Once everyone had their fill, the group split into pairs. Shaggy and Scooby moved to get the game ready, disappearing from the kitchen to get what ever Madelyn had contributed to the party. Fred and Daphne moved to get the left overs secured into containers for later meals. (Though some was set aside at Red's request, letting him have some left overs as well, to take home.) And Velma joined Red with bringing the tableware and dishes to the sink for cleaning.
"So, not thrilled your little sister had done something for the party?"
Red asked, not knowing much about the younger Dinkley. Similar to Shaggy's little sister Maggie, the once bully hadn't had as much exposure to the siblings of the gang. Focusing on the gang themselves when he was younger, and only had heard a few stories since his rehabilitation and eventual befriending of the group. And while he knew that Maggie had attended the pre-thanksgiving event a few years back, it was too chaotic for him to have met everyone... And he wasn't even sure if Madelyn had been there for him not to end up talking to.
"...It's a sibling thing." Velma sighed, shaking her head and bringing a few more plates to the sink with Red in tow with some more as well.
"She has a habit of being a bit indecisive."
"A bit?" Called out Daphne snarky from the Tupperware. Earning a snicker from Fred beside her.
"I was trying to be nice about it." Velma sighed again. But at least the woman wasn't as bad as the young Scrappy of the past... Barely. (The other Dane mellowing out a bit in his older age, and Melvin probably had something to do about it as well.) But that opinion was from the point of view of the older sister. So, it certainly had a certain shade to her perspective.
"She has an annoying habit of not being able to decide on what she wants to do in life. And yeah, not everyone knows what they want to be when they grow up like we did. But she keeps changing her major, and dropping in and out of colleges."
Velma said with an unhappy snort. At least her sister was smart enough to have earned scholarships for most of her attempts, but it still left a horrendous paper trail and some debt that wasn't going to be fun to clean up once she had finally settled on something and eventually graduated. The tide only stemmed because she was still classified being in college. Well, what ever wasn't covered in whatever grants and such, she had managed to secure for herself.
"Oh, like what sorts of colleges?"
Red himself had eventually been a student of the Calloway Military Academy in an attempt to straighten him out in exchange for not being shipped off to Juvie... Due to what had happened in his troubled past. But with the help of the older Air Force Captain Jones, (who had taken up residence as a temp Calloway Headmaster, when he was a student there.) Red had gotten his life put on the right path and ended up going to a trade school that allowed him to do his current work with Habitat for Humanity with his crew.
"Oh don't get me started..." Velma groaned, a bit exasperated at the list that had been growing over the years.
"Well, she did go to that Magic Academy." Fred spoke up, spooning a few piles of colored strands into separate containers. Trying to keep like food with like. But the noodles that shared the same color scheme were making it a tad bit harder to tell which was which, if they had falling into one another on the serving plates. "Wasn't it a Wizarding school?"
"Was that one before or after Clown college?" Daphne pipped up from beside him. Unsure of the answer herself.
"After." Velma added. "But, she then went to a culinary school. But she flunked out of that one."
Velma wasn't the best cook, but at least she hadn't burned down a whole building...
She 'only' blew up a small bit of a science wing... once. But! She had been helping her teacher with an experiment that had a bit more punch then they had expected. Even a little bit of sodium metal in water was dangerous, but her favorite science teacher had decided to chuck over a foot of the stuff into a water filled sink. Definitely not a 'try this one at home' kinda experiment. Blew a chunk off the metal and marble sink, cracking a few windows in the process. It was a miracle the teacher only faced some reprimands and footing the repair bill. But it certainly was spectacular display... of something you should never do without a degree to back it up. And even then, maybe not.
Only a small bit of child endangerment, but Velma had been wearing goggles at least.
"Didn't she also try to get a degree in Bagpiping?" Daphne tried to recall, stacking a to-go box for Red while she put away some leftovers in the nearby joint fridge for the others. The pile growing between her and Fred, would be the ones that went into the walk-in freezer. So, this smaller stack was for everyone but the duo.
"Nah, she did apply but they didn't accept her. She's not really good at playing an instrument."
"What about the... oh man, what was the acronym again?" Fred struggled to remember the other strange college he had on the tip of his tongue. "BEI Tech something?"
"Oh, I know the one you are thinking of. BIM Tech, or Bowling Industry Management and Technology. For specialized education in entry-level positions within the bowling industry in center management, sales, marketing, and technical fields." Velma rambled off, recalling the spiel that Maddy had given their parents, in trying to get their approval for the college.
"Well, at least she would have the dorky shoes, from the previous college!" Red joked, since most of those rental shoes always felt like they belonged clowns. Especially in the larger sizes, like he had to look into. Earning a eye roll from Velma as they brought the last of the dishes to the sink.
"Either way, I cringe to think of what Shaggy might be bringing out from her." There really wasn't a rhythm or reason to how her little sister decided on the college of the month... But at least she was passionate about it... as long as the whim would last before she was off for a new adventure.
