Flexible Thinking for a Modern Life: Chapter 1

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.

[Story Listing]

CHAPTER 1

Iris Fleurs was, by any stretch of the imagination, a peculiar girl. Her peculiarities weren't known to many people, but then again, it wasn't like she had tried that hard to really keep it a secret. 

Morning had hit the sleepy burrough of Fairfield, a subdivision of the sprawling town of Agnes. It was a chilly September morning outside her window, though she would much rather tucked into the warmth of her bed sheets. Today, Iris would be starting her first day as a sophomore at Horatio Watson High School. But right now, she was catching a few more precious moments of rest before she would have to tackle the day ahead. 

Iris was the daughter of perhaps the most gossiped couple in the town of Agnes. Iris herself was a fairly attractive girl. She had nary a blemish on her smooth skin. She inherited her father's oak-brown hair—now tossed around along the pillow in an unkempt state of bedhead—and her mother's sapphire eyes. 

Of course, that wasn't all that she inherited from her mother...

RIIIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIING!!

"Nnnn, already? I already hit the snooze button..."

A mechanical alarm clock at her bedside rattled and rang, its shrill sounds blaring throughout the entire house. Reflexively, her hand slung out to smack the alarm clock, close in an attempt to silence it. It clattered to the floor.

RIIIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIING!!

"Ughhh..."

Iris groaned, her eyes wincing as the ceaseless barrage of noise persisted. It was then that her outreaching hand made quite a strange motion. 

Her arm seemed to stretch, effortlessly doubling in length. The elbow's joint seemed to melt away as Iris' arm curved towards the floor in a gentle arc. It closed the distance to the fallen clock, her hand reaching for a button at its top.

Click. The wailing alarm clock had been silenced. This was one of her various powers. It was a long story: Iris' mother had been deformed, mutated in a lab incident at the molecular level, down to her DNA. It hadn't stopped her mother from finding true love, but her traits had been passed along to their daughter.

Iris had inherited many of her mother's strange strange abilities: the ability to stretch her limbs, to subtly adjust her body. She was resilient to scrapes and cuts. There must've been other things, but she didn't have many opportunities to explore her own body. She had other matters to attend to. Like getting ready for school.

With some more groans of displeasure, she urged herself to open her eyes and face the day. The tactile sensation of some part of her arm rubbing against the chilled wooden floor as it retracted back towards her, shrinking back to its normal proportions and length, was enough to coerce her awake. 

...Now that she was waking up, she felt some other part of her along the floor as well. Some other part of her body coiling and piling up against each other. Raising her head from her pillow, she took a look.

"...What? Ah crap, not again..."

She muttered to herself, seeing how her lower torso, from the waist down, had extended in her sleep. She could feel her midriff resting against one of her bed's supporting legs. Her light, floral-patterned pajamas hadn't stretched with her, exposing her cream-coloured skin to the air. At least her belly remained mostly under the warm bed sheets.

Her eyes followed her legs, coiling and looping around each other in ropey lengths along the floor, under the floor... pretty much everywhere, really. It was quite a mess. She attempted to trace the feeling down to her feet...

Knock knock. 

"Iris? You awake? Mom wanted to see you about your school uniform."

Iris' eyes widened, looking straight to the door to her room. She saw the handle moving, and tried to intervene.

"Dad?? No, don't come in-"

But it was too late, the door was already opening. It only opened a crack, the door hitting against some part of Iris' stretched-out legs. A bespectacled man peered in, taking one look around the state of Iris' room. He had a robe on, and his hair was similarly a mess. The apple didn't fall from from the tree in the Fleurs family. 

"...Ohhh. D, did you end up sleep stretching again?" Dad's mouth flattened. 

"DAD!" Iris shot straight up, pulling the covers over her as she shot a glare straight ahead. "Can't I get some privacy!?"

"I thought you'd be up and about by now! Sorry, kiddo, I'll just... let you pull yourself together a bit, eheh." Dad scratched the back of his neck with a bemused grin.

Iris groaned. Against with the dad jokes. 

"SIER!" A woman's voice called out from downstairs. "Your toast's ready!"

Sier's eyes widened, glancing behind him. "Okay, thank you!" He called back, before looking back to Iris. "Do you, uh, need a hand with... well..."

"I'm okay, it's just..." Iris looked down at her full length, before she turned back to her father. "Can you not tell Mom about this? Don't want her to flip out."

