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It was laundry day. In her depression over her breakup with Seiji going so terribly Junko had let her laundry pile up for quite some time, mostly because she knew if she went through to sort it she would find some of Seiji's clothes mixed in with her own.

And she was right. She did.

His clothes had been put in a box to be brought back to him later. Her clothes were more important to her right now. It was all part of her promise to move on and love herself, to be happy and healthy and live her life..and it would start with laundry day. She was down to wearing a dress Invictus had given her while she was staying on the Isle of Conquest, a dress she tried not to wear just out and about and only for special occasions. But there was so much laundry.

Junko had two baskets loaded in her arms, her hair supporting her as she slowly made her way so the nearest laundry building. It was a precarious load she was carrying, one that looked ready to topple on her should she make one wrong move.

And that's exactly what she did. The ghoul stepped on her own dress and fell forward, the baskets of laundry falling on top of her and completely covering the ghoul in clothes. Jackdamnit.

The ghoul gave an unhappy groan and began to pull herself free from the pile of clothes just as a voice spoke up asking if she was all right, even helping her up out of the pile. She sighed with relief and nodded. Her hair moved, pulling at the skirt of her dress enough to lift it out of the way of her feet while she settled. The hair then picked up the two now empty baskets and flipped them right side up, picking up some of the dropped clothing to just drop it in. The hair couldn't fold but Junko just wanted her clothes off the ground. It was during this process that she looked up to see who had helped her, her smile brightening a bit when she recognized the face. "Oh, hello! Ah..Salbei, right? It's nice to see you again!" Oh..did he remember her?

That could be awkward.

"I'm Junko! We met at Belladonna's fashion club booth at Fright Night." There, a friendly reminder. Not so awkward.

Pretty and interesting? Junko blinked. It would have been fine had he pat her on the head, she was used to it by now and The Mistress didn't usually bite straight away anymore, so his hand would have been safe. She gave the horseman a smile as he pat her on the shoulder instead. "You flatter me. This is the last place I'd ever expect to see you, though. What brings you here today?" She didn't see horsemen around the school that often, and definitely not hanging around the dorms. Perhaps he was just here to visit someone.

When asked what happened she looked down at the clothes scattered around them and quickly blushed with embarrassment. The ghoul got down close to the ground to start picking things up and put them into the baskets. "Ah! Nothing...I was just on my way to do some laundry and I tripped on my dress. That's all. I don't wear these dresses very often so I'm not used to the long skirts.." It wasn't a big deal, really. She'd just been a clutz. He had said he wanted to ask her more questions about herself but if he was here to see someone else she didn't want to keep him..

She was quick about filling the baskets again, lifting them with a small grunt. "I kind of let it pile up a little too much. Very preoccupied and all that."

All Junko could say to that bit of news was a quiet 'oh'. It wasn't unreasonble, there were so many students on this campus and she had been so busy up until recently it made sense that perhaps she had just missed him. She gave the horseman a warm smile anyway. "Well perhaps we can see each other more often now." He seemed harmless enough. He didn't make her uncomfortable like many of the other horsemen did, like Eris and Cymbeline especially. As he gestured to the alpaca in the distance she blinked and just stared. What would anyone want with one of those? Was he using its wool? She'd heard alpaca wool made great sweaters. "I see. Am I keeping you from him then? I apologize.." That was a shame. Maybe she would just see if she caught him on her way back.

The ghoul blushed when her laundry habit was brought into question. "Well...no, not usually. I've just been kind of--" and then Sal picked up a very familiar red men's tank. Her blush grew stronger as he made a very gentle but very..correct implication. "It's not how it looks, I promise. U-um.." Should she still wash it before she returned it? Ehhhh.. "I don't know how that got there," Junko muttered honestly. She thought she got them all! At least it was just a shirt and not his boxers or something, that would have been awkward. "Thank you for your help, Sal." She hefted the baskets up more comfortably in her arms, some of her hair wrapping around them to provide assistance and a few other long tendrils holding the skirt of her dress out of the way of her feet.

"Um..when you're not busy alpacaing it up," Look at you making a joke, Junko! "Would you like to walk with me?"

