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Saturday, 12:00 PM, 12 Hours Until Father’s Day
Dory was in the Motostoke battle cafe, worried out of her mind as she sat with her sister Peonia. “I have no idea what to get Peony for Father’s day”, Dory said before laying her head on the table.
Peonia shrugged and took a sip of her drink, “Don’t think about it too much, he’ll love whatever you give him”.
Dory sighed, “No… I do have to think about this… this is my first time celebrating Father’s day and I want to give him something special… which is why I need you…”.
Peonia just sighed, “Well then I won’t be much help… I just give my dad a mug every year, don’t you have other friends who can help?”.
“No, I don’t”.
“What about Bede?” She asked, “Weren’t they adopted by my uncle?”.
“They were but never that close, and they live with Opal now”.
“Bea?”.
“Melony adopted her, and her parents are kinda a touchy subject, and Melony is a single mother”.
“Yeah, but isn’t she like a fan of my dad? She must have something that can tell you what to give him”, Peonia leaned back on her chair and looked away.
Dory smiled, “Oh yeah… thanks sis!”.
“Don’t call me that”, Peonia responded in a heartbeat as Dory grabbed her phone and texted Bea, making sure to leave out the Father’s Day part.
Dory smiled, “She’s meeting up with us in a bit”.
“Cool, I’ll just head home then”.
“Oh come on Peonia, I could still use your help…”.
“Well fine since you’re paying for the food here”.
“Thanks again Sis!”.
Dory innocently smiled and Peonia just sighed, “You’re welcome… Dory…”.
Bea soon met up with them and Peonia brought up the first idea. “Why not get him some Motostoke tourist junk”.
“Doesn’t he live here?”, Bea asked.
“Yeah, but he always buys junk from tourist traps on trips”.
“We can’t just buy him a gift from his own town!” Dory said.
“But this town used to be where his gym was, maybe we can get him a snowglobe of the gym”.
“No… how about some music? Him and my mom like that one band; Paradise”.
“Yeah but he probably has the digital versions of every album”.
“Peonia”, Dory said in a more serious tone, putting her hand on her sister’s shoulder, “Having a physical vinyl or cd and putting it to play music is superior to opening an app for it”.
Peonia was a little frightened by Dory’s sudden seriousness, she just shakily agreed and they went to Gramophone Records.
Saturday, 3:00PM 9 Hours Until Father’s Day
Dory came to the music store a lot, to the point that the employees dreaded her presence. She wasn’t annoying per-say, but the employees hated the way she insisted on meticulous comparisons to different versions of one album, from live versions to official versions, to remasters; all to find the best version. When Dory came through the door, one employee went to the back leaving someone with a blue-dyed bang and hoop earrings at the register to help Dory and the group.
Dory knew her way around the store and quickly began looking through the bands she knew Peony liked. Peonia and Bea did the same and brought the albums they found to Dory who looked over the song list, she then tried to see if there were any other versions, and then called the worker for a comparison between versions. This went on for around 25 different albums, each time she was given an album by Bea or Peonia, she just didn’t see it as perfect for Peony
5:30 PM.
They soon went through each album and vinyl the store had, but Dory couldn’t find any she was sure about giving Peony. Bea put the last album in its place and turned to Dory, defeated, “That was the last one here” she said, “are you sure we can’t give him any of these?”.
“No…”, Dory groaned, “I have to give him something perfect…”.
Peonia sighed, “We don’t have to put this much effort, Dory…”.
“But I do!”, Dory quickly retorted, “M-maybe we can get him a shirt?”.
“Dory…”.
Dory quickly grabbed Peonia and Bea’s wrists, “We have to get going!”, she then ran with them out of the store.
Saturday, 5:00PM, 7 Hours Until Father’s Day
She ran to the Motostoke and began looking around for a good enough shirt. Dory focused her search on shirts with some puns on them, she always got a little chuckle when Peony said a pun, while Peonia hated his puns. She read each shirt pun and was probably the only person to take the pun she picked seriously, she wanted one she’d be certain that Peony would love.
She spent an hour looking and Bea put a hand on her shoulder, “Dory…” she said sympathetically, “It’s getting late… I have to get home for dinner soon…”.
“Me too”, Peonia added.
Dory sighed and looked down defeated, “Fine…” she groaned.
Saturday, 5:30PM, 6 and a half Hours Until Father’s Day
They all walked to the train station, Bea got on the train and Dory was about to get on, but Peonia stopped her, “Hey… Sis…” she said, trying her best to not sound too invested.
Dory looked back at her a bit surprised.
“Dad ‘ill be happy with whatever you give him… because it’ll mean a lot to him just being from you… even then it doesn’t have to be all that deep, I get him a different mug every year and it's usually just something I noticed about him that year… I know dad will love whatever you give him”, Peonia gave her a reassuring smile.
Peonia smiling genuinely was rare, so Dory knew she meant what she said. She smiled back and got a much simpler idea, “Thanks Sis…”, she said before hugging Peonia.
Peonia chuckled and looked away, “Alright alright… and don’t call me Sis still”.
Dory giggled, “Alright… Sis”, she laughed as she got on the train as it left. When she got to Spikemuth, she got her present and all she had to do now was wait.
Sunday, 12:00PM, Father’s Day
Stephanie and Dory went to Motostoke to spend the day with Peony and Peonia (different from usual visits as Peony and Peonia normally went to Spikemuth). The time for giving presents soon came around, Peonia gave her present first, she got him a mug, that read, “World’s Greatest Step-Dad”, with ’Step-‘ hand-painted on it. Peony smiled as he read it and pulled Peonia into a strong bewear hug, “I love it, Nia!”.
Peonia was caught off guard, but sighed and hugged him back.
Dory kept her present in a teal, white, and grey wrapping paper. She hugged it close as she saw his excitement with Nia’s gift.
Peony ruffled her hair before letting go with a chuckle. ”Sorry ‘bout that Nia”, he said apologetically.
“It’s fine dad…”, Nia responded while fixing her hair.
Dory shyly came forward, “H-happy Father’s day Peony”, she said as she held up the box to him.
He smiled as he pulled the box into his lap, “Thanks Dors” he said. He opened the box and smiled as he pulled out a large togedemaru plush toy. His smile grew and he hugged the plush tight, and pulled in Dory for an equally tight hug, making her chuckle despite having air cut off. “I love it, Dors!.
“You really like it?” She asked as she tried to hide her strained breathing with a smile.
“Yeah! It’s soft, keeps my whole Steel-typing, and I can hug it as much as I want, you better watch out Nia”, he joked, “This may start taking your Ultra-mega-bewear hugs!” He laughs.
Peonia rolled her eyes but did silently fear that.
Dory smiles and weakly hugs Peony back, “I’m glad you like it, Dad”.
Peony let go of the Togedemaru plush and focused his hug on Dory, tearing up from her unofficial second gift.