voidtreckerexpress | You spin me right round, baby [Open]

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You spin me right round, baby [Open]

Who: Prisoner, Spinel, and anyone awake at night
Where: Laundry facility in the top level of the Stores carriage (next to the Dining carriage)
When: Night of Egret 5
What: Shenanigans
Warnings: Sunstone says ‘Don’t try this at home kids!’

The message on the ICP from Evie yesterday had left Spinel to wonder about assigned chores. In asking about the purpose of the tasks, the gem learned that these four chores are generally considered essential in maintaining a certain standard of living for the organic beings on the train. As such, even if she could not benefit directly from lending a hand, she could in fact help others aboard the train stay comfortable. Comfortable, and potentially a little happier.

With this understanding, Spinel waited until most on the Void Express had retired for rest, and sought out Prisoner. She requested his assistance in learning how to perform the laundry chore. Upon learning he did not already have the knowledge, she pled for him to help her try to figure it out. So, up to the second level of the stores carriage they went.

Soon standing in front of one of the two washing machines, Spinel stares at the controls. The level of technology is not so perplexing as the simple fact she does not understand the functions of the machine. ‘Delicate’ for instance - what degree of fragility qualifies as delicate for an organic based item? Most organic creations, inanimate or not, are relatively delicate to a gem. Rubbing one hand behind her neck, she looks to Prisoner, “Do ya think we should test out each one and see what happens?”

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Edited 2020-03-10 02:40 (UTC)

Prisoner took a moment to look over the machine and the controls. It seemed... relatively straightforward? He'd just... Never done it before. So he had no clue how much soap to put in, or what the soap was like, or what all the settings meant, or even what the differences were. All he knew is somehow clothes went in dirty and came out clean.

He had his journal tucked under his arm so he could write to her since Renee wasn't there to translate and Prisoner hadn't had the opportunity to drag Spinel to enough of his asl lessons to have her begin to pick up on it.

𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝓌𝑒 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝓉𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂, 𝓎𝑒𝓈, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝒹𝑜 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓌𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝓉𝑜 𝓇𝓊𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓈. 𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒸𝑒𝓇𝓉𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝓌𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓇𝓊𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝒶𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝑒𝓂𝓅𝓉𝓎, 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽?

(Text reads: I think we should test them, yes, but I do not wish to ruin the clothes of the others. I am not certain we can run the machine empty, though?)

Soap isn’t even in the equation for her. Microbial infections are not a threat to a living gemstone, so while she keeps her light form and gem clean for comfort, Spinel has yet to identify that component of an organic’s general routine. She definitely could not figure this out alone.

Patiently waiting as Prisoner starts to jot an answer in his journal, Spinel reaches her hand from her neck to touch the machine. When she hears the soft scratching on the page cease, she leans over with a small stretch of her neck to read. Head relocating back over her shoulders, she nods, “Me neither. I have the clothes I got on the platform, but it’d be a waste if somethin’ happened when someone else could wear them. We need somethin’ else...”

Staring at the door of the washer in serious thought, Spinel’s eyes widen at a thought with her pigtails perking. A smile splits wide as she turns fully to Prisoner with a spin on her heel, “I know! I can go inside!”

Edited 2020-03-10 13:18 (UTC)

Prisoner was starting to consider just putting his own uniform in there. Kumoko made him an outfit like the one he would wear at home, so he didn't care so much about his uniform. He was about to write it out and suggest it when Spinel suddenly smiles and turns to him. At her suggestion, Prisoner straightened up in surprise, then waved both hands in a "no, definitely not!" motion.

He wrote very quickly, his normally lovely cursive messy.

𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝒽𝓊𝓇𝓉
𝐵𝑜𝒹𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓉𝓉𝓎 𝒻𝓇𝒶𝑔𝒾𝓁𝑒

He whirled the journal around quickly, pointing to the place on the page where the message was.

(Text reads: You will get hurt
Bodies are pretty fragile)

Her smile drops when her suggestion is met with clear motion against the idea. It seems fine to her, but he does know more about this process than she does. Spinel waits patiently as he writes and turns the journal to her with further emphasis in a point. She squints a touch to read the messier cursive, but manages to make it out. The intensity of his reaction places a measure of caution in her. As she smiles once more in an effort to ease his concern, Spinel does ask for a better understanding, “Aw, it can’t be that bad. I’m tough as a Topaz! What could this machine do to hurt me?”

