The Revenge of the Washing Machine

[Ellie Dawson]

Surely, it couldn't be. Surely, Ellie wasn't that stupid. She'd done this a million times before-- ok, so maybe that was stretching it a bit far. But she couldn't possibly have been this idiotic. Who even used bubble bath soap instead of... No, no, no.

Oh, how she wished she could just close her eyes and wish all of this away. But no, no matter how she twisted and turned it, the laundry room was still filled, like literately, filled with foam. And she had no one to thank but herself and her stupid easily distracted brain. Chewing on her bottom lip, the blonde simply stood there, as if petrified as she watched more of the foam come out of the washing machine.

Like... How did one even fix something like this?

Flailing her arms around, the Brit moved forward, fighting her way through the foam that was starting to cover the floor as she made her way towards the washing machine. Maybe if she turned it off... But she couldn't find the buttons under the foam. Did this thing have like, a contact she could pull out?

"Oh please, please, please, don't do this to me!"

Tag: Tim Tawfeek

[Tim Tawfeek]

So Tim stank. Stank bad enough that even he was starting to have to fight urges to pass out or outright vomit from his own funk. His clothing had this stiffness that generally didn't work, and he'd lost track of the stains on some bits of it. So there really wasn't any other option but to head down to the laundry room and attempt to wash them. And since it was laundry day, that meant he was down to a muscle-shirt and a pair of shorts, not exactly the classiest of wear. Add on his scraggly, greasy hair and unshaved face, and Tim looked like some sort of creature that lived in the basement instead of a student.

And now he looked at the floor of bubbles. "The hell?" he said. he reached down to prod one, and wasn't surprised to find that it popped. Tim sighed, lowering his head. This happened sometimes: you got new kids away from home for the first time, and something like washing clothes turned into freaking rocket science. Tim did his part usually, but he usually wasn't tired and just pretty well done with people.

"Oh, it's definitely happening," he said, looking up and peering through the bubbles. He thought he could make out someone, but he couldn't tell for sure. "You might want to try shutting it off, and if that don't work, unplug." Really, even an idiot should've figured that much out. Tim took a tentative step forward, wondering if he should bother wading in or not.

[Ellie Dawson]

She heard the voice, but in her near panic, Ellie didn't turn around. Instead, she frantically mashed her fists against the washing machine, trying to hit the right button. Of course, that didn't work at all, because the bubbles kept coming and she was starting to lose all of her faith. Then the boy, whoever he was, told her to unplug, which had been part of her previous line of thought. "Oh," she said, trying to move to the side of the washing machine, which honestly was easier said then done. "I uhm," she stuttered, almost slipping on the slippery floor.

Grabbing a hold of the washing machine to keep herself steady, the blonde bit her bottom lip. This felt hopeless. Like, she didn't even know what to make of all this. Unplug he said, as if that was such a simple task! Was it on the back? On the side? Under it? How was she even supposed to find it through all these bubbles?

Brushing her damp hair away from her fact (it had gotten rather sticky by now), she moved to the side of the washing machine and moved her hand around in front of her, trying to find anything to grab onto in the midst of all of the foam. "It's not here!" she called out.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Whelp, she was hitting the washing machine. Tim had to give her credit for that much. He sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. He could still hear her moving around, clearly looking for something. Honestly, what kind of idiot sent their kid off to boarding school and didn't take the time out to teach them how to wash their own clothing? Seriously? Tim could hear her struggling and...

and he really wanted to turn away and just walk back up the stairs. Just carry his bag of laundry up and pretend he didn't walk in on it. Except that wouldn't be what Lux would want, and he could practically hear all those people who thought he was a good person for whatever reason telling him that he was supposed to help. So Tim coughed, lifted up his head, and let out a little call. The bubbles really messed with the whole echolocation thing, but he could still get enough.

"Alright, hold on," he said, wading in. he hit a table in a few feet, hissing and cursing before dropping off his bag. "Just, make some noise or something. I've got echolocation, so I can find you." Whether he'd be able to help after that was anybody's guess.

[Ellie Dawson]

Perking her head up, the blonde furrowed her brows. He was going to help her? She was actually surprised. The people she'd met thus far had been, well, anything but nice. Like that Irish twat. She was honestly so surprised that for a moment, she just stood there, stunned while looking in his general direction. Heck, she could barely see anything in front of her, let alone the guy in question.

"Uhm, okay," she said, looking around quickly. Make sounds. Make sounds. Well, duh. Lifting her hand, Ellie started banging against the side of the washing machine, hoping that would create enough sound for the guy to find her. She didn't at all know how his power worked, or if he was any good at using it, but here was for hoping, right?

"Hey," she began as she stopped banging against the machine. "I really do appreciate this," she continued, biting her lower lip. "I know this is probably super annoying for you and all, so really... Thanks. A bunch. You're a real life saver."

