//**At a Picnic in Pleasantville. . .**//


calliaphone puts the mallows down in a pile. "help yourselves." she says. then she takes a broken tin-opener from her bag, and the little screwdriver from behind her ear, and frowns thoughtfully.

The Ever Squirrely Ratatoskr  shakes off some fourthwall and reaches down to pluck a marshmallow from the pile and chew on it happily.

calliaphone turns the tin-opener over a few times, assessing its condition. she tuts, shaking her head and making sympathetic noises, like a doctor examining a trauma patient.

Feral Fuzzaly Aryame  munches on steak and marshmallows, watching Callia with curiosity.

calliaphone works the tin-opener, open and shut, open and shut. it creaks rustily. she winces.

Not So Invisible Ari skips and twirls into Pleasantville

calliaphone looks up from her tin-opener ministrations. "Ari!" she waves.

Not So Invisible Ari waves happily "Hi Calli! Hi Tosk! Hi Rya!"

Feral Fuzzaly Aryame 's ears twitch and she waves a tail to Ari, smiling shyly before pointing to the pile of marshmallows, "Callia has Ari treats"

Not So Invisible Ari giggles at Rya and nods

calliaphone grins. "have a 'mallow, Ari. there's not much steak left, but plenty of mallows." she gets up and collects a bucket from her cart, then sits down again.

calliaphone tips the bucket over, and rummages through the contents. plastic dinosaurs, lumps of play-doh, a pint-glass and, aha! a can of WD40.

Not So Invisible Ari picks a marshmallow and smiles "thank you Calli" before popping it into her mouth

Feral Fuzzaly Aryame  oohs and crawls closer to the dumped items, batting playfully at plastic dinosaur.

calliaphone watches Aryame with a grin. "go ahead an' play!" Picking up the spray-can, she proceeds to squirt it all over the tin-opener. Aiming for the metal bits, but mostly covering all of it.

calliaphone also mostly covers herself. ah well. she wipes off the excess from her hands onto her dungarees. and picks up the tin-opener, immediately coating her hands in oil once more.

Feral Fuzzaly Aryame  smiles brightly at Callia before batting the dinsaur even harder, sending it skittering towards Ari.

Not So Invisible Ari finishes nomming her marshmallow and filches another "I made funnel cakes Calli, if you want one when you go home"

calliaphone 's eyes widen. "funnel cakes?you made 'em? ohboyohboy!" forget the Drive, forget joker-stuff, this is Real Magic.

Not So Invisible Ari watches the skittering dinosaur and grins, she drops down to sits and covers it with her hand, making it vanish, then reappear, then vanish

calliaphone blinkblinks at the dinosaur. is her eyesight going funny? she peers at the tin-opener. seems to be working okay if she looks this way. she looks back at the dinosaur.

Not So Invisible Ari nodnods "I made the batter stuff anyway, Dave made the shapes and the gremlins cleaned up the kitchen" hopefully

Not So Invisible Ari giggles, how neat!

calliaphone can hardly wait to get back to the castle now! Perhaps she should let her steak go down a bit longer, though. She focuses on the tin-opener and the screwdriver, and attempts to unite them.

Feral Fuzzaly Aryame  skitters to a halt and looks down where the dinosaur was, her pupils dilated as she plays."Mew?"

calliaphone 's efforts are somewhat hampered by WD40, which now also seems to be covering the screwdriver handle. the tool slips out of her grasp, followed a moment later by the tin-opener. "whoops"

The Ever Squirrely Ratatoskr 's eyes uncross and he waves brightly at Ari. "Sorry about that, woolgathering."

Not So Invisible Ari smiles brightly at Rya and makes the dinosaur visible again

Not So Invisible Ari looks up and smiles "It's okay, just Hello!"

Feral Fuzzaly Aryame  pounces forward, her paws covering the dinsaur.

Lady Elevated Badass of the Gods Snow Gray is merely a flurry of snowflakes traveling towards the jungle on a breeze as she passes through Pleasantville, swirling playfully around Ary, Ari, and Ratty with an echo of laughter on the wind.

Lady Elevated Badass of the Gods Snow Gray 's snowflakes linger for a moment longer before they drift onward to the jungle.

