2025-01-11 - Beware All Ye Who Enter Here

Saturday night might seem like a sad time to do one's laundry, but the bright side is that there are plenty of machines available. And really, when one lives in a magical theme park, every day is a weekend, in some respects. Mac seems, at the moment, to have the run of the laundry side, so she has three washing machines going to make the most of it -- she'd take as many as she needed, truth be told, but two machines covers all of her laundry -- one machine for all of her black clothes, and the other for towels and sheets and other items not black. She's dressed in the garments that didn't need cleaned -- a pair of black-and-hot-pink-plaid pajama bottoms and a purple sweater a few shades brighter than anything she's ever been seen in public.

Of course, she's gotten a smoothie to help pass the time -- something blueish purple, the color seen through the straw that she has tucked in the side of her mouth as she watches something on her cell phone. She's come equipped with a charger, and a book if she gets bored of the myriad diversions on her cell phone.

It is Saturday night. A night meant for socializing, maybe going out to the bar, or to a friend's place for movie night, or out on a date, or a myriad of things that those with a great social life do. For Lavender, it seems that Saturday is meant for Laundry. At least, this Saturday night.

Using her hip to help balance her basket, Lavender pushes the door open to what she expects will be an empty Sips and Suds. It is not. Lavender sees Mac there, chillin' with a smoothie and some mobile entertainment. "Oh, hey," she greets, heading to the washing machines. Unsurprisingly, her basket is full of mostly black clothes as well. She's wearing nothing fancy, but nothing as laundry-day-fantastic as Mac is either. Tonight, she's dressed in a pair of charcoal grey running shorts and a faded black zip-up hoodie with Jack Skellington emblazoned on the back. Black Converse All Star hightops adorn her feet and she has one white sock peeking out, and the other is purple with pink roses.

"Didn't expect anyone to be here tonight. We're bringing the party to the laundromat."

Mac glances up when the door opens, expecting to only do the polite half smile at most she gives strangers when eye contact requires she acknowledge them. But it's someone she knows, if not all that well, and someone she even likes.

One hand reaches up to pull an AirPod out, tucking it into her hand for the time being. "Hey! Great minds think alike." She looks around, gesturing to the otherwise empty place. "So far, the most exciting thing was a couple of people coming in for Boba, but they left right away. Clearly not up to the level of excitement that is laundry on a Saturday night."

She shares a commiserating smile with Lavender, then adds, "I'm glad they didn't stay. I knew who they were, a couple of sort of obnoxious midway guys. We're better off." Her brows lift. "How are you?"

Lavender gives a slightly narrowed, side-eyed look towards the Smoothie and things bar side of the Sip and Suds, considering. "Boba actually might be good." She requires more time to consider her options before running off to get one though. "Obviously couldn't handle it. Too much for the weak willed."

All Mac had to say was 'midway guys' and Lavender rolls her eyes. They weren't all bad, but some of them were just insufferable. "In that case, I am glad they left too. We can claim out territory tonight. The Laundromat shall belong to us. Beware all ye who enter here." The statement is punctuated by her sending a glaring look toward the door. A warning, one might say.

"I'm good," Lavender states as she starts dividing her clothes between two machines - darks and not-darks. One of the machines is quickly becoming more full than the other. "How've you been? How's the rides been treating you?"

"I went on a date with one of them early on," Mac says, with a roll of her eyes. "Not the two that just popped in here, but I'm pretty sure they hang out with him. He was annoying on the date and kept calling me bro, so I said no to the second date. Politely, you know? But after a couple awkward texts I stopped replying."

She pulls the other Airpod out, then reaches into her pocket to find the case to slide both in, for the time being. "Anyway I get lots of ghost jokes from his cronies every time I have to pass by there, if I'm in any of my Boo'edwalk clothes." Which is most of the time. "It gets very old."

When Lavender glares at the door, Mac smirks, and then sticks her tongue out at it, like there might be a whole slew of people ready to come in who might feel her 'keep away' vibes. Very mature.

