Chapter title: Stir
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"Um, hi, like sorry if this is awkward, because you, like, probably don't know us," the eldest Waterflower sibling boldly grinned while extending a thin hand.
"I'm sorry, should I know you?" Delia looked up from her dirt embedded trowel at the three women standing at the edge of the white picket fence that contained her gardening sanctuary. They were overdressed by Pallet standards, so the matriarch regarded them with reserved caution. The last time someone that ostentatious came through it turned out to be Team Rocket in disguise.
Granted these women only looked costumed in the sense that their appearance didn't fit the small town aesthetic.
"Our runt sister -" Violet started before being ribbed into silence by Lily.
"What Vi means, is Misty is our little sister," Lily corrected quickly.
"Oh," Delia acknowledged, glancing more closely over the group before her and picking up on key facial features, "I suppose I can see the resemblance."
Violet and Lily's faces dropped to a state of absolute appallment at the statement before Daisy sharply nudged them with a harsh whisper.
"She was going to, like, get pretty at some point. Even if she fought it. She is related to us after all."
"It's nice to meet you, but if you're looking for Misty, she and Ash headed down to the bay for a swim this afternoon," Delia shrugged. The trio certainly fit Misty's description of them and internally Delia sighed in relief that the tomboyish mermaid was entirely the antithesis to the blatant vanity her sisters proudly displayed.
"No, no. We were actually looking for you...See I'm, like, seeing Tracey and he said that the professor mentioned you were the queen of meddling. And well, our baby sister could use some help in the love department," Daisy earnestly eloquated.
"What Dais means is Misty has been a brat lately and we think she really needs to get -" Violet muttered, being drowned out by a raucous giggle from Lily.
Daisy glared back at the pair having just barely heard their mumbling and held her breath in hopes that Ash's mother was unaware of the bawdy intent of Violet's statement.
"Um..." Mrs. K started unsure how to proceed with the trio. After acting as a surrogate mother to the feisty redhead all these years she was long aware of the turmoil between Misty and her older sisters. The limited interaction Delia had with them thus far led her to believe their attitudes still seemed borderline abrasive, but she also knew things had at least minimally mellowed out over the years from what she'd heard from Misty.
Whether that change came about because the redhead had grown up and become more self assured or if her sisters had truly changed was still open for debate. Delia wasn't a betting woman, but she'd still place her metaphorical chips on the former.
"Please Mrs. K," Daisy pleaded, "we, like, knew she was in love with your son when she first brought him to the gym, but, like, it's been years. What are they waiting for?"
"Why don't you come in," Delia finally relented, brushing her gardening gloves off on her apron and hanging both by the entryway door.
The longer the women lingered at her gate the more likely her neighbors were to pry. Though Delia was certain by now her neighbors should be used to the slew of interesting characters that seemed to wander into her home like a parade of strays at the slightest invitation of that gregarious son of hers. Still they asked, whether out of politeness or nosiness, at her local gardening association about the aggregation of oddities.
"Thanks Mrs. K," Daisy graciously acknowledged, "by the way, you have a lovely home."
Delia nodded in quiet appreciation and mentally figured that the blonde must be Daisy since Misty had always said Daisy was the most tolerable.
"I have to ask..." Delia started with a controlled voice, "why take an interest in this now. Since you said you could see it so clearly six years ago, why the sudden urge to do something?"
"Well we weren't going to push her into dating when she was, like, ten," Lily muttered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"And then we figured she'd move on when she, like, had to come home and watch the gym while we traveled, but from what we've heard from our fans she kept saying no to people," Daisy added.
"For a while we thought she was...well, you know," Violet insinuated.
Mrs. Ketchum shook her head, as she didn't, in fact, know what the younger woman meant.
"I mean especially after Casey told us Misty turned down Georgio," Lily sadly sighed.
Daisy rolled her eyes at the middle sisters, "it was the phone bill that, like, clued us in."
"The phone bill?" Delia asked, trying to follow along with the flighty group's rapid-fire conversation. There wasn't enough caffeine in the totality of her tea cupboard to help her keep up.
"She was placing these loooong calls to another region. It would have been salacious and intriguing had we not, like, already figured out what was going on," Violet boredly stated.
"She's, like totally, lovesick and it's really just pitiful. Worse than that is she's making us battle when she places these calls since it's usually during gym hours. I nearly broke a nail last week when a challenger's razor leaf went awry," Lily lamented mournfully, staring down at her still intact french tips.
"I'm just not sure what you need from me," Delia puzzled, trying to figure out why the trio had told her all this.
"Well, like, first of all, are they or aren't they?" Daisy asked curiously with a suggestive eyebrow waggle.
"Hm?" Delia vocalized in continued confusion drumming her fingers on the tabletop mindlessly.
"Like, what's the tea?" Vi nudged with a knowing smirk.
"It's just a simple sweet tea?" Delia replied hesitantly, realizing she'd never offered any to her guests, "would you like some? How rude of me not to offer before now."
"Not that kind of tea. The tea. What's the gossip?" Violet elaborated.
