"Toast?" X tilted his head at her, still frowning, still confused. He waited to see if the word was familiar in the way Aifaran and Dreaming Bridge had been, in this strange half-life he only remembered emotionally. But no; nothing came. "What do you toast bread for?"

And how did the -- toaster -- help you do it? X lifted it to study it from every angle, and he thought he could maybe understand where sliced bread would fit into it, but that didn't answer the question of what 'toast' meant. He was starting to get the sinking feeling he shouldn't have bought this, but the seller made it sound so wonderful.