KABOOM!
With a thundering crash, the once bright house became dark in the blink of an eye. The light patter of rain continued it's drone of drum falls upon the roof and windows without fail as the rest of the activity in the house was brought to a stand still.
"Great… Just peachy…"
Having found herself enjoying a nice quiet rainy day, Daphne had retired to her bedroom to enjoy the storm in the comfort of her pajama's and CD player. With Celtic music soothing her soul, the calm mood had been broken by the sudden boom of thunder and the lose of her beloved music. One eye fluttered in annoyance as she pawed away the headphones away from her ears and got out of her warm stop under her covers. A shiver ran down her back as her previous warm feet touched the cool floor for a few seconds before seeking the comfort of a pair of fluffy slippers. Pushing off the end of her bed, Daphne shuffled out her door and off to find answers.
"I bet Velma would have something up her sleeve."
Down on the first floor as Daphne was making her way slowly to find a solution, Shaggy and Scooby were whining at each other due to their show being interrupted by the sudden lose of power. It was just getting to a good part of one of those Crime Scene Investigation shows where there was a break in the case and the screen went dark.
"Man oh man Scoob, that bit of thunder is such a downer. We were just getting to the good part too." Shaggy muttered to his canine companion.
"Rah, r'and ra r'ase ras r'almost r'over." Scooby said with a nod. "Ri r'ink ra r'utler 'rid rit."
"But Scoob, there wasn't even a butler." Shaggy chuckled, which was followed byt the Dane laughing as well. "R'oh ra… re'hehehehe."
Getting to the bottom of the steps, Daphne spun on a heel and used the banister to peer into the darkness that made up the living room where she had heard voices. Squinting, she was not able to see much besides the two blobby shadows that made up Shaggy and Scooby.
"Guys?" She sent a questioning tone into the gloom hoping they would respond and she would know about where they were in the void beyond and make it easier to get nearer without stubbing a toe on the couch or something else on the way.
"Yeah, Me and Scoob. Where are you Daphne? It's hard to see you without like' the lights on. This storm is really dark out there and I think it hit something nearby on that last bit of lightning. Though it's like been quiet since then…"
"Rah, ro r'ightring…" Scooby added.
"Well, Lightning or not…" Daphne said with a huff, "We still need to get some light in here. I just hope I cane make it in the dark to find Velma and get her to turn on the generator."
"Oh…" There was some shuffling around where Shaggy was in the sunless living room. He seemed to be looking for something, though what he was doing was beyond Daphne's understanding till a flash blind sided her.
"Wah!"
"Oh sorry…" Shaggy apologized as he turned the flashlight away from pointing it at where Daphne had been standing. Blinking a few times, Daphne tried to clear the spots as Shaggy and Scooby heaved themselves off the ground where they were watching the television together and muddled over to stand by her to join her on her quest to find Velma.
"Re're r'on ra r'est!" Scooby chirped with a grin.
"A test… oh, a Quest!" Shaggy took a second to translate Scooby's words and then smiled as well. "On the great quest to find the magical Velma who can cast light into the dark world!" He gushed enthusiastically, pointing the flashlight ahead of them. Daphne placed a hand to her face and shook it at their antics but joined the party anyway in search for Velma. At least it was quicker with Shaggys flashlight rather then using the walls and her memory to get all the way down to Velma's lab in the basement. Well, at least it was the most logical location to look since it seemed that her door was open and she had not emerged from it the whole time they had been talking.
[DAPHNE joined the Party!
[FLASHLIGHT equipped!
[JOURNAL updated! 'Search for Velma'
With the party equipped and ready, they made their way through the dim corridors of the hallway and crept around the corner of the dreaded basement landing. With bold steps, they advanced down the descending steps and arrived at the entrance of the great lair of the wise and all knowing Velma.
Sighing as Daphne shook her head at Shaggy and Scooby, she wondered if the guys played one to many videogames. It was almost as bad as the time they crept around corners pretending to be like a spy, while holding their fingers in a shape of a gun and darting about. As long as he wasn't wielding the flashlight like a weapon and making odd humming sounds, she could put it up as far as the basement.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, voices could be heard. It appeared Velma was in fact down in her lab, but Fred had gotten to them before hand. As they passed through the door at the bottom, they got close enough to catch the conversation.
"What do you mean you can't get the generator going?" Fred asked with a sight annoyed tone in his voice. Velma sighed and responded back sounding a bit miffed as well.
"I can't get the generator going since a part was fried. It seems a certain pair had borrowed it for who knows what and they blew part of the fuse. I was going to get around to fixing it but I didn't expect to need it so soon." Velma said with another sigh. Not much she could do.
"Well… Can't you just make something?" Fred responded frustrated. "I was in the middle of typing out some paperwork when the computer shut off along with the rest of the power. I don't even know if it got saved and it would be a pain to have to type it all back up again."
