The Laundry Room, Thursday Morning

[genesishero]

Evan had kind of given up on trying to figure out where he was supposed to be living, these days. Last weekend, it had apparently been Karina's room. From there, he'd wound up in a hallway, a supply closet, the garden on the roof, and a common room. Today, Evan's room listing had changed yet again.

He supposed he couldn't complain too much. He was inside, at least. And he wasn't sharing his space with brooms or anything, though the dryers were a little noisy and they scared Ozzy a bit. And the smell of laundry detergent and fabric softener was actually kind of nice.

He was sort of getting resigned to this. But if he found out he was living in the ladies' bathroom or something like that, he was just going to move into the hotel. Jeeze.

Anyway, while he was down here, he was passing his time by sitting on a stack of his books and, you know, doing laundry.

What else?

[OOC: Because giving Evan a difficult time is one of my favourite things about this BDE already. Open!]

Comments

[justbeingbay]

It was Dominic's day off and the pile of laundry at the foot of his bed seemed about to evolve into sentient life, so off to the laundry room he went. (Whatever bizarre vortex had dropped him into Bay's room been thoughtful enough to send his dirty socks along. Thanks, island.)

"Hey, Evan," he said casually as he dumped dark stuff into one machine and white stuff into another. "Reading anything good today?"

[genesishero]

"Mostly just things I've read before," Evan replied, giving... the guy... a bit of a smile. It was a slightly confused one as he tried to place the face, sure, but it was still a smile. "Sholeh gave me one of my favorite books for my birthday, so I'm working my way through that while I wait for my laundry."

And, you know, since he was kind of moved in, here, and all.

What was his life.

[justbeingbay]

"See, and I was just going to goof around on my phone for an hour," Dom admitted. "You're using the time way better."

He gave a wobbly smile when he recognized Evan's expression. (He'd been dealing with a lot of those lately.) "Is that an 'I have no idea who this guy is' look?"

[genesishero]

"Kind of," Evan admitted, chewing on his lip for a moment. "But... I don't get out much aside from classes, so I don't know many people, you know?"

Okay, so there were classes, and his two jobs (though he had no idea what was up with the Book Haven, these days), and he walked his dog every morning and then did training out on the beach, and he was on the student council, and...

... He was mostly trying to make this guy feel better, admittedly.

[justbeingbay]

"It's okay," Dominic sighed. He was getting used to this conversation, honestly.

"So -- you remember Bay, right? I'm here instead of her. Like a different universe thing. Don't ask me to explain it any better, I barely understand it as is. Anyhow, at home I know you." A pause. "And my name's Dominic. Which I maybe should have said first."

[genesishero]

"Dominic," Evan echoed, and then gave him a sympathetic nod. "Well, it's good to meet you, then. I know the island does sometimes switch people around with other people for a few days without warning, but it's not even the weekend, yet."

He gave his legs a swing. His book-chair was a decent height, even for a kid as tall as Evan was now.

"You haven't been here too long, have you?"

[justbeingbay]

"Since Valentine's Day, I think?" Dominic said, and let that hang while he turned on his washers. A moment later, he continued, "I didn't really talk to anybody right away, but if I'm looking at it in hindsight it seems like that's when things started getting weird. I thought I might get to go home with the kids Monday, but no luck."

His shin had just stopped hurting from the spill he'd taken trying to go through children's portal, which counted as progress of a sort.

[genesishero]

"Oof." Evan frowned a little more. "I wonder if it has anything to do with any of the other weird stuff that's been going on. Like... strange weekends almost all the time, and voices and stuff going missing."

And, you know, his room assignments.

In the laundry room?

[justbeingbay]

"I have absolutely no idea," Dominic said. "But I guess a whole big leaky-multiverse thing makes more sense than me being some special snowflake."

He shot Evan a more interested look. "The weird stuff's been hitting you, too?"

[pulseof_life]

Yeul wandered into the laundry room with the same casual serenity that she wandered into everything.

She smiled upon seeing Evan, and then tilted her head slightly at the realization that all of his belongings were also in the room as well. "Hello Evan," she said lightly. "Have you moved into this room? I suppose it would be convenient for laundry, but it is not very private."

The fact that he liked privacy and this was public was the most confusing part of this to Yeul. Still, if he was happy...

[genesishero]

"Yeah, I don't know what's up," Evan sighed, frowning down at his toes. "I was in someone else's room, kind of, on Saturday, and since then I've been all over the place."

But Ozzy seemed okay with most of it, so...

