other people lost more. they don't deserve their grief. not when they had a hand in it. there are hundreds of others who never asked for this. fucking innocents. this is what they deserve, for thinking they could have their silly little picket fence house with their extra bedroom and room enough in the bathroom for parker to stretch her arms out really wide. 

"called my old landlord already," she says. "no one wanted the shithole so he's renting it back to me."

flat and non-negotiable. good-bye, life earnings. good-bye, blood money. they have insurance, yeah, but nomi's the one who insisted on it. she'll have to figure all that shit out. but whatever. they just need a place to sleep. nomi can come with her if she wants. 

she finds herself picking up the chairs anyway. they're basically plywood. no cushion. somehow still in one piece, albeit bloated. she thinks of sitting in it, and then thinks better of it. just wipes the top off of it and chucks some seaweed away. 

the kelp lands on a broken picture frame with a spongey FWACK.

"oh well," she says and kicks some rocks. "house broken. the end."

Naomi Sato

☉

it's a good thing parker met nomi when she did because aurelie's a damn treat, and if she had any idea what the woman was thinking about her, her brain might go on the fritz. which, y'know, isn't great when you're in the middle of a job.

it's why parker struggles so much with contacts she's gotta shake down if they're hot women.

parker pats him on the cheek when it's done and wishes him a nighty night. as promised, aurelie handles the mutt with her trusty wusty golurk. parker admires the golem pokemon and instantly decides she needs to find some way to get one. if only she can use it as a sparring partner. 

but aurelie's right. it does feel easy. and anything that comes easy has a catch. or is a lie. or some other witty third thing.

parker follows dutifully and has to stop herself from guffawing like an exploud when it all clicks into place. gods, people really are the scum of the earth, aren't they? or is shit just this bad?

oh well. 

she wants to help aurelie get the pipes and wants to insist that she can most certainly carry more so please hand it to her before she hurts herself, but another guard wakes up from his naptime and bears down on her. 

parker assesses the situation, waits, and when he raises the nightstick, she slides in between the two of them, heel catching his ankle, fingers wrapped around his wrist. he goes ass over teakettle and hits his head pretty hard on the ground. 

parker bops him on the head when he groans. 

"sit," she says with a wolfish grin. then she tosses the stick and holds her arms out to aurelie. 

"lemme get that for ya. and grab whatever else ya want. let's skedaddle."

Aurelie Lefevre

☉

the world takes. parker knows this. parker has always known this. 

she's lost a home before. it was a broken home, sure, but it was still home. one of the only ones she's ever known. it had looked different, the breaking, than this. when she'd walked through the door as a kid and saw all the blood (so, so much blood. the first time she learned a body could hold so much.) and hadn't been able to think. 

just stare blankly.

but this is a different sort of wreckage. the sight of it doesn't make her angry. hell, it doesn't even make her feel sad. not really. it makes her feel sick. 

like all this time they've just been playing pretend. she thinks, as she steps around the soggy remains of their polaroid box, that she shouldn't have suggested all of this. shouldn't have reached for more. shouldn't have kidded herself into thinking she was destined for anything but the same bullet to the brains her parents got. 

"i always hated those squeaky chairs," she says, toeing the one kitchen stool that remains. 

Naomi Sato

☉

stupid meatsacks on a stupid ass backwards planet. why couldn't she be born a worm? at least nomi would still love her. and she wouldn't have to think about putting food on the table or whether or not her soul's gonna burn in hell for, literally, forever, or if the next time she's not so lucky and killing a kid isn't an accident but an order. 

she'll just be a worm. 

or maybe it sucks balls because she's already a worm. because worms are powerless and they get stepped on and they fucking die, but then they come right back outta the ground all the same - all hundreds of 'em, thrashing to the surface once it rains, like they're angry at whatever higher power is shitting on them too. 

the tv screen glows an array of colors and while shadow moonwalks on the screen in victory, angry tears slip down parker's cheeks. 

