Flexible Thinking for a Modern Life: Chapter 15

 Summary: A commission series for Alfalfa. Iris Fleurs, the stretchy daughter of a slime mother and a human father, tries to live her best life and feel comfortable in her own skin. Teenage rebellion ensues.

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CHAPTER 15

Morning came far too soon for poor Iris. Some part of her regretted staying out so late, if it meant that she didn't get enough sleep the next morning. Iris had a rather fitful night of rest to compound upon her concerns. The light was already streaming in through an open window, and she had to twist her body just so she wasn't staring directly at them.

She was still mad about the night before, and those thoughts stewing in the back of her mind kept her up longer than she cared to admit. She could barely sleep like this... and yet, she still wanted to squeeze a few extra moments of sweet shuteye before she would be thrust out of bed. It was taking every bit of her energy just to ignore the damn sunlight. 

She extended an arm across the room, pulling at a string with a slight tug. The blinds unfolded downwards, drowning the room in much-needed shade. Iris drew the covers over her, hoping the attempt to suffocate the morning light would be sufficient...

Bang bang bang!

And, of course, the abrupt knocking at her door ahead of her usual wake-up did little to relax her. She groaned, burying her head deeper into her pillow.

"Iris, it's your father. Your mother told me about the conversation late last night" A serious voice uttered from the other side of the door. "You made her very upset. Get up and get dressed, we're having a talk, as a family."

Iris' mouth flattened as he heard footsteps stomp away, back into the master bedroom. She sighed, her hands squeezing at the pillow. There'd be no going back to sleep now. 

Throwing off her covers and rising up from her bed like a damned zombie, she raised a hand to part some of her long, black hair. With a huff, she staggered to her feet, and headed to her wardrobe. 

"And your uniform's on your door!" Sier yelled from down the hall. Iris only winced in response, going over her body's profile in the mirror. Iris rolled her eyes, her folded arms falling to her sides. Her right arm extended on its own and snaked towards the door to her room; Iris watched through the mirror, making sure she opened the door a crack, grabbing the uniform, and then slamming the door shut behind her.

She raised the skirt of the uniform to her eyes, taking note of the repair job her mother had done earlier. It was fine work, but it mostly annoyed Iris; now there wasn't any excuse for her to avoid wearing this shackling thing. 

She cast it aside to the bed, going about her daily morning routine, perhaps a bit more aggressively than usual. She definitely needed a thorough showering after the night prior, not to mention brushing out all the broken knots in her hair. 

And at the end of all that, she was back where she started, staring herself down in the mirror in her undergarments. She didn't particularly want to see her parents downstairs after everything that happened...

"Tch." Iris clicked her tongue, reaching for her uniform. She went through the usual motions of getting dressed, and then observed herself in the mirror one more time. A pang of dissatisfaction coursed through her, and she grimaced slightly.

She looked so... dull. Boring. Uninspired. She wasn't really tall, she didn't have much in the way of muscle to speak of. She didn't really stand out in the crowd, all things considered. 

Of course, she lacked in any kind of supermodel physique—nobody could actually pull off that kind of look. They were all photo manipulations anyway. She had to remind herself of that much...

...Except, wait a second. Such a physique would be impossible. For a normal person, anyway. But Iris wasn't normal. 

If she put her mind to it, she could sculpt herself into a better version of herself. Heck, she could probably give Kamika a run for her money if she felt like it! Better to put her power to boost herself up a bit—not like her mother, who let herself go loooong ago.

Iris made a mental inventory of all the niggling details she cared so, so little for. Her shoulder blades seemed to sink slightly, her chin was a little too pronounced, her legs weren't pronounced enough. And her chest...

She raised her hands to her chest. She was pretty unimpressive in that department too. Honestly, the entire game of chest-size comparison was never really a factor for her. It's not like other girls had socials and compared cup sizes like total freaks. But the male gaze was a different story entirely. She knew the sort of looks that Sherry Windermeyer got.

Iris scowled to herself. She wanted to be fawned over too. She thought about accentuating her chest, but decided against it: Iris wanted to draw attention, not saunter about like a prostitute. 

She took some time to adjust some of the other particularities of her body's proportions. She put a little more definition in her legs, a little more shapely muscle. She tested them out, lending her a confident swagger that felt, initially, a little offputting. Once she found her footing, it came surprisingly naturally.

She smiled to herself. She hadn't much thought of doing anything like this before... but now she wanted to see what kind of figure she could attain. She could be anyone she wanted to be, if she willed it...

It was a powerful, inspiring feeling that welled up from within. And it was so easy to lose track of time. She ended up spending a good ten minutes longer just getting ready than she otherwise would have.

She looked over herself one last time in the mirror for a self-appraisal, and nodded with approval. This would definitely rattle the nest a bit.

"...Mm..." Iris tilted her head. "Think there's something missing here."

She raised her hand to undo the top button, just to see if she could get away with it. She chuckled to herself as she did.

"Perfect."

