Crazed Interactions
Who: Edan and Pippa When: Midday Where: The Laundry Room
Pippa was halfway through her master plan. It was nice to receive a personal message just to her and the fact that she had no idea who it came from made it even better, even more intriguing. She’d gotten all the soaps, detergents, anything that would make bubbles into the washing machines and was now closing all of the machines, humming to herself as she strolled by each one to turn it on for an extended, high powered wash.
Once satisfied that the laundry was underway, even though there weren’t actually any clothes in any of those machines, Pippa went about putting the empty detergent bottles back into the cabinets. Then she propped herself up on the long counter in the middle of the room and grinned, folding her feet under her as she waited, impatiently, for when the soap waves would start.
Edan had arranged to meet this girl they’d set her up to meet in the basement, though she had to admit that was as weird as meetings got, but who was she to judge? Really? She went that way, looking around until she heard the washers running, which drew here that way, looking at the woman, not sure what to make of her. Those tattoos were definitely more than a little off putting despite the fact that she wasn’t an entirely huge human being. “Doing some laundry?” she asked, having to speak up over the whirring machines.
Pippa turned her eyes, mischievous sparkle in them, towards the newcomer and beamed a grin her way. “You could say that.” She looked back at the machines for a moment, wanting to keep her eyes on them, wanting to see the first of the bubbles pour out first. Then she looked back at the girl. “Are you my partner?”
“Partner? I guess. I’m Edan. You’re Pippa?” Edan asked, looking at the machines, something twitching between the back of her shoulders. Something was definitely up, which meant Edan was staying a good distance away.
“Some people call me that,” She answered, leaning back a little on her hands as she looked over Edan. “The machines don’t bite, you know. At least these ones don’t. I’ve seen some who have.”
“I’m not worried about the machine biting more you biting,” Edan admitted, tucking her hands into her back pockets without moving closer. “So what are you doing down here? You can’t have this much laundry.”
“What makes you think I’d bite you? I only just met you, I save the biting for later.” Pippa grinned again. “I never said this was all mine. You’re assuming.” Which was fun for her because it gave Pippa something to play off of, something to turn around onto her new partner.
“Later? Great.” Which was something Edan was certain she didn’t want. When Pippa called her out on the assumption she frowned. She might have done that. “Okay...are they all yours?”
“Maybe. Would it matter if they were? And what is ‘mine’ anyway. We’re in a place where nothing here really belongs to any of us.” Pippa plopped back onto the table, leaning her head off one side and her legs off the other. The stretch in her back was good, refreshing, and it had Pippa smiling again. “What’s the most interesting thing about you?”
“Well I meant more your clothes, you started it,” Edan said making a face and not able to help herself from tilting her head a little as Pippa hung her head off the table. “The most...I’m a twin.”
“That’s the most interesting thing about you? That’s not even really about you, that’s about you and someone else. I want to hear about you.” Pippa said, rolling a little until she was on her stomach, legs in the air, sprawled across the table looking back at Edan with her head perched on her hands.
Edan made a face, not really wanting to play a game over the sound of the washers, but the administration wanted her to do this so she was going to try. At least for a little while. “I set a building on fire.”
“Ooh, much better,” Pippa shot up into a seated position, grinning a little more as she studied Edan. “For the hell of it? Because that is my favorite answer. Or do you just like the smell of Napalm in the morning?”
That did raise a good question. “Not the one I was arrested at the site of. That one I had a reason for. The others that they charged me with, those were more...because I could.” Of course she hadn’t actually admitted to those, but the trial had gone smoothing. “Ember. Ember Edan. Made the papers.”
Pippa laughed a little. “Ember Edan...Nice. Well, I don’t read papers. I’d rather watch you burn them,” She said with a grin. “So do you ever think about burning things here?” There was a curiosity in Pippa’s eyes when she asked, but it was deeper than a general question. Maybe she should burn something today too? Wouldn’t that be ironic, fire and water, destroying things equally...
“Outside of the candles in my room, no,” Edan said shaking her head. “I don’t usually burn things people are using. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” She knew how that felt, and had the scars to prove it. Plus, that wasn’t the point. That had never been the point.
“So what’s the point of it then if you’re not trying to burn down everything? Why burn anything?” The idea was already in her mind and she needed to find something to burn, STAT. As soon as she got out of this conversation with Edan, she’d find something to burn. “How’d you even do it? Set that building on fire?” She needed details. It’d make it easier on her in the long run.
“Because I like fire,” Edan said shrugging her shoulder. “No one was using the other buildings.” The one she’d been originally arrested for, that one had a purpose, but the others were there to see the fire burn. “Accelerant, plus a start. You have to be careful though, I got burned bad the first time.”
“So..I can’t just throw a flaming ball of paper on something and hope it catches...” She’d need something flammable. Something that would catch fire without too much trouble. What did she have around here, what did they have around here, that would work? The library, maybe? Books from the library?
“Depend on what you were throwing it at, but no probably not...” Edan said then made a face. “You aren’t actually planning on setting something on fire are you?”
Pippa put on her best innocent, ‘how could you ever expect something like that from me?’ face and stared at Edan with wide eyes. “Never! Can’t I just be interested in you? We’re supposed to learn about each other, I’m so curious about your history...”