"Rides are all right. Nothing too weird for me. I haven't grown fangs or a tail or funny ears, or anything, and I hear that's going around." She squints as she appraises Lavender. "You?"

"Bro." Lavender says just the word, looking at Mac and blinks her eyes a couple of times. "Not sure I could have been polite about that. I might have just walked out of the first date before he could have asked for a second."

"Maybe that's why I haven't had a date in a long time." That takes some consideration, but then she just shrugs.

"Just tell them you are haunting their dumb asses," she suggests, closing the lids on the machines and putting in her coins. "I love this part." She pushes the coin thing in, which seems to require her whole body. "I don't know why, but it gives me some sense of satisfaction."

"Or, better yet, tell them you're on your way to Stirrings to get supplies for your rituals. Then give them a look that makes them think you might be putting curses on them."

"Nothing too weird for me either. Some kid threw a tantrum in line the other day and bent the corral fence." Not what it is called, but it is what she calls the fencing that is supposed to keep all the riders in a proper line. "But otherwise, rides have been the usual. Yeah, no. No extra appendages or anything for me popping up yet. I had some weird dreams a bit back. One was eerily similar to what happened on NYE. Well, what happened wasn't similar but, connected. It seemed."

"Unless it jams. Then it's the worst. I haven't had that happen here, but the little laundry mat I went to back in LA? All the freakin' time until they finally replaced them with cards. It's a little less kinesthetically pleasing, but they worked pretty well after that," Mac says, picking up her smoothie for another sip.

"I think you were in one of the dreams I was in. Fixing a device or something? Did you have any idea of what the device was supposed to be?" she wonders aloud. "I was just trying to fight off the security coming through, but whatever was dreaming was not just a normal person. It was really strong. I couldn't fight it like I normally can."

"Cards might be easier," Lavender admits. "But far less satisfying. Thankfully, I get a lot of coins walking around under the loop de loop on the rollercoaster after hours."

"That was one of them, yeah. I was so focused on fixing the damn thing I forgot who all was there. Thank you for keeping our asses safe. The other one was in a tunnel and we were attacked by weird things." She shakes her head, setting her basket atop one of the machines. "Not at the time. Just knew it had to be fixed. But, on New Year's Eve, the whole park, like all the islands were under that blue dome thing. Did you see it? It reminded me of what the thing we fixed looked like after we fixed it, but a lot bigger."

"So you think the dreams we were in were not one of ours, but, someone else that sucked us into theirs?"

"Ooh, smart," Mac says, regarding using the quarters found under the rides. "Also less annoying to lose a few quarters versus a card with like six dollars still on it or something. Learned my lesson and never put more than a couple bucks on 'em."

She pulls her feet up to the seat, encircling her knees with her arms as she listens to Lavender's recounting of the other dream. "I wasn't in that one. Sounds scary," she says, nose wrinkling a little. "That's interesting. I can see how it'd remind you of that."

After another pull of her smoothie, Mac nods to the last question. "Usually it's not that hard for me to impact the dream, you know? Like... I can change things, make it funnier if it's scarier, or probably the other way around, but I haven't felt the need to be that sort of a bitch." She smirks, and adds, "Yet. Anyway. It was harder to do it in that dream. I tried, but it resisted me, you know? I finally managed to turn one of the security guards into a balloon, but we woke up right after, anyway. So I don't think it was a normal person who was dreaming, but... I don't know. Maybe someone who's had magic a lot longer? Or maybe something else. A spirit, or something?"

"Especially if they weren't your quarters to begin with," says Lavender with a nod. "I thank the tourists for paying for my laundry."

"It was strange. My dreams are kind of weird to begin with, often, so I didn't think it was weird until it got weird. Not sure where I got the katana from, but that was awesome. I felt like a bad ass."

"Like, just on your own or with the island's help?" Lavender wonders. "I remember when I was a teen and had nightmares, I tried to control my dreams, tell myself where to take the dreams instead of back to the nightmare. It felt like it worked but maybe it was just my perception." She listens to the struggles Mac had controlling them then turning a guard into a balloon. "Ha. That's hilarious." There is a thoughtful moment before Lavender admits, "I think it's scarier to think about who was dreaming the dream we were in. I didn't even consider. Like. It was clear we were all there, and we all remember it. But it didn't occur to me it was beyond us, a being dreaming. I don't know what I thought it was, but. Well, shit."

