"You look adorable, sweetie. We've still got to hit a beauty supply place for all the hygiene stuff, and you can keep out for any polish colors that really call out to you while we're there. After that, we still need to hit a fancy sunglasses place to see if we can find the shades you want. Any more-specific clothing wishes we haven't found so far?"

It blushes at the compliment.

"Maybe a book from the library, if there's time? Something to read before bed and in the morning."

"Absolutely! We'll hit the branch library on the way home. Libraries are great."

And she loads all the clothes into the trunk, helps Mae into its seat, and then drives off to a beauty supply store, enjoying more Against Me along the way. When they first get there, she examines Mae's hair closely, checking how tightly it curls, before nodding to herself with a brief mutter of, "Three-A or Three-B then," and pulling her foster-daughter down the aisles to find a few specific products. "You can use roughly the same types of stuff as me, since we have similar kinds of curls. We're going to pick out a reset shampoo for getting off whatever might've been built up from worse hair products in the misty past, use that every few months, then a gentle shampoo that doesn't hurt your curls for use on wash days, twice a week, and a conditioner for using two to four times a week. And I want you to tell me which scent you like the best out of each of these, okay?"

Oh, that's a really good point! It has no idea what product it's been using its hair until today.

But…

"…Two-to-four times a week? That feels like… a lot more often than I'd expect. Are you sure?"

"It depends. Curly hair is finicky and needs special treatment. If your hair's pretty healthy, just conditioning on wash days is fine. If it needs some help recovering from damage, extra conditioning days can help improve or repair it a little bit."

Oh, right! Of course, that makes more sense. It nods sheepishly.

"Right, not to wash it that often."

"Sounds good to me then!"

And it'll see if it can find something jasmine-scented: it knows it really likes jasmine.

There are Reasons Sable keeps coming to this beauty supply place, their selection among them. Jasmine is not terribly hard to find.

"Ooh, that smells nice. Smells like it suits you."

She'd almost be tempted if she wasn't so fond of the way her violet and honey conditioner played off of the honey and ash notes in her perfume.

Mae smiles.

"Thanks! I'm looking forward to trying it."

Now then, where was next on their list?

Next, Sable grabs a few other products, and then brings Mae by the nail polish in case there are any colors that really call out to it.

Oooh, there's a lovely teal it'd enjoy wearing! It happily points the shade out.

"Ooh, I don't think I have any good teals at home."

Into the basket it goes, and Mae gets a fond hand-squeeze. While they're there, Sable grabs an iridescent one that seems to shimmer between purple and black, and an almost-black purple that's got gold glitter mixed in.

And unless there's something else Mae wants, that's it for the beauty supply place. Off to a little eyeglasses and sunglasses boutique!

Oh my, it completely forgot about the sunglasses! It happily follows her to see if they can find any nice-looking ones.

The store has a pretty wide selection of frames, though not as many in Mae's size. Most of the heart-shaped ones seem to be fashion over function. They definitely have the basic plastic ones, but if Mae looks carefully, the more elegant frames (which make up the bulk of this shop's selection) do include a couple heart-shaped options.

Mae giggles when it sees the red plastic pairs.

"Oh, of course they have the classic lolita glasses!"

Sable blinks.

Wait. Did it say lolita glasses?

"Y'know, they got nicknamed that after one of the movie adaptations of the book—the one that kinda forgot that—oh, what's his name? The male lead—is supposed to be the bad guy, and ended up heavily sexualizing the girl playing Lolita."

It sighs.

"And of course then one of the producers had sex with her during the shooting—not that that gets talked about much."

Sable has not seen any of the Lolita movies, nor read the book. She meant to get around to it at some point, but never really made it a priority.

She did, however, absorb basically all of what it was about.

She has acquired Additional Questions.

"Mae, sweetie, could you come get something from the car with me for a minute or so? I promise we can come right back after."

She suspects Mae would prefer this conversation not have an audience.

Frankly, she would prefer this conversation not have an audience.

Huh? What could they possibly need to get from the car right now?

That feels weird, but sure.

Mae nods and carefully sets the pair of sunglasses it was looking at back on the display, then dutifully follows Sable out to the car.