The Laundromat

[semimeme]

 

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

Harleen Quinzel | dc | college/med school au

[littlestclown]

[ brokeass college or med student. ]

Kara Danvers | DCTV

[wapow]

[Yeaaaah... Her own washing machine at her loft broke. Kara is trying not to make it obvious she's washing her suit now, mixing it in with her civilian clothes.]

[rcpd]

Hey, uh...

[Welp, running out of fabric softener at the laundromat is pretty low on the embarrassing scale, but trying to ask someone who's in the middle of arranging her underwear from the rest of her laundry is. Leon tries to look everywhere except at Kara's pile of clothes.

It doesn't really help.]

...could I borrow a little bit of your Downy? I stupidly ran out and the vending machine here's busted.

frank castle ╼ nmcu

[warstory]

( it's new york, that's all we gotta say. )

616 account but won't go too hard on that angle!

[murdock]

[ The discordant stench of blood and detergent, in a lived-in corner of the city, draws Matt to the laundromat. Not inside. Just outside. Just to confirm his own suspicions. Unmasked and vulnerable, he waits there. He could be anyone waiting out here, his cane in hand and his face trained neutral behind his glasses.

Thirty minutes wash, hushes the soapy water in the machines. Sixty minutes dry spin, rattle the coins fallen from pockets and jangling in the driers. Matt draws in a slow breath, asking himself why he waits; he accepts Frank must have sighted him there, just waiting outside. Reckless of Matt. Without a plan. But he waits anyway. ]

Worick Arcangelo | GANGSTA. | ota

[gigolopuff]

[He's grumbling and reading over the instructions on a container of Oxyclean, the living embodiment of the nobody ever helps me in this fucking house meme. Beside him is a basket filled with mostly blood-splattered clothes. The shirt he's wearing is unbuttoned and untucked. Ill-fitted too.]

[trivialization]

[ Good thing he's got a hot vampire neighbor(?) to tell him all about- ]

That's not coming out.

[ Oh. Okay then. Apparently she's useless. ]

Leon Scott Kennedy | RE2 | ota

[rcpd]

[It's pretty late, and this dumbass in an obnoxious Mr. Raccoon shirt is about to put some red boxers into his whites.]

[atoysoldier]

( Cloud has to be innovative in order to demonstrate his intelligence, competence, and efficiently in the laundromat. Especially in front of Leon. The blond uses his impeccable observational skills to swing his sack of dirty laundry into the four-wheeled-wagon. He didn't know much. Still, it sure did look like a mining cart, which gave him a few silly thoughts about riding a mining cart on the tracks through a mining cave. At least eight out of ten video games had some mining roller coaster, impracticable, ride after all. He grips the cart with both hands and swings it around toward one of the washing machines, in the back, away from Leon's machine. There was no way he was about to air out his dirty laundry in front of the brunette.

The next step in the process of doing his laundry was to acquire soap. He found the vending under an arch in the center of a wall, decorated by signs full of rules for using the facility's machines. Cloud shifted his weight and narrowed his eyes. There were too many options, and he wasn't confident in any of them. Was fabric softener the same as soap? What did the fragrances smell like, would he like them, would Leon? Another shift of his weight, and he pulls out his phone.

It's time to find some directions, and he glances around to make sure he's in the clear while he googles: how to do laundry. After finding too-long-didn't-read posts, he swaps over to the images search.

Safety search is off, he's an adult; it's his right, and he has to swipe around quickly and carefully to avoid minefields and land on a goldmine. Ah. Perfect. )

aoi mukou | totono | ota

[yabaleys]

[She's is sitting on top of one of the dryers as she holds her cell phone up in the air. She keeps chanting 'boop' over and over like she's mimicking a device connecting to a server. She shows no sign of stopping and appears to be in her own world to say the least.]

Niles | Fire Emblem Fates

[deniles]

[He's probably doing post-work laundry, wearing boyshorts and a t-shirt.

At least he looks cute.]