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim could hear the machine loud and clear. He could also feel the suds soaking his clothing to his skin and getting in his nose and mouth and pretty well everywhere. Why had he bothered, seriously? This was all just a giant waste of time and karma was probably just waiting somewhere to bite him in the ass. Like this girl would probably turn out to be a total bitch and kick him in the balls or something.

The banging stopped, but fortunately, Tim had made it more or less to the washer. The suds were still high enough that he couldn't really make out details about the girl, or much about the washer, for that matter. "Yeah, whatever," he offered as she spoke. The life saver bit had him grunting and wincing. If only she knew.

Tim tapped the washer, moving forward and looking for the button to turn it off. The thing kept spewing more and more bubbles, which was definitely not helping, but he could see the console more or less. He started poking around only to find that, yep, it had jammed.

"Alright, I'm gonna have to unplug the thing," he said. "Heading around the side, lemme know if you feel something brush against you," gah, he just wanted to leave. Yet he forced himself to start walking around, heading behind the washer and getting ready to duck and grab the cord. Assuming he didn't end up plowing into the girl first.

[Ellie Dawson]

Ellie vaguely noticed something move around in the foam in front of the washing machine, so naturally, she assumed that it was the guy that had come to her rescue - although he sounded more annoyed with the idea of it than pleased. She supposed she couldn't really blame him for it. This was rather stupid, after all. She could only hope that this wasn't what she'd be known for at this school. It wasn't her best moment. That much was for certain.

She couldn't help but feeling incredibly embarrassed. Looking back at the whole thing, she realized she probably should have been paying more attention to what she'd been doing instead of having her head way up in the clouds. Oh well. She couldn't do much about that now.

Nodding, the blonde quickly realized that the guy probably didn't see that. "Okay," she said, but to avoid getting in the guy's way, Ellie pushed herself away from the washing machine and took a few steps away. Now that she had both her hands free, she could work on pushing all her damp hair that had started to cling to her face away. God, it was going to end up getting so fluffy from all of this. She seriously wanted a shower right now - without bubbles. She had had enough bubbles for a year. "Thanks," she added for good measure.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim could hear the girl moving around him, which at least meant that she knew enough to get out of the way. He thought he felt her brushing against him as she passed, but that could've just been his mind playing tricks on him. It hardly mattered either way: he was still free to get to the cord. Tim took a deep breath, staring down as best as he could.

Thanks came loud and clear, and he let out a grunt. "yeah, no problem," he mumbled. Sighing, Tim reached up to adjust his glasses, took a breath, and then let out a slight noise. The response was the weird picture he always mentally got whenever his power kicked in. It was enough to show him the outline of the machine, however, which he followed on down, tracing the cord to its source. It took a good deal of work to pull back, but eventually the machine wound down.

"There," he said, coming up and wiping bubbled from off and around his glasses. "The vicious beast is slain. Hurray," he snorted and then looked down at the machine. "What you do to it anyway? Because this is cartoon level ridiculous right here."

[Ellie Dawson]

Ellie stood on the top of her toes, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever the guy was doing and hoping that he could fix this whole thing. Although, that was likely too much to be hoping for. At least, she hoped he could make the machine stop spewing out more bubbles. That would at the very least be a step in the right direction. Thankfully, it seemed as if Ellie's prayers had been heard as the machine eventually stopped.

The blonde let out a breath and once again, brushed her damp and sticky hair out of her face. It had this nasty habit of falling into her eyes all the time. It didn't make things better that it was now wet with soap and bubbles.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou," she said as she stepped forward only to stop again. The guy probably wanted his space. Right. "Uhm," she began, biting her bottom lip as she looked down at the ground. "I put bubble bath soap in it instead of..." she trailed off, shrugging her shoulders as she felt the heat spread over her cheeks. Man, this was so stupid. She was so stupid. Like, it sounded even more so when she said it out loud. No doubt the guy thought she was a disaster. She just couldn't catch a break, could she? "Yeah... It's kinda stupid."

[Tim Tawfeek]

Well, the machine had died, and at least the bubbles were starting to fade away. Tim waved his hand, knocking a few more away. He could hear the girl moving around, and heard the repeated thank yous. This girl so sounded like some completely lost eleven year old or something. Except when he'd been using his power, Tim had sworn he'd picked up someone who was nearly adult sized. He focused through the diminishing bubbles, now starting to see her.

"Seriously? Did you just forget to read them or--" Tim paused midsentence, staring. Was that... it looked like her. It looked a lot like her. Painfully like her. Only without the hospital bed and the tubes and everything that Tim had grown used to seeing any more. Her hair didn't match. Something was off with the voice. And she seemed bright. But she sort of talked, and this was... it was just such a Lux thing to do...

"Lux?" Tim asked, tilting his hand. he reached out toward her for a moment, managing to just stop himself. After all, mutants were around. He knew that all too painfully well. So maybe he'd run into a shapeshifter. Or someone who had the wonderfully crappy power of looking exactly like the person who mattered the most to the beholder.

Because it was either that or Lux's angel, and that latter just felt too painful to even think about.