The quiet morning ambiance flowed through the open windows of the small bedroom. Soft birdsong accentuated by the crisp morning breeze blowing through the leaves outside the windows made for a soft, relaxing atmosphere. The plush pillows beckoned the user back to the land of dreams.

If only for the first few rays of sunlight drifting through the blinds, landing directly atop her eyelids.

With a groan of frustration, the Vulpix hauled herself upright, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She cast a dirty sidelong glance towards the window, darkly muttering "You win this round..." before dragging herself out of her (incredibly comfy and warm) bed to her bathroom. Running the shower in order to wash away any remaining vestiges of sleep, the fox let out a dreamy sigh as the hot water relaxed her body. She began to smooth out her soft, white fur before working the conditioner through it.

She found herself wondering why she kept her fur so long when the lands down south were nowhere near as arid and bitter as the north she'd come from. But quickly dispelled such thoughts after drying her fur off as best she could before she sat herself before her mirror. A grin formed over her muzzle as she marvelled at how silky smooth it was. 'Oh, that's right. It's because I make this look good!' Humming a song to herself, the Vulpix began to run the brush through her fur, smoothing and correcting each and every strand of the delicate hair in her arduous morning routine.

It was a little silly, all things considered, to perform such rigorous grooming for what amounted to a glorified desk job, but the young lady enjoyed keeping herself well groomed and looked after. What she didn't enjoy, however, was how many men would notice her attention detail.

A scowl grew over her face remembering that it was, in fact, another new day. Which meant more new arrivals that would need to be checked in, logged and catalogued to ensure the safety of everybody. They couldn't just have potentially dangerous people roaming around Sunrise Peaks freely, now could they?

That's where she, and her colleagues, came in. It was their duty to log each and every new arrival to the town, help them find somewhere to stay, and help them begin to be productive towards the Guild's ultimate goal of a fully self sufficient town on this new frontier. Mystery dungeon's had begun cropping up rapidly all over the southern continent, much to the shock of the guild. So a great effort had been made to send a large contingent of the Exploration Society to document and try to stem the tide of the dungeon's rapid appearances.

It was every day for her, however, that a new set of hopefuls would turn up. Bragging about how strong they were, and how they were gonna "make it big!" They'd waste vast amounts of her time with pointless flirting, hoping in spite of hope itself that they'd catch the vixen's attention. She openly scoffed at the idea, older men just weren't her cup of tea, thank you very much.

And so, with her rigorous grooming up to standard, a few berries eaten for the extra energy, and a nice hot cup of tea in her thermal flask, the Vulpix resigned herself to another boring day at the office, making sure to lock the door behind her as she left.


"Woooooow..." Vast hazel coloured orbs danced between buildings, glancing around the busy town that seemed to just be waking up.

"Something caught your eye, Sweetpea?" The Glaceon chuckled with mirth at his daughters enthusiasm. He might not share in it, but her happiness was more than enough to bring a smile to his muzzle.

"There's so many people, Papa! Lookit!" The Eevee's paws darted in all directions, pointing out store upon store, manned by smiling Pokemon setting up their stalls and shops for the approaching day.

"You're not wrong, are you? Tell you what, as a special "we made it!" treat, pick out a store. Any store you want. We'll drop in, say hello, maybe pick something up, and then we'll head straight for the Guild hall, alright?" The tiny gasp of excitement was all the young man needed to hear to assure himself he'd pleased his young charge.

"REALLY?! Oooooooh, that one, that one!" The kit gripped her fathers ear, yanking on it to make him turn his head to the left, pointing straight ahead to the café just off to the side.

"Huh... 'Sunrise Pâtisseries'..." The Glaceon tutted to himself, rolling his eyes before reaching a paw up to poke the young Eevee atop his head. "I shoulda guessed, of COURSE you'd pick a sweet shop, little miss." She probably had no idea what the word even meant, but the assortment of decorated pastries lining the shelves in the window had most likely tipped the kit off. The only response he got was a "Nyeeeh!" sound from his passenger, presumably from her sticking her tongue out at him.


