parker had at least the foresight to get an already chilled bottle of champagne. the downside is now her arm is kind of slick with the condensation from it. it drips around her elbow and she looks down at it, chagrined. with a bit of fumbling around full hands, she manages to open the door and nudge it open with the toe of her boot. 

before her is a modest office she can instantly recognize as nomi's, placard on the door or not. valerian jumps up and parker grins down at the ribbon creature. if her hands weren't full, she'd give him some proper scratches. she hadn't really thanked him properly for saving their asses a couple times over. 

she stands there for a moment, blinking, and then crosses the room to put the champagne and the orange juice and the bag of plastic mimosa cups on nomi's desk. 

"i would've only gotten two, but they only come in packs of six. or twelve."

Naomi Sato

☉

she could be resting. should is a strong word. not a whole lot is going to fix her cracked ribs. laying in bed or staying strewn on the couch would help some, sure, but at the cost of her sanity. and it's not like she has the scientist's number to send her a text and try to shoot the shit. or...wait, couldn't she just get it from their previous mission logs?

it takes her a solid few seconds before she realizes she's zoned out. what brings her back is that creepy as all hell letter levitating behind nomi, watching her with that body of an eyeball that it has. 

"y'haven't asked me to go on a crazy, fucked up adventure in, like, a whole day, so i thought somethin' was wrong. or maybe you were dead."

at the other question, she goes to twist the cork off of the bottle. it comes loose faster than she expected and her stomach drops because she thinks it's going to burst everywhere. but it doesn't. just sizzles and fizzes. 

she's no expert at pouring so she does end up doing it a little too fast into one of the cups. it bubbles up and over onto nomi's desk. 

"shit, shit, shit. uh..." and, not seeing any paper towels in the near vicinity, she yanks on her shirt, shuffles up to the desk, and awkwardly wipes up the small puddle. red in the face, she holds the bottle out for nomi to take over. 

"but since you're not, i thought i could bring brunch to you."

Naomi Sato

☉

somehow nomi manages to pour the rest of the champagne without any bubbles rising up to the top. parker attributes it to her hands and the way they're way more slender and gentle than her own meaty paws (and not, of course, the fact that nomi just tilts the glass so the champagne runs down the side instead of splashing it in like a heathen).

if parker had her way, she would have preferred light on the champagne and heavy on the oj, but as it stands she takes the glass without complaint and smiles sheepishly. her shirt is now wet and kind of sticky and it's very uncomfortable.

"er, sure. okay." she sits like she's told and with great effort, maintains her gaze on nomi's rather than looking at the way her dress folds neatly over her curves. 

"'m glad the mist didn't get ya. i'd'a rather gone to brunch than ended up where i did," she says with a sigh. thrown from one nightmare into the next. still, she can't believe - of all the fuckin' ships they ended up raiding, it just had to be dross's. 

Naomi Sato

☉

so parker probably should have roughed toby up a little bit. or, at the very least, tried to look less guilty when they finally made it to shore (which had taken forever because parker's greninja had fainted in the scuffle and most of their wave runners ended up compromised). but she had been one thousand percent fed up with that day and when he fired questions, she opted to give him the finger instead. 

but there was nothing for him to squeal about and he's a nobody so she doesn't think about nomi asking. 

except she kinda thinks about it a lot and her brows furrow and she looks away like a fucking dumbass. suddenly skyler dross's there, her golden curls over her face, toothy grin leering over her in a pin, promising to make a sailor of her yet. 

she takes a big swig and polishes the rest of her mimosa off. 

"thrown onto a crew to steal cargo. then got bumped around. didn't last much longer 'an that. got stabbed and was sent home."

Naomi Sato

☉

parker can be dense, but she's not that dense. especially when the unown reacts to nomi's very sudden and very intense stare. parker slides forward, elbows on her legs, plastic mimosa cup dangling as she holds it by the rim. it looks laughably small in her grasp. she's actually kind of grateful it had been mostly champagne. 

but she drank it so fast the bubbles want to come right back up so when nomi asks her question and she opens her mouth, out comes a wet burp. she is, all at once, mortified, but at least it buys her time to think of how to skirt around the question. 

"a league crew? they had cargo on it. all we were told 'a do was slow 'em down." and then a blink. the stabbing had happened after. skyler certainly hadn't sent her home. 

"and some supervisor. i didn't catch his name, doc." her brows furrow. she swallows, lifts her gaze. "i just follow orders."

Naomi Sato

☉

it's in her discipline to watch her targets like a hawk. she's been in a hell of a light of high-strung, tense situations. surprise, the unexpected - these are adversaries she is all too accustomed to. and she's starting to get the feeling she's entering those very same waters, except this time she's not the one with her fist cocked. 

there is an ache in her heart when nomi talks about skyler. a longing in her drawn face, the flicker of her blues as she looks down at her swinging wine glass. it stills. the plastic bottom bumps against her shin.

"captain dross. i didn't know it was her fuckin' ship, nomi. but i didn't do anything. fuckin' toby's spreading this shit, right? asshole got knocked to hell and didn't see me swingin' on her." she pauses, exhales her taut anger. "but he saw her let me go. i didn't ask her to, but what was i s'posed to say? no? cuff me? toss me in a fuckin' cell? an' then what? i don't know shit, but you think rocket's gonna just be cool with a stupid grunt who's spent some time with one of our head scientists say anything to 'em?"

she stands up suddenly, still fuming, working herself up. this is the ugly in her. this is her rolling shoulders, the crawling under her skin that cracks when she doesn't get enough release. that clawing, hungry thing inside of her that's only satiated with bloody fists and copper on her tongue.

"the hell was i s'posed to do?"

Naomi Sato

☉