parker does not care for boats. she doesn't have sea legs and unfortunately, due to fun little things called faction lines, she hasn't been able to get the fuckin' sea legs promised to her by one irresistible sea witch. but it's for the best. 

she hasn't seen nautica patrolling the waters for some time. 

alongside her blaziken, her arms are up on the railing, stomach roiling. she hasn't yakked yet, but she's still green around the gills and hasn't been much useful aside from picking up and putting down some of the ex-head scientist's heavy equipment. 

oh, right. that. 

ex-head scientist, still a very much eccentric scientist, also very much nomi's friend, and once-avatar of darkrai. oh, and, and, she's rather notoriously close with one underboss Cillian Quinn. but nomi had looked so happyyyyyy when she said she'd arrange this. 

yay!

she picks her head up and looks sideways at lulu and then back out at the receding shoreline. i'll miss you, land. 

"bodyguard job. inside a distortion. i'unno, honestly, why she was so impressed. granted, i punched a mankey in the face. how'd you meet 'er?"

Lulu Flint

☉

parker had done a good job at helping move the equipment. it went unsaid that lulu had psychic-types on her perfectly capable of doing any heavy lifting–mostly because she’d been tending to something else at the time, and when she’d noticed them carrying the gravimeter, they’d already been halfway there anyways.[break][break]

she listened. so, theirs was a romance blossomed from adrenaline and the rush of danger, and whatever existed between two people when one had protected the other. a small smile pulled across her lips[break][break]

”she started working in the labs while i was a head scientist. i was aware of her talent, and approached her a few weeks before the mission to meteno. she was part of my crew.” they had gone back down without the ship, but they’d remained together after as well.[break][break]

after a pause, she decided to reveal further, ”she saved my life on the meteor. after, we were able to interrogate nisa holo together. we became closer after that.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] parker jones [break]
mission: red or blue[break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-marshadow"][break]

it's badass. the first bit of lulu's meet-cute with parker's girlfriend. if parker were watching a show on tv, she'd be into it. or reading a book. but this is real life. and hearing that lulu fuckin' flint was 'aware of her talent' and asked her to be 'part of her crew' sends a shiver down parker's spine. 

which she handedly writes off as a chill from the ocean. brrr. 

"oh. she mentioned holo before. so, which of you were the good cop there?" she says with a laugh, tongue feeling slimy on the back of her teeth. surely, surely it hadn't been a parker interrogation. parker's are full of theoretical questions and backhands, bloodied fists always an inevitable. 

'cause both of 'em know where's rocket's fuckin' money? never has a good answer.

"she's saved my life too. couple times now."

Lulu Flint

☉

she chuckled, ”neither, considering we fought her off a meteor. naomi was just as eager for answers as i was.”[break][break]

Naomi Sato had been there every step of the way. they has both gotten several questions in before the dark triad escaped.[break][break]

”she’s a strong woman.” brave, and having shown capability to protect and lead.[break][break]

a moment later, a question spoke over their shoulder, coming from nowhere. she looked around.[break][break]

”did you hear that?”[break][break]

they were not near tera crystals, unless they were beneath them underwater. she wondered if instead it was not the dark triad, speaking to them, in the same area that had once opened up to the cloud. had they found something?[break][break]

she considered her answer. red, like anger, fire, and rocket’s letter; or blue like the sky, and its reflection on the open ocean. the color of mystery.[break][break]

"blue."[break][break]

i rolled a 24 but it broke

[attr="class","ooc"] parker jones [break]
mission: red or blue[break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-marshadow"][break]

fought her off a meteor. 

okay, it's pretty badass to imagine, but still it sounds like something out of a hot lesbian fic - not real life. a gaggle of girlies duking it out on top of a meteor? except nomi and lulu probably weren't wearing skimpy astronaut suits. probably.

that doesn't make the thought any less appealing in parker's brain.

parker doesn't hear the question, but she hears the did you hear that? and a strange sense of deja vu comes over her. she's not fast enough to clamp her hands over lulu's mouth before the scientist answers the friggin' air and then, quite suddenly, parker has a face full of tentacles. 

"MMMFMFNNEWWWW EW," she spits as she punches the thing in the side of the head, sending it tentacles feet over weird oval head into another one of its kind.

amulius is there in an instant to scatter the rest of them. a couple look confused and make for the side of the boat to dive off the side. two more square off against lulu and the one parker punched gets back to its feet and puts curled tentacle fists up. 

amulius considers it and then kicks it with a blazing leg, punting it halfway across the deck. parker spits salt water or octopus sweat?????? out of her mouth and grimaces. 

Lulu Flint

☉

a gold ring appeared in front of them, unlike anything she had seen before, which was immediately worrisome. however, before she could speculate over what it might be, tentacles burst from its rippling energy. several grapploct attacked.[break][break]

”ah!”[break][break]

thankfully, parker’s blaziken was swiftly upon them; it seemed it had been a good idea to bring the woman along after all. however, when she saw two turn towards her, she knew she’d have to fight too.[break][break]

”marshadow, go!” the scientist called, summoning the wispy legendary from its hiding place to inflict a spectral thief and drain one of the grapploct. before it could escape, lulu tossed a pokeball at it, leaving them with one less to worry about before narrowly dodging a punch from the second.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] parker jones [break]
mission: red or blue[break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-marshadow"][break]

"y'know," she says and presses experimentally on a ring left on her arm from a little suction thingy, "i'd love to go, like, five minutes without upside down crazy shit happening." but peace of mind doesn't seem to surround those in the upper echelon of rocket. 

the hell-wisp that lulu summons sends a shudder down parker's spine. the only time she'd ever dealt with one of the things had been with Isaac Merlo and none of that was fun either. 

with the marshadow's help, amulius manages to punt most of the other octopuses off of the side of the boat. parker strolls over to the side and peers down. 

and spits for good measure. 

"do grapploct carry diseases? should i be worried 'bout swallowing their juices or whatever?"

Lulu Flint

☉

”it’d be nice.” just a small break from the madness. moments like these reminded her that she could have just stayed in galar.[break][break]

she made a face at parker’s choice of words as she bent to pick up the pokeball. ”i’m not a grapploct expert, but i think you’re probably fine. if you feel ill, say something.”[break][break]

shaking off the water from its sleep casing, she tucked the pokeball into a jacket pocket and looked back in the direction they had all come from.[break][break]

”that ring… it appeared after i answered that question. ‘red or blue?’ did you hear it?”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] parker jones [break]
mission: red or blue[break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-marshadow"][break]

she feels ill right now. she swallowed sea water and gods knows what else. space grapploct is something she could have gone her entire life without the pleasure of tasting. oh, well. now she has a story to tell. 

parker stretches from the tips of her toes to the tips of her fingers. 

"yeah, i heard it. tried to clamp your mouth shut 'fore you said somethin'. last time it happened, i got a face full of butterflies." she grins. "and those didn't make me sick either so hey, we're probably good."

Lulu Flint

☉

”butterflies?” it wasn’t specific, but she assumed because of the grapploct, they must have also been species from their world.[break][break]

or a world like theirs.[break][break]

she recalled the gold hoop, wondering, and she would wonder well into the evening about it. hopefully, Naomi Sato would be more insightful than her girlfriend on the matter.[break][break]

she scanned the deck, before murmuring a quick, ”hm,” and then disappearing into the cabin to check the gravimeter. in the end, the hoop would seem to be the most out of ordinary thing about the trip, and they would return presumably no closer to the cloud than before.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] parker jones [break]
mission: red or blue[break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-marshadow"][break]