closed || dark spaces and dust bunnies

[complementing]

WHO: Minako, Makoto, and Rin
WHERE: The basement of Minako's apartment, Maple House.
WHEN: June 3rd
WHAT: A lot of cleaning, perhaps a lot of sneezing. And some lemonade and ice cream afterwards for a job well done.
WARNINGS: None!

[This has been a long time coming. She'd put it off for weeks and weeks since she'd gotten Koromaru, somehow reading in his eyes that he doesn't mind, but she can no longer deny that the apartment space is just a tiny bit too cramped for an energetic Shiba Inu like him. He needs more space.

The basement has more space. But it is also full of stuff.

Not all her stuff, and not even all of Lucy or Freya's stuff. Most of it is the landlord's, and he's given her permission to put the boxes out on the curb so he can pick them up later tonight. Which is fine, but she's just one girl, whose roommates had work today. Luckily for her, she knows some real sweethearts.

Minako flings open the door and grins at her visitors. Koromaru peeks at them from behind her legs, ears perked forward with interest.]

Hi Makoto! And...Rin, right? [She calls him Michael Phelps/Brennan Andrew(s) in her head, and her smile gets even brighter.] Thanks for agreeing to help me. Come on in!

Comments

[gnasher]

[the slight pause before his name is enough to make him twitch a little; he was hoping... she wouldn't remember... Brennan Andrews... don't punk him like this. he showed up in baggy clothes clearly Ready To Clean, much less polished than he's appeared at the cupcake shop]

It's no problem. I'd say thanks for having us, but we haven't seen the basement situation yet.

[are you a hoarder????????? let's get down to business]

[splasher]

[makoto's just dressed as always: soft pastels and a pair of jeans. he glances at minako with a soft smile, shrugging his shoulders. he's sorry for this cleaning maniac amidst them.]

I think the basement could wait a few more minutes. Hey, Mina-chan.

[he raises a hand in greeting, looking around.]

Cute place.

[complementing]

[She arches her eyebrows at Makoto in a way that says "this cleaning maniac is going to help me take care of the basement" before bringing them inside.]

Thanks! I try and make it homey for Freya and Lucy, they're always out more often than I am. Here you go.

[She directs them to the couch and brings in mugs of iced tea and a platter of fresh fruit.]

Eat a little before diving into it, okay, just to stop me from worrying. There's a lot of stuff down there, and not all of it necessarily needs to be taken out of the basement, but it does need a thorough cleaning. It's going to be Korochan's play area once most of the stuff is organized. Oh, there he is.

[Koromaru had traipsed away from the group to the bathroom, and emerges with a bucket of supplies, the handle in his mouth that he lets go to set with a thunk at their feet. Gloves, a box of face masks, wet wipes and scrubs, trash bags and air freshener-- it's all in there, overflowing and ready to be used.

And he does seem to be staring them down with anticipation.]

[gnasher]

Thanks.

[a little distracted, re; the food, because, holy shit. nobody said there'd be a super cute pet in this mix??? trained to carry cleaning supplies? holy shit]

He gets a whole room to himself...? What a spoiled guy.

[he literally... can't help himself, as Koromaru looks at them expectantly. watch as the intimidating red guy with shark teeth and biceps squats to give Koromaru a very healthy dose of pets. Rin's in love, excuse him]

Hey, there, Korochan. Are you going to help, too?

[petpetrubrubruffleruffle]

[splasher]

[why is the image of the guy he's dating so cute when he's talking to a dog? what a good. makoto watches for a bit, before turning his attention back to minako.]

With how well-behaved he is, I think he deserves it.

It's almost like he knows what's going to happen.

[offering her a smile, he cracks at his knuckles in a show of readiness]

Let's get started with bringing stuff out of the basement. Shall we go?

[complementing]

He probably does. He's way smarter than the average dog.

[Koromaru's tail thumps on the floor under the pets, yipping in answer to Rin's question. Of course he's going to help, he has to make sure Leader and these two boys don't hurt themselves down there. Minako laughs and rolls up her sleeves.]

Alright, let's go.

[She grabs the bucket and leads the way down, turning on the less-than-bright lights and gesturing to the mini towers of boxes.]