"i'm not cut out for this shit," she says. "my fuckin' sister even got outta dodge and she's the one whose hands are stained. i always wanted to be a nobody, fox. that way i could pull my godsdamned punches."

but now the woman she loves is an avatar and if people are fighting nomi like they want her dead, well, parker's gotta fight that way right back. 

yeah, she wants a hug.

but she whispers, "and now i can't."

howard slayte

☉

blue is all a blur around her. remus' fur, nomi's hair. carmine eyes become sanguine, but maybe that's just what's dribbling over her busted open face. one flip-flopped stomach later, hands putting her in a gurney, remus' long strides beside her, paw to hand before ushered away. 

nomi, you got really furry, she thinks, forgetting.

forgetting, forgetting, forgetting. 

and waking to a quiet room, save for the beeping. stitches and gauze on her face. wrappings around her ribs. the tv screen is off, but that changes when she motions for remus. to the news coverage, impossible to see through the torrential downpour. just snippets of combat. a city drowning. 

she throws the remote at the screen. it doesn't even crack. just bounces harmlessly off and hits the ground. 

and somehow that's what does her in. 

"FUCK YOU!"

remus startles. 

"FUCK YOU FOR LEAVING! FUCK YOU FOR LOVING ME AND FUCK YOU FOR LEAVING ME AND FUCK YOU FOR MAKING ME FUCKING HATE YOU FOR THIS! FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU. FUCK!"

an exhausted nurse staggers in. 

"LOOK WHAT THEY TURNED YOU INTO! LOOK WHAT WE FUCKING DID! LOOK WHAT I DID! FUCK OFF!"

hands scrabble for purchase. stitches pop and blood pours down one cheek. 

"YOU CAN'T DIE. YOU CAN'T FUCKING DIE. NOT AFTER THIS. NOT AFTER ALL OF THIS!"

morphine drips into her veins and parker wishes she was dead too.

Naomi Sato

☉

okay, wait, hold up, parker's definitely a one girl woman as far as the lovey dovey goes, but if nomi and aurelie ever wanted...no, actually. the more parker thinks about it, the more she thinks she might end up strangling aurelie for looking at nomi the wrong way, nevermind touching her. and nomi might send her into a cosmic horror hellscape of her own nightmares if it were her hands on parker.

hmmm, yeah, maybe she's the most monogamous person ever.

parker throws a couple of fake and sneaky, skulky punches, but then actually stops fucking around when aurelie tells them to hold up.

she eyes the houndoom and then the man. gives the man the up and down. he's definitely doughy. she doesn't even need remus for this.

"oh yeah, i got homeboy 's long 's your golurk c'n fuck up that dog." she rolls up her sleeves, cracks her knuckles, and gives aurelie enough time to set herself up before sneaking closer. and then it's all uphill, baby. 

one punch to the nose has him reeling, neck exposed, and it's simple math wrangling herself around him, bicep to neck, to choke him out. 

Aurelie Lefevre

☉

and what's parker been chasing all these years? before nomi, nothing seemed to matter. she took her paychecks, squirreled her blood money underneath her mattress, and lived off protein shakes, talonflame eggs, and rocks. life was one job to the next, a never-ending one two punch, where the only time she felt alive was when she was beating the life blood out of someone else. 

and then came nomi, and the world was still ass fucking backwards, but now she had someone in bed with her at night to acknowledge it. 

shadow takes the gold and isn't that just so godsdamned poetic?

the ring keeps spinning. shadow keeps snickering. fox says run it again, but her hands have gone white on the controller.

"can't make this shit right. can't run it again. we're all complicit. fucking kids died out there in mossdeep, man. and i know we're a godsdamned terrorist organization, but that fucking kid. she can't go back. we can't make it right for her."

plastic squeaks as pressure makes nuts and bolts crack. she throws it down to the ground. it bounces roughly over the laminate floor. 

"she's fucking dead 'cause i - fuck. fuck, fuck, FUCK." and then she laughs, wild-eyed. "and we're playin' city escape; you're sayin' i slipped up and it wasn't fair! ha! so we just go again, right! but i slip out there and the biggest baby kills a fucking kid! and what? we go back? i go back? we make things right? for me?

"how the fuck are we good for this world, fox?"

howard slayte
the biggest baby is the name of her iron boulder i am not insane

☉

the world isn't worth saving. only a few people are worth it, and nomi's one of those people, but the rest of them are dust. the rest of them don't matter. even her sister said fuck this shit because she left kanto, and now kanto's followed her home, and parker hasn't told nomi yet because it hurts, it hurts, it hurts. 

love ya, sis, but i'm going somewhere warmer.

avery loves her and she left. nomi loves her and she's leaving. nothing good can stay. everything is shit and nothing good will stay.

