Welcome to the Bakery!

The prompt was “phone”.

“What are you doing?!”

The exclamation sent the phone clattering to the floor; its cut cord coiled uselessly behind the receiver. Ariadne’s skin flushed a deep purple, her embarrassment as evident as it could be with her Awoken complexion. Lodi stood in the doorway, hands raised as if to illustrate he was no threat. He dropped one to shove his glasses back up the bridge of his nose from where they’d slid due to sweat. His breathing was ragged, evidence that he’d come running but Ariadne didn’t quite know why.

In truth, she didn’t even know what that object was. She thought it odd that it was sitting in a room that had no windows and only a singular table that was said object’s resting place. But it hardly seemed dangerous and touching it had elicited no response. It lacked sharp edges and had no noticeable hole from which a projectile could be expelled, aside from a half dozen small pinholes on either end of the oddly shaped device. Ariadne couldn’t imagine anything life-threatening coming from such tiny orifices aside from maybe some biological weapon. But she was also a Guardian, Ghost bobbing alongside her head just as interested and at the ready to revive her Guardian should she need to.

Lodi ushered her from the room, a stricken look still painting his features. She watched as he scooped the item up, set it back on its table, and rushed out. As the door clicked shut behind him, he looked to her once more. “Do you know what that thing is capable of?” He didn’t seem upset, but instead worried. Ariadne didn’t know this man well, but he was nothing if not sincere and it made her like him nearly instantly. So, she quipped, “I don’t even know what that thing is.” He looked incredulously at her, some of the concern melting away.

“You’ve never seen a phone before?” Ariadne just shook her head. “A phone? What does it do?” Lodi began to stroll slowly down the hallway, explaining the intricacies of telephone communication. Ariadne’s Ghost bobbed in front of him enthusiastically as Ariadne walked alongside him. “You know I can do that?” Ghost chirped. Lodi raised a hand and her Ghost understood, lowering herself into his palm so he could marvel at the lively little machine. He looked at the lense of Ghost as if looking respectfully into the eyes of a person he was speaking to, “Back in my time we didn’t have Ghosts, so we needed phones to talk to someone if they were far away. Or letters. You could write a letter too.”

“Letters?!” Ariadne exclaimed. Lodi groaned jovially. “I supposed I am going to have to explain the entire postal service next.” Ariadne nodded vigorously as Ghost chirped from his palm.