Bad Luck: That's gonna stain (Open)

[Karalie Heise]

Karalie sat in the booth all by herself.  She wasn't the type to go out to eat by herself, but the thought of Hammel food made her feel ill tonight for whatever reason, and calling for takeout wasn't an option right now.  She could, of course, if she wanted but that meant possibly facing her roommates and she was avoiding all of them these days.  The less she stayed on campus, her room especially, the better.  She had to become creative with her options though, and tonight's agenda included dinner for one.

It wasn't as bad as Karalie expected, but that was likely because the restaurant she chose wasn't overly crowded.  The food was good though, and it didn't seem like she was getting many stares.  She brought her books too.  It would look less ridiculous if she sat there studying while she ate, making her look studious instead of pathetic.  Studious she could handle.

"There you go, Chicken parmigiano panini and a side salad.  Can I get anything else for you?" The waitress asked.  Karalie offered a kind, tight lipped smile and shook her head.  "No, ma'am.  This is jus' fine, thank yah."  The woman smiled and nodded, pushing a loose strand of hair behind an ear.  "Alright then, enjoy."  Karalie turned back to her book, scribbling something with her pen as she finished up what she was doing.

The food there was good.  She'd been before when her parents had come to visit, and it was as good now as it was then.  She picked at the salad and then started on her sandwich, which was cool enough to eat once the salad was through, all the while working on her homework.  Karalie was about halfway through her sandwich when the urge to sneeze snuck up on her.  It was a sudden one, and though she was able to cover her nose, she didn't manage to put her sandwich down in time and during her sudden sneezing fit, she squeezed the bread, chicken cutlets saturated with tomato sauce falling out of the bread and rolling down her crisp white sweater and down her jeans.  

Karalie jumped when the accident happened, looking down at her now ruined shirt.  She looked around for her coat, which wasn't there.  Where had it gone? She'd left with it! What happened next? She took it off on the bus and.. Karalie slapped her forehead, feeling as if she was going to cry.  Her dark eyes scanned down her body, looking at the now destroyed top.  What was she going to do?!  She couldn't go out in public like this! And she couldn't take off her sweater! All she had under was a camisole and it was way too cold out for just that.  She'd freeze to death!  She rushed to the bathroom in an attempt to clean herself up.

Worst. Night.  Ever.

[Ross Valkyrie]

Ross was perched at a wooden table in the scarcely populated diner, the young waitress smiled and waltzed up to him carrying a platter of spaghetti. At the sight of it, the boy's mouth fell open as it slid onto the table. Before him lay one of the biggest meals he had ever faced, a monstrous portion of spaghetti with a virtual loaf of garlic bread - 'Jeez, this must be American-size in all its glory..' he realised.

At the sight of his wide-eyed reaction, she told him simply "Enjoy". Ross nodded in response - speechless - but she was already returning to the bar. Grabbing his cutlery, the Englishman was about to tuck in. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a smaller-than-most girl jump up like she'd just been stung.

Laying down his fork, the alchemist watched as she proceeded to dash over the carpeted floor and rocketed through the heavy door to the women's bathroom. She looked on the edge of tears.. Ross's kind nature kicked in and he decided to check if she was OK - rising from the cushy seat and trotting over to the twin doors. Knocking lightly, he spoke in his timid British accent "Um, are you alright in there?". He'd had a hard time in Kocher and decided he may as well show some kindness to others.

[Karalie Heise]

Karalie immediately started blotting the stain on her sweater, finally tugging the whole damne thing off to try and rinse it.  Only she couldn't get it too wet, otherwise it would look awful on top of already looking awful! As she scrubbed, the sauce spread, and instead of a large red mess, she had an even larger pinkish red mess.  The cleaning was only making it worse!  And then, as if things weren't bad enough, there was a knock on the door.  Karalie had been in the bathroom for all of maybe 60 seconds.  What the hell could someone be knocking for? Did they not have any damn patience?

The voice on the other end was an inquiring one.  A male one at that, asking if she was alright.  What sort of weirdo asked that? Maybe.. had they seen what had happened?  Maybe the kind stranger, if they were kind and not total creepers, had some sage stain removing advice.