Miles Morales | Ultimate Spider-Man | M/F

[touchedbyaspider]

[Well he has to wash his suit SOMEHOW. If someone asks it’s totally cosplay.]

annie edison | community | ota

[disneyeyes]

Ardyn Izunia | Final Fantasy XV | OTA

[myturnnow]

[ He's sorting out his stuff before tossing it in the dryer. Looks pretty normal... a few white shirts, some dress shirts... but that's a hell of a lot of scarves for one guy to be washing. He's got about four in the machine now... and there seems to be a few more. Will it ever end? Who knows.

When he's done finally he's just gonna settle back on a nearby bench with some canned coffee and a car magazine -- as one does. ]

Ren Amamiya | Persona 5 | OTA

[arsenemurderandjaywalking]

[ One of the quirks about the Metaverse that he most took for granted was the fact that his actual attire never got dirty after a long mission.

What I wouldn't give for that convenience now, he thinks, staring at two machines tossing his clothes around, out of sync with each other. At least he's not so ill-prepared for laundry day that he has to do it in his underwear in the middle of the night.

Again. ]

i'm so sorry

[luxoraculi]

[ Ren may be busy watching his clothes getting tossed about, but someone else is about to enter the fray. The front door jingles as Lunafreya pushes it open, a large laundry basket in her arms filled to the brim with nothing but black. Black socks, black shirts, black pants. Black jackets, black everything save for the two white dresses that rest somewhere in between everything else.

Two dogs, fittingly both black and white, ignore the 'no dogs' sign as they follow in after her. And really, at this time of night, who is going to tell on them? Besides, they are helping. A black sock drops from the top of the basket, and the black dog goes to pick it up, trotting after his mistress and dropping it helpfully back into the pile of clothing where it belongs.

Lunafreya isn't paying much attention to the only other person in the room, mostly because she's squinting and focusing on the directions on the machines, but the white dog that had followed her in has deviated. She's making her way over to poor Ren, in fact.

The dog peers up at him, her head tipping to the side, before she suddenly just sits down next to him and turns her gaze up to the machines he's watching.

Congratulations, Ren. You've made a canine friend, and potentially, you've accidentally adopted a dog! ]

Kate Kane } Arrowverse

[crimsoncrusader]

[Look, it's not ideal, but an errant batarang destroyed her washing machine at home, and she's still in the process of getting it replaced. It'll happen. Eventually. Until then, it's the middle of the night, and instead of fighting crime, she's fighting grime.]

Death | DC/Vertigo

[thelast]

[ Nothing but black and dark clothes. In the dead of night, of course. ]

[diedonthejob]

[Funny how he's got safe-houses all over the city but not one of them has a working washing machine - sure he could just break into the manor and use the one there but he doesn't feel like dealing with his family, so 24hour laundromat it is.]

[Now, when you're cleaning a suspicious amount of blood out of your clothes, you should really know better than to make eye-contact with anyone or open yourself up for conversation - and usually Jason does. But something about this goth chick, it's nagging at him. He feels like he's seen her somewhere before, but he can't remember where which is absurd because a look like hers is pretty damn memorable.]

[After wracking his brain for a good five, six minutes, he eventually decides to bite the bullet and sate his curiosity.]

This is gonna sound like a line, but do I know you from somewhere?

[It sounds crazy, but he swears he's meet this woman before.]

akemi morishita | original

[cupidite]

[ he's leaning against one of the two machines he's hogging, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, scrolling through his phone. ]

#2 | Electroma

[electrauma]

[ Sometime late at night when there's little to no people. Can't let dust get into his systems and he's often covered in some dirt. ]

Vincent Law/Ergo Proxy // Ergo Proxy

[theworldunwinds]

Vincent seemed to work nothing but double shifts these days, made little time for basic chores but he managed to haul his clothes to the laundromat at about three in the morning. No one else seemed to be around but stayed by his machines as they tumbled his clothes about.

Dressed down to a sleeveless top, boxers and socks, he was glad the place was warm. Grateful for a moment to rest, he leaned against the counter and browsed through his phone to pass the time.

aqua ☆ kingdom hearts ☆ ota

[humility]

Chikai Kuji | Sarazanmai | OTA

[measuringdistance]

[Can do Yurikamome or yakuza era - either way, he's down to an undershirt and pants, and watching one of the machines impatiently.]

