Fam Jam

Chapter 2: Skulls, tea and potato soup

Turns out the 'Sketchit Clan' were not only a lot weirder than Ash and Misty expected, but actually seemed pretty darn cool at the same time. Once Joplin (that's what 'mama' insisted she be called, feeling anything with Mrs was too formal and stuffy) had the tea ready all the residents of house gathered around the dining room table to meet the friends that Tracey had purposefully neglected to mention.

Passing milk, sugar and cookies over the skull center piece introductions were fast paced and a bit overwhelming with all the new information to take in but it certainly wasn't boring. Giving Pikachu a good scratch behind the ears Joplin went around the table starting with the large beast of a man sitting next to her. He'd been the one playing guitar to a fake audience and they were told to just call him Osbourne. They also learned that the ink on his face was traditional for the people he descended from and that he had an important job as the head of Public Works on the island.

The skinny guy who'd been sprawled on the couch and zonked out on his phone was Delaney, oldest of all the kids. And he wasn't just browsing mindlessly on his phone either, turned out he was a semi-popular metal music blogger and has been in the midst of some intense research for a new blog post he was planning. Despite his rather deathly looking eyes and harsh face he was quite pleasant and articulate, politely engaging Ash in conversation about their different experiences in the Indigo League.

The girl from the kitchen earlier kept getting up every few minutes to check on the potato and leek soup bubbling on the stove, but she introduced herself as Edie the second oldest child and the oldest daughter of Joplin and Osbourne. She apparently worked as some kind of alternative model but neither Ash or Misty were familiar with her face.

Still smelling a bit like sour smoke, the red headed girl called herself Sadie the third oldest and explained what she'd been doing with the bundle and the shell. Sadie was very heavily into witchcraft and had been doing a cleansing ritual by burning sage, stating that Tracey's return home had brought back some pretty negative energy that she wanted expelled. Partially so her mom could have the baby with as little trouble as possible and also so she could create a calming environment to study for her upcoming photography midterm.

The other red headed child who now had his Sandshrew resting in his lap called himself Stacey, he was only older than Tracey by two years but had a more manly looking face and physique next to Tracey who still appeared rather boyish. Stacey also spoke in a very brash manner and was overflowing with confidence, the complete opposite of their friend.

The little mint haired twins form earlier remained largely quiet, peering at Ash and Misty curiously as they nibbled on cookies. Joplin called them Manny and Minne Pye, her niece and nephew from Osbourne's side of the family. According to her they were living in their house for a few months while their parents were off on an archaeological dig somewhere in Kanto.

Lastly there was the stranger who had driven them there. His name was Cal (short for Pascal) and he was a nephew from Joplin's side of the family. Although Misty had figured it out almost immediately, it took Stacey shouting suddenly and Cal not reacting for Ash to figure out that Cal was deaf. Ash wasn't too embarrassed for long though because Cal quickly called out something to interest the kid, an extra fluffy Mareep nicknamed 'The Baron'. Through text Cal explained that The Baron was his service pokémon that helped alert him to things like people knocking on his door, alarms going off or someone trying to get his attention.

As Ash was getting quite an education on The Baron's important job Misty silently observed everyone around the table. At first she didn't really see a family resemblance to their friend, but soon she started noticing little things like the way some of them held their cups or how they were postured were really similar to Tracey. Joplin was probably the most like him in terms of mannerisms and her speech pattern was also nearly identical (except for how she addressed everyone with worlds like darling and sweetheart). They both put emphasis on the same words and did the same little smirk when someone said something funny.

On the appearance side of things when you got past Cal's modifications and missing eyeball it was clear that he and his younger cousin had a nearly identical facial structure, except Cal had sharper cheek bones and was much older. In fact Cal and Tracey looked more like brothers than he and Stacey did. Even Edie had more in common appearance-wise, they shared similar noses and the same shade of beer bottle brown for their eyes.

Misty was still quite stunned by the situation. Sure, they'd only known Tracey for a short amount of time but never once had he breathed a word about his family whereas both she and Ash constantly talked about their family and friends back home. They sort just assumed he didn't have one, but now here they were sitting around a table with his parents, 4 siblings (soon to be 5) and 3 cousins.

Now moving on to giving Pikachu belly rubs Joplin apologized again for Tracey's odd behavior. "Honestly, I don't know what's wrong with him sometimes. He always acts like we're a circus freak show and it seems like he wishes he was adopted."

"…he's not adopted?" Ash asked between bites of cookie.

Joplin and Osbourne both paused and looked at each other before both of them burst out laughing,

Osbourne's booming howl rocked the table causing the tea in their cups to quiver. "That child? He's more like us than he wants to admit!"

"And I didn't spend the last few months of my pregnancy lying in bed feeling like my back was splitting open for nothing. Tracey is definitely one of ours." Joplin shook her head and rolled her eyes. This probably wasn't the first time Tracey had done something like this.

