Laundry Monster

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

For reasons that are best left to the imagination, there were piles of laundry littering the floor of the laundry room. That didn't generally happen: most of the time students just came down, did their laundry, stood around while it finished, and then took it with them when they left. For the handful that were too young, the staff usually handled things. So it was really anyone's guess where the literal piles of the stuff happened to have come from.

What was less up for debate was why several of the piles happened to be moving. They would occasionally make strange noises and start... pulsating. Then a sound would come from them, usually involving a theme of a deadly creature being "dum dum"'d at a fairly loud volume. then the pile would suddenly burst forth and a blonde girl wearing a fair amount of laundry about her like some sort of patchwork armor would appear, breathing heavily and looking around the room.

Frank giggled after the latest rendition of this. She then cleared her throat, holding her arms out wide. "Laundry monsters don't giggle," She told herself, before nodding solemnly. Frank heard someone coming down the stairs and, with the grin still widening on her face, she slowly sank back down into the laundry, covering herself with the piles and waiting, waiting for her prey to approach.

[Taylor McCarthy]

Having someone to do his own laundry was probably the one thing Taylor missed the most about being a little kid back home in Ireland. His mother, god rest her soul, had been the traditional housewife, running herself ragged in order to keep her large family together and functioning properly. Now that he was, in every sense of the word, on his own, Taylor resigned himself to the drudgery of housework and chores to go along with homework and studying.

"Bunch of savages." He commented idly to himself as he navigated around the piles of laundry with a fain look of disdain touching his normally relaxed features. Taylor didn't particularly care about the mess and was, unfortunately for him, distracted by his own mind to notice anything out of sorts. For all he knew it was a stupid prank someone had executed by pulling out everyone's underwear and socks and throwing them about the laundry room. As boring as it would be, Taylor would be damned if he was going to leave his clothes here for the asshole to return and mix in with everyone else's laundry.

With a light, albeit slightly frustrated sigh, Taylor set his laundry basket on the counter and started the tedious task of loading the nearest washer. At least, being a mama's boy, he'd learned how to proper sort his laundry. It was weird the things that stuck with him over the years. With little else to keep his interest, Taylor allowed his mind to wander, rendering him oblivious to the large pile of clothes sitting just behind him as it began to move.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

Ah, prey. more interestingly, it appeared to be prey of the fairly attractive human boy kind. while Frank had most definitely spread out her desires in that particular regard, attractive boys still ranked fairly high on the list of people that she wanted to regularly associate herself with. This one looked vaguely familiar, but that was definitely something that she could stop to consider at a later point in time. For now, she needed to begin stalking.

This meant crawling/swimming her way through the stack of clothes. First silently as she sort of got back into the rhythm and got closer to the prey. Then, when Frank was fairly certain she was close enough to be heard, she started "quietly" "singing" the Jaws' theme.

"Dun dun, Dun dun, Dun dunnnn," came out at about the right intervals as Frank slowly wiggled her way forward, careful to disturb the laundry just enough to make it really obvious that there was something moving along the floor toward the poor boy who was quite clearly just sorting his laundry.

[Taylor McCarthy]

Taylor paused his tedious work and glanced up. His brow furrowed as the ominious sound came from behind him. For a just a brief moment he thought he was simply hearing things, though that wouldn't make sense. He'd been called all sorts of names that usually centered around being crazy or a lunatic or what have you but he'd never actually been to the point where he'd stated hearing sounds that weren't there.

Turning finally, Taylor quickly caught sight of the laundry 'pile' that was moving about. His head tilted curiously, an expression on his face that could only be described as 'WTF?', while the 'monster' drew ever so closer. A few possible responses came to mind. The first being to give the entire thing a hearty kick just to mess with whoever was trying to mess with him but that seemed a little harsh for the situation.

After a few moments, Taylor simply leaned back against the counter he'd been working on and folded his arms across his chest. A brow quirked up as the theme from Jaws came from the pile again in what was surely a female voice. "Oi." He said. "What're you doing there? Having a bit of a fuck about?" This was certainly not what he'd expected, though he had to admit, it was at least amusing.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

Frank let out a few more "duns" and she inched her way forward a few more inches. Well, less inching and more doing this wiggling that was more serpentine than inchworm. The end result was essentially the same: steady progress in a decidedly forward motion.

All movement stopped at the "Oi." well, that sounded decidedly not American. Frank almost wanted to wonder aloud if she'd somehow fallen through a wormhole and ended up back in England again, but she just barely managed to suppress the noise from happening. It probably helped that the guy had continued and then asked a somewhat strange question.

