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Velma stared at the gently lapping water of the river, leaning her elbows on the railing. The rest of the gang was fast asleep in their motel, but she hadn’t been able to sleep so she’d come outside to think. The water sounds were restful, but her mind refused to stop whirling.
Meeting Dream of the Endless had been an epiphany. She’d always, practically, scientifically, assumed that the “supernatural” things they ran into were hoaxes. And she’d been right. Until Dream. But if Dream existed, and Hob, for that matter, what other myths were possibly real? And Dream had mentioned the Endless, and she’d found Death of the Endless through her research, and then managed to actually meet her. She was much more… personable than Dream.
But Death had warned Velma not to go looking for their other siblings. It was dangerous. She might not like what she found. Velma… wasn’t good at taking that kind of advice. In fact, it usually made her want to run toward the danger rather than away from it. Surely there was something to uncover here! Curiosity killed the cat, but she wasn’t a cat. The rest of the gang were able to put it out of their minds and move on, but Velma had to admit. She was kinda obsessed by the idea of the Endless. Who were they? Would she ever get to meet another of them? How could she even start to find them? Especially after being warned off. (Did they not realize how much that was catnip to her? Maybe she was a cat, after all.)
Suddenly she realized someone was leaning on the rail beside her. She hadn’t noticed them come up, but then again, she had been absorbed by her thoughts and often forgot about her surroundings when she was thinking. They were… she wasn’t actually sure if they were a man or a woman, but they were definitely beautiful, with blond hair swept back, a skin-tight red catsuit, immaculate makeup, and slightly weird golden contacts. They turned to her with a hungry-looking smile.
“Ohh, it’s so rare that someone desires me for myself, but as my brother’s sibling? And so strongly I can hardly ignore it? You are unique, little girl. Absolutely unique.”
“Who are you?” Velma wasn’t sure whether to bristle at “little girl” or preen at “absolutely unique,” but her detective instincts took over, asking the most pertinent question first.
“I am Desire,” the gorgeous being crooned, reaching out to stroke her face. Velma took a step back. They were attractive, no question, but whatever Endless were, they weren’t her type.
“Oh, now you find caution!” Desire laughed delightedly. “I will echo my sister, then, and warn you not to go seeking my other siblings.” They laughed again, and this time Velma heard a tinge of evil cackle in it. “That won’t stop you, though, will it? Because I know you, and it will just make you desire it more, that it is forbidden and dangerous.”
They weren’t wrong, and Velma was sure they could see it on her face. “Who are they? Your other siblings? What are their names?”
“Mmmmm, the strength of your craving is so sweet, like nectar—ambrosia, even. I will tell you, sweet child, but know first that getting what you desire will not make you happy.”
Velma squared her shoulders and nodded her head. “I accept the consequences.”
Desire laughed again, this time in pure amusement. “You are so cute! Alright, kitty-mine, your wish is granted. My siblings are Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Despair and Delirium. You won’t find Destruction, though, he’s been gone for ages. Good luck!”
This time Velma saw them turn away and disappear, only a glint of gold marking their passage. Wait. If that was an Endless, those probably weren’t costume contacts. Jinkies!
She took a deep breath, suddenly shaken by her brief encounter with one of the underlying principles of the universe. Desire. What had they said? She would regret obtaining her desire? And the siblings’ names? Destiny. Coming face to face with her own Destiny, yes, she could see how that might rewrite her life. Death she had met; she didn’t seem so bad, but then again, Velma hadn’t met her under the usual circumstances. Dream she had also met; he was weird but not that scary… until she remembered that nightmares are also dreams. Destruction. Maybe it would be better not to seek out Destruction. Possibly it was good that he was missing. There was something philosophical there, but Velma would think more about it later. Despair. Actually perhaps she hoped not to meet this sibling. Delirium? She’d had brushes with Delirium, not as many as Shaggy, but enough to know she wasn’t scared of it. She wouldn’t want to get lost in it, though. She wondered if Delirium was a sister or brother, or a sibling like Desire.
“Delirium of the Endless,” she said, just to try it out in her mouth. It had a nice mouth-feel, but why was she suddenly getting dizzy? She took a few steps back from the railing and sat down on the ground. As she put her head down on her knees, she noticed a teenage girl wandering past with her big black and brown dog.
“Oh, hello!” Velma looked up blearily to see the girl’s fishnet stockings and upside-down, multi-coloured head right in front of her. “Did you call me? I thought you called, but now I’m not sure because you had your head down. Usually people are looking at me when they call me and then I come. Oh, your eyes are funny, am I messing with your head? That happens around me sometimes. To the people who can’t always see me. Some people can always see me, but you can’t, can you?” Velma took in her haphazard haircut and heterochromatic eyes, her thrift store rags and slightly inhuman posture, and with a nearly painful degree of effort forced her brain to draw some conclusions.
“Delirium of the Endless? Sister of Dream, Death and Desire?”
“Yes! Oh, you know Dreamy? He’s my favourite. Even though I shouldn’t have favourites, you know. And Destruction was my favourite before, but then he left and I miss him. Death is kind of boring, she always takes my toys when I break them. I don’t know Desire very much, mostly they send theirs to Despair when they’re done with them, but once in a while they send me one! Oh, are you one of those?”
Velma wasn’t sure she was following the conversation. “I hope not? I just wanted to meet Dream’s siblings, even though Death said it would be dangerous and Desire said it wouldn’t make me happy and I’m not sure I do want to meet them anymore, even though you are very groovy and psychedelic and I think Shaggy would like you.” She suddenly realized she was babbling and closed her mouth. Hopefully she hadn’t said too much?