One of the washing machines finishes, clicking off, and Mac hops up to do the great wet-clothing transfer to the dryer. "The tourists don't pay for my anything. I'll have to start watching for coins, though. I won't take your spots, though." She grins as she crouches in front of the washer, pulling the wet clothes into a basket so she can drag it over to the dryer.

"You probably could. People can learn to control their own dreams. Lucid dreaming, right? I never got the hang of it much. Nightmares stayed nightmares. But now I can, much more easily. But I can control other people's too. Usually. Not that one."

When Lavender says it's scarier to think about who's doing the dreaming, Mac taps her nose to indicate the other girl gets it. "Exactly, right? Creepy. And why? And is it using us? To do what? Hopefully nothing bad."

"Oh, my zone is just whatever ride I am working that day. I figure if they don't listen to me telling them to secure everything, I deserve what falls out. So, don't worry about taking my spots," Lavender assures Mac with a shrug. "Equal opportunity scrounging."

"It's the controlling others dreams that is island specific. That's not a usual thing anywhere else. That I know of. Maybe there's spots all over the world where a blue dome covers a space and people wake up with ears and tails and things." Looking over to the bar area, Lavender holds up a finger. "I'll be right back." She had been eyeing Mac's smoothie for a while now, and it is time to get something of her own. Leaving Mac to do her laundry switch for a moment, she goes to take care of that.

It's not but a couple minutes or so before she returns, boba drink in hand. "Sorry. I was realizing I should have brought snacks. Boba pearls count as food, right?" Back to the topic of dreams. "After New Year's Eve, I wonder if it was using us to expand the magic. Or make it more powerful. Or both. But then yeah, who and why."

"Oh, yes. I don't know anywhere else where people can control other people's dreams. I certainly can't. just here," Mac agrees as she heaves the wet clothes into the dryer.

She's transferred the second lot so now two dryers are spinning with her clothes when Lavender returns. At the mention of food, she perks up. "Oh! I can help with that," she says, bending down for a slouchy black bag that sits at the base of her seat, and opens it. Out comes a can of sour-cream-and-onion Pringles and then a bag of Circus Animal cookies, both of them set between them to snack on. "Thanks for reminding me. Help yourself. If you don't, I'll eat all of both."

She opens the can of Pringles and scoops out a few. "Interesting. Maybe, yeah. What, uh, what is it you can do? You did that trick with the gingerbread, I remember. Made it rot or whatever?"

"If you ever control mine, make them good ones. I don't know what that means for me, but yeah." Lavender says with a bob of her head.

Mac brings out food and Lavender's big dark eyes open wide and look at the other woman for a quiet beat of a moment. "Speaking of controlling dreams. You just made my dreams come true. Circus cookies? Sick." You don't have to tell her twice to help herself to food. She dives right in, Pringles first. Cookies are for dessert.

"Yeah, I can make living things not so living anymore. Can fix some stuff that's not alive. Kind of opposites but I dunno. The gingerbread house thing, I did it once before that and just thought I would try it. I had no clue if it would actually work, but it did." She eats a pringle, breaking off a small piece then eating it, piece by piece. "For you, just the dreams thing?"

"I try not to go into people's dreams unless they ask. It feels, I donno. Invasive. But sometimes I do on accident." Mac makes a face. "But if I see you in yours, I'll definitely make it nicer, not worse."

She points to the snacks. "Don't mix those. They don't taste good together," she advises, with a grin. "I mean, you can, but it's definitely weird. I did it on accident."

