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June came sooner than many residents expected, and with the new month came a new slew of celebrations. In addition to various birthdays, anniversaries, and the like, June was also known to many as Pride Month. It was a month-long celebration for LGBTQ+ folks for being who they are, fighting for what is right, and, to the disdain of many, a month for corporations to act supportive for money.

However, such things were unknown to the snow fox named Breen. She was a white furred, transgender fox who had arrived in the town of Semblance only a couple months ago. After growing up in a very abusive household, Breen's sister, Pixel, had snuck the both of them out of their original home and moved into an apartment in the town. It was far far away from the fox sisters' parents, which was exactly what they both wanted.

Because of Breen's upbringing, she wasn't too familiar with any of the celebrations queer folks partook in, which led to Pixel being the one to introduce her. The younger fox was reclining on the couch in the main room, wearing a light t-shirt and a skirt, trying to ignore the approaching summer heat while reading a book. Suddenly, Breen could hear the sound of the door opening, so she closed her book and got up, making her way towards the entrance hall.

Closing the door, Pixel walked into the apartment, wearing her own shirt, shorts, and carrying several bags. The two foxes weren't much different from each other, both sharing snow white fur and blue eyes, as well as roughly being the same height. The only significant difference was Breen had the tip of her tail tinted black while Pixel's was pure white. If it weren't for that, the two sisters could've easily been confused for one another.

"I'm back, Breen!" Pixel called, placing her bags on the table. "Anything happen while I was gone?"

"No, just kind of chilled on the couch." The younger fox replied, "Ok, maybe chill isn't the right word."

The older fox let out a chuckle at her sister's joke. "No it is not, but maybe this will bring up your spirits. Look what I got!"

Breen took a look into the bags. Nothing really exciting; some groceries, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, and... there was something that did catch the fox's eye. Midway through one of the bags, a couple pieces of cloth were hidden. Both of them had a striped pattern on it, one with pink, white, and blue colors, the other mixes of pinks and oranges. Breen grabbed them and looked at them quizzically.

"What... Are these bandanas?" She asked.

Pixel nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! You do know what month it is right?"

"Uh, June?"

The older fox chuckled again. "Well, yes, but it's also Pride Month!"

Breen raises an eyebrow at that. "Pride... Month? I'm not entirely sure what that is, Pix."

Pixel took the bandanas from her sister and began to gently wrap one around Breen's neck. "Pride Month is a celebration for us queer folks to be proud of who we are. Unlike our previous town, Semblance is really big into it. They have a big fair going on over the next weekend, including a parade, which is a pretty big staple in these things. I figured, since it's our first June away from... them, we could finally celebrate it the way we want."

Breen looked down at the bandana now around her neck, noticing she was given the blue and pink one. "That one has the colors of the transgender flag. The blue is to represent masculinity, the pink femininity, and the white represents those who are transitioning or have a gender outside the binaries." Pixel further explained. "This one is the lesbian flag. Its meaning is a little more complicated, but basically it represents female unity and independence. Pretty cool, huh?"

The younger fox did her best to listen to her sister, but there was one thought that was stuck swimming in her bed. "So... If I wear this bandana, people are going to know I'm... Not a real girl?"

Pixel frowned as she heard the young fox's description of herself, shaking her head. "Breen, you're just as real a woman as any other cisgender woman. I know what they told you, what they called you, but they aren't the ones who dictate who you are now. You're 18, you can make your own decisions, no one else."

"I... I don't know, Pix." Breen lamented. "Even if I'm allowed to make my own decisions, I'm still worried about what others will think of me. I mean, I don't even sound like a girl. Maybe going to this fair will be a mistake."

The older sister sighed, hugging Breen. "I know you're still not entirely sure about who you are, but you aren't going to get anywhere if you still let others hold you back. Come on, it'll be a good time to show you you're not the only one who is struggling. Please? I don't want to go alone."

Breen whined a little, still unsure, but also not wanting to disappoint her sister. "Alright, I'll go, but I don't know if I have the confidence yet to wear this around in public."