Prisoner relaxed a little bit at the reassurance. He didn't know at all what it meant for her to be as tough as a Topaz. In response to her question, however, he opened up the machine and spun the drum. He sort of moved his finger in a circle, then moved it faster and faster. He gave up with the charades and then wrote out the next thing. He held the journal up patiently, his handwriting still more of a scrawl.

𝐼𝓉 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝓅𝒾𝓃 𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝒻𝒶𝓈𝓉 - 𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒽𝓊𝓇𝓉 𝓆𝓊𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒶 𝒷𝒾𝓉.

(Text reads: It seems to spin very fast - I think it would hurt quite a bit.)

Spinel watches curiously as he opens the machine, putting her hands on the door to hold it open as he makes the drum inside spin and then goes on to mime out an accelerating circle. She stays as he writes again, and his description of it spinning very fast is only encouraging, “Looks like quite a ride!”

Her enthusiasm is reigned back as she tries to explain her confidence, “Bein’ a Gem, my body is mostly made from light. Even if I got hurt somehow, I could repair it so long as my gemstone is okay.” To bring attention to it, Spinel uses one hand to tap a finger on the upside down heart embedded in her chest. “I won’t crack from a little tumbling.”

“Does it do anything else?” Spinel asks as she eyes the drum. The holes could create some issues, depending on the purpose.

With enough reassurance that she would, in fact, be okay and that she was, in fact, tougher than the organic beings that Prisoner was relatively well acquainted with now, Spinel convinced Prisoner that giving her a wash was a reasonable enough plan to test the different settings on the washing machine. This would allow them to thoroughly see the differences in each cycle without damaging any of the clothes. Spinel would report back after each setting to explain how it differed from the previous run. Seemed like a great plan and like the only possible way the two could figure out how this worked, right? Right.

So they had started their incredibly scientific process in which nothing could possibly go wrong. They didn't even consider the fact that there were people who might hear what was going on - whether they heard the machine running, or the clattering around of Spinel's gem in the machine. Anyone who was passing through would surely hear the commotion and find Prisoner watching a load of wash in any part of the cycle. Someone who stops long enough will notice that the pink blur inside the suds is a humanoid that is probably one of the new arrivals from the last platform....

Kaiba has the fun chore this month of cleaning the bathrooms. He's just finishing that up now, after a long hand-scrub, but he has to wheel his supplies through the laundry room to get by. Nothing unusual at first glance, just the red team doing their jobs...but the barrel is making more clinking noises than it should with everyone wearing the same basic uniform.

"Are you washing rocks in there or something?"

Prisoner was crouching before the washer and watching as Spinel had fun in the barrel. He seemed to be quite entranced by watching her have her fun that he almost didn't notice as Kaiba was wheeling by. Prisoner straightened up and lifted himself up to sit atop the washer to look at Kaiba and let his legs rest a little bit. He shrugged and held up one finger. It's just one rock, was the implication. A pink hand dragged across the window of the washer as he held up the one finger.

That hand makes him jump. He just barely resists screaming. Someone's in there! Kaiba immediately lunges for the door, lifting his arm to try to sweep Prisoner's legs aside and wrench that door open.

"What the---"

He's a little afraid right now, but primed for a fight.

Prisoner shooed Kaiba's arms away and dropped to the floor directly in front of the washer, waving his hands in a "no, don't!" fashion. Prisoner tried not to be overly aggressive, but the guy had two settings: lazing about or fighting to survive.

Spinel seemed to be having fun in there and she was definitely not getting hurt, there was no reason for him to end the fun!

"You're drowning someone in there!"

And that just. Isn't right. He charges again, trying to shove Prisoner to the side with his shoulder to get the door open.

Prisoner tried to wave his hands no at Kaiba's exclamation that he was drowning someone in there, trying to sign that this was a mistake, but he gets shoved and falls almost comically into a roll to the side.

He tried rush up and push Kaiba's hands away, but it was entirely likely (and probably the case that) he is too late in the gesture and the washer had been open mid-wash cycle.

Kaiba pulls back, watching with some concern as he sees the girl mixed up in the mess. He immediately reaches in to pull her out. Is she alive? He glances back at the ICP, with half a thought to call medical immediately

"What."

Riding in the washer, Spinel is none the wiser to the situation outside until the bumps against the machine. That’s only enough to give a vague warning before the door is wrenched open and the water spills out onto the floor below. Left behind by the water in the slowing drum, the heap that is the Gem is pulled out with her limbs trailing like wet noodles with her hands and feet flopping to the floor.