"Have you noticed things being kind of weird, lately? At all?"

[pulseof_life]

"Perhaps the island is just broadening your horizons," she suggested easily. "I hope it is not too inconvenient for you."

She thought about his question. "There have been many reports of people hearing voices," she said thoughtfully. "Or things going missing. I am here, actually, because one of my bracelets has disappeared. I thought it might be here, since I did laundry yesterday."

Yeul didn't sound concerned about the loss of her bracelet... but she'd gone looking for it, which was fairly unusual in and of itself.

[genesishero]

Evan nodded a little, looking thoughtful.

"I've heard... some of the voices," he admitted, softly. "But I haven't just outright lost anything. So far the easiest way to find my stuff has been to check out the room assignment list. Would you like help finding your bracelet?"

[pulseof_life]

"Have the voices been terrible? I hope not, for your sake. If you have the time, I would not turn down your help," Yeul replied, holding out her left hand. "It is a match to this one."

[genesishero]

"It's a pretty bracelet," Evan replied, trying on a tiny smile. "And... mostly, they've been okay. Bits and pieces of conversations I've never heard of, that sort of thing. Some... some things from my own past, but I can wrap my head around that. It could be worse."

Could be! Really!

"Do you think your bracelet fell between the washers or something?"

[pulseof_life]

"I thought it might," Yeul said, wandering over to peer between two washing machines. "Though if it is part of the oddness going around, it might not be found for awhile."

[genesishero]

"Well, we'll take a peek anyhow," Evan decided, stretching his neck out a little in order to try to see down between, and then squashing his arm down a little, and stretching it to try to feel down along the floor back there. "... I don't think they ever clean back here. I think I've found a few socks already."

He hoped they were socks.

[wildandbrave]

Cosette didn't quite have the hang of this laundry thing yet, but she wasn't about to let that stop her. Scott's lesson in using her phone to look things up had come in handy once again; she'd read up on just about everything she could find on the subject of doing laundry in the 21st century and could already tell you the kind of care different fabrics required and color-appropriate temperatures. Well, she could tell you that in theory; she had yet to put it into practice. (Yes, for the first few weeks of school she had absolutely been that person who took her laundry home to her father's on weekends.)

She was free of classes on Thursdays, so this morning she ventured down to the laundry room with a basket full of clothes and a determined expression.

"Ah," she said upon spotting Evan and his things. "Hello! I didn't realize you lived here."

As of three days ago, she had a very clear memory of having the room to herself.

[genesishero]

"Neither did I, until this morning," Evan sighed, burying his chin in his hands. "Hey, Cosette. I think the office staff is being kind of weird."

Kind of! A little weird.

"Ever have one of those weeks?"

[wildandbrave]

"Certainly, but not the same kind as you seem to be having," Cosette said mildly. She moved away a bit, just enough to set her laundry basket down on a free machine and come back over to lean against another machine and give him a sympathetic look. "Do you mean to say they moved you here without so much as telling you until now?"

[genesishero]

"Every day for... days and days now," Evan sighed, shaking his head. "I don't even know why. I would be totally fine with staying in here, though, even if I get... no more privacy again, ever. At least I get first dibs on the washing machines."

[wildandbrave]

"Have they given you a decent reason why, at the very least?" Cosette asked. "It seems to me that it would be awfully noisy to live here, but then I don't suppose anyone's in the habit of washing their clothes in the middle of the night."

That was very optimistic of you, Cosette.

"Though," she added after a moment, "I'd be glad to stay in one place too, if I'd been moving here and there for days on end."

[genesishero]

"No reason at all," Evan sighed. "I don't think they even know what I'm talking about when I bring it up. Either that, or they don't want to deal with the extra paperwork."

His life was so hard.

"Ozzy really doesn't like the dryers, but besides that, this isn't so bad as some places I've been assigned to so far, I guess."

[wildandbrave]

"It is warm, at least," agreed Cosette, sniffing experimentally at the air, "and it smells nice. One can't always say as much. But where else have you been assigned? You can't have been sent off to the woods, at least, surely they wouldn't be that thoughtless?"

[genesishero]

"Not the woods, at least," Evan admitted, smiling faintly, if wryly. "There was a little bit of time up on the roof, though. A supply closet. A common room. Right out in the hall..."

At least finding Ozzy had been easy, there.

"The woods wouldn't have been so bad, I suppose. It's cold, but at least there's a little more cover than the roof has? Kind of?"

He could camp down in the makeout shed or something!