"It's not that bad." Spoke up the beatnik from the kitchen door, lugging a rolling luggage into the room. It was large and black plastic case, coming up to almost his hips. It had little wheels to make it easier to move, but it didn't see too heavy to need to be wheeled around by the man. It seemed like it opened up from the middle, like some type of apparel storage suitcase.
"If I didn't know better, I would have told her to stick with this one. They came out pretty good!"
"Well, if you told her, she might actually stay. She still has a thing for you. Shaggy." Daphne mentioned offhandedly from the side.
"Yeah, but I wouldn't like' want to mess with her plans she's decided on." Shaggy admitted honestly. Though it was mute already, since she had left the college that she had made the contents of the box in. But he hoped that she could find something she really wanted to settled down and stick with. But she was at least collecting an array of skills from each college, right?
"So, what's in the box then?" Red asked curious, leaning his silken pajama'ed elbows on the edge of the counter top by the sink. "And how does that play into a holiday game?"
"Scooby... If you please?"
"Rah Rah Raggy!" Moving to pull something into the Kitchen, Scooby's butt wiggled as his front paws fumbled for something beyond the door. After struggling a bit, he managed to get a simple standing fan into the room. Taken from upstairs, as it was a spare older fan, in case someone stayed over in the guest bedrooms and wasn't near one of the AC's. Or the AC ended up on the fritz, as electronics sometimes do.
"Rah dah!" Scooby added with a set of jazz hands, at the reveal of the fan.
"Hey Velma, can you like', help Scooby get the grill off from the fan, so we can use the fan blades?" Shaggy requested of the woman, fiddling with the case in front of him. Snapping open a few of the clasps with a clack on the case.
"... Sure." With one eyebrow raised, the clues weren't lining up for the brunette, and the rest of the people in the room were equally confused at the request.
Nabbing one of the butter knives, Velma made sure the fan wasn't on or plugged in, before she started fiddling with it. Messing around the the edges, her and Scooby pried up the various clamps that kept the metal framework on the front of the fan, to keep eager fingers from messing with the spinning blades. Though had a way to open up to do cleaning of blades when they got overly dusty... and what ever the heck Shaggy had in mind.
Pulling the grate away from the fan front, Scooby moved to give the blades a wipe down before Shaggy got to it. So, what ever was in the box wouldn't get dusty and gross. But what a black box could contain, that would make sense with an uncovered fan was unclear to the rest of the room.
"Tah Dah!"
Pulling open the case, Shaggy pulled out a miniature copy of himself. At least it was a really well crafted, puppet version of the taller man. Holding it aloft, Shaggy showed off the craftsmanship and quality of the foam replica of himself. It had small sticks connecting the two arms for being able to manipulate them. And it had a slot in the back, allowing him to hold up the mini double and move his own mouth. Though something seemed slightly off from Shaggy's usual attire. The shirt was the same; classic floppy green, over sized shirt. But Puppet Shaggy was wearing blue jeans, with cuffs about his ankles. Above a pair of grey sneakers on cotton copy's, feet.
"Is that?" Spoke up from a slightly confused Fred, eyeing the puppet's clothes.
"It totally is! I remember that look anywhere. It's Lil' Shaggy!" Red beamed, recognizing the iconic outfit from his bully days. He had made fun of those ratty sneakers and cuffed pant legs enough times to recall the lanky man's old attire by heart.
"Wait! Does... Does that mean there is Lil' Fred too? Oh man, let me see! Gimmie Gimmie!"
Making grabby hands, the large red head crossed the kitchen to giddily clap his hands together as Shaggy smiled and put down his other self and pulled a blond young Fred clone out of the case to hand over to the eager man. Sliding his large mitt into the back of the puppet, he adjusted the neck and head a bit as he worked his hand into the mouth of the puppet. Unsure how to use the rod for the puppet, he instead grabbed the wrist of the mini Fred to manipulate it. Doing a poor job of talking out of the puppet, Red turned to the gang and tried to do his best Fred impression. Though unable to throw his voice, as Shaggy was known to be able to do.
"I'm not saying that it was Red Herring, But it was totally Red Herring! You got to believe me guys! He is in league with the Mole Men in their fight against the Dark Lord's tree minions the Byzornia's from Ricktok Beta!"
Wiggling the hands, the large man tried his best to imitate the types of things the younger version of Fred, used to say. it was water under the bridge by now, but it certainly wasn't something that was beyond poking at, in moderation. Especially when he held such a brilliant recreation of younger Fred, from back in the day. Iconic younger self apparel and everything!
"Velma, your sister is really talented! Look at this little guy!" Red exclaimed, holding out the puppet for her to inspect. Proud on her sisters behalf.
Wandering over, Velma took in the Puppet version of the guys, and was certainly impressed. It was skilled work, even for her sister. And the outfits were spot on... well, as well as she could recall and knew of pictures.
"Gimmie Mini Velma! Does she come with her own skateboard? Probably not." Mused Daphne as she had wandered over from where she had been standing, to make a grab for the younger woman's fabric copy. "I doubt it is possible to wiggle the puppet's feet fast enough to replicate Velma's speed walking."
