room 216 ; saturday afternoon

[necroslacker]

Sam's week hadn't really improved after Brannoc's phone call. It hadn't gotten worse but he'd hoped for good news. Brid had called him last night and hadn't given him that. The conversation hadn't been terse, thankfully, but he could tell she was worried which worried him. Something supernatural was attacking locals in Seattle and she hated that she couldn't figure it out. He'd tried to remind her that she wasn't a superhero but she'd said she was and Sam had laughed because he kind of figured she'd say that.

No one had died though and Brid had promised to keep looking. Sam had hung up with her promising to call if things got worse. And he'd actually admitted a fear that maybe Douglas had somehow escaped which she'd tried to reassure him was false.

Currently, Sam was trying to shove dirty laundry into a too small basket and getting more and more frustrated with it as minutes passed. He knew it wasn't the laundry that was causing his stress and frustration but a build up of a few things and his poor clothes were just in the way. He felt like he just kept hitting brick walls in every area of his life. He'd manage to climb over one and hit another and it was just an unending process.

Sam was getting a headache from all the brick walls. And his laundry was just not fitting in the freaking hamper. That was the story of his life, right there.

[Door & post are open, sure]

Comments

[necroslacker]

"Hey, you're welcome to go in search of those higher standards if the sight of me wrestling with my laundry is just too much of a heartbreak for you," Sam replied, shrugging and tossing his t-shirt onto the bed.

"I'm sure I'll survive. I always do," he added, folding a few pairs of shorts and sweaters to make them more compact.

[whenshewasnice]

"If you want me to, I'll go," Natalie retorted, even as she lightly leaned against the doorframe. "It is pretty heartbreaking."

[necroslacker]

"I'm not making your choices for you," Sam told her, shaking his head and threading his fingers through his hair. "I'm sure you can decide just fine where you wanna be and where you don't wanna be. You're smarter than most people around here."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie didn't move, one way or the other, not just yet. "I can't even tell if that's a compliment. I suppose it is."

[necroslacker]

"It's whatever you want it to be," he said conversationally. He was trying to avoid more brick walls with her right now because the last time had prickled and he already had a headache. "Compliment, insult, statement, clarification, whatever. Words are wonderful because they can mean so many things to so many people."

[whenshewasnice]

"Hmh." And with that little sound of mild disagreement, Natalie was going to let that topic go. "What have you been up to? Aside from violence towards your laundry."

[necroslacker]

"Not much," he said with a shrug. He tossed his t-shirts on top of his hamper and crossed his arms, straightening up to look at her. "Put some new parts on my skateboard, went to class, skateboarded, called home a few times, the usual. Nothing much to report there."

He shrugged again and stood where he was. He didn't know how things were going to go in this conversation but he knew she was going to have to take initiative this time. He wasn't doing it.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie nodded. "I told my parents I want the keyboard," she shared, in turn. "It should get here sometime next week. Through interdimensional post, so that should be interesting."

[necroslacker]

"Guess that'll give you something to do in between all that smart girl stuff you enjoy for some strange reason," Sam joked though he didn't smile. "I've heard a musical instrument is good for hand eye coordination too. Me, I would have gone with video games."

[whenshewasnice]

"Playing the piano, or the keyboard in this case, is 'smart girl stuff'," Natalie countered. "And there are video games at the arcade and also downstairs."

A piano, too, but that was too public.

"So both bases are covered."

[necroslacker]

"Right, yeah, forgot about all that," Sam sighed, shaking his head and wandering over to his desk in the guise of scrounging up some change for the laundry machines. He just couldn't stay still for too long today, it seemed.

"So, if anyone ever wants to have a gunfight at the nonexistent corral this island has, you'll be the quickest and more accurate, I bet," he added, shoving a few quarters in his pockets.

[whenshewasnice]

"Something like that." She straightened up again, stopped leaning against the frame, but did not move otherwise. "I don't really like guns, though."

Kicking was much better.

[necroslacker]

"Well, we've got something in common there," he told her, leaning back against his chair and nodding. "I don't like guns either. I don't like weapons period."

[whenshewasnice]

"Neither do I." It may have had something to do with that aversion to blood she'd talked about earlier. "I have other ways of defending myself."

[necroslacker]

"Guess that's a good thing," he said fairly mildly. He'd adopted her tone, apparently. "I still hope you don't have to use it. I've got ways of defending myself too and I don't wanna use 'em."

[whenshewasnice]

It was a good tone. A safe one. "Well, I hope you don't have to, either." She was silent for a moment after that, then asked, "Can I come in?"

It wasn't politeness. She wasn't sure what it was.

[necroslacker]

"Sure," he answered, shrugging one shoulder and staying where he was. "My laundry can wait so yeah, come in, if you want."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie sort of drifted in, textbook still tucked under one arm. She'd been on her way to the common room.

"Saturday might be a prime laundry day for everyone, anyway," she said. "No one bothers during the week."

Well, she did, actually.

[necroslacker]

"Maybe." He shrugged lazily again. "If worst comes to worst, I'll wait till everyone's asleep later on and do it then. It'll give me something to do."

[whenshewasnice]

"You're the only teenaged boy I know who would trade a good night's sleep for doing laundry." A pause. "But you're also the only teenaged boy I know with chronic insomnia, so. Not saying much."

[necroslacker]

"Guess I'm just special all around," Sam said and gave his eyebrows a little waggle. "I like being unique when it means I get to do my laundry without waiting for a washer."

[whenshewasnice]

"Such lofty goals in life," Natalie drawled as she wandered closer to him. "Unhindered laundry."

[necroslacker]

Sam shrugged again. "I take it one day at a time. Tonight laundry, tomorrow the world. Or maybe tomorrow I'll just go out and get Chinese. Who knows."

[whenshewasnice]

"Somehow I feel the latter is more likely." Somehow. Like usual, she stopped once she was near but not too near, and shrugged a shoulder. "Personally I'd opt for Japanese food."

[necroslacker]

"Mmm. I'll take that under advisement," he said, nodding slightly. "Food's food to me. As long as it's not meat, I'm good."