“Oh, I like Shaggy! He’s my friend! Whenever he comes to visit we have the best food! Last time it was octopus!” Velma squinted, then shook her head, then realized the tentacles now squirming in a halo around Delirium were actually there, or as actually as the word had any meaning in the context of Delirium. They reached forward to stroke her head, knees, arms, back, and even though she knew she should draw back the way she had from Desire, she found herself leaning in, just a little. It was comforting. She liked being petted. She might be purring a bit.
Delirium laughed, and it was a kind laugh, a child’s joyful, delighted laugh, but it still scared the shit out of Velma. She pulled herself together and pulled back a bit.
“Oh, are you finished being a kitty? It was fun, I was hoping we could play longer!”
“Delirium, it was a pleasure meeting you, but I think I should go to bed now.”
“Oh, no, you can’t go yet! You haven’t met the rest of us! Come on, I’ll take you to meet them!”
“I don’t think I really want to—” but a tentacle had wrapped around her waist, and the scenery was changing around them.
Velma was glad to notice that her head cleared as the landscape resolved into an infinite formal garden. Huge statues of the siblings loomed in her view—she recognized Death, Dream, Desire and Delirium, and took the chance to study the other three. The big one in the middle was likely Destruction. He looked kind, but she was more sure than ever that seeking out Destruction… it was right there in the sentence. She had no desire to seek destruction. She wondered which of the end ones the garden belonged to.
“Delirium.” The tall man with the dour voice was ensconced in a robe hiding all but his hands, which were chained to a large, open book.
“Oh, hi, Destiny!” chirped Delirium. “This is my new kitty! She wanted to meet you but then she didn’t want to, but then I grabbed her and now we are here! Her name is Velma but I call her Pussy-Cat.”
“Delirium. We’ve spoken about this before. You are not to bring your friends into my garden. It’s not good for them. Prophets and oracles no longer have respect, and she may end up imprisoned if she insists on telling people about this.”
“I, I won’t tell,” Velma promised. “Delirium, we can go now? It was very nice to meet you, sir,” she added to the imposing figure of Destiny of the Endless.
“You are wise not to question me.”
“Oh, no, sir, I wouldn’t think of it!”
He solemnly nodded approval and waved his hand, and the garden disappeared.
“Oh, he threw us out!” Delirium complained. In the gray fog (what was this gray fog?), she was bigger and younger seeming, and her edges trailed off into tentacles (still), fish, bubbles…. Velma was getting dizzy again.
“Can I go home?”
“You know what this reminds me of? Despair’s place! Let’s go there instead, it will be much more fun! Well, no. Actually she’s not much fun at all. But you will like it. Well, no. Actually you probably won’t like it much. But I don’t think it will break you! Well, no. Actually it could break you a little. Here, I’ll make you a cat, that will make it more fun!”
Velma whipped her tail in agitation as the gray fog parted a little to show a hall filled with mirrors. The woman sitting on the couch in the middle looked uncomfortable and sad. Despair, she assumed. Her nose twitched as she caught the interesting smell of rat. She looked away from Despair, then took a few steps closer.
“What now, Delirium? Why have you brought me a cat? You know my rats don’t like them.”
“This is my friend, Pussy-Cat! She wanted to meet Dreamy’s siblings, you know, all of us. But then she didn’t want to. But then I took her to meet Destiny anyway. But she didn’t ask any questions and then he threw us out. So then I made her a cat and brought her here.”
“Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.” Velma cautiously approached the hand that was held out to her. She gave it a quick sniff, then turned her head away. She wasn’t going to ask for pets from Despair! Despair sighed mournfully.
“You should put her back, you know. She doesn’t mind being a cat now, but if you leave her like that for long, she’ll be mine soon.”
Delirium pouted. “Do you really want to go back, Pussy-Cat?” Velma perked up and nodded vigorously, using as much cat and human body language as she could muster to show agreement.
“Oh, fine then. I suppose I should go back and get Barnabas, he doesn’t complain about visiting people with me.” Velma shrunk a little, hoping she hadn’t offended her Endless host, then allowed herself to be scooped up in a couple tentacles again.
Her relief at seeing the motel and river again grew infinitely as she realized she also had her own eyes, ears, hands—in fact, her own body back. Without a tail. She never wanted to forget this experience, but when she wrote it down in her journal, she was definitely going to frame it as a really weird dream.
“Ah, good that you are back.” Was that the dog? Did Barnabas just welcome them back? Why was she even surprised anymore, at this point?
“Hello, doggy! Goodbye, kitty! It was nice playing with you!”
“It was nice to meet you. Thank you for bringing me back.” Courtesy to cosmic powers could never hurt, right?
“See ya later!” The teenager waved casually over her shoulder as she walked off with her dog. She looked almost normal again, but Velma watched her cautiously until she disappeared in the distance. Then she turned around and headed back into the motel.
“Hey, Velma!” Shaggy greeted her. “You couldn’ sleep, either, man? Do ya want one a my brownies?” Shaggy’s words were a bit slurred, but Velma wasn’t sure how she’d sound at this point either.
“Nah, Shaggy, not today. Maybe later sometime. I met someone today, I could introduce you to her. Name’s Delirium.”
“Oh, yeah, you met Del! She’s awesome! Makes the best octopus pancakes! Scooby loves to play with Barnabas, don’t you, boy?” Scooby didn’t answer, being fast asleep. Velma tuned out Shaggy’s spacey ramblings about his fun times with his pal Del (it didn’t bear thinking on), tumbled into bed, wrote the bones of the evening in her journal, and fell asleep with it open in her hands.
Her dreams resonated with the oddly comforting sensation of her fur being petted by an octopus with too many tentacles and green and blue eyes.