She hesitated before answering, holding the sweater tightly.  "I'd be better if I didn' just ruin my sweater." She drawled in a somewhat annoyed voice.  "If yah need th'bathroom, there's uh men's room." She explained, unsure what to make of the intrusion.

[Ross Valkyrie]

"You know, I have just the thing to get rid of stains. Tomato sauce isn't it? One second."

During his time at Kocher, another student - Tim, had ordered rosemary chicken and tomato sauce if he recalled correctly. Tim had managed to trip and splat straight onto his plate of hot poultry. Now, Tim had simply scraped off as much of the tomato-bird mush as he could and walked to the drinks bar. Grabbing a lemon from a conveniently-placed jug of lemonade. With a flourish, he sprayed himself with the juice of this lemon like something out of a movie.

Lo and behold, the stain was fading by the second. Apparently it was a trick his mother had taught him, who was Italian. Hence, Ross trotted over to the bar, and opened his mouth to ask for one of those miracle yellow fruits. Wait. How on earth would he explain this without seeming like a total creep? "Uhh.." he said intelligently, before it hit him. "I'd like a lemonade with extra lemon!" the boy exclaimed in a triumphant manner, drawing the stares of the few customers present.

"Alright. Just try not to scream it to the heavens. OK?" the tall man behind the bar told him skeptically. Ross's eyes were really showing as purple in the dim lighting, and the bartender tilted his head as he noticed the fact. Pouring the drink, he mentioned it to the student - "Hey, uh, cool eyes, bro." Which begged the response, "Right, cheers."

[Karalie Heise]

Her brow raised when the voice promised a remedy.  How had he known it was tomato sauce? Maybe it was a server and he'd seen the whole thing.  That in itself was mortifying, but at least he seemed to want to help, and to be able to.  He'd peaked her curiosity and Karalie waited for the man to return, still trying to blot out as much of the sauce as she could with the water.  

It wasn't coming out.  No matter what, she knew this things was ruined, probably for good.  She was going to look like a complete idiot on the way home, and the guy who had the remedy disappeared without returning.  She felt her heart sinking.  Why hadn't she been more careful? Karalie trued to remind herself at least she'd gone out by herself.  Sure, some strangers would see her looking like a fool, but at least she didn't have company with her to mock her stupidity.

With a heavy sigh, she slipped the soggy sweater back on and opened the door, seeing someone coming towards the bathroom with a drink in his hands.  She waited, deciding it would be safer to try and avoid bumping into the guy and risking spilling more stuff onto her already ruined sweater.

[Ross Valkyrie]

Ross thanked the man, pulling out a handful of change. 'Oh.. American coins.' he furrowed his brow, turning them over and trying to remember their value before giving up and placing the biggest one on the counter. Surely it was universal that bigger is more? But it was silver! Silver was low-value? One day he'd switch over to the dollar, but for now he just dumped a few random coins on the counter. Luckily, there were several dollar coins and the bartender grabbed a few without fuss.

Upon his return across the well-furnished restaurant, towards the toilets. "Oh hey! You're out." the brit stopped before the girl, about 5 inches taller than her. With the freezing glass of lemonade in hand, there was no doubt this was the lady he had talked to. The huge pink stain said that for itself. 'Oh balls, how am I going to explain the lemon trick to her?' he thought, alarmed.

His analytical mind kicked in and he tried to explain the best he could, in the second he had before looking like a fool. "Okay. " he said, holding out the drink, "take this and rub the lemons on your chest. The stain'll come right out." However the rushed nature of his speech, his tongue slipped so the "the" sounded like "my". This would be interesting..

[Karalie Heise]

Karalie halted, recognizing the British accent immediately as the guy with the drink came at her.  She blushed and instinctively covered her chest as if to hide the stain from this boy.  What the heck was he doing? She looked at the cup and felt her cheeks darken a little.  His remedy was a damn drink?!

He suddenly handed the cup to her, which she did not take, and listened to his extraordinarily absurd babble about rubbing his lemons on her chest.  Could he have phrased that any more inappropriately?
 Instead, she simply stared at the boy as if he had nine heads.  He seriously wanted her to make more mess on herself with lemons? 

