Other Rose (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} akycha) wrote,@ 2003-09-25 13:48:00 |
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Shadows on the Wall: Dirty Laundry
[Scene: The couches again, set incongruously on a rug in the middle of the same vast dark plain. However, this time they are covered with crumpled lacy shirts, piles of prince uniforms, and no-longer-neatly-pressed pants. Expensive men's loafers are flung everywhere. In the corner of one couch, where the piles of clothes have been cleared, Gir sleeps with all four limbs in the air, twitching gently. The cables are still attached to the top of his head.]
B-ko: [Sitting on the edge of a couch and examining a prince's tailed coat gloomily] Nothing. We have found nothing.
A-ko: [Pettishly flinging a shoe off over the back of the couch she's sitting on, next to B-ko] Except for laundry. Filthy laundry, too. There is nothing in these...
C-ko: [Pushing a pile of clothes off the other couch so she can sit down] What we need is a laundromat.
A-ko: A laundromat?
C-ko: So we can get the clothes to come clean...
A-ko: Now is not the time for stupid jokes! A laundromat indeed!
Gir: [Waking up, waving his hands and feet in the air] Laundromat? Laund-ro-mat? Right! Researching...
B-ko: Um... What's he doing? Hey--!
[With a curious rocking sensation and a burst of Kashira music, the scene changes. The coffeetable pops up and turns into a counter. A-ko and B-ko are precipitated to their feet (behind the counter) and the couch they were sitting on turns on its side, flattens, and expands to become the backdrop: a set of old-fashioned front-loading washing machines and dryers that look as if they were designed in a wind tunnel. Fifties-style lettering behind A-ko and B-ko reads "Laundry-O-Rama." C-ko's couch unceremoniously dumps her, flips onto its short side, and becomes a glass door with the same lettering on it. Akio's clothing is gathered up by the rug and hustled behind the counter. Gir appears in one of the dryers, half-hanging out the open door. The cables in his head seem to be missing.]
C-ko: [Suddenly dressed in a wide skirt with a tiny waist and high heels. She carries a purse on her arm. She opens the door, which sets off a little set of bells which jingle merrily, and walks into the laundry] Hello, I'm here to pick up my laundry.
A-ko: [Standing behind the counter with a little pillbox hat, a similar skirt, and an apron on. It looks a bit like a uniform] Right! Have you got your ticket?
C-ko: Of course! [She reaches into her purse and pulls out a ticket, which she hands to A-ko.]
[A-ko hands the ticket to B-ko, who is dressed in overalls and a man's work shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and also has a kerchief tied over her head, Rosie the Riveter style. B-ko examines the shelves behind the counter, matches the ticket with a large, heavy-looking bag, and puts the bag on the counter. A-ko gives B-ko a simpering smile of thanks.]
C-ko: That doesn't look like my laundry bag. My laundry bag was blue.
A-ko: [Checks tag on bag against the ticket, officiously] No, this is your laundry. Have a nice day!
C-ko: But this bag has flowers on it. I've never seen this bag before in my life. [She opens the bag suspiciously.] These aren't my clothes!
A-ko: This is the bag with your name on it. Please stop blocking other customers from the counter, and have a nice day!
C-ko: There aren't any other customers here today! And these aren't my clothes, and I'm not going to take them! Please find my bag of laundry.
A-ko: But that is your bag of laundry. It has your name on it and everything!
C-ko: This is not my laundry. This is... [looks inside bag] some guy named Akio's laundry. I don't want it.
A-ko: Well, you must be... wait, I've heard that name before.
C-ko: So have I, but let's not lose track of the fact that I don't want his laundry. I want my own laundry, please.
A-ko: You're Akio?
C-ko: Don't be ridiculous! I keep telling you that this isn't mine.
A-ko: Well, even if you're not him, you must be very like him, if your laundry is just the same. I have something I need to talk about with you. [Slowly and menacingly, she moves around the edge of the counter] Something about my heart.
C-ko: Look, for the last time, I'm not him, this isn't my laundry, I don't know anything about your heart, and will you please--
A-ko: Take. Your. Damn. Laundry. Already.
C-ko: [Turns and runs out of the shop. Gir follows.] I don't understand it. Don't they know who I am?
Gir: I know who you are! You are my monkey-girl!
C-ko: [Pauses to pick Gir up, then slowly walks off into an uncertain distance, holding him.] No, I'm not. I'm just a shadow, a voice, a projection on a wall. I am the role without the actress and no one at all.
Gir: I don't always remember who I am either.
C-ko: Oh, that's different. [She laughs a little, bitterly] That's just a matter of faulty connections.