Diverting off his path towards the main Guild building, the newcomer stepping inside the welcoming building. As they approached the building, a gentle voice could be heard singing as there were sounds of movement from within. A soft ringing from above the doorway alerted the Leafeon behind the counter to the presence of her first customers for the day, spinning to face the boy with a winning smile. "Welcome! Please, feel free to look around! My name's Juniper, the daughter of the owner of this establishment!" She was young, perhaps younger than himself. Yet she looked so happy, so content with her role here.

"Woooooow... They're so pretty... And they all smell soooooo good!" The Leafeon was startled by the voice, giving an almost disbelieving look towards the Glaceon, wondering how he'd sounded so... childlike? It took her a few moments to realise the voice hadn't been his, but the tiny kit atop his head.

A soft gasp escaped the Leafeon before she barrelled forwards towards the countertop, blushing brightly as she cooed eagerly. "Oh, aren't you just the sweetest little thing! Hi there, honey! What's you're name?

The Eevee giggled happily, meeting the Leafeon's bright smile with one of her own. "Sunshine! I'm Sunshine! It's nice to meet you, Miss Juniper!"

The older girls heart melted at the polite young Eevee, reaching out a paw to gently scratch behind the kits ears. "Oh, aren't you just the sweetest thing? And you-!" The Leafeon turned her gaze to face to young man before her. "I don't think I've ever seen you around here before! You must be one of the new arrivals, right? Awwww, aren't you just a sweetheart taking your little sister out to get a treat!" The Glaceon stiffened, giving a somewhat forced smile to the cheery girl. He wasn't used to this. Interacting with people freely, like this. He hoped he wouldn't need to get used to it.

"Oh, uh, thank you miss. Yeah, we just arrived this morning. I offered to take her to get a special treat. Since this is a new start for us and all, I wanna make sure she's at least getting the chance to enjoy the local hospitality before we get... Well, stuck waiting in 3 to 4 hour long queue to get documented by the Guild." The Glaceon wasn't kidding, he knew getting them checked in would take a long time given the amount of people heading towards the Guild Hall.

"Uh-huh! Papa says I get to choose one store to get something from before we gotta go get checked out!"

"In, Sweetpea. We're getting checked in."

"What Papa said!" The Eevee beamed at the now thoroughly startled Leafeon.

"W-wait, did she just say 'Papa'? You mean... You're her father?! B-but you don't look all that much older than me?! H-how can you be- I mean it's just- O-oh almighty Arceus, I'm being so rude! I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-" The Glaceon's soft laughter broke the girl from her flustered babbling.

"I assure you, there's no offense taken, Miss Juniper. To answer your question, yes. I'm her father. But not by blood. I found the poor thing abandoned shortly after she'd hatched. I tried my hardest to find her real parents. But they either weren't from around where I lived, or they just didn't care enough to come collect her." The venom dripped from the boys last words as he grimaced darkly. "With no other options left to me, I took her in. I told her I'd be there for her, no matter what. That she'd be able to come to me with all her problems and worries. That I'd protect her, where nobody else would. She started calling me 'Papa' about two days later, and I wasn't gonna take that from her."

The Glaceon glanced up at the Leafeon, only to see her eyes swimming with unshed tears. There was a mixture of both pride and sorrow upon her muzzle, and the girls icy counterpart found himself feeling thoroughly awkward under her gaze.

"H-how awful... How could anybody abandon their own child like that? I'm so sorry, honey. I had no idea, I hope I didn't offend you in any way..." The Leafeon's gaze turned to the small Eevee atop his head, almost begging for forgiveness. To her dismay, and the Glaceon's pride, the little girl beamed brightly.

"I won't lie... It hurts still... But I have Papa! And Papa loves me just the way I am! Papa's worth a billion of my bio- bialo-"

"Biological parents." The Glaceon provided.