“I don’t think that’s the case at all,” Edan said. “What about your history? You haven’t told me anything. How’d you get...that?” she motioned towards her face, indicating her tattoo.
Pippa smirked a little bit. It was always fun when people asked her about the tattoo she didn’t remember getting. “Alien abduction. They marked me so they’d find me easier again when they came back to take me to their home planet.”
Home planet indeed, the girl was out of her fucking mind. “Hate when that happens,” she said instead, trying for a smile until one of the washers starting to make noise, bubbling over. “What the hell?”
“That’s why they didn’t mark you, because you hated it. They only want people who enjoyed it.” Pippa said, but whirled around when the washer started to bubble and she beamed a smile unlike anything she’d given Edan. “Finally!”
“Of course they don’t,” Edan said, but then turned back at Edan. “Finally? What? Did you do this?”
“Stop assuming I’m doing everything. The machines are having a bubble bath. Or a party. Maybe you really just don’t see things for what they do when you aren’t around. This is why those toys in Toy Story never spoke around Andy, he couldn’t handle it,” Pippa said, looking back over at Edan as another washer started to bubble over. “Fantastic!”
“Pretty sure the washers wouldn’t overflow on their own,” Edan said moving to the first one, trying to figure out how to turn it off without getting covered in bubbles. This crazy woman was going to flood the room.
“Back off!” Pippa roared, voice loud and shrill above the washers as her eyes switched instantly from intrigued and happy to predatory and pissed. “Don’t touch anything!” She hopped off the counter and over to the machine Edan was at, whirling so that she could see her eyes. “Did they ask you to touch them?”
The roar sent up Edan’s hackles, turning to look at the woman, hands up to defend herself. “You’ll flood the basement! You can’t just leave them like this!”
“Don’t touch them,” Pippa hissed again, no action taken to hit Edan, yet. If she went around turning off her washing machines, that would be a different story. She needed to get this girl to leave so she would leave her plans alone. “What if these washing machines found their way into your room and started screwing with all your stuff? They don’t want you touching them!”
“They’re machines! They aren’t going to touch my stuff! You did this!! You’ll flood everything!” What was wrong with this stupid woman? Edan moved past her trying to turn off a different one, father from Pippa, but determined not to let her flood the basement.
Pippa opened a washing machine, used her arm to prop it open while she grabbed two handfuls of suds, and let it slam shut again as she came over to Edan and plopped her hands on the back of the girl’s head, laundry detergent suds in her hair. “I said, don’t touch them!”
It hadn’t taken long in prison for Edan to be worried about being touched, and especially against her head, pulling away. “Don’t you touch me,” she said, trying to jerk away, panic rising. She was alone with a crazy woman.
Finally, there was the fire she wanted. Maybe this would suffice with setting a fire, metaphorically. She could just entice Edan into a fight, perhaps. “Whatcha gonna do about it?” She asked, reaching out to lay a hand on Edan’s shoulder. Unassuming enough, if she hadn’t just turned from jolly to raging beast moments earlier.
Edan jerked away a few more steps, not wanting to be touched, but she did reach to stop another machine, not wanting to just leave this. That and she was stupidly going in the wrong direction from the doorway.
Pippa snapped, rushing right for Edan. She grabbed her arms and tossed her towards the nearest machine, arm reaching out for a punch before she even gave it a second thought. This bitch was not going to mess with her plans anymore, not if Pippa could help it.
Edan couldn’t help the yelp, not expecting this crazy person to rush at her, or like that. She hit the machine hard, trying to grab it to keep her balance but it was slick with soapy water, and she wasn’t ready for the punch. She took it just under her eye, crying out as her feet slipped in the suds on the floor, landing hard on the ground. Looking at Pippa’s feet she lashed out, kicking at the other woman’s shins hard.
That Pippa wasn’t expecting and she felt her feet give out under her, leading her to smack right into the floor, slick too now with soapy water. She hit on her side, but her chin smacked the ground and she felt the vibration of her teeth hitting together on one side shake through her whole body. The other side of her mouth, the inside of her cheek specifically, had been caught between her teeth and was now producing a good bit of blood. Spitting it out on the floor, Pippa saw the red and the predatory shifted as she laughed, as if this was all a big joke that she’d just gotten the punch line to.
Edan’s eyes went wide at the sight of the blood. That wasn’t what she meant to happen. Or that bloody face that went with it. The hit she’d taken was starting to swell, making her eyes water. She was going to wind up in the stocks for this wasn’t she? And that grin, shit that laugh, that was terrifying. Scrambling towards her feet Edan tried to get away, slipping still, shoes not made to be in the suds that were spilling everywhere, which meant she was going slow.
“Run on, I’m not chasing you...” Pippa said, sitting on the floor as she wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand. All in all, this was a humorous day for sure. Bubble bath forthcoming and a brawl in the middle of it, what fun.
That was a relief, but it didn’t stop Edan from dashing away, needing to get away from this woman before something else happened. This was not good. Not good at all. She knew she should be stopping Pippa from flooding the basement, but getting away seemed like a much better idea.
Pippa watched Edan escape, thinking that she’d have to find the girl later just to catch up with her. She picked herself up off the floor, slippery now from soapy water, and then proceeded towards the counter so she could watch the bubbles for a little longer. They were so soothing, after all.