"Don't worry, I can keep a secret.~" Dad closed the door behind him, but continued to talk from the other side of the door. "Now get dressed. You got a big day ahead of you!"

"O-okay, Dad." Iris sheepishly responded, her cheeks flushing. She looked down to her covers, patterned in a tartan spread. Guess she had to pick up the pace a bit. 

Focusing to herself, closing her eyes in meditation, she willed her body to return to its normal shape. Her long, coiling legs quickly retracted. It was rather uncomfortable, feeling her infinitely-stretched legs brushing against the wooden floor, the carpet, and bumping against everything. Before long, they returned to normal shape as her feet slipped back under the covers. She wiggled her toes, just to make sure they worked correctly. She bent her legs, testing for the knee's joints. 

"All better." She nodded to herself. Feeling a yawn coming on, she stretched her back out, extending her arms skywards.

Bump! She felt her fists bump against the ceiling, smooshing slightly. Her mouth flattening, she glanced up, staring at her outstretched arms once more. 

"Ooookaaaaay. Gotta watch out for that, I guess." Iris sighed, her arms retracting back to normal proportions. Scooching out of the bed, she went about her morning routine. After freshening up in the bathroom, making sure her hair was straightened out and tied up in a ponytail, she descended downstairs, garbed in the grey coloured uniform of HWHS.

She was greeted with the sound of sizzling bacon on the grill. Her father was in the kitchen, carefully tending to the bacon and eggs. 

"Iris! How does your uniform fit?"

Already at the table, Iris' mother waved at Iris. Her mother was definitely a strange sight - one could go as to call her 'alien', but that was hardly the case. From head to toe, her entire body was made of a thick, viscous slime that seemed to move on its own - a damning byproduct of an unfortunate event long ago. 

It was a wonder she managed to conduct herself with any sense of grace in her current form, but Iris' mother had found ways to adjust, and adapt. She was an interesting juxtapose to the more casually dressed father. She was dressed to impress, with a lavender business suit complimenting a flower-adorned sunhat that she had placed upon the dining room table.

She got up out of her seat to hurry over to Iris, getting a good look at her on all sides.

"It fits fine, Mom." Iris muttered, her eyes looking aside. "I looked in the mirror and everything."

"Ah, I'm a seamstress dear. Maybe I can make a few adjustments." The mother's inquisitive blue eyes scanned her daughter as she looped around her on all sides. 

"Seriously, it's fine, you really don't have to- o-oh!" 

Iris could feel her mother taking her daughter's hands. The wet, slick surface of her hands felt strange, even after all these years. Like holding warm putty. Still, she had gotten used to this sort of contact - her mother was a fussy lady.

"Mm, the cuffs come up a little short on your arms, let's fix that. A-and the skirt's squeezing your waist a little, aaah... I could fix this, but maybe it'd be easier to..."

The mother wasn't so much making adjustments to Iris' uniform, but moreover making adjustments to Iris herself. Like clay on an easel, her slender hands darted from place to place, squeezing and prodding Iris all over.

"M-mom, stop! It... this feels funny!" Iris had to stifle a few chuckles, trying to get away.

"Aw, Celes, lay off the poor girl, you know she's ticklish. Besides, it's time for breakfast!" The father called out. This was enough to get the mother to back off. 

"R-right, sorry. You're fine, sweetie." Celes nodded a little bashfully. "It's just... it's a big day after all. Your first day back to school!"

"Moooom, I'm a second year. It's gonna be the same old junk anyway, right?" Iris shuffled over to the table, just as her father was plating the meals. 

"Honestly? Probably so. Is Principal Windsor still working there?" Sier wondered, buttering up his toast. "That man, hoo, he could cure insomnia with his speeches."

"...Actually, he does still work there." Iris blinked. Her father must've went to the same school as well. You learn something new every day!

Iris glanced down to her plate. Sunny side up eggs, bacon, and an apple for the road. Her favourite! She dug into her meal. 

"I-Iris, slow down there! You'll choke on something if you go that fast... At least chew your food,"

"It's okay, Mom, I can make room. Look!" She took her apple, enlarging her mouth, and plopped the entire thing in.

"Ah, Iris!" Celes called out, an astonished look on her face. Iris simply stared back, her cheeks sticking out, packed like a hamster's. After a pause, Iris ended up stalling the whole apple in one gulp, no chewing necessary. 