As Ash and Misty listened to Joplin talk rather openly about her back pains and water breaking, Stacey leaned over and whispered. "That's why she goes overboard with the god statue in the hallway. She didn't do anything with it when she was pregnant with Tracey and she thinks that's why he was born too early and sick."

Sick? He didn't look sick.

"Oh my darlings, enough about us. What about you two?" Joplin's eyes practically sparkled as she stared at them across the table. "Tracey never said a word about you so I want to know who you are and what you're about if you don't mind."

Swallowing a big chunk of chocolate chip cookie, Ash wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand (unknowingly smearing some of the chips). "Us? Now that I've beaten the Orange League we're headed home to deliver something to Professor Oak."

Stacey snorted and clicked his spoon on the lip of his cup. "Ain't that the guy Tracey always blabbers about?"

"Uh, yeah. I think so?"

"Maybe the professor will adopt him and be his new daddy." Snickered Stacey with a hint of contempt in his voice.

Angrily Edie shot up and slammed her fist on the table in front of her brother's teacup causing the contents to splash out. "Stacey! Quiet!" Just as quickly she returned to her seat, fixed her hair and flashed a smile, "please continue."

A touch startled Ash went on. "…so we're also headed back home to hopefully start a new adventure."

Misty sighed, feeding her bubbly little egg creature a tiny piece of cookie. "…I'm just following him because he owes me a bike."

Suddenly the sliding door to the backyard cracked opened and slammed closed, everyone turned around in their seats. Knees covered in dirt, some twigs in his hair and a pile of leafy greens in his arm Tracey tried not to make eye contact with anyone. He mumbled "…got the swiss chard" before walking slowly past them on his way to the kitchen. They all sat there in silence and listened as they heard the greens being left on the counter, Tracey's footsteps leaving the kitchen again then running upstairs followed by a slamming door.

Stacey broke the silence with a snort, "weirdo."

Nobody laughed.

XXXXXX

Tracey didn't come down after tea.

He didn't make an appearance during or after dinner.

Ash and Misty were getting worried for their friend. Stacey assured them he was fine, probably just pouting upstairs in his silly blanket fort.

"That kid has always been super weird about us. Just let him whine about it in peace."

Misty wasn't convinced though, so while Ash was chatting away with Delaney about battle techniques and whatnot she snuck away upstairs hoping to find Tracey. The second floor had about 3 bedrooms and a bathroom. One looked like it belonged to the parents, another was really dark and full of metal posters and the other had a set of bunk beds in it and toys on the floor (she guessed the twins were staying there). The next floor up was the attic. Did he live in the attic?

Misty was surprised to find that the upper level was finished and carpeted, not old and creepy and full of dust. The large space appeared divided, not quite equally though. Most of the room was neat and tidy, taken over by soccer posters and pictures of bikini clad women. Shoved into a smaller section, marked by tape on the floor there was indeed a fort made of various blankets and sheets. That corner of the room also seemed darker compared to the rest of the attic, she heard pages of a book turning as she crept over. The floor creaked under her foot.

"…buzz off, Stacey. I just want to be alone." Tracey mumbled in a sullen voice.

"Uh, oh it's not Stacey. It's Misty…I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You totally missed the wicked potato soup your sister made."

She heard the book close and some rustling, a moment later Tracey poked his head out of his little fabric fortress. "I don't know why you couldn't just stay at the center. I'm not saying that to be mean, my family is just…strange."

"Well, they seem really nice so far."

"Yeah, they're nice enough right now, stick around for a few days and they'll just become overwhelming."

"How are they overwhelming?"

"Well, maybe that's not exactly the correct word. But it sounds better than saying they care too much."

Misty reached out and pat him on the head, trying to be both sympathetic and maybe crack a laugh. "You wanna talk about it?"

"…not really?" Tracey flipped up part of the blanket fort and sat on the edge of his bed. "It's just complicated. Really, really complicated."

Taking a seat on the floor, Misty crossed her legs and put all her weight on her right arm. "Well, I've got nothing else to do. Why don't you tell me a bit about it?"

He still really didn't want to but he had a feeling Misty was going to keep prying until he did. With a very uncharacteristic indignant grumble, Tracey joined her on the floor. "Well, you know that statue in our foyer?"

Misty shuddered. "Yeah, it's kinda creepy. What's up with it?"

"It's supposed to be the guardian of the house or something, apparently it's been there since the house was built. Everyday since mom and dad bought the place mom has lit a candle and left offerings. I think the story about it being some house guardian was just made up by the realtor so they wouldn't have to move the thing out, but mom totally bought into it…" Tracey scrunched his face in disgust, he didn't like the statue at all and hated how it was the first thing to greet you at the door. The statue wasn't the most welcoming sight when you'd trudged home after a long journey.