"yeah," she says, throat tight, words all wrong. "yeah, love ya too."

Naomi Sato

☉

oh, baby, she's smooth. no bucking, no shuddering, just effortless gliding from one gear to the next. metal screeches outside of them and as soon as the bang goes off, everything is fucking loud. 

"WE'RE FUCKIN' WINNIN' THIS SHIT. HOLY FUCK, FLAMETHROWER BEHIND US!"

it's a charmeleon on the hood of the car right behind them, held down with some type of straps. hopefully so it doesn't accidentally fly off during tight turns and not for some weird, kinky reason. but however it got there doesn't matter because the thing's lizard mouth opens, already glowing orange. 

someone slams ahead of them and parker can't find wiggle room to get around. 

"NINA, YOU'RE UP!" she roars. 

nina larson

☉

parker is better at the game because she has been playing it nonstop for the past few days, well into the night until her eyes are burning and she's exhausted. she's been playing it so much, she hears the ring collection sound in her ears when she tries to fall asleep. 

but that's better than the sound of flesh rending, bone cracking. 

"yeah, real fuckin' insane," she mutters, elbows on her thighs so she can lean in closer. storm blue eyes flicker when her side of the screen glitches and she misses a jump. shadow races on her side of the screen in a janky blur and she swears under her breath. 

unfortunately for fox, the big fuck-you car only comes around in single-player so while he's gearing up, waiting for the other shoe to drop, parker's bum rushing to get to the golden ring at the end. 

her thumb slips on the controller and she barks out a laugh.

"got that jones curse, fucker. i'd drink my piss before believing there's a world out there where i getta shit rainbows. nah, nah, we're cosmically fucked."

she learned that word from nomi. 

cosmic.

howard slayte

☉

not many people get to say good-bye. not many get to look their loved ones in the face and know, this may be the last i see of you, and she should cradle nomi close. she should recognize this end, this possibility, and she should smother her in kisses, protect her as she can, and let love be her reminder of what's worth fighting for. 

but that part of her is bleeding out on the street. 

and the rest of it, all the calloused bits of her stuck through with shrapnel and needles and bits of sharp, dead things, is hurting. hurting because nomi's taking her life, parker's life, their life, and she is saying, this is not enough. 

remus puts a hand over parker's shaking hand and looks urgently at nomi. his red eyes are nervous. 

"and grab the mail while you're at it, eh? maisey's gettin' lazy."

Naomi Sato

☉

parker does not know braille and even if she did know braille, there is a 100% chance she would not be able to connect the dots (ha) between it and the flashing (probably) face of the regicouch. well, to her it's just a couch. a weird, rock couch. she doesn't know what a regirock is. 

just like she doesn't know what most pokemon are. she got stuck on the hoenn games and never kept on after them. other pokemon and regions to her? she's as baffled as the professors that they exist. 

shadow says let me show you my real power and consequently rams right into the bumper of a car because fox has to scramble to right himself. she barks out a laugh and gives him a moment's reprieve before butting his shoulder. 

"yeah, well, probs 'cause we got more important shit to do 'an a remaster. all those devs are probably makin' bombs or shit for one side." she doesn't take her eyes off the screen, too focused on the game. on winning. 

"gods, we're more fucked up than the sonic universe, aren't we? wait, fuck, there are multiverses, right? 's there a sonic multiverse? like, could they be real?" he's an archaeologist, right? don't they know things?

howard slayte

☉

amulius hits it like a bad bitch and the thing actually catches fire. his feathers are curling, smoking at the edges, but the bird's too busy grinning devilishly at his work to give a shit about the recoil damage. 

parker whoops and watches with sparkling eyes as hitoshi does some sick anime shit and puts the rest of it up in flames. 

"yaya, the orange guy," she says. she could give two shits about spyro. spyro sounds like a type of mispronounced food and crash sandlash just rolls right off the tongue. he's mega cool, can beat the shit out of people with his sick spin moves and can do a split in midair. 

"no needa get fancy, but been told i gotta take it easier on my fuckin' knuckles or i'll get arthritis. so, i take it you're a sword guy?" she almost asks if he's a weeb, but nomi's voice (her impromptu conscious) scolds her, saying that would be rude.

Hitoshi Inoue
thats crazy of u to say spyro is a bagon when spyro has wings

☉