"An honest mistake, I assure you." Junko replied quietly to Salbei's observation, walking along and pointedly not looking at the shirt in question. She had a feeling she knew how she'd missed it, it was the shirt she'd once stolen from Seiji to keep and wear under her kimono. It had become as much a part of her wardrobe as her own clothing, so it was easily overlooked even if she hadn't worn it in over a year because of her hair being too long to be worth dealing with it. But Salbei's next teasing had the ghoul stopping dead in her tracks, her eyes wide and her face burning hotly. Re..recreational...

Oh sweet Jack.

"I-I'm eighteen!" She squeaked out, nearly dropping her baskets again. Though she hadn't been eighteen when this shirt had been..

...This was the shirt she'd worn when they'd..

Jackdamnit Salbei why?! "I just..i-it's nothing. There's no...house playing going on." Not anymore, anyway. Junko's face was still almost completely pink, her hair curling and writhing and practically wrapping itself around her head to cover her face in embarrassment. This was all Salbei's fault!

The question on where her laundry was done was a nice, safe topic. Neutral. Good. She liked it. "The building at the end of this path. Usually I do most of this by hand but..there's just too much." As she said this a building came into view and Junko climbed up the steps, finally dropping the baskets on the floor with a little huff. She rubbed her arms, her muscles aching. "And that is my weekly workout." She teased, grinning and getting to work on putting her clothes into machines. There were some that were inexpensive, durable, and very machine friendly..those were what she would wash here.

"Why do they call it playing house anyway? Seems silly. To me playing house is just doing chores and work...which I do on a regular basis." It was a very sudden question but it was something Junko was curious about.

That explanation did make sense, she supposed. But she didn't like the idea of what they had done being considered...make-believe. What they had had was very real, it wasn't pretend! Perhaps if it had been pretend she wouldn't have felt so awful for what she had done; it would simply have been another role in a game. "I didn't rush anything." Junko pouted and began to think her face was going to be permanently pink at this point. "Besides, it's not happening anymore. We're no longer together..so...that's that." Her resolve didn't sound as confident as it should but Junko was going to stray as far from that as possible.

Her embarrassed look became a stubborn pout when told she was still too young to experience things. It was like a lecture from a parent...or what Junko assumed a lecture from a parent would be like. "I think I'm old enough..." She muttered in protest. She wasn't in a rush...was she? Not an intentional one for certain! All the things that had happened..

The horseman islands, the Hunter island, the haunted house..

Junko was pulled from her thoughts by Salbei's question, blinking and just tilting her head to one side as she closed each washing machine she was using one by one, setting the timers. "In places that are able to have them. My house growing up didn't have one, so we washed everything by hand." She shrugged. "It's handy for times like...well.." She gestured to her baskets.

"There are also places where you can go and pay to use their washers and dryers...usually a few seeds will do the trick." Junko moved to climb up and sit on one of the tables, dragging her hair around her so it was mostly all to one side of her. Her hair set to braiding itself without the use of her hands. "I don't think I would toss your scarves into a washing machine. Besides, I'm still not convinced there's a body under there." She was teasing, of course.

Salbei's words did bring a smile to her face. That was very kind of him. "Thank you, Salbei. I do feel better than I did before, you're right, it takes time. I'm working on it~."

Junko watched as Salbei tried to fit himself behind a washing machine, giggling quietly. He was so curious! It was kind of cute! "It is a lot less gentle, but it gets the job done. It's why I only put certain kinds of clothes in here." Did he know what he was doing? She did hope he didn't break that washer over there. Would Junko take the blame for it? Of course not. She couldn't afford to have it fixed if she allowed herself to be responsible for it. A horseman did it.

No. Better. She had no idea who did it.

"A suit?" Junko looked surprised now. When had he worn a suit? That must have looked wonderful on him! Did he keep it? She hoped he did! She would love to see him in it again! "No, I wasn't there for that. What made you change from your usual garb to a suit?"

"Belladonna is very generous. She's one of the first friends I made here.." Junko sounded fairly distracted, she was leaning this way and that to try and see what Salbei was up to back there. "Suits aren't as constricting as a corset, at least. She talked me into trying one on once, they're weird."

Did he just break something? "U-um...Salbei? What are you doing back there?"

Man, Salbei said weird things. "What does that mean? When in roam?"