"Maybe it's just a two — four? — person conspiracy for now, but we can have some fun with it I bet."

"A two-and person conspiracy, is i think the way you'd say it on my world. And yeah, I think it could be fun!"

"Your world really does sound like an improvement," Sable continues with a soft smile. "I hope we figure out how your travel works. I'd really like to see it."

"Me too. Me too." 

Foxbox exhales and stretches her arms above her head. "Can I have some time alone now though? I could use a social cooldown after today."

"Definitely, sweetheart."

She leans down and kisses the top of Foxbox's head, then heads out the door with a parting, "Message me or come find me in my office if you need me, darling."

And then she's gone.

Audrey grabs her laptop and her DS, goes back to her room, and curls up in bed with her lap desk in her lap for a while.

Sable probably won't see her again till nightfall if she doesn't come looking again.

Once it starts getting late, Sable comes and knocks on the door again. "It's getting on toward sleep time. Wanna come wash up and brush our teeth together, and then maybe get tucked in for bed if you'd like?"

"Yeah, for sure. I... will have some stuff to talk about in the morning but it's not urgent, just miscellaneous ways your world is worse than I thought. I did a little wikipedia research. Let's brushie and sleepsie, though." 

Sable grins and giggles. "Brushie and sleepsie! You're adorable."

Off they go to the bathroom to wash their faces and brush their teeth.

Audrey brushes her teeth, and soon is cuddled up in bed again with a small smile on her face. 

"night night," she says.

Sable smiles softly and tucks the covers up to Audrey's chin, kisses her forehead, and nods. "G'night, sweetie. See you in the morning."

And out she goes.

And the night passes, soft and gentle.

Audrey's slow out of bed in the morning, but comes down with a quiet yawn around nine am if not disturbed.

She finds Sable already up, having gotten in a workout and a shower, and looking over some notes. "Morning, Audrey. How'd you sleep?"

"Alright. Feeling a little of the pressure of this world being worse than my own, but we push through it. Just please don't ask me to eat chicken today. Aside from that, doing alright. Want to see if we can practice the age-changing thing some more?"

"Sure! What would you like for breakfast? I've got milk and cereal, if you'd rather avoid eggs."

"Cereal works for me, thank you." She stretches a little and sighs.

Sable stands and pulls Audrey into a hug, then leads the way into the kitchen. "Sounds like you ran into factory farming. It's an awful thing. I get my eggs from a store that I mostly trust to use humane farms, but the only way to absolutely be sure is to go see the farm, and I haven't taken the time to go out to someone's farm from the weekend Farmer's Market yet."

"Reasonable of you, given the givens. If you let every bad thing about this world weigh on you you'd... quickly become overburdened. You're already a foster mother, so..." She smiles. "You're helping!"

"I certainly try to. And we can go find a humane farmer to buy eggs from this weekend if you'd like. Go see the chickens ourselves, know for sure they're treated well."

Sable gets out a bowl and the pulls out her collection of cereal — all in resealable plastic containers with pour spouts. She has honey nut cheerios, something with granola and dates and nuts, and cinnamon toast crunch. "Pick whichever you'd like, sweetheart."

"Ooh, that granola one looks nice, can I try it?" 

"Sure! that's my favorite. Had a bowl this morning, even, since I wasn't sure when you were getting up."

She pulls out a spoon and pours a nice full bowl, then puts the cereal away and grabs the milk.

"Tell me when's enough," she says as she starts to pour.

"When!" Audrey calls when the bowl's full enough. Then she takes it over to the dining room and starts crunching away, her mood noticeably improving at the tasty flavour of the dates. 

Sable kisses the top of Audrey's head and then sits down across from her.

"So! I think today's going to be mostly just incidentals apart from trying out your age-changing trick some. I've been working on the paperwork to set up homeschooling for you, and looking into resources I'll need for that, but our schedule's pretty open. Is there anything else you'd like to do today?"

"Honestly, nothing leaps to mind, except maybe getting a proper chair for the desk?"