Experimental Toast // The Bar

[halftwinkly]

THEN: Arthur made a brilliant discovery.

AND THEN: Arthur had tried to make toast. Literally, produce toast, on a plate. No matter how hard he tried, screwing up his face like someone trying to remember an answer in Trivial Pursuit, he couldn't even create a crumb. However, he could put bread in the toaster and have it come out as perfect toast, even after he noticed the toaster wasn't plugged in.

NOW: Arthur is in the Bar. Well, sort of. The Bar, on the basis that she isn't stupid, has put him in a little side room with tiled walls and floor. There are a number of objects in the room. Right now, Arthur is looking at a piece of bread very hard.

"Abracadabra!"

The bread explodes into croutons.

"...Oh dear."

There's a pile of similarly dispatched bread in a bowl next to him. The squid might like it, later on.

Comments

[missnicegirl]

There is a small girl standing in the doorway, peering curiously at him.

[halftwinkly]

Arthur carefully scoops the croutons into the bowl then straightens up, dusting off his hands.

"Oh, hello there, miss. Can I help you?"

[missnicegirl]

"You're doing magic," she observes.

"Can you tell me when and where you're from, please?"

[halftwinkly]

"Um, I'm from England. And it's 2012." Arthur tries to stand in front of the bowl of croutons, instantly looking guilty. "And I am allowed to do magic in here, the rat said!"

[missnicegirl]

"It's okay," she assures him. "I'm not mad or anything, I'm just curious. I do magic too!"

If he's from Jim's world, she should find out if he knows Jim; that would be the obvious transmission vector. But Jim might not want anyone knowing he can do magic yet. She'll have to think about how to find out subtly.

[halftwinkly]

"Do you?" Arthur perks up. "Can you make toast? I've been trying, but it's really hard. I think it's because bread doesn't know how to be toast before it goes in the toaster, because it worked in the toaster. I was going to give the scraps to the squid because he really likes toast, this man who could read his mind told me. My name's Arthur, by the way. What's yours?"

And he sticks out a slightly crumb-y hand.

[missnicegirl]

"Matilda. It's nice to meet you, Arthur."

She shakes his hand with six-year-old solemnity. (She'll ask Jim, she decides. It's not like this guy will be hard to describe.)

"I've never tried magic toast before," she admits, "but now's as good a time as any to start! Can you show me what you were doing again?"

[halftwinkly]

"Um, okay..." Arthur bites his lip and pulls a piece of bread out of the bag. He puts it in front of him and considers it.

"Abracadabra!"

It crumps into little burnt bits, just like all the others, and Arthur wonders if she'll laugh at him. A lot of people do.

[missnicegirl]

No, she just studies the wreckage for a few seconds with a thoughtful look on her face and then beckons to the bag, out of which a new slice of bread obligingly floats.

[halftwinkly]

"Wow! How did you do that?" Arthur's watching. Spellbound.

(Please allow the mun the rimshot that line deserves.)

[missnicegirl]

"It's the first thing I learned," she says absently. "Neat, isn't it?"

Now, how to make toast? The piece of bread spins gently in the air in front of her as she thinks it over.

[halftwinkly]

"It's brilliant!" Arthur enthuses. He wants to touch it, but settles for seeing if he can do it for himself. The bag rustles and and a piece of bread flops out and staggers drunkenly towards him.

"No, come on, fly! Abracadabra!" The slice does a little hop and then falls over, and refuses to move again.

[missnicegirl]

Matilda giggles.

"Try asking nicely," she suggests, most of her attention still on her own slice. Experimentally, she reaches out and touches it.

It goes up in smoke so fast there is barely a flicker of flame in between.

Matilda giggles.

[halftwinkly]

Arthur laughs. He can't help it.

"At least you didn't explode it?" he picks up the piece of bread he was working on and put it down the other end of the table. "Abracadabra!"

Nothing happens. He balls his fist.

"Please?"

The bread spins across the room and hits the wall.

[missnicegirl]

"I made it extremely toast," Matilda jokes, beckoning another slice out of the bag. "I'll try to go easier on this one."

[halftwinkly]

"I tried that too, it just made a smaller hole," Arthur says, a little gloomily. He tries to beckon over a jam donut instead. It rolls along the table and stops in front of him. "Hey, look, I did it! Sort of. It didn't fly, but maybe I need a different magic word. What do you think? Do you want one too?"

He sees another donut. He beckons it. Gently. It shuffles towards him, trying not to spill it's crown of cream.

[missnicegirl]

"I don't think it matters which magic word you use," says Matilda, helpfully. "I might have a donut after I figure out how magic toast works."

She studies her next victim intently.

[halftwinkly]

"But it has to. It does in all the books. Look." Arthur points at an apple. "Expelliarmus!" The apple goes neon pink, and explodes.

"But if I try this one, it'll be different. Abracadabra!" The apple bips out of existence. "See?"

[missnicegirl]

"...that's fascinating," says Matilda. She's distracted as she turns back to her bread; this time it catches fire and hangs in the air for a moment burning merrily until she snaps her fingers and puts it out.

"Darn," she says. "Oh well, there's plenty of bread." She shoos the charred husk into the nearest trash can.

[halftwinkly]

"There is, isn't there? I told the Bar I wanted to make toast and then a rat took me here." Arthur absently takes a bite out of the jam donut.

"I didn't know that it would have a whole room with bread in, but it does. I suppose people must want sandwiches and things though. Perhaps you should just ask the bread to be toast? That's what I did. Except it didn't work."

[missnicegirl]

"Maybe you're right," she says thoughtfully. "Maybe I'm thinking too much about the, the process of toast."

She summons forth another slice and says politely, "Be toast, please."

There is a puff of warm air.

The bread becomes toast.

[halftwinkly]

"Oh, brilliant! You did it!" Arthur holds up his non-sugary hand for a high five. "How did you not blow it up though?"

[missnicegirl]

Laughing, she high-fives him. The toast scoots helpfully out of the way.

"I'm not sure," she says cheerfully. "Lemme try again."

[halftwinkly]

Arthur carefully beckons over a piece of bread. It bunny hops like it's in a sack race. He holds it up to Matilda's toast.

"Look, can't you be like that?"

The bread droops a little, clearly ashamed.

"Can you make things? I tried to make a really big Pringle, but nothing happened."

[missnicegirl]

"Well," she says, "I can make... ice."

She tries to keep quiet about the lightning and the fireballs unless absolutely necessary.

"But not a lot of stuff that's more complicated than that. I've never tried making food."