"Pardon?" She asked, raising a brow.  It was hard to trust a guy who swore to help you with a crazy request like that.

[Ross Valkyrie]

Jesus Christ. What a mess. Immediately after his balls-up, Ross forced out an apology amid his embarrassment. "I'm sorry - I - nothing.." he tried to quickly explain his stupidity but gave up, unable to redeem himself. With this in mind, he swore that he wouldn't leave without helping this unfortunate girl out in some way.

"Wh-What I meant to say was that you can get rid of th-the stain. With lemons." the student gestured feebly at the lemonade with his other hand. "It just came out wrong when I tried to tell you.." the boy shook his head, beating himself up. "Something to do with the enzymes or acid or something breaking it down - I'm sorry." he apologised once more. If she didn't get it, he would just try again to explain. 

"You can have the lemonade anyway, if you want." he spoke meekly. Hanging his head in defeat, the alchemist awaited her response.

[Karalie Heise]

The guy was quickly back peddling and then apologizing, easing her mind ever so slightly.  When he explained again, this time not sounding like such an imbecile,  she pursed her lips to the side in consideration.  Would that actually work? Could it? It sounded made up, like something her grandmother would swear by or something, but even her grandmothers old wives tales were sometimes accurate.  Lemons were acidic after all.

"Well, get on in here an' show me." She insisted, ignoring his offer of the lemonade.  She had her drink back at the table and she wasn't in the mood for the sour lemonade.  That was a summer drink, and the cool, dry winter air seemed like the wrong thing for lemonade.  

Karalie backed up and allowed the boy into the bathroom, keeping her arms folded over her chest so no one would see the damage already done.  She hoped no one was watching, either.  Last thing she needed were weird accusations about being locked in a bathroom with some boy, especially when she was about to pull her sweater off again.

[Ross Valkyrie]

At the sudden invitation, the boy was confused for a second. Amid that befuddlement his mind wandered to a topic that would have an adult rating slapped on it if anyone else could hear his thoughts. Hey, he was only human after all. Mentally pushing himself back into reality, the student managed to keep his composure.

Ross felt himself blushing as well, a rare occurrence indeed. Embarrassed by what he was about to do, he took a few hasty strides into the bathroom and spun to close the door. Leaning with his back on the door as he closed it, Ross half-whispered in more of a curious than worried tone - "Will I be, like, jailed or something for being here?" In England, you'd be given a sentence for being in a toilet dedicated to the opposite sex, he didn't know anything about such laws in America. Of course, intuition told him this was probably illegal but Ross decided he'd already come this far. When before had he shied away from illegal activities?

Taking the initiative, he asked nervously "Hey, do you know if there's one of those yellow cleaning signs anywhere that we can put up?" It was at least something to discourage anyone from entering the bathroom while he helped her out.

[Karalie Heise]

The boy came in and then shut the door, leaning his back against it and trapping them both in.  She seriously hoped he wouldn't try anything funny, but considering how nervous he looked she didn't think he was the type to force a dog into a crate let alone himself onto her.  When he inquired about being thrown into jail she gave him one of her famous are you serious?! looks.  Was he?  "Ya'll can't go tuh jail for bein' in th'bathroom." She scoffed as if this were obvious.  Why the hell would he go to jail? Not unless he was trying something funny.  In which case, yeah, he might.

"An' how in th'hell would I know that?!" She snapped a little impatiently.  Should she really be taking cleaning advice from this guy? Desperation ruled over better judgement as she grabbed the hem of her sweater and hoisted it up over her head.  she was still in the camisole, so the guy really couldn't see any more than he would had it been eighty degrees outside instead of forty.  "Quit worryin' 'bout yellow signs, just... just help me get this damn stain off." Her eyes were almost wild as she handed the garment over, not being much of a cleaner.

[Ross Valkyrie]

Ross was pretty shocked by the reaction to what he believed to be an innocent question. "Hey, y'know if I was gonna do anything suspect I'd have tried it already." he said, slightly pissed. The boy decided that the faster this was over the better, and quickly took the outstretched sweater. 'Jeez, she looks liek she's about to burst into tears.' the lad thought, slightly guiltily. His fingers brushed hers as he pulled it away turned to one of the nearby sinks. "Sorry for acting all weird, I'm just not used to situations like this.." he apologised for about the fifth time in as many minutes.

