Something popped, and she jumped a little and stared at the shiny thing in front of the guy. It was very impressively shiny. With buttons and knobs on the front, and two pieces of golden bread sticking out of the top. It smelled heavenly.

The guy looked at her a bit more, then he pulled a plate closer, put the bread on it, and spread peanut butter on the bread.

Trinity stared the entire time. “So, uh, you . . . got ears?” he said with a gesture toward her head.

“Yeah, I’m a raccoon girl,” she said. She tried to make her eyes big. “Can I have one?” she asked while her tail wiggled behind her.

“So . . . that cosplay, or you a supe?”

“I have cool powers, yeah,” she said.

The guy nodded, then succumbed to her stare and gave her a piece of toast while muttering, “I’m too hungover for this.” He wandered off, but Trinity didn’t care. She had her toast and it was just as delicious as she had imagined from the smell.

After licking her fingers clean, she looked up at the machine that had made the toast. It had a little tag on the front: “Quantum Mothman House toaster.” If this place was that, then the thing had to be a toaster.

It was beautiful.

There was a bag full of sliced bread next to it, and the big jar of peanut butter was still on the counter.

She had successfully scavenged for food!

Getting up on her tippy-toes, Trinity pulled the toaster closer, then tugged at it to yank the cord at the back. She hugged it close, enjoying the warmth still coming from inside it and the smell of burning breadcrumbs.

Just to be safe, she placed it back on the counter, then put the peanut butter in her hoodie pouch and the bag of bread on top of the toaster before grabbing everything.

She passed by the guy again on her way to the elevator.

“Uh, where are you taking that?” he asked.

“To the cuddle pile,” Trinity said.

The elevator was tricky to work with. She didn’t know what floor her room was on, and so she just went up one floor at a time and snooped until she recognized their floor. It was made easy by all the posters and signs taped to the doors and walls.

When she found the right floor, she flounced over to the door of their room, but it was locked. One of her lying atop the cuddle pile got up and trudged over to the door to open it up for herself.

“What’s that?” Teddy mumbled.

“It’s a toaster,” she said as she walked past and set it on the table. “It makes delicious toast.”

“Huh,” Teddy said.