Not So Invisible Ari watches the dinosaur vanish again, this time at the hands of Rya, she waves to Snowflakes too

calliaphone sees snowflakes and shivers involuntarily. long time since she was last in Cyberia. she wipes WD40 off onto her dungarees again, and squints at the dinosaur. "ari, were you makin' that vanish?"

The Ever Squirrely Ratatoskr  squats down on his haunches and watches Arya play, smiling at the playful antics.

Not So Invisible Ari smiles at Calli and nods "uh huh, I can make stuff disappear!" its not real magic but look where real magic got her

Feral Fuzzaly Aryame 's fur swishes slightly as the snowflakes flutter over it. She opens her paws and gives a triumphant mrow before picking it up in her mouth and looking at Ari, "Mroooow"

calliaphone , grappling again with the tin-opener, opens her eyes wide. "huhh!" she says. "like you made yourself disappear?"

Piper wanders through the square again, waving to all.

calliaphone giggles at Aryame. "i think," she says, "that you and that dinosaur were possibly meant to be together. would you like to keep it?"

Not So Invisible Ari shakes her head "not exactly, I just covered it up sorta and my invisible hid it"

The Ever Squirrely Ratatoskr  waves back to Piper.

calliaphone waves back at Piper. her screwdriver, apparently covered in oil again, flies out of her grasp and lands in the bucket with a KLONG.

Not So Invisible Ari waves to Piper, see the butterflies move back and forth quickly?

Feral Fuzzaly Aryame  waves to Piper before looking over at Callia with wide eyes, "Relwy?! I can 'ab i'?"

calliaphone says, "oh! oh i SEE! well, except when you're hiding it, then i don't see. if y'see what i mean." hopelessly tangled now, she gives up.

Not So Invisible Ari giggles "xactly"

calliaphone grins at Aryame. "of course you can! i've got seven more - all different colours. you can choose whichever one you like best. unless you've already made your choice." it does look that way.

Not So Invisible Ari watches Rya and the dinosaurus

Piper sees butterflies! She reaches out to make a grab for one.

Feral Fuzzaly Aryame 's eyes cross a little as she tries to look at the green and blue dinosaur in her mouth. She gives up after a moment and just nods, "Fank oo Callia!!"

calliaphone beams! she says, "you're welcome!" and retrieves the screwdriver from the bucket. she wipes it again, properly this time, on her tie-dye top.

Not So Invisible Ari eeps as her arm is grabbed, the butterflies flit further up said apendage

Piper feels a hand. Oh no! She drops the hand and stumbles backwards onto her bottom. She was not expecting that!

Not So Invisible Ari peers at Piper "you okay?"

calliaphone says, "uh oh, Piper, you alright? you wanna be careful!"

Feral Fuzzaly Aryame  drops her toy but quickly catches it in her tail, looking at Piper, "You okay, miss?"

Piper blinks. Issat "Ari?" Her thoughts verbalize as she stands up slowly and brushes herself off. "M okay."

calliaphone is relieved! She knows all about falling over. Sometimes it can hurt. "have a marshmallow" she suggests, gesturing at the mallow-pile. after a shock, y'need sugar, right?

Not So Invisible Ari nodnods "I am not very good at being a Joker and I got invisible-ized"

The Ever Squirrely Ratatoskr  perks an ear up. Ah that explains it, one of those tricksters.

Piper 's eyes lighten at the idea of marshmellows! She picks one daintily off the top and chews happily. She puts another one in her pocket for Rawr when she sees him.

Piper pouts. "Why'd you getta be invized!" She forgets for the time being she was very upset at becoming a joker at one point.

Not So Invisible Ari looks at herself "it was an accident, I kept making things happen without trying to, I don't think I have very good control with it and I got an invisisuit and now I am stuck like this"

Piper ohs and nods slowly. Her lack of improbability is very scant. "Still, fun!"

Not So Invisible Ari nods "I do like the butterflies, they even move sometimes now"

Feral Fuzzaly Aryame  nods and backs up. She lopes over to Ata and curls up beside him, nomming (for lack of a better word) on her toy.

