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

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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.]

frank castle ╼ nmcu

[warstory]

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

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.]

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.]

[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.

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.]

Leon, you ain't slick! XD I mean, Kara isn't either.

[wapow]

Oh! Oh my god, uh...

[kasldhladlhk Kara quickly tosses her cape/Clark's baby blanket over her lacey underthings to hide them before grabbing the fabric softer that was sitting beside her laundry basket and offering it to Leon.]

Here you go! [She says, chuckling nervously.] It's--[She clears her throat.] It's, um, lavender-scented so hope that's okay!

[She winks, clicking her tongue, and giving Leon a finger gun in her attempt to act casual and not wkward at all.

Totally normal human behavior.

Kara starts grumbling to herself, using that hand that made said finger gun to bury her face in it.] Really, Kara? Really??

Niles | Fire Emblem Fates

[deniles]

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

At least he looks cute.]

he's trying to be a gentleman!

[rcpd]

Thanks, I appreciate it.

[He takes the offered bottle of fabric softener in hand.]

I'll give it right back -- I only need a little bit.

[Oh, no. She's embarrassed too! He tries not to highlight all the awkwardness surrounding them both and just smiles and nods at the finger guns. And after he turns and tries to shake off his own embarrassment, he pours some of the stuff into the cap, takes a whiff of it and...oh yeah, it's definitely lavender. His clothes, including his uniform, is going to smell like a damn floral bed.

Oh well...nothing he can do about it now. Maybe it'll earn him some points?

He pours the stuff into his washing machine and just as he said he would, he returns with the bottle, setting it on the empty washing machine beside hers.]

And here we are. Thanks again, you really saved my ass.

[Er--]

Butt. My butt. You...saved it.

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. ]

She appreciates that! <3

[wapow]

[Despite Kara loving what she does, being a superhero is stressful work. Her suit smelling like lavender is one of the tools she uses to calm and center herself.]

Uh-huh! No--[She clears her throat, nervously adjusting the frames of her glasses by pushing the corner with her knuckle.] No problem! Take your time~

[Kara knows her hiding behind her hand won't disguise how her red face is resembling Clark's baby blanket now. She puts her hand down before her gaze shifts to her laundry basket, hidden under her cape (hopefully he doesn't make the connection that it was Supergirl's actual cape there.).]

Ah! [She takes the bottle back gratefully, placing it on top of the machine beside her basket again.] You're welcome~

[At the correction of his words, Kara couldn't help but giggle, her expression relaxing finally.]

I sure did! Your trunk, your booty, your Gluteus Maximus...

[This is going to be so weird out of context.]

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. ]

[rcpd]

[Lucky for her, all Leon was able to catch a glimpse of, besides what he thought were her underthings, was something red which he assumed was just a sweater or shawl or something. She's in the clear. Her secret identity is still a secret.

But...ugh. Okay. So he made an ass of himself just now. No pun intended. Leon pinches his lips together, tight, and tries not to let too much of his embarrassment show through.]

My rear-end, my backside, my tush. Yeah yeah, I get it...

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. ]

[wapow]

[Phew! Supergirl gets to fly another day. Kara tries to hide another laugh burbling up to the surface by disguising it behind a cough. She is somewhat successful.]

Sorry! Ehem. Sorry. I know, I shouldn't tease you. [She trusts her hand out, her palm open.] I'm Kara. And you are?

[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. ]

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. ]

[watchyourlanguage]

[ With his own washing machine broken, and with a wait list for the other machines in the building's basement, Steve figured it would be a bit quicker to head to the nearest laundromat to get his laundry done. And for the most part his instincts were right, with the laundromat being mostly empty.

As he was switching out one load for another into the washing machine, he caught one of the other patrons from the corner of his eye. Honestly, he wouldn't have thought much of it, until he noticed a fallen clothing article by her feet.

Closing the machine door and putting in the change to start the cycle, he then walks up behind her and reaches down to retrieve the object - a sock. ]

Excuse me, ma'am? [ He holds the sock out to her. ] Did you drop this?

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. ]

[rcpd]

[Now that poorly-disguised laugh? Yeah, he caught that. But it's fine. They're both being awkward and humor via teasing is often a good way to make it through it. He won't hold it against her.]

You say that now...

[Smiling, he takes takes her hand into his and shakes it, not too loosely or firmly.]

Leon. So, Kara is it?

[He tilts his head, allowing his own smile to grow a little mischievous.]

You always offer up synonyms when you meet a guy? Or am I just special?

[gigolopuff]

[Eh? He blinks at her, then looks back at the pile of laundry in his basket. Blood is notoriously difficult to get out, hence why a lot of his clothes -- and by proxy, Nic's -- tend to be dark in color.]

Sure it does. Little bit of this, plus some club soda, gets 'em right out.

[At least, that had always worked with varying degrees of success. This latest batch, though...

He wrinkles his nose then shrugs and pops the cap open.]

...maybe they changed the formula.

[They didn't. He read over the ingredients label -- it's the same as it's always been. Damn.]