The bathroom was very modern, all light stone floors and chromed taps. Placing the lemonade in his right hand into the sink beside him and then with both hands, turning the woolly garment inside-out. Noticing the girl hadn't joined him, he spoke without looking up "Don't you want to see this? Could come in handy in the future."

Ross was definitely no stranger to hand-washing clothes, the washing machine they had at home was unpredictable at best.. Either it worked or the clothes would pop out frayed and battered, and since they weren't the most wealthy family (to say the least) Ross would rather wash them himself than trust the old piece of junk. Of course, if he was there now he'd upgrade it but he was here in a bathroom instead.

[Karalie Heise]

She wondered what he meant by situations like this.  What was so odd about their situation? Because she was someone he didn't know? Because they were in public somewhere? Or cause they were locking in a bathroom and he was holding her sweater and rubbing a lemon all over it.  She wasn't exactly used to any of those scenarios either, but for some reason it didn't strike her as odd.  Besides, she wouldn't know if he were acting weird or not since she didn't even know the guy.  For all she knew he was just the skittish type.  


"'s'all right." She found herself saying, a shiver washing over her body and causing the thin hairs of her arm to stand on end.  Even tucked away in the bathroom, she was somehow able to feel the winters chill on her skin.  She hoped he would hurry up.  When he asked if she wanted to watch she wrinkled her nose slightly.  She'd seen her shirt decimated already once today, a second time seemed painful.  But she reluctantly moved closer, standing next to him as he rubbed at her shirt finding she was more interested in making sure he didn't ruin the garment more than it already was.  The dry cleaners would have a field day with this one!

"Is it almost done? It's freezin' in here."  She tried not to sound as impatient as she felt since this guy was, after all, helping her.  She looked up at his face for the first time, realizing she didn't even know his name.  "I'm Karalie, by th'way." She offered, sounding a little less frazzled now, if not a lot more chilly.

[Ross Valkyrie]

Ross nodded internally, it's good that she didn't mind about his awkwardness at this. It was ironic that he was actually a big extrovert in the right crowd - just he wasn't quite used to this type of scenario. Not that one could possibly get used to doing a girl's washing for her in a restaurant bathroom. He was nearly done.

As the yellow fruit mushed into her shirt, the stain could be seen dissipating and becoming one with the juice. Rubbing until he was satisfied with the coverage of the lemon on the pretty large stain, he said "Aaand.." Turning on the tap on nearly full-blast, the boy flash-washed the spot - "I guess you can tell I've done this before, hun?"

"Is it almost done? It's freezin' in here." Ross blotted out the complaint, he was nearly done. No need to be impatient and no need to answer.

Lifting the garment, the stain was totally gone. The only sign it was ever there was a speck of lemon pulp that had somehow held on. Scowling, he took one hand off and brushed the dot off. "You're welcome. My name's Ross by the way. Recent transfer to Hammel." he smiled, holding out.

"Oh, do you wanna dry it or..?" he left the question hanging glancing at one of the hand-driers near the far end of the bathroom. He knew she'd want it cleaned but it was more him saying - Could you do something now?

[Karalie Heise]

Karalie was watching semi attentively over the guys shoulder as he introduced himself as Ross and admitted he was a recent transfer to Hammel. She took the outstretched garment from him and inspected it, turning it inside out and checking out the stain.  There was still some pink there, but the stain was significantly faded, not nearly as noticeable.  She could live with that.  At least she wasn't a walking billboard for stupidity anymore.

"Dry is better.  Don' wanna freeze anymore than necessary." As if to emphasize this she gave a little shutter from the chill in the room before she brought the sweater over to the hand drier.  The sound was loud like a vacuum and she wondered if Ross would just up and leave now that his work was done.  He was allowed to now, but she thought it would be rude to kick him out when he'd just done her a favor.

"I go tuh Hammel too." She explained, looking over her shoulder at the Brit.  "What year are yah? Don' think I've seen yah 'round.  When'd ya'll transfer?" She asked conversationally, figuring if he was just going to hang out they might as well talk since he didn't seem to be rushing for the door.