"Fuck about?" Frank repeated. She shifted her head for a bit, swaying from side to side. "Do laundry monsters screw people where you're from? Because that sounds like stuff from those Japanese cartoons that keep getting blocked by the school's internet," Frank paused for a moment, then added a quick: "Dun dunnnn," before lurching forward again, this time feeling about to try and find some feet or something else she could grab onto.

[Taylor McCarthy]

At least the laundry monster could speak, even though Taylor didn't have the slightest clue what the hell it was talking about. He scrutinized the pile a bit. It looked as though the 'creature' had shed significantly on its short journey across the floor and was shaped decidedly more human like than originally intended. Still, here it was. A pile of clothes slithering across the floor and talking about Japanese cartoons. That, alone, Taylor figured, warranted a swift kick, though something kept him from doing so just yet.

"Waaait." He said, yet again scrutinizing the pile with a wary eye. Something didn't seem right here, or, more specifically, something felt strangely familiar. Even as the hand came out to grope at his shoe he couldn't shake the feeling of deja vu. Kneeling in front of the pile, Taylor reached out and gave it a firm poke. "Who's in there?" He asked, though something itched in the back of his mind, giving him just the faintest idea of who would be loony enough to be doing something like this. "If I guess who's under all this." He challenged, "Do I get a prize?"

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

Frank had lurched forward only to end up freezing mid-lunge as she heard the wait. The word held her in the air for a few moments, mostly suspended by her own strength but also at least partially by the pile of laundry that had built up underneath her. she did manage to reach out a hand to grip his shoe though, so at least she had that to balance as well.

The poke resulted in a fair imitation of a certain Doughboy's "wahoo" before Frank wiggled again, making sure that her laundry coating was still covering her (which, given that she'd all but glued pieces of laundry onto her body, was a fairly safe bet, really). "Uh, I'm a laundry monster, I don't ---" Frank began, only until the challenge came. "oooho, prize! That sounds---kinda one sided. Like, what do I get if you don't guess who I am? Assuming I'm not just a manifestation of neglected laundry taking on life because of a strong desire to be worn and used like real clothing again."

Frank then reached out a hand and did another quick poke onto the leg, before giving it a little squeeze, or at least attempting one.

[Taylor McCarthy]

Taylor didn't move, though when he found much of the clothing to be attached to whoever it was squirming across the floor he couldn't help but give an appreciative nod and a chuckle. "Did you-" He cut himself off before kneeling and grabbing a sock that seemed stuck to something and gave it a yank. The fabric resisted but quickly gave way. "Glue all this to you?" He let out a low 'huh' and stood straight, tossing the sock aside. "I'm impressed by your level of commitment." He admitted with another laugh.

"That's fair." Taylor replied, nodding a little at the 'laundry monster's' counter. "What do you want if I don't guess right?" He asked, eyeing the hand that snaked out from the laundry pile and chuckling softly as it found its way around his ankle and squeezed. "And how many questions do I get to figure it out?" As if he didn't already have a fairly good idea who it was anyway. It wasn't like a certain girl he remembered from a while back was all that easy to forget.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"We covered this: I'm a manifestation of forgotten laundry, hence why all my stuff is sticking to me. It also probably has something to do with static electricity and running over linoleum really quick and using some speed people to make sure to give it an extra charge and stuff BUT THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT!" a laundry like hand sort of rose for a moment to point in an accusatory manner at the young man. She did giggle at the mention of commitment before settling down to listen to terms (which obviously were the important bit that they needed to be focusing on, naturally).

"Uh, well, I'm a laundry monster, sooo.... uh... your underpants. Yeah, that sounds good. And you get, like, three guesses, 'cuz that's how it always rolls," Frank said, bobbing her laundry pile head slightly. She then started wiggling her way around the room again, wanting to "circle" her prey while it tried to figure out. This did mean that the piles sort of undulated and shook in ways that were more humorous than threatening, but hey: you did what it took to get moving.

[Taylor McCarthy]

Taylor, for some reason, was struck by a wave of deja vu. The roiling pile of laundry spoke to him in a very familiar voice spouting off very familiar things in a way he found... you guessed it... very familiar. He supposed it could have been seen as a compliment that it took him so little time to form a strong guess on who possibly could be hiding beneath the various articles of clothing that was now flailing about in a short circle around him. After all, there were precious few girls Taylor had ever met that he felt worthy of remembering. One in particular, however, had all but forced herself into the realm of 'unforgettable' for better or worse.

Even though Taylor was nearly certain who his 'mysterious' challenger was, he figured it would at least be amusing to play along. He gave a nod, keeping his eyes locked on the laundry pile as it moved. "Alright. You've got a deal." He agreed before going into a slightly exaggerated process of thinking. His arms folded across his chest as he lifted a foot and lightly nudged at the pile. "First guess I'll go with my brother, Jack. That you in there?"

