Ever since she had initially arrived at Aternaville, Elphaba had waged a war with all things 'modern' and 'convenient.' She and technology had a sort of unspoken agreement: She'd use other things, and it would bugger off. Now and then, though, things changed, and technology seemed to find its way immersed further in Elphaba's life. She found indoor plumbing to be a welcome change from Oz, for starters--toilets, bathtubs, the fact that water could go from hot to cold in an instant. That was all something she approved of.
But now, necessity had reared her head, and Elphaba found herself silently cursing as technology won yet another battle: Clothing. She had been washing her clothes by hand (and magic) as before--even the things from Shiz she hadn't seen in years. And that all worked fine. It may have been time-consuming, but Elphaba wasn't anything if not patient.
Things would have stayed that way, had Elphaba not...gone shopping. She was truly thankful that nobody from home could see her, striding through a store, comparing prices, and looking at the colors. It wasn't until she had bought, paid for, worn, and was ready to wash her new garments that Elphaba noticed a few rather telling tags (Which was another note--who the hell put tags on clothing?): Machine Wash Only
God dammit.
It took her a bit of time to find out what to do next. A trip to the bookstore procured a manual about living on one's own--cleaning, cooking, fixing things that broke down. (She could have found the information on the internet, but Elphaba refused to even touch her computer. Blasted thing). She bought laundry detergent, found a large basket, scrounged up her quarters and dollars, and had the manual in hand. Time to do laundry--only the new things, of course.
The washers and dryers were on the first floor, tucked into the exact opposite corner of the building than Elphaba's chambers. Her grip on her basket was shifted as she pushed the door open, stepping inside, and finding herself face to face with a buxom redhead, looking at her the way everybody did at first.
"What?" Elphaba said. "Do I have something between my teeth?"