The Sugar Flower Cafe

Blake stood behind the counter, watching as the scenery in the window changed from Vale to some unknown city in another universe. It was a quaint little town that seemed lively. However, she could see strange creatures bounding around with people. The people seemed to pay them no mind, even enjoying their presence. Huh, how odd. All she could do was hope that nobody came in with one of those creatures… It went against health and safety to have any sort of non-service animal in the café. She would definitely have to tell somebody to keep their animal away if that was the case. She didn’t want to be rude, but she had to uphold health and safety or else she could get fined and shut down. Eventually, three young women approached the door, each having a small animal with them. One looked like a squirrel, one sort of like a lion, the others… She didn’t know. She shook her head. “I’m sorry; if you want to have your animals, you’ll have to take your stuff outside. It’s against health and safety to have non-service animals in the building where food prep is happening,” she explained. The younger-looking brown haired girl tilted her head. “I’ve never run into a café in Alma that doesn’t allow Pokémon in. Pichu and Luno are always welcome.” “We have different standards here.” “What’s up with the ears? Is this a cosplay café or something?” Apparently someone else that could see through the spells. Blake twitched and swiveled her ears. “Woah. Nuts. They’re real?” Blake nodded. “Quite. Now if you want anything, please remove your companions and have them wait outside.” She wasn’t being aggressive or anything; she was just asking them to adhere to the standards and safety practices of Vale. Even if she was in a new world, she’d rather uphold the standards she’d agreed to in Vale… Hell would have no fury like a safety inspector that found unknown animal fur in the café. The three young women looked at their companions then had them go outside. “It’s really weird you won’t let us have them in. Pretty much every café around the world lets Pokémon be in them,” the younger-looking brown-haired one said again. There was something odd about her soul. Blake could feel some sort of reaching out. It wasn’t quite advanced aura, but it was something in the same vein. She threw her walls up immediately,making the young woman look startled. “Woah! You sensed my empath abilities?” Blake nodded. “Not hard when you’re as sensitive to energies as I am.” Her ears went back a bit. It didn’t seem malicious or anything. She just didn’t want anybody else reading her emotions. It was probably hypocritical when she read basically everyone else’s souls, but she didn’t want anybody else figuring out her White Fang heritage. Then again, on other worlds, they probably wouldn’t even have a notion of the White Fang… Considering this girl’s responses, they likely didn’t even have Faunus either. She wondered how she could see through the spells. It made no real sense to her… Aside from her empathy abilities, it didn’t seem like she was odd otherwise. “Now can I get you anything? And just be advised—my café is about experiences, not being fast paced like other big chains. If you want your order in a cup to go, tell me. Otherwise, I’ll make it in a mug and you can sit here and drink.” Blake was big on having people experiencesomething, not just consume mindlessly. She knew most other cafes were all about getting customers in and out the door as quickly as possible, but with how Menagerine café culture was… It was about the experience, not just consuming. She knew it conflicted with most other kingdoms’ café cultures, but she hoped she could gain some regulars that were more about the experience than just wanting a quick caffeine hit. “It’s our day off, so we’ll take it here.” The same brown-haired girl spoke with a smile. “Do you do anything for Pokémon?” “I…don’t even know what one is.Are those the strange animals I asked you to put outside?” “You don’t even know what a Pokémon is?” The brown-haired one with pigtails gasped a bit. “This café isn’t normal…” Blake shook her head. “No, it’s not. It’s an offworld café if you can believe that.” “I mean considering the ears…” The original brown-haired one spoke this time. “Anyway, Pokémon are the other dominant form of life on our planet. We make bonds with them, work with them, sleep with them, and so much more. They’re integral to life here. We’re Pokémon Rangers and it's our job to balance the needs of Pokémon and humans.” “I get that they’re some sort of animal but…Why did I sense so much intelligence from them?” In the short time they’d been in the café, she’d definitely sensed an odd amount of intelligence from them. Their souls were as active as an aura breed’s, human’s, or Faunus’. The creatures had obviously been confused when she’d told them they would have to wait outside. The lion-like thing had even looked a bit put out. But it wasn’t like she could just allow some random creature to come in her café. She had allowed Marie’s dog because it had a service vest and was clearly a service animal. These… Well, they had no such markings and she couldn’t just allow random animals in her café. Again, health and safety standards she’d agreed to. She’d rather notget shut down just a few weeks after opening. The young women all looked at each other quizzically. “Because most of them are just as intelligent as we are. That’s all there is to it.” Blake couldn’t help but blink at that. She knew aura breeds and how