"Oh, right! 'Cause I'm vegan?"

Damn, it kind of hates it when other people have to put in extra work to accommodate it. It does not endorse that feeling, but it has it nonetheless.

"…What can I do to help?"

"Well, the issue is that most of my breakfast recipes involve eggs, dairy, or both. So half the problem can be solved by getting some vegan cookbooks and some additional ingredients, but the other real questions are two-fold. First, some vegans are okay with some subset of animal products if they come from known-humane farms. It's perfectly fine if you're not that kind of vegan, but I'll admit that it does simplify things a bit if you are, because then we can just bother the farmers at the farmer's market and go on a little field trip."

"Oh, smart!

…And if I think about it… yeah, I'm fine with animal products as long as the animals were treated fine—and as long as it didn't require killing them to get the products. Meat is a no-go no matter what, as is, like, gelatin, but eggs and cheese are fine if we know and trust that the farm they came from treats the animals well."

Mae pauses.

"…Oh, although I think I have some kind of mild sensitivity to dairy, so I probably don't want to eat or drink too much of that anyway—besides, soy milk tastes better."

"So soy milk — I'll work through the rest of the non-vegan stuff in the fridge myself — and see what we can find at the market on Saturday."

Mae smiles.

"Thanks! Sorry you've gotta do so much to accommodate me."

—Oh dammit, it wasn't gonna do that. Crap.

Quick, distraction!

"…So, what's the plan for breakfast in the mean-time?"

"Hmm. Not sure. Best ideas are to make a lighter lunch thing, because everything I know how to make that's actually breakfasty isn't vegan with the ingredients I have on hand. Noodles or rice or something is my first guess."

"A lighter lunch thing sounds nice! Noodles and rice are both good, and I'm also quite partial to sandwiches, which are pretty easy to make with tofu.

I suppose we'll want to grab more ingredients and a vegan cookbook or two sometime after breakfast? I know some things about vegan baking, and generally have a good idea of the main replacement ingredients we'd want—though I suppose the options won't be quite as good as I'm used to."

"Figures the future invents a few more. We'll just have to cope. And yes, cookbooks and more ingredients are absolutely on my list. Haven't checked if the sourdough is vegan but I'd been thinking about getting into making my own anyway, so there are workarounds if it's not."

Off to the kitchen they go to start making a noodle thing.

"Oh, completely unrelated question: do you want to do any gaming, whether PC or console?"

"Sourdough is usually vegan, I think."

Off to the kitchen it goes, following happily behind Sable.

"Oh, gaming is fun!

Gosh, what games that I like exist in 2008…

Pretty sure Space Station 13 is like as old as me, but I dunno what it looks like in current year…

I know I like a bunch of older console games, like NES stuff, but I don't remember much of it clearly…

Dang, I think a lot of my favorite games aren't out for another like, three years! Do you do any gaming? I'd be interested to try out whatever you're into."

"Hmm. I do a lot of strategy games, four-ex, the Civ series, Master of Orion two, the Command and Conquer series," she replies as she cooks. "Enjoyed the Doom games but wish I was a good enough artist to make a DoomGirl mod. Thinking about trying Dwarf Fortress, since it got a Z-axis last year. Enjoy citybuilders, liked the Pokémon games when I was younger but haven't kept up with Nintendo consoles at all, liked the Myst games too."

Oh right, Dwarf Fortress exists! Also Myst!

"Oooh! I'm not much for grand strategy, but Dwarf Fortress is cool—if intimidating.

I love Myst! Never finished the later games though, that could be fun!

…I wonder if there's anything fun and multiplayer we could try together? Or, well, two-player multiplayer—Space Station 13 might be a bit much in that department."

"Good question! Worth a look, for sure. I bet there's something, I just don't remember it off-hand."

Little by little, breakfast takes shape.

Mae putters about the kitchen for a bit as Sable makes breakfast, then spies the kettle.

"Oh, tea! What type do you want?"

It begins attempting to make tea, then stops at the first roadblock.

"…And is there a little step-stool somewhere around here that I could use? I don't think I can reach.

"The tangerine zinger would be great, sweetie. Thanks!"

She reaches over and pulls a folding stepstool out of a little nook beside the fridge.

Aww!

Mae hops up on the folding stool and begins happily rummaging around the cupboards and filling the kettle.

It loves being useful.