---

Iris made her way down stairs at her own pace, refusing to look in the direction of her parents. Sier had a stern look on his face, prodding the food on his plate. He was too angry to eat, simply biding time until Iris made her appearance. Celes wasn't much better. She had a dreary look in her eyes indicating that she wasn't entirely there. 

The telltale sound of footsteps descending the staircase was enough to draw Sier's attention away from his plate, and he looked upwards. 

"What on earth took you so long? You know you still have... Iris, what on earth is that get-up?" Sier blinked, doing a double-take at Iris' appearance. 

Whatever she was doing upstairs had resulted in a totally new Iris. There were a few recognizable features - her eyes were the same colour, and her hair didn't have anything new about it - but her body features were all so different, accentuated. Iris seemed to swagger with a new purpose, exaggerating her hips as they swayed with her pace. Her legs were longer, slender, perhaps a bit more muscular. She looked like a supermodel, not the modest daughter they had raised over the years.

"This is me. I don't owe you an explanation." Iris muttered, stretching her arm out to reach for an apple on the other side of the kitchen.

"Hey, you know the rules! What did we say?" Sier objected, pointing a fork in Iris' general direction. 

"I do know the rules. They're dumb rules, so I'm ignoring them." Iris scoffed, taking a bite out of her apple. "What're you and Mom gonna do about it?"

"That's not the issue," Sier took a deep breath, folding his arms. "Iris, your mother told me about the conversation you two had late last night. I'm not happy about it."

"Oh. I didn't know I was supposed to make you happy." Iris rolled her eyes. Sier did a take, blinking his eyes. When did his little girl get so... sassy? 

"In this house, we may not always agree with each other, but we have to respect each other, Iris." Sier explained, glancing aside to Celes. "And you said some very, very hurtful things to her."

"Tch. Alright. I said some shitty stuff in the heat of the moment. So okay, I'm sorry." Iris didn't sound terribly convincing. "Are we done?"

"No, we are not done!" Sier corrected her. "You need to learn what boundaries are, little lady. Starting today, after school, you're coming straight home!"

"...Straight home?" Iris wondered, her eyebrow perking up.

"Yes, straight home! You're grounded for a month. I don't know what social circles you've been getting up to, but it ends today."

"...Oh." Iris folded her arms. "So, uh, how are you going to stop me?"

"'Stop you'??" Sier blinked again. "...Well, one of us will come to your school to pick you up, and take you straight home. We'll talk more from there."

"...Pfftt, oh my goddess, you guys can't be serious." Iris cackled. "You honestly think you can just keep me here? That's real optimistic thinking, Dad."

Iris was already making her way to the door, tossing the apple in her hand. 

"Hey! Come back here! We aren't done talking!" Sier exclaimed, rising from his table. 

"Dad." Iris turned her head. "I got a billion better things to do than sit about, cooped up in this house all day. Now, you can put a lock on my door, or board up aaaaall the windows. Be my guest! Do whatever your heart desires!" 

Iris spread her arms eyes, almost as if she were challenging him to do so. 

"But I'm not gonna stay here if I don't wanna stay here. And there ain't shit you can do to make this house my personal birdcage. Capiche?" 

Iris smirked the biggest, shit-eatingest grin she could muster. Both Sier and Celes were taken aback by Iris' wanton disregard for the house rules. It took a bit for Sier to collect himself, pointing a finger at Iris.

"We are your parents!" Sier uttered. "I won't have you taking that tone with your mother, with me... with either of us! We taught you better than this!" Sier was running out of options, and he was clearly getting a little flustered. Celes averted her eyes, finding this difficult to watch. 

"Just because you guys are my parents doesn't mean I have to take any shit from you." Iris iterated, her eyes narrowing. "I'm done talking about it. I'm out. See you when I see you." 

Iris did a 180 and headed out of the room, but not before flipping both of them off. The two parents gasped at Iris' total flippancy, their faces going pale. Her footsteps could be heard walking away, down the hallway. The front door creaked open...

All the while, the flipped bird hovered there. Around the corner, her arm had twisted, extending and trailing its length down the path Iris took to leave. Just before Iris left, her hand disappeared behind the corner, zipping out of sight. 

The front door closed with a deft slam, leaving the Fleur household in devastated silence. Sier slumped back down into his seat, as if his strings were cut all at once. 

Nary a word was exchanged between the two of them. An anxious atmosphere pervaded the air. 

"...Sier..."

Celes was the one to break the silence. She hunched over onto the table, sobbing as her head rested in her arms. Her entire body jiggled with despairing tears. 

"Celes! Celes, come here, honey-" Sier shifted his chair over awkward, scooching a little closer so he could embrace his upset wife. Seeing her like this was enough for tears to form in the corners of his own eyes as well. 

Sier rubbed Celes' back in small circles, trying to get her to calm down. It had little effect, and Celes only seemed to sob louder the more time she stewed over it.

