AROOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!
Pushing open the cafe doors, the twin doors squealed on their hinges as the group passed through them. Looking beyond, it was easy to see the grimy kitchen that lay ahead. Cobwebs lined every corner, and dust hung on every edge. It looked like it had never been cleaned, just like the ghouls at Grimwood liked it.
Looking over at Shaggy, Fred expected the food lover to react negatively at the state that the kitchen was in. Since he spent most of his time in his own kitchen, and kept it looking spotless for the most part. (When he wasn't in the middle of cooking something) But Fred found it odd, (like most of the day so far) that neither Shaggy nor Scooby seemed to mind the dirt. In fact, they seemed almost happy to see the place. Like it was a long lost second home, just waiting to be entered.
Shaking his head, Fred looked beyond Shaggy, to the two ladies in the disheveled kitchen that the noise seemed to be coming from. Though he had heard the one taller ladies name, (Sibella, if he had heard it correctly.) he didn't catch if the... wilder looking one had said her name, if the guys had mentioned it. Fred was having almost as much of a hard time as Velma had been, with the ideas of werewolves and maybe vampires. He really didn t know how to explain in any other way, how a bat could be there one moment, and then a woman there the next. At least, not without using a horror novel as reference.
But putting them aside, he was curious at what kind of 'guest' could be making that kind of racket. Peering around in the dark, Fred tried to see where the noise could be coming from in that dirty kitchen. He also was trying to avoid getting a cobweb in his hair. He might not be as bad as Daphne, but he still didn't want anything running across his head when he wasn't looking.
"Like' Hello? Anyone in here?"
Taking the lead, Shaggy pressed into the kitchen without a moment s hesitation. With Scooby close behind, the duo strode inside and peered at the various objects and furniture that made up the kitchen. Coming to a table that sat near the oven, it was then that Scooby noticed a pair of eyes staring back at him.
"Raggy Raggy... Ryes!" Poking Shaggy in the leg, Scooby tried to get his lanky friend's attention.
"Rice? Like it's a kitchen Scooby, even the girls might eat some rice now and again." Though with a second though, Shaggy figured that it would be more Shriek-y rice, then sticky. But that was something totally different. Sighing, Scooby shook his head and pointed at the table.
"No Raggy... Ryes!" To make sure his pal understood him; he took one paw and stretched his own eye wide to look in Shaggys direction with the larger seeming eye.
"Oh, eyes. Got it Scoob." Patting his buddy on the head, he then tried to lean over and look for the set of eyes he had been talking about.
In an uncharacteristic move, Shaggy was searching for the set of eyes Scooby mentioned. Fred didn't know what had happened to duo he knew so well, but he wasn't sure if how their acting was a bad thing or not? He could honestly admit to himself, that he had sometimes got fed up with the two always running from everything they ran into. Though most of the time it was well deserved, this was a bit hard for Fred to comprehend. It almost felt like how they acted at home...
"Ah ha." Shaggy said, finally seeing something under the table.
"Don't eat me!" A tiny, shaking though slightly familiar voice said from under the table. Rattling the table, it made it seem like the table was afraid as well as what was underneath it.
"Come on, there's nothing to be afraid of... It's probably just one of the girls..." A second, stronger sounding voice tried to talk some sense into the scared voice.
Bumping a few things, it seemed like something was coming out. Chair legs and cobwebs shifted as a dusty, brown shape emerged from under the table to look at who had found them. A set of dark eyes blinked for a second as the light of the kitchen was a bit brighter then under the table. Once the spots cleared, the eyes were finally able to make out who was there.
"Uncle Shaggy! Uncle Scooby! You're here too!"
Springing forward, Scrappy took flight at the duo. But in his suddenness, the dog had put too much energy into his spring and set the table shaking. Spooked already, the source of the scared voice got spooked and sent itself straight into a scurrying run... Straight into Fred, who caught the dusty form from fleeing any further.
"What's all this racket?" Pushing herself into the Room, Daphne had finally joined the group with Elsa a few steps behind her. The taller woman didn't want to run Daphne over in her long, knee locked strides, so she made sure to hang back a bit before following to close.
"Our Guests have come out of hiding." Winny added amusedly, offering a paw towards where the two dusty characters were. Looking over, Daphne caught the look of the person who Fred had caught.
"...Melvin?"
"Daphne? Fred?" Confused, though relieved, Melvin Toore relaxed for a second in Fred s light grip of him. But as suddenly as he relaxed, Melvin pressed himself into Fred to hug the man around his chest.
"I thought I was a goner! I was so scared... I thought those 'girls' as Scrappy says... we re going to eat me!" Pausing to look at Daphne, he finally noticed Winny, Sibella and Elsa that sat amused off to one side. But he mistook their amusement for hunger and got spooked once again.
"Awwooo-agh! Save me!"
Jumping to burrow in the small of Fred s back, Melvin tried to use him as a shield against the girls. Fred, found himself confused yet again for that day. Not only was he not expecting to find their friend Melvin and his dog Scrappy in this creepy crib, but the hug then sudden use of him as a barrier was not something he was ready for.
"Well, it looks like we solved the mystery of the strange sounds... It was Melvin yelling as he was scared."