Spinel lifts her head, and her eyes are spinning in opposite directions. Lifting one hand to smack herself in the side of the head to knock herself straight, her eyes rattle back into alignment so that she can focus within the following couple of blinks. She then look up right at Kaiba with surprise.

“Uh…hi there. Did um…did you wanna turn?”

It was clear that the slump that Prisoner gave coupled with the way the gem turned to look at Spinel that he was sorry that he couldn't slappy hands Kaiba away in time and it got in the way of Spinel's ride. He mimicked rubbing the back of his neck - a gesture he'd seen the people with both hands and necks do when they felt bad.

He turned to Kaiba as Spinel asked if he wanted a turn in the wash. Maybe if Spinel was okay then people were okay too? Prisoner personally had no desire to take a ride, with the fire and all, but it did look fun. Maybe his worry for Spinel was entirely unwarranted.

Kaiba was stunned speechless for a moment. This is not what he expected at all. How was a living being in there and not at all harmed?

"No. No I don't want a turn, I thought you were drowning," he huffed, folding his arms over his chest. "Were you...joyriding? Do you take in oxygen through water, or do you not need it at all..."

Only just catching the gesture from Prisoner after smacking herself in the head to bring her eyes to a halt, she is not entirely certain as to what he might feel bad regarding. Asking would have to wait.

The human’s demeanor is quite clear, and she reads a hardline of disapproval. She moves to sit up with pigtails half stuck to her head from the water, “No..! I was just trying to figure out how the machine works so I could do some laundry.” That she enjoyed being inside was an unintentional benefit. “I don’t really need any...”

Her first effort to try to fit in on the train seems to have backfired.

Edited 2020-03-21 17:41 (UTC)

Prisoner pulled his journal from atop the washing machine and wrote in it quickly. He shoved the journal into Kaiba's face, his movements a bit stiff and aggressive. He didn't like that Spinel was even starting to look somewhat down on herself.

𝒲𝑒 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝓇𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝒹𝑒𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝒾𝒻𝒻𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝑒𝓉𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒮𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑒𝓁 𝓋𝑜𝓁𝓊𝓃𝓉𝑒𝑒𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝒶𝓈𝒽 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻 𝓈𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒻𝒾𝑔𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽 𝓈𝑒𝓉𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓈.

(Text reads: We were trying to determine the differences in the settings, and Spinel volunteered to wash herself so that we could figure out what each setting was without destroying any clothes.)

Prisoner and Spinel were clearly geniuses because this plan worked out perfectly. Prisoner's worries were clearly overblown: Spinel was just as durable as she claimed and completely fine after that run through the wash. This was something they could easily test and get through without any problems at all and they could definitely figure out what all of the different settings on this dang machine meant. Perfection, chef kiss... If Prisoner had a mouth of course.

Spinel was wet and sudsy and probably quite a bit dizzy after her spin cycle, but Prisoner opened the door to the wash and motioned for her to get out. In her very cartoonish way she looped out of the machine. With lighter cycles she staggered, and with heavier cycles she fell over, but after every cycle was a varying amount of giggling. The giggles are what probably would attract someone's attention to the scene, finding a very wet Spinel giggling and a probably cheerful Prisoner with her, shaking as if he was laughing.

These two were definitely not up to anything at all.

Nita's not regularly this far up in the train this late at night - that first experience with the train's engine gave her such whiplash - but it's not as if she's unused to doing her own laundry.

This scene right now, though, is just giving her a new definition for 'lather, rinse, and repeat'.

"How long have you two been up here?" Nita asks, not entirely sure who's going to respond... or how. What with one experiencing vertigo and the other lacking a head.

The floor may give some clue to that answer as Spinel lies in front of the washer after experiencing one of the more intense settings. Around her is a shallow puddle, the water collecting gradually over the course of multiple cycles. The Gem, on the other hand, is holding her sides with her legs curled in the air laughing from the lingering sensations of the prolonged tumbling. Between laughs, she does her best to try to respond to Nita with eyes peeking open at the familiar voice, “I...I dunno! How...how long does...does it take to run three cycles?”

Starting to calm in her effort to talk, the laughter dies down to notes of giggling as she finally puts her pointed feet back down to the floor.

It's clear that Prisoner is quite jovial with Spinel now that he was aware that not only was this something that wouldn't hurt her, but it was also something that she found fun. This had become something closer to play for him instead of the actual chore, and it seemed to hold his attention more than other things usually would.