"Sier! I-I dunno what we're going to do..." Celes raised her head to look up at Sier, her purple iris flush with tears. It was a miserable sight to behold. 

"W-we'll work through it together, Celes..." Sier reassured her, running a hand through her goopy hair. "She's just... just going through a phase, that's all..."

"She's never been like this before! What if, if she runs away from home? I-I don't want to lose my sweet little baby..." 

Celes was inconsolable, surging forward to embrace Sier. Her entire body shook with dramatic sobs, her eyes scrunched up and weary. Sier did all he good to comfort her, without being bowled over entirely. 

"Celes..." Sier whispered, starting to feel a little emotional himself. He held back his tears for now. Somebody had to hold it together.

"I'm gonna pick Iris up from after school. We'll sit down together tonight, okay?" Sier reassured her, raising her chin to get a look at her eyes. They were so vulnerable.

"...Okay..." Celes cooed, allowing herself to be held by Sier. "I'm... this is all my fault. I pushed her away, and-"

"Celes," Sier cut her off. "Iris is the one acting out. We'll talk about this later, as a family, but right now... right now, you can't beat yourself up over it." 

Celes went quiet, her eyes lowering to her lap. Her hands scrunched up the hem of her nightgown. 

"...I should... I need to reflect." Celes sighed. "She hates me, and... I don't want this between us anymore."

She said with an unsteady voice. Silence hung between the two of them, before Sier sighed. 

"...We should get ready for work, Celes." Sier muttered, rising to his feet. "Let me worry about Iris for now."

With a silent agreement, the two parents busied themselves for the day ahead. Their jobs were difficult enough without Iris hanging heavily in their minds. 

---

"You had another fight with your parents...?"

Miguel and Sarah joined up with Iris for the rest of the long walk to school. Iris had lowkey recapped the events of the morning with a sigh. She still seemed a bit huffy over the whole affair. 

Miguel was visibly concerned for Iris in that moment, but Iris shrugged it off.

"It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, honestly. They just want to keep me down, or whatever." Iris scoffed. "...I miiiiight need a place to crash in the meantime though."

"What?? They're kicking you out!?" Miguel blurted.

"I don't think that's legal at our age." Sarah murmured, matter-of-factly.

"No, no, it's not that bad. But they're gonna try and ground me as long as I'm there. Keyword 'try'." Iris rolled her eyes, looking out to the road ahead. "So I figure, I might as well not be there. They can take a bit to get over themselves, or something."

Iris glanced between the two of them, a hopeful, perhaps begging glint in her eye. She leaned a little closer, taking on a bit of a sultry tone. 

"Sooooo... can I hit either of you guys up for a favour?" Iris asked with a sly grin. "I'll do whatever you want if you say yes~" 

"What?? But..." Miguel raised his finger.

"Your parents would know. If you bunked with either of us." Sarah stated. "Our parents all know each other. They'd call and ask."

"...Shit, you're right." Iris sighed, visibly deflating. "Ah, well. That torpedos the slumber party idea."

"You're not gonna go home and talk it out?" Miguel tilted his head. "But why?"

"You really don't know why? Because they're assholes, that's why." Iris growled, folding her arms. "They don't want me to see anyone, or talk to anyone. Dad's planning on picking me up right after school, but..."

Iris scoffed, glancing to the others. "Well, he can have fun with that. I got other plans."

"...Are they the after school lessons with Ms. Monroe?" Sarah wondered aloud in her usual monotone. Even then, her eyebrows crested slightly in befuddlement and concern.

"No! ...Maybe?" Iris blinked, rubbing the back of her head. "She kinda just springs those plans on me without warning, so I'm not really sure..." 

"What do you guys even talk about? Extracurriculars with a substitute teacher are... uhhhh..." Miguel prodded his fingers together. "Kinda weird..."

"It's nothing, really." Iris denied the idea quickly, perhaps a little abruptly. This invited strange looks from her friends, and she knew she would have to change topics.

"So, uh, hey, trying on a new look!" Iris razzle-dazzled her jazzhands. "Huh? What do you think?"

"..."

Sarah and Miguel gave each other an uncertain look. They weren't really sure what to make of it, but they didn't want to disappoint Iris with their responses either.

"You sure it's not gonna violate the school dress code?" Sarah asked aloud, looking at Iris all over.

"Aaaah, you know how they are about those. They're more, uh, guidelines than anything else." Iris laughed. "Besides, I wanted to express myself in the way only I can. When you got it, flaunt it~"  Iris chuckled, swaying her hips back and forth. She was having the time of her life just being a flirt about all of this. 

"...You might wanna... do up that top button on your shirt." Miguel coughed. "It's a touch, uh, revealing."

"Yeah! It's called a tease." Iris nodded. 

"It's a little uncomfortable to look at." Miguel clarified, blushing slightly. 

"...Tch. Prude." 

Iris relented, buttoning up her shirt with a scowl. She was rather hoping her friends would support her new look more than anyone else, but... she saw how it was. 

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