"Shh," Lenore clucks, scolding but mostly playful and fond. She also wants this task done as quickly as possible, though for different reasons than her pet's.

Finally, the guards trail back out, taking the soiled and empty buckets and leaving behind a couple of buckets of steaming water for her further use. When they're out of the cell and the door is locked again, Lenore picks the keys back up and unlocks one cuff, moves to the other side to unlock the other cuff, then pulls a third key from her pocket and unlocks the collar with especial gentleness, drawing it carefully from around her neck and setting it on the floor.

"There we are," she murmurs, gentle and kind, and then rises up again, gathering the blanket. She picks a clean and dry section of floor and spreads the blanket out on it, then takes a seat on one side, leaving most of the blanket for her pet to decide how close she wants to sit. "Go ahead and eat, Nightie. I brought cards for when you're done. Do you want to teach me some of your favorites, or shall I teach you some new ones?"

She says it like a genuine question, but she strongly suspects that her pet may not actually know any card games, so she phrases it in order to make it easy to avoid that admission.