"Y-yeah! What Papa said! Papa's worth a billion of those any day!"

Stunned by the girls bubbly attitude towards such a terrible circumstance, the grass type couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Ahahahahah! O-oh, I'm dreadfully sorry. It's just- Hehehehe! She's so wonderfully full of life for one who's suffered so much... I usually don't allow myself to make quick judgements on the newcomers, I like to let them earn their keep so to speak. But I find I just can't help myself with all she's said. You seem like a wonderful influence on her, Mister...?"

The Glaceon's eyes snapped open wide as he awkwardly coughed into his paw. "O-oh, I never introduced myself did I? Uh, Kaguya. My name's Kaguya." The boy bashfully reached out his paw before stopping short, realising he was offering the paw he'd just coughed into. Blushing at his mistake, the boy retracted, and then offered up his other paw. A gesture the giggling Leafeon happily reciprocated.

"You've been a wonderful influence in your daughters life, Mister Kaguya. She's astonishingly lucky that after such a terrible wrong befell her, the world chose to make it right by sending her an angel~"


'You're such an angel, you know that?'

'Arceus Almighty, you're so precious...'

'You're much too clingy, jeez. Can't you give me some space?!'

'Ugh, just get away from me! You're such a burden.'


The Leafeon was startled when the boy violently snatched his paw away from hers, his lips peeling back in a snarl that never escaped them. His eyes flashed with recognition, almost as if he'd been a millions miles away in that one moment, and now he was back. The Glaceon gripped his forehead, shaking his head back and forth before blinking his eyes a few times.

"I- Uh- I'm sorry about that... I was... miles away. I hope I didn't scare you, or..." The boy weakly trailed off, unsure what else to say.

"Oh, no. You just startled me, is all... Did I... Say something wrong?" The Leafeon's ears folded back, worried she'd offended or (Arceus forbid) upset her new friend.

"Huh? O-oh, no. No, you didn't say anything wrong... Just... Bad memories. They kinda... Pop into my head whenever someone... Says something I used to hear a lot... And it drags me kicking and screaming back to places I don't wanna be... It wasn't your fault, please don't worry." He was speaking a lot stiffer, a lot colder than he had been.

"Oh, I really hope so... I'd hate for you to have a bad experience here and then not want to come back... I'd... Kinda like to get to know you better, you know...?" Reaching into the shelves, she picked out two freshly baked pastries, wrapping them up before placing them into a bag and handing them across the counter. "Here, my Grandmother's secret recipe. Our very own Special Spiced Strawberry Croissant's, fresh out of the oven! Consider them a welcome gift, and an apology for dredging up bad memories for you?" The Leafeon's hopeful gaze caused the Glaceon to cast his eyes aside, feeling ashamed for how harshly he was treating her.

Reaching his paw out to accept the bag, his paw briefly brushed against the Leafeon's, causing both 'Eon's to retract their paws in surprise. "O-oh, um... Thank you, Miss Juniper. These smell lovely, and somebody I know happens to really like strawberries." The ice types eyes drifted upwards, reaching a paw up to wipe the drool from off his forehead, courtesy of the young kit atop his head before heading for the door to leave.

The Leafeon beamed brightly, winking at the Glaceon before he walked out with his young daughter. "What better way to secure a returning customer than to show them just how great my families recipe's can be, right~? Oh, and there's no need to call me "miss" all the time. Just call me Juniper, alright? I'm... Really hoping you'll come back soon, Kaguya. Thank you for dropping by... And thank YOU for dropping by as well, sweetheart!" The grass type cooed to the young Eevee, waving at pair as they returned the gesture before heading back out towards their initial destination.

With a wistful sigh, the Leafeon went back about her daily tasks. Maybe next time, she'd ask him what flavours he likes... Bake him something special as a real apology? Clapping her paws together happily at the idea, the Leafeon once more took to singing as she began to dust the floors and counter tops, preparing the shop for another busy day, with many hungry mouths to feed.