"Har Har." Velma said with a roll of her eyes. But she still sometimes had to rely on her blurry feet to keep up in a pinch. So, as much as she wanted to snark, she couldn't argue against the comment. Since replicating such speed was probably difficult without a mechanical rig made for on screen puppet performance to make it walk.
"So, Red aside... We have puppet clones of ourselves?" Fred wandered next to Red, who was still wiggling around the mini young Fred in amusement. "How does that fit into a game? Are we putting on a puppet show or something?"
"Oh, that reminds me. Hey Like' Scoob? Can you put down yourself and go get the other puppet from my room for Red." Shaggy asked, wiggling his own arm at the pair. "I forgot his in the bedroom."
Looking up from he was battling Daphne holding mini Velma, the Dane nodded and handed his clone to the woman to trot off to their room and get the puppet so Red could join them in the game.
"Well, while Scooby is gone for the moment, I had thought that you all would want to use your own puppet for this. but..." Shaggy considered, since the gang was being entertained with playing with not their own mini me's. With Fred getting his hands on Daphne, while Daphne was now trying to puppet mini Velma riding on puppet Scooby. And Red was still entertained with lil Fred, while Shaggy still had himself.
"I guess... What do you say gang? Want to use your own puppet for the game? Or change it up and have someone else?"
"Problem is Shaggy, we don't know what the game is, to know if we should pick ourselves or someone else?" Fred pointed out, not knowing what Shaggy had in mind to make a proper decision. Raising up a singer pointer finger, Shaggy opened his mouth and then closed it.
"Very good point. Fred, my dude. Then let me show you guys. Can you all move to the side?" Shaggy indicated that they should move out of his way, and which direction to move.
They were in the kitchen, which was one the longest room in the house, ignoring maybe points of the basement. (The kitchen expansion that had been made all those years ago when they were fixing up the house, to be able to keep up with Shaggy and Scooby. Giving enough room or a walk in pantry and freezer, as well as other appliances they had in the room.) Allowing a long stretch of space for Shaggy to have access to for the game.
Positioning the fan on one side, Shaggy was aiming at the sinks and the back wall of the kitchen on the other. The side leading to the backyard while they were closer to the front. Taking his puppet in his hand, he fiddled around with it for a bit and then removed his lower half, disconnecting his legs from the main puppet body at the waist. Similar how most puppets are. He also showed that the arm rods could be removed, letting the arms dangle unsupported..
Taking the upper half of himself, he placed it on the fan blade, sliding the puppet as far as it could on the plastic before waiting a second for the gang to see what he was doing. Crouching down in a squat, due to being so tall, Shaggy was able to press the fastest button on the fan. Turning on the electronic device, kicking the blades into a whirl.
Watching the small puppet whip around, the spin worked against the little mini Shaggy. In an instant, the small clone went flying into a nearby set of cabinets further down the room. Bouncing off the wood and landing with a small slide of momentum on the ground before finally coming to a stop. It traveled far, but didn't quite make it across the room fully. Shaggy's aim was to hit the back wall after all, but the travel path was off and it veered too far right to get as far as he wanted.
But that was the game.
"So, like we basically take turns flinging the puppets Maddy made, to see who can get the furthest!"
"Ahhhhhhhh..." Came the group response, finally seeing how everything worked together. Akin to a Fred trap; Fan plus puppet, rotating on the axis and then the force of the spin being released once the puppet came off the fan blade, to see how far it would travel air born. And the furthest, wins.
Actually, far more simple, then a Fred Trap. At least, less moving parts then most.
"Hey Velma."
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."
"Is it downstairs?"
"I think that is where I last saw it."
"Go get it. That will make this more remote, and easier to control, right?"
"Yeah. And we need an extension cord."
"Ah, Yeah. I'll get Fred on that."
Staring Red watched the exchange between the women, and followed as Velma dashed off and out of the kitchen to the basement. Then he turned back to see Daphne looking over at Fred expectantly, small tap of her foot.
"Do they always do that? I mean, doing the whole, I know what you mean before you say it... Sort of thing?" Red asked Fred next to him, who chuckled. Making a rotating gesture with his hands towards the other redhead.
"Yes, but it's something we all have. After years of mysteries, we don't always have the chance to say the plans or traps aloud, less the criminals know what it going on. Unless we have the safety to talk among ourselves. So, it kinda happens that you get the same idea, and it works. Plus, I think I know what the ladies are up to as well. And yes Daph, I'm getting the extension cord. We got one in the Mystery Machine, right? That would be the closest one, I'm thinking? Unless, hey Shag! You got an extension cable in the kitchen?"
"Sorry Fred, my last one I had in here was borrowed for something. Forgot which, probably my own fault though. Haa Haa." Shaggy said with a laugh and a shrug.
"Ok, be right back then." Fred called out, trotting himself towards the other side of the kitchen. His Daphne skirt cape, flapping behind him as he jogged across the room. Reminding Red how absurd his pal was dressed, as it had been long enough to feel almost normal, with this crazy April Fools day party.
Once at the backdoor, Fred opened it to the backyard, letting him get to where the Mystery Machine was parked. Diving into the van to dig for the extension cord he knew they had in there. Less he got to it first for an older trap, and forgot.