351 – Cleaning Up Her Act
Calcine was happy to kiss Dani senseless, giving Brandy a chance to relax. Her adorable new Magikarp wasn't ready for the full force of Calcine's passion. Sure, she'd spent plenty of time with the sea folk, but their bonds felt more like friendship than romance. This was different, far more intense, and it showed in how quickly Dani melted from just a kiss. A kiss that probably had a tongue nearly down her throat, but still, just a kiss. Calcine's hunger for the fish was unusual, but she was extra weak to Water Types and enjoyed being protective. Dani just had an aura about her that screamed she would get herself into trouble if left to her own devices. It was the perfect mix to have the team's Carkoal all over her.
Sparky wouldn't be jealous because she was kept busy licking Lilith clean. A tidying job that looked a lot more fun than the actual cleaning Brandy and Morgan were doing. That was fine. Sparky had put in a lot of work lately and deserved her mean goth waitress reward.
Morgan seemed just as happy as Brandy to let them all to it. She was helping blow the table splinters and broken plates into a nice pile to be recycled later, leaving Brandy free to mop around the edges with supplies she'd found in a cupboard. Thankfully, property damage was more rude than real trouble. As long as you helped tidy up, you'd get away with a slap on the wrist. Emotions always ran high whenever humans and Pokémon came together. Accidents were pretty ordinary with all that power at a Pokémon's fingertips. You'd be angry your whole life if you got mad every time.
"What are you smiling about?" Morgan asked, with only a hint of judgment. Reaching out to brush her feathers over Brandy's arm. "We're doing all the work."
"Just happy the teams getting along. Dani's fitting in."
"She's hard to dislike," Morgan smiled, dipping her wings and letting her Hurricane trail off. It was a nice round pile of debris she'd made, and Brandy just had to mop up the cheesecake around the edges. "Flail is better than I thought. She's got a lot of power in that tail."
No kidding, Morgan had needed to blow bits of the table out of the ceiling. Dani had really flicked that thing good.
"Dani's got potential. You've noticed, right?"
"The water on her skin?" Morgan said, her head leaned back so her hat brim didn't poke at Brandy. "I've noticed. I don't think she's very close to evolving. The idea Dani is going to be a Gyrados seems silly."
Gyrados were infamously passionate and overwhelming Pokémon. Even if they got Dani a Water Stone like Calcine, that wouldn't be enough. Calcine could go into her Coalossal form because she had the potential to evolve into it, but she decided not to. Dani was a long way from overwhelming anybody, except possibly Calcine, who was grinding her into a paste.
"Maybe she's a Ditto?"
"Maybe I'm a Ditto," Morgan smirked. "Wouldn't that be something?"
"You wouldn't be able to resist bragging about it."
Brandy got bopped with the hat brim for that. Which was fair. It was pretty cheeky to say that.
"It won't be easy for her," Brandy said after flicking Morgan's hat brim back. "She's going to need support."
It was said as a statement, but that was cowardly, really. Brandy just didn't want to push this further. The awkward silence stretched on until Morgan wrapped her wings around Brandy, holding the mop with her and helping slide it back and forth. The shifting motion pressed Brandy back into Morgan's feathered chest, so soft and comforting it was easy to let the tension wash away with the strokes of the mop. Morgan hummed as they worked, soft enough only Brandy could hear it, and it didn't seem to be any tune in particular. She was just letting the music wander, defusing the awkward moment for them both.
"I know I'm competitive," Morgan said, beating Brandy to speaking first. It was a mercy. Brandy didn't want to ruin this moment. "I want to win, and Dani will make it harder. I'm going to get annoyed at her now and then about it. When I do, you'll have to calm me down."
That wasn't what Brandy had expected. She thought she'd at least get a promise about trying to be nice, but Morgan was being openly honest. It made Brandy's heart flutter that Morgan could drop the mask for her. They'd said they loved each other, and she'd never doubted it, but a little trust like this made it more real.
"I like it when you're a bit worked up," Brandy smiled, turning around and hugging Morgan tight, feeling those feathery wings wrap around her back. Cocooning Brandy in softness and Morgan's scent, feathers dabbed with a floral perfume that Brandy had never caught her buying. She'd never quite placed the smell, but it was nice. "When you're really focused on something, you come alive."
"Yeah," Morgan sighed. "Yeah, that's a problem."
Brandy gave Morgan a kiss because it felt right. No tongue like Calcine or teeth like the chewing Sparky was getting. Just a mush of lips to feel each other's warmth and know they're both there.
"It's not, you like challenges. I'll find you them." Brandy said, "You finish one, we'll have another."
"Going to be hard to top you."
Brandy couldn't help but laugh at that. The laugh had a choke to it as she tried to bite it down and failed. The bug in her blood just couldn't let it go.
"Try top Calcine first, then you can get to me."
"I'll do my best," Morgan smiled, and it really was a smile. Not the polite one of someone putting on a brave face, she really was looking forward to her date with Calcine. They both knew her chances of actually coming out on top were slim. Calcine had an unshakable confidence that not even a Mega had toppped. But if anyone could beat the odds, it'd be Morgan.
"Very cute."
The new voice made Brandy jump, but Morgan clutched her tight and stopped her from bouncing out of her grip.
"No flailing," Morgan whispered, "Had enough for one day."
Cheeks burning from the teasing, Brandy shifted in the hug to try get an eye on who'd walked up on them. The sweet smell of sugar hit her first, and the scent of it was like a shot of adrenaline that made Morgan's feathers uncomfortably intense against Brandy's skin. Disentangling from the Murkrow, Brandy had to fight the urge to curtsey at the Pokémon, politely smiling in a perfectly crisp white apron. Her hip was cocked, and a long purple boot slid out of one side of the apron showing off that this Pokémon didn't just have legs. She had Brandy-grade legs that ended in a pleated white skirt that drifted like it was alive. Green hair long enough to put even Dani to shame, almost down to her ankles that whipped about dramatically with the slightest tilt of her head, and silk-padded crown atop her head that gave her an air of majesty that did not fit at all in with Brandy's idea of a cook.
"I thought I'd come to see who was knocking over my tables." the Pokémon said with a voice like silk. "And ensure Lilith isn't raking whoever did it over the coals."
"Sparky loves being raked over by the coals," Brandy said, her bug urges moving faster than her flailing thoughts. "Lilith's been really understanding, considering we were just helping clean up."
The Pokémon's red eyes never left Brandy, and it was hard not to shiver under that gaze. It was intense.
"We don't go a day without some punk making trouble for Lilith to clean up." the Pokémon said and fluttered eyelashes that were made for that job. "I should thank you for being the one today. If she doesn't burn some energy off, I lose a lot of baking time."
She said it almost fondly, stroking out a wave of her long green hair. Despite her commanding attitude, this Pokémon seemed the kind of sappy, lovestruck Brandy usually associated with Fenny and Scoria. Good for Lilith, as annoying as her parents could be, their devotion to each other was almost sweet enough to make up for it. Almost.
"Even so, I'm sorry for the trouble," Brandy said, dipping her head in apology. "Can we make it up to you?"
"Oh yes," the Pokémon chef smiled, and it was embarrassing how much that made Brandy wriggle with happiness inside. "If you're offering, you can help me with something very important."
Brandy swallowed a lump that was starting to form in her throat. Whatever it was, they probably didn't mean baking.