"So to get things straight, I have heard you have been away from the guildhouse for long periods of time without doing missions in that time, and have reportedly had days without doing a mission at all. Is this true?" Espeon asked, sitting on his office chair.

"Well… yeah, but I have a reason for it!" Locke responded. "I told you about how I found out Elley is my sister, so I've been spendings lots of time with her to catch up."

"That's perfectly reasonable, but I do have to ask that you stay at the guild more often and work at proper amounts. We both house you and feed you, so you need to do missions to pay us back," Espeon tried to explain.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do missions, sorry that I missed a day or three. But I really want to be with Elley, she's my sister and we've been separated for almost our entire lives. We really have a lot we gotta talk about. She's really nice, too."

"Thank you for doing the missions you have been, and remember that it is fine to miss a day if you're sick or have some other valid reason," Espeon reminded. "But also try to generally be around the guild longer. I've received some complaints about how you disappear for large amounts of the day."

"Why? She's my sister, what's why I can't be with her?" Locke asked.

Espeon paused for a second, he needed to think about how can he say what he needed to as poignant and elegant as he could.

"...As much as I don't want to bring this up as it is touchy with you, you are in that harness for a reason. We need to watch to make sure you don't harm others, intentionally or otherwise. So when you disappear for close to entire days, it can make certain people here… antsy, to not know where you are or what you're doing for so long," Espeon spoke. He couldn't quite bring himself to be one hundred percent straightforward with bitter words, but he did decide that sugar-coating the situation wasn't the answer, and lying would be even worse.

"Seriously?" Locke said with squinted eyes. He gave a glare that could be described with a hundred different adjectives, none of which are kind or positive. "Do you guys really still not trust me?"

"I can say your behavior is absolutely improving, but some people are still weary, and you being missing so often isn't helping you. I'm sorry about this, Locke," Espeon responded.

"You're making me want to stop seeing my own sister over this? Do you think I'll hurt her?"

"Not saying you should always be in the guildhouse or on a mission, just try to be inside more often, okay? It'll make some people feel a lot less on edge."

"And just who are these people?" Locke replied, cold.

"I don't know if they would be comfortable with me saying who they are or not," Espeon said.

"Of course you can't," Locke said, truthfully he had a very strong idea on who they were already.

"I'm really sorry about this, Locke. I hope things will work out for the best for you anyways."

"It's alright," Locke said, his voice trailed off as he turned to the office door, beginning to walk off.

Espeon sunk his head down. But just before Locke touched the door, a flash of insight came to him and he lifted his head back up.

"Wait, one second," Espeon said.

"Yeah?" Locke stopped and looked back at the guildmaster.

"If spending time with your sister is your concern, have you considered inviting her to the guildhouse and hanging out with her in your own room?" Espeon proposed. "There's no rules against inviting people to the guildhouse, so you could spend as much time as you want with her like that."

"Huh… hadn't considered that," Locke said, his eyes shifting to look up.

The shinx still left the room and began walking down the hallway, but did so more amiably, seriously thinking about Espeon's suggestion.

Epseon remained in the room, sitting on the chair behind his desk like he so often did. His gaze dropped down again, he stared at a checklist he had made for himself at the start of the day. Espeon dipped one of his claws into a vial of ink, and drew a thick horizontal line over the words "Talk with Locke about the time he's spending away from the guildhouse."

Lifting his claw up, Espeon looked at the rest of the points on the same list. "Check new missions requests", "ensure kitchen and pantry is mold-free", "take inventory of medical supplies", "put in requests for equipment that fit Snivy and Swana" and many more points written in black ink trailed on, down the paper. Espeon let out a sigh, he could tell that it'd be a long day. Just like the day before that, and the one before that.

He shifted his head to look at two stacks of paper lying on the desk, one was mission requests he had signed off on earlier that day and the other was the mission requests he had received but not yet read.

Grabbing another paper and dipping his claw in ink again, he returned to work. Item retrieval, saving a lost friend, exploration, it was all things he was familiar with; routine as can be. On some days he'd get a mission that was excitingly unique, but this day was clearly not one of those.

The clock above the office door seemed to move exactly at the pace one would expect. Never once was there a point where he could look up at it and wonder where a minute had just gone, it never felt like it skipped forward or accelerated. Espeon felt every single second tick by as he did his paperwork.

