While Moe went about looking into the repairing of the broken window, Nichole was left with Karen to look into the laundry and other cleaning that would need to be done that came as a result of what the Gambonis did to their new home after finding it. On many levels, it was a perfect nightmare scenario for Nichole, as she'd only accepted Moon Lake as a possible destination because there was the promise that the Gambonis wouldn't find them there. Of course, at the time, they didn't know that the Gambonis had largely been tracking them through some tracing bug that had been sent to Moe's phone and by double-checking bank records as though the Gambonis were the owner of the banks. For years, Nichole had just figured it was either chance or the fact that Moe always kept the family pizza business known as "Moe's Pizza."
Thankfully, though, that was all solved now. The Gambonis were off to Seattle for incarceration and to await all the legal hoopla that would relate to where their trial would be and who would get jurisdiction. The reported murder of a park ranger at Mount Saint Helens might give the federal and state courts in Washington state first crack at them before anyone else. For the moment, it would also mean that the only time they'd have to see the Gambonis again would be at the trial and from there, the crooks would go away for a long time and letting the Charlestons do what they really never had a chance to do while running from the Gambonis, settle in and settle down in their new home and hometown.
"Guh," Karen gave an almost pained grunt as Nichole began passing her the fabrics that had been part of the pillowcases and other bed linins in the master bedroom, "all this tear gas residue really stinks..."
"Yes, yes it does," Nichole sighed, "though... it's probably worse for you now."
"Yeah, one of the things where having enhanced senses as a were is a bad thing," Karen managed.
Nichole nodded at that as she went about the work on stripping bed. It related to all the new things that made Moon Lake what it was, and possibly why the Charlestons' old family friend from back east had felt Moon Lake could protect them from the Gambonis. Most of the people who lived there were were-beasts of some kind, and their old family friends had all become weredogs. The town even had rules that mandated new residents that weren't already weres have at least one member of the family become weres in order to keep the town's secret. It wasn't something Nichole was really accepting of, particularly at first, but she ultimately went along with it, if only to placate Moe. She hadn't been keen on it and would have preferred moving on, particularly when finding out that Karen had some interest in fulfilling the role, but she still loved Moe and he was reaching a point where he either couldn't or didn't want to run anymore.
But Karen also agreed to study and learn fist before getting into anything more and made her decision while staying at Officer Tara Strange's cabin while the Gambonis were finally dealt with. It led to Karen's present status as a weretiger and what was likely allowing her to pick up so much of the scent of tear gas that had been part of the Gambonis had done as part of their attempt to raid the Charleston house. The big thing to start with was to wash it out, and that would work for things like the sheets and other things, Nichole wasn't quite sure on what to do for the carpet, and a part of her mind had also wondered on how much she'd have to be paying attention to things like that, as she'd also come to a change of mind from her earlier thoughts and was willing to consider being a were as well.
Some of it had come from some odd dreams in which she'd had to have been a were in them. It was something that seemed odd but fit in with many other parts of Moon Lake that they had experienced thus far. By now, though, Nichole had also seemed to lose many of her objections or issues. It seemed strange to change one's mind because of dreams, but, at the same time, they also felt right while in Moon Lake. It also left Nichole wondering on what would happen with her and Moe when they became weres, if they would have the same issues that Karen was now dealing with. It'd make for all sorts of things that might need to be wrestled with in the future.
"Well... we can't change what the Gambonis did," Nichole sighed, "and thankfully, they got caught and arrested for it. For the first time in a long time, we can settle into things. It just means in this case we have laundry to do to clean up from the last battle. And there, I suppose we can thank Daniel for. We'll just have to make do with that for now. Come on."
Karen shrugged and nodded as she followed along after her mother as she carried the sheets and pillowcases from the room. She was left to carry the main quilt and the curtains. They actually had most of the tear gas' scent in them, as they were the closest to where the canisters had been when they landed in the room, but as annoying as it was, Karen did accept that it was something they still had to clean up. Since she also wasn't good at repairs, fixing the window wasn't going to be something she could do. So, she followed her mother as they went down the hallway and then rounded the mixed kitchen dining room to go into the small laundry room that was near the back door. Karen looked at the door for a moment and then sighed before moving on to go into the laundry room.
The room was small with a linoleum floor and Karen found her mother looking over pillowcase with the sheets laying on the dryer. She'd already lifted up the lid to the washing machine.
"I don't think anything is stained, but it will take some base detergent to get it smelling clean again," Nichole commented.
"Or at least not like tear gas," Karen answered, "the detergent smell in here is pretty strong too... though, I suppose that's something that can't be helped."
"Probably not with most soaps and detergents," Nichole agreed, "though with this, we'll still have to do these in different loads."
"Different... loads?" Karen asked with a blink in surprise.
"Yes, the sheets from your father's and my room are a different color from the quilt and the drapes," Nichole answered, "we don't want the colors to mix or bleed together. The only thing that might go with these would be your bed sheets. Did they smell like tear gas?"
"Not really... it's more the carpet in my room," Karen said slowly.
"But some did get in there?" Nichole asked.
"Some," Karen admitted, remembering picking up the scent when first entering the house. She figured that a lot of that was the result of the tear gas getting pulled into the house's ventilation shafts that were designed to let air move from room to room.
Nichole sighed and nodded and then looked about the room. With no real stains, she figured that all they would need would be a standard use of detergent and one base cycle to clean things. Once they were clean, they could move on to the things that weren't the same color as the sheets and might have different washing instructions from the sheets. It would take time, and there was then the likely need to wash through all the clothes that weren't taken with them to Officer Strange's cabin, and that was the biggest part of the present frustrations with the work of cleaning up, but Nichole let the fact that this would likely be the last time such efforts would be needed as the thing to follow. She then quickly dumped the pillowcase and then her sheets into the washing machine.
"Go get them," Nichole then instructed, "leave the quilt and drapes on the dryer. While you're then getting the sheets from your room, I'll then set about sorting some of the plastic bins here so that we can start with getting things ready for the loads of laundry to be done."
"And that'll get all the tear gas residue out?" Karen asked hopefully.
"Ultimately with the things we can put through the washing machine and then the dryer," Nichole answered, "with the carpet... we may need vacuum and shampoo it... That'll be something that takes time, so, best to get a start on it."
Karen slowly nodded and set what she was carrying down before heading back toward her room. She barely made it into the kitchen when she heard her mother moving some of the plastic bins around in the laundry room, which showed some dedication to her work, but it made some degree of sense. The damage to the house wasn't significant in that they'd lose the home, but it was enough that repairs would have to be made, though with Marcus and Vito on their way to jail for a long time, Karen felt she could get that time to better adjust to being a weretiger. Get used to her now stronger senses and fully seeing on where all her strengths were and so on. It was something that Karen looked forward to, along with moving toward something that Marcus Gamboni had denied her. And if that meant a little bit of extra work in cleaning up, Karen was fine with that.
She made her way easily to her room and began stripping her bed of its linins. First the pillowcase, then the quilt, the sleeping set of sheets. After that she pulled out the fitted sheet, which took a bit more effort and had her moving back and forth to remove the fitted sheet from the bed. She sniffed a bit at the shade above her window, but since it wasn't cloth like the drapes in parent's room it couldn't be washed. As she went about this, she heard her father come back in and then walking through the house with another man. She listened in a little as she heard in on the discussion...
"So... what do you think?" she heard her father ask to the other man.