intelligent they could be because she’d worked with the White Fang’s aura corvids which were for intel. She’d gone to the point of teaching them to read maps. The birds were beyondintelligent. “Is it just them or is it normal for all individuals?” Aura breeds were the result of selective breeding for aura and it resulted in increased intelligence for the animals. If that sort of intelligence were natural across almost all species… She could barely wrap her mind around it. “Pretty much normal for all individuals.” The youngest brown-haired one looked at her. “How about this: we make an order then we can answer all the questions about Pokémon you want. Do you do anything safe for Pokémon? A lot of them have the typical no caffeine, no chocolate sorta thing…” “I have some herbal teas that are basically just fruit pieces and the teas are cold-brew. I could probably offer them some of that.” She wouldn’t normally allow people to give her orders to animals, but in this case…if the animals could outright understand what she was doing, then it made sense. She wasn’t going to turn down business. But if they got anything for the lion thing, that would be a big batch of cold-brew… She would charge them exactly what volume they ordered. “But I willcharge based on volume like I would for any other order.” “That’s fine.” The three placed their orders and Blake whipped up some tea for all three of them, then got out some cold-brew for the animals. The young women wanted warm tea which made sense. Normally she probably shouldn’t offer cold-brew in winter, but that was some people’s preference. They wanted iced coffee or cold-brew so she kept some on hand just in case those weirdos that liked cold drinks during cold seasons wanted any. She hated the cold but she couldn’t exactly avoid it in Vale… They all went outside, Blake shivering. The cold was dreadful. She never liked it. But there wasn’t much she could do about it. She really did need to keep a coat behind the counter or something. Thankfully, it was pretty mild here, all things considered. But, for her, anything below about fifty was cold. She’d grown up in tropical Menagerie during her formative years where the temperature rarely dipped below seventy and the humidity was at least 70% so it always felt hotter than it actually was. She hadn’t even known snow existed until she experienced her first realwinter. They sat outside at one of the tables that sat outside the café. The girls passed out the cold-brew to the weird creatures and the youngest-looking one put the bowl down in front of the lion thing. She was willing to give water to service animals if needed, so she did keep a couple bowls behind the counter. This wasn’t expected in the slightest, so it was definitely a strange use of the bowl. They were stainless steel, of course, because that was hygienic and easy to clean. “So what all are your names?” Blake asked. She hadn’t gotten their names yet. With only three people in the café, she hadn’t had to ask for the individual names for orders. “I’m Kate Neely.” “Summer Young.” “Solana Ambrose.” Well, that was quite the austentatious name if she’d ever heard one. Abrose was definitely a bit of a high-brow name if her own experience was anything to go off of. It sounded very much like something she’d hear in the Valian upper-class. She hadn’t spent any time around the Valian upper-class but she’d spent time around the Atlassian upper-class during her White Fang days… Nasty people, the majority of them. “Blake Belladonna.” Her ears twitched. “It’s nice to meet you. So what are all your companions?” “This is Pachi, my Pachirisu!” Kate smiled as she motioned to the little squirrel-like rodent. “Mimi, my Plusle.” “I didn’t name Pichu; I just call him Yuke because he has a ukulele. But the terrifying one there is Luno the Luxray.” The lion-like creature raised its head and gave a polite nod before going back to the bowl with cold-brew in it. Bizarre to see it from an animal that wasn’t an aura breed. This was going to take some getting used to. She really had no idea how to handle any of these creatures. They were absolutely bizarre. But there was definitely intelligence there. She could feel it in their souls. The Luxray was definitely taking everything in from how its ears twitched and it occasionally lifted its head to look around. “So what exactly are these creatures?” Blake was trying to understand, but she couldn’t get past it. They were all obviously incredibly intelligent and this was apparently very standard for most of not all species… How odd. She could hardly believe it. Inhabiting a world with such intelligent creatures… She honestly wished she could get more information on them. “Well, Pokémon are the other dominant life forms on the planet aside from humans,” Summer explained. “They come in all sorts of different types.” She went on to explain about the different Pokémon types as well as something called ‘type match-ups.’ Blake didn’t entirely wrap her mind around it, but it seemed like elemental rock-paper-scissors to her. One type was weak to another, but things got more complicated when they were dual-typed. But there were plenty of single-typed Pokémon that would be straight-forward with them. When they got to Psychic-type Pokémon, Blake frowned a little and her ears stood up straight. Creatures that could read someone’s mind and heart… She wondered if something like that would be good for Weiss. That girl, Marie, had had a psychiatric service dog. It could take years and tens of thousands of dollars to get a service animal in Vale. They could also be owner trained as there was no formal licensing service in Vale like there was in Atlas, but she wondered if there would be a Pokémon good for helping Weiss… Weiss had been through absolute helland letting her have a service animal with intelligence rivaling a human’s would be a godsend. “Are there any Pokémon that can work for psychiatric service animals? One of my employees, Weiss, has been through…a lot and can be triggered quite easily. I don’t want to betray her trust with what she’s told me, but she recently got away from a war on her planet.” It really wasn’t her place to tell Weiss’ story. But if she could talk with these young women…maybe they would have an idea. “Psychiatric service animals, huh? I’ve definitely seen them around.” Summer leaned back in her chair a little bit. “For someone with a lot of emotional disturbance, a Psychic type would definitely work well. One of the most sensitive evolution lines for that is the Ralts line. A Sylveon or Espeon may not be a bad option either. However, I’m not exactly sure how psychiatric service Pokémon workon paper. I’m not sure if there’s some sort of overarching licensing board across all regions like there are for Gym Leaders and Leagues, or if it’s something that varies region to region. I’d need to look into it before I could give you any solid answers. How often will you be around here?” “Uhh once a week, I think. But…Weiss really needs something pretty much immediately. She’s really not in a good state.” She frowned. “I do have a control panel that can let me choose where I go. Otherwise I’ll go to where it’s pre-programmed to go. I’m here for about two hours.” Summer took out a scroll and obviously texted somebody. “My best friend is retired from being a Ranger and he’s pretty good with the research. As long as Hastings doesn’t have him busy, we can probably have some good info in two hours’ time. I’m just not sure what to expect from Pokémon. Something from a breeder would probably be best as they were raised around humans, but breeders have waitlists and they can cost a lotof money depending on multiple factors. Is there any way I could meet her?” “Weiss is resting right now. I’m honestly kind of doing this behind her back, but I can see she desperately needs someone or something that can easily read her moods and respond to her needs in an instant.” It was just one of those cases where Blake could see what was best for someone. Normally she wouldn’t go behind somebody’s back but…Weiss clearly needed help. The fact that she freaked out from silence alonespoke volumes to how her mind had been warped from the torture she’d undergone. “I don’t want to wake her, but it might not be a bad idea to do so to see if this is something she’d want…” Summer nodded. “Will you wake her up?” “You’ll have to come back into the café with me. I don’t want her outside in the cold, no matter how temperate.” A light dusting of snow covered the ground and Blake already felt like that was too cold. But with Weiss’ lack of body fat, she’d probably get cold entirely too easily. Blake kept the heat in the café a little on the lower side, but that was because heating was expensive and she needed to balance that with her own comfort. She would blast it at 80 degrees if she could get away with it, but she couldn’t. She kept it around 72 which was waytoo cold for inside for her liking, but she still wasn’t sure how much her heating bill would be. Not to mention she needed to pay utilities for her own apartment… She had an electric blanket for her apartment. She may need to get one for Weiss, depending on how cold she got… She got up and the three followed her inside, but she motioned for them to sit down. She went to the room and let out a breath. No knocking. That triggered Weiss. But she wasn’t sure about just opening the door either. “Weiss?” She raised her voice hopefully loud enough to be heard. She winced a little, ears going down, when she heard a bump on the wall. She’d startled Weiss despite her best attempts. “It’s just me, Blake. Can I come in?” It took a few minutes for any sort of response to come, but the door opened. Weiss looked around warily, eyes darting around until she looked up at Blake. “I thought you were going to let me sleep. I’m still tired.” “I was but then we came to a world where I think there are some things you might be interested to learn about… Want to come out and talk to our guests?” She couldn’t help but feel guilty over startling Weiss like that and cutting her nap short. But it’d be another weekuntil she saw these people which, in some regards, would be good. It would give them the ability to research and check into things rather than just the couple hours they had right now. But getting Weiss’ feelings was important too… “I guess…” Weiss opened the door fully and came out. Once again, Blake was struck by just how gaunt her face was. Her clothes covered her body wrist to ankle, but her face still made it apparent just how little weight she had on her bones. It reminded Blake of the tales the elders of Menagerie would tell when they were released from the Mantaline extermination camps. They were basically just skin and bones and could barely support themselves. They had little to no food and were left to just starve to death. Weiss had obviously barely been allowed any food while she’d been tortured… She wished she could ask how people could be so cruel, but she knew better. She knew