Eventually- in the fullest extent of the word, thirty minutes had gone by, but none escaped. Espeon took a figurative step back to see where he was and what he had done. He had five papers left to work through, just barely above the range where one would be able to summon up a second wind of energy to just get the final stretch over with. He stared at the papers blakely, for he just couldn't bring himself to do anything more to actually interact with them. Looking at the situation from a rational lens, he had already done a pretty tremendous amount of work that day, so he didn't necessarily have to do more. Not even in an avoiding procrastination sense.

Letting out a sigh, Espeon turned to the trapdoor beside him. He lifted it open, and began walking down the spiral staircase to his bedroom. He was beginning his break that he felt he needed dearly. However, it was a break from exhaustion rather than a break from finishing a project, which isn't nearly as satisfying.

Once Espeon finished his descent down the spiral staircase, he peered around the room, even though he was keenly familiar with everything in there. There were many pictures of pokemon there he had set up; each looking forward, each looking at him. He considered turning them so he wouldn't be getting looked at by them and could feel more alone in his somewhat shameful break. He even walked up to some of the pictures, only to change his mind and turn away before touching them.

He walked up to his bed and telekinetically lifted his blanket up, but then lowered it down a second later without getting below it. He second-guessed himself when he realized that he'd probably get too into resting and burn away far more time then he would have wanted to had he gotten under a blanket. So he turned to a small sofa in his room instead to hop onto and sit down. The moment sat down, he got the idea that he could be pacing around instead, as that would both allow him to stretch his legs more after hours of sitting and help his mind more while at it. He sat on the sofa for only a minute- the feeling that he should be pacing instead gradually building up until it eventually pushed him to hop down.

Side-by-side, back-and-forth he paced around on his four paws. He tried to form his own thoughts about his interests, likes, and dislikes, but it didn't take long before his mind shifted back to the seemingly endless series of decisions he had to make with the guild and his personal life. There really wasn't much actual rest to be found since his mind was just as active. The only thing that succeeded in distracting him in that state was the room's lighting, which he found to be too bright, so he went to adjust it. Then he adjusted it again a minute later, and once more not much longer after that.

Still fresh on his mind was what he said to Locke. Just like how he walked back-and-forth, he mentally went back-and-forth on what to do. "Was I too mean to him? Should I take it back? Does he still need to be in the harness? It's been awhile since he's hurt another guild member. But I shouldn't forget the times he did hurt others and how often he did it at first. Would Sebastien be mad at me if I removed it? Maybe I shouldn't then," endlessly, he mulled over what to do.

It wasn't just the subjects connected to Locke that he mulled over, there were many problems within his organization that he worked out as well. Problems he had mulled over for a while, causing them to linger. Problems that lingered, causing them to build up. Venusaur, Hunter, Yuki, Tamin, all pokemon with some problems with them that he often had to question on what to do with.

Eventually, he had to make reconciliation with the fact that he wouldn't come up with solutions to these himself, he needed another to talk with. As a result- twenty minutes after he had first descended down from the spiral staircase- he went back up.

Opening the trapdoor from beneath, he looked up into the office and instantly spotted the exact person he was going to search for. Niot was perched on the office desk, working through the leftover papers that he took a break before filling them out himself.

"Hey Niot, do you have some time?" Espeon said as he emerged from the floor.

"Could it wait until once I'm done with these?" Niot responded, his eyes not shifting from the paper. "Just have… a few more paragraphs… to work out."

"Take your time," Espeon said.

He got to the desk, then placed his front legs onto it so he could look at what Niot was doing. His claws diligently flew around, writing much faster than Espeon ever could to write black ink down onto the tannish white paper.

"Aaannndd… there," Niot said as he finished, tapping down on the paper with exaggerated action to place down the final period. "That's done now. What did you want me for, guildmaster?"

"There's some matters I'd like to discuss with you. And I'd like it to be done in my room where it's more private," Espeon said.

"Understood. I'm available right now, so we can do it as soon as you want," Niot respectfully replied.

"Come now," Espeon said, lowering his front legs back down to the ground and opening the trapdoor once more.

The two descended and met in the bedroom, shutting themselves in to cut themselves off from eavesdroppers.

"What is it you wanted to discuss with me?" Niot asked.

"A couple things that have been troubling me, to be honest," Espeon replied.

