This, unfortunately, plays against their strengths.

Sort of. Parker could beat the shit out of the guy but somehow Avery doesn’t think that would be what they need.

Still, she tries to come up with a plan.

“We can good cop bad cop it,” she suggests. “I’ll cover up my tattoos. You go in there and be staunchly anti-male, and I’ll follow up with the goo-goo eyes. I’ll even take my contacts out. No one can resist the barely legal teen asking for help look.”

parker jones

☉

arceus, it feels like only yesterday she was taunting some other fuck with Rhys Collins . oh wait, that was yesterday. gods, those tacos were good. she should have ordered more. avery would've liked 'em. 

that's what she's thinking about when avery goes over the plan, but then she zones back in at the tail end and nods and shows off her guns. 

"anti-male's my jam," she says, meaning it. apparently she has superpowers that make men talk to themselves. tremble before her, howard slayte and Shred! "we got this, sis."

she clasps her on the shoulder and walks into the room, meeting the grizzled face and square jaw of a dude that rubs her the wrong way. he narrows his eyes and parker looks him up and down, and he scoffs, and parker says, "okay, bet," and slugs him.

avery jones

☉

Avery shrugs into a pullover and pops her contacts out, leaving magenta irises abandoned on the table. She watches her sister deck the dude in the face and says, “Hehe, nice.” Counting to four, she scrubs a hand down her face and bursts in through the door with a wonderfully articulate look of despair.

“Hey hey hey! You can’t do that!” Flapping her arms, she shoos her sister away, establishing safe space between Parker and the guy, before turning back to him. “I’m sorry-- shit, she got you good, huh? Here.” She daubs up blood from his split lip on her sweater. “Look, all we want to do is ask a few questions. Do you think you could be amenable to that?”

Something in her willing voice or slightly alarmed gaze softens him. Or maybe it was the suckerpunch to the jaw.

parker jones
persuade
peepobigsmile

☉

and right on cue comes the kicker and it's a fuckin' goal - hook, line, and sinker. she's bad at metaphors, okay? still, parker's at least practiced enough to make sure she doesn't look pleased and instead has her Pissed Off face on, which is scary enough to make lesser men piss themselves. 

"uhhhh," she says and paces back and forth like a mangey dog behind avery, reinforcing her goody-two-shoes shield. 

"'cause you're fucked; tits up, ass down, fucked. aves' 'ere'll let me smash your pretty face around if you don't talk."

avery jones

☉

"I wouldn't let her do that!" she says, shooting an alarmed look back at her sister that morphs, for a blink, into a knife-wide grin, only to be smoothed back over into girlish softness when she resets. "But I might not be able to stop her." She sets a small, gentle hand on his forearm. "I really, really don't want to hurt you. I want us to all get home tonight, safe. But I need you to work with us."

parker jones
persuade

☉

this is why she hates talking. it takes so much longer than the wham bam, thank you ma'am parker likes to employ. she tried the talking stuff before. she tried the persuading and the being nice and the it's okay, i'll front ya the money this time. don't worry about it. 

it's aight. 

i gotcha. 

except all those little instances start to add up and if you go soft, these fuckers know you're soft and they keep taking and taking and taking, until parker's the one getting beat on for not delivering. 

no, she's been around the block too long for this shit. 

"cut the shit, asshole. nine here can attest that i ain't a fuckin' patient person so unless you want your face to look like a fucking meatball, say somethin' worth somethin'."

avery jones

threaten

☉

Avery feels herself crumble a little bit, but she keeps the mask up, sort of.

Had this been her trying to turn over a new leaf? Had this been her trying to be good?

She doesn’t know if she’d recognize that moment when it happened, or that feeling, if she felt it.

Externally, she lets her shoulders slump and sighs heavily.

“Yeah, fuck it.”

She stands up so fast the chair scooches back with a horrendous squeak. Before she turns to go-- almost as an afterthought, really,-- she hikes a knee and plants her booted foot directly overtop of the man’s testicles, pushing down until there’s a satisfied crunch.

“He’s all yours, Six,” she says (she likes how it almost sounds like sis) patting her sister on the upper arm as she leaves.

parker jones
threaten

☉

there's no good to be done, no good to be had. nothing like that for the jones sisters. all they've got, amidst the muck and the grime, is each other. that's always been enough. it'll always be enough. 

right?

after his little meatballs are squished and he's done whimpering, parker gets the rest out of him. and there's something relaxing about the steady THUNK, THUNK, THUNK as one of the only sounds in the room, amidst sweat and rough, rasping breaths, and tears. 

avery jones

☉

Eventually the sound of thwacking bone and squishing meat slows to a stop. Something wet squelches underneath her boots as she re-enters, having stripped off her uwu baby girl cover.

The mark spills what he can, as best he can, with a mouth full of broken teeth.

Another day saved, thanks to the Jones sisters. Or something.

parker jones
threaten

☉