Right. That whole thing. Its face falls a little.

"Oh, yeah, I guess we should do that, huh?"

…Does it need a snack? Kids' metabolisms are… faster than adults', so… that's probably a good idea?

"A snack sounds nice," it says, smiling.

She glances thoughtfully at Mae while she opens her snack cabinet.

"Any allergies, Mae?"

The cabinet appears to contain a variety of cereal bars, fruit bars, some cookies, toasted nori, popcorn, nut/berry trail mix, and snappea crisps.

"Oh! Umm… no dairy, ideally?"

…And she feels some resistance against eggs too…?

Oh, she's vegan. Right, that makes sense.

"Or other animal products, if I can avoid it."

Blink blink.

Okay that makes sense, and she respects the principles behind veganism but she's always been too much of a slacker and too fond of the taste of meat to bother. 

But.

Apparently she's feeding a little vegan today. 

Okay what of this is vegan?

After a bit of rustling through the cabinet, most of the cookies are ruled out, as are two of the cereal bars. She points out the remaining vegan options.

These snap-pea crisps look tasty—and stuff like that almost never has animal stuff in it.

It points to the package.

"These, maybe?"

Sable smiles fondly. "Good choice. Those are one of my favorites, too."

She reaches into the cabinet and grabs a bag for Mae, putting the snack right in front of it on the counter.

A handful of paper napkins get stuffed into her purse, and then she starts toward the entry room, only to pause.

"We should maybe get you something more to wear than just that nightgown, actually."

"…Oh."

Mae pauses and looks down at itself.

"Right."

It looks at the older woman appraisingly.

"Do you… have anything that might fit me?"

She looks Mae up and down.

"...No, on second thought I don't. And now I'm torn between going to the cops first to get you EMTs faster, or to the store to get you clothes first."

She hums thoughtfully. "I think probably clothes first. It's not exactly warm out." 

Mae hums, thinking.

"…Do you have a coat I could borrow? It wouldn't matter if it's too big, as long as it doesn't drag on the ground."

It looks down at its feet.

"…I'll probably still need shoes, though…"

"Got a pair of flip-flops you can use, and a coat that should work. I can manage that. Wanna follow me upstairs, or wait here?"

Mae cocks its head to the side, thinking for a moment.

"If it's not too much of an intrusion, I think I'd enjoy seeing the upstairs of your house."

"Sounds like a plan," she replies with a smile.

Up the stairs she goes, leading the way to reveal a guest bedroom, an office, and a master bedroom. The master bedroom again features a very big bed with dark purple sheets and a silver duvet, and has a decent-sized closet. There, Sable fishes around and pulls out a pair of flip-flops that don't look like they've been worn in a while, before shuffling hangers around to reveal a few coats. One looks like it would only come down to Sable's waist, which means it stops mid-thigh on Mae, while another seems like it would reach Mae's calves. The smaller coat seems to have shorter sleeves, as well. It's black wool, with silver buttons.

"What d'you think?"

"The shorter one, I think? I don't wanna trip on the longer one"

The longer one goes back onto the rack, and the shorter one gets pulled off its hanger.

Sable holds it out by the shoulders to make it easier for Mae to slip its arms in.

It carefully slips into the coat, standing on its tip-toes to get its arms in.

Mmm, it's warm! It likes it.

"Thank you!" It slides on the flip-flops as well.

"Glad to, sweetie."

She stands.

"Okay, now I think we're ready. I just need to look up the address of the local police station, then off we go."

It puts on the flip-flops, then waits patiently as she rifles through a phone book.

Gosh, it really got lucky, happening on this woman, huh?

She nods firmly, still smiling. "Okay. I know where we're going. C'mon, li'l bit. Let's see if you've got parents out there somewhere."

She offers it her hand and walks to the entry room to put her boots back on, lacing them up smoothly.

It smiles and follows along behind her, taking the offered hand. Somehow, it doubts it has anyone to find.

Perhaps not, but they're certainly going to try. She takes Mae to the car, helps it into the front passenger seat, and then gets in to the driver's seat, making sure to buckle up before pulling out of the driveway. 

"Wanna listen to music as we go?"

"Oh, yes please! What do you have?"

It bounces happily.