This elicited a smile from Pixel, who gave her sister a kiss on the forehead. "Don't worry, I promise you by the end of it, you'll be wearing it proudly. The fair is Saturday, and lucky for both of us, the weather is actually supposed to be pleasant."

"I think your and my ideas of pleasant are different."

---

Saturday rolled around slower than Breen would've liked, her anticipation making it feel like forever. But it finally arrived, and before the fox knew it, she had entered the fairgrounds. Immediately, the two sisters saw the typical sights at a large fair: rides, food stalls selling rainbow-colored foods, games, bounce houses, etc.

Pixel was proudly wearing her lesbian bandana around her neck, as well as a rainbow crop top and some very short shorts. Breen on the other hand was not so festive, wearing just a plain, white t-shirt with a gray trim and regular shorts. She had wanted to wear another skirt, but she just couldn't bring up the confidence to do it. Also missing from her attire was her own bandana, which Pixel definitely noticed.

"Aw, did you not bring your bandana with you?" The older fox asked, putting on a pouty face.

"N-no, I have it. I'm just... not ready for it yet." Breen explained, looking away embarrassed.

Pixel took her sister's paw and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I understand, Breen, don't worry. Like I said, I don't expect you to wear it immediately, but it would make you feel better. Now come on, I have a score to settle with some of these games."

Breen had always known her sister was a little competitive, but most of all, she liked to call out bullshit. She had recently seen a video talking about the scammy routes many of the carnival games took to make it harder for people to win, so it was Pixel's personal agenda to get as many prizes as she could. Thankfully, all the proceeds were going to a LGBTQ+ support group, so she didn't have to worry about wasting money.

Meanwhile, the younger fox was more interested in just watching her sister. She admired Pixel's confidence, as well as envied it. The parade itself wasn't supposed to start for a while, so the two took advantage of the time and played a few of the games there. There was a fire-hose game where the goal was to spray water at a target and whoever sprayed the max amount of water first won. Both of the sisters tried it, and unsurprisingly, Pixel took first place by a landslide, netting her her first plushie win of the day. The reward was a rainbow feral dolphin, which she happily took.

The next game the two took a shot at was the ring toss game. Pixel noted that the scam in this game was that the rings were barely wider than the necks of the milk bottles they were tossed upon. There wasn't much strategy, but that didn't stop her from trying a couple times. Her tactics started by just trying to get the ring to slide along the tops til it landed around a bottle, which worked a couple times.

While this was going on, Breen suddenly heard a rather loud sound behind her, like rubber hitting wood, followed by someone yelling "Duck!" The fox looked over her shoulder, catching sight of a baseball hurtling towards her. A lot suddenly happened in a split-second, Breen fully expecting the ball to hit her and causing her to gasp, her heart rate rapidly increasing as she began to panic. But, ironically, the ball didn't hit her, and instead was stopped mere inches from her face. Adrenaline and panic were still coursing through the young fox even as she realized this, and it took a moment until she finally looked around to see what saved her.

"Whew, that was a close one." Said a deeper, feminine voice. The ball was then pulled away from Breen, revealing her savior to be a purple bobcat with red, side-swept hair, strange rainbow eyes, and wearing their own rainbow tank top. Breen blinked, trying to refocus herself and calm her heart rate down as the cat tossed the ball back behind them.

"Hey, be careful next time, Diamond! I know you can afford a lawsuit, but I'd rather you not have to deal with it!" They called to the rabbit at the Baseball-Throwing booth. They responded with their own cheeky "Sorry!" grabbing the ball and returning back to the game. The feline then turned back at the two foxes, Pixel now paying attention to what exactly transpired. "Heh, you ok? Diamond thought it would be easier to knock down those milk bottles using his feet, you know since he's a rabbit and all, but that backfired pretty badly."

Breen blinked again, taking a moment to register that the bobcat was talking to her. "O-oh! Um, yeah, I'm f-f-fine, just, adrenaline is m-m-making me freak."

The bobcat frowned, not entirely convinced the young fox was alright. Pixel mirrored those sentiments, putting a comforting arm around her sister's shoulder and pulling her close as she did the talking. "Thank you for that. Cat-like reflexes, am I right?"