At Nita's question he held up three fingers - three cycles - but that was clarified as Spinel laughed and spoke through her giggles. Prisoner crouched down comfortably in the way he did, clearly comfortable with this entire situation as the gem tracked Nita for her next question or response.

Prisoner tended only to respond to questions asked and nothing more, which had proven to be aggravating for some people - hopefully not so for Nita!

Nita was briefly gobsmacked. "That's- depending on the setting, that's almost three hours!"

Turning to Spinel specifically, letting Prisoner react as he would, she added, "And all you got was dizzy? You must have some constitution!"

She risked getting closer to the machines to read the settings to see for herself what was up. "... I take it you found the detergent and everything?" she asked, this time to Prisoner.

It's not like the boxes had been hidden.

Her bout of giggles rises again as she looks to her partner in this endeavor when he crouches down. There’s not much she can do to pass the time inside the washer, but every once in a while, she did her best to at least make a few funny faces at him through the glass door.

Count confirmed by Prisoner, Spinel pulls one hand from her side to push herself to sit upright. Her eyes make a small spin around in a lingering effect of the dizziness, but conscious effort to focus is enough to set everything back into place. She snickers when she sees Nita’s face, and nods once, “Well, that and squeaky clean!” A quick bounce with one foot produces an audible squeak reminiscent of a canine’s squeaky toy while she flashes a playful grin.

Sitting herself up all the way, she reaches with both hands to one pigtail at a time to wring the water out of her hair with a twisting motion.

Edited 2020-03-18 18:45 (UTC)

The funny faces were really what he enjoyed the most out of this - Spinel was really pretty goofy once she started to open up. Prisoner found it pretty endearing and he enjoyed it quite a bit. It was a nice change from some of the friction that had been on the train and all the doom and gloom of his own home.

Between Spinel and Renee, Prisoner had come to find that he wished he had the ability to laugh. It sucked that he couldn't really express himself in the same way as others around him. He didn't feel upset about it, nor did he feel that he was lacking, but it was a bit harder for him to express himself. The exclamation from Nita coupled with the cartoonish eye spin and Spinel's quip was such a situation he wished he could laugh at, but it was fine.

To Nita's question, Prisoner seemed to nod and pointed up to the detergent. He pulled his notebook from the top of the wash to write something out really quickly as Spinel wrung her hair out.

𝐼 𝓊𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝒹𝑒𝓉𝑒𝓇𝑔𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒹𝑒𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓉 𝓂𝒶𝓎 𝒷𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒹𝑒𝒻𝑒𝓇 𝒾𝓉 𝓊𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓁 𝓈𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝒶 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝓌𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈𝒽𝑒𝒹 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓈.

It wasn't any more messy, but Spinel was pretty clean after the first wash and the detergent instructions were clear enough that Prisoner figured that part out first try.

(Text reads: I used detergent the first time but determined it may be best to defer it until such a time we washed clothes.)

A part of Nita briefly wonders how Spinel's form can hold water like that, before shaking her head at herself and tossing that line of questioning away.

Wizardries could hold solid metal from the core of a star; whatever Spinel used didn't have to be explained if oddities like that could happen.

"Okay, good. That's... good," she found herself saying, still somewhat baffled by the goings-on but willing to adjust her new sense of normal just that little bit more.

"I can help you sort out the settings for that, if you want? Unless you want to 'test' things some more?" she added, turning again to Spinel and her pigtails.

Finishing wringing out her second pigtail when Prisoner shows his writing, Spinel takes a look to keep with the conversation. Resources should not be spent when unnecessary, and since the washing machine runs without it, it was the most logical decision. She doesn’t care for the taste of the detergent anyhow.

Spinel shakes her head a couple times with some vigor, and her pigtails perk right back into their usual placement. Her focus then turns back to Nita at the offer. She had been too shy to ask anyone else for guidance, but an offer is a different matter. As much fun as she has in the washer determining how the forces change inside, it might be better to get some information from someone that has experience with laundry.

Rather than choosing, she looks to Prisoner to ask him, “Three hours is probably enough of watchin’ me roll around, huh?” After all, she can jump inside some other time if he is getting bored.

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You spin me right round, baby [Open]

[Closed] Tall Enough To Ride - Spinel convinces Prisoner to wash her in the machine

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[OTA] Spinel's Taking It For A Spin - Prisoner + possibly saving Spinel from suds

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[OTA] Spinel Shines Bright Like A Diamond - Prisoner and/or Spinel after a wash

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