Piper nearly forgets! "Thank you callia" she mumbles shyly, a little embarassed for forgetting her manners.

Piper oohs! Butterflies! "Do they really?" Her eyes are wide and focused on Ari.

Feral Fuzzaly Aryame  smiles and lopes over to Ata, curling up beside him and nomming (for lack of a better word) on her toy

calliaphone grins widely at Piper. "pleasure! take as many as you like. and extra for Rawr." she is listening carefully to the joker-conversation, while at last managing to get the tin-opener undone.

Not So Invisible Ari pokes at a butterfly, which flaps with indignation and moves aside "like that!"

Piper nods and pockets an extra, extra one for Rawr.

Piper chuckles at the butterfly. "S'cute!"

The Ever Squirrely Ratatoskr  strokes Aryame's fur absently.

calliaphone blinks at the butterfly. "huhh." but she nods sagely. She's had this explained now. apparently, it's an island thing!

Not So Invisible Ari nodnods "they didn't do that when I first painted them, I think I might still be leakin' magic"

Feral Fuzzaly Aryame  purrs softly, sounding like a small motor around her toy, "Mrrrrrrow"

The Ever Squirrely Ratatoskr  smiles down at Ari and laughs, reaching up to scratch between her large ears.

Piper eeps and holds out her hand in front of her face. She hopes she doesn't get magic-ized too much!

Feral Fuzzaly Aryame  experiences the first Ari/Ary switch up. She continues to purr, her ears twitching. She closes her eyes and falls prey to a fourth walling.

Not So Invisible Ari hasn't done nothing to anyone else yet, though she did do a number on that tree in New Home

Piper is unconsciously thankful for that. She wriggles her fingers. Check. They all seem to be working properly.

Piper stuffs that hand in her pocket anyways.

calliaphone did not see the tree in New Home. perhaps this is exactly the point.

Not So Invisible Ari nods "so yeah, its easier to be a kitty"

Piper nods as if she had any idea about being a kitty. "Ah. I'll erm. Take your word for it." She's only been human or joker.

calliaphone has now taken the tin-opener completely to pieces. the parts are laid out on the ground in front of her. time to start reassembling it!

Piper eyes callia and tippitytoes over to where she is. She kneels down, careful not to get in the way of any of the pieces."Whatchadoin?"

Mister Rawr , still rather unrecognizable, flounces through Pleasantville singing a song quite off-key and nasally; "A' rovin' over the sea. Gimme a car'er as a buccaneer, it's the life of a pirate for me."

calliaphone looks up, and smiles. "i found this poor little guy in the river by Squat Hole." she shakes her head sadly. "he's all rusty, but i'm gonna see if we can get him sorted out."

Not So Invisible Ari waves to Rawr, she saw him on the Jackalope, definitely gotta be Rawr, the Queen said so

Piper looks up and nods to the singing-person. They're still s'posed to get tea!

Mister Rawr continues singing; "Oh, the life of a pirate fer me!" He blinks and smiles at those folks hereabouts and flounces off towards Cuthberts to have a chat with the fellow.

Piper looks down again at the pieces reverently. "Hope he's okay." she says in a hushed voice.

calliaphone boggles at the singing chap. s'that a pirate?

Not So Invisible Ari scoots closer to Piper and Calli so she can see

Piper notes callia's stare. She has absolutely no idea either.

calliaphone smiles at Piper, touched by her concern. "he's a bit of a mess, but. . ." she turns over the pieces, inspecting each one for damage, "i think there's hope."

Lance Corporal Malverius slowly drags his animated corpse through the gate, leaving a small trail of indescribable bits of former him in his wake. Need Maintenance to Aisle 7 for a wet spill! Ewwwww. . .

Not So Invisible Ari waves to Mal

CandyCat Jamesb emerges from Mutated Munchies, practically bouncing with energy. He runs out the front gate, ploughing through a zombie as he does.

KittyBug Ferryn slinks in, antennae twitching as she moves through the gate, low across the ground. She is HUNTING.

Piper nods to the zombieish person mucking about before turning to the pieces. "I hope so!" Her care extends to people, animals and even tin-openers or so it seems.

calliaphone hopes the zombieish person doesn't come completely unstuck now that someone's just ploughed through him. but if he does - she has duct tape!