"I'm still not sure I'm following," Delia mumbled, packing the newly learned slang away in her mind as a question to pose to Ash and Misty when they returned from their beach day.
"Well like, is she all giggly and flirty around him still or are they, like, established?" Violet pressed with blasé curiosity.
"In the six years I've known her, I can honestly say I've never seen Misty behave that way around anyone," Delia shrugged with a contained grin.
The atypical emotional expression was part of what Delia thought made Misty such a good match for Ash. Ash had enough air-headed tendencies of his own that he needed someone grounded to balance him out, so it helped that Misty didn't fawn over him, but rather leveled him.
"Are they still fighting?" Daisy asked with a Cheshire grin spreading across her face.
Tracey had clued her in to the fact that that seemed a more likely flirting avenue for the youngest Waterflower sister. It wasn't how Daisy would personally go about attracting someone's attention, but then again none of the other Waterflower sisters had to wait six years for a date so it didn't seem to work for the youngest all that well anyway.
"Listen for yourself," Delia smirked as faint shouts could be heard through the open window. From the sound of it, the pair of teenagers were rapidly approaching the house.
"You know you cheated. I'm a million times faster than you in the water," Misty's agitated shout rang clear.
"Then prove it. Tell me how I cheated," Ash retorted with booming confidence.
"I'm not sure what you did, but I know you did something."
"Nu-uh"
"Uh-huh"
"Nu-uh"
"Oh hi Mrs. Ketchum," Misty apologetically started as they stumbled through the doorway clearly still mid tête-à-tête only to find the matriarch staring at them with an amused grin from her line of sight at the kitchen table, "And...my sisters?"
"They stopped by for some tea," Delia chuckled lightly. It had been a confusing and mildly exhausting afternoon, but definitely not a dull tea time.
"But nobody has any tea but you mom," Ash puzzled, running into Misty's back as she froze in the hallway at the sight of her elder siblings. Alarm bells were going off in the redhead's mind though she didn't have any idea why.
The surprise contact caused both teens to snap quickly at each other in an agitated embarrassment.
"Watch it!"
"Move it!"
"Same as they ever were," Daisy sighed, "hopeless."
"Mostly," Delia smiled, noting the faintest detail.
"What do you mean?" Violet whispered curiously scooting closer the the matriarch to see what Delia noticed.
Ignoring her, Delia directed her attention to Ash.
"Ash, honey, I think you might have some lipgloss on your-"
Ash quickly cut her off before she could finish her statement with an interjection of his own.
"Mom, I do not," Ash exasperatedly groaned wiping his face on the sleeve of his shirt, "your eyesight must be going in your old age."
If there was one thing Delia Ketchum didn't tolerate it was disrespectful aging related remarks. Especially not at her kitchen table.
Delia pursed her lips in annoyance and readied to lecture her offspring about the decency of table manners, but before she could begin, Lily and Violet's laughter cut her off.
"What's so funny?" Misty demanded, her short fuse erupting her into a readied rage.
"You just, like, broke the first rule to keeping secret boyfriends a secret," Violet smirked watching the color instantly drain from Misty's face.
"Which is?"
The water pokemon master's voice was controlled but hollow as her mind wavered between horror and rage.
"No glitter," Lily devolved into laughter, "duh!"
"Especially not the kind that comes from the Celadon number 8 lipgloss I noticed you swiped from my vanity the other day. I bet you didn't know it's water ballet performance grade..." Violet sneered with a hyena-like laugh of her own.
"What do you mean -" Misty shouted before glancing over at Ash, "oh."
And then she quietly repeated.
"Oh no."
No matter how hard the boy tried to wipe his mouth, flecks of glitter, matching the glitter on her own lips, remained strongly affixed.
"Really, Myst?" Ash sighed, catching sight of himself in the hallway mirror.
"You didn't mind an hour ago…" was all Misty could mutter in reply.
"Now Ash honey, I think now might be a good time for a refresher on the pidgey and beedrills discussion we had a while ago," Delia chucked watching Ash's face turn a shade of red unmatched by the common color wheel.
"What about you, little sister, would you rather Mrs. K give you the refresher, or would you, like, rather hear it from us?" Daisy grinned watching Misty's face sour and flush at the statement.
"You know what...I think I forgot something back at the bay," Misty hurriedly rushed excusing herself to the door.
"Is it your dignity?" Violet called tauntingly after her as the redhead bolted out the door.
"Thanks, Mrs. K, this was, like, the most fun we've ever had visiting Pallet Town," Lily stated with a sly grin.
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I enjoyed stirring up some drama with the Waterflower sisters so I hope you enjoyed reading. I could see Delia being very conflicted on how to handle the trio, so I tried to write with that in mind.
Next chapter will take a bit of time. We'll be bringing Misty to the table for "Citrus," and I need some time to tinker with what I have written given it's a topic that will require some finesse to get right.
If you haven't had a chance already, check out "Reflex" which is a oneshot that's intended to be set in between this chapter and the previous addressing the question how Ash and Misty stated dating in this universe.
As always, review, fav, or follow if you'd like.
-FWFT