The feline chuckled. "Yeah, also being in the right place at the right time. Don't think I've seen you two around here before."

"We just moved into Semblance Stories Apartments a couple months ago."

"Oh, no shit? That's where I live, I'm surprised I haven't seen you two then. I'm Bow, by the way." They extended their hand out for a handshake, which Pixel took with her own free paw.

"Pixel, and this is my little sister, Breen." The younger fox gave a small nod of acknowledgement, the embrace from her sister helping her a little.

Bow looked at the two of them, noticing how very similar the two sisters looked. They then noticed that Pixel was wearing a bandana and Breen wasn't, which puzzled them a bit. "Hm, would've been neat if the two of you came along with matching bandanas."

"Oh, she has her bandana, she's just a little unsure of whether she wants to wear it or not. You know, coming out nerves and all that." The older fox explained, Breen shrinking a little in shame.

Bow let out a small snicker. "Ah yeah, I understand that. Speaking of coming out, have any of you guys seen an orange and brown maned wolf wearing a rainbow tank-top like mine but with a question mark on it? He's my partner and I kind of lost track of him."

Pixel thought for a moment and then nodded her head. "Oh! I think I saw someone like that over near the rainbow kettle corn."

The bobcat rolled their eyes and chuckled again. "Ah, of course he's over there. That wolf loves his kettle corn I've learned, have to stop him from constantly trying to make it at home." They then gave a gentle pat to the side of Breen's arm, which she flinched at a bit. "Well hey, don't let this experience ruin the day for you. Try to have fun. If you want, we can meet up for the parade and talk a bit more, maybe learn more about each other."

The younger fox didn't respond, but the older one nodded with a smile. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea! Maybe we could meet your sugar-happy wolf there too."

Bow grinned back. "It's a date then! Anyways, I gotta go before Sun escapes me again. See you folks later!"

Pixel gave the bobcat a wave goodbye, and even Breen tried her best to wave. "Well they seemed nice. Who knows, maybe we found your first friend here in town."

Breen didn't say anything, her panic now being replaced with curiosity about the cat and their partner. They seemed so... confident, she thought.

---

About an hour later, there was an announcement that the parade was about to begin. With it, Breen and Pixel made their way off the fairgrounds and towards the main street, along with most of the rest of the crowd. After a couple minutes of searching, the two siblings finally located their new friend and made their way over to them.

"I see you found your sugar-wolfie." Pixel greeted cheekily, causing Bow and their partner to turn to them, the bobcat smirking back at them.

"Right before he bought two packs of cotton candy all for himself too." They responded, making the wolf whine a little in embarrassment. "Breen, Pixel, this is my boyfriend, Sun."

The maned wolf gave the two foxes a nervous wave, which they both mirrored back. As Bow said previously, he was brown and orange, save for a white underbelly and various other white spots. In addition to the rainbow tank with a question mark, he was in his own khaki cargo shorts, kind of making him look like a fashion nightmare. It kind of made Breen laugh internally, but she kept it to herself.

"Oh, speaking of cotton candy, I should go get some for us to snack on for the parade." Pixel said suddenly. Before the older fox could walk away though, Breen clung to her hand desperately. She looked at her little sister, noticing there was fear and nervousness in her eyes. "Don't worry, I won't be long. Bow and Sun here will keep an eye on you, and if anything happens, just scream, ok?"

Breen was still very unsure, half-tempted to ask to come with her. However, she knew that she needed to be more independent and not have to rely on her sister all the time. With this thought, she let go of Pixel, who gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "There you go, you'll be ok."

With the older fox now on a snack run, it left Breen with her two new acquaintances. Bow smiled at her, gesturing for her to come closer. "Come on, we won't bite. Trust me, if Sun had any intentions of harming others, I wouldn't be anywhere near him."

"I... Thanks, I think?" The wolf responded.

"Yes, it was a compliment dear. You're my sweet little wolfie, wouldn't hurt a fly." The feline then pulled the canine closer, making Breen feel kind of awkward now. "You two seem very close, you and your sister."

