Chapter Sixty-Four - Trinity and Toaster-Kun Kissing in a Tree

“Trinity?” Best Sister Emily asked.

She tilted her heads. “Trinity,” one of her repeated. It was a very nice name. Best Sister Emily was good at finding good names.

“She can’t be called that,” Less-Good-But-Still-Alright-Sister Athena said.

“Yeah,” Scary-Sister Teddy replied. “That name sounds cool.”

“I could be cool,” she replied from two mouths. The third was busy picking her nose.

Best Sister Emily nodded. “Trinity can be cool if she wants to.”

Trinity nodded all of her heads, then she leapt forward to hug Best Sister Emily, but Scary Sister Teddy bonked her head and sent her flopping to the ground.

“Teddy!” Best Sister said. “Don’t be mean.”

Trinity watched with four eyes as Teddy pouted and crossed her arms. “She’s hogging all the hugs. She’s getting like, three times as many as us.”

Best Sister shook her head. “That’s not how it works, Teddy. Be nice, please. The last thing I want is for my sisters not to get along.”

Trinity nodded with all heads. Bullying was bad. Especially when it was one of her that was getting bullied. Hugs were good. Especially when it was one of her that was getting hugged. Life was simple that way, just like her.

Best Sister Emily got up, glanced to the alarm next to the bed, then nodded. “Alright, I have classes in a bit, I need to head out. I’m not putting anyone in charge or anything like that. I just expect all of you to behave nicely, okay?”

Three sisters (and five heads) nodded. Emily went around, giving each of them a hug and a pat. She gave Trinity twice as many as everyone else though, which was nice.

One of Trinity’s bodies followed Best Sister around. She really hoped that Best Sister needed her help, that she could repay all the hugs with niceness.

One of her wandered off to the bathroom. She hadn’t really inspected all of their home yet, and her last self stayed with her other sisters, smiling at them while she absently rubbed her tail to smooth out its long hairs.

Soon enough, Best Sister had her backpack on and was out the door. Trinity was pretty sure she didn’t notice one of her following behind her until she reached the elevators. Trinity waved Best Sister away, but Best sister just leaned her head against the walls of the elevator and pressed a button.

Soon, that body was left all alone in the corridor.

“Hey,” Teddy asked. “So what are you anyway?”

“Me?” Trinity asked. The her that was with her other sisters refocused a little. “Um. I’m a raccoon girl.”

“Racoons are a kind of bear, right?” Teddy asked.

“Maybe?” Trinity said over the sound of the toilette flushing. Watching the water swirl around was fun.

“You have three bodies, right?” Athena asked. “Does that mean you need to eat three times as much?”

“I guess,” Trinity said. She did have three tummies. “But I’m good at finding food and stuff for myself.”

The her in the bathroom was sticking her head under the tap, that is, until water went up her nose and she started sputtering and choking. The her in the corridor looked around, then with a shrug, walked over to a door with a staircase sign on it. Inside was a staircase. She wasn’t entirely surprised by this. She started heading down, her quest for fun and food started.

“Do you like sleeping?” Teddy asked.

Trinity nodded. “I like sleeping with others,” she said. “It’s nice and warm and safe.”

Teddy frowned at that, then shrugged. “Yeah, alright. But we share the blankets equally, alright.”

“Are we really just going back to bed?” Athena asked.

“You have anything better to do?” Teddy asked her.

Athena pouted. “No, but still.”

Huffing, Teddy stomped back to the bed, slithered under the blankets, then poked her head out at the top and fluffed up Best Sister Emily’s pillow.

Athena crawled up and over Teddy, then flopped on her other side.

Grinning, Trinity bounced up and crashed into the pair of them. The her that was drowning in the bathroom coughed a bunch, closed the tap, then stumbled into the bedroom to join the cuddle pile forming on the bed.

She wondered how many bodies were required to form a proper cuddle pile. At least three, she guessed. But making one all on her own wasn’t any fun. So it had to be four. Four was the minimum.

The her that was stomping her way down the stairs finally made it to the bottom where she encountered another door. Opening it revealed a lobby on the first floor, with the elevator just next to her, and the door leading out down a little corridor.

She wouldn’t just wander outside so soon. First she’d look for food and fun inside the building.

With a few sniffs, she took in the scent in the air, then zeroed in on something that smelled really nice. Grinning, Trinity bounced over to one of the big rooms adjoining the corridor.

It was a kitchenette of sorts. There was a fridge, and a table with shiny things. Some guy was yawning while staring at one such shiny thing. He had a butter knife in one hand, and a jar of something brown in the other.

Trinity walked over to him, because that’s where the nice smells were coming from.

The boy blinked, then looked down at her for a while. “Uh,” he said. His eyes looked really crusty and baggy, and he looked like he could use a nap of his own.

“Hi,” Trinity said. “Something here smells nice.”

“Just... making toast,” he said.

Trinity was intrigued. She kept staring.

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 started spreading peanut butter on it.

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

“Yeah, I’m a racoon 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 coming from inside it still, 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,” she 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 in until she recognized their floor. It was made easy by all the posters and signs taped to doors and such.

When she found the right floor, she flounced over to the door of their room, but it was locked. One of her laying atop the cuddle pile got up and stomped 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.

Soon though, Teddy and Athena were both watching as two of Trinity set up the toaster, put the bread in, then watched until the toast popped out. They could make four slices at once, which was one less than there were sisters in the room. It was nearly perfect.

Some hours later, when Best Sister Emily returned, one of the first things she did was stop by the entrance to sniff the air. “What’s that?” she asked.

Then she noticed the toaster, and the empty bag of bread, and the empty tub of peanut butter, and all of her sisters piled up on the bed with round tummies in a glorious cuddle pile.

“What the heck?”

***