Mister Rawr flounces out of Cuthberts, now even more bounce in his corpulent bottom! "Oh a pirates life is a wond'rful life, they ne'er bury yer bones, for when't s'all ohv'r a jolly sea rover drops in. . ."

Mister Rawr coughs, smiles and waggles his fingers to those present once again before flouncing out of the town; "Drops in on'is friend, Davey Jones!" and he's gone.

calliaphone notes a familiar-looking kittybug over there! she grins, but doesn't disturb the hunting.

Piper looks over her shoulder at the singing and nods. Her focus returns to the tin opener under callia's care. She sighs quietly to herself.

calliaphone blinks. pirates, kittybugs eating zombies, and piper . . . sighing. "y'alright, Piper?" she says, softly.

Piper blinks as she's brought out of her reverie. "S'alright. Miss someone." she mumbles, a little embarassed.

calliaphone looks at her more carefully. "someone . . . important, huh?"

Piper bites her lip and nods slowly. She is not good with feelings.

calliaphone thinks that feelings are tricksy things, and nobody's an expert. nobody. she also focuses on the tin-opener, cleaning the cogs carefully on her shirt front. "you wanna talk about it more?"

Piper shakes hear head gently. "Haven't seen Rawr in a bit, that's all." she admits. Rawr's costume and playing has confused poor Piper.

calliaphone says, "ah." and looks up at Piper. she says, gently, "well, you would miss him wouldn't you. that must be hard. but . . . he's a capable fella, Piper. he'll be alright, you know that, right?"

Piper bites her lip, nodding slowly again. "Y'right. He'll be ok. I hope." She is highly skilled as a worrywart.

calliaphone gives Piper another hug, to supplement Ari's. she's as careful as she can be not to coat the other girl in WD40.

Piper smiles and pats callia's back softly. She's been coated in much, much worse. "Thanks." she mumbles.

calliaphone says, "s'alright. you don't need to worry 'bout Rawr, i'm sure of it. although you're bound to miss him till he comes back. but if you do keep worrying - i'll always help you look for him."

calliaphone has a little screwdriver and has been practising her roaring. she is convinced she's scary enough to take on the jungle.

Piper nodnods studiously and smiles. "Okay." She tries to push missing Rawr outta her head and points to the tin opener."Want help?"

calliaphone nods! "please! you wanna hunt in the bucket see if there's any teensy little screws like this'n?" she hands Piper a badly corroded screw that clearly needs replacing.

Piper smiles and nods, before eyeing the screw in callia's hand. Scootching over to the bucket, she sifts through the bucket carefully.

calliaphone gets on with cleaning up the cutting blade. ick, that isn't just rust, that is accumulated gunk from lord only knows what! she scrapes it away with the screwdriver blade.

Piper pulls one from the bucket and matches it against the one in her hand. Too big. She accidentally drops both screws in the bucket. Oh no!

calliaphone looks up at Piper, and giggles. "now whatcha gonna do?"

Piper scrambles and finds the tiny screw. She puts in in her pocket for safekeeping this time. The hunt continues as her fingers explore the contents of the bucket.

calliaphone smiles, and returns her attention to the tin-opener. she starts fitting the cleaned-up pieces together. and as she works, she whistles and chitters to her patient.

Piper ahas! as she pulls up a tiny screw. The corroded one is pulled out from her pocket for comparison. She squints as she brings them together. They fit! She ahas! again!

calliaphone is possibly, just possibly, making up the language as she goes. not surprisingly, the tin-opener shows no sign of understanding her.

Piper grins. "Found it!" She presents callia with the screw proudly.

calliaphone beams! she chitters at Piper, then catches herself and switches to english. "uhh, i mean, that's perfect thanks!"she takes the screw, and carefully fits it into place.

Piper beams and peers at callia's handiwork. "He fixed yet?"

calliaphone twiddles the screwdriver. twiddletwiddle. she has another screw ready, which wasn't too corroded, and she fits that into place as well. more twiddling, and then. . ."let's see!"

