Dirty laundry

[wrongs]

the LAUNDROMAT

Perhaps you live in a dorm or an apartment that hasn't seen renovations since the eighties. Maybe your luck has really dried up and your washing machine at home broke the night before a job interview and you haven't done a load of laundry in two weeks. Whatever your story is you've ended up at the local 24-hour laundromat. It could be creeping in on midnight or three in the morning. Either way, the place is a dead zone. Leaving you floating in a liminal space where reality has been stripped down to the sounds of clattering quarters and the continuous thrum of the machines under the buzz of neon lights. This would be a horrible time to bump into someone you know, or worse - a complete stranger while you're staring into the middle distance in nothing but your American flag boxers reading a paperback.

HOW TO PLAY:

+ Comment with your character, preferences, etc.

+ Leave the comment blank or be daring and write a top-level starter

+ Comment to others and play out all those awkward run-ins or strange chance meetings

Comments

[servicedominant]

[ Clive glances up with the sort of look on his face one might expect if this man had said something totally inappropriate. ]

God, no. [ To his credit, he doesn't fumble his phone and he pockets it back in his hoodie. ]

Just making small talk... Badly, apparently. [ It's the sort of thing that happens when a good chunk of his maturing years were spent not dealing with other people like a human being.

He runs a hand back through his shaggy black hair, wondering if he should just stop his wash cycle early and leave with a sopping mess in his laundry back. ]

[endof_theline]

Oh...

You said- oh.

[Jesus christ. He's so bad at this. Thing is, Bucky hasn't been around other people like a human being either. Not for decades. This foray back into the real world is clearly going swimmingly well. Except that it's not.]

Sorry. I'm not great at- this.

[Whatever this is. Small talk? Flirting? Human interactions? All of the above. Especially when he's caught off guard.]

[servicedominant]

[ Clive, at least, can ease up at a fellow human being human-ing badly. He gives Bucky a sidelong look of commiseration that sparks into a half-grin. It could just as easily become a laugh if fails to keep a hold of himself. ]

Sorry, mate. It's a bit late for me to try being funny, isn't it?

[ He pushes away from the washer he's been leaning against and walks over to Bucky, hand extended. ]

Clive. Rosfield. Fellow late-night laundry-doer.