Thread:SeaPotato09/@comment-31829412-20181003034110



chapter 2: in which bagels, though perfectly valid, do not count as bread

There are a number of things arrayed around the bowl, connected with a dark, scorched line that seems to have been burned into the floor. One of them is a string of colourful glass beads that looks exactly like the one hanging in my bedroom at home. I pick it up to inspect it and as soon as it leaves the floor, the dark line flares the same amber as the liquid in the bottle. I jump back just before it burns my foot.

You come running into the room again, holding a book. “What did you do?” you ask. You see the beads in my hand and shake your head. “Now you’ve just ruined your chances of going home.” “Pardon? This is my property, you thief!” “Excuse you! That came from my window! And now you’ve gone and deactivated the portal.” You sigh, setting the book down with a heavy thump. “Look, I’m sorry I summoned you. This says you can go home after you complete any task I give you so could you just… I don’t know, make me a sandwich?”

I step out of the circle, careful not to touch anything else. There is a strange object on the table, a piece of dough baked into a ring and topped with what looks like poppy seeds. I slice it in half to put jam in it (strawberry? label your jam jars, if you please) and hand it over. “This isn’t a sandwich,” you tell me, taking a bite anyway. I sigh. Who’s the one that doesn’t have any bread? Not me. “Can I go home now?” … I have to stand atop several thick books to look over the wall of the big metal bowl. You call it a “cauldron”; you are entirely incorrect. It’s a bowl. Unfortunately, the bottom is still intact, as proved by my hurling the jam spoon into it. I step in anyway, instantly regretting it when my back hits the hard metal surface. You laugh, but you do not have a tail. You would never understand. 