Lost in the Laundromat (Open)

Buck had standards. After two decades in fairyland trapped in a dirty yard in the form of a goat he refused to walk around in dirty clothes if he had any choice in the matter, which is why he was loading the last of his laundry in a coin-operated commercial dryer. Just as he had done with the last load, which he was now wearing, he caught his reflection in the hatch as he closed it.

"Jesus Christ..." He mutters to himself. If he ignored the obvious differences, he looked just like his father. He shook his head - that wound had scabbed over into a dull ache a long time ago, he didn't have time to pick at it now. He knew there were others out there, that there were others who had escaped like he had, from different owners. But the city was big and he had no idea where to go looking for them. With a *clink* that echoed quietly in the empty Laundromat, he rested his forehead on the spinning dryer.

He wasn't going to just keep running forever.

At least... he hoped he wasn't.

At the other end of the laundromat a (not-so-quiet) youngster looks up at the man cleaning all his clothes. He skips down the aisle poking in random full dryers and pulls what appear to be random pieces out. He walks up to Buck and hold out a handful of horribly mis-matched clothes "Here, these look like they'll fit a big guy like you." He pauses starring at the horns for a moment then snaps back to reality "Hi, I'm Peter. Want to be my friend?" The boy says staring straight into Buck's eyes expectantly still holding out the armful of clothes.

Buck turns around (hadn't the place been empty except for him just now?) and looks down at the kid from his lofty height of just more than five feet. Was that supposed to be some kind of crack at his height? Buck frowns at the boy, hoping that there was someone responsible keeping an eye on him - he remembered what he was like at that age. The kid looked normal, but the hedgespun gave it away. The trail of open driers and scattered half-dry clothes behind him made it pretty obvious where he got them. His frown deepened, almost a scowl.

"Don't steal kid. Go put those back."

"B-b-but, I wasn't stealing, I was trying to be helpful..." Peter, replies, his heart sinking with every word. Obviously feeling rejected. "I thought you could use them more, there are still plenty left in there. Besides, they can always get more. It's harder for people like us." His tone switches to an almost indignant air,"Of course if you don't want my help cause I'm 'too young' or 'inexperienced' or whatever your high and mighty self feels then I'm happy to go back to ignoring you!" Peter makes sure Buck can see the air quotes around too young and inexperienced, blatantly hurt and turning that anger back outward. He huffs and turns to walk back to the far end of the laundromat, leaving the clothes in a disheveled heap on the floor.

Buck shrugs and lets the kid throw a fit. "That doesn't make it okay to steal, kid." Is all he says. He picks up the wad of clothes the kid threw on he ground during his tantrum and put them up on one of the folding counters, he felt bad for the owners but he didn't know who's laundry went where and he wasn't going to be caught digging through them when someone else showed up.

He goes back to his machine, watching the kid pout on the other side of the room. With the tone he used, Buck didn't trust the kid not to pull something out of spite if he thought he could get away with it.

"How is it stealing? It's not like anyone is claiming them anyway. They're just sitting around here asking to be used." He pauses with a though "If I pick up a quarter off the street that someone dropped is that stealing? It's the same thing, the clothes are just here to be used right?" Peter is thinking out loud and it's quite clear this is an honest thought process to him. "I use what I find, and I just found these here.... so..." He has at this point thought himself into a circle is confused by his own thoughts.

He gave the kid a flat look. "Do you seriously need someone to explain the difference between things people have left unattended, things people are donating and things people have lost? That's shit you figure out when you're six, kid." He shakes his head. "I mean, do you want child services to lock you up when they catch you?" The idea of escaping only to screw up and get sucked into the legal system (which somehow looked so much worse now than it did when he had been a kid) and put in jail made him sick.

"Hmph, I'd like to see them try! Nothing can hold me down for long, I'm free as ever! Here I'll show you!!!"Peter hops into one of the empty driers excitedly and calls out "Close the door and step back!" He smiles eagerly, waiting fro Buck to oblige.

"I'm not locking you in a drier, what is wrong with you?" He says, shocked.

Well... he had the quarters, but no that would be wrong. Tempting but wrong.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun! There's nothing wrong with me, it's completely safe, TRUST ME!" Peter pleads and is thoroughly convinced he can get Buck to follow through:

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2013-12-27 01:07:53		Peter rolls 4 to Convince Buck To Lock Peter In The Drier (Man + Pers) (10 Again)		10, 2, 7, 7, 8		2 successes