Piper waits with baited breath.

calliaphone gives the tin-opener a wiggle. it opens and closes obligingly, without so much as a squeak. she turns the handle, and the cogs engage, smooth and silent. she frowns.

calliaphone says, "there any tins in that bucket?" she thinks there might be a can of condensed milk she nicked from . . . not saying where.

Piper sets to work, digging through the pile of stuff in the bucket. She pulls out a dinosaur. Hrm. No good. Her eyes lighten!

Piper puts the dinosaur back in his place and scampers off for just a moment.

calliaphone watches Piper, curiously.

Trickster of the coyotes Comrade Lukas  pads out quietly

Piper runs out, waving a jar of maraschino cherries wildly. "Found a tin!"

Piper sits down cross legged in front of callie eagerly.

calliaphone says, "oooh, cherries, yum!" she's glad Piper didn't bring tinned veggies. not so yum.

Piper would unconsciously agree. Veggies are no fun.

calliaphone inspects the tinned cherries. "hmm." she's not terribly good at cooking, but tin-openers are machines and she's good at those, so. . .

calliaphone fits tin and tin-opener together, her tongue poking out between her teeth with the effort of concentration. and then, very carefully, she starts to turn the handle.

Piper eagerly awaits the result.

calliaphone 's hands are immediately covered in cherry-juice. seems like the cutting blade works okay. she keeps turning, and the tin-opener works smoothly round the tin. no squeaks, no complaints. not a peep.

Piper grins. It's working! It's working!

calliaphone 's face is . . . well, disappointed is the best word for it. it's as if she was hoping for something more . . . spectacular. She removes the tin-opener from the tin, and peers at it. "huhh."

calliaphone chitters at the tin-opener again. and then pauses, listening intently. the tin-opener says nothing in reply.

Piper tilts her head at the interaction. She smiles and says nothing. Her eyes move towards the tin. Cherries!

calliaphone frowns. she turns back to the tin - perhaps the answer lies there. But she is immediately distracted by the cheerful sight of maraschino yumminess. she puts the tin-opener down.

Piper 's fingers confiscate one cherry from the tin and pops it into her mouth. She chews happily.

calliaphone copies Piper! and then she sneaks another cherry and lobs it Ferrynwards. splott.

KittyBug Ferryn gets a cherry TO THE FACE. She licks it off her cheek, seemingly pleased.

Piper giggles and stuffs another cherry in her mouth. "He okay?" she gestures to the tin opener.

calliaphone nods, frowning a little, but still finding an appetite to eat more cherries. she slrrrrks juice and wipes her mouth on her tie-dye-sleeve (not that you can tell what's stain and what's pattern).

calliaphone says, "well, he opened the tin alright, which is a start , i guess." it's not clear what else she's expecting from a tin-opener. but she clearly had high hopes.

Piper smiles, glad the tin opener's no worse for wear. She tosses a cherry up in the air and tries to catch it in her mouth. It plonks off her nose. Her hands scramble to catch the treat.

Piper snags the cherry and tosses it in her mouth. "That's good. I'm sure he'll do great things."

calliaphone puts the tin-opener gently into the bucket, whispering something to him. he doesn't reply, and she shrugs. at least his condition is no longer critical.

calliaphone giggles at Piper, who now has cherry-juice on her nose. "suits you" she says. and snags a handful of cherries. she is now getting all-over messy.

Piper makes a funny face, clearly pleased with herself. "Tasty too." she licks her fingers.

KittyBug Ferryn stretches on the bench. Maybe now is naptime. Zzz.

Piper looks at her sticky fingers and shrugs. They wiggle accusingly.

calliaphone laughs at sleepy Ferryn. and starts scooping up her belongings into the bucket. the cherries are obviously Piper's to begin with. and she leaves the remaining marshmallows too.

Piper looks up at the movement. "You gotta go?"

calliaphone nods. "gotta be moving along, s'getting late now." she stows the bucket in her cart. "thankyou, Piper. for the company, the help. and the cherries."

Piper nods with a smile. "Okay. B'bye. See you soon?" Her look is hopeful.

calliaphone grins. "you betcha. an' don't forget to take those marshmallows home, ok?"

