"but your bush is so nice and full and do you use conditione - fuck." she ducks down as the rumbling robot stops, red lights blinking, and when fear takes a shit right on her heart, it finally starts up again. she straightens, pink locks tangled with brambles and leaves, and gives the aggravated man and his scary ghost fox a bit of distance. 

"do they like, follow a pathing track?" she asks. "like npcs?"

'cause then it's just about figuring out what that path is and sneaking through it. stealth mission time! except parker's never been good at those sections in any game; halfway through, she always alerts the enemies anyway and ends up slaughtering them. 

more fun that way, honestly. 

"sheesh, who pissed in your cheerios? also wait, are you in the science wing? you know nomes? d'you know where she is?"

no more rumbles. she takes a tentative step out, shakes off some twigs, and looks at her uneasy blaziken. 

"don't worry. we're smarter 'an these tin cans."

Rhys Collins
TYAu5xme

☉

oh, well that helps clear this up. if they're just silly, mindless robots (they're not parker; they at least have ai. please...), then this'll be a piece of cake. no more squatting in the bushes for the two of them. they just need to play it safe, keep low, and avoid any weird sensors their bodies might have. 

"oh, shit, don't sweat it," she says and claps a meaty hand on his shoulder. if anyone gets hating 'fieldwork,' she does. it's like a negative pavlovian response for her at this point. nomi, darlingly, says 'babe, we're going out to do some fieldwork' and inside part of her dies. 

but her fingers tighten, just a smidge, when he says she loaned him space. he hasn't checked in with her and why, does she know her?

"uhyeah, that's my wife-irlfriend. girlfriend." HUH? 

???

she ignores that. blazes right past that. yanks her hand back and follows him doggedly when he veers off the path. amulius has thoughts on being called firebird, but she doesn't even notice the annoyed clicking of his beaky muzzle. 

"anyway, if you're goin' where the science is, she's prob'ly there. but don't worry. i'm like, grade a bodyguard material. certified scientist protector. nomes said it was impressive when i told her i beat the head of an iron - what'd she call it...iron boulder! yeah, gave it a good thump 'n made it mine.

"oh, fuck, what's that?"

she asks and points at a weird, big dog lapping at a stream.

Rhys Collins
_XtCX4Tr

☉

well, it's probably why they're sending parker. they're sending him to do the actual important work. like getting the fancy schmany samples from the dirt so they can find out all the new and terrifying ways hoenn and its population are royally fucked. eh, but orders are orders and them's the brakes.

"yeah, maybe," she says and thinks oh, nomi, my sweet, you better be there. i'd hate to have to break all these toys down here before you get to play with them.

his exclamation makes her grin like a madwoman and she flexes her biceps haughtily before laughing and going, "fuck no. i mean, yeah, but the thing beat my ass and really it wasn't my bare hands. i was wearin' my brass knuckles. gottem as a gift from i- i gotta pee."

her brain catches up to her mouth. she looks at her partner. then at the bushes. then back at him. 

"nevermind."

something run them over. please. 

"hey-look-is-that-it-over-there?" she says in one long rush and traipses ahead.

Rhys Collins

☉

her iron boulder definitely thinks so. maybe she imagined it, but it didn't seem all too happy to have basically been keyed on the face and now that perfect chromium is scarred forever, jones style. 

whatever. she's just thankful he's more caught up on that than her almost-slip-up. she still has a love hate relationship with Isaac Merlo, but he'd inevitably crossed the line in the sand when parker looked at nomi and said 'fuck it, i'm all in.' 

if they're going to be damned, they might as well be damned together. 

"yeah, she said she was comin' down here. gods, she even offered me one of the fuckin' letters so i could teleport to her, but i was all like 'nooo, i can do this by myself!' and look at us now. almost getting squashed 'n run over and FUCK, SHE'S NOT HERE!" they're at the research station, alright, but it's a ghost town. 

there's some sort of high tech drill turned over on its side, waiting to be wielded by someone who knows what they're doing. it looks like it was set up meticulously and then consequently abandoned. 

ugh. one of the scout parties probably set it up before continuing onward (hey, she reads her reports sometimes, okay?)

she plops down and fishes for her water bottle.

"got everything y'need here? i'll stay a bit. make sure 'em machines don't come 'n fuck ya up. then i got a scientist to find. you're pretty chill, by the way, s'far as most rockets go."

Rhys Collins

☉