how cruel people could be, considering what Adam had done to her. They came out to one of the tables and Weiss sat down, looking around a bit. She sat down and leaned against the table a little bit, that short walk obviously having exhausted her. Blake wanted to comfort her, but there wasn’t much she could do right now. They were still essentially strangers and Blake didn’t want to potentially trigger her. She went behind the counter and turned on one of Weiss’ playlists, also making the music a little louder just for Weiss’ sake. It might be too quiet for her… Blake could understand how triggering silence could be, but she’d managed to mostlyget over it at this point. “So what is this about?” Weiss asked, looking at Blake then the three young women. “I didn’t tell them anything, but with your mental state and physical state, the animals on their world struck me as something that might be able to help you as service animals,” Blake explained. “What would you think of having a companion or two that could help with mood affect and physical tasks?” Weiss frowned and sighed. “I don’t want to admit it, but I’m not great at doing a lot right now.” She shook her head. “But what’s so special about the animals on this world?” “Would you mind explaining about Psychic types again, Summer?” Blake asked. Summer nodded and gave a bit of an overview of Psychic types while also explaining about Pokémon intelligence and some other things. Weiss frowned and Blake could feel the wheels in her head turning. “That…might very well be helpful. But I would want to know about the regulations and such surrounding it. And what do you mean wild versus domestic?” Summer explained about how there were wild Pokémon that, in other regions, could and would often be taken from their homes in battles. Weiss looked at Blake and they were on the same wavelength this time. That sounded barbaric. Things like dog fighting and cock fighting were extremely brutal and it sounded like battles were little better than that. Summer shook her head. “I can sense your unease and, well, most Rangers are pretty ill at ease with the idea of Trainers as well. But it’s nothing brutal like I can sense from you, Weiss.” She looked at Blake, obviously a little miffed from being blocked from reading her. “It’s sport fighting. Pokémon do get hurt, yeah, but there are regulations to how much they can get hurt. Plus, it actually helps them. They need battle experience to evolve. If Luno hadn’t gone out into the wild and fought other Pokémon, he’d still be a Shinx.” “Evolution?” Blake glanced at Weiss, not sure what this was about. “But evolution only occurs slowly over time,” Weiss said. “You’re making it sound like it happens instantaneously.” “That’s exactlywhat I’m saying.” Summer opened a screen on her round, wrist-mounted device and tapped around a bit before pulling up what was clearly related line of Pokémon. She explained how evolution worked. For Blake, it didn’t make any sense how evolution could happen so quickly. She really had no idea how to handle that information. The Pokémon were clearly related but they could quickly and instantaneously turn from one to another. How bizarre. But it sounded like a completely normal process for this world… “Weird,” Weiss said. “Agreed,” Blake concurred. “But what do you think about the general idea of having something to help you? I know there are program dogs and even cats in Vale due to aura breeds, but even allowing for an owner-raised animal… Well. Aura breeds cost ten times what a normal animal does. If a purebred goes for around two to three hundred, then a purebred aura breed will go for two to three thousand. I’m sure you can use normal animals, but aura breeds are by far the best. And waitlists are no doubt long for breeders and such. It’d take time to get one if we were to rely on Vale.” Weiss frowned. “It really depends on what all training Pokémon need to go through… If they have the intelligence of a human or surpass it most of the time, it’d probably be quick to train. But again, I’m worried if there are certifications or anything needed. Plus, what about health and safety for the café?” She looked at Blake. “I had finished up in a place called France shortly before you came into the café. A young customer had what was clearly a service dog with her. Behaved like one should: quiet and stayed out of the way. Legally, I have to allow service animals into the café. I can’t say I know much about Pokémon, but the ones that you three brought all have fur and might have allergens on them. I can’t allow them in because of the health and safety standards of the world my café belongs in,” Blake explained, looking at Kate, Summer, and Solana. It was one thing if there were outside tables which she didhave. That was where they’d sat earlier. “Fur will depend on the species you get. Something like an Espeon or Sylveon like we discussed? Definitely fur. Something like the Ralts line? Ralts have skin only, though Kirlia and Gardevoir have hair like we do.” Summer patted her hair. “Same with Gallade.” Blake and Weiss looked at each other and Summer explained about the Ralts line, pulling up pictures of them on her device. “These Pokémon are incrediblysensitive to emotions and with their hands and psychic abilities would be good for somebody with emotional disturbance. Sylveon would be good because it’s a loving Pokémon that naturally calms others down. Espeon as a species can often be quite aloof but they warm up to their companion in due time. That’s