Leafy awakens bright and early the next day, the sun barely even beginning to rise above the horizon. He yawns, stretches, and makes a couple quick runs around the nearby forest before harvesting a pawful of wild berries for breakfast. Well satiated, he takes a good long look across the lake's surface and eyes that one solitary rock jutting out of its center, the morning sunlight now gleaming upon it fully. "Today's the big day: I'm swimming out there and sunning on that rock, or my name's not Leafy Leafeon!" he thinks with a confident smirk and a quick flick of the tail. Testing the temperature of the water, he decides to wait 'til later that afternoon when the sun's highest in the sky and the water's warmest to attempt his long swim across the open lake. It was a potentially treacherous feat for a lone land-dwelling Leafeon to traverse, since it was a rather exhausting swim and there were many aquatic predators lurking beneath the surface that could strike at any given moment. Being a grass-type, though, he was sure enough that he would be all right in undertaking his ambitious goal. Until then, he spent several hours working on his tool carving and rotisserie frame crafting, making more than adequate progress with each.

At last, the moment he had been waiting so patiently for arrived, the midday sun having fully attained its zenith. Seizing his golden opportunity promptly, Leafy whispered a short prayer under his breath before leaping headfirst into the lake at the point where the shallow water met the deeper water. He knew it would be a long swim, and thus braced himself for whatever physiological issues lie ahead of him. About halfway across to the rock, he started to feel the pressures of swimming such a distance take a toll on his body, his thighs starting to tighten up a bit. Slowing his pace to a gentle doggy paddle to relax his strained muscles, he drifted toward the rock little by little, ever grateful that the current was flowing in his desired direction. Upon entering the fifty foot threshold of the rock's vicinity, he thrusts himself forward and paddles ahead strongly, nearing the rock's windward side. Reaching out in front of himself, he grabs ahold of the rock's jagged edge, being careful not to scratch himself as he climbs onto the rock, having just enough room to stand triumphantly on top of it on all fours and howl. "Yes, I finally did it! I knew I'd conquer this little rock someday, and ha, here I am!" he muses, wearing a satisfactory grin on his face. He then proceeds to lie down upon the rock and sun himself thoroughly, though doing so proves to be more than a bit tricky, since part of the rock's edge is jagged and the rock as a whole is somewhat small to maneuver well upon. He eventually manages to settle himself into a comfortable position, closing his eyes, clearing his mind, and letting the warmth of the sun's shimmering rays do the rest.

Incidentally, Aquamarine heard that howl from deep below the water's surface while she was fishing, and was so startled by it that she inadvertently lost track of what she was doing and let a couple stray fish escape that she was attempting to catch. "Darn it, they got away! Gr… still, what WAS that?!" she snarled softly, looking above toward the surface near the tip of the large rock spire in the middle of the lake. "Hmm… looks like I'll have to postpone lunch for a little exploring. My curiosity demands it!" she thinks, swimming swiftly to the area near the rock's tip. Just as she nears breaking the surface, she notices something new that fascinates her to no end: a young male Leafeon resting peacefully on the rock. Stunned, she panics nervously at first and is unsure of how to proceed from here, her heartbeat racing and mind spacing, for she cannot think of anything but the strange sight before her. "Could this be what I've been waiting so long now for? That mysterious something new I've been anticipating?" she ponders, drawing slowly nearer to Leafy from behind, ensuring that he does not notice her quite too soon. She had heard about Leafeons before, but had never actually seen one in person, let alone up close like this, her family not consisting of any Leafeons as far as she knew. It had been a few years since she had left them to go out on her own into the world as a young adult, though, and since a couple of her siblings had yet to evolve, it was very possible that at least one of them could have chosen to become a Leafeon, and if so, then she would likely not recognize them, at least at first.

Several minutes passed, and Aquamarine was still unsure of what to do. A part of her wanted to remain cautious, since she did not know exactly what kind of person she was dealing with here, even if a fellow Eeveelution. However, another part of her really wanted to just say "hi," and yet another part was purely curious to see how he would react to her presence. It was not until her playful side kicked in, though, before she attempted to make a move on the unsuspecting Leafeon. With an impish smirk on her face and a youthful twinkle in her eye, she positions herself just behind where he is resting, extends her forelegs outward, and tickles the undersides of his hindpaws. Almost instantaneously, Leafy yips and twitches his hindpaws, pulling them beneath the rest of his body and flicking his ears in annoyance. "Whoa, what the?!" he mutters, while Aquamarine giggles silently to herself and melds into the water around her, making her essentially invisible. Making sure that nothing was around to disturb him, Leafy wonders what it was that made him feel weird like that. He had never been tickled in a very long time, ever since he was just a young Eevee pup. So long, in fact, that he had practically forgotten he was even ticklish anywhere in the first place. Not wanting to waste any more time, he shrugs it off and continues sunning like he did before, this time keeping his hindpaws underneath himself for safekeeping.

