parker has yet to connect the dots that professor GIDEON GRAVES, nomi's mentor, is the same man she beat to hell and back in the super duper spooky sea. but for some reason the name rings a bell - more than the 'oh, that's nomi's nerd friend' bell. his name makes her feel a mixed bag of emotions that makes her brows furrow. 

and then they unfurrow, whatever thoughts simmering under the surface slinking back to their depths as nomi curls into her and noses into her. skin on skin, parker's thoughts turn to whether or not it's worth it to let graves kill nomi if it means one last little makeout session.

but right as parker goes to make a move, one of nomi's phones buzzes. 

maisey startles at the sound and biffs. parker sighs, sits up in bed, and pulls maisey's whole face in both her hands, giving her a rough shake and biffing right back at her. her murmurs of whosagoodgirlyouare peter out when she feels nomi go still beside her. 

she grins, bopping maisey on the head, still not looking. "what's up, babes? quinn gonna come bustin' down the door for round two if i don't letcha go? nomes?"

she looks over her shoulder and her grin falls flat. "hey, babes. nomes. nomi. "

Naomi Sato

☉

straight and to the point. fantastic. no, really. fantastic. the best jobs are always with an efficient, no-nonsense partner. parker can run her mouth, but when it's time to nut up and shut up, she can at least do the latter. 

salty seamen wander about. it's too late into the night for anyone with a proper handle on their life to be out and about. they're able to steer clear of a puddle of rank vomit dripping through the slats in the docks, creating an interesting whorl of color on the gentle waves below. 

parker nearly walks right into him when he stops suddenly. had she been humming? or singing? without thinking about it?

no, because she doesn't do that. 

"uh, nah? maybe mr pisspants back there said somethin'?" she says and shoots a thumb over her shoulder. mr pisspants gives a gurgle in response, nothing more, and slumps back into his shitty dinghy. 

"these jobs still goin' haywire? heard of some galarian shipment that got absolutely shat on a few months back."

Zev Harcourt

☉

turns out, she and nomi get along well. like, really well. the studio is absolutely not meant for two people to live in, but nomi makes that place feel lived in for the first time ever. hell, even maisey's more active with nomi around, and gets more excited to go on walks with her. 

so after that first night and nomi asking if she can stay again, parker turned it around on her the next night. and the next night. and the next night. and now it's night four, she's kind of afraid nomi's getting sick of her (but not really, because it feels right, and it feels like they've lived with and around each other for decades). 

but her fingers are twined in her girlfriend's, the other scratching maisey behind her ears.

"are you out of sick days yet? or do i actually gotta let you go back to work?"

Naomi Sato
DOUBT MISSION

☉

sootopolis smells really bad, mostly after it rains. it's different than slateport. something about being in a giant dome with what's basically standing water at the center evidently makes for a stinky city. or maybe she's just sensitive to it and looking for something to be upset about. 

Naomi Sato loves this guy apparently. trusts him. promises parker they'll get along just peachy. nomi, who thinks a bowl of sentient alphabet soup are cuddle-buddies rather than cretins, is not to be trusted with this sort of thing. but parker adores her and zev is, at the end of the day, her superior, so it's not like she can say no to being back-up on this mission. 

from what she's heard, he doesn't really need her though.

more and more, she's feeling extraneous. her whole bodyguard shtick from nomi feels laughable. what's she gonna do? punch god in the face if he tries to show her the 'wonders of the universe' again? absolutely not. 

she's outside the bar, arms crossed, looking up when he approaches. 

"ayo, beastie. 'sup?"

Zev Harcourt

☉

shoving all the crazy aside in favor of domestic bliss sounds fan-fuckin-tastic and so parker is more than happy to oblige nomi's silence on the matter. 'cause parker doesn't know why, but she's ready for this. she's done crazier things than this with nomi (has she?) and even if she doesn't know how or why that's true, she feels it in her gut. and she trusts her gut.

breakfast continues to cool and maisey continues to pout and nomi is still sitting naked as the day she was born in parker's comfiest chair and she is running her hands through her hair and looking at her, seeing her, really seeing her.

voice low, sultry, the mega stone slips out of parker's hand. her eyes light up at the question and she presses her answer in folded notes, planted on nomi's knee and thigh and hip.

"stay as long as ya want. s'long as i get to do this," she says, glimmer in her eyes as she shoves her head between nomi's legs.

Naomi Sato

☉

did she still have the bracelet? naw, somewhere between getting tossed around like a ragdoll by an evil puppet isaac and real isaac turning into a cloud, she'd lost track of it. which, in hindsight, is probably a very shitty thing for her to have done (but she doesn't know that he swiped it on their way out, too important to be forgotten). 