Piper smiles and starts stacking the marshmellows into her pocket. As if she needed to be told twice!

calliaphone jumps into the driving seat of her cart. leaning down, she extracts a petunia from the steering column. she chucks this into the back, then engages the gears and pedals away, waving cheerfully.


**//In the Kitchen at The Swamp//**

Paste-pot calliaphone pauses here and looks around. where would Sink keep . . . aha, this looks a likely cupboard. She dives in and . . . damn. Cleaning stuff. Not much good for anything 'xcept drinking, that.

Paste-pot calliaphone shrugs and moves onto the next cupboard. This time she strikes paydirt. The cupboard is full of tinned foods.

Paste-pot calliaphone grabs an armful of tins and settles down on the floor, cross-legged. She picks up the tin-opener. "Okay Egbert, we'll give this'n a try, huh, see how you get on."

Paste-pot calliaphone introduces Egbert-the-tin-opener to a can of ravioli. She waits a moment, for them to get acquainted, and then begins turning the handle.

Paste-pot calliaphone keeps chittering to Egbert as she works. When the ravioli is open, she moves on to some chestnut puree, guava-halves and some mixed-peas-and-carrots. in between tins. . .

Paste-pot calliaphone makes minute adjustments to Egberts mechanism, with her little screwdriver. He obligingly opens all the tins, smoothly and silently. And does nothing else.

Paste-pot calliaphone looks at him hopefully.

Paste-pot calliaphone waits. Not for very long. It's not a forte of hers. In a sweep of her arm, she clears all the opened tins out of the way, and sets Egbert on the floor in front of her.

Paste-pot calliaphone then begins to whistle. A medley of tunes, The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy, The Rare Old Mountain Dew and Manche De Fouet among them.

Paste-pot calliaphone watches Egbert carefully as she whistles away, foot-tapping and occasionally picking out an accompanying note (sometimes the right one) on Cordy. The tin-opener, however, just sits there.

Paste-pot calliaphone eventually has to stop, for sheer lack of puff. She sighs, and picks Egbert up, looking him over. "So, not dancing huh? Or is just, not that kinda dancing? Don't worry, we'll think of something."

Paste-pot calliaphone gets up and scampers out with Egbert, leaving the opened tins for Sink to enjoy


//**Central**//

Paste-pot calliaphone pedals into town, her cart loaded precariously with supply crates. she skids to a halt outside eboy's and jumps down from the driving seat, to unload.

Paste-pot calliaphone finishes unloading her supplies, and then returns to her cart. putting her fingers to her lips, she whistles sharply. and waits for a moment. nothing happens at all.

Paste-pot calliaphone sighs, and digdigs in her pocket, scattering req tokens, grenade pins, bottle-caps and furry boiled sweets. at last she ahas, and produces a length of string.

Paste-pot calliaphone reaches into her cart, ties the string to a tin-opener, and tugs it. "C'mon Egbert, c'mon boy." The tin-opener does not resist the tug. It tumbles to the ground and is dragged after Callia.

Paste-pot calliaphone drags her tin-opener across the town-square on its lead, looking round periodically to give it an encouraging smile. and to see if it's doing anything. it is not.

Paste-pot calliaphone shrugs, and conitnues to where her cart is parked, outside eboy's. there, she stops and crouches down to pet the tin-opener. "good boy Egbert" she says, and lifts it up into the cart.

Paste-pot calliaphone makes sure Egbert is comfortably settled alongside the bucket and the tea-kettle and two dismantled toasters and a nearly-reconditioned rice-cooker and a dinosaur. Bundling up his string. . .

Paste-pot calliaphone tucks it safely around Egbert's handles, and then she climbs into the driving seat.

Paste-pot calliaphone starts pedalling, steering a slow circle round the fountain, and then speeding up to reach escape velocity - and aiming for the gate. she yells "HOLD TIGHT!" and they rocket into the jungle.


**//In the kitchen at Jardin Surleau//**

Paste-pot calliaphone starts opening cupboards until she finds the one with tinned foods. Grabbing and armful, she sits down on the floor and gets to work. "ok Egbert, show's what you can do with these."