[They walk off and merge with the shadows, vanishing.]
[Scene: The couches again, set incongruously on a rug in the middle of the same vast dark plain. However, this time they are covered with crumpled lacy shirts, piles of prince uniforms, and no-longer-neatly-pressed pants. Expensive men's loafers are flung everywhere. In the corner of one couch, where the piles of clothes have been cleared, Gir sleeps with all four limbs in the air, twitching gently. The cables are still attached to the top of his head.]
B-ko: [Sitting on the edge of a couch and examining a prince's tailed coat gloomily] Nothing. We have found nothing.
A-ko: [Pettishly flinging a shoe off over the back of the couch she's sitting on, next to B-ko] Except for laundry. Filthy laundry, too. There is nothing in these...
C-ko: [Pushing a pile of clothes off the other couch so she can sit down] What we need is a laundromat.
A-ko: A laundromat?
C-ko: So we can get the clothes to come clean...
A-ko: Now is not the time for stupid jokes! A laundromat indeed!
Gir: [Waking up, waving his hands and feet in the air] Laundromat? Laund-ro-mat? Right! Researching...
B-ko: Um... What's he doing? Hey--!
[With a curious rocking sensation and a burst of Kashira music, the scene changes. The coffeetable pops up and turns into a counter. A-ko and B-ko are precipitated to their feet (behind the counter) and the couch they were sitting on turns on its side, flattens, and expands to become the backdrop: a set of old-fashioned front-loading washing machines and dryers that look as if they were designed in a wind tunnel. Fifties-style lettering behind A-ko and B-ko reads "Laundry-O-Rama." C-ko's couch unceremoniously dumps her, flips onto its short side, and becomes a glass door with the same lettering on it. Akio's clothing is gathered up by the rug and hustled behind the counter. Gir appears in one of the dryers, half-hanging out the open door. The cables in his head seem to be missing.]
C-ko: [Suddenly dressed in a wide skirt with a tiny waist and high heels. She carries a purse on her arm. She opens the door, which sets off a little set of bells which jingle merrily, and walks into the laundry] Hello, I'm here to pick up my laundry.
A-ko: [Standing behind the counter with a little pillbox hat, a similar skirt, and an apron on. It looks a bit like a uniform] Right! Have you got your ticket?
C-ko: Of course! [She reaches into her purse and pulls out a ticket, which she hands to A-ko.]
[A-ko hands the ticket to B-ko, who is dressed in overalls and a man's work shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and also has a kerchief tied over her head, Rosie the Riveter style. B-ko examines the shelves behind the counter, matches the ticket with a large, heavy-looking bag, and puts the bag on the counter. A-ko gives B-ko a simpering smile of thanks.]
C-ko: That doesn't look like my laundry bag. My laundry bag was blue.
A-ko: [Checks tag on bag against the ticket, officiously] No, this is your laundry. Have a nice day!
C-ko: But this bag has flowers on it. I've never seen this bag before in my life. [She opens the bag suspiciously.] These aren't my clothes!
A-ko: This is the bag with your name on it. Please stop blocking other customers from the counter, and have a nice day!
C-ko: There aren't any other customers here today! And these aren't my clothes, and I'm not going to take them! Please find my bag of laundry.
A-ko: But that is your bag of laundry. It has your name on it and everything!
C-ko: This is not my laundry. This is... [looks inside bag] some guy named Akio's laundry. I don't want it.
A-ko: Well, you must be... wait, I've heard that name before.
C-ko: So have I, but let's not lose track of the fact that I don't want his laundry. I want my own laundry, please.
A-ko: You're Akio?
C-ko: Don't be ridiculous! I keep telling you that this isn't mine.
A-ko: Well, even if you're not him, you must be very like him, if your laundry is just the same. I have something I need to talk about with you. [Slowly and menacingly, she moves around the edge of the counter] Something about my heart.
C-ko: Look, for the last time, I'm not him, this isn't my laundry, I don't know anything about your heart, and will you please--
A-ko: Take. Your. Damn. Laundry. Already.
C-ko: [Turns and runs out of the shop. Gir follows.] I don't understand it. Don't they know who I am?
Gir: I know who you are! You are my monkey-girl!
C-ko: [Pauses to pick Gir up, then slowly walks off into an uncertain distance, holding him.] No, I'm not. I'm just a shadow, a voice, a projection on a wall. I am the role without the actress and no one at all.
Gir: I don't always remember who I am either.
C-ko: Oh, that's different. [She laughs a little, bitterly] That's just a matter of faulty connections.
[They walk off and merge with the shadows, vanishing.]
