely about now. She knew the story they had in store.... and that they were intending to embarrass her senseless before a crowd that were already on a certain platform of dislike for her. Lock pushed Barrel uncurtiously to one side, dominating the conversation in his usual fashion.
"Nah, she probably wouldn't remember, guys. She was pretty dumb back then- she didn't even know how to read properly yet. But we do owe her a lot...A whole lot..." he trailed off, grinning, turning to his accomplices. The entire hall seemed to shift their insistant gaze to the ragdoll in an unleashed curiosity. What were the little pipsqueaks talking about? Did she know?
"Well of course we do, Lock," Shock eyed Sally, reading the unnerved look on her face like a book. She was an extremely manipulative little girl. She had learned how to use ones emotions to her advantage; Oogie Boogie had always said it was one of her redeeming qualities when he was still around. She quickly turned to Jack too, whose stern frown had now become a faint, if not unleashed curiosity as he leaned warily against the podium that had been placed carefully sidestage. He wasn't going to stop them, he was just as curious as everyone else. He didn't know this story; neither did anyone else in the room... except, of course, for Sally. She smiled and breathed deeply. "She was the person that introduced us to Oogie Boogie in the first place."
A gasp rippled across the crowd and they sat, rooted to their spot in anxious silence, waiting for the trio to continue.....
*************
A/N- Yeah, I think I'll stop there. Please review. I enjoy reviews.