Velma

"I can't believe those guys. Always with the ghosts and magic when there's always a logical explanation." Velma huffed as she returned a book back to it's place, making sure it was following the organization order.

Shaggy was always overreacting over the smallest thing. He seriously had Panphobia though he was always more fearful of things that didn't exist. Or shouldn't. It wasn't like the lankly guy had fears of flying or car rides, only the destination which was usually another 'haunted' thing to look into. Just always ghosts, monsters and magic. Perhaps he had such an understanding of how the world worked he was only truly scared of things that completely broke the understanding of our current reality.

".....Naaaaaaaah." Velma muttered. It was simply another thought exercise, something she did to keep busy or work through some stress. A smarter(COUGH more patient) person could very well break down Shaggy's complete mental structure but then she was pretty sure said person would need therapy themselves. He had a lot of baggage.... and maybe some **** to dig through. Velma had never actually caught him with anything besides weed but..., sometimes he just seemed more off. But it was hard to tell if it was '****', fear or some weird device a criminal had set up.

And it was always criminals. If it wasn't people trying to scare people away from money that they had buried, lost relics they were trying to steal, land they wanted cheap; it was for their own benefit anyway. Like trying to hid their research findings or some other mistake. Why couldn't they just use their technological tricks, mental puzzles, and just weird smoke and mirrors to HELP people. Or entertain, several criminals could have just become illusionists or performers. They could even help the fields of science but... no. Of course not, had to stroke their own egos most the time.

That was probably why she couldn't believe in the existence of magic really. Humanity was greedy enough with the skills and tech they could understand; anything that breaks or disrupts the rules would certainly be abused. That and any being that had control of it probably wouldn't be any better.

"Getting distracted." Velma thought as she moved some books out of the way, looking for any clues, "Need to refocus. Maybe someone strung up a book by mistake and when the 'ghost' did his trick, he simply made the book float around on said string." Yes that was it. Had to be, some basic understanding of shared weight distribution. It was time to just get the gang back together, there was nothing here for them....

When a low pitched noise reached her ears.

It odd, something she'd heard several times before. A growl or grumble of something but .... far more .... bestial than anything she'd heard before. It was even deeper and more primal than when Shaggy had to go a night without a 4 course dinner.

"Shaggy... Scooby? Is that you two? You guys need to let me know if you're near me and hungry. Wait a minute..." Velma said aloud, trying to make sure whatever made the sound heard her..., along with trying to alert her friends nearby, "I just gave you two a box of Scooby Snacks each, HOW are you already growling like that?" Velma turned the corner past some book cases trying to find the source of the noise but only found a dead end. Two rows of bookshelves with a wall right in front of her. There wasn't anything here to be making that noise, along with no secret passage ways through said wall. Velma would know, she CHECKED all the walls.

"What's going on?" Velma thought. Was this some new trick they hadn't encountered during their investigation Some sort of sound system hidden away. Velma started to clear books from the shelves, looking for some sort of speaker system. There had to be something here right? A shiver went down her spine as something wet and warm landed on her shoulder. Glancing to her shoulder, it looked like water but smelled... off. Just what was going on... oh. The sleuth girl looked up and saw... it.

A large book, the size of an encyclopedia was... glaring at her somehow. It didn't have eyes but she could tell it was looking at her, a fluid dripping from it's open pages with a set of sharp parchment teeth to give it a maw like look. "....What... on..... ear-" was all Velma was able to get out before the 'book' roared and lunged forward.

Three bites was all it took. The monster's jaw closed around Velma's head and neck. Pulling her further into it's mouth, it surged forward and held Velma's middle tight. She kicked and scream but her voice was muffled by being inside... just WHAT was this? The book monster dragged the rest of Velma's legs inside with a final surge forward before taking another bite or two down, swallowing the woman whole with a burp. Satisfied that it was finally 'fed' the book floated to an empty spot on the self and waited for the next step to finish.

The brunette fell and kept falling... or was she falling. There wasn't any motion besides herself and it was just empty void around her. But she didn't feel like she was standing or falling. She just... existed in this darkness. Was this ****... or a dream? Maybe a coma after something fell on her head like a book shelf. Yes that had to be it. She'd just have to wait here until she woke up. Just here... in the darkness, by herself, and that golden...

"Hmm?" Velma muttered as she cocked her head. There was a glow of something golden off in the distance, she couldn't make it out. Logically it made the most sense to go check it out as it was the only thing that had changed since getting here. Though if it was the pearly gates..., no matter.

Moving here was... weird. Much like how she couldn't tell if she was standing or falling, Velma couldn't tell if walking, running, swimming or just floating forward. Time too was just.... absent. For all she knew, Velma wast taking years or seconds to get to her destination. The glow she followed was coming off a metal collar. It wasn't gold, just painted that color; it would have been too heavy otherwise. But it didn't feel like steel either. It was also incredibly flexible, stretching out and resizing to different shapes. One moment it was a collar, another moment a bracelet, the next no bigger than radius of her fingers, and after that she stretched it so it would fit around her gut.

"Really? This is it?" Velma muttered as she looked the item over as she resized it back to it's collar state, "What even is this here for? There's no one to put this one besides me and if you think I'm going to you're crazy." Besides she preferred orange... or at the very least Amber. There was a flash of light and looking down, Velma saw the collar was now in that color; an brilliant Amber that glistened in the darkness.

"....Interesting...., I should doubt how this is happening but I've clearly lost my mind already." Velma thought to herself, "So what's the harm and trying more? ...Green." another flash and she was holding an emerald collar, "Violet," flash, and she held Amethyst, "White." ....nothing. But at that time Velma hadn't desired it like she had the last three. She just thought it as a command than making a wish. Such a strange difference between an order and and wish. Was this related to Genies? Why would that be and why would her analytical mind go for 'Genie' like this.

".....Hmmm. Bed." Nothing happened after Velma wished for that in her heart but the collar did shimmer. It was trying but seemed to lack something. "Can you get me out then?" It shimmered again but only showed a mental image of Velma putting on the collar. How there wasn't any way to put it on...., and now the metal band had a latch. "Of course you do." Velma muttered.

Velma just sat there, existing as she pondered on what to do. It was clear this collar was baiting her or whatever forces that controlled this place were. Putting it would do... what? That said, not putting it on also wouldn't seem to change anything. She'd just sit here in the void till, she lost her mind? The item was the only variable to interact with.

Well that and her body. Given the collar's resizing properties, she could wear it as a belt, anklet, ring; anything really at this point. Daphne probably could come up with more ways to use the accessory but she didn't have her help with this. She'd have to pick for herself.