Picking up her drink, she takes another pull from it that rattles the straw with what little fluid's left at the bottom. "I can do a little stuff with shadows. Let's see." She leans forward, looking forward to where the line of washers in front of them create a short shadow on the floor. She tips her head, eyes narrowing, and the shadows streeeeetch toward them. One hand lifts to wriggle her fingers, and the shadow then splits into what look like a few snakes, or vague snakeish shapes, wriggling forward, growing darker as they do, before they coalesce again and recede backward like a wave, lightening as they go until it was as it was a few moments before.

Mac sits back. "The gingerbread thing was great. Smart. Most of my stuff isn't super helpful, but apparently I have mad giant cookie building skills. Who knew."

"Consent is essential." Lavender nods in all seriousness. "Invasive. Intrusive. On accident?" Lavender seems curious. "How does that work? Are you asleep and your dream kind of merges with someone else's?"

Shaking her head, she assures she won't. "Snack and dessert. Not to be made a sandwich."

Dark eyes watch Mac and what she is doing with interest. The snakes that wiggle forward from the main shadow seems to impress her, as her brows arch up and she nods. "That's cool. Together, we could really freak people out. Plants rotting before their eyes and shadows growing and moving."

There is the faintest hint of a smirk at one corner of her lips as she says, "heh. The gingerbread thing was childish. I was pissed. Handy though. I certainly felt better after. I probably want to do things like that with a bit more purpose though. Or, better purpose. More moral purpose?" Eyes finding Mac's she says, "you definitely have the giant gingerbread skills. Queen Gingerbread."

Mac's feet come back up and she sits pretzel-style, hands crossing as well to hold on to the opposing calf. "Yeah, when I first got it? I'd just sort of wake up in some person's dream. You sort of know it's not yours after a couple of times. So then I tried to affect them, and found I could. From that, I started getting a little more control on if I fell in or not. I try not to."

Her nose wrinkles. "I've still fallen through a couple of times, if I was a little drunk or once when I was a little sick. Otherwise I think it's mostly under control."

But she laughs when Lavender says she was being childish. "Hey, I'm all for some childish warfare if it doesn't hurt anyone. I can be petty AF if someone pissees me off." She nods to the drink that Lavender has procured. "How's the boba?"

"That had to feel freaky. Like, being in someone else's dream." Lavender shakes her head and takes a sip of her boba, pulling up a couple pearls in the straw as well. "Though. Some of my dreams feel so alien to me, I am surprised I don't have that. Luck of the draw, I suppose. By that I mean I've had weird dreams my whole life."

The corner of Lavender's mouth twitches. "Okay. That's kind of funny. The drunk part, not the sick. If you fall into a dream and you are drunk, are you drunk in the dream?"

Lavender walks over when Mac admits to being petty sometimes. She holds her fist out, waiting for a knuckle bump. "I knew I liked you. They did piss me off. Even if it was all fun and games. In the moment, I was pissed. Like, I get why they did it now. But then. Look, you cross me, you're gonna regret it. Right?"

"Oh. Boba's good. Just some thai iced tea with black pearls."

"Good question," Mac says regarding being drunk in the dream. "I think so, since I'm 'aware' you know? But dumber than if I'm not drunk so maybe the weird dream stuff doesn't bother me as much as it would if I were sober, you know?"

She reaches out to bump the fist that Lavender proffers, then laughs as she reaches into the bag of Circus Cookies. "I get it. And I support it."

Mac cranes her head to peer over at the drink counter. "I like the black milk tea, myself, usually, but I haven't had it here since I usually pretend I'm being healthy by getting a smoothie. It's got acai in it, so it has to be healthy right? Superfood!" she says with a laugh. "But they added a fuck ton of sugar. You ever try acai without anything added?" She sticks out her tongue, which is indeed a dark purple that rivals the hue of her sweater. "Not tasty."

Lavender nods her head a couple times, then once to the side, then nods again. "That makes sense.

With Mac's support secured, Lavender says, "we have got to hang out together. It's like, you get me. No one gets me."

"Black milk tea is good too. It all depends what mood I am in." She shoves a whole pringle in her mouth and chews. "Smoothies are good too though. I've heard acai is really good for you. I don't think I ever had one." Mac sticks out her tongue and Lavender lifts her hand, curled into a fist, to lightly press against her lips. She makes no sound, but her eyes, the way they open wider yet crinkle in the corners, look highly amused.