Paste-pot calliaphone gives her tin-opener an encouraging little pat, and then shows him a can of rice pudding. "Egbert, pud. Pud, Egbert. Now shake hands nicely."

Paste-pot calliaphone applies Egbert to the can of pudding, and starts turning his handle. As she does so, she chitters to him constantly. He makes no sound, merely works his way round the can, until the lid is loose.

Paste-pot calliaphone disengages Egbert from the can, and then waits. Her expression is hopeful. And then, after a brief period in which nothing at all happens, it turns to disappointment.

Paste-pot calliaphone eats the rice pudding.

Paste-pot calliaphone looks around for something else for Egbert to try. He opens one can of mushy peas, one of luncheon lion, and one of mandarin segments. But that is all he does.

Paste-pot calliaphone shakes her head. Clearly, she's missing something important here. Abandoning the opened tins, she gets up. "I dunno, it'd be a lot easier if you'd just say something." But Egbert does not.

Paste-pot calliaphone tucks the tin-opener back into her pocket, and heads outside. Can't do too much in one session, she knows that at least


**//At Soup and Pants//**

Paste-pot calliaphone appears in the dooryway of Soup and Pants. She is tugging a length of string, attached to which is a tin-opener. The device has a certain filth-encrusted appearance, as though. . .

Paste-pot calliaphone has been taking it on a tour of the back-streets of Improbable Central, via the method of dragging it along in the dirt. She looks down, and grins. "Wow, Egbert, you're filthy!"

Paste-pot calliaphone sounds impressed. She crouches, and picks up the tin-opener. "C'mon you. Look, there's a kitchen here. We can give you quick rinse under the tap, an' then find you some tins, ok?"

Paste-pot calliaphone 's tin-opener does not show any signs of interest in these plans. But likewise, he also does not protest. Callia takes this as consent, and hurries over to the kitchen sink.

Paste-pot calliaphone does her best to wash only the tin-opener, and not everything else within a ten-foot-radius of the sink area. She really does. She's just not very experienced with washing stuff.

Paste-pot calliaphone finally manages to get the tap off, before the small flood she is causing necessitates evacuation of the premises. She blinks, drippily, and nods her head at the docile-but-clean tin-opener.

Paste-pot calliaphone says, "okay Egbert. i know washing's traumatic but you've been really good. so let's fix you a snack. c'mon." and she carries him into the storeroom.


**//in the storeroom. . .//**

Paste-pot calliaphone arrives here, and sets Egbert down on a shelf. She looks around and her eyes open wide. "Oh my"she breathes. "berries'n'butter'n'cream'n'lard."

Paste-pot calliaphone sneaks a handful of berries into her mouth. And takes a surreptitious slrrp from the cream jug. But then she puts it down. She's not here to feed herself, she's got a hungry tin-opener.

Paste-pot calliaphone picks up the tin-opener. "okay Egbert, what's it to be?" she examines the canned foods on the shelves. "Pickled jump boots? or, what's this, some kinda fish?" she frowns, struggling to read

Paste-pot calliaphone says, slowly, "livving tiggers-hark, no wait, lyeving tyegers-hark stee- stay- STEAKS!" she knows that word! "in brine." what's brine? shrug. she puts it down. too complicated.

Paste-pot calliaphone picks up the jumpboot tin. the picture on the front shows pieces of deep purple boot, floating in a bowl of pickling juice. she wrinkles her nose. but this isn't about her. "pickleboots it is"

Paste-pot calliaphone positions Egbert on the edge of the boot-can. Then, with a squeeze of the handle, she pierces the metal, and starts turning the handle. Egbert moves smoothly round the tin, cutting away like a pro.

Paste-pot calliaphone watches closely as the tin-opener does what it was made to do. But the expression on her face is oddly hopeful. It's as if . . . somehow, she's expecting something more.

Paste-pot calliaphone 's expectations are not met. Egbert removes the can-lid without any fuss or fanfare. And then he sits, docile and silent, as if waiting to be given something more challenging to do.

Paste-pot calliaphone frowns. Just what kind of a challenge is it he needs? She is stumped. Sighing, she puts Egbert into her pocket, and heads out, taking the opened can with her.