Aquamarine continued to watch him as he sunned for the next several minutes, curious as to what other ways she might proceed to interact with this lonely Leafeon. "I wonder…!" she thinks, moving in front of him while still invisibly camouflaged in the water. With much force, she sprays a small spurt of water in his face and stays put to observe his next reaction. "Ah, hey, cut it out!" Leafy shouts, standing up and now on full alert, searching the water around the rock for whatever it is that is causing him so much discomfort. He swings his head to the right, and seeing nothing abnormal, swings it over to the left, still noticing nothing unusual in the surrounding waters. "Playin' the silent card, are ya? Well, let's see if you're expecting this, heh heh!" he muses, smirking slightly before resuming to sun in his hindpaw-protecting position. Though noticing Leafy's smirk, Aquamarine thinks nothing of it, waits a few more minutes, moves to his right blind side, and becomes visible once again, bending forward with her head and gently nipping his right ear boldly. However, as soon as she makes contact with him, Leafy suddenly lunges off the rock in her direction, falling on top of her in the water and stunning her briefly.

"Yikes!" Aquamarine exclaims in surprise, shaking off the stun and backing away from Leafy a few feet. "Ha, I just KNEW someone was messing with me! It wasn't just a bad hallucination," Leafy says, the two of them locking eyes with each other for the first time in their lives. "H… hi," Aquamarine stammers, unsure of what to say or do next and almost shivering in pure nervousness. "Well hello there Miss Vaporeon. What brings you to disturb my humble rocky abode today, hmm?" Leafy asks, his expression being more than a little irritated, especially since he was now wet and miserable compared to feeling warm and dry as he was only moments before. "Well, ya see, I was just swimming around searching for… I mean, what I meant to say is that I was fishing and heard you… oh, darn it, c'mon now, think straight!" Aquamarine struggles to reply, smacking her forepaws on her face in frustration, her pulse steadily increasing with each passing second. "Easy there, settle down. There's no need to be so hard on yourself. Now, take a deep breath and try to remember what it was that caused you to go bothering me earlier," he consoles her, still maintaining the conversation's focus on what had just occurred.

To this, Aquamarine pauses, takes a deep breath as per his recommendation, and gathers her thoughts before continuing, "Okay, here goes: I was fishing like usual further down in the lake when I heard a very distinctive howl. Since the two fishies I was pursuing escaped, I was determined to find out who was responsible for startling me and causing me to lose my quarry. When I saw it was a Leafeon that made the howl, I decided to stick around and, well… mess with ya a bit. It's all in fun though, I swear! I mean no harm by any of it!" Aquamarine whimpers softly to herself after explaining what happened to Leafy, hoping that he accepts her alibi. "All right, I'm willing to be understanding in all this. Time for a proper introduction!" Leafy begins, clearing his throat. "My name's Leafy. And you are?" "Aquamarine, though my friends usually call me Aqua for short," Aquamarine replies with a smile, her face still blushing beneath the fur. Leafy chuckles at this, splashing the water's surface with his tail and moving slightly closer to Aquamarine. "Aquamarine, is it? That's a very fitting name. Very pretty, too, I must admit. Of course, the fact that it is makes it even more fitting for you! Just like the rare gemstone, I'm sure you're a rare find all your own!" he states, smiling widely back at her, his face now slowly starting to blush a bit too under the fur. "Oh Leafy… thank you! That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said about my name before. One of the nicest about myself in general, too. And we've only barely met…," she responds, looking away coyly. A short pause occurs as the two of them decide what to do next.

Making the first move, Leafy swims back to the rock, climbs onto it again, and shakes his fur off thoroughly before lying on it again in his usual sunning position. "Well Aqua, there's just enough room here for one more Eeveelution. Care to oblige? It'd be my treat!" he offers Aquamarine, smiling and facing her with his head tilted at a slight angle – something she personally finds rather adorable. "S… sure! I'd love to!" she answers, nodding briskly and swimming over to the rock herself, ascending upon it and lying snugly beside him, her fur still rather moist in stark contrast to his now mostly dry fur. Leafy feels slightly awkward inside at first, then slowly begins to adjust to Aquamarine's presence and physical closeness. "Could this girl really be the answer to my prayers? I dunno for sure just yet… but here's hoping!" he thinks, smiling slightly. Aquamarine, on the other paw, retains her nervousness as before, but it gradually wanes over time the longer she is with Leafy. "This moment is so touching, so special. It's like nothing I've ever felt before. Could he be that new thing I've been waiting for? Could he be… the one?" she wonders, her mind brimming with possibilities of what may be between them in the many days ahead. Their thoughts running wildly and spirits being thoroughly uplifted, they spend the rest of the afternoon together sunning on that rock before eventually parting ways later that evening.