Niot could instantly tell this would take a fair amount of time, so he hopped up onto a futon and perched himself on it.

"Think I should do away with Locke's harness? Or at least be lighter on him with it?" Espeon asked. "Been awhile since he's harmed another guild member."

"I think it's reasonable to, considering the time that's past and how he's been doing. I believe we were already rather pushing what the guild could and should do when initially issuing it, as it was in a rather crisis state that we originally pushed it in, but things have since relaxed." Niot responded, trying to fully elaborate his thoughts. "Of course, last I asked her, Mawile still supports this. As does Rustin, who has been talking to me strangely often."

"Hmm. Thanks, I'll put that into consideration," Espeon said, more out of respect than anything else, as Niot didn't tell him anything he did not already know.

Niot discreetly shifted his eyes away. He wasn't an impatient person, he tried to avoid being that at every chance possible. But from years of work, he knew all too well that it'd be a while before anything came from Espeon's 'consideration'.

"At the very least, we should write down clearer rules for how we should handle these situations. Often it's faster to check what the books say instead of mulling over the decision yourself," Niot said. He spoke it in such a way that made it sound like he was reciting a proverb of wisdom, but in reality it was very targeted to Espeon in specific.

"Right, right… Could you start writing up a few iterations on how you'd write down the rules with those and word them? I can look over them and see which I like," Espeon said.

"Sounds like a smart idea, I can start working on that as soon as the next morning," Niot said, his voice perking up in tone. Progress was being made as he was being put at the helm of the change.

"Great. As for Locke, I'm thinking of… holding an interview to talk with him, asking him some questions to gauge how he is right now."

"I believe that's another smart idea. I'm sure your psychic abilities will work wonders with that as well. Should I think of some topic questions for you and get that scheduled?" Niot responded, his eyes searched left and write of a paper and a pen to begin writing it down. There was not a single office supply to be found in the room.

"Hmm. Tomorrow doesn't work for me, or the day after that. Try scheduling it for next Wednesday, I'll tell Locke in advance to meet with me that day."

"I will get that written down as soon as I can. Anything else you wanted to discuss with me about the shinx, or someone else?"

"Yeah," Espeon swiftly replied, not needing to take any pauses to think.

Niot regretted asking that question, but didn't let Espeon realize that.

"What else do you have in mind?"

"Venusaur and Yuki. Those are the other two that are stuck in my mind right now," Espeon said. "Still going back and forth over whether to boot Venasaur, he messes with the other guild members, but he has saved lives on missions before. Then with Yuki, I think we've kept her down there for quite awhile already, I'm not sure what we're hoping to happen by keeping her locked away."

"Oh yes, Yuki, that reminds me. Sylveon has told me he has notes regarding her that he wanted to discuss with you," Niot announced, perking up as the memory hit him.

"Really? Summon him then," Espeon said, eyes widening a twinge in surprise. Something like this wasn't what usually occurred in this near-daily routine of his.

"Of course. Anything else you want to tell me before then?"

"No, that can be all for now. I want to speak with him."

"Understood."

Niot hopped down from the furniture and headed back towards the staircase. Espeon stayed in his room. First he sat down idly, then he began pacing around just a minute later.

The more time went on, the more he second-guessed what Niot said. "What if he's just being a yes man right now?" was a question that haunted him.

There was a knock on the door. Epseon wasted no time, saying "who is it?" only a moment later.

"It's Sylveon."

"Got it, I'll let you in."

He used telekinesis to lift the pin that locked the door, and Sylveon pulled it open himself. The white pokemon stepped into the room, his expressions as stern as always, ready to deal with situations with utmost formality and not have any personal emotions or opinions to get in the way.

"Niot said you wanted to talk to me about something?" Espeon asked.

"Yes. More of a general update on how Yuki has been, I've been making sure to keep track of her behavior."

"Tell me about that then," Espeon said.

The two spent a half hour together, where Sylveon spared no detail in his report. He was fairly good at reading faces and taking good guesses on what was going on in other people's heads, giving him much to talk about.