Daphne seemed rather amused, though she could understand a bit how Melvin felt. She had felt uneasy when she was walking with Elsa as she carried Velma to Shaggy s old room. But her protective side forced her to make sure her best friend was ok, against her fear of the taller woman. But it was hard to hold a grudge against the stiff seeming woman, when she had been so careful with Velma. The whole time they were walking, Elsa made sure to cradle Velma with the utmost care. To the point that Elsa hit the top of her head on a doorframe, because she had been paying more attention to making sure Velma had gotten through the door safely then her own head.
Placing her lightly into the bed, Elsa had a strange, though gentle smile on her face as she made sure to make Velma comfortable and tucked her into the covers. Turning to Daphne, she smiled even up to her eyes just saying one thing.
"She's like Tanis..."
Since Velma was sleeping, Daphne decided to follow Elsa back downstairs. And in following the woman back, they had reached the kitchen in time for all the craziness.
But Fred didn't have that kind of scene with the girls he had interacted with. So he was still puzzled at all the going ons at the time. Shaggy and Scooby were still greeting Scrappy, Daphne seemed to be relaxed around the tall Elsa that stood right beside her, and Sibella and Winny still stood there.
"Hey Shaggy... Can you stop playing with Scrappy and help me out here?"
Making a motion behind him, it was hard for him to do much with Melvin still pressing into his back. Looking up from the floor, Shaggy blushed in embarrassment for a second before untangling himself from the dog pile. He crossed the distance between the pile and Fred with a few strides.
"Like' sure Freddie."
"Nonononono... they are going to eat me..." Mumbled Melvin, who was still frightened at the girls.
"Can't you tell the girls or something that they are scaring him?"
Fred tried to whisper to Shaggy, without insulting the girls in the room, trying to hide his mouth with his hand. Unsure what they might do had they known. But Fred had not known about the amazing hearing of Winny the Werewolf. Ear twitching, it took a second before what had been said clicked in her mind. Eyes going wide, Winny quickly turned to Sibella and whispered in her ear. Once she had heard what Winny had said, she also looked equally shocked.
"Oh... no no... We're not going to hurt him." Sibella tried to move forward a bit to apologize. Though she paused, not wanting to go to close and scare Melvin more. Winny hung back, nodded her head with a sad look on her face. They didn t want to scare Melvin. It was a simple misunderstanding.
"We just thought Scrappy had taught... Melvin was it?" Winny asked, trying to recall his name properly from when Daphne had said it. "We thought Scrappy taught Melvin some deep shrieking. We didn't mean to scare him."
"Deep... Shrieking?" Trying to gather himself, the boy wavered as he asked this from his hiding position behind Fred. Fred wanted to know the answer as well, but wasn t sure why Scrappy would be the one to teach something like that.
"Yeah. When Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy were our teachers, they taught us all sorts of things. And one of them was deep shrieking." Sibella tried to help inform the others of what happened. And why they had not thought anything of the boy s scared screaming. But it really didn t help Melvin much, except make him confused, on top of scared.
"I think you guys are going to have to explain more about what happened when you came here the first time Shag." Fred offered, trying to make sense of it all. Daphne had to agree, she had heard some stories, but not enough apparently. So she seconded the comment from Fred, wanting to know more.
Finally ending their greeting, Scrappy and Scooby came over to see what the rest were doing. Looking at his uncle, Scrappy smiled and nodded.
"We could just tell them everything from the beginning. Maybe that might calm Melvin down some, huh uncle Scooby? What do you think?"
"Rah rah! R'ell rum Raggy." Scooby nodded as well, opening up the floor for his buddy. Shaggy looked at the two and had to agree. It probably would make more sense if he had told them the whole story. And before he might have left out a few details, it was kinda too late now. They had seen it for their own eyes, and might as well know everything.
"Shaggy, before you tell them, why don't we retire to the main room? It's more comfortable then the kitchen and people can sit down." Sibella offered, trying to be a good Head Mistress. She still felt bad for the misunderstanding.
"That sounds good. Why don't we do that?" Daphne agreed, happy to be able to sit down for a bit. That and she really didn't want to stay in the dirty kitchen any longer then she had too. Too many of the webs hung down too far for her hair's liking. So another room sounded good to her.
"Well, what do you think Melvin? Are you up for hearing more about this?" Fred asked, trying to twist around to talk to the teen behind him. Fearful eyes looked up at Fred for a second, before he responded with a weak nod.
"I never thought that there would be something scarier than being chased by a Ghost Dinosaur…" Melvin said, muttering to Fred, though Shaggy over heard it.
"Don't worry Melvin! This isn't, like' as bad. We've been through far scarier things before!" Shaggy said happily, moving past them to get a good seat for telling his tale. Fred felt like placing his head in his hands, at Shaggy's comment.
"I think the worst part…" Fred said, trying to pull Melvin to his side and give him a reassuring shoulder squeeze. "… is that was supposed to make you feel better. Coming from those two, a comment like that means that this isn't that scary. In his own… Shaggy way."
"Why do I not feel relieved?" Melvin said sadly back up at Fred, who had to laugh.
"Sorry Melvin. But at least you can sit by me and Daph. We don't know what happened either. So it doesn't seem to be a bad place. Just… Odd." Fred tried to offer his best advice. Though it wasn't very reassuring for the scared teen.
"You can say that again…" Melvin grumbled, but followed Fred as he led him into the main room.