Velma shook her head. She had already thought about trying to fix something up as well. But she had nothing spare on hand that would be able to work well enough, and even if she got it working, she would not be sure how long it would last before possibly blowing as well. Or worse case, if she didn't do it right it could be a risk of short circuiting the whole thing and she would have to build another one from scratch. It just wasn't worth the trouble. And it was even worse odds since she would need slightly better lighting then a simple flashlight or two to be able to work on something so delicate as the kind of use mechanism she used for her homemade generator.
"So now what?" Came from Daphne as she moved further into the basement room. Thought it was not before shooting a unhappy glance at the sheepish looking guilty party of generator breakers.
"Can't we play something on Velma's Laptop? Like a movie or something to pass the time?" Shaggy suggested. Velma shook her head at the idea.
"Well, even if the power in the laptop might last how ever long it will take the power company to get on this, it would be even harder to have everyone fit around that small screen to watch anything."
"That and we don't all need to have glasses as thick as Velma's from watching something in the dark lighting." Daphne took a quick jab at Velma, who responded with a choice Raspberry right back at her.
"Beyond the myopic possibilities of the laptop. "Velma snorted at Daphne once before continuing, "we could always try something a bit more old schooled?"
"R'old r'ool?" Scooby tried to ponder what Velma was thinking about. Shaggy joined his pal in thinking about it, though Fred was quicker on the draw.
"Like a board game or cards?" Fred put a hand to his chin to consider the idea. It was not a bad idea.
"Cards sound good." Daphne agreed. "Though what about the dark still? Don't we need more then flashlights to play?"
"It's more old school then just cards…" Velma moved over to one of her drawers and held her penlight in her mouth freeing her hands to dig around the junk drawer for her solution. It took a few minutes but she seemed to find what she was looking for. Turning around, Velma held a simple little cylinder with a bit of string hanging from the top of it.
"Candles…"
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With a plan in place, the gang had spread about the house searching out for the various hidden stashes of candles. Emptying out drawers and digging out first aid kits to gather enough for sufficient lighting. Once they had the items in hand, they all traveled to the dining room for their game. It was a perfect flat surface with enough room for them all, the cards and candles.
"Ok, we'll start with only a few and see how much light we need form there." Fred directed them all. They didn't want to put to many out, just enough to be not sight straining dim. Also the fires were a bit of a danger since they really didn't want to burn down their house for the sake of a simple card game. Surprisingly enough, they needed very few candles to make enough light to play cards.
Shuffling like a pro, Scooby was dealer. Like a magician, the cards flew from one paw to the other across the open span between his arms at a good deal of distance.
"R'ok R'ok R'ok… Rat's ra rame?" Scooby flipped the cards about, making sure they were mixed up enough from when ever they had last played. The last thing you want for any card game is the deck to be close to an order.
"Poker!" Daphne grinned with a smile worthy of a card shark.
"Nah, poker is to much competition and I want something a bit simpler tonight in this weather." Velma grumbled.
"How about old maid?" Fred offered.
Daphne shook her head. "No no, that game is a bit to childish."
"What's wrong with childish?" Velma wondered, she personally liked the game of Old maid and thought it could potentially be a rather complicated game of bluffing just as much as a game of poker could be. Along with a good dose of luck.
"Well, true…" Daphne had to agree it was a silly argument, but she really wasn't in the mood for Old maid.
A few other ideas flew across the table but things seemed to just come up to shoot the ideas down. Finally one idea was tossed out.
"What about Go fish?" Shaggy suggested. It was a classic, an easy game and simple.
"Well…"
"…you know…"
"…Hmmm…"
"Ok.." Came a unified agreement from everyone else. Turning to Scooby who had been waiting the whole time for their decision, grinned and tossed about the cards. A light throw and a skilled hand made each of the cards to slide perfectly in front of each player. With following the official rules for the game, Scooby had dealt out five cards per person. Though if it was only two people playing, the cards would have been seven each. Or so it is officially.
Picking up their cards, each member of the gang peered into their cards. Though before they continued Shaggy held up a hand.
"Hey, like are we playing pairs or full stacks?" Shaggy wondered. It made the game more interesting and longer if they had to collect all of the numbers and face cards instead of pairs. "I vote for Stacks…"
"Stacks." Daphne agreed, which earned nods from the others.
"Ok, then let's see…" Shaggy looked at his cards. "Nope… No full stacks. Like who goes first?"
Scooby had read the rules of Go Fish before on those boxes of cards, and he knew that it was usually the person to the left of the dealer, which was him. So it would be Shaggy next. The gang was sitting about the table and then set up the order to be: Shaggy, Fred, Velma then Daphne before it ended with Scooby.
Noting that Scooby pointed him first, he looked about to see if anyone had a full stack at the beginning of the game. It was soon apparent no one was that lucky and Scooby had done a good enough job of shuffling before he started the game. Peering about , he choose Fred to ask.
"Like', got any two's?"
Peering into his cards, Fred looked to see if he hand any of the card Shaggy was asking. Fanning them out to see them better, he looked about their numbers and found none that he was looking for.
"Sorry Shag, Go Fish."
Shaggy leaned over and plucked a card from the top of the pile. Holding it by the light he shrugged as it wasn't the card he was looking for but it was not a bad card either for him. Peering into his cards, Fred thought about his choice.