Iris rubbed her belly with satisfaction.  "Mmmm...~" This was enough to get a perturbed reaction out of her mother, which brought Iris no shortage of amusement. "Mm... See? It's kinda like how snakes do it!~"

"...Please don't go and entertain the other kids with that party trick..." Celes sighed, poking at her food.

"Well Celes, you gotta give them credit. At least the school's teaching her something."

Sier laughed to himself, before being abruptly cut off by Celes elbowing him in the side with a sharp look. Iris looked down at her plate. She wasn't doing that sort of thing to be gross - she just wanted to be efficient with her time, and to get out of here.

...Speaking of being time efficient, Iris snuck a glance at her watch. Her eyes bugged out slightly - perhaps literally. 

"Oh, crap, I should get going, like, now. Bye Mom, bye Dad! Love you!" Iris scrambled from her seat to rinse off her plate, before beelining for the door. 

"A-ah! G, goodbye honey! Have fun at school!"

"Don't do anything your mother wouldn't do!" Sier called out as Iris ran out the door.

For a while, the two parents stared at the door, before returning to their meals in silence. 

"...Well. The greenhouse won't take care of itself. And you got the boutique to worry about." Sier sighed, finishing off his plate.

"...Iris... will she be okay?" Celes wondered, forlornly staring off into space.

"She's a tough girl. Smart girl too. She'll be fine." Sier nodded, taking Celes' plate away as well. A true gentleman.

"...Yeah." Celes muttered, turning back to Sier. That reassurance was enough to get her out of that headspace of hers. "You sure you're okay doing the dishes as well? I can help?"

"Nah, I got these." Sier confirmed. "These hands are good for more than picking flowers."

"Mmhm. They're good for cooking, and cleaning... and cuddling.~" Celes cooed, rising to her feet to bump up against Sier. "You always had such a tender grip..."

"Hehe. We have a date coming up, for juuust such an occasion." Sier teased, leaning over to kiss Celes on the cheek. 

The gesture was enough to get Celes' mind off of worrying over her daughter. That was enough for her. 

---

"...You students represent the next generation. The world is changing, and we have to be aware of the changes we bring. For complicity is..."

The entire student body had been herded into the auditorium for Principal Windsor. He had been prattling on with his welcoming speech for the better part of ten minutes now, and the end was nowhere in sight.

"...Hoooooly crap. Dad was one hundred percent right about this guy." Iris groaned, slinking back into her chair. "They should call him Principal Windbag." 

"Why?" A stoic girl with cool pink skin, her red hair ties in twintails, next to Iris glanced over with a dull stare. Even then, her gaze, through her bright red eyes, seemed strikingly piercing. "That's not his name. It's Windsor. They said it right at the start."

"...Sarah, it's a joke. It's because he talks too much. Like a windbag." Iris explained, a little dumbfounded.

"....Ohhhhh. It's wordplay. Subtle." Sarah nodded, her expression unphased. 

"Whaaaa? Sarah, c'mon, that's a really obvious joke! It's, like, a dad joke!" 

And on Iris' other side, an excitable boy with tan skin leaned over dangerously close. Almost like he was about to tip right over himself. He had messy brown hair as if he hadn't brushed this morning.

"...But he's not my dad. He's not your dad either, Miguel." Sarah tilted her head. "...Unless... oh no." Sarah frowned to herself.

"...Uhhhh. Miguel's parents are still together. We all went to a barbecue together last month, remember?" Iris' mouth flattened.

"Oh, thank goodness. Your parents are really a cute couple." Sarah nodded, before turning back to the stage.

"...Thanks??" Miguel, for once, didn't have a quip for the occasion. His eyes slowly turned to Iris, and a devil smirk came to his lips. "Heyyyy, Iriiiiis~"

"...oh boy..." Iris muttered under her breath. "Anything you need, Miguel?"

"It's good to see you again! I saw the assignments, we're all in 2-B!" Miguel raised his palm. "High five!"

"Nnnnnope." Iris declined, her eyes glancing upwards. "You're wearing a buzzer."

"...Wha? H-how'd you know...?" Miguel pouted, his arm slinking back down.

"It's, uh, kinda obvious. Plus you have the same evil smile every time you're about to pull a prank." Iris thought about it, before glancing to Miguel. "...Hey, yo, you should sign up for drama classes! They'd make you a better actor!"

