don't come back, she wanted to say when she got the text. hoenn's new slogan is HOENN: HOTSPOT FOR CRAZIES. last she checked, the 'end of the world but we just shrug our shoulders 'cause it's just another day #hoenn' memes have not died down on her socials. and avery's are just filled with cute pics of yoinky sploinky. 

stay there, she wanted to say, and we can pretend it's better. did you see the dragon? were you almost killed? i've almost died like ten times. i'm seeing someone. my girlfriend's an avatar and i hate it, but i have a girlfriend and she really likes me, avery, she really, really likes me.

none of that. just a wtf okay bet. seeya soon, sis. missed ya. which is good. it's okay. 

her hood's up from sun shower sprinkles and she sees her first.

right. the corner of her lip curls up in an uncomfortable snarl, recognizing that look, feeling a heat all the way to her bones 'cause she wants to punch whatever the fuck has swiped the smile from avery's face. feeling frustrated 'cause of course it's not that simple. 

this is, though. 

"welcome back to paradise, sis," she says behind her, snarl morphing into a wolfish grin and arms stretched wide. 

avery jones

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those arms spread wide go up, fingers lacing behind her neck, and she slouches into relaxation, chin tilted down to look amusedly in her sister's eyes. the bill of avery's hat casts a shadow over her eyes, purple as seamless as it's ever been against baby blue. 

"naw, i asked arceus to kick up the heat just for you." her summation of parker's current physicality isn't inaccurate, but still, low blow. there are bags under her eyes - they've been there since the newest wake of fuckery the universe has thrown at her. her knuckles are finally healing, at least, but that's nothing new.

"eh, kinda same old, same old, honestly. i'm still beatin' the shit outta the poor for money they don't have.

"turns out all the big boys just wanna pick on other big boys and i'm just a small little guy." she skirts around her and tosses herself into the seat adjacent. "sans the occasional bodyguarding job," she tacks on as she pushes her fingers into the grid-like holes of the metal table. 

"all in all, shit's fucked, but who cares? everywhere's got godsdamned metaphorical swamp ass at this point. anyway, i'm glad you're back. surprised, but glad. maisey missed ya."

avery jones

☉

"you need protein. you need, like, maybe fifty eggs. fuckin' hell, aves, that's embarrassing," she says at her sister's weak-ass attempt at flexing. she raises her own arms and threatens the seams of her sleeves because she can and thinks, oh, i should try an' pop 'em in front of nomi. 

parker's good at not looking at most things. her perception and insight? -10. but again, with most things. with avery? that shit's got advantage and +50. 

but she doesn't want to talk about it. 

they don't talk about things like this. 

it's easier that way. 

"i won't complain. we can go out on jobs together again. give 'em the ol' one, two punch."

she startles. something rubs against her leg and she looks down to see a dirty mutt trying to paw at a half-eaten scone under their table. her jump also gives it a scare and it backpedals, lips curling up in a bit of a snarl as it eyes the food hungrily. 

parker nudges the scone over and watches it lap it up. it sits, tongue lolling, and eyes her expectantly. 

"coffee sounds great. y'wanna just grab somethin' from this place? here." she fishes a few bills out and hands them over to avery. "get us a lil treat for the pup too."

avery jones
catching electrike

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"if that happened, i would literally never stop talking about it," she says, completely serious. she's tried. of course she's fucking tried. buying smaller shirts always seemed like cheating, but even her most form-fitting have only ever bulged. impressively bulged, yes, but no sign of wear and tear.

truly depressing. 

avery startles and parker gives her the side-eye as they walk the short distance to the front of the coffee shop. her new bestest pal pades warily behind her. he had also startled at the noise and parker's, quite frankly, impressed he hadn't run off. 

"same old, same old. all sugar 'n cream." it's bad for her health, but so is their line of work, so who cares?

"sploinky is a monster," parker says with an itching grin, "and deserves a cinnamon muffin. i also deserve a cinnamon muffin. tip the barista too. she's cute." she stays out by the door, afraid the electrike will run off if she leaves and/or bite someone's ankles if she leads it inside.

avery jones
skipping

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parker kicks up outside of the shop. the elektrike, all things considered, has palled right up to parker. it sits, tongue lolling outside its mouth, and parker wonders if maybe all dogs are just, like, chill as fuck. or maybe she's a dog whisperer. 

some bitch and her laptop try to take their seat while parker stretches so she's forced to cross back to their table and sit down. she goes back to sticking her fingers through the holes in the metal and she gets a little bit lost thinking of all the things she's very much been trying not to think about for a bit. 

she gets a very strong urge to go work out. 

coffee should help and she's all sunshine smiles when avery walks back out and plops them down. hell, she doesn't even startle when the tinkatuff scares avery shitless; she's too busy eating half the muffin in one bite. 

"mmmffph," she agrees and swallows. pinches off part of the muffin to give to the mutt. 

"yeah, my girlfriend went full crazy nova insane the other day." a pause, a suckling of her own finger. "not like millie lighting her own shit on fire outside my door crazy. nomes like, ppphhhbbbt, she made these crystals an' shit and her eyes went all white like her creepy eyeball fucks and we saw, uh, unimportant, but fuck, anyway, you should meet her.

"she's really hot."

avery jones
skipping

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