All the ones marked with sharpie are the ones that need to go outside, and all the ones with the puppy stickers on them are the ones that need to be moved to the far side of the basement. I have some gloves if you want them!

[gnasher]

[and somehow, despite the shift in location, Rin is still petting Koromaru when they arrive in the basement. somebody's got himself a fan -- maybe he won't be as grueling a task master?]

It's kind of musty down here... any low windows to help air it out? Hopefully there's no mould. Maybe an air purifier would help, too...

[welp. mumbling cleaning plans to himself, he finally stops scratching Koromaru's ears to inspect some boxes, hefting one]

Is this all your stuff?

[splasher]

[makoto's gonna be stacking boxes in the background. he's not much of a conversationalist at this point, especially when he's been given something to do. once in a while he'll mutter sharpie, sharpie... in a sing-song tone, before picking out the box he's been aiming for from its shelving.]

--chee!

[that sure is dust]

[complementing]

[Oh no, what a cute sneeze. Minako turns towards the far wall to hide the smile on her face.]

Bless you, Makoto-kun. And the windows are already open, I'm afraid. I can grab an air purifier, though. [She pats the side of one of the marked boxes.] All of these ones are the landlord's. We've been sharing the space, but I pretty much strong-armed him into letting me have all of it for Korochan's sake. Be right back!

[She traipses back up to nab the air purifier, leaving Koromaru to supervise. Which he does while carrying a small Swiffer in his mouth, starting to chase down dust bunnies. So...be careful not to step on him or get in his way, please!]

[gnasher]

[at Makoto, as Minako leaves;]

Strong-armed...? What'd you get me into, oi?

[speaking of strong-armed: two swimboys begin shifting boxes, up the stairs and outside. Rin is careful not to hurt the pup, who -- he is going to take some less than covert pics of, the second he returns to the basement. look at him clean!!! wth!!!]

[click click goes his phone, trying to hurry before Minako comes back]

[splasher]

[makoto shrugs at the question. minako is minako; she was sweet but had a resolve like no one else makoto had met before. she was a force of nature, so to speak. but, knowing that rin means it rhetorically (he seems a lot more fascinated with koromaru), he just keeps on with the delegated work.]

[minako may be walking back down, when makoto speaks up.]

Yep, you're totally not taking pictures of the dog.

[complementing]

Oh, did you get any good ones? Send them to me, please!

[Minako grins behind the tall air purifier in her arms, plonking it down to the side and starting it up. She's about to start working on moving all the puppy sticker boxes to the back, but Koromaru trots over and sneezes politely at Leader first. She kneels and brushes some dust off of his fur, swaps out his Swiffer duster pad, and then sets him off again.]

I hope he hasn't been underfoot? He likes helping, but if it's easier to move around with him out of the way, I can take him to my room.

[gnasher]

[EXCUSE ME, ORCA BOY? OR SHOULD I SAY, NARCA BOY???]

[Rin fumbles his phone to shove it out of sight as Minako comes down, which doesn't go back in his pocket properly and instead clatters to the floor. he pretends the noise isn't real or happening, and glares between the two of them]

I'm not -- doing that. He's fine, it's fine.

[the polite sneeze was cute... he wishes he got a pic of that. not that he'd been taking pics]

the tag order does not exist

[complementing]

[Koromaru isn't going to give Rin the chance to even pretend that he's not taking pictures, because when he trots over to see why everyone has stopped, he notices the phone and nudges it closer to Rin's feet with his nose. This is the thing you just dropped, please don't lose it!

Minako just grins and waves before she hefts one of the boxes into her arms.]

Okay, you can continue to not do that anytime you'd like. Oh, and Makoto, that box you have right there needs to go with the other holiday decoration boxes. It's all the way in the back.

[The darkest corner, in fact.]

what's a tag order

[gnasher]

[damnit you wonderfully helpful adorable dog!!!!]

[Rin stoops to scoop up his phone unobtrusively (read: very obtrusively) and give Koro-chan a hearty scratch between the ears for being helpful even when he doesn't want him to. nnghghh]

The air purifier should help.

[oblivious to possible distress and spooky dark corners, Rin grabs some cleaning supplies and helps... the dog... to clean out the spot they just opened up by shifting the boxes. time to get Serious]