"Are they bitter?"

"It's really tart. Like you almost can't say what it tastes like besides tart, at least I can't," Mac says. "But that's why it tastes so good with the sugar added. You still get a bit of that sharp flavor but it's more palatable. Instead of sweet on sweet."

She picks out another circus animal and bites its head off. "Where are you from? You actually remind me of one of my cousins. Maybe that's why I feel so comfortable around you. I'm from Los Angeles. I was going to head back, eventually, but then I found this place and decided to stay for a bit. I don't think I could have stood another snowy winter, though, so I'm glad the resort is magically warm. Reminds me of winter back home, actually. Almost exactly."

"So. Take berry, add sugar, nature's Sour Patch Kid." This is Lavender's interpretation of how Mac has described the taste of acai berries.

Dark eyes watch Mac behead the circus animal, which probably earns her more points in Lavender's book, as she pulls up a couple more pearls and tea from her straw. Giving a lick of her lips, Lavender says, "Vegas," in answer to Mac's question. "Do I? She must be awesome then." She's not shy, this one. Gesturing with her hand between the two of them, she says, "are you kidding? We're familia. We got that spicy Latin blood. It brings us all together. Glad you didn't head back. Then we wouldn't have met."

"I came without a plan. I am also very glad it's warmer here. Still cold as fuck to me, but, I went to the mainland last winter and no thank you." She shakes her head slowly. "I was a popsicle."

"Oh, practically neighbors, then. Love Vegas. It hates me, though," Mac says with a laugh as she watches the clothes spin in the dryer. There's something hard in there that clanks against the metal walk of the machine on every rotation. It'll be fine.

Her gaze flits back to Lavender and she laughs. "She is. We're like sisters. She's one of the few people I miss in my giant ass family," she says, then shivers in commiseration of the remembered popsicle trip. "Yeah, I kinda ended up out here in Michigan after a long list of bad decisions and worse guys, and was going to head home, but then applied here. I just wish I had a cooler power than the dream thing. There's people who can fly, you know?" She shakes her head. "Life is unfair."

"Practically." A lot of people travel back and forth between Vegas and LA. Some, far more than they should. Gamble responsibly people.

"Hates you?" Lavender asks, suddenly wondering if Mac is one of those people. "Lose too much money? Get accosted with street porn cards too much? Too many Hangover situations?"

"Well then, it's no wonder we get along. If she is like your sister--" Then it goes without saying that Lavender might as well, if currently a long lost one that you never knew you had. "I am from a weird Latin family. Small. Kind of quiet."

"Psh." Lavender takes a deep breath and holds it. "Long list of bad decisions and worse guys. That sounds familiar." She pulls a face and looks at Mac. Her lips don't move; no smile, no frown; but her eyebrows arch and scowl at the same time. "Yeah. People can fly. But you can make creepy shadows. And I don't know. I think the dream thing is cool too. Dreams are such mysteries. You have the ability maybe to unravel some of them."

Mac considers the three choices that Lavender lays out and then nods solemnly. "Yes." One thing does not negate the others.

But she grins and shakes her head, and continues. "Can't win, and I know that's the point, but every time I go, whoever I'm with does great and I do terribly. Even on the way out, we stopped at Stateside? Friend after lunch is like 'I'ma go do one more slot machine' and ended up getting the jackpot. Not the kind of friend who shares, either." She shakes her head. "One of the reasons I'm glad to be out of LA."

The praise for her abilities earns Lavender another smile, this one an appreciative one. "It's a little creepy, but that tracks. At least I don't turn into a cockroach or something."

The first of her dryers comes to a stop and she hops down to go pull the warm clothes out, loosely folding each as she does so.

Lavender's two washing machines have come to a stop but she's been ignoring them. However, Mac's dryers finishing brings her focus back to them and she starts the move of wet clothes to dryer, setting aside a few pieces she will air dry back in her apartment.