Between prisoner and prison manager, a strange sort of bond formed with enough time. It most certainly wasn't Stockholm Syndrome in this case, but there was still a bond to be found. Sylveon didn't have a desire to hurt Yuki beyond the imprisonment, Yuki was incapable of harming Sylveon, and the only one she could have a proper conversation with was Sylveon. First it began with Sylveon watching how Yuki's mental process worked to get an understanding of her tricks, but as time progressed it would develop into something else. He was gaining an understanding of her emotions, how she felt about the place she was in, and her regrets. Sylveon could strongly visualize what it would be like in her position, and all the subtle feelings which come with that.

They still hated each other, no doubt with that. Yet despite that, the word 'intimate' was strangely applicable to them.

Sylveon needed some time to convey all the information. When it came to logistics and procedures he could summarize it clearly, concisely, and efficiently. That wasn't the same case with the mental and emotional stuff at all. When it came to that, he found his tongue getting caught up and him stumbling on his words, struggling to say what he meant. Eventually, he was able to say the final things he had on his mind.

"So… I think that covers everything," Sylveon finished off.

"Thank you for that," Espeon responded with a light nod. "I do want to ask now. Do you think it's time to… give her another chance?"

"Not my call to make, that's yours. But I don't think we should." Sylveon said, still straightforward. "If we do, we really need to be keeping her under watch. I think I can keep her under watch pretty well and I've been liking what I've been seeing out of her, but we REALLY shouldn't forget about what she's done. Quite sickening."

"I see. I did take what seemed like a big risk with giving you another chance, and that certainly paid off," Espeon pointed out.

"Believe me, I already factored that in with giving my opinion," Sylveon responded.

"Oh. Well, hmm."

"I really can't recommend it, personally, though I've never been good at making my own calls," Sylveon said as he extended his legs to get up from sitting. "Tell me if you make any decision, I'll respect it as always. For now, I'd like to do another patrol around the guildhouse as we've been down here for a while now. Sorry for this sudden exit."

"It's fine, thank you for telling me this. You can leave now,"

"I'll see you later. Bye."

"Bye."

Sylveon left the room from the side door, leaving Espeon by himself again.

He leaned back on a couch, embedding himself in the cushion as he looked upwards in thought.

Once again he was alone, but his mind didn't even begin to rest."Okay, talked with Syleon and Niot now, what else do I have to do now?" He tried going through a mental checklist to solve what to do next. "The final missions got processed by Niot so I don't need to touch on that more. Should I talk with Locke some more? Maybe. Would it be weird since it wasn't so long ago that I talked with him? I think it might be. Yeah, he seemed annoyed with me from the last conversation so I think I should wait for when he's in a better mood.

What else do I need to do, what else... I could check the guild's supplies? Yeah, I guess that's an option. Oh, and I should read over the guild rules and think about things like Niot suggested. Hmm. I can do that later, I think I'll look at what the stockpiles are looking like right now."

Espeon leaned back on the cushions for just a bit longer, mentally giving himself a few "yeah"s and "that'll do it"s to himself before he was ready to physically move and execute his plan.

Finally, he left his room and got the door locked up. He took a quick glance around the lobby to ensure that nothing was amiss, then after making sure there was nothing to attend to there, he moved on.

Getting to the storage rooms instantly reminded Espeon about why the rooms weren't visited all too often. Storage work was categorically uninteresting. Open a box, look to see how many of something is in there, write it down. Open a box, look to see how many of something is in there, write it down. Open a box, look to see how many of something is in there, write it down. Look at a shelf, look to see how many of something is up there, write it down.

It did have the nice advantage where the task was just mindless enough that one could daydream while doing it. Espeon unfocused on reality, his mind wandering even more than it did when he was in his bedroom and alone. Somehow it managed to be both relaxing and annoying at the same time.

He spent an hour in it, getting lost in replaying fights in his head that he had years ago in his days of adventuring. He was struck in a trance of automated actions and his mind entirely elsewhere. That trance lasted until:

"Well there you are, I've been looking for you for a while."

Espeon snapped back to reality and looked towards the room entrance, seeing Sebastien the Meowstic in the doorframe. She propped herself up with one paw on the wall and had both of her tails lifted up on the other side of her. Her hip was shifted to be as diagonal as she could get it at that position.

"Oh hey, sorry. I was doing some stuff," Espeon explained. He wasn't far enough into reality to speak in anything but vague terms quite yet.

"Need help with anything there?"

"If you want to. I've gotten things just about wrapped up and this is always something I can come back to later."