"Hmm…" Looking through the candlelight he studied the faces of his 'opponents' and tried to figure who to choose. It was still a bit early in the game to be clever, so Fred just picked Scooby since he was sitting right across from him.
"Alright Scoob, how about an Ace? Got any?" He hoped.
"Ruh ra. R'ope. Ro R'ishing!"
"Ah darn… I'm never good at these games…" Fred sighed and picked his new card up from the pile. Daphne snickered at him.
"Just because the cards don't like you doesn't mean you should stop playing."
"Oh?"
"Yeah." Daphne said with a grin. "It makes it one less person to worry about winning."
"…Thanks." Fred rolled his eyes with a sarcastic tone. The rest of the gang chuckled at him. It was all in good fun, and it was nice to sit around and poke fun at each other while enjoying the company. They often spent to much time when not on a mystery doing their own things they had forgotten how much fun just hanging out could be.
"My turn my turn!" Velma chirped with a bit of excitement. Thought it was soon lost in her consideration of which card to pick. She was not in the best situation, since she had no matching cards. The only thing she had was mostly spades, but that did little against her odds for getting the full stack of all the cards for the one number in each of the suits. Finally having to pick, she decided to go with the only heart she had in her hand. Then was the person to ask… So she went for Shaggy.
"Go any Three's?"
"Like' Go Fish Velms."
Snapping her fingers, she reached and slid the top card off and put it in her hand. She sighed and moved the card among her others.
"Not a good card?" Daphne responded smugly. Velma nodded luckless, for the card was another random suit that she had none of. "You're turn Daph."
"Whoo!" Daphne was glad to go, but hadn't gotten to looking at her cards yet. With one eyebrow raises and chewing on a bit of her bottom lip she found herself in the same situation Velma was though she wasn't going to let them know that. Looking at the numbers she got a sly grin on her face.
"Oh Velma…" She said in a sing song voice. Velma Groaned. " Do you have any Three's…"
Velma squinted at Daphne before letting up and picking her card out of her collection and passing it to the giddy Daphne.
"I'll get you back for this…" She commented, though Daphne continued to smile. And since she got the card she wanted, she was allowed by the rules to go again. She had no ace or no two's… So she was just open to pick any of her cards or try to see if anyone else had a three. Since Shaggy didn't have one, nor did Velma she had two other choices… Now what to choose…
"Hey Scooby? Got any three's?" She was playing it safe. She'll not reveal her other card's yet and hope by the others asking for other numbers she could work on more without giving her hand away. Scooby peered into his hand for the desired card.
"Ri rot r'one." Scooby had in fact a three and handed it over to Daphne. Her grin burst into a full blow smug smirk. She got to go again. She might as well go for the gold.
"Oh Freeeeed…"
"Yeah yeah… I'll look." He responded and looked into his cards. Hanging his head, he picked up the card and offered it across the table.
"Aw Fred… You shouldn't have…" Daphne gushed. Taking the one he handed, she put it in her hand before taking them out one at a time to put all out as a stack. Now with once stack made and starting her off in the lead, she was cheery. Now she got to go yet again.
"Oh Velma…"
"…Yes?" Velma rolled her eyes and was really getting into the spirit of competition now.
"…Got any Ten's?" Daphne asked.
"AH HA!" Velma chirped with triumph. " Go Fish!" She was happy she didn't have one and got to stop Daphne's landslide lead. Daphne shrugged it off, though amused that Velma was getting into it though she previous said she wasn't in the mood for competition. Daphne wasn't looking when she picked up her card. Though as she put in her hand she sure noticed. And her broad smile returned.
"… You picked up a ten… didn't you?" Fred had noticed the smile was back, and with Daphne's nod of her head he knew this was going to be a long game. "…Why can't I get all the luck?"
"Ry R'urn." Scooby said as he flipped through the numbers. "Raggy, rot r'any r'wos?"
"Oh no, not you too Scoob?" Shaggy said handing over the cards. He had started off with two of them anyway and now he didn't have either.
"Rorry…." He took the cards and then picked another card. Unlike Daphne he wasn't as serious about the game as she was. "Relma, rot r'any rueens?"
Peering into her cards, she shook her head. "Go fish."
Scooby took his card and Fred seemed to light up as he looked at his hand.
"Hey Scoob, Got any Queens?" Which the answer was obvious and the Dane handed over the card with out any complaint. Not wanting to continue with the questioning, he moved on to another card to extend his luck.
"Hey Velma, got any fours?"
"Why, yes I do."
As she handed over the card she had in her hand, the lights came back on with a whir. They all looked up and were happy to see the power was back on. Looking back to the game, Fred looked sadly at the cards. He looked up and noticed similar faces in the rest of the gang. With a face, Shaggy seemed to have an idea. Pushing out of his chair, he moved to the door of the dinning room and flicked off the light switch.
"Game on!"
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(oh… Just to let you guys know… Fred lost. So did Daphne. Shaggy and Scooby tied. Go figure.)