"What? Really??" Miguel blinked, glancing down at the concealed buzzer in his palm. "...Well. Couldn't hurt. Still, damn, I thought I had a way better poker face than that."

"You should really let him zap you." Sarah commented, her eyes not leaving the stage.

"...Huh? Why??" Iris was puzzled.

"You've been looking to doze off through this speech all morning. A little buzz would wake you up." Sarah noted matter-of-factory. She glanced to Iris. "Getting enough sleep?"

"Me? Uhh... I, I thought so, but..." Iris prodded her fingers together. Sarah was kind of spacey, but she was surprisingly attentive when it came to physical health. 

"Summer tends to do that to people. Too much lazing about. We could start going on runs together, it'll be fun." Sarah's enthusiasm rang true through her deadpan expression. 

"Aww, Iris, you don't need that sorta thing, you're in great shape!" Miguel leaned over. "Maybe you just need a good stretch..."

"What? ...Oh, crap, Miguel, don't-"

Before Iris could intervene, Miguel had pinched her cheek, pulling it along. Her skin stretched like taffy, almost a foot in length. Iris winced at the tugging sensation - it didn't hurt, it was just, well, weird. 

And they were in a crowded auditorium! Iris grabbed Miguel's wrist, causing him to lose his grip. Her cheek, in a split second, snapped back to her face, quickly reforming. Sarah, a spectator to all this, only reacted with a raised eyebrow. 

"M-Miguel! Not now!" Iris hissed under her breath, rubbing her cheek. "Mom would freak out if everyone found out about... about that!"

"Yeaaaah. Not a good time." Sarah agreed.

Iris did a cursory glance around her. To her astonishing luck, the principal's speech had seemingly lulled most of the student body to sleep. As far as she was aware, none were any the wiser as to her strange abilities. Which is just how Iris wanted it. It wasn't that she wanted to keep it a secret, but the less shit she got from her mother about it, the better.

Besides, Miguel and Sarah were close friends of hers, and she trusted them with the knowledge. Only Miguel really preyed on her with that particular knowledge, and that only really manifested in harmless pranks. 

"Weeell, it woke you up a bit, right?" Miguel grinned. "And hey, look! Windbag's wrapping up, we're free!"

Iris looked over to the stage. The principal was done, abandoning the podium. The teachers on hand were rallying their students back to their homerooms, and Iris found herself being whisked along for the ride. 

Following behind Sarah, her bright red hair seving as a beacon through the throngs of grey uniforms, Iris tried to keep up, hoping not to trip over herself.

Bump!

Iris' hip collided with another student's, subtly smooshing with the sudden impact. Reflexively, she repositioned her carrying bag to cover her side as she turned sharply to address the student.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

But Iris trailed off as she recognized the student. She couldn't forget those blonde princess curls that flanked her constant sneer, her icy blue eyes, or her throng of vapid cronies that followed her every step. 

The girl looked Iris over with a look of utter disdain. A moment prior, she had been gossiping about something that Iris didn't quite pick up on. But taking one look at her, their conversation petered out.

"...Sherry Windermayer." Iris muttered, bracing herself mentally for a verbal confrontation.

"...Ohhhh. Iris Fleurs. You're still here." Sherry looked over her with a look of utter disdain. "I hope you would've taken a page from your best friend Sarah and transferred, but I guess we can't get everything we want."

"I don't have time for this, Sherry, we have class. Not all of us can coast on our daddy's bank account." Iris growled.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Sherry cooed, her tone dripping with insincerity. "I suppose there's enlightenment buried with the bugs and muck that your father digs through. Not to mention your mother-"

Iris was getting sick of looking at Sherry's face, and had half a mind to deck her then and there. 

"Iris."

But she was stopped then and there. Sarah had come back, placing herself between the two of them. Sarah was several inches shorter than the both of them, but somehow her stone-cold expression was enough to cool off the tension.

"She's not worth it. Let's go."

Taking Iris' hand with an iron grip, Sarah ushered Iris through the crowds once more. Iris' eyes, meanwhile, stared daggers at Sherry, who turned back to her little posse. It seems that Iris herself was now the subject of their gossip circle. 

Iris sighed. So this was how the school year was set to start. It was going to be a looooong year. 

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