"Mmm. Alright. I was mainly just wanting to know how you're doing," Sebastien said, beginning to strut into the room. Really, 'walking' wouldn't be an adequate description, it was an unnatural strut with exaggerated hip movements. Her tails were together and hung high, shifting to be at her left, then her right, then her left again, moving with every step.

"I'm alright enough. Just a bit…-"

"Bothered? Stressed? Something in that vein?"

"Yeah," Espeon said, a bit surprised that Sebastien hit it on the noise quite well.

"Mmm-hmm. I took notice that something or another is bugging you. Still some decision you're in limbo on?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe I could help you unwind a bit, get you less on edge," Sebastien said with a sly smile.

She played one paw on Espeon's head, then slowly stroked it down his neck, back, and behind. It trailed against his tail until it reached the forked end, and Sebastien twirled the ending of it around her finger.

"Eheh, not here," Epseon awkwardly said, his eyes flicked to the door to make sure no one was observing them.

"Fair enough," Sebastien said. "So where do you want to go for this? My room or yours?"

"Umm…" Espeon had his tongue caught, trying to figure out what to say to this binary question he was answered.

"I've got some new 'things' we can try out if we head to my room~"

"Let's do that then."

"Purrrfect," Sebastien said with a smile.

Sebastien slowly brushed Espeon's tail, smoothing out the fur and removing any loose, shedded strands. He sat calmly to let this happen, looking at how Sebastien was doing.

"Thanks for this, you really know what to do," Espeon complimented.

"So, the theatre in town opened up two weeks ago. Up for going on an afternoon date to one? I could get the tickets pretty easily," Sebestien said, still brushing Espeon's tail and not looking him in the eyes.

"I would love to, but I just don't think I have the time for it. I've got… a bit… a fair bit of work to do at the guild right now," he replied.

"Oh, I understand then. I can just watch one of the plays by myself in that case," she stroked more, working out a stray strand of fur. "Here's an idea, once I'm done watching the play you could use mind reading on me and watch it that way."

"Nah, mind reading always feels incredibly invasive no matter how much consent I get. Plus it'll give me a bad headache if I try to watch an entire play with it instead of just a short memory."

"Ah, you do you then. Probably for the best, I just figured you could pull something like that off."

"I can, just would rather not," Espeon clarified. "Besides, I'd rather hear you explain what happened in your own words. You have a wonderful way of speaking and phrasing things."

"Not going to argue with that~ Why thank you," the meowstic gave a charming grin.

"No problem. I just like the way you talk. It's elegant, exquisite."

"That's really sweet to hear. I try to be natural with it, not pretentious like others might be sometimes.

Say, since we are alone right now, want to get a little bit more intimidate? Wanna do some risqué?"

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm not feeling it right now."

"Aww, will you let me get involved with at least a few of the Q-words?"

"Sorry, just not feeling like it. Save it for another day."

"Well that's quite quaint."

The two both giggled after that comment. Sebastien had finished grooming Espeon's tail, but she kept going to simply pet it.

"I find it impressive how you say these things with so little filter," Espeon admitted.

"Well we are in a private place right now aren't we? So no harm no foul," Sebastien said. "I'm unashamed. Pokemon kind wouldn't last more than a generation if not for the risqué."

"Ha, fair enough. I'm definitely not going to get the same courage that you have," Espeon admitted.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me. Have you noticed that Rustin and Mawile seem to have something getting off together?"

"I think I have," Espeon admitted.

"I heard that a few weeks ago they were on a mission together and Mawile teased him by twirling his tails around in front of others," Sebastien spoke her gossip while nearly giggling along the way. "I bet he was soooo embarrassed by that."

"Oh gosh, I'd imagine he would be. Wouldn't expect Mawile to do something like that either. Is she taking it from you or something?"

"I'd like to think she is~" Sebastien said. "It would be especially weird for Rustin too. While I haven't called him out on it, I'm almost certain that he's got as much of an interest in tails as I do."

"Really now?"

"Yeah, he just tries to keep it a secret and to himself, but I can definitely tell he's got that 'interest'. He's not as subtle with it as he thinks, either. He grooms his own tails, and his tails always come out looking just as good and clean as when I'm done with it. He's not just good at it, he's suspiciously good."

"I hadn't noticed that before. Now you mention it, he does get that looking quite good."

