~Twang!~
~Thunk!~
"Wah!"
Looking up from where he was working on a Miniature, Fred found himself staring at a quivering arrow that was now connected to his wall. And not just any type of arrow; but one of those dollar stores, little kid suction cup arrows. Bright orange and obviously plastic. All the way down to the thin, fake yellow fins that gave the arrow its ability to fly straight.
Getting up from his seat, he left his project on the side and went closer to the new addition to his room. Walking over to where it had landed, Fred scratched his head in confusion. And peering at the empty doorway did little to tell him how it came into his room this late. It was almost midnight... Who the heck would shoot an arrow at him at this time of night and why?
"Well, I doubt it was Velma." Fred reasoned aloud, trying to think about who might have done it. While the brunette had a wacky side, flinging cheap fake arrows wasn't something that sounded up her alley. Her color yes, but not really her style. Maybe if it had been a ballista bolt or catapult ammo, but an Indian arrow wasn't her era. Giving it a tug, Fred found that it was firmly attached to his wall.
This was odd... for such a flimsy made toy to have that much staying power.
"Hm, maybe it was Velma..."
He considered, mainly due to the random adhesive that seemed to be holding it up. But his thoughts were soon broken, as there was familair giggling and a loud yell that came from the room across from his. Leaving the arrow where it was, Fred dashed to his doorway in time to catch the retreating tail of the likely culprit. Nails skittering across the floor, he had managed to sneak up on Fred's room without notice, but after shooting his arrow at Daph, he peeled out of the hallway with a clatter. It seemed Scooby was behind the arrows, most likely using one of Velma's compounds she had created for her various projects. This one, being a glue of some kind.
Dashing to her doorway, Daphne shook her hand at the retreating Dane, muttering angry things under her breath.
"Stupid dog! I'll get you..." Daphne shouted after the fuzzy, fleeing form. Coming up with the most insulting thing she could think to throw at him! "...Meddling Dane!"
It looked like Daphne had been getting ready for bed, all dressed up in her pajama's and slippers. In her hand was the arrow he must have shot at her, shaking it furiously even with the dog out of sight and most likely downstairs. But as she angrily motioned down the hallway, something fell from her arrow. It fluttered and drifted lightly to the ground.
"Hey Daph, what was that?" Fred wondered, pointing towards the little scrap of paper by her feet. Having noticed the paper while the distracted woman did not.
Hearing Fred's voice, she snapped out of her grumbling and saw that something had fallen. With eyebrows furrowed, she tossed the arrow aside and leaned down in her robe to pluck the paper from where it had landed. But her face only got more scrunched in confusion as she read the words that were upon it.
"Greetings Daphne!"
She could tell it was Shaggy's loopy and wobbly writing, and it was also written in his favorite color: Green. Wondering if it was the same green gel pen that she had him use previously for a note to Velma, having not found it since he used it last. Though that could have been Scooby's fault.
"... This Letter is to invite you to take part in The Hilaria Feast and festivities. This will be taking place, at One am, in the kitchen." Pulling the paper slightly away, Daphne looked confusedly between the empty hallway that Scooby had disappeared into and an equally confused nearby Fred. Unsure what Shaggy was talking about...? Hilaria?
"Hilaria? As in Hilarious? Funny?" Fred wondered, shrugging at Daphne when she looked his way. Shaking her head, she was unsure as much as Fred was. Though it at least sounds similar to the word 'Hilarious' to her.
"Hilaria... The Roman celebration called 'the Cheerful ones'. A Roman festival first thought to be called that when they were celebrating something like a season or any day of rejoicing. Like someone getting married, a child being born, or a new Emperor being put into power. Though some later it was thought to be a celebration when the equinox came around and was the first day of the year that daylight was longer than the night. The winter with its gloom had died, and the first day of a better season was spent in rejoicings. Later taken and remodeled into what is known as All Fools Day, or April Fools."
Wandering up the stairs, Velma had gotten within earshot of the others, before letting loose her textbook explanation of what she knew of the word. Well, what she could recall off the top of her head. She was carrying another arrow and a note that was written in wiggly green writing as well.
"Looks like we are being invited to an April Fool's Day celebration." Velma mused, having read the whole note before coming up to see if the rest of the gang had gotten the duo's invitation. "Did you guys read the 'requirements' to attending?"
"The what? Requirements?" Daphne snorted, looking down at the note in her hand. She hadn't gotten that far, to see that there were things they had to do if they wanted to go to whatever Shaggy and Scooby had planned. Lifting the letter, as Velma wandered over to join the other two, Daphne picked up where she had left off on the note in her hand.