"…every time she's been pregnant she dresses it in flowers and uses more candles. Mom never tells me the real story, but my cousin filled me in on what happened when I was born. In her second trimester she'd been given strict orders for bed rest and left it the responsibility of my father to tend to the statue, apparently he flaked off on that responsibility. So when I was born too early and I was sick my mom blamed him for that. She retired from roller derby permanently to take care of me and for the longest time refused to have any more kids in case they ended up like me…"

Misty tilted her head in curiosity. "Like you? What do you mean?"

Tracey shrugged and made circular impressions in the carpet with his finger. "Well, I'm okay now but when I was younger I was delayed with walking and talking and I guess my immune system was weaker so I'd get sick all the time. But like I said, I'm okay now. I barely get sick anymore and I can scale the side of a cliff like no tomorrow. But I guess me being sick all the time put a lot of stress on my parents, my mom in particular. It was even a miracle that she taught me how to skate and let me do junior derby for a few years until I got old enough for the full contact version. No way she's ever going to let me do that."

Misty giggled, trying to picture him in roller skates. The image in her head was not graceful. "You? Roller derby? You won't even bump into people in public because you're afraid of hurting their feelings and you want to play a sport where you can body check people and knock them to the ground?"

Tracey perked up a bit and made a fist in his palm. "What can I say? Skating and beating people up is an awesome stress reliever, in the right situation with the correct protective gear!" He made sure to add that last part on.

Bringing her knees up to her chin Misty hugged her legs. "Okay, tough guy. But seriously. Your mom seems okay now, even if your new sibling is born a little sick maybe she won't be such a…helicopter parent with them. She's probably learned enough through raising you."

Tracey's shoulders slumped. "I hope so…"

"You know, that still doesn't explain your aversion to the rest of your family."

"Eh…that's all pretty typical I guess." Tracey bit his lip and went back to drawing random shapes in the grain of the carpet. "My brother Stacey is a jerk as you can see by this wonderful tape border down there, my sisters are pretty cool but they have a tendency to treat me like a 5 year old, Delaney pretty much ignores me and my dad knows just how to traumatize a kid. Before he was head of the Public Works Department he took me out on 'Take Your Kid To Work Day' in the truck to clean up the roads and fill in potholes. 9 year old me had the wonderful experience of sitting in the bed of the truck with the rotting remains of some poor eevee that had tried to cross the road."

Misty really tried not to laugh but a snort escaped and she apologized. "That's horrible and hilarious. I feel awful for laughing!"

Tracey shook his finger at her in a joking manner. "Aaaaand you should. Do you know how long it took me to even get back in a vehicle again? I was afraid we were going to hit a poor little pokémon every time we went out!"

"What about Cal? I he off putting too?" Misty wanted to know a little more about the man who'd driven then there.

"Actually, believe it or not he's really pretty normal. Well, sort of? We're the most alike anyways. He used to lie to my mom when I was younger and instead of taking me to the park we'd go for hikes in the woods looking for different pokémon."

"Ha!"

"Yeah, and he's like wicked smart but he never went to college or anything. And he's living in some converted shack right now because his house burned down and some jerks came forward claiming the land the house was built on belonged to them so he's not allowed to rebuild the house until the courts make a decision. You'll probably get to meet his wife and kid tomorrow if you stay."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, so we get to stay now?"

"I mean, if you want to. I'm sure I can make some room in the blanket fort."

"Yeah, what's up with the fort? You have a secret lab in there or something?" Misty crawled over and inside, she'd been expecting the sheets to be hiding a complete mess but everything was pretty tidy except for some piles of books on the floor around a computer desk. She noticed he had rocket ship sheets on the bed and a pretty ratty looking stuffed squirtle sat on his pillow.

Tracey made some guttural fake vomiting noised and turned to face her, a grin forcing its way onto his face. "Nope. Stacey just farts A LOT in his sleep. It's like a barrier to try and keep it all out."

Misty just shook her head. "That is disgusting. I no longer have a crush on his fabulous hair."

"Ugh, everyone loves his hair. It's all about his pretty, bouncy red hair." Tracey impersonated his older brother by whipping his head back like his hair was being blown about in an ocean breeze. "Ick."

Misty and Tracey had spent a large chunk of the night sitting up and talking, going over old family photos and exchanging stories until Stacey stalked upstairs at about 2 am and demanded silence for his beauty sleep. While lying there on the floor snuggled up to Togepi, it took all her strength to not burst out laughing every time the 'psyducks' sang their song on the other side of the room. Eventually she couldn't help it and absolutely lost it, prompting the both of them to get kicked out of the room and forcing them to sleep on the floor in the living room where Ash had fallen asleep on the couch in front of the tv.

Misty drifted off to sleep listening to the ticking of an old clock and her friends breathing. She hoped the morning sun would chase away any negativity that the night left behind.