"Yep! But hey, he's still trying to keep it to himself. You know 'We have to be serious and focus on the task at hand'." Sebastien said with a mock masculine voice, the kind you hear when you're trying to sound as much as a man as possible when no actual man sounds like that.

"Can't say I blame him, to be honest," Espeon admitted.

"Oh hey, I just remembered something. I have some snacks in my room that I got."

"Oh? Let me see," Espeon got curious.

Using Psychic, Sebastien pulled open a cabinet and levitated a glass bowl over to them and two smaller plastic ones. Setting it beside them, Espeon saw it was a bowl of peanuts. Both got one of the empty plastic bowls.

"Just peanuts?" Epseon asked.

"I have some other stuff if that doesn't suit you, but I got this recently. Have as much as you want," she reached into the bowl to grab a few, cracked them open, and discarded the shells into the plastic bowl.

"I wasn't aware you liked peanuts so much. Good to know," Espeon grabbed one as well.

"Yeah. My parents never allowed them in the house because of Rustin, so I'm glad that I can be trying them out now that I have my own room," she put two into her mouth and ate them. "I suppose it's that 'forbidden fruit' veneer that I love. Makes it so pleasurable."

"I can see that. Although is the word 'veneer' really applicable here?"

"It is because it's fun to say," the meowstic smiled.

He couldn't really argue with that logic.

"I do like the taste though, unironically. Just remember to clean your paws off once you're done eating them." She shifted to laying on her belly as she grabbed a few more peanuts from the glass bowl. "Besides, let's be glad that this was the allergy he ended up with was this instead of perfume. That would've been so much worse."

"Not sure I'd say that, but I can understand why you'd say that," Espeon looked around the room as he said that, now more aware of the perfume present and focusing on the scent. "By the way, is it just me or have you been salivating an odd amount as well?"

"Oh yeah, that's normal. I got some perfume which has just a dash of catnip mixed into the aroma~" Sebastien admitted, speaking like she was telling a joke.

"Doesn't that dull the mind?" he asked.

"Don't worry about that, just enjoy it," she reassured. "By the way, can I ask what's still getting you stressed out?"

"Hmm? I'm fine."

"I can tell something is bothering you. Your tail is just a bit stiff today."

That comment caused Espeon to flinch with a twinge of surprise, he moved his tail away from the meowstic.

"No point in hiding it now, heh. I can read you with that quite well, way easier than reading minds even," Sebastien teased. "But yeah. I expected it'd get better as I was brushing it, but it didn't fully fix. So I really want to know, what's got you so stressed up?"

"Some decisions with the guild," Espeon admitted, moving his tail back in place.

"Are you able to be more specific, or?"

"Trying to decide what to do about Locke and his harness, he's been in it for awhile, so I think it might be time to rethink that."

"Ah, I see, I see," Sebastien said. Her voice shifted, it still had a seductive undertone to it that she always had when with Espeon, but it was also more collected. A stereotypical therapist tone, that's what it was trying to replicate. "You're right that it has been a good while, but I know Rustin wouldn't be happy if he got taken out of that harness, and I can definitely remember what it felt like to have him scratch at my neck and break that scarf. Although I will admit it's a bit odd that Rustin's more mad at him than me for when he hit me. I guess he's just protective."

"Right, that's what I'm struggling with… do you want me to talk with Rustin about that?"

"What? No, it's alright. He's my brother, I get it."

"Fair enough. Back to Locke, I'm thinking of having a meeting with him in a few days to get to see how aggressive he still is. From what I've heard, he hasn't actually hurt another guild member in a very long time."

"That sounds wise to me. Anyone else?"

"There's still Yuki that I've been thinking about."

"Oh?" the meowstic's voice spiked up in tone.

"It hasn't been nearly as long with her and she's done worse things, but I feel we should start changing up the plans with her. Do something else."

"Definitely."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I don't think she's as- er- I think she can improve," Sebastien said. "I had several really sweet conversations with her, and she can be friendly. While I understand the fear that she's just being manipulative all the time, I personally don't think that's the whole story."

"Are you sure? You're strangely confident about this. Just seems kind of odd to me," Espeon spoke.

"Not everyone is as unsure as you. I know her fairly well, and I'm confident about this. I'll keep her under watch, don't worry. I'm certain she won't do the things she did to Braixen and Tamin again," Sebastien explained.