"Greetings Daphne… This is blah blah blah, ah! Here we are. While this is a celebration, there are certain rules and requirements that you must obey in order to attend. Rule One, You are not allowed to use traditional cutlery for the planned meal… Wow, it's hard to think that Shaggy wrote this. It feels too official." Daphne commented, looking over the letter in her hands. Sure, it was written in his scribbly handwriting, but it sounded more like something Velma might write. Though she did tend to use bigger words for things. And well, Shaggy wasn't really one for formalities unless he had too, due to his laid back nature.
"Well, I think that might have been my fault," Fred admitted.
"How so Freddy?" Velma wondered curiously, turning to the man to wait for his answer. With a typical head tilt of questioning, and a raised single eyebrow looking his way. Her look was soft, and wondering what he might have done that considered being 'his fault'. Fred rubbed the back of his neck and started to explain.
"Well, the guys came to my room a few days ago to ask me about something and were talking about wanting to write a letter to someone. Thinking about it, they were a bit dodgy when I was asking them about who the letter was for… But then at the time I didn't know it was going to be for us. I decided to help them out and loaned them one of my old college books on writing cover letters and such, figuring that it might help them with writing whatever letter they needed. They made is sound like they were going to be writing about a feast for something. So I assumed they had been going to submit some project or experiment from their kitchen they had worked on, for a blog or one of those online websites they visit all the time."
Fred shrugged, telling the ladies what happened. It was not often that Shaggy came to him for assistance, So Fred had wanted to help. He didn't know that there might have been a sneaky reasoning behind it. Normally Shaggy would go to one of the other ladies for something more writing related, due to Daphne's journalism, or Velma's experience… but that might have been the reason why the duo came specifically to him. Because he wouldn't be as suspicious as the other two ladies might have been in the same situation.
"Well, you couldn't have known that they were up to something," Velma admitted, knowing that the Duo could be downright devious if they wanted to be. And it wasn't like they had done something like this in the past. April Fools Day was not generally practiced in the House of Mystery Inc. Sure, pranks were fun and all, but usually, the pranks done for the sake of that holiday had a tendency to go overboard.
Nodding, Daphne had to agree. She had once been 'kidnapped' by Shaggy before, and hadn't really seen it coming. So she knew first hand that he could be more than he seemed. Though even with being kidnapped, Shaggy isn't one to do something without reason. And most of his 'evil plans' tended to be for the gang's benefit or for recovery of mental sanity after something stressful that had happened. Turning back, Daphne looked back to the list to continue where she had left off.
"Ok, so no forks, knives, and spoons. Weird, but maybe all the food is finger food. Not too bad. Moving on… Rule Two. No cups, bowls or other storage devices are allowed to be used for drinks. Proper Hilaria drink containers will be provided. No exceptions."
Pausing to stare at the list, Daphne wondered what Shaggy could mean. No cups for drinks? How were they going to be drinking whatever he had made for the occasion? And what else might be left once you take away cups, bowls, and containers like Tupperware? Did he mean that they were going to be drinking out of bottles or something? That certainly wasn't something on his list of do not's.
"Yeah, and Rule three is why I'm here," Velma spoke up, revealing why she had wandered up to the second floor in the first place. Not that it was uncommon for the woman to be on the second floor, but at this late in the night, it was rarer of a happenstance.
Bringing up the Letter, Daphne read over the last rule that she was about to get to. It took a second or two, for the words to sink into her brain. Re-reading them in case she had misunderstood in the first place. But no… Those words were sitting right in front of her face. And a devilish grin slowly spread across her face.
"Rule Three. You are not permitted to attend wearing anything that is commonly used by you on a regular basis. At least in their usual positions. Shirts can be worn like a cape, skirts as headdresses and socks on your hands…" Velma read the rule aloud since Daphne hadn't. Making sure Fred knew the rule, as it didn't seem like he was reading his own note rather than just listening to Daphne's.
"Also, as part of Rule three, you must wear at least one article of clothing from one of the other attendees." Velma pointed out. "So I came up here to raid one Ascot from Fred. Since it is my color after all."
"Oh no no no no… That won't do." Daphne spoke up, whipping herself around and pulled both Velma and Fred into her. With each tucked beside her, hands grasping on their shoulders with a firm grip, (As if she wasn't going to let them go) hugging them close.
"Oh no… That won't do at all. This calls for drastic but appropriate measures… Ehehehehehehe…."
"Should we be scared?" Fred hunched over in the hug to look over to his fellow captive-y. Knowing that look of Daphne's and wondering if he should be frightened at her deep and rumbling cackle she was building up.
"Huston… I think Shaggy's created a monster."
Velma sighed, though she was slowly resigning herself to the idea. Not like Daphne was going to let her go, now that she had latched on to her. Plus, they had to 'dress' up for the occasion anyway… might as well give Daphne the opportunity to have fun with it. She just hoped she won't regret giving up so easily.