Again, it took a second before Breen realized she was being spoken to. "Oh, uh, yeah. She's really nice, and really smart, and... honestly, the person who raised me."

"Oh, were your parents not there in your life?" Bow asked, curious of the fox's past, but not wanting to dig too deep.

"No, they were very much in my life. They just, um, weren't very... accepting I guess."

The bobcat sighed, nodding. "Yeah, that's more common than you think. My friend, Chrys, actually lost his mother because of just how much of an asshole his father was. Poor guy has some serious trauma cause of it."

"Really? I didn't think that was the case. I always thought my parents were just special."

Bow shook their head. "No, not unless you mean especially idiots. Do you... really not know that?"

Breen shrugged, feeling even more awkward, twiddling the bandana in her pocket. The bobcat gently placed a hand on the fox's shoulder, causing her to freeze up.

"Hey, don't worry about it." They said in a gentle voice. "I get the feeling you really weren't exposed to a lot of queer culture as a kid, and that's ok. Everyone learns about who they are at a different pace, and it's not a race. All that matters is you learn to love yourself, be who you want to be, and not who others tell you to be."

"Admittedly, I don't even know who I am yet." Spoke Sun. "That's why we got this tank-top for me. I thought I was straight, but then I met Bow, who showed me some... er, new things, that made me question what I grew up thinking. I'm not ready to fully identify who I am, but I'm in no rush. Small progress is still progress."

The vulpine looked up at the two partners, taking in both of their words and feeling a little less stressed. This whole time, she was stressed about being judged for who she was, who she wanted to be. But, if they were telling the truth, maybe she didn't need to stress out so much. Taking a deep breath, Breen finally pulled out the bandana, revealing its trans colors to the world.

"My parents were super religious." She explained. "When I told them I wanted to be a girl, they thought I was... they thought their... 'son' just wanted to just dress up like a girl. I was never comfortable with boy stuff, never felt masculine. They were so... ashamed of me, they tried to hide me from the world."

The two partners gave sympathetic looks, listening to the fox's story. Gently, Bow took the bandana from Breen, tying it gently around her neck. The fox's instinct was to stop them, but they instead held themselves back. "Even if they were ashamed of you, that doesn't mean you need to be ashamed of yourself." The bobcat responded. "There's a whole world of other people like you that you probably never knew existed. Hell, just look at how many here are wearing their own trans colors!"

Bow was right. The young fox took a scan around the crowd, seeing many of them wear colors similar to those on her bandana. Some looked like the definitions of guys she was told as a kid, some looked like girls, and many you couldn't really tell. The whole experience made her realize that she wasn't alone in the world. She shouldn't have to be ashamed of who she is just cause other people say it's wrong, she should be happy.

Suddenly, Breen pounced on the bobcat, giving them a big hug as tears began to form. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much for helping. I... I really needed this."

Bow snickered, giving the young fox a gentle pat on the back, hugging her back. "Of course, I'm happy I could help."

"Oh look, Pixel's back." Sun called to the hugging pair. They both looked up to see the older fox had indeed returned, carrying two bags of cotton candy with her.

"Hey folks, hope I didn't miss anything... Oh hey! You're finally wearing your bandana!"

Breen looked down at her neck and blushed, tittering nervously. "Uh, heh, yeah. Bow and Sun, um, helped me."

Pixel smiled, hugging her little sister. "I'm so glad to hear it. They must've said something really special if they were able to get you to finally wear it."

"Why, I have no idea what you're talking about." Bow responded, feigning ignorance, and causing Sun to chuckle.

Coincidentally, the parade had just begun, with the leading act being a bunch of people riding down on motorcycles, each one with a different flag trailing behind them. As the parade went on, Breen found herself thinking about the day. It went in a very different direction than she expected, and in the end, she had learned quite a bit about not just herself, but the world around her. She wasn't quite sure where she stood exactly on the spectrum of gender and sexuality, but she could take her time on that. For now, there was a parade to be watched, cotton candy to be eaten, and both friends and family to enjoy the company of.