"Can't win. I mean. That is the point for the casinos. Winning is our point, but, see example A. Odds are not in our favor." She hmms. "Need some crystals to fix your luck. Your friend needs to learn that sharing is caring. Especially if you are there together. At least share in some manner. A fancy dinner. A show. Magic Mike. Something."

Mid shoving clothes in the dryer, dark eyes look toward Mac intensely and she just freezes, as if playing Simon says and Simon didn't say. "Talk about creepy." Apparently, she is not a fan of cockroaches."

"I'd say I don't believe in crystals, but..." Mac gestures around herself to indicate them, the laundromat, the door to the outside, and everything after. "I guess that's a little silly to say when I can jump into your dream or make shadows dance, and you can make something wither and die with a wrinkle of our noses like Samantha on Bewitched."

She tries to wriggle her nose, but cannot. She just ends up sneering.

"Even better than Samantha, we don't have a tell," she decides, with a smirk, as she crouch-walks over to the next dryer to pull out the clothes from it.

"Okay, ixnay on the ockroaches-cay," she says, apologetically. "Sorry. You okay?" She stands, picking up the basket and holding it on her hip.

"I'm going to make you a thing," Lavender decides as she shuts the dryer door and gets it going. Once finished, she lifts her boba, trying to chase down the remaining pearls amidst the slight amount of liquid left with her straw. When Mac brings Bewitched to mind, Lavender also tries to wriggle her nose, but just wrinkles it instead, looking as if she's disgusted by something instead.

"There ya go. Even better than Samantha."

"Oh. I'm fine. They're just gross. Flashbacks to one of those worst guys slash bad decisions." Lavender nods and goes to sit in one of the chairs, boba cup and its scant remnants and all.

"You don't have to," Mac says, brows knitting together at the announcement. "It's really sweet of you, but don't put yourself out for me or anything. And it's not like I'm going back to Vegas any time soon. Especially not with that person."

She nods in understanding, though, about the bad decisions. "Whoever and whatever it was, good riddance to both the dumb boy and the cockroaches," she says. "The worst guys are like cockroaches sometimes. My one ex keeps popping up somehow. I keep blocking him but he's friends with one of my cousins. Not the cool one that you remind me of. Maritza, her name is. But her brother Gio."

Mac rolls her eyes, before she pats her laundry. "I should get going. The dog needs let out and I think my roommates aren't home. But it was great talking to you again, Lavender. We should hang. On purpose, next time, I mean."

"I know I don't have to. Trust me. I'm not as excited to do things I have to do." This is Lavender excited? "It's not just for Vegas or gambling. But you spoke of bad decisions and worse guys. Sounds like you could use some good luck all around." Lavender gives a small shrug.

"Truly. He was one of my worst." She shakes her head and rolls her eyes in judgment of past Ender. "Absolute truth. I think there's even some company that you can send cockroaches, not live ones, to exes or other people. Like anonymously. They just get a box of cockroaches. I'd be confused as fuck if I randomly received a box of cockroaches in the mail." Lavender's nose wrinkles when Mac explains the familial connection that keeps her ex in her orbit. "That super sucks. Does Gio know what kind of roach his friend is?"

"Oh yeah. Gotta take care of the pup." Her dark-haired head bobs a few times. "Def. On purpose. We can talk old war stories of bad choices and compare scars." The corner of her lip moves slightly into a smirk. Or maybe it was just a shadow. Lifting a hand, she says, "take care out there."

"Probably," Mac concedes. "Never been lucky in most things, love included." She doesn't seem too fazed by it.

But her nose wrinkles at the mention of anonymous roaches, and she shakes her head. "I don't think I could do that, even if they deserved it. And also... man, once one house has roaches, all the neighbors get roaches, so that'd be terrible to a whole group of strangers. I'm not really into karma, but that's just begging for some to come back at me. Threefold or whatever, right? I've probably done my share of bad things. Best not to add to the multiplier."

She grins and double checks she has everything that came with her -- baskets and soap, shoulder bag. "You keep the snacks since you have a ways to go," she tells Lavender. "You too. Watch out for Midway boys."