"Hmm… I'll take that into consideration."

"Haven't you taken things 'into consideration' enough? Are you just going to keep thinking about stuff, going back and forth forever without any action?"

Espeon stayed silent, he could not respond to that right away. But to Sebastien, his silence spoke the answer she wanted.

"You are absolutely sure about this, just to make sure, right?" Sylveon asked.

"Yea. If things don't go well, we'll boot her from the guild or put her back down there," Espeon responded.

"You're more aware of this than I am, but I don't want anyone at the guild to be uncomfortable from this," Umbreon said.

"Well I think there are people who are already uncomfortable with what we're doing to her," Espeon replied.

"Like who?" Umbreon asked.

"Sebastien told me about it earlier today. Anyways, do you have the stuff for her, Sylveon?"

"I've had it for months and have double-checked its quality."

"Good, good."

The three eeveelution pokemon were gathered in Sylveon's office, the door behind them locked, and the carpet pulled up to reveal the sturdy trapdoor embedded in the ground. They all stared at the wood like it was the seal to Pandora's box. In many ways, that was an apt way to view it. They had already made their decisions, they were just taking a moment to mentally psyche themselves up for it.

"Alright, we've waited long enough. Sylveon, go get her," Espeon ordered.

"Right away," he confirmed.

Obediently, he pushed the blocking wood out of the way and pulled the hatch open with his feelers. The stairway to the underground was opened for them all to stare down. Staring into darkness was normally unnerving because you aren't quite sure what lies in the darkness. This time, they know exactly what was down those stairs, they could navigate down there blindly fairly well even. It was what they knew was down there that made one feel off.

Sylveon descended downwards until his pink tail disappeared into the darkness. Espeon and Umbreon stayed atop.

After a moment, Umbreon spoke. "I haven't actually talked or seen Yuki too much myself, I have to admit."

"I'm not surprised. She kept to herself a lot to keep suspicion on her low so she could go unnoticed. She kept it between just herself, Braixen, Hunter, and later Tamin so other people didn't know about it. Unnervingly cunning."

"Yeah. Here's hoping everyone will keep their guard up about it now."

"That's the idea. She shouldn't be able to work when everyone's eyes are on her."

"Mhmm."

"Say, do you have any trouble makers on the nocturnal side of the guild?" Espeon asked.

"Nothing like this, that's for sure. Worst we've gotten was that Murkrow used to have a problem with stealing from other guild members for fun, but he's gotten better about that and we're all calm now."

"Let's hope that Yuki will get better as well…" he said, closing off with a sigh.

It took some time, but eventually they could hear some faint sounds reverberating up from the staircase. Footsteps got closer to them, scaling the steps up to them. A few more seconds, and they saw Sylveon re-emerge from the darkness. Behind him, the vulpix Yuki.

Yuki squinted and turned away as the light reached her eyes. It wasn't anything bright objectively speaking, but was harshly dazzling compared to the darkness she was adjusted to.

They both stepped forward again, revealing their bodies further. As they did, Yuki's full appearance was unveiled, and she was clad in a harness that covered her chest.

"Hello, Yuki," Espeon said, taking a good gander at her, his eyes quickly landing on her harness.

"Long time no see," Yuki said. "I am deeply sorry for everything I have done, and I make the absolute promise that it will never happen again." It was clearly words she had rehearsed in her head many times over, she wasted no time in starting her script.

"You got a harness for her as well?" Umbreon asked.

"If that's what we did to Locke, I think it's fair it should be done with her as well," Espeon said.

"I think it suits her well, personally," Sylveon smugly commented.

"While I won't deny what I've done, you do realize that I never striked another guild member or wandered off during a mission, right?" Yuki protested.

"That is correct, but it's more for the iconography of it."

"It's a really effective mark for getting others to watch out for you, so while we're still keeping an eye on you, you'll wear it," Sylveon said, trying to say the harsher words so that Espeon didn't need to.

"Plus it'll help Locke feel better, and not have him feel cheated if he has it and you don't."

Yuki's eyes squinted just a little bit, so subtle that most wouldn't notice it. But Sylveon was paying close attention, and he caught it. He could tell that she was already gaining information she found interesting and committing it to memory.