assuming you start from wild. But if you start from an Eevee, then they warm up a lot more easily since Eevee is generally a sweet, gentle Pokémon.” Summer showed them images of the Eevee line, leaving both Blake and Weiss perplexed. How could something evolve so much…? That was crazy. “But if you have mobility issues, something like Growlithe or Arcanine would be good since they can brace against you. Sylveon could also help with mobility issues since it’s a decent size. Espeon, though, they’re Psychic types which are spindly and not very good for that.” “There are a lot of options…” Weiss said. Blake could feel how overwhelmed she was; it rolled off her in waves. “Those are only a handful of Pokémon. There are over a thousand discovered species,” Summer said. “I think maybe a Gardevoir might be best for you, but again—” Something chimed and Summer pulled her scroll out. “Ah, here we go. If you wanna read, here.” She quickly unlocked it then handed it to Weiss and Blake. They started reading the basic overview of the rights and regulations that governed service Pokémon. It looked like a lot of larger regions didn’t have super tight regulations similar to Vale, but she saw some of the smaller regions had tighter regulations on taking Pokémon from the wild. It was a brief overview of the various regions and nothing super in-depth. The next link talked about Almia in specific. Blake looked up. “Are we in Almia?” Summer nodded. “Yup. I’m technically a registered Trainer and so is Solana since she was born in Sinnoh. What to the regs say?” “Give us a bit to read,” Blake said. Summer nodded and they scrolled through the overview link as quickly as they could. “It looks like wild-taken Pokémon require some sort of pre-arrangement with the Ranger Union.” Whatever that was. “It would also need a psychiatrist note.” Weiss frowned. “But I haven’t seen a psychiatrist and I doubt I could get one in this world when I don’t even existin it.” “Honestly, I think we could probably work something out with Erma.” Summer looked at Kate who gave a resolute nod. “We’ve dealt with a lot of weird stuff and I’m pretty sure Erma would let us skirt by the normal regulations that are set up. Do you think you guys could come back here this evening?” Blake sighed. “That’d be after 7pm since I would rather stick to the schedule that Anna set up for me.” She really didn’t want to keep the café open too late, but in this case, it would be worth it. If they could get something to help Weiss, she was willing to do it. She’d just have a very, very late dinner unless she decided to close a couple of hours early for dinner. Or maybe she could convince Hubert and Edelgard to cook dinner for them then bring them down a plate. Granted, they wouldn’t know how much Blake needed… Oh wait, they didn’t even have groceries in their apartment. Shewould need to be the one to feed them until they got paid for the first time. She’d need to go out grocery shopping this Sunday… Weiss couldn’t eat too much because of the issue of refeeding syndrome, but she still needed additional food for Hubert and Edelgard. Maybe she could just ask Anna to ring her up some extra groceries since she did nothave time to go out and shop until Sunday. The café was open twelve hours a day, six days a week, so yeah… “So 7pm it is.” Summer nodded. “Sounds good. We should probably go now so we can start making those arrangements. Thanks for the tea.” She smiled pleasantly and the three got up, then left. Solana came back in and returned the bowl and the glasses the Pokémon had used and then left again. Blake started cleaning up but looked at Weiss. “If you want to go back to sleep, you can. I won’t hold it against you. I feel bad for waking you up.” Her ears went down a little bit. She felt terrible for waking Weiss up when she was so clearly sensitive to environmental cues. Going to sleep in general couldn’t be easy. She was pretty sure there were nightmare blockers in Weiss’ medication that Anna had given her… She really hated that she’d woken her up, but it was for a verygood reason. Weiss sighed. “Can I just retire for the day? I know it’s still early but…” Blake nodded. “Let me close up for a minute, then I can take you back upstairs.” She took Weiss outside and sat her down at one of the tables, locking the door. She couldn’t help but notice the fact Weiss had her arms wrapped around herself. She helped Weiss up the stairs to the apartment and let her in. “If you need anything, feel free to text me. I’ll be up if I’m not busy. Sound good?” She smiled at Weiss. The woman gave a small nod. Blake handed her the remote for the TV so it wouldn’t be silent for her. “If you need anything in the kitchen, you’re welcome to it. Just be careful you don’t eat too much at once.” They didn’t need Weiss having a medical crisis on another world and having uncomfortable questions asked. She wasn’t sure if the spells Anna used would carry over if they left the café premises. People would definitelyask questions about her ears if they were away. “Okay. Thank you.” Weiss didn’t smile or anything and turned the TV on, settling against the headboard of her bed. Blake felt guilty leaving her alone like that. But she had asked to come up here. She just… There was no easy way to deal with any of this. She hoped that she could be a comfort to Weiss one day. For now, all she could do was listen and respond to Weiss as best she could. She was Weiss’ only real support right now while Hubert and Edelgard worked on their rooms…