rocket doesn't like leaving room for error and neither does parker. her reputation within the organization itself is nearly nonexistent, but the poor schmucks she collects from know damn well the sound of her boots outside their homes. she's never had a late payment and she's never royally fucked a mission and it sure as hell isn't going to start here.

amulius nudges her when someone pointedly approaches them, emerging from the crowd like some fictitious protagonist from an action movie. parker, with her ripped black jeans shoved into well-worn boots and her grease-stained jacket on a muscle tee - well, the two of them really are a sight for sore eyes. 

"the one 'n only," she says and then, as a way of acknowledgment: "yumi."

she rolls her shoulders. "so our ol' buddy cal over there's selling league radars or some shit. y'know, for the right price and if you look hard enough past his mountain of garbage he's trying to pawn off. he thinks he's clever. how d'you wanna rough 'em up, eh? short and sweet?" (i.e. beat the living daylight out of him and forcibly take their due, leaving a kind foreboding for next time.) "or try an' talk him through his woeful wrongdoings?"

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

here's the thing about parker though - she's a sucker for pretty women. and even though she's hopelessly hung up on a spitfire woman who'll never be hers - whose mercurial eyes still haunt her though she hasn't seen them in months - that doesn't mean she can't fancy just about anything else that walks and talks and is distinctly feminine. 

at first glance, she's a dolled up wannabe that'll easily be chewed up and spit out in this business, but that smirk on her face and the venomous look in the backs of her eyes tells parker there's more going on behind that pretty face. so she follows with a grin of her own, thumbs poking out from her pockets as she strides behind. 

"mm, i do like things sweet," she muses. she doesn't mind yumi taking the lead on this one. curiosity's got the better of her now. 

amulius follows dutifully behind her, standing a ways away with eyes like a hawk to ward off any potential 'buyers' to cal's stall while the two women take care of business. 

parker has to give him credit. the blank look on his face at yumi's proclamation ought to give him an oscar. "no clue what you're talking about," he says smartly. 

parker reaches out and sifts through some of his 'wares.' the knickknacks are a wide variety - twisting metal sculptures of legends locked in battle, half a dozen baby binkies (why?), some somewhat-melted candles, and more. one pile in particular topples over when parker pulls out a salad spinner out from under it. 

the rest of the shit falls to the ground and cal stiffens, though tries his best to look annoyed. he eyes yumi's snake.

"look, i haven't done anything wrong, okay? so why don't you go bother someone else, hm?"

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

parker stands back, carelessly tossing the salad spinner aside. she hovers with arms crossed, gaze sliding coolly from yumi and to the very unimpressive piece of shit in front of her. her weight rests at the front of her hips and anyone walking by might have thought her bored. 

she's seen this before, to players new in the game. and they've been popping up fuckin' everywhere. something about the end of the world really bringing the crazies out and about. she can't complain though - that's more money in her pocket.

when he spits, she follows the trail and stares down at the glob of white, mouth twitching in a smile. amulius doesn't bother shifting; he won't be needed here and all present company knows this, except maybe cal.

parker steps neatly around yumi, lithe frame skirting the foldout table to join cal's side. she throws an arm heavily over his shoulder. to his credit, he doesn't flinch. just screws up his mouth and exhales hotly.

"get off me, bitch."

ah, so that's it. he's not scared of them 'cause yumi's damn pretty and parker's - well, parker hasn't turned it on yet. 

she grins widely, all teeth, and her arm tightens. before cal can blink, his nose is - SQUELCH - spurting blood like a fire hydrant, bone crunched. pain lances through his whole head and the immediate jerking response parker feels from him is subdued, 'cause she's leaning her weight onto his back and holding his face messily against the table. 

"name's six," she says matter-of-factly and he moans blood. "not bitch."

she leans in harder. "now, i think you were telling my partner here that you're sorry and where you keep the money and the stash, yada yada."

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

this is the part where it satisfies that hungry, animalistic thing inside her. the iron tang of blood and its messy scrawl gives her goosebumps, tightens her fingers, tilts her lips. he whines pitifully underneath her as she exercises a fraction of her strength and she feels a god among men; for a moment in this dreary existence, she is more. 

and then she relaxes her grip and he falls to his knees, knocking his chin into the table. her lips twist into a disgusted grimace and she doesn't even need yumi's question to give him a (softer-than-he-deserves) knee to the face. 

he crumples like a piece of paper and parker returns his earlier gesture by spitting in his mess of blood-matted hair. 

"rocket always gets its due, motherfucker," she snarls and it takes everything in her not to kick him on her way out from behind the stall. for good measure, though, she does take the salad spinner. 

from her pocket she pulls out a worn cloth, stained brown. fresh blood gets wiped onto it; some of it's already dried on her hands, but most of it comes off. most folks in this part of town look a little roughed up anyway. 

"y'know," she says with a sigh, "sometimes i wish it wasn't so easy." she shakes her head. "what a joke."

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

parker bounces on both feet, gives yumi a shit-eating-grin. "sounds fan-fuckin'-tastic," she says, throwing a couple of mock punches for flavor. if they were all like cal, she's pretty sure she could come out on top even if it was ten on one. 

thinking about it gives her an itch she won't be able to scratch until she's a few drinks deep and slogging her way to KING WAYLAND's bar. there are only a couple there that can meet her match, but every once in a while she dogs the owner himself to meet her in the ring. 

gives her a lot of satisfaction when she smashes that ugly mouth of his. 

she follows dutifully in step when yumi orders her to (because yes, mommy?). great minds think alike because parker's gaze drifts to some street meat. she doesn't say anything. just licks her lips and tugs the hood of her jacket up.

Yumi Hasegawa

☉