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"Cool, cool," Frank said, shuffling her pile slightly to match the bobbing of her head to match. She kept circling though, because that was definitely important to the success of the whole enterprise. Frank ended up giggling as the guy offered out his first guess.

"that's a pretty good one, actually! I am very much like him in that we are both made of awesome. But waaaait," Frank actually lifted her head up to try and get a better look, "since when did Jack have a brother? Or you confused? Are you his clone? 'cuz he does that sometimes. Usually the clone is a lot more depressed than you're sounding. He's kinda like Eeyore when he's lost his tail and someone just, like, I dunno, told him he's not allowed in Pooh Corner anymore. Nobody cares about Eeyore!" Frank threw her hands, and by extension a few bits of laundry, up into the air.

Then she resettled. "Well, that's one guess. You gots two more. Then I get to eat your underpants, "and the hands went out again to flick fingers along the shoes, all while making "nom" noises.

[Taylor McCarthy]

"Yes, I know." Taylor reached out and gave the 'creature' a pat on what he guessed was its head as it lifted to question him about Jack and to explain his brother's mutation. "I'm familiar with Jack's power." He replied. "And I am his brother, not his clone." He assured the sentient pile. "I guess it's safe to say our world is a small one." It wasn't as if there were that many mutants running around anyway.

There was still a sense of amusement dancing in his dark eyes as Taylor considered his next option carefully. He didn't know many of the people on campus save for his brother and the dour girl he'd so foolishly fallen for. He'd hoped this summer would have been the time to change that, but real life tended to get in the way of such plans. "Are you that one girl." Leave it to Taylor to be specific and to the point. "The one that everyone was talking about just got married who's parents run this place. What's her name, Erin?"

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"You should be, 'cuz he's got one of those totally awesome powers," Frank insisted, giving the guy another poke. "But it's kinda weird that you're his brother and stuff, but I guess that makes sense. A lot of people do have siblings and junk," Frank didn't, and she didn't expect she ever had. That just gave her all the more reason to go around befriending everyone she ever met and spreading her own personal brand of awesomeness to each and every one of them.

Oh right, the guessing. Frank wiggled back down into a temporary holding position, waiting to hear this latest one. Frank waited for a bit as she walked through. "no, that's actually Erika. Erin's this shy computer girl who sort of blushes and hides around girls and is friends with that one black nerd guy. Not the one that's working out and macking on Selina but the other one who's dating the sick girl who's apparently best friends and sort of weirdly connected to your brother Jack. Huzzah! Six degrees of separation!" Frank then reached out and poked Taylor again, before giggling.

"oh, and you're down to your last guess, bee tee dubs."

[Taylor McCarthy]

Taylor was by now thoroughly amused. He watches as the laundry pile moved about here and there while explaining how he was connected to the girl who got married... Or the shy girl that blushed all the time... Taylor didn't quite know exactly which girl it was the pile was talking about anymore. What he did know was his sneaking suspicion of who was buried beneath the dirty clothes had moved firmly into the territory of certainty. And it was definitely a case of the mutant community being a small world, indeed.

"Alright." He said, kneeling beside the pile and giving it a pat on what he thought to be its head area. "I think I've got it." He insisted, his amused grin shining through in his words. "You're a bit of a energetic weird one, aren't you? Always coming up with brilliant ideas usually with a lot of glitter and balloons, right?" Taylor started pulling off whatever articles of clothing weren't secured onto the pile as he spoke. Hopefully he might get down to the actual person inside at some point. "You know you left your Irish buddy alone and bored when you came here. I should of looked you up if I had thought about it. But you know I'm not the smartest guy, don't you Frank?"

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

Frank felt the pat and actually let out a noise that was fairly close to something an Ewok would make (whether this was intentional or not was hard to tell, given the person making it; odds were at about fifty/fifty). She had to giggle at the mention of her being the weird one. She started wiggling as he clearly started figuring it out, though she did have to squirm slightly away and make little kittenish swats at him as he started peeling back the clothing covering her.

"It'sa me! Frank!" Frank said as he guessed it, popping up with arms raised wide, actually missing Taylor through some complete fluke. She did a little shimmying dance for a moment, albeit still on her knees, as she hadn't wanted to quite pop fully upright just yet. There was still the wide grin on her face.

"And you totes--" Frank tilted her head, "hey, I know you, like... from before here, and not just 'cuz I know, like," Frank rolled her eyes, "everyone here, 'cuz I'm always around and junk. But like, wait, did you say something about leaving an Irish buddy?" Frank closed an eye, looking Taylor up and down, practically seeing the various faces of her past friends at St. Bethany fluttering before her eyes.