#tnbc shock

so my idea is that the AU takes place after the events of the movie and the game Oogie’s Revenge.

the townspeople have been less than accepting of Lock, Shock and Barrel after their repeated shenanigans and despite Jack and Sally trying their best to give the trio a safe space, the three come to the conclusion that they’re better off living on their own. they are very resentful towards everyone who happens to live in the town and are still in the mindset that no one except Oogie Boogie truly understands them.

they quickly realize that they are not, in fact, better off alone. they’re still children(preteens?) and can’t exactly provide for themselves by just trick-or-treating. out of desperation turn to the one thing they know for a fact they can do and essentially become hitmen, using their unassuming appearance as little trick-or-treaters in the human realm and the occasional job in other holiday worlds to be successful enough to continue putting food on their plates which is all that matters to them.

this continues for a good amount of years with the three continuously disregarding any moral apprehensions they have with their lifestyle in order to get by. they grow older and, with some hard learned saving habits, they’re finally able to slow down in life, no longer having to worry about how they’d make it though the night. as they finally have more time to relax, they unintentionally start to reflect on the shared childhood that was getting more and more difficult to ignore. they begin to wonder how ideal it really was to vehemently reject any help from Jack, Sally, and the odd townsperson. they begin to come to terms with the fact that Oogie was not a great caretaker. At all.

still, they continue taking hits now and then, although they have definitely slowed down, again beginning to question how much they actually want to continue down the path they’re already well on their way on. it’s amidst this growing uncertainty that the three receive a new commission.

the three are now tasked to kill the mayor of Halloweentown.