"uh, i don't think so. still kinda processing the fuckshit that went down." 

nomi muses on and parker stops the rolling of the mega stone, frowning. "if they're expensive, and i bet to hell they are, don't worry 'bout it. i can scrounge somethin' together." 

that also sounds better than using rocket's bloody money to fund her (but isn't that what her pitiful fortune's made of? a pile of dripping red bills, molding her mattress?)

silence stretches and parker swaps the mega stone on nomi's knee for her chin. she looks up at nomi through her lashes, leaning into the light trail of fingers through her hair. her mouth opens to share an appreciative snicker, the less-than-lewd thoughts running through her brain now that nomi's at least brushed her teeth. 

halfway brushed her teeth. 

but she apologizes. again. and parker grunts as she touches their foreheads together. "shut it, babes. i knew all the crazy shit you were into goin' into this, a'right? how's this? if it makes ya feel better, i'll stop callin' the eyeballs creepy. 

"kacciatore can even watch us fuck."

her wolfish smile tames as she affirms, "together."

Naomi Sato

☉

nomi is very...passionate about her rocks in a bowl apparently and parker doesn't know whether to be confused or find the entire thing hilarious. it's a weird mix of both as nomi stomps up to her, mouth twisted in exasperation, but lips still covered with minty toothpaste. and if that weren't distracting enough, parker's eyes have dropped from nomi's own and onto her chest. 

appreciating her girlfriend's body and not really hearing the words 'extremely powerful' and 'attuned to her pokemon,' but amulius' name makes her look up again. 

something clicks. her eyes light up and she's about to make some remark like, oh yeah! that must be what @isaac threw at me to make mul' go all flamey on his arms, but nomi's tone takes a desperate, dark edge and before parker knows it, glass has shattered on the floor and her girlfriend's suggesting she's going to lose her. 

parker blinks owlishly, stunned, and lurches to action when maisey pads over to investigate. "no, you stay back, girl. fuck. nomes, pull your feet up. i don't want you to get glass...okay, hold on."

she steps carefully back into the kitchen area and rummages around for her small broom and dustpan. it's hard with one hand, 'cause the other she has clamped hard on maisey's collar to stop her from possibly stepping in glass. 

while she cleans, quietly, she tries to wrack her brain for what the DRK triad is. last night is a bit of a haze, but she remembers that they're at least not from this dimension. and also they've tried to kill them and end hoenn. or something to that effect. 

and up until now, they also had their own unown. kattywampus came from holo - that's what nomi said, right? 

parker leaves the glass-filled dustpan on the kitchen counter, out of maisey's reach, and gathers the mega stones in her hand. she crouches in front of nomi, mouth a thin line. 

"you're not gonna lose me. i'll be better about this stuff, but nomes, you gotta understand that this is new to me. up until i met you, i haven't had to deal with any of this shit. i was - am - an errand boy, only my errands are punching people's faces in who owe rocket money." 

she balances the blaziken's mega stone on nomi's knee, rolling it with the tips of her fingers. "if it makes ya feel any better, i think i used it once. fuckin' merlo and i went on a hellventure into the border together and he threw me some kinda friendship bracelet that made it work."

Naomi Sato

☉

it's rude not to wait, right? she's thinking that as she chews on a piece of bacon. thinking and staring at the mostly-closed bathroom door, head tilted just a bit to see a sliver of nomi in the mirror. she catches a glimpse of her rummaging for the toothbrush, sees her leaning over the sink, and then startling. 

the bacon drops out of her mouth and maisey is upon it in seconds, having been patiently waiting for the opportune moment to pounce. parker starts towards the door, but nomi comes out anyway, mouth ringed with toothpaste and parker's...decorate bowl of rocks in her hand?

her brows furrow. "uhh, what? is that the brand? i thought they looked nice..." 

yep, in a glass bowl nestled along some smooth river rocks and a couple of fake succulents. she tried to match the picture she saw on the magazine and then she found the shiny rocks and thought, oh, i know the perfect place. 

"are they tacky? they're tacky, aren't they?"

Naomi Sato

☉

parker looks amusedly down at where nomi grips her arm and gives a teasing little flex. mhmmm goes her throat as she sets the coffee down on the little bedside table with its stain-covered top from moments just like this. because kahlua pops into existence and makes her startle, spilling the coffee over the lip of the mug (and on the opposite side of it, not on her hands). 

parker exhales forcefully through her nose. 