[kappalinquent]

[ Dressed similarly, Toi comes up from behind, gently tapping his brother's head with a cold can of Cucumber juice??? ]

Most of the good flavors were all sold out.

Catra | She-Ra and the Princesses of Power | OTA

[morethanadistraction]

[Do not. Do not ask why Catra is here, furiously over-filling a washer with an assortment of laundry items. A lot of these things are going to have new holes in them by the time she's done cramming them in, and she has to actually heave with a grunt of effort against the door of the front-loader to get it to close.

And that should be it, right? Now all she has to do is turn around, and screw around with the control panel, and it should go. Except she does that, and then she waits, her tail lashing in anticipation.

And the damn thing flashes a message at her, adamantly displaying the cost of usage.

Her groan of frustration as her head drops back is loud, echoing clearly among the clanging and rattling of the laundromat. She would seriously rather go deal with literally anything other than this.]

i'm logged in so

[firstonesexpert]

[In the machine next to Catra's - literally, in the machine, with only her overalled waist and a few bits of hair too thick to stay inside the washer's barrel sticking out - is Entrapta, but her wiggling form and the sound of clanging pauses when Catra groans.

It takes a few seconds for her to extricate herself successfully from the machine she's in, and her clothes are both somehow greasier and soapier than before she went in.]

That was a noise of distress. Are you having difficulties with your machine?

Jessica "Jessie" Custer l AMC Preacher AU l OTA

[unholyandbroken]

[Dirt cheap laundromart while staying a step ahead of bonkers family anyone?

Pre series]

tsurumaru kuninaga | touken ranbu | ota

[cranelike]

(Just going to

Casually add entirely too much soap to one of the laundry machines. It'll be fine. It'll be fun. Who doesn't love a room full of bubbles?!

Also please make sure his white are separated because his aesthetic is looking like a white bird and not a flamingo.)

[candlestickslayer]

[ you know, he brought this on himself entirely. Trusting Tsurusan to behave while he went off to grab them some tea while they waited. ]

Tsuru-saaaan, I'm sorry I was gone for so long. I thought some snacks might be needed as well—

[ He trailed off for a second taking notice to the laundry machines making extra noise.... Huh. ]

Harry Wells - Earth 2 -DCTV Flash

[binarythinking]

[All black clothes means laundry goes faster right?
Right.]

[thisismadfreaky]

Things have been a little... rough for Cisco lately, what with the fresh breakup on his mind and everything, not made even the slightest bit easier for the vibe-connection he and Cindy had. Like breakups weren't hard enough as it is. Ugh. So, in his late-night, sad-fueled insomnia, he finds his way to the lab in search of something to do. Or, in reality, someone to talk to. Specifically, Harry. Because at least Harry won't be like Caitlin and Ralph about things and try to help, he'll be more likely to run away from the feelings part of this and distract him in a different way. Except. Hmm. No Harry at the lab. Weird.... In a matter of minutes, Cisco has successfully tracked the older man down and is only more confused by the location given by Wells' GPS on his phone. No matter, Cisco's headed to the Bubble Up laundromat on Cedar Street via breech because it's honestly the easiest mode of transportation ever. He appears in a seat next to Harry and rolls his head slowly to that side to look at him. "Of all the places for me to find you at three in the morning, this is probably the least expected one of all, Harry."

John Constantine - DCTV

[trenchcoat_brigade]

[He's just going to stuff everything in at once, shove in some coin and hope for the best. Once a disaster, always a disaster.]

Re: John Constantine - DCTV

[unholyandbroken]

[Rule!63 and pre series AMC Jesse Custer?]

Mitsuba Okita | Gintama

[spicycracker]

[ She is but a frail woman just wanting to help and struggling to do this large load of laundry... ]

Yu Kanda | D.Gray-man | ota

[omkara]

( Domestic prompts like this slay me. )

slay you huh

[gigolopuff]

Hey gorgeous.

[Have a towel whip to the butt.]

A little birdie told me you were here. I couldn't believe it so I had to come see it for myself.

[Rather than invade more of Kanda's personal space, Worick leans up against the adjacent machine's edge.]

This for work?