"You're trying to make Locke feel better?" Umbreon responded. She wasn't judgemental or overly confused, it could best be described as light curiosity.

"Yeah, I am," he reassured.

"Since I am being watched, is there anything I should know? Any new rules I need to follow?"

"Don't eavesdrop on private conversations, don't blackmail other guild members, and we're making it so you, Niot, and the three of us are the only ones allowed to enter your room. So even if someone else says they want to enter your room, we still won't let them in, so you cannot convince people to come with you into the room."

"Makes sense, and I promise not to break those rules," Yuki said, sounding very bad about herself. She was miserable after being in the dungeon for so long, so it was hard to tell how much of her tone was from misery, and how much was actual guilt.

"We have one more thing, though," Espeon said.

Both Umbreon and Yuki raised eyebrows, curious what this could be. Sylveon did not. Instead, he cracked a smile.

"After thinking it over, I've figured out that you're a reverse of Locke in a way. While Locke was problematic during missions but has been mostly normal while within the guild, while you have been reported to be normal during missions, but have been dangerous in the guildhouse as you eavesdropped on others and blackmailed them with their secrets. So since you don't need anything to hold you back, we've got something else for you.

Sylveon, show them to her."

Yuki shifted her head to look at Sylveon. She watched him reach into his satchel with two of his feelers, and retrieve two small objects from inside of it. They were both colored dark red, they roughly resembled spheres but weren't quite that.

"What are those?" Yuki asked.

"They're like hearing aids, except for the fact that they do the exact opposite," Sylveon explained with a cunning grin. "You'll wear these while you're at the guildhouse. They won't make you deaf and you'll still be able to hold a conversation with someone directly speaking with someone, but you'll find that eavesdropping into other rooms isn't an option anymore"

"So this is your solution to dealing with me?" Yuki asked, gazing at the two items.

"Yeah, you could describe it like that," he replied. "Now hold still, I'll put these in your ear."

She was reluctant to comply, but given the circumstances she didn't have many other choices. Though her reflexes still made her twitch around when Sylveon inserted them.

"...Alright, got them in," Sylveon said, pulling away from the vulpix.

"Good. So Yuki, what do you first-"

"What?" Yuki said, sounding confused.

"I said Yuki, what do you first want-" Epseon tried speaking up.

"What?" Yuki said again.

"Yuki! What do you want!-"

"Stop, Espeon," Sylveon interjected. "I tested these out on myself earlier, and intentionally put them at a low setting right now. There's no way it's muffling her hearing enough to actually prevent her from hearing you, and I know from my time with her that she certainly doesn't have any natural hearing impairments.

Right now, she's feigning not being able to hear you. Must be wanting us to turn it down further, clever thing."

Out of reaction and hard to resist reflex, Yuki's head flicked to look at Sylveon as he said those words. Sylveon was speaking quieter than Espeon was. She avertedly proved what Sylveon was saying with that unfortunate reaction.

"What's the problem? Mad that I learned all your tricks now?" he said.

Yuki squinted at her with unspoken anger.

"Thank you for being able to point that out," Espeon complimented Sylveon first, then turned to Yuki. "As I was saying, what do you want to do first now that you're free from there?"

The vulpix let out a sigh. "I'd like to be with my brother now," she said.

"Let's take her up," Espeon ordered.

"On it," Sylveon replied.

The door to the office was opened, and the entire group marched out with the vulpix in the center. Yuki would've liked to imagine it as a celebrity escort, but she was so jaded that the only way she could see it was how it really was.

After a moment, the vulpix began getting a feeling in her head. Initially she thought it was just a sudden headache, but after a second she could tell it was something else, it was psychic powers touching her. She lowered her guard to let it come in.

"So, I feel that you've finally made it up," a voice telepathically spoke into Yuki's head.

"Yeah. Glad that I'm finally up, but I'll need some time to feel out how free I am now," Yuki thought to reply. "They've put me in a harness, just like the one Locke's in."

"Oh dang. Although I probably should've expected that. I'll let you feel things out again."

"Yeah. I've got so much to catch up on, I'd imagine."

"Oh yeah. And I've been planning out on what to talk to you about the last time I saw you for a while now. I look forward to it."

"Good to know. Thank you so much for helping get me out of that hell, Sebastien."

"Of course. But you definitely owe me after this."

"Understandable."

End of chapter 30.