"i'm never gonna get used to that." and then a pause as she remembers nomi's wild eyes, desperate pleas. "eh, never say never."

the sheets are discarded all at once and nomi swings out of bed. last night, it had been dark - all the lights turned off, her eyes half-closed, relying on taste and touch to navigate nomi's body. night-touched, blanketed by ethereal hours strung out of time. meteor falls felt much the same - blurry around the edges because it felt so ephemeral. 

but this. now. she is standing against the backdrop of parker's home, among her things, her cheeks flushed, still a bit puffy from last night. and it is so painfully real. 

she shivers.

so she goes to kiss parker on the cheek and parker thinks, well, that's not enough, and snakes an arm around her waist. turns her head against nomi's lips and yanks her flush against her by the small of her back, mouth parting and - oop. 

she chuckles and dislodges to kiss her nose. "i got a spare toothbrush under the sink too."

Naomi Sato

☉

Elisabeth Fiorelli 's purse lay discarded at their feet.

parker's fists are bloodied. it's only when she hits bone that amulius stops his own thrashing at the crystalline barrier to hold his trainer back. she struggles, screaming, telling priam conrad they need to get in there, "RIGHT FUCKING NOW," but they can't.

Grigori Sokolov managed to get through before the wall went up because he wasn't sending fake tit pics from an underboss's phone.

blaze kicks. raging infernos. punches laden with fire. nothing so much as scratches the surface of the crystal wall. she is slumped against it, forehead dimpled with a rocky imprint. eyes closed. breathing rough, forcibly slow. and the minutes tick by and they feel like eons because they can hear the shitshow behind it all - muffled shouts, unintelligible orders being given. 

nomi's scream. 

her heart stops. she's back on her feet in an instant, throwing useless hits at a wall that splinters bone. pain lances down her left arm, an all-too-familiar feeling of an echo ten years faded. 

and then, in a blink, an unown-a is in front of her. the crystalline wall shivers and crumbles. parker does not think twice when the eyeball starts moving - she follows at a sprint, amulius at her heels. 

she does not spare a glance at the destruction. she does not question the fact that the temperature of the room is ten degrees colder. she does not notice the shape of her unconscious friend held in his partner's arms. she sees only nomi, folded like a wet paper napkin on the ground, looking pale and exhausted. 

parker drops beside her and fumbles, checking her over, smearing blood and startling herself when she notices the crimson stains. it's yours, idiot. not hers. 

"you scared the shit outta me," she says roughly, shoulders drawn with a tension she can't shake. 

DISSEMINATE II

☉

she sleeps soundly for the first time in weeks. so soundly, in fact, that come morning, her grogginess remains on her like a blanket and she blinks her eyes open in confusion when she feels her own arms wrapped tightly around someone else. and even more confusing is the fact that it's not confusing at all, that she prepares to wake and put on worn leather boots and a glove of nomi's own making -

. 

and just like that, it's gone like a dream. she blinks a couple of times, yawns widely, chin brushing nomi's bangs, and curls into her. last night, more real, more solid, comes back in waves. 

the good parts, at first. and then the scary parts - nomi's white eyes, her wild erraticism - and then back to the good parts because that is much nicer to remember. nomi's lips, swollen from parker's relentless kissing, parted in ecstasy. fingers fumbling in sheets, over her shoulders, pulling needily at her chest. 

mmm, yeah, much better. 

her light dozing eventually fades and the early riser in her kickstarts. slowly, gingerly, she extracts herself from nomi. unentangled, but before she turns, she kisses her cheek. her shoulder. her bare hip. 

she stares hungrily at her nakedness and thinks nomi wouldn't mind being woken up to parted legs, parker's tongue - no, no, she had a horrible night last night. she must be exhausted. 

so, regrettably, she gathers herself and pads quietly to the kitchen. maisey raises her head as parker passes and she gives her an obligatory pat with one hand; the other digs a crusty out of her eye. 

the clock above her tiny stove tells her it's eight, which is an hour and a half after she usually wakes up. she turns her head, working out a kink, and slowly opens and closes cabinets, gathering everything she needs to put some coffee on. 

and soon enough the kitchen starts to smell like bacon and eggs. in the freezer, she digs around and finds a bag of shredded hash with peppers and veggies. she reads the instructions and sets another pan on for that. the bacon pan starts popping and sizzling and figuring nomi would probably rouse, she pours a cup of coffee for her and crosses the short distance back to the bed. 

maisey has shifted and curled up beside nomi, back pressed against her. 

"good girl," parker says and gives her another ruffle of her ears before placing a hand on nomi's shoulder. 

"wakey wakey, nomes. or not. you can keep sleepin', but breakfast's almost done."

Naomi Sato

☉